Microsoft launched a portal - Indian developers

 Global software major Microsoft has built a dedicated portal for its Indian developers with a community-based platform to network and engage, its Indian subsidiary said. 

"The collaborative portal will also offer expert guidance to developers and remotely solve their queries, empowering them to be efficient as they go from idea to app (application)," the company said in a statement here. 

With 1.6 million developers in India, which is its second largest community after the US, the company has designed the portal to offer a rich set of functionality to help them leverage collective computing power. 

"As a powerful tool, the portal (developer.microsoft.com) allows our developers in India to connect with their peers the world over. Our experts are also a click away for them," Microsoft Corporation (India) Ltd strategic audience marketing director Pratima Amonkar said in the statement. 

The new portal will enable developers to post their app ideas in an area called 'Perspective'. 

"Community blogs and social feeds in the 'connect' area allow developers to share stories, seek advice and connect with our experts at Redmond and other offices worldwide," Amonkar said. 
As a single point of entry for all developers, the portal enables finding right information from different locations, which may be difficult to access otherwise. 

"The developer network will provide opportunity for the community to engage with the company and each other," Amonkar noted. 

Microsoft is the only company that allows developers to leverage their skills and reuse code to build apps, the statement said. 

The company' flagship product Windows is also the only platform that offers consistency through a common core across device and service to shape the apps ecosystem and providing developers the prospect to maximise their revenues.

Samsung Galaxy Gear expected in early October

Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Gear expected in early October

Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 phablet and Galaxy Gear smartwatch are expected to land in the US in early October, wireless carriers revealed late Thursday.

Galaxy Note 3 phablets sandwich the Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

(Credit: Verizon Wireless)

T-Mobile said it will would launch the devices on October 2, while AT&T indicated that pre-orders of the Galaxy Note 3 would ship "around" October 1. The phablet will be available on AT&T for $299 with a two-year contract, or $35 a month with AT&T Next. T-Mobile is offering the device for $199 down and 24 monthly payments of $21, for a total of $703.

Meanwhile, Verizon announced Wednesday it would begin accepting pre-orders for the devices at 6 a.m. PT Friday, although the landing page does not hint when customers can expect delivery.T-Mobile said its customers could expect to pay $300 for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, while AT&T listed no price and only offered the vague delivery window of in "coming weeks." AT&T began taking pre-orders Thursday evening for Galaxy Note 3, while T-Mobile invited customers to sign up for alerts indicating when the wireless carrier would begin taking orders the new flagship phablet.

Introduced earlier this week, the Note 3 sports a 5.7-inch screen -- a slight increase over that of the Note 2. However, the device is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, measuring just 8.3mm and weighing in at 168g. The device is powered by a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 3,200mAh battery.

The Gear is a wrist-worn, touch-screen timepiece that talks to your smartphone -- or in this case, your phablet -- so you don't have to be forever fetching your primary device from your purse or pocket. It controls music, tracks exercise, installs apps, and even makes phone calls.

Dell launches new cloud and virtualization solutions

Dell has announced a new range of cloud and virtualization solutions. These include data centre and cloud client computing solutions based on the company's partnership with VMWare. 

"Customers are in the driver's seat when it comes to procuring cloud and virtualization solutions and Dell is on target with its new offerings as the company is both innovating and partnering to give customers exactly the solutions that will best fit their business needs," said Wayne Pauley, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "Dell's new offerings should help customers boost IT performance and better enable business agility. When you include VMware's virtualization technology with Dell's solutions, customers will want to take a close look at how they can further enhance and quickly optimize their businesses with these joint solutions." 

Dell Networking expanded its S-series portfolio with the new S6000, a switching platform for data centers with built-in virtualization and automation features. Dell claims that S6000 offers up to twice the density and throughput while consuming up to 50% less power than previous generation top-of-rack switches. S6000 supports advanced network virtualization and software-defined networking features including hardware-accelerated L2 Gateway functionality for use with VMware NSX, bridging traffic between virtualized and non-virtualized environments. 

