Category: Tech

Latest Technology News, Alternative, Bio-Tech, Medical, R&D and Innovations

Here’s How Facebook Would Like to Replace Google

When browsing through mobile, it is quite a task to open a website, copying the link, switching between the apps and pasting it on your Facebook status bar. For many users, this is quite a cumbersome job. According to TechCrunch, to change the experiences for its mobile users, Facebook is working on an internal test search engine for its mobile app.

TechCrunch spotted that a few iOS users saw a new ‘Add a Link’ button next to buttons that we use to add photos, location and feelings. Upon writing down a word in the search engine, a list of related and matching links shows up that can be shared to your wall along with a caption. Using this feature, users will be able to bypass search engine while searching for content and give the social media giant a rich data of analytics of the type of content being explored and shared in a series of detailed statistics.

This move by Facebook may throw a hard brick on Google. On the other hand, Google has also allowed users to order food from its search results and add tweets. Apple, too, mentioned about the AppleBot on its support page, indicating an all-new Apple Search on Safari and other search related apps on iOS and OSX environment. This may set up an entirely new bar for search engines.

There are no words when this feature will roll out for the rest of its mobile users. For now, only a handful of iOS users has access to this new tool.

May 11, 2015
The OnePlus Power Bank is Finally Here!

After rumours and teasers about the ‘game-changing’ product from OnePlus, the company’s power bank has finally arrived in India. OnePlus unveiled the same through its Facebook’s OnePlus India account saying, “The most awaited #OnePlus Power Bank is here! Buy it now.” The device is priced at Rs. 1,399.

As mentioned above, the power bank will exclusively be available on Amazon India. The OnePlus portable battery has a massive capacity of 10,000mAh. The device easily slips into your pocket and can fully charge your OnePlus thrice. The time required to charge the accessory is 5.5 hours. It comes with two USB ports so that you can charge two devices at the same time. The colour options available in the OnePlus power bank is Sandstone Black and Silk White.

Click here to buy now.

 

May 11, 2015
Here’s Everything We Know About the OnePlus 2 So Far

One of the biggest success stories of 2014 was the Chinese electronics start-up, OnePlus. The newbie started off with the flagship killer, One, which conquered the mid-segment smartphone market. It was a feature-rich phone with top-notch specs that came with a reasonable price tag.

Now, exactly a year after One’s release, the market is more than ready to find out what the company has developed for 2015.

We are summing up all that we know till date about the OnePlus Two (temporarily titled).

Specs

Not much is known about the specifications of the upcoming OnePlus handset, but we some significant information that points out to its robust processing capacity. As per the detail leaked by the company CEO Liu Zuohu, OnePlus Two will run on Snapdragon 810 chipset along with 4GB RAM. A 5.5-inch 2K display will enhance the viewing experience of the user.

There is a high possibility of OnePlus Two running on Cyanogen OS, as the differences between Cyanogen and the Chinese smartphone firm have been sorted out. All legal proceedings have been resolved and the cases have been withdrawn through mutual consent. The addition of Cyanogen on the next OnePlus device might help drive the sales of the device.

Availability

In the major disclosure yesterday, OnePlus’ Zuohu spilled the beans on the release time of OnePlus Two. The much-awaited device will make a debut in the third quarter of this year. India will be one of the first countries to see the launch of the next probable flagship killer.

The kickass back panels promised by OnePlus that never came to the market.

Price

The handset will be priced higher than its predecessor. It is reported to cost 2499 Yuan, which translates to Rs. 25,700 approx. The firm must have decided on quality features and specifications that speak for its price.

Till the next iteration comes out, you can feast your eyes on the OnePlus One:

May 10, 2015
Top Tech-Toys For a Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

Every mom in this world is special, and we would always want to take that extra step to make here time worthwhile. A bouquet of flowers, a hand-made card, all add up to it. What we have here are some tech-savvy gifts that may make your mom’s life a little easier.

Check out our list of some tech gadgets you can gift to her:

Fitness Band:

Fitness bands are really cool. Especially for someone who works around the clock for the betterment of the family and have almost negligible time to keep a check on health. Cheap and easily available, these bands make for handy gifts. When coupled up with the corresponding fitness app, this wearable can give details on the heart rate and sleep cycles. Also, some are available in different color variations too.

