Onlin [e] Guid [e]

Sony's new VGP-BMS10 mouse is a premium VIAO flagship mouse with Bluetooth support.

The mouse is made of aluminium and has a unique design. The VGP-BMS10 has a slider on its top to reveal the scroll wheel and the left as well as right clicks. The slider protects the clicks and the scroll wheel. This notebook mouse has an 800dpi sensor and 30-foot range.

-> this aluminum mouse is only compatible with Windows based systems.

This VGP-BMS10 Bluetooth mouse will be available in Japan for about $70 (Rs. 3,300 approx.) in August but it is unsure when it would be made available in India.

T-Mobile has launched its new Google Android Smartphone called myTouch which'll be available at a price of $200. The pre-orders will start from July 8.

The myTouch is produced and manufactured by HTC and has the same hardware as the HTC Magic (or Google Ion)

It is said to be thinner than the G1 (The first Android Phone launched by T-Mobile) and features a large 3.2-inch touch screen with a resolution of 320 x480 pixels and no physical keyboard. The phone has network support for 3G and Wi-Fi.

myTouch comes with 512 Megabytes of internal memory and supports microSD for external storage. The device will ship with a 4GB microSD card, but customers can add more storage if they wish.

The myTouch is entering the market at a time when the smartphone market is heating up. Every smartphone major has launched its latest model. Three other smartphones makers have already started selling new, improved phones this summer. Palm's much anticipated Pre was introduced on Sprint Nextel's network two weeks ago. Nokia followed with its U.S. debut of the touch-screen smartphone N97, And Apple started selling its faster and memory-enhanced iPhone 3G S on Friday.

The battle for the smartphone customer could get bloody Even though Apple's iPhone 3G S offered only a modest hardware upgrade, it still flew off the shelves the first weekend it was on the market. Analysts said earlier they had expected Apple to sell 500,000 iPhone 3G S devices during the weekend, and it's likely that the company easily exceeded these expectations.

So, it'll be interesting to see how myTouch manages to tackle the competetion!

There are rumours accross the web that an Xbox 360 successor might be out earlier than expected.

The news originated from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer himself, who during a recent conference in Chicago said that a "new Xbox 360 will hit the store shelves in 2010."

This sparked speculations about some new features in the Xbox along with a built in Project Natal camera, but apparently Ballmer's words were taken way out of context, with two key members from the Xbox team now denying the possibility of new hardware.

In an official statement released to the media, a Microsoft spokesperson said that the Xbox 360 is not even halfway through its lifecycle and will be here long into the next decade. Ballmer did talk quite a bit about a natural user interface that would recognize gestures and voice, so he was obviously referring to the recently unveiled Project Natal device or perhaps even a new SKU (as in the current Xbox 360 bundled with Natal).

Indeed Microsoft admits that Project Natal will be an important part of their platform going forward, but has not confirmed a launch date or any other concrete details at this time. For now, it seems the only thing which comes out of it is that Microsoft is planning something major for their Xbox platform next year.

Bobby Kotick, Activision CEO (The company that has produced game titles like Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk etc and is the largest independent game developer in the world) has threatened to stop support to Sony if the sales of PS3s don't improve.

Kotick said in an interview that the company paid $500 million to Sony last year alone in Royalties and other goods. But the XBoX 360 and wii are cheaper to develop.

The company also feels that Sony's console is losing a bit of grip on the market and urged the company to drop prices to something more reasonable. Furthermore, looking at 2010 and 2011 sales predictions, he says they might consider dropping the PS3 and PSP platforms altogether if things don't pick up. Of course, that's an absolute worst-case scenario, considering it would be rather foolish to just ignore the 20+ million PS3s out there in the world and that by that time frame the company will rather have dropped their prices.

Palm has released an over-the-air update for your downloading convenience that brings a number of feature enhancements to the Pre.

There is a full feature list of WebOS 1.0.3 on its support site, but some highlights include:

•Non-SSL Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) mail servers are now supported.

•Events created in your Google calendar (either in Calendar on your phone or in Google online) that contain a symbol or accented character in the event name can now synchronize. Previously, including a symbol or accented character in an event name prevented the event from synchronizing.

•If you create a weekday alarm on a weekend, the alarm sounds only on weekdays. Previously, the alarm would sound on the weekend also.

•The sync interval for Google contacts has been decreased from every few hours to every 15 minutes.

So, any one of you who has a Pre, download it and let me know your opinion about it by commenting below .. :)

Last september, a 14 year old boy had been knocked off his bike and robbed of his cell phone and some money. Six months later, the boy was surfing through google street view and he found a boy identical to him in the same street where he got robbed and also the two robbers. It was him!

He again went to the police which further sent a formal request to Google to provide them with a snapshot of the Street View with the unblurred pictures of the twin-brothers who were then arrested.

"What goes around, comes all the way back around" by Justin Timberlake is all that comes to mind after reading about the incident :-)

Sometime ago, the Chinese Government had mandated that every PC should have a screening software installed in order to prevent the computers to prevent people from browsing through pornographic and other objectionable content. Since then, almost 3 million people have downloaded the software. But because of the software flaw, all of them stand a chance at being compromised! Experts say that whoever designed this Green Dam Youth Software wasn’t very good at it. It is also said that only pc’s installed with Windows XP OS get blocked by the software but Linux and Mac OS can easily bypass the (so called) protective software.

One more thing which has come to light is that this software also blocks normal content in addition to objectionable content which , by the way can be damn frustrating for the users!

Hmm.. I don’t think China’ll take that lightly. (There are about 1.3 billion Internet Users in China). Let’s wait and watch. Do tell me what you think about this. Leave a comment..

Most of us are aware of the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior. But now for the first time, researchers have found that some video games can make children kinder and more likely to help other people.

Pro-social video games involve characters who help and support each other in non-violent ways.

Three separate studies conducted in different countries using different age groups and a variety of scientific methods all suggest that playing games with pro-social content cause players to be more helpful to others after the game is over.

Douglas Gentile, lead author and a psychologist at Iowa State University said: "Dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviours. But this is one of the first that has documented the positive effects of playing pro-social games."

"These studies show the same kind of impact on three different age groups from three very different cultures," said Brad Bushman, study co-author from the University of Michigan. He added that "the resulting triangulation of evidence provides the strongest possible proof that the findings are both valid and generalisable."

Nokia has launched the compact Nokia 3710 fold that features an artistic design on the cover, aiming to combine good looks with functionality.

