Its time to get ready to unleash the adrenaline you had been patently hiding deep down. The moment you have been waiting for is right around the corner. Rockstar games blockbuster hit Grand Theft Auto Five (GTA 5) is now up for preorders.
The game has been upgraded for these new releases and there are a lot of graphical elements added to the game. These versions have increased draw distances, new wildlife, and better resolution overall.
Visual Renovation makes the game look even better.
Even the traffic and pedestrians have increased from the previous versions of the game. The makers promise a realistic feel of the elements like water, trees, the barren grounds now have grass elements. The game will render at the native 1080p.
GTA 5 is much faster and efficient as the game takes full advantage of the PC and new consoles graphical capabilities. The users will be able to take their game data from previous versions and start going forward in the new version.
With the release of the previous version of the game the makers were able to make a billion dollars in just 72 hours. Now with upgraded graphics and multiple additions the game will definitely be worth the prolonged wait for the gamers.
All three versions of the game are priced at $59.99 on GameStop. The release date has not been specified yet.
The Government of India (GOI) is going to auction 184MHz of spectrum in 900MHz band through the Department of Telecom(DOT). The auction will be done as 29 licences will be up for renewal in 18 telecom zones in 2015-16.
The spectrum GOI intends to auction is mostly used for 3G services. The auction will be for the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz. Based on the memorandum of understanding between DOT and the Defense Ministry, the Defense Ministry will vacate about 25 MHz in the 2100MHz spectrum. Out of the agreed upon 25 MHz, the Defense ministry has already vacated 20 MHz.
DoT is also planning to sell spectrum in the 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands to be used for LTE (4G) services. In 2010, the government had auctioned 2300 MHz spectrum to the operators such as Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Tikona for long-term evolution (LTE) services. But now they are at freedom to use the spectrum to their discretion as they are not bound to the technology.
The government has 104 MHz of spectrum on it for auctioning. This will include the 26 MHz of spectrum freed after license renewals from Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India. Along with these the 78 MHz of spectrum which was left unsold in February will be up for auction.
The spectrum base prices will be set by TRAI for the 900 and 1800 MHZ spectrum. In the previous auction, the Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata circles were sold for double the base price, earning the government 610 billion Rupees.
This auction will give the companies a chance to expand their spectrum thereby expanding services like better 3G and 4G connection. But the heavy cost of the auction will definitely percolate down to the consumers. We have to wait and see if more spectrums mean better services from the companies or just higher phone bills.
In the battle field called the Indian mobile phone market, a new entrant will try to lay its claim on the throne. Beijing-based Chinese electronics company Xiaomi will launch a phone on the 11th of July to mark its arrival in the Indian market.
On its Facebook page, the company announced that it had “something special” in store for India which it will unveil on the 11th of this month. The company which is sometimes called the Apple of China will also compete with its compatriots Gionee, Oppo, Lenevo, ZTE, Huawei from China.
The company already has an Indian website which might get operational on the 8th of July. The website currently is hosting a contest for users to guess which phone the company will release in India. The winner will get to own the phone.
Like Alcatel and Motorola, Xiaomi has also said to have signed an agreement with the e-commerce giant Flipkart. As it’s just beginning in India, it might be a good step for Xiaomi to sense the water before diving in.
Launched in 2010 the company has since seen massive growth in China. It is one of the biggest manufactures in China which develops and sells Mobile phones. Along with Phones the company also sells mobile apps, routers and other consumer electronics.
Xiaomi really needs to bring some really distinguishable products to stand out in the market which is as populated as the population of India. Its colored backpaneled devices can also be a hit amongst the colorful Indians.
Microsoft has started taking pre-orders on the Microsoft Store for the Kinect V2 which will release on 15th July. The device will feature an updated look and have better responsiveness.
The company states that the new $199 sensor will have an advanced depth sensor with 1080p resolution. With various other improvements, the sensor will also have a wider field of view.
Microsoft is encouraging developers to create Kinect based content for Windows Store and Windows Desktop. The company’s website states “The Kinect for Windows v2 sensor gives developers more of the precision, responsiveness, and intuitive capabilities they need to develop interactive voice and gesture-based applications for the Windows desktop and Windows Store.”
