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Showing posts from 2010

iPod nano review -- as a watch

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iPod nano watchbands -- they're everywhere! Seriously, ever since Steve Jobs said that an unnamed Apple board member jokingly planned to wear the new nano as a watch, we've seen all shapes and sizes of wristbands designed to put the diminutive media player on your wrist, ranging from the   super-basic   to the   super-silly   to the super-amazing. But hold up -- yes, we thought the new nano was a great little media player when   we first reviewed it , but why hasn't anyone talked about what it's like to wear one as your watch? Is replacing your current timepiece with the nano's 1.5-inch 240 x 240 multitouch display actually a good idea ? We took the nerd-bullet for you and wore one for a week to find out -- read on! iPod nano review -- as a watch First things first: you've got to get the nano on a band. That's actually pretty easy -- not only are there a million accessory manufacturers out there willing to sell you a nano-specific band, you can also clip i...

Registry hack allows for direct loading of media on Windows Phone 7 devices

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Prefer to load media onto your   Windows Phone 7   device the old fashioned way? Then it looks like your solution is just a simple Windows registry hack away. Coming shortly after the   USB tethering hack , the folks at   Windows Phone Central   have now discovered that you can effectively turn your Windows Phone into a USB drive by modifying just three entries in the registry of your Windows desktop PC. Once done, you'll be able to drag and drop files to your heart's content -- albeit only on a computer that's had the registry hack done, of course. Hit up the source link below for the complete details

Acer, Ferrari unveil joint smartphone model

Ferrari and Acer unveiled on Friday a joint new smartphone model using Google's Android software, hoping to boost its so far limited role in the increasingly crowded smartphone market. The version of Acer's Liquid model -- with production limited to 200,000 -- will be Ferrari branded and sold with pre-loaded content from the company and its racing team. "The Ferrari branded device will help lift Acer's latest phone above the ever-crowded Android devices market where it is hard to tell many of the lower cost products apart," said Ben Wood, head of research at British consultancy CCS Insight. The world's second largest PC vendor Acer entered the smartphone industry last year, aiming to reach 6 to 7 percent of the market in three to five years. Its success has so far been very limited, but handset vendors are closely watching the PC vendors move into their marketplace. "Acer had a devastating effect on the notebook market and has been the thorn in Dell and ...

How to Evaluate Banking Stocks

It is said that the banking sector reflects the economy's health. The sector acts as a funnel providing the funds that corporates need to expand their business. When the economy is expanding, as is happening in India currently, banks lend more and hence profit more. Since a bank's business model is different from that of a manufacturing company, the way you go about analysing banking stocks is also different. A bank's basic business is to accept deposits and give out loans. It makes money by charging a higher rate of interest on its loans than the rate it pays its depositors. This difference in interest rates is called 'spread'. The money that a bank earns from its deposit-taking and lending activities is referred to as 'net interest income'. In addition, banks also earn money by offering a variety of services (say, distributing mutual fund and insurance products, offering wealth management services, and many more) for which they charge a fee. They also m...

Corruption robs from even the poor

India is being hailed as a rising global economic power. However, given its poor record in poverty eradication, human development indicators and inclusive growth, it has yet to go a long way to achieve this reputation. The biggest impediment is the cancer of corruption, which has now spread to every wing of the government and every section of society, including the noble professions of education, medicine, judiciary, armed forces and journalism. The several shameful episodes that have come to light in recent times include reports of illegal mining in several States, the 2G spectrum licences scandal linked to Telecom Minister Mr D. Raja, and the Sukhna land scandal involving four Lieutenant Generals of the Indian army. The scams relating to the recently held Commonwealth Games and the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society in South Mumbai have resulted in the sacking of Mr Suresh Kalmadi from his party position and Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr Ashokrao Chavan respectively. The just re...

Google's Android platform turns 3, Gingerbread due on 11 November

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The Android platform was born on this day three years ago, on 5 November 2007, and the first device based on the platform was introduced nearly one year later, on 22 October when the T-Mobile G1 saw daylight for the first time. However, the story began back in 2005 when Google acquired the Android Inc. Then, it was only a matter of time for the Android platform to show up. Now, a few years later, this is one of the fastest developing operating systems. The Android OS hasn't stop improving since Day One . Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo… Those are all sweets but at the same time these are the names of the numerous Android updates released over the years. And rumor is the next one, Android 2.3 a.k.a. Gingerbread, is about to be launched in a week, on 11 November. As for the applications compatible with the Android platform, currently, there are more than 100 000 apps over at the Android Market and their number is continuing growing and growing. Currently, we h...

