Microsoft Officially Closes Skype Deal

Microsoft has officially announced that it has completed it’s deal to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion, a deal that was announced back in May 2011.
Microsoft said that Skype will become a new business unit at Microsoft that will be headed by Tony Bates, currently the CEO of Skype. Bates will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, said the company statement.
Skype will keep offering it’s complete line of products to millions of customers, however, in the long-term Microsoft is planning to integrate Skype with several other products to further penetrate the internet calling solution.
“Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

“We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues — anytime, anywhere.”, said Ballmer in the statement.

“By bringing together the best of Microsoft and the best of Skype, we are committed to empowering consumers and businesses around the globe to connect in new ways,” Bates said in a statement. “Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s goal to reach 1 billion users daily.”
Skype was previously sold to eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005 then acquired by an investment group led by Silver Lake in November 2009. Company was planning an IPO but before that Microsoft put forward a lucrative deal which Skype couldn’t reject.
Microsoft also released following infographic, detailing the usage of Skype.


source: http://propakistani.pk/2011/10/14/microsoft-officially-closes-skype-deal/

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Posted in microsoft , Skype , Skype Deal

Telenor Holds Awards Ceremony for Apps Developers

Telenor Pakistan held an awards distribution ceremony here today for winners of its Apportunity competition.
The competition invited Pakistani students and software developers to create applications (apps) in various categories. Prizes were given to developers of the most downloaded apps.
Overall, the top two apps with highest number of downloads won iPads, whereas five Category winners were given smart phones. All competition entries won Rs 5,000 worth of air time.
Speaking on the occasion, Usman Javed, Director Marketing Telenor Pakistan said:

“Apportunity is all about encouraging young Pakistanis to create apps for the global market. Given an opportunity, our app developers can compete with the best in the world.
Already the apps created by the winners have been downloaded thousands of times by people across the globe. Telenor will continue to provide opportunities to the talented youth of Pakistan to enable them to excel in their fields.”

Participants appreciated Telenor Pakistan’s efforts at promoting innovation and encouraging young talent to enable them to be recognized at the global level. The event was attended by a large number of bloggers.
The Apportunity competition consisted of 05 apps categories such as Games & Fun, Location & Presence, Health & Fitness, etc. Apps could be created for stores such as Apple’s App Store, Google’s Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store, and Samsung Apps; all major platforms were allowed such as Java, Symbian and Flash Lite.


source:  http://propakistani.pk/2011/10/14/telenor-holds-awards-ceremony-for-apps-developers/

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Posted in Apps Developers , Awards Ceremony , Java , Symbian and Flash Lite , Telenor

Google Goes Hard on Pakistani Websites, Bans Hundreds of Adsense Accounts!

We are getting reports that Google Adsense accounts of at least two dozen hundreds of Pakistani publishers got banned lately, while it is assumed that there are more un-reported cases.
All publishers are apparently getting same email from Google, which is as following:

Hello,
We continually review all publishers according to our program policies (https://www.google.com/upport/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-3pp-en) and Terms and Conditions (https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?&stc=aspe-3tc-en ). During a recent review of your account, our specialists found that it was not in compliance with our policies.
LAYOUT ENCOURAGES ACCIDENTAL CLICKS: Publishers are not permitted to encourage users to click on Google ads in any way. This includes any implementation that may encourage accidental clicks, such as placing ads near flash games or navigation bars, or placing ads and site links extremely close together.
WEBMASTER GUIDELINES: Our program specialists regularly review sites in the AdSense program.
It is important for a site displaying AdSense to offer significant value to the end user by providing unique and relevant content, and not to place ads on sites with little to no original content. Additionally, Google ads
may not be placed on non-content-based pages.
Your site should also provide a good user experience through clear navigation and organization. Users should be able to easily click through your pages and find the information they are seeking.
Because your sites violate the spirit of our policies, we have disabled ad serving.
For more information, please review our program policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/bin/answer.py?answer=48182 ) and Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769#quality).
As stated in our program policies, sites displaying Google ads should provide substantial and useful information to the user. Users should be able to easily navigate through the site to find what products, goods, or services are promised.
While reviewing your site, our team of specialists determined that it does not comply with the spirit of these guidelines.
As a result, your AdSense account has been disabled.
Additionally, as stated in our Terms and Conditions, publishers who have breached this agreement may not receive further payment. The earnings on your account will be returned to the affected advertisers. Please note that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interests of our AdWords advertisers, and to maintain the quality of the AdSense program.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

We are getting this impression that Pakistani publishers are being targeted in specific. Though this mass banning isn’t unforeseen, especially when every other internet user is exploiting adsense by copying content and then adding adsense to their websites.
if you remember we had warned you about this 2 and half years ago – when we caught a group of people training general internet users to setup a blog, copy content and then earn through adsense by cross clicking each other’s ads.
This whole process has hurt legitimate bloggers too, and they are suffering because of the other’s misdeeds. This pain of getting adsense banned for a legitimate blogger can’t be expressed in words. We have undergone this pain ourselves, and fear to see it again.

source:   http://propakistani.pk/2011/10/14/google-goes-hard-on-pakistani-websites-bans-dozens-of-adsense-accounts/
 

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Posted in Adsense Accounts , Google Adsense accounts , Pakistani Websites

HCL launches new ME X1, a low-cost Android tablet for Rs. 10,490

 

HCL Infosystems Ltd has today launched its new ME-series tablet 'X1', priced aggressively at Rs. 10,490. The new X1 ME tablet runs on Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, and 512MB of RAM.

The X1 has a seven-inch capacitive display with 800x480 pixels resolutions. It features a 2MP camera, 4GB of inbuilt storage that is expandable to 32GB via microSD. The device also supports HD video content and has a 3500 mAh battery. While the X1 ME tablet technically only supports Wi-Fi connectivity, it also has an option of 3G data connectivity via USB dongles. The X1 also supports Flash, through Adobe Flash Player 10.3.

Speaking on the occasion, Harsh Chitale, CEO, HCL Infosystems, says, “We are excited to launch our new tablet ‘The X1’, specially designed to cater to the demands of the Indian customers. The X1 ME Tablet promises to bring great value by re defining on–the-go user experience with its innovative design, display and technology. Today’s consumer doesn’t just look for a product but a complete productivity and service ecosystem around it, which led us to innovations like creating powerful content and local applications which will be backed by our nationwide support service network and 24X7 one touch customer service.”

“As a brand we are aligning ourselves with the consumer’s unmet desire to live the life he wishes for. We want our products to be one of the prime enablers to the life that our consumer aspires for and we are confident that with our expertise in the industry a device like The X1 will unleash innovative models of usage both in the B2B & B2C segments backed by customized applications.” Chitale adds.

