PlayStation 3 lifetime sales reach 70 million units worldwide: Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has announced that the cumulative sales of the PlayStation 3 have reached a milestone of 70 million units shipped worldwide as of November 4, 2012 – less than six years after the platform was launched in 2006. SCE also announced that sales of the PlayStation Move motion controller surpassed 15 million units worldwide as of November 11.

The PS3 has delivered award-winning entertainment experiences since its launch. Throughout its lifecycle, the PS3 system has evolved with a slimmer design, larger hard disk drive capacity, and new features through software updates. In September 2012, SCE launched the new PS3 system, which has a reduced volume and weight of more than 50 percent compared to the original PS3 model, and of 25 percent and 20 percent respectively compared to the slim PS3 model launched in 2009.

70 million units shipped

Along with the introduction of PS3 in November 2006, SCE launched the PlayStation Network, which now operates in 59 countries and regions around the world. PlayStation Network supports free community-centric online gameplay, exclusive games from independent developers and major publishers, and a broad range of entertainment applications across movies, music, and sports. PS3 owners can access 170,000 downloadable digital content including game content that numbers at 57,000 worldwide from PlayStation Network. In October 2012, SCE redesigned the PlayStation Store, offering a more streamlined and accessible store experience, including a new user interface, simple search, and content discovery.

PlayStation Plus, the subscription service package on PlayStation Store that offers exclusive benefits such as discounts on games or online storage for game saves, started to offer an 'Instant Game Collection' in North America and Europe in July 2012. The Instant Game Collection enables PS Plus members to enjoy popular titles from third party developers and publishers as well as SCE Worldwide Studios at no extra cost. SCE has also enhanced the content offering for PS Plus members in Japan in November.

Introduced in September 2010, the PlayStation Move motion controller that enables users to play games is now supported by a wide range of titles with more than 400 as of November 2012, including Sports Champions 2, Unfinished Swan (Sony Computer Entertainment). Additionally, this month marks the global launch of Wonderbook, a new peripheral that delivers the next evolution of storytelling and a unique experience exclusively on PS3. Wonderbook uses the PlayStation Eye camera to take augmented reality to new places, while drawing players into new worlds and allowing them to interact with stories as they tilt or rotate it, or simply turn the pages.

The PS3 has gained tremendous support from 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide. Cumulative number of software titles for PS3 reached 3,590 with more than 595 million units sold worldwide. In addition, software titles that support the cross platform feature such as LittleBigPlanet 2: Cross Controller Pack, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time are also expected to be released.

iPad mini worth $1.5 mn stolen in US

A total of 3,600 new Apple iPad mini tablet computers worth $1.5 million were stolen from the JFK airport in New York, the New York Post said.

According to lawa's enforcement sources, two people managed to enter the airport territory driving a truck and used one of the airport's own forklifts to load two pallets of the tablet computers into their vehicle.

The price point is higher than expected

They had to leave three more pallets behind when their actions were questioned by an airport worker, who had returned from dinner.

Investigators suspect an inside job and are currently questioning airport employees. The iPads had just arrived from assembly partners in China and were destined for locations around the US.

"Apple is known to be shipping out its first batch of LTE iPad minis this week, so it's possible this shipment was part of that rollout. If so, it's possible that means 3,600 expectant Apple fans are going to be disappointed, but Apple could also very theoretically redirect stock destined for store shelves to make up the difference," TechCrunch said.

Big Brands vs Small Brands – FIGHT! And the winner is… the consumer!

! It’s an insane feeling to walk into a mobile store toting no more than Rs. 10,000 in your pocket and walk out with a handset or tablet that not only resembles a top brand but has features that could give them a run for their money. I say, we need to put our hands together for the Micromaxes and Karbonns of the world who are trying to deliver, and almost delivering, quality low-priced smartdevice technology to the masses. 

Gone are the days when the market was injected with a shot of the Chinese mobile virus where the average Indian consumer was duped with daunting promises of phones that did everything for one third the price of a branded device. This was then followed by the plague of cheap tablet PCs that also made similar vows. Those cheap knock offs that bore shady semblances to high-end devices but performed in no manner akin to the originals served their purpose, in some ways. They succeeded in damaging our ears with unnecessarily loud speakers and even offered triple and quadruple SIM card support. Sure, there were a few here and there that managed to perform reasonably well, but with the boon of the smartphone, the consumers have gotten much smarter and the dumber phones are on their way out.

The age of the budget smartdevice has arrived and the mobile realm is seeing a fresh new logic that determines buying decisions. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still swamped with an unimaginable amount of ultra-cheap Android powered devices, which is both a good thing and a bad thing again. With so many choices, decisions get harder. But in the low budget segment, companies like Karbonn, iBall and the ridiculously named Wicked Leak, to name a few, have carved a comfy little niche for themselves. These manufacturers are able to create, market and develop devices in both the smartphone and tablet spaces that are every bit as capable of doing all that the Samsungs of the world can, with a few minor exceptions. All they need to focus on right now is maintaining a consistency of quality.

War of the brands

We’ve come a long way since the Olivepad and Andro A60 devices and we’re looking now at a new era in mobile computing. There’s plenty to choose from that won’t quite hit you in that tender spot (by that, I mean your wallet), making you reel in anguish from paying too much and getting so little. In the battle of the budget segment versus the big players, sparring is on and blows are going back and forth. Nokia, Samsung and now even Sony have started catering to the masses with low budget smartphone offerings. These branded devices, however, are equipped with low-res displays, low megapixel cameras, older OS versions (in some cases), and UIs that aren’t the most user-friendly. In the same segment, Micromax, Karbonn and iBall are managing to dish out handsets with displays almost twice as large, powerful processing speeds, higher resolution cameras and a slew of free apps that can be quite handy. They even avoid messy bloatware with add on UIs and stick to stock ICS. Some are already offering the latest version of Android, i.e. Jelly Bean, while big brands are still scrambling round to provide updates.

Each of the players in this competition have their own space, but it won’t surprise me one bit if the big players end up eating crow in the budget class. Devices like the Wicked Leak Wammy Note and the Micromax Superphone Canvas A110 will make them work real hard to stay on the top of India’s smartdevice list. And as the competition heats up, each player will be forced to bring their A-Game, making things even more interesting.

The game has changed and for the first time, the consumers are the winners.

Android adoption rate 6 times faster than that of iPhone: Research

An unexpected Internet trends report by KPCB partner Mary Meeker highlighted that Android adoption is growing at a rate that is six times faster that of the iPhone. If that wasn’t good enough news for Android users around the world, Meeker shared that the Google-owned platform raced ahead of even Windows to claim the title of the number one OS for Internet-enabled devices in Q1 2012, reports TechCrunch.

The numbers are not surprising if one were to consider the recent activity in the Android domain. Google-owned Android turned five this week. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136 million units, accounting for 75 percent of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2012. The 91.5 percent year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent.

In the stats that Meeker shared, she made it clear that the iPad adoption rate was as much as five times that of the iPhone.

