Corning, the makers of the scratch resistant Gorilla Glass for smartphones, has announced that they will be unveiling the third version of the Gorilla Glass at CES 2013, with the Native Damage Resistance feature.

Corning, the makers of the scratch resistant Gorilla Glass for smartphones and other portable devices, has announced that they will be unveiling the third version of the Gorilla Glass at CES next week.

It is a given that the third version should have improved strength. Additionally, Gorilla Glass 3 comes with tweaks at the molecular level, with the introduction of a proprietary feature called Native Damage Resistance (NDR). This feature is said to control flaws like knicks or scratches, and maintains the overall strength of the glass. What this means is that Gorilla Glass 3 is three times more scratch resistant, shows 40 percent reduction in the number of visible scratches and brings about 50 percent increase in retained strength even after the glass becomes flawed.

According to the note shared with the media, Corning plans to introduce two new products at CES 2013: Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a new glass composition with durability enhancements; and Optical Cables by Corning, fiber-based, device-to-device connectivity solutions that significantly extend the data transmission range past the limits of copper-based cables.

Contrary to general perception, Gorilla Glass was never meant to save the phone against full-fledged drops. All it did was to prevent damage in case of nicks or something whacking against the phone’s display. The third edition of the Gorilla Glass will do that better, but if you expect it to save the phone as it tumbles down a flight of stairs, you are basically barking up the wrong tree. What it will do is prevent over-the-time scratches, particularly when the phone and the car keys are in the same pocket. In the meanwhile, check out the video displaying Corning Gorilla Glass 2 strength:

Already flooded budget Android smartphone market sees launch of the two new devices - Intex Aqua Flash and Aqua Trendy.

Intex has announced the launch of two new budget Android-based smartphones - Intex Aqua Flash and Aqua Trendy. Both the smartphones come with the dual-SIM support and are pre-loaded Nimbuzz, Flipkart, India Today, Saavan, Skype and Facebook apps.

First up is the Aqua Flash, the device features a 4.3-inch capacitive multi-touch display. It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor.

Other key specifications of the Aqua Flash include an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash and 1.3MP front-facing camera, up to 32GB expandable storage via microSD, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio and 2100 mAh battery.

The Aqua Flash is priced at Rs. 9,500.

The Intex Aqua Trendy has a 3.5-inch capacitive multi-touch display. The device runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. The Aqua Trendy features 3.2 MP rear camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera, expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD, 2G EDGE/GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, sound recorder and 1400 mAh battery.

The Intex Aqua Trendy is available with Rs. 4,900.

The HTC Butterfly is expected to hit store shelves towards the end of January 2013, becoming the first smartphone to hit store shelves in India with a 1080p HD display.

HTC is planning to bring its first phablet to India. The device is expected to hit store shelves towards the end of January, for Rs. 44,000. In the US the device is called the HTC Droid DNA but in the rest of the world, it is called the HTC Butterfly or HTC Deluxe. The device has been available globally since December 2012.

In terms of its specifications under the hood, it has a 5-inch display with a full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels) giving it a pixel density of 441ppi. A Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, Adreno 320GPU, and 2GB of RAM power the device. It has 16GB built-in storage expandable via a microSD card up to 32GB. The Butterfly boasts of an 8MP rear facing camera and a 2.1MP front facing camera. It also houses a 2020mAh battery. Out of the box, the Butterfly will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

At Rs. 44,000 the HTC Butterfly will be the most expensive Android smartphone available. Currently we have the Samsung Galaxy S III priced at Rs. 31,900 and the Samsung Galaxy Note II priced at Rs. 37,400. We have the iPhone 5, which is the most expensive (non-luxury) smartphone available in India starting at Rs. 45,500.

