Analyst Says Cheap iPhone Makes Sense After Meeting With Apple

We’ve been hearing a number of stories in regards to the existence of a low-budget iPhone for months now. A number of analysts not only believe a budget iPhone does exist, but a number of them believe we could be seeing it debut as early as this summer. Another analyst is making some noise today saying a cheap iPhone launching this summer makes sense.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty is convinced a low-budget iPhone is in Apple’s future after meeting with Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. She notes a number of reasons why a low-budget iPhone absolutely makes sense:

“1) iPad Mini is expanding Apple’s customer base with 50% of purchases in China/Brazil representing new customers to the ecosystem.

2) Chinese consumers show a desire to purchase the latest version of iPhone (instead of discounted older generations).

3) iPhone 4 demand surprised to the upside in the December quarter. Even at a low 40% gross margin and 1/

3 cannibalization rate, we see an “iPhone Mini” as incremental to revenue and gross profit dollars.”

We’re not sure exactly what Oppenheimer said  that made her feel so confident as to the existence of a low-budget iPhone, but for a meeting to make her speak out in support of the new smartphone has certainly made things interesting.

Goal Line Tech Will Feature in the 2014 Soccer World Cup

FIFA has announced that—finally!—goal line technology will be used to assess whether balls really do cross the line at the 2014 soccer World Cup, which is due to be held in Brazil.

Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, explained that goal line technology was successfully tested in the Club World Cup in December, so it's been given the green light for use in the 2014 World Cup.

Two systems—Goalref and Hawkeye—were used at the Club World Cup, reports the BBC, but it remains to be seen which one will be chosen for the competition in 2014. While they both provide concrete evidence as to whether the ball ever crossed the line to score an official goal, they're completely different systems: Goalref uses magnetic sensors to determine where the ball is, while Hawkeye uses cameras.

But FIFA is opening the contract up to any company that chooses to tender, so there will likely be some stiff competition. Now all we need is for every other sport to embrace these kinds of systems, too.

Chrome Delivers Voice Recognition Capability To The Internet

If you deal with web applications, or are currently looking into such an endeavor, I think you would be stoked to hear that today’s Chrome stable release will introduce support for the Web Speech API that was originally discussed in January, where it will allow developers to take advantage of speech recognition capabilities into their web apps. Just in case you want to get a better idea on how integrated voice recognition in a web app would work and look like, there is this particular demonstration that should pique your attention.

The demonstration would show just how you can speak to the web app in order to compose an email from scratch, now how about that? Apart from that, today’s release will also do away with the silent extension installs in Chrome for Windows. There is one very good reason for doing to – this ensures that Chrome will remain fast and safe to use, making sure that your consent is required for every extension that is about to be installed on your computer. The auto-update feature would mean you need not actively seek out the update, as these enhancements will arrive as the release rolls out. Bear in mind that you need Chrome version 25 or later for this voice recognition API to work.

Madhuri gets tech savvy!!

After making her Twitter debut and starting her website, Madhuri Dixit has another treat for her digital fans - she has launched a mobile app to stay in touch with them. Her team came up with the idea, which will enable users to get the latest updates from the actor and developments from her life. Madhuri says, "I wanted to give something back to the fans for all these years of love that they have given me. Earlier, my fans used to write me letters, but now the world has changed, so we made an app. We wanted to integrate everything under one roof so that updates from Twitter, Facebook and other happenings in my life will directly reach my admirers. I also like hearing their comments, so it's a wonderful way of keeping in touch with them."
The app will provide a behindthe-scenes exclusive look into Madhuri's life and there are other tabs where you can read about her opinion on the latest films and music. Fans will also get an opportunity to know about her favourite music and movies, and there are also tips on beauty and health.
The actor adds, "It's not just one section of my personality but many other things that I want to share with my fans which this app allows me to do." Information will be updated on a weekly basis for now with plans to go daily.
Madhuri is excited about the response so far. The app was launched a month ago on iTunes and Google Play. "There have been 10,000 downloads already. This is just the beginning as there's a lot more that we are planning to do in the digital media," says Madhuri.

Scientists develop computer that never crashes

Depending on what you are doing, a computer crash can be classified as anything from a minor annoyance to a complete disaster. I’ve been experiencing some BSODs lately of unknown origin and let me be the first to tell you, it’s pretty darn annoying when you are right in the middle of something important – like work – and everything shuts down before you get a chance to save.

Fortunately, researchers and scientists at the University College London have come up with a solution they say will end computer crashes forever.

Today’s computers typically work procedurally by pulling data from memory, working on the data then sending it back to memory. This usually happens in a fixed order and until something goes wrong, all is well. When a process fails or crashes for whatever reason, however, everything hits the fan and the computer will often times lock up. The computer that UCL has developed is different in the fact that data and instructions are essentially mirrored across several different systems. The systems work simultaneously although independent of each other – the only thing they share is a section of memory for context-sensitive data.

In the event that one system crashes or data becomes corrupted, the computer is able to rebuild that set of data from another system and start fresh again. The systems are said to execute in a random order using a pseudorandom number generator that acts as a task scheduler.

At this point, performance isn’t all that great but there’s certainly room to improve upon. If you’re interested in learning more about this developing technology, the developers will present their findings at the IEEE International Conference on Evolvable Systems in April.

Researchers testing frugal autonomous car system, aim for $150 price tag

Google certainly has pockets deep enough to trick out self-driving cars with any kind of pricey gear, but researchers at the University of Oxford have begun testing a solution that aims to keep things affordable. Currently, the system leverages an array of low-profile stereo cameras and lasers that rings up at about £5,000 (approximately $7,750), but the next goal is to knock the price down to £500, and eventually to a cool £100 (roughly $150). "Really, we do need to solve the engineering challenges of not relying on expensive sensors, but relying on cheap sensors," Professor Paul Newman told the Telegraph. "But doing some really smart things with those cheap sensor feeds."

Rather than a vehicle that acts as a chauffeur at all times, Newman's vision for the modified Nissan Leaf, dubbed RobotCar, is for it to take control on select occasions. While drivers go about their commute, the system composes a 3D map of the car's environs and commits it to memory. When the auto identifies a familiar setting and feels confident about its ability to take the reigns, it could let the driver know it's ready to assume control. Right now, the automobile's been tested on private roads, but the team behind it is working with the UK's Department of Transportation to roll it onto public streets. Head past the jump for a glimpse of RobotCar in action.

Eartha - world’s Largest Rotating Globe

Eartha is a 3-dimensional scale model of our Earth, made by map maker DeLorme, Eartha, with mountains and landforms in full 3D, that rotates and revolves, simulating the earth’s real movements.
It has the title of “World’s Largest Revolving Globe” by the editors of the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999. The 1:1,000,000 scale replica measures 41.5ft. in diameter.

10 Tricks to Make Yourself a Dropbox Master!!

Dropbox is a robust independent file syncing tool (which Apple once tried to buy) that recently hit the 100m user milestone. It's arguably the most popular cloud service around, and for good reason.

One of the key advantages of Dropbox is that it's so easy to use—you simply set it up and then forget about it — but if you dig a bit deeper into the application you'll find that it has more strings to its bow than you might have realized.
1. Get as much free space as you can
Dropbox gives you 2GB of free space, but you get an extra 500MB for every friend you refer to the service. Dropbox also gives you 125MB extra just for tweeting about your love of the service. Keep your eye on the official forums too; in the past many gigabytes' worth of bonus space has been given out for testing beta versions of mobile apps and entering Dropbox competitions.