The company will hold a Virtual Event for the developers to teach them how to program for the Kinect Hardwares. By bringing out the Kinect SDK, Microsoft plans to widen the content library for Kinect-centric apps and games. During the virtual events, the developers apart from the technical aspects, will also get to learn the process of Face Tracking, HD Face, and Kinect Fusion along with Kinect Studio and Visual Gesture Builder.
If Microsoft got this right, then it will be a cool new way of interacting with a personal computer. Especially if there is more Kinect-able content available.
Motorola is surely in it to win it. The brand with its fierce product placement is ruthlessly being a thorn in the eye of the competition. After being the first company to bring Kitkat to all price points, the company will become one of the firsts to have the Kitkat 4.4.4 running on all its devices.
We’ve begun rolling out Android, KitKat, 4.4.4 for Moto E, Moto G & Moto X this week in India! Expect an update on your #Moto soon!
Motorola informed the users through its twitter account. The company claims that this new update will add an extra layer of security for web browsing. The company also stated that the new update will fix several stability, framework and OpenSSL-related issues. The phones will get a new phone dialer.
Android KitKat 4.4.4 update will give you all the features of Android KitKat 4.4.3 with an extra layer of security for browsing web (1/2)
Motorola phones presently are the most feature-packed and competitively priced devices. All three phones have successfully become the leaders and have ushered speed in delivering updates in an update starved market. The company had released a 4.4.3 update just last month.
If you were waiting for the Android Wear based smartwatches then your wait is over. Samsung has released its Android smartwatch OS based Galaxy Gear Live at the Play Store for Rs15,900.
Android Wear was one of the most exciting announcements at this year’s Google I/O. The OS has a number of good features. The Galaxy Gear Live was introduced along with the LG G watch and the MOTO 360 watches.
The watch sports a 1.63 inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display with 278 ppi. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor and a 512 MB RAM. The phone sports a 4 GB internal storage which is good enough for the functions it offers.
The Gear Live has a heart rate monitor, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass and the best part, it is water and dust resistant. The watch takes its juice from a 300 mAh battery.
The Android Wear has a lot of features right out of the box. It is voice controlled device and lets you access and reply to important notifications from your phone. It is almost a portable control for your phone with health monitoring features of its own. It can be used for checking messages and emails, doing online searches, navigation and a lot more.
The Android wearables will definitely get a boost with the Android Wear. Presently the Moto 360 with its round display looks the most alluring but its other first generation Android wear siblings don’t fall too far behind.
Nikola Tesla without a doubt was one of the greatest inventors of the 20th century. He is responsible for inventing the foundation for most of our present day technology. Stuff like Alternate Current(AC), Radio, remote controls radar, X-rays, and many more that we take for granted have benefitted from the brilliance of Mr.Tesla. Now two Russian physicists, Leonid and Sergey Plekhanov, are working to recreate his famous Wardenclyffe tower (Aka Tesla Tower) experiment which aims to transmit electrical energy wirelessly. They intend to do the experiment in the fall of 2014.
Technology has come a long way since the experiment was conducted by Tesla back in 1900’s. The original wood-framed tower was 186 feet (57 m) tall and the cupola 68 feet (21 m) in diameter. It had a 55-ton steel (some report it was a better conducting material, such as copper) hemispherical structure at the top (referred to as a cupola). Though his tower had only 2% efficiency and it never became completely operational, it was a brilliant thought none the less.
Flash forward to 2014, we now have better knowledge of science; have better equipment and material than 100 years ago. The researchers claim that they have tested their models on computer simulations and they have been successful. They state that the with their technology the 55 ton hemisphere can be scaled down to 2 tonnes.
For electricity generation the researchers say that an area of 316 by 316 kilometers, which is roughly 100,000 square kilometers, if laid with solar panels, can create more energy than the amount that is utilized by the countries around the world in one year. But here the fact is that the solar panels currently are expensive and not mass produced. Also the efficiency of the panels is still not up to the desired limits.
