Latest Updates about Mobile and Computer

Sunday, 26 January 2014

MTNL users to get home Wi-Fi at public places

MUMBAI: Ailing state-owned telecom company MTNL plans to launch high speed Wi-Fi servicesin Mumbai and Delhi that will provide internet services to customers at locations apart from their homes.

MTNL will be tying up with malls, coffee chains and food courts to provide this unlimited Wi-Fi service to its customers.

"We are planning to provide our customers Wi-Fi services at indoor locations such airports, cafes, food courts, apart from their homes. We will be offering 8Mbps speed," MTNL executive director Peeyush Agarwal told reporters over the weekend.

On the tariff side, he said a customer will have to use a line-bonding modem to avail of this service, adding that customers already using theMTNL Wi-Fi services on mobile devices will be charged an additional Rs 50-100 apart from their existing monthly rental.

He said MTNL, which operates only in Mumbai and Delhi, has already tied up with city's new terminal T2 to provide this Wi-Fi service and is in talks rest of the two airports for the same.

MTNL will be targeting the Mumbai and New Delhi airports and all the food courts and malls for this service.

Agarwal said an MTNL customer who uses Wi-Fi on multiple devices like laptop, mobile, personal computers and tabs at home will also have access to internet on such locations.

A customer will have to register himself at such places, and just by using his unique login ID and password can have access to internet there, he added.

He said there are certain authentication process required before launching the service and as soon it gets complete, the service will be launched. MTNL has partnered with C-bot to provide this Wi-Fi service.

MTNL which currently has 6 lakh broadband customers, sees addition of another 2 lakh to its customer base once this service is launched.
Credits:-www.timesofindia.com

Google to offer $2.7 million prize at hacking contest

NEW DELHI: Search engine giant Google will offer $2.7 million to researchers who can hack its browser-based operating system Chrome OS as part of its Pwnium hacking contest to be held in March this year.

"Security is a core tenet of Chromium, which is why we hold regular competitions to learn from security researchers. Contests like Pwnium help us make Chromium even more secure," Google said in a blogpost.

This year, Pwnium 4, will be hosted in March at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, Canada.

"With a total of $2.71828 million in the pot, we'll issue Pwnium rewards for eligible Chrome OS exploits at $110,000 for browser or system-level compromise in guest mode or as a logged-in user, delivered via a web page," it said.

Google will also pay $150,000 for providing an exploit to be able to persistently compromise an HP or Acer Chromebook, ie hacking the device to retain control even after a reboot.

The earlier editions of Pwnium competitions focussed on Intel-based Chrome OS devices, but this year Google will allow researchers to also choose from ARM-based Chromebook, the HP Chromebook 11 (Wi-Fi) and the Acer C720 Chromebook (2GB Wi-Fi) based on Intel's Haswell microarchitecture.

Last year, Google had put $3.14159 million in the pot for Pwnium 3.

Google said it would consider larger bonuses this year to researchers who demonstrated what it called a "particularly impressive or surprising exploit."

"New this year, we will also consider significant bonuses for demonstrating a particularlyimpressive or surprising exploit. Potential examples include defeating kASLR, exploiting memory corruption in the 64-bit browser process or exploiting the kernel directly from a renderer process," it said.
Credits:-www.timesofindia.com

Saturday, 28 December 2013

Nokia 106 feature phone launched at Rs 1,399

Nokia 106, the Finnish company's low cost feature phone, is now available in India via its official online store for Rs 1,399.

NEW DELHI: Nokia 106, the Finnish company's low cost feature phone, is now available in India via its official online store for Rs 1,399. The phone is available in black, red and white colour options. The handset was first announced in August for the Chinese market.

The all-new Nokia 106 sports a 1.8-inch display with a resolution of 128x160p and pixel density of 114ppi. One of the USPs of the phone is its dust and splash-proof keymat. Nokia claims that 'the characters on the keys would not fade, no matter how long they're used.'

The single-sim phone (supports only micro-sim) doesn't come with a rear camera and supports only 2G networks. It packs in an 800mAh battery that claims to deliver talk time of 9.9 hours and standby time of 35 days.

The Nokia 106 is capable of storing up to 500 contacts and 5 phonebooks. It comes with 32-polyphonic ringtones. The phone also supports FM Radio and measures 112.9 x 47.5 x 14.9mm and weighs 74.2gram.

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Tuesday, 5 November 2013

iPhone craze grips India, retailers await stocks

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The rush for the latest iPhones, which were launched in India on November 1, has seen the costlier iPhone 5Smodel sold out across the country and retailers asking Apple for emergency replenishments, which are expected in the next two days, some of them said. To be sure, not too many phones may have been supplied by the company, with the trade estimating the number of 5S devices at 6,000 units.

Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel, along with major retail chains, have sought additional stocks, but the Diwali weekend has delayed re-stocking efforts. Top multi-brand cellphone and electronic retail chains such as The MobileStore, PlanetM, UniverCell and Future Group say their iPhone 5S stocks are over but that they still have iPhone 5C phones.

