Wood case cellphone for $150

It's not a smartphone, but it is frickin' brilliant.

(Credit: MIT Media Lab)

This DIY cell phone created at MIT manages to have something for just about every major contemporary subculture or hipster subset I can think of.
Nerds and tinkerers? Check. Wooden case for the steampunk set? Check. Huge antenna for the retro, skinny-jeans-wearing set? Check. Big buttons for the fat-thumbed and Luddite crowd? Check. Rugged design for outdoorsy types? Check.
The folks at the MIT Media Lab created this prototype with an SM5100B GSM Module that takes a standard SIM card and a custom circuit board. The screen will take you back to the last century at 160x128 pixels and the laser cut wood and veneer enclosure is just one of many possible exteriors, given the availability of 3D printing. While far from a smartphone, voice, texting, and other slightly old-school functionality is possible. All told, the parts cost between $100 and $150.

While you might expect the folks at MIT to be producing things that are, well, a little more cutting edge, this project from the Media Lab's High-Low Tech group is all about encouraging "a proliferation of personalized and diverse mobile phones."
The idea is to take advantage of open-source designs and technologies like 3D printing to democratize one of the most ubiquitous devices on the planet. The project page explains the mission a little more passionately:

Freed from the constraints of mass production, we plan to explore diverse materials, shapes, and functions. We hope that the project will help us explore and expand the limits of do-it-yourself (DIY) practice. How close can a homemade project come to the design of a cutting-edge device? What are the economics of building a high-tech device in small quantities? Which parts are even available to individual consumers? What's required for people to customize and build their own devices?

That's quite a high-minded vision, but to me the most practical implication of widespread phone customization is obvious: the imminent advent of the low-rider phone. Expect to encounter numerous mobile devices kicking out excessive amounts of bass and sporting some sick flames on the case in your town in the not-too-distant future.

Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive and Others: Pricing Per GB and More Compared in Convenient Charts

There's no shortage of online storage and file syncing services these days, which is great—but can make picking just one to use confusing, especially if you need to pay for more space. Luckily Ars Technica has collected details on the most popular services in handy comparison charts.

For 7 services—Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, SugarSync, Box, and Spideroak—you can see at a glance how much free space is offered, max file size, and how much paid storage costs per GB. There's also a colorful app availability chart if you want to know which services have apps for Windows Phone (only SkyDrive) or Linux (only Dropbox and Spideroak).
The chart doesn't reflect the 25GB of free space you get on SkyDrive if you're an existing Windows Live user or how you can get more Dropbox space by uploading photos, but these are the base numbers for new users. Note that Box also just offers storage space rather than syncing.
Here's the full pricing chart, since the bottom got cut off above:

In the article, Ars Technica lists some pros and cons of each service and concludes:

OveraIl, Box earns the title of least expensive paid storage service, though its lowest paid tier is the same size as SkyDrive's first free one, if you're grandfathered into that free 25GB. Many of the services put the great Dropbox to shame in terms of free storage and cost, though Dropbox's legacy have afforded it highly refined desktop and mobile apps for customers to use. If you need a Linux client and lots of flexibility, SugarSync, SpiderOak, and Dropbox come out on top; if you're a budding Windows Phone user, SkyDrive is the only service that will let you access your cloud-stored files.

For more detailed comparisons, see our Lifehacker Faceoff of Dropbox vs. Google Drive and Dropbox vs. Alternatives post which includes SpiderOak and SugarSync, as well as Live Mesh and Wuala.

Calm Down Internet: Google Drive's Terms Are The Standard For Countless Websites, Including Gmail

Remember when everyone freaked out about parts of Pinterest's terms of service? And how, slowly but surely, word got out that the same terms can be found on virtually every website and are mostly harmless? And then everyone learned a lesson and calmed down, and would approach future terms of service with new knowledge and understanding?

Wait, scratch that last part. TNW reports that the terms of Google's much-anticipated Drive service, which launched this week, have been treated to the same warm welcome from the Twitterverse. Someone spotted yet another variant of the "worldwide license" clause that all websites include, and before long the freakout flag was flying.
The clause in question, though admittedly scary-sounding, is routine:

When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.

I hate to break it to the panicking masses, but Google is not planning on turning your spreadsheets into a touring art exhibit. A broad license like this is necessary to allow Google to operate such a service, permitting them to move the data around freely on their many servers all over the world, and display it to you (or the people you share it with) through a variety of devices and interfaces. The nightmare-labyrinth of international copyright law means that the most Google could do without such a clause is accept your data then immediately delete it—and even then someone would probably try to claim they made five unauthorized copies en route to the trash bin.
Perhaps most amusing is the fact that this piece of legal lingo doesn't come from the Google Drive terms of service, but from Google's overall terms for all their services. Meaning it already applies to everything from Gmail to Google Mars—so this might just be getting started. At this point, I suspect every social network and user content website online is waiting for the hammer to fall, since any one of them could be singled out at any time for yet another round. Oh well, I guess nothing beats a good freakout.

The Pirate Bay Claims It's Going To Host The Site Via Drones Flying Over International Waters

One of the more amazing things about the recent moves by the entertainment industry to put in place stricter laws around the globe to attack file sharing, is that they still don't realize how pointless this is compared to the only real solution, which is to offer more of what consumers actually want, rather than trying to force them into some old way of doing business. For every "victory" the industry declares, we see more and more evidence that the file sharing just moves further away from what the industry can control (and keeps growing). The Pirate Bay, of course, has always been one of the leaders in mocking the legacy entertainment industry as it continues to operate, despite years-long efforts to shut it down. And even as there are reports of new raids pending, the organization has shifted to magnet links, meaning that taking it down will be even more meaningless than in the past.

Even so, the folks involved in TPB are still trying to go further. As highlighted on TorrentFreak, the latest plan from TPB is to see if it can serve the site from GPS-controlled drones flying over international waters:

One of the technical things we always optimize is where to put our front machines. They are the ones that re-direct your traffic to a secret location. We have now decided to try to build something extraordinary.

With the development of GPS controlled drones, far-reaching cheap radio equipment and tiny new computers like the Raspberry Pi, we're going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers up in the air. This way our machines will have to be shut down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. A real act of war.

We're just starting so we haven't figured everything out yet. But we can't limit ourselves to hosting things just on land anymore. These Low Orbit Server Stations (LOSS) are just the first attempt. With modern radio transmitters we can get over 100Mbps per node up to 50km away. For the proxy system we're building, that's more than enough.

