Category: Must Read

New iPhone 6 Leaks Show Rounded Sides and Flatter All Metal Back

We saw leaked images of Apple’s next jesus phone appear a couple of days back, but they failed to show us the front and the back of the device. This time around Inner Exile a China based case manufacturer shows off how the phone will look from the front as well as the back. The power button has a new location and it resides next to the sim card tray on the right of the new iPhone 6, or so claim the images.

Apple will kick of WWDC 2014 in June and will possibly announce the new version of iOS aka iOS 8, with the expected launch of the iPhone 6 somewhere at the end of August.

Several Chinese companies have made mock dummies of the iPhone 6 based on the leaked schematics. Heck you can buy a dummy of your own and make your own rumors. But if anything is to be confirmed, till we do see an actual iPhone running the new iOS that looks like this, we will have to take each story with a pinch of salt and lime. Honestly these images look far from what Apple could possibly have in stock for us.

May 9, 2014
Websites We Wish We Had in India

The last decade saw the entrance of e-commerce giants Ebay and Amazon, in India. The interest of overseas websites in the Indian market has consistently increased. Undeniably, our country has a huge untapped market of online users. Yet we’re still waiting and wishing to experience some amazing websites, which are a part of everyday lives abroad.

Here’s a list of websites, we’re hoping launch here soon:

Television and Movies

Netflix

Netflix, Inc. is an American supplier of on-demand Internet streaming media accessible to viewers in North and South America, the Caribbean, and parts of Europe. They also have a service of flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States, where mailed DVDs are sent via Permit Reply Mail. Whenever you try to access Netflix India, they crush your hopes and send you a notification informing you that it is not available in India. Though, they ask you to register and promise to inform you when it launches.

Hulu

Hulu is a website subscription service offering on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, TBS, WWE, and many other major networks and studios. Hulu videos are currently offered only to users in the United States, its overseas territories and Japan.
Earlier many people outside the US used to access Hulu from their respective nations. But now TV streaming service supplier is functioning on rigid rules to make sure that people out of the country are not able to access its program library. Going a step further. the company is now trying to make sure that it is able to stop anyone trying to access its library from virtual private network (VPN) or through proxy.

Red Box Instant

Redbox Automated Retail, LLC is a contributory of Outerwall, Inc. specializing in DVD, Blu-ray Discs, and video game rentals via computerized retail kiosks. As of the end of November 2012, Redbox had over 42,000 kiosks at more than 34,000 locations. Redbox titles can be rented or purchased, in SD or HD quality. Redbox is also cheaper than Netflix. For $8(Rs 480 approx) a month, Redbox Instant provides unlimited streaming of movies and lets you borrow four DVDs. When customers rent a title, they have 30 days to begin watching it and then 48 hours to watch it as many times as they like. It seems like we are a long way from seeing Redbox kiosks or any similar services in India.

Music

Spotify

Spotify is a profitable music streaming service providing digital rights management-restricted content from record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal. Music can be browsed by artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label, as well as by direct searches. Spotify was launched in 2008, and now it is available in over 40 countries all over the world, however India is not a part of that exclusive list.

There are many websites and apps which are tagged as ‘Indian Spotify’ such as Saavn, Dhingaana and Gaana but none of the as good as Spotify. These websites are trying hard to compete with each other, but none of them have impressive music lists or social media integration – which Spotify is known for.

Vevo

Vevo is a video hosting service owned and operated by a joint undertaking of Universal Music Group, Google, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media. It launched on December 8, 2009. The videos on Vevo are syndicated across the web, with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue.

Since launching in 2009, Vevo has become the go-to place for watching music videos online. But it hasn’t been available everywhere. Though you can watch most of Vevo videos on its YouTube channel, it doesn’t have the entire collection of videos launched by them.

Pandora Radio

Pandora Radio is a music streaming and automated music recommendation service operated by Pandora Media, Inc. It is only available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It is a feedback-based music recommendation in which the user provides positive or negative feedback for songs chosen by the service, which are taken into account when Pandora selects future songs. While listening, users are offered the ability to buy the songs or albums at various online retailers. Over 400 different musical attributes are considered when selecting the next song.

