Monday, 17 October 2011

Seagate launches GoFlex Satellite, a new mobile wireless storage device

22:31 Abdul Waheed

Seagate has launched the GoFlex Satellite in India, calling it the first battery-powered external hard drive to wirelessly extend the storage capacity of any Wi-Fi enabled mobile device. With 500GB capacity and Wi-Fi access over 802.11 b/ g/n and a rechargeable battery, the GoFlex Satellite enables users to carry a large library of media and data with them on the go, and access it wirelessly on their mobile devices without a computer.
Speaking on the launch, Seagate India's Rajesh Khurana said:
“With the growth of the tablet and iPad markets and the larger volumes of high-quality media now being consumed, there is a clear need for access to content that is not plagued with the challenges of streamed video over the Internet. The unfortunate fact is that these popular new mobile devices are hampered by their limited storage capacity while one of their primary functions is that of media consumption. With the GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless storage, we wished to create an elegant solution that provides real value to the multitude of tablet users out there by delivering a seamless connection to local storage.
No longer will a consumer feel as though it is a compromise to purchase a lower capacity tablet or iPad. With GoFlex Satellite, people will be able to carry their entire media library with them without the need for wires or the web at a fraction of the cost of adding 3G or purchasing or a higher capacity tablet.”
The GoFlex Satellite is capable connecting to up to three devices, and provides a stand-by battery life of up to 25 hours, and up to five hours of continuously streaming video. To help with extending battery life, the free GoFlex Media App provides a progressive download feature, which temporarily loads the video on to the Android device it is being streamed to, allowing the drive to go into stand-by mode. The GoFlex Media App is available for iOS devices and Android devices. Android device owners will also get the ability to access the contents of the GoFlex Satellite via the mobile device's web browser.
Also onboard is the Media Sync software, which makes grabbing media from a computer much easier. Even music and videos purchased through iTunes can be loaded to the GoFlex Satellite drive and will play on all authorized devices. For rapid loading of media content, the wireless mobile storage comes equipped with the superfast USB 3.0 cable to get files from your computer to the GoFlex Satellite drive. The USB 3.0 cable will also continue to work with USB 2.0 ports and is easily removed for portability. In addition to the USB 3.0 cable, the GoFlex Satellite drive comes complete with a car charger and a compact wall charger.
GoFlex Satellite will be available from end-October through select retailers and resellers, for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of INR 11,500 (plus local taxes).

 
View more articles from: Storage

source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/Storage/Seagate-launches-GoFlex-Satellite-a-new-mobile_7760.html


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eBay India reveals results of its Battle of Gadgets 2011 report

21:55 Abdul Waheed

eBay India has announced the eBay India Battle of Gadgets 2011, which ranks India’s most popular electronic gadget purchases online over a 12 month period based on an analysis of all eBay transactions. The research report showcases interesting trends of India’s Top Gadget Cities, Models & Brands across 7 popular gadget categories - Laptops, Cameras, Mobile Phones, Televisions, Gaming Consoles, Pen Drives and MP3 Players.
Mr. B. Muralikrishnan, Country Manager, eBay India, says,
“Gadgets have always been very popular on eBay India with as much as 50% of all transactions coming from the electronics category. We see a great demand for gadgets from consumers across both metros &tier II and tier III cities. We believe that the rankings of popular gadgets from eBay Battle of the Gadgets 2011 will be a useful guide to gadget shoppers across the country.”
eBay Battle of the Gadgets 2011 reveals:

Delhi is India’s Top Gadget Hub with the most Gadget purchases in the country
Delhi has topped the list of India’s top 10 gadget cities followed by IT city Bengaluru. Mumbai takes up the third position before Hyderabad and Chennai. The other cities include Pune, Kolkata, Kanchipuram, Ahmedabad and Kochi.
Sony is India’s Most Popular Gadget Brand
Sony’s multibrand portfolio & Nokia’s mobile phone dominance puts them in first & second place with Samsung, Apple, Seagate making up the Top 5 Gadget Brands. Micromax, LG, Canon, Dell &Lenovo also feature in the Top 10 list.
Top Mobile Brands
Nokia has emerged as the most popular brand in mobile phones category while Micromax and HTC take the second and third position respectively. The fourth and fifth position is ruled by Sony Ericsson and Blackberry.
Top Mobile Models
Sony Ericcson Xperia X10 is the most popular mobile model in India followed by Micromax Q1, HTC Wildfire, Blackberry Curve 8250 & Nokia E7.
Top Camera Brands
Demand from photography enthusiasts has allowed Nikon to capture the first position followed by Sony and Canon. Olympus and Fuji rank fourth and fifth, respectively.
Top Camera Models
The Nikon L22 is the most popular camera model in the country followed by Nikon S3000, Canon A495, Nikon P100 & Nikon L110.
Top Laptop Brands
Dell is the most popular brand for laptops amongst gadget lovers. Other laptop brands preferred by consumers are Acer, Sony Vaio, Lenovo and HP.
Top Laptop Models
The Dell Inspiron 15 is the country’s most popular laptop model followed by MacBook Air, Samsung N148, Samsung N150 & Acer 5742.
Top Gaming Consoles
The Microsoft Xbox is the most popular console amongst gaming enthusiasts. The Sony Playstation Portable ranks second followed by the Sony Playstation 3, SonyPlaystation 2 and the Nintendo Wii.
Top TV Brands
While Sony has leaped to the top among TV brands, Samsung and Toshiba enjoy the second and the third position, respectively. LG and VU rank fourth and fifth in the category.
Top TV Models
Sony KLV-32BX300 is India’s most popular TV Model followed by Sony KLV-40BX400, Sony KDL-32CX520, Sony KLV-32BX320& LG 22LE530.
Top Memory Device Brands
When it comes to storing data, Sandisk is the most reliable brand followed by Transcend and Seagate. Other brands in the top 5 category are Western Digital and HP.
Top MP3 Brands
Transcend keeps India hooked to portable music &has topped the list of favorite MP3 players. Apple and Sony rank second and third followed by Sandisk and Phillips in this product category.
Top MP3 Player Models
The iPod Touch is India’s most popular MP3 Player Model, followed by the iPod Nano, IPod Shuffle, Transcend MP860 & Transcend MP330.
eBay Battle of the Gadgets Methodology: eBay Battle of the Gadgets 2011 research findings were based on an analysis of all online gadget purchases by Indians on eBay between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011.
eBay India also revealed some other interesting stats about itself: "On an average day on eBay India, A portable storage device or pen drive sells every 4 minutes, A mobile handset sells every 5 minutes, A laptop sells every 27 minutes, A MP3 player sells every 28 minutes, A digital camera sells every 39 minutes& A video game console sells every 39 minutes."

source:  http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/eBay-India-reveals-results-of-its-Battle_7761.html


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Philips 42PFL6556 LED LCD TV Review

21:50 Abdul Waheed

Manufacturers often offer attractive bundles and special offers in order to lure customers and get a leg up on the competition. Philips is one such company, bundling a 3D Blu-ray player, a 42-inch LED television and a wireless keyboard in one attractive package. After the Blu-ray player, today we look at another component of the bundle - the Philips 42PFL6556 42-inch LED LCD television. Read on to find out if this television can manage to make a mark in the feverishly competitive LED LCD TV market.
Touch sensitive controls
Touch sensitive controls


Design and Build Quality
The 42PFL6556 has a glossy black bezel that is curved at all the corners. Slim is the way to survive in the cut throat LED LCD television space, and Philips has done just that with this model. Though this is not the slimmest TV we’ve seen, the bezel measures just about an inch on the sides and top, and a little over an inch at the bottom. The Philips logo is located at the bottom of the bezel, and below it is the TV’s control panel, which is unique since its buttons are touch-sensitive. Not only does this design approach reduce clutter around the bezel, but it also makes the TV look more stylish. The controls available here include volume and channel controls, the home menu, and the power on/off controls.

The connectivity ports are located at the rear, and like most televisions, they are positioned towards the left side of the TV. This way, you don’t have to reach too far back to access them. The connectors aren’t outward-facing, but rather face towards the side and down. This way, the TV can be mounted flush against the wall, with no wires coming in the way. The connections at the back include three HDMI ports, two USB ports, and single composite, component and VGA connectors.
Remote control is really light weight
Remote control is really light weight


The remote control is similar in design to that of the Philips Blu-ray player, but it is longer. Though it has more buttons, they are well spaced out. The base is not very large, but it supports the TV without any difficulty and keeps it stable. There is no wobble whatsoever when it’s place on the stand. Overall, the design and build quality of the 42PFL6556 is really good.