HCL says its X1 is the only tablet to feature a PC sync option, called “ME Connect” which facilitates transfer of content to the tablet from any another computing device. The device comes pre-loaded with a number of apps such as Naukri.com and LinkedIn. 

 source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/Tablets/HCL-launches-new-ME-X1-a-low-cost_7740.html

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Posted in android tablets , budget tablets , hcl , hcl me tablet , hcl tablets , hcl x1 , low cost tablets , tablets , x1

Tathva' 2011 begins Oct 20; features tech quizzes, air show, and lots more

The 2011 edition of Tathva, the annual techno-management fest organised by the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, is scheduled to be held from October 20-30. More than 40 events have been lined up for this year's fest, with a whopping Rs. 1.2 million cash prize on offer.

The Tathva event, which flagged off as a Students’ National Technical Symposium (in the year 2000), is now considered to be one of the popular techno-management fests in the country. Tathva is a platform for students from all over the nation to exhibit their knowledge and skills. A plethora of competitions which include Paper Presentation, Design Contests, Technical quizzes among many others, cover all fields of science and technology, offering one of the biggest opportunity to students to diplay their technical prowess.

A lecture series featuring the elite minds of the technical world, innovative exhibitions and informative workshops, competitive and challenging events are what awaits a participant at Tathva.
The events scheduled to be held during the Tathva include a Cloud Computing Workshop, Air Show, Dirt Race, Koder Kup and Bulls n’ Bears.

How To Apply?
Participants must register online in the Tathva site (www.tathva.org) and obtain their respective Tathva IDs to participate in the events, even the online contests. For more details, visit the official Tathva website : http://www.tathva.org. 

 source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/General/Tathva-2011-begins-Oct-20-features-tech_7745.html

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Posted in air show , features tech quizzes , Tathva

ViewSonic outs Android 2.3 tablet 'ViewPad 10e'; ViewPad 7e on its way to India

ViewSonic has unveiled its new Android tablet 'ViewPad 10e', which is scheduled to be launched in the UK next month. ViewSonic's ViewPad 10e has a 9.7-inch display with 1024x768 resolution, similar to the TouchPad and iPad 2. The ViewPad 10e runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system instead of the tablet-specific Android HoneyComb OS. Besides, it is powered by a single-core 1GHz Cortex A8 processor and 512MB of RAM.

The most notable feature of the new ViewSonic table is its thickness, which is just 9.1 mm. The ViewPad 10e comes with a 4GB of storage, expandable up to 32GB through microSD. The tablet also features a 1.3MP front-facing camera. On the connectivity front, the ViewPad 10e offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, mini USB and a mini HDMI connector for up to 720p output. Though there's no official word on the pricing of the new tablet, multiple reports suggest it is going to be a budget tablet.
Meanwhile, the Mobile Indian reports that ViewSonic is going to soon launch its Android 2.3-based tablet ViewPad 7e in India. Moreover, the new tablet will be priced below Rs. 10,000. ViewSonic has already made its way into the budget tablet segment with the ViewPad 7, which is available for nearly Rs. 15,000.

The ViewPad 7e is not listed on ViewSonic's India-centric website. However, we found the specs of the upcoming tablet on its global site, which states the ViewPad 7e is a seven-inch Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet, powered by 1GHz ARM A8 processor and 512MB of RAM. The ViewPad 7e comes with a 4GB of inbuilt storage, extendable up to 32GB through microSD. The tablet also features a 0.3MP front-facing camera and 3MP rear camera. For connectivity, it has Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi. Check out the detailed specs of the ViewPad 7e here.

source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/Tablets/ViewSonic-outs-Android-23-tablet-ViewPad-10e_7741.html

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Posted in android , android 2.3 tablet , android tablets , budget tablets , budget tablets india , low cost tablets , low cost tablets india , tablets , viewpad , viewpad 10e , viewpad 7e , viewsonic , viewsonic tablets

Samsung to launch Android 4.0-based Nexus Prime on October 19

Samsung is going to launch the first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone at an event in Hong Kong, scheduled to be held on October 19. Samsung was initially slated to launch the Samsung Nexus Prime, a.k.a. Galaxy Nexus at an event in San Diago on October 11 but later the company decided to postpone the event, as a mark of respect to Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away recently.

Without divulging the official name of the new smartphone, Samsung issued a statement saying, "We are unpacking our new Android phone in concurrence with Google."

Following are the rumored specs of the Galaxy Nexus Prime:

• Display: 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.65 inches (~316 ppi pixel density)
• CPU: Dual-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, Samsung Exynos chipset
• Battery: Li-Ion 2050 mAh
• Camera: 5 MP, 2592x1936 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, 1080p video recording at 30fps
• Features: Document and Image Editor, LTE connectivity, three-axis gyro sensor

The rumored price of the next Samsung phone is $750.

Moreover, it is the first smartphone to feature Ice Cream Sandwich incarnation of Google's Android operating system. The Ice Cream Sandwich is promised to combine the tablet and smartphone oriented operating systems. Check out our previous coverage on the long-awaited Samsung smartphone here.

Samsung's new flagship product comes days after the launch of the iPhone 4S, which has seen an overwhelming response in the US. The comparison between forthcoming Samsung smartphone and the iPhone 4S is inevitable. Lets wait and watch, which one of them creates a lasting impact.

source:   http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-PDAs/Samsung-to-launch-Android-40-based-Nexus-Prime_7743.html

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Posted in android ice cream sandwich , galaxy nexus , ice cream sandwich , nexus prime , Samsung , samsung galaxy nexus , samsung ice cream sandwich , samsung nexus prime

Apple iOS 5 - First Impressions

The much-awaited Apple iOS 5 has finally landed on our shining Apple devices. However, the big question is - is it worth the update? Let's find out.

The update process
First off, before you get the iOS 5 update, you will have to ensure that your iPhone, iPad or iPod is updated to the iOS 4.3.5 first. If you have done the update earlier, then no need to worry. If not, then be ready to walk down that longer path. Two important things you need to keep in mind here. First, if you are updating to the iOS 4.3.5, then the phone’s data will not be erased. However, before starting the iOS 5 download you will have to backup the data completely. This update will completely remove all data from the device.

The download size is about 700MB, and you will have to leave the device connected to iTunes during that entire process.

How it looks
We downloaded the update on an iPod Touch (4th gen), and here are some screenshots. Our conclusion about this update can be found after the images below:

The UI hasn’t been changed at all. Just some new apps have been added – Reminders, Newsstand, YouTube and Messages.

