Facebook Now Asking Users To Pay To Promote Photos, Status To Their Friends

October 4, 2012 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

We all saw this coming. Facebook implemented it bit by bit, step by step and turned Facebook in to a money making machine. First it was the advertisements, then it started forcing Facebook page owners to pay for reaching to their own fans. But as if it was not enough, Facebook now “gives the option” of promoting your photos to, hold your breath, your own friends.

Facebook has been testing these promoted or sponsored photo scheme for since few months in over 20 countries. According to their official report, it will keep the sponsored photos in the news feed of your friends. This way it is more likely for your friends to see your updates in their feed.

Facebook had redefined the social networking earlier. It killed so many existing social networks like MySpace, Orkut, Hi5 etc. It kept on re-innovating itself. But those were for good. I am not sure if asking users to pay for their own photos is a good step.

You may think that it is okay since it is optional and if some self obsessed narcissist may use this feature to get more likes and comments. But remember what happened with the Facebook Pages’ sponsored posts. It is optional there as well but it has dramatically reduced the page interaction for non-paid posts. What I mean is that sooner or later you will see a drop in interaction with your friends and thus you would be tempted to pay for the promotion of your photos/statuses to your very own friends.

Apple Breaks Record In iPhone 5 Pre-Order, Samsung Breaks Ethics

September 18, 2012 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

When a “Job-less” Apple launched iPhone 5 few days back, many speculated it as the biggest fail from Apple ever. To an extent Apple event was missing the charm and spark of its late founder Steve Jobs but several observer in the industry went to the extent of defining it as the start of decline of Apple. Too high user (read observers because not everyone uses iPhone) expectations from iPhone 5 did disappoint lots of tech-lovers all over the world and also put a smirk on Samsung lovers which resulted in a number of iPhone 5 jokes on Facebook and Twitter. Truly, despite of so many new features, iPhone 5 is just another smart phone in the market.

But these negative reviews have never demoralized a true Apple fanboy. Apple products are like sex, you want it even if you oppose it. No matter what the world says, Apple has a cult following and its products are status symbol, pride possessions for many. And the pre-record sales of iPhone 5 has once again showed the world who is the boss. In the latest press release, Apple claimed to have sold more than 2 millions iPhone 5 within 24 hours of opening the pre-orders. Going by these stats, it is predicted that the sale will cross 10 million mark by the end of month.

The crazy fan-boys, the die-hard technology lovers, the wanna be cool teenagers, who doesn’t want an “apple pie”? No doubt that this craziness drives the Chinese teenager to sell their kidney or virginity. A screenshot of ebay India shows that people are willing to buy iPhone 5 for even double of its price.

EBay-India-Iphone 5 — Image Courtesy: CompTalks

Samsung, the biggest competitor to iPhone with its Galaxy series is not just standing as a mute spectator. Just 3 days after the launch of iPhone 5, it has spread the . Apart form that it has also started, kind of, smear advertisement campaign comparing its flagship Galaxy S3 with iPhone 5. Why Samsung is mentioning its software to compare the features with iPhone is beyond fathom.

It will be interesting to see if launch of Galaxy S4, to be available worldwide by March’13, will be able to refrain users from buying iPhone 5. But if you thought that negative reviews will hurt Apple and iPhone 5 could be a big flop, you just got an egg on your face. By the way, do you remember when was the last time an Apple product failed?

5 Reasons why iPhone 5 is just another smart phone?

September 15, 2012 By ishayat 2 Comments

Apple Inc’s new iPhone pre-order starts from today featuring a larger, taller 4-inch screen and LTE connectivity. It is not difficult to say that there will be lines outside of the Apple store to get this smart phone. However, the device is clearly missing the ‘wow factor’ that could have kept the company ahead of all other rival companies. The iPhone 5 looks like just another upgrade to the popular iPhone lineup, like they released the iPhone 4S as an upgraded version of the iPhone 4 last year.

The phone Apple unveiled on Wednesday was the same phone that appeared online a long time ago in plenty of leaked images. Some of the features like LTE connectivity and 4-inch screen were nice, but nothing was actually surprising. We just saw in the event how the rumors eventually turned out to be true on the event. Tim Cook, Apple CEO did say earlier that they will “double down” on secrecy to prevent leaks but he clearly failed. Now let’s take a look at the features that Apple highlighted in their event and check why these features are missing the ‘wow factor’.