India’s internet market, not only misses Pandora, it currently has no such service available. Last.fm has similar features, but it is not as user-friendly as Pandora Radio.

May 2, 2014
Everything You Need to Know About the Nokia-Microsoft Deal

They were once the Titans of the industry. They made more cell phones than all the other companies combined and even now, having shipped around 250 million phones in 2013, they’re the second biggest manufacturer of mobile phones . From 1998 to 2011 this company was the undefeated champion. Nokia was a brand name trusted by all. This Finnish giant now sold its legendary (now struggling) mobile phones unit to the Microsoft Corporation in a $7.2 billion takeover.

As of 25th April 2014, Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia has been approved by Nokia shareholders and by governmental regulatory agencies around the world. Under the Nokia-Microsoft deal, Microsoft will take possession of the Lumia smartphone brand, along with the company’s lower-end Asha phone line and the new Android-based Nokia X phones. With this, they will also inherited 25,000 new employees.

Windows Phone is the fastest-growing ecosystem in the smartphone market, and its portfolio of award-winning devices continues to expand. In the fourth quarter of 2013, according to IDC, Windows Phone reinforced its position as a top three smartphone operating system and was the fastest-growing platform among the leading operating systems with 91 percent year-over-year gain. Furthermore, Microsoft intends to target the affordable mobile devices market, a $50 billion annual opportunity.

This deal marks the death of a brand which had become synonymous with mobile phones in India. Even in the smallest villages, people took pride in owning a Nokia. To us, it sounds rather counter intuitive to get rid of a brand with such a strong identity. Now, everybody will have an eye set on how the Microsoft CEO, Mr. Nadella, and Vice President Mr Elop decide to take it forward.

The tech world is abuzz with all kinds of speculations about the proceedings of this deal. One of the most common assumptions is of a Machiavellian takeover by Microsoft, after the talks of Windows OS for Nokia broke down in 2009. Nokia intended to improve the functionality of the Symbian and were also working on the MeeGo OS. Nokia had made its disinterest in the Windows OS clear and that’s when Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft employee, went on to become the CEO of Nokia. Many critics, especially in Finland, started to speculate that Elop could be a Trojan horse, whose mission was to prepare Nokia for a future acquisition by Microsoft.

As seen from the graph above the company was on an incline throughout the last decade. Stephen Elop took the Chair of CEO Nokia on September 2010. The 3 years Elop was Nokia CEO, its revenues fell 40%, its profits fell 95%, its market share collapsed in smartphones from 34% to 3.4%, Nokia’s credit rating went from A to junk, it’s share price dropped 60% in value and Nokia’s market capitalization lost 13 billion dollars in value. For this exemplary work he was featured in the Worst CEO list. Not just that, towards the end Nokia was so strapped for cash that they had to sell their HQ in Finland and lease the premises. It seems like Elop came with a mission and accomplished it too.

It has also been observed by many that the Microsoft strategy of acquisition was almost similar to the 1.2 billion US dollars HP–Palm deal. Palm were smartphone manufacturers who were the creators of the cutting-edge webOS. The webOS was a mobile operating system which HP abandoned merely months after acquisition and a couple months after launching the WebOS based Mobile devices including Touchpad and Pre 3. LG later bought the OS in 2013 and is now inducting it into its Smart+ TV’s. This was a clear example of how multibillion takeovers are not always done for the best of reasons.

The most disappointing aspect of the demise of Nokia and several other major brands such as Motorola is the effective centralization of majority of innovation in the hands of a few large multinational corporations that lock knowledge in a safe. Competition is necessary for innovation. Accumulation of progressive ideas in the hands of the few would lead to monopolization and will be a major hindrance to development.

In terms of India, this deal is not good news for the employees of the Nokia facility in Chennai. This facility couldn’t be transferred because of the tax liens on Nokia property. According to the Nokia India Employees union, there are around 8,000 direct and over 20,000 indirect employees working for the manufacturing facility. The facility will work on contract basis for a limited period, without specifying any time frame, under present deal. Many of the higher level employees have decided to jump ships, while around 730 trainees have accepted the VRS scheme provided by Nokia. The VRS is opposed by the Union.