"There is a solid demand for good-looking, intuitive and easy-to-use handsets with modern features," said Markku Suomi, Vice President, Connect devices. "The Nokia 3710 fold packs in a renewed, but instantly familiar user interface that makes the appealing array of features enjoyable to use, offering great value for money."

The Nokia 3710 fold features a 3.2 megapixel camera, internal GPS, Internal A-GPS, Stereo music player supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA, and stereo FM Radio, XHTML browser and Bluetooth.

Various location based services offered by the Ovi Store and Nokia Maps are also available.

The Nokia 3710 fold is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2009 for an estimated retail price of EUR 140 before taxes and subsidies.

Farsi, the most commonly-spoken language in Iran has become the 42nd language available on Google's translation service.

While Iran is in the throes of political unrest, Google is hoping to improve the country's "access to information" and communicate directly to the world.

Google Translate will now translate any text - a news story, a website, a blog, an email, a tweet or a Facebook message - from Persian into English and from English into Persian.

As of now the service is optimized for translation between Persian and English only but Google's working to improve Persian translation for the additional 40 languages available via Google

Google is also inviting users to correct an incorrect translation. A "contribute a better translation" link has been provided for the purpose.

Sony announced the NW, a new addition to its Vaio Series, complete with a Blu-ray drive and what they're hoping is an aggressive pricing point.

Specs-
15.5-inch WXGA display with XBRITE
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350
ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 with 512MB VRAM
4x BD-ROM drive
4GB of DDR2 RAM
Webcam
802.11a/b/g/n
400GB HDD
5.5 Hours of Li-ion Battery life [In large capacity]
1.5 Hours [In Standard Sized Version]
Port-wise,there is a VGA and HDMI output and Memory Stick Pro, ExpressCard, and SD card slot.

Here's what Engadget had to say about the Device ->

"We got a chance to get some hands-on time with the portable, and we gotta say, it's a pretty impressive little number. It's not the most slender 15-incher, but at six pounds, it's lighter than we expected. The chiclet keys -- dubbed "isolated keyboard" by Sony PR -- are comfortable to use, as is the textured trackpad. Body and hinge felt sturdy, with an intentionally rugged and stylistic feel to it, and as one rep was excited to show, the metallic "Vaio" logo on the back makes a great reflection in the sun. From what we saw, Blu-ray playback was smooth, but we did notice horizontal viewing angles weren't the best. We'll reserve judgment when we get some play time with the unit and see how hard we can push the software, but for now we're pretty happy with what we've seen. Starting price isn't too shabby, at $880 equipped with the BD-ROM and $800 without, and it comes in three colors: white, grey, and dark brown."

It'll be shipping sometime next month.

No doubt that Dell's Vostro LineUp is absolutely value for money
But this one does not look uber cool. Looks are OK

Specs-
Core 2 Duo T6750 processor
4GB of RAM
320GB hard drive
SD card slot
ExpressCard
Fingerprint reader (!)

Price is no concern, as mentioned earlier, after all its a Vostro :)
There's no release date as yet.

You can see some Pics of the device at Engadget

Riding on the popularity of microblogging services, Google is apparently preparing bridge the gap between the disparities that these services suffer from. It is preparing to launch a service that indexes and ranks content from microblogging services like Twitter, reports Google Operating System blog (not affiliated with Google).

In the case of Twitter, there are two major drawbacks, says the blog. One, it's limited to Twitter and the other is that it sorts the results by date.

However, even though there are some search engines like Tweefind and Twingly that try to fix indexing on various levels, sort Twitter posts according to relevancy, etc. However, they aren't good enough.

The blog says that its microblogging search service will work similar to Google's Blog Search product. The former will sort the results by relevancy; the service will also be integrated with Google's web search engine. The keywords that are frequently used in recent posts will trigger a Microblogsearch universal search group, it adds.

If the Microblogging Search is indeed launched, will Google tap this opportunity alone or in association with any of the microblogging sites?

Samsung has announced its new Jet S8000 smartphone at the CommunicAsia 2009 and Samsung Unpacked event at London as well as Dubai. Samsung touts the new Jet S8000 as 'smarter than a smartphone'. Why? Only Samsung knows at the moment. Packing 800MHz CPU in smartphone started off with Asus P565 and now Jet S8000 features 800MHz Samsung 6410 processor. Samsung will make Jet S8000 available later this year.

New Samsung Jet S8000 is part of Samsung's Cubic Project that also includes i8000 Omnia II and M8000. Cubic Project is about the cubical-like central button that launches a Cube-like interface. Samsung boasts of packing 800MHz Samsung 6410 processor in Jet S8000 that will help new TouchWiz 2.0's widget loaded interface to run zippier along with Motion UI and Media Gate 3D.

The Motion UI is Samsung's motion recognition engine that allows access to multimedia features by tapping, tilting or flipping the phone. While Media Gate 3D is the six-sided Cube UI featuring six major multimedia features like Music Player, Photo Album, Video Player, FM Radio, Games and Internet (web browser). The Smart Unlock feature allows unlocking phone and launching menu item/make a call simply by drawing respective alphabet on the touchscreen.


Check the specifications of Jet S8000 below:

Network: EDGE/GPRS Class 12 (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz); HSDPA 3.6Mbps (900, 2100MHz)
CPU: 800MHz Samsung 6410
Interface: TouchWiz 2.0 interface with Motion UI, Media Gate 3D, Multi-tasking Manager
Dimensions: 4.3 inches x 2.1 inches x 0.47 inches (HWD)
Display: 3.1-inch 16M WVGA AMOLED display
Camera: 5.0-megapixel AF camera with face detection, Smile Shot, panorama shot, blink detection, geo-tagging, and photo editor. Video recording at 30fps with video editor
Music: Player with DNSe and SRS WOW Sound Effect, FM radio/recording
Audio Support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR, MIDI, SP-MIDI,i-melody, WAV, MMF, XMF, OMA DRM v2.1, WMDRM
Video Support: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX, XviD
Web Browser: In-house-developed Dolfin browser
Other functions: A-GPS, on-board navigation (3D map), Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Share Pix & Mobile Widget
Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth v2.1, microUSB (USB v2.0 Hi-Speed)
Memory: 2GB or 8GB, plus External MicroSD slot (up to 16GB)
Battery: 1,100mAh
Talk time: 8.2 hours on 2G; 5 hours on 3G
Standby time: 422 hours on 2G; 406 hours on 3G

With the new TouchWiz 2.0 UI, this smartphone also features in-house built Dolphin Browser for better mobile Internet experience. Jet S8000 features a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus, Samsung will offer two models of Jet S8000 based on internal memory capacity - 2GB and 8GB. The microSD expansion slot will allow up to 16GB additional memory card.