PlanetM Retail chief executive Sanjay Karwa said those who want the iPhone 5S aren't willing to settle for the iPhone 5C. Manish Chaubey, 32, an executive at a multinational based in Gurgaon, was one of those disappointed. "I went to buy the 16GB iPhone 5S. I have made several enquiries at retail stores as well as Airtel and Reliance outlets and am really frustrated as they say stocks are sold out and they aren't sure when they will get fresh stocks," he said.

According to trade estimates, about 30,000 units were launched in India. Of these, some 6,000 were iPhone 5S models. Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone operator, and RCom, the third largest, began selling the smartphones through bundled offers on November 1 and 2, respectively. Retail chains began selling the device on November 1.

"Reliance Communications was supplied around 2,700 units and it was sold off in one and a half days," a company official familiar with the matter told ET on Monday. He said that the company has been in touch with Apple and is hopeful of getting fresh stocks of both models sometime this week.

A Bharti Airtel spokesman said the company had sought additional stocks, and is awaiting Apple's response. "Things are a bit delayed given this is a Diwali weekend," the person said. An industry insider said Bharti Airtel had got about 700 units, all of which had been sold out. Bharti Airtel didn't confirm the figure.

On Saturday evening, retailers asked Apple to get its distributors, Redington and Ingram Micro, to send them any remaining iPhone 5S stocks. These reached stores on Sunday evening and were sold out by noon on Monday.

While the telecom companies echoed the view of retailers that the iPhone 5S has seen much higher demand than the iPhone 5C, they have exhausted stocks of both models and their variants, thanks to the deals available. The phone is available for the first time under the kind of contracts available overseas.

Under RCom's bundled offer, buyers can get the base models of both the 5C and 5S for zero upfront payment. They need to make monthly payments of Rs 2,599 and Rs 2,999, respectively, which includes unlimited voice calls and data usage.

Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, offered the iPhone 5S and 5C to Indian customers with monthly rental plans that it said would effectively reduce the cost by Rs 12,000 over a year.

Airtel is offering a 50% discount on monthly rental plans beginning at Rs 300 and going up to Rs 1,000. For those who don't want to opt for such plans, the iPhone 5C costs Rs 41,900 (16GB) and Rs 53,500 (32GB), while iPhone 5S is priced between Rs 53,500 and Rs 71,500, depending on the internal memory.

PlanetM's Karwa said Apple has promised to rush fresh supplies of the 5S to India.
Credits:-www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

BlackBerry may abandon smartphone business

TORONTO: Those few BlackBerry lovers left could be in for some bad news.

The device that was so addictive that it was dubbed the "CrackBerry" might not have much of a future: Its new chairman and interim chief executive says he wants to emphasize software and services - not devices. That could mean the company might ultimately get out of the business of selling smartphones.

The possible change in strategy comes as Fairfax Financial, BlackBerry's largest shareholder with a 10% stake, said Monday it won't buy the struggling smartphone company and take it private. It said that instead Fairfax and other investors will inject $1 billion as part of a revised investment proposal.

CEO Thorsten Heins is stepping down and John Chen was appointed chairman of BlackBerry's board of directors and interim CEO. Chen, the former CEO of software data company Sybase, said that BlackBerry employees need to start thinking differently about the company and accept that "we're really not in phones but we're in phones for software, for services.''

Chen said he wants to find a CEO with a strong software and services background.

He noted that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry's popular messaging application, has been downloaded by more 20 million users since it became available on Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms last month. BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, works like text messaging but doesn't incur extra fees.

"I'd like to find somebody to help me monetize that," Chen said.

Colin Gillis, an industry analyst at BGC Financial, questioned whether that's possible.

"It's like Apple saying we're going to stop making phones and we're going to become an iMessage company," Gillis said.

Gillis said BlackBerry might indeed stop selling phones but noted BlackBerry is already obsolete. He doesn't think current BlackBerry users have to worry though.

"They are not just going to shut the lights off," Gillis said.

The decline of the BlackBerry has come shockingly fast. In 1999, BlackBerry became a game-changing breakthrough in personal connectedness. It changed the culture by allowing on-the-go business people to access wireless email. President Barack Obama couldn't bear to part with his BlackBerry. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things.''

Then came a new generation of competing smartphones, and suddenly the BlackBerry looked ancient. Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. In the years since, BlackBerry been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals.

This year's much-delayed launch of the BlackBerry 10 system and the fancier devices that use it was supposed to rejuvenate the brand and lure customers. It did not work. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry recently announced 4,500 layoffs, or 40% of its global workforce, and reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion.

"Sadly I think they are already out of the business after the BlackBerry 10 flop," said Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.

Walkley said he believes BlackBerry will focus on its mobile device management business, which allows IT departments to manage different devices connected to their corporate networks.
Credits:-www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Apple's earnings fall despite rising iPhone sales

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple's quarterly earnings are still sagging even as sales of its iPhones are rising, a vexing phenomenon feeding investor worries about whether stiffer competition in the mobile device market will continue to undercut the company's prosperity.

