Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch : IFA 2013 Berlin

Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart Watch : IFA 2013 Berlin

The Galaxy Gear is bigger than most watches and somewhat clunky — especially on smaller wrists. It also feels like a tiny, flat smartphone slapped onto a wristband

It's a companion that connects to the phone via Bluetooth, extending its functionality and, ideally, making it less necessary to reach into your pocket for your phone.

The Memographer, which takes photos and videos directly from your wrist, as well as the Pedometer, which tracks your physical activities, are nice enough to make us want to spend more time with the Gear.

The Gear is priced at $299.

The colours are Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green. 

Memographer feature: Voice Memo lets users capture conversations or notes from their wrists and save those voice recordings into texts on their Samsung Galaxy phones. Auto Lock this automatically locks the smartphone screen any time that Galaxy Gear is more than 1.5 meters away from the smartphone, and then unlocks the smartphone when the companion devices are near each other again. Find My Device helps users find the location of their smart devices when they have been misplaced by making them beep, illuminate and vibrate.

Specs: Processor: 800 MHz processor Display: 1.63 inch (41.4mm) Super AMOLED (320 x 320) Camera: 1.9 Megapixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus Camera / Sound & Shot Format: MP4, HD(720p) Playback & Recording Connectivity: Bluetooth v 4.0 Memory: 4GB Internal memory ＋ 512 MB (RAM)

New Android Operating System 'KitKat'

New Android Operating System 'KitKat'

Google announced on Tuesday that the latest version of its Android 4.4. mobile operating system is called KitKat, named after the branded chocolate bar.

KitKat is a Hershey brand in the U.S., but a Nestle product worldwide.

Cross-branding will also be visible on KitKat packaging — the green Android mascot will be shown on the front along with a chance to win a Google Nexus 7 tablet

Google sending Google Glass Invitations

Google sending Google Glass Invitations

Google has begun rolling out invitations for Google Glass similar to what it did for Google+ and other new applications it launches.

Ryan Mott,Glass Explorer program member for early adopters, posted a screenshot of an email from Glass Support to his Google+ profile.




The Application form looks something like this.



It will be interesting how this kicks in as we have seen people selling the G+ invites on Ebay, something similar might start happening for Google Glass too. But in all the gain will be for Google.

Microsoft Office on Android Phones

Microsoft Office Mobile for your Android phone

Office 365 subscribers will be able to download the app from the Google Play store and activate it. 

Microsoft Office Mobile is the official Office companion optimized for your Android phone. You can access, view and edit your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere. Documents look like the originals, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes. When you make quick edits or add comments to a document, the formatting and content remain intact.

One difference on Android: You can't buy a subscription to Office like you can in the iPhone app. (You'll have to go to the web for that.) But otherwise, you get the same Word, Excel and PowerPoint, optimized for the smaller real estate on a smartphone screen. Once you start editing in Word, for example, the "chrome" of the app disappears, letting you focus on the document.

It requires a $100-a-year subscription to Office and won’t be sold separately.

KEY FEATURES:
Access documents from virtually anywhere:
* Cloud – With your phone, you can access Office
documents that are stored on SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro, or SharePoint.**
* Recent Documents – Office Mobile is cloud-connected. The documents you’ve recently viewed on your computer are readily available on your phone in the recent documents panel.
* Email Attachments – You can view and edit Office documents attached to email messages.
Office documents look stunning:
* Great-Looking Documents - Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents look great on your phone, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt Graphics, and shapes.
* Optimized for phone - Word, Excel and PowerPoint have been optimized for the small screen of your phone.
* Resume Reading - When opening a Word document from SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro on your phone, it automatically resumes at the place where you left off reading, even if you last viewed the document on your PC or tablet.
* Presentation Views - The Slide Navigator view in PowerPoint lets you browse slides faster, while speaker notes help you practice your presentation.
Make quick edits and share:
* Edit - You can make quick edits to Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
* Documents Remain Intact - Formatting and content remain intact when you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents on your phone.
* Edit While Offline - Your device doesn’t have to be continuously connected to the network to work on an Office document that is stored online. You can view and edit recently used documents even while you’re offline. Your changes will be saved online when your device reconnects to the network or to Wi-Fi.
* Create – You can create new Word and Excel documents on your phone.
* Comments - You can review comments that have been made in Word and Excel documents on your phone and add your own comments.
* Share - When you’re done with your edits or comments, simply send the document in email or save it to SkyDrive or SharePoint.