Dell is also previewing functionality with Active Fabric Manager (AFM) 2.0 specifically for VMware environments. Active Fabric Manager provides simplified configuration, management and monitoring of Dell Active Fabric leaf and spine elements. 

The company also launched Fault Resilient Memory, a technology jointly developed by Dell and VMware. It allows Dell PowerEdge 12 generation server customers using VMware vSphere 5.5 to maximize available server memory while increasing protection for the hypervisor against memory faults. 

Two more additions are Dell Storage integrations with VMware vSphere 5.5 and OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter. Dell also updated its cloud-based virtual desktop solution, Dell Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) On Demand with new features from Desktone's secure multi-tenant VDI platform, delivering session-based desktops, published applications, persistent or non-persistent Windows 7 or XP desktops, RSA secure authentication, among others. 

Dell Software also introduced the next generation of its Foglight Virtualization Operations Management suite. The suite helps improve IT staff efficiency and cut operational costs by reducing infrastructure complexity.

How to store more data into DVD

Digital videodiscs can store different amounts of information, depending on the number of data layers available. A DVD with a single layer for storing data can hold up to 4.7 gigabytes. 

A DVD with a double layer for storage (also called a "dual-layer" DVD) can store up to 8.5 gigabytes of data. 

So the amount of recorded video you can fit on a disc varies based on the type of DVD you use (and what your recorder can handle), as well as the quality of your recording. Some DVD burners and recording programs also offer different video-quality modes, where the lower the quality, the more video you can squeeze onto a disc. 

Most commercial DVDs, like those for Hollywood movies, use the dual-layer discs to hold a greater amount of video at a higher quality — and still have room for things like bonus features. If you have ever watched a movie on DVD and noticed a pause or stutter about halfway into the film, you are most likely seeing the DVD player shift from one data layer to the next on the disc inside.

Facebook launches Shared Albums feature

Facebook on Monday began letting members collaborate on shared online photo albums at the leading social network. The Shared Album feature was to be introduced slowly, first becoming available to a small group of English-language users before gradually spreading across the social network. 

"A shared album is an album that multiple people can upload photos to," Facebook said in an online post explaining the new feature. 

"When you make an album shared, you can add your friends as contributors," the post continued. "This allows them to add, view and edit photos in the album." 

Previously, Facebook members could only add photos to their own online albums at the social network. 

The new feature, inspired by feedback from Facebook users, is intended to let friends or family members collaborate on photo albums memorializing shared events or occasions. 

Facebook members can invite as many as 50 friends to contribute digital photos to online albums.

Privacy settings allow sharing of albums to be limited to those who contribute or opened to friends of contributors or the public, according to Facebook.

4 things should be Important to Buy a TV

4 things TV buyers should know

I'm looking to buy a new TV during the festive season. I'd like to know what is the best-sized display to buy, and whether I should buy a plasma, LCD, edge-LED, or LED. Also, what is a Smart TV?

Given the different technologies being employed today, buying a TV can be quite daunting. Here's a quick primer to help you buy a set that's just right for your home...

Size:

For this, consider the distance between your HDTV set and where you and your family will be sitting while watching it. For minimum TV size, the formula is 'viewing distance/3', and for maximum size, it is 'viewing distance/1.5'. So, if you watch TV from eight feet away (96 inches), your minimum TV size should be 32 inches (96/3), while your maximum TV size could be 65 inches. Now all you have to do is find a model between this range that best fits your budget.

LCD, plasma, or LED:

Of these three technologies, LCD is the cheapest of the lot. It's bright, fairly thin, and if you're on a tight budget, then these are TVs worth considering. Besides, LCD sets do not draw too much electricity. On the downside, images won't look as sharp or realistic when compared to the other two technologies listed here.

Plasma screens, on the other hand, are capable of the darkest of blacks, smooth picture quality, and flawless performance when it comes to reproducing motion on the screen. This technology is ideal for fast-paced sporting action. However, plasma screens are energy guzzlers, consuming nearly twice the power of LCDs.