Android adoption 6 times faster than iPhone

Highlighting other parts of her research, Meeker shared that there will be one billion smartphone users by the end of 2012. The number of mobile phone users is projected to reach five billion by the end of 2012, depicting the burgeoning popularity of the phones of a cheaper variety. TechCrunch shares that as per Meeker’s figures in May, there were 953 million smartphone subscriptions and 6.1 billion mobile phone subscriptions, “though those count multiple subscriptions by the same person.”

Elaborating further about the presence of more Internet-enabled Android devices than Windows ones, Meeker shared that in Q1 2012, the former raced ahead of the latter. At the time, Android was at around 90 million units shipped per quarter. Meeker adds that by the end of 2013, there will be 160 million Android devices, 100 million Windows devices, and 80 million iOS devices shipped per quarter. Meeker soon concluded her presentation, but not before adding that by the end of Q2 2013, global smartphone plus tablet install base will be ahead of the install base of the PC.

Going further, the report shared, "Meeker concluded her presentation with a review of how various industries were being redefined, but first took a minute to review Mark Zuckerberg’s thoughts on mobile. Here’s what Zuck said in his letter to potential shareholders as part of Facebook’s S-1 to IPO:

We hope to rewire the way people spread and consume information…We think a more open and connected world will help create a stronger economy with more authentic businesses that build better products and services.

Meeker said the quote by Zuckerberg was a “very arrogant statement, but likely true and certainly a big idea.”"

Samsung: No settlement with Apple

A top Samsung executive said that the South Korean electronics giant had no plans to follow Taiwanese firm HTC in seeking a settlement over its patent disputes with arch-rival Apple.

SEOUL: A top Samsung executive said that the South Korean electronics giant had no plans to follow Taiwanese firm HTC in seeking a settlement over its patent disputes with arch-rival Apple. Samsung and Apple are currently embroiled in patent lawsuits in 10 nations including the United States and Germany, accusing each other of stealing design and technology.
HTC, which had been locked in similar suits with Apple around the world, announced Sunday that the two companies had reached a deal to end all outstanding litigation and sign a 10-year licensing agreement over patents.
"We have no such intention," JK Shin, the head of Samsung Electronics' mobile unit, told reporters when asked if Samsung would seek a similar settlement.
Samsung -- the world's top mobile and smartphone maker -- was ordered by a US jury in August to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S smartphones.
It has appealed the ruling.
Since then, two separate rulings by courts in Japan and the Netherlands have dismissed Apple's claims of patent infringement.
Shin also said Wednesday that Samsung expected fourth-quarter smartphone sales to be as strong as the third quarter, when its newest Galaxy S3 device became the world's top-selling smartphone

Google: Indian government made 2,319 requests to modify content

Google on Tuesday said the number of government requests to hand over data from users or to take down web content rose in the first six months of 2012, extending a trend of recent years.
"This is the sixth time we've released this data, and one trend has become clear: government surveillance is on the rise," Google senior policy analyst Dorothy Chou said.
In the first half of 2012, Google received 20,938 requests for data from government entities around the world related to 34,614 accounts, according to the US tech giant's semiannual Transparency Report.
The number was up nearly 15 percent from the prior six-month period.
The largest number came from the United States, with a total of 7,969 data requests, Google said, adding that it complied in 90 percent of those cases.
Second on the list was India with 2,319 requests, with Google complying in 64 percent of the cases. The other top data requesters were Brazil (1,566), France (1,546), Germany (1,533) and Britain (1,425).
Google said official requests to remove content from Google pages spiked to 1,791 in the first six months of 2012, from 1,048 in the prior six months.
The figure includes court orders as well as requests from officials or police, Google said. The largest number of requests related to defamation, followed by privacy and security.
Other reasons for removal included impersonation, pornography, hate speech, copyright or national security.
Google said it complied with 52 percent of the requests in the latest six-month period.
Google also said that in some cases it received fake court orders for content removal and that each case requires an examination of "the legitimacy of the documents."
Google began the report in 2010, updating every six months as part of its effort to highlight censorship and promote openness on the Internet.
"We think it's important to shine a light on how government actions could affect our users," Chou said in a blog posting.
"When we first launched the Transparency Report in early 2010, there wasn't much data out there about how governments sometimes hamper the free flow of information on the Web."
Chou said the report "is only an isolated sliver showing how governments interact with the internet, since for the most part we don't know what requests are made of other technology or telecommunications companies."
"But we're heartened that in the past year, more companies like Dropbox, LinkedIn, Sonic.net and Twitter have begun to share their statistics too," Chou added.
"Our hope is that over time, more data will bolster public debate about how we can best keep the internet free and open."

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7

The latest version of Microsoft's web browser, named Internet Explorer 10, is now available for personal computers running on the Windows 7 operating system.
The redesigned browser made its debut last month when Microsoft released Windows 8, which makes dramatic changes to an operating system that has been powering PCs for decades.
Internet Explorer 10 initially is being introduced on Tuesday to Windows 7 users in a "preview," or test, mode. The new browser isn't compatible with XP, Vista and any other older Windows version.
Although Microsoft is staking its future on Windows 8, far more PCs rely on Windows 7. Microsoft says more than 670 million licenses for Windows 7 have been sold since its release in 2009. Windows 8 is unlikely to approach that level of usage until at least 2014, based on analyst forecasts.
Desktops, laptops and tablet computers running on Windows 8 are sold with Internet Explorer 10 already installed. Those with older Windows versions will have to download and install the new browser separately.
Although Internet Explorer 10 is supposed to process web pages more quickly and smoothly than its predecessors, it may have limited appeal to Windows 7 users.
That's because Microsoft primarily designed Internet Explorer 10 for tablet computers and other devices, including a new breed of PCs that have touchscreen displays. Relatively few Windows 7 PCs can be controlled with fingers on a display screen.
Microsoft is hoping many website developers will download and install Internet Explorer 10 on their Windows 7 machines and see the browser's potential for making online services more compelling and dynamic. If that happens, more websites may include features that take advantage of Internet Explorer 10's full capabilities on the bevy of Windows 8 machines expected to be sold during the next year, said Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager for the browser.
Internet Explorer 10's main purpose is to make viewing websites as enjoyable and convenient as using applications tailor-made for specific mobile devices.
For instance, when reading an article on a news site, users of Internet Explorer 10 can just swipe across the screen to continue reading the next page instead of having to scroll down to click on a link, as most browsers require. Microsoft also says games such as "Contre Jour" played on Internet Explorer 10 will work as well, or even better, than those packaged in applications.
Achieving that goal is crucial to Microsoft as it tries to make a bigger splash in the smartphone and tablet markets. It probably will take years before mobile devices running on Windows 8 boast as many applications as their competitors, giving Microsoft an added incentive to build a superior web browser. The mobile operating systems designed by Apple and Google each boast of more than 700,000 applications.
Microsoft also hopes Internet Explorer 10 can reverse recent trends in the web browser market. By some estimates, Google's Chrome browser has supplanted Internet Explorer as the world's most popular browser. Other research firms still assert that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used, although all measures show it has been losing market share to Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari.