2. Keep your iTunes in sync
You're probably going to need the extra storage of a Pro account for this one, but Dropbox can sync your iTunes library between several computers (at home and at work for example). This means your playlists, play counts and tunes are always available wherever you are. You'll need to move your library into the Dropbox folder, then point iTunes towards its new location — hold down the Shift key when launching it on Windows or the Alt/Option key on a Mac to do this. Once the library has uploaded (and this may take some time), you're ready to set it up on another computer. A word of warning though: only keep iTunes open in one location at any one time to avoid syncing conflicts.

3. Recover deleted files
Should you accidentally wipe the pictures of your son's 6th birthday party or an important company presentation, all is not lost — Dropbox keeps deleted files for 30 days after you've erased them. Head to the file browser on the Web and click the "Show deleted files" button to see them (they'll appear in a ghostly gray). Right-click and choose "Restore" to bring any file or folder back from the dead.

4. Upload mobile pictures automatically
Both the iOS and Android Dropbox apps have a feature enabling you to upload your camera photos and video automatically, with no further steps required. Delve into the settings for your Dropbox mobile app to find the feature, which can be configured to work on Wi-Fi only if you're worried about data caps. You can then periodically delete the snaps and movie clips from your phone or tablet safe in the knowledge that they're safe and sound on Dropbox. A recent acquisition suggests this functionality will be fleshed out further in the future, as Dropbox looks to stay ahead of other auto-upload apps (Facebook and Google+, to name but two). This feature is also in the desktop client, by the way, and pops up whenever you connect a camera or external storage.

5. Enable two-step verification for extra security
Two-step verification essentially means you need more than a password to set up Dropbox on a new computer or device, and it's something Gmail has offered for a while. Dropbox introduced the feature in August and while it makes the setup process slightly more inconvenient if you move to a new computer, it's well worth it for the extra account protection. Two-step verification can be activated from the Security tab of the Dropbox Settings page, and once it's up and running you'll need a code from your mobile as well as your password to configure Dropbox on a new machine. From the Security tab you can also review the computers and apps currently linked to your Dropbox account.

6. Share large files and folders easily
Sharing has been much simplified in Dropbox recently, especially if the person you're sharing with doesn't have Dropbox installed. You can share any file or folder by right-clicking it on the Web or your system and choosing "Share link". This link gives your contact full read-only access over the Internet, enabling them to download files as required. Some file types — PDFs, images and certain types of video, for example — are previewed in the browser, making life even easier. If you actually want to collaborate on files and folders with another Dropbox user (i.e. you both have full read and write access) then you'll need to use the Shared Folder feature (follow the "Sharing" link on the Dropbox homepage).

7. Back up Facebook, Instagram and Flickr pictures
You'll need to add one of our favorite Web apps to the mix for this one, If This Then That. Sign up for the service and you can specify certain triggers—such as a new upload to Instagram or Flickr, or a picture you're tagged in on Facebook—which then cause the image in question to be sent to your Dropbox automatically. There are lots of possibilities once you've authorized IFTTT to get its hands on your various social media accounts—you can back up any of your Flickr photos with a particular tag, for example, or save your Instagram favorites as soon as you've hit the heart button.

8. Download torrents automatically
With a little bit of work you can get your home computer to download torrents from anywhere in the world. You'll need to set up a Dropbox folder for torrent files, then get your client software at home to watch this folder for new files, downloading anything new automatically. If you're at work, or in a coffee shop, simply copy a torrent file to your designated Dropbox folder and it will be ready for you when you get back home.

9. Sync selectively
If you've been around since the early days of Dropbox then you'll know that selective sync has been one of the most wished for features ever since the program was born. Well, it's now here in all its glory—right-click on the Dropbox icon, choose "Preferences..." and then switch to the Advanced tab to find the Selective Sync feature. This means you don't have to download your home movies to your work computer, or clutter up a laptop where there's limited storage space available, if you don't want to.

10. Favorite a file for offline access
Favorite a file in the Dropbox mobile app on iOS or Android and it will be downloaded to the local storage system, meaning you can access it even without a Wi-Fi or data signal. Useful for reviewing that company report while your train goes through a tunnel, or listening to your most cherished album while trekking through the wilderness, perhaps.

Android developers are going to love BlackBerry 10

Last Wednesday, BlackBerry made the transition from being a company that was developing a new smartphone platform to a company that actually has a smartphone platform out in the market. The game has now changed.

We know that BlackBerry 10 launched with an BlackBerry World catalogue that was 70,000 apps strong. That catalogue has some problems -- most notably that apps are of a certain relatively low quality and utility, and that virtually all of hero apps that contribute significantly to the dominant platforms (iOS and Android) are missing.

There's also a perception that the catalogue is very "Android heavy". BlackBerry 10, like PlayBook before it, has an "Android Player". This is a runtime that allows Android apps to run on BlackBerry 10 as if they're normal application. In fact, as of the time of writing only 17 percent of the catalogue are repackaged Android apps. At the current run rate where they're adding about a thousand apps per day, that suggests about 13,000-odd of the apps in the catalogue are actually Android apps.

Notionally, this is fine. An app is an app, and as a user if I like an app I'm not sure if I care too much whether it's a full-blown BlackBerry 10 app or an Android app. But it does create a problem for BlackBerry.

Conversion
The actual process of moving an Android app onto BlackBerry 10 (and PlayBook, incidentally) isn't so much "conversion" as "re-packaging".

BlackBerry provides tools to do this and the process is very easy.

Over the past two years whilst BlackBerry has been rebooting, the company has put a staggering amount of effort into schmoozing developers into developing apps for the platform.

What I hadn't realised was how popular the BlackBerry apps ecosystem was before BlackBerry 10. Each quarter BlackBerry currently adds between 10,000 and 15,000 new apps to the BlackBerry World catalogue just for old school BlackBerry OS 7 devices. We can add to this the fact that a good number of larger, old school BlackBerry shops developed in-house, "behind the firewall" apps to expose internal systems data on BlackBerry handsets. What this suggests is that when BlackBerry reached out to its developer community and started talking about the new BlackBerry 10 they had a lot of goodwill to draw upon. Not diminishing what they managed to do in terms of building a huge app catalogue at launch, just like BlackBerry has now gone from being a business with a platform under development to one with a platform in the market, that story may well be changing as they now have to "on-board" software developers who don't have prior investment in BlackBerry.

If you're a software developer, if you take a very high-level view of the market, we know that in terms of smartphone sales in the US iOS and Android account for a little over 95 percent of smartphone sales. A "first principles" view suggests that if you have "x" amount of dollars to spend on development, hitting both iOS and Android covers almost all of your potential market. Of course, you may know something about your customer base that's not expressed in this blunt "95 percent" figure, but let's just assume you've nothing weird going on.

When it comes to BlackBerry, we're talking about the third ecosystem. Microsoft is also competing for this space for Windows Phone. Remember, in the US at least the sliver of market share left for a third ecosystem is currently just five percent of the market. Of course, this sliver might get relatively bigger over time.

The rather odd situation BlackBerry now finds itself in is with regards to the Android Player. Say you have an app that does rather well on iOS and Android and the third ecosystem is starting to push demand up from your customer base. If that third ecosystem is Windows Phone to satisfy that demand you have to rebuild your app as you can't just take the source code used to build the iOS and/or Android apps and cross-compile it for Windows Phone. If that third ecosystem is BlackBerry 10, all you have to repackage your Android app and submit it to BlackBerry World. Assuming it works first time, that job that could take about ten minutes.

The only problem is that BlackBerry don't want you to do that.

Experience
Like Microsoft, BlackBerry has a vision with regards to the user experience that they want their smartphone users to enjoy. On BlackBerry this is things like BlackBerry Peek (the gesture where you can see incoming notifications, emails etc) and BlackBerry Flow. Flow is a little more wooly -- it's the idea that rather than, as per iOS, you dip in and out of siloed apps you can zip around smoothly without really being aware of flowing around between different apps from different vendors.