As of now, Samsung has merely announced this phone and might take a few months make it available in India.

Acer has announced the availability of Aspire 5536 notebook based on the AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core processor.

The notebook also features AMD's latest M780G chipset with ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics enabling ultimate visual experience on the go, says the company.

It comes with dual-channel 2GB DDR2 SDRAM support, upgradeable to 4 GB (2x2GB).
The Aspire 5536 notebook, with a 15.6-inch HD CineCrystal screen, is equipped with floating keyboards and controls, multi-gesture touchpad for quick and seamless navigation, pinch-action for zoom-in and zoom-out and page flip for browsing and flipping through web pages and photos.

The notebook's keyboard has a multi-gesture touchpad pointing device that supports Circular-motion scrolling, Pinch-action zoom, as well as Page flip.

Aspire 5536 features 'easy-launch buttons' for WLAN, Bluetooth, programmable, file backup, volume up/down, touchpad lock. There are also media keys (printed on keyboard): play/pause, stop, previous, next, which is a standard feature in most notebooks.

For security, there's a slot for Kensington lock provided.

The notebook measures 15.1 x 9.9 x 1.03/1.5 inches, while it weighs 2.8 kg with a 6-cell battery pack.

The Aspire 5536 notebook is available at Rs. 28,499 for Linux OS, and for Rs. 30,499 with Windows Vista Home Basic OS. The notebooks come with a one-year International Travelers Warranty (ITW).

For detailed specifications, visit Acer's website.

Your favorite telecom operator is officially a step closer from providing you with the much-awaited 3G service.

3G is a service that enables high speed internet, videos and many other value-added services on the mobile phone.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Telecom Minister A. Raja have reportedly sorted out their differences with regards to the 3G spectrum reserve price and have met the Prime Minister for the approval of the same.

That surely makes today a red-letter day in the Indian telecom history.

What does that mean anyway?

Well, if all goes hunky-dory, the spectrum auction will start by mid-August. This would be followed by contenders namely Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communication, Tatas and a few other new private telecom operators to offer 3G services in the country along with MTNL and BSNL.

Initially, six private operators, apart from state-owned MTNL and BSNL, would be allowed to offer 3G services.

Spice Mobile has announced the launch of its new Spice M-5252 dual-GSM SIM handset, the company's first phone in its BIG series. The phone will be forming the budget multi SIM category in India, Spice said.

The M-5252 is a Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) phone with dual standby which works as two different phone connections sans the dual handset bulk. It also offers a digital camera with which users can click pictures and make videos.

The phone sports a 2-inch 262 k TFT screen, dual speakers and dual LED torch. Unlike other phones in its price category, the M-5252 houses several multimedia features. It comes with an MP3 player which has a clever 'shake' feature for moving on to the next song.

The phone has a powerful FM antenna. Hence, also packed in the deal is a wireless FM radio which allows users to listen to the radio without plugging in headphones. Users can also schedule their favorite programs so that they don't miss it.
The phone also features something called Motion Games. Explaining the feature, Spice said that the motion sensor feature of M-5252 lets users play the game by just tilting the device. Further, there's also 'motion wallpaper' which allows users to change the wallpaper with just a flick of the hand.

It also features an expandable memory of upto 8GB, handsfree, Bluetooth, and is powered by a 1300mAH battery.

The Spice M-5252 dual-GSM SIM handset is priced at Rs. 3,499.

Here's a list of common viruses that effect the cellphones

Cabir: Infects mobile phones running on Symbian OS. When a phone is infected, the message 'Caribe' is displayed on the phone's display and is displayed every time the phone is turned on. The worm then attempts to spread to other phones in the area using wireless Bluetooth signals

Duts: A parasitic file infector virus and is the first known virus for the PocketPC platform. It attempts to infect all EXE files in the current directory (infects files that are bigger than 4096 bytes)

Skulls: A trojan horse piece of code. Once downloaded, the virus, called Skulls, replaces all phone desktop icons with images of a skull. It also renders all phone applications, including SMSes and MMSes useless

Comwar: First worm to use MMS messages in order to spread to other devices. Can spread through Bluetooth too. It infects devices running under OS Symbian Series 60. The executable worm file once launched hunts for accessible Bluetooth devices and sends the infected files under a random name to various devices.

Nokia N97 retails for Rs. 34,000 or 35,000? No one knows it as yet. Even the company officials are not willing to sort out the confusion. But fret not - 34,000 or 35,000, the much awaited Nokia N97 can be yours via easy EMI option(s) at 0 percent interest rate.

Nokia has partnered with HDFC Bank and Citibank to provide a three month EMI option to consumers in select Nokia Branded Retail outlets in select cities.

To be the first one to own a new Nokia N97 you can pre-book the device online by visiting www.nokia.co.in/prebookn97, or send in an SMS by typing and send it to 55555. Consumers also have the option of pre-booking the device through key Nokia Branded Retail outlets in the metros and select cities and towns across the country. Once the device is available, a message will be sent to the buyers to collect their new Nokia N97 from the nearest Nokia outlet.

In addition, Nokia also offers 'Demo@Home', an opportunity for consumers to preview the N97 from the confines of their home or office before its release in the market.

Expected to start shipping in India in June end, the Nokia N97 will be the first Nokia device to offer integrated access to the newly opened Ovi Store.

Yet another phone released by LG Electronics (LG) - LG-GD900 Crystal, the world's first transparent phone.


The touchscreen slider phone sports a 3 - inch 16 M color TFT screen and features an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and D1 video recording at 30 fps, QVGA time-lapse and slow-mo video recording.

Crystal has 1.5GB of internal memory, GPRS EDGE class 12 and Wi-Fi for connectivity. It measures 105 x 52.5 x 13.5 mm, and weighs 127 g.
Explaining the touchpad, the company says that the phone's slide-down Crystal Touchpad first appears to just be an alphanumeric keypad, but it actually doubles as a touchpad for controlling the phone.

Further, it can be used like the trackpad on a laptop computer. It also recognizes handwriting, responds to multi-touch commands and enables a new way of navigation called Gesture Command, another first from the company.

