Sony Ericsson launches bluetooth watch for ladies

Sony Ericsson launched the Bluetooth MBW-200 range of Bluetooth watches for ladies which is an expansion of the Bluetooth MBW-150 range.

The collection consists of three different designs of watch that can control your phone. The watches will come with scratch resistant mineral crystal glass with an anti-glare coating for optimum readability and glow.

The collection has been made in partnership with Fossil. With the help of Bluetooth technology, the watches display the caller ID and intimate the user about an incoming call or SMS through vibration as well as give out-of-range warning, when the watch is 10m away from your phone . The watches also have a button to reject or mute a call. The water resistant watches control the phone’s music player too. Besides, the clear monochrome OLED display is invisible when not in use.

The MBW-200 series comes in three distinct designs named sparkling allure, contemporary elegance and evening classic which are modelled by 19-year-old Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, 18-year-old Danish player Caroline Wozniacki, and 19-year-old Hungarian superstar Agnes Szavay respectively.

Karmen Mandic, product business manager, Sony Ericsson stated, “The MBW-200 series is the next step in the development of Bluetooth wireless technology.” He further added, “Now women can buy a Bluetooth watch that gives them both wireless functionality and an opportunity to express their personal taste. We’re all looking for products that make our lives more convenient. With a glance at your watch, you can see who is calling, what the time is and with a push of a button you can change your music or use it as a music remote control when your phone is on the other side of the room all in one stylish device.” The MBW-200 range will reportedly be available in selected markets from early Q4 2008.

Sony Ericsson announces music service for mobile phones

Sony Ericsson has announced the launch of a mobile phone service with unlimited music downloads named Play Now Plus very shortly. This move is intended to give competition to Nokia which already lunched mobile phones with music subscription service.

The Play Now Plus promises access to millions of songs to the subscribers who would be able to keep up to 300 songs after the subscription expires whereas Nokia allows users unlimited download of music for the 12 months and keep those songs forever.

Sony Ericsson’s marketing head Lennard Hoornik informed that Telenor will initially launch the service in Sweden and expand to other Western European countries gradually. Rob Lewis, the head of Omnifone which is a technology partner for Sony Ericsson stated, “In the long term music lovers will clearly be drawn to devices which will come with unlimited access to music. It is such an attractive proposition.”

SanDisk to launch microSD card preloaded with music

SanDisk is launching a new line of performance-oriented microSD memory cards aimed specifically at the mobile phone market. The new flash-based micro card pre-loaded with music, features artists like Rihanna, Weezer, Usher, Leona Lewis and Elvis Presley from EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The memory cards will be available in the United States for a price of $15. Walmart and Best Buy have agreed to carry the product.

The microSD will come with 1 GB storage capacity and will allows users to add music or video content to it. Each card will contain an album in addition to extras like liner notes and cover art.

A must-have product for consumers who embody the digital lifestyle, the SanDisk Mobile Ultra high-performance cards are the premium cards that provide fast side-loading speeds.

The songs album will be in the MP3 format and can be played on mobile phones, computers and MP3 players equipped with a microSD card slot or a USB port. According to the company sources, the MP3-based tracks would be played back at a maximum speed of 320 kilobytes per second.

Scientists working on Einstein Refrigerator

Scientists are working to make the dream of Albert Einstein come true. They are working on a project that had been commenced by Albert Einstein to develop an environmentally friendly fridge. Refrigeration equipment is known to cause the maximum damage to environment.

The Einstein Refrigerator is an absorption-type refrigerator which has no moving parts and requires only a heat source to operate. It was jointly invented in 1926 by Albert Einstein and his former student Leó Szilárd and patented in the US on November 11, 1930.

An engineer called Malcolm McCulloch is working on the three year project. A prototype had been patented by Einstein as early as 1930. It used pressurized gases to keep things cool. However with the advent of compressors this technology was abandoned without considering the damage to environment.

Modern refrigerators produce freons that cause maximum damage to the environment. Einstein’s concept involves use of ammonia, butane and water. It uses the principle of liquids reaching their boiling points much earlier at lower pressure when compared to normal atmospheric pressure. There is the requirement of a heat pump in this device. Scientists are trying to develop a solar heat pump for this purpose.