Requirements: 
* A qualifying Office 365 subscription is required to use this app. Qualifying plans include: Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office 365 Midsize Business, Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4 (Enterprise and Government), Office 365 Education A3 and A4, Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 University, and Office 365 trial subscriptions
NOTE: If you don’t have an Office 365 subscription,  you can buy Office 365 Home Premium from http://www.office.com. With Office 365 Home Premium, you also get the latest version of Office for up to 5 PCs, Macs, and Windows tablets - and an additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage and Skype world minutes***.
* Requires a phone running Android OS 4.0 or later.
* Microsoft Office 2013 on a PC is needed for features like recent documents and resume reading.
**Office 365 account and setup necessary. Data connection required. Storage limits and carrier fees apply.
***SkyDrive storage and Skype world minutes are not available in all markets.

The app is currently only available in the United States, but Microsoft says it will be available in dozens of other countries over the next "several weeks" — from Albania to Zimbabwe.

World's first face recognition payment system - Uniqul

World's first face recognition payment system - Uniqul


Uniqul is the world’s first face recognition payment system. It enables customers to pay without having a wallet, card or mobile phone.

As per the company , they are using military grade algorithms to make sure that the security of the system is impeccable where your credit card information is stored for payment processing.

The whole transaction will be done in less than 5 seconds.

Uniqul gives merchants the chance to know its customers – leading to a more personalized and enjoyable shopping experience.

As for the pricing of Uniqul product,the individual users will be paying a monthly subscription fee as follows: As most people mainly visit shops near their work and home Uniqul decided to set the first fee level, 0.99€, to a 1-2 km radius from an user chosen point. Radius is dependent on the number of Uniqul terminals within the area. The next level, 1.99€, covers a specified city and is perfect for users who live and work within the same city, but want to use Uniqul in a wider area. The third level, 2.99€, covers a city and nearby suburbs, and is ideal for commuters who want the shopping convenience of Uniqul both when grocery shopping close to home and when buying lunch at work. The last level, 6.99€, is targeted towards frequent travellers who want total freedom from their wallet, and covers worldwide use of Uniqul.

WhatsApp for iOS moving to a subscription model

WhatsApp for iOS moving to a subscription model

WhatsApp Messenger for iOS devices is now free. The move
would bring pricing in line with WhatsApp’s other offerings on Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry, and possibly making it free to use for the first year, as it is on those platforms and maintaining subscriptions for subsequent years costing $0.99 per year.

It’s important to note that the new pricing will only apply to new users — if you’ve already downloaded WhatsApp on iOS, you’ll escape the recurring charges. 

Voice calls back in Gmail via Hangouts Calling

Voice calls back in Gmail via Hangouts Calling


For those of you who have taken the plunge and are using desktop Hangouts in Gmail, Google+, and the Chrome extension, Google has heard loud and clear that you miss the ability to make calls from Gmail, so earlier this week, Google announced that it's back - and better than before! Even
better: calls to the US and Canada are now free from all countries where Hangouts calling is available. And international rates remain super, super low.

Launch also improves the desktop calling experience in a number of ways. For example: you can add multiple phone numbers and video participants to the same call; and you can play sound effects (like applause or laughter) with the Google Effects app.

To make a call from Hangouts, just look for the new phone icon in Gmail, or for the new "Call a phone" menu item in Google+ and the Chrome extension. And of course: if you haven't yet tried Hangouts in Gmail, you can always click your profile photo in the chat list and select "Try the new Hangouts."

