How To Choose The Right Video Camera ?

Video recorders have developed significantly during the past couple of years. HD ( high-definition ) video models have edged out earlier, SD ( standard-definition ) cams. Also, flash memory storage has come to the fore as tape has all but left the stage. And both of these trends have converged in cheap, ultra-compact camcorders that slot in a pocket.

Conventional Video recorders A normal model has a hand strap and often an LCD screen that can flip around to face the subject. A number of these models offer really high image-quality thanks to huge image sensors and superior lenses, and HD models often feature HDMI wire outputs for display on an HDTV. Most can snap good-looking still stills, too. Note nevertheless , that normal camcorders are way more fragile and dear than ultra-compact models.

Ultra-Compact Camcorders This type of mpeg recorder frequently looks like a rectangular MP3 gadget or phone with a tiny lens on the back. These are craggy and pocketable, so you wont be scared to take them anywhere. Ultra-compact cameras have a limited zoom,eg 4X magniication or less, but some cost less than $50. Although an ultra-compact may technically shoot HD video, its cheap lens and little image sensor may disparage the standard of the picture.

Which Is the best for You? New mums and dads should consider a starter level, traditional HD mpeg recorder. It will faithfully capture their infants early milestones without cutting into the nappy budget. As for mums and dads of kids in music, drama, or sports, a rather more advanced standard unit is mandatory. A High Definition mpeg recorder with a high optical zoom rating will get close-ups way up on the stage or out on the field. Ultimately, teens and outdoor fans will love the portability, pricing, and resilience of an ultra-compact flash cam. Uploading features for social networking and video sharing sites make this choice a slam dunk.

Read online reviews to look for the perfect High Definition camera to suit your needs. You can try looking at Amazon to start things off.

Looking for the perfect camera for your requirements? Read more about best hd video camera and best hd camcorder at http://hdcamcorderguides.com/.

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How To Select a Best iPad Charger For Your iPad Device ?

We require iPad charger to charge our iPad cells. A lot of companies are there who are producing the ipad chargers. Be sure to select the right iPad charger to gain useful services. The best approach to select proper charger is to locate official websites for each available brand that are well known in market. These sites would permit you to identify the newest advances in iPad charger market. Apple is a well known company in this business for the last many years. Apple presents its innovative products each year and iPad is on of its most excellent selling invention after iPod and iPhone. iPad is certainly the mainly proud of Apple, and this product swiftly brought gigantic sales to it, meanwhile it has advanced Apple's position in the market. iPad case has done the same for the Apple.

Normally, it's found that customers are inexpert and don't possess satisfactory information about the right handling of the product. An iPad charger appears like an original intelligent power chip that is utilized to bear the utmost power transfer while charging your device. Its power transfer technology is big as carrying qualitative performance presently. Heaps of queries are there related to the price, specifications, material appearance, size, and a lot more. iPad charger normally is light in heaviness with power transformer technology. Customers must visit to dependable sources for ornamental knowledge to drop their worries related to the selection of right iPad charger.

Many of us would be puzzled whether we may take it anyplace or not. This charger is moveable as light-weighted and transferable. This charger is being sold swiftly as offering life durability and expectancy. If appropriate selection of your ipad charger will not be done, it would appear to be the false one or meager quality charger. The most excellent mode is to search out consistent sources and to take guidance from iPad expert. Many websites are offering detailed specifications of this charger and iPad case as well. Interested consumer may visit these sites to discern the most recent updates for iPad charger. Some web-sites also provide online ordering.

Critical concept of utilizing ipad charger is to charge our cells that we generally use in our routine life. Our product is nothing for us if it has no battery life and the battery timing for this product is guaranteed by the Apple. If we performed the correct selection for iPad charger, we'll get improved performance for our cell usage.

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Why Men Love Gadgets?

Are you looking for a special gift for your boyfriend or husband? Still confused about what he likes and what he doesn't? Then stop thinking and read further. Boys are not feminine like girls, they do not want a gift which simple, beautiful and shinning. They want a gift which appeals to their personality. Generally boys like something which is sporty like a football or a basketball or a baseball bat. But nowadays the boys are getting attracted towards the gadgets. The present generation guys love the gadgets so much that they are playing with it as if it is a toy for a kid. So the best thing is to gift him a gadget.

Now the problem comes what to gift him as a gadget. Well there are various gadgets which one can gift to her boyfriend or husband. These gadgets can be found anywhere the best place to look for it is the gadget store in UK. There are various gadget stores in UK where one can find varieties of gadgets. Finding a gadget store in UK is not an issue. If anyone wants to find a gadget store in UK than one just has to ask in his or her neighborhood or people living in their surroundings. One can find a video sender, camera, mobile phone, iPod or ipad, mp3 player, play stations and etc. A video sender is a product which helps the person to transfer videos from one gadget to another. Now to transfer a product from one gadget to another one needs a gadget only. There are many types of video sender like wireless, high definition and etc.

