Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
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Google Docs adds ZIP and RAR support

Google Docs has added support for ZIP and RAR archives since yesterday which allows users of Google Docs to preview the file contents of compressed archives in their browser before downloading. Gmail users too will benefit as they can use Google Docs to view the files in zip and rar archives coming in as email attachments before opening them.

Business users who depend on Google Docs rather than on desktop tools like Microsoft Office and other users who use Google Docs as their primary productivity suite will benefit the most from this.

For the large number of Gmail users, the option to open zip and rar archives being received as email attachments without downloading or opening them would be of great facility as users are often worried that attachments could contain malicious files.

Google claims 10M Google+ users amidst record results

In the wake of its impressive second quarter results, Google was eloquent about the early success of Google+, its high-profile social networking service. While announcing a 36 percent jump in quarterly profit, new CEO Larry Page said that more that 10 million people have joined Google+ since it launched a limited, invitation-only trial earlier this month. Page said that more than an billion items are shared and received through Google+ in a single day while the Google+1 button is being served 2.3 billion times a day.

Google also revealed that 550,000 phones a day are now activated on Android, with more than 135 million total Android device activations to date. Although Google’s core search engine advertising was the largest contributor to the growth in the latest quarter , Page stressed that the company's investments in its Android mobile-device software and the Chrome Web browser will "generate huge new businesses for Google in the long run, just like search."

Microsoft to discontinue support for Windows XP in three years

Microsoft announced this week that it would stop support for Windows XP by the spring of 2014 as the company shifts entirely to Windows 7 and plots future iterations.

Users of Windows XP now have less than 1000 days before support for the product ends.

Microsoft has claimed that 400 million Windows 7 licences have been sold since its release in 2009, thereby justifying its decision to end support for the decade-old XP. Microsoft intends to do all it can to assist die-hard users of XP make the transition to Windows 7.

Erwin Visser, the Windows Commercial Marketing Team’s Senior Director said “One way users can stay updated on the latest version of Windows is through Windows Intune, our cloud-based PC management and security service that includes the benefit of upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise as well as future versions of Windows”

Google blocks co.cc from its search results

Google took the initiative of attack on malware by blocking the entire co.cc subdomain. The move removed 11million results from the Google search index and is expected to drastically clean up malware in search results.

Co.cc which is classified by Google as a "freehost", is owned by a Korean company that allows bulk purchase of domains, offers domains for free or offers them very cheap.

A scan performed by Google on the domain co.cc revealed that a very high percentage of their sites contained malware.

This change made by Google is welcome and should make it much easier to sift through search results in future.

Google says Okrut and Google+ to co-exist

Orkut, the other social networking site from Google, which has been around for about seven years and has millions of users, will continue to operate alongside the new Google+ for the time being. Google has kept its options open regarding fusing the two sites through some kind of integration in future.

When asked what the future holds for Orkut, a Google spokeswoman said over e-mail, "Orkut and Google+ are different products, and will both exist. Over time, we'll determine what makes the most sense in terms of integrating these products,"

Riding on Google+, the company is expecting to compete with Facebook, a social networking site with tighter and easier to configure privacy features.

Google is hoping that though Facebook is the dominant player in social networking, a good number of its users feel uneasy about its privacy controls that they would be willing to switch to a rival that offered them improvements in that area.

Yet Google has no imminent plans to shut down Orkut, which is a good news for the users.

Motorola launches Droid 3 with Verizon

Motorola has teamed up with Verizon wireless to launch the new Droid 3 running on Android 2.3. claiming to be the worlds thinnest full QWERTY smartphone, the DROID 3 runs on a dual-core 1 GHz processor for fast multitasking and will be available from July 14 for US$199.99 with a new 2 year customer agreement from Verizon. 

Image source: zdnet.com

The device will however be shipped with a locked bootloader, preventing ardent Android geeks from doing much tweaking and tinkering with the device. The new handset comes with a 960×540 resolution display and a keyboard with a small fifth row of dedicated number keys. It includes support for GSM / HSPA networks and can accept a SIM for voice and data usage in more than 200 countries across the world. Though the device comes with a front facing camera, it will not be possible to do video chatting using Google Talk unless upgraded to Android 2.3.4 .

