Nokia Lumia 630 specifications and images tipped in new leaks

While Nokia's big event is just a few days away (2 April), alleged specifications of the much-anticipated Nokia Lumia 630 (thought to be codenamed Moneypenny) have been leaked along with the first alleged live shots of the device.
The report comes via GSMarena via Chinese and French websites. According to the report, Nokia Lumia 630 will be equipped with a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 480x854 pixels, which is slightly different from the earlier rumoured 4.3-inch display. It is said to pack a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S400 processor supported by 1GB of RAM. The reports adds that the Lumia 630's 5-megapixel rear camera will not feature a flash, while there is no front camera on offer.
The Lumia 630 is touted to have 8GB of built-in storage, and will allegedly measure 129.5x66.7mm. The smartphone is also said to be will be the first Windows Phone 8.1 with dual-SIM, dual-standby functionality. The Chinese website along with the specifications also published an alleged press render of the Lumia 630, alongside the recently launched Lumia 1320 and 1520.
The other leak by the French website, which also corroborated the Chinese report's specifications, showcased the alleged Lumia 630 in pictures. The tipster has managed to click pictures near what is being claimed to be an official poster for the Nokia Lumia 630, though the images don't really reveal the design of the phone, except the two network operators (indicating dual-SIM) and front navigation buttons.
At Nokia's 2 April event, the company is expected to reveal two budget Lumia devices - Nokia Lumia 630 and Nokia Lumia 930 (thought to be codenamed Martini). No details have been reported about the Lumia 930 handset till date. It is also speculated that we might see other Windows Phone 8.1 devices alongside such as Nokia Lumia 1820, Lumia 1525 and Lumia 1520 V.
A recent report on Friday had speculated specifications of the Nokia Lumia 1820. It is said to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. The smartphone is also said to feature a 5.2-inch display with a 2K resolution.

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How to Take Screenshots in Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8 is the next big thing. It is the second major version of Microsoft's operating system, which comes after Windows Phone 7. One of Windows Phone 8 new features is the ability to take Screenshots. After reading this article, you will be able to successfully take screenshots on your windows phone in a flash. the steps to take screenshots are:-

1. Navigate to the place where you wish to take a screenshot at.
2. A successful screenshot is indicated when a screen of your accent color flashes over the whole screen.Press and hold the windows button, then press the power button.
3. Go to the photos app, and then to 'albums'. You'll find your screenshot in the screenshots album.

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Beware of DenDroid

A new commercial tool  designed to allow cyber criminals to easily  transform legitimate Android  applications into malicious  software has hit the  underground market, paving  the way for cheap and easy  development of sophisticated  Android malware. The developers who are behind the creation of this virus are certainly street smart as they have named this virus Dendroid, which resembles to the actual operating system: Android. Ignorant and non-suspecting users can download this app assuming it to be safe and something related to Android, thereby compromising the security and functionality of their smart phones.

The toolkit is called Dendroid and can be used to create “trojanized” apps—legitimate  applications with malicious code added to them—that connect  back to a command-and-control server over HTTP and allow  attackers to perform a variety  of malicious actions on devices  that have those apps installed.

Dendroid is marketed by its  creators as an Android remote  administration tool (RAT) and is  being sold for US$300, security  researchers from Symantec  said Wednesday in a blog post .  Buyers receive a tool called an  “APK Binder” that can be used  to add the Dendroid RAT  functionality and its required  permissions to any clean APK  (Android application package) as well as access to a  sophisticated PHP-based  control panel that allows  detailed management of the  infected devices.

Dendroid’s features include  deleting call logs and files;  calling phone numbers; opening Web pages; recording calls and  audio from the microphone;  intercepting text messages;  taking and uploading photos  and videos; opening  applications and launching HTTP flood (denial-of-service) attacks for a period of time specified  by the attacker. The virus was first detected by Symantec. As per their research, “Dendroid is a HTTP RAT that is marketed as being transparent to the user and firmware interface, having a sophisticated PHP panel, and an application APK binder package.”.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) warned about a currently active Dendroid malware campaign that is spreading across India, targeting Android users.

"It has been reported that a malicious toolkit called DENDROID is being used to create trojanized applications that infects Android-based Smartphones. The malware is created by modifying the required permissions by any clean APK (Android Application Package) with Dendroid RAT functionality that allows detailed management of the infected devices," the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) said in its latest advisory.Last month, CERT-In had warned Android Kitkat and Facebook users regarding security hacks on their mobiles. And within 30 days, this is the second such warning coming from India’s premier cyber security and investigation cell.

MEASURES TO PROTECT

*.Install applications downloaded from reputed app stores only.

*.Install apk files with utmost care as some apks might be modded by the hackers.

*.Keep updating your mobile anti-virus and Firewall solution to protect your device from malware and cyber attacks.

*.Always Check applications permissions before installing it.

CONSIDER THESE APPS TO SECURE YOUR PHONE

1.      Avast Mobile Security

2.      McAfee WaveSecure

3.      Snap Secure Mobile Security

4.      Norton Mobile Security Lite

5.      mSecure Password Manager

6.      AppScan Beta

7.      TrustGo Anti-Virus and Mobile Security

8.      Bitfinder Mobile Security

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Google redesigns search results on PCs

Web surfing through the Internet's main gateway now looks slightly different on personal computers, thanks to a few cosmetic changes to Google's search engine this week.