The problem is that unless you build a native app for BlackBerry 10, ideally using the Cascades framework you don't get any of that new user experience stuff. An Android app ported to BlackBerry 10 is just a siloed app just like it might be on Android or iOS. However, that's more of a problem for BlackBerry than it is for the users. There's little evidence that a top-down user experience that permeates the entire OS delivers much value to the user. This sort of approach is a solution created by platform vendors seeking a problem. (Interestingly Microsoft does this both on Windows Phone and Windows 8/Windows RT, but iOS and Android don't do this -- yet those two enjoy 95 percent market share figure?)

On iOS, if you build a native app you use Objective-C. On Android you use Java. On BlackBerry 10, you use C/C++. (For reference, on Windows Phone, you use C#.) This is the classic cross-platform engineering problem of mobility -- you can't take code from any one platform that you develop for and just cross-compile it over to another platform. Hitting multiple platforms requires distinct, costly development effort both in terms of initial cost, and in terms of ongoing costs.

I tend to regard multiple platform support as the biggest problem faced by software companies targeting mobile platforms. It's simply a massive unfathomable mess of risk and cost. Insanely, the presence of Android Player on BlackBerry 10 in one fell swoop solves the problem. If you're already invested in Android, or you want to invest in Android, you essentially get BlackBerry 10 for free.

That's great for you, but bad for BlackBerry if they wish to remain true to their vision of pushing the user experience in BlackBerry 10. For the record, they like people coming over to BlackBerry World using the Android Player track, but they see it as a "toe in the water" exercise with the desire to see the vendor create a proper, ported, app that takes advantage of everything the platform has to offer. But being able to use Android Player in this way it's not a "toe in the water". It's a nice, relaxing, warm bubble bath with candles and soft music.

Whereas I can see that software developers with an pre-existing investment in BlackBerry will want to do a native version of the app and push through the BlackBerry 10 user experience vision, I can't see that with commodity developers who are simply ticking a box to keep what by definition in most cases has to be a relatively small subset of the customer base happy.

BlackBerry's intention is that they'll incentivise developers to produce apps that are "Built for BlackBerry". You'll be familiar with this idea -- adhere to certain rules and your app will gain certification. Over time, BlackBerry intends to shift to a position where they're only giving the big love to apps that are "Built for BlackBerry". (For example, eventually only apps that are "Built for BlackBerry" will appear on the BlackBerry World carousel.) And, of course, if all you've done is just moved an app over from Android, you don't get to be certified and hence don't get the big love.

Conclusion
This is a slightly tricky position for BlackBerry. The Android Player could be the silver bullet against Windows Phone by -- from the perspective of a software developer -- essentially turning BlackBerry 10 into an additional Android variant. Developers that target Android are already having to deal with fragmentation -- BlackBerry 10 is just another dimension to that fragmentation. By being able to lift Android apps directly over to BlackBerry 10 developers avoid any requirement to re-engineer their apps. On Windows Phone this re-engineering is unavoidable, adding significant additional cost to targeting that platform.

Remember that "17 percent Android apps in the catalogue" figure from earlier? I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of apps for BlackBerry 10 were Android apps as we get to the end of 2013. And I can't see how that's a problem -- the software developers would be happy, the users would be happy, and BlackBerry World's catalogue increases in utility.

Tim Cook Was Never Keen on Suing Samsung in the First Place

Everybody knows about Steve Job's famous intentions to go thermonuclear on Android if necessary, but it seems that current CEO Tim Cook wasn't necessarily on the same tactical page.Unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation say that Cook was opposed to suing Samsung when the trouble started brewing, because Samsung was such a big parts supplier for Apple.

Tim Cook, Jobs' successor as Apple chief executive, was opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, according to people with knowledge of the matter, largely because of that company's critical role as a supplier of components for the iPhone and the iPad. Apple bought some 5.97€ billion worth of parts from Samsung last year, analysts estimate.

...Apple's worst fears were confirmed with the early 2011 release of the Galaxy Tab, which Jobs and others regarded as a clear rip-off of the iPad. Cook, worried about the critical supplier relationship, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution.

It makes sense that Cook would have been particularly concerned about constraining the flow of supplies considering he was responsible for handling the logistics of building the sophisticated and efficient supply line of which Samsung was a part. Of course a lot has changed since then. Cook now has the reins, but Apple has already made some progress developing its own chips, hiring away a top Samsung chip designer, and generally making moves to wean itself off of Samsung goodies. And that's to say nothing of the big win Apple initially got against the Korean company, even though it seems to be dissolving day by day.

Whether the patent fight will peter out into some sort of stalemate is still anybody's guess regardless of who happens to be in charge of Apple at the moment. And the fact remains that Samsung does still have a good supply of flash memory. Still, one can imagine that if this is the case, Cook might not wave that particular war banner as fervently as Jobs might have. But then again, ball's already rollin'.

LibreOffice 4.0 Released Just In Time For Office 365 Refugees

Microsoft Office has long been the dominant office suite. Through the years there have been many contenders rise and fall: WordPerfect, Corel, StarOffice, and too many more to count. Sun Microsystem’s StarOffice eventually mutated into OpenOffice, which for a long time was the best alternative to Microsoft’s dominance. But when Oracle bought Sun, legions of developers abandoned OpenOffice, and instead threw in with a forked version called LibreOffice.

The app grew popular with a certain set of open source fans. The Document Foundation was established in late 2010 to provide stewardship of the project.

Today, The Document Foundation is announcing the release of LibreOffice version 4.0. The announcement has a number of interesting data points about this release.

During the last seven months, since the branch of LibreOffice 3.6 and during the entire development cycle of LibreOffice 4.0, developers have made over 10,000 commits. On average, one commit every 30 minutes, including weekends and the holiday season: a further testimonial of the incredible vitality of the project.

The core LibreOffice code has seen substantial transformation from the more than 500 active developers contributing to it. A lot of legacy cruft has been removed; more modern constructs added; and 25,000 lines of comments have been translated from German to English. The end result is a product that is cleaner, easier to understand, and easier for new developers to work with.

Anyone who has used an office suite of any kind will feel at home with LibreOffice 4.0. There’s not a lot of trail to blaze when it comes to document production. Instead, LibreOffice offers a smooth, comfortable interface that works equally well on Linux, Mac and Windows. One particularly interesting addition to LibreOffice 4.0 is the introduction of an Impress Remote Control App for Android. Currently it’s only supported on a few Linux distributions, but the next version should work on all of LibreOffice’s supported platforms.

And what of the venerable OpenOffice? Oracle licensed the code to the Apache Software Foundation to allow the ASF to lead further developments. Apache OpenOffice is still alive and well, and has recently enjoyed a substantial code contribution from IBM Symphony.

It’s also interesting to note that Microsoft is looking into expanding Office onto Linux, something that will ensure that the platform ends up in nearly every cubicle.

How to Recover Data When Your Hard Drive Goes Belly Up!!

Recover Your Data with Software
When dealing with a software data loss, the first and most important thing to keep in mind is not to work with the drive in question. Every second that the drive is connected to a running system is a second that you lose your chances at recovery. Your operating system is reading and writing to your drive constantly, whether you're actively doing something or not. Now that your system is seeing the deleted data as ‘free space' it will happily overwrite this area—along with your chances of recovery.

Shutdown the machine connected to the drive you've deleted data from. Now that your drive is ‘safe' you can make a clone of the drive and attempt the recovery from the clone. There are a number of ways to clone the drive, some easier and quicker than others.
Scan the clone with a few different recovery programs. There are numerous options here, both free and paid-for packages are available. Recuva is a good free option, while Zero Assumption Recovery works well if you want to splash out a few dollars. Recover Your Data with Hardware
Having covered the ‘deleted data' section of data recovery is all good and well, but what happens if your drive is not even being detected by your machine? Or your machine can see the drive, but just hangs when you try to access it? What about if the drive is completely dead and won't even spin up? Let's briefly cover the main components of a drive, see which components can fail, and what symptoms each failure might exhibit.