The fiscal fourth-quarter results announced Monday closed the books on a sobering year that saw Apple's market value plunge by about 25 per cent, or about $160 billion. Apple Inc. remains the world's most valuable company, despite the downturn.

The company's earnings have been shrinking along with its share of the smartphone and tablet computer market that Apple reshaped with the 2007 release of the first iPhone and the 2010 introduction of the iPad. Apple hasn't come up with another breakthrough product in a new category since then, raising questions about the company's ability to innovate following the death of co-founder and chief visionary Steve Jobs two years ago.

Apple's earnings have now fallen from the previous year in three consecutive quarters after a decade of steady growth.

The Cupertino, California, earned $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per share, during the three months ending September 28. That compared to income of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per share, last year.

The latest quarterly earnings topped the average estimate of $7.92 per share among analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 4 per cent to $37.5 billion _ about $600 million above analyst predictions.

Investors were evidently hoping for a better showing and, perhaps, a more optimistic forecast for the current quarter, which covers the crucial holiday shopping season. Management predicted Apple's revenue will range from $55 billion to $58 billion in the quarter ending in late December. Analysts had projected revenue of $55.6 billion. Apple also indicated that its profit margins would be in the same range as the past quarter.

Apple's stock dipped by $2.16 cents to $527.72 in extended trading after the numbers came out.

Activist investor Carl Icahn, who holds a 0.5 percent stake in Apple, is pressuring the company to spend $150 billion buying back its own stock in an effort to boost the price. His idea would more than double the $60 billion that Apple's board has budgeted for buying back stock during the next three years.

Apple apparently doesn't have any immediate plans to placate Icahn. CEO Tim Cook told analysts on a Monday conference call that the board won't announce any potential changes to its current programme for buying back stock until early next year.

The latest quarter included early sales of the latest iPhones released last month.

The models consist of a 5S, a high-end version featuring a faster chip and a fingerprint reader, and the 5C, a slightly cheaper version that comes in a variety of brightly colored plastic cases. Apple didn't specify how many of each of the new models sold during the final week of the quarter.

The company sold 33.8 million iPhones in the past quarter, a 26 per cent increase from the same time last year. But the prices for those iPhones averaged $577, a 7 percent decrease from an average price of $618 a year ago.

Apple's iPad sales edged slightly upward, with 14.1 million of the devices sold versus 14 million a year ago. The average price for an iPad slipped 14 per cent to $439, a shift reflecting the growing popularity of a smaller version featuring an 8-inch display screen.

An update to the iPad Mini with a higher definition display screen and a higher price is scheduled to go on sale at a still-to-be determined date next month. At the same time, Apple is cutting the price of the original iPad Mini by $30 to $299. A thinner and lighter version of the full-sized iPad, called Air, will go on sale Friday.
Credits:www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Gmail, Yahoo may be banned in government offices by year-end

NEW DELHI: Wary of cybersnooping, the government could ban e-mail services such asGmail and Yahoo for official communications by December this year in a move to safeguard its critical and sensitive data.

The government is expected to route all its official communication through the official website NIC's email service.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) is drafting a policy on e-mail usage for government offices and departments and the policy is almost ready. The department is now taking views from other ministries on it.

"E-mail policy of the government of India, as this policy will be called, is almost ready and we are taking views from other ministries on this. Our effort will be to operationalise it by mid or end-December," DEITY Secretary J Satyanarayana told reporters on the sidelines of a CII summit.

According to official sources, the policy seeks to protect the large amount of critical government data.

It also aims to make it mandatory for government offices to communicate only on the nic.in platform rather than commercial email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc.

The policy is expected to cover about 5-6 lakh Central and State government employees for using the email service provided by National Informatics Centre (NIC).

On investments required for the policy, Satyanarayana said: "We immediately require about Rs 4-5 crore to ramp up the NIC infrastructure. But, the total investment needed for the full operationability of the e-mail policy could be around Rs 50-100 crore."

This will also include integrating the e-mails with cloud so that official data can be saved on a cloud platform, which can then be easily shared with the concerned government ministries and departments, he added.

The development comes close on heels of concerns being raised by a section in the government, especially intelligence agencies, over use of email services, provided by foreign firms (mostly US-based), which have their servers located in overseas locations, making it difficult to track if sensitive government data is being snooped upon.

The move also assumes significance in light of the fallout of the Snowden saga, which contended the US intelligence agencies used a secret data-mining programme to monitor worldwide internet data to spy on various countries, including India.

Former technical contractor for National Security Agency and Central Intelligence AgencyEdward Snowden had leaked what was allegedly details of a top-secret American mass surveillance programme, which led to countries analysing the safety of their official internet-supported communication networks.
Credits:-www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Latest Updates about Mobile and Computer

Client

Sunday, 26 January 2014

MTNL users to get home Wi-Fi at public places

Google to offer $2.7 million prize at hacking contest

Saturday, 28 December 2013

Nokia 106 feature phone launched at Rs 1,399

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