And lastly, there are LCD TVs that use 'light-emitting diodes' to illuminate their screens. These sets are known as LED TVs and are further divided into edge-lit LED and Full LED. The former has LEDs around the border of the display, which results in slimmer models. Full LED screens, however, are capable of greater precision in screen lighting, and this means better contrasts and a more vibrant range of colours than is possible with LCDs and edge-lit LEDs. Now while LED TVs are the priciest of all three technologies, they are also most energy efficient, consuming just a third of electricity when compared to plasma TVs.

Smart TV:

Depending on your budget you can also opt for a Smart TV. These come with a range of apps for web services such as Skype, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, etc - and connect to the internet via an Ethernet cable or wirelessly through Wi-Fi . Here, you will need to check if the set has Wi-Fi built-in , or is Wi-Fi Ready. For the latter, you'll need to buy a separate dongle to access your Wi-Fi network.

Importantly, just because a TV comes with a USB port, does not mean it will support an external hard drive, or will even play videos from a pen drive. So check what digital media formats it supports - and more importantly, if it can read portable hard disks.

Viewing angles:

And finally, before finalizing a set, check for viewing angles. Some TVs will give you the best display only if you're sitting right in front of it. Move to the right or left and you will see some shift in colour. This shift is defined by the type of panels used: Twisted Nematic (TN), Vertical Alignment (VA), and In-Plane Switching (IPS). IPS screens offer the best viewing angles, while TN are the worst. Opt for an IPS screen if you are buying a television set for your living room.

That said, trust your eyes. Before buying an HDTV look for details in hair, look for blurring in sporting action, compare the colour output and contrast in different models, and check for viewing angles. Also, don't forget sound quality. The thinnest TVs are not known for the best sound, so you'll have to keep that in mind.

Latest Technology: To find your missing phone

How to find your missing phone

Oh boy, now you've done it. Not only are you supremely hungover from last night's rager, but your phone is nowhere to be found. Could you have left it at the bar, in a cab, in the gutter somewhere? Who knows! But don't panic, there's a host of apps that do. Here's how to find your phone when it goes missing. 

While there's no guarantee you'll recover your device, these tips and apps will put you in the best position to get back what you lost. Or, if it comes to it, to make sure no one can get at the information that's on there. 

Android Device Manager:

Doesn't matter if your phone is lost behind the couch or somewhere in Tahiti, your most direct option for finding a lost Android phone is Google's newly introduced Android Device Manager (ADM) feature. Essentially an Android version of the iOS Find My iPhone service, ADM allows users to locate, track, ping, and, if need be, remotely wipe their devices-all from a web browser. 

The ping feature will ring the phone at maximum volume, even if it is set to vibrate or silent. If you figure you've dropped it somewhere outside of your immediate vicinity, log on to the ADM dashboard to see its location, anywhere in the world, to within a 22-meter radius. And if you discover you can't retrieve or recover the phone, ADM allows you to remotely wipe the device's contents (you will have to enable Factory Resets prior to losing the phone though). Plus, it's completely free and likely already installed. 

The one shortcoming? ADM does not offer a means of remotely locking your phone. Ring and full-on self-destruct are your only options. 

Bit Defender Anti-Theft:

If you'd like a middle ground between doing nothing and obliterating everything on your phone from afar, take a look at BitDefender's Anti-Theft app. It allows you to locate and erase your phone, as ADM does, but throws in a remote lock as well. This keeps your phone secure against the prying eyes and wandering fingers until you pick it up. 

What's more, Bit Defender can only be uninstalled by authorized users. If someone tries to bypass that by swapping SIM cards, BD will text the new number to a phone of your choosing, force the phone to answer your call, and then remotely wipe the phone via SMS command. Once you get the thief on the line, you should probably yell something to the effect of, "IF I CAN'T HAVE HER, NO ONE WILL" just before sending the self-destruct text. Drama! Excitement! Destruction! 

These extra features don't come free; you have to pony up an annual subscription of $4. But given that the full anti-theft service extends to all your devices-laptops, phones, and tablets alike-that four bucks is a good investment. 

