Luv bug strikes Google and Microsoft
Posted on February 13, 2009 by morpheus
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By Varun Aggarwal
Google feels proud to embrace its biggest rival Microsoft in the month of love. The search giant has licensed Microsoft’s Activesync for its new product called Google sync.Google sync allows users to synchronize their contacts with Google’s web services. However, Google’s mobile platform Android won’t be a part of the agreement.
Even Nokia licenses Microsoft’s Activesync and uses it under the product name Nokia sync. Microsoft is taking this opportunity to boast about its move towards openness in licensing its patents under a ‘fair and reasonable terms’. Though Google and Microsoft have co-operated in some areas in the past, this is the first ever licensing agreement signed between the two. Would this love between the two last long? Well, I’m not too optimistic.
Do I need an Anti-virus for my phone?
Posted on February 12, 2009 by morpheus
Filed Under Featured Posts, Mobile Applications, Mobile Phones, cellphones | Leave a Comment
By Varun Aggarwal
Driving everyday to and from office, I often come across an advertisement on radio about how viruses can infect not only your PCs but also your mobile phones. When I first heard that advertisement, I scratched my head a bit to realize that the company ‘QuickHeal’, which promises you to protect both your PCs and cell phones, was not-so long ago struck by a virus itself. The virus impacted the site in a way that everyone who had auto-updates switched on on their QuickHeal installation, were also infected by the same virus.
Well, the point of discussion here is actually not how bad this company is, rather its about ‘do we really need an anti-virus for the phones?’. Let’s look at some facts before drawing any conclusions. Read more
We have caught a bug in Google Latitude!
Posted on February 9, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
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By Nimish Dubey
The past few days have seen the world buzzing about Google Latitude, the latest version of Google Maps that allows you to see exactly where your friends are on a map on your handset and computer. For the most part, it seems an awesome service, as it displays your friends with their Google Talk avatars, status messages and all.
That said,but it does seem to have some hefty bugs in it. If that sounds difficult to believe, try this: it showed a friend of ours somewhere in Maharashtra. Nothing wrong with that, except that he was sitting right in front of us - in a cafe in Delhi! Theories as to why this is happening would be welcome. We are currently trying to find out if he and his phone have evil twins!
World Gaming Day’s “hardcore gaming” brand ambassador plays…Snake!
Posted on February 9, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
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By Nimish Dubey
I know I go on and on about brand ambassadors being a bit of a liability in the tech field but well, I just cannot help it if celebrities endorsing tech products keep tripping up. 
The latest to join the list is Aftab Shivdasani, who has been named the brand ambassador for the World Gaming Day, a concept backed by the likes of Sony Ericsson, Microsoft Xbox and Zapak.com.
BlackBerry adds a press to the touchscreen
Posted on February 5, 2009 by Athene
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by Athene
Since the day Apple’s iPhone was released, a lot of touchscreen phones have flooded the mobile market. Be it HTC’s Touch, Samsung’s TouchWiz, Nokia’s Tube, LG’s Viewty or Sony Ericsson’s Xperia, every handset has tried to complete with the revolutionary touch interface that the iPhone offers. But none has been able to challenge the flawless touch interface. The lastest one to join this race is BlackBerry with its first touchscreen phone - the Storm. Read more
Service, what service?
Posted on February 4, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Brands & Companies, Mobile Phones | 1 Comment
By Nimish Dubey
I have just discovered why the grey market in tech products is thriving in India - it is because the “real” market players just do not seem to care enough. I have seen three major product malfunctions - all three devices from very well-known brands - over the past three days and in each case, the user was unable to get timely support from the manufacturer, even though his/her product was still under warranty. Read more
Linux finally gets user-friendly
Posted on January 30, 2009 by morpheus
Filed Under Software | 1 Comment
By Varun Aggarwal
While Linux claims to be a much more stable and powerful platform, it largely remained a programmer’s Operating System for years. In a conversation with an open source evangelist, a couple of years ago, I complained how Linux still remains a complex OS for the Novice user. He pointed out to me that while Windows has been there in the end consumer space for over a decade, Linux should be given some time to connect to the end user. Read more
Storm’s ambassador claims he’s “excited,”looks bored
Posted on January 26, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
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By Nimish Dubey
We have seen our share of celebrities who do not seem to know a thing about the products they are endorsing - remember Kevin Costner poking apprehensively at a Mac? - but Lewis Hamilton seems to have added a new dimension to “endorser naivete” with his performance in the TV commercial for the much-hyped BlackBerry Storm.
Read more
Vaio P series: style at what price?