In a gadget store in UK one can also find a camera. Nowadays people love to click snaps everywhere. The camera is one such product which is required by everyone on some or the other occasion. It helps people to record memories. There are various types of cameras like digital camera, roll based camera, digital single reflex lens camera (DSLR) or single lens reflective camera (SLR) and many more. The DSLR and SLR are used by professionals while the other cameras can be used by a common man.

One can also find loads of other gadgets in a gadget store in UK. Now with the help of cyber media one can also purchase online. One just has to type gadget store in UK and then chose one store among all and can make a purchase.

• source:ArticleBase

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Nintendo 3DS Region Lock: Confirmed

Console and DVD users are very familiar with the region-lock concept: companies divide the world into sub-regions, and make sure that content bought in one region only works there. There are many reasons, but it mainly has to do with price control. This allows the company to sale games for a higher price in countries where the market can afford it, and lower the price in places where the market can’t bear higher prices. But for this to work, one needs to avoid imports from lower-priced regions, hence the lock.


The Nintendo 3DS has been confirmed to be locked. Those who have tried buying games from another region have found that 3DS games don’t work (DS games do). It’s usually not a big deal for most users, but it could be an annoyance for the enthusiast who can’t wait to get a console, or a new game which came out abroad.

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Fujifilm XP30 available now

The heavy duty Fujifilm XP30 camera that was revealed at CES in January is now available for purchase. The XP30 is dustproof, waterproof, freezeproof, and has shock protection in addition to the ability to snap photographs. With a built-in GPS for you to geotag your photographs automatically, its 14 megapixel lens with 5x optical zoom is no slouch when it comes to shooting compositions. The ability to capture 720p HD videos at 30fps is a nice bonus as well, for those times when still images just don’t cut it. The Fujifilm XP30 will set you back $239 and is available now. Hit the break for a promo video from Youtube Here

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Nintendo Not Keen on Game Demos, Scrapping Them on 3DS?

Out of all three big players in the video game scene, Nintendo is the one with the biggest peeve when it comes to offering free game demos. Nintendo just doesn’t like giving away anything for free – not even if the trial is just a bunch of digital zeros and ones. Sadly, gamers love game demos. They love being able to try before they buy. Just take a look at Apple’s App Store. Nearly every game has a “lite” version to gauge interest – and it works. Often times, trying out the lite version will lead to customers buying the full game. The DS offers temporary downloadable game demos that delete when the system is turned off and the Wii has a few demos for WiiWare games, but no real demos for full retail games. Will the Nintendo 3DS also offer game demos? Once again, 3DS producer, Hideki Konno speaks his mind to let everyone know that he’s unsure on how effective game demos are. With all demos, there is a possibility that players will try a game and then not buy it, but at least they had a chance to judge it from actual gameplay and not from the game’s boxart or a bunch of screenshots. Not including game demos for 3DS games would be a mistake, especially since no one knows for sure how well the 3D effects will be in any particular game. In our opinion, because the 3D effects in 3DS games can’t be shown in regular video, offering demos is the only real way to grab show off a title.

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Color: the new social network that works by proximity

If you’re thinking to yourself: do we need another social network? Probably not. Do we need another photo-sharing service? Not really. Do you need a photo-sharing, social network? Well, the folks at Color seem to think so. Introducing Color: a free, proximity-based social networking photo-sharing app. Available on the iPhone and Android phones, Color doesn’t work like any other social network/photo-sharing app available, which helps it stand out from the crowd. Instead of you uploading pictures to a gallery that people can browse or comment on, Color works by automatically sharing your pictures (taken with the app) to anyone who’s around you and using Color as well. This works both ways, allowing you to browse photographs that someone else around you has taken. So let’s say in a public area with loads of people, like a train station or a park, you can expect to have tons of photographs to look through – provided they are all on Color as well. Usage of this app would be useful in situations like a wedding – where everybody can browse all the photos everyone has been taking without even needing to upload it to an online album like Facebook – photo sharing can happen at the event itself. Hit the break to watch a video of Color in action:

• Color Demo from Color Labs, Inc. on Vimeo.