& The Newsstand app allows you to download magazines and newspapers in the “e” format. By the way, the Newsstand app is completely different from the iBooks app. That can still be downloaded separately from the App Store, and transfer the PDFs to that.

A very slightly tweaked setting options. We can see Twitter there!

Voila! This is the Over The Air (OTA) updates which iOS 5 has introduced.

iTunes Wi-Fi sync is here as well.

The iCloud settings can be tweaked anytime. You either set up the iCloud account when the device starts for the first time post the update by logging in with your email ID or do it sometime later. iCloud offers 5GB of free storage space, with data synced automatically over Wi-Fi.

The Reminders app offers multiple ways of setting reminders.

What we think
The iOS 5 update isn't a major update in terms of UI tweaks. However, it brings the addition of new features like iCloud, iTunes Wi-Fi sync, Newsstand and the ability to tweak images on the device itself. Critically, the device performance hasn’t slowed down at all. Is the update worth it? Yes. We think you should update, but be sure to backup all the phone’s data first – contacts, messages, mails etc.

source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/Software/Apple-iOS-5--First-Impressions_7746.html

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Posted in apple ios , apple ios5 , ios , ios 5

KDE celebrates its 15th birthday

Yes, 15 years ago today KDE was born, originally as "Kool Desktop Environment," then "K Desktop Environment", then after a number of confusing changes to what KDE means and stands for, we have simply KDE.
KDE is now a community of people who dedicate their efforts to creating a better Linux desktop environment for all users. While the community celebrates today, they have had a number of big releases just recently, Plasma Active One , which just released a few days back on 9^th, and ownCloud 2, which released on 11 ^th.
Plasma Active One is the first release of KDE's Plasma Active shell that aims to make KDE tablet-ready. It is a rather large project that aims not just to create a KDE UI that works on tablets but to create a better way of interacting with touch-based devices.

Not only is the workspace optimized for touch-based operation on a tablet device, but even KDE applications are being rewritten to work better on a tablet device. Obviously this is a huge task, but Plasma Active One already shows great progress.
Plasma Active introduces the concept of activities to tablets, where a set of tasks or applications + data can be bundled together. A vacation activity for example might include bookmarks to websites about travel, Wikipedia pages of the places you wish to visit, the Marble app for maps, your calendar app etc. while a work activity could consist of the documents related to your work, email client etc. You can create as many activities as you wish and switch between them.
This is in addition to the usual multitasking, where multiple apps can be open at once, in different activities. This is clearly an OS for those who want a content creation device rather than just a consumption device.
Remember that this is just the release of Plasma Active One, and Plasma Active Two and Three and so on, are still to follow with even more enhancements.
The other release by KDE, ownCloud 2 is their second major release of the cloud platform that aims to be an open source replacement to the plethora of popular web services available today. Rather than let third parties have control over where you data is located and how you can access it, ownCloud aims to be an open source replacement that offers similar features in a decentralized manner.
ownCloud allows one to access their data from regular file managers with support for WebDAV support, share files with others, stream your music to your browser or media player, and much more. It is a regular PHP application that can work with MySQL / SQLite, and can be hosted at any compatible hosting site, or even your own computer.
Congratulations to the KDE developer and community for their brilliant work and dedication to these brilliant projects.

source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/Features/KDE-celebrates-its-15th-birthday_7748.html

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Posted in desktop environment , kde , kde plasma active , open source , owncloud , owncloud 2 , plasma , plasma active one

RAGE - Flawed but Fun

Most gamers have a profound sense of respect for id Software since it is this Texan game development studio that popularized and nurtured the first person shooter genre with iconic games like Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein. After Doom 3 in 2004, id has been working hard on returning to their first person roots with RAGE, a shooter that’s been nearly seven years in the making. Is it worth the wait? Will it cement id once again as the undisputed kings of this genre? Read on to find out.

As you boot RAGE up for the first time, comparisons with games like Fallout 3 and Borderlands that share similar post-apocalyptic scenarios will be inevitable. However RAGE is very much a linear fare that merely presents the illusion of being an open world game. In the near future, an asteroid the size of Texas (lol?) crashes against the planet, tearing it to shreds. While most of humanity perished in this calamity, a select few were sent into a cryogenic state so they could emerge from this incident and start rebuilding society. You are one such survivor but instead of waking up in the company of your frozen friends, you find out that everyone you knew is dead.

In the face.... in the FAAAACE

As soon as you leave your Ark, you get attacked by a mutant within seconds firmly establishing the fact that the brown stuff has hit the fan and in case you didn’t get the euphemism, this means the Wasteland is a highly dangerous place. You get rescued by a good Samaritan only to learn that he had an ulterior motive in helping you out since you can handle yourself with a weapon. From then on begins nearly ten hours of fetch quests that culminate in one of the most abrupt video game endings ever. Yes, a riveting plot is definitely not one of RAGE’s strong points.

RAGE’s game world is divided into various hubs from where you pick up quests, sell loot, upgrade weapons and so on. While this sort of mission structure will be familiar to anyone who’s played an RPG, it gets real annoying when you’re made to go back to the same areas over and over again. What’s worse is that I can never take on say five or ten quests, head into the Wasteland, complete them all and return. No, I have to take on one, finish it, head back and only then can I pick up the other one. Thankfully the game sports a quick travel mechanic so travelling back to base isn’t a problem. If you’re the more adventurous kind, you could drive your buggy around the Wasteland taking on bandits but like I said earlier, this isn’t an RPG nor is it an open world game so don’t go expecting dynamic events to kick in.

Boo!

Vehicular combat is surprisingly quite enjoyable as it takes its cues from games like Mario Kart or Blur. You can strap on a bunch of weapons like rockets, mini-guns and mines to your ride so taking out the opposition is never really a problem. If you’re the competitive kind, you can also indulge in a bit of racing through some of the hubs as well. Win races and you could unlock cooler parts for your ride but since racing is really not all that important in the game, there’s little motivation to spruce your ride up. And don’t get attached to one car because certain missions will require you to ditch in favour of a tougher set of wheels

 source: http://tech2.in.com/reviews/pc/rage-flawed-but-fun/248302

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Posted in ID , id Software , RAGE , RAGE 2011 , RAGE AMD issue , RAGE ATI issue , RAGE patch , RAGE PC issues , RAGE price India , RAGE review India , Rage video game , Rage video game id

Karbonn A1 Review

Android phones are getting cheaper by the day with a Micromax here and a Karbonn there ensuring that users don’t really have to pay big bucks to enjoy the Android experience. Earlier, we reviewed the Micromax A70 smartphone and that phone did impress us. Now, Karbonn has come up with their new entry level A1 Android smartphone and it’s even cheaper than the A70. But, is it worth your money? Let’s have a look.

