Sunday, August 15, 2010
Videocon launches new range of handsets
Videocon has unveiled a new range of handsets that include the Qruz V1425, V1424, and V1430. The latest array of handsets takes Videocon's count of mobiles to 25.
The Qruz V1425 is a 100W PMPO Music Output phone. It is a dual SIM phone with extra large boom speaker with back cover Mesh Grill, VGA Camera, Bluetooth, long 1200 mAH battery, MP3 player, high resolution 2 inch TFT screen, expandable memory up to 4GB, 1000 Phonebook/500 SMS memory and LED torch with Mobile Tracker.
The USP of the V1430 is that it is a long battery phone. It is also a dual sim phone and has a VGA Camera with Video Recorder, 1800 mAH battery (up to 600minutes talk/20days standby time), and 1.8 inch TFT screen, MP3 player with dedicated key, Bluetooth and expandable memory up to 4GB.
Completing the range is the V1424, a phone that scores more in the looks area with Gun Metal Linings. This dual SIM phone also comes with VGA Camera, MP3 Player, expandable memory up to 2GB, a 2 inch TFT screen, Bluetooth and Mobile Tracker.
Rahul Goel, COO, Videocon Mobile, said, "Features and functionality desired by customers are our key targets. Long battery life; Music device; and Stylish looks are steps in this direction. With multiple solutions for interconnected life, we are providing customers with device that helps them manage their tasks easily."
Reports of Google acquiring Slide emerge
Search engine giant Google has reportedly acquired online entertainment company Slide. Slide is a San-Francisco based manufacturer of social apps for sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Orkut.
Sources suggest Google made a payment of $228 million to seal the deal. However, the companies have not yet made any comments on the deal. According to TechCrunch, a confirmation of the deal from the companies' end may come by Friday.
Slide was founded by Max Levchin, a co-founder of PayPal. Some of the apps developed by Slide include SuperPoke Pets, Top Fish, SPP Range and SuperPocus Academy of Magic.
If this deal is confirmed, Google will take another step toward its foray into social gaming. Google, last month, had invested an amount of $150 million in Zynga, the social gaming giant, renowned for the creation of popular games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Now it remains to be seen whether all these acquisitions will lead to the creation of the rumored Google social network, Google Me.
Tips to make your browser secure
Web browsers are the key to the internet. Without them the internet is an impenetrable black box.
Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser for security.
The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: “Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards,” he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated.
There are numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft.
Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged websites. It's also a good idea to prohibit websites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu.
Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript.
Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially careful can, for example, use the Firefox add-on 'No Script,' which blocks all active content of a website by default and allows the user to decide which should be permitted. The problem is that most users are unable to determine which content represents a threat to their computer, Rinne msays.
Google amplifies voice commands for Android phones
The latest version of Android 2.2, released on Thursday, includes 10 new voice commands that can be used to operate phones without using a keypad.
Although Google says about 2,00,000 Android-powered phones are being sold each day, not all of them are equipped with the 2.2 operating system, also known as Froyo. Google’s Nexus One phone already runs on Froyo, but users will need to download free updates through its Android Market. Motorola Inc.’s Droid 2, which went on sale this week, already has the necessary updates. The features are expected to be added to HTC Corp.’s Evo and Incredible phones when they get Froyo in the coming months.
Google’s new “Voice Actions” tool enables people to dictate their text messages and e-mails. The voice recognition technology automatically translates the spoken words into text.
Phone calls can be made simply by speaking the name of a person or business. The feature can also find and play songs with spoken commands.
Although spoken words were turned into written words almost flawlessly in a Thursday demonstration for reporters, many applications relying on voice recognition technology misinterpret what’s being said in less quiet settings. Google says its tests showed “Voice Actions” was highly accurate.
Android already has been processing spoken requests for Internet searches and directions. The feature has caught on quickly — Google says about 25 percent of its search traffic on Android phones is triggered by the spoken word.
The additional bells and whistles have helped Android phones gain usage in recent months, though there are far more iPhones from Apple Inc. and BlackBerrys from Research in Motion Ltd. on the market.
Besides adding more voice controls to Android, Google is also making it easier to transfer information from a computer screen to a phone. Google is making that happen by offering a free tool that users can add to Google’s Chrome Web browser for personal computers. This tool makes it possible to send the link to a story or mapping directions from a personal computer to a designated phone within seconds.
