Opera Launches New Versions Of Mobile Browsers.

Mobile World Congress may be primarily a place where new phones and tablets are launched, but it’s a good place to launch an app, as well. Opera has seized the opportunity with two new mobile versions of its browser, Opera Mini Next and Opera Mobile 12.

Opera Mini Next is a developer preview of the next Opera Mini. It includes a home screen called a “smart page” that features regularly visited websites and includes one-click access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. This new menu will be located besides the current Speed Dial interface.

None of this may sound particularly innovative, but Opera Mini is designed for use not just on smartphones but also feature phones, which often have smaller displays and rely on effective use of screen real-estate. To quote SEO Lars Boilsen, “When people think of using social networks on the go, they often imagine a smartphone […] we know that’s not the way a majority of mobile phone owners access their social networks.” In fact, smartphone users won’t be able to access Smart Page at all.

Opera Mobile 12’s update more of an under-the-hood revision instead of a feature update. It adds WebGL support, a new HTML5 parser ominously called Ragnarok, and support for mobile camera use through your browser.

Opera Mini for iPhone has been given a minor update, as well. File uploads are now supported and the Speed Dial page can handle more than nine items.

You can download Opera Mini Next by visiting m.opera.com/next. Android and Symbian users can download Opera Mobile 12 off their respective markets and iPhone users can download the new version of Opera Mini from the Apple App Store. As always, all versions of Opera’s browser are free.

MovieGram: Get Movie Details & Ratings From Multiple Sites.

People often stick with either IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes for their movie ratings. They use these ratings to decide which movie to watch next. This decision can be made much easier if you had some way to simultaneously view a movie’s rating on different websites. MovieGram provides you with that way.

MovieGram is a free to use website that aggregates movie ratings from IMDb, RottenTomatoes, and Metacritic. The site serves as a very useful tool to judge whether or not you will be interested in a movie. Since you do not need any accounts on the site, you can jump right in and type in the name of a movie or browse the thumbnail images on the homepage. Each movie includes details such as a synopsis, cast, runtimes, etc.

On the right pane of the movie you find its ratings on the three major movie rating websites: IMDb, RottenTomatoes, and Metacritic.

You have the option to leave a comment on the movie’s page through your Facebook account or share the movie page on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service.
2.> Aggregates movie ratings.
3.> Collects ratings from IMDb, RottenTomatoes, and Metacritic.
4.> Provides movie details.
5.> Helps decide which movie to watch next.
6.> FilmSite, Nanocrowd and MRQE.

Check out MovieGram from here @ www.moviegr.am

Sony's Xperia P and U get a price tag.

Sony’s Xperia P and U were unveiled amidst a lot of fanfare at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. Now, we’ve got the price tags of these handsets, too. According to Xperiablog, the Xperia P will be priced at €449, which means it will be approximately close to Rs.29,631. Obviously, taxations and other factors come into play, so though the pricing may not be accurate, it may hover around the 30K margin. However, we might see the price drop by a bit, if the Indian version of the phone comes without NFC. At the moment, though, the Xperia P definitely seems like one expensive handset.

The second smartphone, the Xperia U seems to be slightly cheaper than the P. It’s got a pricing of €259, which means it will retail close to the Rs.17,096 mark. That’s definitely a good price tag, considering it’s a dual-core processor that we’re talking about. But, it’s less storage and a smaller screen than the Xperia P, although, we’re not sure we’ll really complain about that. It also means that the current pricing of the Neo V and a lot of other handsets will drop, if a dual-core phone comes in at about a similar price bracket.

The major features of the Sony Xperia U are:

Android 2.3 Gingerbread
3.5-inch Reality Display powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine
1GHz dual-core processor
5MP camera with fast capture, HD recording, 2D and 3D panoramic images capture capability
xLoud and 3D surround sound audio technology
Will be available in white or black, with pink and yellow exchangeable caps for the base of the smartphone in the box

That’s the pricing, as of now, but we have to also acknowledge the fact that a lot of quad-core phones have been announced as well, so a dual-core phone at a 30K price tag is definitely not something to look forward to. What do you guys think - would you buy these phones at this price?

Apple event scheduled for March 7 in San Francisco.

Early this month, it was reported that Apple was preparing to host an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco on the 7th of March. This report came courtesy of iMore and they claimed that reliable sources had informed them regarding the same. This report coincided with a report by AllThingsD, which although, reiterated the fact that Apple would be holding an event in the first week of March, did not come out clear on the specified date. For all Apple fans and any of those interested in knowing when the iPad 3 may be being unveiled, March 7th should now be circled on their calendars, because a report by CNET states that Apple has sent out invites to members of the media about an event scheduled on the exact same day.

As per the report, the invitation only comes as an image with a caption that states, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.” This definitely indicates that Apple will be showing off their new iPad and gathering from the caption, a Retina Display tablet should be figuring in the announcement. The report by CNET goes on to say, “This big feature rumored to be coming to this year's model is a display that packs four times the number of pixels as the first and second-generation models, bearing resemblance to the so-called Retina Displays found on the company's recent model iPhones and iPod Touches. Other expected features include a speedier processor, better cameras, and the possibility of 4G LTE networking.” There have been numerous reports in the past indicating that Apple would have all these features and more in their upcoming tablet.

The last bit of information that came about is that the brand was working on two separate chips, namely the A5X and the A6. There have been rumblings in the past that the upcoming tablet would feature a quad-core processor, but various other reports are rubbishing these claims.

As of now, we have to just wait for a few more days and see what Apple wants the world to see and touch. Let us know your thoughts on what may feature in the next iPad or do you think Apple may have a surprise in store for the world?

ZTE launches four Android tablets at MWC.

Along with eight Android smartphones at Mobile World Congress, ZTE has also announced four Android tablets. These tablets will be available in the market in coming months.

The highlight of the launch was two quad core tablets from this Chinese manufacturer – PF 100 and T98. ZTE PF 100 features NVIDIA T30S 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, Icera 450 HSPA modem, Android 4.0, 10.1-inch screen with WXGA resolution, 1GB RAM, 16GB for internal storage, 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera.

On the other hand, ZTE T98 is a 7 inch tablet with NVIDIA T30S 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB for internal storage, 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera.

Coming to the dual core tablets – V96 and V9S, V96 features 1.7GHz dual core Qualcomm processor, Android 4.0, LTE, 10.1 inch WXGA display, 1GB RAM, 16GB for internal storage, 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera.

