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Showing posts from September, 2014

Here's What to Expect from Microsoft's 'Windows 9' Announcement Tuesday

Rumors abound – just don't expect an Apple-esque Internet takeover.   Image via Creative Commons/Robert Scoble/CC-BY No one’s camping outside of Microsoft stores. Your techie friends probably aren’t going crazy. And there’s very little official hype –there's nothing on Windows' official twitter  account, either. But it’s happening. What Windows users everywhere have been waiting for, even if they don’t know it. On September 30, at an invitation-only event, Microsoft will be introducing their new O.S. – codenamed “Threshold”, but being called Windows 9 by many technology bloggers. Here’s what you can expect tomorrow. The Event During the Windows 9 announcement event in San Francisco tomorrow, Microsoft executives will reveal “ what’s next for Windows and the enterprise .” In a strategy that couldn’t be much futher from Apple’s live-streamed announcement earlier this month , Windows has reportedly sent out invitations to about 50 journalists and analysts. ...

BlackBerry hits premium market with Rs 49,990 Passport smartphone

BlackBerry Passport is priced at Rs 49,990 in India. BlackBerry Passport, which has been launched in India for Rs 49,990 just days after it was revealed to the world The BlackBerry Passport, which has been launched in India for Rs 49,990 just days after it was revealed to the world, is the most unique phone in recent times. It has a large, square touchscreen, as a well as a very BlackBerry-like full QWERTY keypad. However, the innovation is not in the shape or form factor, but in making the keypad more functional that in any other device. While you can type like in any BlackBerry phone, the keypad here is also touch sensitive and can be used to move the cursor around or flick suggested words like with all-touch BB 10 smartphones. With a stainless steel frame and a very strong built, the phone feels premium and robust. It also houses a battery that can last almost two days. The 1:1 ratio of the screen means you never have to change the orientation of the de...

Apple updates OS X Mavericks, Safari and other products

Summary: In addition to Mavericks 10.9.5, the company released updates for earlier OS X versions, multiple new versions of Safari, and patches for Xcode, OS X Server and Apple TV. In addition to the large list of vulnerabilities fixed in iOS 8, Apple has released new versions of many other products to fix many other vulnerabilities.  iOS 8 fixed 53 vulnerabilities in earlier versions. The other new versions — OS X Mavericks 10.9.5; Security Update 2014-004; Safari 6.1.6, 7.0.6 , 6.2 and 7.2 ; Xcode 6.0.1 ; OS X Server 2.2.3 and 3.2.1 ; and Apple TV 7  — fix another 53. Many of the fixes in OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 and Security Update 2014-004 are problems with common open source programs which the average user might not use. Among these are Apache mod_php, Ruby and QT Media Foundation. But several are serious, especially the bugs in the Intel Graphics Driver, IOAcceleratorFamily and Libnotify, one of which allows a malicious application to...

Google Patent Aims to Use TV as a Signal in its Search Algorithm

Google’s latest patent gaining buzz is one that seems to suggest the search engine will know what television show is playing near the device a person is using to perform a search on.  Bill Slawski, founder of consulting and SEO service company, SEO by the Sea, keeps a watchful eye on Google patents and what they may mean to the future of search. In his latest observation,  he points out a patent  by Google granted on September 16 proposes a new way to marry television and search results.  The patent  is described as a “system and method for enhancing user search results by determining a television program currently being displayed in proximity to an electronic device.” Why would Google want to do this?  A look into the patent shows that Google wants to improve the results of those who are performing a search while watching a television program, where the search is related to the program.  From the patent documentation: A TV viewer (some...

Samsung to launch two premium devices, Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4, to take on Apple iPhone 6

South Korean phonemaker Samsung, which has been losing market share to rivals in India, is gearing up to launch two premium devices — the Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy Note 4 — to take on the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The company has started talking to distributors and retailers to launch these devices in time for Diwali, ahead of the launch of the Apple devices in October. Unlike previous Samsung phones that were clad in a plastic body, these will be the first Samsung phones with an external metal casing, something that iPhones have had for long. Priced a little over Rs 40,000 a piece, the Galaxy Alpha is expected to be cheaper than the new iPhone 6 but will have better features, an offline distributor briefed on Samsung's plans said. The Galaxy Alpha, showcased by Samsung last month, has a partial metallic body, 4.7-inch screen and a top-of-the-line processor. It's the company's bet against iPhone 6 in the premium segment. Samsung also announced the allnew G...

Google, Yahoo, Apple urge US govt to protect email privacy

Reuters / Aly Song Dozens of tech giants, including Google, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook and Twitter, have written to the US government urging ‘to bring to the floor’ a bill which gives more privacy protection to their users’ emails and other information stored on their servers. The companies want Email Privacy Act to be approved by the authorities. It was introduced May 2013 and is still waiting to be passed by the US bodies. The new bill “would make it clear that the warrant standard of the US Constitution applies to private digital information just as it applies to physical property,” say the companies in two letters to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid . The authors of the letter believe that the new bill would help the US companies who are “seeking to innovate and compete globally.” The letter states, “It would eliminate outdated discrepancies between the legal process for government access to data stored locally in one’s home or of...

6 reasons why you should save to buy the new Apple iPhones

The two new iPhones won't come cheap whenever they are launched in India. Still, here are 6 reasons why you'll do yourself a world of good to start saving now for one of the two phones. Tim Cook announces the launch of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (AFP Photo) 1.  These are the thinnest iPhones yet! Apple calls the design of the new iPhones "a continuous, seamless design". What it means is that the surface is texturally unbroken and the cover glass ("ion-strengthened, referring to a process in which a type of ion is exchanged for another to make the glass more durable) meets the anodized aluminium backing without tactile differentiation. With a thickness of 0.27 inches for the iPhone 6 and 0.28 for the iPhone 6 Plus, the two are the thinnest yet of all iPhones. But here's the clincher: at 0.30 inches, the iPhone 5s is only fractionally thicker. 2.  We're also talking of an impressive display The 4.7- and 5.5-inch displays of the two phones boast di...