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Apple’s Passbook Enabled Gift Cards Now Featured In App Store

Apple has made a couple of small-but-useful changes to its Apple Store app aimed at making shopping more efficient in its retail stores. Version 2.4 of the app lets users ask Siri for help in finding prices on Apple products. It also allows users to buy Apple gift cards (to be sent via e-mail) directly from within the app. The gift cards are now Passbook compatible, to boot.

Any Apple gift card that is purchased online and sent via e-mail—whether via the Web-based Apple Store or the iOS app—can now be loaded up via Passbook, which was launched along with iOS 6 in September. When the recipient clicks a link in the e-mail, Passbook will open to load up the details of the gift card. Then, whenever the recipient walks into an Apple Store with an iOS device, the app should bring up the gift card automatically on the user’s lock screen so it can be used to make purchases.

Unfortunately, Apple gift cards that are loaded into Passbook can’t be used in conjunction with the self-checkout system (EasyPay) built into the Apple Store app, so you’ll have to check out with a real human if you want to use the gift card balance.

Still a long way before this feature makes its way into India? Definitely.

November 12, 2012
Aakash 2 Tablet Launched In India At Rs 1,130

India’s low cost tablet Aakash 2 was officially launched here on Sunday at a subsidised rate of Rs 1130 for Indian students.

The new and improved Aakash 2 tablet was unveiled by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Thousands of teachers are attending the event to virtually participate in the launch event through online video conferencing.

The new version ‘Aakash 2?, which will be made available to students of engineering colleges and universities to begin with, is now powered by a processor running at 1 GHz, has 512 MB RAM, a 7 inch capacitive touch screen and battery life of three hours on Wi-Fi.

The screen resolution is 800×480 pixels. The previous version of Aakash had a 7-inch resistive touch screen. Akash 2 runs Android 4.0 aka Ice-Cream Sandwich and has front facing VGA camera along with Wi-fi support. It has 4GB (internal) flash memory, which is expandable up to 32GB using a micro SD card.

The commercial version of the Aakash 2 unit is branded as UbiSlate 7Ci, and is available for purchase on DataWind’s website at Rs 3,500.

The tablet ‘Aakash’ was launched in October last year by the government to make available computing devices to students at subsidised rates. However, the project ran into controversy following IIT Rajasthan rejecting the devices manufactured by Datawind. Datawind had won the tender for making and supplying one lakh Aakash tablets for price of around $49 per unit.

November 11, 2012
HTC and Apple Settle Patent issues with 10 year licensing deal

So at least one patent dispute is coming to an end, HTC and Apple have entered a 10 year patent licensing deal to end all issues with their disputes.

[quote]HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. [/quote]

[quote]We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.[/quote]

The license extends to current and future patents held by both parties. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

[toggle_box title=”Press Release” width=”Width of toggle box”]

Posted Nov 11, 2012
HTC AND APPLE SETTLE PATENT DISPUTE. All Patent Litigation Between The Companies Dismissed

1.Date of occurrence of the event:2012/11/11

2.Company name:HTC Corporation

3.Relationship to the Company (please enter “head office” or
“affiliate company”):Head Office

4.Reciprocal shareholding ratios:N/A

5.Cause of occurrence:HTC and Apple have reached a global settlement
that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year
license agreement. The license extends to current and future patents
held by both parties. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

6.Countermeasures:None

7.Any other matters that need to be specified:There is no material
adverse impact on the financials of the Company.

HTC AND APPLE SETTLE PATENT DISPUTE

All Patent Litigation Between The Companies Dismissed

TAIPEI and CUPERTINO, California – November 11, 2012 – HTC and Apple have reached a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement. The license extends to current and future patents held by both parties. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

“HTC is pleased to have resolved its dispute with Apple, so HTC can focus on innovation instead of litigation,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

“We are glad to have reached a settlement with HTC,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “We will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation.”

-end-

[/toggle_box]

November 11, 2012
15 Year Old Hacker ‘Cosmo The God’ Banned From Internet For 6 Years

A 15-year-old UG Nazi hacker going by the name of Cosmo or Cosmo the God was sentenced in juvenile court on Wednesday with terms for six years without any computers or Internet, until his 21st birthday.

