Author: Parul Ritvik Sood

Outernet Getting Ready To Broadcast Free Internet To The World

The Outernet is a global networking project currently under development by the Media Development Investment Fund, a United States-based non-profit organization established in 1995. The Outernet team claim that only 60% of the world’s population currently have access to the wealth of knowledge that can be found on the Internet. This is because, despite a wide spread of Wi-Fi devices across the globe, many countries are unable or unwilling to provide people with the infrastructure needed to access the web.

The company’s plan is to launch hundreds of low-cost miniature satellites, known as cubesats, into low Earth orbit. Here, each satellite will receive data from a network of ground stations across the globe. Using a technique known as User Datagram Protocol (UDP) multitasking, which is the sharing of data between users on a network, Outernet will broadcast information to users. Much like how you receive a signal on your television and flick through channels, Outernet will broadcast the Internet to you and allow you to flick through certain websites. This service sounds too good to be true.

To understand Outernet better, check out their self-explanatory infographic:

July 12, 2014
Apple is Gearing Up For The iWatch Launch

Apple’s iWatch is one of the most anticipated wearable of the year. Apple seems to be gearing up to release its new iWatch which will undoubtedly be the first of many wearable devices Apple will launch in the coming years.

Recently, Nike discontinued FuelBand product line to concentrate on the software letting go more than 80 employees of Fuelband. While the product is still being sold, the company had decided to working on wearables. Now reports have surfaced that are some of the important members of the FuelBand team have been poached by Apple. According to rumors, former FuelBand team members Ryan Bailey and Jon Gale were both hired by Apple in June.

Nike Discontinues the Nike + FuelBand Production

Bailey was formerly Nike’s Senior Test and Validation Engineer for the FuelBand, and his LinkedIn profile now lists him as Mechanical Design Engineer at Apple. Gale had been Nike’s Senior Firmware Engineer focusing on the FuelBand line of wrist-worn fitness trackers, and he is now Apple’s Sensing Systems Engineer.

The fact that Apple is hiring former Nike FuelBand employees heavily indicates that the mysterious iWatch may finally grant us its presence. Apple is rumored to launch it this year sometime around October. It is also been said that the iWatch may be announced with iPhone 6.

July 11, 2014
Super Confident Apple Doubles Up its iPhone 6 Order

Seems like Apple is absolutely sure about its newest upgrade since reports claim that the company has decided to double up the number of iPhone 6 units for this fall. From the sound of it, the Apple flagship device is just about ready to rock the tech world later this year.

The report from Taiwan’s Business Weekly claims that number of iPhone 6 orders placed is about twice the number that Apple placed for the iPhone 5. However, it is possible that this huge number could be because Apple is making two different iPhone 6 models: One with a display of 4.7 inches and another with a display of 5.5 inches.

Earlier this month we had spoken about the rumours regarding Apple launching a new skinnier and lighter version named ‘iPhone Air‘.

iPhone renders

The report also says that one of the iPhone 6 models will enter into mass production this month. Hence, confirming the previous rumors that Apple will unveil the 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6 in early September and then releasing it around two weeks later.

iPhone renders 2

We have seen so many mock-ups and leaks of of iPhone 6 and we are quite familiar with what the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will look like. The iPhone 6 is said to be the thinnest iPhone ever which is just 6 millimeters thick and also more rounded on the edges than the iPhone 5s, with the power button moved from the top to the side of the device.

July 11, 2014
Leaked Video Shows a Mysterious Motorola Phone Running Android L

Motorola is right now haywired with Lenovo planning to take it over. The company definitely has some handsets in its pipeline to release. This time we have come across a new video starring unidentified Motorola device that appears to running Android L. This unknown device, claimed to be a Motorola X+1 or the X2, has been shown on video courtesy of TK Tech News.

However, the Youtuber could not confirm if the new device is, in fact, the Moto X+1. On the contrary, the site talks about how the alleged device could also be a new Droid device, if not Moto X+1. Going by the actual size of the device shown in the video and when compared to the Nexus 5 placed side-by-side, the handset easily crosses 5 inches diagonally.