The launch of the Butterfly comes at the heels of the largest global smartphone event, MWC 2013, which will take place in February in Barcelona, Spain. We expect to see quite a few flagship smartphones at the event such as the Samsung Galaxy S IV, Samsung Galaxy Note III, LG Optimus G2 and more.

 is likely to be the dual-SIM and less expensive version of the Xperia Z, according to fresh details that have surfaced on the web.

                    

More details have surfaced on the web with regards to Sony's Xperia Z and Xperia ZL smartphones, expected to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 event starting next week.

According to reports, the main difference between the two devices is that the Xperia ZL will be the dual-SIM variant of the Xperia Z. The Xperia ZL is also rumoured to be less expensive than its counterpart. Moreover, the Xperia Z will be dust and water resistant.

An alleged photo of the Xperia Z, previously rumoured as the Xperia Yuga, shows a 19,990 THB (Thailand) price tag, which is around $660.

Earlier this week, the Sony mobile website inadvertently leaked images of the Xperia ZL and Z. While the specs appear to be similar for the both devices, there are certain visual elements that keep the two apart – the ZL is slimmer and the front facing camera on the Xperia ZL is below the display, and not above it as on the Xperia Z.

The common specifications include a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP camera, 5-inch full HD display and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. In the meanwhile, check out our previous coverage on the CES 2013 here.

Sony Xperia ZL is likely to be the dual-SIM and less expensive version of the Xperia Z, according to fresh details that have surfaced on the web.

                    

More details have surfaced on the web with regards to Sony's Xperia Z and Xperia ZL smartphones, expected to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 event starting next week.

According to reports, the main difference between the two devices is that the Xperia ZL will be the dual-SIM variant of the Xperia Z. The Xperia ZL is also rumoured to be less expensive than its counterpart. Moreover, the Xperia Z will be dust and water resistant.

An alleged photo of the Xperia Z, previously rumoured as the Xperia Yuga, shows a 19,990 THB (Thailand) price tag, which is around $660.

Earlier this week, the Sony mobile website inadvertently leaked images of the Xperia ZL and Z. While the specs appear to be similar for the both devices, there are certain visual elements that keep the two apart – the ZL is slimmer and the front facing camera on the Xperia ZL is below the display, and not above it as on the Xperia Z.

The common specifications include a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP camera, 5-inch full HD display and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. In the meanwhile, check out our previous coverage on the CES 2013 here.

FBI arrests ten as part of cybercrime probe.

Ten individuals have been arrested as part of an investigation into international cybercrime rings.

The US Department of Justice and the FBI, along with international law enforcement agencies, announced the arrests of the individuals, who come from the UK, the USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, New Zealand and Peru.
“The operation identified international cyber crime rings that are linked to multiple variants of the Yahos malicious software, or malware, which is linked to more than 11 million compromised computer systems and over $850m in losses via the Butterfly Botnet, which steals computer users’ credit card, bank account, and other personal identifiable information,” a statement from the agencies said.
Botnets, short for robot networks, are made up of compromised computer systems and can be used by cyber criminals to execute distributed denial of service attacks, send spam emails, and conduct underground organised criminal activity, to include malware distribution.
The FBI said Facebook also assisted with the operation, by helping to identify the root cause, the perpetrators, and those affected by the malware. Yahos targeted Facebook users from 2010 to October 2012, and security systems were able to detect affected accounts and provide tools to remove these threats.
The FBI has recommended that computer users update their applications and operating system on a regular basis to reduce the risk of compromise and perform regular anti-virus scanning of their computer system. It is also helpful to disconnect personal computers from the Internet when the machines are not in use, it said.

The seven faraway galaxies found using the Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA, ESA, R. Ellis (Caltech), and the UDF 2012 Team

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found seven galaxies that formed relatively shortly after the Universe's birth some 13.7 billion years ago.