Features
The headlining feature of this TV is its full HD 1080p video playback support. With 1080p becoming the norm these days, and various Blu-ray titles being released at this resolution, full HD is the way to go. The TV also gives you the option to get rid of the black vertical bands that appear at the top and bottom of the screen in some movies, but it also crops out a bit of the picture on either side in the bargain.

Other highlighted features of this TV include its Pixel Plus HD image processing technology, HD Natural Motion and dynamic contrast of 8,000,000:1. This is basically marketing jargon to try and make the product stand out. When it actually comes down to it, the reproduction of colors is good, and the images appear natural. Most televisions use technology that raises the motion rate, thus making the scene look faster than it’s supposed to be. That is not the case with the 42PFL6556.
Interface is simple but easy to navigate through
Interface is simple and easy to navigate through


The interface is pretty simple and user-friendly. It has a few widgets on the screen that lay out various options and settings. These are pretty standard, such as TV, USB, Scenes, etc. The minimalistic design allows one to easily navigate between the options. It also has two USB ports, which support NTFS drives for media playback. Most televisions with media playback feature only support FAT32 drives, but with the ability to play via NTFS hard drives, one can simply connect their high capacity external drives and play back videos effortlessly.

The TV supports most video formats, including MKV, MT2S, AVI, MP4, and M4A. The interface in the folder options has a pan-style layout. The folder is to the right, while its contents line up on the left. Another interesting part of this layout is that at the extreme left, there is a preview pane that displays the thumbnail of the content.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/reviews/led-backlit/philips-42pfl6556-led-lcd-tv-review/249392


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Batman: Arkham City - Best superhero game ever!

21:47 Abdul Waheed

I admit, I’m not a huge Batman fan but I do appreciate a good licensed game when I see one because it’s such a rarity in the gaming industry. 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum showed us that games based on comic book superheroes can be uber awesome as long as the driving force behind them is passionate about the matter at hand. And developer Rocksteady games was nothing but passionate as they packed in a well rounded, highly polished experience allowing gamers to explore the psyche of the Dark Knight, something no game has done to date. In doing so they not only won over the affections of gamers but of die-hard Batman fans as well. With Arkham City, they’ve taken fan service to the next level expanding upon what was already a very kickass action game. Batman fan or not, Arkham City is one game you cannot afford to miss out on.
Everyone needs a hero
Everyone needs a hero


In Arkham City, the action has moved out of the confines of the Asylum into well Arkham City, a super prison of sorts that’s now the breeding ground for Gotham’s scum as well as some of Batman’s most dangerous adversaries. Dr. Hugo Strange, someone who I’m not too familiar with is now in charge of this place and it’s up to Batman to find out what his end game is. At the same time, his arch nemesis, The Joker has a few tricks up his sleeve making life even tougher for The Dark Night. Along the way he’ll encounter a ton of bad dudes from the Batman universe, some of which will probably only be familiar to hardcore fans. Thankfully the story unfolds in a manner that can be enjoyed by those who don’t know the difference between Cobblepot and Solomon Grundy.

With the move to Arkham City, gamers definitely have more freedom than before. This isn’t an open world game like GTA IV but there is a stupendous amount of content to play through. Besides the story itself, you have a ton of side quests scattered all over the map. Some could be as simple as rescuing an unfortunate soul from a beating while in the other, you could team up with a certain recurring villain to destroy an ‘X’ amount of Titan containers strewn all over the city. Side quests don’t feel like they’re thrown in forcibly to increase the game’s length as they tie in to the Batman lore in some way or another introducing quite a few surprises along the way. You also have The Riddler making his return with way more puzzles, some of which are actually quite deadly. And finally, you have the Challenge Rooms that will test your skill at both stealth and combat. Based on various maps inspired by the campaign itself, Challenge Rooms will push your skills to the limit as you take on waves of enemies to attain high scores or knock out a roomful of enemies silently in a stipulated amount of time.
Detective mode in the house
Detective mode in the house


