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The "Ice bucket challenge" is the new social media sensation on the internet, thanks to celebrities dumping ice cold water on their heads. But this is one of the very few times that a video concept has gone viral for a good cause. The cause is creating awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a neurodegenerative disease that affects a lot of Americans. Also known as the Lou Gehrig's disease, it currently affects 30,000 in the US, but not many had or have the awareness of the aforementioned disease which, by affecting the brain, paralyses the whole body, eventually leading to death in 2-3 years, in severe cases. So, a lot of celebrities, including tech CEOs like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and CEO-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates have joined in on this trend, to create awareness and donate money for ALS.
The challenge
The challenge, made popular by Pete Frates, was very simple. Dump ice cold water on your head, nominate others to do the same on video within 24 hours, else donate 100$ to the ALS association.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft's current CEO takes the Ice Bucket Challenge, with help from the company's hackathon winners. Steve Gleason, a former NFL player who is diagnosed with ...
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LG G Watch running on Android Wear went on sale on the Google Play Store in June. Now, a report is suggesting that LG is already making the next G watch that will likely be announced at the IFA 2014.
A new report from the Korean Times is revealing that LG is tentatively naming it as the LG G Watch 2. It is said to feature an OLED display a leap from the IPS LCD display found in the current G Watch. In addition, the new watch will reportedly use a Qualcomm processor, but LG does have plans to use its own Odin processors in the future.
The source claims the watch as “a serious game changer” that will compete with Apple’s highly anticipated iWatch. Android Wear supports two form factors rectangular and circular. Since, LG already has a rectangular dial, the company can go for a round dial for the LG G Watch 2. The source also revealed that LG is planning on working with top watch makers for its upcoming watches. "LG Electronics is being approached by a lot of authoritative watchmakers for strategic collaboration", said an LG official in the report.
Meanwhile, there is no word from LG regarding the smartwatch as ...
Google has acquired a travel based image recognition start-up Jetpac for an undisclosed sum. The firm has created an app that pulls specific items out of publicly available Facebook and Instagram photos to generate city guides.
As a result of the acquisition, the iOS app will be pulled from the App Store in coming days, and support for the service will be discontinued on September 15. Jetpac's technology offers insights to city locales by analyzing pictures of food, decor and people. It automatically scans users’ photos to detect local points of interest like coffee shops or “hipster hangouts.” The app offers customized geographic information as per users needs. The service featured data for over 6,000 cities, according to the App Store description.
Google is expected to use the acquisition by integrating its technology into Google Maps or Google Now to offer enhanced recommendations. Earlier this month, Google acquired smartphone-messaging application Emu and video-creation service Directr Inc., bolstering its mobile and advertising capabilities.
via:Tech Crunch
Xiaomi unveiled Mi 4, the company's latest flagship smartphone last month. We brought you the photo gallery of the Mi 4 recently, here we have the unboxing of the smartphone. As we already said in the photo gallery, the Mi 4 is a step ahead compared to the Mi 3 in terms of design, build quality and the specifications. Check out the unboxing video below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iTQj4QHbtw
Box Contents
the box contents include,
Xiaomi Mi 4 in white
2-pin charger (5V-0.5A)
Micro USB cable
SIM ejector tool
Booklets
Since the smartphone has a 3080 mAh built-in battery, it doesn't come with a battery in the box.
The Xiaomi Mi 4 has a 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display with Corning Gorilla glass protection, similar to the Mi 3, but the size of the smartphone has been reduced. It is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5 GHz. Here are the complete specifications
5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display with 441 PPI resolution with Corning Gorilla glass protection
2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor
MIUI V5 on top of Android 4.4 (KitKat)
13MP rear camera with LED Flash, Sony IMX214 BSI sensor, 6-element lens, f/1.8 aperture, 4K video recording
8MP front-facing camera with Sony Exmor R sensor, 5-element lens , f/1.8 aperture
8.9mm thick ...