Nokia acquires 3D mapping company, renames location services to 'Here'

Nokia announced a mapping application for the iPhone and other devices on Tuesday and rebranded its location services under the 'Here' umbrella as it sought to exploit a bright spot in its product mix.
Nokia also said it would acquire a Bay Area start-up called Earthmine to provide 3D street views for its maps, and announced a partnership with Mozilla, maker of the Firefox web browser, to bring maps to the Firefox mobile operating system set to launch next year.
Mapping has emerged as a critical application in the emerging mobile computing economy, and Nokia's mapping services - built on its 2007 acquisition of map pioneer Navteq - are seen as a strong point for the company even as it has struggled to compete in the smartphone business.
Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said in an interview that the sales of the company's new Lumia smartphones, based on the Microsoft's Windows Phone software, would benefit from the devices having "location-based services that are better than anything else."
Elop said he was "pleased" with Lumia sales so far and noted record pre-order volume in Russia, one of the company's more important markets.
But Elop also stressed the effort to make the 'Here' services available to a wide variety of vendors, including smartphone competitors.
"A bit part of what is new is how we are pushing this horizontally," he said, adding that the new branding was partly an effort to make it more palatable for competitors to use the services.
The mapping data generates licensing revenues for Nokia, and Elop said location-oriented advertising would also be part of the mix for the Here.com website and the mobile services.
"Raising the profile of the unit should make its value clearer, but brand-building will take time without a huge ad budget," said Martin Garner, analyst at British research firm CCS Insight.
The new iPhone app, created in the HTML 5 language that works on many different types of computers and smartphones and set to be released in the coming weeks, is a clear effort to capitalise on the much-publicised weaknesses of Apple's new mapping product.
Michael Halbherr, Nokia's executive vice president for location and commerce services, joked at the San Francisco launch event that the iPhone app was created "on the off chance that there are some iPhone users who want a different map."
Nokia also said it would release an Android mapping app early next year.
Under the agreement with Mozilla, the two companies will work together on location services and mobile maps for the new Firefox OS software, set to be released next year.
Nokia executives stressed the "computational mapping" technology behind Here.com that would allow users to generate a wide range of different types of maps from the service. The acquisition of Earthmine will enable 3D features in the maps, and user input will help to continually enhance the offerings, executives said.

Microsoft releases Skype for Windows Phone 8

An important app missing on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 devices, which is available on other platforms, was the Skype app. According to Pocket-Lint, the Redmond-based company has released a Skype app for WP8 for the Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 820, HTC 8X and 8S.

The app has been labelled as a preview release, as opposed to a final version. The WP8 Skype app offers additional features over the original WP7.5 version, and offers greater connectivity with the rest of the phone. The biggest new feature of the app is the ability to be left on in the background. Skype contacts can also be seen in the People Hub, thus letting you start new conversations with just a tap.

Now get Skype for WP8

Recently, Microsoft had announced that the company is phasing out its Messenger service, and has started migrating contacts to Skype. As per the blog post, Skype states that Messenger users will be able to reach their Messenger friends on Skype. Messenger users will have the ability to instant message (IM) and video-call their contacts by updating to Skype.

Skype states that this effort started with the release of Skype 6.0 for Mac and Windows a few weeks ago, which allows users to sign into Skype using a Microsoft account. Now Messenger users need to update to the latest version of Skype, sign in using a Microsoft account, and they will find their Messenger contacts moved there.

Tony Bates, president, Skype division at Microsoft states, “Our goal remains to deliver the best communications experience for everyone, everywhere. We want to focus our efforts on making things simpler for our users while continuously improving the overall experience. We will retire Messenger in all countries worldwide in the first quarter of 2013 (with the exception of mainland China where Messenger will continue to be available).”

Skype states that over the next few months it will help users with the transition process and assist them with other information. To help users learn how to get the most out of Skype, the VoIP service states that they should be on the lookout for some special offers later this year as users join their Messenger friends in the migration.

Skype recently released its latest version, Skype 6.0, for Mac and Windows desktop users. The update brought to the table Microsoft and Facebook account integration. Users can now sign into Skype using either their Microsoft or Facebook accounts. In Skype 6.0, users can send instant messages to their Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail, and Outlook.com contacts via Skype. Users with Microsoft accounts can merge the MS account with Skype. All they have to do is sign in to Skype with their Microsoft accounts.

At the time, Skype announced that it has in the pipeline a feature with which users can make audio and video calls to Windows Live Messenger customers on Skype desktop clients. The feature will be rolled out in the weeks to come.

10 Countries With Best Internet Speed In The World

Connectivity has so far moving from “wired” to “wireless.” In both ways, nothing brings more serenity to everyday life- be it at work or home- than a good internet speed. Whether attending an online video conference at office, watching videos on YouTube or uploading pictures to social networking site, the last thing we wish to see would be a slow connection.

While many countries, including the poorly ranked India, suffer from slow or deteriorating internet connections, certain countries across the world cherish the flair of ultra speed network connectivity even in their outskirts! With millions of web connections and multiple network service plans, here are the 10 countries that have the best internet speed in the world, according to the latest report from Akamai.

#10 Bulgaria

Internet Speed: 27.9 Mbps (Peak)

Year-to-year change: 17 per cent

Global rank: 10

Over 60 percent of internet consumers in this European country access the internet through LAN connections. The biggest Internet Service Providers in the country even offer fiber optic access carrying services ranging from IPTV to VOIP.

#9 Hungary
Internet Speed: 28.0 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 15 per cent
Global rank: 9

91Percent of Hungary's internet connections has speeds above two Mbps. the country has several local Internet Service Providers who offers plans ranging from monthly fees of about $15 a month. Some of the Internet Service Providers offer packages which combine Internet, TV and telephone subscription.

#8 Singapore
Internet Speed: 28.3 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 36 per cent
Global rank: 8

Internet access is readily available in Singapore with a connectivity rate of over 99 percent! The penetration of residential wired broadband in households was at 104.2 percent last year. The country in 2010 had launched its Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network which is Singapore’s ultra-high speed fibre network. It offers pervasive, competitively priced broadband of high speeds at comparable prices to ADSL and cable connection. It was able to be deployed in 75% nationwide as of August 2011 and is on track to achieve its target of 95 per cent coverage by end of this year.

#7 Belgium
Internet Speed: 29.5 Mbps (Peak)
Quarter-to-quarter change: 1.1 per cent
Year-to-year change: 10 per cent
Global rank: 7

Flanders, a region in Belgium has recently declared EU leader in high-speed internet by the European commission. Internet connections with speeds of over 30 Megabits per second have a penetration rate of almost 10 per cent in Belgium. Even though the Belgians enjoy a good speed, the internet charges belong to the highest and least flexible in Europe.

#6 Switzerland
Internet Speed: 29.9 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 25 per cent
Global rank: 6

Switzerland has one of the fastest connected population in the world with 88 percent of the residential consumers connecting at speeds greater than 2 Mbps and a 38 percent of them at speeds greater than 8 Mbps, according to a Nielsen survey. The country also has a strong growth in the wireless broadband sector.

#5 Latvia
Internet Speed: 33.5 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 14 per cent
Global rank: 5

Internet, once an expensive commodity in Latvia, has had its prices fallen due to people refusing for taking the expensive home connections and instead accessing internet from their work places or from public areas.  