Scientists described them "as baby pictures of the universe". One of the objects may be the oldest galaxy yet found, dating back to a time when the universe was just 380 million years old, a fraction of its current age.
NASA’s associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld said: "These early galaxies represent the building blocks of present-day galaxies."
The discovery of galaxies dating back to the Universe's early years should help scientists figure out what happened after the ‘dark ages,’ a period of time about 200 million years after the Big Bang explosion when cooling clouds of hydrogen, clumped together by gravity, began to ignite, triggering the first generation of stars.
"It was a very important moment in cosmic history," said astronomer Richard Ellis, with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Scientists do not know exactly when this "cosmic dawn" occurred and whether it was a single, dramatic event that caused all the galaxies to form their first stars, or whether it happened more gradually over millions of years.
The discovery of seven galaxies spanning a period between 350 million and 600 million years after the Big Bang supports theories that the cosmic dawn was a drawn-out affair, with galaxies slowly building up their stars and chemical elements over time, said Brant Robertson of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Astronomers plan follow-up studies after Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, launches in 2018.
The research appears in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Swiss scientists have created a new material that could speed the development of stretchy, wearable electronic devices.

The researchers, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, have come up with a material that mimicks the way tendons connect to bones.
The stretchable electronics industry is in its infancy but devices that are able to flex without breaking could revolutionise devices from smartphones and solar cells to medical implants. But while circuits and wiring are fine on rigid surfaces like those in a tablet computer, they break easily when combined with materials that stretch.
"You have two materials with very different mechanical properties," Andre Studart, one of the researchers said. "The challenge is to bridge these different properties."
The team has come up with a stretchy material made from polyurethane that contains "islands" stiff enough to house and protect delicate circuits.
While the soft part can stretch by 350 per cent, the stiff regions created by impregnating the material with tiny platelets of aluminium oxide and a synthetic clay called laponite, hardly deform and can protect the electronics.
The material, presented in research published in the journal Nature Communications, is made from bonded layers and because the concentration of the platelets is gradually increased, the junction between the stretchy and stiff parts is also durable.
"There are many biological materials that have these properties as well, like the way tendons link muscle to bone," said Studart. "But there are not so many examples in synthetic materials."
The researchers say their technique could also be used to build synthetic cartilage or false teeth with better matches to their natural counterparts.

Intel has taken its existing Saltwell core developed for mobile phones and put it into a family of server-oriented processors.

Intel has launched the first of its family of system-on-chip (SoC) processors intended for low-power data-centre equipment, but a benchmark put together by the company has revealed that, in terms of compute efficiency, its existing Xeon E3 processors remain more energy efficient.

Chris Feltham, data centre product manager for Intel EMEA, described the Atom S1200 as “our first data centre-focused SoC” in what what is expected to be a gradually expanding portfolio of processors designed for different applications. Describing the server space in terms of three parameters – CPU performance, I/O performance and memory capacity – Feltham said the new Atom devices sit at the low end of each of those, suiting the new processors to environments such as basic web hosting and communications switches.
The S1200 is based on the same Saltwell core as that used in Atom processors aimed at the mobile tablet market and is based on the company’s 32nm process rather than the 22nm finFET process used in its mainstream products. Running at up to 2GHz, the fastest device in the three-member S1200 family –the S1260 – consumes up to 8.5W, about five times less than the existing, four-core Xeon E3.
Feltham said, thanks to integration and lower individual power consumption, a manufacturer could put five times as many Atom S1200s into a rack than Xeon E3s. Feltham said that web hosts looking to provide dedicated servers to customers, Atom provided a good fit.
“When it comes to revenue to Intel, it’s about the same for both of these racks,” says Feltham. “It really depends on the customer in question what they are trying to achieve as to which approach is better. The choice for performance per watt would still be Xeon.”
In its benchmark, Intel calculated that a rack fitted with 112 Xeon E3s – the maximum possible today in terms of space – would outperform a rack containing 560 Atom S1260s. With a power per node of 60W versus 20W, the Atom-based rack would consume 40 per cent more power.
Intel expects to follow the Centerton next year with follow-up called Avoton that uses the 22nm process and which will provide higher integration. Although it has an onchip PCI Express controller, the S1200 lacks an Ethernet port.
“Avoton wil bring Ethernet integrated into the SoC,” said Feltham.