Google introduces support for NFC tagging in Android app for Google+

The Android app for Google’s social network Google+ has been reportedly found to ‘tag’ content automatically using NFC (Near Field Communication)-based technology. Readwriteweb.com reported that Singapore-based developer Ridzuan Ashim showed the feature working in a circulated video (shown below)

On scanning, the text stored in the tag is automatically placed in the 'Share your thoughts' screen in the Google+ Android app, which is typically used to post Facebook-style status updates to the social network. 

NFC is a wireless technology which facilitates data transfer at short distances and is often used for contactless payments. As more handsets support the technology, further uses of the technology like performing check-ins, sharing of contact information etc. could emerge. 

Dell rolls out cloud service

Dell has quietly rolled out a cloud service offering that is set to take on iCloud from Apple. Dubbed Stage, the release of the software did not have the hype surrounding that of iCloud from Apple or 666 from Microsoft and began shipping last week.

It allows a user who takes a snap with their Stage-enabled Dell Streak or Dell mobile device to automatically upload it to a free 2 Gbyte pool of storage. Devices can also  remotely control and playback shared audio and video using the new software. Dell has also included support for podcasts; integrated a Noisey application showcasing music and an enhanced Napster home page.

Printer to produce personalised 3D chocolate

Exciting news for chocolate lovers!! They may soon be able to print their own 3D designs for chocolate. Researchers at the University of  Exeter in the UK have been able to design a 3D printer that uses chocolate and uses layers of chocolate instead of ink or plastic. Several retailers have expressed the desire of taking one such device which is still a prototype.

Once the prototype takes the shape of a finished product, it is likely to become a part of the restaurant and food preparation industry. 

Becoming part of social networks

Lead scientist Dr Liang Hao's team wants to take he printer into cyberspace. Dr Hao said next to come would be creating a chocolate oriented website.

As told by Dr Hao to BBC News, "Now we have an opportunity to combine chocolate with digital technology, including the design, digital manufacturing and social networking".

"Chocolate has a lot of social purpose, so our intention is to develop a community and share the designs, ideas and experience about it."

South Korea to digitize textbooks by 2015

South Korea is set to transform elementary education in the next three years which will result in a huge market for home grown electronics.
All elementary-level education material in the country will be digitized by 2014. By 2015, all school-age curriculum is to be delivered through computers, smartphones and tablets. The country's education ministry has revealed that it will spend $2.4billion on purchase of the tablets and digitizing material for them.

Debates about whether or not students learn better from display screens or printed material are already on. Also being discussed is the ideal form factor of devices to be used in place of text books.

This seems to be a huge business opportunity for Samsung as governments and students are considered as captive audience. 

Google Chrome exceeds 20% market share, IE keeps sliding

The continuing rise in popularity of the Google Chrome browser took it past the milestone of 20% worldwide market share for browsers, according to StatCounter, the free website analytics company. 

From 2.8% in June 2009, Chrome rose to a worldwide share of 20.7% in June 2011. Internet Explorer from Microsoft slid from 59% to 44% during the same period. 

StatCounter's method of tracking highlights Google's strength of attracting power users. Another usage tracker, Net Applications too shows Chrome rising fast, up to more than 13% usage in comparison to IE's 54% and Firefox's 22%. 

The groups count differently as Net Applications tracks the total number of users for a browser while StatCounter measures the total number of website clicks. This means that the StatCounter ranking gives more weight to a Chrome user who surfs the Web more often than an Internet Explorer user.  

The performance of Chrome has been particularly well in South America where it overtook Firefox in April to become the number two browser. In June it touched 29.7%, ahead of Firefox's 24.6% and behind IE at 44.1%.

Vodafone launches content channel in Android market

Vodafone announced that it has become the first company in Europe to launch a content channel of its own brand in the Android Market. The channel will offer customers regular updates on Vodafone services apart from the best news, sports, information and gaming apps, which would all be sourced from Vodafone's global and local partnerships, either on an exclusive, free or discounted basis. While the channel is already available in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, launches are also planned for Greece, Portugal and Ireland. The store is only available to Vodafone customers using a handset running on a customized version of Android from Vodafone.

