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Showing posts from November, 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.