Last one of the batch ZTE V9S is a Honeycomb tablet with 10.1 inch WXGA display, 1.2GHz dual core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB for internal storage, 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera.

uTorrent for Android coming soon.

uTorrent, the most popular BitTorrent client may make an entry to the mobile platform. Torrentfreak's been stating that a mobile version of the client will hit the Android platform, sometime soon. There’s no official date of when this is going to happen, as per the conversation between Torrentfreak and BitTorrent. uTorrent was bought over by BitTorrent some 6 years ago. BitTorrent told Torrentfreak that they had strong interest in the mobile front and that they were working on an app for the Android platform. Now, there are plenty of Android remotes that allow users to control their desktop uTorrent software, but BitTorrent isn’t working on one more of those remote controls. A proper BitTorrent client is most likely what’s in store.

Additionally, Torrentfreak reports that BitTorrent has been working on a Linux client, which was suspended for a while, back in 2010, as the main uTorrent branch for Windows took on some major changes. There is almost definitely going to be a uTorrent client for Android devices because it's possible. Clients for iOS devices, such as the iPod Touch, iPhone and the iPad seem very unlikely, due to Apple’s unwillingness to allow file sharing related apps on their app store. Few companies want to be connected to BitTorrent in any way, owing to software piracy, arising by distributing content using the protocol. Recently, severe action was taken by law enforcement agencies against P2P services and file hosting services.

uTorrent isn’t going to be the first native BitTorrrent app for Android, though. It might offer some neat features, but there have been native apps that allow Bittorrent downloading. aDownloader and aTorrent are two such examples that are freely available on the Android Market. They allow users to download files over Wi-Fi and other 2G/3G data connections. uTorrent is extremely popular with some 140 million users, using it each month and that number is only increasing. The number of mobile phone users, and also Android phone users is massive and many of them use smartphones and data connections. If a uTorrent Android app arrives, it could really boost their user base by a lot.

MWC 2012: Huawei showcases E369, smallest data card.

After showing off its new MediaPad and smartphones, Huawei displayed the E369, which it refers to as the world’s slimmest data card at the Mobile World Congress 2012. This data card jumps onto Huawei’s thinnest product portfolio, which is also inclusive of the thinnest ever PC/CE module MU733 and MU739, mobile hotspot E5331 and also the Ascend P1 S. Boasting of a slim and chic design, the E369 has been designed for UMTS 5 module global roaming and can be picked in eight distinct colors. The E369 follow-up is also expected to integrate Huawei’s cloud service.

“As the leading provider of mobile broadband products, Huawei Device is taking the lead in designing and developing products that excels not only technologically but also aesthecially, bringing consumers a premium user experience. Thin, light and compact products not only look good but has lower battery consumption, extending battery life expectancy,” said Wu Shi Min, President, Huawei Device Mobile Broadband Product Line.

At MWC, we saw the Huawei Ascend D quad that is powered by company’s K3V2 quad-core 1.2GHz/1.5GHz processor and boasts of the most compact design among 4.5-inch smartphones. Moreover, it runs on the Android 4.0 operating system and Huawei’s proprietary power management system. Its 10-inch MediaPad also runs on Android 4.0 and is powered by 1.5GHz Qual-Core Huawei K3 SoC, with an 8 Megapixel auto-focus rear camera and full HD 1080p video recording capabilities at 30fps.

The MU733 and MU739 that are being spoken about to be the slimmest PC/CE modules are less than 2mm slim. In fact the MU739 particularly measures only 600mm2. Both these modules are also said to consume less power and dissipate less heat. They can be widely employed in PC/CE electronic equipments, like laptops, smartphones, tablet PCs, e-books, navigating devices and PDAs.

Huawei Device is set to launch the E5331 in May. There is no word on the worldwide release of the E369, yet.

MWC 2012: Panasonic reveals second Eluga - Eluga Power.

Afew short days after announcing their first smartphone, Panasonic have taken the stage at the Mobile World Congress event and introduced their second smartphone, the Eluga Power. This smartphone features some higher specifications, as compared to the recently announced Eluga, making the newest one the flagship handset from the brand’s stable. As compared to the Eluga, the Eluga Power features an improved array of specifications, such as a larger display that measures at 5-inches, running Google’s latest operating software, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, right out of the box and a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, as compared to the 1GHz processor found on the Eluga.

Panasonic claims, “In developing the ELUGA power, we refused to compromise and remained ambitious. That’s how we’ve managed to deliver the convenience of a 5-inch HD screen and superfast charging, make it water and dustproof, as well as add impressive features like NFC and a 1.5GHz processor. All in a slim, pocket-friendly and stylish smartphone.”

Like the Eluga, the Eluga Power features some nifty specifications, such as having dustproof and waterproof abilities, NFC capabilities and the super fast charging feature. Speaking on the last feature Panasonic states, “In just 30 minutes Panasonic’s big-screen, big-battery smartphone can reach 50% charge capacity – and with its 1800mAh battery the ELUGA power is perfect for those who need their phone to work as hard as they do.”

Here is a quick look at the specifications of the Panasonic Eluga Power:
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
5-inch LCD HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor
8MP camera with AF, digital zoom of 8x and full HD 1080p video recording capability
8GB Internal memory
Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, USB 2.0
NFC capability
EDGE / HSPA+ / HSDPA14Mbps / HSUPA 6Mbps
GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900, UMTS 900, 2100
Dimensions are 136 x 70 x 9.6mm
Weighs 133g
Waterproof and Dustproof
1800mAh battery

With the unveiling of this handset, the Eluga Power comes face-to-face in competition with the Samsung Galaxy Note and the recently announced LG Optimus Vu, although the latter two are slightly larger, all three fall in the same category of smartphones. No word on the pricing or global availability of this smartphone is available yet.

GenerateFavicon: Make An Icon For Your Website Instantly.

It seems like every website has one of those little icons when you bookmark it. In fact, we at CHINTANSFAMILY have one of them for our site. If you have a website and you don’t have an
icon, then Generate Favicon is exactly what you are looking for. They make it quick and easy to generate an icon for your website.

Generate Favicon is designed to make anyone who owns a website’s life just a little bit easier. It also helps with making your site stand out. In addition to their generator, they also have a “what is a favicon” section that contains all kinds of helpful information for people who are new to these icons. Their generator is easy to use. It does one thing, and it does it well.