Google and other companies to unveil first Chrome OS powered notebooks and smartbooks later this month?

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Leading companies are said to announce their first Chrome-powered smartbooks later in November 2010. But what is even more exciting, word is Google is about to present its own notebook based on the Chrome operating system as well.   The first Google-branded Chrome-running notebook is said to be manufactured by a company called Inventec. Rumor is initial shipments will reach 60 000-70 000 units. The smartbook will be build around an ARM-based platform and won’t be available through retail channels (only online, directly from Google). A little while after we see Google’s Chrome-based firstborn, we’ll get to meet some smartbooks made by Wuanta Computer but wearing the Acer and the HP logos. Those should be launched some time in December. Asustek will probably join the party a tad later.

Google Co-Founders Wanted Steve Jobs To Be CEO of Google

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When Sergey Brin and Larry Page were first looking for a CEO to run Google, they met with Steve Jobs. The Google co-founders left that meeting wanting the CEO of Apple to become the CEO of Google. According to interviews in Bloomberg's documentary series, Game Changers , that's who the two boywonders wanted as their head honcho. At the time (early 2000's), Sergey and Larry had interviewed some 12-13 candidates to become CEO of Google but didn't like any of 'em. Instead they wanted Jobs, their quote-unquote hero, to be the CEO. Unfortunately Jobs was busy running some other company that was about to embark on a renaissance for the ages. The Google dudes ended up finding and picking Eric Schmidt who interestingly doesn't really resemble Jobs at all. It's funny to think what would've happened if things played out differently (even if it was probably never serious for Jobs). Maybe Apple and Google wouldn't hate each other. Maybe there would...

The Best Video Games Right Now

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Fall is here and the weather is slowly getting colder. What does that mean? It's time to stay inside, get warm and play some video games. Here are the best video games available right now. Fallout: New Vegas Fallout: New Vegas can be thought of as a sorta sequel, gigantic expansion pack to the oh so awesome Fallout 3. If you loved Fallout 3, New Vegas offers more of it (even though no character from Fallout 3 pops up). The RPG lasts a mind boggling 60 to 80 hours, where you'll be spendting time swooning gangsters and staying alive in post-nuclear Vegas. (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Fable 3 It's always about choices when it comes to Fable RPG's and Fable 3 is no different. Fable 3 centers around a prince (or princess), and the choices he makes on his journey to become King (or Queen). Both the captivating main storyline and always interesting random interactions make Fable 3 worth playing. (Xbox 360) NBA Jam Every sports fan has been waiting for a modern sequel...

Android 2.1 starts rolling out to Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 line this weekend

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Doesn't get much more "late October" than this, does it? Sony Ericsson has announced that it'll begin delivering Android 2.1 upgrades to its X10 line of phones at long last this coming Sunday, October 31st -- but odds are pretty good you won't be in the first batch. In fact, only unbranded X10s, X10 Minis , and X10 Mini Pros in Nordic countries will be getting boosted at first, followed by "more kits" on Monday and throughout November. As a refresher, these updates will bring 720p video capture on the X10 proper (complete with continuous autofocus), a new backup / restore app, and a bunch of other tweaks that should make your little pal feel a bit less 2009 and bit more 2010. Froyo would be nice, of course... but we'll take what we can get.

Nexus Two does (or doesn't) exist, is (or isn't) being released this year

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After going most of the year with very little noise on the Nexus One's successor -- a phone Google has never committed to making, by the way -- we've gotten a handful of conflicting rumors about this thing in the past few days. Let's take a swipe at the buzz that's circulating this week: British publication City A.M. says the Nexus Two is a Carphone Warehouse exclusive , will be released in time for the holidays, and probably won't be made by Samsung. Android and Me is convinced that the Nexus Two will in fact be a Samsung product, will be announced at its November 8th press conference , will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread (assuming 3.0 is Honeycomb ), and will be available on multiple carriers. Meanwhile, a quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt from back in July may suggest there will be no Nexus One successor at all: "The idea a year and a half ago was to do the Nexus One to try to move the phone platform hardware business forward. It clearly d...