Lookout:

Another solid freemium option is Lookout Security & Antivirus by Lookout Mobile Security. This total security suite protects your phone against loss or theft as well as provides continuous protection against a variety of nasty bits of online code. 

For $3 a month (or $30 annually), you get the antivirus service, backup and restore features to save and reload your Google contacts, photos, and call history, and a swath of sneaky anti-theft options. In addition to the standard map-based location, tracking and forced ringing features, Lookout also offers Signal Flare, which saves the phone's last known location when the battery dies, and the Lock Cam, which emails you a picture of anyone that incorrectly enters the lock screen combo three times. 

Plan B:

Bit Defender's a great choice, but what if you've lost your phone without installing it beforehand? There's always Plan B. 

Plan B is a remotely installed, barebones tracker app. First, open a browser window and log on to Google Play. Install the app onto your phone via Play, wait ten minutes for it to download and install, then text "locate" to your number from another phone. The app will triangulate its position based on Wi-Fi and GPS signals and send you a single email if it's sitting still, or continuously for a duration of 10 minutes if the device is on the move. You just have to keep texting "locate" until you catch up with it (and hope that the battery's still going). 

Find My iPhone:

The original lost phone tracking service for iOS is still your best option. This free app locates and tracks your lost or stolen Apple devices-not just iPhones but iPads and MacBooks as well-not to mention ringing the unit, displaying a message for whoever finds it, and remotely lock or wipe the device altogether. The app is free on iTunes. 

GadgetTrak:

For a little more advanced protection, GadgetTrak offers remotely activated GPS location tracking, push notifications to trick a thief into giving away his position, and the ability to use your lost phone's camera to take a picture of whomever took it from the comfort of your home. It'll cost you $4, but that's peanuts compared to a brand new phone. 

I Can't Find My Phone:

Not every lost phone situation requires a full-on app assault to resolve; it's just as often a matter of tracking down which pile of clothes your handset is hiding under. Open ICantFindMyPhone.com in a new browser window, enter your phone number into the text field, and the site will automatically ring your mobile. Just pray you didn't leave it in silent mode. Where's My Cell Phone performs a similar function as well. Both are platform agnostic. 

MissingPhones.org:

This one's a little bit more of a long shot, but there is, in fact, a universal lost and found for smartphones. If you know your lost phone's IMEI (often found on the back of your device or on its battery, or dial *#06# to have it sent to you), you can register it here and hope that the kind stranger who finds it knows what MissingPhones.org is. And while it's a bit of a hail mary, it's not like it's any less effective than the last real-life lost and found you've rummaged through. 

An ounce of prevention:

However useful these apps and services are, your best chances for success will come before you even lose your phone in the first place. 

Connecting people: Put your contact information somewhere on your phone that's easily accessible. Whether it's your email address engraved on the back (your resale value takes a hit) or putting it on your lockscreen (which doesn't do much if your battery dies) or both, you improve the odds of getting your phone back tremendously if you just give whoever finds it the means to get in touch. 

Use a drunk phone: Have an old handset laying around? Have a friend who's about to ditch theirs for an upgrade? Don't throw it out. Instead, keep it around for nights you might be more, er, primed to lose your phone, and put the SIM from your day to day device-the one you care about-into the beater. That way your friends can still reach you at your number on a wild night out, and losing it won't be (as much of) a hassle. 

Get registered: While it's not as much help right now, by November the national stolen phone registry will be up and running. Carriers will coordinate with the government both to track phones reported as stolen, and to deny them voice/data access. While it might not get your phone back, it'll at least increase your odds-and make sure that the thief doesn't use your smartphone to steal your personal info or identity. There unfortunately is no singular, perfect solution for recovering your phone. The apps and techniques described above will give you a fighting chance for recovery, though. Until then, keep your phone close and don't leave the bar without it.

using facebook online purchase

 online purchase just by using log-in details of facebook:

The product is still to be tested and its slated to begin next month.