Features:

1.> Generate icons from .PNG, .GIF, .JPG and .BMP images.
2.> Transparent background for .GIF and .PNG images.
3.> Easy to use generator that makes favicons in multiple sizes.
4.>“What is a favicon” for an explanation of favicons and their history.
5.> Preview of what the icon will look like in different browsers.


Visit GenerateFavicon from here @ www.generatefavicon.com

Over 1 lakh pre-bookings for BSNL tablet, already!.

Just last week, reports about the launch of the tablet trio, following a BSNL-Pantel Technologies partnership became public. Now, the Mobile Indian reports that the tablet has since been subject to a lot of appreciation from the masses; and all that has been showing in the several pre-booking requests, totaling to roughly over a lakh that the tablets are currently enjoying. Quoting Virendra Singh, Managing Director of Noida-based, Pantel Technologies, the report stated, "We have received more than one lakh pre booking orders over phone and online for the three tablets which we have launched in association with BSNL." That is not all. Reportedly, apart from the 1 lakh plus pre-bookings that the tablets have received already; there is an additional 2 lakh tablet order from Sahara India, which definitely will have people sit up and take notice.

Interestingly, in just a couple of days from now, i.e by March 1, the tablets will have made their way to retail stores and BSNL outlets, according to the report. The tablet trio, includes the low-cost tablet, called BSNL T-Pad IS701R priced at Rs. 3,250, boasting of
specifications like:

Display: 7-inch TFT, resistive touchscreen, 16:9, 800x600
CPU: IMAP210 1GHz
OS: Android 2.3
Camera: 0.3MP
RAM: DDR2 256 MB
Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n
Video: Max.1280*720 MKV(H.264 HP) AVI RM/RMVB FLV WMV9 MP4
Flash Support: Adode Flash 10.3
Audio: MP3/WMA/APE/FLAC/AAC/OGG/AC3/W
Battery: Li-ion 3000mAh 5V2A

The next tablet in line is the BSNL T-Pad WS704C priced at Rs.10,999, boasting of specifications like:

Display: 7-inch Capacitive Multi Touch Screen 800 x 600
Processor: 1GHz
OS Version: Android 2.3/ 4.0
Camera: 0.3Mp Front + 2.0 Mp Rear
RAM: 512 MB DDRIII
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11B/G
3G: Built-in CDMA/EVDO+GSM
Bluetooth: 2.1+ EDR
Battery: Polymer 4000 mAH

The third tablet is the BSNL T-Pad WS802C priced at Rs.13,500, boasting of specifications like:

Display: 8-inch, Capacitive Multi Touch Screen 800 x 600
Processor: 1.2 GHz
OS Version: Android OS 2.3
Camera: 0.3Mp Front + 2.0 MP Rear
RAM: 512 MB DDRIII
ROM (Storage): e-MMC NAND Flash 4gb
External Memory: T Flash (upto 32GB)
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11B/G
3G: Built-in WCDMA/ EVDO 3G
Bluetooth: 2.1+ EDR
HDMI: 1080p & 720p
Earphones: 3.5mm stereo phone jack

If these specifications have got you impressed, and you want one for yourself, you could head over to the Pantel website, here and book your tablet.

MWC 2012: ZTE Era announced, 7.8mm thin with Tegra 3.

The quad-core beasts keep pouring in, the latest one being from ZTE. The Era is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 3 SoC and measures a skinny 7.8mm in depth, making it one of the thinnest quad-core smartphones when it launches in the second half of this year. The phone is equipped with an NVIDIA Icera 450 HSPA+ modem and also features a 4.3-inch QHD screen with a resolution of 960 x 540. The Era will run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and going by the press image, it doesn’t seem like ZTE have messed around too much with the stock interface and we are glad they didn’t.

The Era will have just 8GB of built-in memory, however you can expand it by adding a microSD card. It will also support 3G speeds up to 21Mbps, UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) and Bluetooth v3.0. The ZTE Era is the flagship device launch from ZTE at Mobile World Congress and is part of a series of 8 new devices unveiled at the event, all delivering significant advances in power, high definition multimedia capabilities and design. “The numbers speak for themselves. With 50 percent growth in handset shipments and 400 percent growth in smartphone shipments, we are confident that we are entering a new era in the mobile terminal market." said Mr. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President and Head of the Terminals Division at ZTE.

The ZTE Era will be launched in Europe and China in the second half of 2012. More details on the phone will be unveiled in due time, so stay tuned.

Micromax to launch Ice Cream Sandwich tablet soon.

Micromax is planning to launch company’s first Android tablet very soon. According to Karan Bajaj, this tablet will be launched before March 15 in the country.

According to the information posted on his blog, this Micromax tablet will feature Android 4.0, dual core processor, 7 inch capacitive display, HDMI-out, microSD card slot, and Wi-Fi. It is also expected to be manufactured in India itself.

There is no confirmation on the price, but we are expecting it to be priced around INR 15-18K.

Intel Medfield powered Lava XOLO X900 official, coming in Q2.

As reported a few days ago, Intel and Lava have officially confirmed their partnership today and announced the launch of Lava XOLO X900 Android smartphone. It will be available in the Indian market sometime in the next quarter on Airtel & Aircel.

Based on the Medfield reference design, Lava XOLO X900 features Android 2.3 (upgradable to Android 4.0), 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 processor, 4.03-inch display, 8MP rear camera, 3MPfront camera, HDMI, NFC, HSPA+ and 1460mAh battery.

“We are proud to partner with Intel on XOLO to bring a superior smartphone computing experience to customers in India. Over the last two and a half years, we have built our business in the feature phone segment where Lava has been the brand of choice for nearly 10 million Indian customers. With XOLO, we intend to now serve the discerning and fast-paced smartphone customer, which is where this collaboration with Intel is critical to us.”
- Vishal Sehgal, co-founder and director, Lava International

There is no word on pricing of Lava XOLO X900 right now.

Earthquake Notification Service: Get Specific Earthquake Alerts Via Email.

Many people do not feel it when mild earthquakes hit their region. Such people only find out through others that an earthquake occurred the previous day. To automatically be notified anytime an earthquake hits your area, you can use a web service called Earthquake Notification Service.


