Google will retail upcoming tablet through dedicated online store.

In December, when Eric Schmidt of Google indicated that the brand was planning on releasing a tablet within the next six months, the Internet went into frenzy with rumours and speculations. Many reports have likened the upcoming and yet officially unheard of tablet with the Nexus tablet, which is similar to the brand’s rather successful, Nexus range of smartphones. Over the past few years, Google have come together with Samsung, with respect to their Nexus smartphones and the latter brand is being hailed as an obvious choice for manufacturing the tablet, but as per a report, it appears that Asus is in contention for manufacturing this tablet. Adding fuel to these rumours, a report by The Wall Street Journal states that the upcoming tablet from Google will be made available through an online Google-only store.

The reports states that sources have informed them saying, “Like the Nexus One, some future Android tablets are expected to be co-branded with Google's name, said people familiar with the matter. The company is expected to sell devices from a variety of manufacturers. Google won't make the devices and its existing partners such as Samsung Electronics Co. and AsusTeK Computer Inc. will be responsible for the hardware.” The report states, “One co-branded tablet that may be sold in the online store is due to be released later this year by Taiwan-based Asus, said one of these people. Details of the project remain unclear, including when Google plans to unveil the online store.”

In a related report by Digitimes, regarding the Google tablet, industry sources have informed them saying that Google would be launching a 7-inch tablet, which is cost-friendly by April or May, this year with hardware that is manufactured by Asus. The report goes on to state, “This is expected to bring pressure of price cuts upon other vendors, including Acer, Lenovo and Samsung Electronics, and in turn diminish gross margins for Taiwan-based supply chain makers. Since Amazon's new Kindle Fire, set to launch in the third quarter, is expected to be priced around US$199-299, Google will price its tablet PC at US$199 to even out the price advantage.”

From the looks of it, it appears that as the rumours are gathering steam, it appears that the tablet from Google will be unveiled in the second quarter of 2012. Let us know your reactions regarding it in the comments below.

Nokia Reader comes to Series 40 phones.

Nokia Beta Labs has got a nifty new application for their existing Series 40 Touch and Type phones. Now you can follow your favourite local news quickly and easily from your phone's homescreen. The news is always fresh and you don't need to worry about your battery consumption, thanks to their new ‘Nokia Notifications’. And with only two clicks you can open a story in the browser to read and explore more. Nokia Reader is simple to set up: just start it and the nearby content starts to automatically flow in. You can also select your favourite news sources from the online directory of the major news sources.

Here are a few of the key features of Nokia Reader:

View local and international news
Easy access to Internet
Battery-friendly
Latest topics on home screen
Online directory
Cloud storage for your selections.
Supports Nokia Browser


In case you're having problems getting Nokia reader on your phone’s homescreen, you can get help from a quick how-to guide that should suffice for this relatively easy install. The content of the directory is based on your location and the phone's language setting. Reader fetches the list of news sources from the backend server. It downloads and installs an add-on called Notifications. It then uses this optimized push notification mechanism for pushing the news from Internet to the Reader application.

Here’s how you can add the Nokia Reader on your phone's home screen:
1. On homescreen touch and hold on any area on display.
2. Select "Personalise view"
3. Select the place you would want to have the Nokia Reader.
4. Select "Nokia Reader" from the list.
5. Select "Done" and answer "Yes" when it is asked to save the changes.
6. Now Nokia Reader will always show the latest topics directly on the home screen

The application has been tested on a couple of phones. Nokia Reader is available for Series 40 touch and type devices and has been tested to work with the Nokia C2-02, Nokia X3-02, Nokia C3-01, Nokia Asha 303 and Nokia Asha 300. It’s part of Nokia’s Beta Labs, so there could be slight bugs with the usability of the application, but as of now, according to their Beta Labs, it works pretty neat on the above devices. The application can be downloaded from here.

Google Drive likely to launch in mid-April; will offer 5GB space.

It appears that the initial rumours of Google’s online storage service are coming true, after all. We talked about a possible screenshot that showed the service in action. Now, there are fresh rumours that the service may be launched as early as next month. TalkAndroid has got their hands on a screenshot of the the new service. There’s a clear mention of 5GB of free space being made available with the service. There’s a Download Google Drive button as well, which suggests that a local OS installation is possible as well. Of course, the domain http://drive.google.com will also be accessible to mobile phones, tablets and desktop users using a web browser. The subdomain is currently active on Google’s site, but it throws up a 404 error, as of now.

There was initial news that Google would be providing 2GB of space with the service, but that has clearly been upped to 5GB. The service should offer great integration between all of Google’s services as well as all the devices that their users use. Google should, however consider upping that space to above the 20GB mark as there are already services that offer much more storage space. Microsoft’s service SkyDrive offers 25GB of free space to its users. If Google Drive does launch in the next couple of weeks, it’s safe to assume that future releases of Chrome OS and Android - Jelly Bean will have Google Drive integrated into the OS.

Google’s Drive service should compete with other major free online storage services, such as Box.net and Dropbox. The last screenshot we had talked about included a software installation, which means that the service would be accessible directly from the desktop, possibly from Windows Explorer. The ability to quickly save files to the cloud without having to manually access a web page and use the web interface would be great. This would be a neat little feature to have on existing Google Android and Chrome OS devices. Being able to directly store documents and data directly through the operating system would be handy.

Aherk: A Helpful Blackmail App To Motivate You Into Achieving Your Goals.

You will find plenty of online applications that try various ways to motivate you to achieve your goals. But as people often experience, motivation is best achieved when there is something really important on the line. A web app called Aherk makes use of this in a very unique way.

The motivation by Aherk to help you achieve your goals is presented in a very unique way – blackmailing. If you do not achieve your goals within the allotted time period a compromising photograph of you is posted on your Facebook account!

The service is really quite simple to use. You log into it using your Facebook account and then you define your goal and upload a compromising photo that you would never want uploaded to Facebook. When the deadline for your goal passes, the app asks your friends to vote on whether or not you successfully completed your goal. Depending on how they vote, your photo may be uploaded to your Facebook account.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service.
2.> Motivates you to achieve your goals.
3.> Lets you define your goals.
4.> Uploads a compromising photo to your Facebook in case goal has not been achieved.