Turning Off the Air Conditioning Helps Save Fuel, Swiss Study Finds
Automobile air conditioning systems do not run "free of charge." In fact in the hot parts of the world they can account for up to thirty per cent of fuel consumption. Even in Switzerland, with its temperate climate, the use of air conditioning systems is responsible for about five per cent of total fuel usage, rising to around ten per cent in urban traffic, as shown by a new study undertaken by Empa on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). Furthermore, two thirds of the additional fuel usage could be saved if air conditioning systems were simply turned off when the air temperature falls below 18 degrees Celsius
Car air conditioning systems require energy to compress the cooling agent, and the greater the degree of cooling required the more energy (i.e. fuel) they use. Little known, however, is the fact that these systems also used fuel when the outside air temperature is cooler than in the vehicle. For this reason the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) gave Empa the task of investigating in detail the fuel consumption of six modern cars -- both diesel and petrol models -- with their air conditioning systems switched on and off under varying ambient temperatures and humidities.
The study, the results of which have just been published in the scientific journal "Environmental Science and Technology," shows that the fuel consumption of the test vehicles with air conditioning systems in operation increases with rising ambient air temperature and humidity, reaching a value of some 18 per cent on a typical Swiss summer day with an air temperature of 27 degrees and relative humidity of 60 per cent. In addition, the researchers noted that the air conditioning systems in cars with automatic transmissions (which today are the most widely sold models) only turn themselves off when the external temperature drops below 5 degrees, when the cooling system could ice-up. This occurs because air conditioning systems not only cool the air before blowing it into the vehicle interior but also dry it, so as to avoid causing condensation on the front windscreen when it rains, among other reasons. This is of course perfectly sensible and important for safe driving, but only when the air humidity is high, and not all the time -- as is currently the case.
Using the standard climate model defined by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA, Bern*) and allowing for the measured increase in consumption (plus the use of the vehicle during the day), the average annual extra consumption of a petrol-engined car works out to 5.4 per cent. Differentiating between urban, suburban and motorway driving gives additional fuel usage values of 10, 2.8 and 1.3 per cent respectively.
It is known from physiological studies that the average driver feels comfortably warm when the air temperature around the head is 23 degrees. This means that if the outside temperature is below 18°C the car's air conditioning system could be turned off without any loss of comfort. For the petrol-engined vehicles investigated this would represent a saving of some two-thirds of the additional fuel usage, which is after all 3.6 per cent of the total consumption. When the outside temperature is higher, it is advisable to keep the air conditioning switched on since otherwise the heat may affect the driver's concentration and reduce safety.
With the diesel fuelled vehicles tested, the additional consumption due to the use of air conditioning, particularly for urban driving, is somewhat lower (2.7 per cent in total). The individual values for urban, suburban and motorway driving in this case are 4.5, 2.3 and 1.2 per cent respectively. The potential saving possible through switching off the air conditioning unit when the outside temperature falls below 18 degrees remains, however, two thirds of the additional consumption for the diesel vehicles tested.
If the entire Swiss automobile fleet is evaluated -- that is, including vehicles without air conditioning systems as well as older models with inefficient compressor units -- then a figure of 3.1 per cent of additional consumption is arrived at, assuming all air conditioning units are in use over the whole year. This drops to 1 per cent if air conditioning units are switched off when the ambient air temperature falls below 18 degrees. This simple measure could therefore result in a reduction in total fuel consumption of some two per cent across the whole country.
* The SIA standard climate model contains hourly weather data such as temperature and relative humidity over a compete year and is used by architects to calculate insulation and heating requirements for buildings.
Oracle sues Google for patent infringement
Oracle Corp. said on Thursday it has filed a patent and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google Inc.
Oracle said in a statement that Google?s Android system for mobile phones infringes on its patented Java technology.
Google spokesman Andrew Pederson said the company cannot comment because it has not yet reviewed the lawsuit.
Oracle, which makes database software and other technology, acquired the Java computer programming language and related technology when it bought Sun Microsystems. That deal that closed in January.
Java can be used as a platform for building applications for computers, websites and smart phones and other mobile devices.
In its complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oracle said Google?s Android operating system software consists of Java applications and other technology. As such, it infringes on one or more parts of seven different patents ? something Google should know, Oracle argues, because it has hired former Sun Java engineers in recent years.
Oracle also said Google?s Android also infringes on Oracle?s copyrights in Java.
Oracle is seeking an injunction to stop Google from further building and distributing Android, plus higher monetary damages for wilful and deliberate infringement.
Google says about 200,000 Android-powered phones are being sold each day.