Furthermore, the display has Full HD resolution, with TK Tech News speculating it may have an AMOLED screen. We think that Motorola has had their hands on the Android L preview for a while now, given how Google usually lets manufacturers have the first look in order to get development going. So it’s certainly possible that this is some kind of a Motorola prototype device used for testing beta version of L.

Motorola has had an amazing year with the super successful release of the two best-seller Moto G and even cheaper Moto E. While, company still lacks a flagship smartphone in their offering, this alleged device may be the the new Motorola hero.

July 11, 2014
Chromecast 1.7 Finally Allows Screen Mirroring From Your Phone

The new update of Chromecast is the first step of introduction to some awesome features Google unveiled at this years I/O. The Chromecast 1.7 update for Android smartphone and tablet users will have the ability to mirror their screens.

The new update not only allows users to display their Android homescreens on a Chromecast-connected TV or other device, but you can also use any application now on your television through the pocket-friendly streaming dongle.

Upon downloading the new update, you can find the ‘Cast Screen’ option on the left drag navigation menu in the Chromecast app. Nexus devices will see a toggle for screencasting directly in the Android quick settings menu. Once enabled, the user can navigate their phone in the normal manner with a one-to-one projection appearing via Chromecast.

It is still considered to be a beta version and it is sadly not available for everyone immediately. Google said that Samsung, HTC, LG and some others will be first to roll out the new capabilities of Chromecast soon. Though you may not have the device that is on Google’s compatibility list, but don’t worry too much. We hear there are third-party mirroring apps will solve this problem soon. The company also pointed out the new update will be available at Google Play store soon.

July 10, 2014
You Can Now Correct Google Now by Simply Saying “No! I Said”

A new update for Google Now, a voice-based smart assistant, is tiny but a significant one. The new update will let users correct the search engine when it doesn’t correctly understand what they ask for.

Voice searches with Google Now can sometimes be excruciatingly irritating. Its accuracy is predicated on many factors, such as the quietness of your surroundings and the clarity of your speech and the worst of all its inability to correctly perceive non-American accents, so results can be pretty inaccurate at times.

So Google, acknowledging this problem, provided an update of a correction hot phrase which starts with “No, I said,” and has to be followed by the word or words Google Now has misunderstood. So, by simply saying “No, I said” you can change certain words with your voice that Google Now misunderstood.

For example you want know what are the best ‘selfie’ phones available, but Google Now translated it to ‘cell’ phones. So, if you just say “OK Google: No, I said selfie, Google Now will correct itself and then search for what you meant in the first place, presumably because it can figure out which word is most likely to be wrong.

Word correction is one of the latest Google Now features that Google has made available to the users. The virtual assistant has come a long way and learned many other cool new tricks recently. Google Now lets users control media with their voice, and it can create event cards based on email conversations, better manage call reminders, and tell you when to get off your bus or train. Google now features are also present on Android Wear based devices which will surely make life easy for many.

July 10, 2014
The Top 5 Powerful Women in The Tech Industry Today

Google launched a new initiative offering vouchers to any women and minorities interested in learning how to code. This new initiative came just days after Google published a diversity report that revealed only 30% of its employees are women. While, we appreciate what Google is trying to do, we still have some dynamic and powerful women on the front row of Tech industry who inspire us. We are listing 5 of these amazing women, we love, respect and admire.

1. Sheryl Sandberg

Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

She has been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine. She is is worth US$1 billion, due to her stock holdings in Facebook and other companies. Sandberg was poached from Google by Mark Zuckerberg, six years ago, to take charge as Facebook’s COO. Sandberg oversees Facebook’s business operations including sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications. She has been responsible for steering Facebook towards profitability.

2. Virginia Rometty

Chairman and CEO, IBM

She is the only women to head IBM and she has been named as Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” for eight consecutive years, ranking #1 for 2012. She has a net worth of $45 million and annual salary of $15 million. She attended Northwestern University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science. Her first job out of school was at General Motors. She in then joined IBM where she quickly rose the ranks of Big Blue’s corporate ladder. She has served as IBM’s CEO since October 2011.