At the IFA 2014, Garmin, modern in-car navigation systems maker, introduced a new wearable device that combines the communication features of a smartwatch with the fitness-centric abilities of an activity tracker. The Vivosmart does what regular activity trackers do best, along with which it borrows some of the key features typically found in smartwatches. It also tracks your sleep, based on movement, and offers daily reports on how much time you spent moving. In fact, through the Garmin Connect app, all your activity data gets rendered into easier-to-understand charts and graphs.

 

Chromecast:

Chromecast is a thumb-sized medium through which you can easily shift viewing from your laptop, Android phone and tablet to TV. For this, your mobile becomes your personalized remote control.You can browse your favourite movies, videos and more and cast it on your TV. You can pause, play, rewind, create playlists and can even control the volume. Just plug in, connect and enjoy. In short, it’s a whole new way for your mom to enjoy video viewing.

 

Camera:

Memories are the best gifts ever! And what would be more impressive than gifting your mom a device to capture and store happy moments? Cameras are one of the best surprises that can ever be offered. Buy that camera, and click the first selfie with your mom.

The Sony-DSCRX10 Cybershot Digital Camera can capture sharp images and full-HD video clips in pretty much any lighting condition, with a vast focal range.

 

E-Reader:

Designed mainly for reading purposes, this device may help your mom avoid the heated summer shopping for magazines. The hefty burden of carrying books or managing her library. Just a single tab can hold a number of books and magazines for your mom to read. It will be a fantastic gift for your mom if she is a bookworm and save her precious time spent on regular travels to the bookstore.

Amazon’s Kindle is the most prominent of all readers, and it has been in India for quite some time now. It has a 300 ppi display that is claimed to have the highest resolution, contrast, and brightness till date. To give a natural book reading experience, the Kindle has haptic actuator that create advanced vibrations when a page is turned.

 

Portable Phone Charger:

An excellent source of power when you do not have any access to any electricity. Your mom will never have to worry about low-charged mobile phones while traveling or otherwise. It is small and portable, and can be carried along anywhere she goes.

Until the OnePlus power bank is available, the CP-F5 is a 10,000 mAh portable charger from Sony and is rechargeable for 1,000 times and capable of retaining 90 percent of battery capacity even after 1,000 charges. This silver USB portable charger requires a charging time of 7 hours via an AC adapter and 23 hours through a standard USB port.

May 10, 2015
Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge Now Boast Their Own VR Headset

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge back in September 2014. As an icing on the cake, the Korean company in collaboration with Oculus revealed the Gear VR, a virtual reality headgear developed to work along with the Note 4. A year after, Samsung released its latest flagship devices, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in April 2015. The company also announced that a similar VR set will accompany the handsets soon, but no such headset were up for purchase.

Today, Samsung made this device available for purchase. The device, named as Gear VR Innovator Edition for Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, is a smaller and lighter version of the Note 4 Gear VR. It comes with a redesigned strap and a built-in fan to help in air-flow. According to Samsung, the Octa-Core Exynos 7420 chipset, which is the powerhouse of S6 and S6 Edge handsets, and the high PPI display will provide its users with better and smoother virtual reality experience. The other side of the coin would be the smaller screen of the S6 and S6 Edge devices, which may result in a narrow field of view.

This device is available at Samsung’s official website and BestBuy. This device can be purchased for $199.99 (Rs 12,741) and is available only for its US customers right now. No other details about its price and availability in India has been disclosed.

May 9, 2015
Windows 10 is the Last Version of Windows OS, Confirms Microsoft

Microsoft has been enriching Windows OS with every version. The recent Windows 10 is the finest upgrade made by Microsoft, which incorporates all significant alternations needed on a Windows platform along with a brand new technology called Cortana. The American consumer electronics firm is quitting the revision of Windows operating system and confirmed there will be no Windows 11.

At the Ignite tech conference, the developer evangelist of Microsoft Jerry Nixon said in the press conference –

Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.

Nixon also mentioned that Windows 10 was in works since the launch of Windows 8.1. The company wanted perfection in the latest Windows as it aims to standardize Windows 10. Microsoft intends to make Windows a service. That means, instead of releasing versions of Windows every couple of years, they will be sending out regular updates to Windows just like Apple’s OS X. The software and hardware giant is radically changing the way we upgrade Windows.