The average internet speed of the country was greater than 8 Mbps in the first quarter of this year. Lattelecom, the country’s largest internet service provider offers fiber optic bandwidth up to 500 Mbps, which is available to more than half of Latvian households.

#4 Romania
Internet Speed: 38.6 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 15 per cent
Global rank: 4

More than half of the total internet connections in Romania are broadband. 40 percent of these connections are running at around 30 Mbps. Even though the country was dropped out of the world’s top 10 internet speeds in the first quarter, it has again made it to the list.

#3 Japan
Internet Speed: 40.5 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 28 per cent
Global rank: 3

Japan has one of the best cost-to-performance internet services available in the world. The country started with 56 Kbps dialup connections in the early 90s. Towards the end of the decade cable operators started providing broad band connections of their own which became popular among the commoners. Japan has passed total network usage of more than 1 Tbps of data in 2010 as per the Ministry of Communications.

#2 South Korea
Internet Speed: 46.9 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 31 per cent
Global rank: 2

Due to government’s policies and programs that facilitated a rapid expansion and use of broadband, South Koreans enjoy internet speeds as high as 200 times the United States. As early in 2005, more than 96% of mobile phones in South Korea had internet access and it was the first country to have completed dial-up to broad band network. Many public restaurants and firms in the country even offer free Wi-Fi internet in business hours.

#1 Hong Kong
Internet Speed: 49.2 Mbps (Peak)
Year-to-year change: 11 per cent
Global rank: 1

The people in Hong Kong enjoy astoundingly fast broadband at an astoundingly low price. The Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), with its “Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH)” and “Fiber-To-The-Building (FTTB)” Technologies, offer services with speeds upto 1 Gbps, with a guarantee of atleast 80 percent of the advertised speed.

India's Cheapest Tablet Maker Among Forbes' 15 Classroom Revolutionaries

Washington: The man behind India's low-cost Aakash tablet and an Indian American professor are listed among Forbes 15 "classroom revolutionaries" who are using innovative technologies to reinvent education for students and teachers globally.

Suneet Singh Tuli, the CEO of Datawind, the maker of Aakash, and Massachusettes Institute of Technology professor Anant Agarwal figure among the education innovators who are "harnessing a slew of disruptive technologies to change everything from the way we teach grade school math to how we train the next generation of teachers".

Tuli is the "mastermind" behind the world's cheapest tablet computer Aakash, "which has the potential to revolutionise educational access in the developing world", the US business magazine said.

Datawind has a backlog of "millions" of orders for the 35 dollar Aakash tablet. The publication quoted Tuli as saying that "I don't care about creating the iPad killer. I care about the 3 billion people who can afford this device".

Agarwal, 53, a professor of computer science at MIT is also the President of edX, the new combined online offerings of Harvard, MIT, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Texas. Over 400,000 are currently enrolled in the education programme.

"It is insane. We've created dramatic access to learning for students worldwide," says Agarwal who took the helm in May of teaching to the masses. "By reinventing online learning, we can dramatically improve what we do on campus."
  

"EdX continues to up the ante by increasing partners, classes (seven to dozens for spring 2013) and innovations, such as virtual laboratories," Forbes added.

Datawind had won the tender in 2010 to supply 100,000 Aakash tablets for a price of around $49 dollars per unit. A new version of the tablet PC, featuring one Ghz processor, four-hour battery time, capacitive screen and Android 4.0 operating system, is expected to be launched in India Sunday.

Among the other education innovators on the list is Salman Khan, the Bangladeshi-American founder of Khan Academy, the revolutionary online education platform.

Khan Academy has grown from one-man working alone in a walk-in-closet 24-months ago into a 38-employee organisation, but Salman Khan's offbeat educational videos remain at the heart of the organization. He has personally recorded more than 3,000 of them and they have been downloaded 180 million times.

"The numbers get really crazy when you look at the impact per dollar. We have a $7 million operating budget, and we are reaching, over the course of a year, about 10 million students in a meaningful way", says the 36 year old MIT and Harvard alumnus.

Hold the phone: Microsoft wants to buy Nokia and Nvidia?

Here's an interesting bit of speculation from Information Week's Paul McDougall—Microsoft could be in the market to acquire not just key Windows Phone partner Nokia but also chipmaker Nvidia.

 

There are a lot of problems with this double-barreled dealmaking approach for Redmond, which we'll talk about in a bit. First, let's look at McDougall's logic.

For all intents and purposes, it sure looks likeMicrosoft wants to "adopt the Apple model" of extreme vertical integration for its product development cycles, meaning it seeks a whole lot more control and input on what it's producing from the silicon level on up.

 

Evidence? For starters, Microsoft has willingly accepted the risk of fallout from ticked-off OEM partners by releasing its new Surface tablets. The software giant may also be planning its own in-house Windows Phone 8 device and a 7-inch Surface slate that may be a smaller version of the current Surface or an Xbox-integrated gaming tab.

 

"So Microsoft may be getting into the hardware game for keeps," McDougall writes, and the first-order motivator is that Redmond "is sick of watching Apple's beautiful new products draw raves and set fanboy hearts afire while its partners come out with Windows-based devices that, well, let's just say can be less than impressive."

The "volume over quality and quantity over margin" model that's fueled the Windows empire for so long is simply looking a lot less strategically sound these days, the Information Week editor-at-large concludes.

 

Throw in questions about the long-term viability of being a software-only vendor in a world where the likes of Google run on a model that gives an operating system away for free, and you can see where Microsoft may be seriously considering a bold new approach to doing business.

 

Why Nokia? Basically because it would be really cheap to acquire right now, according to McDougall, who figures the Finnish handset maker "could be bought—lock, stock, and worldwide production network—for about $14 billion," or "a relative song."

 

Why Nvidia? Because Microsoft needs a chip design asset to compete with Apple, which designs the ARM-based A-Series processors for its iPhones and iPads. Redmond has a long relationship with Nvidia, and has first right of refusal on a deal to buy the chipmaker, as McDougall himself reported last June.

 

Nvidia could be had for $14 or $15 billion, he figures, and Microsoft's sitting on more than $66 billion so it could pull off both deals.

 

So that's McDougall's argument. What's wrong with it?

 

For starters, let's forget about the Apple model for a second and look at the Hewlett-Packard model. HP's current struggles show us that buying up a bunch of stuff willy-nilly can lead to big problems down the line. Heck, let's just recall Microsoft's own recent history with a big acquisition that wound up causing trouble, namely the 2007 deal for aQuantive that led to a $6.19 billion write down in the company's fiscal fourth quarter and its first quarterly loss ever.

 

There's also the macroeconomic picture to consider. There's still a lot of uncertainty in global markets as our recovery from the 2008 economic crisis and ensuing Great Recession remains historically sluggish and uninspiring. Is this the climate for a company like Microsoft to halve its cash reserves chasing a business model that only one uniquely constructed tech company has successfully pulled off? There's no doubt that Apple's recent success has been awesome to watch, but it also represents a sample size of, you know, one.

But don't just rely on my quibbles with McDougall's thinking. Here's what a couple of industry analysts have to say about it.

 

Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy was dubious about the risk-reward trade-off of a Nokia acquisition and didn't even bother to address the more radical notion of a Microsoft deal for Nvidia.