As Nokia loyalists, you wouldn’t have a lot to worry about. As a part of the transaction, Microsoft will honor all existing Nokia customer warranties for existing devices, beginning April 25, 2014. As the plans for the new brand are still in progress, we do hope that Microsoft builds upon the massive Nokia stable and give the users the same sturdy and trustworthy experience.

Hopefully, the second fiddle brands such as Micromax, Gionee and others will take charge of bringing quality innovation in the hands of the next billion before the hording multinationals get to it.

May 1, 2014
Decoded: Top 5 Cloud Storage Services

Juggling between smartphones, desktops, laptops and tablets makes it increasingly hard to keep track of all our files. For example, as easy it is to snap a picture, the harder its become to keep tabs of the every-growing bulk of images. We tend to keep scattered folders for our pictures on various storage devices and laptops. Cloud storage rescues us from these restraints, ensuring that the files we need are available where and when we want them. Clearly, it should now be a fundamental part of our modern, mobile lives.

The ultimate advantage? You never have depend on your gadgets or fear losing any important data. We review the best cloud storage services and see what each of them have to offer:

Dropbox

Dropbox is the only online storage solutions to offer clients for Linux and Blackberry, along with the usual Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS standards – even though an official Windows Phone app still remains indefinable. This goes a long way to ensuring that your data can be with you, no matter what kind of technology you want to use. The basic free account provides a with a somewhat small – in contrast to competitor services – 2GB of storage. For documents, this amount works, however if you want to store any kind of media – photos, music, or video – it will fade away very fast. You have an option of investing and upgrading to the 100GB plan. Dropbox also offers 500MB of additional free storage for each friend you get to sign up to the service – with a limit of 16GB.

Overall it is an excellent cross-platform service, a benchmark which is hard to compete. It may lack several services which others provide, but its user-friendly interface and multi-technology compatibility makes it one of the most popular choices.

Google Drive

Google drive is a heart of various services Google currently offers. It offers 15 GB of free space on signup or when you link it with your old Google account. Drive works in the same fashion as most cloud storage solutions, with a local folder on your PC linked to a replica for cloud version. The interface across the apps is smart and simple to navigate, with a basic file tree showing where your data is kept. You can choose specific files to be available offline on the mobile versions, and these can be edited – if they were created in Google Docs – then synced when you return online.

Google Drive is the most munificent of all the services in this category. If you live in the Google universe then it actually is an brilliant storage option, predominantly if you use Google Docs a lot.

Streem

Our Favourite find! The lesser known Streem is a cloud-based hard drive that offers unlimited storage space for your files. All files are securely stored in the cloud and streamed to you on-demand, saving you terabytes of space on your devices. Unlike other cloud storage services, you are not require to store your files on your hard drive and sync them to the cloud. All your files are securely stored on the servers and streamed to you on-demand.

The edge about this storage service is that they give you free unlimited storage and that you don’t have to keep a copy on all of your computers in order to access them. As long as you have an internet connection, you’re set.

Box

Sometimes mistaken for the similarly named Dropbox, Box is the eldest of it’s competitors, having launched in 2005. It’s major focus is cloud computing for business side of the market and has impressive enterprise reputation.

Box still offers solid personal storage options, however, with a generous 10GB of space for any new account. However Box limits the file size to 250MB, which is a major drawback. This is noticeably lower than the 10GB limits of both Google Drive and Dropbox, with OneDrive’s 2GB limit still plenty for most people. Of course 250MB is more than sufficient for most documents and spreadsheets, but if large media files – especially videos – are part of your plan then this could be a problem.

OneDrive

Much of the functionality of OneDrive (previously SkyDrive) is equivalent to Dropbox, with its apps available to Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and of course, Windows Phone users. Microsoft to attract more users launched as offer whereby users gain 500MB of storage for every friend that signs up to an account through them.There’s also an added 3GB offered if you link OneDrive to your mobile phone’s camera roll, enabling it to routinely back up your photos online.