GSM completes 20 years of commercial service

On 1st July 2011, GSM services completed 20 glorious years of commercial service. It was on 1st July 1991 that the first ever GSM call was made over a commercial network in Finland. To commemorate the landmark a press release was issued by Nokia Seimens Network (NSN). The first commercial GSM network was built for the  Finnish operator Radiolinja by Telenokia and Seimens and the historic first converstaion was between the Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri in Helsinki and Kaarina Sounio (Mayor in the city of Tampere).

In 1987, the basic parameters of the GSM standard had been agreed upon and adopted as the standard for digital mobile technology in Europe. The second generation (2G)  technology was capable of both voice and data communication and enabled the advent of services such as the SMS. The total number of subscribers worldwide for GSM services has now crossed 4.4 billion and over 1 million new subscribers join in everyday.

Live streaming site from YouTube

YouTube has launched a free-for-all live streaming service named YouTube Live. The YouTube Live browse page at www.youtube.com/live features shows that are streamed live and this includes your favorite sporting events ! You can also add upcoming events to your Google calender. This service  allows YouTube partners with accounts in good standing to stream content live on YouTube. The aim is to provide partners the ability to live stream their content from their channels in the near future. 

So visit www.youtube.com/live and find out all that is to be streamed live in the next few days.

Comcast to offer Skype video calling on their TVs

US cable service provider Comcast and Skype announced on Monday that some of the the Comcast customers would soon be able to enjoy video chat on their TV sets.

Comcast is due to conduct a trial of the Skype service this year and expects to make the service widely available to its customers next year.

The service would enable viewers who would like to chat while watching TV to simultaneously make calls and send instant messages while watching TV.

Some state-of-the-art television sets already have Skype embedded in them and according to the company, it will be possible for users to switch conversations from one gadget like a cellphone, to another, like a TV or a tablet.

Live Lunar eclipse feed from Google

Google will be providing live streaming of the lunar eclipse from 2pm to 6pm Eastern Time today in  partnership with Slooh Space Camera. For people who cannot step outdoors to witness the spectacle, Google is providing livestream of the same on Youtube through the Slooh Space Camera Android app or through the sky layer on Google Earth. 

                                                        image source: wikimedia.org
                                      

This is the first total eclipse of the year, the total duration of which is expected to be about 100 minutes.

Google adds more zip to its search !!

Search engine giant Google unveiled a new feature which will predict the page a user will choose from among a list of search results and begin fetching the data for the page even before the user has clicked the link to the page. The feature called "Instant Pages" is an advancement on "Google Instant" and is capable of reducing the overall search query time by 2 to 5 seconds. The feature was introduced by Google fellow and  search scientist Amit Singhal at Google's Inside Search event in  Mountain View, California.

Google announced that the Instant Pages feature will initially be made available as an add-on to Google's Chrome Web browser and it planned to introduce it to mobile devices in the coming weeks. 

Google will also introduce a new image search feature which will allow users to upload, drag and drop, paste a URL or use a browser extension to provide a reference to an image. Google will then use its database to compare and identify the image for publishing the subject, location and details, in other words, it would enable Google find where you can locate the image on the web.

Singhal also announced that Google's voice search which until now allowed mobile phone search users to make their search query through speech, would be included in desktop searches. 

Apple recalling some Verizon iPad2 tablets

APPLE Inc has decided to recall some of the iPad2 tablets that are designed to run on Verizon's network because of some connectivity issues. According to an Apple spokeswoman, "Duplicate MEID codes were flashed into an extreme small number of iPad units for the Verizon 3G network". She however did not comment on how many such units were affected by this issue. Verizon too offered no comments on the matter.

MEID which stands for mobile equipment identifier, is a unique code assigned to each mobile device and is used in identifying the device when it connects to a network. No two devices can have the same MEID code. Apple will be replacing the affected units that have already been sold with new ones.