PCB: This is the (often green) circuit board attached to the bottom of your drive. It houses the main controller (the equivalent of your computer's CPU) along with many other electronic controllers. This is the interface that turns your 0s and 1s from the platter into usable data that your computer can understand.

Platters: Your drive contains one or more thin, circular platters. These spin around at anywhere between 5,900rpm to 7,200rpm on consumer drives and are the media that actually store your data. Made of glass or some form of alloy and coated with a magnetic layer, they can store anything up to 4TB of data.

Head assembly: Data from your drives' platters is read by means of a series of read and write heads. While in operation, these heads are not actually in contact with the surface of the platters. In fact, they ‘fly' nanometers above the surface of the disk, reading and writing data. Typically a drive will have 2 heads per platter, so a large capacity drive with 3 platters will be paired up with 6 heads, one for each side of each platter. If these heads fail physically or the drive is dropped or knocked over, the drive can experience a ‘head crash' where the heads no longer fly over the platters, but instead make contact with the surface and destroy your data at a few thousand revolutions per minute.

Firmware: Your drive runs its own mini operating system in order to deal with all of the data and operations required to access it. Most of this firmware is stored on the platters. A small portion is stored on the PCB, which is required when the drive starts up. Firmware can go wrong, leading to inaccessibility

of your data. Unfortunately hard drive firmware is not similar to your mobile phone or tablet—you cannot just update or reflash it. Each drive has its own unique modules and parameters and is highly complex in nature.

Now that we understand the basic components of a hard drive let's look at some common failures and symptoms you might experience, determine which component could be causing the problem, and see if we can tackle some of these problems DIY style.

If Your Drive Isn't Spinning Up At All
This is the one instance where you have a relatively good chance of resurrecting your drive if you're prepared to put in some time and effort. If the drive does absolutely nothing when you apply power to it (no noises at all), it is 99% a PCB problem. With older drives, you could sometimes find a matching PCB from another matching drive, swap it over, and voila. However, on new drives, technology and architecture have changed and each drive contains microcode unique to the drive it's attached to. Simply swapping the PCB with a matching, working equivalent has almost no chance of working and can be outright dangerous to your data.

There are two main causes of failure here, either a TVS diode (fuse) has shorted due to overvoltage, or a vital component on the PCB has failed. Hard drive PCBs often have two TVS diodes which act as fuses to protect your drive in the event of a power spike. There will most likely be two of these: one for the 5v and one for the 12v rail. If you accidentally plugged in the wrong power adapter to your external drive, or you experienced a power surge, a TVS diode might have sacrificed itself. If the shorted TVS diode is the only casualty and the rest of the PCB components are OK, then simply removing the shorted diode is enough to bring the drive back to life.

You can test this with a multimeter—if the diode reads zero ohms, or close to it, then it has indeed shortened. When shorted these diodes often have a noticeable burnt smell and might have visible burn damage. Note that when a TVS diode is removed the drive is no longer protected, so ensure that the power supply you connect to the drive is correct and healthy. If the TVS diodes don't smell burnt and show the correct digits when measuring them, then the problem is the PCB itself. A replacement PCB is required, but not just a straight swap. There is an 8 pin ROM chip on most PCBs that contains unique firmware info that is required to start up the drive. This needs to be moved from the old PCB to the new in order for the replacement to work. Some hard drives, especially Western Digitals, do not have this 8 pin chip—the firmware is stored in the main controller which is virtually impossible to move.

If you want to replace the PCB then you'll need to fine a matching replacement and have the ROM chip moved. There are many online providers that will sell you a matching PCB. Some of them even offer to move the ROM chip for you, saving you the hassle of soldering and possibly damaging the chip. If the PCB was the only damaged component and the drive's internals are OK, then after the replacement and ROM swap, your drive should be up and running again. Another PCB-related item to check are the head contacts. Sometimes they corrode with time, but are easily cleaned with a rubber eraser. If Your Drive Is Spinning Up and Making Clicking Noises
This is a serious failure and indicates a failed head or heads. It could also mean that your drive has suffered from platter damage if a head crash has occurred. Either way, this is a job for the pros. The drive will need to be opened in a clean room environment in a lab and a replacement head assembly fitted in order to try and recover your data. If your drive is clicking, it's best power it off and leave it in this state until you can send it to a professional recovery company. Powering it up in this state could degrade the disk further, to the extent that it's no longer recoverable.If Your Drives Spins Ups and Is Detected by Your Computer, But Hangs When You Try to Access It
This usually means that the magnetic media is degraded. Basically, there are a large amount of bad sectors that the drive is trying to read, failing to do so, and hanging. This is a common problem that occurs over time and can be worked around, but only with professional data recovery equipment, more specifically a hard imager. If you look at the SMART values of the drive you'll notice and large amount of reallocated sectors to confirm your suspicions. If the data is important then send it off to the pros.

If you want to have a crack at it yourself (and risk making the problem worse or losing your data altogether) then you can try a software imager that can work around bad areas. Seeing that software commands ultimately goes through the BIOS, the effectiveness is limited. The best option if you want to go this route is a free Linux application called dd_rescue. It can skip bad areas and image in reverse.

If Your Drive Makes a Beeping Sound When You Power it Up
The beeping sounds you are hearing is the motor trying to spin the drive up and failing to do so. This is caused by one of two things, both serious mechanical failures. The most common is what's known as stiction. The heads of your drive park either in the center or on a ramp at the edge of the drive when not in use. Remember, the heads don't make contact with the data area of the platters, they fly just above. Sometimes, the heads can fail to park properly and the platters stop spinning with the heads still over the data area. Because of the extremely smooth surfaces of both the platters and heads, they literally stick to each other, hence the name stiction. The drive needs to be opened up in the lab, heads carefully removed and most likely replaced, definitely not a DIY job. The other cause could be seizure of the motor spindle. This is the spindle around which the platters rotate. It can become seized if the drive suffers a hard knock or drop. It's not a particularly common fault, except for Seagate drives as they have a particularly fragile spindle. There are two ways for this problem to be resolved, both of which require pro intervention. Either the spindle can be replaced or the platters are moved to a new hard drive casing along with heads, PCB, the works.

If Your Drive Sounds Normal but is Not Detected, or is Detected as the Wrong Capacity
This normally indicates a problem with some area of the firmware. Either it's not being read properly which could actually be head problem, or there is some corruption that needs to be resolved. A few years back there was a well-known bug with Seagate 7200.11 drives with firmware version SD15 known was the BSY bug. Googling this provide a wealth of info of the huge amount of failures were caused by this firmware glitch. There was a DIY solution for this particular problem, but with today's drives there is nothing that the end user can do but to send your drive in for professional help.

So, there are a few instances where you can attempt to recover your own data. If you've accidentally deleted your data then you might be in luck. If the drive is completely dead and won't even power up then you could go the DIY PCB route if you wish to tinker. Other than that, if your drive is making unusual noises or acting in a peculiar manner, you'll need to hand it over—together with some hard earned cash—to a data recovery professional. Remember, ANY attempts at data recovery are risky. If the data is important, take it directly to the professionals.

The Real Battle At Dell

Private or public – either scenario for Dell will be interesting to watch.

One of the most difficult skills I’ve worked hard to master as an entrepreneur is the ability to see the world six months out. Even more difficult is finding that balance between pleasing shareholders and driving innovation forward, which is why I respect any moves management takes that are aimed at improving innovation.

