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Samsung and Airtel Team Up to Bring an Integrated Digital TV

The biggest consumer electronics company and India’s prominent mobile and DTH operator are partnering to bring hassle-free entertainment to the Indian shore. Airtel and Samsung have teamed up to bring India’s very first Integrated Digital TV (iDTV).

An integrated digital television (iDTV) set is a television set with a built-in digital Tuner. They make the set-top box obsolete, which is great. Unfortunately, they still require that dish to catch the signal. It would be cool if the electronics market can do away with that too; we’ve had enough of our roof’s looking like a television station.

Coming back to the matter at hand, the iDTV also gives you freedom from the dual remote system that we use presently. On this TV, a single remote system also makes life easy as it comes accompanied with an intuitive user guide.

Shashi Arora, Bharti Airtel’s CEO – DTH & Media said, “The in-built Airtel DTH smart card supports direct signal reception from the dish antenna, thus enabling crystal clear audio-video quality and making these Samsung TVs the smartest available in the marketplace today.”

These iDTV’s will utilize a Smart Card from Airtel, which goes directly into the TV. The devices come in the category of Samsung’s SmartDirect TV. This TV range will start at Rs. 44,900, which seems like a fair price. It also comes coupled with 4 months free subscription as an introductory offer.

So if you wanted to do away with that mess of wires and just kick back in your couch potato mode with just one remote, this might be what you were looking for.

October 22, 2014
Satya Nadella Becomes One of the Highest Paid Tech Executives

Indians love the sound of the phrase, ‘pay package’. It rings a mental cash register in their heads when they hear it followed five or six figure numbers. It figuratively goes “cha-chinng”. But listening to what Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella has achieved will make all the traditional Indian fathers sigh that they can’t ask him to marry their daughters.

Satya Nadella has scored a whopping $84 Million pay package. This, of course, will be dispensed to him in a long period of time, but it still is more than what normal Indians can think of and what corrupt politicians might make in a year.

Mr. Nadella is the third in the line of Microsoft CEO’s, after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. He is though the first one to not score a multi-billion dollar holding in the company. But for running the biggest tech company in the world, the $84 Million package sounds alright.

Satya Nadella is the Third CEO for Microsoft in its 38 year history.

This package is indicative of the total remuneration that will be received by Satya Nadella over the years, but his annual gross isn’t low either. He is expected to take home a luxurious $11.6 million.

There have been mixed news coming out of Microsoft’s stable ever since Mr.Nadella took the helms of the company. He was recently heavily berated for saying that women should not ask for a pay rise but have “faith in the system”. He is also the person who oversaw the biggest job cuts in Microsoft’s history, most of them were ex-Nokia employees.

Now you might be imagining him in a Darth Vader helmet but he helped out the business too. He led the development of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world. He will be responsible for the audacious Windows 10 which hopes to do away with all the headaches Windows 8 brought.

For the first non-American CEO in the 38-year history of the world’s biggest tech company, there is still a lot to achieve. We’ll be keeping a vigilant eye on this homeboy and will keep a track on how he plans to keep Microsoft valid in the mobility era.

October 21, 2014
Nokia Mobiles Will Soon Be Officially Known as Microsoft Lumia

Well, we had been dreading for this day to arrive and it’s here. The Verge reports that Microsoft might announce that it is killing off the Nokia brand. The transition is expected to begin soon in which all the branding of Nokia will be replaced by Microsoft Lumia branding.

We had reported this summer about how Microsoft had planned to do away with the Nokia’s brand identity in its mobile business and seemed like the process has started. The devices are moving to Microsoft’s new mobile site. The French division of Nokia will be one of the first one’s to make the transition and adopt the “Microsoft Lumia” for its Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. Microsoft had once claimed that the reason they are quitting the Nokia brand name for their phones is because they felt it comes from a bygone era.

This move is done to absolve all relation to the original Nokia, which will now become a separate entity under the leadership of another Indian, Rajeev Suri. This Nokia will concentrate on Network, Software’s and Maps divisions. It also has a huge patents division which can ensure its profitability at least for the coming future.

Considering the initial presentation of Windows 10, it seems like Lumia phones are only going to get better

Back at the beginning of the mobile era, Nokia was a brand name that everyone trusted. It had a stature of titans in the mobile phone industry. Now it will limit itself into a tiny corner of the tech industry. We still hope that the company can make a turnabout and see it making a return to compete in the market. Till then we’ll keep our eyes on how Microsoft plans to take on the mobile business. It has great products and a great operating system, it just needs to attract customers to them.