MIT findings may lead to customised cancer treatment

MNNG may not be a common terminology. MNNG or Methylnitronitrosoguanidine is a DNA-damaging compound similar to toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke which usually kills cells by rendering the DNA damaged irreparably. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) and the Departments of Biological Engineering and Biology, identified a group of 48 genes that account for the vulnerability of an individual to the toxic compound, known as MNNG.

However, the researchers discovered varying degrees of susceptibility among cells taken from healthy people. It was hitherto unknown that cell lines from different people could vary in responses. Rebecca Fry, former MIT research scientist and lead author of the paper summed up by saying, “A cell line from one person would be killed dramatically, while that from another person was resistant to exposure.”

It was further added by Leona Samson, senior author of the paper, director of CEHS, and an American Cancer Society Research Professor, “Even if everyone is exposed to exactly the same things, they would respond differently, because we’re all genetically different.” The findings of the research was supposed to be published in the Sept. 19 online edition of Genes and Development. The fact that different people react differently to MNNG could prove to be an indicator of a particular patient’s response to chemotherapy thereby leading to the development of individial cancer treatment instead of a generic one.

Forum Nokia is Calling All Innovators

Reports approve that Forum Nokia is the world’s largest online global mobile developer community as it has the highest number of users. The number of registered users is as high as 3.8 million from across the globe and from among them, 140,000 registered developers are from India. The number reportedly has been growing at a rate of 48 percent annually.

Forum Nokia provides latest insights, information, tools etc on mobile application development through discussion boards, Wikis, blogs, monthly newsletters, chats and podcasts. All Web resources are offered free of charge to developers interested in creating software for Nokia mobile devices.

In a move to benefit from this brain pool, Forum Nokia has announced a global contest for developers called "Calling All Innovators", to create mobile applications that will contribute towards the upliftment of the society. Nokia will award $150,000 to the winner as well as provide help in distributing the mobile application.

Apple to launch new range of iPods in India

A complete new range of ipods with enhanced user interface was introduced in India and it includes the iPod Touch with a multi touch user interface, the new iPod Nano featuring video playback and iPod Classic which can store upto 40,000 songs.

The iPod Touch is 8mm thin and supports up to 22 hours of audio playback and up to 5 hours of video playback. The 8GB ipod will be available for Rs.15,100, 16GB one for Rs.19,100 and 32GB one for Rs.25,000. The product is likely to be available in the market from October. Additionally,the iPod Touch also includes a 3.5-inch widescreen display, Wi-Fi wireless, integrated volume control buttons, a built-in speaker for casual listening, a built-in accelerometer and other advanced sensors.

The new range also includes new fourth generation iPod Nano which will be available in 8GB and 16GB. The new Nano has more capacity of storage for more music and video than its predecessor. The new Nano will be available in a gamut of nine different colours and it supposedly sports a larger screen. The fourth generation iPod Nano with a curved aluminum and glass enclosure is touted to be the thinnest in the family.

It also contains a ‘Shake to Shuffle’ feature which literally shuffles the songs when shaken. Moreover, the new Nano promises up to 24 hours of music playback or 4 hours of video playback. The 8GB model will reportedly cost Rs.9,700 and the 16GB model will cost Rs.12,500. The product is expected to be available in next two weeks.

Intel India Unleashes Xeon 7400 Processor

Intel has announced to launch it’s latest state-of-the-art chip, Xeon 7400 series, made by Intel’s India unit. The new microprocessor, designed by Intel’s Bangalore unit over a record period of two years, is based on the powerful 45 nanometre technology and it will be used in the servers to boost their operations.

The giant chipmaker has clarified that they have no intention to create virtual bridge between Intel and AMD by introducing the first of it’s kind 6-core x86 microprocessor Xeon 7400 from it’s India’s off-shore unit. The newly introduced Intel microprocessor is powered with six processing cores with each of it’s chip. Designed by 1.9 billion transistors, the Xeon 7400 will support shared cache memory in the tune of 16 MB.