However, I must admit that I nearly spit out my morning coffee when I overheard a rumor that — on the heels of the expectation of going private — that Mr. Dell told his employees: “Welcome to the world’s biggest startup.”

After founding three startups, I can tell you with confidence that there is no way Dell has the culture or the ass-kicking visionary à la Steve Jobs that it needs to be even remotely considered a startup.

The real battle at Dell is not going to be with shareholders – it’s going to be a battle to reform culture.

The entire reason for existence of a startup company is innovation. Employees pull together to create something exciting and magical, while the companies themselves invest most of their time, energy and dollars on developing potentially disruptive products. For startups, that means easily spending over 50 percent of revenue just on R&D. Even when they’re out of the startup stage, innovative companies continue to spend roughly 12 percent of their revenue on research and development. And what’s Dell’s track-record on investing in innovation?

According to its public filings, Dell consistently spent 1 to 2 percent of revenue on R&D — this at a time when Wall Street traditionally likes to see that 10 percent R&D investment. Will Dell suddenly start spending at the levels it needs to? It could, but I’d sooner expect to see a magic unicorn than something innovative from Dell.

In my mind, Dell has become a brand surrounding a hollow shell. Unfortunately for Dell, it’s become the PC equivalent of The Invisible Man. I mean this literally: The rise of cloud computing means companies are buying Salesforce and Workday, for example — and whatever servers those cloud providers happen to be running on. And when companies aren’t buying Macs for their employees, they care more about reliability and cost than they do about the nameplate that’s glued to the machine.

As a SaaS provider, my company spent $2 million buying CPU time and storage on Amazon Web Services last year. We don’t know the brand and we don’t know the type of computer because everything’s virtual and in the cloud. All we do know is how much we pay for the cores, memory and disk space on those machines. Maybe they’re Dell computers, maybe not. I neither know nor care — and that’s about as damning as it gets for a hardware maker.

Clearly, it’s a whole new game for Dell — one that requires a different mindset from its leader and a new (and so far unseen) willingness to create the unexpected. It also needs to introduce and establish a completely new culture among its employees. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I just don’t believe a company mired in inertia can transform itself, especially one as desperate as Dell.

Skype now beta testing video messaging service with some mobile users

Skype is actively testing a new video messaging service with a "group of mobile and mac users" according to its official Twitter account today. The new feature, which doesn't require a new update to the mobile app, enables users to send video messages back and forth up to 3 minutes in length. If you've been selected to be part of this initial test, the option will be found under a contact's name in the "More" category, which now holds options to do video messages and send files. You get a basic video interface where you can press the record button to start, and when you're done hit the record button again to save and send the message.

The menu item clearly says "20 free video messages remaining", so we're going to assume that sending video messages is going to be a premium feature costing Skype credits going forward. Are you seeing the feature show up in the Skype app on your devices? Let us know in the comments

New Biomimetic Fiber, Inspired by Pine Cones, Keeps You Dryer, Longer

A new textile developed in the UK can make your workout a little less sweaty. Called Inotek, the process amps up textiles’ ability to absorb sweat, in effect pulling it away from the body- leaving you clean and dry. Developed by MMT Textiles, Inotek can benefit athletes, gym fanatics, and those moving from hot to cold environments. When most fabrics are hit with moisture, then absorb it, causing the fabric to swell. The fabric then becomes damp and heavy, locking in moisture and keeping it close to the body. INOTEK does the opposite. The structure of Inotek textiles are actually inspired by nature. Using the botanical structure of pine cones as a model, the textile mimics the cones’ response to moisture, which opens and closes with higher levels.

As sweat migrates toward the fabric, the fibers in Inotek begin to close like a pine cone, keeping moisture out. To keep the fabric breathing, tiny air pockets open along the surface of the textile as moisture sets in. Contrasting to traditional fabrics like wool, an Inotek blend with wool will actually become 10 percent thinner in moisture laden conditions! Once dried out, the fibers bounce back to their original structure.

With permeability and ventilation, Inotek textile products could help athletes keep cool after a long work out, without massive sweat stains. Even more beneficial, cold weather sports enthusiasts can keep drier when passing from ski slope to warm lodge and back out into the elements again.

How the government plans to track ALL your web use- MI5 to install 'black box' spy devices to monitor UK internet traffic

UK spy agencies want to install 'black box' surveillance devices along the country's communications networks to monitor internet use, it emerged today.
A report by an influential committee of MPs tells how spooks are keen to implement a nationwide surveillance regime aimed at logging nearly everything Britons do and say online.
The spy network will rely on a technology known as Deep Packet Inspection to log data from communications ranging from online services like Facebook and Twitter, Skype calls with family members to visits to pornographic websites.
The report by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, published yesterday, gives UK intelligence agencies' perspective on the government's draft Communications Data Bill, which is intended to update surveillance powers.
The government argues that swift access to communications data is critical to the fight against terrorism and other high-level crime, but it has been delayed after the Liberal Democrats dropped support for the bill.
MI5 chief Jonathan Evans told the committee: 'Access to communications data of one sort or another is very important indeed. It’s part of the backbone of the way in which we would approach investigations.
'I think I would be accurate in saying there are no significant investigations that we undertake across the service that don’t use communications data because of its ability to tell you the who and the when and the where of your target’s activities.' The Bill has encountered stiff opposition, but authorities have been at pains to stress that they're not seeking unfettered access to the content of emails or recordings of phone calls.
Instead, they claim, what they are after is what many have described as 'outside of the envelope' information: Who sends a message, where and how it is sent, and who receives it.
For example, while the email addresses of senders and recipients would be available to agencies, they would still need to obtain a court order for access to the contents of the emails.
A similar situation would apply in the case of mobile phone calls, with the callers identities and locations available to agencies, along with the time of the call and its duration, but agents would be restricted from listening without authorisation from the courts.
It was in those cases, the committee's lawmakers said, that the surveillance devices would come in handy.
'It is important for the agencies that there is some means of accessing communications data from uncooperative overseas communications service providers,' the report said.
The lawmakers said the probes would work using 'deep packet inspection,' so-called because it allows those intercepting packets of data to comb through their content.
The services that might be targeted by the probes weren't identified, although Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail, and Google Chat are all popular in Britain and were among the services named elsewhere in the report.
Britain's surveillance plans remain in draft form, and the report carried several critiques of the government's proposals.
But in general it rejected opponents' claims that the surveillance regime was unworkable or oppressive, warning that the pace of technological change would soon 'have a serious impact on the intelligence and security agencies' unless the new surveillance powers were introduced.
The report also appeared to reject suggestions that encryption might allow those trying to maintain the privacy of their communications to baffle government monitoring.
'We have heard that the government has (redacted) options in dealing with the challenge encryption poses,' the report said.
The next two paragraphs were completely blanked out.

India's fastest supercomputer 'Param Yuva II' unveiled

Stating that the Union government was committed to ensuring that India was the top destination for research and development globally, secretary of the department of electronics and information technology J Satyanarayana congratulated C-DAC Pune for launching Param Yuva II, the fastest supercomputer in India and 62nd fastest in the world. The supercomputer is expected to be of great help to the scientific community.

Satyanarayana was speaking after unveiling the computer at the C DAC premises in Pune on Friday. Director general of CDAC Rajat Moona and executive director of C-DAC Hemant Darbari was also present on the occasion.

Satyanarayana said "Research and development can be a major thrust area for India going forward. Computational infrastructure like Param Yuva II is necessary to achieve this."

Darbari said that this supercomputer would be of great use to the scientific community. He said "Areas like weather forecasting, seismic data analysis, scientific data processing will all be benefitted due to Param Yuva II. We were doing weather forecasting of over 58,000 villages with param yuva. Now we can double that number at a minimum. Industries like pharmaceuticals, bio informatics, aeronautical engineering will also benefit. Seismic data processing can be done much more efficiently with this new computer."

