Since YouTube was formed 10 years ago, founders, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, had no idea how the concept would work out. The first video, ‘Me at the Zoo’, showed Jawed Karim at a zoo watching some elephants, and since then, there has been no stopping for them.
YouTube has played a pivotal role in becoming a global phenomenon for viewing videos. 10 years down the line, YouTube has over 1 billion users and 300 hours of videos uploaded every minute.
We will see the top nine most viewed videos of 2015 on YouTube today:
Jurassic World Super Bowl Trailer
6,737,966 views
Jurassic Park 2 never lived up to the expectations of the original film. Now, Steven Spielberg has returned with a brand new franchise of the series. This trailer debuted during the Super Bowl and left many fans asking for more.
100 Years of Beauty: Aging | Cut Has A Field Day
15,069,410 views
This is a video about a 20-something couple, who was to get married in less than a month. They got to see how they will look like in the next 50, 75 and 90 years of age. All thanks to high detailed makeup and costume professionals. Starting of as humorous, this video touches your emotional side once it progresses forward.
Dodge: Wisdom
16,148,004 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKKlqMs19tU
On the occasion of its 100th anniversary, Dodge, an American brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, created a campaign covering its own history. The Super Bowl commercial went viral and was viewed by more than 16 million viewers worldwide. The ad is about people who are more than a 100 years old and focuses on the fact that ‘100 years in’ isn’t necessarily the mark of decline.
Galaxy Family – Movie Magic (90 seconds)
10,320,560 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQTXAhdksYg
This video is about a woman who wants to make a movie using all sorts of stiched-up special effects and acting services of her family and friends, and a plumber too! She shoots all of these using Samsung devices.
How to remove your face
9,100,782 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpQS5i6nSH8
While the world watches videos on applying make-up, this woman removes makeup from half of her face. It was uploaded by a South Korean woman on YouTube who shows herself removing cosmetics from one side of her face with a wad of cotton dipped in makeup remover. Gradually, almost like magic, the eye liner, eye shadow, brow filler, mascara, foundation and whatever else was used before, disappears to reveal her ‘original’ face.This video went viral and reached one million views within a few weeks. The message conveyed by this video is how the woman transformed herself with a just few cosmetics and some handy brushwork.
BATMAN vs. DARTH VADER Super Power Beat Down
2,112,235 views
For
For all the comic books and Star War fans, this video is the real treat. With the world’s most powerful brain on one side and the Dark Lord of the Sith on the other, Super Powered Beat down, really highlights the “Super” part.
Zach LaVine Throws Down the “Space Jam” Dunk: 2015 Sprite Slam-Dunk Contest
9,278,688 views
The last time we saw a Slam Dunk like this was during the 1990s Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes movie. Minnesota Timberwolves player Zach LaVine performed one of the film’s iconic slams and brought the popular kids film to life
“Seeing” mommy for the first time!
13,235,533 views
This video is about a child suffering from Albinism, that reduces visual accuracy due to light-induced retinal damage. Louise received her glasses to help her see properly and saw her mother for the first time.
This Girl Can
8,264,593 views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7lt0CYwHg
Earlier this year, Sport England (English Sports Council) released its ‘This Girl’ Can video which shows all types of women being active in sports like swimming, boxing, volleyball. They are strong, engaged, super sweaty, and rightfully unaffected by the fact that they don’t look like the models on a sneaker commercial.
WhatsApp is sure to have found a space on almost everyone’s handsets. The app with over a 800 million active user base, offers one of the best services to have a real-time conversation. Most of us must be using the app for a while now, but you probably didn’t know that WhatsApp is hiding many features that could make the wrinkles from your forehead, vanish. Mastering the tool can help you save the bandwidth, mute negligible groups, keep the stalkers at bay, and hence, have a good night’s sleep.
Here are some of the features that can make your life a lot easier.
Add Conversation Shortcut to the Home Screen
There must be folks in your WhatsApp contacts with whom you talk frequently to. Bring them a step closer by creating a chat shortcut on Home screen. Long tap on the desired contact and click ‘Add chat shortcut’ present in the chat menu. An icon will add to your home screen through which you can chat directly with the person, without surfing through a list of contacts. A useful feature, unfortunately missing on Apple devices.
Pop-Up Notifications
This feature on WhatsApp lets you access messages even when the screen is locked. Go to Settings > Notifications > Popup Notifications and select ‘Only when screen is off’ to see messages and reply without unlocking the device. Pop up notifications put aside the hassle of unlocking screen to see received notifications and reply to them.
Mute Group Chats
Besides giving you the convenience of sharing things at one place, Group chats can be a bit noisy at times. No worries! Mute them and let your friends do the talking. Click on the group and from the drop-down menu, select Mute. Select the time frame for which you don’t want any updates and disable Show notifications.
Disable Media Auto-Download
Media auto-download gobbles up your internet data. Turn it off to save the bandwidth and specify WhatsApp when you want the audio and video files to be downloaded. Click on Settings > Chat settings > Media auto-download and choose from the options when using mobile data, Wi-Fi and roaming.
Send Conversations Through Email
Users are going to love this feature, at least some of them. WhatsApp allows you keep a record of your chats on your PC or inbox by sending conversations through email. It’s as fast as any other mailing process and takes mere seconds. Long press the contact and tap on ‘Email chat’ from the chat menu. Add recipients’ email address and the conversation will be sent to the provided address. You can choose to include media file if you like.
Avoid Blue Ticks
Where the cross-platform social messaging service got acclaims for real-time conversation, blue ticks brought outrage for offering recipients with read receipts. The new WhatsApp version allows you to avoid this through a simple setting. Click on Settings > Account > Privacy and disable Read receipts if don’t want the sender to know about the delivery status. Now, neither you nor any sender will be able to see read receipts. Isn’t it useful?