The physicists are currently looking for funds on indiegogo worth $800,000. They have claimed to have done thorough research of Nikola Tesla’s notes and calculations and state that Tesla’s science was going in the right direction. But some physicists disagree with the basic premise of the technology. They say that power goes out evenly in all directions and only a super small fraction can ever be captured again. It is like turning on a bare light-bulb and expecting to capture a useful amount of its light output from a mile away. But the Russian physicists seem confident of their plans and have opened all their research for investors to scrutinize.
The real reason to get excited about this technology is that researchers all around the world now are getting actively involved in energy research. The revival of Tesla tower, or even an inquiry into its effectiveness will enhance our knowledge about it. According to a new report in the past 10 years the number of countries with renewable energy policies has increased to 144 in 2014 from just 15 in 2005. That is a massive 10 fold increase and it shows the seriousness of the nations on the subject. Seems like the green energy revolution has finally begun.
The Android L is one of the most comprehensive updates to the Android operating systems. Google went down to the rudimentary pieces of the OS and reimagined the functioning of the Android system. Now as everyone is eagerly waiting to take a spin on the Android L, we bring a list of phones that will be the first to get the L update. You can buy these phones today as they are all future proof.
So here we go:
5.Samsung Galaxy s5
Samsung’s present flagship will be the first to get the Android L release in the Galaxy stable.
4. LG G2/ LG G Pro2 /LG G3/ LG G Flex
LG in an exclusive conversation with iGyaan hinted that they will release it on these four phones once Android L hits the market. These phones are already LG’s best sellers and they would be a good bet for now.
3. Moto X/Moto E/Moto G
As Moto’s awesome revival is dedicated to Android based X, G and E, these phones will surely get updated to the latest Android L. They will be the first phones after the Nexus devices to get the updates.
2. HTC Flagship
HTC is the most eager company to induct the Android L across all its Blinkfeed running devices. This is a great news for current HTC users. Phones like HTC One M8, M7, the One Mini and the HTC Desire line of kitkat phones will be the first to evolve into Android L as soon as possible.
1. Nexus 5 – Developer Preview Out Now
Nexus 5 already has the developer preview out for Android L and Boy, does it look good. We’ve been having lots of fun with the L and you can get it right away too. Even though its a beta testing version, its still very stable, has brilliant performance and excellent battery life thanks to Project Volta.
Near Field Communication (NFC) got a lot of people excited, especially the ones working in the commerce field. It’s a great technology with lots of uses. Phones can make the wallet obsolete using this technology. Though, our phones can’t carry condoms and paper soaps so we will hang on to our wallets for a while. Now Magnetic communication which is still in the rudimentry phase will try to usurp NFC’s claim to wallets throne.
A group of scientists at the University of Oulu in Finland are experimenting with the prospects of using the magnetometer in the phone to send data. Magnetometers are used in smartphones for Compass apps. Using a system called Pulse, the researchers were able to send magnetically encoded data at a distance of 2 centimeters at 40bits/sec.
The researchers uploaded a video which showed their technique working on an Android phone. They were able to send textual data as well as a MIDI track over their connection. This technique will be great for confidential message transfers as it cannot be intercepted from a distance.
The data speed and distance might appear slow but that works in favor of the device. An NFC sensor works at a distance of 12 centimeters so if it can be wiped off in the line by malicious interests. Mobile payments can be much more secure with reduced proximity. They state that this can also be used in advertising. By having a tiny electromagnet on a street poster, advertisers can connect with consumers more interactively. Unlike a QR code, an electromagnetic transmitter will have the ability to have their data renewed.
There are several new studies going on around the world to get the best possible use of the components in the smartphones like the Barometer, Hall Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Finger Print Sensor, Gesture Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer. Having multiple uses of these sensors will make the phones more efficient and help in bringing generational changes in now almost stagnant mobile phone development.
Moto X had a great feature which allowed users to reach Google Now from anywhere, even from the lock screen. It is a particularly useful feature when you are on the move or want to write a reminder instantly. Google announced that it will bring the Moto X like ability to all Android phones but that will take a while. Now a reddit user pr01etar1at has figured out a crack to have the same features on your 4.3 and above phones before Google officially releases it for your phone.