Facebook is planning to roll out a service that will allow you to make online purchases through your mobile devices just by using your Facebook log-in details.
AllThingsD reported that the service would allow any online shopper to make purchases on partnering e-commerce mobile apps without entering billing information. The shopper however needs to provide credit card information to Facebook.
The world’s largest social networking company will simplify online shopping for users. The users do not have to enter their credit card details each time and can shop with just their Facebook log-in details.
The product is still to be tested and the testing will begin in the next month or so.
According to the report, JackThreads, a shopping site for young men, is the pilot partner and they will conduct the initial testing.
If the product is successfully tested it would also potentially give Facebook keen insight into the shopping habits and preferences of the users.
This pilot system could give competition to PayPal which pioneers e-commerce right now.
Associated Press reported that spokeswoman Tera Randall said in an e-mailed statement that Facebook has a "great relationship with PayPal, and this product is simply to test how we can help our app partners provide a more simple commerce experience."
The test, she added, won't involve moving payment processing "away from an app's current payments provider, such as PayPal."
If this service does see the light of the day then Facebook would indeed earn big in mobile commerce. It will also help the company collect useful data about its customers.

Airtel - Entertainment Store @1Rp’

Airtel launches ‘Re 1 Entertainment Store’

After tasting the success with its Re 1 video downloads’ campaign launched in April, Airtel on Friday rolled out yet another initiative allowing its subscribers to download a host of services including music, games, videos and photos for  Re 1 through Re 1 Entertainment Store’.

While lowering the 2G data rates recently, Airtel had said that it was meant to boost data usage in the country. Through Re 1 Entertainment Store the company again seems to be working on the same logic by “encouraging the mobile internet experience among first-time users”.
For this the Airtel mobile customers need to dial 56789 from their phones to visit the ‘Re 1 Entertainment Store’ and get started. “The store is compatible with over 5,500 mobile devices including feature phones”, Airtel said.

Airtel has offered one day special customized mobile internet packs with 3MB of Data bundled for access to Facebook, Yahoo mail, Twitter and LinkedIn direct links.
It is also offering news from over 60 newspapers in 11 languages for access to news updates direct link.

Airtel had launched Re 1 video downloads’ campaign through TV commercials which were received well by the masses.

Tech News::Apple iPhone 5S to launch on September 10

Apple iPhone 5S to launch on September 10, here’s what to expect

Ever since Apple purchased biometric security firm AutheTec, word on the street has been that the next iPhone will have a finger print scanner.

Apple's iPhone launch is the most anticipated tech event of the year, and it won't be any different this time either. All Things D has already reported that Apple will host an event on September 10 to unveil the iPhone 5S and considering their track record we are inclined towards believing it. Read on to find out the new features we expect in the next iPhone.

• Fingerprint scanner:

Ever since Apple purchased biometric security firm AutheTec, word on the street has been that the next iPhone will have a finger print scanner.

Yesterday, there was more evidence to suggest the same and a report indicated that Apple will integrate it in the home button of the device which will have a convex sapphire glass to provide scratch resistance. Earlier, references to the fingerprint scanner were found in the fourth beta of iOS 7, which were removed in the latest version.

• More colors:

While the design of the phone is expected to remain the same there is talk about more color options, in particular a gold model. That would sure catch the fancy of many.

• More power:

Standard incremental upgrades like a newer faster A7 CPU, a more powerful GPU are expected. The screen can also be upgraded in terms of contrast, black levels or viewing angles, but a resolution bump is not expected. Apple could go for a different display technology altogether and it could possibly look at incorporating Sharp's IGZO displays.

• Camera:

One of the major upgrades Apple is expected to do in the iPhone 5S is the camera. Leaks have already indicated a new camera module, which could even mean the megapixel count going up to 13-megapixel. Component leaks have also indicated a dual-LED flash module. The sensor could be bigger with f/2.0 aperture, which would mean better low light photography. There is no word on whether it will have optical image stabilization or not, but we would be surprised if it does not. Apple had also mentioned that iOS 7 would support video recording at 60fps, so we expect some cool slow motion video tricks coming to the iPhone 5S. Apart from that, Apple has already implemented filters to the camera app.

• Improved voice recognition:

Apple could improve the microphones in the iPhone so that Siri detects human voice better and call quality and audio on videos is improved. Siri will be much improved irrespective of hardware improvements as Apple has improved it in iOS 7.

