Microsoft Corp. has made it harder to monitor calls and chats over its Skype phone service in China, a freedom of expression advocacy group said, as the Chinese government steps up censorship of the Internet.

Skype said on Monday it had ended an eight-year joint-venture with Hong Kong-based TOM Group - 51 percent owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing - and found a new partner in China.

"After careful analysis of the new Skype, we believe that Microsoft have lifted all censorship restrictions on their China product," the advocacy group, GreatFire, said on Wednesday.

"All user calls, chats and login information are encrypted and being communicated directly to Microsoft via HTTPS. This is a complete about-face for Microsoft from the TOM-Skype era, when all information was processed by TOM and stored by TOM on servers located in China with absolutely no privacy controls in place."

A Microsoft spokeswoman in China declined to comment and a public relations official at Skype's Asia-Pacific regional office could not immediately be reached.

Skype's new partner in China is Guangming Founder (GMF), a joint-venture of Beijing-based newspaper Guangming Daily and the Founder Group, a Beijing technology conglomerate established by Peking University, according to the new GMF-Skype website.

The Skype-TOM partnership has come under criticism from rights groups for allowing censorship and surveillance. Studies have shown the TOM-Skype service was subject to blacklisted keyword checks that could trigger monitoring of its users.

New censorship measures
Foreign Internet companies must tread a careful path in China to exploit bountiful business opportunities without compromising a carefully-nurtured image as champions of open societies and free speech.

In 2010, Google conducted a partial pull-out from China on the basis of censorship and after it suffered a serious hacking episode that the company said emanated from China.

Google's search market share in China fell to 1.7 percent last month from 12 percent in August 2010, although its Chinese business has benefited from strong demand for its Android software.

Websites such as those of Facebook Inc., YouTube - which is owned by Google - and Twitter Inc. are all blocked in China by what is known as the "Great Firewall".

The ruling Communist Party sees censorship as key to maintaining its grip on power, recognising that social media offers a platform for citizens to air grievances and criticism of the government, a potential trigger for social unrest.

The government unveiled new measures in September threatening jail for spreading "rumours" online. The measures mostly target domestic Internet services such as Sina Corp's Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging service.

Outside China, Skype's security and privacy protection have been under the spotlight following revelations, disclosed by Edward Snowden in his leaks of U.S. National Security Agency documents, that the online communication service was part of the NSA's Prism programme to monitor communications through some of America's biggest Internet companies.

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/microsoft-forms-new-skype-partnership-in-china-makes-censorship-harder-report-451919

Sony seems to be gearing up for the launch of the "mini" version of their flagship smartphone, Sony Xperia Z1, which apparently will not be named "mini" as per sources. The company is reportedly planning to call it the Sony Xperia Z1S, and according to recent reports, it is due for release in Q1 2014.

According to Phonearena the price of the Z1S is expected to be 3600 Yuan (translating to roughly Rs. 37,000).

So far, with the numerous leaks, all the specifications of Sony Xperia Z1S seem to have been enumerated. The smartphone will reportedly sport a 4.3-inch HD display, which is smaller than the Xperia Z1's 5-inch screen. Other than that, the Z1S is expected to be powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor as the Xperia Z1, and include the same 20.7MP camera with the Sony G lens. The smaller Xperia Z1S seems to be slightly thicker than the Z1, at 9.4mm, and it is said to pack a smaller 2300mAh battery.

Most of the other specifications, like 2GB of RAM, 16GB of inbuilt storage with microSD support up to 64GB, and the Adreno 330 GPU, are the same as the Xperia Z1.

In the second week of November, the Sony Xperia Z1S was officially listed on the Sony mobile website, before being quickly pulled. Soon after, a gallery of leaked pictures of the alleged Sony Xperia Z1S was also doing the rounds of the Internet, showing a model number of D5503.

The Sony Xperia Z1 was first unveiled at IFA Berlin in September, before being launched in India in the same month. The dust resistant and waterproof smartphone was launched at a price of Rs. 44,990. We expect Sony to follow a similar timescale with the release of the rumoured Xperia Z1S in India, shortly after its expected global release in Q1 2014.

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/sony-xperia-z1s-gets-pricing-and-availability-details-in-latest-leak-450985

Google boss Eric Schmidt said Monday that the tech giant had developed new technology that makes it harder to find child sexual abuse images on the web.