He said the main users of the supercomputer would be the scientific institutes, research laboratories and universities.

"Through the national knowledge network, the Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology can be linked to this computer. Pharmaceutical companies can use it for drug discovery as can the high performance computing community. The computer has been upgraded at a cost of Rs15 crore.”

This is the first supercomputer that has crossed 500 teraflops in computing power in the country.

Adzuki-Beans-Health-Benefits

Adzuki bean is a small crimson bean. Adzuki beans are a good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc copper, manganese and B vitamins. Like a high-potassium, low-sodium food they can help reduce blood pressure level and act as a natural diuretic. When coupled with grains, beans supply high quality protein, which supplies a healthy alternative to meat or any other animal protein. The beans have a sweet, having a delicate texture. It is usually bought from a dried form, but could also be purchased as a paste or flour. There is a strong, nutty, sweet flavor. They’ve vital vitamins and minerals and have various health benefits too.
Adzuki beans, also referred to as aduki or azuki beans, can be described as small reddish-brown beans having a white ridge along one edge. Health Benefits of Adzuki beans also help lower cholesterol and promote bowel motions as well as possibly combating breast cancer.
The fiber in adzuki beans keeps the digestive system running smoothly, prevents constipation and could help to prevent colon cancer.
such as potassium, manganese, iron, zinc and copper, and vitamins for example thiomin, niacin and riboflavin. All these vitamins and minerals are essential for your well being. These beans will also be low in sodium. This helps in lessening blood pressure.
Only a quarter cup of adzuki beans contains 100% from the recommended daily intake of molybdenum, a trace mineral that creates the enzyme sulfite oxidase which is crucial for liver detoxification.
Adzuki beans are significantly reduced fat making them well suited for those who are attempting to lose weight. The reason being the low fat content assists in limiting the intake of calories. They have a high amount of protein meaning you are going to feel full for just about any much longer period.
Adzuki beans are a great source of soluble fiber, which helps to help keep cholesterol levels in a healthy range. Lower cholesterol is assigned to a lower risk of heart disease. They also contain folate, potassium, and magnesium, which are essential for a healthy heart.

The adzuki beans certainly are a rich source of iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, manganese and potassium. These elements are essential in adding to a greater metabolism, which results in a better overall health. It will help the body to efficiently and quickly metabolize all the food that you consume.
Maintaining healthy glucose levels also help to prevent and treat diabetes. Being identified as having diabetes means that your body cannot keep glucose levels in balance – the fiber and nutrients in beans keeps them at normal levels.
Adzuki beans are a way to get B vitamins, including B6, B2, B1, B3, and folate.

Britain's Antarctic research station can ski across the ice

One hundred years after Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic expeditions, The British Antarctic Survey will open their latest research station, Halley VI. It will replace the Halley V facility built 20 years ago.

The new station's skis solve problems encountered by its predecessor. Halley V was built on steel platforms that were raised annually to keep them above the snow. But Halley V's legs were permanently fixed into the ice, and operating the stationary facility became dangerous.

Consisting of several modules linked by enclosed walkways, the new mobile structure's ski stilts keep the station over 12 feet above the ice.

The Natural Environment Research Council and the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, who backed the research station's development, hope that Halley VI will become an icon for British science and engineering.

The new Halley VI station has been designed to accommodate 52 crew members in the summer and 16 during the three months of pitch-black winter, when temperatures drop as low as -69 degrees Fahrenheit. A central social unit will provide residents a dining room, bar and gym.

New Facebook app allows tracking users' location 'even when phone not being used'

Social networking giant Facebook will release a new mobile app that will allow a user's location to be tracked even when the phone is not being used.

The location app is designed to allow Facebook users to find friends in the area.

It will run even if the program isn't open on a user's handset.

Facebook already has a mobile "Find Friends" app, which allows users to let others know where they are by "checking in" at a bar, a library etc, the Telegraph reports.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the app, which is set to be launch in mid-March according to the Bloomberg report, could then prove useful to the social networking site in the way they target advertising based on the places their users visit.

Earlier, Facebook updated its internal search engine to allow members to search more easily through their friends'' profiles.

BlackBerry Z10 Review

The BlackBerry Z10 is everything to BlackBerry - and I don't just mean for the platform or the rechristened company that has adopted the brand for which it is most known. The Z10, the first smartphone to run the BlackBerry 10 OS, is a sink or swim device that will likely determine if the company will manage to hold on to its dwindling market share and right the ship that sent it from first to worst in smartphone relevance.

The days of a BlackBerry being the definitive smartphone are gone. The BlackBerry Z10 debuts at a time when smartphones are as much about play as they are productivity, and this phone can thrive in this era only if it can strike a balance between entertainment and enterprise. Can the BlackBerry Z10 be the savior that BlackBerry - the company and operating system - so desperately needs?
 Hardware & Design
The BlackBerry Z10 has what many might consider a generic appearance. There are no eye-popping colors like we've seen with Windows Phone 8 devices, nor any bold curves to elicit the cliché labeling of a phone being "sexy." It's an all-business box, rectangular and overwhelmingly black except for the silver-colored buttons that appear in limited areas. That's not to say that being all business is boring; the Z10 just so happens to have a design that favors minimalism. The 130mm x 65.6mm x 9mm (5.11in x 2.58in x 0.35in) frame is basically the "Little Black Dress" of smartphones. A large bezel and lines along the edges make the BlackBerry Z10 subtly catch the eye, but a user's senses will quickly gravitate to touch. Hard plastic is used for the front and sides of the phone, but a lusciously soft rubber-like material is used for the back of the phone. It has dozens of tiny dimples similar to the Google Nexus 7, and it's definitely one of the most comfortable smartphone materials to rest gently in your palm. The body is otherwise sparse, as BlackBerry has shed the weight of a physical keyboard and trackball that has been so common for the handset maker. The Z10's only distractions from its otherwise understated build are micro USB and microHDMI ports on the left; a power button and 3.5mm headphone jack on the top; and volume buttons, separated by a button that can pause music playback or be held down to prompt voice commands, on the right. The bottom of the phone houses a speaker that plays music at a decent volume, and there's also a red notification light in the top right corner. Screen
A 4.2-inch screen serves as the face of the BlackBerry Z10. The display looks excellent thanks to strong brightness, which can be adjusted on a sliding scale, and a 1280 x 768 resolution that densely packs pixels into a smaller space. The high resolution is typically seen on phones with larger screen sizes, so the 356ppi display on the Z10 creates a detailed picture that looks wonderful for videos and text. The brightness levels also translate to a legible screen when viewed outdoors. Performance & Specs
BlackBerry 10 is an operating system built entirely on the concept of fluidity; users move from one app to the other and change course at an instant. Facilitating that persistent state of movement requires a strong set of internal hardware, and the BlackBerry Z10 fits the bill with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM. The processor keeps the Flow and Peak elements of the BB10 software moving freely, and the phone seems to buzz along with only a few hiccups. One nagging feature is that when launching an app, the phone first navigates to the Active screen and then launches the app. The act adds only a fraction of a second to the process, but the presentation makes it seem as though the phone is slower than necessary. The same appearance of sluggishness happens when switching between portrait and landscape orientation, which is odd considering that every other aspect of the BlackBerry Z10 navigation appears to be quite fast. BlackBerry 10, at least on the Z10, appears to have excellent memory management and the hardware to effectively run the operating system with practically no drag.

Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Air Vehicle

UAVs, or better known as Unmanned Air Vehicles, have become an indispensable part of modern day warfare. Basically, the chances of you wiping out an enemy is far higher if you happen to possess weapons of mass destruction as well as sport the latest that technology can offer. Well, folks in the British Army have a new “toy”, so to speak, to play around with, and that would be the Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Air Vehicle which will measure approximately 4” x 1”, and will offer troops who are on the ground the kind of situational awareness which is all too vital in sensitive missions.