2014 is now a faded memory. But as we drive down the road, there is plenty to look forward to in 2015. Here are five reasons why 2015 could be the greatest year in gaming history.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Batman: Arkham Knight is possibly one of the most awaited games of 2015. It is slated to be released on 23rd June 2015. Here, the Scarecrow returns along with a roster of super villains, including Penguin, TwoFace and Harley Quinn to destroy the Batman. The highlight of the whole game is that you can finally access the Batmobile to tear through the streets of Gotham.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
A few days back, Microsoft released a cinematic trailer of its highly anticipated game, Rise of the Tomb Raider. This game is listed to be released on June 15th at the Los Angeles Convention Centre. The trailer shows Lara Croft traveling through a blizzard while narrating the willingness to risk your life to discover greatness. You can check out the whole trailer below.
Halo 5: Guardian
This is an upcoming Halo game announced during Microsoft’s E3 presentation in 2013. Halo 3 follows the story of John-117 and the is the sequel to Halo 4. It is all scheduled to be released on 27th October this year.
Tom Clancy’s the Division
Ubisoft announced they would be releasing Tom Clancy’s The Division at E3 2015. The game focuses a lot on how vulnerable the US have become in a futuristic era as the society has become more complex. A disease causes the US to collapse in five days, leading to the non-availability of primary amenities, in turn leading to chaos. Check out the trailer below.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The amnesiac Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, is on a hunt to recover his forgotten memories driving him to seek out the Wild Hunt, a spectral procession of ghosts. As a witcher, you have skills, not unlike a medieval Jedi Knight. You can force push attackers to the ground, mind trick villagers to gain knowledge about a quest, and swing a sword like a pro sword master. It is all set to be released on 19th May this year.
Know any games we missed out on? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Finally, Facebook is accomplishing its aim of expanding the internet to every corner of the globe. Recently, the social networking giant launched a trimmed-down version of its app that has been in the works for more than a year. Termed as ‘Facebook Lite’, the modern tool is dedicated to working in areas where telecommunication services are constrained. Facebook Lite uses less data and works even in narrow wireless bandwidth.
The blog post updated by the company reads –
In many areas, networks can be slow and not able to support all the functionality found in Facebook for Android. Facebook Lite was built for these situations, giving people a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum.
The slimmer version is just 1MB in size, so it would take few seconds to download and install. However there will be certain design changes, the core functionality will be uniform in both the Facebook app and its lighter version. The social platform states that features like News Feed, status updates, photos and notifications will be identical on Facebook Lite.
Facebook Lite is the company’s push to make basic services available in developing countries at the lowest price possible. There are places in the world where buying internet data is an excessive expense because of its high cost. The app works faster with any device, and is data efficient, giving the same features with less data consumption. It’s like Facebook with an in-built Data Saver mode.
As it works even on slow mobile networks, the page loads comparatively faster. Users can upload, download and check photos instantly, for which users had to wait for more than a couple of minutes on 2G networks. Users can have a real-time conversation with friends – either one-on-one or in group – on the slimmer Facebook edition.
The tool is rolling out to countries across Asia, and in the coming weeks, it will be available in parts of Latin America, Africa and Europe. It works on all Android phones. The app is not available on Play Store for now, but will soon be live.
Travel today has become simple. Well, simpler than what it used to be. With some who travel frequently and the summer upon us, a chance or need to visit a new destination may arise for a lot of people. However, with a lot to consider when traveling to new lands; from modes of transport to lodging and getting around. It has become more a stressful exercise. Having spent the early part of 2014 and 2015 traveling from one part of the world to another, I have come across people who seem fearful of said experience. They find what is supposed to be a fun exercise, a torture or a stressful endeavour.
Here are a few of my tips to overclock your travel experience and hack into making everything work better for you when you travel.
1. Pro Packing
The one thing you must educate yourself with before you travel, is the general atmospheric nature of the region to where you are headed. This will help you determine what all you need to take with you. Take only what you must, and as little as possible, you might end up shopping more than you expected to. If splurging on consumerism is not your thing, traveling light has many benefits. With Airlines trying to extract the profit balance, the Allowed weight of baggage is becoming lesser and lesser. If you do go on a shopping frenzy, always keep a digital luggage scale handy, so that you know when you have reached your limit.
Pack Like A Pro
While everyone is an expert in packing their own things, few tips like rolling up clothes, and lining the bottles to the side of your luggage really works to free up that space. Stuff your shoes with socks and other soft small clothing items, double pack your liquids in sealed plastic bags to avoid those unwanted shampoo stains on your favorite business suit.
An extra set of clothing in your carry on luggage goes a long way, especially when your luggage is delayed or lost in transit. Never put anything of value in checked in baggage and wrap fragile items in layers of newspaper or bubble wrap.
TSA Lock
Lock your checked in bags with a TSA approved locks. This type of lock will allow security agencies to open and check the bag if they so need to, then re lock it safely. Travel size is the way to go, so ensure that, if you carry any liquids in your carry-on bags they are within the carry-on size limits (below 100ml in most cases).
2. Beat The Airline
When you travel, it seems that everything is chargeable. Extra luggage, food and even basic comfort is a paid luxury. When possible, plan in advance; buy tickets early and even pay for the extra luggage online. This will save over 50% of what airlines call “opportunity earnings”. Always check in online, this helps you beat the queue, find a fairly comfortable seat and also mostly get away with slightly heavier baggage. Use the bag drop service, when available, after checking in online, to avoid the luggage being weighed when traveling within countries.
If you can afford to, then always only buy business class tickets, use the same airline as often as you can and always join that airlines frequent flyer program. If booked well in time, business class tickets can be had for only a slight percentage more than the economy tickets. The business class service is fantastic , seats are very spacious, enough to be sleep-worthy on a long haul and food is actually edible and healthy, while alcohol is poured in generous quantities.
Business Class is Awesome!
Tanking up on frequent flyer miles miles can have its privileges, once you progress from silver to gold to platinum, you will see a host of possibilities open up. An additional bag, priority check-in, free lounge access, porter service at most international airports all this for basically being loyal to the airline. You will also get free upgrade vouchers, and freebie gifts as a frequent flyer.
Your miles always come in handy too, pay excess baggage fee, get upgrades, or even buy tickets using up your miles as modes of payment. You can often end up traveling for free if you are smart from the get go.