 

The Karbonn A1 - quite cheap!

Design and Build Quality
The Karbonn A1 comes in an all-black candy bar form factor. The edges are rounded off and they fit nicely into your palm. The phone does appear quite small and light at 105 grams. As part of the design, there is a matrix of white dots that runs across the back. The phone feels like it’s made out of plastic, but the build is quite sturdy and strong. The 3.5mm jack is located at the top, with the volume rocker on the left and the speaker and 3.2 MP shooter at the back of the device. The A1 has a directional keypad, as well as call and end buttons below the 2.8-inch (240 x 320 pixels) capacitive touch screen.

Directional keypad could have made way for a bigger screen

Considering the Android OS has more of a touch-based interface, navigating using the keypad is much slower than just tapping on the screen. Also, there are three capacitive buttons for home, option and back. So, we have a separate back and an end button, which does make your thumb naturally press the end button to go back to the main screen. But, that bit locks the screen straightaway and it will take a little time to get used to. The microSD card is housed under the back panel and hence hot swapping is available. The phone has motion sensor, but there’s no ambient light sensor or proximity sensor. The build of the A1 is pretty good, but we’re not big fans of the directional keypad.

A side view

Features
Interface
The Karbonn A1 runs on Android 2.2.2 and currently there’s no news on whether a Gingerbread update is available for the phone, yet. It has Android’s stock interface and navigation is a little sluggish on the 600 MHz processor. The phone starts hanging a little if around 4-5 applications are running in the background. But give it a second or two and things get back on track again. As far as typing is concerned, the screen is a little small to type smoothly using the QWERTY keyboard, but Karbonn have got a Swype-styled method of input that does help whilst typing with one hand.

The home screen - stock Android

An annoying thing we noticed is that the microSD removal message just sticks to the notification bar once you mount the card. There’s absolutely no way to get rid of the message. Also, every now and then the card will automatically unmount itself or will not be recognized. It seemed more like a software issue, as the Micromax Andro A60 had a similar problem. As far as benchmarks are concerned, AnTuTu gave a score of 872, while the phone scored 7.47 points in Linpack’s single thread benchmark test, which is a little lower than the Micromax A70.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/reviews/smartphones/karbonn-a1-review/248232

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Posted in Karbonn A1 Android 2.2 , Karbonn A1 Karbonn A1 Price In India Karbonn A1 Review Karbonn A1 Android , Karbonn A1 Mobile , Karbonn A1 Review And Price , Karbonn A1 Specifications

Philips BDP5200 3D Blu-Ray Player Review

During the festive season, one usually wants to upgrade their electronics to the latest technologies. Manufacturers in turn, also offer these electronics at discounted prices or as a bundle to sort all your purchasing needs in one go. Philips is one such manufacturer who have come up with an HDTV, 3D Blu-ray player and wireless keyboard combination that could attract consumers during the festive month. Today, we will be looking at the BDP5200 3D Blu-ray player, which boasts of some impressive features such as Internet TV capabilities, DivX playback, USB connectivity as well as full HD 3D Blu-ray playback. Read on to know if this player is worth your money.

Can play various file formats

Design and Build Quality
The Philips BDP5200 is a stylish looking player and has a black finish with a touch of grey. The top panel of the player is made of metal with a slight texture on it. Like with most of the players, the top panel has a black finish, too. The front panel also has a glossy black finish and only features the Philips branding in the centre and the USB port. Apart from the logo on the front, the panel features the front loading tray that slides out easily. Below the front panel, there is a ridge where the controls for the player lie. These are pretty standard connections found on most DVD or Blu-ray players and are the on/ off button, eject, play and pause.

The other I/O options for the player are located on the rear. These connectivity options include HDMI, composite video output, analog ports, an SD/SDHC card slot and an Ethernet port. All these ports are placed well. The remote control that comes with this player looks simple and is made of plastic. An appealing thing about this controller is that it is not cluttered with a lot of buttons. The buttons are made of rubber and are spaced well. It is also light in weight, which works in its favor.

Light weight remote control

All in all, the design of this player is minimalistic, yet stylish. With the front panel doubling up as a matrix display, Philips have done well to add to the looks of this player. As far as the build quality is concerned, it feels sturdy, owing to the metallic top panel.

Features
The BDP5200 is pretty rich in features and the main feature is its ability to playback full HD 3D Blu-rays. This is a pretty amazing capability and there are only a handful of manufacturers in the market that have released players that support this feature. Apart from this 3D Blu-ray playback, the player also features highlighted features such as Internet video playback, Dolby TruHD, as well as USB 2.0 connectivity.

Having a feature like 3D playback is always a good one in a time like ours where many products come with 3D properties. With 3D Blu-rays becoming increasingly popular in the market having a 3D capable Blu-ray player keeps you up-to-date on the latest technology in the market. However, to view 3D content one would also require a television with 3D capabilities, as well as 3D Blu-ray discs.

Slim in size

Internet video capability is another nifty feature this player has. If one is using a television without Smart TV functionalities they can just hook up this player and stream Internet videos by merely attaching a LAN cable to the Ethernet port. The BDP5200 has a single USB slot located at the front. This makes it easy to quickly swap between various hard drives using the plug and play feature. The player can read both NTFS drives, as well as FAT32 drives. This is a feature we found quite interesting as it helped increase the amount of storage capacity available.

The interface of this player is minimal looking and does not have any flashy images across the screen. Despite the interface not having any frills, it is not unpleasant to look at. One can get used to navigating through the menus within a matter of minutes. The player can support different file formats such as MKV, H.264, MPEG2, XviD, AVCHD, WMV, etc. making it able to play most of the popular file formats on the fly. Overall, the features of this 3D Blu-ray player are pretty impressive

Performance
The performance of this player was tested by connecting it to Philips 42-inch LED LCD TV, the 42PFL6556.  We ran our test Blu-ray of ‘The Last Samurai’ and we were really pleased with the results. The colours appeared natural with the skin tones appearing as they should. There was minimal amount of noise in the images onscreen and this was really good.

Rear connectors are well spaced

Apart from the Blu-ray, we connected a 500GB NTFS drive and played back a number of video clips across different file formats. The ability to play MKV and M2TS files really impressed us. As with the Blu-ray disk, video playback through the external hard disk drive was impressive. The overall user experience, while watching movies through the USB drive was really great. The interface being simple to navigate through added to the experience of this player. The remote control is pretty responsive as well and one does not need to direct it exactly at a TV to get the desired function to work. We were really pleased with its performance and were hard pressed to find any flaws with the player.