3. Ursula Burns

Chairman and CEO, Xerox

She is the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. In 2014, Forbes rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world. The 51-year-old Burns started her career as an engineering intern in 1980. Burns led several business teams including the office color and fax business and office network printing business. In April 2007, Burns was named president of Xerox, expanding her leadership to include the company’s IT organization, corporate strategy, human resources, corporate marketing and global accounts. Her salary package for 2008 stood at $887,500, but total compensation stood at a whopping $6,003,126.

4. Padmasree Warrior

Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, Cisco Systems

The former CTO of Motorola, Inc. is listed as the 71st most powerful woman in the world by Forbes this year. Born and raised in India, Padmasree Warrior joined Motorola in 1984 and worked in different roles at the company with the last one being the chief technical officer (CTO). She left Motorola and joined Cisco Systems as CTO in 2007. At Cisco, she is responsible for strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, integration of new business models, incubation of new technologies and talent.

5. Marissa Mayer

CEO, Yahoo!

Previously, Mayer was executive and key spokesperson for Google. Mayer was ranked eighth on the list of America’s most powerful businesswomen of 2013 by Fortune magazine. She joined Yahoo! in 2012 as president and CEO taking over the responsibility of resurrecting the ailing internet giant. Since then, the company has revamped a number of its products and acquired biggies like Tumblr. Yahoo paid Mayer a total salary of $36.6 million in 2012 which includes $454,862 in salary, $35 million in stock awards and a bonus of $1.12 million in addition to over $40,000 in other compensation, as per a regulatory filing.

July 10, 2014
Leaked Images Reveal Samsung’s Virtual Reality Headset, The Gear VR

Facebook is working on it, Sony and Google too; so why should Samsung stay back and let them steal the thunder? Rumors are flying around high about Samsung’s plan to launch its own virtual reality headset. The device will take on Sony’s Project Morpheus headset and Oculus VR. And now, Sam Mobile leaked the first photo of the company’s forthcoming virtual reality headset the Gear VR yesterday.

Unlike the Oculus, the Gear VR won’t be a complete virtual reality headset on its own. The Gear VR headset introduces a modular design and structure providing users with dock for their Galaxy phones into the front. Gear VR will require a Galaxy phone in order to work because the design doesn’t include motion sensors or a screen independent of the docked smartphone.

Rumors started earlier this year, reporting that Samsung is working on an Oculus Rift-style virtual reality headset which was confirmed by Business Insider later. The leaked image is said to be first glimpse of the alleged Samsung virtual reality headset. Sam Mobile, in its post claims that the rumored virtual reality headset made by the South Korean giant will be announced alongside the alleged Galaxy Note 4 at IFA this year.

The leaked image of the alleged Samsung Gear VR headset purportedly shows its design and form factor. The report reveals that we can expect a ‘see-through button’ on the right side. It uses the smartphone’s rear-facing camera sensor to offer a video feed of the real outside world. It is also said to include a touchpad under the see-through button to navigate through the user interface on the Galaxy smartphone.

Also, same as with the company’s other Gear wearables, the alleged Gear VR is also said to get its dedicated section, including apps for the virtual reality headset. The report names some of the apps likely to be made available after the announcement, which include Theatre, 360 Player, and Gallery. In addition to this, Samsung Gear VR SDK will be also made available shortly after the launch, some reports reveals.

The headset will enter the still infant market of Virtual Reality market, which is dominated currently by the Facebook-acquired Oculus Rift. With the Gear VR, Samsung can make use of its marketing ability and reach markets where Oculus will take some time to reach. Samsung has the ability to do that, provided their product stands out and is appreciated by the consumers.

July 9, 2014
Sony Unveils a Pro-Selfie Phone, Meet The Xperia C3

Now, Sony has made a move on the selfie trend by officially announcing its Sony Xperia C3 and Xperia C3 Dual smartphones, which have been designed keeping in mind selfie lovers.

