Patent monitoring service launched by Microsoft

With inventions over inventions happening on a fast basis, to track whether the invention has already been made becomes a pretty daunting task. To tackle this, microsoft has come up with the Internet-based automatic patent monitoring service that will help in tracking various patent registers in North America and Europe and track changes. 

Now that anyone can have an access to accessing the patent details, there is a high probability of the 'sue' game to happen. But Google has promised that they wont sue any user who uses the open sources software unless they sue Google!

The patent tracking idea was released in February, but the expected release day is 1st of April.  A press release by the Microsoft website said "“Microsoft is committed to responsible intellectual property management, including the creation of a healthy patent ecosystem around the world that promotes and encourages innovation. One component of a well-functioning patent system is clarity around what entity is the real party in interest for a particular patent. Increased transparency around ownership reduces the likelihood of opportunistic behavior and gamesmanship by patent holders and helps facilitate licensing.”

Will have to wait and see how the idea pans out to be!

Micromax A116 Canvas HD finally in online stores

After days of confusion, Micromax Canvas HD is slowly entering the retail market! The Infibeam and Univercell website has already got pieces ready to deliver that too only a bit more that the current market price and is priced at 14,999! It also promises shipping within 24 hours. Pretty neat!

A look at the specs once again

Simcard Slots - Dual Sim

Operating System - Android 4.1 - Jelly Bean

Release date - 14 Feb 2013

Chipset/ Processor - Mediatek MT6589/ 1.2 Quad-core

GPU - PowerVR SGX544

RAM - 1 GB

Internal storage - 4 GB (User free - Only 1.77 GB!)

Camera - Primary = 8 Mega Pixel; Secondary = 2.1 Mega Pixel (HD recording)

Battery - 2000 mAh

Weight - 156 Grams

Display - 5 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels, IPS LCD, Pixel density - ~294 ppi

You can buy the product by clicking this link (infibeam). For Univercell, Click here . Univercell is offering it at a price of 14,999! 

All the best and hope websites like flipkart and zoomin get into selling HD soon!  Flipkart has already listed the phone to be "coming soon"! 

How to check validity, talktime and GPRS balance for Airtel, Tata Docomo, Reliance, Aircel, Idea, BSNL, Vodafone

I have always faced this issue of understanding what exactly I should type or dial on my phone to check my phone balance. Usually we never get help from the so called "Customer service person". So I thought I will put up all the codes necessary to track your balance validity etc of all the cell providers in India so that we don't get our bottoms kicked by these very helpful customer service people.

Airtel

1. Airtel Balance check : Dial *123#
2. Airtel Internet/GPRS check: Dial *123*10#
3. Airtel GPRS plans: Dial *567#
   
   
   

Vodafone

1. Vodafone balance check: Dial *141#
2. Vodafone Internet/GPRS Balance: SMS MB to 144

Idea

1. Idea balance check: Dial *111#
2. Idea Internet/GPRS Balance: Dial *111#

BSNL

1. Balance Check: Dial *123#
2. Internet/GPRS Balance:Either Dial *124*1# or SMS DATA 2G or DATA 3G and send it to 53733

Reliance

1. Balance Check:Dial *367#
2. Internet/GPRS Balance: Dial *367*3# or SMS MBAL to55333

Tata Docomo

1. Balance Check: Dial *111#
2. Internet/GPRS Balance:Dial *111*1# or SMS BAL to 121

Aircel:

1. Balance Check: Dial *111#
2. Internet/GPRS Balance: Dial *111*9#

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Though this is a standard format, it may not work in all the states. If it doesn't  please drop in a message in the comment bar and I will try to get back to u!

Micromax planning to release an Ultra HD Canvas 3?

Ok. Now that Micromax is slowly clearing its backlogs with the very infamous Canvas HD + Snapdeal blunder, things are getting back to normal. The Micromax HD Facebook fan page is now flooding with news about the phone being delivered to their customers one by one and all we are getting to see is happy smiling accomplished faces!

So now that HD is getting its well deserved recognition, rumors state that Micromax is actually building a Canvas 3 now, which is still not official (To be called as Canvas Pro HD?). A few speculated specifications are as mentioned below.

1. Internal memory - 8 GB

2. 2 GHz Quad core processor

3. Ram - 2GB

4. A 13 MP Rear and 3.2MP(?) Front camera

5. 5.5 inch  HD LCD Display (With corning glass?)

6. 1920 X 1080 P resolution (WoW!)

Now all these are speculations, but as promised by Micromax, the fact stays that they are going to flood the market with smartphones and with the achievement got by the success of Canvas HD, an Ultra HD is for sure on its way. 