Writing in British newspaper the Daily Mail, Google's executive chairman said more than 100,000 searches would no longer feature such material in their results.

The restrictions will initially apply to English-speaking countries but will be expanded to the rest of the world and 158 other languages within six months.

The announcement comes ahead of Monday's Internet Safety Summit at Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street office, where Google and Microsoft will be joined by other Internet firms.

In July, Cameron urged search engines to go further in blocking surfers from accessing illegal images.

Schmidt wrote: "While society will never wholly eliminate such depravity, we should do everything in our power to protect children from harm."

He said that in the last three months, Google had put more than 200 staff working on developing new technology to tackle the problem.

"We've fine tuned Google Search to prevent links to child sexual abuse material from appearing in our results," he wrote.

"While no algorithm is perfect and Google cannot prevent paedophiles adding new images to the web these changes have cleaned up the results for over 100,000 queries that might be related to the sexual abuse of kids.

"We will soon roll out these changes in more than 150 languages, so the impact will be truly global."
Schmidt said warnings from the California-based Internet giant were now showing at the top of results for more than 13,000 searches. The alerts also make clear that child sexual abuse is illegal and give advice on where to get help.

He also said Google had developed technology that allowed illegal videos to be 'tagged' so all duplicate copies can be removed across the web.

"We welcome the lead taken by the British government, and hope that the technologies developed (and shared) by our industry will make a real difference in the fight against this terrible crime," said Schmidt.

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/google-develops-new-algorithm-to-block-100000-search-queries-for-child-porn-447430

Google's Android platform was used on four out of five smartphones sold worldwide in the third quarter, while Microsoft's Windows Phone showed strong gains, said a survey out Tuesday.

Android's market share rose to 81 percent, extending its lead over Apple's iOS, used on its iPhones, according to the IDC survey. Android's share a year ago was 74.9 percent.

Even though iPhone sales grew 25.6 percent from a year earlier, the growth was slower than the overall market and Apple's share fell to 12.9 percent from 14.4 percent in the same period last year.

Windows Phone emerged as the number three smartphone platform with a market share of 3.6 percent, up from two percent a year earlier.

Windows Phone sales grew 156 percent, with more than 90 percent made by Nokia, the Finnish group whose handset division is set to be acquired by Microsoft.

BlackBerry, meanwhile, saw its troubles deepen, as its market share fell to 1.7 percent from 4.1 percent a year ago. BlackBerry sales fell 41.6 percent from a year ago despite the introduction of the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The overall market for smartphones grew 39.9 percent year-over-year in the quarter, to 261 million units.
The average sales price of a smartphone fell 12.5 percent in the quarter to $317, IDC said.
"Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success: price," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.
"Both platforms have a selection of devices available at prices low enough to be affordable to the mass market, and it is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward."

IDC noted that Apple's market share was likely affected by weak sales ahead of the introduction of two new iPhone models in September, at the end of the quarter. But it sold nine million of the new devices in the first weekend, suggesting a strong fourth quarter, IDC said.

IDC said larger devices called phablets accounted for 21 percent of the smartphone market, up from three percent a year ago.

"Almost all successful Android vendors have added one or more five- to seven-inch phablets to their product portfolios," said IDC's Ryan Reith.

"We believe the absence of a large-screen device may have contributed to Apple's inability to grow share in the third quarter."

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/android-on-81-percent-of-new-smartphones-windows-phone-share-grows-idc-q3-445339

High-tech product manufacturers from sectors like aerospace engineering are shifting their focus towards India from China due to the increasing cost of production in the neighbouring country, EEPC said on Tuesday.

"Costs of manufacturing (in China) are no longer cheap the way they used to be, with their banking under stress and the pressure on the government to cut rebates.

"Chinese firms are no longer the top contenders for the global outsourcing. This gives the Indian engineering sector an opportunity," EEPC India Chairman Anupam Shah said in a statement.

Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said be it an aerospace engineering firm in Germany or an instrumentation giant in Canada, world leaders in high-tech manufacturing are shifting focus to outsourcing their critical supplies to India.

It said that to cash-in on this sentiment, the council is organising a mega event in Mumbai in January next year to showcase India's manufacturing prowess in high-tech items.

"The India Engineering Sourcing Show, with projected participation of the world's top 300 buyers is billed as an international platform for clinching multi-million dollar deals," it said.

The four-day show will start from January 22.

The External Affairs Ministry is also being roped in for seeking larger participation through Indian missions in countries like Italy, Poland and Mexico.