This being said, it is certain that there won’t be any major change coming up to Windows 10. The company will regularly revise some features and send an update for Windows upgradation. It’s a big move by the company, but it sounds great as Microsoft has extended its reach to different platforms with the new Windows OS.

The latest version hasn’t come out for public yet. It’s due to release this summer. It will first land on the desktop and later on Windows-powered smartphones, as per Microsoft. There have been rumours of Microsoft already working on its next update, but it is expected to release by 2016.

May 9, 2015
In-built Data Saving Feature on Your Phone’s Browser is Just a Few Clicks Away

Your smartphone is concealing a secret tool under the hood that can save the browsing data to a large extent. The feature is already available for the desktop version of Chrome as an extension called Data Saver (Beta). The nifty data saving feature in the Setting menu of Chrome compresses the pages and allows quick access to websites.

With this feature on, Chrome uses Google servers to compress pages you visit before downloading them. Users can make extended use of their internet data pack by spending the same amount. The feature is available on Android and iOS both. Here’s how you can activate it:

1. Go to your Chrome Web Browser and tap on the left touch-sensitive button.

2. Tap on Settings and you will see a few options under Basic and Advanced category.

3. In the Advanced section, search for Data Saver and turn it on.

Chrome will now start compressing pages for you to load it fast and will also save the data.

May 9, 2015

OnePlus Powerbanks Get Listed On Amazon India, Set to Arrive Next Week

A few days ago, OnePlus India tweeted from its official Twitter page that teased of a new ‘game-changing’ product. The image within the tweet showed a device with elegantly curved edges. Clearly, it is the power bank that OnePlus had rolled out last year in December. The OnePlus team had also confirmed with us that the device would be arriving in India within the next few days.

The game changer is here! #getPower pic.twitter.com/h4i1XMgqDb

— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) April 30, 2015

But due to undisclosed reasons, the launch has been delayed by a week in India. For now, the device is listed on Amazon but displayed as unavailable. You will need to sign up to get notified when the device is available.

The charger provides a massive power of 10,000mAh, yet one of the cheapest devices available till date. The device easily slips into your pocket and can fully charge your OnePlus thrice. The device comes with two USB ports so that you can charge two devices at the same time. It is priced at Rs 1,399 and is available in Sandstone Black Colour.

You can read about the details of the device from the table below:

Specifications	OnePlus Power Bank
Colour variants	Sandstorm Black
Battery type	LiPo
Capacity	10,000 mAh
Charging Time	5.5 hours (approx)
Dimensions	142.8 × 72.6 × 16.2 mm
Weight	220g
Safety features	Electrostatic, short-circuit, overcharging, overheating protection

May 9, 2015

Report: Apple to Offer Free Exclusive Tracks on its Upcoming Music Streaming Service

Time and again, we are hearing about Apple’s refurbished music streaming service ‘Beats Music’. Earlier we heard of it pairing up with renowned American bands and artists like Taylor Swift, Florence and the Machine, but Apple has a couple of surprises before it makes Beats Music public. It was widely reported that the Cupertino-based tech firm will charge $8 for a monthly subscription, but it seems like now Beats Music users will find a free streaming option as well.

According to a report by Recode, some industry sources have confirmed a free trial period where users can listen to some tracks without paying for it. This testing period may range from one to three months depending on the negotiating deals with music labels. Under these negotiations, the music owners will be free to upload a sampling of their tracks, which users can listen for free without subscribing. It will be somewhat like SoundCloud which offers free music as YouTube offers video. There will also be a new version of iTunes Radio featuring human-curated playlist.

Apple also clarified it would never be like other free music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora that offer unlimited tracks without any charge. It is against advertising programme as promotion-supported free streaming doesn’t make much money, as per the company.

Last year, Apple acquired Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion. The service was launched only a few months earlier. The world’s most valuable company is gearing to tweak the service and release it sometime this year. Apple already enjoys a dominance in music downloads from its iTunes, now it aims to kick out the newly formed Tidal founded by Jay Z and several other music titans.

The Beats Music is scheduled to launch this summer at a competitive price of $9.99/month for individuals, while a family plans will cost $14.99/month. It is speculated that Apple might opt for a different name for its streaming service.