Whether or not they can actually pull it off is a totally different question, but as we've been discussing recently, drone technology is getting cheaper, and the potential disruption of the Raspberry Pi should not be underestimated. While such things might not really be ready yet to do what TPB hopes to do, it's not difficult to project these trends out just a little ways to see that not only will it be possible in the not-too-distant future, but it would be a surprise if we didn't see setups that go way beyond what TPB is currently proposing before too long.

Portuguese Man Convicted On Criminal Charges For Sharing Three Songs

Nelson Cruz points us to the latest news of totally ridiculous and disproportionate punishments for file sharing. A young man in Portugal has been convicted on criminal charges for sharing 3 songs. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, but the jail sentence was suspended, and instead he has to pay €880. While the report notes he was apparently sharing more songs, the charges only covered 3 songs. To make it clear just how ridiculous this is, Nelson also put together a YouTube playlist with all three songs -- showing that they're all available to share in this manner legally. Today. Back in 2006, because of the industry's own stupidity, such services were not readily available. If they were, the kid likely would have used such a legal service. So how is it that what this kid did was so horrible that it deserves a criminal conviction? It seems like all he really did was help show the industry what the public was looking for.

Of course, the ridiculousness doesn't stop there. The local Portuguese version of the RIAA, called the AFP, appears to be using this case as an example of why they need a Hadopi-style three strikes law in Portugal. The problem? It took nearly six years to convict this kid for daring to share 3 songs. Of course, it took nearly as long for the industry to get its act together and offer legal services. Perhaps we should give that a go for a while before we start passing new laws that kick people off the internet, yes?

Samsung Ends Nokia’s 14-Year Run as Biggest Handset Maker

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) overtook Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) as the world’s biggest vendor of mobile phones for the first time, ending the Finnish company’s 14-year run as the global leader, according to an industry study.

Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, 36 percent more than a year earlier, compared with 82.7 million for second-ranked Nokia, researcher Strategy Analytics said in a statement today. Demand for Galaxy smartphones helped Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung post first-quarter net income today of 5.05 trillion won ($4.5 billion), beating analysts’ estimates.

Models display a new Galaxy S II LTE smartphone, manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co. in Tokyo, Japan. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg

A Samsung logo at the company's showroom in Seoul. Photographer: Jung Yeon Je/AFP/Getty Images

Nokia had been the biggest mobile-phone maker by shipments since 1998, when the Espoo, Finland-based company took over the spot from Motorola Inc. (MMI) Nokia reported a 1.34 billion-euro ($1.8 billion) first-quarter operating loss after handset sales slumped. Both smartphones and low-end handsets declined as Nokia’s aging portfolio was outpaced by handsets running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android. Its handset shipments in China fell 62 percent.
“Last year Samsung became No. 1 in Europe while Nokia retained the No. 1 position in most emerging markets,” Tom Kang, a Seoul-based research analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a phone interview today. “In the first quarter, we expect Samsung took a lot of market share from Nokia in Asia. China and India were the two biggest markets where Samsung gained.”

Nokia Stock Drops

Nokia dropped as much as 2.5 percent to 2.69 euros, the lowest price in more than 15 years based on closing prices, and was trading down 0.6 percent as of 11:31 a.m. in Helsinki. Samsung gained 2.5 percent to a record 1,374,000 won at the close in Seoul.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is the world’s third-biggest maker of mobile- phones after shipments rose 89 percent to 35.1 million last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.
“Samsung will probably still be No. 1 in the second quarter, but the full year will be a close call because the third and fourth quarters are traditionally Nokia’s best,” Kang said.
Samsung also regained the lead from Apple as the world’s biggest vendor of smartphones in the first quarter. Smartphone shipments surged 41 percent in the quarter, the analysts said.
The South Korean electronics maker shipped 44.5 million smartphones in the first three months of the year, giving it about 31 percent of the market, Strategy Analytics said. Apple shipped 35.1 million units, accounting for about 24 percent of the market, it said. Nokia ranked third in the segment.

Windows Phone Sales

Nokia said this month that its new smartphone line using Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Windows Phone platform sold more than 2 million units in the first quarter out of 11.9 million smartphones that Strategy Analytics said the Finnish company had shipped.
Samsung accounted for about 25 percent of the global handset market by shipments, while Nokia’s market share was almost 23 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. Apple’s market share was 9.5 percent, it said.
Global mobile-phone shipments rose 3.3 percent to 368 million last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

Top 5 cellphone around Rs 20000 in 2012 April

5.HTC Radar Price: Rs.18999

 

Key Features

• Windows Phone 7.5 OS
• 5 MP Primary Camera
• 0.3 MP Secondary Camera
• 3.8-inch Touchscreen
• 1 GHz Scorpion Processor
• HD Recording
• 2G and 3G Network Support

The HTC Radar is a stylish smartphone loaded with features and application that are designed to meet your personal and business needs. The HTC Radar runs on a Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) operating system and houses a 1 GHz Qualcomm Scorpion processor. A large 3.8-inch Super LCD screen with a WVGA resolution of 480 x 800 pixels gives you crystal clean images that make your visual experience better. A powerful 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash present on this HTC mobile help you take good pictures. This phone is also loaded with a 0.3 megapixel secondary camera on the front side of this device. You can record HD videos with the HTC Radar at a maximum resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (30 fps). The Geo-tagging feature is also supported on this handset.
Design
The HTC Radar is a neatly crated phone with a sturdy design. This HTC Windows phone has three back, home and search buttons along the bottom of the phone which is used to navigate the interface of your phone. The back has a 5-megapixel camera and speakers along with the flash. The phone rolls out with an accelerometer, proximity sensor and a gyroscope sensor that makes your user experience convenient and easy.
Storage and Battery
A powerful Li-Ion 1520 mAh battery powers this smartphone and gives you a long talk time and battery life to take care of your personal and professional engagements. The HTC Radar has an internal memory of 8 GB to store all your images, files and data.
Connectivity and Features
The HTC Radar is a phone that is engineered to meet all your networking needs. The phone supports GPRS, EDGE, 3G and Wi-Fi platforms with which you can connect to the Internet. This HTC mobile supports a Bluetooth feature and has a micro USB port with which you can connect and share files with other devices. This smartphone has Push Email and Email with Document viewer and Document editor. This keeps you in constant touch with friends and with you professional environment. Social networking sites like Facebook and Instant Messenger loaded on this phone let you keep in touch with your friends and reach them in no time. The HTC Radar supports AGPS that gives you directions and guides your path to every place you want to go.