The engineering sector has emerged as the largest contributor to India's total merchandise exports followed by gems and jewellery, textiles and chemicals.

The shipments are expected to reach USD 63 billion in the current fiscal, it added. The US and Europe together account for over 60 per cent of India's total engineering exports.

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/others/news/india-the-new-hub-for-high-tech-manufacturing-with-low-costs-eepc-441904 

US software giant Microsoft has developed a new cost-effective sign language translator that converts signs into spoken and written language - and vice versa.

In collaboration with researchers in China, Microsoft created the Kinect Sign Language Translator, a prototype system that understands the gestures of sign language and converts them to spoken and written language, and vice versa.

The translator uses a computer and a Kinect camera that recognises signing gestures, then gives a spoken and written translation of languages for people who can hear.

The system captures a conversation from both sides: the deaf person is shown signing, with a written and spoken translation being rendered in real-time, while the system takes the hearing person's spoken words and turns them into accurate, understandable signs.

The system takes a person's spoken words and translate them into accurate signs carried out by an on-screen avatar.

Originally developed for gaming, the Kinect's sensors read a user's body position and movements and, with the help of a computer, translate them into commands.

It has tremendous potential for understanding the complex gestures that make up sign language and for translating the signs into spoken or written words and sentences.

"We knew that information technology, especially computer technology, has grown up very fast. So from my point of view, I thought this is the right time to develop some technology to help (the deaf community)," said Professor Xilin Chen, deputy director of the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Chen has spent much of the past decade studying sign language recognition, hoping to devise a way to enable signed communication between people with hearing loss and their hearing neighbours.

"That's the motivation," Chen said.

The project was a collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Union University, and Microsoft Research Asia.

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/others/news/kinect-sign-language-translator-developed-by-microsoft-chinese-researchers-441458

Google+ on Tuesday added "auto-amazing" photo and video tools for telling artful life stories at the online social network, ramping up its challenge to Facebook.

"Google aims to revolutionize photography," Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra said while introducing a host of new social networking features at an art gallery in San Francisco.

Photo and video sharing are among prime uses of online social networks. Gundotra said that Google+ users upload about 1.5 billion images weekly.

He also announced the that number of people who use Google's two-year-old social network at least once a month has climbed to 540 million from about 300 million early this year.

Facebook still dominates the world of online social networking, boasting more than a billion users.
Google hoped to bolster the popularity of its social network with the addition of photo and video editing tools that automatically provide users with professional quality images and custom-made movies.

Tools for automatically editing images and even creating mini-animated sequences of images or moment-capturing action shots were added.

An "auto-awesome eraser" feature allow Google+ users to make unwanted people or objects in images disappear.

Google also beefed up search image search capabilities, increasing the number of terms that can be used to find specific pictures.

The list of a thousand new terms included snow, beach, kiss, hug and sunset. Searches for such terms find pictures with the objects, people or actions even if they are not tagged with caption information.
"You can say the name of your loved one, at the beach, with sunglasses, and Google+ will bring up that image," Gundotra said.

The power of Google's data centers and software were also aimed at videos uploaded to the social network.

Video tools offered to automatically analyze video clips and images, and then weave them into movies complete with synched music sound tracks.

"Google+ has created an auto-awesome movie for you," Gundotra said while showing off new features.

"This is not some little client editing system; this is the power of Google machine learning applied to photos and videos."

Google+ also unveiled improvements to its "hangouts" features that let people video conference free at the social network.

For example, organizers of hangouts can oust unwanted participants or turn up the volume on others.
"We are not building a service for lightweight sharing," Gundotra said.

"We are building a service where you can trust Google with the full resolution of your memories. And we are just getting started."

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/google-gets-new-image-and-video-editing-tools-improved-image-search-439174

More details appear to have been leaked regarding LG's first curved display smartphone, rumoured to be called the 'G Flex'. This time, it comes in the form of live images and a hands-on video posted by technology journalist Frederico Ini of Telefe Noticias, who seems to have received a prototype unit.

The Verge spotted the images first and claims that it received some information about LG's upcoming curved display smartphone from Frederico as well.