Stylish looking Blu-ray player

Verdict
The selling price of the Philips BDP5200 3D Blu-ray player in India is Rs.12,990. The player is stylish and has a decent build quality as well. The features of this player are really good, with it having the ability to playback 3D Blu-rays. This player is sold as a bundle as well as separately. If one is willing to pay the amount for this player, to get the optimum results they should have a 3D capable television as well. With Internet capabilities, the ability to read various file formats and an incredibly easy user interface, one should definitely consider this player.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/reviews/bluray-players/philips-bdp5200-3d-bluray-player-review/248842

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Posted in Philips BDP5200 , Philips BDP5200 3D Blu-ray player , Philips BDP5200 price , Philips BDP5200 review , Philips BDP5200 specifications , Philips BDP5200 specs

Dell Alienware M14x notebook Review

Dell’s Alienware series of gaming rigs have been a favourite amongst gamers for years, and it’s only recently that other companies like Asus and MSI have entered this segment, and are actually doing well we may add. Still, Alienware remains a household name in the gaming fraternity and no one has truly been able to beat them in terms of design and finesse. Till now, we had limited choices for Alienware notebooks in India and until recently we had just two models to choose from, the mighty M17x and the more portable M11x.

Dell filled the void when they launched the M14x, which provides a perfect balance of performance and portability. Two preset configurations are on offer out of which Dell has sent us their flagship offering. So, let’s take the fully pimped out M14x for a spin and see what it's like.

Design and Build
This is one area where the Alienware notebooks never fail to impress and this ones no exception. The materials and attention to detail is impeccable, one look at it and you know that it means business. The matte black finish oozes style and the surface barely attracts any fingerprints of dust making it very easy to keep clean. The angled wedge-like design gives it a very striking look when closed. Although it’s a 14-inch notebook, it’s quite chunky and heavy, with its weight slightly above 2kg.

Classy looker!

The front portion bares a back-lit honeycombed grill and the lid can easily be opened with a single finger due to the weight of the base. We have a total of three USB 2.0 ports (no USB 3.0), DisplayPort, HDMI, 7-in-1 memory card reader, dual headphone jacks and microphone jack, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet port and finally a slot-loading DVD burner. The charging port and exhaust vents are placed in the rear. Flipping the notebook over, we find there’s no easy way to swap the hard drive or memory without unscrewing the entire base. There are two large intake vents at the bottom with bower-style fans. These are meant for the graphics card and only kick in once the discrete card is active, the rest of the time they are off.

No USB 3.0 is a bit of a downer

The 14-inch screen sports a higher 1600x900 resolution and is LED back-lit. The entire screen has a glossy finish, which makes the pictures pop, but also introduces reflections. The keyboard is back-lit, as well as is many other parts of the notebook and you can customise the lighting effects to virtually any colour your heart desires. Overall, we were very impressed with design and build quality of the notebook and even though we’ve seen the fancy lighting on their larger models, it just never gets old.

Features
Dell has gone all out on their flagship version of the M14x. Powering the beast is a Intel Core i7-2860QM quad-core processor running at 2.5GHZ with the ability to Turbo up to 3.6GHz. For memory, we have 8GB of DDR3 RAM running at 1600MHz. The third and most important component, the graphics card is a Nvidia GeForce GT 555M with 3GB of GDDR3 memory. The card also has Optimus technology, which should help with the battery life. Other components include a 750GB hard drive, Bluetooth and Intel Wi-Fi ‘n’ module.

Go crazy with unlimited customization options

Dell bundles along a bunch of software applications and their own utilities. We have a 15 month trial version of McAfee Security Center and Roxio DVD creator. Dell’s own bundled software includes AlienRespawn, which is a system restore utility and Alienware Command Center, which let’s you customize the lighting on the notebook, change and create custom power profiles and adjust the sensitivity of the mouse, all through a single interface. Next, let’s see how this performs in our tests.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/reviews/notebooks/dell-alienware-m14x-notebook-review/248972

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Posted in dell Alienware M14x , dell Alienware M14x India , dell Alienware M14x Price , dell Alienware M14x Price In India , dell Alienware M14x Review , dell Alienware M14x Specs

Court scraps Apple's appeal to widen Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban

Yesterday, an Australian court delivered its verdict on the ongoing Apple - Samsung tussle in the country in favour of the Cupertino-based, Apple. The decision meant that a temporary ban on the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia will be levied.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 has faced a sales ban in Australia

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal,  Apple made further attempts to modify the text of the judgment to the effect that Samsung would have to give Apple an advance notice of all its new product releases and have restrictions on the launch of all of Samsung's future tablet devices. However this time, the court promptly declined.

Friday's decision of having the Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned from selling in Australia has proved to be a setback to Samsung's prospects in Australia. Apple's yet awaiting a complete hearing on whether the Galaxy Tab 10.1 actually infringes on patents pertaining to Apple's touchscreen technology.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/news/tablets/court-scraps-apples-appeal-to-widen-galaxy-tab-101-ban/248952

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Posted in appeal , Apple , Apple iPhone , Apple vs Samsung , infringement , iPhone , lawsuit , patent , Samsung , Samsung Apple lawsuit , Samsung vs Apple , Smartphone , tablets

Google to gain from growing mobile focus: analysts

Analysts cheered Google Inc's quarterly results and set a target of as much as $720 on the stock - suggesting a near 30 percent rise from current levels - and said the Internet search giant could emerge a "top mobile play." On Thursday, Google reported a 26-percent rise in third-quarter earnings - ahead of market estimates - helped by growing online ad market and sharper research focus. Accelerating revenue growth in Google's international business, particularly from emerging markets, and its mobile business contributed to the 28-percent increase in paid click growth, according to analysts.

Riding strong

BofA Merrill Lynch analysts see Google's third-quarter results signaling a positive trend for the sector and said they continue to expect a strong third quarter for eCommerce companies. They maintained a positive stance on eBay Inc and Amazon.com Inc. BofA Merrill Lynch maintained a "buy" rating on Google's stock, but lowered their price target to $720 from $740. Analysts at J.P. Morgan Securities, however, raised their price target on the stock to $705 from $685, and believe mobile was the biggest factor in Google's sharp acceleration in paid clicks growth. The revenue run rate for Google's mobile business is more than $2.5 billion, a significant leap from $1 billion just a year ago. It is plowing money into its fast-growing mobile business which competes with iPhone maker Apple Inc. The strong mobile revenue highlights the importance of Google's Android mobile software - already the world's most-used smartphone platform - and supports the rationale for its Motorola Mobility Holdings deal, the analysts said.