4.Samsung Galaxy S Plus I9001 Price: Rs.20999

 

Key Features

• Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS
• 5 MP Primary Camera
• 0.3 MP Secondary Camera
• 4-inch Super AMOLED Touchscreen
• 1.4 GHz Scorpion Processor
• HD Recording
• Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB

The Samsung Galaxy S Plus I9001 is a sleek smartphone featuring a powerful processor. The handset has a Super AMOLED full touch display which provides a bright display technology that doesn't require backlighting. The Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system lets you do faster multitasking, manage applications and easy wireless access. Powered by 1.4 GHz processor and 512 RAM, makes faster access to the applications. The phone has a 4-inch display screen that lets you enjoy videos with a better quality and 480 x 800 pixels resolution. The Galaxy Plus features a 5 megapixel autofocus camera and a VGA front camera for video calling. You can also shoot HD videos with the help of the phone camera. The Samsung handset also features Geo-tagging, Touch focus, Face and Smile detection for better image quality.
Design
The Galaxy Plus comes with a Hypermesh skin and a metallic finish. The phone has a power button on right-hand side. The volume rocker is easy to reach as it is situated on the left side of the phone. The top of the phone, houses the 3.5 mm audio jack and the microUSB port, which is protected by a sliding cover. The camera is found on the front of the phone and at the back is the loudspeaker grill. Galaxy Plus features sensors like, Accelerometer for UI auto-rotate, Touch-sensitive controls and Proximity sensor for auto turn-off.
Storage and Battery
The handset is powered by Li-Ion 1650 mAh battery provides a talk time up to 17 hours on 2G and 7 hours on 3G. When fully charged the Galaxy Plus provides a standby time up to 480 hours on 2G and 430 hours on 3G. You can also expand the memory of the phone for up to 32 GB using microSD, microSDHC cards. Connectivity and Features
The Samsung Galaxy Plus comes packed with GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity options that allow you to connect to the Internet. Connectivity features like Bluetooth and USB port helps you to share files with other devices. The TV out available in the phone lets you connect to a television set and watch videos on a bigger screen. The Samsung Galaxy Plus features Social Networking integration which helps you to reach out to your friends on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. You can upload pics on-the-go with Picasa integration. Gtalk lets you chat with your friends, even on move. Push Mail facility helps you to check your important emails through the phone. Other features like Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF) let you perform your business tasks.

3.Sony Ericsson Xperia pro Price: Rs.20030

 

Key Features

• Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS
• 8.1 MP Primary Camera
• 0.3 MP Secondary Camera
• 3.7-inch TFT Touchscreen
• 1 GHz Scorpion Processor
• HD Recording
• Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB

The Sony Ericsson Xperia pro is a smartphone that is competent enough to handle your complex business needs and satisfy your personal requirements efficiently. The Sony phone runs on Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system and possesses a 1 GHz processor under its hood. The Sony Ericsson Xperia pro is loaded with 512 MB RAM. The Xperia pro from Sony Ericsson has a 3.7-inch TFT FWVGA capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels that gives you visual clarity while using the phone. This stylish phone gives you a choice of touch or type with a full QWERTY keypad that slides out from the side. The device is preinstalled with the Timescape UI that gives you an immersive experience. The Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA engine makes your screen images look sharp and crisp. The gesture input feature makes texting and typing convenient.
This Sony Ericson smartphone is equipped with a powerful 8.1 megapixel camera with 16x zoom and a powerful LED flash. This camera has a host of other features that include touch focus, red eye reduction, image stabilization, face detection, auto focus and smile detection. The 3D sweep panorama option lets you watch videos in 3D quality by connecting your phone to a 3D television or on the multi angle 3D display.
The front facing secondary camera on the Xperia pro lets you take self-portraits with VGA quality. This Sony handset supports Geo-Tagging and a send-to web option. You can record HD videos on the Sony Ericsson Xperia pro at a maximum resolution of 1280 x 720p (30 fps). The video light and a video stabilizer help you capture videos of high quality. A CMOS sensor that the phone is preloaded with enhanced characteristics makes photography effective even in poor light.
Design
The Sony Ericson Xperia pro has an aesthetically pleasing design. The home, back and menu keys make navigation of your pages a hassle free experience. The phone has a dedicated single touch camera access key and volume rockers on the right side. The top houses the 3.5 mm audio jack, USB and the power button. An accelerometer and a proximity sensor on this touchscreen smartphone make your user experience interactive and effective.
Battery and Storage
A Li-Po 1500 mAh battery powers this mobile phone. The battery when fully charged is capable of giving you a talk time of up to 6 hours on 2G and 7 hours on 3G. The battery can give you a standby time of 430 hours on 2G and 400 hours on 3G. This smartphone has an internal memory of 320 MB and is expandable up to 32 GB using microSD, microSDHC cards.
Connectivity and Features
The Sony Ericsson Xperia pro can support your Internet connectivity needs efficiently. You can use GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi and 3G platforms to connect the Internet. A Wi-Fi hotspot feature on this mobile lets you connect to other devices even without a modem. AGPS and Google Maps help you explore a world without boundaries by guiding your path at all times. Email and Push Email along with Document Viewer and Document Editor ensures your office is with you at all times.
Social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter are supported on the Sony Ericsson Xperia pro. The mobile is enabled with YouTube, Google Talk, Google Mail and a host of other applications to keep you entertained and connected at all times. A DLNA port on this Sony Ericsson Handset lets you connect to the TV and enjoy entertainment life size.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia pro supports a Type and Send feature that integrates your messages, mails and social networking from a single screen. The screen capture application lets you capture your screen images and texts to share with friends. The Android Market on the Xperia pro lets you download and use all the applications you need on your phone to make life easier.