The tweaks to the way Google's search results appear on desktop and laptop computers mirror a makeover on smartphones and tablets introduced a few months ago.

The new presentation increases font sizes and removes the underlines below the blue links of each search result on PCs. Ads appearing along the top and the right-hand panel of the results page no longer are presented in boxes shaded in blue and yellow. The marketing pitches are now marked by small ad tags to distinguish them from the rest of the results.

Google Inc. rolled out the new design on PCs with little fanfare, even though it will be seen by almost everyone who searches for information on personal computers. That's because Google processes about two out of every three search requests made on PCs.

The company's lead search designer, Jon Wiley, announced the makeover Wednesday with a post on his Google Plus page.

The changes are meant to make it easier to scroll through Google's search results and present a "cleaner look," Wiley wrote in his post.

Google's decision to transfer a design originally tailored for mobile devices to PCs also underscores the company's increasing emphasis on smartphones and tablets.

"Improving consistency in design across platforms makes it easier for people to use Google search across devices, and it makes it easier for us to develop and ship improvements across the board," Wiley wrote.

Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., didn't immediately respond on Thursday to requests for further comment about the new look.

As with any redesign of a popular Internet service, some users were expressing their dismay and frustration with Google's new search design on PCs. There were also compliments mixed in with the complaints on Twitter's short-messaging service and the comments section below Wiley's Google Plus post.

The main gripes about the makeover seemed to center on the larger and different font and the lack of color on the results page.

Google, though, typically faces much louder protests when its engineers complete a radical overhaul of the formula that determines rankings of search results. Those revisions can dramatically reduce the traffic of websites exiled to the back pages of the search results after a new formula is introduced.

In this case, Google is tinkering with the style of the search results, and not the substance.

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More than megapixels - what really counts in a smartphone camera

Just about every new phone that launches has ads that focus on photography. While most refrain from saying it in as many words, manufacturers manage to coyly suggest that their phone's camera is better than even a DSLR, pointing, on most occasions, to the high megapixel count. Nokia holds the crown for the smartphone with the highest-megapixel count with the 41-megapixel 808 PureView and the Lumia 1020, though rumours now point to a 50-megapixel camera in Oppo's next phone.

In real world testing though, only a few phones have managed to come close to the quality and control that you get with even a mid-range point-and-shoot camera - forget about being better than a DSLR. Why is that?

When Nokia first came up with the PureView technology used in the 808, its announcement of the 41-megapixel camera toting phone made no sense. However, thanks to the camera companies themselves, the term megapixel had become a kind of shorthand for image quality. When point-and-shoot digital cameras were gaining in popularity, Nikon, Canon and other manufacturers got into a race to fit in higher-resolution sensors into their compact cameras, and marketed the term widely. This has parallels with the GHz wars that played out between Intel and AMD during the heydays of the PC industry.

Today though, this tactic has come to haunt the camera manufacturers (much like what Intel and AMD suffered), and people in both Canon and Nikon are the first to point out that a 5-megapixel resolution is high enough to take a clear print-out on an A4 sized page.

That, incidentally, is the standard resolution for images you will get on the Nokia Lumia 1020 PureView. This is because Nokia uses a technology called oversampling, which uses software to treat the individual pixels as a single unit, and essentially creates artificially big pixels on the image sensor.

The image sensor - essentially a plate where the light falls through the lens, where the picture is formed - is probably the most important factor in actually determining quality. NDTV Gadgets spoke to Abhishek Singh, a Technical Officer at Nikon India, who shared his thoughts on the subject.

"The current thinking about megapixels is highly misleading," Singh says. "As a measure of resolution, it just tells you how big the image you're taking is. How much can you crop, without pixelation. That's when the original image is too small and you zoom, so it starts to look blocky. But with a 16-megapixel image, even if I crop to 50% of the image, it won't look pixelated when printed."

In fact, the 8-megapixel iPhone 4S camera was used by the Time magazine in November 2012 for its cover photo. The only time you would actually use a full 41-megapixel image is if you wanted to print the image on a billboard, which is why Nokia over-samples the pictures and produces clearer 5-megapixel.

The real reason that a Lumia 1020 produces better pictures than it's contemporaries is twofold. One of the reasons is that it simply gives the user a lot more control over individual settings like aperture. But the first - and most important reason - is that it has a much bigger sensor than any other smartphone (other than the 808 PureView).

"The image is formed when the light forms on the sensor," Singh explains. "If the sensor size is big then the image will be more detailed, even when you crop into smaller parts of the image and enlarge them."

So where do the megapixels fit into this? According to Singh, the problem comes when you try and pack too many pixels into a small sensor.

"It's like a room. A room that has space for 10 people, you put ten people there and everyone is comfortable. But when you squeeze 20 in there, then it becomes uncomfortable, and when you reach 40 people, no one can breathe," Singh says. "When you pack the individual pixels too tightly on a sensor, the image quality goes down." That is why the images on many budget phones look blurry as they struggle to balance 'advertising friendly' megapixel counts, while still keeping the sensor small enough to fit on the thinner than ever devices.

