Category: News

Categories
News

Twitter to introduce Instagram-like Photo filters

Twitter is one of those companies which says that they’re very different from their competitors, but in reality, they are the same. As you know, Facebook bought Instagram for a whopping $1 Billion. Probably, in some point in future, Facebook is going to integrate/merge Instagram into it.

twitter-instagram

Ironically, Instagram photos are generally more popular on Twitter than Facebook, this probably made Twitter to get photo filters into its social network – as the NYTimes points it out.

Twitter is more of a mobile-thing for everyone and now that smartphones are equipped with super-high-resolution cameras, it does make sense. Path, for example, had these photo filters built-in.

ADVERTISEMENT

Personally, I don’t think it will hamper Instagram in any way. Because, content on Twitter is short-term, it won’t be forever. Apart from that, Instagram has a great community of photographers which isn’t easy to find on Twitter.

They also seem to add video uploading and editing features, without needing you to get on to YouTube.

Apparently, these features may not keep the simplicity which Twitter is known for and they should do something about it.

Source: NYTimes

Related: Facebook releases Instagram-Like Photo Filtering feature on iOS App 

Categories
News

Share Your Google Drive Files Directly on Google+

Since Google Drive was launched earlier this year, I use it a lot of creating and sharing documents. I even use it to store photos, slideshow presentations and home videos. Since today, users can share their files from Google Drive directly to their Google+ accounts and others can view these files directly from their Google+ feeds.

How it works:

  • Choose a file from your Google Drive account. Now click on share option for the file.
  • It will allow users options to share the file using various platforms like Gmail, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. If you select Google+, others can directly look at the content of your file from Google+ itself. That means, users do not have to leave Google+ or download the file separately.
  • So basically if I was sharing my birthday video with some Google+ friends, I can simply share the link into my Google+ profile and friends can steam the video from their feed directly.

This was needed mainly as Google+ can also double up as an internal social network for app accounts. So sharing files with many collaborators can be very useful.

It is a great time for cloud storage and sync users as Dropbox has also pushed through a lot of new features like video streaming on Android phones and with Windows 8 leveraging SkyDrive expect a lot more from Microsoft too.

Which one of the cloud sync and storage services do you use? Do drop in your comments.

Categories
News

LG Nexus 4 to be available in India by November

Yesterday Google made the Nexus 4 phone official in a blog post. LG is manufacturing the Nexus 4 phone. It will be initially available on 13th November in U.S, U.K, Australia, France, Germany, Canada and Spain.

Asus has already confirmed the Nexus 7 being available in India possibly in the month of November. LG India officials have reportedly confirmed that the new phone Nexus 4 will also be made available in India by November end.

The phone is priced very competitively at $299 for its 8GB unlocked version. Even with duties and taxes, LG could price it in India for around Rs. 20,000 and it will be a very competitive price for such a powerful phone with the latest stock Android version on it.

ADVERTISEMENT

Why LG Nexus 4 in India is very likely?

Samsung last year had let down a lot of Android users who expected it to roll out Galaxy Nexus in India. Unfortunately Samsung shelved any plans for a Nexus phone in India (if there were any in the first place) possibly to not have it clash with its Galaxy S3 launch.

LG itself does not have a phone that sells as well as Galaxy S3 in India. So it makes sense for LG to roll out a very competitive and in-demand phone in India.

Categories
News

Google Announces Nexus 4 Phone, Nexus 10 Tablet and Android 4.2

Google’s Android event scheduled for today might have got cancelled because of stormy weather, but it has not stopped it from announced the two new Nexus devices and an upgraded Android version. It has also introduced upgraded version of Nexus 7 tablet.

Nexus Phones and Tablets

Now there are three distinct devices with Google Nexus brand name. All devices will run on the upgraded JellyBean version 4.2.

Nexus 4 (Phone)

ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Nexus 4 mobile phone is built by LG and has screen size of 4.7 inches.
  • The phone will ship with a new feature for viewing photos called photo sphere. It is bascially new features for taking large photos and also enhance Google+ experience.
  • The phone ships in two variants which is the 8GB and 16GB memory space.

Nexus 10 (Tablet)

  • The phone is built by Samsung is a new 10 inch tablet. The tablet is a entertainment device meant to bolster content consumption.
  • The device allows mutilpe users feature of Android 4.2 allowing more than one person to share the tablet, obviously aimed at families.
  • The tablet has a powerful battery with upto nine hours of video playback and 500 hours of standby.

