The full-length version of the new film ‘Spectre’ directed by Sam Mendes, that is part of the James Bond franchise, has been released. The film is rumoured to be the biggest and most expensive Bond movie till date. The trailer opens with M (being played by Ralph Fiennes aka Lord Voldemort) questioning Bond about his unofficial and controversial trip to Mexico City for which he gets a typical Bond-like response “I was on a vacation”.
Instantly, one gets the new Bond vibe that Daniel Craig has so effortlessly created.
The trailer seems to have all the ingredients of a successful Bond film – exotic locations in Mexico, fast cars, witty dialogues, a Bond-like story and a stellar cast. But we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Sam Mendes has returned with Spectre and the trailer sees Bond going rogue to infiltrate a secret organization called Spectre. This movie is also expected to tie up lose ends from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, especially where Bond villain Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) is concerned and deals with Bond’s past.
The star studded cast sees Daniel Craig reprising the role of James Bond, Ralph Fiennes as M, Christoph Waltz as the new villain (perhaps the only one who can compete with Javier Bardem),the underrated but absolutely brilliant, Ben Wishaw as Q, and of course, the new Bond girl Monica Bellucci. The film also stars Naomie Harris,Léa Seydoux and Andrew Scott (from Sherlock fame).
Dates for a worldwide release have not been announced although Spectre releases in the UK first on October 26, 2015 and in the U.S. on November 6, 2015.
Are these ingredients enough to make Spectre as smart and riveting as Skyfall? Watch the trailer below and let us know.
Few months back, WhatsApp announced a much talked about ‘calling’ update, and just recently it announced another update that enables you to mark a conversation as unread. To activate the updated feature you have to tap and hold the conversation you wish to respond to later. This doesn’t change the status of the conversation if you have already read it, rather, it acts as a reminder for a conversation you didn’t have the time to respond to immediately, and in the process, avoids many a conflict that has been caused by the little blue tick marks.
Image Source: AndroidPolice
Apart from this WhatsApp has made itself very efficient by introducing other updates such as the low data usage feature for voice calls, useful when you’re on a limited or slow data plan and the ‘mute’ button on the customized settings options. This feature enables you to mute a group conversation for up to a full year! One can also customize settings for specific tone, vibration length, light, popup notification, as well as the call ringtone and vibration.
With multiple updates and new features it seems like WhatsApp is here to stay, at least till the near future.
Trash cans or dustbins are normally used to dump waste in, it is then, taken out and recycled or disintegrated. Trash cans are extremely vital for the modern concept of ‘a clean city is a healthy city’. Bigbelly, a New York Based firm, recognized as an industry leader in waste management, environmental, and innovative technology spaces, announced the use of their new smart-cans. As an initial test New York’s Downtown Alliance have already taken two trashcans to turn them into Wi-Fi hotspots.
Image Source: Gizmo
Bigbelly’s main aim was to create the best-possible waste-management system and it started off with the solar-powered recycling bins, which allowed the bins to collect five times more trash before needing to be emptied.
The idea of the ‘smart-can’ dawned on them when they realised that their cloud-based connectivity, could provide additional services, such a free public Wi-Fi with the use of a wireless repeater installed on the bottom of each station.
These Wi-Fi spots provide browsing speed up to at least 75mbps and can function smoothly, as long as there is no obstruction between the bin and the user. Which according to DigitalTrends is more than what Starbucks with 9Mbps can say for itself.The Wi-Fi service is free and runs solely on advertising revenue.The plan being to add more of these trash-cans soon with the focus on under privileged areas.
Leila Dillon, Bigbelly’s vice president of global marketing, told CityLab,
“We are a smart, solar-powered, connected technology platform that is literally sitting in the streets of New York. We are exactly where the people are.”
And as reported by Gizmo they also plan on tracking urban intelligence data to provide services, applications and benefits to “core city infrastructure that every city and town has and needs.”
Will the cities and towns become smarter with such new innovations? Let us know what you think.
Mobile phones have become an extended appendage to our bodies. Today though, with the stable establishment of the Smartphone, our lifestyle and etiquette has entirely changed. We embraced this change of modernity without much resistance, although it doesn’t hurt to wonder what it would have been like otherwise.
The Word ‘Selfie’ Would Not Be a Part of the Dictionary
The still trending culture of the ‘selfie‘ would be non-existent and one would have to learn how to perfect the art of holding one’s digital camera awkwardly. It helps that the new smartphones now come with a good front camera with up to 8MP HD clarity.
We Would be Rolling Down Our Car Window to Ask for Directions
Shopkeepers and road signs or even a REAL map would show us the way instead of the GPS or Google Map.
Image Source: Raising Gentlemen
Our Pictures Would Have #NoFilter
Instagram has nothing less than a cult following since its introduction. The App allows people to publish their photographs and has by far, the most aesthetic editing options that any photo editing app could offer. Although saying that it revolutionized picture quality and the art of photography would be going too far.
Source : Emarketing Blog
No Video Chats On-the-Go
At one point Skype was the only means to video chat across the world. It seemed like a revolutionary idea until the advent of the smartphone and along with it multiple video chatting apps such as FaceTime, Viber etc.