3. Pick Your Transport
Depending on the kind of person you are pick your transport and plan for it in advance. The best way to get around in a new city is to use what the locals use. For example, New York city is best seen with the use of the underground rail and the bus network.
New York Metro Card
If you are traveling for a week or more, buying a weekly/monthly pass may come in handy. This card allows free unlimited rides on the train and bus network within the city, also a month long pass usually ends up being cheaper than one single taxi ride.
Car Rental Counter
Some cities are easily accessible on foot, and some using cycles available for rent. Barcelona is one such place, where travelers can get around best using rented bicycles. Goa is best seen by renting motorbikes, or even cars and open trucks. You can even rent vehicles when traveling considerable distances, an hour or two hours drive away from your place of stay. Most rental companies will accept foreign Drivers licenses and offer great discounts and upgrades when booked well in time. These rental companies also have loyalty programs which almost work like frequent flyer programs, allowing free upgrades, priority service, etc.
Airport transfers can be tricky too, always plan these in advance. Usually governments arrange bus services from Airports to downtown areas. New York has the “NYC Airporter” service which is run by the city, this service costs US $ 15 one way VS the one way taxi fare which is roughly US $ 70. New Delhi Airport has shuttles that run for free and sometimes for a very nominal fee. If you cannot find such a service, try using the local public transport when available. Berlin for example ( and most European destinations) has a great bus networks that connects to the airport.
Pro-Tip: Pre booking a taxi or finding a govt. authorized taxi service works well.
4. Pro Lodging
Depending on the kind of person you are, there are always lots of options available when booking a place to stay. If you are okay sharing spaces, websites like AirBnB have proven to be pocket friendly.
If you are booking a hotel that you have never stayed at before, always only book for the first night. Your epic vacation could come to a screeching halt if the pictures you saw while booking lied about the exact state or locality of said hotel. If you have paid only for the first night you can always go look for a better place incase your existing spot does not cut it for you.
Smart Booking can be healthy!
If the place of stay is known by you or those around you, then always book well in advance to get the best possible deals. Try booking directly with the hotels from their websites, using coupons or by emailing hotels. This usually turns out much cheaper than using websites that claim to be cheapest, and you often get deals like free breakfast and room upgrades.
5. Eat and Party where the Locals Do
Make friends before you arrive! The best way to know a place is to actually have friends who live there. Lots of travel forums and social networks allow you to get to know people before you arrive to a new city.
Ho Chi Minh Food Market
Avoid going to “touristy” places, they usually end up being a disappointment. As far as food goes, there is no better way to experience the food of new place than to eat where the locals eat. This will have the most authentic flavors and the best prices, you will meet fun people and have a blast.
6. Pro Connectivity
While travel sim cards are available a plenty, staying connected nowadays is more than just phone calls. Data is a very important need of the modern day traveller, and it’s best had by getting a local number. Most countries issue Sim cards to tourist almost instantly, after taking a copy of your passport. Find out the best phone and data plans for pre paid cards and simply get there and get connected. Retain these cards and activate online account for your numbers, so you can simply recharge your number before you travel again, to be connected on arrival.
Coffee shops and Cafes like Starbucks provide free Wi-Fi and power sockets to charge your devices. Never miss an opportunity to grab a hot cuppa, or a mocha frappuchino and get connected while you recharge your portable.
Most airlines now have Apps that not only allow you to check in and get your boarding cards on your phone, but also send instant notifications on delays, gate closing times and last minute gate change. Just so you don’t miss the last call announcement while listening to music on your fancy noise canceling headphones. If you own an iPhone, Passbook will scan your emails and remind you about your flights and add boarding cards to the book.
Bonus : Tech Travel
While most travel to enjoy visiting a new place, there are some with a fixed agenda. If you fly often, a long battery life tablet like an iPad and noise cancellation headphones may as well become your best friends.
A tablet allows you to carry millions of books, games , movies and a lot more to keep you busy. The noise cancellation headphones with active noise cancellation will almost entirely eliminate the loud airline engine hum and also prevent babies from waking you up with their first flight in a pressurised torture tube.
A travel adapter you own, will save you upto US $ 100 that some hotels may charge you, for not owning one. Some hotels don’t even carry these, so you might get stuck at a hotel without being able to charge your phone, your laptop or even your shaver. Different countries and regions have different power sockets and a multi country travel adapter is a must for a frequent flyer to international destinations.
Related Travel Products
Enjoy you Summer, plan well and if you do end up in some disaster let us know!
The smartphone evolution is on the verge of touching zenith by bringing all chief developments in a compact device. The tech industry is now swiftly gearing into diverse segments that would soon become a norm in the coming future. Apple has been struggling to catch up and is making attempts to fill up the gap. The March 9 event by Apple answered many questions about the HomeKit, but it soon faded in the backdrop with the launch of the Apple Watch and the new MacBook. Nonetheless, it gave a fair idea of Apple’s plan to let users build their personal Internet of Things (IoT) using HomeKit-compatible connected devices.
What is HomeKit?
Before we begin with how HomeKit works and how it can ease your life, let’s take a look back at what is HomeKit. HomeKit is a specialised language understood by appliances; a framework that works in combination with apps for communicating with and controlling connected accessories in a home. Users can set up actions to control home automation accessories like lights, gate, garage door, music, TV, etc and group them together.
HomeKit devices are stored in a database on the iOS device, which is synchronized to other iOS devices over iCloud. An admin is allowed to add more users to adjust the characteristics of accessories. The integration of voice assistant Siri makes it all the more fun and actions can be triggered by Siri at a single call. The arrangement works with devices like iPhone, iPad and iPod that runs iOS 8 and above.
How Does it Work?
Since connected devices in your home communicate with each other, each one of them needs to have a definite name. Assign a name to all the HomeKit-enabled devices and functions like ‘Living Room’, ‘Curtains’, ‘House’, ‘TV’, ‘Switch on’, ‘Brew’, so that Siri could interpret your command. Remember to use names and not general terms in your command.