The Black Hornet will come with a small camera that offers troops reliable full-motion video and still images. Instead of using one of those fiber optic cables which can be bent, soldiers can instead use it to peer around corners, or check out what lies on the other side of the wall, as well as over other obstacles in order to identify any hidden dangers as all the images captured by it will be shown off on a handheld terminal.

The Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Air Vehicle will come in the size of a child’s toy, while carrying a revolutionary new system that is easy to tote around whenever you are on patrol, where it can also perform in harsh environments and windy conditions to boot. Tipping the scales for as little as 16 grams a pop, and it has been developed by Prox Dynamics AS of Norway as part of a 23.17€ million contract, where 160 units will be developed alongside Marlborough Communications Ltd in Surrey.

Sergeant Christopher Petherbridge of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force in Afghanistan, said, “Black Hornet is definitely adding value, especially considering the lightweight nature of it. We use it to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing, which is a real asset. It is very easy to operate and offers amazing capability to the guys on the ground.”

5 Technological Solutions To Save The Struggling Postal Service

 The United States Postal Service will cease delivering mail on Saturday beginning in August, but will continue delivering packages. The cut will save the struggling carrier 1.48€ billion a year.
That's a hefty chunk of change for the Postal Service, which lost 11.84€ billion last year. Technology got us into this mess -- ah, the convenience of email and paperless billing -- and technology could help get us out of it. PostalVision 2020, a conference dedicated to figuring out the future of the post office, will host speakers like Google's “chief Internet evangelist," Vint Cerf, at its third iteration this April.
Here's a few tech ideas we've seen recently that we politely propose the agency could chew over.
1. Turn Letters Into PDFs
Back in 2010, Finland announced it would start a pilot program to convert snail-mail letters into PDFs to be viewed online. As of August 2012, their electronic inbox NetPosti had 400,000 users. Earth Class Mail, a U.S. company, also processes your mail and packages and sends you images of what's arrived. Other services will process an email, PDF or Word document for you and send it via regular mail.
2. Move Mailboxes Online
In late October, Australia Post launched a state-sponsored email inbox where they can receive government communication as well as some bills. The free service is expected to save money by reducing paper mail. It hit some technical blips after its launch, but is now accepting registrations again. Digital Post Australia, a private company, is also working on a digital mailbox expected to launch this year. The Israel Postal Company launched iPost, a secure electronic inbox, in 2010.
In January, the Guardian reported that the Postal Service was working with UPS to create MyPost, a digital portal where people could see all the packages en route to them and all the previous packages they had received.
3. Make Sure Packages Get Delivered The First Time
UPS lets alerts customers of when their package will arrive through their My Choice program and smartphone app, using text, email or voicemail. You can reroute or reschedule your package delivery so that it gets successfully delivered the first time to your home or a UPS location. For 29.59€ a year, you can authorize the package to be left with a neighbor or get a confirmed two-hour delivery window. The USPS mobile app lets you track packages, but doesn't make getting them delivered any easier.
4. Dump Stamps For Digital
Germany, Denmark and Sweden have all played with the idea of digital stamps, where a user can text a pre-set number and receive a code to write on their envelope in place of a physical stamp. The post office saves on the cost of printing adhesive paper stamps. The Red Cross used a similar texting platform to raise 3.7€ million in the relief effort after the 2010 Haitian earthquake.
5. Think Outside The Mail
David Williams, the inspector general for the USPS, has said he envisions a Post Office-certified email inbox that could be used as a kind of cloud server, "a kind of federal safe-deposit box for sensitive personal information," he told the Guardian. It could potentially store passwords, medical records and photographs.
An even more radical idea comes from Michael J. Ravnitzky, a chief counsel at the Postal Regulatory Commission. He has suggested using the massive delivery network of the post office as a data-collecting machine. Sensors on delivery trucks could monitor air pollution, report cellular or WiFi dead zones or detect chemical or natural gas leaks.

Audi eyes BMW’s No 1 slot this year

Company begins the year on a positive note with 10% jump in sales in January
The battle for the top slot in Indian luxury car market is set to intensify further this year with the brand with the four rings setting an ambitious 2013 sales target to dislodge BMW from its No 1 position on volume terms. While Audi has recorded strong growth for the past two years and BMW reported a flat year in 2012, it would be interesting to watch as to how BMW gears up for the challenge.

Audi has been saying that it would reach No 1 position in Indian luxury car market by 2015. If Audi continues the trend of exceeding its sales target this year too, BMW will be forced to achieve a sales growth well above 15 per cent to retain its lead. After two strong growth years, BMW ended 2012 with flat volumes at 9,375 cars.

Betting on new launches and network expansion, Audi has set an annual sales target of 10,800 units for 2013, which will be an increase of 20 per cent over 2012’s volumes. Moreover, Audi is the first luxury car brand in India to set an annual sales target of over 10,000 units.

The Germany luxury brand has begun the year with a positive note as it has registered a sales growth of 10.5 per cent in January at 737 units in a sluggish Indian auto market.

“Following our record-breaking performance in 2012, we have set a target of 10,800 cars to be sold this year and have already opened our sales books with a bang. The year has started for us with the successful launches of the new Audi Q5 and the new Audi R8 and further expansion of our reach. Our January volumes signify our growing appeal among the luxury car customers. This was possible despite the price hike starting January this year,” said Michael Perschke, head, Audi India.

Driven by new launches, dealer expansion and marketing activities, Audi ended 2012 with stunning growth of 63 per cent in sales at 9,003 units for 2012, surpassing its upwardly revised sales target of 8,600 units.

The new Audi A4, Audi A8L and the Audi Q series (Audi Q7, Audi Q5 and Audi Q3) contributed significantly to making 2012 a success in terms of sales in India. “Demand for luxury SUVs like the Audi Q7, Audi Q5 and Audi Q3 is fast catching on even in tier-II and tier-III cities in India,” Perschke added.

Thus, leading the growth for brand in India are the Audi Q3, new Audi Q5 and Audi Q7. The new Audi A4 is reported to be doing exceptionally well with the younger audience. It also claims dominant position in the sports car segment with its Audi R8, Audi R8 Spyder, Audi RS5 and Audi S4.

In line with its higher sales target for the current year, Audi is to expand its network to 34 dealerships by the end of 2013 from its existing 25 outlets.

Google Chromebooks now in 2,000 schools, usage doubled in three months!!

Google has really ramped up its education efforts lately, and it looks like it's paid off: according to the Mountain View company, its Chromebooks are now in use in 2,000 schools, which is twice as many as there were three months ago. Three of the more recent participants include Transylvania County Schools in North Carolina with 900 devices, St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida with 2,200 and the Rocketship Education charter network in the Bay Area with 1,100. The education team has been making efforts in the global community as well, with cloud-promoting appearances at various education conferences such as the Florida Education Technology Conference in Orlando and the British Education Training and Technology show in the UK. We're not sure exactly which flavor of Chromebook the students are getting their hands on, but we're sure no matter what they use, they'll grow up well-versed in what could be the future of computing.

Angry Birds Cartoon Series Coming In Spring, Says Rovio

Folks, it looks like we’ll be seeing a cartoon edition of Angry Birds soon. Rovio‘s Chief Executive Officer, Mikael Hed, told the Wall Street Journal that the company is planning to release a series of short, animated episodes based on the popular Angry Birds video game characters this spring. The news isn’t surprising. If you can still recall, we reported last year that an Angry Birds cartoon series is underway, and a possible fall release is expected. Obviously it didn’t happen, forcing us to abandon the idea. Mikael Hed‘s confirmation is a breathe of fresh air.

