Author: Deviana

Google gets fined in France for Free Google Maps

Really? A Parisian commercial court in France has fined Google to pay a fine of €500,000 for giving its maps for free. Bottin Cartographes, who was on the other side of the lawsuit claimed that the Company ( Google) has leveraged the market by giving away its Google Maps service for free, while others try to make a living off it.

“We proved the illegality of [Google’s] strategy,” said the prosecution counsel.

Google plans to Appeal the decision, and believes that the company has not eliminated competition in this segment and is purely giving away its services because it can.

Honestly, since when are Awesome products for free, looked down upon?

February 3, 2012
Nokia knows of Lumia battery issues, it also knows of audio and camera problems, promises fix

Oh dear, Nokia had earlier confessed that it knows of the major battery issues plaguing its new flagship Lumia phones. The latest update (1600.2483.8106.11500) was meant to “enhance standby time as well as to bring an improvement to the issue reported by some customers in December. And indeed the update did bring some relief to our devices, But know Nokia has been hearing complaints about the poor audio quality and Camera related problems being faced by Nokia Loyalists.

[box border=”full”]

NOKIA:

We’ve seen your comments on the latest update for the Lumia 800 and wanted to take the opportunity to quickly address some points.

First of all, the primary target of the latest Lumia 800 update (1600.2483.8106.11500) was to enhance standby time as well as to bring an improvement to the issue reported by some customers in December, that their phone wasn’t able to access the full battery charge capacity correctly. We can confirm that we have successfully tested that those improvements are working. Additionally, we’ve noted your concerns regarding audio and camera settings and are going to address those in a series of future updates, ie. these will not be included in this specific update. It is also important to understand that only the Nokia Update for Lumia 1600.2483.8106.11500 will introduce the mentioned improvements. If you want to see what update you have installed or what software version you currently have on your Lumia 800, please check Settings>System>About and then tap the box for “More information”. The “Firmware revision number” shows 1600.2483.8106.11500 if you have installed the latest Nokia update for Lumia successfully. To make sure that your Lumia 800 is up to date and always gets the latest features, go to Settings > Phone Update and select “Notify me when updates are found”. Then, as soon as a new update is available for your Lumia 800, your phone will automatically display a notification.

Also always use the original Nokia Fast USB Charger AC-16 or the Nokia Charging and Data Cable CA-185CD that came with your Lumia 800, as they are specifically designed to charge the Lumia 800 as efficiently as possible. Only a charger with an output of 1000mA will fully charge your Lumia 800 battery. If you have several Nokia chargers at home, just check the respective labels or plastic parts as the product name is mentioned there.

Last but not least, the Diagnostic App was designed for internal testing purposes. In general, your battery is fine as long as the full charge capacity is more than 1000mAh. For the future, if you are checking your battery life, more useful information on the Battery status can be found by focusing on Settings>System>Battery saver. It will tell you both your remaining battery life in percent as well as the estimated time remaining, plus the time since you last charged your phone (as soon as you have disconnected your phone from your charger). If you have concerns about your battery capacity, please contact Nokia Care (phone numbers and locations can be found via www.nokia.com/support).”[/box]

January 30, 2012
Apple will give employees US$ 500 discount on Macs and US $ 250 on iPads, above the already 25%

Apple is making its employees feel extra special this time around, as those who work for the Cupertino based giant are in for a sweet deal. The company typically offers a 25% discount on its range of products to the employees. But in an Employee meeting at the local Town Hall yesterday, The Apple CEO revealed some new Apple employee benefits, Cook announced that Apple employees will soon be given $500 discounts on purchases of new Macs and $250 discounts on purchases of a new iPad.

The new discount program will officially kickoff at some point during June 2012. Don’t try to use your regular thing and find a relative who can source you macs for cheap , because employees will be only able to call in this favor once every three years. The Employee has to be working for a minim of 90 days for the company to request a discount.

The discount excludes several products including the Mac mini and Displays.

Oh i wish to work for Apple now!

January 27, 2012
Tablet ownership doubled worldwide, Quadrupled in India in the Holiday Season

Tablet owners rejoiced as the world embraced Tablets this holiday season. As per several reports the Christmas time brought about a cheer for a touchable surface. Tablet consumers doubled in most parts of the world including the United States of America.

In India however if you take the Aakash Tablet into account , the Price drop of the RIM Playbook and Galaxy Tab (original 7 inch). There are tons of other tablets that boosted tablet sales in India, including the HCL me tab, Reliance and Beetel tab. The number of Tablet owners has quadrupled in India. Is the country finally embracing this new niche of the consumer segment.

What is your take? Would you add a tablet to your Arsenal?

