Month: April 2008

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Sanyo Pro-200 and Sanyo Pro-700 Direct Connect Handsets Released

Sanyp-pro-200

Fresh out of the FCC’s lair comes a new pair of QChat-enabled mobiles ready to launch on Sprint, the Sanyo Pro-200 and the Sanyo Pro-700. These new Nextel Direct Connect devices will expand the reach of the industry-leading Nextel Direct Connect push-to-talk (PTT) service and will incorporate the speed of Sprint Mobile Broadband and Sprint’s largest voice calling area. These new devices are expected to be available for purchase through the Sprint direct sales force in limited markets later this month, giving customers a wider selection of phones to instantly meet their productivity needs with connection in less than one second to millions of existing Nextel Direct Connect subscribers.

Messaging capabilities and mobile e-mail, the beefier brother (pictured after the jump) touts a ruggedized shell “certified to military standards for dust, shock and vibration.” Curiously, the duo is only expected to go on sale in “limited markets” this month, with availability popping up elsewhere in due time; You can get this for $49.99 / $69.99 , respectively.

source:read
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Amazon TextBuyIt Service for Cell Phones Launched

Amazon

Amazon starts a New service ‘TextBuyIt’ this lets shoppers compare prices and buy things with a few quick taps on their cell phones.

Amazon TextBuyIt, which launched late Tuesday, lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that’s “Amazon” on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work _ including from inside physical stores.

If Amazon stocks matching items, the service returns two results at a time. Shoppers can immediately buy one of the first two the selections by texting back the number “1” or “2,” or they can ask for more by texting the letter “M.”

New TextBuyIt customers will be prompted to enter the e-mail address associated with their existing Amazon account plus a shipping zip code. The service then calls them and walks through the checkout process using an automated voice system. Shoppers get confirmation by text message and e-mail.

From there, the customers can check on order status on Amazon’s Web site.

source:read
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Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Available for Download

Adobe

Adobe on Wednesday announced the Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta program, Lightroom 2.0 beta will include many enhancements including being the first Adobe application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Intel Macs.

New features like Suggested Keyword aim to make the mundane task of keywording images more intuitive. The application suggests keywords based on your keywording habits. For instance, If you go to the beach and always take your dog, when you enter the keyword “beach,” Lightroom will probably suggest “dog” as the next keyword.

Lightroom 2.0 beta also includes a feature called Smart Collections that automatically updates collections with images that match criteria such as star-rating, keyword or other metadata. also Another highly requested feature that has been included Lightroom 2.0 beta is dual monitor support.

Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel-based processor, or Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1 GBRAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen.

Lightroom 2.0 beta is available as a free 30-day download. Existing Lightroom 1.0 customers will be able to test the beta for an extended period until August 31, 2008 and can invite friends to take part in this trial period.

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Ubuntu Linux V-8.04 Avail on April 24

Ubuntu

Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Available as beta versions since March 20, the new Ubuntu 8.04 versions, code-named Hardy Heron, are scheduled, when released on April 24.

The new server and desktop variants of Ubuntu Linux 8.04 will include features aimed at making the open source operating system easier to use and to deploy.

KVM virtualization, which is now integrated with Ubuntu 8.04, allowing easier guest creation and management of virtual machines by administrators.

A first-time Windows installation option called Wubi, which allows users to install Ubuntu 8.04 on a machine like they would install any Windows application, rather than requiring a separate hard drive partition for a full install. This option will allow Windows users to try Ubuntu on a Windows-equipped computer without changing their installed Windows operating system. Ubuntu 8.04 can then be uninstalled like any other Windows application, and users can decide to install it on a separate partition if they want.

* Inkscape 0.46, which brings native PDF support to Ubuntu.
* A world clock applet, which can display the time and weather in multiple locations at once.
* The Brasero CD and DVD burning application, which will complement the CD/DVD burning functions of Nautilus and replace the previously used Serpentine audio CD burning utility.
* A new easier to configure firewall application called ufw.
* Additional memory protection to help defend against rootkits and other malicious code introduced by hackers.

Ubuntu will stop providing updates and support for its 18-month old Ubuntu 6.10 Linux operating system on April 25, the day after the new 8.04 version release. Support and updates will continue for the 7.04 and 7.10 releases, which were released more recently.

source:read
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Videocon Plans to Buy Motorola’s Mobile Ferm

Videocon

Motorola will split into two companies, one making mobile devices and the other making network infrastructure, the company announced last month. After the split, which is expected to happen next year, the companies will operate separately and be publicly traded, Motorola said.
Videocon Industries, a large Indian vendor of consumer electronics equipment and home appliances, has expressed an interest in bidding for Motorola’s mobile handset business.

The Videocon board is meeting Wednesday to discuss its acquisition strategy, an informed source said.

Videocon is interested in buying Motorola’s handset business and hopes to sell the mobile phones through its consumer durables retail chain in India, Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot told Indian newspapers on Wednesday.

The company also plans to enter the mobile services market in India, building its own GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network.

There’s still room for growth in the Indian mobile market, which has been adding more than 8 million mobile subscribers a month. The total number of mobile subscribers in the country was 251 million at the end of February, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in Delhi.

Videocon could transfer Motorola’s manufacturing facility to India to take advantage of India’s lower costs, Dhoot told the Business Standard.