Earthquake Notification Service (ENS) is a free to use web service that notifies its users via email of whenever there is an earthquake in their region. All you have to do to get started is sign up for an account on the site. After signing up, you can indicate the region for which you would like to receive earthquake updates. You can simply choose a few regions by clicking on them from a list or you can draw a custom region on the world map, as in the image above. Earthquake updates for your selected region will be emailed to you whenever they are available. These updates include the exact location, magnitude, and depth of the earthquake.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service.
2.> Emails you earthquake updates for your region.
3.> You can specify your regions by selecting cities or drawing a region on a map.
4.> Updates include earthquake details.


Check out Earthquake Notification Service from here @ sslearthquake.usgs.gov/ens

MonkeyContact: Quickly Find Your Contacts In Gmail & Google Search.

If you are a new age Internet user then it is likely that you’ve got contacts spread across various services like different email accounts, social networks, etc. Monkey Contact is a web service that wants to make it easier for you to find them when required.

You can find people by name, location, company, job function or a combination right inside Gmail or Google search (you’ll see a Monkey Contact icon that you can use). It doesn’t matter on which network that contact is, it’ll find it. It works as a browser extension for Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

The tool scours through your browser data and your data on various sites to unearth those contacts with ease.

Features:

1.> Find your contacts from anywhere right in Gmail and Google search.
2.> Add-on for Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Check out MonkeyContact from here @ www.monkeycontact.com

CloudShot: A Useful Screenshot Utility That Integrates With Dropbox.

If you happen to take screenshots regularly, then you must know how troublesome it is for a person to take a screenshot and then upload it.

CloudShot reduces the total time dramatically. Not only does it allow a person to take a screenshot, but it also integrates with Dropbox automatically uploading the screenshot to your Dropbox account. You can later access the screenshot from any computer you use.

The program also has many interesting features that make sure the program does not lack any useful feature found in other screenshot taking utilities. For example, with CloudShot, you can either take a screenshot of the whole window, a screen region, or of menu and tooltips.
Using the tool is very easy. All you need to do is download the application and follow the on-screen installation instructions. Once installed, you can modify the settings according to your needs and start taking screenshots.

Features:

1.> Integrate with Dropbox.
2.> Free and easy to use tool.
3.> Different types of capturing methods (full-screen, screen region, etc).
4.> History of recent shots.

Check out Cloudshot from here @ http://cloudshot.codeplex.com

Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD tablet official, sports 2GB RAM, quad core processor.

Huawei has officially announced its quad core ICS tablet MediaPad 10 FHD today at Mobile World Congress. It joins the already announced quad core smartphones from the company – Ascend D1 Quad & Quad XL. Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD will be available for global market in Q2 2012.

“Most consumers use tablets for entertainment purposes such as gaming, viewing multimedia content, browsing the internet and reading e-books. We have created the HUAWEI MediaPad 10 FHD to excel in all of the entertainment capabilities including speed, power, web-browsing, high definition display and audio, and packaging it all in a compact and portable body.”
- Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei Device

MediaPad 10 FHD features proprietary 1.5 GHz K3 quad-core processor, HSPA+ 21/42/84Mbps, 10 inch 1920x1200p IPS display, Dolby surround sound technology, 8 MP rear camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 2G RAM, and Android 4.0. Made of the aluminum-alloy materials, it is just 8.8mm thin and weighs only 598g.

Samsung announces Galaxy S Wi-FI 4.2 media player.

Adding another media player to its Galaxy S Wi-Fi series, Samsung today announced Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.2. To remind you, company is already selling Galaxy S WiFi 3.6, 4.0, and 5.0 in different markets across the globe.

Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.2 features Android 2.3, 1GHz processor, 2MP rear camera, 512MB RAM, 4.2-inch IPS display, Android Market access, and 16GB/32GB internal storage.

There is no word on the pricing or the availability.

Panasonic Eluga Power announced, sports 5 inch HD display, 1.5GHz dual-core.

Panasonic has announced the second smartphone in its Eluga series – Eluga Power today. Featuring a five inch display, Eluga Power will compete with the likes of LG Optimus Vu and Samsung Galaxy Note.

Panasonic Eluga Power features a 720p display, 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, Android 4.0, 8MP rear camera, NFC, 8GB Internal memory, front camera and 1800mAh battery. It is also water/dust proof and comes with the usual connectivity options. Panasonic claims that Eluga Power battery can reach 50pc charge in just 30 minutes.

There is no word on the pricing or the availability of the smartphone right now, but Eluga Power will be joining earlier announced Eluga in the European market.

MWC 2012: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 unveiled

Samsung is making good progress in developing its brand new army of tablets for world domination. The newest one, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has now joined the fray. The fusion of the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has finally come to life at the ongoing Mobile World Congress. As the name suggests, the Note 10.1 comes with a 10.1-inch touchscreen with S-pen capabilities. With its new ‘S Note’ feature, this tablet will combine notes and sketches together with web content, images and other digital media into a personalized storyboard. The S Note also provides various ready-to-use templates, such as meeting minutes, recipe, cards, diary and magazines. Along with this, hand-drawn geometric shapes can be digitized by using the Shape Match function, which helps users to create more organized idea sketches and storyboards.

With the Note 10.1, Samsung has brought some good stuff for students as well. Users can watch a lecture live-streamed on video, while writing down comments on S Note, research a college essay on the web while taking notes, or read a full e-textbook, while annotating it. Similar to the Shape Match function, Formula Match helps to correct and digitize formulas hand-drawn with S Pen, making the device work like an education tool, too. Besides this, Samsung have also put Adobe Photoshop Touch and Adobe Ideas onto the Note. While Photoshop is the more popular one, Adobe Ideas is an easy-to-master drawing tool that allows users to sketch ideas, choose colour themes and import images. Both are specially optimized for S pen and are exclusively pre-loaded on the Galaxy Note 10.1.

The specs for the Note 10.1 include a 1.4 GHz dual core processor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and 3G capabilities. While you can’t use the Note 10.1 as a phone, it does come with GPS and GLONASS. The S Pen provides detailed pressure sensitivity, and more accuracy and control when editing or writing, thus providing an analog pen writing experience on a digital device.

"GALAXY Note 10.1 takes productivity on a Note to a whole new level. With a larger, fully utilizable screen and superior performance, it combines the intuitiveness of handwriting with all the versatility of digital content to let users be more productive across all of life's demanding tasks-whether working, learning, or simply creating their own stories," said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "With GALAXY Note 10.1 we are demonstrating Samsung's commitment to extend the mobile category and are working with key partners like Adobe to provide extraordinary experiences for users that enable them to be more productive, express themselves creatively and add a touch of fulfillment to their lives."