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Xperia Play Games Could Cost as Much as $15

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is coming next month in the U.S., but what about the games? How much are you willing to pony up to play old PlayStation 1 games and new downloadable games on the Android-powered smartphone/gaming handheld device? No more than $5? Maybe sling some birds at those poor pigs in  Angry Birds and call it gaming session? In an interview with Sony Ericsson UK’s head of marketing, David Hilton says that games on the Xperia Play will range from $1.50-$16. Downloadable games on Sony’s PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable are currently priced roughly the same with most games coming in at $10-$15, so Hilton’s estimate doesn’t sound completely unheard of. Keep in mind that Hilton is from the UK, so pricing could be a slightly different when the Xperia play reaches your neck of the woods.

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3DS Can Handle Unreal Engine 2 Says Ubisoft

The Nintendo 3DS is quite the powerful little machine. If you’ve seen it running Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D or Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, you’ll know that it’s a very capable machine when it comes to pushing polygons. To prove just how powerful the 3DS is, Ubisoft Montreal, developers of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3DS says that they were “able to run the Unreal engine on this console console, which is pretty impressive for a handheld machine, and the 3D doesn’t affect the performance.” Does that mean the 3DS can produce games on par with the iPhone and iPad’s Infinity Blade that uses Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 technology? Uh, no. Epic’s Mark Rein quickly went around to do a little crowd control, revealing that Ubisoft Montreal was actually using the old Unreal Engine 2 on the 3DS. Earlier this month at GDC 2011, Rein told the press that if Epic felt the 3DS could run the Unreal Engine 3, his company would be all over it. So as impressive as 3DS titles will look, they’ll still be a hair behind in the graphic wars, but then again, Nintendo’s video game systems have always been underpowered in that department and they’ve all done just fine, with the exception of the N64 and GameCube. Graphics matter, but so does gameplay. What good is a pretty game if it doesn’t control well?

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Netflix apologizes for downtime

A few days ago, Netflix’s video streaming went down for a few hours, and while it wasn’t explained what caused the problem (technical issues was the vague response), the service was up and running again at night. However it seems that Netflix feels bad about the issue and sent out email apologies as well as a 3% credit towards users’ next billing statement for the Watch Instantly Unlimited plan. We’re not sure if everybody received the letter of apology, but you can always call up Netflix (1-866-923-0898) to complain if the service interruption affected you. Hit the break to read the full email they’ve been sending out:

Dear User,
Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching TV episodes or movies due to technical issues.
We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to apply your 3% credit to your next billing statement for your Watch Instantly Unlimited plan. Credit can only be applied once.
Ready to start watching again? Check out our latest selection.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-866-923-0898.
–The Netflix Team 

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TRITTON AX Pro from Mad Catz

Mad Catz has just announced the TRITTON AX Pro, a Dolby Digital True 5.1 Gaming Headset that will make its way towards the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3, where it will make full use of 8 precision-balanced speakers (with 4 of them inside each ear cup) that are more than capable of reproducing 5.1 surround sound accurately sans emulation or simulation. Within each ear cup of the AX Pro, there is a front speaker, center speaker, rear speaker and subwoofer. Replicating a typical 5.1 home cinema installation, the TRITTON AX Pro will offer gamers with a realistic and unparalleled audio experience, boasting individual backlit volume controls which are located on the handy in-line remote. With an in-line remote, it enables pro-gamers to dial-in the exact sound field required in order to gain a slight (albeit competitive) advantage. You can continue gaming for hours thanks to its comfortable ear pads, it will retail for £149.99.

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Microsoft to Windows Phone owners: ‘We can’t guarantee anything’

Prior to the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft made a lot of noises about things like updates that sounded to many like guarantees. Noises such as Microsoft would be handling the updates and not carriers, and that users would be getting a regular drip feed of updates and improvements. How times change when a product is released.

In an attempt to offer up some degree of transparency over the update fiasco that the Redmond giant has created for itself with Windows Phone, the company posted up charts outlining when WP owners in the US and internationally would be seeing their updates. The charts are somewhat vague and while not offering a timeline measured in geological terms, it does use the phrase ’several weeks’ at one point. But still, it’s something that should give WP handset owners hope. Right?

Maybe not.

Ars Technica’s Peter Bright asked Microsoft Windows Phone support a simple question via Twitter:

“Is there any guarantee that the carriers will authorize the update before the next one is released?”

Simple question, to which Bright got a simple answer:

“We can’t guarantee anything.”

There you have it folks. Microsoft didn’t sell you the handset (someone else did), and it’s not making you any promises beyond what you’ve already got. Microsoft’s not calling the shots with either the handset partners or carriers. Microsoft made the OS, sold an OEM license to manufacturers.

In other words, you get the updates if/when you get it.