According to Singh, finding out about the sensor size of a device - instead of the megapixel count - is a quick way of knowing how clear a picture will be, whether you are looking to buy a smartphone, or a compact digital camera. He says that another detail that casual buyers need to learn more about is the ISO or sensitivity of a camera. "A high ISO setting means that you will be able to take a picture in poor lighting without difficulty, but what's happening is that your camera (or phone) is electrically stimulating the sensor to brighten the image. So this can introduce graininess into the image as well."

With a growing trend towards low-light photography and a popular shift away from flash photography, Singh says buyers should also look at the lenses they are getting. Aperture, or the size of the lens opening through which light falls on the sensor, is very important in these scenarios, he says. He adds, "an aperture of f2.2 or f1.8 is becoming more common even in the smaller compact cameras, because of low-light photography." So when a phone's ad promises better pictures in low-light conditions? That has nothing to do with how many megapixels are mentioned in the ad.

Camera manufacturers deserve their share of blame for making people equate megapixels with quality, but it's a figure that phone makers picked up and ran with because it is an easy competition. The fact is that if you want a phone that is super slim and super light and still has a battery life that will last a full day and more - then some compromise has to be made, and that is often done by making a smaller sensor, and making compromises on the lens. If an 8-megapixel camera is good enough for Time magazine's cover, then maybe it's time for customers who'll just be sharing pictures on Facebook to think about what they want from a smartphone camera - and the answer is almost never more megapixels.

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London in new push to rival Silicon Valley

Maybe this time Silicon Valley will have to move over - London made a fresh bid Thursday to become a world centre for high-tech and start-ups.

Mayor Boris Johnson said he wanted to make London the "tech capital of the world".

The high-tech sector in the British capital has grown out of the trendy east London district of Shoreditch and now stretches out to the Olympic Park several miles away.

"There is nowhere to rival London for tech firms to thrive and grow - we have the talent, the investors, and the entrepreneurial spirit," Johnson said.

The prevalence of start-ups around Old Street roundabout has seen it dubbed Silicon Roundabout, but while the area is far from the gleaming offices of California's Silicon Valley, the British government is pushing the sector hard.

The Tech City body, which has been helping companies set up in London since 2010, says there are now 1,300 compared with 200 when it was created, and they employ more than 155,000 people.

Johnson said the Olympic Park, the site of the 2012 Games which is now re-opening in a reconfigured form, was "ripe both for new start-ups and more established operations".

Tech City says one sign of the attractiveness of the British capital for the high-tech sector is the 75-percent growth in the number of foreign companies investing there.

Not everyone is happy -- some of the original start-ups in Shoreditch claim they have been priced out by rapidly rising rents as the tech giants move in.

But key players in the sector who gathered with Johnson at the TechHub -- a centre where other entrepreneurs can come for advice -- said London was a highly attractive destination with huge potential.

Michael Acton Smith, the CEO of Mind Candy, the makers of the global hit Moshi Monsters, said: "Confidence in London is rising, start-ups are flourishing, you can feel the crackle of energy and potential in the air."

Social networking giant Facebook is expanding fast in London because it is such a "rich source of engineering and technology talent", said Nicola Mendelsohn, the company's vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

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Google kicks off always encrypted Gmail service

Google said Thursday its popular Gmail service would use encryption to thwart snooping, in the latest move by the tech sector reassuring customers following revelations about US surveillance programs.

"Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always available is important to us," Gmail engineering security chief Nicolas Lidzborski said in a blog post.

"Starting today, Gmail will always use an encrypted HTTPS connection when you check or send email.

"Today's change means that no one can listen in on your messages as they go back and forth between you and Gmail's servers - no matter if you're using public WiFi or logging in from your computer, phone or tablet."

Google has already begun scrambling most of the traffic at its websites as technology firms grapple with moves by US intelligence agencies to spy on what people are doing and sharing online.

And similar moves have been announced by Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook to use encryption that limits the ability of a third party to read messages or emails.

US tech firms have been ramping up encryption since last year's explosive revelations about the vast surveillance capabilities of the National Security Agency and other intelligence services, based on leaked documents.

Lidzborski said Google's latest move "ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between you and Gmail's servers, but also as they move between Google's data centers - something we made a top priority after last summer's revelations."

Some reports say the NSA had been able to access the data centers of Google and other Web firms.

Experts say encryption generally prevents outsiders from intercepting a person's messages or documents, but that a persistent effort can gain access through malware or other methods that trick a person into revealing passwords.

NSA-proof?
Joseph Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said Google's move is positive even if it does not protect against every potential threat.

"I'm reluctant to say anything is NSA-proof," Hall told AFP.

"But I think what Google is trying to do is make sure they come through the front door and not the back door."

Hall said that Google's encryption "would make it very difficult" for the NSA or others to tap into email traffic directly.

But he cautioned that the encryption would be only for "transport" and that data may still be unencrypted while sitting on a user's browser or stored in certain data centers.

Still, he maintained that this encryption is positive because it is "part of a general trend of strengthening the core Internet structure."

"Unfortunately, this is a case of an American Internet company having to beef up security because of attacks by its own government," Hall said, while adding that it could be positive for people living in authoritarian regimes.

"If you're an activist in Syria or and Iranian democracy activist, it will go a long way to making you secure."

Google's announcement came a day after co-founder Larry Page condemned US government snooping on the Internet as a threat to democracy.

Page, speaking at the Technology Entertainment Design (TED) gathering in Canada, was sharply critical of the NSA.