October 21, 2014
Apple Decides Against Offering EMI Options for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in India

In response to the unprecedented high demand for the new flagship iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in India, Apple has decided not to offer any EMI options. The reason quoted for this is that they are not able to cope up with the supply. Apple had tied up with Bajaj Finance and Capital First to offer a zero-interest finance options on their earlier products. However, the schemes are not applicable to the new line-up.

It has been said that the company will furthur evaluate the decision to offer EMI options for the new iPhones in the January quarter. Meanwhile, EMI options are still available on older models which include iPhone 5s, 5c and 4s.

Both phones deliver a good battery backup even with their massive displays.

The iPhone 6 has gone out of stock in India just days after its official release. In the nation’s capital, Apple’s ardent fans had even lined up at midnight to be the first to buy the device.

Apple had brought in a stock of 55,000 devices for sale in India on the midnight of 16th October. The entire stock got sold in just 3 days. Now the company is planning to bring 25,000 new devices soon to quench the demand for the latest bestseller. It was said that there will be a delay of three days before the devices are available again.

October 21, 2014
Philips Mobile and Mitashi Bring Out Smartphones for Senior Citizens

In this day and age of high end specs and 4K displays, manufacturers are launching phones for the aged, trying to venture into a demographic that generally stays away from high tech gadgets. Philips Mobile and Mitashi on Monday launched phones for senior citizens featuring larger buttons, a bright screen and a convenient flashlight.

“The senior generation, while being largely technophobic, is looking at their grandkids engaging actively on the Android platform and definitely wants to get onto the bandwagon. We thought of addressing the need of a smartphone exclusively made keeping senior citizen’s needs in mind,” said Adnan Chara, Vice President of gaming, toys and telecom at Mitashi.

With 5 per cent of India’s population over the age of 65, this is a huge market to tap into, added Chara. Mitashi introduced their Android KitKat PLAY Senior Friend AP 103, priced at Rs. 4,999, meanwhile Philips Mobile introduced its first feature phone for senior citizens called the Xenium X2566, priced at Rs. 3,800.

These so called feature phones are less complicated than smartphones, as elderly citizens have trouble adapting to new technologies. In time, we will find out how beneficial these smartphones are or if its just another marketing gimmick.

October 21, 2014
Lenovo Reportedly Bidding to Acquire BlackBerry

Blackberry was once a device of choice for major celebrities and business professionals alike. Now after the emergence of the touch-screen revolution, it has found it hard to cope with the competition. Even though its features have been well appreciated, there have been fewer takers of its devices every quarter.

Now Lenovo, the Chinese company which has gobbled up some iconic business such as IBM’s workstation and Motorola Mobility, is now making a bid to acquire the Canadian firm. Benzinga claims that Lenovo might put forward the bid as early as this week.

The company is expected to make the starting bid of $15.00 per share and is expected to be closed at around $18.00 per share. BlackBerry shares have been hovering around the $9 mark, and this would seem like a profitable option for the company’s shareholders.

Lenovo had previously made a bid for BlackBerry last year. It was though blocked by the Canadian government. One of the major causes cited for the block was that Lenovo is a Chinese company, and the government didn’t want any mobile infrastructure falling into the hands of a Chinese Company.

Though it is unsure whether the Canadian government will allow a merger this time around. It sure will be a long process to convince the government the security of data. It is especially a concern because Blackberry is still used by entrepreneurial and government officials. They deal with sensitive data, and it might be a cause of concern for everyone using the device. This is a developing story, and we’ll keep our eyes on it. Come back for more.

October 21, 2014
OnePlus One Finally Up for Pre-Orders

The OnePlus One has been sold on an invite system from the get go. In doing so, the company continued to receive the orders, yet restricted orders enough to ramp up production. It might come across as a surprise at this point, but OnePlus One will be available for pre-orders on October 27th at 11am. Why, you might ask, are we specifying the time? Well, here’s the catch – the phones will be up for pre-orders only for an hour.