IBM Silicon Nanophotonics chip combining optical and electrical circuits (credit IBM)

IBM has announced a major advance in the ability to use light instead of electrical signals to transmit information for future computing.

The breakthrough technology, called “silicon nanophotonics”, allows the integration of different optical components side-by-side with electrical circuits on a single silicon chip using, for the first time, sub-100nm semiconductor technology.
Silicon nanophotonics takes advantage of pulses of light for communication and provides a super highway for large volumes of data to move at rapid speeds between computer chips in servers, large datacentres, and supercomputers, thus alleviating the limitations of congested data traffic and high-cost traditional interconnects.
“This technology breakthrough is a result of more than a decade of pioneering research at IBM,” said Dr. John E. Kelly, Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research.
“This allows us to move silicon nanophotonics technology into a real-world manufacturing environment that will have impact across a range of applications.”
The amount of data being created and transmitted over enterprise networks continues to grow due to an explosion of new applications and services.
Silicon nanophotonics, now primed for commercial development, can enable the industry to keep pace with increasing demands in chip performance and computing power.
Businesses are entering a new era of computing that requires systems to process and analyse, in real-time, huge volumes of information known as Big Data.
Silicon nanophotonics technology provides answers to Big Data challenges by seamlessly connecting various parts of large systems, whether few centimetres or few kilometres apart from each other, and move terabytes of data via pulses of light through optical fibres.
Building on its initial proof of concept in 2010, IBM has solved the key challenges of transferring the silicon nanophotonics technology into the commercial foundry.
By adding a few processing modules into a high-performance 90nm CMOS fabrication line, a variety of silicon nanophotonics components such as wavelength division multiplexers (WDM), modulators, and detectors are integrated side-by-side with a CMOS electrical circuitry.
As a result, single-chip optical communications transceivers can be manufactured in a conventional semiconductor foundry, providing significant cost reduction over traditional approaches.
IBM’s CMOS nanophotonics technology demonstrates transceivers to exceed the data rate of 25Gbps per channel.
In addition, the technology is capable of feeding a number of parallel optical data streams into a single fiber by utilising compact on-chip wavelength-division multiplexing devices.
The ability to multiplex large data streams at high data rates will allow future scaling of optical communications capable of delivering terabytes of data between distant parts of computer systems

Intel logo

Intel presented new manufacturing technology that it said keeps it on track to launch a new generation of chips for smartphones and tablets as it rushes to catch up with Qualcomm and other rivals in the fast-growing mobile market.

The world's largest chipmaker dominates the PC industry but has been slow to adapt its processors for mobile gadgets that depend on batteries and demand power efficiency.
At an industry conference in San Francisco this week, Intel reported on the progress of its technology for making SoCs, or "systems-on-a-chip" with features measuring 22 nanometers.
"Intel's 22 nm SoC technology will be ready for high volume manufacturing in 2013," Intel said in a copy of the presentation.
Intel's current mobile SoCs are manufactured at 32 nm, while Qualcomm makes its top-end SoCs at 28 nm and Nvidia uses 40 nm technology.
Manufacturing chips with smaller features allows for better performance and power efficiency.
Intel already makes PC processors at 22 nm, but since SoCs pack more features onto one piece of silicon, manufacturing them at 22 nm is more complicated, said Patrick Moorhead, of Moor Insights & Analysis.
"They (Intel) have all the right ingredients to make a very competitive mobile chip but we won't know if they do until 2013," Moorhead said.
While Intel's industry lead in manufacturing technology is well established, competitors and many on Wall Street say the chipmaker's mobile SoC designs do not stand up to SoCs designed by Qualcomm, Apple and others with technology licensed from Britain's ARM Holdings.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

Japan Atomic Power Co may have to decommission one of its reactors after seismologists concluded the plant is sitting over an active faultline, potentially the first permanent shutdown of a nuclear unit in Japan since the Fukushima disaster last year.