During these 6 years, he’ll need approval from his parole officer to access the internet. Wired report that hacker resides in Long Beach, California, and began as a politicized group that opposed SOPA, took down a bevy of websites this year, including those for NASDAQ, CIA.gov, and UFC.com. It redirected 4Chan’s DNS to point to its own Twitter feed.

Hacker pled guilty to more than a few felonies, with charges ranging from credit card fraud to online impersonation. The probation that Cosmo agreed to as part of his plea limits his use of the internet to solely educational purposes, and all use will be supervised.

As part of the hacker group UGNazi, he was able to gain access to accounts on sites including Amazon, PayPal, Microsoft, Netflix, and many more.

He is prohibited from having contact with any members or associates of UG Nazi or Anonymous, along with a specified list of other individuals. Also, according to Cosmo, violating any of these terms will result in a three-year prison term.

[The Hacker News]

November 10, 2012
Nvidia Posts Record Revenue In Q3, Shows Trend Away From Traditional PCs

Nvidia posted record Q3 results today on strong sales of its Tegra chips. The company earned $1.2 billion in revenue, up nearly 13% from the same quarter a year ago. Net income rose to $209 million, up 75% on the quarter and 17% from a year ago.

Not only is the company’s Kepler GPUs doing well in desktop and notebook computers, but company CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said that a third of revenue is attributable to “non-PC” chips such as the Tegra 3.

Tegra has had a big year in 2012. Despite a rough start with the questionable performance of the Tegra 2, the company managed to be the major provider for most Android tablets with its latest quad-core chip, the Tegra 3. It powers phones such as the international HTC One X, One X+, the Nexus 7 and, most recently, the Surface RT tablet.

The company is expected to come out with its Cortex A15-based Wayne chips sometime between Q1 and Q3 2013, which will bring true competitiveness with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro chips and Samsung’s Exynos 5 line, which has already hit the market in the Nexus 10.

If you remember back to the pre-Nexus 7 days, Nvidia talked about bringing the prices of tablets down to the $199 mark; in doing so, they’ve managed to corner the chip market for slates. Despite these lower prices, the company’s gross margin was 52.9% for the quarter, and things are only looking stronger for Nvidia going forward.

November 10, 2012
Diagonal Scrolling Issue Plagues iPhone 5

UK mobile game development company CMA Megacorp revealed a previously undetected bug on the iPhone 5 on Friday morning on Twitter. The issue appears while diagonally scrolling on the iPhone 5, which sometimes caused the touch screen to drop out or even freeze, according to Slash Gear.

Recombu, a gadget comparison website, decided to test out this problem to see if it was affecting other iPhone 5 units as well. The video clearly depicted the difference between the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. The former generation Apple device had no issue quickly scrolling, while the newer handset would stutter, slow down and even completely freeze at a certain point.

Fifth generation iPod Touch users are also reporting the same problem, narrowing the issue to the new 4-inch Retina display and not necessarily software, as it was first thought to be.

Outside of rare cases, most users will never experience the problem in traditional apps. Games, however, stand to be tragically affected by the problem, as there are many hack-and-slash games that require constant and repeated diagonal slashes across the screen.

It will be interesting to see if and how Apple responds to this issue, which is threatening to become another “gate” after “Mapgate” swept the world earlier this year.

Are people holding it right?!

Check out the video below :

November 10, 2012
BlackBerry 10 Receives FIPS Security Certification Ahead of Launch

Research In Motion (RIM) today announced that the BlackBerry 10 platform is now FIPS 140-2 certified. The certification will enable government agencies to deploy BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, RIM’s new mobile enterprise management solution, from the day of launch. This is the first time BlackBerry products have been FIPS certified ahead of launch.

FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) certification provides confidence to security-conscious organizations, including U.S. and Canadian government agencies, companies in regulated industries and other organizations dealing with sensitive information, that data stored on smartphones running BlackBerry 10 can be properly secured and encrypted.