The speculate price is between 18,000 to 20,000 INR

For more information and regular updates, 'like' & stay tuned on the Facebook Blog fan page! 

How to change or convert low quality videos into High quality HD format

So now we are living in this HD generation and we are moving towards the Ultra HD generation. There might be hundreds of videos which you might have downloaded a few years ago, may be of a lower quality when the idea of HD wasn't there and now that you have all HD videos available on the internet, you might be thinking of how to convert those low Quality videos into HD, probably a 720p or even a 1080p. So here is a converter using which you can convert a low quality video to an HD.

The name of the program is 'Streaming Video Recorder'.

1. Click on Convert
2. Go to Add button to add the videos that you want to convert
3. In the Profile section, select the Video format - HD 720 p or HD 1080 p
4. Start converting
5. Conversion done!
As simple as that! once the conversion is done, the destination window will pop up and you can run the video and see the quality. Give it a try! 

A list of top 10 dual SIM mobile phones in India

There was a time when buying a mobile phone and using itself was a very big deal. Now technology has changed so much that we are using mobile phones that has the power of a normal laptop! In the due course, the price of phones have come down with the addition of dual sim phones. 

Here I will try to list the top 10 cheap dual sim mobile phones in India.

 1) Micromax X1i+:    Price - 1800 Rs, 15 Hours talk time

2) Nokia C1:     Price - 1999 Rs,  FM radio and Flashlight

3) Zen M25:     Price - 3400 Rs,   16 Hours talk time

4) Samsung Guru E2152:     Price - 3550 Rs, VGA camera, FM radio

5) Lava B5:     Price - 4399 Rs,     2 MP camera

6) Karbon K25:   Price - 4400 Rs, 2 MP camera, FM radio, memory expandable upto 8 GB

7) Intex IN 6633:     Price - 4500 Rs, 2 MP camera, 4 Hours talktime

8) Micromax X600:     Price - 4900 Rs, 2 MP camera

9) Motorola EX115:    Price - 5990 Rs , 3 MP camera

10) Samsung Star Duos:     Price - 12,300 Rs, Dual Sim - GSM + CDMA, Touchscreen, 5 MP camera

Happy buying! 

Aakash, the cheapest tablet in the world a failure already?

It came as a big news, when government of India announced the release of Aakash, the 'most affordable tablet ever', as a part of the technology and education promotion in the country. All thought things were going on fine,Android until the Govt conceded that the release was a failure. 

This is what the HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju had to say about the issue "... the other challenge is production-ising it. That is where the failure has come. If the production-isation had happened on time, students would have accessed to it. The product exists but we are not able to production-ise it as much as required". SO the flaw lies there. They were not able to cope up with the needs!

So when I said it is the cheapest tablet in the world, I really meant it. The subsidised selling rate for the tablet is Rs 1130, which in USD is 20$! So we are talking about a 20$ tablet here. The company that took up thw project, Datawind was asked to produce one lakh pieces, which never happened.  The HRD mininister continued "Aakash is a tablet which will enable you to access the content. But there are others who have come up...students will pick up whatever serves the purpose better and affordable. We will continue to work on the product as long as development of the product is concerned."

Ashok Thakur, the Higher Education Secretary said "The day Rajendra Pawar Committee submits the report, based on that we will take further action on whether to proceed with the Cabinet note or to concentrate and look at the immediate thing that is connectivity. The idea was that once we have supply of one lakh tablets, we would be able to proceed further...there has been a setback, it seems that have not been able to supply, so therefore."

So will the Government sue Datawind for not being able to keep up with the promise? What next with Aakash? Will have to wait and see!

Blackberry Z10 to release on March 26 - What to expect?

Now that the Smartphone companies are busy releasing their flagship models starting from Sony's Xperia Z, The Samsung Galaxy S4, now Blackberry is busy with their release of the Z10 model. 

Lets have a look at the specifications:

1. 4.2" 16M-color WXGA (768 x 1280 pixels) capacitive touchscreen TFT
2. Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait, 2GB RAM, Adreno 225
3. BlackBerry 10 OS
4. Of course! BBM with video chat and screen sharing
5. 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection and Time Shift; LED flash, 2MP front facing camera
6. Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps; 720p recording with front-facing camera
7. 16GB storage, microSD card slot; built-in Dropbox and Box integration

By the collective idea of it, there is nothing much to expect from the phone given the growth in the Android OS. We will have to wait and see if Blackberry is able to retain their 'business group' customers. Personally I dont think that is going to happen. We will have to wait and see! See what Blackberry CEO had to say about its competitors - Click!

