Category: Brands and Companies

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New Macbook air to come July 13th, Even Mac OS X Lion , After Store Update

The inter-webs are abuzz with news of Apple Sale Item refresh on the 13th of July. This news comes as many have confirmed that Apple has started to ask Apple Store employees to prepare for an “overnight” shift on July 13th.

Many claim that the Macbook air and Lion OS X will be available from the 14th of July in Apple Stores. and the Macbook Air refresh will bring a lot of new things, including SandyBridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O.

A black Macbook Air (premium) is also in the “AIR”, but seems highly unlikely.

July 9, 2011
Apple Planning to Kill WebOS Wireless Sharing, With a Patent of Their Own

Looks like Apple is preparing to end HP’s “Touch to Share” in one single sweep. As the folks fro PatentlyApple found in the new patent 20110163944, the new wireless sharing feature that could allow users to quickly and easily transfer files from various iOS devices. a user might be able to “pour” the files from an iPhone onto an iPad in one single gesture or motion of the wrist.

July 9, 2011
Apple May release an iPod Touch 3G, Data only

Looks like Apple might bring a total of three new things to the Table this September. New iPhone 5, revised iPad 2 ( 3) and a totally new iPod 3g?. Yes you read it right, several sources including a dutch website claim that Apple will release a 3G iPod touch this year. Similar to the iPad , the iPod touch 3G will only be able to use the onboard radio for data connectivity and not to make phone calls.

But we know there is always a work around for that, right?

So essentially a total of three totally revamped iOS devices are heading your way in September. We sure hope you start saving up!

[Read]

July 9, 2011
Apple – Stylus Patents Approved

Apple had applied for two patents for styluses for capacitive touchscreens and other surfaces last year, but the US Patent office has approved them only yesterday. The first patent is for a stylus with a heated conductive tip which would be charged when it is inserted back into the phone to be used with touchscreen devices.

The second patent is for a stylus which could be used to write on any surface, with the results appearing on a computing device; a phone, tablet or computer, which is programmed to receive the input. This would be similar to the already existing Livescribe pen. These patents leave us wondering just what kind of devices does Apple have is store for release.

July 9, 2011
Swype Comes to iPhone, IPod and iPad Courtesy Jailbreak : How To
The most popular keyboard from the Android OS has finally been ported to iOS via Jailbreak. So , if you have already Jailbroken your device, follow the step by step below to add swype to your device

Step 1:
- Open Cydia and move to Manage tab
Step 2:
- Tap on Sources > Edit > Add
Step 3:
- When you tap on add, a window will pop up asking for a URL, type following URL:
- http://wynd.x10.mx
- Then tap on Add.
Step 4:
- Once repo is added and packages are downloaded.
- Go to the “Changes” Screen and Tap on “Swype”
- Tap Install
Step 5
- Once Installed Respring Your Device
- Swype is enabled on your standard keyboard
A quick Video Demo is coming up shortly

[@WyndWarrior (Twitter)]
July 9, 2011
Apple iOS 4.3.4 will Fix the Jailbreak and Security Flaws.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he PDF exploit that was used in JailreakMe last year which allowed a one tap Jailbreak and a fast unlock for users. Apple had fixed the flaw in its early stages and now its back. Looks like that is the reason for the quick iPad 2 Jailbreak and the new exploit the Jailbreakers have been enjoying. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple acknowledged the exploit, and is working on an update. The said update will not only fix the JailbreakMe 3.0 exploit but also another exploit that could allow unwanted eyes to your information.

[Wall Street Journal]

July 8, 2011
Apple Struggling with iADs, Minimum Buy-In Reduced

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he reinvention of basic products like the Notebook computer , personal media player and a common man’s phone has been an easy task for Cupertino based Apple Computer inc. But looks like mobile advertising is yet to become their forte.

When iAds started Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that the minimum Buy-In for Advertisers was 1 Million US $. But, earlier this year Apple had dropped its minimum buy in to half of the original resting it at US $ 500,000 . Now according to a report filed by Bloomberg, because agencies are taking business elsewhere from Apple due to lower costs from competition like Millennial Media, Greystripe, and Google’s AdMob, Apple is further reducing its iAd Buy-In to just US $ 300,000.

GroupM ( the ad booking unit) committed to over $1 Million in spending, will now allow its clients to buy packages of US $ 300,000. The actual price of 1 cent / impression and $1 / tap remains unchanged.

Mobile App developers are only filling up 15-20 % of their portfolios using Apple iAds, and looks like the company is facing a hard time getting the right type of clients.

July 8, 2011
The Apple App Store Crosses the 15 Billion Downloads Milestone

Apple has claimed that over 200 million devices running its mobile operating system, iOS, have been sold to people across 90 countries. With over 425,000 apps in its app store, the company claims that it has crossed the 15 billion app downloads milestone. Of these 425,000 apps, over 100,000 have been specifically optimized for the iPad.