"It is tremendously disappointing that the government sort of secretly did all this stuff and didn't tell us," Page said.

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Google Glass review: Uneasy first steps

Shaped like a lopsided headband, Google Glass is an unassuming piece of technology when you're holding it in your hands. You feel as if you can almost break it, testing its flexibility. Putting it on, though, is another story.

Once you do, this Internet-connected eyewear takes on a life of its own. You become "The Person Wearing Google Glass" and all the assumptions that brings with it -about your wealth, boorishness or curiosity. Such is the fate of early adopters of new technologies, whether it's the Sony Walkman, the first iPod with its conspicuous white earbuds, or the Segway scooter. Google calls the people who wear Glass "explorers," because the device is not yet available to the general public.

With its $1,500 price tag, the device is far from having mass appeal. At the South By Southwest Interactive tech jamboree in Austin this week, I counted fewer than a dozen people wearing it, including technology blogger Robert Scoble, who isn't shy about posting pictures of himself in the shower, red-faced, water running, wearing the device.

Google, like most successful technology companies, dreamers and inventors, likes to take a long view on things. It calls some of its most outlandish projects "moonshots." Besides Glass, these include its driverless car, balloons that deliver Internet service to remote parts of the world and contact lenses that monitor glucose levels in diabetics.

There's an inherent risk in moonshots, however: What if you never reach the moon? Ten years from now, we may look back at Google Glass as one of those short-lived bridges that takes us from one technological breakthrough to the next, just as pagers, MP3 players and personal digital assistants paved the way for the era of the smartphone. Fitness bands, too, may fit into this category.

In its current, early version, Google Glass feels bulky on my face and when I look in the mirror I see a futuristic telemarketer looking back at me. Wearing it on the subway while a homeless man shuffled through the car begging for change made me feel as if I was sporting a diamond tiara. I sank lower in my seat as he passed. If Google is aiming for mass appeal, the next versions of Glass have to be much smaller and less conspicuous.

Though no one knows for sure where wearable devices will lead us, Rodrigo Martinez, life sciences chief strategist at the Silicon Valley design firm IDEO, has some ideas. "The reason we are talking about wearables is because we are not at implantables yet," he says. "(But) I'm ready. Others are ready."

Nevermind implants, I'm not sure I'm even ready for Google Glass.

Specs in place for the first time, I walked out of Google's Manhattan showroom on a recent Friday afternoon with a sense of unease. A wave of questions washed over me. Why is everyone looking at me? Should I be looking at them? Should I have chosen the orange Glass instead of charcoal?

Ideally, Google Glass lets you do many of the things we now do with our smartphones, such as taking photos, reading news headlines or talking to our mothers on Sunday evenings - hands-free. But it comes with a bit of baggage.

Glass feels heavier when I'm out in public or in a group where I'm the only person wearing it. If I think about it long enough my face starts burning from embarrassment. The device has been described to me as "the scarlet letter of technology" by a friend. The most frequent response I get from my husband when I try to slip Glass on in his presence is "please take that off." This is the same husband who encouraged me to buy a sweater covered in googly-eyed cats.

Instead of looking at the world through a new lens on a crowded rush-hour sidewalk. I felt as if the whole world was looking at me. That's no small feat in New York, where even celebrities are afforded a sense of privacy and where making eye contact with strangers can amount to an entire conversation.

But that's just one side of wearing Google Glass.

The other side is exhilarating. Glass is getting some bad press lately. Some bars and coffee shops in Silicon Valley and Seattle have banned Google Glass, for example, and federal authorities in Ohio interrogated a man earlier this year after he was suspected of recording a movie with the device. Last month, Google put out a Glass etiquette guide that includes the appeal "don't be creepy or rude."

But the truth is that it's a groundbreaking device, even if it doesn't take off, even if it evolves into something completely different, even if we laugh at it 10 years from now while driving our flying cars in the skies of Manhattan.

I strolled around for a few hours with the cyborg glasses, happily snapping photos. With a mere wink, I captured snowy Lower Manhattan streetscapes and my reflection in the grimy subway-car windows.

There were some whispers. ("Did you see? Google Glass!") There were some comments as I squeezed into the subway with my fellow commuters -comparisons to the Segway scooter, and a warning that it will prove to be a huge battery drainer if I use my iPhone to connect Glass to the Internet.

For more human interaction, I walked into a small macaroon shop to buy a friend some birthday sweets. Alone but for the store clerks, I fumbled to take them off, find a place to put them on the small counter and get my wallet out of my bag.

"Sorry. You're the first people I'm interacting with wearing these. I don't mean to be a jerk," I told the man and woman at the counter. I took off Glass for the same reason that I take out my earbuds when I am talking to people. I don't want to appear like I am not paying attention to them.

It was fine, though. The woman thought Glass was cool. The man, he might not have, but he didn't say anything.

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Asus Chromebox review: Great streaming device

Devices that let you watch Netflix and other streaming video services on a big TV screen are popular, but there are limits to what you can watch.

NBC, for instance, didn't make its Olympics apps compatible with Roku, Apple TV and Google's Chromecast. With HBO Go, Comcast subscribers can use Apple TV but not Roku, while it's the other way around for Charter's customers. And with all of these devices, you need an $8-a-month Hulu subscription to watch what you can get for free using desktop computers.