Slid open, the Crystal Touchpad is completely transparent and illuminated with a soft glow. LG says that it is made of highly durable tempered glass and is framed and reinforced by a band of Liquidmetal, a composite alloy that is ultra-strong and able to absorb shock and vibration.

For multitasking, there's a multitasking button and draw one of 12 easy symbols on the keypad. Users can assign these symbols to any of the phone's nine multitasking-enabled features.

The LG-GD900 Crystal will be available in Chrome and Titan color choices.

It is expected to hit shelves in June in select countries in Asia and Europe and will then debut in other countries across the globe. As soon as the India prices and availability are announced, you'll know it first on Online Guide.

HP has announced six new notebooks in India that include three Pavilion dv series, HP Mini 110 (actually a netbook), ProBook and Compaq 610. Boasting of the new chic collection for Indian consumers, these six new notebook models have been included as part of HP's 'Go-to-Market' strategy for its retail presence.

For the netbook line up in India, HP introduces 10.1-inch Mini 110 netbook that packs in an Intel Atom (N270/280) processor paired with the Intel 945GSE chipset. This netbook comes with a 1GB DDR2 RAM and 160GB 5400RPM internal storage. Intel GMA 950 graphics are integrated in the netbook along with Broadcom's Crystal HD Video accelerator. Other features include WLAN (802.11 b/g), 5-in-1 memory card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA out port, and loads of HP software installed. Mini 110 is available in Pink Chic, Black Swirl and White Swirl colors at price of Rs. 22, 990 plus taxes.

In the HP Pavilion series, 12.1-inch HP Pavilion dv2 features AMD's Athlon Neo platform processors (single or dual-core) paired with AMD M690G chipset that has S8600 southbridge. With a capacity to add up to 4GB RAM, one can add up to 500GB of internal storage. The dv2 has 12.1-inch LED Backlit WXGA display supporting 1280x800 pixel resolution. For HD multimedia experience, HP packs ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 with 512MB video memory and also HDMI port. This notebook comes with glossy stylish finish for a price starting at Rs. 38, 490 plus taxes.

Another HP Pavilion notebook is the 13.3-inch Pavilion dv3 that offers CPU options between Intel Centrino 2, Intel Pentium and Intel Celeron DualCore processors. This 13.3-inch Widescreen LED display bearing notebook supports HD with 1366x768 pixel resolutions and 16:9 aspect ratio. With twin slots, one can add up to 8GB DDR2 memory and up to 500GB 7200RPM internal storage. With Nvidia GeForce G 105M graphics inside, this notebook features HDMI port for better HD viewing. Made with HP Expresso Black imprint, this notebook is available at price staring at Rs. 50,990 plus taxes.

HP's new for India Pavilion dv6 offers options between Intel and AMD processors as well as chipsets. For graphics, an option between 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4530 and 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650 discrete graphics is offered. Like the dv3, even this notebook can support up to 8GB DDR2 memory and 500GB 7200RPM storage. With HP Expresso Black Imprint and other standard features, this notebook would be available for Rs. 40, 990 plus taxes.

Apart from these HP has introduced a new ProBook model for business audience starting at price starting from Rs. 40,990 plus taxes. Along with it comes the new 15.6-inch Compaq 610 notebook offering Intel processor, up to 4GB RAM and 160GB storage. For HD multimedia experience, HP packs Intel Mobile GMA X3100 graphics but lacks HDMI port. This notebook is available at price starting of Rs. 33,500 plus taxes.

HP hasn't provided any specifications or other information about the components inside. Stay tuned for more!

Yesterday Sprint (and Verizon as well) announced details on the availability of the new Blackberry Tour 9630. The Tour is aimed at jetsetting customers, as it will not only operate on Sprint’s 3G network in North America but will allow customers to roam on foreign GSM networks.

The Tour features a high resolution display (480 x 360), a full QWERTY keyboard, the customary Blackberry trackball, and has memory expandable up to 16 GB with a microSD/SDHC card. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus to capture both pictures and video. It also comes loaded with all of the big Sprint software packages: Sprint Music Store, Sprint TV, Sprint NFL Mobile Live, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile.

The device features both a 3G CDMA radio to operate where Sprint service is available and a quad-band EDGE/GSM/GPRS radio for roaming outside Sprint’s coverage. According to Sprint, the Tour can make phone calls in over 185 countries and make use of its data connection in almost 150 countries. Most importantly, it allows for a 3rd party SIM card for international voice and data services (crucial for avoiding exhorbitant roaming charges).

The Tour will be available this summer for $199.99 for eligible customers with a 2-yr service agreement, a $50 instant rebate, and $100 mail-in rebate.

Logitech has unveiled the new M555b Bluetooth mouse for laptops in North America. Eliminating the need for a receiver, this new mouse features hyper-fast scrolling and is compatible with both Windows and Mac systems. At the moment Logitech US is offering this notebook mouse for $60 (Rs. 2900 approx.). However its pricing and availability in India is not confirmed

Logitech's new M555b Bluetooth mouse features hyper-fast scrolling, five programmable buttons, and offers 1000dpi resolution. With a built-in Bluetooth support, this mouse eliminates usage of any Bluetooth dongle. The Laser tracking promises precise, smoother and responsive curser control on any surface - polished or wooden tables. The mouse operates on two AA size batteries and also has dual-color LED indicator for low battery indication.
Logitech has added new smart power saving feature with sleep mode and on/off switch for extending the battery life. This Bluetooth mouse is usable on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X systems.

Creative has launched its new Vado HD pocket video cam. The compact Creative Vado HD captures video in 720p high-definition quality, the company said.

The Creative Vado HD features HDMI connectivity and an included HDMI cable to provide 1080i output to an HDTV. With 8GB of built-in memory, the Creative Vado HD can carry up to two hours of HD video. The removable, rechargeable battery provides up to two hours of recording and playback as claimed by the company.
The Creative Vado HD enables fast and easy sharing of video on YouTube and Box.net. The Creative Vado HD has a built-in USB connector that can be plugged into the PC. The Creative Vado Central supports video trimming which allows users to trim unwanted video from their original clips and also enables capture of single snapshots or successive snapshots in Photo Burst mode.

The Creative Vado HD is available in black, and is priced at Rs. 19,999.

It can last for up to 30 minutes in water, one meter deep

The tough little Samsung Xplorer B2100 heard about in March this year was displayed at the Communicasia 2009 held at Singapore.

The Explorer is capable of enduring extreme shock and temperature variations. It can last for up to 30 minutes in water, one meter deep, and still survive.