  2.Huawei Honor U8860

 

Price:

Rs. 19990

 

•  Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS
•  8 MP Primary Camera
•  0.3 MP Secondary Camera
•  4-inch Capacitive Touchscreen
•  1.4 GHz Scorpion Processor
•  HD Recording
•  Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB

Specifications of Huawei Honor U8860

 

General Features
In Sales Package:	Handset, Battery, Charger, Headset, Data Cable, User Guide
Form:	Bar
SIM:	Single SIM, GSM
Touch Screen:	Yes, Capacitive
Business Features:	Document Viewer
Call Features:	Loudspeaker

Display
Size:	4 Inches
Resolution:	FWVGA, 854 x 480 Pixels
Colors:	16 M
Other Display Features:	Gorilla Glass Display

Camera
Primary Camera:	Yes, 8 Megapixel
Secondary Camera:	Yes, 0.3 Megapixel
Flash:	LED
Video Recording:	Yes, 1280 x 720, 30 fps
HD Recording:	HD
Other Camera Features:	Auto Focus, Geo-tagging, Image Editor

Dimensions
Size:	61.5 x 122 x 10.9 mm
Weight:	135 g

Battery
Type:	Li-Po, 1900 mAh
Standby Time:	504 hrs (2G)

Memory and Storage
Internal:	4 GB
Expandable Memory Slot:	microSD, upto 32 GB

Internet & Connectivity
Internet Features:	Email
GPRS:	Yes, Class 10, 48 kbps
Edge:	Yes, Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G:	Yes, 14 Mbps HSDPA; 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
Wifi:	Yes, 802.11 b/g/n
USB connectivity:	Yes, micro USB, v2
Tethering:	Wi-fi Hotspot
GPS Support:	Yes, A-GPS with Google Maps
Bluetooth:	Yes, v2.1, Supported Profiles (A2DP)
Audio Jack:	3.5 mm
DLNA:	Yes

Multimedia
Music Player:	Yes, Supports MP3, eAAC+, WAV
Video Player:	Yes, Supports MP4, H.263, H.264, HD Video Playback
FM:	Yes
Sound Enhancements:	SRS WOW HD
Ringtone:	MP3

Platform
Operating Freq:	GSM - 900, 1800
OS:	Android v2.3 (Gingerbread), Upgradable to v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Java:	Yes
Processor:	1.4 GHz Qualcomm Scorpion
Graphics:	Adreno 205

Other Features
Call Memory:	Yes
SMS Memory:	Yes
Phonebook Memory:	Yes
Sensors:	Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Gyro Sensor
Additional Features:	MMS Enabled, Voice Input

1.Specifications of HTC One V

 Price 18300

General Features
In Sales Package:	Handset, Battery, EU AC Adapter, USB Sync Cable, Headset, Safety and Regulatory Guide, Quick Start Guide, Limited Warranty Card, Customer Care Card
Form:	Bar
SIM:	Single SIM, GSM
Touch Screen:	Yes, Capacitive
Business Features:	Document Viewer, Document Editor, Pushmail
Call Features:	Loudspeaker, Call Timer
Handset Color:	Jupitor Rock

Display
Type:	Super LCD 2
Size:	3.7 Inches
Resolution:	WVGA, 480 x 800 Pixels
Colors:	16 M

Camera
Primary Camera:	Yes, 5 Megapixel
Secondary Camera:	No
Flash:	LED
Video Recording:	Yes, 1280 x 720
HD Recording:	HD
Other Camera Features:	Auto Focus, BSI Sensor, Geo-tagging, Dedicated Imaging Chip, Continuous Shooting

Dimensions
Size:	59.7 x 120.3 x 9.24 mm
Weight:	115 g

Battery
Type:	Li-Ion, 1500 mAh

Memory and Storage
Internal:	4 GB
Expandable Memory Slot:	microSD, upto 32 GB
Memory:	512 MB RAM

Internet & Connectivity
Internet Features:	Email
GPRS:	Yes
Edge:	Yes
3G:	Yes
Wifi:	Yes, 802.11 b/g/n
USB connectivity:	Yes, micro USB, v2
Tethering:	Wi-fi Hotspot
GPS Support:	Yes, A-GPS with Google Maps
Bluetooth:	Yes, v4, Supported Profiles (A2DP)
Audio Jack:	3.5 mm

Multimedia
Music Player:	Yes, Supports MP3, eAAC+, WAV, MIDI
Video Player:	Yes, Supports 3GP, 3G2, MP4, WMV, AVI, HD Video Playback
Sound Enhancements:	Beats Audio
Ringtone:	MP3, WAV

Platform
Operating Freq:	GSM - 850, 900, 1800, 1900; UMTS - 2100
OS:	Android v4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
User Interface:	HTC Sense 4.0
Java:	Yes
Processor:	1 GHz

Other Features
Call Memory:	Yes
SMS Memory:	Yes
Phonebook Memory:	Yes
Sensors:	Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor
Additional Features:	To-do List, Calendar, Polaris Office, MMS Enabled, Voice Input
Important Apps:	Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Nokia Asha 302

Key Features of Nokia Asha 302 

•  3.2 MP Primary Camera
•  2.4-inch TFT LCD Screen
•  QWERTY Keypad
•  1 GHz Processor
•  FM Radio
•  Wi-Fi Enabled
•  Expandable Storage Capacity of 32 GB

Nokia Asha 302 Price: Rs.6285

Specifications of Nokia Asha 302

 

General Features
In Sales Package:	Handset, Battery, Charger, Headset, User Guide
Form:	Bar
SIM:	Single SIM, GSM
Touch Screen:	No
Keypad:	Yes, QWERTY
Business Features:	VoIP support, Pushmail
Call Features:	Speed Dialing, Loudspeaker
Handset Color:	Grey

Display
Type:	TFT LCD
Size:	2.4 Inches
Resolution:	QVGA, 320 x 240 Pixels
Colors:	262 K

Camera
Primary Camera:	Yes, 3.2 Megapixel
Secondary Camera:	No
Video Recording:	Yes, 176 x 144, 15 fps
Zoom:	Digital Zoom - 4x
Other Camera Features:	Full Focus, Full Screen Viewfinder, Self Timer, Sequence Mode, Image Editor

Dimensions
Size:	55.7 x 116.5 x 13.9 mm
Weight:	99 g

Battery
Type:	Li-Ion, 1320 mAh
Talktime:	9 hrs (2G), 5 hrs (3G)
Standby Time:	707 hrs (2G), 830 hrs (3G)

Memory and Storage
Internal:	100 MB
Expandable Memory Slot:	microSD, upto 32 GB
Memory:	128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM

Internet & Connectivity
Internet Features:	Email
Preinstalled Browser:	WAP 2.0
GPRS:	Yes
Edge:	Yes
3G:	Yes, 14.4 Mbps HSDPA; 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
Wifi:	Yes, 802.11 b/g/n
WAP:	Yes, v2
USB connectivity:	Yes, micro USB, v2
GPS Support:	No
Bluetooth:	Yes, v2.1, Supported Profiles (EDR, A2DP, AVRCP 1.0, DUN, FTP, GAP, GAVDP, GOEP, HFP, HSP, OPP, PAN, PBAP 1.0, SAP, SDAP, SPP 1.0)
Audio Jack:	3.5 mm