Remember SMS?
Two of the most popular apps for informal communication have changed the world of text messaging. Now we barely ever fill up our texting balance because we would rather use the Wi-fi to text, call, send jpeg images, voice notes etc.
Source : Mashable
We’d Still be Buying Cookbooks, Dictionaries, and Books in General
With the introduction of reading apps like Kindle, Aldiko Book Reader, Cool Reader etc. we have almost stopped opening Dictionaries, Cook Books and buying special edition magazines and novels. The reading app has become so much a part of our culture that Sunday morning Church services also involve the congregation taking out their mobile phones instead of The Bible. The mantra being, ‘less is more’.
Downloading and Storing Music
Today music enthusiasts don’t need to go to Music Stores in order to buy their favourite albums. In fact they don’t even need to buy an MP3 player or even the life changing iPod. All one needs to do is own a smartphone with apps such as SoundCloud, Apple Music, Spotify etc and you have it all in tow.
We should also be thankful that we’re no longer downloading music (along with a hundred viruses) from Limewire or Bearshare.
Candy Crush and Angry Birds Probably Wouldn’t Exist
Long ago in the 90s, if we wanted to play computer games we would have to go to the gaming parlours to experience the ultimate fun of gaming. Even when the feature Nokia mobile phone arrived the only game they had was called Snakes and it was joyous!
Arguments Wouldn’t Be Resolved Until Someone Located a PC/Laptop
Initially internet access would only be available to computer users and those who did not own one would have to visit Cyber Cafes. The feature phone too did not have a Wifi or data connection option and therefore the Cyber Cafés and computer business thrived. But with the coming of the smartphone and all its internet options most people now choose to buy a smartphone which has all the functions of a laptop or PC and have internet access on the go.
Without our smartphones, everytime anyone got into an argument, it wouldn’t be resolved till someone located a PC/Laptop.
To-Do Lists
The emergence of reminder apps have alone perhaps dropped the sales of efficient and creative stationary like sticky notes, labels, notebook fridge magnets etc.
In conclusion, a world without the smartphone would still be beautiful but perhaps won’t be able to keep up with the notoriously infamous ‘fast-paced modern’ lifestyle.
OnePlus, a modern age gift from China, had come out with its new Smartphone OnePlus One in April 2014. It launched itself in India exclusively via Amazon, with all transactions being carried out online. And even though it has been the shining star of 2014, it continues to strive towards bettering its marketing capacity and widening its horizon, especially in the Indian market where it has thrived.
A week before the release of its upcoming model OnePlus 2, it announces the launch of 9 offline customer care services around India. Partnering with Regeneris, a global provider of diagnostics and repair services to top brands in the consumer electronics industry, they aim to reach people all over the country offline. The customer care centres will be located in Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata.
The OnePlus Two releases on the 27th of July 2015, worldwide, with the latest android version, longer battery life, a 16MP camera with 5MP front camera, dual sim, a full HD display and other features enhanced from the first model OnePlus One.
The OnePlus goal according to Founder Pete Lau was to design a smartphone that would balance high-end quality with a lower price than other phones in its class. Lau explains that that they will never be different just for the sake of being different and that everything done had to improve the actual user experience in day-to-day use.
By introducing 9 offline customer care services in India, they actually might be true to their goal of improving the day-to-day experience of the daily user.
For more details on the new 9 offline customer care centres in India, click here.
Today we have moved on from the age of emails and PCs to the age of texting and mobile phones, and with apps such as Viber, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Skype etc. the use of emails has become almost limited to being used exclusively for official purposes. In the process, age old apps like Yahoo have almost become redundant, especially with the growing popularity of new apps such as Google because of their efficiency and ability to cater to the growing needs of the modern lifestyle.
Recently though, Yahoo has made a silent comeback with the launch of its Livetext app on the iTunes app store. The unique feature of this app is that it is a peculiar combination of silent video chatting combined with texting. This app is unlike Skype or FaceTime. Users can have a virtual face-to-face chat and text each other simultaneously, without the voice getting in the way of the messaging. It should be very useful for people in business or classroom situations.
The advertisement for this app as the iTunes description states is as follows:
“Welcome to Livetext for iOS, the most natural way to have REAL conversations. It’s live video texting, without sound. You will feel like your friends are right there with you.”
Therefore, according to Yahoo, this new app should allow people to interact more naturally. This is Yahoo’s answer to making communication and interactions in the modern world efficient, interesting but yet personal and REAL.
The reviews for the app have been mixed. Some consider it a worthwhile comeback while others term it as ‘odd’. The necessity of silent video chatting has been questioned, although as previously mentioned it could be of use in certain situations. Apart from that, we also have apps such as FaceTime and Yahoo’s ultimate usurper, Gmail with functions such as Google+ Hangout which is basically “free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and group chats with up to ten people at a time.” Yahoo Livetext on the other hand, is still not equipped for more than a 1:1 interaction- at least for the time being.
Yahoo made its app live, on July 11,2015. Livetext for iOS can use either a WiFi or cell connection. With the app having been launched only on the Hong Kong iTunes, it is yet to be seen whether it will hit the global market.
So, will you revert back to the revamped Yahoo? Let us know.