Once you are done with storing names, the appliances can be controlled individually. Apple has also provided a grouping feature that can put together two or more appliances to manage at a time. This way you don’t have to give a command to every single object and one command will apply on all. For example, if there are many lights in your house and you want to switch off all, give Siri a pre-determined command and all the lights will turn off.
Official Home App to Debut on WWDC 2015
For now, there is no official app by Apple and users need to download a suitable application from the App Store. But there have been reports of Apple strengthening the connected home initiative through its own app dubbed ‘Home’. The tool would list all the HomeKit-enabled items and will be a remote point to manage everything.
HomeKit-Compatible Devices
As HomeKit is a conversational language of electronics, it could work with devices produced by any manufacturer, considering that it’s HomeKit-enabled. Apple has tied up with many consumer electronics brands to produce conversable appliances. Some of them include Haier, Philips, Belkin, Honeywell and a few more. There are several devices available in the market right now, but almost all of them are for sale in the US. The accessories are yet to hit the Indian market. It is speculated that Apple would release more of HomeKit-enabled devices in the forthcoming annual WWDC.
HomeKit is secure and doesn’t allow electricity abuse. It includes end-to-end encryption between iOS devices and smart devices, making them secure.
The Future of HomeKit
The HomeKit concept was introduced last year and even after a year, it has a crawling progress rate. Google too announced its latest smart home platform, Brillo, at the recent annual developer’s conference, but it’s a year behind Apple. The Cupertino-based firm has already thrown its hat in the respective ground. There has been a slow roll of HomeKit-compatible products in the market, but this year’s WWDC is expected to accelerate the process.
The race of turning homes to ‘smart homes’ is a tad long and it would take next several years to replace the already fitted appliances with smart gadgets. Besides that, Apple has merely sprung its plan of home automation into action and it needs to institute an entire set up of automated products. Surely, it would be slow and extended, but it’s a preview of how the future would be like. The day is not far when homes would be interacting like your smartphone.
Modern day tech essentials like smartphones and tablets are a boon, as well as a curse. While they are multifunctional, providing us with a camera, gaming console, laptop etc, the storage limitation makes them worthless after a certain stage. For instant content storage, users are forced to clean up the storage space, which may include documents, videos or photos of vital importance.
There are several tactics to unload your device without losing the stored content. Follow the below tips to make room for more files in just a few minutes.
Back Up Photos and Videos
Photos and videos are the biggest storage eaters when it comes to phone memory. They claim almost one-fourth or an even greater portion of your phone’s storage capacity, leading to an overload. But as they are memories one can’t afford to lose, they can be shifted to the cloud. Some of the best cloud storage services are Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud and more. Enable automatic uploading of Camera Roll to Dropbox and the content will upload automatically
Go on Settings > Accounts > Cloud and sync Pictures and Videos to upload them to Dropbox.
Those who are doubtful about the security of the cloud can keep their stuff in an external hard drive. Here are some more ways to backup your audio and video files.
Uninstall Heavy and Unused Apps
Apps cover the second highest section of your phone. Check out all the installations and install all the apps that you are no longer in use. There may be chances that there are two or three different kinds of apps solving the same purpose. Start eliminating apps of the same type and make room for more content.
Go to Apps on Home Screen > Tap on the left touch capacitive button > Select Uninstall and choose all those apps which you wish to uninstall from your phone.
Send Documents to Google Drive
Try not to save worksheets and text documents till you have a working internet connection. Save it on Google Drive and you can easily find it any time you need. Google Drive doesn’t allow you enough space to store content, but also offers several other features. You can create a new file, upload, scan and print documents. It’s handy and easy to use.
Clear Cache
Cache is important as it stores the required data for faster page loading, but at the same time, it consumes the phone’s internal memory. You can clear the cache for an individual app from the Setting menu of your Android device. Go on Settings > More > Application manager and click the app, whose cache you want to clear. This may be a bit tedious, so we suggest you install App Cache Cleaner from Google Play Store to clear all cached files with one tap.
Keep your Device Clean
A clean device makes life a lot easier. If the smartphone is clean, you won’t be facing problems like phone hanging and crashing of apps, which are prominent with almost all handsets these days. Clear browsing history, delete unimportant stuff like contacts, documents, music files and videos that are not worth the space on your phone.
The smartphone train keeps on moving forward as time passes by. With almost half of this year gone by, we’ve seen many new devices like Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and HTC One M9. But the year is far from ending, and many companies have given out hints of their new unnamed devices. Let us check them out below:
Samsung Galaxy S7
Samsung raised the standards of the Samsung smartphones in March when they launched the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Now, fans of the devices have already started to speculate about the next Galaxy phone that is touted to be released by the end of 2015. If these rumours are to be believed, Samsung will feature a massive 30MP primary camera and a 10MP front camera with the device. The device is also rumoured to have a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with 8K resolution. The device may also include an 8GB RAM, according to the rumours. The processor might be a 64-bit Exynos processor. Following the Galaxy S6 line, we might see Samsung to releasing a Galaxy S7 Edge too. Some other features include Retina Scanning, Advanced Touch ID and Fast Charge technology.
Huawei Honor 7
After Huawei launched the Honor 6 a year ago; the Honor series has been due for quite some time. A new teaser by Huawei indicates a launch of a new product on 8th June, which we think is most likely the Honor 7. The teaser showed a nicely drawn banner with the date and a quote that read ’Imagination is Everything’. According to TENAA, there will be two variants of the 5-inch full HD Honor 7 and will be powered by an in-house Kirin 935 chipset. One of the variants will have 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, and the other will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of memory. Not many details were revealed about the device for now.
OnePlus Two
OnePlus One was one of the most successful Chinese electronic startup stories of 2014. This handset captured an enormous chunk of the mid-segment smartphone market. OnePlus announced a new device on June, which is expected to be the next OnePlus handset. As per the details 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. 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.