By introducing the chip, Intel has now allowed servers to have maximum 96 processing cores inside with active support from 16 processor “sockets”. Speaking the occasion of new launch, Intel’s South Asia sales director R. Ravichandran said, “This new processor series helps IT manage increasingly complex enterprise server environments, providing a great opportunity to boost the scalable performance of multi-threaded applications within a stable platform infrastructure”.

After successful launching of the new chip, India has entered in the list of exclusive countries that have high expertise and infrastructure to design and fabricate such a complex microprocessor. Entire design operation of the chip, including it’s front-end and back-end design, pre-silicon logic validation etc., has been performed by about 300 people at the Bangalore unit of Intel. “The quality of available talent, technology ecosystem and business potential are factors which make India a strategic business site for Intel,” says Intel India president Mr. Praveen Vishakantaiah.

The new Intel processor, Xeon 7400 series, is highly compatible with the Intel Xeon 7300 series and the Intel 7300 chipset.

With availability of the new Intel Xeon 7400 processors, VMware customers will now be able to move freely between two servers running on different Intel chips. Earlier, people had to use same type of Intel chips on two servers to allow vMotion to work, but now no such limitation exists.

BSNL and MTNL to make India A Telephone Hub

In a major initiative taken by India’s state owned telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), every village of the country will receive public telephone service before the end of 2009. After receiving Department of Telecom’s (DoT’s) in-principle approval, BSNL has started expanding it’s installation operation for the public telephones in over 50000 villages. DoT’s Universal Service Obligation Fund will provide subsidy support for BSNL’s village public telephone scheme.

Under the ongoing Bharat Nirman programme, most of the villages of the country are being provided with the telephony services. Satellite technology has benefited nearly 5,000 remote villages, while about 30,500 villages are connected with the high-speed broadband services. WLL network of BSNL is now available to about 75 percent of the villages. More interestingly, about 11 million villagers in 2,56,000 villages are now enjoying BSNL’s GSM connection.

While BSNL is busy connecting rural folks, India’s another telecom agency Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is working hard to start a new era in India’s telecom industry by introducing 3G mobile services in Delhi on trial basis around the crowded Connaught Place area. The much-hyped service is likely to be test-launched before the end of this month, said a market analyst. If MTNL’s first ever outdoor trial for 3G services becomes a success, Delhi and Mumbai are likely to get 7,50,000 GSM lines each to switch over to 3G services.

Nokia N96 arrives finally to give Seamless Surfing experience

Nokia, world’s premier mobile phone manufacturer, has recently announced launching of it’s sophisticated mobile phone N96 for the high-end Indian people. The phone, costing Rs. 34,999, is likely to be available in the Indian market from 15 September and the company has already started pre-booking for their latest tech-gadget.

The phone has a large 2.8 screen and 16 GB of internal memory that can be upgraded to 24 GB. It can play a wide range of formats like MPEG-4, WMV and Flash. A TV tuner enables watching digital TV on the move. Multimedia is the USP of this handset. It has a 5 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. DVD like video can be captured. It has a 3.5 mm headphone connector and also in built stereo speakers. Nokia is marketing the N96 as a “multimedia computer truly optimized for video and TV”. It has the ability to store 18,000 songs and 60 hours of video.

What distinguishes the N96 from the iPhone is its ability to make video calls as and when 3 G is rolled out. In built A GPS and Nokia maps will provide navigation. The internet integration is seamless with instant uploads to flickr, Vox and Yahoo. Another advantage is you can use it with your existing GSM sim card.

What is more?
N96 has several advanced characteristics. The smart phone will surely compete head-on with recently launched Apple’s much-hyped iPhone with it’s sleek design and multi-role web-enabled functionality. Speaking on the occasion, Nokia India’s marketing director Mr. Devinder Kishore said, “the applications and content that are being pre-bundled with the N96 will be a big draw for users looking for a multimedia-rich, GPS-based device”.