The Internet is the Internet. It shouldn't matter what gadget you're using. But content providers worry that if they make the video streaming experience too much like regular TV, they'll discourage people from watching old-fashioned commercial and pay TV.

So I'm pleased to find a legal way around these restrictions with a new device called the Chromebox.

AsusTek Computer Inc. will start selling it March 28 at a starting price of $179. A version with a faster processor and support for ultra-high-definition video, also known as 4K, will be available in April for $369. That model includes a wireless keyboard and mouse; otherwise, the package is sold separately for $50.

To call the Chromebox a streaming device does it injustice. It's a full-powered desktop computer running Google's Chrome OS system. I'll get into the pros and cons of that later.

You can connect the Chromebox to a standard monitor just like any other desktop. Like other newer desktops, the Chromebox also has an HDMI port to connect to high-definition TVs. That makes it tempting to turn the Chromebox into a streaming device.

With most streaming devices, you need apps for individual services such as Netflix and HBO Go. If there's no app for that service, you can't watch it on the big screen for the most part. That's one of the big shortcomings with Google's Chromecast streaming device. Even though it's just $35, the list of services it supports is paltry.

By contrast, Chromebox works just like any other computer. As long as you can watch something in a Web browser, you can watch it on the big screen.

You can technically do that with any desktop computer if it has an HDMI port or if you get an adapter. Mac computers also have a feature called AirPlay to mirror the display through an Apple TV and your Wi-Fi network.

But those computers typically cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The Chromebox is just $80 more than a Roku 3 or an Apple TV, and it lets you watch -and do- much more.

I've managed to use the Chromebox to watch plenty of free Hulu offerings, replays of Olympics figure skating and some shows from ABC Family, a channel otherwise unavailable on streaming devices. Video is sometimes jerky and the audio sometimes out of sync, but that's something I get on other devices, too.

As I mentioned earlier, Chromebox is much more than a streaming device. Because it runs Google's Chrome OS, it comes with a Google's Chrome Web browser and numerous apps for Google services, including Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and Hangouts chats. You can get apps for non-Google services, too, but not as many as you'd find for Windows and Mac computers.

Chrome OS is ideal for those who use a lot of Google services or can otherwise get what they need over a Web browser. That includes research for homework, checking Facebook and using Web-based email.

If you need professional apps such as Adobe's Photoshop or Microsoft's Office, look elsewhere. The tools available with Chrome OS are adequate for basic functions, but they aren't robust.

Another shortcoming of Chrome OS is its need for a constant Internet connection. Many apps don't work well or at all without that. That's more of a problem with Chrome OS laptops meant for use outside the home. You should never need to separate your Chromebox from the Internet.

Chromebox also has a new Chrome OS feature that lets you create supervised log-ins for your kids. You can choose to block certain sites or permit surfing of only pre-approved sites. You can also see a list of what your kid tried to visit.

Unlike parental control software from outside parties, Chrome OS doesn't try to impose a default list of approved or banned sites. It requires more work to configure, but it lets parents decide what's appropriate.

Chromebox works nicely as a secondary computer that family members share.

Besides the dual display ports, Chromebox has four USB 3.0 ports for printers and other peripherals, a slot for camera memory cards and an Ethernet port for wired Internet connections. It also has Wi-Fi, but not the newer, faster type known as 802.11ac.

My one complaint: You'll have to decide whether you want to use the Chromebox as a general-purpose computer or as a streaming device.

I recommend getting the wireless keyboard and mouse for streaming. Otherwise, the keyboard and mouse would be physically attached to the Chromebox, which sits closer to the TV than to you.

But that setup doesn't work well for general computing. I find text too small to read on a 42-inch (106-centimeter) TV that's 8 or 10 feet away. For general computing, you'll want a smaller screen and you'll want to be closer to it. But then it's no different from watching streaming video on a regular computer.

Of course, the Chromebox is cheap enough that you can buy two. But if you have to choose, consider this: There are plenty of other desktops for general computing, but few affordable enough to use just for streaming.

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UK holds cyberwar game in Churchill's World War II bunker

Under London's streets in Winston Churchill's World War II bunker, young techies are fighting a new kind of war.

Bent over their computers in a steel-reinforced room, dozens of amateur cyber security experts spent Friday racing to understand why Britain's banking network suddenly seemed to have gone offline.

The exercise - it is just an exercise - came complete with sirens and mock newscasts. It's meant to recruit the next generation of tech talent, and is also meant to help highlight the threat many here see as inevitable: A major cyber-attack on the nation's critical infrastructure.

Rob Partridge, a manager with telecommunications company BT who helped spearhead the competition, said: "Some of this is a little bit tongue-in-cheek." Still, "it's the kind of stuff that might happen."

In a private area in the back of the Churchill War Rooms, a complex of underground offices originally built to protect top officials from Nazi bombs, 42 contestants were clustered around seven tables amid the crimson glow of red diodes. Staff from BT, British signals intelligence agency GCHQ and other companies paced the floor as the youngsters parsed code and tracked packets of data across an imaginary network.

The exercise, formally known as the Cyber Security Challenge, is one of a series of Internet security initiatives that have recently won increased funding as the U.K. government has begun disbursing 860 million pounds ($1.4 billion) into the field. The money has fed academic scholarships, business partnerships and a new research institution devoted to protecting British infrastructure from hackers.