As per the site, the yet to be officially announced LG 'G Flex' smartphone is curved from top to bottom, unlike Samsung's Galaxy Round which bends from sides and is being said to come with 6-inch curved OLED display. Further the device sports LG's signature design which means it comes with rear-mounted physical buttons for power and volume controls, much like company's flagship smartphone, the LG G2. The site suggests that the smartphone is likely to sport a 13-megapixel rear camera, again similar to the LG G2. The video reveals that the LG 'G Flex' would come with similar features as found in other LG's high-end smartphones.

The latest leaked images and video suggest that the launch of the LG 'G Flex' is not far and LG might soon join Samsung with the launch of its first curved display smartphone.

Last week, a report revealed that LG, in an attempt to gain both technological and market leadership, will launch its first smartphone mounted with curved display next month. The report claimed that the curved display smartphones are being developed according to their release schedules.


Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/lg-g-flex-curved-display-smartphone-spotted-in-new-live-images-video-436112

Security researchers are calling LinkedIn's new mobile app, Intro, a dream come true for hackers or intelligence agencies.

"I'm flabbergasted by this," Richard Bejtlich, the chief research officer at the computer security company Mandiant, said in an interview Wednesday. "I can't believe someone thought this was a good idea."

Intro is an email plug-in for iOS users that pulls LinkedIn profile information into emails so that the sender's job title appears front-and-center in emails on a user's iPhone or iPad.

Some bloggers have hailed it as a smart play by LinkedIn to get more mobile action and to get users to stop thinking of the service as a static website they visit every couple of years to update their employment status.

But security researchers have taken issue with the way the app works. Intro redirects email traffic to and from users' iPhones and iPads through LinkedIn's servers, then analyzes and scrapes those emails for relevant data and adds pertinent LinkedIn details.

Researchers liken that redirection to a "man-in-the-middle attack" in which hackers, or more recently, intelligence agencies, intercept Internet traffic en route to its destination and do what they will with it.

Iranian hackers used that tactic to intercept dissidents' Gmail accounts in 2011, by hacking into DigiNotar, a Dutch certificate authority. The National Security Agency is accused of using such tactics to snoop on Google traffic, according to recent revelations by Edward Snowden.

Security researchers say LinkedIn essentially does the same thing in the name of a new mobile feature.

"'But that sounds like a man-in-the-middle attack!' I hear you cry," Bishop Fox, a security consulting group, wrote in a blog post. "Yes. Yes it does. Because it is. That's exactly what it is. And this is a bad thing. If your employees are checking their company email, it's an especially bad thing."

LinkedIn has responded to some of those concerns in an amended blog post Thursday. The company notes that customers must opt in to the app and that, once they do, their email is encrypted to and from LinkedIn's servers. The company also notes that LinkedIn does not store any email on its servers.

But researchers note that, in order for LinkedIn to stick changes into an email, they must decrypt it and then encrypt it again en route to its recipient, adding a new layer of insecurity to email in transit.
"I worry LinkedIn is not going to treat this as the holy grail for people's email, even though it is," Bejtlich said. "The risk is that you essentially trust a box, run by LinkedIn, with your email. It's a target for someone that wants to get to your email. All the fears people now have about email - that they will be intercepted by intelligence agencies for instance - are present."

LinkedIn has not had the best security profile. After the service was hacked last year, 6 million user passwords popped up on a Russian message board, revealing that the company used only bare basic security protocols. And last month, the company became the target of a class-action suit by users who said it was improperly accessing their data.

Bishop Fox, the security consulting firm, called the app "a dream for attackers" and enumerated specific concerns in a blog post. Among them: By giving LinkedIn access to their emails, users may be waiving their rights to attorney-client privilege. The consultancy also warned users that, by opting into Intro, they may be "in gross violation" of their employer's security policies.

"I don't think people who use this are seriously thinking about the implications of LinkedIn seeing and changing their email," Bejtlich noted. "These changes are done in the name of a feature, or speed, but it just completely breaks the idea that email traffic is going where it should go and no place else."

© 2013, The New York Times News Service        

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/linkedins-new-mobile-app-called-a-dream-for-attackers-437059

Now you can move images and videos from a smartphone to another tablet just by touch!
Scientists have developed a new technology whereby a ring, structure nail or wristband acts as a user interface allowing files to be transferred directly from one screen to another by touch.

The new InTouch user interfaces can allow you to touch a file on one screen, for example, with a structure nail and transfer it through the nail to your friend's smartphone or even to your car.

From end user viewpoint the data transfer between devices is currently handled using memory sticks, short-range point-to-point connections (for example, Bluetooth) or the cloud (sharing services).