So, now that it’s finally official, what do you guys think about the Note 10.1?

MWC 2012: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) and 7.0 - been there, seen that.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, among the big launches, Samsung has dropped the ball on their ‘next-gen’ Galaxy Tab 2 series, but it’s not what we hoped it would be. The new tablets will come in two sizes - a 7.0-inch and a 10.1-inch and will be launched in the UK first, next month, followed by the rest of the world. The Galaxy Tab 2 series, as it turns out, is a rebadged version of their existing Tab 10.1 (or Tab 750) and the Tab 7.0 Plus (or Tab 620) with some minor changes thrown in.

Let’s start with the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). Comparing it with the existing Tab 10.1, the new model is actually a little bit thicker and heavier, than its predecessor. There’s a slight change in the design, too, as the stereo speakers are more prominently placed facing the front, rather than the sides. While the screen resolution and type have remained the same, the Tab 2 (10.1) does get expandable memory support this time. It also has (we think!) voice call options now, although Samsung doesn't mention that explicitly. The 3MP camera can now record in 1080p, although I wouldn’t hold my breath too much on the quality of the recorded video. Along with GPS, the new tablet also supports GLONASS positioning system. Of course, it will be running Android 4.0, along with TouchWiz UX UI running on top, so you may not be able to see much of a difference between the old and new one. Samsung haven’t revealed too much info on the type of SoC powering the tablet, except that it’s a 1GHz dual-core chipset. Rest of the specifications remain exactly the same. Here are some of the main features:

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Samsung TouchWiz UI
10.1-inch PLS LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 800
1GHz Dual-Core Processor
3 Megapixel auto-focus rear camera with full HD 1080p video recording capabilities at 30fps
VGA front facing camera for video calling
16/32GB Internal memory
MicroSD Card support up to 32GB
1GB RAM
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
3.5mm audio jack
A-GPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth v3.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct

Coming to the Tab 2 (7.0), Samsung let this one slip out about a week ago and not much has changed, since then. Physically, it’s going to be exactly the same as the current Tab 7.0 Plus and even internally, for most parts. The only addition here is the 1080p video recording support and GLONASS navigation support. This brings us to the question as to why Samsung bothered to release this in the first place? And more importantly, what happens to the existing 10.1 and 7.0 Plus? This brings us to the question - will they be getting ICS, after all? Samsung can’t drop the price any further, since it will clash with their other products and they won’t be able to make any profit, so the only option is to kill the existing product line and replace it with the Tab 2 series. Let’s wait and see how Samsung manage to untangle this web, which they’ve spun around themselves.

MWC 2012: Nokia makes Lumia 610 official.

At the ongoing MWC event in Barcelona, Finnish company, Nokia have made their new Lumia 610 official. The company have in an official statement revealed that the Lumia 610 provides the youth with the "perfect introduction to the rich social, Web and entertainment experience of Windows Phone." Running on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, the Nokia Lumia 610 is being furthered as the company's fourth and most affordable Lumia smartphone. The Nokia Lumia 610 allows users to keep in touch with friends with ease, while providing instant access to social networks and by bringing all mobile, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts all at one place. It also makes it easier to browse the Web with Internet Explorer and to access games through Xbox Live. The Lumia 610 comes with Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and Nokia Music. Additionally, users can also pick from thousands of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to "further personalize the experience."

The official statement further adds that, "The Nokia Lumia 610 was made possible thanks to a new software release from Microsoft delivering enhanced capabilities to the Windows Phone 7.5 platform. The software release, available from April optimizes Windows Phone to support lower memory and processor requirements, while still delivering the same great experience for more affordable products. In addition, Windows Phone will now include the network and language requirements for China. As a result, Nokia announced plans to make a range of Lumia smartphones available in China, covering both CDMA and WCDMA technologies, in the coming months."

Here's a list of specifications of Nokia Lumia 610:

Display: 3.7-inch, LCD display, Capacitive touch screen with pinch zoom
Camera: 5 MP camera
Video resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels, 30 fps
Internal memory: 8 GB
RAM: 256 MB
USB 2.0 high-speed through micro USB connector
Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR
Battery: 1300 mAh Li-ion/Li-polymer
Weight (with battery): 131.5 g

MWC 2012: Samsung announces new projector smartphone, the Galaxy Beam.

Lately we’ve seen a lot of phones with projectors in the local market. With the most recent one being the Maxx Focus MTP9. On a global scale? It’s Samsung that’s brought its own sweet little surprise to the MWC 2012. From the design itself, this looks like one hell of a phone, but the projector at the top only means that it’s going to be a fingerprint magnet, pretty soon. But again, we wouldn’t prefer it anywhere else. Also, it’s super thin for a projector phone, and is fairly light at 145.3 grams. This one has a 15 lumens lamp and has the capacity of projecting a 50-inch wide high-definition picture.

Without further ado, here’s what the rest of the spec sheet of the Samsung Galaxy Beam looks like:

4-inch WVGA TFT display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels
1GHz dual core processor
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
6Gb RAM, 8GB internal memory
5 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 720p recording
1.3 megapixel front camera
3G, EDGE / GPRS, Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 3.0+ HS
microSD card slot expandable up to 32GB
3.5 mm headphone jack
2000 mAh battery

The phone is expected to ship with Gingerbread onboard and that seems to be quite puzzling. Also, before you get way too excited about having 6 gigs of RAM on a phone (when most laptops still don’t come with it) the 6Gb of RAM might actually be 768 MB, with the ‘b for bit (and not byte)’ being the key factor. Here's a product video for the Galaxy Beam, courtesy user giancarlo.

MWC 2012: Nokia 808 PureView unveiled.

Trying to squeeze whatever it can of the dying Symbian platform, Nokia showcased the new PureView 808 at the Mobile World Congress, this year. However, Nokia focuses on the imaging bit by incorporating the exclusive PureView imaging technologies. The Nokia 808 PureView’s key feature is its high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor, which comes with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology. This smartphone is the first to come equipped the exclusive PureView imaging technologies and also claims to usher in a new era in high-end imaging capabilities in a smartphone. It runs on the Symbian Belle and is powered by 1.3GHz single-core chip with a 4 inches corner to corner display, says Engadget.