The new 4-inch screen Retina display

The iPhone is now taller and larger with a 4-inch screen. It’s surely a nice thing if you think of it as an iOS device. But when you compare it with Android phones, most of the Android phones out there have got 4-inch screens and some of them show 720p resolution whereas iPhone is only showing 1136×640 resolution. The phone is now wider and Apple claims that this new shape is designed to fit in the hand perfectly. This is clearly not the best explanation we expected from Apple as all the big Android phones out there including Samsung Galaxy S3 with 4.8-inch screen and HTC One X with 4.7-inch are currently ruling the smart phone market. Moreover, all the docks and stands designed for the old iPhones are not going to work with this one as the Lightning technology won’t make your docks and stands bigger and taller.

The 8-megapixel iSight Camera

The iSight camera is a little bit better than the old 8-megapixel camera we saw in iPhone 4S, but it still is nothing rare if you think about Nokia’s PureView technology and Nokia Lumia 800 with 41-megapixel camera that they revealed a long time ago. All the other smart phone makers are now thinking about releasing smartphones with 12-megapixel camera like the Sony Xperia Sand Nokia N8 so releasing an 8-megapixel camera is really nothing attractive.

The all-new A6 chip

The new A6 chip introduced in the iPhone 5 will perform faster than the old one. The new chip promises up to twice the CPU and graphics performance than the iPhone 4S but the other vendors are already working on faster quad-core chips and phones like Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X already available with quad-core chips. The smart phone is thinner than the old one and also 20 percent lighter than the 4S with the new A6 chip. However, these are nothing new or innovative that we usually expect from Apple.

LTE

The LTE connectivity is another feature the company highlighted yesterday. The latest iPhone supports ultrafast wireless standards including DC-HSDPA and LTE. However, this was only a feature we wanted to see in iPhone as other phones already have this feature for a year or more.

No NFC

We were looking forward to see the near field communication technology (NFC) which is also a common thing in other latest phones nowadays but it’s also missing. Some experts believe it was a wise decision by Apple because of the slow adoption of NFC in U.S. When AllThingsD asked Apple Senior vice president Phil Schiller why the iPhone 5 does not include NFC, he said “Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today.”

These are the reasons that make iPhone 5 just another smart phone. The new iPhone is larger, taller, looks really cool, offers longer battery life and a good camera. It is certainly true that the iPhone 5 is better than the previous iPhones. However, it’s not good enough to be the ruler of the smart phone market as there are plenty of Android phones out there with similar and even better products. Popular companies like Samsung, HTC and Motorola now has the chance to easily attract Apple customers with devices like Galaxy Note 2 and HTC One X+ as Apple has failed to be innovative this time. If you also feel the same or have something different to say, don’t forget to share it with us.

Apple reveals the iPhone 5. Check the features!

September 13, 2012 By ishayat 2 Comments

In a special event in San Francisco, Apple unveiled the long awaited, iPhone 5 today. Apple tried to keep all the iPhone 5 features a secret and said the company was “doubling down” on secrecy but the general rumor mill still managed to find out some key features like the larger taller screen, 4G network, small dock connector and better camera. Let’s see if the rumors were true or not.

Bigger Screen, Lighter Weight

The first rumor that we heard about the iPhone 5 was its larger, taller, 4-inch screen, and looks like we weren’t wrong! The new iPhone 5 indeed sports a bigger 4-inches display with 1136×640 pixels. The bigger screen is also capable of adding 5 rows of icons. But that’s not all, the iPhone is now 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S and is only 7.6mm thick. Apple claims it to be the world’s thinnest smartphone but we are not really sure about that. However, it’s really the thinnest and lightest iPhone and is 112 grams in weight.

More Processing Power

The new iPhone also features a new A6 CPU which also matches with the rumors. This new CPU is 2 times faster than the CPU used in the iPhone 4S. Another rumored feature was LTE connectivity and the new iPhone 5 indeed comes with this feature with a single chip and single radio to offer ultrafast wireless. The smartphone will support all the major carriers including Verizon, AT&T and Sprint in the US.

