Facebook 2.0 App for BlackBerrys, PlayBook, Out Now!

It’s official now. Facebook 2.0 for BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook, has been launched today. Available for download at BlackBerry App World, the Facebook app has undergone a facelift, with a new user interface and other additions to its features, which are apparently suggestions from their customers. The new app, according to BlackBerry comes with an improved Facebook chat, which makes it an important feature to look out for, in addition to integration with BlackBerry’s own apps. 

Facebook for BlackBerry

Keeping in mind their new tablet, PlayBook, BlackBerry has optimized the social networking platform for usage, especially for it making it a tablet-optimized application. BlackBerry claims that those using the Facebook app on their PlayBook tablet will be able to avail features like Facebook chat, video uploading and Facebook Places and view ‘Likes’ among others. Another interesting addition is the inclusion of Privacy control feature on status updates, wherein a user can control the number of people who can view their status updates. 

Facebook for PlayBook

Other features include:

Facebook Places – where a user can share their location, and other details of their activities with their Facebook contacts. It is also possible to get direction details from Facebook Places by simply clicking on the location, which will then open onto Bing! Maps. 
Facebook Events – users can view details of events like birthdays, and other notifications. It is also possible for users to RSVP.
View Likes – it is possible to view the likes the user has got on a particular post, and by clicking on their names it is also possible to get into the profiles of the users.

Go Green - Recycle Your Old Phones With Atterobay

Attero Recycling has announced India’s first ever mobile recycling service, where people can trade in their used, old mobile phones for a voucher or hard cash. This initiative is a step forward in the Green revolution and helps reduce one's carbon footprint. If the phone is not in a working condition, then it's directly recycled, else Attero will fix up the phone and resell it.

Get rid of e-Waste the right way

Just to try it out, I entered my year old Galaxy S, which apart from a few bumps and nicks, works just fine. To my surprise, Attero valued my phone at just Rs. 4,800, if I chose cash and Rs.6,000 if I chose the voucher. Another option is to have a tree planted in my name. Now, I know for a fact that if I sell this phone in a shop, I can expect at least 13 -14K, so I wonder how many people would actually do this. To be honest, It doesn’t really seem like a good idea if your phone is in a good condition. However, if there’s something wrong with the phone or it’s dead, then you might as well give it for recycling, since you won’t be able to sell it anyways.

Attero claim that they will fix up the used phones and 'put it in the hands of someone who needs it. We're not sure if they mean to donate or resell it. There’s also no option on the site to buy a used phone, so I wonder what exactly happens to them. Head on to their site to have a look.

Upload Photos Directly From Your Mobile to Google Maps v5.8

Google has updated its popular Google Maps service to version 5.8 for Android-based mobile devices. Among the features that have been found interesting and very timely is the ability to upload photos directly from one’s phone. Users of the previous versions of Google Maps would know that this feature in the previous versions was conspicuous by its absence. With more and more people getting hooked onto social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or the latest, Google+, an integration, in the least hassling way possible can be an asset.

Upload images directly

According to an official blogpost, the update allows users to share their experience of a new place they just visited, or are at present, by simply clicking an image of it and sharing it right away. This will also help at times when the user wishes to see how a place is in terms of its appearance and its reviews and ratings. The photos one ends up contributing can be managed or deleted using one’s Picasa account. 

A word that best describes

Better enhancing this feature for Google Maps on mobile is the ‘descriptive terms’ feature, that adds short, precise descriptive tags to particular locations, to better describe them or associate them to the businesses there. Specific places ‘starred’ by you, can be accessed instantly too, using the My Places feature. The update also lets users add a certain location, if it currently does not exist and has the user wanting to ‘check-in’ to it. A user has to then click on the ‘Add Place’ option, and enter the relevant details like the name, and location of the place they want to add. Once done, although the place will not pop-up in the search options on Google Maps, it will be visible to those who wish to log in to it from Latitude.

Get your favorite hangout listed

Those keen on trying it need to have an Android OS 2.1+ device, and can download the update,here.

File Your IT Returns Online, Before 31st July, 2011

Those following the news regularly, especially around this time would know that the last date for filing their Income Tax Returns is fast approaching - 31st July, 2011. Being constantly re-iterated by the government as a fundamental duty of every salaried citizen to file his or her income tax returns, this date and the days preceding this one hold much significance. Usually, income tax return filing in India is associated with long queues, excessive documentations – a hassle, in short.