The Nokia 808 PureView brings together features, such as high resolution sensors, exclusive Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia developed algorithms. These attributes will help support new high-end imaging experiences for future Nokia products, says the company. The camera features standard resolutions of 2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels and has the ability to zoom without losing the clarity. It can capture seven pixels of information, condense it into one pixel and deliver the sharpest image possible. At high-resolution of up to 38 megapixel maximum it can capture an image, and then zoom, reframe, crop and resize to expose previously unseen levels of details. The low-light performance is maintained high and the file is saved in compact sizes for sharing in e-mail, MMS, and also on social networks.

"Nokia PureView imaging technology sets a new industry standard by whatever measure you use," said Jo Harlow, Executive Vice President of Nokia Smart Devices. "People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor, but the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breath-taking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell."

Along with a high-quality still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView supports full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom. It makes use of the Nokia Rich Recording that offers audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, which was earlier possible only with external microphones. The Nokia 808 PureView’s spec sheet also shows exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, which transforms stereo content into a personal surround sound experience.

USB Manager: Selectively Activate & Deactivate USB Devices.

Windows does not provide its users with the facility to selectively disable USB device types. For example, if you want to disable all storage devices connected to your computer from within Windows, you do not have a convenient solution to employ. But here to help and make the process easier is a tool called USB Manager.

USB Manager is a desktop application for Windows computers. The app gives you more control over the USB devices connected to your computer. Sized less than a megabyte, you can download the app’s setup file and install it. Once installed, you can open the app and choose which type of USB device to disable: storage devices, USB printers, USB audio devices, or USB scanners.

By default, all devices are enabled; you can click on the device types to disable one or more device types. The app can be exited through its System Tray icon. You can also set a password and hotkey for the program to ensure nobody else messes with its settings.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly desktop tool.
2.> Compatible with Windows computers.
3.> Lets you selectively enable/disable USB device types.
4.> Lets you set a password for the program.

Check out USB Manager from here @ http://imakesoft.ru/en/products.html

How to Download Android apps to your PC from Android Market.

We have been waiting for a handy tool to download Android app APK files directly from Android Market for a long time and now thanks to dev “redphx”, there is a chrome extension that helps us do exactly that.

That are a few steps that you need to complete before you are able to download Android apps directly to your PC but these are pretty easy. You can find the full instructions and extension download at link given below.

We have tried it and it works, it even helps you download apps that are not available in your country like Google Currents, Google Music, and Chrome for Android. Download any Android app from Android Market and transfer it to your tablet, phone and enjoy.

This is a boon for Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet users because they don’t have direct access to Android Market and this helps a lot.


What do you need?

Latest version of Chrome (on any OS – Windows, Linux, Mac)

Your Android Market account ID and Password.

Your Device ID (Install this app to get it or you can follow instructions given at the download link)

To disable SSL error warnings on your Chrome. (Instructions given at the download link).

Download APK Downloader extension from here.

Once you have finished all the steps, all you have to do is – open Android Market and go to the required Android app page and click on APK downloader icon in address bar and voila.. your APK file will be downloaded.

Try it and lets us know in comments, if it worked for you.

Get Your School Schedule & Homework In Order With Studious [Android].

For students, there haven’t been a lot of quality apps for Android to track our class schedule, notes, and homework. Yes, there’s Google Calendar; Google Tasks, Astrid, or Taskos; and Google Docs, but those tools are made for general-use purposes, and aren’t tailored to be a student’s best friend (unless the student is very flexible with those services).

However, a few student-specific management applications now exist, and one of them is well worth mentioning. Let me introduce you to Studious. This little homework app Android can easily become a student’s best companion at all times of the day. It includes some pretty cool features that students won’t want to pass up on (including one that pleasantly surprised me).

Installation is, as with all Android apps, very easy. Just search for Studious in the Android Market. Once it is downloaded and installation is complete, go ahead and launch it!

User Interface and Features:

You’ll be able to tell really fast that Studious aims to be very simplistic. The only screen you see is an empty “Classes” screen, with only a button to add a new class. If you hit the Menu button, you only get a button to add a class as well. Go ahead and add a class that you have.

Adding A Class:

Adding a class is pretty easy. After entering in the information, you’ll have the opinion to choose different sound profiles for your classes, so that you can have your ringtone up all the way when you need it to be, and then automatically go silent when you’re in class. Besides making the phone go silent during class, you can also set it to vibrate, “airplane mode” so that you don’t get anything that might make a sound in the first place, or the current sound profile. When you finish, hit Save and return to the previous screen.

You will now see the class you added, and nothing else has changed. Tapping on the class, however, leads to some more functions.

Adding Homework:

After tapping on a class, the first screen you’ll see is a place to add Homework. When you add homework, you can input things like title, problems (as in problem numbers, particularly useful for math), a description, the due date and time, as well as when you’d like a reminder about the homework.

Adding Notes:

Not only can you add homework, but you can also add notes. While you might not want to type out a lecture’s worth of notes on your phone, it can still be helpful for little things that you need to jot down, or remembering where another set of more complete notes are located. The great thing about adding notes is that you can also include images in your notes, similar to what Evernote lets you do. Being able to use text and images in your notes helps out in your learning experience as a student.

Conclusion:

That’s about it! There aren’t any options to configure whatsoever, staying in line with its simplistic design. This looks like a great idea and I’ll more than likely be using it quite often from now on. Hopefully a larger community can be built around this app, or hopefully more features will be integrated over time. It would be great if there would be a way to sync the information to your computer.

What do you think about the Studious homework app for Android? Is there another app or method that you think would work better for students? Let us know in the comments!

ESBUnitConv: The Only Unit Conversion Tool You Need [Windows].

After dealing with a project that required I regularly convert data to the metric system, I realized that having a browser open just for a single web-based conversion website wasn’t the most efficient strategy from a perspective of preserving resources. ESBUnitConv, however, definitely is.

ESBUnitConv is a little units conversion tool that can literally convert any sort of measurement that you’d imagine. It’s worked for me in the past and I plan on it working plenty more in the future. Now I’ve got the program sitting on my desktop for easy access and I’ve been able to do away with having a leaky Firefox process open just so I can convert Fahrenheit to Celsius (as an example).