Wearing that weatherproof shield, the B2100 has pretty basic specs. It sports a 1.8 inch 120x160 pixel screen, comes with a music player and FM Radio with RDS.

A decent 1.3 megapixel camera (we've not heard of a 1.3 camera for a long time now!) and 7MB of memory to store all those photos and music. This one sports a memory expansion slot with Micro SD card support.

For connectivity, there is Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support. The phone also offers Quad band device with EDGE support.

Now, the good news: a little birdy has informed us that the rugged B2100 is expected to be available in India in the first week of July.

It will be priced between Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 7,000.

Apple has released iPhone 3.0, a major upgrade for its iPhone operating system, that promises more than a 100 new features and enhancements.

Some of the features that 3.0 brings to the table will include –

* Cut, copy and paste
* System-wide landscape keyboard
* Forward and delete individual messages
* Text and Notes
* Stereo Bluetooth
* Syncing Notes to the Mac and PC
* Password login manager for Safari
* Shake to shuffle
* YouTube accounts and YouTube subscriptions available
* Parental controls for TV shows
* Movies and apps from the App Store
* Automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots
* Voice Memo app
* Live video and audio streaming
* Expanded search capability for all key iPhone apps
* Spotlight search across the iPhone or iPod touch

Free for owners of the original iPhone as well as the current iPhone 3G; the OS is available via iTunes. iPod Touch users though will have to pay $10.

Click here for more info.

Transcend has announced the availability of its new MP860 digital music player, in 4 GB and 8 GB capacities, in the Indian market.

Its features are:

- 2.4-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) full-color TFT display
- microSD and microSDHC card expansion slot
- Plays MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10 (subscription music), OGG, FLAC and WAV music files
- Plays MPEG4 SP(Xvid) and FLV files
- View photos (JPEG/BMP/GIF/PNG) and e-book (TXT) files
- Recordable FM Radio with 20 station presets
- Built-in microphone and direct Line-in recording
- Built-in speaker for playback without earphones
- Sing-along with synchronized lyrics display
- 11 equalizer effects, including a customizable USER EQ setting and SRS WOW HD
- Supports 13 languages including menus, song/album title, artist name and lyrics
- Custom Playlist Builder for organizing personal music
- Power-saving screen savers and auto-shutoff function
- Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port for easy computer connectivity and fast file transfers
Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend, said, “Indian people have an insatiable appetite for music and they want it to be available to them all the time. As such, Transcend, keeps improving upon its digital music players range and we have launched our new MP860 player in the Indian market. The new MP860 player features an elegant design with a carefully crafted shape and a smooth finish making it look real stylish. It is comfortable to hold and has a pleasant tactile feel. Currently available in two capacities, 4GB (Black) and 8GB (White), Transcend's versatile MP860 is a definite must-have digital music player and can fulfill the portable entertainment needs of consumers in all segments.”

The player comes with a 2 year warranty and costs Rs. 5,500 for the 4 GB model and Rs. 6,500 for the 8 GB model.

Kingston Technology has announced the release of the DataTraveler 200 (DT200), the world's first 128GB USB Flash drive.
The large capacity along with password protection gives users the flexibility to carry critical data with them at all times in a very small form factor.

"The new DT200's robust storage capability lets consumers store complete libraries of music, photos and videos. It is also a great tool for business users who carry around large databases or files," said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. “The password protection helps safeguard data and requires no admin rights, making the DT200 a terrific solution for the home or office."

The Kingston DataTraveler 200 features a capless design to protect the USB connector when not in use and is enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost.

It is available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities and is backed by a five-year warranty and free tech support.

Geodesic has announced the launch of Mundu IM for Android phones.
Mundu IM is an instant messenger that integrates MSN, GTalk and others into one. The application will be available as a download through the phone from here.

Speaking on entering the Android market, K S Vivek, AVP, Geodesic Ltd. said, "Android being supported by a large number of handset vendors and the backing of Google has huge potential for growth. We believe we can be an early mover and take advantage of the potential growth in this platform."

Features of Mundu IM for Android include -

- All your IM contacts across AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ , and Jabber right from your Android phone.
- A fun and simple IM experience
- File Transfer / Mobile Photo Sharing
- Message Archiving and Chat History
- Conferencing

They say nothing is personal in the cyber world. Everyone and anyone is vulnerable and can be hacked. Taking a cue, the Indian Army recently issued a circular asking its personnel not to post work-related information like ranks, place of posting etc on social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook.

"The circular has been issued recently in a bid to create cyber awareness among the net users in the army. It has been sent to all the units of the army across the country," a senior army official confirmed to IANS, requesting anonymity.

The circular has asked soldiers to remove such information from their networking profiles in case they have already posted it.

"With uploading of such information while opening an e-mail account or on their (networking) profiles the personnel put their own safety and national security in danger," the official said.

The army estimates that nearly 35,000 of its 1.1 million soldiers, from all ranks, are active internet users.

"In the circular, the army personnel have been cautioned that in case they do not abide by the rules, disciplinary action will be taken against them," the official added.

A soldier violating "good order and discipline" rules under the Army Act can be imprisoned for a term up to seven years.

Networking sites attract millions of users and have a huge appeal across all sections of society especially among the youth.

Generally in a bid to show off their credentials, young officers give away professional details, the official said.

The army has also asked the defence institutions to provide its men information on cyber security and list out do's and don'ts of Internet use.

The circular has sparked a debate within the ranks of the army.

"If an engineer, doctor and lawyer can write what his profession is why can't an armed forces personnel do so. However, one should not give other details like area of posting and nature of work," a young officer said, on condition of anonymity.

However, another senior officer pointed out: "These officers, who reveal their profession forget one thing that anyone can get close to them online and extract sensitive information."

Apple released 45 software patches on Wednesday to address rare security vulnerabilities in its popular iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices. The company released them as part of its widely anticipated iPhone 3.0 operating system. "This is a large cluster of patches for the iPhone," said Dino Dai Zovi, a security expert who is writing a book on cracking the iPhone.

Apple has a stellar reputation when it comes to securing its devices. While it is unusual for the company to issue so many patches at once, analysts have yet to uncover any malicious software targeting the iPhone since Apple got into the mobile phone market two years ago. Wall Street analysts said they were not alarmed by the news. Such vulnerabilities are not unique to Apple. Technology companies constantly battle to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated hackers. Every time a security flaw is identified, there is potential for hackers to exploit it.