New Sleek Google Maps for Android - Update your Maps now

New Sleek Google Maps for Android - Update your Maps now

Google has updated Maps for Android, adding several features, including a new design for the app which makes it look more sleeker.

The new version — for both smartphones and tablets — got a cleaner interface as you can see from the images. Update it now and try it on your own.




What's in this version:
*Update will be rolling out to Android 4.0.3+ users over the next few weeks. Users with Android versions below 4.0.3 should visit http://goo.gl/5AMJS to learn about the app features available to you.

• New design for Android phones and tablets
• Enhanced navigation including live traffic updates, incident reports and dynamic rerouting
• Explore: A new way to browse and discover popular local places to eat, drink, shop, play and sleep

They have also done away with few things like : *Google Latitude is no longer part of the Google Maps app, and retiring Latitude on August 9, 2013 (http://goo.gl/DIxJM). However, Google’s new location features (http://goo.gl/Mdk4o), which includes seeing friends on a map with Google+ for Android is launched.

Let us know what you think of this update.

Shazam gets $40 million backing from tycoon Carlos Slim

Shazam gets $40 million backing from tycoon Carlos Slim

Smartphone app developer Shazam has found an unlikely ally in the form of Carlos Slim, one of the world's richest men, who is investing $40 million to back the development of the start-up best known for helping music fans identify catchy songs.

Slim, ranked the world's top billionaire by Forbes magazine with a net worth of $73 billion, was brought in by one of Shazam's venture capital owners, Silicon Valley fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

British-based Shazam will use the funds to accelerate its expansion into television, where its recognition software can tune into an advertisement's soundtrack then link viewers directly to the brand's website.

Since its last round of funding in 2011, Shazam has achieved tremendous growth and expanded its service from music into television and advertising with the following results:

• The user base has more than doubled to 350 million people around the globe
• The number of monthly active users has tripled to over 70 million as people increasingly use Shazam on their mobile device to have a deeper experience of music, TV and advertising
• Sustained growth of more than two million new users each week.
• Sales of digital goods are now over $300 million a year through affiliate partners like iTunes, a figure that is doubling annually. 

 “Shazam’s expansion into television has moved the company into an entirely new phase of growth with interactive advertising generating new sources of revenue and partnerships with broadcasters encouraging a broader group of people to use Shazam more frequently.”  said Shazam CEO Rich Riley.  “We look forward to working with America Movil to launch these services in the region as we seek to increase our ubiquity throughout the world.”

Slim's investment takes the total backing that Shazam has secured since 2009 to $72 million.

Source : Reuters

Firefox Marketplace : The Era of Firefox OS has Began

Firefox Marketplace : The Era of Firefox OS has Began

Firefox OS phones are launched, though not worldwide but it is a matter of time that they are launched across the globe. The support they are getting from the phone manufactures is awesome and people really want to see some new OS coming which can take them away from the regular Android and iOS.

Before the public launch later this year, Mozilla will be opening the Marketplace for user testing. And this is how it will look.

Using open Web standards and Mozilla-designed APIs, great app experiences can be delivered across multiple platforms, devices and operating systems — closing the gap between Web and native apps for the first time.Using open Web standards and Mozilla-designed APIs, great app experiences can be delivered across multiple platforms, devices and operating systems — closing the gap between Web and native apps for the first time.

There seems to be 1148 apps as of now in the store which will keep on increasing as the time passes on and the open web standards might make it the biggest marketplace.

If you are a App developer , you can go and submit you own App at https://marketplace.firefox.com/developers/submit/

The first impression i would say is good and lets see how things turn out in this ever competitive market.

Firefox OS: Telefónica, Mozilla and ZTE to launch Firefox OS in Spain on July 2

Telefónica, Mozilla and ZTE today announced the world’s first commercial launch of Firefox OS with the ZTE Open available at Movistar stores from 2 July priced at €69 (inc. VAT), including €30 for prepaid customers and the option of zero interest financing for post pay customers.