Posted on January 23, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
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By Nimish Dubey
A few days ago, I saw a notebook that would make a Macbook stop and check its appearance in the mirror (heck,higher praise than that I cannot give). The Sony Vaio P series notebook is perhaps the sleekest laptop I have ever clapped eyes on.
Would I love it as a gift? You betcher! Would I buy it? Er…
Free office suite from IBM for the Mac
Posted on January 23, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
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By Nimish Dubey
I know several people who own Macs. And all - barring two notable exceptions - have got pirated versions of MS Office for Mac running on them. All of them give the same reason - Apple Works is not powerful enough for them and buying MS Office legitimately would leave them with a hole the size of the Sahara in their pockets. Yes, they known about OpenOffice.org but ah, are wary of it because well they do not really know who is behind it (it is Sun Microsystems, incidentally). Well, there is a spot of good news for them - IBM has released a Mac OS version of its Symphony office suite, which comprises a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool. And yes, it’s free! Read more
Asus betting on processor speed in mobiles?
Posted on January 21, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Brands & Companies, Gadgets, Mobile Phones | 1 Comment
By Nimish Dubey 
Remember the time when AMD and Intel were sparring about having the faster processor? Well, it seems the world of cellphones could be in for a similar spell, courtesy Asus’ highlighting the speed of the processor of its new handsets. The company has promoted its p565 handset with the claim that it has the fastest processor seen in a cellphone - at all of 800 Mhz. It has also pointed out that its P552w comes with a 624 Mhz processor.
Gmail app - push mail headaches!
Posted on January 19, 2009 by morpheus
Filed Under Mobile Applications, Mobile Phones | 2 Comments
Posted by Varun Aggarwal
Gmail app for mobile phones has been there for a while and to be honest, it was pretty useful too. But as they say, all good things come to an end! Trying to offer more features in its Gmail mobile app, Google started offering push e-mail. The new service offers offline e-mail access but only to a limited number of mails-irrespective of how many mails you retrieved from the server. It still does not allow to send attachments and enables downloading only a few types of files from the e-mails to the phone. E-mail alert is offered but only a vibration alert–no sound! I guess Google doesn’t like to make too much of noise these days. Read more
Airtel IPTV claims to be truly interactive - what’s in it for me?
Posted on January 19, 2009 by morpheus
Filed Under Brands & Companies, Digital Content, Video | 3 Comments
Posted by Varun Aggarwal
Airtel today announced its triple play service offering-providing Internet, telephone and IPTV through the same wire for NCR customers. According to company spokesperson, IPTV can provide a truly interactive experience, not available in dumb DTH services. My question to him was, what are the services that you’re offering that you think are not available on DTH. Read more
Software gets sensual - India Today turned on by Windows 7
Posted on January 19, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
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By Nimish Dubey
Microsoft seems to have succeeded in ’sexing up’ the next version of Windows. At least, that’s what we deduce after reading a rather steamy write-up on the forthcoming OS in the tech supplement of India’s leading news weekly, India Today. Read more
Asus Eee PC goes sub 10k – now, that’s value for money!
Posted on January 19, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Gadgets, Laptops & PCs | 1 Comment
By Nimish Dubey 
The notebook that started off the entire netbook craze, the Asus EeePC 701, is now available for Rs. 9,950 from Croma superstores. I spotted it last evening at this price and I must confess that I had to really restrain myself from dipping into my pockets and buying it straight away. Read more
Windows 7 – 7 goodies, 7 disappointments
Posted on January 18, 2009 by morpheus
Filed Under Featured Posts, Laptops & PCs | 2 Comments
Posted by Kushal Shah
Here we have a version of windows which should actually have been Windows Vista. I am sure the world would have had no problem in waiting for a new OS for a year or two more than getting stuck with a crappy capital intensive Windows Vista. Yes, I am talking about all new Windows 7 which was released in its public beta version last week by Microsoft. A much better visual treat than Windows Vista and increased usability puts this version straight into driver’s seat. With my limited casual testing, I could not find even a single feature or performance level issue which was worse than Vista. Read more
If music’s at her fingertips, why is Piggy using a stylus on the 5800?
Posted on January 15, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Brands & Companies, Gadgets, Mobile Phones | Leave a Comment
Posted by Nimish Dubey
Brand ambassadors can be a bit of an embarrassment at times - one remembers Deepika Padukone t
elling the media that the LG Viewty was a good phone because it could be used by “men as well as women.” Well, Nokia brand ambassador Priyanka Chopra has managed to undermine Nokia’s much-hyped iPhone killer, the 5800 Xpress Music. Minutes after declaring that the phone allowed her to access music on her fingertips, she posed for photographs, brandishing a stylus - something Nokia has sought to downplay, given the demand for finger-only navigation in phones these days! We are sure Nokia’s marketing must have cringed when a picture of her appeared in the Delhi Times supplement of the Times of India holding a stylus in front of a board which (oh dear!) said “Touch will play music.”