The Xperia C3 is powered by the Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 1GB of RAM. The rest of the specs include 8GB of expandable storage, an 8MP rear cam with a LED flash, and a super thin body at 7.6mm. Xperia C3 is also 4G-enabled and supports LTE Cat4 and a dual-SIM variant dubbed Sony Xperia C3 Dual, which supports not only dual-standby, but dual-call too.

The Xperia C3 sports an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera along with LED flash. The smartphone is Sony’s first to come with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera along with an LED flash reson for which it is touted as a pro-selfie phone. The front-facing camera features a wide- angle view to capture a group selfie without unnecessary squeezing inside the image.

Both front and rear camera include features like Superior Auto, Portrait Retouch v.2, Timeshift-burst, Picture effects, Movie Creator, Social Live, Sweep Panorama and a special dedicated app for Vine which lets users capture short 6-second videos and share it directly from the smartphone. Both cameras also provide HDR mode and number of filter effects.

The Sony Xperia C3 with 8GB of inbuilt storage which can be expanded via microSD card (up to 32GB). It comes with a 2500mAh battery, which is rated for up to 24 hours of talk time and 1,071 hours of standby time.

Right now, it is not specified when will Xepria C3 be launched in India, but there is no doubt that it will eventually make its way here. The first market to get it is China, but it will spread worldwide shortly after. Sony Xperia C3 will be available in white, black and mint colors starting in August. The pricing is yet to be announced.

Along with the launch of the Sony Xperia C3 sony has released a massive infographic in an effort to convince you that selfies are a lot more important than you think. Check it out here.

July 9, 2014
5 Useful Websites You Should But Never Knew Existed

It isn’t surprising that with the enormity of the World Wide Web we often find yourselves stumbling upon useful websites. These pages make work easy and makes us wonder why we didn’t know about the website earlier?

So here you go, we dug up some useful websites for you from shady parts of web-sphere which might make your work easier:

1. Print Friendly

PrintFriendly cleans and formats web pages for perfect print of your webpage. It removes Ads, Navigation and web page junk, so you save paper and ink when you print.

2. What The Font

Some of us have a thing for beautiful typography and often have a hard time identifying the font used in the image? Well, What The Font is the best website for you. It is a website and an app that figures out the name of the exact font something is when you upload a picture.

3. Mathway

Solves any kind of math problem, from basic math to chemical equations. We’re not recommending this site to encourage users to be lazy at school because actually knowing math is very important for times when you don’t have internet access to get to this site.

4. Camel Camel Camel

This website shows you the price history of anything on Amazon and alerts you when the price drops. You can even upload your entire Amazon wish list directly.

5. The Rasterbator

This sites let you turn any image into a life size poster. The website gives you varied options on effects and size and turning an image into an impressive poster you always wanted to hang on your living room

July 9, 2014
Top 5 Must-Have Gadgets For the Monsoon

After months of sweltering heat, the monsoon winds are a bliss. However, with the rainy season comes the scary possibility of unexpected rain drenching your gadgets. We may invest in the best technology, but with a single shower of the Indian Monsoon your favorite gadget’s fate may be sealed.

Here is a list of must-have gadgets and their equipment for this season:

5. BubbleShield PRO

If you are under the impression that adding a waterproof cover to your iPad will restrict you from using it, then you are wrong. The Bubble Shield Pro is IPX7 certified and lets the tablet work even a foot under water for 30 minutes. Your tablets are more at risk because you often carry them in your hands and not in the relative safety of bags or pockets. So, this amazing cover will not only help you save your tablet from the pouring rain but also let you work on your tablet while it’s raining.

4. Otterbox Armor Series

This rugged iPhone case by Otterbox is perhaps one of the best all-weather cases you can find for your iPhone, making sure you travel without even thinking about rain or cold. Its interior are made of silicone, which makes it shockproof and the metal latches lock the front and back covers together to protect the phone from dirt and dunks for up to 30 minutes in up to 6.6 feet of water. The case increases the size and weight of the phone, but that is a small price to pay for the protection it provides.