• Better Battery life:

We could expect a larger battery that would deliver a lot more juice than the current model. This would be needed considering iOS 7 now packs full multitasking unlike the tombstoning technique used in iOS 6.

• Cheaper iPhone:

The biggest feature of the new iPhone will probably be a new model dubbed the iPhone 5C. We have already seen multiple pictures of an Applesque smartphone toting a colourful polycarbonate shell. It would probably be on par with the iPhone 5 in terms of specs, but will be wildly cheaper. This model will probably replace the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S which have proven to be immensely popular in developing markets like India.

Face - the new credit card

Your face is the new credit card

No more swiping cards! A new technology that allows customers to use their facial features instead of swiping a credit card to purchase goods has been developed by a Finnish company. 
The technology provided by Uniqul, works by recognizing the customer's face and then linking it to the individual's bank account . So instead of swiping a credit card to purchase goods, the customer gazes into a camera. 
Uniqul claims its service is secured with military-grade algorithms , 'The Australian' reported . Uniqul's Ruslan Pisarenko said the technology — which is due to roll out next month — has the ability for transactions to be completed instantly and can even distinguish between identical twins, 'News Limited Network' reported. According to Pisarenko, "the face is a PIN and it's more like a complete way to identify a person.

But in some cases where the system is not 100% accurate, it will ask a person to input their PIN as security," he said. There is no payment card involved, nor is a mobile or wallet needed. Customers sign up to the technology by registering their identification and bank details. Once the items are scanned through the customers' details will flash up on a screen and they click "OK" to confirm the transaction. 
The new tech is similar to facial recognition identification which is used by international travellers at airports in Australia. The company is getting ready for deployment of the system in Helsinki, news website goodnewsfinland.com reported. 
The company said its patent pending technology allows to reduce time spent on transactions close to zero seconds.

Applying passport through smartphones

Apply for passport through your smartphones

Applicants will soon be able to apply for passports through their smart phones, a senior official said. 

"Applicants can fill details on passport applications through mPassport Seva App. We are working on this and are hopeful it will be launched in next few months," Joint Secretary (Passport Seva Project) and Chief Passport Officer Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi told reporters. 

The "mPassport Seva"--an android App, developed by the Ministry of External Affairs was earlier launched in March. 

The App which can be downloaded at www.passportindia.gov.in, as of now is providing smart phone and tablet users with a variety of services including passport application status, tracking, locating the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) and general information on various steps involved in obtaining a passport. 

Speaking after inaugurating the passport office CCTV control room at Regional Passport Office at Secunderabad, Pardeshi said the Ministry of External Affairs is likely to issue over 85 lakh passports by the end of this year as compared to 74 lakh issued during last year. 

"Between January to June 2013, 37 lakh passports were issued and by this year end. We hope to issue over 75 lakh passports through Passport Offices in India while another 11-12 lakh passports through missions/embassys abroad," he said. 

The passport seva project has been declared as winner for e-India public choice award 2013 under government to citizen service category, he said.

Touchscreens to identify fingerprints

Touchscreens to identify fingerprints-coming soon:

A new touchscreen display, which is capable of identifying fingerprints, is closer to reality. 

Not only will the display redefine online security but could revolutionise the way in which humans and computers interact in the public sphere. 

Current touchscreens emit light but are not able to sense it, which makes it impossible to identify fingerprints unless a supplemental sensor is added. 

Researchers Christian Holz of the Hasso PlattnerInstitute in Germany told New Scientist that these touchscreens cannot scan fingerprints and fingerprint sensors are not able to show images. 

Holz and fellow researcher Patrick Baudisch's prototype uses a glass screen, made up of millions of 3-millimetre-long optical fibres that have been bunched together vertically. 

From an image projector that is mounted below the glass, each fibre is able to pipe out visible light rays. 

Meanwhile, from a source adjacent to the projector, an infrared light bounces off the fingerprints and back down to an infrared camera.