While I definitely appreciate the change in scenery, I had a minor gripe with the game’s navigation system. Now that the game’s far bigger in scope, I found myself circling an objective for minutes before I realised an entry point. I’m not saying I want a Fable-esque bread crumb trail but keeping the quasi open world structure in mind, a mini map would have really helped. Another aspect of gameplay I didn’t particularly care for was the game’s unlock system. In Arkham Asylum you revisited parts of the island with newer gadgets and improved abilities so you could access areas you previously couldn’t. This aspect is significantly reduced in Arkham City as you begin the game with pretty much all your abilities from the first game making the unlock system pretty redundant. Nearly an hour into the game and I had most if not all the upgrades I wished to own. This made the whole aspect of levelling up less appealing to me.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/reviews/gaming/batman-arkham-city-best-superhero-game-ever/249662


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‘Enable 3G’ switch missing from iPhone 4S

21:44 Abdul Waheed

The iPhone 4S has recently been unleashed upon a few countries around the world. The handset brought with it various interesting features and upgrades. However, according to various forums as well as a report by Engadget, the latest iPhone seems to be lacking a switch that probably many users didn’t know about. The ‘Enable 3G’ switch is now missing from the newest iPhone 4S.
Something missing there!
Something missing there!


This switch is usually present in the General settings menu under the Network settings. By using this switch one can toggle between using the 3G service or not. The website contacted Apple support regarding the matter and they had no response on the issue. The need for this switch is not really required but by turning the switch on, one can access faster browsing speeds along with greater battery consumption. The site states that Verizon users are saying that this feature was not available on the iPhone 4 as well. This indicates that this is probably a carrier specific absence and may not be present through all carriers.

This looks like the only noticeable difference between what is lacking in the iPhone 4S as compared to the iPhone 4. Let us know your reactions on the fastest phone right now not having this basic feature incorporated in its feature list.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/news/smartphones/enable-3g-switch-missing-from-iphone-4s/249702


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RIM woos customers with free apps to stay on their good side

21:41 Abdul Waheed

In a bid to reach out to BlackBerry loyalists who have still stuck around with the service after the recent outage that hit the community, RIM has decided that free apps are the way to go.  Research In Motion announced today that a selection of premium apps worth a total value of more than US $100 (about Rs. 4,900) will be offered free of charge to subscribers as an expression of appreciation for their patience during the recent service disruptions.
Some freebies on the way
Some freebies on the way


“Our global network supports the communications needs of more than 70 million customers,” said RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. “We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We’ve worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future.”



The complete selection of premium apps will become available to download at BlackBerry App World over a period of four weeks beginning Wednesday, October 19th.  The selections over this period will include the following (with more to come):

  • SIMS 3 - Electronic Arts
  • Bejeweled - Electronic Arts
  • N.O.V.A. - Gameloft
  • Texas Hold’em Poker 2 - Gameloft
  • Bubble Bash 2 - Gameloft
  • Photo Editor Ultimate - Ice Cold Apps
  • DriveSafe.ly Pro - iSpeech.org
  • iSpeech Translator Pro - iSpeech.org
  • Drive Safe.ly Enterprise - iSpeech.org
  • Nobex Radio™ Premium - Nobex
  • Shazam Encore - Shazam
  • Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant - Vlingo

In case these apps are not available for you on BlackBerry App World or are still showing a price, they will be made available for free over the coming weeks starting Wednesday the 19th of October and will continue to be available until December 31, 2011.

RIM’s enterprise customers will also be offered one month of free Technical Support. Current customers will be offered a complimentary one month extension of their existing Technical Support contract, and customers who do not currently have a Technical Support contract will be offered a one month trial of RIM’s BlackBerry Technical Support Services - Enhanced Support, free of charge.  Additional details about the program and information about how to register will be available at www.blackberry.com/enterpriseoffer.

“We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience,” added Lazaridis. “We have apologized to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence.  We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.”

RIM is trying its best to stay in good books with their rather extensive user base and offering up freebies is certainly one way to do it.

source:  http://tech2.in.com/news/apps/rim-woos-customers-with-free-apps-to-stay-on-their-good-side/249652


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