But Friday's war game, which imagines Britain's financial infrastructure paralyzed by malicious software, left some cold.

"It's hype," said Ross Anderson, a University of Cambridge academic who argues that online threats have been overstated. In an email, he paraphrased American journalist H. L. Mencken, who warned that politicians love to keep people alarmed "with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

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Will BlackBerry ever resurface as the preferred business smartphone?

Most of us can’t help but notice how BlackBerry the once-dominant Canadian smartphone maker is desperately trying to get back into the game – the one that it lost to the iPhone and several Androids.

We witnessed the transition of BlackBerry from being the quintessential and coveted smartphone, to being an insignificant number in the whole smartphone pie. Is it too late for BlackBerry to regain lost share? We take a look at the situation, from a complete gadget-critic’s point of view.

What went wrong?

We don’t want to keep harping on the fact that BB was late to react to the first iPhone, but that’s where it all began. The first iPhone debuted in mid-2007; the Z10 arrived in January 2013.

So while Z10 with the new OS was late to arrive in the premium smartphone market, BlackBerry was ousted in the budget and mid-range segment by a number of Android devices.

Sure, for a BlackBerry, the Z10 was good – we loved the gesture based navigation, the build quality and the BlackBerry Hub (the all-encompassing notification hub). The camera just about cut it, and screen quality too was decent. And, of course, a reworked BBM was appreciated.

The app ecosystem, however, seriously lacked options for users. For a while, we cut BB some slack, agreeing that it was still too early for the new OS to have as many apps as say iOS or Android.

But when you’re in a market that’s as competitive as this, you can’t use the newbie excuse for long. And BB failed to work on it even by the time Q10 and Q5 were rolled out.

And then there was the price – even some hardcore BB fans were seen shaking their heads in disbelief after learning about the price (considering what the device offered). For a consumer, it just didn’t make sense to pay ?40,000 plus for a BB handset with features that they could get on a device that was significantly less expensive. That was just too much for a smartphone with BBM (WhatsApp wasn’t present on the ecosystem initially). Just those few initial bad notes ruined what could’ve been BB’s symphony of survival.

Bad balancing

The devices that BlackBerry claimed were made to strike the perfect balance between ‘work and life, just fell short on the ‘life’ part. BlackBerry was, and will always be known for its secure BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES), which was the reason why BB became the must-have corporate phone in the first place. But then once you got back home, the BB10 device just wasn’t enough fun.

And now even though the prices for Z10, Q10 and Q5 have been slashed, BlackBerry still doesn’t have enough market share for its BB10 devices. That’s primarily because office mails and apps can be installed and synced on other smartphones too, say an iPhone or an HTC One.

What’s next?

With Z30, BlackBerry proved that it can keep up at least in the hardware department – the 5-inch device comes with a brilliant screen and good processing power for hardcore multitasking. But hardware isn’t the only thing that matters – a smartphone should be fun as well.

It’s time BlackBerry created something new, because on the ‘life’ part of their smartphones, they should have something more than BBM to show off (and that isn’t exclusive any more either).

It needs a sort of reinvention – it needs to come out and offer new features – features that are new, practical, and those that the customers can readily fall in love with. The company really needs to ask this question to itself once before they roll out every device – what will this device offer that its competition doesn’t have.

Before its decline, BB had become a very popular device with younger customers. Even if the company decides to make its way through that price segment, it has some serious competition, in form of the new Nokia X series and seriously powerful budget smartphones such as Moto G.

We see a tiny ray of hope in the form of BlackBerry’s announcement about two new devices, the Z3 and Q20 at MWC this year. While these two devices will hit the Indonesian markets soon, there’s no word on these devices’ pricing and availability in other markets, including India.

With migrating loyalties amongst the buyers of today, for BlackBerry, time is everything. If it brings out either the Z3 or the Q20 right away, it might pick up sales in markets where there’s still some BB presence left. If it waits for Christmas, well, we don’t think BB10 will turn two.

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Xiaomi confirms 5.5-inch, octa-core Redmi Note phone with teaser

The leaked Redmi phone we saw a couple of days ago is coming sooner than we expected, and it now bears an interesting name: Redmi Note.

Does it mean we'll be getting a stylus with this Chinese phone? No idea, as Xiaomi's midnight teaser -- pictured above -- doesn't reveal much, other than confirming the 5.5-inch screen (the leak indicates a 720p resolution) and the octa-core processor (1.4GHz or 1.7GHz).

What's missing is the price, but it should sit somewhere between the current Redmi's CN¥699 (about $110) and the MI2a's CN¥1,499 ($240) -- so maybe CN¥999 ($160) at most.

Folks in China will be able to pre-order at local time 8pm on March 19th using Tencent'sQzone app, which got the exclusive for the Redmi Note's debut sale. For those outside China, your usual gray market channels are standing by.

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Yahoo buys Vizify 'to bring a more visual approach to data'

Vizify, a startup that specialises in creating interactive infographics and videos of users' social media data has been acquired by Yahoo. The details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Vizify's services will be shut down following the acquisition.

"As part of our transition to Yahoo, we will no longer be allowing new signups or purchases of paid plans. We will also be sunsetting the Vizify service, " Vizify said in an email to users. Vizify that was founded in June 2011 is based in Portland.