End of story.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Senators want to remove PhantomALERT app

Senators Reid, Schumer, Udall and Lautenberg have a mission on their hands – they are hoping for Apple to remove PhantomALERT, one of the more popular red light camera apps that will offer drivers audio alerts in order for them to slow down considerably – which in turn will also avoid receiving “calling cards” from the traffic cops. Their main beef with this app? It offers DUI (Driving Under Influence) checkpoints, but indirectly, they have also helped make our roads safer simply because the risk of getting a ticket isn’t worth putting the pedal to the metal. The senators mentioned apparently want the app to be removed, and let the long arm of the law run its due course. Who do you think will win?

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Ford and AT&T team up to wirelessly connect new Ford Focus Electric

Ford and AT&T have come together so that the latter will be able to offer the built-in wireless connectivity for the new Focus Electric hatchback. Ford engineers/programmers have managed to churn out the pretty comprehensive MyFord Mobile application to work in tandem with their electric vehicle, where it can help the owner keep track of and schedule charging so that it won’t run out of juice. This application will also be able to serve up status notifications, range information, as well as the nearby recharging stations’ locations thanks to MapQuest. AT&T will provide the necessary bandwidth to make tings happen, and Ford makes sure that they have all their bases covered by offering a we-based interface just in case your smartphone isn’t that smart.    

• [Press Release]

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iPad, iPhone demand could drive Apple’s revenue sky-high through 2012

Apple recorded 52 percent revenue growth last year, and that is likely to be repeated through 2012 with demand for its iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone reaching record highs. Last year, Apple sold almost 15 million iPads and over 14 million iPhones in the last quarter. Analysts claim that by the end of this year, Apple’s sales could reach over $ 100 billion. If the growth rates continue, sales could hit $ 200 billion, which would put Apple ahead of HP in sales, who is currently number one in technology sales (Apple is number one tech company in market cap).

• source: Business Week

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FCC walks the line on AT&T/T-Mobile deal

AT&T has quite a bit of schmoozing in its future, as FCC officials claim that the wireless giant’s chances at getting approval for its $ 39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile are slim to none. While a formal evaluation from the FCC has yet to commence, we’ve already seen a pretty heated response to the deal from Democratic senators, urging the FCC to look closely at the repercussions of this merger. If the AT&T/T-Mobile deal does come to fruition, America’s second-place carrier would become number one and represent 42 percent of wireless subscribers nationally, after swallowing up fourth-place carrier T-Mobile.

“There’s no way the chairman’s office rubber-stamps this transaction. It will be a steep climb to say the least,” said an FCC official, who chose to speak off-the-record. However, the FCC’s assurance that no monopoly shall become of this should definitely be taken with a grain of salt, as this wouldn’t be the first time that the FCC approved a deal despite warnings from officials concerned about competition. In 2008, just a year after FCC Chairman Kevin Martin claimed that “the hurdle [...] will be high” to approve the Sirius Satellite Radio/XM Satellite Radio merger, the deal went through. AT&T stills holds strong to its position that this deal is in the public interest and will not inhibit competition in the industry.

However, the FCC is expected to make some regulation adjustments that favor smaller carriers by approving proposed rules that would place a much more reasonable price tag on data roaming. Currently, the FCC doesn’t require carriers to offer data roaming to rivals the same way it does with voice calls, despite the fact that a significant uptake in smartphones has led to a speedier growth rate for data traffic than for voice call traffic. Current FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recently claimed that the upcoming adjustment to data traffic regulation is a clear indication of the agency’s desire to foster a competitive wireless marketplace.

“While we’re still working through details of a data-roaming framework, I believe the core proposition is beyond dispute: healthy competition produces greater innovation and investment, lower prices, and better service,” Mr. Genachowski said. As of yet, we’ve heard nothing official from the FCC concerning the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, but as it looks so far, anything could happen. 

• [via WSJ]

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CyberPower announces new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 gaming PCs

CyberPower, custom gaming PC manufacturer has just announced a new series of gaming desktops that feature the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 – “the fastest graphics card on the planet.” CyberPower power will feature the powerhouse graphics card in their Fang EVO series, Black Pearl, Gamer 3D and Xtreme FTW series of gaming PCs. All of them will ship with a standard GeForce GTX 590, but the Fang EVO Black Mamba will get a liquid-cooled version of the GTX 590. The PCs will be built for maximum gaming performance including 3D as well as for HD video, multitasking, multimedia or sharing photos. NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 590 packs two GPUs and a custom vapor chamber cooling solution ensures that it won’t falter at any of its tasks. With the option to pair up with another GTX 590, you’d be hard pressed to find a game that can slow it down. Prices for the CyberPower gaming desktops with the GTX 590 start at $ 1,499.00. Head over to CyberPower’s website for more details.