 

"Microsoft's communicated direction is 'devices and services.' Buying Nokia would certainly support this direction, but it would be very risky for Microsoft," he said.

Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates also focused on the Nokia element and was flat-out against such an acquisition. To begin with, he questioned whether aping Apple was even a good idea in theory, positing that the iPhone maker's model "is seriously in doubt longer term."

 

"Microsoft should not buy Nokia—it would probably be bad for both, and for [Windows Phone] in general," Gold said. "Next, Microsoft doesn't really care if it makes any money on the OS. The money is in the services it will offer, and that will not go to zero, despite what Google does. Everyone said Google would drive Office revenues to zero—seems like it was doing pretty darn well last I looked."

 

"Lastly, any vendor who competes with its customers, as Microsoft would do if it actively got into the hardware environment, would drive its OEMs to either go out of business, deemphasize Windows, which would have a negative effect on Microsoft, or simply make end users totally confused, which is never good for the market," he continued.

"And by the way, margins on most commodity hardware these days is terrible—why take that on?" the analyst added.

 

Airtel Bans Rcom And Aircel Incoming Messages

just before Diwali, when the telecom market is high, Bharti Airtel shut the door to two other networks- Aircel and Reliance Communications. The company says that the two service providers have been flooding its network by sending 'free spam messages'. But the accused service providers deny the allegations.

 

Bharti Airtel executive said, “Aircel and RCom are sending free SMS to our networks, which, in turn, is impacting the quality of service on our network and, therefore, the quality of service to our own customers,” reports TOI.

On the other hand, RCom and Aircel have denied any such allegation, saying that Airtel was trying to force them to pay more for SMS termination charges just before Diwali. An RCom executive said, “The timing of this step on the eve of Diwali reflects Bharti's blatant disregard for the interests of millions of customers and is another instance of abuse of market position by Bharti.”

The companies are planning to take their dispute to the court, by stating that Aircel was asked to sign a bilateral interconnect agreement by Bharti Airtel. The agreement states that 10 paise per SMS will be charged to a non-Airtel customer. But Aircel is resisting it as it will lead in the rise of costs for their customers. 

Best smartphones for all budgets to brighten up Diwali

We don’t really need an excuse to shop, but it’s nice to have one anyways. Festivals are one of those excuses we use to buy ourselves shiny new gadgets, and Diwali is one of the big ones. Smartphones are high on everybody’s shopping list this time of the year, along with clothes and gold. In order to make your life easier, we at Tech2 have racked our brains to come up with some of the best bang-for-buck smartphones you can buy in the martket.

To simplify this, we’ve broken it down into three major price segments so that it’s easy for you to pick and choose. Remember, these are our personal recommendations and since we only picked two in each category, we’ve had to let some of the good ones go in some segments. We start off with the most popular category and that’s the one under Rs.10,000.

Samsung Galaxy Pocket – Rs. 6,800
If you are on a shoestring budget, then the Samsung Galaxy Pocket is your best bet. A better performer than the Galaxy Y, the Pocket features a faster CPU, so the UI is a lot quicker. The handset is built well and the plastic construction feels sturdy to hold. You also get Wi-Fi and expandable memory support, which gives it really good value.

For those on a budget

• 2.8-inch TFT display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 2MP camera with QVGA video recording
• 3GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Sony Xperia tipo – Rs. 9,500
The Xperia tipo brushes past the former champion, the HTC Explorer, as the best value smartphone in this budget. The tipo is powered by a snappy 800MHz CPU and runs Android ICS. It also happens to be very well built, is small and compact and has a pretty decent battery life. This makes it a perfect choice if you’re shopping with a tight budget.

Great value under 10K

• 3.2-inch TFT display with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 3.2MP camera with VGA video recording
• 3GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Samsung Galaxy Camera up for pre-order with booking amount of Rs 3,000

This year, we have seen the beautiful blend of a smartphone’s operating system with a camera. Currently, there are two handsets with these features, the Nikon Coolpix S800c and the Samsung Galaxy Camera. The latter has some pretty impressive specifications and for those looking to get their hands on this device, Samsung has officially listed this handset for pre-order on its eStore with a booking amount of Rs 3,000.

As of now, there is no word on the final pricing of this camera. If one pre-books this camera running on the Android OS, then one gets a 16GB microSD card free with it. Those interested in this camera, you can head over here to pre-order it.

The next phase in camera technology is coming soon to India

In September, Samsung had officially announced the Galaxy Camera for India, apart from launching the successor to the Note phablet, the Galaxy Note II.

Samsung claims that the Galaxy Camera combines high performance photography with the latest Android v4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system, and wireless network connectivity, thereby creating a new type of device. Samsung Galaxy Camera is said to be ideal for those who wish to shoot, edit, and share high quality photographs, and videos easily and spontaneously.

Samsung Galaxy Camera features a 21x zoom lens that has a focal length of 23mm at the widest end, and a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor. The zoom can be controlled by either button or through the touchscreen, while the optical image stabiliser ensures that images stay clear. The Galaxy Camera features a large display, which is a 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD screen. Wireless connectivity enables the device to load applications for photo-editing, sharing, and more.

The Galaxy Camera includes a set of 35 photo editing features through the ‘Photo Wizard’, allowing users to make professional quality edits on the go. The camera has a quad-core processor, giving access to a feature such as 'Auto Face Calibration' so that edits can be made. The ‘Movie Wizard’ also allows users to create and edit videos from the touchscreen.

Samsung shares that the Galaxy Camera comes with 65 image editing options. The Galaxy Camera also features the ‘Smart Content Manager’, an on-device organisation tool, which creates folders, tags faces, and even suggests pictures to delete when they do not come out as desired. In addition to the pre-installed applications from Samsung, users can browse the web and enjoy any applications from Google Play or Samsung Apps stores. Useful apps and games are suggested by 'S Suggest'.

The camera’s ‘Auto Cloud Backup’ feature automatically saves photos into the cloud via Samsung’s AllShare as soon as they are taken. The Galaxy Camera also enables users to share photos at the same time as they shoot them with ‘Share Shot.’ As well as sharing to social networks and cloud services, users can also connect to a range of Galaxy devices including the Galaxy S III and the recently announced Galaxy Note II for automatic sharing of pictures across the Galaxy family of devices. The new device enables connection to 3G or 4G, and also Wi-Fi with Dual Band and Channel Bonding.

The Galaxy Camera comes in two connectivity options: a 3G version with Wi-Fi and a 4G version with Wi-Fi.

Aakash 2 launched, available to students for Rs 1,130

Right on cue, on the occasion of National Education Day yesterday, President Pranab Mukherjee and the Human Resources and Development (HRD) minister, MM Pallam Raju, launched the Aakash 2 tablet at Vigyan Bhawan, putting an end to months of speculation surrounding the launch of the tablet. The upgraded tablet will be made available to students in India at a subsidised price of Rs 1,130. According to reports, Aakash 2 will be made available to engineering college students and universities for starters, and will be subsequently distributed to others.