[polldaddy poll=5869988]

January 24, 2012
Vodafone adds to the Blackberry Messenger frenzy Launches BBM Go for Rs. 129

Vodafone has added to the Blackberry Messenger mayhem, and launched its own Rs. 129 BBM plan, Called the BBM Go. The plan offers Vodafone prepaid or postpaid users the ability to use unlimited BMM on their Blackberry devices, while other usage will be charged at 10p/10kb. The Go BBM plan can be had for Rs. 5 per day or Rs. 129 per month. To activate the plan Prepaid Vodafone users must SMS ACT BBM129 to 144 whereas Postpaid users must SMS ACT BBM129 to 111.

Airtel, however, is offering the Rs. 129 unlimited BBM service plan only to its post-paid customers. Airtel also bundles 300 free SMS messages with the plan, Vodafone is currently not offering any such deal.

January 19, 2012
Nissan and MOS give you an iPhone 4s case with self healing Paint!

Really is it actually possible? Nissan and Ministry of sound have tied up to do the unthinkable for the world of cases, its called the self-healing iPhone case. The case features a polyrotaxane-based paint finish that helps maintain the case itself, covering over small scratches in as little as an hour. Currently only available in Japan the cover is for an exclusive deal with Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo. Nissan is also considering a commercial launch this year, just imagine the usefulness of such a paint on Indian cars.

January 18, 2012
Samsung to borrow 1 Billion US dollars to expand capacity in Texas

Samsung Semiconductor makes main processor chips for iPhones, iPad’s and many other tablets and smartphones from other vendors including Samsung Mobiles. To meet with the exceeding demand for these products the supply of the said chips needs to be in order. Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung Semiconductor has “sent requests for proposals to banks to borrow as much as $1 billion to expand production capacity at its factory in Austin, Texas,” with the bonds to be issued by Samsung’s United States unit.

The company which is about US $ 20 Billion cash rich will sell its bonds first time since 1997, due to the low borrowing rate. The company plans to utilize this money to boost production of mobile phone processor and GPU chips as well as invest in innovation in their OLED manufacturing.

[Bloomberg]

January 17, 2012
Airtel banks in in BBM popularity, Launches BBM Plan Rs.129 / month

Airtel has just launched a new Blackberry Plan for BBM addicts like me. The new plan, only available on Postpaid, will allow customers to enjoy unlimited use of Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and free 300 local + national SMS in a month. The price is a monthly fee of Rs. 129 vs the usual Rs. 299. This plan should catch on big with the youth, especially because of the price and the popularity of Blackberry phones.

[tabs style=”default” id=”airtelbbm” title=”Airtel Mobile Services, New Plan”] [tab title=”Plan”]

New Plan

BlackBerry BBM Plan

Rs 129/-

Unlimited BlackBerry Messenger + 300 National SMS

[/tab] [tab title=”Press Release”]

Airtel launches all new “BBM Plan” @ Rs 129 per month for its postpaid mobile customers on BlackBerry

New Delhi, 12 January, 2012: Bharti Airtel, leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, has announced that starting today, its postpaid mobile customers using BlackBerry smartphones can subscribe to the all new “BBM Plan” on Airtel. Now available @ Rs 129 per month, this plan will allow customers to enjoy unlimited use of *Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and free 300 local + national SMS in a month.

Airtel’s all new “BBM Plan” for postpaid customers

With this, Airtel aims to open up the BlackBerry services experience to a new segment of customers who are keen on leveraging a best-in-class messaging platform for real time social messaging.

To subscribe, existing and new postpaid Airtel mobile customers on BlackBerry can call 121 or walk-in to their nearest Airtel postpaid activation help-desk.

BBM or Blackberry Messenger is an Instant Messaging service which allows BlackBerry users to send and receive short messages and attachments instantly to another BlackBerry users, wherever they are – in the country or outside.

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. In India the company offers 3G voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers globally. In rest of the geographies it offers mobile voice & high speed wireless internet. Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by BusinessWeek. Bharti Airtel had over 241 million customers across its operations at the end of November 2011. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

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January 12, 2012
App a Day : Pano comes to WP7 marketplace (PR)

The already multi platform Pano app today is available to be downloaded of the Windows Phone Marketplace, for a mere US $ 2.99, or IN Rs. 169. The app can stick together 16 wide angled images to make a complete view of your surroundings. The UI also follows along the Windows Metro UI layout so yo will not feel lost on for windows phone. Cant wait for a hands on.

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Debacle Software Brings Pano to Windows Phone

TORONTO, Canada – January 9, 2012 – Debacle Software today announced the launch of their award-winning panoramic photography app Pano for Windows Phone devices. First launched on iOS in 2008, Pano is used by over 500,000 iOS and Android users around the world.
Using powerful proprietary image matching and blending algorithms, Pano creates stunning, seamless wide-angle shots from up to 16 photographs, right on a user’s mobile device. Since its launch in 2008, Pano has been used to create millions of stunning and moving images, from weddings to protests to scenic vistas and land- scapes.
“There is nothing we like more than bringing Pano to more people,” said Debacle partner Julian Lepinski, “We’ve been working on this in secret for quite some time, and we’re excited to finally get it out there into peoples’ hands.”
Eric Akaoka, Debacle partner and design lead noted, “The Metro design language introduced in Windows Phone 7 is a radical, refreshing departure from the norm, and redesigning Pano’s UI to match was a rewarding challenge.”
Pano has won numerous awards, including iLounge’s Essential Apps two years in a row, O’Reilly’s Best iPhone Apps and Best App Ever’s Best Photography App.
Pricing and Availability:
Pano will launch on Windows Phone for $2.99 (€2.99, £2.29), and will be initially available in both English and Spanish. Pano will be available for purchase in all Win- dows Phone Marketplace countries.