Apple rival Research in Motion Ltd recently issued a security patch for its popular BlackBerry, addressing a glitch that had potential to let hackers use the device to break into corporate computer networks. "Given the breadth of feature and functionality within the iPhone OS, it is not surprising that Apple would have security patches," said Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross. Hackers have traditionally focused most of their time on writing programs that attack PCs running Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system because it sits on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers.

Analysts expect that to change because sales of mobile devices are soaring as the PC industry slumps. Apple's iPhones and iPods are dominant players in the rapidly growing sector. "They are no longer dumb devices used only to make phone calls. They hold a wealth of personal information and in some cases are being used as electronic wallets," said Joris Evers, a spokesman for No. 2 security software maker McAfee Inc.

Import of Chinese mobile phones without unique identity code numbers has been banned, India's commerce ministry announced.

"Import of mobile handsets without International Mobile Equipment Identify (IMEI) number or with all-zero IMEI is prohibited with immediate effect," the Director General of Foreign Trade said in a notification.

IMEI - a unique 15-digit number - helps authorities trace the handset that has been used to make a call.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) had earlier directed telephone operators to disconnect services to subscribers who own handsets that do not have the IMEI code as such phones posed a security threat.

However, since then, the Cellular Operators Association of India has developed a software for embedding genuine identity code - issued by the global association of telecom operators - on handsets without the requisite IMEI numbers.

Acer has launched a new line of smartphones in India

"As the world's number one in the Netbook market, and ranked second in the Notebook market globally, Acer has become a strong player in the mobile segment, continuing to offer our customers compelling solutions to their mobile requirements. This official launch in India marks the first step of our Smart Handheld Business Group in one of the world's largest and fastest growing mobile market. Acer's new handhelds are in sync with the company's history of innovation and commitment towards bringing quality products to life. The Acer's handheld symbolizes our pioneering technological advancement and continued focus on R&D, and these would prove to be a revolutionary product in enhancing the mobile user experience." said Aymar de Lencquesaing, Senior Corporate VP, Acer Inc & President, Smart Handheld Business Group.

The handhelds are designed to cater to those looking for business functionalities and infotainment in one device.

The DX900 offers a dual-SIM function while the DX650 festures a dual-face design, featuring a touch screen on one side and finger-friendly keypad on the other. Acer is touting the X960 as the quintessential all-purpose performer.

The F900 and M900 have been developed for web browsing on the go. The F900 has touch keypad while the M900 has an embedded biometric fingerprint sensor to secure the device.

Acer also unveiled four other models at the launch.

While there are dozens of online services and software tools out there that help you download videos from YouTube for offline watching, you don’t need their help anymore for downloading your own videos from YouTube.

That’s because Google now allows all video publishers to export their own video clips out of YouTube in MPEG-4 (MP4) format - you can directly play these downloaded in iPod or other video players without conversion.

To download any of your own videos from YouTube, go to My Videos -> Uploaded Videos and look for the "Download as MP4" button next to your video clips as shown in the above screenshot.

This is useful for offline backup of your video or even if you are planning to copy (or even move) videos from YouTube to another video hosting service but don’t have access to the source video files.

The only downside is that these video clips have a 480×270 resolution so they won’t match the quality of your original 720p HD videos.

With the admission season almost coming to an end and the new sessions in colleges about to begin, here are some of the coolest and pocket-friendly gadgets for students -

MP3 players
College without MP3 players is kinda incomplete. Chances are colleges are far from home, and the commute will surely need some fun. Most phones have players we know, but a dedicated player is always better.


iPod shuffle 1 GB
Price: Rs 2,600
Not the new 3rd gen one, definitely not. Read Shayne’s review to know why. Call me old fashioned but I’m talking about the good old iPod shuffle, in which all you could do was play some tracks, simply. The genius at Apple made it a lifestyle element, especially for a hip college kid to clip on a shuffle and walk about. They are still available all over, and it costs a decently reasonable sum of Rs. 2600, maybe lesser some places.



Philips GoGear SA1928 2 GB
Price: Rs. 2,490
At Rs. 2490, this new model by Philips is actually better than the aforementioned one in terms of usability. Plus it’s cheaper, and looks sweet too. It’s drag and drop, and bears the classic square MP3 player form factor resembling the flash storage that it is. Very good for commuting and bunking with.


Zen 4GB
Price: Rs. 5,200
At Rs. 5,200, this is the most reasonable video supporting player around. The Creative Zen is equipped with a 2.5-inch LCD display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. You can view images, sync with your PC, and schedule backups. But what I really like about this player is the design: it’s slim and sleek and very light.


Mobile phones
Texting is a college student's best friend. Throw in a cool camera, radio, music to share and you're good to go.

Motorola A810
Price: Rs. 8,000

The A810 looks like a miniaturize version of the ROKR E6, only instead of a circular navigation pad it’s equipped with a joystick. One of the cheapest touchscreens on the market, the 2.2-inch TFT Touchscreen combined with the UI supports handwriting recognition for quick input in certain conditions. The A810 also comes with a 3.5mm earphone socket and a 2 megapixel camera.

Sony Ericsson W380
Price: Rs. 7,990

A very cool looking phone: the handset is available in Electric Purple, Magnetic Grey, Black Champagne and Black Orange which give the W380 a really smart yet stylish look. There is more. It has a sensor in the front for gesture control that allows you to silence the handset simply by waving your hand over the phone when face up, and last but not least it has a 1.3 MP camera.


Laptops
A coupla years back, laptops were not that affordable, but now many are. Netbooks etc are increasingly popular and useful; students in all fields need them.

Zenith Admirale
Price Rs 25,200
Zenith of course will feature here since they are the budget laptop pioneers. With Intel Pentium Dual-core T3200, 2 GHz and 1 GB DDR2 RAM, this notebook does not have the most hardcore config but works well for college work ande internet. There is a 14.1-inch LCD and 160 GB hard disk, plus DVD writer and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Acer-Aspire 4736Z
Price: Rs 28,299
With an Intel Dual Core T4200 Processor, (Speed 2 GHz) and 2GB RAM this laptop suits the requirements of a busy college student with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, DVD writer, 14.1 inch screen and 3 hours of battery. It comes loaded with Vista Home Premium.

When 27-year-old Kas Tsai wanted to get a mobile Internet device, he picked an Apple iPhone over a low-cost netbook PC. "It just looks better and I can take it out with me when I'm out. The netbook is small, but the keyboard is so cramped and I can't really use it on the go," the biotech student said.