3. Braven BRV1

A perfect system for a pool party. Braven BRV1 is a portable speaker that has a rubberised exterior to handle not just monsoon rainfall, but also drops and scratches. It can also survive accidental dunks up to 1m of water for 30 minutes. The 3 Watts of audio output from its 70mm subwoofer definitely won’t blow you away, but should be adequate if you need some light music in wet outdoors.

2. Sony Walkman NWZ-W273

Fancy going for a run in the rain? Well, this product should be on everyone’s monsoon list. It has no mini or micro USB ports and that basically means there are no inlets for water to get in and damage the internal machinery. The plastic earpieces are connected by a rubber wire to fit snugly around the back of your neck and playback controls are neatly placed at the bottom of the two pods.

1. SXtreo WP61

Number one on the list is the super flashy SXtreo WP61. It is a tough shock resistant, waterproof and dustproof features and robust multi-tasking capability device. This smartphone is engineered to perform outstandingly in the harshest of environments. Military-rugged, super-secure, cutting edge, SXtreo smartphones aren’t meant for just anyone. It is meant for you! You don’t have to worry about your phone even if you jump in a pool.

July 9, 2014
Finally an Attractive Fitness Tracker! Check Out Withings Activité Watch

Well, you can’t say Withings’ Activité is a Smartwatch, atleast not in the typical sense. But it’s not just a conventional watch either. Withings describes it as the first Swiss-made watch that happens to be an activity tracker.

The French company’s new watch has computing brains to track steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled, and sleep patterns. The watch, for starters, has an analog dial, with real hands unlike typical smartwatches.

The accelerometer-based activity tracker built into the watch monitors steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled and sleep pattern. The Activité also builds in a second dial on the front of the phone that tells you how close you are to reaching your daily fitness goal.

It looks mostly like a classic watch. It’s chrome and round, available in black and silver, with an analog face and a classic design. You might never know there’s anything else inside the Activité were it not for the second, smaller dial in its bottom-right corner, known as the activity dial.

The Withings’ approach of a simplistic design certainly is ground breaking in terms of smartwatch. Cédric Hutchings, the CEO, said the company’s goal was always to be different from the standard screen-on-your-wrist design.

And that’s not just it, there’s more to take from this watch than just its simple design. The Activité lasts a year with a single watch battery, is waterproof up to 5 meters, and comes with a chic leather band. Withings focused on the materials and design of its new watch, and ended up with a device that people would probably be willing to wear even if it contained lesser “smart” capabilities.

At $390, the Activité costs quite a bit more than other smartwatches, but there’s a good chance people will pay the extra for its slick design. The new watch, and all of Withings’ wearables, reports its information into an app called HealthMate, which runs on both Android and iOS. The Activité, a part high-end, Swiss-designed watch, and part activity tracker, was announced in New York City at an event that was more like a fashion show than a gadget unveiling and will be available this fall.

July 8, 2014
Rumor Roundup: All You Need to Know About the Samsung Galaxy F

Samsung, is working towards breaking new grounds with it’s upcoming Galaxy F (also referred to as the Galaxy S5 Prime.) This one seems to be targeted towards the ‘premium’ metal smartphone segment.

A couple of leaks for the Samsung Galaxy Galaxy F have making rounds apart from the rumors of its production. Recently, new leaked live photo of the Samsung Galaxy F emerged and it seemed to confirm that the said smartphone will in fact feature a metal frame.

In terms of looks, Galaxy F, is not exactly different from S5. The buttons, the Samsung logo, even the finger scanner, the camera hump, and heart monitor; everything is where we’re used to seeing it in the S5. The biggest change is said to be the metal back that is made with brushed aluminum, a material which has a more premium feel and better heat dissipation properties than plastic.

Reports so far also pointed out that the Galaxy F will come with a super high-res Quad HD (1440 x 2560-pixel) with screen size of 5.24 inches, but given the most recent announcement of the Korea-only S5 LTE-A with a 5.1” Quad HD panel, it seems that the Galaxy F might also come with a 5.1” screen.

With an expected fall release date, it seems like Samsung may ship the Galaxy F with the latest and most powerful Qualcomm chip – the Snapdragon 805 with the new Adreno 420.