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Motorola XOOM tablet coming to Cellular South

Cellular South has announced that it will carry the Motorola XOOM Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet starting next month. Instead of the 3G (soon to be 4G) version that Verizon Wireless carries (take a look at our full review), Cellular South will be offering the Wi-Fi only version, and pairing it with a free Novatel Mi-Fi 2200 wireless hotspot with the purchase of a hotspot data plan. The XOOM will cost $ 599.99 and the hotspot plans start at $ 19.99 per month for 3GB of data usage.

• source: Cellular South, via: Fierce Mobile

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Samsung Apps hits 100 million downloads milestone

Samsung has announced that its Apps market for mobile and TV applications has hit the 100 million downloads milestone in less than a year since its debut in June 2010. Samsung Apps launched alongside with the Wave smartphone that runs Samsung’s own bada operating system and now there are over 13,000 applications available in the Samsung Apps market. To celebrate the milestone, Samsung is having a contest with a weekly draw from March 25 to April 30, 2011. Anyone who downloads an app from Samsung Apps is entered to win a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, Galaxy Player, USB sticks, or vouchers for apps in the Samsung Apps store.

• source: Samsung

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Where’s your Windows Phone 7 update?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology — whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include “Build the Ultimate Custom PC”, “Beginning Programming” and “The PC Doctor’s Fix It Yourself Guide”. He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics — from security to repairing and upgrading.

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Gevey SIM unlocks your precious iPhone 4

For those who cannot wait to install a software update and has decided to proceed on their iPhone 4 to make the jump to iOS 4.2.1 or above, you would most probably have realized that no unlocking software is currently available for the accompanying basebands. While everyone waits for the Dev-Team to roll out their very own house remedy, Gevey has decided to roll out a $ 70 imposter SIM that is touted to unlock your smartphone without having to jailbreak it first, since all the current basebands are found embedded within 4.0 – 4.3. The steps to make use of the Gevey SIM does seem to be inconvenient, and you will need to repeat all of the steps again if you decide to switch off the phone. Guess we will wait for a permanent unlock solution you’ll need to do all of this again if you switch off the phone. Oh, and we should mention this involves snipping off a corner on your SIM card, and carriers tend not to like that. Our recommendation regarding this contraption? If you’re absolutely in the need of a carrier unlock and have the cash, proceed with caution. Otherwise, patience is your answer as you await someone to roll out a permanent solution.

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Tawkon Releases iPhone App On Cydia After Steve Jobs Closes Door With “No Interest” Response

We’ve written quite a few times about Tawkon – the Israeli mobile software company that had developed an interesting application for the iPhone that tells you the amount of radiation emitted by the iPhone.

We had first reported about the app almost a year back when it was rejected from the App Store and later when we heard that their application might be under reconsideration. Folks at Tawkon have just published a post announcing that Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has closed the door on them.



Folks at Tawkon write:

We tried the front door via Apple’s App Store, including great discussions with senior Apple executives at their Cupertino headquarters who praised our app functionality and graphic appeal, and explored various technical solutions with us to overcome API restrictions and get tawkon onto the App Store.

But when Steve Jobs personally closed the front door with a curt 2-word email stating: “No Interest” (see original email below), we were left with no alternative but to climb through the Cydia window to let iPhone users see and lower their exposure to cellphone radiation.

You can checkout the screenshot of the email correspondence between Tawkon CEO and Steve Jobs below:

The Tawkon iPhone app uses a variety of parameters like distance from cell phone tower, signal strength, weather condition, terrain, antenna proximity from the body, antenna orientation and travel speed to analyze the iPhone’s dynamic SAR (Specific Absorption Rate). It is to be noted that the iPhone app only “predicts” the emitted radiation and may not provide absolute measurements. However, it can be highly useful to users who may want to ensure if calls from a particular location is safe in terms of radiation levels. For instance, calls made from your basement may cause a higher level of radiation to be emitted compared to calls made from your living room and the iPhone app will thus help you in making a judgement on a safer place to make your calls from.

Tawkon had also carried out an experiment to find out how the death grip impacts the radiation level on smartphones like iPhone 4, BlackBerry 9700, and Nexus One.

You can checkout the demo of the Android app From Here

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Has Apple fixed the MacBook Pro ‘Hard Freezegate’?

Over on Apple’s support forum some owners of the new 2011 MacBook Pro have been complaining that their notebooks are locking up or ‘hard freezing’ under heavy load. Yesterday Apple released a Mac OS X update 10.6.7 which, amongst other things, improves graphics stability. But does the update fix the problem?

Well, if it does, Apple isn’t letting on. All we get from Apple is a bullet point in a knowledgebase article:

• Improve graphics stability and external display compatibility

That doesn’t help much.

