Amazon’s Appstore for Android Apps was earlier only available in the US and now is available worldwide including in India. Simply register on Amazon and you are ready to get daily downloads for free that include premium apps that Amazon gives to its registered users.
[Amazon]
UK based Gordon Murray Design has unveiled a new car designed for the urban environment which it has dubbed the T.27. The design and development program for the T.27 has cost £9 millionwas made possible through a £4.5 million investment from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board. From design to concept to working prototype, the car has taken just 17 months to come to life, including the design and build of a completely new electric powertrain by Zytek Automotive Ltd.
T.27 specifically targets the urban city environment via a unique manufacturing process called ‘iStream’ developed Gordon Murray Design. It aims to significantly reduce lifecycle impacts and enable low cost, efficient manufacture within the UK. The electric car sets new standards in weight, footprint, small car dynamics, safety, packaging and efficiency whilst addressing full lifecycle CO2 emissions, congestion, parking and low cost motoring.
Company CEO, Professor Gordon Murray, said at the unveiling of the car
[quote]Lightweight is the most powerful tool we have in our armoury in the fight against emissions and fuel consumption. This is true of all cars and especially so with electric vehicles! A lightweight car means a lightweight battery increasing the levels of safety and reducing the retail price dramatically.” The T.27 represents a huge step forward in protecting our mobility and our environment.[/quote]
The tech specs for the T.27 are as follows:
In comparison to other electric cars the T.27 has much lower energy consumption per mile, the Smart EV uses 29% more energy per km, the Mitsubishi iMiEV uses 36% more energy per km, and the Mini-E uses 86% more energy per km, making the T.27 the most efficient electric car by some margin.
The worlds first amphibious ice cream truck has been launched in London to raise awareness around the ice cream truck business in the UK, which has recently fallen victim to tighter restrictions.
The truck delivers a full range of ice creams from the roads and rivers of London. It has officially been christened the HMS Flake 99 and is emblazoned with the motto ‘Licensed to Chill’. Keep your eyes peeled for this truck if your travelling to London any time soon.
Folks in UK now can use their NFC enabled Mobile phones to make “Quick Tap” Payments up-to a limit of £15. It works on MasterCard’s PayPass system and requires you to have a Barclays debit or credit card. The payment system is already in lace at over 50,000 locations including popular eating Joints.
Press Release
Orange and Barclaycard transform buying on Britain’s high-streets with the launch of the UK’s first contactless mobile payments service
Orange and Barclaycard today launch ‘Quick Tap’ – the UK’s first contactless mobile phone payments service, allowing consumers to make purchases on the high street using their mobile phone
Customers can make purchases £15 and under nationwide by simply tapping their Quick Tap mobile handset against a contactless reader at over 50,000 stores
Using Barclaycard’s contactless payment technology, customers will be able to pay for items anywhere they see the contactless payments symbol, including shops and cafes like Pret A Manger, EAT. and Subway
Quick Tap will use a secure SIM-based approach to mobile payments, providing a single point of contact for customer care as well as ensuring enhanced payment security for customers
Orange and Barclaycard today launch ‘Quick Tap’, the UK’s first contactless mobile payment service which allows consumers to make purchases on the high street using their mobile phone for the very first time. The landmark launch means that from today, in addition to using contactless cards or chip and PIN, consumers can simply tap their mobile phone on a contactless reader at tills in over 50,000 stores to make purchases £15 and under.
This entirely new, secure and convenient way to make payments is an evolution of how people pay and follows previous payment milestones such as the move from cheques to cards. Mobile payments will be accepted at stores nationwide including Pret a Manger, EAT., Little Chef, Wembley Arena, Subway, Wilkinson and McDonalds where contactless payments are currently accepted.
The service will be available to Orange customers who use a ‘Quick Tap’ enabled handset. Launching with a Quick Tap enabled version of one of Orange’s best-selling devices, the Samsung Tocco Lite, the Samsung Tocco Quick Tap will be available on pay as you go and pay monthly price plans, with more handsets expected to follow from a selection of leading manufacturers. Barclaycard, Barclays debit or Orange Credit Card users can transfer funds of up to £100 simply and securely onto the handset’s Quick Tap app, after which the phone is ready to make payments of £15 and under in a single transaction.
The user friendly payment app, which sits on the home screen of all Quick Tap compatible handsets, contains information such as electronic statements detailing Quick Tap purchases so customers can keep an eye on their spending and manage finances easily on the go. To support the launch, Barclaycard is providing Orange customers with £10 cash added to their account upon activation, and 10% cash back on all Quick Tap purchases made in the first three months.
Commenting on the announcement, David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe, said: “This is the first time that customers can use their mobile to pay for goods and services in shops across the UK rather than using cards or cash. They’ll be able to do this, safe in the knowledge that this is a secure technology brought to them by the biggest names in payments and mobile technology.
“Having a wallet on my phone has made it much more convenient to make purchases on the move and I like that it allows me to keep track of what I’m spending as I go. Barclaycard launched credit cards in the UK over 40 years ago and have been leading the evolution of payments ever since.”
Pippa Dunn, Orange Vice President, said: “We no longer use our mobile phones simply for talking and texting – apps, cameras and music players allow us to use them for a lot more. So, making contactless payments with your mobile is a natural and really exciting innovation which we’re pleased to be leading on in the UK. Orange Quick Tap is the first of its kind, a service that allows you to pay for everyday items just by tapping your phone wherever you see the contactless payment symbol. It’s going to start a revolution in the way we pay for things on the high street.”