"There is no way we can carry out safety assessments for a restart," the chairman of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), Shunichi Tanaka, said this week at an open meeting after being presented with an assessment there is an active fault under the No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear plant.
The government in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active countries, does not allow nuclear plants to be situated over active faultlines.
An NRA panel of seismologists has been reviewing geological records and this month visited Tsuruga to watch the results of boring and other tests.
A fault line extending from below the reactor was assessed to have moved in the past in tandem with another nearby fault, Kunihiko Shimazaki, an NRA commissioner who led the seismic panel, told the meeting.
While Tanaka has no authority to order a permanent shutdown, his comment implies he will not allow the reactor to be restarted, forcing a decision on Japan Atomic over whether to mothball the unit.
A Japan Atomic official who attended the meeting said the company would carry out further seismic studies.
The agency will meet at a later date to make an official announcement on the 1,160 megawatt reactor, the larger of two at the plant in western Japan.
The No. 2 unit started operating in 1987, while the 357-megawatt No. 1 reactor started in 1970.
The NRA is reviewing possible faultlines under or near Tsuruga and five other nuclear stations as part of moves to beef up safety and Tanaka has said any reactors sitting above won't be allowed to restart.
All but two of Japan's nuclear reactors are idled for safety checks after the Fukushima disaster, forcing the country to spend billions of dollars extra on fossil fuels to run power stations.
An earthquake and tsunami in March last year knocked out cooling and power at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi station north of the Japanese capital, causing the biggest release of radiation since Chernobyl in 1986.

• 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 
• 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 - C1505, HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - C1504 
• GPRS Up to 86 kbps 
• 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches, TFT capacitive touchscreen 
• EDGE Up to 237 kbps 
• Speed HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps 
• WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot 
• Bluetooth Yes, v2.1, EDR 
• USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 
• OS Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean) 
• Chipset Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon 
• CPU 1 GHz Cortex-A5 
• GPU Adreno 200 
• Sensors Accelerometer, proximity 
• Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email 
• Browser HTML5 
• Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS 
• GPS Yes, with A-GPS support 
• Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator 
• Colors Black, Pink, White 
• Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, Geo-tagging

By Lorna Sharpe

Solar modules in the glazed roof at King's Cross
Credit: Sundog Energy

One of the UK’s largest and most complex building-integrated solar electricity systems has been officially switched on at King’s Cross railway station in London.