Following some simple steps you can have Ok Google hotword detection from anywhere on your device. We would like to warn you though that this might not work on all phones.
All you need to do is search for “Ok Google Everywhere” on your search bar. Now when you go back to the Voice setting menu, you will get new options in the voice detection section. The options will let you set the detection capability according to your discretion.
One suggestion that we’d like to give Google is giving an option for customizing the hotword. Considering the fact that Google’s Android is the World’s most selling operating system, once folks get a hang of this voice assistant, we’ll start listening to “Ok Google” everywhere. A personalisable hotword would come really handy for situation like those.
At the recently concluded Google I/O, the new Android L was showcased and it has received unanimous admiration. Even though Apple has won this year’s developer conferences by creating a new seamlessly interconnected universe; Google has a few surprises in the battery efficiency arena with its own Project Volta.
Project Volta aims to bring fundamental enhancement in Android for better battery life.
Battery technology has lagged in competition to almost all other elements of the phone designs. Within a short span of time, we have gone from HD to 2K phone screens. We have 4K video recording, better processors, better RAM, even the OS’s are competitive and getting better with each release. The loser in this entire race has been the battery. Even though, the phone manufacturers have compensated by making bigger batteries but almost all of them give only about a day’s worth of backup in their respective phones.
Google is working on the lines of its previous Project Butter initiative during the release of Android 4.1. Project Butter was directed towards making fundamental changes in Android to make it more efficient, smooth and lag free. There was also the Project Svelte, which was directed towards running the Android 4.4 on low-end devices, thereby making KitKat a truly inclusive Android operating system.
With Project Volta, Google introduces a slew of measures to find enhancements to the Android system to increase battery efficiency. Google hopes to fix fundamental flaws in its software architecture to address the battery issue.
Google invented a tool called the Battery historian for the developers to access what apps were using battery at a specific period. Using this, developers got to play around with the various variables which could help to make the best use of the precious juice in the battery.
ART helps increase performance remarkably
Android is also completely incorporating the Android Runtime or ART and switching over from Dalvic runtime in a bet to improve efficiency and speeds. ART is available for testing on the Android 4.4, if some of you want to let your inner nerd flow. The difference between the two is that Dalvic compiles code every time an app starts and thereby waking the processor and in turn sucking in some juice every time. On the other hand, ART compiles and optimizes the codes well in advance thereby requiring less power to run apps.
JobSchedular API will help batch multiple functions at once to increase efficiency.
Project Volta also introduces a new Job Scheduler API. With this, developers could program certain apps to work only when corresponding conditions are met. So instead of individual apps arbitrarily asking for processor access, multiple functions can be batched together and done at once for minimum use of battery life so that you can spend that extra juice for watching “dogs and babies” videos on YouTube.
Apart from this Android also inducted the battery saver mode which has been seen on manufacturers like Samsung and HTC. When the phone reaches the predetermined low battery level, the processor is slowed down, screen is dimmed, animations are reduced and the radio usage is decreased. This option is to maximize the last few moments of the battery before finding the sanctuary of a plug point.
Ars Technica’s test showed a 36% increase in battery efficiency
These efforts seem to be showing some results as Ars Technica did an extensive test and found the Android L to be 36% more battery efficient, and that’s quite impressive.
There have been some efforts by the markets to address the battery issue. The Oppo Find 7 is a good example. With its fast charging VOOC charger, the Find 7 boasts of charging 0-75% battery in 30 minutes. Apart from this the market is also flooded with power-banks but they become just one more extra piece of equipment to charge and carry around. What is needed is a back-to-drawing-board study of the battery and maybe Google should make it a priority at the Google X (its semi-secret research facility) now.
With the amount of dependency we have on our smartphones and the information they hold on us, battery technology should be a priority research. The company that delivers the best battery improvement will surely emerge a winner in this over-saturated market. It’s about time that Smartphones got some Smart Batteries.
Google recently announced the shutting down of its Orkut service. After seeing a huge user base in Brazil and India, the social network just couldn’t keep up with the rapidly innovating competition. The social network service will officially shut down on September 30th.