Finally, Better Camera

There were rumors about the next generation iPhone to feature the same 8-megapixel camera with new technology and this rumor also turned out to be true. The new iSight camera is packed with features like backside illumination, Hybrid IR filter, f/2.4 aperture and five-element lens. The new camera is 25% smaller than the iPhone 4S is capable of 1080p video recording and face detection. Another attractive feature of the new camera is the Panorama mode that supports capturing 28-megapixel images. The FaceTime camera is now HD and FaceTime calls can be done using the cellular network.

iOS 6

Phill Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president also revealed the iOS 6. Users will find some new apps optimized for the iPhone 5 and the latest operating system includes some new features iCloud tabs feature for iCloud, new Maps app and improved Siri. All the old apps will appear in the same size and the blank space will be covered with black borders. The latest iOS will be released and iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, new iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch 4G users will be able to upgrade to iOS 6 from September 19 for free.

Any surprises?

The new iPhone 5 will be available for $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB) and 64GB for $399 with two-year contract. Apple discontinued the 3GS and presented their new iPhone lineup with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. The new iPhone will be available for pre-order on September 14. Looks like all the rumors we heard about the new iPhone were true and there was almost nothing surprising revealed on the event. Apple also announced an updated version of iTunes, the iPod Nano 7G, iPod Touch 5G and new EarPods on the event and demoed two new games, Real Racing 3 and Clumsy Ninja. Visit Computer And You soon to find out more about the new iPods and EarPod. Till then enjoy this official iPhone 5 commercial:

The battle of tech giants Apple and Samsung on Patent; who won, Nokia or Microsoft?

September 7, 2012 By Medha BN 2 Comments

The two titans of tech world Apple and Samsung have been battling in courts worldwide over the violation of Apple’s patent and that Samsung has used the technology or ideas of Apple in various devices illegally.

Who won the battle and what are the consequences:

One of the Tokyo courts dismissed the Apple Inc’s claim on Samsung of its Patent infringement.

Nokia phone with windows OS
The world’s largest maker of phones, Samsung Electronics Co. Of South Korea, welcomed the decision of Tokyo District court.
The fine of $1 billion was echoed in the court room of USA against Samsung. Following this was a rumor which went viral on social sites that Samsung tried to pay $1 billion fine to Apple by sending 30 trucks of 5-cent coins and that Samsung said it is how they are going to pay the fine! That’s funny but it was really not true. The court in USA questioned the company about the innovation or labelled Samsung to be an imitator!
Apple’s win over Samsung brain teased Google and there might be problems for Google’s Android. Samsung uses Android OS for Galaxy series of smart phones. Also, Samsung failed to prove its point that Apple infringed on some of its essential patents which could in turn be cause for worry to Google! Does this mean Windows 8 would be the preferred OS for upcoming handsets over Android which is a kind of mimic of IOS?
Since the launch of Galaxy S3 handsets in May 2012, more than 10 million sales have been reported. Apple has added this Samsung’s best selling device along with 21 other gadgets to the list saying they infringe Apple’s patents and seeks ban on sales of these devices.
Samsung hit back at Apple in South Korea with 10 patent infringements. Samsung won over two patents in home turf, Seoul court, South Korea. But Samsung was also hit as it lost on one of design patent resulting in various gadgets of both the companies being banned from selling in the country.

Who might be getting the advantage of this battle?

The share market started seeing some ups and downs. Samsung’s and Google’s shares fluctuated where as Nokia’s, Apple’s stock and Microsoft’s shares are reasonably doing well after the USA court verdict.

Advantage Microsoft and Nokia! Apple revealed in a court case that it has licensed some of its technologies to Microsoft. Apple’s lawyers also showed pictures of Nokia Lumia as an example of how a phone is distinct which runs on Windows 7. Apple is also trying its hands against two other Android based mobile companies Motorola owned by Google (another problem for Google) and HTC. The verdict in USA in favor of Apple Inc can empower them to file more such lawsuits against Samsung thereby making a proxy war against Android (Google). Microsoft would be hugely benefited and Windows 8 would be able to see a new high on success.