The solar glazing on the main train shed will have a peak output of 240kW and is expected to generate around 175,000kWh of electricity each year, saving over 100 tonnes of CO₂ emissions and meeting up to 10 per cent of the station’s electricity needs.
Photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity are integrated into 1,392 glass laminate units that form part of two massive new barrel vaulted glass roofing structures spanning the main platforms of the Grade 1 listed building, covering more than 2,300 square metres.
The £1.3m solar PV installation is part of a six-year redevelopment programme for King’s Cross station that has included renovation of the 1880s trainshed roof and replacement of yellowing glass-fibre panels to let in more daylight and create a better environment for station users.
All the detailed design, specification and supply of key components for the PV system and the DC electrical installation were undertaken by Sundog Energy, working to the main contractor Kier, in collaboration with Network Rail.
Sundog’s founder and technical director, Martin Cotterell, said the PV design was complex, having to take account of a Victorian roof structure that faces east and west, multiple sources of shading, difficulties with cable routing and finding a suitable location for the inverters, and the need to ensure access for maintenance.
The blast-proof glass-laminate solar PV units were custom-made in north-east England by specialist PV manufacturer Romag and installed by roof glazing specialist ESB Services. Fronius supplied the inverters, and AC electrical works were carried out by the rail division of NG Bailey, which also installed dimmable high-bay lighting as part of the same project.
DC cabling has been concealed as far as possible. Junction boxes are located under cells, with cable running alongside ironwork and through glazing bars to string combiner boxes on the access walkway.
Ronnie Kennah, Kier Construction mechanical and electrical manager, explained that making the link between the roof cabling and the inverter room was particularly challenging. The original plan was to locate the main cables out of sight in the roofspace of the station’s Eastern Range Buildings - but that would have required installation of a crash deck, bringing in a crane and arranging a road closure just for the deliveries. Instead, after negotiations with English Heritage, it was agreed to drop the cabling down to ground level and run it along one of the platforms. “We’ve gone from a 150-metre run to 80 metres,” said Kennah. “The voltage drop is less, it was quicker to install, safer - and it saved a lot of money.”
Simon Matthews, senior project manager for Kier Construction, praised the open and collaborative way in which the various challenges had been dealt with. “The switch-on of the PV system is the culmination of a massive effort by the project team, working with specialists in the renovation and refurbishment of the structure, using innovative methods that have allowed the works to be undertaken above the live station.”
Those innovative methods included construction of a massive moveable scaffold deck hung from the roof structure so that work could progress without obstructing the platforms below, as well as installation of a temporary roof before the old roof covering was removed, to maintain weatherproofing.
Martin Cotterell concluded: “King’s Cross has been a fantastic project to work on – but also a labour of love. The sheer scale of the installation has presented many major technical and aesthetic design challenges and there has been no margin for error as the work had to be undertaken whist the station remained fully operational.”

 

Samsung is expected to launch two music-centric budget Android phones in next month, and the specifications and images of the devices have leaked on the Internet ahead of the official announcement.

Samsung's forthcoming phones are called the Samsung GT-S6010 Galaxy Music and the Samsung Music DUOS Galaxy GT-S6012. The DUOS model will be the dual-SIM version of the Galaxy Music. No exact price or release date of the phones was leaked but expect the official announcement on October 11th.

The specifications of the phones include a 3-inch QVGA LCD display with a 320x240 pixel resolution, 3MP camera, and 4GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. The music Android phones will run on Google Android 4.0 ICS straight out of the box with the expectation that the phones will be upgradable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Being music phones, the Samsung GT-S6010 Galaxy Music and the Samsung Music DUOS Galaxy GT-S6012 boast of stereo speakers. Under the hood, the smartphones will be powered by an 850MHz single-core CPU and 512MB RAM. The budget Android music phones will have a 1300mAh battery.

Being music phones, they will support a wide range of audio formats like MP3, OGG, ACC, ACC +, eACC +, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, WAV, MID, IMY, FLAC and WMA.

Stay tuned, as we will bring you the complete lowdown of the device once they are unveiled on October 11th.

Nokia's deal with Oracle broadens the markert for its location services

Nokia will announce a deal that will give Oracle's customers access to its mapping services, the phonemaker said.

Finland's Nokia, which bought the world's largest digital mapping firm Navteq in 2008, has been looking for ways to boost the business and recently signed mapping deals with Groupon and Amazon.
Oracle is the world's third-biggest software firm but also sells hardware to corporate clients and in 2009 bought Sun Microsystems, the manufacturer of server computers and developer of Java and Solaris software.
"Nokia has been on a mission for the last 18 months to sign mapping and location deals with large internet players.
The deal with Oracle extends this and broadens the large enterprise market for Nokia's location services," said analyst Martin Garner from British consultancy CCS Insight.
In stark contrast with Nokia's troubled phone business, sales at Nokia's location business grew last quarter, although it still generates only 4 per cent of group revenue.
Details of the deal may be unveiled in San Francisco at the OracleWorld conference this week, the Wall Street Journal said.
Last week Apple publicly apologised after customer complaints about errors in its maps which have been put on its latest phone operating system instead of Google's mapping service.