The OneDrive interface is similar to Windows 8’s Modern UI design. You have a choice between the boxy style or a more traditional file tree. Folders and files can be created on the web, including Office and OneNote formats thanks to tight Office Online integration. They’ve also added a social element to the web version – a range of popular messaging services are accessible to be connected to your OneDrive account.

April 30, 2014
Samsung Sees Underwhelming Sales of the Galaxy S5 in India Drops Price to Rs. 50,500

Update : The Price appears to have further dropped to Rs. 49,000 as of April 14th 2014, just 3 days post launch.

Yesterday Samsung launched the Galaxy S5 into the Indian market on retail sale for a price of Rs. 51500. After seeing more than disappointing sales, the execs at the Korean company’s India office have authorized distributers and dealers to offer discounts and deals to users.

One of the south Delhi distributors said that Samsung issued notices last night to their chain ; asking them to be a lot more aggressive in selling the Galaxy S5.

Samsung has usually seen excellent response from the Indian market for their smartphones, however this time around the company may have hit up on its worst nightmare.

According to people, the biggest reason for the general disappointment with the flagship device, is that Samsung has launched the Galaxy S5 with the Exynos chipset and not the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 in India.

Samsung has been following this policy in the Indian market since the time of the Galaxy S2, after initial sales of the dual core Galaxy S2 a special India edition was launched which actually had a single core processor vs the Dual Core offered in the Global variant at the time. The performance of the Galaxy S5 handsets on these separate chipsets differ in many ways. The Exynos based version also lacks several features including LTE but now includes 4k Video capture, which was missing from the Indian version of the Galaxy Note 3.

While the price has been fluctuating since last night, the Galaxy S5 is available from a price bracket of Rs. 50,000 – 51,000 depending on the mood of the seller. If you were considering buying this phone, we expect huge drops in price in the coming weeks so holding out may actually not be such a bad idea.

Do you think that Samsung should further reduce the price of the Galaxy S5? Or feel that they should launch the Snapdragon 801 variant ? Let us know below or tweet us @iGyaan and include @SamsungMobileIn ! We will ensure that Samsung gets the message.

Our review of the Galaxy S5 will be up shorty ! Stay Tuned.

April 12, 2014
Sony steals the 2nd place spot from Apple in India

Sony India has overtaken Apple in their sales for smartphones in India becoming the second largest mobile phone shipper in 2014. This aggressive movement has been rewarded to Sony thanks to the company’s focus largely on the Rs 10,000-20,000 smartphone space, backed by Rs 300-crore marketing spend.

The number one spot was retained by Korean smartphone giant Samsung with 43% market value share. Sony took second place with 9.1% value share in the Indian smartphone market in the October-December quarter of 2013 against Apple’s 7% share.

This decline in Apple’s sales has been thanks to the company’s decision to withdraw sales of their largest selling unit the iPhone 4, and hence the disappearance of Apple from the under Rs. 20,000 price bracket. Apple did relaunch the iPhone 4 specially for the Indian market but failed to gather any response from the market who were hoping for a cut on the price of the iPhone 4s.

Sony Executives claim :

While this loss of sales prompted Apple to relaunch iPhone 4 once again in India in January, sales have not picked up since it is not at all spending on marketing or offering any buyback offer and even the initial euphoria around iPhone 5S has sobered down,

Kenichiro Hibi, managing director at Sony India, said the company’s smartphone business has attained similar revenues as its flagship television business in the fiscal ended March 31.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Kenichiro Hibi, ” author_title=”Managing Director at Sony India”]The smartphone business doubled in last one year which led to 20% growth in overall sales in 2013-14. We expect to grow at a similar pace this fiscal as well to touch Rs 12,000 crore sales[/quote]

While this may be considered a big loss for Apple, the company has seen decline of sale during the months that lead up to the launch of their next flagship.