Although the time limit is unfortunate, however people finally get the chance to own the phone, without waiting for an invite. If you are able to place an order within that hour, you will be entitled for a OnePlus One smartphone. The phone’s shipping date will be determined by factors such as how many total orders are placed and how quickly one places their order. To further simplify the process, OnePlus is allowing customers to set up their shopping carts early. This way, all you need to do is to checkout when the clock hits eleven. All OnePlus accessories will be up on sale as well.

If users happen to receive an invite after an order is placed, the phones will be shipped immediately.

It was previously reported that the company will be doing away with the invite system for a pre-order system. Carl Pie said, “We understand that our current method may be slowing our growth down, but we’d rather grow slower and in a healthy way than take too much risks and go out of business. Risk management is extra important in our scenario where we don’t have hardware margins.”

We were really impressed by the device in our review, if you really want to get your hands dirty on this slick device, head over to preorder.oneplus.net and be prepared. Sadly, preorders are not available in India yet.

October 21, 2014
Canvas 5 Might be Micromax’s First CyanogenMod-Based Smartphone

We had reported a few weeks back of a possibility of a CyanogenMod powered device coming from Micromax’s stable. Now DroidGoblin is reporting that the device can be Micromax Canvas 5. The phone is expected to be launched at a price of about Rs. 22000.

The phone is expected to sport a 5-inch full HD display. It will get its processing might from the Octa-Core processor from MediaTek, which it has been using in its top-end phones. It will come with 2GB of RAM and might have 16GB internal storage with an option to expand it through a MicroSD card. All of this is expected to come in an aluminum outer shell.

According to the report the phone isn’t light in the camera department either. It is expected to offer an 18-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

The CyanogenMod on the device will be based on Android Kitkat 4.4.4 which will probably make it the most updated Micromax device out there. CyanogenMod is definitely the most popular custom Android ROM and the news of the device from Micromax has met with wide appreciation. As of now, there are over 12 million active installs of CyanogenMod till June 2014.

On the spec-sheet, the device sounds great and will easily find a lot of takers here in India. This will be a great news for people looking for a device that offers regular updates. There are also tons of customizability features on the ROM, which will let you own a unique device designed by you. This seems like a great new step for the Indian company, and we can’t wait to check out the device.

October 21, 2014
iOS 8.1 Now Available for Download, Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Apple had launched the iOS 8 with some key features missing, which was a let down for many. One of the major problem with the update was that it demanded close to 5GB of free space on your device before you could update, which only meant users had to delete a lot of music, photos and apps to make space. The second important feature missing from iOS 8 was the absence of a Camera Roll.

When the iOS 8.0.1 update released on September 24, Apple ended up pulling the update just hours after it became available. The bug-laden update has caused iPhones to lose cell network and affected the Touch ID.

Apple studied and considered the user feedback before launching iOS 8.1. Now it has finally brought some key and impressive features to its mobile platform that were missing earlier. However, to have the best possible experience of these features, users will need to have the OS X Yosemite installed. If you have an iPhone 5s or higher, here’s what to look forward to in the latest iOS 8.1 update.

Apple Pay

Apple’s rumoured payment platform finally hits on iOS 8 devices running with the 8.1 update. In order to use Apple Pay, users need to add a card to Apple Pay by taking a snap of their card. After the card is verified from the bank, it is added to passbook, where users can finally access it for future purchases. Users can now open their Passbook in retail stores, a finger print scan via the Touch ID sensor completes the process. Though as of now, the feature is U.S locked, UK availability is expected to start some time early next year.

Personal Hotspot

The 8.1 update brings about a significant improvement in communication sharing features between desktop and mobile. The new personal Hotspot allows the iPhone’s 4G LTE compatibility to be accessed from a nearby Mac. Once connected, the Mac acts as a phone.

Camera Roll is Back

When Apple launched the iOS 8 last month, it was missing the Camera Roll feature which was a major let down for users. Now with the 8.1 update, this feature is back where users can house all their photos again in one single folder.

Beta iCloud Photo Library Access

iCloud Photo Library returns as a beta in iOS 8.1. It stores as much as you want, provided you have purchased that much space in iCloud. Previously, iCloud only stored your last 1000 photos for 30 days. Therefore, all photos uploaded in the iCloud Photo Library will be a part of your total iCloud storage. You get 5GB of free storage for starters, with 99 cents a month you get 20GB, while $3.99 will get you 200GB.