 

 

Reliance Communications (RCom) has introduced a new plan called “All Share Postpaid Plan” for all its GSM and CDMA postpaid customers in the country. Under the new plan, Reliance offers 3 connections at single rental of Rs. 1,497. Reliance says its new plan is aimed at the families who will now not need to pay multiple bills and recharges for different postpaid users.

The All Share Postpaid Plan - only for 3 members or 3 connections - wherein the members can share 3,000 mins of local / STD voice calls, 3,000 local / national SMS along with 3GB of 3G data per month and free calling amongst the family or group members on this plan. Along with this, all the members would also get the benefit of unlimited free local calls within the group. The number of connections in the family or group can be increased up to 10 at the incremental rental of Rs.499/- per connection with incremental benefits of 1,000 minutes of local / STD voice calls, 1000 local / national SMS and 1GB of 3G Data.

The All Share Postpaid Plan from RCom is available for all new and existing postpaid RCom subscribers. To popularise its new plan, RCom has introduced an advertising campaign featuring their brand ambassador “Anushka Sharma”.

“All Share Postpaid Plan is the first of its kind offering in the country to provide compelling new experience to subscribers using multiple smart communication devices with the exclusive facility to share Voice, Data and Text on a single bill giving them affordability along with great convenience,” says Sanjay Behl, Group Head – Brand & Marketing, RCom Ltd.

 

Apple's next rumoured launch this month - the 7.85-inch iPad Mini - seems to have got a shot in the arm thanks to another mockup video.

Japanese blog Macotakara.com has put up the mockup video showing what theiPad Mini might look like. The 7.85-inch tablet has the volume rocker buttons on the left edge, a camera on the left hand corner, a lightning port connector at the base surrounded by two speaker sections.

The iPad Mini design looks traditionally Apple. Before the iPhone 5 launch, there were a lot of iPhone 5 mockup designs doing the rounds of the net. They eventually turned out to be the actual iPhone 5 design. Going by that yardstick, these iPad Mini mockups may just be the actual design of the yet-to-be-announced Apple 7-inch tablet.

With the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 already out and that too at $199 pricing, it will be interesting to see whether Apple is able to bring the pricing down to those levels or settle for a higher number like $249. We will know soon.

After the much celebrated release of Photoshop CS6 (and other consequent CS6 upgrades of other products), Adobe has announced the availability of Photoshop and Premiere Elements 11.

The Elements line of products was created for consumers who found Photoshop and Premiere a little too intimidating. Photoshop Elements offers a simple solution for editing, organizing and sharing photo and the Premiere version of Elements takes care of all basic video editing needs, allowing the users to create a professional looking product without the fuss of complexities.

“Photos and videos allow us to capture and share moments in time,” said Lea Hickman, vice president products, Creative Consumer Business, Adobe. “Powerful – yet friendly and easy to use – Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11 inspire creativity and help consumers make the most of remembering and sharing these personal memories.”

Photoshop elements 11 includes a completely refreshed UI and does away with the dark grey and low contrast buttons in exchange for big bold buttons that are easy to spot. There are also a slew of one-click editing options along with a more advanced mode for those who looking for a little more control and finesse in their editing. Despite the simplicity of the program, Photoshop Elements 11 runs on the same powerful engine as Photoshop CS6.

Premiere Elements 11 also improves its interface greatly, putting most frequently accessed features right at the front, while moving the lesser needed functions into the menu. There is also a bunch of new and improved effect and transitions along with sound effects and disc-menus.

Both Premiere and Photoshop Elements 11 also feature Google Maps integration for images and video along with extensive Social Network Integration.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Adobe Premiere Elements 11 software for Windows and Mac is available now at www.adobe.com. The Photoshop Elements 11 & Premiere Elements 11 bundle is available now for a suggested retail price of US$149.99, with upgrade pricing of US$119.99. Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Adobe Premiere Elements 11 are available individually for a suggested retail price of US$99.99, with upgrade pricing of US$79.99.