Rush now!

Taking a cue from institutions like banks and travel agencies that carry out their transactions and other activities online, the Government of India began the concept of e-filing some time back. Over the years, the concept has picked up fairly well with the urban masses, owing to the considerable load that it has taken off the shoulders of anxious citizens looking to file their returns. Before proceeding to file one's taxes, all tax dues need to be cleared. Then post successful payment of one’s taxes, an acknowledgment, a lot like a challan issued by a bank can be obtained. This detail of the acknowledgment has to be mentioned during the process of e-filing of returns.

Users can log on to www.incometaxindia.gov.in, and if they’re a new user, they’ll have to register their PAN (Permanent Account Number) number on the site to create their account. Once registered, a link is sent via email to the id provided at the time of the registration. It is only on the clicking of this link that the said account can be activated. With the help of an XML file then generated, from the ITR form, the XML file needs to be uploaded to the website by logging onto it. Once done, an acknowledgement in Form ITR V is generated, which is also automatically sent to the e-mail address provided by the user while filling his form. This form then needs to be printed and signed manually by the user and sent to the Income Tax office in Bangalore for attestation.

Exploring App Stores – Media Players for Android

One of the main reasons people buy Android phones is the wealth of customization options available in the form of apps. Apple’s App Store may still be the largest one today, but the Android Marketplace is expanding rapidly, and you’ll find most of the popular apps available on both platforms. When it comes to multimedia, the stock music and video player in Android offers very basic functionality and supports just a handful of formats. Unless you have something like Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, which supports MKV and FLAC out of the box, you have to rely on apps. Here are some of the best video and audio players available in the Marketplace, which I think are worth checking out.

RockPlayer Lite
We start off with RockPlayer Lite, a free video player that’s been around for sometime now and is still one of the best players. The player supports most popular video formats including MKV. The interface is not very fancy and directly gives you access to the folders and files in your phone. It also supports subtitles for movies.

A very capable barebones video player

Currently the only free version is available, which puts a little ‘R’ in the upper right corner of the screen and since the paid version has been taken down, there's no way around this.

Moboplayer
This is my personal favourite media player, as it offers all the features of RockPlayer in an easy-to-use interface. It supports multiple audio streams from a single video, multi-subtitles, hardware and software decoding, video streaming though HTTP protocols and thumbnail display of videos. The OSD controls are very intuitive as well, for example swiping your finger on the right side of the screen lets you control the volume, while the left controls the brightness.

Will play just about any video format

You can also lock the OSD by tapping the ‘Options’ soft key on your phone. The best part, besides it being free, is that when you start it the first time, it checks if you have the necessary codecs installed. If you don’t, it will redirect you to the Marketplace for the right codec pack for your phone. 

TuneWiki  
Let’s face it, the stock Android music player is a disappointment. This is where TuneWiki comes in. It’s a novice friendly music player app with a social networking twist. You sign in using your Facebook or Twitter account and invite your friends on TuneWiki. Then, through the SongBox feature, you can see what your friends are listening to, which is a great way to discover new music.

Discover new music through your friends with Facebook and Twitter integration

It even has an ‘F Like’ option for Facebook. Song ID is a feature similar to Shazaam and Sound Hound. The app also automatically pulls lyrics for the currently playing song and shows up at the bottom of the ‘Now Playing’ screen. Other features include managing and editing playlists, Song Maps that let you discover what songs are trending, videos of the songs in your playlist and streaming radio from SHOUTcast.   