The "Ice bucket challenge" is the new social media sensation on the internet, thanks to celebrities dumping ice cold water on their heads. But this is one of the very few times that a video concept has gone viral for a good cause. The cause is creating awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a neurodegenerative disease that affects a lot of Americans. Also known as the Lou Gehrig's disease, it currently affects 30,000 in the US, but not many had or have the awareness of the aforementioned disease which, by affecting the brain, paralyses the whole body, eventually leading to death in 2-3 years, in severe cases. So, a lot of celebrities, including tech CEOs like Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and CEO-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates have joined in on this trend, to create awareness and donate money for ALS.
The challenge
The challenge, made popular by Pete Frates, was very simple. Dump ice cold water on your head, nominate others to do the same on video within 24 hours, else donate 100$ to the ALS association.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft's current CEO takes the Ice Bucket Challenge, with help from the company's hackathon winners. Steve Gleason, a former NFL player who is diagnosed with ...
India’s smartphone market has recorded a 84 per cent year on year growth in Q2 2014, as per the latest report from International Data Corporation (IDC). Country's smartphone shipment stood at 18.42 million units registering a quarterly growth of 11 per cent.
The overall India mobile phone market (smartphones and feature phones) stood at 63.21 million units in the quarter, witnessing a five per cent quarter-on-quarter growth against Q1, 2014, according to a report by IDC. However, the report suggests there is still a lot of room for growth for smartphones as 71 percent of the market is still feature phones.
“IDC observes that a new entry level price point is being breached by the Indian home grown vendors every quarter. These devices are not equipped with high end specifications and RAM is typically 256 MB. This ultra low cost segment may not sound a viable option to the repeat buyers, but it works well on the targeted segment”
said Karan Thakkar Senior Market Analyst at IDC India in an official release.
IDC said that the sub $200 category of the smartphone market is increasing in terms of the shipment share as the contribution from this category stood at 81% in Q2 2014. With the influx of Chinese vendors like Xiaomi, ...
Aircel has launched its 4G services in Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir. It becomes the first company to provide 2G, 3G and 4G services in these two circles. Last month Aircel launched its 4G LTE services in four circles – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Odisha. Other than these circles, Aircel holds 20MHz of spectrum in the 4G LTE 2300 MHz band in West Bengal and North East.
Aircel would provide dedicated internet and secure VPN (Virtual Private Network) services for enterprise customers and provide infotainment services on high-speed broadband for Home customers. We are yet to hear about the 4G tariffs.
Commenting on the launch, Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel, said,
Continuing the momentum on Aircel’s recent 4G LTE roll out in four circles, we are delighted to now bring highest speed 4G LTE services to Tamil Nadu and J&K. This launch comes within a month of our recent 4G LTE deployment in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Odisha and has strengthened our commitment to spearhead the data revolution by offering innovative products and services in this space. The wireless broadband services offered by Aircel will help customers transform their workplaces and homes into ‘smarter’ entities.
The parameters that will differentiate Aircel’s 4G LTE services include customized ...
Sharp and Softbank have announced two new smartphones, Aquos Crystal and Aquos Crystal X. The main USP of these smartphones is that these have minimal or almost no bezel on three sides around the display. This makes these smartphones compact to hold and also makes web browsing, photo shoot and video viewing better due to the large display area in a compact design.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvOifz8WwHI
The Sharp Aquos Crystal has a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) S-CG Silicon LCD display, powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 (MSM8926) processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera.
It has 4G FDD-LTE support, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage with expandable memory up to 128GB and packs a 2040 mAh battery. It is 10 mm thick and weighs 140 grams. It comes in Black, White, Pink and Blue colors and is priced at 54480 Japanese Yen (Rs. 32,300 approx.) and would go on sale in Japan starting 29th.
The Sharp Aquos Crystal X has a 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) S-CG Silicon LCD display, powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AB) processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat). ...
While there is no doubt that the US is the technology center of the world, it is also true that India is widely considered as the hotbed of smartphone competition. The country offers great opportunity to smartphone manufacturers both big and small to compete for a share of the untapped masses and get a share of the pie. With that in mind, Panasonic shifted its global headquarters for it's smartphone business a while back. With the launch of the Eluga U, the company is bringing its flagship brand here. Is it worth the hype? Find out in our review.