Google will close the curtains on Orkut on September 30th
Orkut was the first social network that I laid my hands on and even on a 56000 bps connection; it was pure fun. Back in 2005, this was a better medium of interaction with friends with whom we could spend every waking moment with. It was a more interactive service than the dull telephone call,even though it did take 15 minutes to post a single ‘scrap’ (equivalent to fb’s wall post) on a friend’s profile. It was more interactive than Yahoo or MSN messengers which were staples of all internet connected computers of that era. Uploading or even viewing a single image was a night long affair which would skyrocket the phone bill and hence was meant to be avoided.
Social media has come a long way from my first encounter with it. The giants, Facebook and Twitter, have made their mark and cleared their competition while increasing their user base exponentially. Now one out of every seven human being has a Facebook account, and there are about six hundred forty five million users of Twitter worldwide. If Facebook were a country, it would have been the third most populous country in the world.
The Grand Daddy of Social networks has reinvented itself into a music heavy platform
The social media evolution began in 2003 with the inception of Myspace. Myspace created the foundation on which thousands of startups tried their luck on and Facebook ultimately won the game. Myspace has since had a new owner in Justin Timberlake, who has reinvented it in a music heavy flair.
Even social broadcast mediums like Blogger faced intense competition from micro-blogging revolution which came with Twitter. It took social interactions to a whole new level. With almost first person interaction with the who’s who of the world, it somehow brought an egalitarian aspect to the society.
The news media has also seen a major shift in information dissemination with the advent of social media. Now you don’t have to go find the news, the news finds you. Almost all major newspapers and media houses have their social media pages, and there is a predatory race to who could gather the most reach and most subscribers.
Erik Qualman in Socialnomics states that “Social Media is the biggest shift since Industrial Revolution.” He says that the four P’s of Marketing; Product, Place, Price, Promotion are now replaced by the 4 C’s of Digital; Creating, Curating, Connecting, Culture. Within our social media profiles, it’s clearly evident that digital marketing is now a major priority for companies around the world. An economy of “likes” is taking shape.
Instagram and Vine have grown because of their simplistic and swift approach
But this has also had some drawbacks. Because of the massive overload of information, the average human attention span is at seven seconds, in comparison, a Goldfish has 8 seconds of attention span. This is the reason why services like Instagram which are swift and efficient have been able to consolidate a faithful following. Apart from these, unscrupulous elements have found a whole new ecosystem to exploit naïve and unsuspecting victims. Fortunately lot many nations around the world have started talking about regulations for social media. These laws should be directed towards upholding freedom of speech while protecting privacy concerns to be efficient.
The death of Orkut does raise some questions on longevity of the social media ecosystems. The companies that have constantly read the user demands and have innovated with it have succeeded. It is this reason that we see Mark Zuckerberg signing up multi-billion dollar acquisitions. Mobile is where the game is to be played in the future and Whatsapp, Snapchat have fast become interaction medium between friends and acquaintances.
Google can create a new revolution with its wearable technology.
For Google, which has struggled to offer a winsome social network experience, this is an opportunity to either start afresh or start anew. Google is at an advantage to take some risks right now considering it is the leader in the mobile OS business. Its hardware platforms like Android Wear, and Google Glass provide it an opportunity to experiment and innovate. In the era of portables and identical looking operating systems, the world is looking constantly looking for the next big thing. It is for the future to see if it emerges from a giant as the iPod did from Apple or from an unknown garage workshop like in the case of Facebook.
Flying saucers were an integral part of our 20th century pop culture. Movies like “The Day the Earth Stood Still” initiated our obsession with the rounded spaceships of unknown visitors. They also inspired a million hoaxes and countless imaginative tales of anal probes. But now NASA has made its own version of this Science Fictional travel medium to further transport capabilities to Mars.
The test program, called the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), was put into an evaluation phase over the last weekend and it came out with flying colors. The test was done at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.
Retrieving the craft from the Ocean
The LDSD is an important technology to look forward to. The successful landing of the one tonne Curiosity rover using the rocket powered Sky crane set the precedence for this craft. NASA realized that the future missions will try to get even bulkier equipment on board and if the current plans of forming a human settlement on Mars have to succeed, they need to find a way to deliver payload efficiently and cost effectively.