Touch-screen enabled N96 is the result of Nokia’s continuous effort of introducing innovative ideas into their models, said a market analyst. The phone will offer huge 16GB memory size, which can further be extended to 24GB using micro SD card - highest memory size ever offered in any mobile phone. According to Mr. D Kishore, “the N96 will be the first mobile device to offer a memory size of 16GB expandable to 24GB through an external micro SD card. There is no phone that can claim this feat”.

What is most amazing with the new phone is that it will come with map of India pre-loaded, besides having the maps of Singapore and UAE. Nokia has also planned a unique entertainment program for you, if you purchase their intelligent N96 mobile phone. With the phone, you will be able to watch Bollywood film Om Shanti Om at your wish and leisure. 100 Hindi and 100 English soundtracks coupled with 50 music videos and N-gage games will also enrich the beauty of N96. Other special features of the phone include 5 mega pixel camera, storing capacity for 18,000 songs, 20,000 images, and 60 hours of video.

A security application, comes bundled with the phone, will permit you to track down your set, in case the phone is stolen. With the phone, you will be able to enjoy surfing of net, chatting, browsing and other multimedia options seamlessly. Under Web2.0 environment, Nokia’s N96 is the best example for personalized mobile Internet experience, said an enthusiastic consumer. The device provides an excellent amalgamated platform for stylish entertainment and communication.

HP announces notebook with 24 hour battery power

HP has announced the release of a laptop with outstanding battery power that can run for 24 hours at a stretch on a single battery charge. Reportedly, the notebook will be a special configuration of the 6930p, part of HP’s EliteBook line. The notebook will run on a 12-cell Ultra-Capacity additional Battery, which costs US$189.

HP EliteBook 6930p sports an Intel Core2 Duo 9000/8000, mobile 45 chipset and is only 2.1 kilogrammes in weight, including the 14.1-inch diagonal widescreen display. The box features a shock-resistant hard drive, spill-resistant keyboard and is tough enough to meet MIL-STD 810F military-standard tests of temperatures of over 60 degrees Celsius and below -29C, apparently.

However,the limitation is that the laptop has to run only on Microsoft’s Windows XP. The other windows operating system named ‘Vista‘ is not ideal for this laptop as this particular operating system contains some power-draining features.

The power saving quality of the battery is further assured by HP’s Illumi-Lite LED display instead of a atraditional LCD screen, and an Intel SSD or Solid state drive that ensures powersaving through its NAND flash memory instead of a rotating magnetic disk.The company is yet to list the price of the high-capacity battery configuration, although HP lists the current version of the 6930p as starting at $1,199 on its website.

Google India Launches Internet Safety Campaign

Google India in collaboration with Mobile Association of India and Kolkata Police jointly conducted an awareness campaign in nine schools in Kolkata as part of “BeNetSmart” awareness initiative. The team imparted knowledge about safe cyber practices to 5,000 students.

The awareness campaign was launched in February, 2008 in an attempt to curb the rampant cyber crime. Rishi S Jaitly, the policy analyst of Google India claims that the campaign has covered around 30,000 students in Mumbai and Chennai so far. The campaign will ensue in Delhi next week.

This interactive campaign aims to create awareness about safe net surfing among students in class VI and above. The sessions supposedly cover topics on maintaining confidentiality, not interacting with strangers online, as well as information on downloading content, posting pictures, online chatting, etc. The parents and teachers are being educated on internet awareness as well to ensure a decrease in the number of youngsters that fall prey to cyber crimes.

Big Bang Machine

Scientists have built a 27-kilometre long underground circular tunnel that houses the Large Hadron Collider, which will allow them to smash particle beams together at close to the speed of light.

The scientists hope to replicate conditions immediately after the Big Bang in an effort to learn more about how the universe began.

BenQ launches 21.5 inch HD LCD monitor

BenQ Corporation, a brand name in consumer electronics and communications devices has launched the E2200HD in Indian market. It is the world’s first 21.5 inch 1080p Full HD LCD monitor. This High Definition TV comes with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution along with 300 cd/m2 brightness, 5-millisecond response time, HDMI or VGA inputs, and a headphone jack.