These figures represent a considerable challenge for rivals like Hewlett Packard and Google who also offer online application storefronts. Of these competitors, the Android Marketplace possibly comes the closest to Apple’s App Store with hundreds of thousands of applications available to users on their mobile devices running Google’s Android OS. However, out of all the hundreds of thousands of apps available, a very tiny fraction have been optimized for tablets running Android which gives Apple’s iPad a huge advantage.

With the release of OSX “Lion”, Apple will be including a built in Mac-App store with the ability to download full screen applications for the companies line of Desktops and Laptops. This change shows how Apple’s advances in mobile software have affected its entire product line.

Apple’s soon to be released iOS5 will offer a huge number of improvements over its predecessor, some of which seem to be directly targeted towards its competition. The iMessage feature seems like a direct answer to RIM’s Blackberry Messenger service. Perhaps the most anticipated feature of iOS5 will be iCloud. The iCloud service allows users to keep all their devices and media in sync, over the cloud. It is also integrated with applications to allow them to push updates wirelessly. It remains to be seen how this update will affect the sale of Apple’s products as well as its competition.

July 8, 2011
YouTube – Cosmic Panda Interface Now Available

With the beta test of Google+ we’ve seen an across the board redesign of most of Google’s services. Google search got the black bar on top. Gmail got two new themes for users to try out. Now it’s YouTube’s turn.

Google has announced the availability of the Cosmic Panda Interface for users to test. The interface sports a clean and professional look which gives more emphasis to video space. The interface is designed to be quite dark, which might be an effort by Google to reduce electricity consumption across the world.

The first thing that you notice when you use the new interface is the video. It has been brought to the center of the screen and the clutter around it has been removed. It is very easy to switch video sizes from the buttons at the bottom of the interface. The comments section has been placed under the video in a better interface which makes viewing comments easier.

Another feature to note is that Google has increased the size of the related video preview images. This makes it easier to view related videos but the downside is that it requires users to scroll a bit more. One feature we really liked is the redesign of the video player itself. The progress bar has been coloured in such a way that the loaded section is grey and blends into the background. The section that has already been played turns red like the old interface.

The channels interface has gone through an upgrade as well. The video links are now much larger and the latest video player has been removed. Chrome users will benefit from a really cool feature called “Keep Watching” which lets you watch a video and browse a users channel at the same time to queue your next video. The video that is playing gets reduced to a small thumbnail on the top of the screen. You can queue videos and resume watching the currently playing video simply by clicking the thumbnail.

You can test out the new interface and leave your feedback with Google at http://www.youtube.com/cosmicpanda.

July 8, 2011
How To: Move your Facebook Photos to Picasa

With Google+’s popularity on the rise, a lot of users are looking for an easy way to shift their albums from Facebook to Picasa. The aptly named move2picasa.com website allows you to log in with your Facebook id and copy all your photos to Picasa. Please note that the photos would be moved without captions etc.

If you have a lot of photos, it could take you a few hours to transfer them. Apparently, the more photos that you and others try to transfer, the slower the service will be. Despite the wait, this seems to be an adequate solution for most people. One other thing, you either move all your photos or you move none. There is no feature to select or filter which images are copied.

Once your photos are in Picasa, sharing them with your circles is very easy. The web app was built by AmiWorks’ Aman Kumar Jain and Amogh. According to the website, some 300,000 photos have already been moved.

July 7, 2011
HTC receives Eight Design Awards (PR)

HTC has been awarded eight design awards for its creations including the IDEA Gold Award .

The HTC Droid Incredible was given a Gold award, the HTC EVO 4G was recognized with a Silver award, and the HTC Legend garnered a Bronze award. The HTC Aria was also named a finalist in the communications tool category. Amongst others.

Read the full PR below for the total information.

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HTC Recognized for Global Design Leadership

Honored with Eight Awards, Including the Prestigious IDEA Gold Award

New Delhi, India – July 6, 2011 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, has been honored by three separate international organizations for excellence in product design, reflecting the company’s commitment to creating perfect experiences for everyday life that make consumers’ lives a little better.

HTC’s philosophy of designing mobile phones for the individual passions and pursuits of consumers is reflected in each winning product line, resulting in recent awards from IDEA, and earlier in the year from red dot and IDA.

“Countless HTC employees came together to earn the recognition we received at IDEA 2011, red dot 2011 and IDA 2010,” said Scott Croyle, Vice President of design at HTC. “Our award-winning designs span multiple disciplines and regions around the world. Our teams listened to and observed customers, recognized their differing needs, and partnered to design products that have these customers’ desires at heart.”

HTC garnered four top awards at the 2011 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), known as the “Oscars of Design,” and sponsored by Fast Company magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America, for devices in the communications tools category. The HTC Droid Incredible was given a Gold award, HTC EVO 4G recognized with a Silver award, and the HTC Legend garnered a Bronze award. Additionally, the HTC Aria was a finalist in the communications tool category.