The F is also said to have a better finger scanner than the Galaxy Tab S tablets, while we are not expecting it would be a match for fast and accurate one on the iPhone, we would still love to see how Samsung will tackle this problem.

With a visual upgrade, this device not only will be a powerful smartphone but also a good looking one. Till now, we are not sure what the price of this S5 upgrade. The Galaxy F release date is rumored to be in September. With Apple’s rumored plans to bring in the next iPhone and a 5.5-inch iPhone ‘Air’ around the same time, Samsung might reconsider their plans.

July 8, 2014
SCiO : A Chemical Scanner That Will Change The Way You Shop
Thanks to government laws, we have nutritional labels on packaging on most store-bought food. They give you a quick run down of their contents: fat, sugar, calories, and so on. But what about the melon in your fridge or the fresh cheese you bought from supermarket or the RO water in your glass?

A new handheld gadget called SCiO takes the guesswork out of analyzing your food. The device can be used to scan almost any food or beverage, analyze its chemical make-up and send the data to your phone.

SCiO contains a tiny optical sensor, called a spectrometer, which reads the molecular fingerprint of an object by shining an infrared light on it. The gadget then sends the data to the cloud for analysis and forwards the results to your phone, all in seconds. An accompanying SCiO app, which can be downloaded, then displays fat, protein and carbohydrate levels down to the milligram.

Touted as the world’s first affordable molecular sensor, it fits in the palm of your hand. The same technology has been used for decades by corporations in quality control of oil and chemicals, although SCiO is being pitched as the first portable spectrometer for consumers. The sensor can only detect materials and objects that were previously uploaded to its database. But the device is so smart that the more items you scan with it, the more it learns to recognize items and their ingredients.

Company highlighted some use of the this portable sensors like:
- Get nutritional facts about different kinds of food: salad dressings, sauces, fruits, cheeses, and much more.
- See how ripe an Avocado is, through the peel!
- Find out the quality of your cooking oil.
- Know the well being of your plants.
- Analyze soil or hydroponic solutions.
- Authenticate medications or supplements.
SCiO was one of the biggest project on Kickstarter, where its creators pledged for $200,000 and reached their goal within 24 hours. They eventually raised more than $2.7 million, and have promised to deliver the first SCiOs, for $149 apiece, to early backers by the end of the year.
July 7, 2014
Neil Young’s Music Player is Designed to Deliver Quality Sound

Writing in his book Waging Heavy Peace, Neil Young expressed concern about digital audio quality, criticizing in particular the quality offered by Apple‘s iTunes Store. The Canadian Musician wrote, “My goal is to try and rescue the art form that I’ve been practicing for the past 50 years”

The Canadian Musician talking about Pono

Acting his part as a music legend, he has come up with revolutionary new music system called ‘Pono’ that promises the best possible experience when listening to your favorite music. The idea comes from the mind of musician Neil Young who founded the company by the same name back in 2012. The goal here is to use the FLAC format in order to provide listeners with “the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music from both major labels and prominent independent labels.”

For digital music, sound files get compressed to make them take up less storage space, squeezing out some of the music’s more finer details. It is a triangle-shaped music player, set to be released later this year, that will bring the quality of hi-fi stereo sound back to the mainstream in the age of the iPod. At first glance Pono Music seems to be just a regular mp3 player, but the technology behind it is what makes it truly special. The digital filter used in the PonoPlayer has minimal phase, and no unnatural (digital sounding) pre-ringing.

All sounds made (including music) always have reflections and/or echoes after the initial sound. There is no sound in nature that has any echo or reflection before the sound, which is what conventional linear-phase digital filters do. This is one reason that digital sound has a reputation for sounding “unnatural” and harsh.”

Though its $399 price tag might be troublesome for the consumers.The Kickstarter project to fund the device raised $6.2 million; the 3rd biggest campaign in the crowdfunding site’s history.

The player is said to have about 6 times more musical information than a typical MP3, which explains why all the songs sound better with Pono Music. The service is supported by all major labels and some independents ones across all genres.

July 6, 2014