Mount Everest now 'wired' for Internet, ready for Starbucks

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TeliaSonera subsidiary Ncell has just completed installation of a 3G base station at 5,200 meters (17,000 feet) that will reach the 8,848-meter peak of Mount Everest. Mind you, we've already seen a cellphone call made from the world's highest peak using a temporary base station in a Motorola publicity stunt. This time, however, it's permanent and faster allowing climbers to surf the internet or make 3G video calls. Why would Ncell want to build a base station in such a sparsely populated area? Because it is there.

Top 5 Icon Search Engine For Web Designers

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Graphic designers always search for fresh resources such as icons, logos, vector images, textures and fonts. These are the most important things for graphic web designers to make any websites design beautiful and attractive. We are providing top 5 icon search engine for web designers. These icon search engines have every type of icons such as social media icon, ecommerce icon, desktop icons , web application icons and much more. I hope you like these search engines and find everything that is needed for making your next project more beautiful. Iconlet   Icon Seeker Veryicon Icon Finder Icon Shock

10 Practices to Speed Up Your Website

Do you like fast websites? We’re sure you do just like search engines and metrics companies that use website load time as a parameter in their rankings. For website visitors waiting is one of the most annoying things on the web. And if in real life speeding is dangerous for you, in virtual world speed is essential for successful website – lack of speed means death for your website. Nowadays such factors as user experience and user-friendliness are really important and may determine whether your website will succeed in future or not. We should never forget about our big brother Google which considers website load time as a part of their ranking algorithm. Below you’ll find some tips and tricks that will give wings to your website. Maybe you’ll be confused about some specific terms but we believe that after spending some time on Wikipedia things will become clear for you. Of course we are always glad to discuss this topic in our comments section.     *  ...

Adobe confirms Flash Player 10.1 is coming to BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and more

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We've already known that Adobe would be bringing Flash Player 10.1 to Windows Phone 7 , but the company has just now made that fully official at its currently-happening MAX conference (alongside its Air 2.5 announcement ), and it's also confirmed exactly which other mobile platforms the plug-in will be headed to. That includes WebOS 2.0, which we've already seen first hand , along with BlackBerry OS, Symbian, MeeGo and, last but not least, the LiMo platform -- those will all of course join Android 2.2, which already supports the plug-in. Unfortunately, there's still no timeline for a release on each platform, with Adobe only saying that Flash 10.1 is "expected" to hit each mobile OS. Head on past the break for the relevant snippet from Adobe's press release. Flash Player 10.1 Already one of the top free apps on Android Market, with more than 50,000 users giving it a 4.5-out-of-5 star rating, Flash Player 10.1 brings rich Flash based con...

Android Market surpasses 100,000 apps: can't stop, won't stop growing

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  Ah, there we go. Right around three months after we falsely suspected that El Goog had crossed the 100,000 mark in its Android Market, the company itself has today confirmed the passing of that line via Twitter. For those keeping count, it took but three months to go from 70,000 to 100,000 and seven months to go from 30,000 to this point . Of course, Apple's still holding down the lead in terms of sheer numbers with close to 300,000, but there's no question that the Android Market has nearly everything a boy (or girl, for that matter) could want. Except for a quote generator from Step Brothers . Oh, wait....

Avatar 2 and 3 Will See James Cameron Pick Up the 3D Camera Once More

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  While all seven of the 3DTV-owners worldwide await the release of the Avatar Blu-ray in 3D , 20th Century Fox has announced that James Cameron has already signed on to direct Avatar 2 and 3, out in 2014 and 2015. It's a long wait, yes. He'll begin writing the films early next year supposedly, and will begin work on Avatar 2 at the end of the year. Avatar 2 should be released in cinemas December 2014, and Avatar 3 a year later, presumably just in time for the hungry parents' credit cards. Actors, plots and other sort of details haven't been confirmed yet (I doubt even Cameron knows himself, if he hasn't started writing them yet), but Cameron did say that the films "will not back off the throttle of Avatar's visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world."