The much anticipated Apple iPhone 6 release date and rumors

The iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and an iPhone 6 on its way? The rumor in the market is that the Smartphone will be packed with an Apple A7 processor, possibly a quad core! The expected size of the chip is around 20 nm (nano meter). Report is that the smartphone will be bigger than iPhone 5S with around a 5 inch screen. We can also expect an upgrade in the camera, and also the talk is that the phone will come with a fingerprint scanner. Pretty neat! Also since wireless charging is an upcoming trend, the same can be seen for iPhone 6. 

So lets hope for the best and see whether Apple can come up with something astonishing to lead the Smartphone market once again!

A List of Top 10 mobiles in India under Rs 20000

Here I have tried to list the top 5 smartphones that comes in India under Rs 20,000 range

1. HTC 8S

This is one of the best Windows phone that you can get under 20,000 INR range. This phone has a 4-inch LCD display supporting 800 x 480 pixel resolution. The phone has a dual core 1 GHz Qualcomm S4 MSM8227 mobile processor with a 512 MB RAM. The phone weighs around 113 grams and is 10.28 mm thick. The downside is that it has only a 4GB internal storage eventhough it supports up to a 32 GB micro SD card. The phone comes with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, which is capable of recording 720p HD videos, downside again - no front camera. It comes with a 1700 mAh battery.

Price: Rs 19,260

2. Xolo X900

The phone is packed with a Android 2.3 Gingerbread but has been promoted to the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updateIt comes with a single core 1.6 GHz Intel Atom mobile processor and 1 GB RAM. The phone features a 4-inch display with Corning's Gorilla Glass. It has an 8 megapixel camera with a 1.3 MP front camera that can  record full 1080p HD videos. The phone packs a 14460 mAH battery.

Price: Rs 16,500

3. HTC Desire X

This phone runs on the HTC Sense 4.0 user interface and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone comes with a  4-inch Super LCD touchscreen display, Super LCD display with 480 x 800 pixel resolution. It is packed with a dual core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processor. The sound quality is pretty awesome as it is powered by the Beats Audio technology. But down side? Another phone with a 4 GB internal memory, but supports up to 32 GB via microSD. It has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, but sadly cant record HD videos. The phone has a 160 mAH battery and can run for almost a day without heavy usage. 

Price: Rs 18,500

4. Samsung Grand Duos

When it is a Samsung product, we dont have to think twice. It has to be awesome. This phone comes with an Android Icecream Sandwich. Its also a 4 inch dual sim phone  with a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 7227A. The LCD display has a 480 x 800 pixel resolution. It is powered by an Adreno 200 graphics engine. Now that I have been talking about downsides with the internal memory of all the previous mentioned Smartphone, this one also has only a 4 GB internal memory. expandable to 32 GB. Duos has a 5 MP camera but is only capable of recording VGA resolution videos.  It also has a VGA front cam.

Price: Rs 14,500

5. Sony XPeria GO

Before we go into anything, we need to talk about its screen. The phone comes with a scratch resistant mineral glass display and meets industry standard IP (Ingress Protection) rating 67 to fight off dust and the effects of water immersion as well. Pretty neat right?! The phone comes with a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 pixel reality display, with an Android ICS display. Now that we have been talking about the downsides of the other phones being the fact that all of them have a low inbuilt memory, this one comes with an 8 GB on board memory, with a  1 GHz dual core processor along with 512 MB of RAM. It has a 5 MP front cam, but no rear camera.

Price: Rs 16,000 

iPhone 5S fails, explodes while talking

Imagine you talking on your cellphone and all of a sudden the cell phone explodes! Yes, this is quite a possibility and a few days ago it just happened. Now if you thought this phenomenon could occur only with low grade manufacturing quality cell phones, you are wrong. This has happened with Galaxy S2, S3, Note and the recent victim in this explosion line up is none other than the iPhone 5S!


This happened in Thailand when Suwicha Auesomsaksakul, talking on an iPhone 5, not even 30 seconds (he says so!) started feeling  a warm/burning sensation on his ears. What he then saw was smoke coming out of his phone. Completely perplexed, the guy threw the phone on the floor and it just started exploding like a set of lit up fire crackers!

Micromax to increase the price of Canvas HD A116 by 500 Rupees

So for those who are waiting for the re release of Micromax Canvas HD A116, there is one good news and one bad news. The good news is, the phone will be available in the market soon. But the bad news is, there will be a hike of around 500Rs in the price of the phone due to the new budget requirements. So the price will be hiked from Rs 13,990 to 14,499.