Check out Aherk from here @ www.aherk.com

Image-Resizer: Easily Edit Images From Your Browser.

If you need to edit images online quickly and easily without resorting to downloading software, you should check out Image-Resizer. It couldn’t be easier to upload a PNG or JPG image and quickly change some basic features about it. Of course, this isn’t Photoshop, so it can’t do anything crazy, but for easily changing features like the size or adding basic effects, this is one of the quicker solutions on the web.

It is able to accept images in JPG or PNG, and can output in either of those. You can also add some basic effects to your image. You can make it black and white, sepia and even invert the colors. You can select whether the image should be stretched proportionately. You can rotate an image easily as well. It’s your one stop shop for basic image editing without installing software.

Features:

1.> Edit images from your browser.
2.> Export in PNG or JPG.
3.> Change image size, add basic effects and rotate images with ease.
4.> Save image locally or online when finished.
5.> Add text over the image.

Find Image-Resizer.eu from here @ www.image-resizer.eu

Made Yours: Helping You Find The Best Customized Products.

Some people just need to have everything their way. They don’t want generic products that are the same as everyone else. They want the things they own to be uniquely theirs. If this describes you, than you should check out Made Yours. They compile all the best tailor-made products, and place them in one easy to navigate website.

They have a wide range of customized products available. Items like sporting goods, clothing, electronics and beauty needs are all represented. Once you narrow it down to a category, there are literally hundreds of products to choose from. They even have an iPhone case that costs over $7,000.

Once you find a product that interests you, they will link to the retailer that carries the product. Of course, if browsing for random products doesn’t suit you, you can always use their search feature to find exactly what you are looking for.

Features:

1.> Browse customized products from a range of categories.
2.> Links to retailers carrying each listed product.
3.> Search function to find exactly what you are looking for.

Find Make Yours from here @ www.madeyours.com

SwatchPix: Add iPhone Web Clips To Your Home Screen.

If you own an iPhone, and you like adding shortcuts to your favorite websites, than you need to check out SwatchPix. They have an easy to use graphical interface for creating custom icons for websites you visit all the time. All it takes is a few mouse clicks to upload an image, and then jumping over to your iPhone to save the link to your springboard.

They make it easy. You don’t need any special skills or jailbreaks on your device. You simply to go to their website from a computer, upload an image and wait a few seconds while it develops a custom image for your iPhone. Send yourself an email or write down the URL and then visit it from your device.

They also have a lot of the most popular images created by other users, so there is a good chance that the website you are looking for may already be listed. When you see one you like, just enter in the code and go to the URL it provides from your iPhone.

Features:

1.> Easily create custom web clips on your Apple device.
2.> No apps or jailbreaks necessary.
3.> Browse most popular web clips from other users.

Find SwatchPix from here @ www.swatchpix.com

Interactive-Biology: A Simple & Effective Way To Learn Biology.

Are you one of those people who really hates biology because it’s boring or difficult to understand? If so, you should give Interactive Biology a try.

Interactive Biology is a handy website that helps students learn biology in an effective way. The website breaks down biology concepts into small parts, thus making it easy to understand complicated theories in a simple way.

The website allows users to watch videos that break down topics such as neuroscience and physiology into smaller, easier to understand topics. To make learning more effective, quizzes have been added on the website to test whether the student understood the lectures or not.

If you have any problem or cannot find what you are looking for, you can sign up on the Interactive Biology forums and ask for help. You can even interact with other people and share your knowledge. However, as of December 2011, the forums are still under construction and not available to the public.

The website offers paid study guides as well if you want to learn about any topic in more detail.

Features:

1.> Makes learning more interactive and fun.
2.> Free service with many topics to cover some of the most basic, and important ones.
2.> Take quizzes to test your skills.
4.> Download lecture videos.
5.> Buy Biology study guide for $34.95.

Check out Interactive Biology from here @ www.interactive-biology.com

Opera Mini 7 comes to Android devices.

Opera Software launched Opera Mini 7 for Android devices, which is the final version of the browser that is now available to Android users. Opera says that they have 160 million users in a month using their browser. Opera has accelerated the hardware for the browser and therefore, it should be faster and smoother on Android devices. Furthermore, if you're watching your data usage, the browser helps by compressing and squeezing down websites to your phone. Upto 90 percent of the original data gets cut out. They do this with a program, called "Turbo", which works slightly differently across different Opera products. The compression also means that you're saving on data, as well as sites will load quicker. However, of course, there's significant drawbacks to this feature. Users need to decide for themselves, whether this compression is worth it. Depending on which website you're on, 90 percent can be a lot.

Opera says that if you're feeling limited with only nine Speed Dial sites available on your homescreen, Opera Mini 7 allows you to have as many Speed Dial buttons as you'd like. You can add the sites you like right when you start up your browser. Opera's formulated the process, so that you don't have to fiddle around with the mobile keyboard or bookmarks. It does not, however, include the homescreen meant for feature phones that will provide interactive social networking to people with low powered phones. Opera Mini 7 is available from Google Play or from m.opera.com.

Opera also announced that Mac users installing Opera will have standard downloads now, not seperated by 32 bits and 64 bits. All Opera downloads going forward will be 64 bit. Unless you have a 32 bit Mac (which is rare, most Macs are 64 bit now), you should be able to download the 64 bit browser by default.

Foofind: Search For Torrent, Direct Downloads & Streams.

Searching for downloadable media means going to Google and adding in search qualifiers to your keywords – be it “torrent”, “video downloads”, “gnutella”, and more. If you need an all-in-one search portal for downloads, you should check out Foofind. This search engine lets you find audio, video, documents, and images through direct downloads, torrents, gnutella, and streams.

Foofind lets you find files just like any engine. Just type in your search terms to find the best results. Most of the usual searches come from 4shared, Vimeo, and YouTube. You can also click on tabs to filter results.