April 4, 2014
5 Things You Should But Don’t Know About Buying a New Phone

Buying a new phone is always cumbersome, and unless you spent the past few months researching up on what the tech world is all about, you probably have a few misconceptions in your head. Here is a list of the most common confusions and beliefs that we think need to be set right.

1. Which Phone can I buy, that will be future proof?

Answer : No technology is future proof, no matter what the manufacturer says. In fact its bound to get dated even so more if the manufacturer says that its future proof. The reason why technology advances is because there will be someone buying whatever is new. Because there will always be demand for new things, more resources are put into creating a better technology, all so that something can be sold and a profit can be made.

Projects like the Motorola Ara provide hope for a future proof phone, but once we think about it, it essentially ends up being the same thing. The Motorola Ara is comprised of the phone’s exoskeleton and various modules that “can be anything” according to Motorola. The modules could include anything from a new processor or display to a pulse oximeter or an extra-large battery. But every module will need to be bought and there is a high chance that the owners will get bored of the design or looks of the concept. In that situation a newer phone would make more sense vs buying newer modules.

2. Does Buying an Expensive Phone Mean I will not have any problems?

Answer : Not everything expensive is perfect. At the end of the day every phone consists of hardware, which can fail due to a number of reasons. Buying a more expensive phone may reduce the chance of issues, but may not remove it completely. Companies like Apple, Samsung etc have various quality standards that they enforce on their products. While some lower level companies who sell “cheaper” phones (read : import and sell Chinese handsets) many not have any standards of their own what so ever. Most of these “cheap” phone sellers rely on standards set by the manufacturers they buy their products from.

Buying an expensive handset from a well known manufacturer mostly ensures good after sales support and maybe relatively less problems.

3. Should I buy my phone now or wait for the next version/ next big thing?

Answer: There are two ways to look at this and two possible answers. The first answer is Yes, Buying a newly launched phone means that you get the latest in technology, the newest features and the “coolest”, newest phone on the block.

However, the Second answer is No, every time you buy a new phone, there will be something newer that will be launched. Unfortunately thats how it works!

So if you want to buy a new phone, the time is when you have the money and the intent.

4. I have a budget of x, If I extend this will i get a better phone?

Answer : Again the answer is Yes and No. This truly depends on what your initial budget is and how much you are willing to extend it. For example if you extend your budget from a Galaxy Grand to a Galaxy Note 3 then yes you will get a better phone. But unless you are willing to drastically extend your budget, any other device around your original price bracket, even if its slightly more expensive may be no better than the other.

Q. My Son / Daughter wants to buy an iPhone, Is it a good investment?

(iPhone is purely for reference, it could be any other phone)

Answer : If your Son/ Daughter wants to buy a particular phone they have their reasons for it, so the best possible thing to do is to let them buy it. It will be the easiest decision to make without any repercussions and hey, If they don’t like the phone at a later stage, they can’t blame you.

Whatever their reason for selecting the phone; be it the way it looks or a special feature it has, is probably a good reason. Yes your job is to guide them and yes there may be a better phone or a better investment to be made, but it won’t be their choice and they won’t be happy.

So, If your budget permits buy them the damn phone.

Bonus Question : Can my new phone FaceTime ? Will i Be charged for it?

Answer : FaceTime is an Apple only VOIP service, that works between iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macs. So if your new phone is going to be an iPhone, Yes you will be able to FaceTime. That being said you can always use other services like Tango, Skype and possibly upcoming WhatsApp on any new phone that has a front facing camera and supports the said service.

Most of these services rely purely on the device being connected to a data network like 3G or Wifi, so all you will be charged for is your data connection or whatever you already pay for your Wifi.

In other words ; No, you will not be charged for the service.

There are several other questions or myths people have about new technology, do you have any myths to bust, or suggestions for more myth busters. Drop them in the comments below.

March 22, 2014
Australia Detects Two Objects Measuring 79 Feet, Could be Parts of MH370

Several days and searches later, when many countries came up negative in their search for the MH370(The Malaysian Airlines flight which went missing about 10 days ago) it seems that we may finally have a positive lead to locating the missing aircraft.

