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Google sends out invites for Android event on October 29th

If you’ve been following news lately, you might have read about rumors claiming Google releasing few Nexus devices on 29th of this month. Google has now officially confirmed the Android event and has sent out invites.

The event will take place in NYC, starting at 9 A.M on Monday. You can make out that Google is going to release a new Nexus 7 (probably a 32GB one?), by the tag line “The playground is open”.

If the rumors are to believed, Google is going to unveil a lot of stuff on the day, including Android 4.2, a LG/Sony Nexus, a 32/64 GB Nexus 7. Google might even surprise with a 99$ Nexus, targeting the low-cost Android tablets like Kindle Fire.

iPad mini priced at 249$ will also urge Google to release an entry level version of Nexus 7.

Apparently, this event is going to take place after Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Apple’s iPad mini events.

Best thing about the event? It will be streamed live in the Android Developers channel on YouTube.

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Google’s Webmasters Tool to Disavow Links

If you own a blog or website of any kind, then this new tool by Google will be of interest to you. Google has many useful tools for webmasters like rich snippets testing and adding multiple users to webmasters dashboard. Today it has unveiled a new Webmasters tool for disavowing links. The online tool mainly lets you inform Google about bad or spam back-links to your website.

Ideally, most webmasters do not pay much attention to bad links pointing to their own website. But often with relatively popular portals and blogs, we see a lot of content scrappers which automatically publish multiple duplicate content. There can also be webpages that often are from websites with poor reputation or link to your domain without any reason.

Ideally, to reduce the percentage of bad back-links, webmasters had to contact the owner of that particular website and work with them to reduce this. With this tool, you can now simply upload a file containing the backlinks you want to disavow.

I must caution blog owners against using the tool to disavow links casually. It basically sends a signal to Google to not consider certain back-links with poor or bad reputation. If used without care, it could affect how your website is crawled and might ultimately affect the amount of search traffic Google sends to your website.

This tool should be used only in most extreme cases and only for sites that have proven track record of being untrustworthy.

Here is a 10 minute video of Matt Cutts who heads Google’s webspam team, explaining details about the new tool.

Link: Google Disavow Links Tool

(via Google Webmaster Blog)

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Register for LinkedIn’s New Design For Profile Layout

LinkedIn profiles pages are extremely simple and plain.This possible makes them boring when compared to profile pages of Facebook or Google+. But our LinkedIn profile does not need to be fancy with many photos and features as ultimately it serves as a online resume of sorts. Today, LinkedIn has started rolling out a newly designed profile layout.

The new profile is a lot more organized. It has more emphasis on current activities and updates of a user compared to just overall experience. Connections can also been seen as a mosaic of profile images which is very similar to Facebook.

It might have taken some inspiration from designs for profile pages from other popular social networks but thankfully LinkedIn is not trying to ape or clone them.

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If you would like to activate the new profile layout for your account, then you can register your request at this link.

LinkedIn might also be introducing an option to allow other users to follow your profile without the need of your approval. This is similar to the Twitter model. Currently LinkedIn has already introduced this option on it’s own list of influential profiles.

What do your think about the new design of LinkedIn profile? Do drop in your views and opinions.

Link: LinkedIn Profile Sample

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Google’s Nexus 7 is Best Selling Android Tablet Ever

Google’s Nexus 7 has been a runaway hit in the tablet market and it was confirmed by a retailer as reported by The Telegraph. The report though is from the data collected only in the UK, is relevant to any market where Nexus 7 is available. The tablets surely are not exactly denting Apple’s iPad sales but such success might spell trouble for other tablet manufacturers.

Nexus 7 success is interesting, in the sense it has WiFi only and does not work on mobile networks at all. It might be shipping a new variant model with 3G connectivity. The pricing of the Nexus 7 at $199 is extremely competitive for the kind of hardware and software it packs. The tablet is expected to hit India sometime in November, probably to leverage the shopping season during Diwali holidays.

Possible Challenges to Nexus 7

Nexus 7 has taken advantage of the fact that there is no iPad with a 7-inch screen. The iPad Mini which should be revealed on 23rd of October, could really dry up Nexus 7 sale numbers.

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Surface RT tablets and other Windows based tablets by OEMs will also hit the market soon. Even though Windows is not a proven platform for tablets, it still has a hugely loyal customer base for PC. Pricing might not favour Microsoft as the Surface RT tablet is priced at $499.

It seems, whatever happens to the Nexus 7, other manufacturers who are churning out Android based tablets might need to learn some tricks from Google and Asus (manufacturer of Nexus 7).

What are your views on Google’s Nexus 7? Will you buy one if and when it is available in India? Do drop in your comments.

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Microsoft Surface RT tablets priced at 499$

Back in June, Microsoft unveiled Surface RT, a really well designed tablet which will apparently run Windows RT, that’s the tablet version of Windows 8.

They haven’t talked much about pricing then, but today, Surface RT was put for preorder in the Microsoft store. Here’s how the pricing looks like.

The 32GB version of Surface RT will start at 499$, without Touch cover or Type cover – both of them are sold separately. The Touch cover costs 120$, while the Type cover is 130$. There’s also a 64GB version of Surface RT which will be priced at 699$ (that’ll include Touch cover too).

The pricing is inline with that of iPad (which is not a good thing), whose Wi-Fi only versions start at 499$. The only reason why one would go with a Surface rather than an iPad, is Touch cover – it’s a pressure sensitive, multi-touch keyboard which also adds for protection. Type cover on the other hand, is just a physical keyboard.