Cubed This app is currently still in Beta, but it works just fine and I haven’t come across any major bugs, yet. Albums are displayed in the form of a 3D cube, which can be flipped vertically to scroll through the albums or horizontally to find any album alphabetically. The animations are really slick and smooth, but you’ll probably need a fast processor for the best experience.  Cool animations make it fun to use A five band graphic equalizer is present as well with a nice graphical representation. You also get different desktop widgets, so you can access your music without opening the app.  PowerAMP This is possibly the best and most powerful music player app in the Marketplace. The free version lets you try the app with all its features for 15 days. The paid version is not cheap, but worth it if you’re a music buff. The audio support list is quite extensive, which includes FLAC and APE formats, as well. The 10 band equalizer can be adjusted for a single song or a list of songs, perfect for the audio geek. Excellent tweaking options for your music Other features include crossfade, gapless playback, folder view, CUE file support, download missing album art, visual themes and many more. Hit the title to try the free version.  mVideo Player Finally, if you’re somewhat of a neat freak, then you’ll love mVideo Player. It’s not as powerful as Moboplayer or RockPlayer, as it will only play videos that your phone can natively play. However, it does one hell of a job organizing all your videos into categories, perfect if you have many TV shows on your phone. Great app for organising your video collection It also has IMDB and OpenSubtitles integrated to give you quick info about the movie you’re watching or find subtitles for the current video. Poster search lets you find movie posters making it easier to recognize the movie in your library.   That’s it from my end. Feel free to share your favourite media players in the comments below.

Happy Birthday DOS, You’re 30!

DOS or Disk Operating System (MS-DOS), as it was called back then celebrates its 30th birthday. The MS in MS-DOS stands for Microsoft. The OS was the backbone of most PCs for the following decade or longer. In schools across India, DOS was one of the first things taught in computer classes. While there was no graphical user interface that we’re so used to on Windows, the operating system had everything from text editors to games and mouse support. For example, titles such as Wolfenstein and Doom on PCs originated on DOS. Ever since Windows 95 or so, DOS has been present as a standalone product only to kickstart downed systems. The last operating system to use DOS-based startup disks was Windows XP. The last commercial product used was DOS 6.22.

Three decades and counting...

Three decades later, DOS is still present on Windows systems, often hidden away. You can use it by type CMD in the Run diag box. There are also DOS emulator and free versions of DOS on the web. If you want to go back in history and try out a few DOS apps and games, do check outDOSBox. 

Kate Upton in a Sexy Bikni again for Sobe’s campaign : Big Boobs Teenager

Kangana Ranaut in Magazine Scans new wallpapers

Genelia Dsouza new Hot Wallpapers

 

Sophie Choudry at 21F, Mumbai.

Samsung’s Light-Weight N100 Takes Off

Samsung has launched a new netbook today, called the N100. It’s based on the Intel Atom N435 dual-core processor that runs at a speed of 1.33 GHz. Unlike almost other netbooks in the market, the N100 runs on Intel’s MeeGo operating system. The 10.1-inch display netbook comes bundled with 1 GB of DDR3 memory and a 250 GB 5400 rpm hard drive. The display supports a standard resolution of 1024x600. Graphics is powered by an integrated Intel GMA 3150 solution. The battery on the N100 is only a 3-cell one. Being a netbook, it’s light-weight and weighs no more than 1.03 kg. 

One of the first to offer the MeeGo OS

Samsung claims that the new MeeGo operating system should offer good energy efficiency and performance. The operating system is optimized to let users view online and offline content easily, as well as social networking services. Samsung is also offering options for a free DOS operating system version and Windows 7. The keyboard on the N100, according to Samsung has been designed with good spacing, making the typing simpler. The Samsung N100 is priced for Rs. 12,290, which makes it one of the cheapest netbooks around. 

HTC ChaCha Launched for Rs.15,990

HTC’s much awaited ‘Facebook phone’ has just been launched in India for Rs.15,990 and will be available in the market shortly. The phone will feature the beefed up 800MHz processor and Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. This will be HTC’s first touch and type QWERTY handset and will go on to compete with Nokia’s E6 and LG’s upcoming Optimus Pro.

Now, your FB updates are just a button away

What sets this phone apart from the competition is the dedicated Facebook button which is context aware meaning if you’re viewing a photo or a video, the button will light up allowing you to share that instantly with a single press. You can even update your status, upload a photo, share a picture, upload a video, share a link to a website by the same manner. Other features include:

• 2.6-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Wi-Fi Hotpsot
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Memory expandable to 32 GB

If you are a Tata DOCOMO customer then the new combo schemes HTC is offering may interest you. 3G users get free 3GB of data and 3hrs of mobile TV that's valid for three months while 2G customers get free data of 3GB and 300min of talk time (Tata-to-Tata) free for three months.