With the help of its 16:9 LCD monitor, BenQ generates full HD image from 16:9 signals which 16:10 LCD monitor fails to do. It also features a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and BenQ’s proprietary Senseye and Advanced Motion Accelerator technologies. It is claimed by BenQ that Senseye technology enhances the visual quality and superiority of picture output and the advanced motion accelerator technology embedded in the LCD screen ensures lifelike images.

The E2200 HD enhances the gaming and movie watching experience with its integrated speakers. Besides, it renders HD content entirely from any type of media devices including camcorders, Blu-ray etc. The product costs Rs 13, 500 in the Indian market.

Samsung unveils X360- Lighter than Air Notebook

The largest gadget and electronics show, IFA is in full swing in Germany. This has provided a great platform to hardware manufacturers including Samsung to unveil a slew of new products. Samsung has unveiled an ultra thin notebook called X360. At 1.27 Kg it is literally lighter than the MacBook Air that weighs 1.36 kg.

This high end notebook has a 13.3 inch screen with a 1280×800 resolution. It offers an option of the 120 GB 5,400 rpm hard drive or a solid state 64 GB hard drive. It has an external DVD writer.

At one glance at the Samsung X360 and you can tell that the notebook is aimed squarely at the MacBook Air buyer. Samsung even uses the slogan "Lighter than Air”. Samsung doesn’t list the specific dimensions of the X360, which probably means that the Air can keep its world's thinnest notebook title. If Samsung's X360 was both lighter and thinner than the Air, I am sure that Samsung would have listed all the specifications prominently.

Other features include a 7-in-1 card reader, three USB ports, PCI Express Card Slot and a RJ 45 jack. Biometric security is provided by a fingerprint reader. Other features include a webcam, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Graphics are accelerated by Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500. Battery life for the X360 is expected to be 10 hours.

The Samsung X360 is expected to be available in Europe in September. The price for Samsung X360 has not been yet disclosed.

New iPods from Apple on September 9

Was the faux pass about the Steve Jobs obituary by a reputed news agency like Bloomberg deliberate? Events that follow in September may force you to ask this question to yourself. Apple is all set to launch a new range of iPods.

Apple has e-mailed invites to reporters for a special event titled “Let’s Rock,” that will be held simultaneously in the US and UK. It carries the image of a man jumping and listening to an iPod. So the writing on the wall is very clear. It is going to be a launch of a new iPod.

How many of us know that the iPod trademark was initially registered for Internet kiosks? Apple took keen interest in developing software for personal digital devices. The business genius in Steve Jobs sensed that while other companies had made forays into digital cameras, camcorders and other devices the mp3 music players, then in 2000, were quite gawky. Steve Jobs ordered the creation of the iPod. Apple outsourced the creation of the iPod with the program being overseen personally by Steve Jobs. The first iPod was unveiled on 23 October 2001. The rest is history. Never before has a device so profoundly changed the way we hear our music.

Back from nostalgia to the September 9 event. Industry experts believe that Apple will be releasing a new iPod Touch and a 4 GB iPod Nano. The pricing of the iPod Touch may have necessitated a re-launch. Presently an iPhone is priced at $199 where as, an iPod Touch, which is only a music player, ships at $ 299. American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said “Pricing needs to be adjusted downward toward market conditions. We are in a tougher economy. That’s what makes most sense”.

Apple is targeting the festive season in the run up to Christmas. With such astounding achievements it is little wonder that its market cap is even higher than that of Google. Steve Jobs is known to have stated as early as July this year that the company will be looking forward for some new launches in the coming months. History also has a precedent of new product launches by Apple in September. The only matter left to speculate is will there be some new MacBooks too? Wait for September 9th and see it for yourself.

Google unveils new web browser called- Crome

Just two weeks after Microsoft unveiled a test version of its latest browser update - "Internet Explorer 8", Google has launched a free browser named “Chrome”. The new web browser is aiming at the mighty Microsoft.