Note: For people suffering from problems, Apple’s secrecy relating to what updates actually fix is annoying and creates a lot of uncertainty. There are times when things don’t ‘just work’ and Apple is not good at addressing these issues.

What I’m hearing from readers is split. Around 85% of those who have dropped me a note since the release of 10.6.7 say that it solves the problem, while some 15% say it doesn’t. What you seem to be saying with absolute confidence is that the update doesn’t fix the noisy fan issue that people are also complaining about. I don’t have a big dataset to work with, so it’s hard to be confident that the update fixes the problem or not.

What’s also unclear is what the update actually does. Is it a new set of thermal profiles for the system, or does it just throttle down the system when it’s under heavy load? We’ll have to wait for someone to do pre and post 10.6.7 benchmark of a MacBook Pro system to find out the answer to that question.

Calling MacBook Pro 2011 owners – Were you suffering from ‘hard freeze’? If so, has the 10.6.7 update fixed this for you?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Baidu to introduce anti-piracy technology for online documents and books

Baidu, China’s largest search engine, has recently taken flak for being lax in dealing with copyright-infringing material on its online library. With hopes to clear its name, the company has recently announced its plans to introduce anti-piracy technology for online documents and books.

The search company was identified by the US Trade Representative as one of the most notorious markets for pirated content. It was criticized last week by more than 40 writers who have signed a letter claiming that the company provided the authors’ works for free to download on its online library Baidu Wenku, without their permission. They even went as far as saying “Baidu has become a totally corrupt thief company” that runs a “marketplace of stolen goods.”

With demands for the firm to remove numerous copyright-infringing books and documents found on its Baidu Library product, the company responds by announcing the new anti-piracy technology that would enter a testing phase in April before a full release on May.

“The technology will not only enable Baidu Library to systematically eliminate copyright-infringing content already uploaded on its platform, but will also enable automatic rejection of future problematic uploads,” Baidu’s spokesman Kaiser Kuo said in a statement to Reuters.

Reports say that Chinese authorities are also keeping a keen eye on Baidu, which has faced lawsuits and intense criticism over its handling of copyrighted material over the past few years. Local media reported that the deputy chief of the Department of Copyright Administration requested the search company to submit a plan to eliminate copyright infringing material on its websites, which it did this month.

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Australia Police claims Facebook hinders child abuse probe

Australian Federal Police’s high-tech collection and capability manager, Grant Edwards, expressed that the mutual legal assistance treaty with the US is outdated and not designed to allow for a rapid response to online crime. And that Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, hasn’t been helpful with the push.

A revised treaty, supported by the AFP, is necessary to speed up the actioning of the police’s right to obtain information about online crime using a warrant on Facebook, which is head-quartered in the United States. Currently, the AFP is still required to undergo a long, tedious legal process in order to use US law enforcement to force Facebook to respond.

The Australian government has made efforts to amend the assistance treaty in order to speed up the process of lawful data acquisitions. However, the changes would need to be ratified by the US to take effect. According to Edwards, Facebook hasn’t been as helpful as it could because the company is “brand-protecting.” Furthermore, he labeled the social networking site’s action to remove pedophile profiles that were needed as evidence by the AFP as “ignorance on Facebook’s behalf.”

“We don’t hold back with letting them know our disappointment in [their lack of] evidentiary data retention.” He said the police had complained to the social-networking site, and that it will now move to fix data-retention policies for profiles suspected to be used by pedophiles.

In news reported earlier this week, the social network claims to have been blocking 20,000 children on Facebook each day.  Mozelle Thompson, Facebook’s chief privacy adviser, said that the social networking site would soon be hiring a cybersafety expert to be based in Australia to deal with local complaints and issues.

The AFP will also dramatically increase the capacity of the Global Virtual Taskforce to combat online paedophilia to include more than 100 law enforcement units.

• Sources: ZDNet, Image Credit

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Wikileaks crowdsources official t-shirt through 99designs

Wikileaks today posted a contest on Australian design crowdsourcing website 99designs, asking designers to try their hand at creating the non-profit’s next official t-shirt.

The contest follows Wikileaks’ launch of an online store earlier today, where the t-shirt will be sold to raise funds to keep the site up and running.

While crowdsourcing has been known to generate controversy in some quarters, it seems an appropriate way for a non-profit, particularly one that survives on the volunteer participation of sources from around the world, to give its users a hand in creating part of the Wikileaks brand.

And while many companies tout the benefits of exposure when seeking work through such channels, there’s no doubt that Wikileaks, which dominated the media for months amid the controversy surrounding the site’s release of US government files and sexual assault allegations directed at founder Julian Assange, is going to deliver.