As written directly on the website, ESBUnitConv is just like every other unit converter except:

Scientific notation
Logging of conversions
Ability to hide units
Scaling
American wire gauge table
Circle calculator
Sphere calculator
Value swapping
SI primary unit displayed in bold
SI primary unit can be selected quickly via button
Better customisation
More measurement types
More conversions
Printing
Improved clipboard support
Integrated help
PDF documentation suitable for printing
More frequent updating

It’s a very simple tool with a lot of features, really set apart from the other unit conversion applications that I’ve tried for Windows. This application is two of the most enticing things for me, when it comes to software: free and portable. It’s extremely small in size and is a great addition to any thumb drive software package. It can convert the
following units of measurement:

Temperature
Distance
Mass
Area
Volume
Pressure
Velocity
Acceleration
Force
Energy
Power
Fuel consumption
Flow
Torque
Angles
Luminous intensity
Illumination
Time
Quantity
Radioactivity

To convert a measurement, simply click a tab across the top that you’re interested in converting. Highlight an item in both columns, “To” and “From”, and then input that value that you want converted into the “From” field above the selection list.

You can also optionally open up a scientific calculator that puts the Windows calculator to shame, by clicking the calculator icon by that same field.

Doing so will allow you to streamline calculations beside the application and input your result directly into the conversion field so that you’re ready to go. It’s a nice little touch to an already-good piece of software.

Making conversions doesn’t have to be a painful task, nor does it require that you dedicate a separate bookmark item just to a website that manages to get the job done. Get a flash drive or create a Dropbox folder, than you’ll never again need to go through the stress of finding the right solution. If you enjoy ESBUnitConv and find it helpful, consider upgrading to the Pro version. It has a more extensive set of options and configurations for the user.

TextPort: Send Free Text Messages To US Phones, Get The Reply Via Email.

Easily send a text message to any phone in the United States, free of charge, regardless of where you live. You will get the responses in your email, and can even respond to responses using email. It’s all at TextPort, a site that makes sending SMS messages from your computer easy.

We’ve shown you how to send a free SMS to any phone via email, but doing so requires you know which carrier all of your friends are on. TextPort figures this out for you, letting you send a quick SMS to any phone number in the US for free. It offers a few other worthwhile tools as well, including a reverse number lookup and a few pay features.

Sending, Receiving & Replying To Texts:

Head to TextPort and you’ll find this simple interface:

That’s right, you don’t need to sign up for an account, so you can get started sending free text messages right away. Leave the top drop-down as-is. Enter the phone number of the person you’re sending a message to, of course, and leave your email address so you can get responses. Finally, compose your message, taking care to not exceed the 140 character limit unless necessary.

And you’re done. If your friend sends you a reply it will show up in your email inbox:

The email address this message comes from will be your contact’s phone number “@” their carrier; in the above case AT&T. Save this email address and you can send a free text to your friend anytime, without TextPort’s help.
Before you reply, know that all the text in your email will be sent to your friend, so be kind – remove your email signature and previous parts of the conversation before hitting “Send”. Otherwise you will end up flooding your friend’s phone with nonsense split into 140 character chunks.

Look Up Phone Numbers:

Do you sometimes get SMS messages or phone calls from unfamilar numbers? TextPort can help with that, thanks to its reverse number lookup.

You’ll see the city and state the number is from, along with information about their carrier. This tool is worth having around by itself.

Other (Paid) Features:

Textport does a bit more. You can send messages to international carriers, send MMS messages (SMS with pictures), get a virtual number to recieve text messages at and more. All of these cost money, though, so I didn’t explore them. Feel free to explore yourself, though.

Conclusion:

If you need to send an SMS, quickly, TextPort is great. Even better, you don’t need to sign up for the service, and responses end up in your email inbox. Other than adding free support for international carriers, it’s hard for me to imagine this service getting better.

You will need to know the recipient’s carrier, but that’s fine if you’re just occasionally sending messages to a close friend or family member.

What do you think of TextPort? Can you see yourself using it? Let us know in the comments below, along with any recommended alternative services.

SaveMeeting: Record and Transcribe Meetings Using Your Android [2.2+].

Recording the audio of your meetings is easy; but it is all a different matter when you need to transcript the audio and share it with other meeting attendees. What you could use is an app that records audio, converts it to text, and let you share the audio as well as the transcription. This is precisely what an Android app called SaveMeeting offers.

SaveMeeting is a phone application for Android devices. The app is free, sized at 1.5 MB, and compatible with devices running Android version 2.2 or later. Using the app, you can begin recording audio anytime and upload it online by adding details to it. Details include meeting title, project title, meeting date, number of attendees, etc. Your recorded audio of a meeting is uploaded online to your SaveMeeting account and can be easily shared with other users on the site.

As mentioned, the app also converts the audio to text and makes the transcriptions available to its users.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly phone app.
2.> Compatible with Android devices.
3.> Lets you record the audio of meetings.
4.> Uploads audio to your online account.
5.> Lets you organize meetings by adding details to them.
5.> Generates transcriptions for recordings.

Check out SaveMeeting from here @ https://market.android.com/details?id=com.savemeeting.sm

YouTube MP3 TV: Quickly Convert YouTube Videos Into Downloadable MP3 Audio Files.

Suppose you are writing a new blog post and you want to embed a YouTube song within the post. But you do not want the video embedded – you only want the audio. What you require in such a situation is a YouTube video to embeddable audio converter; this is precisely what a website called YouTube MP3 TV offers.

YouTube MP3 TV is a free to use web service that converts any YouTube video into a downloadable MP3 file. In addition to being downloadable, the converted MP3 file is embeddable and can be used on your website or online forums. To start using the service, you don’t need to create any new accounts; simply paste in the URL of the YouTube video and select the audio quality – normal or high. Your video is uploaded to the application with its progress being displayed.

When your video is converted into audio, you are presented with the option to directly download the MP3 file, obtain its direct download URL, obtain its link for online forums, get the embeddable HTML code, or delete the converted file.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service.
2.> Lets you convert YouTube video files to audio.
3.> Audio is in MP3 file format.
4.> Provides embeddable HTML code for converted audio.
5.> Provides online forum code for converted audio.
6.> Lets you deleted converted audio.

Check out YouTube MP3 TV from here @ http://youtubemp3.tv

BSNL to launch 3 tablets; lowest one for Rs. 3,250.

Yet another one joins the race. Bhartiya Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) have confirmed that they will soon launch their tablet trio in the market, in partnership with Noida-based, Pantel. However, the most interesting part is that the cheapest of these tablets would cost a user all of Rs.3,250, placing it just a few notches above UbiSlate 7, the commercial version of the Aakash tablet. The tablet, called BSNL Penta T PAD IS 701R sports a 7-inch display, and will essentially be an Android 2.3-based device. Reportedly, the tablet will be powered by a 1GHz processor and will come with 256 MB of RAM. Customers, according to the report will be able to enjoy special data plans and 3G services from BSNL, which the company will bundle with the tablet during sale. Click here, to know the features of the tablet.