Panasonic Eluga U specifications
5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS OGS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 GPU
Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Dual SIM
13MP rear camera with LED Flash, 1080p video recording
2MP front-facing camera
7.95 mm thick and weighs 141 grams
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio with RDS
2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 32GB expandable memory with MicroSD
3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
2500 mAh battery
Hardware
Design is something that Panasonic has focussed on a lot with the Eluga U. While certainly a handsome device, it is far from original and takes liberal cues from several popular phones including the ...
Sony has started rolling out Android 4.4 (KitKat) update for the Xperia M2 and Xperia M2 Dual smartphones, as it promised. It rolled out KitKat update for E1 and E1 Dual smartphones earlier this month. Along with the KitKat update that adds emojis, printing and more, the update also brings performance tweaks, Sony SmartBand compatibility, new features such as option to move apps to the SD card and some UI changes.
New features in KitKat update for Sony Xperia M2 and Xperia M2 Dual
Google’s Android 4.4; KitKat as standard – bringing performance & UI optimisation
Tweaked Status Bar and Quick Settings – More intuitive and customisable
Sleek Sony PlayStation 4 launch animation and livewallpaper across the lock and home screens
Option to easily move applications from internal memory to SD card
Sony’s entire native app portfolio updated to latest versions
Xperia Themes support with downloadable UI packs
Compatibility with SmartWear Experience; SmartBand SWR10 and Lifelog app
The roll out might vary across different carriers and countries. Sony has provided KitKat updates for several Xperia smartphones as it promised.
Meizu are all set to launch their newest flagship very soon, but thanks to some leaked info, we've learnt that there might just be another powerful smartphone that's launched alongside the MX4.
Following Apple's nomenclature, Meizu is reportedly working on the MX3S which will play second-fiddle to the MX4. While the MX4 is expected to come powered with high-end, chartbusting internals, the MX3S is more of a high-mid-range (if that sort of a category exists) phone.
A MediaTek MT6595 octa-core chipset is believed to be thumping the MX3S' heart, taking up its AnTuTu score to a respectable 35,700+ points.
The choice of a MediaTek processor only hints at the budget nature of the phone, something that Meizu has been trying to achieve since long without much luck. Could the MX3S change this for good? From the screenshots, we can vouch for the performance, but it all depends on Meizu to price the smartphone well!
Source | Via
China, oh China. You just can't stay out of the news, can you?
It hasn't been long since we talked about the OnePlus One clone that went on sale in China. If that wasn't enough (and if you want LTE support), say hello to the Landvo L200G. We're pretty sure you haven't heard of the name before, but thanks to the choice of inspiration for the company, you'll perhaps be hearing the name a lot more often.
Let's quickly run through the specs set of this phone.
Specifications
5-inch 960 x 540p display
1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 CPU
1GB RAM
4GB on-board ROM
5 mega-pixel rear camera
2 mega-pixel front camera
2000mAh
Android v4.4 KitKat
4G support (FDD-LTE, 1800/2600MHz)
So as you can see it's quite a feeble device when compared to the original thing, but at just $106 you'd hardly care.
OEMs have found a nice way out to provide LTE support before MediaTek brings a modem on-board. An MediaTek MT6582 plus the MT6290 LTE chip do the trick, and bam you got a cheap-ass phone with decent specs and LTE support put together!
Source | Via
One of the rare dual SIM Snapdragon 801 powered phones, the Nubia Z7 is all set to land on to Indian shores 'soon'.
The Nubia Z7 was announced last month. It comes with a snapragon 801 SoC and a healthy 3GB RAM, making it a device that's in line with the best in the game. What's more is that the Nubia Z7 comes with dual SIM support, a feature hardly any other Snapdragon 801 support.
Specifications
5.5-inch 2560 x 1440p display
2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC
3GB RAM
32GB ROM
13 mega-pixel rear camera
5 mega-pixel front camera
3000mAh battery
Android v4.4.2 KitKat
According to a reply from ZTE on their official Facebook page, the smartphone will come to India soon. As you can see from the screenshot, there's now word on how soon yet. Also, since the Nubia Z7 comes in various size variants, it isn't clear if only the Z7 Max will end up in India or it'll be the entire lineup.