The solution, developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, allows files to be received, sent and shared more easily than before.

The InTouch user interface operates with touch screens and allows file transfer either directly or via a cloud service.

The new concept also enables entirely new kinds of interactive devices and product categories, and opens up new business possibilities, researchers claim.

Areas of application might include digital devices, cars, the manufacturing industry, logistics and health care. There is a patent pending for the technology.

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/intouch-interface-developed-allows-media-transfer-via-touch-between-devices-435130

Chinese scientists have indicated through experiments the possibility of getting online on Internet with the help of signals sent by light bulbs (Li-Fi) instead of Wi-Fi.

A one-watt LED light bulb may connect four computers to Internet under the principle that light can be used as a carrier wave instead of traditional radio frequencies, as in the case of Wi-Fi, said Chi Nan, an information technology professor in Shanghai's Fudan University, Thursday.

A light bulb with embedded microchips can produce data rate as fast as 150 megabits per second, which is faster than the average broadband connection in China, said Chi. He leads a Li-Fi research team including scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reports Xinhua.

Data rate refers to the rate at which circuits or other devices operate when handling digital information.
The term Li-Fi was coined by Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, Britain, and refers to a type of visible light communication technology that delivers a networked, mobile, high-speed communication solution in a similar way as Wi-Fi.

People should be excited to view samples of Li-Fi kits, as these are cost-effective and efficient. Ten such samples will be on display at the China International Industry Fair starting Nov 5 in Shanghai.
The current equipment for wireless signal transmission is expensive and less efficient, said Chi.
"Millions of base stations have been established for strengthening the signals of cell phones, but most of the energy is consumed for their cooling systems," she explained.

"The energy utilization rate is only five percent," said Chi.

The number of light bulbs that can be used is practically limitless compared with base stations. Chinese people are replacing the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs with LED light bulbs.

Still, there is a long way to go before making Li-Fi a commercial success. "If the light is blocked, then the signal will be cut off," said Chi.

The development of a series of key, related technological equipment, including light communication controls and microchip design and manufacturing, is still in an experimental period, according to the scientist.

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/forget-wi-fi-chinas-new-li-fi-network-is-powered-by-lightbulbs-434060

MICROSOFT has released Windows 8.1 after tweaking the operating system designed for various devices that had confused some users. 
 
The update is free for those using Windows 8, released last year to help Microsoft navigate the transition from traditional personal computers to mobile devices such as tablets.

The revamped version brings back the "start" button, which disappeared last year and prompted protests from some PC users unaccustomed to the tiled menu adapted for touchscreens.

"Windows 8.1 demonstrates our commitment to continuously improving the product to create a richer customer experience," Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc wrote on the company blog.

"We are excited to have customers start updating their devices today and getting to experience new Windows devices this holiday season."

A public preview of Windows 8.1 was made available June 26. At the time, Microsoft said it had sold more than 100 million licenses for Windows 8 but that the update was planned after listening to customers.

Some analysts say Microsoft was forced to act because of slow adoption of Windows 8, which made some radical changes to the design of the desktop.

With Windows 8, Microsoft was trying to create a system that could be used on mobile touch screen devices while also serving the users of traditional PCs.

Microsoft launched Windows 8 last October, revamping its flagship system in an effort to make inroads in the fast-growing mobile segment. At the same time, it released its Surface tablet computer.

Starting Friday, Windows 8.1 will be delivered on new devices using the Microsoft operating system

Reference:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/news/microsoft-releases-windows-81-after-june-preview/story-fni0bzoc-1226742068282

Multiple screenshots from a Nexus 7 (2013) tablet reportedly running Android 4.4 KitKat have surfaced online.

The latest set of purported Android 4.4 KitKat screenshots comes courtesy ZDNet which reveals the Android version running on the tablet as 'Key Lime Pie', suggesting that this is not the final Android 4.4 build. However, the new leaked screenshot reveals some important UI changes expected in the next iteration of Android.

Some of the new additions revealed by the alleged screenshots of Android 4.4 include 'Moving mosaic', a new feature which can be accessed when pressing the KitKat logo and appears to be an Android OS timeline as it shows Android's journey from Cup Cake (1.5) to Jelly Bean (4.3); new App Drawer which the site notes looks similar to the Android 4.3 but includes new icons for YouTube, Settings, Google, and Voice Search and QuickOffice app for editing Microsoft Office files.