An announcement posted on the Vizify website gives a vague idea of what the future holds for the Vizify team at Yahoo. "As for what's next, we can't talk specifics just yet, but we're excited to bring a more visual approach to data at Yahoo."

Vizify is no longer allowing new signups or purchases of paid plans and says that "for all bioholders, free and paid, we'll be providing a way for you to opt-in to 'archive' a snapshot of your current bio that will remain live at the same URL through September 4, 2014."

Vizify is Yahoo's 37th acquisition since new CEO Marissa Mayer took charge in July 2012.

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Three new flagship models to heat up smartphone battle

Gone are the days when tech giants would launch just one flagship smartphone a year and that too at a specific time. With new and big devices coming much more frequently, the latest instance being Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia X2 and LG G Pro 2 phones at the Mobile World Congress, Gadgets and Gizmos takes a look at what's on offer.

The last year saw the launch of a number of flagship smartphones that were capable of giving the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4, a run for their money. The HTC One, Sony Xperia Z1 and even the LG G Pro - each one of them had something special. Barely three months into the new year, we already have the wraps off some of the new flagships phones.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The fastest growing Android smartphone maker in the world has stepped into the fifth stage of the Galaxy series. Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S5, which features several improvements over the S4. The smartphone has a 5.1 inch Full HD display and aa 16MP camera which can capture ultra-HD videos at 30 frames per second. It operates on Android KitKat and runs on 2.5GHz quad core application processor, paired with 2GB of RAM. A fingerprint scanner has been integrated into its home button, much like that of the iPhone 5s. Samsung has followed Sony's footsteps as well and waterproofed this phone. It is water and dust resistant and certified as such. It can withstand water up to a depth of one meter for a maximum of 30 minutes. Connectivity options onboard include USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Wi-Fi, and LTE support.

Sony Xperia Z2

The successor to the Xperia Z1 has also arrived. The phone has a slightly bigger display than most, measuring 5.2 inch. It has a 20.7MP camera - an Exmor RS for mobile image sensor, featuring the award-winning G Lens. The phone can also capture 4k videos. It will run on Android KitKat, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor - a 2.3GHz quad-core Krait CPU and 3GB RAM. It can support LTE and NFC connectivity, and has a 3200mAh battery. Sony is calling it "the world's best camera and camcorder in a waterproof smartphone"

LG G Pro 2

Successor to the LG G Pro, the Pro 2 has picked up the industrial design and material feel of the recently launched LG G2, which includes back mounted buttons for volume and power, as well as the curved back cover and the 13MP camera module. But there are a few changes. The phone comes with the 5.9 inch display with 1080p resolution, which makes it a phablet. It runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon quad core processor clocked at 2.26 Ghz and paired with 3GB RAM. It also has Dolby mobile sound enhancement and LG Optimus UI onboard.

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You can now mirror your Android screen on Chromecast, if you have a Nexus 5

The prospect of mirroring your Android screen on Chromecast has been teased for a few weeks, but the feature can now be finally tried out -- if you have the right smartphone, that is.

An updated version of the Mirror for Android beta includes early support for mirroring to either a Chrome browser or Chromecast, but only if you have a Nexus 5.

Google's phone is the sole device with the hardware video decoder needed for this mirroring technique.

You also have to get root-level access to the operating system with the current release, although that won't be necessary in the future. Provided you meet the app's exact requirements, you can give mirroring a spin at the source link.

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Adobe Revel photo-editing and sharing app finally arrives for Android

Adobe has finally launched its Revel all-in-one collaborative photo-editing and photo-sharing app for Android, nearly three years after it was launched for iOS in 2011.

The Adobe Revel app is now available for download for free via the Google Play store. With it, users can upload photos and videos, edit them, and can keep them organized. One can also share edited photos and videos on social networks.

Users will be able to invite friends and family to join a Group Library, and then control who can see, add, or edit content. The application includes private web galleries for sharing content with only those members whom the user has selected.

The editing option in the Revel app includes some basic tools such as filters, cropping, exposure and contrast adjustment, tools from built-in Elements apps, "Adobe Revel is also integrated with Photoshop Elements 12 and Premiere Elements 12, making it easy for you to bring your edited photos and videos with you anywhere you go," states the Adobe blog post.

The users can upload unlimited images and videos for the first month. After this period, users will be limited to 50 photos and video uploads per month. However, one can still opt for the unlimited uploads via an in-app purchase of $5.99 a month or $59.99 for a year.

Adobe Revel for Android is also seen receiving positive reviews from users on the Google Play store, with a rating of 4.4 stars out of 5. The Abobe Revel app is sized at 17MB and requires Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above OSes to run.

In January, Adobe rolled out an updated version of its Photoshop Express app for Android, which is now compatible with Android 4.4 KitKat, and boasts of some new features.

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HTML? For 1 in 10 in US, it’s a disease

One in 10 Americans believe that HTML is a communicable disease, while 23% think an MP3 is a ‘Star Wars’ robot, according to a new study.

In a study of 2,392 American men and women, all of whom were 18 years of age or older, 11% said that HTML (HyperText Markup Language) – a language that is used in programming websites – is a Communicable Disease. Also 15% said “software” is a comfortable type of clothing and 12% said ‘USB’ is the acronym for a European country. Around 77% of respondents could not identify what SEO means. SEO stands for ‘Search-Engine-Optimisation’.