The excited CEO, however, noted that the distribution of the new animated series will be different, almost unorthodox, so to speak. “Previously, content creators were reliant on others who had the channel. The content itself is the channel. We have become the channel,” Hed said. Hed‘s statement raises more questions than answers. The unorthodox way suggests that Rovio could be planning to release the said cartoon series through the company’s own channel. Whatever that means, it is possible that the company is looking forward to launch the content on its own apps, via mobile devices and televisions.

50 per cent of Indian smartphone users do not have data connection!!!

According to a new study conducted by Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights, an alliance between Nielsen and Informate Mobile Intelligence, only half of the smartphone users polled have active data access. It means that over half of Indian smartphone users are underutilising their phones.
It is interesting to note that the youth are quick to adopt data connectivity on their smartphones, as more than half of all data users are younger than 25.
Besides, the Indian Smartphone user study found that smartphone users in India overwhelmingly prefer mobile devices that operate on the Android operating system, which highlights Indian consumers' desire for a platform that is open and available across multiple brands and prices.
While Symbian usage is also high in India, Windows, BlackBerry and iOS devices each only have single-digit market shares. The study also found that 93 per cent of smartphone users own only one handset, making it their single source of infotainment on the go.
Consumer interest in tablets is also on the rise. While only 3 per cent of respondents who participated in the study in the last quarter of 2012 said they owned a tablet, 11 per cent said they intended to purchase one.
The study found that voice and text communication via smartphone in India is declining. In fact, voice calls and texting accounted for only 25 percent of smartphone usage; multimedia, games, apps and Internet browsing made up the rest. Among apps, consumers prefer games, particularly with respect to paid apps. Games were the most popular category among paid apps, with nearly three out of five users (58%) paying for games. Other popular paid app categories among smartphone users include chat and instant messaging (53%) and streaming music (45%).
The Indian Smartphone User study was conducted in September and October 2012 across 46 cities in India. Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights polled more than 10,000 smartphone owners as part of this study.
The below graph shows the share of smartphones in India.

Recycled Wedding Dress by Rebecca Bowman is Sensational

Creative primary school teacher Rebecca Bowman created a recycled wedding dress completely made out of empty milk bottles and old plastic forks.

This upcycled bridal gown was inspired by the local Restyle recycled fashion event in South Auckland, where the rule of entry was that no new materials were allowed to be used. Even the nylon thread that Bowman used to hold the bottles together was not new as it used to be her grandmother's. The gown is called 'Something Borrowed, Something Blue-Top' after the blue caps of the milk bottles, which she collected from various cafes as she is actually allergic to dairy.

This recycled wedding dress shows that reusing old materials is fashionable.

Google India announces Mapathon 2013Intends to help create better maps for India by adding their knowledge of local places through Google Map Maker

Google today announced Google’s mapping competition in India, Mapathon 2013. It is an pan-India mapping contest open to just about anybody who lives in India. Google is inviting amateur mappers and mapping enthusiasts from all over the country to help create better maps for India by adding their knowledge of local places through Google Map Maker.

And the top 1,000 mappers stand a chance to win Android tablets, smartphones, gift vouchers and Google merchandise. The registrations for the competition have just opened. Mapathon starts on February 12 and culminates on March 25, 2013

Karthik Babu, a Bangalore-based sales executive began mapping local Indian locations actively using Google Map Maker back in December 2009. Karthik said, "Maps help provide useful information about a state or a city in a way that can be accessed easily by most Indians. In a country as big as ours, it's especially important for us to find better ways to communicate local information. This is why I started using Google Map Maker, if we can all help by mapping local hospitals, schools, rivers, temples, and even petrol pumps, then we can make a difference."

So how does it work? Google Map Maker is an easy-to-use tool that allows users to add more detail to Google Maps through a few simple clicks. Using the Map Maker, you can select a specific area on Google Maps and add new information based on your own local knowledge or by referencing Google Maps satellite imagery. With just another click, you can save and submit your input and once the submitted edit has been verified, the new information will be added to Google Maps.

Jayanth Mysore, product manager of Google India says, “Google aims to provide better maps for India by building better maps for the users, by the users. What started off as an initiative by a few Google engineers is now used across the world and today, citizens across India can participate in this great project through Mapathon 2013.”

Google Map Maker was conceptualized in India more than 4 years ago.

An Ordinary Cotton T-Shirt Could Someday Charge Your Cellphone

That Hanes Beefy-T you’re wearing could someday power your mobile device—that is, if researchers at the University of South Carolina have anything to do with it. Xiaodong Li, a professor of mechanical engineering, and Lihong Bao, a postdoctoral associate, transformed an ordinary cotton tee into a supercapacitor by soaking it in fluoride solution and baking it at high temperatures. The process didn’t just convert the cellulose fibers into activated carbon, however; it also allowed the material to flex without breaking. The erstwhile cotton T-shirt proved to be a repository for electricity, and one with an exceptionally high storage capacity at that. But Li and Bao didn’t stop there. To maximize the activated-carbon material’s potential, they coated the individual fibers with a nanometer-thick layer of manganese oxide, which boosted the textile’s electrode performance even further. “This created a stable, high-performing supercapacitor,” Li says in a statement.

The erstwhile cotton T-shirt proved to be a high-capacity repository for electricity.

Li, who published his team’s findings in the current issue of Advanced Materials, anticipates a future where electronics are part of our wardrobes. “We wear fabric every day,” he says. “One day our cotton T-shirts could have more functions; for example, a flexible energy storage device that could charge your cellphone or your iPad.”

Beyond its improved storage capability, the hybrid supercapacitor was also remarkably resilient: its performance didn’t weaken by more than 5 percent even after thousands of charge-discharge cycles. Li expects that by stacking the supercapacitors, we’ll be able to charge portable electronic devices such as cellphones.

As far as obtaining activated-carbon fibers go, Li’s method has the benefit of being more sustainable than conventional means. “Previous methods used oil or environmentally unfriendly chemicals as starting materials,” he says. “Those processes are complicated and produce harmful side products. Our method is a very inexpensive, green process.”

Griffin Technology goes green with Papernomad!!

Everyone wants to go green these days, it is the “in thing”, and you will definitely score brownie points with just about everyone, especially among those Greenpeace activists. Well, here we are with Griffin Technology and one of their latest coups, which would be snagging the exclusive distribution rights of Papernomad products across North America. Based in Austria, Papernomad is a company that develops organic, customizable, tear- and water-resistant sleeves for a range of popular devices such as the iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, MacBook and Samsung Galaxy S3. As they are made of a specially-engineered paper material, they deliver the perfect canvas for personal expression and creativity.

Keavy Murphree, Product Line Manager at Griffin Technology, said, “We are thrilled to bring Papernomad to North America; their products leave a lasting impression on people’s minds but not on the environment. With Papernomad, we offer users a sustainable way to guard their technology, as well as a canvas that allows individuals to express their imagination.”

Each sleeve from Papernomad is made in Europe, where it will use an advanced patent-pending composite of paper, viscose fiber and biopolymer. The paper that is used is made from sustainably forested trees and FSC Forest Stewardship Council certified. As for the other materials in action, those are compostable and organic, including the cotton stitching, hemp pull strap, and signature wool lining that are provided by happy sheep from New Zealand.

What makes the Papernomad product different from the rest? It offers an outlet for creative expression, as the sleeve itself can be marked with pencils, pens, and crayons, something which your kids would definitely fall in love with.

The Papernomad sleeves will be made available for the iPad, iPad mini, iPhone 4 & 5, MacBook Air (11″ & 13″), MacBook Pro (13″ and 15″) and Samsung Galaxy S3 soon, and of course, depending on the size of your choice, it will retail anywhere from $39.99 and goes all the way to $69.99.