The new leaked screenshots further reveal revamped clock, stopwatch and timer apps, and a new download section for apps and games. One of leaked screenshots also refers to a new Print feature being available when viewing an image, reportedly allowing the user to save the image as a PDF locally, or even view network printers and print out a hard copy, which was leaked earlier.

Earlier this week, a bunch of new images and a walkthrough video reportedly showing the alleged Nexus 5 smartphone running the new iteration of Google's mobile operating system surfaced on the Internet.

The new leaked live images revealed some of the new features of the Android 4.4 KitKat which include transparent notification and navigation bar; Google Photos and Hangouts replacing the conventional messaging and gallery apps respectively; a new camera launch icon is now seen sitting on the left corner of the display on the lockscreen; ability to add more homescreen panes; new wallpapers; Google Now to activate by saying 'Ok Google' from the homescreen and new boot animation reportedly borrowed from the Play Editions of Galaxy S4 and HTC One.

Meanwhile, Google in keeping with its tight-lipped ways, has not revealed its plan for the upcoming launch of Android 4.4 and Nexus 5.

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/android-44-kitkat-further-detailed-in-new-leaked-screenshots-432449

Whether it's a heartfelt note to a loved one or a thank you letter following a job interview, new apps are aiming to revive the tradition of handwritten notes with a high-tech twist.

Bond Gifts, a free app for iPhones, lets users write a digital message that is converted into a handwritten note. A robot called Giles at the company's New York headquarters writes the letter with a fountain pen on embossed stationery.

The notes are sent in the mail, complete with a wax seal, to the recipient.

"It's a way to marry technology with tradition. When you get the mail there's never anything good anymore because we're all communicating digitally," said Sonny Caberwal, founder and chief executive officer of Bond Gifting, which created the app.

"People might think about writing a note, but very few people actually do it," he said, adding it is a quick way to provide a personal touch.

The user types the message and provides the recipient's address, or the app can find the address for the sender. Each handwritten note costs $5.

The app also sells and sends gifts, such as books and candles, with a handwritten note within the United States. It also keeps track of birthdays and special events.

"Remember when you a had a box of printed photos? They had permanence. We want to bring that same feeling back," said Caberwal.

Felt, an app for the iPad, also sends handwritten notes and lets users select from multiple designs, pen styles and ink colors.

Tomer Alpert, the CEO of the Telluride, Colorado-based company, said he got the idea for the app after driving home from a dinner party. He wanted to send a thank you card but was too tired to stop to find one.

Other apps converted text to computer-generated cursive font, but didn't use people's actual handwriting, according to Alpert.

"There wasn't a simple option to hand write your card and hand address the envelope, and just let someone else deal with the stamps," he explained.

With Felt, users write their message on the iPad and it is printed in their own handwriting on the card. The notes, only available in the U.S., cost $3.99.

Bond Gifting's Caberwal said some of the most interesting messages his company has seen involve the U.S. government shutdown.

"We're starting to see people write notes to Congress telling people to get back to work," he said.

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/new-apps-reviving-tradition-of-handwritten-notes-432528

Apple is planning to reveal iPad updates at an invitation-only event later this month, the technology news website AllThingsD reported Tuesday.

The next-generation iPad is expected to be thinner than its predecessor and boast improved camera capabilities. An upgraded version of the iPad mini is likely to list an improved screen among its features.

The event will be held on October 22, according to AllThingsD. Apple declined to comment on the report, which cited unnamed sources.

The iPad remains the largest-selling tablet, according to surveys, but its market share is being eroded by rivals using the Google Android operating system.

Apple was expected to discuss its computer operating system and its laptop line at the event, timed for the start of the year-end holiday shopping season.

Apple is coming off a wildly successful launch of two new iPhone models last month. The California firm said it sold a record nine million iPhones in the three days after launching two new versions of the smartphone.

For Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tablets/news/apple-to-unveil-new-ipad-ipad-mini-at-october-22-event-report-429736 

WOULD you buy a curved smartphone? 
 
Samsung is betting on it. The company just announced the Galaxy Round - "the world's first curved display smartphone".

The announcement comes just hours after pictures of the phone leaked on Tech Crunch earlier today.
According to the company the curved design allows users to access features of the phone even when the screen is turned off.

It also includes integrated "experiences like the Roll Effect, enabling users to check information such as date, time, missed call and battery easily when home screen is off", the company says.