SMS Relay

A feature you’d probably already know about, deserves another mention here. With the SMS and Phone integration, you can send and receive text messages as well as phone calls across all Apple devices. This is definitely the future of interlinked digital devices. Apple definitely was to be the first company to benefit from this because of its enormous hardware ecosystem.

The iOS 8.1 definitely looks much more promising from the the iOS 8, and is now available for download. Apple seems have really made an effort to bring about some refreshing changes based on consumer feedback that were missing earlier.

October 21, 2014
China Rages a Massive Privacy Attack on iCloud

Just when Apple fans were setting up their new iPhones, they discovered that they are being misled to an identical looking page. Web censorship watchdog Great Fire is reporting that the Chinese authorities are staging a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack on Apple’s iCloud. The attacks coincide with the new iPhone launch, thereby giving the authorities’ access to a massive number of passwords of people setting up their new phones.

According to Wikipedia, a MITM attack is a form of active eavesdropping. The attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them. It makes them believe that they are talking directly to each other over a private connection, when in fact the entire conversation is controlled by the attacker.

When a person tries to log into their iCloud, they are instead redirected to an identical looking page. When using a Firefox or Chrome browser, there is a warning that you are not on the authentic website, but when using China’s most popular browser, Qihoo there is no warning. Microsoft’s Live.com, Github, Google and Yahoo have also faced such attacks in the recent past.

It is being said that this is a massive effort from the Chinese authorities to fish out usernames and passwords from a huge population. Doing so will give them access to all the data including personal documents, pictures and videos stored on the cloud. For folks who set automatic syncing to the cloud for their entire data, this news might be troublesome.

It’s being said that the recent addition of encryption system might have attracted this unfriendly attention from the Chinese authorities. The system faced disapproval from security institutions like the FBI.

China is infamous for censoring the internet using its giant firewall, known as Golden Shield Project or better known as the Great Firewall of China. But fishing out user information is a recent phenomenon which by the looks of it is gaining steam. There are few ways you can circumvent the impositions. The user can use a VPN service to access their real accounts just make sure that the VPN service is also not blocked by the country’s firewall.

Internet freedom are considered a part of human rights and right to privacy is one of the cornerstones of a civilized society. But this recent surge of privacy theft should concern all.

Here’s a TED talk by Glenn Greenwald who explains why privacy is such an essential element for our society:

October 21, 2014
Gmail’s Redesigned App to Support Yahoo and Outlook Accounts

After the release of the long awaited Android L and its associated Material Design, it seems Google wants to take its feature a step further. Android Police has accessed Gmail 5.0 app for Android and discovered support for Yahoo and Outlook accounts. This will be a big blow to the independent apps of these mail clients; people might find it more convenient to access all their accounts from one place.

The new Android OS was appreciated for its ease of use and simplified view with updated iconography and tweaked buttons. A companion video shows how the new update keeps the interface similar to what we have gotten used to, but adds more functionalities to the app.

This will be a great new feature for folks who use multiple accounts for different purposes. It will work out for business and personal users and by using a single app to access all the mails will save a lot of precious time. Ok Google, we are waiting for our updates!

October 20, 2014
These Tiny Autonomous Quadcopters Might be the Builders of Tomorrow

Drones are one of the buzzwords of our times. Although the name became associated with the deadly unmanned aerial vehicles operated by the US armed forces, it has quickly lost that. They are now everywhere. They are being used for shooting professional grade videos at low costs, used for making deliveries and are a boon to action sports. Now a research video released by the University of Pennsylvania shows them doing some amazing things.

The quad copters called the Pico quadrotor are developed at University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory. It integrates computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering to build autonomous vehicles and robots, develop self-configuring humanoids, and making robot swarms.

It seems that the researchers at the GRASP Lab have already made robot swarms a reality. The quadroter showcased in the video flaunt their strong body, collision aversion systems and flying in a leader-follower formation.

The pico quadrotor weighs just 25 grams and 11 centimeters long. They are capable of flying up to six meters per second, about half the speed of a hummingbird. The demonstrations of the tiny drones are extremely impressive. The copters can collide with walls and poles and still survive.

The leader-follower bit of the demonstration blew our minds. These drones might as well inspire the future fighter planes and planets. Each quadrotor robot has its own set of sensors too, which assist it in making direction decisions in real-time, without the need to be connected to a computer. You can almost imagine a precision flying mechanism from any sci-fi movie. These almost feel like the DWARF drones from Agents of Sheild. Looking at experiments like this, it feels like the future is now.