May 9, 2015
Alibaba Eyes Micromax For Investment And Entry Into India

Asia’s largest e-commerce name Alibaba is keen on entering the Indian market. With all the buzz around the online space, a new pro-investment Prime Minister and the booming Mobile phone market in India, Alibaba has found a secret route to enter.

Sources claim that Chinese search and e-comm giant Alibaba will invest heavily in Micromax, acquiring upto 20 % stake in the Indian bred company. A deal that would cost the company over $ 1.2 Billion, would allow the chinese giant easy access into the market which is tough to get into for new companies.

Alibaba has also been in the news recently for investing in brands like Ouya, Meizu and Snapchat. Micromax is one of the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the domestic market. With its constant damage to Samsung’s position in India, and the new brand “YU” taking on the likes of Xiaomi and OnePlus in the local markets, Micromax makes for a good investment option.

Micromax’s new brand YU is apparently set to launch a new product in India on the 12th of May to provide a more premium outlook, taking on flagship killers. The company was also recently in the news for the sad breakup of OnePlus and Cyanogen .

The investment, however, focuses on Micromax devices and their wide spread reach. Alibaba plans to deploy services like Alipay, the company’s new payment platform. Ant Financial Services Group, which owns Alipay, is China’s largest payment service provider and is controlled by Alibaba’s executive chairman and founder Jack Ma.

May 8, 2015
YU Founder Drops the Second Clue, Brags About Another Impressive Feature of YUphoria

Micromax YU is giving information bit-by-bit of its next big offering. Yesterday, the homegrown smartphone firm released footage showing the durability and sturdiness of the phone. And today, it has dropped another clue demonstrating its speaker quality.

The Founder of YU Rahul Sharma tweeted a video of the phone that will explain exactly what we are talking about:

Now that’s quite a hair raising experience! Here’s the 2nd clue guys. #YUphoria. Check it out: https://t.co/XUQ7hzcyfi

— Rahul Sharma (@rahulsharma) May 8, 2015

The forthcoming YU handset will definitely be a budget killer with Android Lollipop version of Cyanogen OS. The company has already disclosed that it houses a 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB onboard memory.

Further information on pricing and availability will be known at the launch on May 12. Stay tuned for updates; more leaks will follow before the launch.

May 8, 2015
OnePlus CEO Reveals the Pricing of the OnePlus Two

Seems like OnePlus is feeling the heat of the close competition, with Xiaomi, Vivo and debutant Nubia’s presence in the smartphone tussle. The Chinese electronics start-up aims to sustain the reputation garnered from the One, and intends to create a buzz with its upcoming flagship. The company disclosed a significant detail about the innards of the next OnePlus handset on Weibo and announced its price as well.

OnePlus CEO Liu Zuohu asked OnePlus fans about the reasonable price of OnePlus Two with Snapdragon 810 on it. It was an open question, and hence comments started flooding on the query. After a while, Liu put an end to the suspense and said 2499 Yuan seems reasonable.

So, we now have the price of OnePlus Two (tentatively titled), which has come from the top official itself. 2499 Yuan translates to Rs. 25,700 approx which is higher than what its present flagship comes at. OnePlus very well knows that to secure a space where many other high-end, yet affordable smartphones, are being appreciated would be not be an easy task. The firm must have decided on quality features and specifications that speak for its price.

From what is known to date, the OnePlus Two will sport a 5.5-inch 2K display. It will be powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset along with 4G RAM. More details aren’t yet confirmed by the company. It should be noted that the next smartphone will run on its own operating system as Cyanogen and OnePlus have officially broken up. The second OnePlus device is expected to debut in the third quarter of this year.

May 8, 2015
Nintendo Looks to Release Five Smartphone Games by 2017

Nintendo, as we all know, is the world’s largest video game company that has produced several famous titles. Super Mario World, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda were a part of everyone’s childhood if they were born in the 90s. The good news is that the company is back, and will soon be releasing five smartphone games by March 2017.