In August, Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The deal will give Google access to one of the largest patent libraries in the wireless industry as well as hardware manufacturing operations that will allow it to develop its own line of smartphones. The increasing usage of tablets in a manner more similar to PCs than phones is helping drive incremental queries and paid clicks to Google, even if they are coming at a lower price for now, JP Morgan analysts, who rate the stock "overweight," said in a note to clients. "We expect this trend to continue, and for Google to be the primary beneficiary as it likely has 90 percent plus share of mobile search - even higher than on the desktop," they added. Google's Frankfurt-listed shares were trading up 8 percent on Friday. On Thursday, Google shares closed at $558.9 on Nasdaq.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/news/mobile-phones/google-to-gain-from-growing-mobile-focus-analysts/249042

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Posted in Google , Google Android , Google Mobile , Google Mobile App , Google Mobile Blog , Google Mobile Phone Tracking , Google Mobile Sync , Google mobiles , Motorola Mobility

Samsung loses Dutch bid to ban Apple products

A Dutch court on Friday turned down Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction against all of Apple's mobile products that use 3G telecommunications technology, denying it revenge over a similar move by Apple. The two technology giants have been locked in an acrimonious battle in 10 countries involving smartphones and tablets since April.

Four patent infringement cases launched by Samsung against Apple were filed in the Netherlands alone. A court in The Hague on Friday dismissed Samsung's claims of patent infringement by Apple, scuppering its bid to ban the sale of iPhones and iPads in the Netherlands. It also rejected Apple's counterclaims in the case. "A win for Apple but also relief for the industry because the judge upheld widespread understanding of fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms in the use of patents," independent intellectual property expert Florian Mueller said. On Friday, the Dutch court found Samsung's 3G patents were part of essential standards which should be open to license under FRAND and that the two companies should negotiate an agreement.

Samsung seems to be fighting a loosing battle

The ruling is a blow to Samsung, which has filed patent-infringement claims in France and Italy in order to ban the sale of the iPhone, just as Apple has started marketing the latest edition of the popular gadget, iPhone 4S. "Apple will be taking French and Italian translations of the Dutch ruling with it. This makes it a long shot for Samsung that it could win an injunction in the EU based on its 3G patents," Mueller said. Samsung vowed not to give up the legal fight in the Netherlands against its Californian rival. "Today's ruling relates only to Samsung's preliminary injunction request, and Samsung will continue to assert our case against Apple's violation of our wireless technology patents through the main proceeding filed with the court in The Hague," the Korean electronics giant said in a statement. Apple has filed its own lawsuits in several countries, arguing Samsung's Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copied its iPhone and iPad. "It is no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," an Apple spokesman said.

This month, Samsung was forced to upgrade three of its smartphones to get around temporary sales bans on earlier versions of products that a Dutch court said violated an Apple patent. Apple's new iPhone went on sale in stores across the globe on Friday, prompting thousands to queue around city blocks to snap up the gadget despite criticism about the lack of a design revolution and reports of software glitches.

source:   http://tech2.in.com/news/general/samsung-loses-dutch-bid-to-ban-apple-products/249142

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Posted in appeal , Apple , Apple iPhone , Apple vs Samsung , infringement , iPhone , lawsuit , patent , Samsung , Samsung Apple lawsuit , Samsung vs Apple , Smartphone , tablets

Apple's iPhone draws hordes again, powers shares

Apple Inc's new iPhone debuted with a splash around the globe, spurring thousands to queue around city blocks and snap up the last gadget unveiled during co-founder Steve Jobs' life. Apple shares leaped 3 percent to close at a record after people thronged stores in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Paris, New York and San Francisco to get their hands on the iPhone 4S, ignoring criticism about the lack of a design revolution and reports of software glitches.

Fans in Sydney, Tokyo, Frankfurt and London made sure Jobs, who died last week, remained part of the iPhone 4S launch, with flower, candle and photo shrines erected outside stores. A black-and-white picture of the visionary leader in Covent Garden carried the line: "Let's make a dent in the universe." In New York and San Francisco, hundreds showed up as expected, but the mood proved more subdued than was typical on an iPhone launch day. "I have a lot of respect for how he led the company and so the turnout, and especially the preorder sales, is a mark of appreciation for him," insisted Chris Centers, who was one of the people who lined up outside the store. One of the buyers also stopped by to lay flowers at the San Francisco store's glass wall in honor of Jobs.

One million Apple iPhone 4S pre-ordered

The new model looks similar to the previous iPhone 4, but has an upgraded camera, faster processor, enhanced security and voice-activated software, which lets users ask the phone questions. The voice software drew glowing reviews. Unveiled just a day before Jobs died, it was initially dubbed a disappointment, partly because it looked identical to its predecessor. But anticipation of the "Siri" voice software helped it set an online record in orders on Oct. 7. Rivals' woes may have provided a boost. Research in Motion Ltd struggled for days to fix an international outage of its email and messaging services. Also, about one in four people who thronged Apple stores from Tokyo to San Francisco told Reuters they were ditching BlackBerries, discarding Nokias, or even giving up Google Inc Android-based phones, hoping for something better.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device sold without Jobs leading Apple will protect the company against a growing challenge from the arch-rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Analysts believe the South Korean company, which powers its phones with Google's Android software, surpassed Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of unit sales in the third quarter. Apple does not release sales on launch day, so gauging initial figures is difficult. But the company took more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after the release of the iPhone 4S, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, which was sold in fewer countries initially. Sprint Nextel Corp -- joining Verizon and AT&T Inc in Apple's roster for the first time -- said on Friday it had chalked up a launch-day sales record for any device by around noon. AT&T said that by 4:30 PM on the east coast, it had activated a record number of iPhones in one day and was on track to double the previous record for iPhone activations on a single day. Jobs "made everything better and the products he released were thought through in such detail," Duncan Hoare, a foreign exchange trader, said as a loud roar greeted the opening of an Apple store in London. "It was about the beauty of something and the simplicity."

The iPhone -- seen as the gold standard for smartphones -- is Apple's highest-margin product and accounts for 40 percent of its annual revenue. The newest iteration uses chips from Qualcomm Inc, Toshiba Corp and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked the device open on Thursday. Despite the enthusiasm at stores, Friday's launch was marred somewhat by widespread complaints on the Internet this week about problems downloading iOS 5, the latest version of Apple's mobile software. There were also problems with iCloud, Apple's online communications, media storage and backup service formally launched on Wednesday.