After Nokia won the lawsuit against Apple Inc on patent infringement years back, Apple had to pay an undisclosed lump sum and royalties to Nokia. Nokia clearly emerged as winner as every Apple device sold would in turn benefit Nokia.

The best example of winning device is Nokia Lumia where Nokia mobile technology and Windows OS come together for user satisfaction.

What do you think? Nokia was hugely benefited or Windows will be taking the advantage in future!

Apple Confirms “Rumored” iPhone 5 Launch Event on September 12

September 5, 2012 By ishayat 1 Comment

An iPhone 5 launch event on September 12 has been rumored for quite some time now and Apple has finally confirmed it. The rumors of the iPhone 5 are expected to come to an end next week as Apple has already started to send invitations for the event where it will unveil the next iPhone at 10AM on September 12 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The invitation says “It’s Almost Here” and doesn’t reveal much of what we can expect to see at the mysterious event except the “5” appearing in the shadows of 12. The number “5” is the hint which confirms the arrival of the next iPhone and it will be actually titled as “iPhone 5”.

All the latest iPhone 5 rumors suggest that we can expect to see the next iPhone with a taller, larger 4-inch screen, 4G LTE support, new smaller dock connector and “nano” SIM standard. Apple is also expected to give redesigned earphones with the new iPhone 5 if the recently leaked pictures are real.

Most of Apple’s fall event includes more than one product so we can also expect to see updated iPod Nano, new Apple TV, 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display or an updated iTunes in the event. The new rumors suggest that we can expect to see a new line of iPods at the event.

A smaller version of the iPad called the “iPad Mini” was also expected to make an appearance at the event but the recent rumors suggest that Apple is planning to hold a separate event for the “iPad Mini” in October before the holiday season. We can also expect to see the new iPod Touch soon. Don’t forget to check Computer And You on September 12 if you don’t want to miss the announcements from the event.

No. Bruce Willis Is Not Suing Apple [Sigh!]

September 4, 2012 By Abhishek Prakash 2 Comments

After Apple won $1B lawsuit against its growing rival Samsung, many technology lovers (except Apple fanboys) deemed it as Apple’s unnecessary arrogance. When the news came in market that Bruce Willis is willing to sue Apple over the ownership of the downloaded content from Apple store, it only put a smirk on many faces.

Why would Bruce Willis want to sue Apple?

The Die Hard star Bruce Willis has a vast digital music collection which he was hoping to leave to his daughters after his death. But such an act is illegal under the terms and conditions (which are always pages long which nobody bothers to read) of iTunes. The condition says, here comes the shocker, if you buy music or other content from Apple’s iTune store, you are not actually buying it but just “borrowing” it from iTunes. Which means you cannot share it with someone else.

But Apple is not the lone king in this evil empire. Amazon, along with several others, too has similar policies for the books downloaded for Kindle along.

Alas! It was a rumor:

The smirk on the faces did not last long as the news came out that all this was just a rumor. Emma Heming-Willis, current wife of Bruce Willis, denied these rumors in a recent .

Though the rumor may come to an end but it surely has started a new discussion on the ownership rights on the legally purchased digital content. What are your views on it?

Samsung at IFA 2012: Unveils Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Camera and Windows 8 Devices

September 2, 2012 By ishayat Leave a Comment

Samsung is popular for putting on amazing shows when it comes to the “Unpacked” event and the company showed no exception at IFA this year. The Korean company unveiled a number of exciting products in its magical event including Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Camera, the First officially launched Windows Phone 8 and ATIV tab. The IFA event in Berlin was the first public event for Samsung after the patent lawsuit and it’s easy to say that the verdict of the Apple-Samsung patent case didn’t dampened the company’s spirit after watching the event. Let’s take a look at the unveiled devices.

Galaxy Note 2:

Galaxy Note 2, the successor to the Galaxy Note was unveiled at the IFA 2012 event. The original device was also unveiled at the same “Unpacked” event last year. The phablet is now much powerful and larger with a stunning 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display showing 1280×720 resolution. The phablet also features 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording capability, 1.9-megapixel front camera taller and narrower S Pen and 3,100mAh battery to power up all these things and is still 9.44mm thick even after sporting all these things under its hood.