The launch marks a significant moment for the mobile phone industry with consumers able for the first time to buy a smartphone based entirely on open web standards. Firefox OS frees consumers and developers from the constraints of existing closed ecosystems by using the web as the platform for all functionality and applications.

Firefox OS features a revolutionary new search capability that allows the device to adapt to the user’s changing needs and is only built into Firefox OS. Swipe to the right from the home screen and enter a search term and the phone will customize itself to that search. For example, search for an artist and get results to buy songs, watch music videos, buy concert tickets and even listen to them instantly without having to download and install any apps.

The first looks of Firefox OS looks great and hope we get one in our hands soon. The Apps Market place will play the key role though for the widespread of the phone.

Windows 8.1 Preview : An upgrade to Windows 8

Windows 8.1 Preview : An upgrade to Windows 8

Windows 8.1—a free update to Windows 8 which offers new features under the hood to make it the fastest, most secure, and easiest to manage Microsoft operating system for desktop, laptop, or tablet. A prerelease version is available now for you to try.

What's New in Windows 8.1

• Single Search powered by Bing
• New Windows Store with more apps
• Slideshow on Lock screen
• Built-in Clouds storage via Sky Drive
• Workplace Join
• Work Folders
• Wi-Fi Direct Printing
• Variable, Continuous Size of Snap Views
• Boot to Desktop
• Desktop and Start Screen
• Multiple Monitor Options
• Enterprise Grade security

How to install Windows 8.1 Preview from an ISO file
To install Windows 8.1 Preview from an ISO file, you must first convert the ISO file into installation media stored on a DVD or a USB flash drive.

If you're using Windows 8, follow these steps to install Windows 8.1 Preview from an ISO file:

Download the ISO (.iso) file.
Double-tap or double-click the ISO file.
Double-tap or double-click setup.exe and follow the steps.
If you're using Windows 7, the easiest way to convert an ISO file to a DVD is to use Windows Disc Image Burner. On a PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, a third-party program is required to convert an ISO file into installable media—and DVD burning software often includes this capability.

Windows 8.1 Product Key and ISO file can be found at :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hh771457.aspx?ocid=wc-mscom-wol

Microsoft has tried to address the issue which Windows 8 user were facing with this new update and it has that Windows 7 touch in it which will help the people to adjust faster to the new OS. Though they have not yet put that Favorite 'Start button' yet. The Modern UI is less complex and will make it a easier transition from Win 7.

The Search feature is now improved and the Direct to Sky Drive feature is really good and you can  now access all docs from anywhere.

Windows 8.1 is thus an improved UI with some nice upgrade to existing apps and features which will make life easy for Windows 8 users who were finding it difficult to adjust to the new look. More upgrades are awaited.

Paypal Galactic : Buying things in Outer Space

PayPal is the boundary and currency agnostic platform, regularly used by 128 million people around the globe. Paypal almost single-handedly created the online payment category and can truly say Paypal have helped change the way the world uses money.

The mobile-payments company on 27th June 2013 morning introduced plans to create a system that will allow space tourists buy things from outer space. A innovative and futuristic approach which looks promising thanks to Virgin Galactic, Space X and a host of other space tourism programs including the Space Hotel that hopes to be in orbit by 2016.

PayPal Galactic initiative was launched live from the SETI Institute, supported by key organizations in the scientific community. This visionary program, spearheaded by PayPal and working with the SETI Institute, aims to bring together leaders in the space industry to work on the big questions around the commercialization of space. These include:

• What will our standard currency look like in a truly cash-free interplanetary society?
• How will the banking systems have to adapt?
• How will risk and fraud management systems need to evolve?
• What regulations will we have to conform with?
• How will our customer support need to develop?

The event was live streamed at www.paypal-galactic.com and will be available on demand  at the same location.  A video explaining the initiative is available in HD and standard definition for downloading and sharing immediately at www.paypal-galactic.com

Creating a secure and functional space commerce system won’t be easy but with all the experience Paypal has in commerce space we can with confidence say that Paypal will be front runner in this race whenever it begins.