Apple -- big-screen iPhone

Apple testing big-screen iPhone, 13-inch iPad: WSJ

Apple's iPhone 5 has the smallest screen among all flagship smartphones, even though it is the biggest amongst iPhones. However, that may change soon, as the company reportedly is testing larger screens for both iPhones and iPads. This has been reported in The Wall Street Journal, which cites officials at Apple suppliers involved in the process.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple has asked suppliers for prototype iPhones with screens measuring over 4-inch. The report, which cites officials at Apple suppliers as sources, also says that Apple has called for iPad display designs that measure just under 13-inch.

iPhone 5, the biggest smartphone in Apple's line-up, has a 4-inch screen, while the full-sized iPad has a 9.7-inch display.
"The tests with suppliers seem to suggest that Apple is exploring ways to capture diversifying customer needs at a time when many mobile device makers offer smartphones and tablets in various sizes," says the report. However, it also adds that it remains unclear if the iPhonemaker will actually bring these devices to the market, as it often tests different designs for its products.

Apple suppliers reportedly began manufacturing the next-generation iPhone last month. WSJ says that the company has told Hon Hai Precision Industry to start shipping the model in late August. It is also said to be working on a cheaper iPhone that will come in multiple colour options and have a starting price tag of $349.

It is rumoured that Apple will begin manufacturing the fifth-generation iPad by the end of this month. The refreshed tablet is said to have the same 9.7-inch screen size as its predecessor, but a thinner display and slimmer profile.

'Lighter‘ Facebook - India, Brazil

'Lighter‘ Facebook coming soon for India, Brazil

 Facebook has been quietly working for more than two years on a project that is vital to expanding its base of 1.1 billion users: getting the social network onto the billions of cheap, simple "feature phones" that have largely disappeared in America and Europe but are still the norm in developing countries like India and Brazil.

Facebook soon plans to announce the first results of the initiative, which it calls Facebook for Every Phone: More than 100 million people, or roughly 1 out of 8 of its mobile users worldwide, now regularly access the social network from more than 3,000 different models of feature phones, some costing as little as $20.

Many of those users, who rank among the world's poorest people, pay little or nothing to download their Facebook news feeds and photos, with the data usage subsidized by phone carriers and manufacturers. Facebook has only just begun to sell ads to these customers, so it isn't making money from them yet.

But the countries in which the simple phone software is doing the best - India, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and Vietnam - are among the fastest-growing markets for use of the Internet and social networks, according to the research firm eMarketer.

Like many other giants of the technology industry, Facebook is struggling with the seismic shift of its customers away from computers to mobile devices and erosion of profits that can bring.

Last year, the company overhauled its apps for Apple iPhones and Android-based smartphones to improve mobile access and introduced new types of ads that nudge users to install a new game or other apps on their phones. But customer growth in developed markets like the United States has still slowed dramatically because just about everyone who wants to be on Facebook has already joined the network.

Analysts say that Facebook has a powerful opportunity to win the long-term loyalty of millions of new global users by giving them their first taste of internet through Facebook on a simple cellphone.

"In a lot of foreign markets, people think that the Internet is Facebook," said Clark Fredricksen, a vice president at eMarketer.

Those users, the company hopes, will become more attractive to advertisers as their incomes grow and they gain broader access to the Web.

The feature phone project was driven by a small group of people who joined Facebook in 2011, when it purchased a startup called Snaptu. The team had to re-engineer Facebook's software to drastically shrink the amount of data sent over slow cellular networks. They also had to find a way to quickly display familiar Facebook features like chat and photos on phones with very basic computing power and low-resolution screens.

"We actually run the apps on our servers," said Ran Makavy, who was chief executive of Snaptuand now runs Facebook's feature phone project. "The result was something that looks almost like a smartphone app."

The software has features that are common in more advanced versions of Facebook, including sticker-size emoticons in chat and Instagram-style filters to dress up photos. (Facebook for Every Phone can be used by feature phone customers anywhere, including those in the United States. It can be downloaded from Facebook using the phone's mobile browser or obtained from app stores operated by the phone maker or independent companies like Getjar.)