Mi5 and Mi5 Plus
Reports from Gizmochina claim two more devices will be joining Xiaomi’s line-up later in June 2015. These devices are larger copies of the Mi 4, expected to be named Mi 5 and Mi 5 Plus. The claimed specs of the devices were leaked on the Chinese social media site, Weibo. The Mi 5 is touted to have a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 1440×2560 pixels. It is believed to be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset with either 3GB or 4GB RAM and will be juiced by a 3,000mAh battery. Its camera specification includes a 16MP primary camera.The device will also be infused with fingerprint technology. Its larger cousin, named as Mi 5 Plus, will feature a 6-inch screen with 4GB RAM, 32GB internal memory and a 16MP primary camera. No details were revealed about its processor, display, etc. Xiaomi has yet to announce the date of release, but reports mention that the two handsets will be out in June.
LG G5
Rumours say that LG is now working on the successor of the G4, and will be bringing iris recognition system into play. Reports from Korean publications state that LG has teamed up with local biometrics specialist Irience to implement this feature in its next smartphone. Reports also indicate that the phone will be released in the last quarter of 2015. For now, this is the only information we have found out.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
After a year of the release of Samsung Galaxy Note 4, rumours of its successor have started to flow in. Considering their launch pattern, the Galaxy Note 4 successor may launch sometime in September this year. The Note 5 will come with a model number SM-N920F. It is likely to feature 5.4-inch or 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with curves on both the edges. Let us remind you that the Note 4 was the first smartphone with which the curved edge display was included. Other rumours speak of a 5.9-inch screen with 4K resolution. The company has been preparing to venture into the 4K technology and the forthcoming Galaxy Note 5 may be the first to embed it. Other buzz suggests of a 16MP rear camera, 8MP secondary shooter, 4GB RAM and 16GB internal storage.
Apple iPhone 6S
Hardly a few months after releasing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, rumours of the new iPhone models are already trickling in. According to Macrumors, Apple will be releasing two iPhones under the ‘S’ naming category, namely the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Apple will be concentrating more on internal performances rather than external looks. At most, Apple may add Pink colour iPhones to its lineup. According to rumours, the new devices will have a faster A9 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel camera, an additional microphone to enhance voice quality, and a new internal mechanical design to address some bending issues users experienced with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Mini and Galaxy S6 Plus
It seems like Samsung is on the move to expand its range of Galaxy line-ups. The Korean company is reportedly working on a smaller version and a larger version of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, namely, Galaxy S6 Mini and Galaxy S6 Plus respectively. Both the rumours emerged this week.
According to GSMArena, the smaller version, Galaxy S6 Mini, or ‘SM-G9198’, the device will be an iPhone 6 competitor. It will have a 4.6-inch HD display and run on Snapdragon 808 chip with 2GB of RAM. It will be equipped with a 15MP primary camera and a 4.7MP front camera.
Meanwhile, Italy’s HDBlog revealed that the company is working on a bigger version, possibly a phablet, on the Galaxy S6 line. For now, the device has been codenamed as ‘Project Zero 2’. Interestingly, the S6 and S6 Edge were codenamed ‘Project Zero’. According to the rumours, the device will just be like the Galaxy S6, only bigger and with a more powerful battery.
Xolo Black
On Wednesday, Xolo announced that they are working on a new handset named Xolo Black. This device will come with a dual camera set up that will be able to capture images and their dimensions in an instant, thus creating 3D images. The phone will come along with HIVE 1.5 or above, along with Android Lollipop, and its price is expected to come in the sub-Rs 15,000 segment. Not many details were revealed about the phone and it is said to launch in the month of June.
Microsoft Lumia 940XL
Microsoft had launched the Lumia 930 almost a year ago, and now, the company is back with its newest smartphone, the Microsoft Lumia 940XL. According to NokiaPowerUser, the device is a larger version of the Lumia 940. The device is expected to have a bigger 5.7-inch display with a slim design and a metal frame. The processor will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot for expandable storage, a 5MP front-facing camera, a 20MP main PureView camera for photos and videos, and will feature native pen support as well.Further, it will also support USB C-Type and an Iris Scanner too. The specs sound very exciting, but the company has not officially confirmed the existence of such a device.
Motorola Moto X (third-gen)
Motorola may launch the third generation of its flagship Moto X smartphones in the coming few months. According to STJS Gadgets, the third-generation Moto X is leaked by a Motorola insider, who claims to have a hold of details about the next Moto X. The upcoming smartphone on the Moto X series will sport a 5.2-inch QHD AMOLED display, used on the Droid Turbo. Under the hood will be a Snapdragon 808 chipset bundled with a massive 4GB RAM. The device will come pre-installed with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.The front camera will be 5MP while the back will house a 16MP snapper with Clear Pixel Technology. The battery powering the device will also be mammoth at 3280mAh. The device will come in two storage variants – 32GB and 64GB.
Keep on checking iGyaan for more updates regarding these future devices!
Since the launch of the One M9, the whole world has been conflicted on whether HTC did enough of an upgrade from the One M8 to the One M9. The HTC One M9+ made things more confusing for the buyers and eventually led to unhappiness all round. While the original HTC M9 was launched in the European and American markets, there was more demand in the Asian region and vice-versa with the M9+, which was launched in the Asian market, and had more takers in Europe.
HTC One M9 (Original ) Unboxing:
Apart from the name, there are quite a few differences between the One M9 and the One M9+. For starters you have a completely different chipset. While the global M9 is packing Qualcomm Snapdragon the M9+ packs a MediaTek MT6795T. The M9+ does have DUO cameras at the back, just like the M8. However a mix of 20MP+2MP vs the Ultrapixel combo on the M8 or the single 20MP on the M9 makes for better photographic options.
Another difference is the way HTC M9+ handles storage, allowing upto a 2 TB microSD to be inserted into the handset and used as storage.
Build Quality
HTC keeps up to tradition with the new HTC M9+ and it’s quite identical in design with the HTC One M9. A brushed two-tone finish with the same all Aluminium back as seen earlier on the M9. The gold trim is easy on the eyes, and even though not everyone has shown a lot of appreciation towards it, the material trip is unique. The front has new-gen Gorilla Glass 4 and a centrally located fingerprint scanner, which may be confused for a main button.