Nexus 7 Upgrades (Mobile network support)

ADVERTISEMENT
  • Nexus 7 initially would only connect over WiFi networks. Google has now added support for HSPA+ mobile networks or mobile networks in lay mans terms.
  • The newer Nexus 7 devices will roll out of Android 4.2 version.
  • The device will be shipped in two variants with 16 GB and 32 GB memory respectively.

Android 4.2

There were many good updates as expected from Android 4.2. It is not a completely new version of Android but just a upgraded version of JellyBean. Android 4.2 also will support multiple profiles and has many improvements in Google Now search capabilities.

Android 4.2 has a new camera feature called Photo Sphere which is literally taking three dimensional photos of a large area.

Below is a video shared by Android’s Hugo Barra showcasing the Photoscape feature.

This also means Google will in all probablity not reschedule its Android event which it had cancelled earlier.

(via Google Blog)

Categories
News

Google Cancels its Android Event

A few days ago, Google had started sending out invites for a special Android event, scheduled for the 29th of October. The event was to be held in New York. According to confirmation by Marketing Land, Google has cancelled the 29th October Android event. The event was cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy. The storm is supposed to hit New York over the next day.

Google at the moment has not yet announced a new date or venue for the event.

Google Cancels Android Event

The event was supposed to show case a LG Nexus 4 phone and a 10 inch tablet called Nexus 10 by Samsung. There were rumour about a new variant of Nexus 7 with 32GB memory and 3G compatibility.

Also the most important part of this event would have been the announcement of Android 4.2 (possibly called Key Lime Pie). Here is a list of the expected features of Android 4.2.

Categories
News

Apple releases iPad mini and updates Mac line up in its special event

Just like the rumors have suggested, Apple has released a lot of shiny new stuff in its special event. They have introduced iPad mini, a smaller version of the original iPad. The Mac line-up is bigger than ever, with new iMacs, Mac minis, and a new retina 13″ MacBook Pro.

apple-october-special-event

iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad

The iPad Mini as you’d expect, is a thinner, lighter and a smaller tablet. With the screen resolution same as that of the original iPad (which means no fragmentation). It’s got a 7.9″ display, which will hopefully fit in your hands. It’s got a dual-core A5 chip, and supports the lightning connector instead of a Micro-USB. Available in both 3G as well as Wi-Fi only models.

ADVERTISEMENT

The base 16GB Wi-Fi only model costs 329$, and the price increments by 100$ for extra storage.

Along with iPad mini, they’ve also updated the full-sized iPad with a new A6X chip. This is quite a surprise, as it wasn’t mentioned in any of the rumors.

Link: iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad

13″ Retina MacBook Pro

ADVERTISEMENT

The retina display finally comes to the 13″ MacBook Pro with 227 PPI, along with incredibly fast flash storage, support for PowerNap feature, and of course, very thin and light in design.

It costs 1699$ for the base model, which comes with 2.5Ghz Intel core i5, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage. That’s like 500$ more than the non-retina base 13″ MacBook Pro.

Though the flash storage and retina are tempting, I don’t really think it’s worth it. Also, many of the Mac apps are yet to be optimized for retina. Another not-so-impressive factor is that, it’s got Intel HD Graphic 4000 as GPU, Apple should have considered Nvidia instead.

Link: 13″ MacBook Pro with retina

Mac Mini and iMacs

ADVERTISEMENT

Mac desktop enthusiasts finally got what they wanted – an update to iMacs and Mac minis. Though MacBooks got updated in this year’s WWDC, Apple didn’t talk anything about iMacs and Mac minis.

Both of these got the 3rd generation ivy bridge Intel processors, USB 3.0 ports and new Nvidia GeForce chips. iMacs have got a new display which has got anti-reflective coating, and is very thin.

The base models of iMac and Mac Mini costs $1299 and $799 respectively.

Link: iMacs and Mac Minis

That’s a lot of Apple products in one single event. Are you looking forward to getting any of these? Do comment.

Categories
News

Apple’s iPad mini event can be streamed via Apple TV

Apple seems to be moving away from its usual standards of not streaming live events. As reported by The Next Web, the iPad mini event will stream via the Apple Events app on Apple TV.

In all probability, you don’t own an Apple TV, or may be you have no idea what it is – it’s a device to stream media from iTunes, Hulu, YouTube and all.

The app notifies that the event will stream live at 10 AM PT, with the tag line ‘we’ve got a little more to show you’ – the one you saw in Apple event invite posters.

The last time Apple streamed an event live was in 2010, for the iPod music event. Contrary to what many expect, Apple hasn’t put anything on their Events page and we’re not sure if they will stream the event on the web.

ADVERTISEMENT

Even if they’re not going to stream it via web, you can follow live blogs, including that of Engadget and The Verge – which are pretty good.