Multimedia
Music Player:	Yes, Supports MP3, WAV, eAAC+, MIDI
Video Player:	Yes, Supports 3GPP, H.263, H.264, AVC, MPEG-4, WMV
FM:	Yes
Ringtone:	MP3, 64 Polyphonic, MIDI

Platform
Operating Freq:	GSM - 850, 900, 1800, 1900; UMTS - 2100
OS:	(Series 40)
Java:	Yes
Processor:	1 GHz

Other Features
Call Memory:	Yes
SMS Memory:	Yes
Phonebook Memory:	Yes
Additional Features:	Flight Mode, Video Streaming, Video Ringtones, World Clock, MMS Enabled, FOTA Firmware Over the Air, Flash Lite 3.0, Dedicated Keys, 5-way Navigation Key
Important Apps:	Windows Live, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook, Whats App, Nokia Messaging, Nokia Chat

How to Jailbreak iOS 5.1

Wondering why anyone should jailbreak their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch? Apple does not provide you options to completely personalize your iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch. You can completely personalize your iPad, iPod or iPhone on by jailbreaking it.

Please note that jailbreaking is different than unlocking. Jailbreaking refers to liberating your phone from the controls of Apple, so that you can do changes in your iPhone or iPad, which otherwise you won’t be possible to. Jailbreaking allows users to gain root access to the operating system, allowing iOS users to download additional applications, extensions, and themes that are unavailable through the official Apple App Store. A jailbroken iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS can still use the App Store, iTunes, and other normal functions, such as making telephone calls.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 2010, jailbreaking iPhones is legal in the United States, although Apple has announced that the practice “can violate the warranty”.
Jailbreaking an iOS device is not as easy any more. With every new iOS upgrade, Apple is covering loopholes, making their software harder to break. However, that has not deterred hackers and nerds from working day and night to jailbreak every single iOS release.

Types of Jailbreak

There exist 2 types of jailbreak options:

1. An “untethered” jailbreak has the property that if the user turns the device off and back on, the device will start up completely, and it will have a patched kernel — in other words, it will be jailbroken after each reboot.
2. With a “tethered” jailbreak, if the device starts back up on its own, it will no longer have a patched kernel, and it may get stuck in a partially-started state; in order for it to start completely and with a patched kernel, the user has to start it with the help of the jailbreaking tool.

How to Jailbreak using Redsn0w

1. Download latest version of RedSn0w and run it: Redsn0w for Mac/ Windows.

2. Place your iPhone 4, or iPod touch, etc. into DFU mode.
3. Click jailbreak on RedSnow, and it will evaluate the necessary firmware. It will then ask you to install Cydia, make sure that is selected and click next.
4. Your iPhone or iPad should now turn into a screen similar to the Matrix movie – you should see a lot of scrolling text on your device, and eventually you will be back to your Home screen. You will see a Cydia icon but it will be white. That is because you have to perform a tethered boot.
5. Place your iPhone or iPad back in the DFU mode.
6. Click back on redSn0w and select Just boot.This will perform a tethered boot, and once your device returns to its Home screen, you will see a usable Cydia app icon. Open Cydia, and enjoy your jailbreak.
Note: Steps 5 and 6 need to be repeated every time you reboot your device to re-tether jailbreak it.

Facebook hacker tells his side of the story (video)

Summary: Glenn Steven Mangham has written a lengthy blog post, and even posted a YouTube video, explaining why he hacked into Facebook and stole the service’s source code.

Two months ago, 26-year-old Glenn Steven Mangham, was sentenced to eight months in prison for hacking into Facebook from his bedroom at his parents’ house. Earlier this month, he was freed after winning an appeal, and his sentence was halved. This week, Mangham decided to tell his side of the story in a blog post titled The Facebook Hack - What Really Happened and a YouTube video of the same title, which I’ve embedded above.
Here’s the crux of his post:

I’d like to start with the stuff that I feel is obvious or that just needs to be said out of common decency. I accept full responsibility for what I did, it was my idea and my idea alone to do it and in truth I did not fully think through all the potential ramifications at the time. Strictly speaking what I did broke the law because at the time and subsequently it was not authorised, I was working under the premise that sometimes it is better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission, It is possible to offer up information and get a company to retroactively authorise actions so that they become legal. This is an approach I have used with some success in the past. In any case it was my choice to take this risk and I made a bit of a mess out of the project. For whatever it is worth I would like to apologise for allowing the situation to escalate into a full blown investigation and for any distress that my actions caused to certain individuals. While I accept that some cost was caused by what I did I would still dispute its quoted magnitude.

He also goes on to counter a statement made by Facebook CSO Joe Sullivan, in which Mangham is painted as a malicious hacker. The British student explains what he did with the stolen Facebook source code:

It is also worth mentioning that I had the source code for just over three weeks with absolutely nothing to prevent me from making copies and redistributing it, this was more than enough time to have caused significant damage to Facebook or to find a buyer, if that had ever actually been my intention but quite clearly it was not. I also do not accept that the risk was significantly increased by my actions, almost nobody knew of the existence of my copy and it was physically detached from the Internet, in many respects it was better secured than the original, So just in case anyone is unclear at the point I am driving at here, these are not the actions of someone who is being malicious, I would argue quite the opposite.

The full post is worth a read. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the video is just Mangham reading his blog post.
Facebook said it spent $200,000 in dealing with Mangham’s actions, which triggered a time-consuming and costly investigation by authorities. At first, Menlo Park thought it was dealing with major industrial espionage and contacted the FBI and British law enforcement.
Mangham admitted to the crime and pleaded guilty to breaching the social network’s security systems between April 27 and May 9 of last year. He was arrested on June 2 and released from prison on bail after spending two months behind bars. Four conditions were attached to his bail, including that he live and sleep at his home address, not access the Internet, and not have any devices in the house that can access the Web.
Mangham had previously shown Yahoo how to improve its security and wanted to do the same for Facebook. The social networking giant discovered the infiltration during a system check. Mangham used various programs to get past Facebook’s defenses, and faced five charges for repeatedly trying to penetrate the defenses of the social network under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. More specifically, Mangham was accused of downloading a computer program to secure unauthorized access to Facebook, of attempting to hack into Facebook’s Mailman server, of using PHP script to secure access to Facebook’s Phabricator server, of sharing a PHP script intended to hack into that server, and of securing repeated access to another Facebook server.
Facebook runs a Puzzle server to allow computer programmers to test their skills. A Mailman server is typically used by firms to run internal and external email distribution lists. The Phabricator is a set of tools designed by the company to make it easier to build Facebook apps.