Users reported glitches such as losing their email access. Queues in Paris were smaller than those normally seen for a brand-new iPhone, with some fans there wondering if the somewhat underwhelming introduction put people off. But in London and elsewhere the lines were as long as ever. "Despite the initial disappointment that this wasn't an iPhone 5, the reality is we're still seeing the usual frenzy that we've got used to on launch day," analyst Ben Wood at CCS Insight told Reuters. Analysts expect global sales of a few million phones on the first weekend, he added. Analysts point to several factors in Apple's favor, including a $199 price that matches up well with rival devices and availability promised on more than 100 carriers by the end of 2011, far more than its predecessors.

Underscoring the enthusiasm for the new phone, Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp had to temporarily stop contract applications after its computer system was overwhelmed with more requests than it expected. Some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments to reach 30 million or more, almost twice as many as a year ago. "I am a fan, a big fan. I want something to remember Steve Jobs by," said Haruko Shiraishi, waiting patiently with her Yorkshire terrier Miu Miu at the end of an eight-block queue in Tokyo's smart Ginza shopping district.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/news/smartphones/apples-iphone-draws-hordes-again-powers-shares/249202

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Posted in Apple 2011 launch event , Apple 4S announced , Apple iPhone 4S , Apple iPhone 4S launch date , Apple iPhone 4S one million pre-orders , Apple iPhone 4S unveiled , iPhone 4S pre-orders

Will diaper case help Samsung in battle with Apple?

A key battle in the smartphone patent wars may come down to underpants for toddlers. Well, at least, a case involving underpants for toddlers. In a large-scale patent war, winning a ban on the sales of a competitor's products is one of the ways companies try to extract leverage over their adversaries. That's exactly what Apple Inc is pursuing against Samsung Electronics Co in a patent war that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries.

Apple is seeking to block the sales of Samsung's smartphones and tablets around the world, claiming they infringe Apple's patents. Apple has scored preliminary injunctions against Samsung in Australia and Germany. Now Apple wants a ban of Samsung's products in the huge U.S. market, and that's where toddler underpants come in. In a case decided in June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit addressed the standard needed to obtain a preliminary injunction. The case involved Kimberly-Clark Corp's allegations that First Quality Baby Products had infringed its patents covering a method for manufacturing and packaging underpants for toddlers. The court found that U.S. District Judge William Griesbach in Wisconsin abused his discretion when he granted Kimberly-Clark's request for a preliminary injunction based on the likelihood that First Quality infringed four of its patents.

Taking it to the toddlers now

To prevail in a preliminary injunction request, a party typically has to show that it will likely prove infringement and that it can withstand validity challenges by the accused infringer. In vacating the preliminary injunction, the appellate court reasoned that First Quality had "raised substantial questions of validity" with respect to three of Kimberly-Clark's patents. (The appeals court left in place the preliminary injunction for a fourth patent.) The decison by the Federal Circuit, which often has the last word on important patent questions, could help Samsung fend off Apple's request for a preliminary injunction in the United States. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh did not rule on Apple's request for a preliminary injunction at a court hearing Thursday, but she said that Apple had a problem establishing the validity of its patents, according to a report by Reuters reporter Dan Levine.

Under the Federal Circuit's decision in the diaper case, Apple therefore might have difficulty meeting the standard set for obtaining a preliminary injunciton. Samsung's attorney, Kathleen Sullivan of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, argued that Samsung only had to show that it had raised strong enough questions about the validity of Apple's patents to beat back the injunction request. "We think we've clearly raised substantial questions," she said. The hearing did not go all Samsung's way. Judge Koh found that Samsung's Galaxy tablets had infringed Apple's iPad patents. The question now may be whether those patents can withstand the Federal Circuit's preliminary injunction standard. Call it the diaper test. Apple did not return a call seeking comment. This story first appeared here: http://link.reuters.com/caw44s

source:  http://tech2.in.com/news/general/will-diaper-case-help-samsung-in-battle-with-apple/249182

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Posted in appeal , Apple , Apple iPhone , Apple vs Samsung , infringement , iPhone , lawsuit , patent , Samsung , Samsung Apple lawsuit , Samsung vs Apple , Smartphone , tablets

Guns drawn in Activision, EA shooter game battle

The two biggest U.S. companies in the video game industry are preparing for a gunfight. This holiday season, Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts will battle for supremacy in the $5 billion a year market for first-person shooter video games. Just two weeks apart, the two companies are releasing major sequels of games where players shoot weapons through the perspective of on-screen characters. EA is coming out with "Battlefield 3" on Oct. 25; Activision's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" hits store shelves on Nov. 8. The first-person shooter game genre ranks as the industry's largest segment, according to video game research firm EEDAR.

With global video game sales taking a beating in recent years as cheaper online games emerge, the competition between Activision Blizzard and EA is both a much-needed jolt of excitement and a welcome event for investors. "It creates a lot of buzz for the industry. These are two very high quality titles and when there's high quality content, there will be demand that follows it," said Andre Chan, an analyst at Neuberger Berman, a firm that owns Activision Blizzard shares.

Chan said shares of each company will swing on the first batch of sales data for the games, which can be played on computers and on consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox or Sony's PlayStation. "There will definitely be some impact on the share prices, depending on how well the first day numbers or five day sales numbers are," he said. Sensing an opportunity to goose sales, the CEOs of both companies have been engaging in some playful taunting. During a television appearance in June, Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, said that he had only seen footage of EA's game on a computer, the implication being that it wouldn't play well on consoles. That didn't please EA boss John Riccitiello, who fired back by telling Reuters that, "The very fact that (Kotick) is trying to cast doubt on our game is a perfect example of how we got his goat." Trash talk notwithstanding, from a sales perspective EA is bringing a knife to a gun fight. "Modern Warfare 3" is the latest installment in Activision's Call of Duty series, one of the most profitable franchises not just in video games, but in all of entertainment. Last year, "Black Ops," the previous edition of Call of Duty, made $360 million in its first day on sale, more than double Harry Potter's record-breaking opening weekend box office take in June.

The call of the battlefield rages on

Activision's head of publishing, Eric Hirshberg, said that pre-orders for the latest edition of the game were "significantly ahead" of last year's numbers. "We are hopeful that we can pull off the unprecedented feat of delivering the biggest entertainment launch in history for the third year in a row," he said. To go along with the game, Activision is releasing "Call of Duty Elite," a new subscription service that costs $50 annually and offers extra online content, including apps for mobile devices and better ways for online group play. Gamers who buy both the new game and the service together in a package save $10. To differentiate itself from Call of Duty, EA has been touting the cinematic feel of "Battlefield 3," which features a technology called "Frostbite 2" that makes action appear more realistic. "They are going to sell a lot of copies of Call of Duty but our focus is to start taking market share away from them," EA's Chief Operating Officer, Peter Moore, said of Activision.