On March, Nintendo joined hands with DeNA, a Japanese company that makes free games for mobile phones. The two companies intend to make new gaming applications featuring Nintendo IP, which will be developed specifically for smartphones. Nintendo and DeNA also agreed to develop cross-platform service that will run on smartphones, tablets, PCs and Nintendo’s own devices. Satoru Iwata said that a new line of games would be developed for the smartphones instead of porting existing titles.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Satoru Iwata” author_title=”CEO of Nintendo Co., Ltd”]

Regarding the number of the titles, you may want to know that we will release approximately five titles by the end of the next fiscal year, which is the end of March 2017. You may think it is a small number, but when we aim to make each title a hit, and because we want to operate every one of them for a significant amount of time after their releases thoroughly, this is not a small number at all and should demonstrate our serious commitment to the smart device business.

[/quote]

Nintendo will continue to make new games in future, and is working on a new console with codename ‘NX’. Iwata stated that the company is eyeing on smartphone gaming to generate a good amount of revenue. Seems like Nintendo will bring down the rain with these five new releases.

May 8, 2015
BlackBerry’s Virtual SIM Allows Users Operate Multiple Mobile Numbers via Single SIM

Once a reputed brand name, BlackBerry has lost a major chunk of market share to budding and established smartphone makers. The instant messaging pioneer is pushing itself to handset and software domain to reclaim its lost status. Recently, the company launched a software in India that allows customers to use nine different mobile numbers through a single SIM card.

Termed as WorkLife, the software offers customers to differentiate personal, professional data usage and segregates the usage details as per categories. Customers can use one number for personal use, other for foreign travels, third for business contacts and so on. It will be extremely useful for those on roaming or foreign trips as the virtual SIM will get you connected to a local virtual operator. Users can pay for the bills in the local tariff rate rather than paying for international roaming.

The Managing Director of BlackBerry India Sunil Lalvani said about the same –

The software precisely distinguishes between work use and personal use of an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry smartphone by introducing separate lines managed by the company.

The Canadian tech giant has tied-up with Idea Cellular as its first partner and is looking to join hands with more operators in India. The primary goal of the partnership would be to help manage telecom expenses, protect employee privacy and control company assets.

Lalvani further added to its statement that it will allow enterprises to interact with 25 people in one go through video and audio. Certainly, it’s a major move to lure business sector with advanced messenger service. As per Economic Times, the virtual SIM will arrive in India by year end.

BlackBerry’s share has been seen a tremendous decline in the first quarter of 2015. It is planning to establish itself once again in the Indian market and has launched the latest device BlackBerry Leap in India. It will go on sale starting next week.

May 8, 2015
Nubia Z9 is a Bezel-Less Phone with Controls on its Frame

Post bigger display, the tech manufacturers have shifted their focus to another pivotal design factor, bezel-less display that will give new dimension to the smartphones. Oppo has shown off its near bezel-less phone model the R7 a while back, but Chinese equipment maker Nubia’s latest release is far ahead of Oppo’s offering.

Today ZTE’s premium brand Nubia unveiled a flagship device that sports high-end features with a brand new technology. Dubbed as the Z9, the device packs “Frame interactive Technology” or “FiT” in short, which enables an array of new controls on the aluminium mid-frame. These controls are based on grip and gesture.

Considering some of the uses of FiT, one can unlock the device with the pre-defined grip, without the need of drawing patterns or typing password. However, it is uncertain how useful it is. The FiT technology allows users to switch between apps with a single hand. While usually handling the device, one can flicker the thumb up and down the metallic frame to jump from one application to another. Now toggling the camera is simple with Nubia Z9. Just hold the phone horizontally with the four fingertips and the camera will come alive. The brightness can also be adjusted through single-hand mode. Slide your fingertips along both the sides to increase and decrease screen brightness.

The device boasts 5.2-inch 1080p display made by Sharp. The chipset fitted onto the device is Snapdragon 810 SoC. The phone comes in two storage variants 32GB and 64GB; the 32GB variant comes with 3GB RAM and 64GB with 4GB RAM. The phone with 8.9mm thickness runs on Android L and fits a battery of 2,900mAh capacity. Optics include a 16MP rear shooter with f/2.0 lens and optical stabilization, whereas the front is an 8MP camera with Sony sensor. Connectivity option include Bluetooth 4.1, MHL 3.0 and NFC.

The Classic Edition is available in China for 3,499 yuan or around $560 (Rs. 36,000 approx.) off-contract, while the Elite Edition will cost buyers 3,999 yuan or about $645 (Rs. 41,500 approx.). There is also a Premium Edition with fingerprint reader on the power button. There is no update of its availability in other countries.

May 7, 2015