Foofind is a quick and easy way to search for any file. While there is a chance that you won’t find the exact file that you need, this is a good way to start your searches.

Features:

1.> Free and simple search engine for downloadable files.
2.> Supports searches for streams, torrents, direct downloads, gnutella, and more.
3.> Search between audio, video, image, document, and software.

Visit Foofind from here @ www.foofind.com

SurDoc: Ensure The Safety Of Your Digital Documents By Backing Them Up Online.

Digital documents saved on your computer can be mistakenly deleted by anybody else using your computer. To save yourself from a situation where you lose your digital documents, you can create a backup for them online. An app that lets you do this is SurDoc.

SurDoc is a web service that offers people a free backup option for their digital documents. You start by creating an account on the site and then downloading its desktop client for Windows. Through the desktop client you can figure out the document syncing options and set up automatic synchronization. Your documents are uploaded to your account and can be read anywhere you have access to your SurDoc account in the site’s own reading interface. The ability to create folders and sort documents into them helps you keep things organized.

The service offers 10GB of free storage to its users and accepts all document file formats.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service.
2.> Lets you back up digital documents online.
3.> Offers a desktop clients for Windows.
4.> Offers an online reading interface.


Check out SurDoc from here @ www.surdoc.com

Priceonomics: Find Out What A Fair Price Is For Used Products.

When you buy something used, it is hard to know what a fair price is. Most new products have an MSRP, and it is easy to tell whether or not the price you are getting is below MSRP and by how much. Used products can have so much disparity from seller to seller, and the website priceonomics is designed to make sure you get a good deal on used stuff.

They currently list prices for over 50,000 products, and they plan to expand a great deal in the future. Popular products like Bose speakers, Mac Books and Ford Mustangs are well represented. The search results will show you places you can buy the item, and a general range you should expect to pay. This way you will know you aren’t being ripped off.

You can also sign up for their email list, and they will let you know when a certain product is available at a really good price. They also have price guides for all kinds of popular product categories. You can see guides for things like cars, MP3 players and Phones.

Features:

1.> Find fair prices on used products.
2.> Finds places to buy items.
3.> Sign up to be notified when a certain product is available at a good price.
4.> Price guides for various popular product categories.

Find Priceonomics from here @ www.priceonomics.com

Edimax launches IC-3015Wn wireless network camera in India.

Here’s a new addition to network cameras designed for home monitoring from Edimax, called the IC-3015Wn 1.3Mpx Wireless Network Camera. Edimax Technology, which is a provider of advanced network communication and IP surveillance products ensures that the network camera is maintained cost-effective. With the size of an average smartphone and sporting a glossy white finish, the Edimax IC-3015Wn can be set up on a table or even mounted on a wall. It has a simplistic design to blend with the home décor.

The Edimax IC-3015Wn comes with a wide 1.7mm (28mm equiv.) lens that covers a viewing angle of 74.8 degrees, enabling to capture video footage of a wide area with a single network camera. It has a 1.3 megapixel CMOS sensor and is capable of capturing SXVGA (1280 x 960) videos at 30 frames per second. It equips a multi-area motion detection system. On detecting motion, the network camera immediately takes a snapshot of the detected motion and sends the snapshot to the user via e-mail or FTP. The detection function has been also designed to work with the network camera's recording feature. The Edimax IC-3015Wn has free 16-channel viewer software for PC. Using this software, it allows accessing and managing up to 16 network cameras simultaneously. It supports manual, cycle and scheduled video recording for every surveillance application. Edimax also goes mobile with free EdiView viewer app for iPhone and Android phones.

A quick look at the features:

Complies with IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless standards.
1.7mm (28mm equiv.) wide lens (74.8 degree viewing angle).
Supports multi-area motion detection.
Sends snapshots to email and FTP.
Supports UPnP and DDNS.
Free EdiView viewer app for iPhone & Android phones.

The set of features and mobile supports, make the product appear quite alluring. It is available ex-stock and it is priced at Rs.4,650.

LG Optimus 4X HD coming to India in May.

LG India has apparently told TMI that it will be launching 12 smartphones in the country this year, first of them being LG Optimus 4X HD. Company also plans to release L-series smartphones.

LG Optimus 4X HD is company’s first quad core smartphone, and would be competing with HTC One X at launch in India. It features Tegra 3 processor, Android 4.0, 4.7 inch 720p HD display, 8MP rear camera, 1GB RAM, and 2150 mAh battery.

There is no word on the pricing, but expect a pricing around INR 35,000. We are most excited about the L-series smartphone, which include the budget Android phone L3 and mid-range device like L5.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus gets a small price cut in India.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus has got a small price cut on Flipkart (http://www.flipkart.com/samsung-galaxy-ace-plus-s7500-mobile-phone/p/itmd6kssceekhjbf). Earlier launched for INR 16,275, it is now available for INR 15,500 along with several freebies bundled (Samsung HM1000 Bluetooth Headset + Transcend micro SDHC 16GB Class 4 Memory Card).

Ace Plus features a 1GHz processor, 3.65 inch display, Gingerbread and 5MP camera.

In other news, Flipkart has also listed entry-level Samsung Galaxy Pocket as “Coming Soon” on the site. We are expecting it to become available in the first or second week of April with pricing somewhere around INR 7-8K.

Samsung Galaxy Pocket features Android 2.3, 2.8 inch display, 2MP camera and 832MHz processor.

HTC to launch One X in India next month.

HTC India has announced on its official Facebook page that it will be launching One X in the country this April. While, company has not given any specific date for the launch, it should be happening very soon. We are expecting a price around INR34,000 for One X in India.

First showcased at Mobile World Congress few weeks back, HTC One X is company’s first quad core smartphone and comes with features like 4.7 inch HD display, Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 4.0, 8MP rear camera, and 1GB RAM.

One X also comes with all new Imagesense technology from the company that brings improvements in the lens, sensor, software of the camera, and even integrating a new custom HTC ImageChip.