The LDSD, along with the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) was tested in the Stratosphere at the heights 36.58 KM above the earth surface where the winds are as thin as Mars. In the stratosphere, the LDSD payload underwent a rocket-powered trajectory to reach supersonic speeds. After this the deployment and optimum functioning of the inflatable decelerators were tested. This was followed by the recovery of the balloon and test vehicle in the ocean.
The Test Plan
NASA intends to use atmospheric drag as a landing solution, thereby saving rocket engines and fuel for final maneuvers and landing procedures. The technology for bigger spaceships will be bulkier to assist the massive crafts with landing capabilities. As the name suggests the craft is deployable at supersonic speeds and can bring the speed down for safe landing.
Mars is a complicated environment for landing spacecraft’s. As it has a thin atmosphere, the parachutes need to be massive. Airbags and rockets have been used for past missions, but they would not be that efficient with larger payloads.
The Dream of Human Mars mission got a bit closer to reality with this LDSD test
This was the first of the three tests for the LDSD technology. There will be two other devices which will be tested later. As the mission dates for the audacious plans for landing humans on Mars is drawing closer, NASA intends to attain flight level maturity in the coming two-three years.
Now there are two ways of looking at the below story. The Grammar Nazis will bemoan this as the lowest dip in our communication medium. While the rest of the crowd will see it as an opportunity get creative with the wide library of emojis that iOS has to offer.
Introducing emojli, an Emoji-only Social Network where life is simple and easy. Here everything is based on emojis. Even your username. Since the communication is totally based on emoticons, comprehension is going to be a major issue.
The creators, Matt Gray and Tom Scott, say that this is a spam free social network. But perhaps the creators don’t know the incredible proclivities of the internet trolls to get creative. The social network is said to come out soon but you can reserve your username at emoj.li right now.
As of now this the concept seems a bit strange, but it also can be an equivocal revolution. We’ll reserve our judgement for the service to start. If the Emoji username selection is a kind of a trailer for things to come, it looks rather good.
After the amazing record label “We The Best Music Group”, DJ Khaled partnered with Heads Audio & Bang Olufsen to introduce a namesake Headphones brand to take on the Dr. Dre’s Beats. The brand will be known as We The Best Sound.
Dj Khaled is known for his collaborations with the crème de la crème of the Hip Hop world like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nicky Minaj, Ludacris, Chris Brown, Drake and many more. He has also won multiple awards for his collaborations.
On the Headphones front he has a much more formidable opponent in Beats. Dr Dre’s brand has had a long head start and has also been featured on DJ Khaled’s videos. Also the recent Apple acquisition gave it a considerable boost. So it would be interesting to see how We The Best scores up against the Beats.
Yesterday, he posted an update on Instagram and he had this to say:
[quote text_size=”small” author=”DJ Khaled”]
“Today I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Heads Audio & Bang Olufsen to create the best audio in the market place, We The Best Sound. We The Best Sound represents the very best in audio entertainment. Alongside the prestigious Bang Olufsen brand, We The Best Sound and Heads Audio will provide the listener with the highest quality sound in electronic audio entertainment and will continue to carry on the tradition in excellence set by Bang Olufsen. It will also provide the listener a chance to hear audio the way I hear it when creating my music. I take pride in crafting a sound based on time, care and most importantly the best quality sound on the planet. Embark on this journey in sound with me…you won’t be disappointed. We The Best Sound, the brand you can trust. H6 with Dj Khaled by B&O @wethebestmusic @wethebestsound @headsaudio @beoplay #GODISTHEGREATEST!”
[/quote]
The Headphones themselves look good. Though special consideration should go to the Iron Man Red and Gold color tones, a combination of classy and flashy. Since yesterday his instagram account has been filling up with him posing with a wide barrage of celebrities. He even had one with Larry King (who knew someone would consider Larry King for headphone endorsement).
It’s actually good for the music industry to have sound equipment merchandising. Considering the fact that it is hard to make money out of sales because of internet piracy, a trademarked hardware would definitely be an advantage for the industry. We’d surely like to see more competition in the field.