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 release candidate available for download

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In software development terms, Release Candidate is the final stretch. The first Service Pack for Windows 7 is pretty much all the updates released so far collected in a single package, plus improvements to virtualization and remote desktop use… Service Pack 1 will bring Windows 7 computers up to date if their auto-update was off all this time (some companies do that in their offices, in case some update turns out to be faulty). The two new things that SP1 brings are RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory. Dynamic Memory will improve memory usage if you use Hyper-V virtualization. RemoteFX is slightly more interesting – it’s imbues remote desktop connections with support for Aero, full motion video and playing 3D games. You can read more about it here . Anyway, the more impatient among you can get the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 from here (it works for Windows Server 2008 R2 too). The rest will have to wait till Q1 of 2011 when the final version of SP1 comes out.

Windows Phone 7 Launch Day Overview: 11 New Phones Announced

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Now that was a press conference that will be talked about for quiet some time. Along with the official launch of the Windows Phone 7 OS, Microsoft and their partners revealed almost a dozen new phones to run it. The WP7 launch event surprised us nicely with 11 new announcements With the WP7 minimum requirements standing at the top of currently available technology there isn’t much to choose between all those new offerings. They all have 1 GHz Snapdragon CPUs, large WVGA screens and generous amount of RAM and internal storage. HTC were most active today revealing a total of five new handsets. Those include the HTC HD7 with its huge 4.3″ display and the HTC 7 Surround with its slide-out speaker. The HTC 7 Mozart puts the best camera on the table (8MP autofocus with xenon flash), while the HTC 7 Trophy should be the most attractively priced one. HTC HD7 • HTC 7 Surround The first QWERTY-packing HTC WP7 handset will be the HTC 7 Pro , which will co...

QWERTY flip BlackBerry Style 9670

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Just as we thought that the clamshell form factor is dead, here comes BlackBery to disprove us. After months of waiting we can finally welcome the BlackBerry Style 9670 (previously rumored as Bold 9670), RIM’s first flip smartphone equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone is hitting the Sprint stores across the US on October 31st. The BlackBerry Style 9760 is a nice looking, though not that thin, clamshell coming in two colors – Steel Grey for the boys and Royal Purple for the gals. On the front there is a small but handy touchscreen and on the back – a 5MP autofocus camera with VGA video recording. It’s not the first time we get to meet the QWERTY-fied fatty (which you might know as Bold 9670) but today is the day when all questions will be answered. The thing is powered by a 624MHz processor and runs the recently unveiled BlackBerry OS 6. The Style 9670 has a full QWERTY keyboard and right above it is the 360-by-400-pixel display. The CDMA-compatible Style al...

Google TV brings the web to your TV

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Seemingly bored with its quest for total domination of the personal computer and smartphone, Google just announced its new and upcoming service called Google TV. Television is a huge ad market with 4 billion users around the globe using it actively and Google plans to revolutionize it. The concept behind Google TV is to merge the web with your TV so you can enjoy all those videos available online on the largest and best screen in your home – the one of your TV set. Google have partnered with Sony and Logitech on this one. Sony have prepared the world’s first Google TV lineup. That should hit the US market this fall. The lineup includes both a standalone TV model and set top box-type unit incorporating a Blu-ray Disc drive. Google’s other partners Logitech have been working on a companion box that brings Google TV to existing HDTV home entertainment systems. It should be compatible with any brand of HDTV currently available. The final notable member at the Google party is Intel, who wil...

Microsoft Kinect specs revealed, only two players can play at once

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Geeks have a soft spot for technical specifications – and now revealed for the first time, the Microsoft Kinect tech specs are bound for some geeky attention. A quick fact, the Kinect controller will be able to track you when you’re between 1.2 and 3.5 meters away from it. How’s that for starters? Interestingly, the two cameras on the Kinect have surprisingly low resolution – two video streams with 640×480 pixels resolution at 30 frames per second. I thought they would need higher resolution to do their tracking magic, but it seems they can do it with just VGA. Kinect’s horizontal field of view is 57 degrees. Additionally, the Kinect has a motor that can tilt it 27 degrees each way to track you, which expands the field of view. The vertical field of view is 43 degrees. The Kinect does all the tracking computation on its own, so it’s compatible with all Xbox 360 consoles. It has its limitations though – it can track 6 people at once, but only two of them are ‘active players’. However, i...