Here's a look at the specifications of BSNL Penta T PAD IS 701R:

7-inch TFT, resistive touchscreen, 16:9, 800x600
CPU: IMAP210 1GHz
OS: Android 2.3
Camera: 0.3MP
RAM: DDR2 256 MB
Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n
Video: Max.1280*720 MKV(H.264 HP) AVI RM/RMVB FLV WMV9 MP4
Flash Support: Adode Flash 10.3
Audio: MP3/WMA/APE/FLAC/AAC/OGG/AC3/W
Battery: Li-ion 3000mah 5V2A

The other two tablets, BSNL's offering in its partnership with Pantel include, T-Pad WS704C and T-Pad WS802C. These tablets belong to the slightly higher side of the price scale, costing the user Rs.10,999 and Rs.13,500, respectively, while offering capactive touchscreens and a host of other features. Pantel have on their official website also put these tablets up for pre-order.

Acer announces Liquid Glow ICS smartphone.

Acer has announced second Android 4.0 smartphone “Liquid Glow” today and it will be showcased at the Mobile World Congress along with Acer CloudMobile. According to the company, it is schedule to go on sale in early-summer, there is no word on the pricing right now.

Targeted to fashion conscious buyers, Acer Liquid Glow features 3.7 inch display and will be released in three color choices – Sakura Pink, Alpine White, and Cat’s-eye Black. Other features of the smartphone include 5MP rear camera, LED Flash, NFC and the usual connectivity options.

The processor, RAM and memory details will be made available at MWC.

Samsung feature phones come pre-installed with Opera Mini.

Samsung has been giving stiff competition to feature, low to mid-budget phone makers in India. In yet another step, the company announced that they have preloaded their feature phones with Opera Mini Mobile browser. India still has a large number of users with feature phones and with this move, Samsung ensures swift browsing, even without a smartphone.

To deliver a fast and cost saving browser, Samsung has pre-installed Opera Mini on Star3, Star 3 Duos, Champ Deluxe and Champ Deluxe Duos. The company launched upgrades to its Star models, early this year. Both these devices come with similar spec sheets. Duos, however, comes with dual SIM functionality. The Champ Deluxe Duos is the most recent handset from the company launched at the start of this month. It carries an affordable price tag of under Rs.5,000 and a decent spec sheet to go along with.

Further, one can expect more Samsung models pre-loaded with Opera Mini, to come later this year. Opera Mini has been built for speed and it compresses webpages before sending them to a phone. It is said to consume 90 percent less data and load pages up to 10 times faster. Its essential features like tabs, password manager, Opera Link and Speed Dial further add to the convenience.

“These days, the difference between feature phones and smartphones has decreased. No matter the hardware specification or the user experience, feature phones are matching what the smartphone can offer,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “Samsung bridges the gap between smartphones and feature phones by choosing to preinstall Opera Mini on its new feature phones so that people can enjoy a fast and affordable web.”

Opera Mini has become quite popular over the years and boasts of having over 160 million unique users, each month. In January, its users generated more than 1,832 million MB of data for its operators across the globe.

Dropbox heats up cloud battle with photo upload feature.

Dropbox unveiled on Thursday a new photo uploading feature for Android smartphones, potentially sharpening its competition with Google, Apple, and a host of other companies battling to rule the burgeoning market for online storage solutions.

With a single click, the feature will allow users to wirelessly upload high-resolution pictures straight from their smartphones onto the virtual "cloud," where the files can be accessed from any computer or mobile device. Dropbox only offers users storage space - the service will not provide any photo editing or manipulation features, like those provided by Google's Picasa program. Instead, CEO Drew Houston said, the company hopes that third-party developers will step in and do precisely that.

Houston said the new development represented a small but significant step toward cultivating a thriving "ecosystem" around the Dropbox platform. In the case of photos, for example, the company will encourage independent developers to write programs to touch up photos.

"Facebook tied your friends and your social graph into this ecosystem that offered all these services," Houston said. "We envision similar things with Dropbox." He added: "It's a major theme for us going forward this year."

Although the first release of the app will only be available for Android phones, an Apple iOS version will be released shortly, the company said. Users get 500 megabytes of storage after their first upload and can receive up to a total of 3 gigabytes of extra free space.

Dropbox's new app, which targets a huge consumer demand for photo-sharing, was meant to "secure and solidify their position as the best file-sharing service and trying not go beyond that, which I think is a smart move." said James Staten, an analyst at Forrester Research.

With 100 employees in San Francisco and 50 million users, Dropbox is one of the most closely-watched startups by Silicon Valley investors - and its much larger competitors.Earlier this month, Google announced Drive, a cloud storage service that was seen as a direct answer to Dropbox's dramatic recent growth.

Similarly in June, Apple announced iCloud, a consumer-oriented service for Apple users that also syncs email and calendars.
And Microsoft has also recently pushed to expand its cloud offerings for enterprise computing.

Founded by Houston and a classmate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007, Dropbox has raised $250 million at a reported $4 billion valuation.

Reuters

Box giving away free 50GB cloud storage to all Android users.

After running promotions with Sony Mobile and LG, Box has now decided to share goodies with all Android users. Company today announced that it is now giving away 50GB of file storage to any Android user who downloads its official Android app and uses it. This promotion is valid for existing users too; all you have to do is update the app and log-in to activate the 50GB storage for your account.

This is not all; company is also bumping the upload size limit to 100MB for anyone who get 50GB of free storage. This promotion ends on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 11:59pm PST.

Coming to the latest update to its official Android app, app now supports bulk upload, comments, collaboration, as well as several European languages. So, what’s stopping you; grab the updated Box Android App now and get going with the 50GB of free cloud storage.

First official CM9 Nightlies out for Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, Xoom.

Soon after getting the brand-new build servers, CyanogenMOD team has started rolling out CM9 nightlies of three devices today. You can now grab official CM9 nightlies for Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, Nexus S 4G, Xoom Wi-Fi/LTE.

CM7 nightlies are also expected to go up soon for other devices. To remind you CM7 is based on Gingerbread release of Android, while CM9 is based on Ice Cream Sandwich release.