Nokia brings the new Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones to India
Little under a month after Nokia introduced part of its new Windows Phone 8 lineup for pre-order on the Chinese market, the Finnish manufacturer has revealed that, starting Friday, the company's current Lumia lineup will be available for purchase in India.
By tapping into the local Indian market, Nokia expands its presence, and therefore the reach of Microsoft's smartphone operating system, into one of the largest Asian markets. The Espoo, Finland-based manufacturer announced that the first two handsets that will be available Friday "in select retail stores across major cities" are the high-end Lumia 920 and mid-range Lumia 820 Windows Phone 8 devices.
Anonymous petitions the White House, wants DDoS recognized as a form of free speech
A Distributed Denial of Service attack is no different from someone repeatedly tapping F5 in their web browser, at least accordingly to loose hacktivist collective Anonymous. The group (or someone claiming to be affiliated with it at least) has added a petition to the White House's We the People website, asking the US government to recognize DDoS as a legal form of protesting, and comparing it to the international "occupy" movement.
The petition also calls for the immediate release of those who have been jailed for DDoS attacks, and for their records to be cleared.
Samsung announces the Galaxy S II Plus, a revival of the older star
Far away from events unfolding at CES in Las Vegas, South Korean Android device manufacturer Samsung has unveiled a new device in its Galaxy smartphone lineup. Dubbed the Galaxy S II Plus, the new handset borrows familiar cues from the popular Galaxy S II, but with an added Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean twist.
Samsung has decided to play it safe with the Galaxy S II Plus, as the new smartphone bears an uncanny resemblance to its sibling from 2011. The only apparent physical differences lie with the color choices. The Galaxy S II is available in black, pink and white, while the Galaxy S II Plus only comes in blue and white, embracing Samsung's Galaxy S III color palette. But what about the specs?
The trick to stealing Hollywood is...
Third in a series. Some readers of my last column in this series seem to think it was just about the movie business but it wasn’t. It was about the recorded entertainment industry, which includes movies, broadcast and cable television, video games, and derivative works. It’s just that the movie business, like the mainframe computer business, learned these lessons first and so offers fine examples.
Whether from Silicon Valley or Seattle, technology companies see video entertainment as a rich market to be absorbed. How can Hollywood resist? The tech companies have all the money. Between them Amazon, Apple, Google, Intel and Microsoft have $300 billion in cash and no debt -- enough capital to buy anything. Apple all by itself could buy the entire entertainment industry, though antitrust laws might interfere.
You CAN remove Adobe Flash from Windows -- here's how
Maybe you’re having problems with Flash, and would like to do a clean reinstall. Or perhaps you’ve decided the technology causes more problems than it solves, and would like to delete it forever. Whatever the reason, you may one day find you want to completely remove Flash from your PC -- but that can sometimes be a problem.
You won’t be able to use the standard uninstaller if there are other background processes using Flash, for instance. And your Flash installation can sometimes become corrupted, causing further complications. Don’t give up, though -- with just a little perseverance your PC should soon be Flash-free (apart from embedded plugins via apps like Chrome, anyway).
You better budget for a new game console in 2013
This year could be big for game consoles. Ouya expects to begin shipments in March or April and Steam has announced its very own console is in the works. Not to mention that Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, has placed a mysterious countdown clock on his blog, leading to lots of speculation, including, of course, the next Xbox -- the "720".
Where does all of this lead? The good analysts at IDC are convinced you will purchase a new console this year: "2011 and 2012 were tough for many console game disc developers and publishers", says Lewis Ward, research manager. "With the advent of eighth-generation consoles, starting with the Wii U, historical norms strongly imply that game disc revenue will stop bleeding in 2013 and rise substantively in 2014".
What are some of CES 2013's ShowStoppers?
Consumer Electronics Show is a big crazy event. There is a lot of new technology that might or might not see the light of day a couple of years down the road, and a whole lot more stuff that is rather hum-drum. Walking through millions of square feed of convention seeing thousands of cheap speakers and iPhone cases and over sized TVs can be a numbing waste of time.
That is why I like the side event, Showstoppers, which puts together a pretty good lineup of interesting tech products. While nothing jumped out as much this year as last, these are a few that piqued my interest as having some potential, or were simply interesting.
Microsoft Research shows off IllumiRoom at CES
Microsoft may have pulled out of the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013 and going forward, but not stayed away. CEO Steve Ballmer still managed to find his way on stage for the big pre-show keynote and now the Research arm of the company has arrived in Las Vegas as well.
Eric Rudder, Microsoft’s Chief Technology Strategy Officer, made his way into the Samsung keynote earlier today to show off IllumiRoom.