Eco friendly smartphone apps

Do you own a smartphone ? You can then use apps on it to use th phone in an eco-friendly manner. Here a are some such apps:

The iPhorest for the iPhone

For folks who do not have the time or patience to take to active planting trees to increase forest cover, the iPhorest app does it for them. Downloading the app to your iPhone will plant a virtual tree on the phone and a real life tree somewhere on Earth. The Conservation Fund sponsored by Ecolife plant and maintain each tree. 

The GreenYou app for Android

This app calculates your carbon footprint on the planet by using information about your transportation, housing, food, and other habits.You can then create your own Green plan by making changes in your lifestyle and monitor how much of a positive impact you have in reducing your carbon footprint on the planet.

JuiceDefender for Android

This app helps you economize the battery usage of your phone, thus requiring you to charge the battery less often and hence save energy. By using custom settings through this app, you can optimize the battery usage of your phone as per you usage habits.

So go ahead and take pride in being an eco-friendly user of the smartphone.

Qriocity™ services to resume today

Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment announced that Sony Network Entertainment International will fully restore services of Qriocity™ from June 09, 2011 in all region sexcepting Japan. PlayStaion Network and Qriocity services which were shutdown on April 20 will  therefore be available. The complete restoration of Qriocity services include:

• Full functionality for “Video On Demand powered by Qriocity™” for all compatible devices
• Full functionality for “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity^TM” for all compatible devices
  
  
  An announcement on the restoration of ^Qriocity™ services in Japan ( “Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™” is not available in Japan) will be made when they are available.
  
  
  
  
  
  

The worlds thinnest tablet arrives in USA

Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S. , and Samsung Electronics America, recently announced the retail availability of the Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, starting June 8. The WiFi-enabled tablet measures at just 8.6 millimeters slim, making it the thinnest mobile tablet currently available in the world. The 32GB version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition will be available for $599, while the 16GB version of the device will be available for $499. 

A limited quantity of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition will be available for purchase exclusively at the Best Buy Union Square store in New York City on June 8. Best Buy customers may also pre-order the Galaxy Tab 10.1 online or in-store beginning that day. 

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is powered by Android™ 3.1, Honeycomb offers faster and smoother transitions between different applications, more intuitive navigation to and from home screens and broader support of USB accessories, external keyboards, gamepads and joysticks.

Apart from being the thinnest mobile tablet currently available in the world the Galaxy Tab 10.1 also boasts an incredibly light weight of just 1.25 pounds (565 grams) for outstanding mobility and comfort in the user’s hands. 

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with a brilliant 10.1-inch HD touchscreen display with WXGA 1280 x 800 resolution delivering vibrant colors and crisp clarity. This expansive screen is centered inside a narrow bezel to enhance the wide viewing angle. 

“Ensuring that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launched with Android 3.1 Honeycomb was part of our constant commitment to meeting the needs of our customers,” said Dale Sohn, President and CEO of Samsung Mobile. “The Galaxy Tab 10.1’s ultra-thin design and 10-inch touchscreen are impressive differentiators in the tablet market place. We’re going to make the Galaxy Tab 10.1 even more powerful, entertaining and secure through a series of upgrades coming to this device.” 


The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be receiving these new upgrades through a software update that customers can access over the air in the near future. 

Charging wireless devices without chords

Imagine charging your wireless devices without having to deal with the clutter of chords.
All you need to do is just place the device on the charging pad.


Welcome to the world of inductive charging, the next generation of intelligent charging. By transferring energy using an electromagnetic field, charging pads are able to intelligently communicate to and from devices they’re charging.


How Does this work
Inductive charging uses electromagnetic fields to transfer energy from a charging pad to a compatible special receiver on or in a device. The power transfer happens when the charging pad is connected to the AC wall outlet and a compatible receiver is placed on the surface of the pad.


Just as inductive charging is the first generation of intelligent charging, Qi is the next generation. Before Qi, not all transmitters and receivers were not compatible with each other. This is why the Wireless Power Consortium made Qi the universal standard for inductive charging. Now, with the Qi standard of Inductive Charging, all Qi-enabled devices that need up to 5 watts of power have coils that transmit and receive the same frequency. So from now on, any Qi-enabled device will work with any Qi charger.