Indian companies that were initially focused on the domestic market have recently shown interest in buying companies that help them acquire new brands and markets abroad. India’s Tata Group company, Tata Motors announced last month that it was acquiring the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford.

source:read
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Adobe AIR for Linux Freely Available

Adobe AIR

The Linux community of developers can now use proven HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex software, to build rich Internet applications (RIAs) that deploy to desktops across operating systems. RIA developers can extend the reach of their desktop applications on Adobe AIR to Linux users without writing additional platform-specific code, providing access to innovative, branded desktop applications that were previously only available to Mac and Windows users.

An update to the alpha version of Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Linux software is also available on Adobe Labs today, which adds support for creating applications that run on Adobe AIR. The combination of Flex, Adobe AIR and Adobe Flash Player 9 for Linux comprises a well supported, free RIA development platform that enables developers to build, debug and deploy RIAs entirely on Linux, and across browsers and desktops.

The pre-release alpha version of Adobe AIR for Linux is available immediately in English as a free download from Adobe Labs.

The final version of Adobe AIR for Linux is expected later this year and will be available in other languages.

Additionally, the update to Adobe Flex Builder 3 for Linux alpha is freely available in English from Adobe Labs.

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India going to Ban Orkut, Facebook and Many Foreign Social Networking Sites

Indian ISP

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has now asked Social Networking sites based outside India to fall in line.Sites such as Orkut and Facebook allow for heavily encrypted exchanges of information

MHA officials are believed to be especially worried about the phenomenon of “scraps” and “pokes” respectively on these two sites.

“Imagine if applications such as SuperPoke fell into the hands of anti-national and anti-social (no pun intended) elements”, remarked a senior MHA official who did not wish to be named. “The consequences could be disastrous, especially considering the lack of sufficient monitoring of Indian users’ walls,” he warned.

Intelligence operatives are of the belief that Jehadi terror cells could work out a sophisticated system of communication by “throwing sheep” at each other using a site such as Facebook.com whose servers the Indian government cannot access. The government has asked all Indian social networking sites such as BigAdda.com, Yaari.com and Minglebox.com to maintain records of all user activity including “change of status, profile picture, favorite sitcoms etc.” in keeping with the law of the land.

It seems that unless their overseas counterparts such as the big two as well as other popular sites such as Hi5, Bebo, LinkedIn and MySpace reach an agreement with Indian authorities on making user data originating and terminating in the country available on demand, they could soon be blocked by local Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Spokespersons for both Google, which owns Orkut.com and Facebook declined to comment till they received any directives in writing. However along with Yahoo, AOL and MSN, both companies were adamant that “the privacy of our users is of the greatest importance to us” though special considerations were being made for “countries in which the growth potential of the market outweighed the prospect of challenging draconian security laws”.

UPDATE 1: (not, really!)

NASSCOM has been receiving numerous media enquiries all through the day. When asked to comment, Ganesh Natarajan (who takes over as NASSCOM Chairman on the 8th of this month) said that he wishes the readers of tech2.com a very happy April Fool’s Day!

source:tech2
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Sony Ericsson Z750a Clamshell Phone avail

z750a

Sony Ericsson announced the availability of its latest flip phone  Z750a, in the American market exclusively through AT&T. The stylish phone comes in a mirrored clamshell design along with a hidden exterior organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, which illuminates when the phone is being used.

Claiming to be the company’s first 3G/HSDPA handset for the U.S. market, the mobile broadband-enabled handset delivers high-speed internet connection, HTML browsing and access to multimedia content. With the AT&T Mobile Email application, users will notice e-mail capability.

The Z750a features a 2.2″ QVGA 262k Color TFT display, 2.0-megapixel camera, multimedia player, stereo Bluetooth A2DP, 3D gaming capabilities and up to 26MB of in-built memory with Memory Stick Micro extendable to 8GB. Now users can click and save photos, store music, video games and lots of other important data. It supports PicBridge technology and is USB 2.0 capable.

Enclosed in three different and vibrant colors that includes Mysterious Purple, Phantom Grey and Rose Pink, the sophisticated mobile phone delivers a talktime of up to 9 hours GSM and up to 3.5 hours UMTS along with a stand by time of up to 400 hours GSM and up to 350 hours UMTS.

Sony Ericsson’s Z750a flip phone is slated to hit the US market in early April with the estimated retail cost of $49.99 including $100 mail-in-rebate. It will be available at AT&T stores and via authorized dealers.

source:reed
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Google rolling out “Google App Offline Access”

Google App

Google is rolling out a much-awaited feature for its hosted applications: the ability for people to use them even when they aren’t connected to the Internet.

Google isn’t the only provider of productivity and collaboration software to provide offline access for its applications. Players in this market like Zoho and Yahoo’s Zimbra also have offline capabilities in their suites.

The first application to get this offline access will be the word processor, said Ken Norton, Google Docs product manager. “The design goal is to create a seamless experience, with or without an Internet connection,” he said.

Over the next three weeks or so, Google will turn on the feature for all word processor users, giving them the ability to view and edit documents while offline. During the same time period, Google Docs’ spreadsheet will gain offline ability for viewing, but not editing, documents.

Google Docs’ third component, an application to make slide presentations, will remain for now without offline access. However, Google has plans to extend the offline access to it and to other hosted services in the Google Apps suite, of which Docs is part. Apps also includes Gmail, Calendar, Talk and others.

“Offline access of [hosted] apps is the next step in making the Web as a whole a lot more reliable,” Norton said.

source:read