Click click on the go
Posted on January 14, 2009 by morpheus
Filed Under Gadgets, Laptops & PCs, Mobile Phones | 2 Comments
Posted by Morpheus
As the launch of 3G nears, a gamut of devices are ready for launch in India. Apart from 3G phones that have been there for a while, now its time to focus only on the Internet as we get set to access broadband speeds on an handheld. No matter how advanced devices we use today, cellphones don’t give you the same Internet experience that’s expected from a desktop or a notebook. Read more
BlackBerry Storms into the Indian market with a killer price!
Posted on January 14, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Gadgets, Mobile Phones | 2 Comments
By Nimish Dubey
While I was surprised by the relatively low-profile launch of BlackBerry’s first touchscreen device, the Storm, in India, I was totally stunned by its price. At less than Rs 28,000, the Storm (offered currently by Vodafone) has the potential to upset a few Applecarts. Pun intended. Read more
HTC switches to cm mode?
Posted on January 14, 2009 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Gadgets, Mobile Phones | 2 Comments
By Nimish Dubey
I was flipping through a magazine when my eyes fell upon an HTC advertisement. The ad highlighted two devices - the HTC Touch and the HTC P3470 and had the usual marketing spiel and tech specs all over it. And something unusual too! Read more
Innovative Netbooks, Anyone?
Posted on December 29, 2008 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Laptops & PCs | 1 Comment
In late 2007, Asus stunned the computing world with its eeePC - a notebook that was incredibly light and portable and handled most mainstream computing tasks (browsing the Web, e-mailing, writing documents, etc.) efficiently, without draining one’s bank account. The original eeePC was a huge success, notwithstanding some muttering by hardcore techies about its processor and storage space, not to mention the absence of an optical disk drive. In fact, it spawned a whole new category of portable computers - the netbook. Read more
Having that touchy-feely computer
Posted on December 28, 2008 by morpheus
Filed Under Gadgets, Laptops & PCs | Leave a Comment
Posted by Morpheus
The first touch screen was born almost four decades ago. Having said that, have we really seen the kind of evolution in touch technology like we’ve seen in microprocessors? Four decades and we’re still talking about single touch devices. Multi-touch is still more of a fascinating James Bond gadget that we still wait to see. But does that mean, we don’t have multi-touch devices in the market at all! Ofcourse we do. To start with, we have the ubiquitous Apple iPhone—perhaps the most revolutionary touch device till date. iPhone came with a dual touch capability, enabling users zoom-in and out images by merely pinching their fingers. Read more
The PC Testing puzzle!
Posted on December 23, 2008 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Gadgets, Laptops & PCs | 1 Comment
Look up the review of any PC or notebook these days and it is a fair chance that you will come across terms like 3DMarkTest and BatteryMark Test. There will be some figures scribbled next to them and the reviewer will also present some conclusions based on these. For instance, a certain 3DMarkTest score might mean the computer is good in gaming or a certain BatteryMark test might indicate that the computer has bad battery life.
The problem is: I do not know how reliable these tests are. Read more
Why E Series is a better deal than a BlackBerry
Posted on December 23, 2008 by Nimish Dubey
Filed Under Gadgets, Mobile Phones | 2 Comments
Posted by Nimish Dubey
One of my friends has of late been thinking of getting a new mobile phone. His requirements are pretty straight forward - good call quality, a QWERTY keypad and the ability to handle e-mail on the move. He has been using a Treo 650 for a while but is now thinking of moving on to another device. As in the case of most people, the moment the word “mobile e-mail” was uttered, his thoughts turned to a BlackBerry. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but well, is not the best option either.
Or at least, so I think. Read more
Is launching a phone enough?
Posted on December 4, 2008 by morpheus
Filed Under Mobile Applications, Mobile Phones | 1 Comment
Posted by Morpheus
Nokia’s top Marketing officials recently gave the crown for today’s most successful phone to Nokia E71. Being an early user of the device, I felt that this might mean more apps available for the device. Usually you get an endless number of apps for most Nokia phones, but apprarently this particular handset, because of its uncommon screen size, is not supported by most apps. However, getting this positive sign from the company, I went to Nokia’s Web site to check out the apps available for E71.
On the Nokia E71 page of the Web site, all the apps available are still the same ones that came preinstalled with the phone, that too in the same version. While, I have already discussed my misadventure while trying to upgrade this device in an earlier post, I realised that perhaps Nokia has diverted all its attention to the N series as far developing apps is concerned. Read more