The study said that 27% of the respondents said “gigabyte” was a South American insect. A gigabyte is a measurement unit for the storage capacity of an electronic device. The study found that 23% of Americans thought an MP3, which is an audio file, was a “Star Wars” robot. Also, 42% said they believed a “motherboard” was “the deck of a cruise ship.”

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Turkey President rules out ban on Facebook

Turkey’s president on Friday ruled out any ban on Facebook and YouTube after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the site could be shut to stop his foes anonymously posting audio recordings purportedly exposing corruption in his inner circle.

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Micromax Canvas Tab P650E CDMA tablet with Android 4.0

Micromax Canvas Tab P650E, which is a CDMA variant of the company's first flagship tablet, the Canvas Tab P650, is now listed on the company's official website. However, the popular domestic manufacturer is yet to reveal the pricing and availability details of the new tablet.

Recently, the Canvas Tab P650E was available via an e-commerce website at Rs. 8,999.

The Canvas Tab P650E offers single SIM functionality with support for CDMA network. It comes with a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1024x600 pixels. The tablet runs on the dated Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

The Canvas Tab P650E is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (MSM8625) processor clocked at 1GHz (unspecified chipset) along with 512MB of RAM. Other specifications include a 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera and 4GB of inbuilt storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB.

The Canvas Tab P650E is backed by a 3000mAh battery which, according to the official listing, delivers up to 220 hours of standby time and up to 11 hours of talk time.

Micromax in February also listed the Funbook Mini P410i on the company's website without pricing or availability details.

Notably, the Micromax Funbook Mini P410i is the successor to the Funbook Mini P410 tablet launched last year, and comes with upgraded specifications.

The Micromax Funbook Mini P410i tablet, like its predecessor, comes with a 7-inch TFT LCD display with 1024x600 pixels resolution. The Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean-based tablet supports dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) functionality with voice-calling.

It is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core MediaTek (MT8377) processor alongside 1GB of RAM. The Funbook Mini P410i includes 4GB of inbuilt storage which can be expanded up to 32GB via microSD card. The tablet sports a 5-megapixel rear fixed focus camera while there is a 2-megapixel front-facing fixed focus camera.

Notably, the Funbook Mini P410i packs a 2800mAh battery, like its predecessor, rated to deliver up to 6 hours of talk time and up to 120 hours of standby time. The Micromax Funbook Mini tablet will be available in White.

Micromax Canvas Tab P650E key specifications

• 7-inch display with 1024x600 pixels resolution
• 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 2-megapixel rear camera
• VGA front-facing camera
• 4GB inbuilt storage (expandable up to 32GB)
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• SIM support (CDMA)
• 3000mAh battery

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How to start Windows 8 in Safe Mode

This is a tutorial of how to start Windows® 8 in Safe Mode

A step by step tutorial with Pictures or Snapshots from my own PC

This method applies on all the versions of Windows 8 which include:-

·         Windows 8 RT

·         Windows 8

·         Windows 8 Professional (Windows 8 Pro)

·         Windows 8 Professional with Media Center (Windows 8 Pro WMC)

·         Windows 8 Enterprise

First of all start your PC as usual (No need of pressing any key at the time of booting)

·         Let the Computer boot up and show the Start Screen,

·         Point your mouse to the Extreme right of your Window OR Press “Windows Button and C” together 

·         The Charms Bar will appear                                                                                                                                                   

·         Click on Settings                                                                                                                                                                          

·         Now Click on Change PC Settings                                                                                                                                         

·         Metro Control Panel will appear                                                                                                                                          

·         Click on General and then Click on Restart now Given below Advance startup                                                

·         It will Restart and show an option                                                                                                                                        

·         For Safe Mode you have to Click on Troubleshoot                                                                                                       

·         And then Click on Advance options                                                                                                                                     

·         And then Click on Startup Settings                                                                                                                                      

·         And Finally Click on Restart                                                                                                                                                     

Now you can choose the way you want like:-                                                                                                                         

1.       Enable debugging

2.       Enable boot logging

3.       Enable low-resolution video

4.       Enable Safe Mode

5.       Enable Safe Mode with Networking

6.       Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt

7.       Disable driver signature enforcement

8.       Disable early launch anti-malware protection

9.       Disable automatic restart after failure                                  

ALTERNATIVE:-

·        Go to Run (Windows Button + R)                                                                                                                                      

·         Type msconfig.exe or just msconfig                                                                                                                                

·         A Dialog Box will appear                                                                                                                                                       

·         Click on the Boot Tab                                                                                                                                                             

·         Under Boot options, Click on Safe Boot (Check the Box for the Tick Mark )                                                    

·         Click on Ok

·         A new box will appear and ask you to restart your computer                                                                                

·         If you have any file or app open please save and close all the programs before Restarting

·         It will directly boot in safe mode without showing any option to choose

People who just want normal Safe Mode should use this method because this is easier

·         If you choose this method (msconfig.exe method), Every time you boot up your PC, it will run in safe mode

·         To disable this, Go to Run by pressing Windows Button + R

·         Now type msconfig.exe or just msconfig

·         Go to Boot Tab and then Uncheck the box near Safe Boot under the Boot options  

·         Restart your PC and then it will again start as it used to before, that is, normally without entering the Safe Mode

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