Although, when the phone is unlocked an activated finger would allow you to jump back to the home screen. So it is touch button that looks like a real button with a fingerprint scanner embedded in it.
Hardware
Hardware wise the HTC One M9+ truly brings it to the table; great cameras, excellent display, ample storage and a large battery. However the Mediatek chipset was a real surprise to consumers and to us alike. This new chipset is actually much better than we anticipated, and puts the M9+ right back up in the flagship league.
The questions around the One M9+ are bang on. Is the Mediatek chipset a mistake? Should HTC have stuck with Qualcomm? Is the performance getting affected?
However the answers are even simpler. HTC found the new Mediatek MT6795T to be refined and powerful enough to power their flagship. We find it difficult to disagree. The processor does not tire, it’s efficient and highly performance driven and allows the user to truly take advantage of the handset.
Also, unlike the dual setup of the Qualcomm Snapdragon, the Mediatek chipset comes with an 8 Core CPU.
The HTC One M9+ scores positive results on benchmarks, with a happy 48000+ on AnTutTu 64 bit. The performance report pitches it against all market flagships and gaming performance is better than 85% of the other devices at hand.
Gaming is not a problem on the HTC One M9+, the chipset is quick at CPU calculations and load times are highly improved. GPU renders 2D and 3D graphics with easy and most games perform well at high graphics.
Display and Multimedia
It’s a pity that the original HTC One M9 didn’t get a high resolution display. A 2k display makes sense on a handset with over 5 inches to spare, and HTC has managed to get it all well within the sweet spot. As with most HTC displays in the past, this too gets a SLCD panel with Gorilla Glass 4 and great brightness indoors or outdoors.
Gorgeous 2K Display
Boomsound is much better on the M9+ when compared to the audio quality of the HTC One M8, larger speaker cavities improve the native sound and an enhanced audio chip improved audio from the headphones. The Boomsound speakers are possibly the industry’s best and they have seen significant improvement on the M9+.
Camera
HTC has also majorly overhauled their camera strategy. From saying “Megapixels don’t matter” to stuffing a 20 MP sensor in their latest flagship, HTC has truly gone with what the market wants. A wide f2.2 enables good low light shots, however, the Samsung Galaxy S6 takes the cake on low light with their f1.7 aperture lenses.
The images from the HTC One M9+ are sharp and the colours are well balanced. The contrast is good and the light compensation in low light is excellent. Native image stabilization is hugely missed on this handset.
The Camera app is a lot more simplified and easy to use. While certain things that came naturally on the HTC One M8 are now slightly difficult to operate, like the Dual-Camera capabilities. The addition sensor on the dual setup measures the field of view and allows the user to capture images with defined and adjustable depth. It’s mostly gimmicky, however in a perfect light and area setup, it works flawlessly. An idea example would be a landscape shot with a subject in the foreground. These type of shots will work best and will also allow customisations using HTC’s inbuilt features.
Duo Camera 20 MP + 2 MP
ZOE, now independent of the camera app on HTC devices, is more of a cross platform photo sharing app. Important filters and features make it fun to use and allow the user to experiment a lot more with the camera on the HTC One M9+.
Front Ultrapixel Camera
The front camera is an Ultrapixel camera from HTC, the same sensor we saw on the back of the M7 and the M8 last year. This drastically improves the front facing camera’s quality as well as low light capabilities.
OS and Blinkfeed
One of the best things HTC has done on the M9 and the M9+ is reduce their control of the Android OS space. The new HTC Sense 7 is a lightweight skin vs what it used to be in the past. Less customisations by HTC also mean that Android Lollipop and Android M (in the future) get to display their full glory.
If you do miss customizations, like HTC’s flip clock, they are now included in the widgets section and are just a simple long tap away. You also, still get themes which you can further customize, by changing colours, images and layouts.
Blinkfeed has also upped its game, with a faster re-hash of feeds and a better layout. The higher resolution display of the M9+ helps in highlighting the content.
The OS and the UI elements are highly optimized, this helps improve productivity and reduce battery consumption.
Phone Network & Battery
The HTC One M9+ supports LTE networks as well as all bands in India. It has a fantastic antenna and excellent voice quality, something that has become synonymous with HTC in the past. No dropped calls and hit network in places with poor reception, are great things to have.The reduced search for strong network also improves battery life on the handset.
Both the speaker and microphone are loud and responsive, allowing parties on both sides to communicate effectively.
The 2840 mAh battery is more than sufficient in getting through the day and then some. The chipset along with the optimizations on the software front make the battery-drain end up on the lower side of the spectrum. The battery life could have been better and things like fast charge are missing from the mix, we honestly don’t mind.
Type
WiFi
Cellular
Talk Time
N/A
6 Hours
Standby
150 Hours
48 Hours
Music
12 Hours
10 Hours
Internet
5 Hours
5 Hours
Video and Gaming
4-5 Hours
4 Hours
Conclusion
With the One M9+, HTC has put all its cards on the table. Their experiment with a relatively newer chipset manufacturer may have paid off well. Consumers in Europe are craving the One M9+ while being served the One M9, and there is good reason for that. The M9+ turns out to be a much better handset than many already in the market, it also is a much better handset than the company’s own M9. Excellent build quality, great design and aesthetics, premium materials, great hardware and excellent cameras make the HTC One M9+ a better device. The camera improvements will satisfy those that missed it last year, and the OS improvements will really push the envelope on making the One M9+ ownership worthy.
The One M9 was a huge disappointment, failing to play catch up with what was happening in the industry. However, with the new M9+, HTC not only caught up, they set precedent.
Taiwanese manufacturer, HTC, introduced a new offering that will outdo premium flagships by other smartphone labels in several aspects. The firm brought out the One ME in China, becoming the first smartphone to embrace Mediatek’s new Helio X10 chipset. The handset features a somewhat similar set of specs as the previously launched One M9+. HTC hasn’t spoken about its availability and pricing details.