Qi allows you to charge smartphones, cameras, mp3 players and anything else that needs 5W or less without directly plugging the devices into anything. Since it is an open-sourced, interoperable standard, it is very similar to other open standards like Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi™. It is anticipated that the Qi universal standard will be broadly adopted by mobile device manufacturers, providing you with the freedom to charge all Qi-enabled devices on a single station without multiple cords and eventually without accessories.


The Energizer® Inductive Charger
One such charger, the Energizer® Inductive Charger charges up to 3 of your critical devices at a time. Two inductive Qi charging zones are located on the top surface of the pad for hassle free charging. Any device that has Qi either built into it or is enabled through a Qi accessory can be charged here. Energizer® offers Qi inductive charging sleeves for iPhone® 4 and iPhone® 3GS/3G and a Qi inductive door for the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900 (each sold separately). The USB port on the back of the charger supplies 5V, 500mA (2.5W) for charging additional phones, headsets, mp3 players, cameras, GPS devices and more (up to 5W).


That’s the power of Qi.- charging into the future.

Wireless Printing Enables Printing From Any Location

Thanks to advances in wireless printing technology, you can now upgrade existing wired printers so that they can accept print commands over a wireless network. Working much like fax, emails can now be sent directly to printers and mobile apps enable issuing print commands from Android, iOS and Blackberry devices.

Wired printers are now giving way to Wi-Fi printers which can print from a huge range of wireless devices. Cloud printing is now the buzzword among printing majors due to the anticipation of a massive proliferation of mobile internet devices. It is now possible to send an email to a printer from any location and the content would be printed automatically.

HP ePrint

Using the ePrint platform from HP, a printing solution that leverages the cloud, you can issue printouts via email  from any new ePrint-enabled printer from any location that has connectivity. The printout can be sent from any smartphone or computer using the email address of the printer. You can print images, spreadsheets, presentations photos, PDFs and of course docs composed using word processors. The HP ePrint service which is free at present, allows you to mange print jobs sent to your printer using the printer Job History that is available on HP ePrintCenter. However, the style, formatting, and text flow of documents printed with ePrint may differ slightly from the original document. For documents that need to be printed with a higher quality (such as legal documents), HP recommends that you print using the software application on your computer, which gives you more control over the appearance of your printouts. You are advised to checkout the list of email clients and attachment file types tested for compatibility by HP an other specs from their website.

EFI PrintMe

Another cloud printing solution is PrintMe from EFI. Mobile pros who require secure, confidential and round-the-clock access to print devices can use this service for which they need to subscribe to the service and use PrintMe-enabled printers. You can use the printing function of your application. Files can be uploaded to www.PrintMe.com using any web browser. You can also print by sending an email with attachments to a PrintMe-enabled printer. Do remember to check the supported operating systems file types from the EFI website. The service supports most of he printer models in available in the market today. An EFI representative would help you confirm the compatibility of the printer model. Security in transfer of documents is implemented using SSL.

Google Cloud Print 

The Google cloud print service lets you print to your printers from Google Cloud Print-enabled apps on any computer or smartphone. All cloud ready printers such as those from the HP ePrint line are supported. Classic wired printers can also be accessed using Google Chrome for Mac or Windows. Connecting to the HP ePrint printer only requires submitting the email address of the printer. To connect a classic printer, install Google Chrome on your Mac or Windows system that is connected to the printer and then enable th e Google Cloud Print connector fro the settings in the Chrome browser.

Printing over Wi-Fi networks

Another useful option is to use wireless technology Most printers hitting the market today are Wi-Fi compatible. Startup Businesses who need to move or reorganize office layout frequently found that is a great help.

Any printer can be used in a wireless network. You only need to connect to a print server. A print server is a small device with an antenna that acts as an intermediary between wireless printers among all users. Print servers are sold for as little as $ 50. An even cheaper option is to convert an old office to a server by simply adding a wireless card.

Mobile apps for printing

Printershare for Android, PrintDirect for iPhone and Remote Print for BlackBerry are the leadinfg smartphone apps for printing. While PrintDirect is free, PrinterShare has both free and paid versions. These apps also come with value added features. Check the respective store for the details before making a choice.