Microsoft has got a lot of work to do with Windows 8, including luring developers into the OS ecosystem, as none of the traditional Windows apps will work on Windows RT.

They have also aired an advertisement, calling it as ‘The Surface Movement”.

Source: The Verge

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Apple to release 13″ retina MacBook Pro along with iPad mini

Rumors have been circulating regarding Apple releasing a smaller version of iPad on 23rd this month, possibly being called as iPad mini. It turns out that, Apple is going to release a retina version of their 13″ MacBook Pro, along with the iPad mini.

9to5Mac, a popular Apple-dedicated blog, has confirmed that the there’s going to be a release of retina version of the current 13″ MacBook Pro.

With iPhone, iPad and the recent 15″ MacBook Pro going all retina, releasing a retina version of the 13″ isn’t a big surprise.

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There aren’t much details about the laptop, except that it’s going to be thinner and lighter, just like the 15″ retina MacBook Pro. It will be sold in two versions with varying processor and storage configurations.

Apple has updated the 13″ MacBook Pro lineup in this year’s WWDC – with ivy bridge processors, USB 3.0 and all, but the screen resolution was still the same. Heck, the 13″ MacBook Air has better resolution than the 13″ Pro. So a retina version is a big welcome.

The non retina version of 13″ MacBook Pro will still be continued, as there will be a lot of people who don’t want to spend extra amount of money for the retina version.

Putting laptops aside, I wonder if iMacs get updated with retina, as they can be really pricey.

Source: 9to5Mac

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Microsoft reveals Pricing for Windows 8

Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 8 will become available later this month from 26th October. Microsoft on its blog has revealed the pricing for the new OS upgrades. Microsoft is introducing a new tile based design with Windows 8. Windows 8 will also be available with the Surface Tablets which could be possible competition for iPad.

Details of Microsoft 8 Pricing

  • Users can reserve a packaged DVD upgrade for Windows 8 Pro for $69.99. Users can reserve their DVD at select retailers only in the US.
  • From 26th October, users can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99.
  • The full version for Windows 8 Professional (64-bit and 32-bit) OEM version will be available for $139.99.
  • Finally for Indian users, if you bought a PC or laptop with Windows 7 after 2nd June 2012 or buying a new by before 31st January 2013, users can upgrade for a mere INR 699.99.

You can check more details for upgrading to Windows 8 at this link. Select your location and check out the deals for an upgrade.
Do drop in your comments and views.
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Apple to unveil iPad Mini at Event on 23rd October 2012

There have been many rumours about Apple working on a new 7-inch iPad version, possibly being called ‘iPad Mini’. As AllThingsD reported, the smaller tablet device by Apple will be launched at a invite-only event on 23rd October. The iPad Mini was expected to be introduced at the same event at which the iPhone 5 was unveiled.

Expected iPad Mini Specs and Features

  • The iPad Mini is expected to have a 1024X768 display. The screen will be 7.85 inches.
  • The processor that powers iPad Mini will be A6 chip. It is the same that powers the iPhone 5.
  • There are rumours that the device will be Wifi only initially.
  • The new lightening connector cable introduced with iPhone 5 will also work with the new tablet.
  • The device will run on iOS6 and have the much criticized Maps app from Apple. The mapping app might not be as critically important as it was on the iPhone if iPad Mini is WiFi only.
The iPad Mini will surely be compared to Google’s Nexus 7 tablet. But it will be interesting to see who exactly does iPad Mini hurt with sales. If they are priced low, then it will life very difficult for Microsoft’s plan with Surface tablets featuring Windows 8.
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GoDaddy Auctioning 42 single and double character .ORG Domain Names

GoDaddy the popular domain registration and hosting portal will be auctioning several unique .ORG domain names. The unique part of these domain names are that they are either single or double characters.

So for example domain names like A.org or ZQ.org are up for sale. It seems as the demand for such unique domain names is very high, GoDaddy is taking the auction route.

You can look up the entire list of single and double character .ORG domain names available at this link.

Unique domain names with single or two characters are in great demand because they are extremely easy to remember. A good example of this is Twitter’s short URL domain being t.co

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Expect even more unique Domain names in the future

With ICANN allowing more top-level domain names in any script a mad rush was seen by the world’s biggest technology companies like Google bid for 101 top-level domain names.

Many of these unique top-level domain names will see the option of more unique domain names becoming available to the general public.

Some internet experts do think that having too many options will actually force large companies to unnecessarily spend millions on buying unique domain names.

Link: GoDaddy PR

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Use Indian Languages like Hindi, Marathi and Tamil with Gmail

Today, Gmail has expanded the number of languages it supports. The list is over 100 languages. It has also allowed virtual keyboards for using non-latin languages.

Languages written in different scripts like Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Gujrati are very popular in India. Gmail allows users to switch with a single click.

How it works:

  • Just look up Gmail settings and find Language section under General tab. There users can select “Enable input tools”.
  • A popup allows users to select through hundreds of languages. Select the languages and save settings.

  • On your Gmail layout, you will see a new button for changing the input tools settings.
  • This works not just for composing emails but also while chatting with your friends via Gmail.
Gmail will become more accessible to people who want to use languages which have different scripts compared to English and still use the normal keyboard available on most keyboards.

You can also use these languages on your browser with Google Chrome Extension for language Input Tools.

Source: Gmail Blog