HTC One ME sports a 5.2-inch Quad HD (1440x2560p) display with 565ppi pixel density. The processor of the phone is its USP. It holds a 64-bit octa-core Helio X10 processor clocked at 2.2GHz, along with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage capacity. Users can expand the memory up to 2TB via MicroSDXC. The device runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC’s Sense UI on top.
The dual-SIM One ME with fingerprint scanner touts a 20MP rear camera with LED Flash. A 4MP UltraPixel secondary camera sits up front together with BoomSound speakers. The phone gets its juice from the 2,840mAh battery. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, LTE and Micro-USB.
MediaTek is estimated to outshine Qualcomm and Samsung with the launch of Helio range of chipsets. The company has upped the level with the Helio X10 that has a 64-bit architecture and eight Cortex-A53 cores clocking at 2.2GHz. The Helio X10 refreshes a display at the rate of up to 120Hz and records slow-mo videos at up to 480fps. From Apple’s roaring offerings, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, it can be estimated that the ME can record videos at the rate of 240 frames per second.
Home Automation is the next thing after smartphones and tablets that everyone is talking about. And why not? smart is the flavour of the season. Smart Homes tend to make life easier. It senses your presence and acts accordingly. From checking security, opening gates, switching lights to controlling room temperature, everything today can be done by the touch of a button. It’s sensible and won’t cost you a bomb.
You can opt for single room automation, multi-room automation, and automation of your kitchen, bathroom, curtains or anything that can be connected. We are giving you some tips to automate your home wirelessly so that you don’t have to spend on fixing the already built structure.
Invest in an Efficient Router
A smart router is the core of a smart home. Buy a powerful router of ASUS, Netgear, Cisco or TP-Link, so that the installed smart devices work efficiently. The router should have high signal strength across your premises for device interactions to remain seamless; otherwise several problems may crop up. A superior router will send the command instantly as soon as it is made, like turning down the brightness, switching off the light and so on. A dual-band router will cost you below Rs. 20,000.
Pick a Hard drive of Enough Capacity
An external portable hard drive is essential for a smart home. Get hold of a hard drive and store all your audio and video files on it. Connect it to the router and you’ll be able to share it with devices with the click of a button. Your choice of music will play in the selected rooms.
Safety Comes First
Once you have decided on what router to use and picked the hard drive, security is the first thing one should focus on. Go for a door camera and biometric lock. A door camera will inform you of the approaching person, and the biometric lock would enable you to not carry around a pair of keys. Eureka Forbes offers its security system for as low as Rs. 20,000 and a biometric lock would cost approximately Rs. 12,000. Video surveillance allows you to keep an eye on a wider area and the automated alerts keep you in touch with the home ensuring better safety.
Lightning Control
With smart lights installed, customers can sit back and turn them off even when they are not at home. Sensor control lights and its prices range from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 7,000. On the other hand, timers and switching units are a bit cheaper at Rs. 2,500.
Control the Temperature of Your House
Today, most of the consumer electronic companies have switched to a smart AC module. There are apps existing on App Store through which a user can control the temperature of individual rooms through the mobile device from anywhere.
Other than that, one can control the temperature and filters of outdoor pools & spas. Energy can be saved by automated curtains and blinds, which can be closed and opened through a button, on your smart device.
As apps become more prevalent and powerful, entrepreneurs and small business owners are relying on these savvy tools to help their businesses grow and run more smoothly. Some of the apps in this arsenal will help you get a lot done with minimal personnel, since things are just starting out and human resources may be limited at this point.
We are listing top 10 apps to get you organized, connected, visible and will likely contribute to your start-up’s success.
1. Slack
Slack provides you with real-time messaging, archiving and integrations to other tools, such as Google Docs and Trello. This means less internal email communication and keeping things quick and on the go. Using Slack would mean no one will miss out on anything, and everyone is clear on what’s happening on each project. The app comes with a feature which allows you to be notified when certain terms or words are used by the team, meaning you are always on top of the urgent things.
2. Zendesk
If your business targets for excellent customer service then Zendesk is one app that’ll help you take over the entrepreneurial world. It is vital to understand what your customers need and like everything in this world, each person has a varied requirement. In such a scenario, you need to keep a check where you are standing in comparison to all your competitors. Zendesk helps you do all this and much more.
3. Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce is the industry standard for CRM, and it’s a great starting point for your new business. Salesforce effectively primes your customer-interfacing business channels for sales. What’s more, due to its wild popularity, Salesforce Sales Cloud is also among the most compatible apps on the market.
4. SurveyPocket
SurveyPocket helps you put together mobile-friendly surveys. It helps get to know your target customers better than by surveying them – before you invest time, money, and effort in the wrong endeavours. SurveyPockets lets you get feedback from your audience, and it’s an app that is especially capable of mobile surveying.
5. ZohoDocs
In the course of running your new business, you’re going to generate tons of documents day one onward. Zoho Docs help you safely dump proprietary, sensitive documents that you can’t afford to lose, as well as accounting and tax reporting-related documents that you’ll need to store for years. Zoho Docs is a great place to start with online file storage that adds user access control to an otherwise intuitive set of features.
6. SureDone
It one of most relied upon online selling solutions. It allows you to easily sell from your e-Commerce website, as well as from marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Google Shopping. If your startup plans to offer any type of products, SureDone is the perfect choice to help you reach the widest market possible, easily.
7. HootSuite
HootSuite is a social networking app that reduces the time it takes to manage your startup’s social media presence. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are requisites at this point. HootSuite not only lets you automate posting and sharing, but it tracks brand mentions and inquiries and reports them to you, all from a convenient dashboard.
8. Expensfy
Expensify, an app that keeps track of business expenses and mileage, while letting users scan and upload receipts. Users can even sort file receipts by trip and submit expense reports to employers with the click of a button. Founded by David Barrett, the app has exploded to almost 1 million users and processes over $2 million in expenses daily.
9. TrackMaven
TrackMaven streamlines your ability to monitor data on your competition, without going through the hassle of consulting multiple sources. Filter the marketing activity you want alerts for and erase all the extra white noise.