People like Tsai could well decide who wins and loses in a looming war for dominance as Web surfers take their favorite pastime to the wireless realm. Many observers say smartphones could emerge the longer-term victor. With desk-bound PCs fast losing their dominance as the main access point for Web surfing, the race is on between laptops and smartphones to see who will take their place. Many companies aren't taking any chances, with PC companies piling into smartphones and vice versa. PC brands such as Acer and Dell have recently announced or been linked to smartphone launches. Mobile phone leader Nokia is going the other way, with talk of a possible foray into netbooks PCs - the small, cheap laptops good for surfing the Internet or checking emails, but without all the functions of a larger, more expensive computer. The emerging turf wars could lead to greater competition in two already fiercely competitive sectors, causing everyone to take a hit while the battle plays out, analysts say. "Nokia's success in the PC market? I don't think that's going to get very far," said Bob O'Donnell, an IDC analyst. "And HP or Dell selling smartphones? I don't think so either. They're getting into very different businesses, and that's something everyone has got to keep in mind."

The Aino allows users to control their Playstation 3 and access its media content on the phone anywhere, anytime using Remote Play, which was initially developed for the PSP. Remote Play enables users to control and access media content on the PS3 from their phone
The Satio features a 12 MP camera and provides access to all your media in one place – just tap directly into your favorite features with the five standby panels and you're ready to go.
The gaming phone Yari features -
- Gesture and motion gaming for action on and off the screen
- A/B buttons – gaming shortcut keys
- Gaming carousel gives direct access to your games from the desktop
- State-of-the art music player and stereo speakers for easy listening
- Music call - one button press to share your favourite tracks while you talk
- 5.0 mega pixel camera – easily upload images to your web album

HP has always had a knack for knowing the requirements of different segments of users, minute enhancements always make all the difference in the overpopulated world of notebooks. Their Elitebook series, meant for the serious business person, has spawned again this time with juicier Centrino 2 interiors, and rugged exteriors, so let’s see what it can do.

Form and build
Featuring a revamped chassis made of anodized aluminum, this piece looks the part right from the word go. And what part is that? Of a rugged commutable heavy duty laptop. It’s obviously not fully military grade rugged, but HP claims that it does pass some MIL-STD 810F tests. The keys' surface is mildly matted to give good tactile feel.

The aluminum brushed surface extends inside too around the mouse pad, thus giving the aesthetics a 2 tone appearance, and these two colors, aluminum and matte black, is the best combination for anything that can compute.
The touchpad is keyboard centralized, while size of shift, enter keys is normal. Overall key positioning and size is optimal, with a row of flush touch sensitive indicator/buttons for wireless, volume mute, volume control etc. on the top of the keyboard. Power button is slotted seamlessly into this row. The screen is slightly reflective here, but hinge quality is really very good, no lose movement of the screen is observed.



Plus, the screen folds out 180 degrees. There is a fingerprint sensor for security, a must for traveling business people. The pointing stick is contoured with a dotted surface to increase ergonomics, but while using it feels bit iffy, not perfectly in control. We will stick to the touchpad, which has a medium sized scroll zone.

Features and specs
Let's enumerate this Elitebook’s features one by one, starting from the processor, which is a powerful one, a Centrino 2 tag holder - the Intel Core 2 duo P8400 (2.26 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB). There is a model all the way up with the T9600 processor also, so according to requirements one can purchase whichever. The chipset is Mobile Intel PM45 Express.

Graphics is handled by ATI Mobility Radeon 3450, with 256 MB memory. There is no switchable graphics option here though. The RAM with this model bundled is 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The battery included is a 6-cell (55 WHr) Lithium-Ion ordeal, but can be upgraded to 8 cell units too. The HDD is a 250 GB, 5400 rpm model.

Sporting a satisfactory 14.1-inch screen at 1280 x 800 resolution, this is typical business presentation material. The connectivity options are 3 USB 2.0 ports, headphone out, mic in, VGA out (at the back) and more importantly we have a firewire (1394a) on the left, and Gigabit Ethernet port on the right with modem input just to it. There is a 2-in-1 memory card reader on the front. AC inlet is at the back. For wireless we have Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi ‘N’. Last but not the least, a Lightscribe-enabled 8X DVD +/- RW writer is humbly included too.

Performance and battery
This potent mix of healthy specs and rugged looks can really pack a punch with its speed and smooth operation too. It scores really high on our benchmarks (not the highest we’ve seen though.)

Bundled with Vista Home Basic DVD, this gentleman does not sputter and whine, and boots up in 71 seconds. HP has thrown in utilities out of the box like QuickLook 2, SpareKey, HP Privacy Manager and HP File Sanitizer, each of which make things easier, but not really required. All these are optional in the HP included security suite, thus making the initial boot ups very clean and clutter free. There is no antivirus provided out of the box.

With normal usage, the battery lasted less than 3 hours 2 hours 54 min, and that Iis not so good. On a battery testing software like Battery Eater pro, it lasts only 1 hr 20 min. Thus we have a case of a hardcore CPU eating up all the power.

Conclusion
At Rs. 95,000, this laptop is a serious performer, with huge reliability aspects. But yet, value for money? Not so much. Because the battery is not so strong, at least in our model. You can however get an external battery of 6 cells for a slight cost, and this can last much longer. Small iffys like the pointing stick is indisciplined. Otherwise the ruggedness is not a farce, you can hit a corner and get away with it. The core processing also is in a way rugged, so those with business on their minds and easy access to a plugpoint at all times can surely go for this suave boardroom performer.

Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's biggest PC maker, will help sell online backup services from Symantec Corp, which is looking to expand its consumer business beyond its line of Norton security products.

Symantec said on Wednesday that HP will ship all the personal computers it sells to consumers with software that offers subscription to an Internet-based PC backup service. They will be offered a free one-month trial to the Web-based product, Norton Online Backup, followed by an annual subscription for $50.

The backup service is one of several so-called cloud computing products the company it has introduced over the past year in a bid to stem slowing sales growth. Analysts forecast that the emerging field of cloud computing will be among the fastest growing areas in technology over the coming years. It refers to the use of the web to access services from remote data centers.

The company has also introduced a cloud-based service for repairing PCs as well as one for letting parents monitor use of family computers. Symantec already has PC distribution agreement with HP through which it sells Norton Internet Security, a suite of programs to fight hackers and other threats. Software makers covet such deals because consumers like the convenience of purchasing programs right from their PC desktop. The world's top PC makers have similar relationships with various software companies. HP and Symantec have declined to say when the security software agreement is due to expire. Executives with No. 2 security software maker McAfee Inc have said that they hope to woo the contract away from Symantec. But Chaffin said that she intends to renegotiate a new contract when the current pact expires.