Apple has released the iOS 6 update on September 20. The update is available for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, new iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch 4th generation and iPod Touch 5th generation.

According to Apple, the new OS brings over 200 new features to iOS devices. Here’s a look at 10 new features that you will get as part of iOS 6.

1. Maps
Apple has dropped Google provided maps in iOS 6 and has introduced its own maps. The maps bring turn-by-turn navigation, 3D maps, real-time traffic information and more, however not all the maps features will be available in every market.
One of the most interesting features of new maps app on iOS 6 is the Flyover. With Flyover you can see select major metro areas from the air with photo-realistic, interactive 3D views.

2. Improved Siri
Siri has been on iPhone 4S for last one year, but now it is reaching more devices and with more features. With iOS 6, Siri understands more languages and can give answers to your movie, sports and restaurants related queries as well. It can also now post to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

A new interesting addition to Siri is Eyes free, Apple is working with car manufacturers to integrate Siri into select voice control systems. Through the voice command button on your steering wheel, you’ll be able to ask Siri questions without taking your eyes off the road.

3. Facebook Integration
Similar to the Twitter integration in iOS, Apple has also Facebook in iOS 6. With this integration in place, you will be able share a photo to Facebook right from camera app or post your location directly from maps. Facebook events also get integrated to your device calendar and same is the case with contact information from Facebook.

You will have sign in Facebook only once and then you can use also these features and more from any app without signing in again.

4. Shared Photo Streams
With shared photo streams, you can selectively share photos with a group of people. You just select photos from Photos app, tap the Share button and choose the people with whom you want to share these photos. If your friends and family are using Photos app or iPhoto, they will get the shared photos instantly in the apps, while the non-iOS/ Mac device users will be able to see them on web.

5. Panoramic photos
iOS 6 users using iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, or iPod touch (5th gen.) will benefit from the all new camera app that adds a panorama view. Until now you had to use third-party apps to get panoramic photos, but now with one simple motion you can shoot up to 240 degrees of view and watch the software weave its magic.

6. Safari & Mail improvements
Apple has further enhanced the web browsing experience on iOS devices with iOS 6. A new feature called iCloud Tab keeps track of which web pages you have open on your devices, so even when you switch devices, you can just pick up from where you left on the other device. Safari can also save the full web pages now for reading later or offline access. The full screen support is finally present, all you have to do is turn your iOS device in landscape mode and just tap the full-screen button. Safari also gets the ability to upload photos via a form.

Mail is also improved with new features like VIP lists. You can now designate certain contacts as VIPs and chose to be notified when they email, even when email notifications are off. The VIP lists are cloud-enabled, so you get notified irrespective of whichever iCloud-enabled device you are using. Also included is swipe to refresh and an improved way to add videos or photos to email messages.

7. FaceTime over cellular
Along with Wi-Fi networks, you can also use FaceTime over cellular networks now. You can also make and receive FaceTime calls on your iPad using your phone number.

Apple has enhanced FaceTime so that you can receive FaceTime alerts across all of your devices. That means you can use FaceTime wherever you are, on any device and never miss another FaceTime call.

8. Better App Store
Apple has revamped the App Store interface on iOS devices. You will now have access to more information about each app and you will no longer have to enter a password for the free app downloads. The company has also made changes to way the search results and Genius recommendations are displayed.

9. Phone & DND
In order to make calling cooler, Apple has made some changes in the Phone app in iOS6. Now when you decline an incoming call on iPhone, you can instantly reply with a text message or set a call-back reminder. With iOS 6, you will also be able to turn on Do Not Disturb to suppress all incoming calls and notifications except for the VIP contacts.

10. Passbook
With Passbook, you can store your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more in one place. With the app, you will be able to just scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, and redeem a coupon. Apart from all this, Passbook will tell you when your coupons are expiring or balance left on your cards.