Google and Pottermore Sign Ebook Deal

Pottermore is bringing Harry Potter to the digital format with ebooks and has signed a deal with Google to use their literary services for this purpose. This fall, Harry Potter will make its ebook debut on Google eBooks, which lets users port their purchases to 80 other readers. The ebooks will be available via Google eBooks, as well as its iOS and Android apps. However, since the Kindle doesn't support ePUB or PDF files, it is not clear how the eBooks will be supported on that device. The books, as previously reported, will be DRM free. Buy your Pottermore ebooks via Google Google also said that it will provide the payment platform via Google Checkout and the video platform via YouTube for this digital Harry Potter experience. This means, that you will be paying for the eBooks directly to Google as opposed to other services like PayPal or Amazon Payments. Pottermore is expected to open up in October. Since the release of the last movie in the series, Potter fanaticism is at an all time high and Pottermore seems to be catching fans just at the right time. Google, too, will stand to gain by partnering with the Pottermore website right at the opportune moment.

Edimax Launches 3G-6218n 150Mbps Wireless 3G Portable Router

Edimax Technology has announced the launch of the 3G-6218n 150Mbps Wireless 3G Portable Router in India. One of the main features of this model is that users can create a Wi-Fi hotspot wherever a 3G connection is available.

The 3G-6218n has a built-in battery, 3G/3.5G support, as well as cable/xDSL Internet support. The 3G-6218n Wireless 3G Router allows converting an Internet connection from either a 3G/3.5G USB modem card or a cable/xDSL modem into a Wi-Fi network. When both these options are not available, users can share an Internet connection via a smartphone with Internet tethering capability.

Edimax Launches New Router

This enables users of major smartphone manufacturing companies like - iPhone, HTC, Blackberry, Nokia; and Sony Ericsson to create their instant Wi-Fi hotspots. The router also consists of an inbuilt rechargeable Li-ion battery, which allows up to 4 hours of wireless connectivity to multiple users in case an electrical outlet is unavailable.

• A few features of this router are:
• Smartphone Internet tethering capability
• 3G/3.5G and Cable/xDSL support
• 3G/3.5G and Cable/xDSL connection fail over
• Built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery
• Green Ethernet technology
• Hardware WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button
• 1 x 10/100Mbps Ethernet port for WAN or LAN
• 1 x USB port for 3G/3.5G USB modems
• Compatible with IEEE 802.11b/g/n standards

Simmtronics Launches India’s First Solar-powered Desktop

How’s this for green computing? Simmtronics Semiconductors have launched a new range of desktop PCs that are powered completely by solar energy. This new line-up is best suited for areas that encounter frequent power cuts or villages that don’t have the luxury of electricity. The solar PC is available for a price of Rs 28,990 that includes the solar setup, as well and a year's worth of on-site warranty.

Perfect for areas with frequent load shedding

Simmtronics claim the PC can run for more than 10hrs without solar energy, which is good enough for a day's worth of work. Now don’t expect a high end rig here, obviously the PC is designed for basic computing tasks like a few Office applications, light multimedia usage and internet surfing. The specifications include a Via C7 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, keyboard and mouse and a 15.6-inch LED monitor. The operating system used is Linux (exact distro is unknown) and the kit includes a 74W solar panel with charge controller, SMF battery and AC inverter. Powering it in the monsoons will be a bit of a challenge though, perhaps you'll need multiple batteries for a few days worth of power.

iPad 3 to go Beyond HD

If you drooled over the HD resolution of the iPad 2 and thought that it couldn’t get any better then maybe the iPad 3 will make you eat your words, at least that’s what a report in The Korea Times claims. The report, in an affirmative tone stated that Apple will maintain the screen size to 9.7-inches and is all set to wrap up its full HD stint, as well as make way for better, higher-resolution screens, which one of our earlier reports claimed could go up to 2,048 x 1,536 pixels. That was, of course, just a rumor back then. Beyond HD (Image credit: 9to5Mac.com) The report further revealed that technology giants, LG and Samsung are very close to bagging the deal with Apple. Apple apparently is currently testing the samples of high-resolution LCD displays belonging to LG and Samsung at a lab in China. Those keenly following our reports on the Apple vs. Samsung saga would find it difficult to believe that Apple is looking at employing Samsung’s technology to its own. But, Samsung’s multi-faceted approach (its presence in the finished goods, as well as parts) to business makes its friendship more desirable. However, reports also direct us to the fact that Apple has been known to keep its list of providers same for all versions, across all its product categories. Hence, Apple looking elsewhere for its needs seems unlikely.