Datawind CEO with the newly-launched Aakash 2 tablet

The Aakash 2 tablet has been designed, developed, and manufactured by DataWind Ltd for supply to IIT Bombay under the Human Resources and Development ministry’s National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT). The launch was part of a two-day workshop conducted by IIT Bombay for teaching faculties in engineering colleges using remote training applications developed at IIT Bombay’s Open Source development lab.  Over the last many months, IIT Bombay has developed unique and compelling applications for engineering students on the Aakash2 platform, which include 3D-modelling, C++ programming, remote and collaborative training applications, robotic control and live assessment tools.  IIT Bombay has partnered with the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), to assist with the hardware testing and logistics.

The Subrao Nilekani Chair Professor at IIT Bombay, Dr. Deepak B. Phatak, heads the project at IIT Bombay with the support of C-DAC.  Professor Phatak was quoted as saying, “I'm not only confident, but sure that Aakash 2.0 is here to stay.” In the first phase, DataWind is to supply 100,000 units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay, which intends to distribute them to Engineering University and College students. NME-ICT Director, N.K.Sinha said, “We envision all 220 million students across India to be enabled by low cost Aakash devices in the coming years.”

The Aakash 2 is a significant upgrade over the original Aakash tablet. The initial version of the tablet had a 7-inch resistive touchscreen, which struggled to respond to touch. It ran Android v2.2 on a 366MHz processor, based on an older ARM architecture. The Aakash 2 tablet is likely to be replaced by a successor, which will have a dual-core Cortex - A9 processor by the end of this year.

Speaking on the launch of Aakash 2, DataWind CEO, Suneet Singh Tuli said, “We wish to use technology to fight poverty with a passion.  Access to computers and internet will help deliver a better quality education and level the playing field for all Indians”.

The Aakash 2 takes forward the nation’s ambitions of making quality education affordable to the have-nots in the country. Over the past month, even as scores of students in the nation awaited the launch and availability of the Aakash 2 tablet, several units were sent across to all ministers as well as state chief ministers for their feedback recently.

As per reports, roughly 22 crore students across the nation will get the device in the next five to six years. In fact reports suggest that by Monday alone, 20,000 devices are expected to reach out to the students.

At the launch

HRD Ministry officials shared that the device can not only run on Linux operating system, it can also do Aadhar authentication and control a robot from a distance.

In the later half of September this year, Datawind started supplying units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay. In fact in an earlier statement, the company revealed that an October launch of the tablet was likely. Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli told PTI, “Supplies are on to IIT Bombay. In the next few weeks, it should be launched. I do not have the exact date, but HRD Minister (Kapil Sibal) has said he wants to launch on the anniversary date which is October 5”. However, Tuli added that the launch would depend on Sibal’s schedule.

Recently, two units of the upgraded version of the Aakash tablet were presented to the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi by Kapil Sibal. The ministry is reportedly toying with the idea of sending units of the Aakash 2 to all state chief ministers for feedback, a move particularly strange considering the tablet is yet to make its way to several of its pre-designated locations. India’s attempt at low-cost computing has primarily been one to ensure quality education is made available to those who earlier found it beyond their means. Despite criticism, there still is a lot of optimism surrounding the low-cost tablet.

Samsung Galaxy S III available online for Rs 29,999

With the festive season here, several online retailers are aiming to make the most of the Diwali season and offer huge discounts on their products. An online retailer, Kaunsa.com, is offering Samsung’s flagship handset for Rs 29,999 which is a huge 21 percent discount on the official retail price.

The online retailer, apart from the discounted price, is offering the handset with free shipping, and the product will be delivered between seven to 12 days. To know more about purchasing this item, head over to the link here.

The discounted price of the Samsung Galaxy S III

Popular online retailer Flipkart too has the item in stock, but there is no change in price with it being available for purchase at Rs 34,900. However, they are running a special offer where one gets a Samsung BHM1100 Bluetooth headset along with a Flipkart e-Gift voucher of Rs 500. Click here to know more.

According to a recent report, Strategy Analytics research from its Country Share Tracker (CST) service shows that Samsung's Galaxy S III shipped 18 million units worldwide, overtaking Apple's iPhone 4S to become the world's best-selling smartphone model for the first time ever in the third quarter of 2012. The Galaxy S III captured an 11 percent share of all smartphones shipped globally in the period. A large touchscreen, extensive distribution, and generous operator subsidies have put the Galaxy S III in the top spot.

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple shipped an estimated 16.2 million iPhone 4S units worldwide for second place, as consumers temporarily held off purchases in anticipation of the widely expected iPhone 5 at the end of the quarter.

The announcement concludes by stating that the Samsung Galaxy S III has proven popular with consumers and operators across North America, Europe, and Asia. However, the Galaxy S III's position as the world's best-selling smartphone model is likely to be short-lived. The Apple iPhone 5 has got a solid start already with an estimated 6.0 million units shipped globally during Q3 2012. Strategy Analytics states that it expects the new iPhone 5 to out-ship Samsung's Galaxy S III in the fourth quarter of 2012, and the iPhone should soon reclaim the title of the world's most popular smartphone model.

As per a post on the official Twitter page of Samsung in Poland, the brand has notched up sales of 30 million units of the S III. Samsung had first launched the handset in May, and in a few months, reached this impressive number. Samsung has employed an aggressive marketing strategy for its flagship model and it is reaping its benefits. The smartphone was heavily advertised at the London Olympics, and shortly after, Samsung launched it in a variety of colour options, increasing the customers' options from the original Pebble Blue and Marble White colours. In what comes as another major push for this smartphone, Samsung has recently announced the availability of some more colour options such as Spiral Black, Garnet Red, and Embassy Brown.

Here is a quick look at the highlighted features of the Samsung Galaxy S III:

• 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with DLNA support
• GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS,
• USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0
• 8MP camera with AF, LED flash, BSI sensor, and 1080p HD video recording
• 1.9 MP front facing camera with a resolution of 720p for video chat
• 16/ 32/ 64GB Internal memory, expandable up to 64GB

Twitter resets passwords for some non-compromised accounts

Transcend Information, provider of storage and multimedia products, has announced the release of its new Wi-Fi SD memory card that instantly adds wireless capability to an SDHC-compatible digital camera. With the Wi-Fi SD card and the exclusive Wi-Fi SD App, users can take advantage of the high resolution of their digital camera and the versatility of their smartphone or tablet to share photos as soon as they are taken.

The Wi-Fi SD card operates in two modes: Direct Share or Internet Mode. Direct Share Mode is automatically activated as soon as the camera is powered on, allowing peer-to-peer connections between camera and mobile device in any location. Thanks to the Wi-Fi SD App, users can quickly switch to Internet Mode, which allows the Wi-Fi SD card to connect to a nearby Internet hotspot or even use the personal hotspot feature present in many smartphones and tablets. When connected via Internet Mode, users can browse and download photos from the Wi-Fi SD card and email to friends or upload to their social network profile.

The Transcend Wi-Fi SD memory card

Developed specifically for iOS (iPhone/ iPad/ iPod touch), and Android devices, the free-to-download Wi-Fi SD App automatically organises Wi-Fi SD card data into categories. The design of the App allows users to browse photos, watch videos, download content, and share via Facebook or email. Besides smartphones and tablets, Wi-Fi enabled desktop computers and notebooks can access media with a similarly user-friendly interface by using a web browser.