The launch will be supported by a marketing campaign that will promote the benefits of Quick Tap through a range of marketing channels. The fun and bold creative campaign will emphasise how Quick Tap represents a radical new way for people to pay for items using just their mobile, driving consumers to start a “new movement” with contactless payments.
Orange and Barclaycard announced their innovative partnership to bring contactless mobile payments to market in 2009, and believe this will be the biggest revolution in payments since credit cards were introduced in the UK by Barclaycard over 40 years ago. The new devices use innovative NFC technology, enabling consumers to make payments in a simple and secure way, and it builds on existing contactless payment technology with 12.9 million contactless credit and debit cards already in circulation, of which over 11.4m have been issued by Barclaycard and Barclays who have been pioneers in bringing it to market since 2007.
Mobile Contactless Payments from Orange and Barclaycard have been developed and rigorously tested to ensure customers’ transactions and personal data will be protected and secure, with users having the option to enter a PIN on their handset before each transaction providing an additional layer of security. The launch proposition will use a secure SIM-based approach to mobile payments, providing a single point of contact for customer care as well as ensuring enhanced payment security for customers.
MasterCard will provide the payment capability for the contactless mobile transactions. Contactless transactions on mobile phones benefit from the same 100% fraud guarantee as standard Barclays and Barclaycard transactions nationwide. Since contactless mobile payments are processed online, if a customer cancels their phone because it is lost, damaged or stolen, no transactions can be completed.
Just recently The Playstation Network Restoration began across the Americas. Sony’s official PlayStation Twitter account has now confirmed that the deployment is going live for the entire world. The deployment process involves users to reset their PSN passwords and hence a major network blackout has been caused by millions of users trying to restore their PSN accounts.
We have Seen companies extend deadlines, But, HTC just seems to have met it in Advance. The HTC Sensation originally slated for a June 7 ship date is already available for PRE-Order goodness by Vodafone.uk Whats more they promise that the device may be delivered as early as May 19th.
[Vodafone]
The most rumored handset from Nokia of this year, the Nokia X7 is now finally official with a UK network Three. The device also runs an updated Symbian^3 “Anna” OS that finally introduces a vastly improved browser and portrait QWERTY with split-view data entry among its 50 new enhancements.
No details of Pricing yet.
PRESS RELEASE
Nokia X7 coming soon to Three.
Today Three confirms that it will range the Nokia X7. Built for multimedia, it showcases a 4″ touchscreen with an OLED Clearblack display, HD video and an 8MP camera with dual LED flash and zoom. All this and it is still pocket-friendly.
Underneath the stainless steel construction and smooth curved edges, the Nokia X7 runs on the new Symbian Anna operating system, which features more than 50 new enhancements. Highlights include a faster browser and full on screen Portrait QWERTY keyboard. Plus, with the new split view, users can see their message conversations, webpages, maps, contacts or email while writing.
The X7 also includes Nokia’s best in class free navigation that now allows check-in from the homescreen direct to destinations such as Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter.
Sylvia Chind, head of handsets commented, “The Nokia X7 is a great multimedia device, combining picture, video and mobile internet needs into one savvy smartphone. With a best-in-class four inch OLED ClearBlack display, superb camera and fully customisable operating system, our customers will have a great entertainment experience on this phone using out super-fast 3G network.”
Key features:
• Symbian^3 OS
• 8MP camera Dual LED Flash
• 4.0″ OLED ClearBlack display, widescreen 16:9
• HD Video recording
• Flash10
• Expandable memory of up to 32G
• Ovi store access
• 256MB RAM, 1GB ROM memoryPricing and availability will soon be announced, but in the meantime check out the sneak peak video which has just gone live on the Three blog.
While we will tell you that, Nokia Global – Announced that the E7 has been announced for Select Markets and should be shipping in countries in and around EU – UK, etc, anytime now. We just got word from Nokia Sales Rep Jatin Kaushik , That, the device is already slated for India and may come as early as next month.
The QWERTY flagship from Espoo has
On a different note : we expect the device to be slated at the 26,000/- Price mark (you could expect higher)
Full PR
All-in-one business smartphone, the Nokia E7, arrives in stores
Espoo, Finland – The highly anticipated Nokia E7 will begin arriving in stores in select markets this week, with broader availability building up quickly in several markets.
With its tilting 4 inch ClearBlack display, full qwerty keyboard and a fast access to a wide variety of apps directly on the homescreen, the Nokia E7 is the key to having a successful day in or out of the office. Importantly, the device supports business applications from leading enterprise technology partners including Microsoft and IBM.
Key features of the Nokia E7
– Easy access to private and business email
– Create, edit and share office documents and view PDF files with Adobe Reader
– Fast, secure intranet access with the built-in VPN
– High-resolution photos and HD video with the 8 megapixel camera and dual LED flash
– HDMI connectivity to project files, videos and images onto large screens
– 16 gigabytes of on-board flash memory
– USB-On-The-Go, enabling easy file sharing by connecting a USB stick to the smartphoneFor business users, Nokia E7 provides direct, secure and real-time access to email, calendar, contacts, tasks and the corporate directory through Microsoft Exchange servers, as well as Office Communicator Mobile, developed by Microsoft for Nokia smartphones, which brings presence and corporate instant messaging.
Additionally, a wide range of entertainment and social services available on the Nokia E7 make it the perfect off-duty companion, and the Ovi Store offers a wealth of apps such as Bloomberg, Angry Birds and Sports Tracker.
The new arrival offers drive or walk navigation in 80 countries. The latest commercial version of Ovi Maps, available immediately via Ovi Store or Ovi Suite, adds visibility to subways, trams and trains, real-time traffic, safety alerts, visibility to parking and petrol stations, speed limit warnings, and improved search and location sharing capabilities.