Chef’sFeed: Find Out Which Restaurants Your Favorite Chefs Frequent [iOS]

Although there are numerous applications out there that let you search for restaurants and delicious dishes, you do not always end up with something you like. This is mostly because recipe and restaurant reviewers do not always have the same tastes as yours. Here to help solve this problem is an iOS app called Chef’s Feed that helps you find out which restaurants your favorite chefs are dining at.

Chef’s Feed is a must-have app for people who like to dine out. It helps you find out the restaurants your favorite chefs frequent. You can also view which recipes are their favorites at those restaurants. The app is a free download and you get thousands of top recipe suggestions from around the country. To ensure you get the recipes you like, simply visit the restaurants your favorite chef recommends and have what they liked there the best.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly phone app.
2.> Compatible with iOS devices.
3.> Shows you where your favorite chefs dine.
4.> Shows which recipes they order at those restaurants.

Check out Chef’s Feed from here @ http://www.chefsfeed.com

Nokia, Microsoft pump $24m into Windows Phone app development.

Last week, Rovio Mobile made a statement with Angry Birds Space that could have potentially left Nokia and Microsoft shuddering in their shoes. Rovio's Chief Marketing Officer, Peter Vesterbacka said that the company had no plans on releasing Angry Birds Space for the Windows Phone platform. He said that they want to be on all screens, but Windows Phone takes a lot of work to technically support the platform. While Mikael Hed, the CEO of Rovio later contradicted Vesterbacka's statement by saying that Angry Birds Space will indeed come to Windows Phones, Nokia and Microsoft want to encourage application development for their new platform.

According to TechCrunch, the two companies are now pushing 9 million Euros, which amounts to about $12 million into a mobile applications development program at Aalto University in Finland. The program will be called AppCampus and will focus specifically on funding application development for the Windows Phone platform. The program will also develop apps for some Nokia specific platforms, like Symbian and Series 40. Aalto University will also provide significant funding towards the program, which will begin on the 12th of May. Windows Phone currently has 70,000 apps and about 5 percent of the smartphone platform market share. It competes, of course, with Android and iOS which have about half a million apps each and have been around for a lot longer.

BlackBerry 10 prototypes to be dished out to developers in May.

The fact that Research in Motion has been lagging behind some well known operating systems, such as iOS, Android and even Windows Phone OS comes as no news. Top dogs at Research in Motion too have been getting a whiff of this, prompting them to make major changes to their top line-up of execs. News has it that to make way for the new Chief Executive, Thorsten Heins who has come aboard with significant plans for the brand, RIM have done away with their old head honchos. With the introduction of the new CEO, RIM has started to make a much needed headway in their OS. One of these plans is centered around their upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, which will be a cross-platform software that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook as well as their upcoming line of smartphones. Though there is not much to go by as to what will be featured in their range of BlackBerry 10 handsets, an image surfaced in early February showing a slide of their upcoming BlackBerry London smartphone with the caption stating, “London is about changing the game.” The latest bit of information of these BlackBerry 10 handsets comes in the form of a Bloomberg report, according to which RIM will provide developers prototypes of the upcoming handsets by May.

As per the report, Alec Saunders, RIM’s Vice President Developer Relations said that there are going to be as many as 2,000 BlackBerry 10 devices given to developers during RIM’s BlackBerry Jam conference in Orlando, Florida which are mainly designed to allow developers to build apps using the underlying operating system. He goes on to state, “It’s a huge step forward on our path to eventually launching BB10. It’s tangible evidence of the company making progress to finally shipping the device. The experience on this device from a consumer’s perspective is not in any way indicative of what the final experience on BlackBerry 10 will be like. We are holding that back to create the interest around that at launch time.”

The report also goes on to state that RIM will release the new BlackBerry 10 handsets in the latter half of 2012. As of now, going solely by the roadmap, we can gather that by September, the first BlackBerry 10 handsets will be made available to the public. But hopefully before that we should see some leaked images of the handsets and some features of BlackBerry 10.

Amazon may begin production of new Kindle Fire soon

After Apple raised the curtains on their ‘new iPad,’ the next tablet that has the rumour mills working in full swing is the next Kindle Fire from Amazon. The previous Kindle Fire was quite successful. Though not an iPad-killer, it did manage to sell like hot cakes, especially during the holiday season as the company had foreseen. In fact, it was reported to have sold 1 million units each week of the holiday season, owing to its attractive price tag and feature set. The newest Kindle Fire in the making is said to have ditched the 7-inch frame to emerge in a larger form factor of about 9 to 10 inches of screen size. According to DigiTimes, Catcher Technology, a chassis maker has received orders from the company for the new Kindle Fire tablet. However, there is no word on the size of the chassis. If this news is to be believed, the production of the next Kindle Fire should begin anytime soon.

BGR had also reported that Amazon was working on a 10-inch tablet powered by Nvidia’s quad core Tegra 3 chipset. Apparently, the company has been working on it, since last year but the launch schedule was delayed. This 10-incher is also speculated to hit markets this year in the second quarter. Amazon’s earlier version of the Fire was an Android tablet, but the company knew just how to sideline Google applications for its own store. Well, you can’t blame Amazon, isn’t Google Android all about openness?

Although the reports of Amazon already placing orders of the chassis are rife, it is still unclear whether the company is opting for a larger screen size. While Catcher refused to comment, reportedly, chassis for the new Kindle are being manufactured at its plants in Taizhou, China and are estimated to have a gross margin of over 40 percent.

Instagram adds Android sign up page on website.

Instagram has teased and tormented Android users in the past with a promised app, but then they decorated their page late Saturday night to reassure Android users that they'll get their fingers on some photo sharing/editing goodness. If you go to instagr.am/android, you'll see the familiar robot with a comforting instagram icon in its belly. The web page asks Android users to sign up to be "first in line" for Instagram on Android. So, while the app will have a global rollout for Android, if you want to know straight from the source that the app is available for your Android device, then you can add your e-mail address. They haven't mentioned a release date for the app, yet.