“Achieving FIPS 140-2 certification means that BlackBerry 10 is ready to meet the strict security requirements of government agencies and enterprises at launch,” said Michael K. Brown, Vice President, Security Product Management and Research at RIM. “What differentiates BlackBerry is that it integrates end-to-end security, and includes certified encryption algorithms for data at rest and data in transit. No other mobile solution has achieved the level of security accreditation that the BlackBerry solution has.”

FIPS 140 is issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to coordinate the requirements and standards for certifying cryptographic modules. The standard was developed through the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP), which certifies products for use by U.S. government agencies and regulated industries that collect, store, transfer, share and disseminate sensitive information. Product certifications under the CMVP are performed in accordance with the requirements of FIPS 140-2. It is supported by the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) for the Canadian government.

“IDC expects the mobile enterprise security market to experience a high rate of growth from 2012 to 2016,” said Stacy Crook, Program Manager for Mobile Enterprise research at IDC. “Maintaining the BlackBerry solution’s reputation for security while introducing an enhanced user experience gives BlackBerry 10 the opportunity to be a highly competitive platform in the government, enterprise and consumer sectors.”

BlackBerry products and solutions are protected by best-in-class AES 256-bit encryption, a highly secure, internationally recognized data protection standard. In addition to FIPS certifications, BlackBerry products have continuously passed rigorous security assessments from a variety of other independent organizations around the world. The BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution is the first mobile platform to achieve Common Criteria Certification, a standard recognized by 26 countries, as well as the first to receive approval through the CESG Assisted Product Scheme (CAPS), the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance in the United Kingdom. BlackBerry® 7 smartphones meet Common Criteria security assurance level EAL 4+. The BlackBerry® PlayBook™ is the first FIPS certified tablet for deployment within U.S. federal government agencies and certified for use by the Defence Signals Directorate of the Australian Government.

“Achieving FIPS certification for an entirely new platform in a very short period of time, and before launch, is quite remarkable and a testament to the dedication of our security team,” said David MacFarlane, Director, Security Certifications at RIM. “BlackBerry 10 will deliver security, a superior user experience, the ability to separately manage corporate and personal data on the same device, and ease of manageability for IT managers in an enterprise or government environment.”

November 9, 2012
The HTC One X+ Benchmarks Blow Away the Competition!

When we first held the HTC One X+ (Plus), we really asked ourselves whether the phone is a worthy upgrade. Many companies make major design changes when launching new phones, whereas the One X+ only has added red accents.

So whats different what makes it more expensive?

For the HTC One X+ its whats under the hood that matters. The new faster chipset shocked us when we ran benchmarks, especially with quadrant standard. The HTC One X+ beats out any Quadrant Score with 7394 Score on a stock rom, thats mighty impressive.

For Nenamark2 the HTC One X+ benchmarks were really high as well, scoring an impressive fps.

Antutu Benchmark also scored a 5 star rating on the One X+

November 9, 2012
Audi Q7 Production Starts In Aurangabad

German car maker Audi has started production of the Q7 luxury-class SUV at its plant here with plans to supply 1,000 units annually in the Indian market, a company official said here Thursday.

“Local production of Audi Q7 is part of our long-term growth strategy in India, one of the most promising auto markets in the world,” said Frank Dreves, Audi board member for production.

Dreves said a good plant infrastructure, efficient working processes, a qualified workforce and a well-developed logistics environment along with the surging growth of the Indian market were the factors which motivated Audi Group to expand operations at the Aurangabad plant.

Mid-2013, the company plans to start production of Audi Q3 from the facility, which would be the third Q model to be built locally after Q5 and Q7.

[quote]”This would reduce the waiting time for the customers besides enabling us offer a wider range of versions in the Indian market,” explained Michael Perschke, Audi India head.[/quote]

He added that the growing demand for Audi Q3, Q5, Q7 SUV models has had a major impact on the brand’s growth in India.

“During the first ten months of this year, we increased sales in the Indian market by 55 percent to 7,273 vehicles, surpassing its last year’s record sales of 5,511 cars,” Perschke said.