One of the new feature of the ‘S Pen’ is ‘Air View’ which shows a small pop-up window when you put your pen over events or in the gallery in images. You can also write down notes on the back of your captured photos using the S Pen. The phone/tablet hybrid will be running Android 4.1, Jelly Bean out-of-the-box so users don’t have to wait for any over-the-air update for this latest Android operating system. The device is expected to be available in the market in October.

Galaxy Camera:

Samsung unveiled a surprising 16.3-megapixel camera called the Galaxy Camera. The 16.3-megapixel snapper comes with 1,2.3” BSI CMOS sensor and 21x zoom lens. But the surprising feature of the camera is, it will be running Android 4.1, Jelly Bean just like the Galaxy Note 2 with Google Play store compatibility. You will find a 4.8-inch HD touchscreen behind the camera showing 308ppi which just looks like a smartphone when you see the back of the device. The camera also features 1.4GHz quad-core CPU, 8GB of internal storage, 1080p video recording capability at 30fps, 3G and 4G connectivity and 1650mAh battery to power up the camera.

There are some extra apps like Photo Wizard and Movie Wizard specially designed for the camera to edit pictures and video clips. The AllShare app is also available in the device for sharing the captured pictures and videos with other Samsung devices. All the devices are attractive but the fact that the camera is running Jelly Bean is good enough to grab this camera.

Both the Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Camera will get 50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years.

ATIV S:

Nokia did show some Windows 8-powered device before Sammy but the Korean company managed to announce the first Windows Phone 8 powered device before Nokia, the ATIV S. The smartphone features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.9-megapixel front camera, 1GB of RAM and a 2,300mAH battery. The company didn’t reveal any pricing or launch details but the Windows Phone 8-powered device is expected to debut after the official launch of Windows 8 in October.

Samsung ATIV (Windows 8 RT Tablet):

Among the slew of products released by Samsung at the IFA trade show in Berlin event and the Windows RT tablet called the ATIV Tab is one of them. The tablet looks similar to other Android devices with aluminum rear panel.

The ATIV Tab sports a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 processor and 2GB of RAM but it’s not confirmed if the device is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos chips. The device comes with multiple ports including USB ports and micro-HDMI output. However, a big deal-breaker of the device is its lack of a stylus. Samsung packed S Pen for the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 2 but the Windows 8-powered tablet only features 10-point multi-touch. All the Windows 8-powered devices are expected to launch after the official release of Windows 8 in October.

If you have missed the magical “Unpacked” event (I am not calling it magical just because there were actual magicians in the event), don’t worry as Samsung has repacked the event for you in the video posted below.

Going ‘Back to school’ with discounts on Mac Range

August 31, 2012 By Medha BN Leave a Comment

As more and more educational institutes are introducing fun, interactive and engaging teaching methodologies in their schools and colleges, the Apple products like iPad, Mac Book and iPod are becoming intrinsic part of their educational aids. Even parents are realizing the benefits of introducing their kids to these gadgets at early ages.

Most of these gadgets are beneficial and aid kids in reading, writing and learning. It is also believed that kids at early age can acquire communication skills as well as improve their motor skills with the help of such devices.

Apple, in an attempt to make this “Back to School” Season more fruitful for students, parents and teachers has come up with attractive offers and discounts on its Mac Range of products. The offer has already started and is on till September 22, 2012.

This is the right time to invest on these suite of study companions and avail some discounts on iPads and light MacBook air. Apple, in this most exciting back to school season ever has also come up with offers on 50,000 education apps, or one of the more than 5,00,000 iTunes U courses.

MacBook Air is one of those Apple products which is like hot cake in student’s community. It’s power packed yet light and thin which can be used for everything, from video and photo editing to managing projects and presentations. With 7 hours of battery power with single charge it can be used from morning till the last class in the evening. It starts from $999 and you can bet on tossing it into your backpack!

It’s just been over two years of iPad’s availability and you can already see more than 1.5 million iPads in educational institutions and over 1000 one-to-one deployments. iPad is being adopted rapidly by schools across the world including in India.

Many schools and educational institutes like Canadian International School (Bangalore) and Delhi Public School (Surat) have introduced Apple Products to enhance their modes of teaching.

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