It also uses something called "the Gravity Effect" allowing users to interact with the screen by tilting the device. Why it needs to be curved to do this, isn't clear.

Even while your music is playing in the background users can control their tracks by pressing on the left hand side of the device to play the previous song, or fast forward to the next song by pressing to the right.

The Galaxy Round features a massive 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display and weighs 154 grams, and is 7.9mm thin.

It runs on Android's 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system and boasts a 2.3GHz quad-core processor. It is available in 32GB and 64GB models.

So far the phone is only available for sale in Korea and will reportedly be available in "Luxury Brown" (really?) with other colors to follow.

Reference:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/smartphones/samsung-launches-world8217s-first-curved-smartphone/story-fni0c1dv-1226736522305

Mozilla has announced the first update for smartphones running Firefox OS, bringing them to version 1.1. The update will add new features, support for new languages and major performance upgrades. The company detailed the new software additions in a blog post.

Among the new additions is push notifications API, which will let developers add a notification feature to the apps and reduce overall battery consumption; keyboard enhancement which will now autocorrect words that are accidentally misspelled; music search, which will add new search functionality in music player; support for more than 15 languages, and finally, MMS support that will enable sending and receiving of pictures, audio and video files via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

Other major improvements in the new Firefox OS update (v1.1) are contact management enhancements which will add Gmail and Hotmail contact import; dialer suggestions; performance improvement for faster app loading time and smoother scrolling; calendar upgrade that will add direct event creation and calendar event reminders, and finally, Firefox browser downloads that will make saving images, audio and video from the browser easy.

The blog post also claims that the latest Firefox update will now be available for developer devices while the update will land the ZTE Open and Alcatel One Touch Fire soon.

The updates come alongside Mozilla's announcement to release more Firefox OS smartphones in more markets around the globe. The company announced that the second round of Firefox OS smartphone launches are expected by year's end in countries like Hungary, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Commenting on the expansion plans, Jay Sullivan, Mozilla Chief Operating Officer said, "The positive market reception of the first Firefox OS smartphones demonstrates that people like the user experience and openness we're building with Firefox OS. We continue to enhance Firefox OS to deliver the best experience for the many people around the world buying their first smartphones. We are looking forward to seeing the response to the next round of Firefox OS launches."

Reference:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/firefox-os-update-11-announced-with-new-features-performance-upgrades-and-more-430568

Apple will put an improved 8-megapixel rear camera sensor on the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, if KGI Securities' analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's prediction is to be believed.

The analyst's predictions have been pretty accurate in the past.  Kuo mentions that the new camera module will feature a larger aperture, similar to the one found on the recently launched iPhone 5s. He has also indicated that the ASP (Average Selling Price) of the camera lens module will increase by 10 to 20 percent due to this change.

In a note (via MacRumors) the firm said, "We predict Apple (US) will launch new iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 (so called retina iPad mini) in 4Q13. As the tablet market becomes increasingly competitive, Apple could upgrade the camera as a selling point for the new iPad in a bid to increase competitiveness. We expect the upgrade will include 8MP rear camera, up from 5MP, and larger aperture. Lens module ASP will rise 10-20 percent on this optics spec upgrade."

Apple has not focused much on the rear cameras of its iPad tablets, at least not when compared to its focus on the iPhone's camera. The current-generation iPad and iPad mini both sport a 5-megapixel camera without an LED flash.

It's not clear if the other components of the next-generation iPad and iPad mini's camera modules will also be upgraded to make them on par with the iPhone 5s camera. The iPhone 5s camera includes a True Tone Flash that feature a white LED and an amber LED which work with software algorithms to adjust flash intensity and colour temperature. It also offers a Slo-Mo mode to shoot slow motion video at 120 frames per second at 720p.

Kuo also mentions that the Retina display equipped iPad mini will launch in the fourth quarter of 2013. Interestingly, a new report indicates that Apple will be unable to widely roll out a new version of the iPad mini with a high-resolution "Retina" display in October, citing people who work in the company's supply chain as a source. These people added that Apple's supply chain is only now gearing up to make Retina displays for the iPad mini, which means the tablets could be available in only limited quantities this year, if at all.

Apple is expected to unveil the new iPad tablets at an event in October, however, there's no official word from the company on the same. 

An Indian-origin scientist in US has developed a new feedback system that allows robots to operate with minimal supervision and could eventually lead to autonomous machines.

The system may lead to robots that think for themselves, learn, adapt and use active critique to work unsupervised.