Yash Mulgaonkar, one of the researchers behind the project told TechCrunch that these drones can assist in search and rescue, first response, law enforcement due to their “ability to fly through unstructured, constrained, 3-D environments.”

Though it does sound fantastic to look at, it does inspire speculation of a future where these devices can overpower humanity. Films like Terminator and Matrix come to mind. Even in the most basic of stages, the pico quadrotor looks capable of doing things better than a human mind. But these speculations are for a distant future, but it’s important to have a fail-safe plan before they are unleashed in the market.

Here is a detailed TED talk about this amazing device and the future applications of the Pico quadrotors.

October 20, 2014
Sony Xperia Z4 Leak Points to a 5.5-Inch QHD Display

After releasing two flagships back to back in the same year, specifications of Sony’s purported next iteration, the Xperia Z4, have been leaked. The Japanese Electronics giant had clearly stated earlier this year that they would be adopting a six month cycle for its smartphones. However, the source that leaked the Z4 specs points to the fact that it will not be followed by a successor later in 2015.

The Japanese manufacturer is reportedly dropping the idea of a six month cycle it adopted lat year with the Xperia Z and Z1. The primary reason could be that flagship devices have reached their threshold and there aren’t any major upgrades possible in a six month period.

According to Android Origin, the next flagship from Sony, dubbed as the Z4, is tipped to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core 64-bit chipset clocked at 2.8GHz, bundled with the the all-new Adreno 430 GPU. To back it up, is a massive 4GB RAM along with 32GB of internal storage.

In terms of connectivity, it is likely to feature Cat.6 LTE and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity. One of the major design changes being attributed for the Sony Xperia Z4 is the inclusion of a dedicated amplifier for better sound output.

Finally, the Xpreia Z3’s successor is likely to feature a a 5.5-inch display with a Quad-HD 2560 x 1440 resolution, which is slightly higher than that of its predecessors.

October 20, 2014
According to Survey, India Has Second Highest Number of Google Glass Owners Globally

According to a recently conducted research, India has the second highest number of Google Glass owners at six percent, South Korea being the number one with eight per cent. Google Glass is a type of wearable technology with an optical head-mounted display (OHMD). It displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format.

That’s not all. India is also said to have emerged as one of the most tech-savvy nation with 95 per cent of Indians find smartphones critically important, while 75 percent use their smartphone or tablet for online bookings, according to a survey by Expedia.

“The findings clearly suggest an increasing dependency on the mobile platform. Ninety five per cent Indian respondents feel that their smartphone is very or of critical importance to their daily life,” said Vikram Malhi, MD, Asia, Expedia . Further adding that Indians lead in app booking and data roaming plans globally.

And that’s not it, the survey also revealed that India has the highest number of smartwatch owners globally, with 18 per cent owning and using the device. It was also reported that 85 percent of Indians own a laptop, ranking fourth in the world after Denmark (89 per cent), Austria (86 per cent) and Norway (86 per cent).

October 20, 2014
Now it’s Microsoft’s Turn to Bring Out a New Smartwatch!

After the main forces in the mobility business, Google and Apple unveiled their smartwatches, Microsoft is readying itself to get into the fight. The desktop mega-power has been unsuccessful in making a solid mark in the mobility market. But the company has kept its pursuits in the business strong and with an edition of wearables’ segment, the company can make a claim in the market.

The company plans to unveil the devices in the near future. The devices will have features like health-tracking capabilities, including a heart-rate monitor. What will make it really attractive is its ability to work with competitive devices such as iOS and Android. The device is expected to hold on to its battery juices for up to two days, which might help it find many takers.

Microsoft had previously made efforts into the field when it partnered with Fossil, Suunto, and Swatch on high-end, touch-screen models that cost as much as $800. It was part of its Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative. The project shut down in 2008.

Overall, the device does sound competent, and it tries to bring in the best of all devices in the market into one device. There is no talk of a solid release date but most probably the company will try to make hay while the festive sun shines so expect an announcement soon. Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS seems really promising, and if the wearable works on this operating ecosystem, it might shine out too. Now we have to wait for the device to come out to know for sure if it can live up to the hype.

October 20, 2014