Audi Group is presently selling A4, A6, A7 Sportback, A8L, Q3, Q5, Q7, S4, RS5 Coupe and TT Coupe and supercars Audi R8 and R8 Spyder.

[Daily Pioneer]

November 8, 2012
Microsoft Office App For iOS And Android Due Early 2013

We knew that it was coming, after several leaks and a tacit admission from Microsoft, Office 2013 for iOS has finally been revealed in screenshots.

The software is still slated to arrive on iPhone and iPad in March, 2013, but based on the first looks of the software, it’s obvious that Microsoft is designing this from a Metro-style perspective, within the bounds of the iOS design framework.

An Android version is expected to come to market by May. Both will have free service, with optional subscription models adding revenue like OneNote for iPad does already. Viewing documents in Word, Excel and Powerpoint will be free, but a subscription to Office 365 will be necessary to edit and annotate. In other words, Office 2013 will be free to play. Like the version of Office for Windows Phone, these apps will allow for basic editing and syncing with SkyDrive; Microsoft doesn’t want to eat too much into its desktop market.

We haven’t seen what Office for Android will look like, but you can bet it won’t appear drastically different to what you see above.

[The Verge]

November 8, 2012
iPad Mini Retina Display Rumors already here

The iPad Mini came to market only a few days ago, but the rumors of the next generation of iPad Mini have already begun. Chinese-language DoNews said in a story dated November 7 that iPad Mini display makerAUO is working on a 2,048×1,536 pixel resolution display for the next iPad Mini Retina.

Boasting the same resolution as the iPad 3 and 4 with Retina display the next iPad Mini’s ppi will end up to be over 300 ppi vs the 264 pixels per inch on the current gen of iPad. Well most would sspeculate these to be wild Industry rumors, it would be only logical for Apple to complete the iOS platform and enable each device on Retina. Especially since Retina has transferred over to the Mac OS based Macbook Pros as well.

The next iPad Mini is supposedly going to be launched next year, either in their Feb-March iPad refresh or their new October announcement schedule. Either way, Apple is still selling out their iPads and expecting to do better this month when the Cellular variants of both the iPad Mini and iPad 4th gen come into sale.

November 8, 2012
Google Nexus 7 Goes on Sale in India for 19,990 Starting Today

The Google Nexus 7 Tablet will go on sale today in India. Tablet maker Asus confirmed that sale of the tablet would begin today, with an entry level Nexus 7 with 16GB storage priced at Rs 19,990. The Nexus 7 available in India is not the new Android 4.2 variant recently announced but the original Jelly Bean version launched early this year.

The Nexus 7 has a 7-inch screen with IPS (in-plane switching) screen with a resolution of 1,280×800 pixels. The Nexus 7 has a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, which includes a 12-core GPU. It also has a Micro-USB port, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.2-megapixel front camera . The Nexus 7 has been touted as one of the best 7 inch tablets and only stand in competition to Kindle Fire HD and the likes.

The Nexus 7 also has a more enhanced display according to display tech expert display mate. The Rs 19,999 price is for the Nexus 7 with 16GB storage. The same model sells in the US for $199. Until a few weeks ago, this model used to cost $249 while the one with 8GB storage was sold for $199. But on October 29, Google discontinued the 8GB version of Nexus 7. It reduced the price on 16GB model and introduced a new model with 32GB storage. It also launched the 3G version of Nexus 7 with 32GB storage.

November 8, 2012
Google : Maps App Might Struggle For Apple approval

Those hoping to see Google Maps return to the iPhone might not want to hold their breath.

Sources at Google familiar with its mapping plans say they are “not optimistic” that Apple will ever approve a dedicated Google Maps iOS app. Though the app is reportedly in development and should be ready to ship by the end of the year, the sources say their plans are only proceeding in “the unlikely event” that Apple will choose to approve the app.

Although any user can bookmark a page on the Safari browser linking to maps.google.com, many have been hoping that Apple will allow Google Maps back on the iPhone as a dedicated third-party app via the App Store. But there are doubts among some circles inside Google that such an app, when completed, would be approved by Apple.