Developed by Dr Jagannathan Sarangapani, from Missouri University of Science and Technology, the system makes use of current formation moving robots and introduces a fault-tolerant control design to improve the probability of completing a set task.

The new feedback system will allow a "follower" robot to take over as the "leader" robot if the original leader has a system or mechanical failure.

In a leader/follower formation, the lead robot is controlled through a nonholonomic system, meaning that the trajectory is set in advance, and the followers are tracing the same pattern that the leader takes by using sonar.

When a problem occurs and roles need to change to continue, the fault tolerant control system comes into use.

It uses reinforcement learning and active critique, both inspired by behaviourist psychology to show how machines act in environments to maximise work rate, to help the new, unmanned robot to estimate its new course.

Without this, the follower wouldn't have a path to follow and the task would fail.

"Imagine you have one operator in an office controlling 10 bulldozers remotely," said Sarangapani, the William A Rutledge - Emerson Electric Co Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering at S&T.

"In the event that the lead one suffers a mechanical problem, this hardware allows the work to continue," said Sarangapani.

The innovative research can be applied to robotic security surveillance, mining and even aerial manoeuvring.

Sarangapani believes that the research is most important for aerial vehicles. When a helicopter is in flight, faults can now be detected and accommodated.

This means that instead of a catastrophic failure resulting in a potentially fatal crash, the system can allow for a better chance for an emergency landing instead.

The fault tolerance would notice a problem and essentially shut down that malfunctioning part while maintaining slight control of the overall vehicle.

"The end goal is to push robotics to the next level," said Sarangapani.

"I want robots to think for themselves, to learn, adapt and use active critique to work unsupervised. A self-aware robot will eventually be here, it is just a matter of time, he said.

As good as GPS is at helping smartphones guide you, the technology isn't very precise and doesn't work reliably indoors.

Apple is trying to improve that with a new iBeacon system, which comes with last week's iOS 7 software update for iPhones and iPads.

Better location information will improve a range of features, including recommendations based on what's popular nearby. It will also enable ads and coupons from nearby retailers and potentially allow mobile ordering and other transactions.

The technology also promises to work better indoors, particularly in multi-story environments such as shopping malls and stadium concourses.

Major League Baseball showcased some of iBeacon's potential Thursday in front of about a half-dozen journalists at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. MLB's free At The Ballpark app can customize fans' experience from the moment they get off the subway or out of their cars.

For instance, MLB officials showed how its app can offer bonus features such as video when fans are within a few feet of landmarks. The stadium map is customized based on the entrance used and the fan's seat, and a coupon pops up the moment the fan walks into a souvenir shop.

Phones can do some of this now, but not as well.

Eric O'Brien, director of wireless product development for baseball's interactive business, MLB Advanced Media, said the new technology is precise enough to deliver coupons right at the door, not 10 feet past the store.

He said GPS technology can be a half-mile or so off at times, and supplemental location technology such as cellular and Wi-Fi signals are more complicated to configure. With iBeacon, a handful of sensors are placed around the stadium to enable specific functions.

So far, Apple has said little publicly about iBeacon, other than that it uses a low-energy variant of Bluetooth wireless technology to pick up data from sensors, or beacons. Apple recently released technical specifications for software developers such as MLB to incorporate the technology into apps.
MLB officials temporarily installed several beacons around Citi Field for Thursday's demonstration. It plans to use the technology more extensively next season. Each ball club is expected to adopt its own set of features based on its fan base and stadium configuration.

The beacons will work with the iOS version of At The Ballpark.

The Android app won't get the new features initially, but O'Brien said the 4.3 version of Android has a way to use Bluetooth to determine location. That version came out in July and is in only a few devices, including Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

Fans can already use either app at stadiums to upgrade seats, buy copies of songs played over the loudspeakers and view maps and menus for vendors. A few stadiums even allow fans to order food and merchandise from seats.

O'Brien said iBeacon could eventually improve those features by letting the vendor know, for instance, where the fan is sitting without needing to enter the seat number.

Using iBeacon, MLB's app could also keep track of visits, even if the fan didn't check in or open the app. That way, it can extend different types of offers to first timers and regulars.

Those worried about privacy will be able to turn off location services for the entire device or for specific features. MLB also plans to offer additional settings in its app. Officials say the idea is to keep it to features fans want.

"We want to help out fans," O'Brien said. "We don't want to creep them out."