Microsoft announces Windows Azure SDK for .NET updates
On Tuesday, even with all the CES 2013 madness, Microsoft introduced a host of new features addressed to the company's Windows Azure SDK for .NET. The latest version of the software development kit focuses on expanding support in roles, increasing productivity, making new tools available and delivering new and updated libraries.
The revised Windows Azure SDK for .NET allows users to run cloud service applications in Windows Server 2012, and provides access to more features in IIS 8 (Internet Information Services) and .NET 4.5 when the server operating system is selected. The updated software development kit also introduces support for Visual Studio tools, delivering improved tooling for Cache and Server Explorer for Storage and Service Bus, diminished context switching to portal as well as support for up to 25 management certificates per subscription.
Which size tablet is right for you?
There is no shortage of new tablets being announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show -- Acer Iconia B1-A71, Polaroid M7 and M10 and VIZIO 11.6" Tablet PC, among many others. Meanwhile, NPD DisplaySearch forecasts that global tablet shipments will surpass notebooks this year. But what's interesting is a dramatic shift in size preference, which is why I want to know: Which is right for you?
DisplaySearch predicts that tablets with 7-to-8 inch screens will overwhelmingly dominate the market, with 45 percent share. Meanwhile, 9.7 inches -- the size Apple popularized with iPad -- will fall to just 17 percent share. Yet many of the slates debuting at CES are in the larger categories, typically between 10.1 and 11.6 inches. Does size really matter that much, and is smaller better?
CyberLink releases PowerDirector 11 'GM4' -- get it now!
CyberLink has released a notable update to its popular and powerful consumer video editor range. With release GM4, both CyberLink PowerDirector 11 Ultra and CyberLink PowerDirector 11 Ultimate add ultra hi-def resolutions to file production, support for editing GoPro HERO3 clips and an additional seven transitions to the Transition Room.
The new release, which is available for a 25 percent savings with exclusive bundle of extra goodies worth nearly $70 from the Downloadcrew Software Store, also promises improved program stability and frame accuracy, plus resolves a number of issues.
Polaroid introduces M7 and M10 tablets, running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Even though at CES 2013 manufacturers reveal some of the most high-tech products, such as 4k OLED TVs, which are, price-wise borderline unreachable for most consumers, there are some affordable and appealing devices, too. Case in point are Polaroid's M7 and M10 tablets that feature dual- and quad-core processors, respectively, as well as Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The US-based consumer electronics company aims for the stars by pitching the two tablets against more established market competitors. Polaroid aims at Apple's iPad Mini with the M7, while the larger M10 takes on Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 in the company's wishful thinking. On a more down-to-Earth note, the dual-core M7 packs 7-inch panel with 1280 by 800 resolution, giving it a pixel density of 216 ppi, among the highlights.
DMDE is a handy free data recovery tool for Windows experts
Whether you’ve accidentally deleted a file, a partition or an entire drive, there are plenty of recovery tools you can turn to for assistance. And most of these claim ease of use as a key selling point. You won’t have to worry about low level drive structures or other complexities, as the program will try to handle everything for you.
If you’re at home with file systems, though, and familiar with partition tables and the MFT, you may sometimes get better results with a tool which lets you take more hands-on control. And the free (for personal use) DMDE is a great example.
Lenovo unveils the Intel Atom-powered K900 smartphone
Following on from Huawei's announcement of the Ascent Mate yesterday, Chinese electronics company Lenovo has unveiled its own phablet at CES 2013. However, unlike Huawei, which opted to give its device a "huge" 6.1-inch HD IPS+ panel, Lenovo has chosen a more restrained 5.5-inch display for its K900 smartphone, bringing it in line with the current Samsung Galaxy Note II.
Lenovo has provided few details concerning the K900's specifications. The smartphone is known to ship with a 5.5-inch IPS display sporting a resolution of 1920 by 1080, delivering a pixel density higher than 400 ppi. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2. Power comes from a "forthcoming" Intel Atom processor. According to Lenovo, Intel has yet to "release complete specifications", which explains the lack of specifics regarding the component.
Play.com to shut down its retail business and become an eBay-style trading site
There was a time when Play.com looked set to rival Amazon in the UK. The online retailer, which focussed initially on selling DVDs, made a big splash when it launched in 1998 by offering its products for the same price as Amazon but, crucially, threw in postage for free, a move which made shopping there a lot cheaper overall.
However, time hasn’t been kind to Play.com. First it was sold to Japanese company Rakuten for just £25m in September 2011, and then the government closed a Jersey tax loophole that allowed retailers to avoid paying VAT (Value Added Tax) on items under £15. With Rakuten seemingly unwilling to back up its investment, Play.com limped on, but the writing was on the wall for the once great retailer.
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