Instagram for Android has been announced so far at LeWeb in Paris in December and then again at SXSW in Texas in March. In December, Kevin Systrom, the CEO of Instagram said that they had two people working on Instagram for Android at that moment. In March, Systrom announced that the app was nearly ready and was in private beta testing. Systrom did some further teasing by saying that in some ways, the Android app was even better than their iOS app. He didn't provide a demo for the app, but said that it looks good on big screens, and of course, sharability to the social networks like Twitter and Facebook is built in. The app currently stands at 27 million users and we here are betting on how much that number rises to once the app comes to Android. Got guesses? Let us know in the comments below.

FriendCaller is a multi-platform VoIP solution.

If Skype and Google Hangouts don't offer all the VoIP communication you need, here's another option on the horizon. It's called FriendCaller and it works across iOS, Android and the web through a browser. It is operated by C2Call GmbH, a company based in Germany. The program supports group calling with upto 4 person video calls and 6 person audio calls. The company says that they currently have 6.5 million users and that the service turns your mobile device into a "fully integrated video calling app". The service also has a "Call Me" link, which allows your friends to call you at no charge (sort of like collect calling). The service provides texting world wide and charges nothing for FriendCaller to FriendCaller calls. It provides users with a real phone number as well as low cost VoIP to landline and mobile device calls. The service has multi-lingual support for iPhones and iPads.

The service will soon add a rich media messaging feature, so users can send their friends and family their location information, images, audio and video from a media library pretty quickly. The way it works is, whenever you dial a number from your mobile device, you have the option to use the service provided by your wireless network or by FriendCaller. You can create groups, have a voice or video call and start messaging your contacts, altogether. The service seems interesting as an almost all-in-one solution for VoIP communication. You have texting, calling and video calling all in one place. Add to that the fact that it is cross platform. FriendCaller is available for iOS through the App Store for free and for Android through Google Play for free. What's your VoIP service of choice? Let us know in the comments section below.

SE Live with Walkman selling online for as little as Rs.11,150.

Sony’s newest Walkman phone has received a pretty hefty price cut on eBay.in and a couple of reputed distributors are already selling this Android smartphone for Rs. 11,150. Though other online sites like Flipkart and Letsbuy haven’t deviated from the Rs. 14k price tag, a lot of buzz has already been generated about this latest price cut on eBay.

In case you have forgotten, here’s a look at the specs of the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman:
3.2-inch TFT Capacitive Touchscreen with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution
1GHz Scorpion processor, 512 MB of RAM
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
320MB internal storage
3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi ‘n’
GPS with A-GPS support
Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0
5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash, 720p video recording
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Memory expandable up to 32GB via microSD
3.5 mm handsfree socket
1200 mAh Li-ion battery

Impressive, isn't it? It’s lightning quick and though the screen may be a little small for some people, with time you’ll definitely get used to it. The Walkman media player brings Sony’s A game to the table and guess what, this is included in Sony’s Xperia line-up of phones that is going to receive Ice Cream Sandwich goodness. This is one of the few phones in that price bracket to have 720p video recording and though a 1200 mAh battery isn’t the strongest of them all, it’s pretty much good for your everyday usage. Like the other Walkman phones (like the W700i, the W800i), Sony has retained the orange ring that lights up while playing music. Overall, it was a fantastic phone at 14k and this price cut only makes the deal even sweeter. Though not many people may trust third party sellers on eBay, it’s the top rated distributors that are selling it at this price tag and not a handful, so reason to worry is virtually non-existent.

Future proofing. Done. Price cut. Done. Would that make you buy the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman? Let us know in the comments section below.

CryptoCat: Provides Private & Encrypted Chatting Within Your Web Browser

If you are unsure about the level of protection that native messaging applications such as Facebook Chat have to offer, it is time you switched to encrypted communication. An app called “CryptoCat” could be exactly what you are looking for.

CryptoCat is a free to use web app that offers users an encrypted chat interface. The site is quite easy to use: the chat host creates a room by naming it. He is then taking to the room’s URL and picks a nickname for himself. Next he shares the room’s URL with friends who then join the room by choosing nicknames for themselves.

Your messages are encrypted inside your own browser using AES-256 and 4096-bit asymmetric keys. After one hour of inactivity, conversations are automatically wiped by the site.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service
2.> Offers secure chatting interface
3.> Encrypts your chats
4.> Deletes messages after 1 hour of inactivity

Check out CryptoCat from here @ www.crypto.cat

Create Your Own Home Address Book Server With PHP Address Book.

In my entire life, I think I can honestly say that the single most annoying task (and the one I am worst at), is maintaining an updated list of the addresses, phone numbers and birthdays of all of my friends, family and colleagues.

At one point I believe I made a concerted effort to gather and enter just about all of the addresses and phone numbers into an online database that was synced with my photo. For a while it worked well, and my Android even synced up with Facebook, so anyone that typed their contact information in Facebook would get loaded into my phone. It was pretty sweet.

But, as time went on – as usual – I just ran out of available time to update the list. My dad maintained his own paper-based book filled with all of our family contacts. At one point I wiped my phone while testing out new ROM installs. I suppose I could find that web app and reload the contacts, but I know everything is out of date and it would be a chore to refresh it all.

Lately I’ve been looking for an alternative to using a computer application or a mobile app to maintain a contact database. I believe I found the perfect solution – a web-based PHP application called PHP Address Book.

Access Your Family Address Book Server From Anywhere

Like the other PHP apps , the beauty of PHP Address Book is that once you install it on your home “server”, you can access your database of contacts from anywhere in the house, and from any device. Connect to your address book with your mobile phone, your laptop, your desktop – everyone in the house can instantly connect to the database to update contacts or to look up information. It’s probably the most convenient solution that works for everyone in the family at once.

Setup is also a breeze. As is standard with PHP apps, you need to have a web server running. Consider installing XAMPP or Uniform Server. Both come with phpMyAdmin included, where you can quickly add a new address book database and a user/password with full access.