No information, or debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found ever since it disappeared on March 8. This has been one of the largest search efforts in the aviation history , but at the same time, what concerns everyone is what happened to those 239 people in the plane.

Australia had sent aircrafts and a navy ship to a particular area in the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether two large floating objects spotted by a satellite are pieces of wreckage from the Malaysian jet MH370.

Satellite imagery analyzed by experts shows two objects of big sizes around the southern Indian Ocean, said John Young, general manager of Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority. This was spotted about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth.

Here’s the statement that Abbott gave to Parliament:

I would like to inform the House that new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. The Australia Maritime Safety Authority has receive information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search.

Following specialist analysis of this imagery two possible objects of the search have been identified. I can inform the House that a Royal Australian Air Force Orion has been diverted to attempt to locate the objects. This Orion is expected to arrive in the area at about this time. Three more aircraft will follow this Orion for more intensive followup search.

I’ve spoken to my Malaysian counterpart, Prime Minister Najib Razak and informed him of these developments. I should tell the House and we must keep this in mind, the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370, but I did want to inform the house of this potentially important development.

It is not clear if this information is true or not, but it is important to follow up leads as the aircraft is missing since two weeks and was carrying 239 passengers.

March 20, 2014
Hyderabad IT professional Spots MH370 in Satellite Images

Several days and several searches later, when many countries came up empty in their search for the MH370, Malaysian Airlines flight which went missing about 10 days ago, A Hyderabad based software techie may have found possibly the most vital clue in finding this aircraft. Anoop Madhav Yeggina, an IT professional working with a software company in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, uploaded a satellite image and claimed it was the image of the missing flight. While searching images of DigitalGlobe Satellite QB02, Anoop had found a satellite image of a large aircraft flying very low above the Andaman Islands on March 8.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Anoop Madhav Yeggina”]I am confident that the image is that of the missing plane because of many reasons. First giveaway is the fact that the image was captured just above a forest and very close to the Shibpur air strip of Andaman Islands.The air strip is exclusively used by the defence forces with no permission for civilian aircraft in this area. A close look at the image will reveal if it is flying extremely low so much so that the clouds are above it which suggests it was done to avoid detection by radar. Most importantly, the standard scale measurement and colour of the missing plane matches with that of the plane in the image[/quote]

According to Anoop, the aircraft matches the dimensions of the missing airliner and also the colour. The area in which the image was taken, is meant for Defence Aircraft so a commercial airliner in this area could mean that there is a high possibility of a highjack. Considering it has been 10 days, there is no possible way the Aircraft could remain in the air without refuelling. Lots of outcomes of the current scenario can be had including a large possibility of the image being incorrect.

Update :

It has since been verified that the image of the aircraft is actually a dated image, where the fields around the aircraft in the image match an old stock image from as old as 2009 and are significantly different in the present version, at Coordinates:13.29431,92.99277.

March 19, 2014
Macklemore Shows how to use a Toilet like a real man on Instagram

In this very educational video, famous Singer Macklemore shows how to use a toilet seat.

He writes in his caption :

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Macklemore” link=”http://instagram.com/p/lcsYsJwK59/”]ITS TIME THAT US MEN STARTED RESPECTING TO THE BASIN THAT OUR QUEENS SIT ON! LETS RAISE THE NEXT GENERATION TO HAVE BETTER AIM SO WOMEN DONT HAVE TO PEE & POOP ON OUR PEE!…and IM NOT TRYING TO POOP ON YOUR PEE EITHER! BASICALLY, TO ALL THE FRAT GUYS AND SHITTY DADS, QUIT FUCKING UP THE DEUCE SESH FOR THE REST OF US! BUMP THIS CUT IN ALL AIRPORT BATHROOMS AND FOOTBALL GAMES! FUCK A DRUNK DAD PISSING ON THE GROUND, AND A FRAT BRO TOO HAMMERED TO HANDLE HIS DANGLER! MAN UP AND LEARN DONG CONTROL!…IM OUT!!![/quote]

Interesting way to educate!

March 13, 2014