Kindle Fire owns over half of Android tablet market

Summary: The Kindle Fire burst onto the tablet scene a short time ago, and already owns over half the Android tablet market.

There’s a new king of the Android tablet market. It’s not Samsung, Motorola, nor any of the expected players. According to the latest figures from ComScore the Kindle Fire from Amazon now owns over 54 percent of the Android tablet market.
This is no small feat given the short time the Kindle Fire has been on sale, compared to all of the other tablets. Amazon must be feeling pretty smug, having doubled its market share in just the last two months.
Even more telling in these latest numbers is that the previous leader of the Android tablet market is now in second place with only 15.4 percent of the market. More significantly the Samsung share is comprised of the entire Galaxy Tab product line.
Motorola has 7 percent share with the XOOM, while my personal favorite, the Transformer Prime, comes in fourth with a 6.3 percent share of the Android tablet market.
the Android tablet partners not only have to watch Apple from afar, they have to compete with each other. Now it appears all but Amazon have to be content sharing an ever-shrinking market. It doesn’t sound like much profit to go around for much longer.
It doesn’t speak kindly for the Android platform, either. The Kindle Fire uses Amazon’s derivative version of Android that looks nothing like the competition. Maybe that’s significant too.

CISPA: more heinous than SOPA, and it just passed

Summary: There’s still time to take this bill down. Read, learn, and then let your Congress-Critters know that, once again, We The Internet will not stand for these assaults on our rights.

I haven’t had much time to talk about the so-called cybersecurity bill called CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) because I’ve actually been working on a very in-depth cyberdefense project that I can’t yet discuss publicly for clients who, you guessed it, I can’t discuss publicly.
Even so, I wanted to take a moment to share some disturbing breaking news.
According to TechDirt, a site I quite respect, CISPA just passed the House in a rushed vote, with some amendments that TechDirt claims pretty much, well, here, read it for yourself:
The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a “cybersecurity crime”. Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all
Now, I haven’t sat down and read the entire bill as revised and just passed by the House, but I will. You should, too. Here’s the PDF to the bill, directly from the House’s mouth (PDF).
Here’s our own Violet Blue’s take on the situation:

CISPA now needs to make it through the normal bill process (which means there will be some Senate version, and if that passes, some reconciled version) and then, if all that survives, it will still have to be signed into law by the President.
President Obama has already stated that if this bill cross his desk, he’ll veto it.
Even so, the battle for our rights isn’t over. As I told you a few months ago, in 5 reasons why SOPA, PROTECT-IP and other legislative idiocy will never die, these attacks against our fundamental rights by our own legislators will continue as long as there are lobbyists around and politicians with more interest in their careers than in patriotism.
Let me be clear: there is a terrible need for better cybersecurity, but a bill like this isn’t going to protect America. Rather, it will hurt Americans. These bills (CISPA, SOPA, PIPA, and the like), will continue to crop up like weeds.
The fact that this thing passed in a rush session by the House, a body that normally can’t agree on much of anything, is an indicator that the only way we’re going to keep our freedoms in the digital world is if we remain diligent.
There’s still time to take this bill down. Read, learn, and then let your Congress-Critters know that, once again, We The Internet will not stand for these assaults on our rights.

Google clones Dropbox

Summary: Google Drive looks like just another ho-hum Dropbox clone. Same feature set, same market positioning. But was it really necessary for Google to copy the outrageously unfair terms of service Dropbox published and then hastily dropped last summer?

What color is the sun on Planet Google?
Seriously, does this company breathe the same air the rest of us humans do?
Yesterday, Google debuted its long-rumored Google Drive service. As far as I can tell, it’s a ho-hum Dropbox clone, mashed up with Google Docs. I can’t tell for myself because Google is still “preparing my drive” and will “email me when it’s ready.” So all I can do is rely on the reports of journalists who were granted early access, all of whom happened to be Google fans. Hmmm.
But if you’re going to clone someone else’s product, maybe you could look back at that company’s history and avoid making the same dumb mistakes they did?
Not on Planet Google.
Last July, Dropbox published a revised Terms of Service. A revision published on July 1, 2011, originally contained this jaw-dropping paragraph:

By submitting your stuff to the Services, you grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service.

Within days, Dropbox revised its TOS again, adding a clarifying sentence: “This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services.” But the damage had already been done. It’s hard to recover trust when it’s lost.


So today, Google Drive debuts, with an equally jaw-dropping terms of service:

Your Content in our Services: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.

Did no one in Mountain View look at that document and say, “I wonder what our users will think of this?” Apparently not. Did anyone say, “Hey, remember when Dropbox did this and had to apologize for an entire week?” I guess not.
Google PR is now trying to walk back the damage. In a statement to Business Insider, a spokesperson tried the “stop, drop, and roll” gambit recommended when you have accidentally set yourself on fire:

A Google spokesperson pointed us to a few passages that should help clear things up. To put it in context, Google’s policy is very similar to Dropbox’s…
Here’s the key passages from Google’s terms of service you should know:
“Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.”
So Google only needs to access your files in order to deliver them to your Google Drive account on the web, phone, tablet, etc. It’s very limited.

Feel reassured? Yeah, me neither.
Last summer Ben Schorr provided an excellent analysis of the Drobpbox TOS:

Even the botox fanatics among you should have a raised eyebrow at this point. The very words “distribute” and “publicly display” should be all you really need to hear.
Now some of you are saying “Oh, sure, the agreement says that but they won’t really DO it.” Fair enough. Many of you reading this are lawyers (I know my audience), would you encourage your client to sign an agreement that says the other side has the right to do something onerous with the caveat that “I know it says they’re allowed to do it, but they won’t really do it.” This agreement gives them permission to do it. Do you take their word that they won’t? Up to you.

Google used those exact same words, with absolutely no awareness that a direct competitor had already made the exact same mistake just a few months earlier.
It’s a perfect example of Google’s inability to pay even the slightest bit of attention to anything that happens outside the Googleplex.
I can’t wait to see whose other mistakes show up when I finally get a chance to look at Google Drive.

8 things Microsoft needs to do to save Windows 8

Summary: The real world runs on real computers doing real work and those computers run Windows. Microsoft needs to remember that as they introduce Windows 8 to the real world.