The Wi-Fi SD App’s Shoot and View feature takes advantage of the advanced capabilities of digital cameras and the large screen of mobile devices for a more efficient post-production process. First, capture a detailed picture using a high-megapixel camera, which then appears immediately on the smartphone or tablet. Next, download the image to local memory and manipulate in creative ways using photo editing apps before sharing with friends and family.

Featuring the SDHC Class 10 speed rating, Transcend Wi-Fi SD cards provide higher transfer speeds and greater stability than currently available Class 6 cards. The cards are available in two capacities, a 16GB card costing $69 (approximately Rs 3,764), and a 32GB card costing $99 (approximately Rs 5,400).

Back in October, Transcend revealed its thinnest 8X slim portable CD/DVD writer. Transcend shares that the portable CD/ DVD writer is meant for use with Ultrabooks and cutting edge notebooks that come sans a built-in disc drive. Transcend claims that its design fits comfortably into the sleeve of any laptop bag or backpack, and offers around 44 percent weight savings over standard external optical drives. The CD/ DVD writer draws its electric power directly from the computer's USB ports.

The CD/ DVD writer comes bundled with a full-featured copy of the media writing software CyberLink Power2Go, and also includes a bonus 30-day trial version of CyberLink's MediaShow. Using these software tools, users can not only burn music, data, video and even bootable discs in a variety of CD and DVD formats, including CD-R/RW, DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD±R DL, and DVD-RAM, but also compile, arrange, and produce media files.

Wikipedia now has new HTML 5-based video player

The hugely popular online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, and its sister sites, now have a new video player, as per an official blog post. It is no rocket science now to gauge that with a new video player, the content on the online encyclopaedia will only grow richer, thereby making educational videos available to more people, in more languages and of course, for free.

Offering support for closed captions in multiple languages

Elaborating upon the recent changes, Guillaume Paumier, Technical communications manager, shares that the new video player is the same HTML 5 player used in the Kaltura open-source video platform. The video player has been integrated with MediaWiki, the software that runs Wikimedia sites such as Wikipedia through an extension called TimedMediaHandler. In essence, the new video player replaces an older Ogg-only player that has been in use since 2007.

As for the new video player, it supports closed captions in multiple languages. The new video player is based on HTML 5, and it plays audio and video files on wiki pages. Among other things, the new video player brings to the table features such as advanced support for closed captions and other timed text. The new video player allows contributors to transcribe videos; it is being considered to be a significant step towards accessibility for hearing-impaired Wikipedia readers. Even captions can easily be translated into many languages, creating more room for the potential audience.

TimedMediaHandler, as has been elaborated comes with support for the royalty-free WebM video format, making it possible to seamlessly import videos encoded to that format, such as freely-licensed content from YouTube’s massive library.

“Even further behind the scenes, TimedMediaHandler adds support for server-side transcoding, i.e., the ability to convert from one video format to another, in order to deliver the appropriate video stream to the user depending on their bandwidth and the size of the player. For example, support for mobile formats is available, although it is not currently enabled,” adds the post further.

The 'Share' feature on the new video player offers a short snippet of code to directly embed videos from Wikimedia Commons in web pages and blog posts, as is the case here.

The post goes on to reveal that some features provided by TimedMediaHandler have been available to users of Wikimedia Commons during development, in experimental mode. This enabled registered users to turn on the beta features in their personal preferences to enjoy a nicer interface and edit subtitles. Since the new player is compatible with existing subtitles created during that time, there is an existing body of captions that it can already load and display, like on this mash-up of interviews of Wikipedians.

"On the internet, video is a very static medium: it rarely changes once uploaded. In contrast, the success of Wikipedia relies on numerous volunteers constantly editing and improving each others contributions. Appropriate tools will hopefully reduce this dissonance, like Kaltura’s sequencer, which empowers users to remix videos directly online. Successfully translating its radically collaborative nature to multimedia content will be critical to Wikipedia’s transition into the age of video," the post reads.

Samsung didn't pay Apple $1.05 billion in 5 cent coins

Over the past couple of days, various rumours have indicated that Samsung paid Apple $1.5 billion in 5 cent coins. A California jury had awarded Apple the amount in damages, at the end of a long-standing patent infringement dispute with Samsung. The news of Samsung paying the damages in nickels spread widely via the website MobileEntertainment, though it had originated on a Mexico-based parody website El Deforma, and then made it to 9gag as a cartoon.

MobileEntertainment reported, "Yesterday, more than 30 trucks filled with five cent coins arrived at Apple’s headquarters in California. Apple security were in the process of freaking out before Apple CEO Tim Cook was called by Samsung explaining that they will pay all of the $1.05 billion they owe Apple in coins, and this was the first instalment".

Is Samsung trolling with Apple?

Hilarious as it might have been, and though Samsung fans might have hoped it was true, it isn't. MobileEntertainment later updated its story revealing that it was a fake. Though the verdict has been reached, the fine that has been awarded to Apple is not yet payable. Besides that, Samsung will almost certainly appeal the verdict, which will delay the actual process of payment indefinitely. A report by the Guardian has listed several points that indicate that this information is nothing but a hoax. The Guardian reports, “Samsung's fine ($1.049bn) isn't yet payable; the judge hasn't ruled. All we have is the jury's verdict. The judge's decision, which could include a tripling of the fine, is due on 20 September (or possibly 6 December now; it's unclear). Until then, Samsung only has to pay its lawyers. That should be less than $1bn”.

If this isn't enough to put the hoax to rest, a resource put up by the US Treasury explains why Samsung cannot pay Apple the amount due in coins. The statement reads, “The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues. This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy”.

Hence, if Samsung and its 30 trucks filled with 5 cent coins reach the gates of the Apple headquarters, they would most certainly be asked to take a U-turn post haste, and head right back to where they came from. If this rumour had been true, the scenario where 30 trucks filled with small change adding up to a billion dollars might easily have gone down as the biggest, funniest, and most expensive troll in history.

Micromax launches Funbook Talk P350 tablet for Rs 7,249

Micromax has just announced the Funbook Talk (P350) tablet in India for a street price of Rs 7,249. The budget tablet is a new addition to the Funbook line-up and now adds voice calls and GPRS functionality. The P350 features a dual-band GSM radio that allows you make and receive voice calls. This expands the functionality of the tablet and lets you stay connected even on the move and in places that don’t have Wi-Fi. According to the specifications, there is no 3G radio built into the tablet but Micromax has made provisions for that with support for 3G dongles via the USB port.

A new addition to the team

Tablet consists of a 7-inch capacitive screen along with a resolution of 800 x 480. The screen also has features like multi-touch, pinch-to-zoom, etc. Micromax is shipping the Funbook Talk P350 with Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System. The bundled version is 4.0.4 so you get all the enhancements and speed improvements that it has to offer. The tablet is also powered by a 1GHz CPU and comes with 512MB of RAM. Micromax hasn’t mentioned what SoC they are actually using, only that it’s a Cortex A8 core and is accompanied by a Mail-400 GPU. With this kind of horsepower onboard, we think the Funbook Talk should easily handle 720p video content, even 1080p, if it has the NEON decoding chip from ARM. There’s only a single front facing VGA camera for video calls through Skype and other apps.