10. TimeStation
Timestation is an app extention of popular employee managment website called Bizimply. It turns your iOS device into a cloud-based time and attendance system. Using our Fast-Scan technology, employees can punch In and Out in less than a second. The best thing is that TimeStation runs in the cloud, so there’s no software or servers to maintain. Managers can see who’s in and run time and attendance reports anytime, anywhere. TimeStation is the perfect solution for small and medium businesses looking to track time and attendance without the usual costs and overhead of traditional systems.
Frequent call drops in the middle of the conversation must have caused anguish within customers, and telecom operators are accountable for this. The Indian Government is taking notice of the inconvenience caused to its people and has cautioned telcos to minimize call drops and strengthen its mechanism.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated in a press conference –
Call drops need to be minimized. Private operators need to reinforce their mechanism. I have directed officials in the telecom department to work on a disincentive architecture (for the operators) to address the issue.
Prasad further said that The Department of Telecom (DoT) will settle on penalty clauses and measures to reduce call drops by year-end. Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) has set the maximum permissible call drop limit to 2% calls, and there is no mention of reimbursement of any sort by the independent regulator. The panel is considering re-evaluation and chances are that it may fix a lower threshold for call drops in the wake of numerous complaints. According to an official, it may be as early as the next six months.
The choked network in metros and poor broadband connectivity have always been an issue with service providers. Despite that, customers are bound to pay through their noses as the services remain unsatisfactory. It is nice to see that the government is taking notice of public grievances and is considering taking action by the end of this year. However late, the news is certain to bring a big smile on everyone’s face.
There are a few telecom companies such as Reliance and Uninor that are compensating for the glitch on their part, but other mobile operators like Vodafone, Airtel, that have a larger consumer base are still to make a move in this direction. It would not be easy for the government to make telcos agree to its conditions as it will stir their revenue, but the government seems determined in its aim. The next few months will be the deciding point that will finally put an end to call drops.
When Apple presented to the world its cutting-edge Macbook with a universal USB Type-C port, some of the tech critics were suspicion about its usability on present computers and renounced it as technology of the future. However, the tech biggies set their eyes on it and discovering its wide approach, installed the same on its forthcoming products. Now, we see Google Chromebooks, and many other manufacturers like Asus getting on board the revolutionary connector USB-C on its laptops. So, how valuable is USB-C really?
As many of us know, the USB-C connector is one reversible port that takes care of power, data transfers, and display output. It is slim and compatible with almost every device with standard USB ports. This rids customers of four or six connecting ports that demand your system’s side space and gives manufacturers freedom to trim down the size of machines and, hence, weight. There were speculations that USB-C could outdo Lightning and Thunderbolt connectors, but Thunderbolt has shown its confidence in USB-C connector and unveiled Thunderbolt 3.
Thunderbolt 3 is a computer port that uses USB-C. The port delivers two 4K displays, fast data transfer, quick charging, and up to 40 Gbps speed over Thunderbolt, which is double the speed of the previous generation, USB 3.1 10Gbps, and DisplayPort 1. With faster connection, users can transfer a 4K movie in just a few seconds. Two 4K displays can be connected that will give astonishing picture quality than an HDTV, nearly 16 million more pixels. As it offers superior viewing experience, gamers can “connect plug ‘n’ play external graphics to a notebook.” But there is a limitation; only the devices with lightning-bolt logo on the USB port will be able to access its blazing speed. Products with Thunderbolt 3 are expected to begin shipping before the end of this year.
According to Intel, the new 12-inch MacBook, Asus Transformer Book, and Chromebook PixelProducts will not work with upcoming Thunderbolt 3 products. Devices with Thunderbolt 3 are expected to begin shipping before the end of this year.
A USB-C connector is the one standard solution to asymmetrical USB jacks, except for audio. It’s convenient to use and has the potential to replace all jacks. The cross-platform connector of the next-generation will omit all kinds of jacks from future devices and would be a fundamental addition that every producer has to embrace. Nokia has caught up with the trend and its tablet Nokia N1 boasts the reversible USB-C connector. More tablets and even smartphones are expected to hold this tool. The future seems compact and fast, and soon people would prefer to buy devices with a USB-C port already embedded.
Given its popularity, one might think that Instagram was earning millions of dollars through its followers. But what sort of an app will earn money if its only function is uploading or liking pictures? It barely earned a penny. Then, in 2012, it got a push because Facebook bought it for a billion dollars. However, the income was still meagre. Now in 2015, this is why it’s going to change:
Instagram will finally allow a fully operational Ad business, providing shopping links with their posts, aided by Facebook targeted groups. Yes, this means that Instagram, will now have a ‘Shop Now’ button that will link you to what you want to buy.
Earlier, Instagram had 475 campaigns with huge companies like Gap, Disney and other retailers, however, they wouldn’t provide links to buy the product outside the app and these companies would have to collaborate with third party services. Now though, we will be able to see purchase details of all commodities below the pictures and videos a company posts, and we’ll even be directed to the site of purchase.
Instagram plans to use Facebook’s 2 million advertisers to facilitate this new feature and it is certain that companies too, are ecstatic about the new development.
“It’s an ideal platform to shop on as it’s so visual and fashion oriented,” said Old Navy media director Michele Schuh in an email to Adweek.
While it will be very convenient to find the cost of a Michael Kors bag or the price of GAP t-shirts, below the picture, it will also mean that the number of ads is bound to increase. And we know how annoying that can be.
Instagram is not too worried about losing its followers, though. It is said that they have a new API in place that will allow marketing partners to automate ad responses. This means that advertisers can reach all age groups on Facebook and target their interests as well. In addition to this, they are working on making each ad fit seamlessly into your feed so that it causes minimum disturbance while you’re scrolling through your friends’ posts. So we can expect that there will be no pop-ups in the near future, at least.
This spells good news for retailers and Instagram as they will see their fortunes rising. However, we don’t know if this is a positive or negative development for its users.
What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below.