Via
Uber has launched its operations in four new cities - Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Kolkata in India simultaneously. Uber entered India last year starting from Bangalore on 29th August, 2013 and it quickly expanded to New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. It is now operational in 10 Indian cities, more than any other countries outside of United States (by number of operational cities) in less than a year.
Uber launched uberX, cheaper version of the UberBLACK in India in three India cities, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad back in June.
To celebrate the launch, Uber is offering free rides to new users. If you are new to Uber, you can sign up using the promo code UBERLOVESINDIA and get 3 free rides worth Rs. 200 each (Valid until 30th September, 2014).
These cities are still in testing phase, so limited cars will be available, but they are working towards adding cars across all four cities. Uber has also announced that it is slashing prices on both UberBLACK and uberX by 25% in Bangalore for a limited period, where it is operational for about a year. This doesn't require a promo code, and the offer would automatically be applied on your Uber receipt.
Update: Uber has also announced that it's removing the ...
Huawei had hinted last month about a new phone launch at IFA with a press invite. It was expected that the Chinese smartphone maker will unveil the Ascend Mate 3, however, as per the latest invites the company will most likely unveil the Ascend Mate 7.
The Ascend Mate 7 launch which is scheduled on Sept. 4th, will boast of a finger print scanner. Earlier this month, leaked photos had suggested that the phone will have a finger print scanner and a metal back. The press invite does not say much and only bears a fingerprint on it implying the feature along with the words “Touch” and “Feel”.
Huawei is targeting high-end smartphone market with this phone as most of the flagship phones today come with this feature. The phone is expected to come in two models. One will feature a 6 inch 1440 x 2560 QHD display, while the other will have a 6 inch screen with a 1080 x 1920 resolution. The phone will also include 3GB of RAM in QHD version and 2GB of RAM in FHD version and have company's very own Kirin 920 octa-core processor. It will also have a 13MP rear-camera and a 5MP front-facing shooter.
Both the variants will ...
Flappy Bird phenomenon may not hit back your phones but its creator Dong Nguyen is gearing up for the launch of its new game. Dubbed as 'Swing Copters', the game plot is similar to Flappy Bird but this time the main character is a little guy with a helicopter attached to his helmet.
Just as Flappy Bird only allowed you to fly up or down, Swing Copters only lets you fly left or right, creating a zig-zagging flight pattern that makes it difficult to avoid each tier of swinging hammers. Touch Arcade has also released a video that gives a sneak peak about the Swing Copters.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuoCeze0B3c
Swing Copters is slated to launch on August 21. The app is expected to be free to download and a one-time charge of $0.99 to remove ads within the app. Touch Arcade did not specify the platforms the game would launch on, so it is unclear at this moment whether Swing Copters will hit both Apple's iOS App Store and Android's Google Play Store simultaneously.
In May Dong revealed in an interview that a Flappy Bird successor with multiplayer capabilities will launch in August. Soon after that the creator tweeted screenshots of the game. Flappy Bird was a raging success on iOS and ...
HTC has finally announced the Butterfly 2 for the Asian markets, after several rumors. It was unveiled for Japan's KDDI as J Butterfly (HTL23) last month, today the company has officially unveiled the smartphone at an event in Japan. The HTC Butterfly 2 was also announced simultaneously in Taiwan. It has a 5-inch 1080p display, powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with Sense 6 UI.
It comes with Water ( IPX5 / IPX7) and dust resistance (IP5X) body, has a 13-megapixel camera and duo camera arrangement, where the 2-megapixel camera captures the depth information. It has the same 5-megapixel front-facing camera, HTC BoomSound and Dual front-facing stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers, similar to the HTC One M8.
HTC has tied up with HARMAN for JBL LiveStage Signal Processing Technology for better audio output. It comes bundled with exclusively designed JBL in-ear-headphones in Japan.