While one source indicated increased hopes that the dedicated Google Maps iOS app will eventually be approved now that Apple’s maps leader, Scott Forstall, has departed the company, another was less than enthusiastic about any increased prospects, citing industry politics and Apple’s need to save face as much as possible and “keep moving forward in an effort to make its obviously inferior product better”. The source also cites the present organisation of the App Store, which, to them, suggests Apple has little interested in approving an official Google Maps app.

The release in mid-September of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, which runs on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and is pre-installed on the iPhone 5, saw Apple replace Google Maps as the phone’s mapping software of choice with Apple’s own in-house mapping solution. Apple’s Maps app was widely panned by both the technology press and consumers. The software saw train stations disappear, an airport relocated miles from where it should be, and local points-of-interest, like cafes and shops, completely erased from streets. Public transport information and some locations were lost. The addition of turn-by-turn navigation and vector graphics – which Google had refused to provide to Apple on the iPhone – did not satisfy a significant number of users.

Although chief executive Tim Cook said in October that 200 million devices had been upgraded to iOS 6, the new maps are seen as Apple’s most significant recent failure, and led Cook to issue a rare public apology on behalf of the company. Internal strife over the new maps was so great it reportedly became a key part of what led Cook last week tofire Forstall, the chief architect of Apple’s iOS and the one finally responsible for choosing to replace Google’s maps with Apple’s own.

Google’s sources though do not think their own Maps app would be approved quickly. Specifically, they point to the lack of any mapping app in the “Find maps for your iPhone” section of the App Store – accessible only via iPhones or iPads – that use the Google Maps APIs to call wirelessly for location, routing or point-of-interest (POI) data.

Further, a source at Google told me the feeling is that those apps were purposely left out of the new section because they promote Google and its “superior product” – at a time when there is so much bad blood between the companies over the continuing smartphone patent litigation (following allegations from the late Steve Jobs that Google’s Android OS ripped off iOS). In other words, no matter how bad Apple’s Maps are, the company still wants its users to move on from Google – and forget about them. This doesn’t bode well for the approval of an official Google Maps app, the source says.

[The Guardian]

November 7, 2012
Facebook For iOS Updated To Version 5.1 With New Features

Facebook for iOS got a nice bump yesterday when it was updated to version to 5.1. Unlike its Android counterpart, which seems to be trapped in development purgatory, the iOS version of Facebook is being regularly updated with new features and improved performance.

The new version of Facebook’s iOS app has the yet-to-be launched Gifts feature built-in, so users will be able to send their friends presents through the social network while on the go.

Messenger is now more streamlined. The Facebook for iOS app now gives users the ability to swipe left anywhere in the app to quickly see who’s available online and send a message. Friends can also be added to the favourite bar for quicker and easier access.

Some other new features found in Facebook’s iOS 5.1: Users can form a favorites list of friends they contact frequently. Instagram-like photo filters can be applied to photos, and it’s now easier to share multiple photos, just like you can with the Facebook Photo app. It also allows multiple photo uploading.

The update is available for download from the App Store.

November 7, 2012
Rumour : Microsoft Readying A 7-inch Xbox Surface Gaming Tablet?

Microsoft is expected to release a 7-inch gaming-focused Xbox Surface tablet in the future, according to The Verge. Back in June, we heard rumours that Microsoft would be releasing something called a Xbox Surface tablet, but that unsubstantiated info took a back seat to the actual Surface tablet announcement later that day.

Since then Microsoft hasn’t commented on the smaller version of its tablet series, focusing instead on the 10.6-inch Surface RT and upcoming Surface Pro devices. But if you cast your mind back to that warm day in June, the Xbox Surface was on tap to sport a 7-inch 1280×720 pixel screen, a custom ARM processor and speedy graphics chip. The Verge posits that the tablet won’t run a full version of Windows 8, but like Windows Phone 8 will have a kernel based on the real thing, just tuned for gaming. You can count on a massive graphics chip and multiplayer functionality, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the Kinect brand makes an appearance in the product’s marketing.

Considering the original Surface was one of the best-kept secrets in the industry, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft maintain a couple surprises of its own before the device is officially announced. When that will be is still up in the air, so stay tuned for more.

November 7, 2012