Despite the organization’s trail of controversy and drama, 99designs isn’t concerned that Wikileaks has chosen the service to source designs.

“99designs regularly holds design contests for all sorts of organizations, and not-for-profit groups. We don’t make any judgement calls over our customers, and our designers can decide for themselves whether or not they want to get involved in any particular project. That being said, I’m thrilled that Wikileaks chose to tap into the 99designs community for their design needs and we look forward to delivering a great outcome for them,” said Matt Mickiewicz, a 99designs co-founder.

This isn’t the first time 99designs and Wikileaks have crossed paths. 99designs ran a community competition in January asking users to give Assange a new hairstyle.

“… apparently Julian Assange thought [it] was pretty funny,” said Mickiewicz.

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Spammers Can “Use Facebook as Page” to Like-Spam Posts and Comments

Facebook recently launched a “Use Facebook as Page” feature for Page administrators that allows them to assume the identity of their Page so they can Like, post, and comment around the site. However, this has enabled a new spamming technique, whereby Pages can Like the posts or comments of other users and Pages to create links back to themselves.

Since there is no option to remove Likes or ban those who Like any Facebook feed item, a victim can’t delete the links, and their only option is to report the Page as spam and wait for Facebook to address the issue. Like spam has not become a significant issue yet, but holds an opportunity for malicious parties until Facebook creates a solution.

Facebook has introduced several new wall post and comment  spam prevention systems lately, automatically hiding posts containing suspicious links and turning suspicious comments gray to alert admins. Like-spam via Pages, though, only recently became possible, and therefore Facebook may not have recognized the risk.


Until the launch of Use Facebook as Page as part of the February 2011 Page redesign, only users could post and comment on the walls of other Pages, and they could be removed and banned from Pages. There is no option for an admin of a Page to ban another Page for Like-spam. The ban option only becomes available if the malicious Page posts or comments.

We’ve heard a few reports of Like spam, particularly by Pages whose name hocks a service, such as “We Fix Slow Computers”, even though this form of Like-spam has only been available for two months. Facebook needs to provide Page admins a way to ban other Pages from Liking content on their wall before it becomes a more popular method of driving traffic to spammy Pages.

[Thanks to Bryan Person for the tip]

To learn about tools your can Page can use to fight spam, visit the Facebook Marketing Bible’s Service Provider Directory, a guide to the companies offering marketing and technical services to brands and organizations of all sizes on Facebook.

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Did Microsoft use the “Firefox’ keyword on Twitter to promote IE9?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology — whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include “Build the Ultimate Custom PC”, “Beginning Programming” and “The PC Doctor’s Fix It Yourself Guide”. He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics — from security to repairing and upgrading.

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Mil-Surplus Heli Helmet game headset looks far out

The Mil-Surplus Heli Helmet game headset that you see here is truly one-of-a-kind, after all, it is a DIY project that sees plenty of love go into it. What used to be a bargain-bin surplus helicopter helmet that already has integrated speakers and a microphone will be used to communicate with a gaming console or a handset via Bluetooth. Apart from that, it will also come with a whole second circuit that has been integrated to output to an RF-wireless headset which in turn, is also routed through the original system’s speakers. This special combination will allow one to wear a helmet while experiencing ambient video-game sounds and chat-communications on a single device. Perfect for those late night gaming sessions without having to wake up the missus beside you, after all, wearing this will also help you drown out her snoring.

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iPad gets single issues of Wall Street Journal for $2

The Wall Street Journal has announced that it will be offering single issues of its newspaper to iPad owners via its iPad app. Readers can purchase single issues at $ 2 a piece, or they can subscribe to a Now Edition for $ 18 per month that includes daily updates to the news during the day. There is also a $ 4 per week plan called the Digital Bundle that offers access to the Journal’s online website, its mobile site, and its mobile device apps for iPhone, iPad, Android tablets, and BlackBerries. Users can view limited content without any purchase. The single issues are available starting today.

• source: PC World

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Angry Birds Rio Arrives On The App Store

Rovio Mobile released Angry Birds Rio yesterday – a sequel to their extremely popular – iPhone game – Angry Birds in collaboration with 20th Century Fox.

Here’s what to expect:

In Angry Birds Rio, the original Angry Birds are kidnapped and taken to the magical city of Rio de Janeiro, where they eventually escape their captors and set out to to save their friends, Blu and Jewel – two rare macaws and the stars of the upcoming Fox motion picture, Rio. Angry Birds Rio will pair the physics-based gameplay of the original game with unique twists based on the film.

Angry Birds Rio includes the following features:

- Two fantastic episodes with 60 exciting levels!