Next, download all of the files to your web server and place them into a subdirectory where you want your application to run from. Use the SQL file that comes with the download package called “addressbook.sql” to copy and paste the SQL query into the field in the SQL tab on your database. Once you run the SQL script, it’ll create all of the tables and structure that the application needs.

The next step is to open up the config.php file and edit it with the database name, user and password that you’ve just created in phpMyAdmin. Also, if you happen to have a Google Maps key – you can add it in this file as well, but it isn’t required.

Don’t forget to add an admin password in the config file as well. That’s all it takes, now you can visit your new online address book database at http://your-web-domain/phpaddressbook/

The following main screen will show up.

This is your empty address book. While my solution is to load this on a web server PC right at home, you could always load this app on your web host if you like, so that you can access your address book from anywhere in the world.

Click on “add new” to create your first contact entry. The entry form has all of the information you’d expect for an address book – address, phone numbers, email addresses and birthdays. Yes, that means once you’re done you’ll never forget another birthday again, and you’ll never lose your contact information because your Address Book is only a click away.

Here’s what the main screen looks like once you’ve got a few contacts loaded.

The icons on the right side let you quickly access different formats – for example you can print out a quick contact card for the person, click on the pencil to edit the contact info, or click on the car icon to check out where the person lives on Google Maps.

My favorite feature of the application is the “next birthdays” feature. I’m constantly forgetting birthdays – it’s horrible! Now, all I have to do is put a shortcut in my browser to my Address Book “next birthdays” page – and voila. I can now check all of the upcoming birthdays on one single webpage.

Do you want a quick printout of all of your contacts in a compact format that’ll fit on just a few sheets of paper? Just click the address book printout tool and you’ll see a printable view of all of the addresses in your contacts list.

Overall, installing this address book server app either on your own private web server or on your public web host will make the whole process of staying connected with people a heck of a lot easier. Forget about maintaining addresses, emails and birthdays in all different places. Why does every person in the family maintain their own contact list? Collaborate together and centralize your contacts list into a family web-based address book – it’ll make staying in touch a lot easier.

Give PHP Address Book a try and see if it helps you better organize your contacts. Let us know what you think of the PHP app in the comments section below!

Let EyeLeo Prevent Eye Strain While Using Your PC.

If you’re like me, you’re sitting at your computer for hours and hours on an everyday basis. Doing so can cause some major damage to the eyes unless you take the necessary steps to make sure that you’re getting some good break time and breaking the cycle.

You never get your eyes back. They’re sort of like your teeth. Once they go bad, there’s really no natural recovery. You can eat carrots all day long, but if you’re staring directly at your monitor for hours each day it won’t really matter. (I’m not an eye doctor, but hey, I’m almost certain I’m correct.) EyeLeo strives to make sure that we keep our eyes healthy.

On the more technical side, here’s an excerpt directly from the EyeLeo website:

Eye strain or asthenopia is a real problem for those who sit at a computer. It is caused by decreased blinking while working long hours focusing on computer screens. EyeLeo reminds to take breaks regularly, shows you simple eye exercises and prevents you from using computer at break times. Following EyeLeo’s regulations will result in less physical fatigue.

EyeLeo was designed by engineers who have been using different analogues for quite a while, but were not satisfied with them. We took into consideration their flaws and made a well thought out product.

EyeLeo supports the following features that ought to improve the health of your eyes:

You can set an interval for when to take a long break every 30, 40, 50, 60 and 90 minutes for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 minutes.

You can set an interval for when to take a short break, which comes with a 10-second eye exercise proven to improve the health of your eyes.

You are notified when a long break is coming so that you can come to a stopping point in your work.

Here is a screenshot of all configurable settings and options:

There are several different short eye exercises that won’t leave you bored. Different exercises offer a different effect to your vision. After a while, you’ll probably even learn most of the exercises yourself and begin doing them more instinctively, maybe even without the help of EyeLeo.

Long breaks are unavoidable and actually dim your entire screen, preventing you from doing whatever it was you were doing and practically forcing you to relax your eyes for a bit. You can argue that this is a productivity killer, but your health is pretty important. Better a productivity killer than a person killer.

Using EyeLeo along with another eye-helping solution, like f.lux, could really do wonders for your vision and the overall health of your eyes. According to some statistics I’ve pulled up, 66% of the United States of America wears either glasses or contacts. That’s more than 100 million people. If you’re one of the lucky ones, stay ahead of the curb and do everything you can to protect those precious beady eyes of yours from the dangers of long computer usage. I wish I’d have done it!

This application works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and both Windows 7 and 8. It works on 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

How To Create & Install Custom Ringtones On Android Phones.

Has it already been over 3 years since Android was first released to the public? With Android already on version 4.0 — Ice Cream Sandwich — we all know that this mobile operating system has seen numerous changes, many of which have been innovative and pushing the boundaries of mobile technology.

But it’s always nice to take a step back and return to the basics every once in a while. Remember ringtones?

I received my first Android phone a few months ago and, as a newbie, I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to create and install ringtones on my device.

If you own an Android phone and still don’t know how to do that, then read on. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’ll keep your phone fresh and exciting every time it rings.

Creating Custom Ringtones:

In order to create your own ringtones on your Android, you’ll need to install RingDroid. If you already have a ringtone that you only want to install, feel free to skip down to the next section.

RingDroid will present to you a list of all of the audio files on your device. You choose one of those files and cut out a clip of it. Cutting a clip is easy: you just move the left and right sliders. The whole interface is rather intuitive.

The resulting clip can then be named and set as a ringtone for incoming calls, notifications, and alarms.

If you want to get rid of a ringtone you’ve made, select the down arrow in RingDroid and hit Delete.

Have too many audio files on your device? No problem. Use the Search feature to find the one you’re looking for in a flash.

If you want to record your voice and use that as a ringtone, RingDroid can do that, too. The Record New feature makes it as easy as 1-2-3.

Installing Custom Ringtones:

When you have a ringtone that you want to use but it’s located on your PC, you’ll need to move it into your phone in order to use it. Fortunately, this is really quite simple.

Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable and mount the internal SD storage so you can access the data on it.

Navigate into the media directory. Inside, you may or may not see an audio directory. If you don’t, create one. Then navigate into it.

Now create a directory called ringtones. In full, the directory should be located at media/audio/ringtones.

Take the audio file that you want to use as your ringtone and place it into media/audio/ringtones. Now when you are selecting a ringtone for your incoming calls, or notifications, or alarms, you should see it in your available list.

Conclusion:

That’s about it. The whole process is very simple and painless once you know how to do it. So go ahead and fill your phone with all of the new ringtones that you can handle!

JunkBox: Conveniently Sell Your Stuff Through Facebook.

Instead of throwing your stuff away, you should first check if any of your friends need it. Normally to do this online you would have to upload the item pictures and information on a separate forum or page, and then share selling links on Facebook with friends. An app called JunkBox provides help to make the process far more convenient.

JunkBox is an application for Facebook users that lets them share their items for sale on Facebook. After authorizing Facebook access to the application you can begin uploading pictures of the things you want to sell. You can add information such as prices and descriptions. The app lets you tell all your friends about your items so you can start making money and giving your used items a second life. You can also browse what people have put up for sale on the app. You can check out what your friends are trying to give away and grab anything that you need.

Features:

1.> A user-friendly web service.
2.> Works as a Facebook application.
3.> Lets you put things up for sale.
4.> Helps people make use of things you no longer need.
5.> Lets you browse what others have up for sale.

Check out JunkBox from here @ http://www.junkbox-app.com

TextImages: Create Images From Text [Windows]

TextImages is a handy utility that allows users to create text based images without having to open up a graphic program, such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, etc. You can select the font of your choice, adjust margins and more.

Using the service is easy and simple and does not require any expert skills or knowledge. Just open up the software and type in the text you want to display. You may wish to change the font and format or margins and space for the text.

Have a look at the preview image to see how the final image will look like. Once done, just click on the “Save” button to save the image in your desired folder.

Features:

1.> Free of charge.
2.> There is no need to open up graphic software programs to make text-based images.
3.> Saves time.

Visit TextImages from here @ http://www.sttmedia.com/textimages

Facebook Timeline Banners: Collection Of Banner Images For Your Facebook Timeline.

The new Facebook timeline, which will automatically replace the old profile design for everyone, requires that you put a nice banner image at the top in order to prevent your profile from looking lifeless. You can actually put any picture from your photos there and Facebook will resize it accordingly but if you want to try out new and different images then Facebook Timeline Banners has them for you. All kind of banners for your timeline are there on the site, just right-click and download to your computer and then upload it to Facebook.

The site also has a number of categories ranging from abstract to funny, games to illusions and so on. You may also conduct searches if you are looking to find a specific type of banner image.

Features:

1.> Collection of Facebook Timeline banners.
2.> Lot of images under various categories available.

Check out Facebook Timeline Banners from here @ facebooktimelinebanner.com

WaterMarquee: Add Watermarks To Your Photos Online.

If you are going to publish your photographs online and are looking for an easy way to watermark images, check out WaterMarquee.

WaterMarquee is an online tool that allows people to watermark images to protect their copyrights. One of the best things is that you don’t have to install any application to complete this task. You have the option to add a text or image as a watermark as well.
Just click on the “Get Started” button, add the image you want to set a watermark to, and then choose the option that says “Set Watermark” to add the watermark to your image – you can position it once done.

Features:

1.> Free and easy to use.
2.> Add watermarks to multiple images at the same time.
3.> No need for third-party software.
4.> Watermark can either be text or image.

Check out Water Marquee from here @ www.watermarquee.com

Nokia testing Play To for Windows Phone.

Nokia has announced a new streaming application for its Windows Phone devices, called Play To, which basically is DLNA for media playback on multiple devices. With the “Play To” application for Nokia Lumia phones, you can show pictures and videos wirelessly on other DLNA capable devices (TV’s, BlueRay players, Mediaplayer in Windows 7, etc…) connected to their network. At present, this application is in Beta testing phase and hence they are inviting early adopters to give it a try on their Nokia Lumia phones. To test the device, the users need to download the application and try it at home with a DLNA-capable device, and let them know if it worked or not (for example, by writing a review if it worked, or submitting a bug report if it doesn't work).

In case you are jumping onto the testing bandwagon, we’ll remind you that a few details are needed. First up, the type of router you were using, the make and model of the DLNA device (TV, Blu-Ray player, etc) you were connecting to or trying to connect to. Another piece of valuable information would be if theTV/Blu-Ray player was connected to the network via a cable or connected wirelessly. At present, the application is not available for download via the Marketplace, so you will have to hop on to this link, download the app and document your review. Future releases of the application are planned to also include support for music.

Nokia is also planning a console version, soon enough and that’s definitely good news. However, what’s strange in this is why isn’t Microsoft figuring this out by themselves? Considering they already have consoles, PCs and phones in the market, and it only makes more sense now than ever. Anyway, Nokia isn’t really waiting for it to come officially for WP devices and hence have gone and done this on their own. Definitely a welcome addition if you own a Nokia WP7 device.

Have any of you tested this app on your Windows Phone 7 device already? Let us know how it fared in the comments section below.

WishTel launches 2 low-cost tablets in the market.

The competition in the newly formed market segment for tablet computers, i.e. low-cost tablet computers is all set to intensify, as yet another manufacturer has introduced their low-cost wares in the market. WishTel, "a young and dynamic company" have introduced to the market, their low-cost tablet duo with their price tags falling between Rs.4,000 and Rs.5,500. WishTel’s Ira and Ira Thing have been introduced to the market, and understandably, it is being touted to compete with the others in the space, which also include newcomers, like Zync tablet and the i-Tab by Intex Technologies. Quite understandably, WishTel’s Ira Thing, which offers users a capacitive touchscreen on a 7-inch display comes with the price tag of Rs.5,500, while a resistive touchscreen-armed Ira tablet will cost the user Rs.4,000.