For people who have been waiting for more than a month for the phone even after placing an order, people are in a very bad revolting mood. Knowing or unknowingly, the blunder caused by micromax is effecting none other that snapdeal.com. People have started losing  their trust on snapdeal. So Micromax has come up with a new ‘deal’ to ‘canvas’ their customers. Read this mail sent by Micromax

Dear Customer,

The proposed Finance Bill announced by the honorable Finance Minister of India on 28th Feb 2013 has made certain changes in the customs duty structure on all Mobile Phones with MRP greater than Rs. 2000/-. Because of this and other procedural issues, the shipment of your Canvas HD has been delayed by 10 working days. Along with the delay, the price of Canvas HD has also been revised to Rs. 14,499.

We at Micromax, value your patience and trust. Therefore we have decided to ship your Canvas HD at the original price you paid, without any extra cost being charged to you.

And we are offering you a free Carry Case for your Canvas HD worth Rs 700 along with your purchase as a token of gratitude!

*However, if you decide against waiting for delivery, we also promise to refund the entire booking amount at the earliest

Cheers

Team Micromax

So now the wait gets paid off with a 700 rupee gift! Lets see if the ‘token of gratitude’ is really worth it!

SEO Top trending keywords of 2013 - How to search for the right keyword?

It is at times difficult for one to get the right keyword inserted into their articles or tags to get a good web traffic hit. There are a few things that one should take care of before writing an article or a post to get a very nice internet traffic

  

Make sure right keywords are inserted - Its good to write articles in your onwards to express your thoughts which you want people to read. But what one usually forgets is the fact that the way you think may not be the way some one else thinks. The search phrase that a person enters may be different from your key thoughts. For example, you write an article titled "Top 5 cricketing knock' - A person comes in search of a similar article, but he/she types "Best 5 centuries". Although the intention is similar, the reader might not get a chance to read your article. So you have to think like a reader, not just one - thousands of them!

So how do you do that? Lets say you come up with a topic idea with a few key phrases that comes into your mind. Now how would you make sure that the key word that you use would actually be something that thousands of people out there is actually searching for? There is a very easy and a free tool available online which would help you do that - Google AdWords. You just put in your keyword in the 'Word or phrase' and just click on search - Voila! There it is, a list of keywords arranged according to its impact from high to low! Give it a try - Its worth it! 

Another way to do it is, Google trends. Just go to the page and you can see the lists of topics that are currently trending. 

Also try using What the trend, may not be as good as the other two options, but its still a good option that helps you see whats trending.

Happy Blogging! 

What to buy, Android or iOS tablet? Sales figures say Android

The day when Steve Jobs released the first iPhone, we all thought that the future was iOS. It was such a treat to the eyes and all we tech lovers fell in love with the idea. Little did we think that another OS platform was going to take over the iOS platform and one day even out run its reach with a style and simplicity factor!

They already have taken over the Smaprtphone market and the sales figures shows that they have outrun the iOS sales. Now it is time to take over the tablet industry and and Android is on the verge of doing that! A small example is the sale of Nexus 7. in 2013, its expected to sell about 191 Million units as compared to 173 previously. 

The Android tablet market in 2012 was 41.5% and now it has plummeted to a good 48.8% in 2013. Where as iOS has slipped down from 51% to 46%. The sales figure says it all. 

Galaxy S4 with 5" 1080p display to be in market this April 2013

A Few specifications you have been waiting for!

• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean Operating Sysytem

• 1.9GHz quad-core/1.6GHz octa-core CPU  - Depends on the market

• PowerVR SGX544MP3 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

• 5-inch 1080p display (441PPI)

• 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM

• 16GB to 64GB of storage (Customised for users)

• 2.5G, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi a-ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC

• IR LED (for remote control)

• microSD card slot (up to 64GB)

• 13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera

• 2600mAh battery

• 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, 130g

• 327 carriers in 55 countries

So what basically this handset offers is lightning speed and a sleaky design. The UI has also been tweaked for better user experience. And an additional specification is the dual camera where in you can record videos and take photos from both the cameras simultaneously! Also you can take a pic and record a sound message for around 10 seconds. The S translator allows you to translate to multiple languages. A lot more Samsung has offered with this release! More to come soon

Funniest iPhone auto correct blunders - A must read!

Here are some funny auto corrects done by the famous (infamous?) iPhone auto-correct dictionary!  Have a look and enjoy! 

Source: damnyouautocorrect.com