WD has introduced its new 4 terabyte capacity My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems in the country.

Formatted for Mac computers, these new storage systems feature:

-> Massive 4 terabyte capacity;
-> Extra-fast performance with four interfaces (FireWire 400/800, eSATA, USB 2.0);
-> Cool, eco-friendly operation with WD's drives with WD GreenPower Technology that consume approximately one-third less power than standard dual-drive external storage systems and efficient convection cooling architecture and power-saving mode and designed without a fan to run quietly;
-> Quad interface with connections for ultra-fast eSATA and FireWire 800 and for flexibility and convenience FireWire 400 and USB 2.0;
-> Automatic and continuous backup software;
-> User serviceability, enabling owner to open the enclosure and replace the drive inside;
-> Capacity gauge to see at a glance how much space is available on the system; and,
-> 5-year limited warranty

My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems will be available at select retailers across India at an MSRP of Rs. 39,000.

Acer and Intel have announced the launch of a new series of notebooks - Timeline - based on the Intel Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) ULV platform in India.

"Acer is focused on bringing technology that value adds to the consumer needs regardless of market conditions," said S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India. "Consumers today want longer battery life, thin and light form factors with great processing technology at affordable prices. Through our partnership with Intel and their Ultra Low Processor Core 2 solo solutions we are pleased to bring leadership technology and notebook PC value to consumers worldwide."

Acer has designed the Aspire Timeline notebooks with the Acer Smart Power key, which extends battery life through advanced settings. By activating the Smart Power key option the customer can boost power saving capabilities and extend battery life of the notebooks, thus expanding the backup on the Timeline series beyond 8 hours.

Key features include nearly 2x more transistors and lower leakage than 65nm technologies, delivering new levels of performance and power efficiency. A 1066 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) , Intel HD Boost, 6MB L2 Cache and Deep Power Down Technology to shut down processor cores and L2 cache when they are not needed. The new platform is complemented by the Mobile Intel GS40 Express Chipset, which is the new Intel chipset for new ultra-thin laptops for consumers.

At its thinnest point the Aspire Timeline is just 24 mm thick (less than one inch) and has an aluminum cover that ranges from 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) for the 13.3" model up to 2.4 kg (5.3 lb) for the 15.6" model.

The Acer Timeline series starts at Rs. 40K (excluding taxes)

Pardon the cliche, but it's one of the holiest of Holy Grails of technology: Wireless power. And while early lab experiments have been able to "beam" electricity a few feet to power a light bulb, the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

While "traditional" (if there is such a thing) wireless power systems are specifically designed with a transmitter and receiver in mind, Nokia's system isn't finicky about where it gets its wireless waves. TV, radio, other mobile phone systems -- all of this stuff just bounces around the air and most of it is wasted, absorbed into the environment or scattered into the ether. Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.

Mind you, harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy is never going to offer enough electricity to power your whole house or office, but it just might be enough to keep a cell phone alive and kicking. Currently Nokia is able to harvest all of 5 milliwatts from the air; the goal is to increase that to 20 milliwatts in the short term and 50 milliwatts down the line. That wouldn't be enough to keep the phone alive during an active call, but would be enough to slowly recharge the cell phone battery while it's in standby mode, theoretically offering infinite power -- provided you're not stuck deep underground where radio waves can't penetrate.

Nokia says it hopes to commercialize the technology in three to five years.

Techsmith is offering free laptop stickers for Camtasia Studio and SnagIt fans. You can order your stickers here. They'll be shipped right to your doorstep :)

Do you have an old computer monitor that’s gathering dust someone in the corner of your house? Or do you have plans to buy a new PC for performing only basic computing tasks like writing documents, email, chatting, browsing websites, etc.

If you said yes to any of the above questions, read this.

Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile operator here, has just launched a new device called Net PC, which as the name suggests, is a low cost computer designed specifically for cloud computing. The device is powered by Windows XP (not Linux as you would expect) and costs INR 5,000 (or $100) in India.

To get started, you just have to plug in the USB modem or the broadband Ethernet cable into the Net PC and you’re ready to go. The device weighs a mere 500 grams and is small enough (11.5cm x 11.5cm x 3.5cm) to fit in one of your trouser pockets.

When you think cloud computing, the first thing that strikes your mind is Google Docs but surprisingly, Airtel’s cloud computer comes pre-loaded with a rental copy of Microsoft Office so you can work on those documents and presentations even while you are not connected to the Internet.

Airtel Net PC is a subscription based device so you also need to pay a monthly rent for using the software in addition to your broadband bill.

To give you an example, the minimum plan costs somewhere around Rs 700 per month where Rs 200 is the software rent while you pay the rest for DSL broadband. This plan will get you 3GB of data transfer (at 256 KB/s), 10 GB of online storage space and a copy of Microsoft Office Standard that also includes Microsoft Outlook for your email needs. You can also transfer data out the Net PC box using any of the available USB ports.

The downside is that you can don’t have the privilege to install new software on the device so can’t use Firefox or Google Chrome for browsing as XP only comes with IE. And I am not too sure if the Net PC is locked to Airtel or will it work with broadband services from other providers like Reliance or BSNL.

Download this PDF to know more about Net PC or you can walk into any of the Airtel or NEXT stores in NCR Region (Gurgaon, Delhi or Noida) for a demo.

Though you can’t install new software, I guess it should still be possible to run software that don’t require installation like the portable Google Browser.

[via Labnol]

The Nokia 1100 was never an especially alluring device, even at its launch, but a select few versions of the simplistic cellphone are said to be changing hands for up to $32,328 among criminals. According to unconfirmed reports, the specific 1100’s each show a specific software flaw that, with the correct reprogramming, allows them to intercept the one-time passwords used to authorize online bank transactions.
Source: SlashGear

Only those handsets from a specific German manufacturing batch can be suitable reprogrammed, out of more than 200 million produced since the Nokia 1100’s launch in 2003. The one-time passwords at risk - known as transaction authentication numbers (TAN) - are those sent to online banking users by SMS.
Suspicions were raised when police contacted Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations six months ago over news that a 1100 had been sold for €5,000; the €25,000 model sold just ten days ago. Ultrascan is yet to obtain an affected handset to test out the exploit.