So yeah, look out for new Macbooks, iMacs, iPad mini and a lot of other rumoured stuff.

Source: The Next Web

Update 1: And just like that, the Apple store is down.

Update 2: Wow! Apple has finally confirmed that the event will be streamed live via web. But only on Safari for Mac and iOS (and Apple TV, of course).

Link: Apple Events

Categories
News

List of Expected Features for Android 4.2 (Key Lime Pie)

Since Google has announced an Android event for the 29th of October, it has pushed tech bloggers around the world into overdrive about what might be revealed on the day. It can be reasonable to expect a LG Nexus 4 phone, Nexus 7 tablet with 32 GB memory and 3G and possibly a larger tablet called Nexus 10.

The biggest news is that all these devices will be running on Android 4.2, namely Key Lime Pie.

After the highly appreciated Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the next version will obviously need a lot more new features.

Here is a list of expected features from Android 4.2.

ADVERTISEMENT

Android 4.2 Expected Features

  • Mutiple User profiles for tablets: Android 4.2 will have the much needed support for mutiple profiles. The idea is that it will allow two or three users to have their own profiles on a tablet to login and use their own choice of apps and customizations.
  • New Gmail App: The Key Lime Pie will ship with a new Gmail app which supports pinch to zoom and swipe to archive features taking advantage of the muti-touch devices. This will be like a stock app for Nexus users like the stand-alone Google Calendar app.
  • Notification Center: The notification center of Android is where it has thoroughly outclassed iOS for a while and it is reasonable to expect more improvements. The notifications will show full messages instead of just part of it and more functions that can be carried out from the notifications UI itself.
  • Google Now: Google Now will be improved with cards popping up telling you about people and locations of interest where you are along with features like telling you how much you walked and more.
  • Other Improvements: The other improvements expected are mainly UI improvements to Cameras and the photo gallery.

We will have to wait and see how Google will try to steal the thunder of Apple which is also expected to show up with smaller iPad tablet and some even suggest a peek at iTV. Also the rumours about Android 4.2 could be just rumours, but Google will surely unveil something important.

All said and done, it is a great time to be a customer.

Source: Verge Forum

Categories
News

Do Google’s Samsung Chromebooks for $249 make sense?

When Google unveiled Chromebooks, which are laptops running on Chrome OS, they were priced competitively to give some competition to Netbook manufacturers. That might not have happened possibly because of increasing number of tablet sales but Chromebooks have found some successes among the student population in the US and UK. Today, Google has unveiled Samsung Chromebooks for the price tag of $249. They are available at retailers in the US and UK.

Samsung Chromebook Features?

  • Samsung Chromebook has 6 hours battery life for general users.
  • It includes 100 GB free space on Google Drive.
  • It weighs only 2.5 pounds and 0.8 inches thick.
  • The bootup time is less than 10 seconds and all the data is stored on the cloud.
ADVERTISEMENT

But Chromebooks are not the future…

Chromebooks sound very good but I am not sure about it being a really viable device. The low-end PC market which includes laptops is basically heading towards its demise. They are being replaced by people spending more and more time on tablets.

Also with Microsoft Surface RT tablets for $499, people might prefer buying a hybrid tablet where data can be stored locally instead of a laptop which stores all data in the cloud. The Chromebooks might have it’s niche users but honestly it will not make a big difference to a computer industry increasingly shifting its focus on smartphones and tablets.

What do you think about the Chromebooks and its future? Do drop in your comments.

Categories
News

Google Releases Standalone Calendar App for Android

Google has made its official Calendar app available for all Android users. The App itself was only available for Google’s Nexus phone and Nexus 7 tablet users. Today, it has been made available for all devices using Android 4.0.3 onwards.

I decided to try out the Calendar app on my HTC phone running Android 4.0.3. I was not particularly happy with the Calendar widgets and apps that came with my phone.

Google’s Standalone Calendar App Features

  • The calendar app allows users to edit and create events. Users can also respond to invitations sent to your via Google Calendars.
  • If you have multiple calendars that you are subscribed to, you can choose the calendar and the events that need to be displayed.
  • The app allows users to set a home time zone. This will be helpful for frequent travellers who hop from one time zone to another.
  • Users can snooze events from the Android notifications directly (my personal favourite).

The app, as I mentioned was available only on Nexus phones and tablets before today. It seems with this, Google is trying to give Android users more access to stock Android apps. Maybe more such announcements will come through on 29th October when Google planned a Android event.

If you are using an Android phone with ICS, try the Calendar app and drop in your views and opinions.

Link: Google Calendar for Android