Interestingly, WishTel IRA line-up of tablet intends to go the Aakash way, i.e. its makers aim to bring quality education to the masses at affordable rates. Quoting from Wishtel's official website, "IRA has been designed as per specifications from IIT Rajasthan as a part of their low cost computing devices project, under the National Mission on Education through ICT and sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resource. It's ability to innovate and deliver efficiently has made it one of the most competitive players to build products as per customer requirements. Its journey from building proto-types to commercial models has been very exciting and today, Wishtel with its associates possesses in-depth expertise and experience with real time embedded systems and development tools. Thus building an ecosystem of highly integrated hardware and software for Tablet PCs and multimedia boxes."

WishTel’s Ira Thing boasts of the following specifications:
OS: Google Android 2.2
Display: 7-inch capacitive touchscreen
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
USB 2.0 High Speed
3G video calling support
Supports 720p HD video playing
IE, Media Player, Photo Viewer, Office, MSN, Skype, IREAD, GAME
Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MSN Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Maps
External Microphone, 3.5mm earphone jack
Battery: 2800 mAh.7V Built-in Li-poly battery

While WishTel’s Ira tablet boasts of the following specifications:
OS: Google Android 2.2
Display: 7-inch resistive touchscreen
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
USB 2.0 High Speed
3G video calling support
Supports 720p HD video playing
IE, Media Player, Photo Viewer, Office, MSN, Skype, IREAD, GAME
Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MSN Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Maps
External Microphone, 3.5mm earphone jack
Battery: 2800 mAh.7V Built-in Li-poly battery

Reports have also been suggesting that WishTel have been in the running for bidding for the second round of the Aakash tablet, after they lost the first round to Datawind. Quoting WishTel's Chief Executive Officer, Milind Shah, the report adds that, "We are eagerly waiting for the same, given an opportunity we are getting ready for this project, it is a very ambitious project. Between ourself and Datawind, price for device was competitive, we lost out on deliverables in terms of service support, maintenance, logistics, taxes and other things. For the device, we were lower against Datawind by 10 cents, or 8 cents to be precise."

To know more about WishTel's IRA line-up of tablet, you can visit their official website, here.

Sony VAIO running Chrome OS leaks, thanks to FCC.

Just when we thought Google’s Chrome OS was over and done with, Sony’s VAIO VCC111 has suddenly popped up for a routine inspection at the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). The notebook being tested was running Google’s Chrome OS. Chromebooks were originally designed as replacements for netbooks, but due to the limitations of the OS, it never really took off. Google’s idea behind this concept was to give users just basic functionality that one typically uses the notebook for- Internet surfing, working on office documents and videos. These were also a lot faster than netbooks and slimmer as well, but because most of the applications required an Internet connection to work, it didn’t do very well here.

Sony’s latest addition sports a 11.6-inch screen and is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 250 T25 ARM CPU running at 1.2GHz. According to some of the pictures, the notebook has an HDMI, headphone and microphone jack, two USB ports and an SD card reader. The notebook isn’t very slim, which makes us believe that it may just have a proper notebook hard drive, instead of a small flash-based storage device. The notebook will also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth onboard. As to when Sony plans to release this is still unknown. We don’t see the point of using Chrome OS at this stage when Sony could have put Ice Cream Sandwich, which would have made more sense. Not only is it familiar to use, but you have the whole app store to satisfy your ‘app’etite (pardon the pun). With Android 4.0 already hitting 10.1-inch tablets, it would have been easy to port it to the VCC111. We really hope for Sony’s sake that they do switch from Chrome OS to Android, before they plan on launching it, else this doesn’t make any sense.

MIT's camera can see around corners.

Imagine a house on fire, and a camera helping the rescue team to locate exactly where the person is trapped in a room from a distance far enough. Researchers at MIT have been thinking on similar lines; they have been using the innovative femtophotography poses. So, basically, this technology sends quick laser pulses, which bounce back showing the hidden scene or say giving you a glimpse of what you otherwise wouldn’t be able to see directly, owing to the situation. The imaging device is developed by the MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture group along with Bawendi Lab in the Department of Chemistry at MIT.

The incredibly quick laser pulses are measured in quadrillionths of a second. The bursts of light bounce around off ordinary doors or walls or floors and reflect back in the same way to the picosecond-accurate detector at the camera (picoseconds = trillionths of a second), which then records the elapsed time and does all the math to calculate the light bursts traveled. The light burst travel in different routes, while the system runs this drill multiple times in just a second or so, to offer a complete 3D image. Reportedly, this photography technology is all about algorithms and has been happening on a small scale currently.

Reportedly, the 3D images aren’t portrait quality, but good enough and recognizable in some situations, like helping someone who is navigating in dangerous environment, avoiding collision of cars and so on. Going way past the traditional photography technology, the new femtophotography could work wonders, if the imaging device hits markets. We can foresee several buyers to queueing to own the device. MIT researchers will be revealing all about this new innovative technology of locating hidden objects in the journal Nature Communications. In 2010, researchers at MIT had put forth another interesting technology called NETRA which allowed testing eye sight using mobile phones.

Yokto: Collect Videos From Around The Web Into Custom Playlists.

YouTube lets you create playlists but what if you want to add videos from Vimeo, DailyMotion or PhotoBucket to that playlist? Yokto let’s you do exactly that. You can add videos from multiple video sites like YouTube and Vimeo into a single playlist and then embed the playlist anywhere on the web.

The video sites currently supported are YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, PhotoBucket and SlideShare. However, the best part is that you can also use a Yokto Video Collector tool to collect videos from all other video sites or even simple webpages that have a video embedded. Just drag the icon to your favorites bar and then whenever you see a video that you want to add, simply click on the icon and choose the playlist you want to add it to. Once the media is added, you can customize your playlist and get the embed code to add it to your webpage or blog.

Features:

1.> Collect videos from around the web into custom playlists.
2.> Option to upload videos from your computer.
3.> Embed customized playlists anywhere.

Visit Yokto from here @ http://yok.to