Our home media PC is getting a little long in the tooth. It’s always been a bit of a problem because we bought a horizontal case that would look pretty in our media room, rather than one optimized for holding PC hardware. Right now, the machine is just about three years old, hasn’t had a Windows reinstall in all that time, and has developed its own set of quirks.
It’s getting near that time. It’s getting near that time when either a Windows reinstall is necessary, or its general crotchetiness will give us an excuse to build a spiffy, new machine. And that has had me thinking about whether we’ll just put our trusty copy of 64-bit Windows 7 on it, or hold out for Windows 8.
That has had me thinking about whether I even want to run Windows 8, and that got me thinking about what it would take to make Windows 8 a real, acknowledged, indisputable success in the marketplace.
Here, then, are eight things Microsoft needs to do to save Windows 8:
1. Clearly overcome Windows 8’s WTF problem
Windows 8 suffers from WTFitis. Most of us, when presented with news of Windows 8’s various changes — from the weird start environment to Metro to Windows RT, to the apparent push for Windows on tablets — look at Windows 8 and simply ask, “WTF?”
In other words, why is Microsoft doing this to us? Why can’t Windows 8 just be Windows, only better? That’s all most of us want, anyway. Just Windows, but better.
Microsoft seems to have iPad envy, and the company looks like it’s willing to sell all us desktop and notebook users down the river, just so it can have a nice tablet interface, even though most tablet users will still just buy an iPad.
So, the first major thing Microsoft has to do is make it clear that they understand that there’s a future desktop and notebook market, and that they don’t consider all of us who have to do real work with Windows 8 the ugly step-children of the beautiful people who use tablets and want a PLAYSKOOL interface so they can fling Angry Birds.

2. Rename the tablet version of Windows to “Windows for Tablets”
This is a corollary to #1 above. There’s a version of Windows 8 being designed for OEMs who are building tablets on Arm processors (the most popular mobile processor). This is a fundamentally different Windows than most of us will run on our PCs, and it’s not even available to the general public.
But Microsoft’s early Windows 8 marketing has been problematic, because Microsoft hasn’t made it clear that PC version is completely different from the tablet version. Even now, things aren’t completely clear. Microsoft has been encouraging developers to move to RT as a development library, saying that it’s the future of Windows applications.
But Windows 8 RT is just the version of Windows for Arm devices (yes, the name of the tablet product is “RT”, not something — you know — like “tablet”). So it’s not clear to developers that if they start coding RT applications, whether or not those applications will only run on Windows RT or Windows for PCs.
Clarity is essential here.
3. Build an install option to install Windows 8 in “classic” mode with a Start button
There is no doubt that the Metro interface has the potential to be pretty — on small displays. But there’s also no doubt that all the jumping back and forth into and out of Metro to simply launch desktop programs is completely untenable — especially, again, for those of us doing real work.
Clearly, there are now two approaches to the Windows interface — the old-style desktop and the optimized-for-tiny-displays Metro.
To avoid truly pissing off Microsoft’s very loyal (and very busy) desktop user-base, they need to create an option for a “classic” interface install, including a Start button and the desktop as the primary environment.
4. Start promoting the “getting real work done” benefits of upgrading to Windows 8
As it turns out, other than the whole Metro nightmare, Windows 8 is a pretty slick desktop OS upgrade. It adds a ton of helpful new features that will make using Windows more productive.
These include being able to manage what items boot from the Task Manager, without having to MSCONFIG or hack a registry, faster booting, the ability to do a clean Windows reinstall without wiping your data or settings, the ability to sync your settings across PCs, and a lot more.
These individual feature tweaks are what will make us active users (you could also call us “recommenders”) decide to upgrade to Windows 8.
Microsoft needs to go out of its way to explain these benefits, not just rely on us in the trade press to discover them and point them out as afterthoughts.
5. Remove artificial performance limitations from all Windows 8 versions
Windows 7 has a bunch of artificial performance limitations, designed to force customers to buy different packages just to get better performance from their computers. For example, Windows Home doesn’t allow you to use all your RAM, if you have a boatload of RAM.
Another limitation: the IIS Web server artificially throttles down the number of simultaneous Web sessions, presumably to try to force server operators to buy Windows Server.
These artificial limitations do not encourage Windows upgrades, they simply annoy their customers. Any company that wants a fully powered server operating system will buy Windows Server, for example. But there’s no good reason why Microsoft should be pushing people to things like Apache and Linux, when their own products work quite well.
The way to separate versions is by features, plain and simple. The Pro version of Windows 8, for example, will offer Active Directory domain management, a feature that’s almost exclusively corporate. This makes sense, but artificial limitations don’t.
6. Make sure Windows Media Center runs on the non-Pro version of Windows 8
In a truly bizarre move, Microsoft announced that the Media Center version of Windows will only work on the much pricier Windows 8 Pro. Worse, most PCs that users might buy and want to put in their living rooms won’t be running Windows 8 Pro, so in order to use the Media Center features, users would have to install or upgrade their entire OS.
Ed Bott outlines some possible reasons why Microsoft is pushing this approach, and it has to do with paying licensing fees for DVD codecs.
But there are easy ways around this, up to and including charging a small fee for the DVD codec. After all, it doesn’t make sense to limit such a critical hub function of home PCs just because Microsoft doesn’t want to incur the cost of licensing a codec for an obsolete technology.
7. Stop self-limiting Windows
This brings me to another point. It seems that Windows 8 is being brutalized by Microsoft’s product management, trying to get everything to fit “just so” in an Excel spreadsheet or a PowerPoint slide.
Home machines can’t run media center. Desktop machines are forced into a non-desktop UI. A provided Web server can’t really serve more than a few Web pages. And so on and so on and so on.
Look, Windows 8, without the artificial limitations, is one seriously kick-butt OS. But it’s if it’s going to be held back from showing what it can really do in the market it dominates because some brand managers are eying another market, they’re going to wind up killing the golden goose.
Sure, it totally makes sense for Microsoft to go after the mobile, small computer, and tablet market, since that’s where the growth is. But it doesn’t make sense to self-limit an incredibly powerful OS just because there’s some iPad-envy out there.
8. Give out a completely free, ultra-bare bones version to absorb all those XP users
There are a tremendous number of Windows XP users still out there. Many of them are running unsafe, virus-ridden, completely vulnerable systems, but aren’t upgrading to Windows 7 or Windows 8 because they either don’t know how, or don’t want to pay for an update.
A lot of these people are senior citizens, so we have our most vulnerable populace stuck with the most vulnerable version of Windows.
Here’s my suggestion: make a build of Windows 8 with almost all the features stripped out, except for an updated IE and the ability to install and launch applications. Remove all the games, all the media player applications, all the neat support applications like the Snipping Tool, most of the accessories, the Remote Desktop Connection, etc.
Remove all of it except what it takes to run a program and browse the Web. Then make this version free, with an easy to see and use Anytime Upgrade button.
First, this is probably the only way Microsoft will ever be able to finally be done with Windows XP. It’s a way to strike a strong blow against cyberattackers who love running distributed denial of service attacks from vulnerable XP machines. It’s also a way to get more people voluntarily using Windows 8.
As we all know from in-app purchases, once you’ve got something installed, you’re far more likely to press that upgrade button than you are to undertake a massive installation project. So if Microsoft were to release Windows with a fremium model, they’d solve a whole bunch of problems at once.
Finally, it’s not like Microsoft would lose any customers who’d otherwise buy Windows. Most people and OEMs wouldn’t tolerate a Windows devoid of almost all features, so we’d all upgrade anyway. But I’ll tell you what it would do. It’d give those Linux desktop folks a kick in the teeth, taking away their primary selling point of a free OS.
This strategy would not only finally bring an end to XP, not only brutalize the Linux market, but it’d also give Microsoft a nearly guaranteed stream of Anytime Upgrade revenue. Talk about a win-win-win strategy.
Can Windows 8 be saved?
So there you go, eight things Microsoft needs to do to save Windows 8. While there’s undoubtedly tremendous growth in the world of tablets and other toy computers, the real world runs on real computers doing real work and those computers run Windows.
Microsoft needs to remember that as they introduce Windows 8 to the real world.