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January 10, 2012
Nokia acquires mobile OS Smarterphone

Nokia is playing around with a lot of operating systems on its plate. Symbian, MeeGo, Series 60 and not to forget WindowsPhone. The company has now gone and acquired the mobile OS known as Smarterphone. Ferd Capital has sold Smarterphone AS to Nokia, back in November 2011. The company claims that it makes ultra-smart mobile operating system software for featurephones, enabling users to get a smartphone-like experience on “affordable hardware.”

No official plans for the utilization of the OS have been given out by either Ferd Capital or Nokia. Butm an OS like this would do brilliantly in developing countries like India, where feature phones are still the most selling handsets.

[Ferd Capital]

January 7, 2012
HTC Sensation XL Unboxing and Quick Review Feat : Galaxy Note

The HTC Sensation XL has been touted as a slow mover, yet its a and hot powered smart phone. We unbox this massive metal device and take a look at the interface. The giant features a 1GHz scorpion processor along with 16GB storage. a 4.7 inch 480 x 800 px resolution on a SLCD display. The resolution is much lower than the HTC Sensation / XE , both of which have a qHD display.

The XL also comes with a Beats by Dre audio engine and in-ear earphones. Which surely are the lime-light features of this device. The device is superbly built and powered by a 1600mah battery. Surprising the phone is priced at a massive Rs. 37500/-

In front of the Note the Sensation XL seems dwarfed, the screen size, specs everything seems lower, except build quality.

Check out the video below and stay tuned for the full review and complete comparison b/w the Note and XL.

January 6, 2012
RIM puts the Playbook on a massive sale 16, 32 and 64 GB versions all for US$ 299

Looks like RIM is following up in HP’s footsteps, and has decided to liquidate the Playbook all over the world. The US however seems to get the best deal, RIM’s official webstore is offering the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB model for $299, the pricing is quite strange especially since no one would buy the cheaper ones. Those who have the tablet can get access to the Android market in a few easy steps detailed by the team at Crackberry. It requires a rooted PlayBook, WinSCP, the latest version of Cyanogen Google apps.

In India the Playbook has been sold out at the lower pricing, with just an asking price of Rs. 13,500 for the 16GB, Rs. 15800 for the 32 GB and Rs. 24000 for the 64Gb versions. People are going gaga over the failed tablet simply because its priced right.

We will try getting our hands on a such device for a better review.

[RIM]

[CrackBerry]

January 4, 2012
Fast Five is the Most Pirated Movie of 2011

The list of the most pirated movies on BitTorrent reveals that Fast Five is the most pirated movie of 2011, with over 9 million illegal dollars. Costing the makers of the Movie Millions of dollars in revenue. The list goes on with movies like The Hangover II, Thor, Sourcecode, and I Am Number Four.

[Torrent Freak]

December 30, 2011
iOS 5 devices finally receive Untethered Jailbreak : No Luck for iPhone 4S and iPad 2
iPhone and other iOS device users on iOS 5.0.1 will begin to rejoice as Untethered jailbreak for their devices is finally here. Just weeks after an exploit for untethered jailbreak was found for iOS 5.0.1, it has been incorporated into RedSn0w 0.9.10, the Pwnage Tool and Chronic Devteam’s Cydia package. This will work on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (including the CDMA version), iPad 1, iPod Touch 3G and iPod Touch 4G, so long as they’ve been updated to iOS 5.0.1.

Steps are simple
1. Head over to the Dev Team page here and download the RedSn0w for your OS (Mac/Win)
2. Make sure your device has been updated to iOS 5.0.1
3. Run Redsnow on your PC or Mac and Follow instructions.
Meanwhile pod2g who found the initial exploit, is also reportedly searching for a solution for iPhone 4s and iPad 2.
December 28, 2011
Harrods will sell the Porsche Design P’9981 BlackBerry for £1,275, Blackberry for a Lakh

And you thought Blackberry phones were expensive! Meet the most expensive Blackberry phone on retail yet. The Porsche Design P’9981 Blackberry will sell in the UK exclusive through Harrods for a price of British Pound 1,275/-, that amount converted into Indian moolah is just a couple of thousand over a Lakh of rupees. Move over Vertu, expect the Indian elite to switch to this Berry as soon as it hits the Luxury Retail outlet in London.

The device is supposedly going to start selling before the British bring in their new year 2012. Traveling to London for the New Year party? Get us one of these on the way back!

December 28, 2011