HTC Butterfly 2 Specifications
5.0-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD Super LCD 3 display
2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 GPU
Android 4.4 (KitKat) with HTC Sense 6 UI
13MP primary rear camera with dual LED Flash, f/2.0, 28mm lens
2MP secondary rear camera to capture depth information
5MP front-facing camera with BSI sensor, 1080p Full HD video recording
9.99 mm thick ...
LG introduced a flat UI and several new features along with its flagship G3 smartphone earlier this year. Today the company has announced that it would standardize the UI and the UX features across its mid to entry-level smartphones and tablets launched in the second half of this year. The new UI is already present in the new LG G Pad series and the G3 Beat smartphone. The company did not say if its current G series and L Series lineup would get an update with the new UI.
Apart from the UI, these devices would also get the simplified camera including Touch & Shoot. Gesture Shot, Clean View preview interface and more. Other features in the new UX includes, Smart Keyboard with app-based word suggestions, re-size option and more. The LG G3's UI and its features such as Smart Keyboard and Knock Code got 2014 Red Dot Communication Design Awards in Best of the Best segment.
LG is popular for bringing features present in its high-end smartphone to all other devices. Earlier this year it rolled out Knock Code feature that was first introduced with the G Pro 2 to its L Series III and F Series devices, unveiled at the MWC ...
Motorola is set to launch Moto X+1, Moto G successor and the Moto 360 on September 4 event at the IFA 2014. Meanwhile, it looks like the company is already making another smartphone that is being allegedly known as the Driod Turbo.
The smartphone is said to be available with Verizon Wireless as per a Android Authority who received a tip from an anonymous source. As per the leaked screenshots, the device is listed under its model number of XT1254 (quark_Verizon) and the site points out that the 'XT' has been used in previous Motorola RAZR handsets for Verizon. It must be noted that Motorola and Verizon had previously teamed up to introduced the DROID ULTRA, DROID MAXX, and DROID Mini in July 2013.
The leaked screenshot further reveal specifications of the Motorola phone such as 2.65GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, an Adreno 420 GPU and a powerful 3GB of RAM. There is also a mention of 32GB internal storage but no word of microSD card slot. The smartphone has a Quad HD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 and a 360 x 640 DPI, which the site claims would indicate the DROID Turbo is likely using a 4.59-inch display. A 20MP rear ...
Pebble has appointed two notable webOS designers Itai Vonshak and Liron Damir that have worked with LG on the interface and design for webOS TV. Itai Vonshak will join Pebble as Head of Product and UX team while Liron Damir will be the Head of Design.
"Itai and Liron will help Pebble continue to grow by bringing together the industry's best talent and crafting world-class wearable products -- in other words, we're hiring." announced Pebble.
Vonshak and Damir are not the first Pebble hires to come from the webOS team by way of LG. Earlier this year, Pebble had also hired Henry Levak to be the Product Director. WebOS was originally developed by Palm as a replacement for its aging Palm OS mobile operating system. LG licensed webOS from HP in early 2013, and the duo were previously in charge of design and interface for HP’s webOS efforts.
Pebble is facing tough competition from Android Wear smartwatches and the new appointments could help the company offer something more.
Sony has launched new Ultra High Speed SD card in its UZ series. The card comes in 32GB and 64GB variants and is recommended for continuous shooting with DSLR cameras and lets you record 4K in smartphones and cameras without any hassle due to its fast data transfer speed. This also minimizes workflow and improves efficiency for photographers.
It offers read speed of up to 95MB/s and write speed of up to 90MB/s. It is protected with molded resin and is Water-proof, Temperature-proof, X-ray-proof and Dust-proof. It has Ultra-High Speed (UHS Speed Class 3) rating, making it more reliable. Similar to the earlier, it has Sony file rescue software that lets users recover accidentally deleted photos and movies.
The 32GB (SF-32UZ/T1) Sony UHS-1 U3 memory card is priced at Rs. 5,339 and the 64GB (SF-64UZ/T1) variant is priced at Rs. 9,942. The new UZ SD series is available across all Sony Center and major electronic stores across India.