Yet another Samsung Galaxy S III photo leaked

There’s so much (mis)information swirling around the Galaxy S III at this point that we don’t even know if the phone is real. For all we know, Samsung could be announcing the Galaxy Ace 3 on May 3rd. Hopefully that won’t be the case, and one of these leaks has to be real, right? Here’s another one for you to chew on: Know Your Mobile has been sent a picture of what is claimed to be the Galaxy S III… again.

Unlike the relatively clear images we saw out of Vietnam, Mr. Blurrycam seems to have delivered this picture. KYM weren’t tipped to internals, but just going off the image, it looks to be roughly the same size and shape as the Galaxy Nexus, but with two capacitive keys and a physical home button instead. The volume rocker on the left hand side seems to protrude quite far from the chassis, and we have to wonder if that silver around the bezel is actually metal, or yet another case of faux chrome.

Once again, we’re extremely skeptical of the image. The reflection of the hand and phone taking the picture is the big clue, extending beyond the front glass of the phone onto the carpet. We’re not scientists, but last time we checked, our carpet didn’t seem to have reflective properties. It could be a trick of the light, or perhaps just a sketchy Photoshop.

Still, it goes to show that the hype train for the Galaxy S III is truly out of control, with a mountain of renders, “leaks”, and specs being thrown out over the past couple of months. Samsung seem to have reached hype levels usually reserved for Apple products, and we only imagine they’re pretty pleased with the results. 

Skype For Android Updated With Faster Start-up, Supports Video Rotation

Skype has updated its Android app to version 2.8.0.920. The update is not that much big but it is worthy, the new update includes: restyled instant messaging view, faster start-up, and supports video rotation in more devices. The app is free and available from the Google Play Store.

Syrian Electronic Army Hacked LinkedIn blog

Silicon Republic reports that LinkedIn blog was reportedly being hacked by a group calling itself as the Syrian Electronic Army. Users clicking on LinkedIn’s blog at the bottom of their LinkedIn page will find them redirected to a web page supportive of President Bashar al-Assad and critical of the Syrian National Council. At the time of writing and after clicking on the link again a “Service Unavailable” page replaced the message from the Syrian Electronic Army. “We are a group of Syrian youth who wanted to show the truth and therefore we used this website which was used to spread lies about Syria,” they wrote. “We are the Syrian Electronic Army and we come in peakoe (sic) for those who want peace for Syria,” the message read.

Zerg Rush

search Zerg Rush in google and enjoy

Zerg Rush – type it into Google and see what happens

Worried you were being too productive today? Have no fear, the coders at Google have the perfect remedy.

In the popular real-time strategy genre of video games, the term "rush" is applied to any tactic in which you aim several of your battle units at your enemy at once, immediately overpowering them through sheer weight of numbers.

In the hugely successful real-time strategy game Star Craft, it's a common tactic used by the alien race known as the Zergs.

Google has crafted a rather amusing little Easter egg - just run a search for "Zerg rush" and see what happens.

As you'll immediately notice, little Os are now running around the screen attacking and destroying every search result – you even see the life bars depleting in true RTS style.

But you can also fight back. Clicking on each Zerg several times will defeat them, so take out as many as you can. When the animation finishes, you can post your score to Google+.

The good thing is when your bosses catches you playing, you can just claim your PC has been infected by a virus and spend the rest of the afternoon reading the newspaper while tech support investigates

Google Translate boasts 64 languages and 200M users

Ever wanted to know how to turn a phrase in Esperanto, Bengali, Chinese, or some other language? Seems lots of people do, in fact millions.

Google announced today that more than 200 million people actively use Google Translatemonthly. Add up all those words and that equals roughly the same amount of text per day as there is written in 1 million books.

"To put it another way: what all the professional human translators in the world produce in a year, our system translates in roughly a single day," Google Translate research scientist Franz Och wrote in a blog post. "By this estimate, most of the translation on the planet is now done by Google Translate."

The translation service launched in 2001 with eight languages that could be translated to and from English. After working on improving speed and the accuracy of its translation machines, Google added more languages. Today, the service can translate a sentence in less than one second and works in 64 different languages, including Icelandic, Swahili, Basque, Azerbaijani, and Welsh.

Och said he believes that the majority of Google Translate users access the service while traveling. According to the company's stats, mobile traffic has quadrupled during the past couple of years and 92 percent of traffic comes from outside the U.S.

Google Translate is available for texting on mobile phones, in Chrome's browser for any Web page, YouTube video captions, and speech-to-speech "conversation mode" onsmartphones.

However, this doesn't mean that translation machines will replace humans. "Of course, for nuanced or mission-critical translations, nothing beats a human translator," Och affirms, "and we believe that as machine translation encourages people to speak their own languages more and carry on more global conversations, translation experts will be more crucial than ever."