- Completely new achievements!

- Special Hidden fruits – discover them all!

- Put your Angry Birds skills to the ultimate test in a spectacular boss fight!

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Nokia plans to cut jobs at end of April

Nokia has stated that it will start to talk about job cuts at the end of April in the wake of its deal with Microsoft to produce Windows Phone 7 devices. Since Nokia will no longer be developing and maintaining software for its smartphones, there will not be a need to have as many engineers on board. Finnish labor unions have said the cuts could cost Finland thousands of jobs. Nokia is currently Finland’s largest employer.

• source: Reuters

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NVIDIA releases Quadro 4000 driver fix for Mac OS X 10.6.7

It looks like Apple’s Mac OS X 10.6.7 update released a few days ago doesn’t only bring improvements to the operating system. It introduces new problems to Macs that use NVIDIA Quadro 4000 graphics cards. It has been reported that the display driver for the graphics card was incompatible with OS X 10.6.7 and during installation of the update, it was simply removed. Without the proper drivers for the graphics card, the Mac can’t make use of all the Quadros’ features and may not work properly. Fortunately NVIDIA was quick to recognize the problem and has issued an update to fix it. If you recently updated to OS X 10.6.7 and you have a Quadro 4000, head here to get the updated display driver.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 & Galaxy Tab 8.9 Specifications

Samsung has announced two new additions to its family of GALAXY Tabs, the “GALAXY Tab 10.1” and “GALAXY Tab 8.9” at the CTIA 2011. These are world’s thinnest mobile tablets, just 8.6mm thin and runs on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) platform. Both these smart tablet features a lightweight design, WXGA display, 1GHz dual core processor, 3 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front camera, HSPA+ up to 21Mbps, 1080p HD video and Flash playback.

GALAXY Tab 10.1

GALAXY Tab 10.1, with its WXGA TFT LCD display (1280 x 800) powered by 1GHz dual core AP, is 8.6mm thin and weighs only 595g. It is the perfect device for sharing and enjoying media content with family and friends. In addition, with its surround-sound stereo speakers and support for Flash 10.2, the GALAXY Tab 10.1 will deliver premium entertainment experience whether watching videos, movies or playing games.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Technical Specifications:

GALAXY Tab 8.9

At just 8.6mm thin and weighing only 470g, the GALAXY Tab 8.9 is the perfect device for today’s mobile professional. Whether writing emails on a trip or reading an eBook on the couch, the GALAXY Tab 8.9 provides the ultimate tablet experience without compromising mobility.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Technical Specifications:

Pricing and Availability -

• The Wi-Fi version of GALAXY Tab 10.1 is priced at $499 for 16GB and $599 for 32GB model. It is set to launch on June 8th in the US.
• The Wi-Fi version of GALAXY Tab 8.9 is priced at $469 for 16GB and $569 for 32GB model. It is set to launch early this summer.

•  Read The Full Story

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Buy New iPhone 4 16GB Factory Unlocked for Rs. 36,490

#DEAL – Sealed Pack New Factory Unlocked iPhone 4 16GB for Rs. 36,490

The award-winning and most popular Apple smartphone “iPhone 4” is now available at a pretty decent price at eBay India, a very reliable online shopping store. Apple fanboys from India might not want to miss this great opportunity to buy a brand new iPhone 4.

 The best part is that it is a Factory Unlocked device which means you can easily run it with all carriers/network providers. It’s a 16GB model and has 1 year Manufacturer Warranty as listed by the seller. So hurry up and grab one for yourself if you want!

Deal Link – Buy @eBay India  [Free Shipping, The deal may end soon]

Disclaimer: Please check the seller’s reliability and feedback, confirm any details about the item before buying it. We will not be held responsible for any problems.

•  Read the full story: Buy New iPhone 4 16GB Factory Unlocked for Rs. 36,490

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How to enable ‘Save and Quit’ option in Firefox 4

If you’ve recently updated to Firefox 4, then you must have noticed a new design and some new features. But there’s one very handy feature ‘Save and Exit’ which is missing in Firefox 4, but was available in previous versions of Firefox browser. However, there is a quick and easy way to get back this option, which restores all the tabs opened in the browser on re-opening Firefox 4

To Enable ‘Save and Quit’ feature in Firefox 4, just type about:config in the address bar and open it. Enter browser.showQuitWarning in the Filter tab. Double-click the entry named browser.showQuitWarning so that its value changes to ‘true’. That’s it!

Now you’ll be presented with ‘Quit Firefox’ dialog box on closing Firefox 4.

 Thanks @rish404 for the tip. .
Thanks @webtricks.com

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