Brian Blau, who studies consumer technologies at the research firm Gartner, said that given Facebook's mission of linking the entire globe through its service, it needed to reach out to the least tech-savvy customers.

"They talk about socially connecting the world together," he said. "They can't do that until they connect people who don't have smartphones or computers."

To understand how far Facebook has come in its approach to mobile devices, consider this: until two years ago, the only way to sign up for the service was through a Web browser, which is much slower to use than an app. Facebook originally viewed phones as mostly useful for posting status updates, not as a primary way to access the service, said Javier Olivan, who heads Facebook's growth team.

Eventually, the company realized that tens of millions of people in developing countries were eager to try Facebook but had no access to a computer, nor could they afford the $600 iPhones or $40-a-month data plans common in the developed world.

"It became very obvious that the next wave of users would come on mobile only," Olivan said in an interview last week.

To go after those customers, Facebook spent a reported $70 million to buy Snaptu, an Israeli company that had begun to offer primitive versions of Facebook and other apps on simple cellphones.

The acquisition "unlocked an opportunity for us," Olivan said.

From virtually no users on feature phones a couple of years ago, the company has grown to 100 million active users. Facebook declined to offer any specific predictions about the growth of its service on either smartphones or feature phones.

The immediate prospects are modest of making money from feature phone users. During the first quarter of this year, Facebook got only 24 percent of its $1.5 billion in revenue from outside of the United States, Canada and Europe. It is just beginning to ramp up its mobile advertising revenue, which was 30 percent of its overall global ad revenue in the first quarter. Those mobile ads are not as profitable as desktop ads, whose growth is flat.

The company will report its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, but analysts expect that developed markets will be the biggest source of Facebook's revenue and profit for a long time.

Still, there is a longer-term business opportunity, for both Facebook and its phone industry partners, as mobile usage grows in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Latest Tech News: 5G technology

Huawei working on 5G technology:

As people across the world get used to the fourth generation (4G) mobile technology, Chinese equipment maker Huawei Technologies  has said it is working on the fifth generation (5G), which is likely to be available for use by 2020. 

The company said presently 200 people are working on the project and it has earmarked a specified amount for the research and development of the technology. It, however, refused to share details about the amount to be spent for the development of the technology. 

Huawei Technologies official Wen Tong said that by 2020, there will be billions of connections and 5G can provide massive connectivity. The technology will enable people to have a fibre network like user experience on a wireless connection. 

It can provide speed of 10GBps, which is 100 times faster than the mobile technology used these days, Tong added. 

South Korean giant Samsung has also announced that it has successfully tested 5G technology and it will be ready for commercial roll-out by 2020. 

Mobile operators across the world have started moving towards the high-speed long term evolution (LTE) or 4G networks and Huawei provides equipment to 85 such networks. 

The company is also undertaking a trial run to test the speed on its 4G technology on high speed MagLev train in Shanghai. 

Huawei has deployed an LTE network to support wireless connectivity on the train, which runs between the centre of the Shanghai district to the International Airport. The total length of the track is 31km and the train achieves a speed of up to 431km per hour. 

The company said on that speed, its 4G technology can provide a download speed of up to 50MBps.

Launching of Moto X phone on August 1

Google to launch Moto X phone on August 1

Google's Motorola division appears set to unveil its much anticipated Moto X phone on August 1 at an event in New York City.


Email invitations sent to the media displayed the Moto X name in bold letters. The invitation depicted several youths holding the Moto X, the first smartphone Motorola has developed since its 2012 acquisition by Google.

Motorola, which Google bought for $12.5 billion, has steadily ceded market share to Apple and Samsung Electronics, with most of its latest phones garnering relatively lukewarm receptions.

The Motorola business has been a drag on Google's profit margins, with Motorola's second-quarter losses totaling $342 million.

A Web page to respond to the invitation said, "Come experience the new Motorola. No Stage. No crowds." The page asks guests to select one of several "sessions" to attend at different times at an address in mid-town Manhattan.

In May, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside said at the AllThingsD technology conference that the new Moto X phones would be built in the United State.