“The rigor of selecting the best of over 2,000 entries culminated in three days of intense dialogue and debate that was stimulating and rewarding for the 20 expert jurors—we are proud of the work we have chosen to represent the best from our profession,” said IDEA’s Jury Chair Davin Stowell, founder and CEO of Smart Design.

Started in 1980 by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the International Design Excellence Awards Program (IDEA®) fosters business and public understanding about the impact of design excellence on the quality of life and the economy.

HTC Receives “red dot” of Approval from Global Jury

In March 2011, HTC won three awards from red dot. The EVO 4G won the highest product design award: the “red dot: best of the best” award, recognizing trailblazing design. In addition, the HTC Legend and HTC Aria won a red dot, a quality seal awarded to devices with high design quality, that stand apart from comparable products.

Red dot was judged by a jury from across the globe, whose background gives them unique insight to assess the special intercultural aspects of design. The red dot awards are sponsored by the Red Dot Museum in Germany and Singapore. The competition is aimed at all those who would like to distinguish their business activities through design.

“HTC’s drive to connect with consumers through design was apparent in the winning selections,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, president of the competition. “Each year we seek out brands that successfully harness the power of design to the masses.”

International Design Awards (IDA) Gives HTC Gold

In May 2011, the IDA, a four-year-old awards program honoring smart and sustainable design, recognized HTC’s pioneering design by awarding the HTC Legend a Gold at the 2010 IDA Awards.

“This competition year has been our largest to date, with entries from over 65 countries,” said Jade Tran, competition director. “We were very excited to see design that was so committed to design theory and creating a strong connection between consumer and product. HTC certainly exemplified this in the Phone and Communications Technology category.”

A handful of designers, thinkers and entrepreneurs created the International Design Awards in 2007 as a response to the lack of recognition and celebration for smart and sustainable multidisciplinary design.

About HTC

HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative devices that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

Follow HTC India on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HTC_in

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HTCIndia

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July 7, 2011
Facebook also comes to Skype

Skype has also added Facebook live chat to their windows client. Skype 5.3 for windows enables people logged into Skype to talk to their Facbook friends via an easy interface.

Import your Facebook News Feed to keep up with the latest from your friends. Comment, Like and call them direct from Skype. Update your Facebook status from Skype, too.

Get all the latest Skype features plus send instant messages direct to Facebook chat. See when your friends on Facebook are online and get in touch in one click.

Its only available for Windows Right now, But expect a Mac client soon. Hit the link below if you rock a PC.

[Skype for Windows]

July 7, 2011
Facebook Brings Group Chat and Video Calling – Targets Google +
Facebook has just announced Facebook Video calls, in partnership with Skype. The Video feature embeds directly into Facebook chat and is a free to use service.

There were three major announcements today.
- Group chat(“an easier way to find someone who is online”)
- Skype-enabled video chat
- 750 million Facebook members
In a direct approach the Member downloads a tiny Skype applet .jar file and Facebook Video chat becomes available. Users can now click the video button in the chat module to initiate a video call. The user on the receiving side, get a popup, much like a Skype call. The video camera on either side is turned on only when the recipient accepts the call.

As Mark pointed out, the interface is buggy. we tested it out and after several repeat failures we were able to get a stable connection.

The popup is pretty simple and is always on top. The video chat can be made full screen and minimized or muted. Mark also noted that more developments will come as and when improvements are done to the system.

Tony Bates from Skype noted that over 150 million video calls are made each month through Skype, and now this feature will be available on Facebook.

visit the link below to get started

[Facebook Videocalling]
July 6, 2011
Sony Playstation 4 coming in 2012 ?

CONCEPT PS4 Image

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f a report from market hardware news watch website Digitimes reports that, Sony’s manufacturing partners will begin building the Playstation 4 by the end of this year for a launch schedule of quarter 2 2012. There are no specific details , but most rumors talk about a kinect type motion sensing technology to replace the current generation PS3 Move.

Sony has always held in strong opinion that physical controls are essential for gaming. Dropping that claim would be very convenient for the company and possibly beneficial. Foxconn and Pegatron, the two manufacturing firms charged with assembling Sony’s PlayStation 3, will build the new console according to DigiTimes’ sources. Also mentioned in the report, shipment volume for 2012 is set at 20 million.

With the Wii U and the next Xbox coming next year, if was only expected that the third giant upgrade their flagship console.

July 6, 2011
Google Chrome eating IE and Firefox’s share of the Pie, Now at 20.7% of Total Market

StatCounter reports suggest, Google’s Chrome web browser now has a 20.7% share of the web browser pie, An increase of seven times over just two years. This also means that highest competition Internet Explorer’s Share is now only 50% of the total pie and Firefox has a 28% share which has come down from 30%.

StatCounter gathers its data from more than 3 million websites with more than 15 billion page views.

July 6, 2011