Google Inc's new browser software is designed to work "invisibly" and will run any application that runs on Apple Inc's Safari Web browser. The company said the new Web browser called Google Chrome is a long-anticipated move to compete with Microsoft Corp, Mozilla Firefox and other browsers.

The public trial of the Google browser will be available in 43 languages in 100 countries, Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management said at a news conference at the company's Mountain View, California headquarters.

Google Chrome relies on Apple's WebKit software for rendering Web pages, he said. It also has taken advantage of features of community-developed browser Firefox from Mozilla Corp. Google is a primary financial backer of Mozilla.

Officials said Chrome's code would be fully available for other developers to enhance. A Google official said it planned to share code that makes Chrome work with WebKit openly with other WebKit open source developers.

Apple WebKit is widely used by Web developers, not simply for Apple applications like the iPhone but also by Google itself with its mobile phone software, called Android. "We have borrowed good ideas from others," Pichai said. "Our goal here was to bring our point of view but do it in a very open way," he said in response to a reporter's question. "We don't want to live in a world where all that innovation is locked up and kept secret," Google co-founder Larry Page told the news conference. Page was a primary supporter of the Chrome project among Google's executive team.

Sergey Brin, Lary Page's fellow co-founder, said Google planned to continue to work closely with Mozilla and hoped to see future version of Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox become more unified over time.

"It is probably worth noting that they (Mozilla Corp) are across the street and they come over here for lunch," Brin said of Mozzilla employees' visits to cafeterias at the Googleplex headquarters. "I hope we will have more and more unity over time." Chrome introduces various features that promise to make Web browsing faster, more secure and stable.

The browser allows users to keep working even when one of its open windows crashes. Chrome is designed to take advantage of multi-core chips, recently offered by Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices, which allow computers to handle multiple processes simultaneously and with greater speed, Google engineers said.

Google Crome can be downloaded at http://www.google.com/chrome/

LG introduces KP199 in Dynamite series

LG has introduced another handset in its popular Dynamite series. It is the KP199 whose USP is extraordinary battery life. The KP199 boasts a talk time of 30 hours and a standby time of 30 days.

A 1350mAh battery powers the new handset. It is a standard no frills phone and has a plethora of most basic and essential features. These include FM with a speakerphone and recording, MP3 player, Java, GPRS and Bluetooth. It supports group messaging with 1000 phone book memory. Hindi language too is available. It has an internal memory of 60 MB.

The phone includes a feature with news updates by NDTV active. An anti theft tracker has been provided for security.

Anil Arora, Business Group Head, GSM, PCs and DAV, LG Electronics India, says, “We at LG Mobiles thrive for offering the finest and most essential features to our consumers. Considering the importance and urge for communication, style and usability for the Indian consumer we have come out with some never before features in our mobile segment. KP199 is not just a product, but a package deal with all the important aspects, technology and features which are sure to entice and satisfy our consumers. The KP199, a fully loaded phone with advanced multimedia functions and long battery life will definitely appeal our customers.”

World Phone to offer broadband services at Rs 95

There has been a race to capture revenue in the ISP section and this is gradually warming up in India. Ideally the service provider should provide all the three services, telephone, cable TV and the internet. However due to a technological gap all the three areas have progressed in a non linear fashion.

The MTNL and the BSNL have made an attempt to provide IPTV on their telephone lines. Now World Phone Internet Services Pvt. Ltd, a leading Category “A” Internet Service Provider has tied up with cable TV providers to provide broadband services. The broadband internet service will be initially provided in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) region only.

World Phone has offered this service at the most competitive rate of Rs 95 per month. 200 MB data download per month is free with the service. The pricing is likely to be the USP. World Phone is a pioneer in offering low cost services. The company had introduced lowest calling rates to USA, UK and Australia last year.

“With the launch of our new service with an affordable tag, we would be tapping the population in Delhi & NCR. We hope that with this price tag and the quality of service, we will be able to garner at least 5000 subscriber in the first three months. Lower monthly commitment would be a strong and bold step by World Phone for enhancing broadband penetration in masses”, says Mr. Aditya Ahluwalia, Chairman, World Phone Internet Services Pvt. Ltd.