Moore noted that EA used the same strategy to make FIFA the No. 1 soccer video game. Still, most analysts agree that Activision's "Modern Warfare 3" will sell at least twice as many copies as EA's "Battlefield 3." But EA's aim is to gradually chip away at the lead and gain enough momentum to take the crown back from its rival in the next few years. "EA would be happy to sell half of what Call of Duty sells this year. But it does leave the opportunity for EA in 2014 or 2015 to try to beat Activision at their own game," said EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich. Activision Blizzard shares were down 7 cents at $12.85 while EA shares were up 48 cents at $24.31 in midday trading on Nasdaq on Friday.

source: http://tech2.in.com/news/gaming/guns-drawn-in-activision-ea-shooter-game-battle/249152

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Posted in Activision Blizzard , Activision Blizzard vs Electronic Arts , Battlefield 3 , BF3 , Call of Duty Elite , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 , COD3 , EA , EEDAR , Electronic Arts , PS3 , Sony PlayStation

Get Gadgeted this Diwali for Rs. 25,000

We show you what gadgets you can squeeze into a budget of Rs. 25,000 for this festive season's spending.

In our previous “Get Gadgeted” story we covered a range of devices we recommend under a stricter budget of Rs. 10,000. It’s time to take things up a notch so we’ve upped the ‘expense account’ to Rs. 25,000. Here are a bunch of goodies you can get yourself (or others) with a budget of Rs. 25,000. Micromax A70 (Rs. 7,889) View Stores With a rather sharp looking device, Micromax has managed to gain some redemption in the smartphone segment with this, their A70 Android powered device. The A70 runs on a 600MHz processor and utilizes Android 2.2 aka FroYo quite well in terms of functionality. It offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP, 32GB microSD card support and a 5MP camera. Micromax has also provisioned the A70 with quite a few freebies like a task manager, network manager, power manager, software manager and file manager as well as an internet radio streaming application. The trackball under the 3.2-inch display works out quite well for menu navigation. Low budget smartphone that gives you a value for money deal Canon A1200 Powershot Digicam (Rs. 5,550) View Stores Cameras are a sure shot option when thinking about gifting yourself or loved one a gadget this Diwali. It’s no problem if you’re an amateur at photography or just want a camera for casual purposes. We have identified the ideal camera for those who want a camera that's extremely easy to use and suited for most budgets – the Canon PowerShot A1200. This camera features a 12.1MP CCD sensor, optical zoom of 4x and the camera is extremely easy to use. This camera also has 720p HD video recording. This is a great camera for a great price. One can purchase this camera for a street price of Rs. 5,800 and possibly in some places a little lesser. So go ahead and start clicking with this camera during this festive period. Snap those fireworks with this well priced Powershot Apple iPod Shuffle 2GB (Rs. 3,150) Diwali is the time for celebration, music and fun. If your music needs haven’t been fulfilled so far then this one’s for you. Apple’s new iPod Shuffle provides a cool 2GB of memory which can store around hundreds of your favourite music tracks. It also provides 15 hours of battery life which means whether you’re working out, or running a few laps in the park, or travelling; the iPod is not going to run out of juice. Also, it’s available in five colours - Silver, Blue, Green, Orange and Pink, so there’s no dearth of options to choose from depending on your liking. Priced at Rs. 3,150 for the 2GB version, this Diwali gift your ears with a superior audio experience.  Great for the gym or to down out the fire crackers Canon Pixma MP287 (Rs. 2,999) What better way to complement your PC than a nice little MFD. Canon has a really affordable one, the MP287, which retails for as little as Rs.2,999 on online stores like Flipkart. This inkjet printer also has a copier and scanning functionalities, all bundled up in a rather good looking package. It uses Canon's Hybrid Ink system for better colours and sharper prints. The bundled application helps enhance the grey text on web pages making it easier to print pages from the web. The ease of use and good feature set makes it a very good pick, especially at this price. An  Multi Function Device to bring more color to your festive spirit source: http://tech2.in.com/features/general/get-gadgeted-this-diwali-for-rs-25000/248832

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Posted in Amicromax A70 Release Date , android , Android 2.2 , Android FroYo , Diwali , FroYo , Get Gadgeted , Google , Google Android FroYo , Micromax A70 India , Micromax A70 Smartphone

Build your gaming rig for roughly 50k

Rage, Battlefield 3, Serious Sam: BFE are just some of the great PC games to be released this month.

Rage, Battlefield 3, Serious Sam: BFE are just some of the great PC games to be released this month. Some of them are already here and like us, we’re sure there are many of you out there who want to play them. If you’re running a slightly outdated system based on, say a dual-core processor with a pre-historic graphics card, the experience is going to be less than exciting. PCs tend to offer great graphics quality, but the demand on mighty graphics cards and processors has reduced slightly. So, you no longer have to shell out in excess of a lakh to build a system to have a great visually rich, gaming experience. To prove just that, we’ve compiled a list of hardware that can be put together to build a rather powerful gaming rig, for just around Rs. 50,000. Now, the hardware being used to build are it all easily available in most stores. Some online stores also ship these products for a marginally higher price. If you’ve been wondering whether to buy a notebook for some gaming and if you’re going to be using it at home, you’re better off with a gaming rig. What do I need? Processor - Intel Core i5 2400 The processor is at the heart of a modern gaming rig and it’s as important a component, as say the graphics card. The Intel Core i5 2400 belongs to the new Sandy Bridge line of processors and are based on the LGA1155 socket. Great gaming performance without breaking the bank The Core i5 2400 provides a punch for its price. It’s priced at just under Rs. 10,000 and its four-cores mean that it should offer good future proofing as well. Graphics card - MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC The next major component that directly affects the performance of games. The MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC is more than just a complicated name. It’s MSI’s overclocked version of the GeForce 560 Ti GPU, which comes with two fans and a massive heatsink. Factory overclocked! Performance wise, it’s faster than all of the stock GeForce GTX 560 Ti cards you can buy. Games that depend a lot more on the GPU than the CPU will see the most benefits. source: http://tech2.in.com/features/desktops/build-your-gaming-rig-for-roughly-50k/248592

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Posted in Gaming PC , gaming PC Build Kits , gaming PC Build Or Buy , gaming PC Cases , gaming PC Desk Ultimate , gaming PC Desktop Prices , gaming PC India 2011 , gaming PC India Prices