Like their other tablets, Micromax is also targeting the education sector with this tablet. The Funbook Talk includes an e-learning app and allows users to access study materials, videos, multimedia, tests and assessment. The tablet also features sample papers and study materials for engineering, medical and MBA exams. The Micromax Funbook Talk also has good multimedia playback support. Audio formats supported include MP3, WMA, MP2 OGG, AAC, M4A, FLAC, APE, 3GP, WAV, etc. There’s also a whole bunch of video formats supported like MPEG, MP4, VIMKV, DivX, etc. Micromax has also included a miniHDMI port so you can connect the tablet directly to an HDTV. Last but not the least; the Funbook also features a 2,800mAh battery, which promises up to 5 hours of talk time and 112 hours of standby time. The tablet will come with 4GB of internal memory which can be expanded to 32GB via a microSD card.

Here are some of the highlights of the Funbook Talk once again:

• 7-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 800 x 480 pixel density
• GPRS, Wi-Fi
• 0.3 megapixel front facing camera
• 4GB internal memory, expandable support up to 32GB
• miniHDMI for AV out

Chennai has time till November 19 to go digital: Madras HC

The Madras High Court has pumped in some more breathing time for the residents of Chennai to go digital. The deadline for cable TV digitisation has now been extended to November 19, Times of India reports. The decision comes just days after the court granted Chennai an extension till November 5, from the earlier October 31 deadline, after it was found that the process of digitisation was far from complete.

Elaborating upon the turn of events leading to the deadline extension, the report shared that Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar opined that considering the matter had a larger public interest at heart, it should be heard by a division bench. Yesterday, quite a few writ petitions filed by the cable television operators' federation and multi-system operators (MSOs) had been brought up for hearing.

Deadline extension, yet again (Image Credit: Getty Images)

In a rather interesting revelation during the hearing on Friday, P S Raman, senior counsel for Sun TV Network, shared that it had over two lakh set top boxes (STBs) in its possession. He added that it would take only 20 days to start distribution, if the MSOs placed their orders. Raman even shared that Sun TV network had not been approached by any cable operator for STB supply, and hence claims of a shortage of STBs were false.

According to senior central government standing counsel, S Haja Mohideen Gisthi, the Centre “was prepared to extend the last date up to December 31 if an undertaking was given by the state government that it would implement digital access system (DAS) in Chennai within a time frame.” Gisthi also gave a copy of a letter written by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to counsel.

As it stands now, residents across Chennai have time till November 19 to make the switch to digital signals.

Johnson D Kennedy, the president of the Chennai Metro Cable TV Operators’ Association, had filed a writ petition, based on which Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar passed the interim order. The issue was kept on hold till November 5 awaiting a reply from the Centre as well as to procure the required records.

According to Kennedy, the deadline had been extended on two occasions since the regulation to implement the Digital Addressable System (DAS) had come into effect. He cited the unavailability of set top boxes (STBs) as the reason for Chennai missing the deadline -- an issue that had been reported in the past too.

In June this year, a Times of India report had confirmed that in Chennai, stakeholders such as the government-run Arasu Cable TV Corporation and Sun TV Network's Sumangali Cable Vision were not fully ready to meet the July 1 deadline, the previous deadline.  The Information and Broadcasting ministry too hinted that chances were that it may extend the deadline on a city-to-city basis, if need be.

In June, Chennai and Kolkata were far the position required for them to reach the stipulated deadline.  In Chennai, only 12.5 percent of the total subscribers had STBs. Quoting P Sakilan, the president of the operators' association, the report adds, "It is highly impossible to launch digital network in Chennai before July". Sakilan stated that even if the operators were to provide the  STBs for free to the viewers, it would take four months to import them, test-run them, and deliver them to 40 lakh viewers in Chennai.

In the meanwhile, there are reports of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting moving into the second phase of digitisation. In a recent high-level meeting headed by Uday Kumar Varma, Secretary – Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the preparedness of the Phase II cities for digitisation was gauged. As it stands now, the digitisation deadline across 38 cities in 15 states is set for March 31, 2013.

In its official statement, the Ministry shares that it had notified on November 11, 2011 about the phase-wise digitisation of analogue cable TV networks in India. Going further, the Ministry shared that the process of digitisation of the analogue cable TV networks has been completed across Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It added that as on November 5, 2012, 22.4 lakh STBs have been installed in Mumbai, 25.15 lakh in Delhi and 17.74 lakh STBs have been installed in Kolkata. As for Chennai, the Ministry noted that the matter is sub-judice in the Madras High Court. As per the figures released by the I&B Ministry, 29 lakh subscribers have DTH connections in the four metro cities.

iPhone 5 facing touch recognition issues

When Apple designed the iPhone 5, one major goal of the company was to make it extremely slim. It appears that this skinniness has come at a price. Various reports now claim that the iPhone 5 and iPod touch devices respond oddly to multiple and rapid diagonal swipes.

A report by iMore states that on an iPhone 4S, one can rapidly swipe back and forth and the handset will keep up without any lag noticed even when some swipes are diagonal. However, on an iPhone 5, when one swipes rapidly diagonally at about 45 degrees, it appears that the gesture is not recognized.


The author at iMore, Rene Ritchie states, “I was able to reproduce the behavior on an iPhone 5 with Mail.app, Contacts.app, and Tweetbot (though a couple of times in Tweetbot rapid diagonal swiping worked fine for without any drop off), Brushes (paint strokes stopped appearing), the iMore app, and more. I was also able to reproduce the same behavior on an iPod touch 5 using the same apps. Various devices were running iOS 6, iOS 6.0.1, and iOS 6.1 beta. That means it's not restricted to one control, like UITableView, or one version of iOS 6.”

Ritchie tried the same gesture on an iPhone 4S, and a fourth generation iPad but the same issue did not arise.

This issue may be due to the in-cell technology used in Apple’s new 4-inch devices along with the software. The report ends by stating, “Due to the angle, rapidity, and consistency needed to trigger the drop, it's not a problem most apps or developers will ever face. Games and game developers on the other hand, could well encounter it.”

This is not the first problem occuring in the handset. Another well documented problem is the purple haze issue that is seen in certain images captured with the iPhone 5’s camera. Apple had issued a statement which said, “Most small cameras, including those in every generation of iPhone, may exhibit some form of flare at the edge of the frame when capturing an image with out-of-scene light sources. This can happen when a light source is positioned at an angle (usually just outside the field of view) so that it causes a reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor. Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimize or eliminate the effect.”

A report by DP Review stated that the most likely cause of the iPhone 5's purple haze is probably lens flare and internal reflections in the camera lens assembly. They state, “All lenses are succeptable to lens flare to some degree, the iPhone 4S isn't immune either (ditto the iPhone 4 and competitive smartphones from other manufacturers)." But while shooting with the iPhone 5 it is a lot more noticeable. They state, “It's unlikely that the flare is solely due to the much-vaunted inclusion of a sapphire glass lens cover (although the refractive index of the sapphire glass is different to conventional optical glass, so it could be a contributing factor). Our money is on it being caused by a combination of different things, none of which, alone, is unique to the iPhone 5.