Tech Productivity

Intel Powered Windows 8 Tablet to launch at year end

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:52:31 +0000

CNET has been informed by its sources that Intel chip based Windows 8 tablets will be hitting retail stores in US in November. The challenge here for windows is that in this tight schedule, they have to make sure that new OS can run on 5 architectures, i.e Intel, AMD and 3 of ARM. All tablets will power Intel’s new upcoming Atom chip “Clover Trail” which is first of kind dual core atom design based on 32 nm process technology.

The specs are interesting for Intel based tablets, 9+ battery life, approx 30 days standby, 3G and 4G support.

Rumors – New Apple Macbook Pro, USB 3.0 and Probably with Intel’s latest Ivy-Bridge Processors

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:34:25 +0000

The latest inside rumors from Apple is the release of their new MacBook in succession to MacBook Pro (Even better than MacBook Air) with whole lot of developments. But first things first, its got all new 15-inch ‘Retina Display’, it is super-thin, one that you can truly say an ‘Ultrabook’ which has a sleek design. I still remember how i loved 13 inch Aluminum Macbook. People have been highly please and appreciated 3.5 inch Retina display currently available in iPhone 4, which will now be seen(if rumors are true) in 15 inch display. The optical drive is still removed as apple says you can always go for their USB Superdrive which greatly helps in reducing weight and getting a sleeker and thinner design.

Currently this prototype is under going test production and as per rumored casing, it may be having 2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 thunderbolt sized ports and SD card slot. The usual audio I/O ports and other necessary ports as applicable. The new thing here is definitely high speed USB 3.0 ports which are a lot faster than earlier USB 2.0 ports. USB 3.0 are not actually 10 times faster as theoretically seen, in actual end-user gets about 3-4 times more data transfer speed than USB 2.0 when in use. So as per casing, USB 3.0 is surely there !

New MacBook Pro with USB 3.0 on left, Current MacBook Pro on right (Checkout the thinness).

As far as Processor thing goes, it is going to be latest Intel’s Ivy-Bridge Processors, probably may be quad core i7 which will be supporting super fast USB 3.0. Even current MacBook Pro has quad core processors so this new one will definitely be having one. As the rumor is leaked from supply chain to 9to5 (Refer for detailed rumors from them), casing is all they can analyse comment about. So we don’t have much preciseness regarding internal details like graphics card and which processor they will be exactly using and how much RAM is gonna come. Graphics card may be from NVIDIA which have released gaming graphics card which are even power efficient.

Apple may be releasing this model in coming World Wide Developer conference staring at 11th June, most probably. With this release, Ultrabook markers like HP will be having tough time with even with latest sleekbooks and tough competition to still not so hot brands like Fujitsu which has announced rolling out new FMV series line (SH family Ultrabooks). It all depends on pricing and how much more robust and performer it is than existing MacBook pro.

How Wi-Fi blocker works and its advantages

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:13:27 +0000

Wireless connectivity works by sending signals, as well all know. But what differentiates different signals is the frequency at which they are transmitted. Frequency of any signal is its identification, it indicates what type of signal is it, how much power the signal carries and so on. There are several instances when we require to limit our area range of signals so that people outside our zone do not have access to our signals. Like, you have your wi-fi and do not want entire building using it for free, or hack into your wi-fi secured network, etc.

Wi-Fi signals can be simply blocked by using required thickness metal papers or mesh (mesh because they are of particular patterns which in turns does not allow particular frequency of waves to pass through). Like Aluminium or bronze, according to frequency of wi-fi, you choose metal sheets which does not allow particular frequency to pass through it (that’s science) while allowing other frequency signals, like your cellular phone or radio to pass through. You need to properly insulate the work space with these metal mesh to get maximum blockage of your signals. Cover your windows and other ventilation with these metal sheets and your wi-fi signals wont go out those windows. These metal papers are commonly known as Anti-wifi wallpapers which keep signals inside the room itself as these wallpapers filter wifi signals as they try to pass through them. So any laptop that is out of that room, will not get any signal to catch.

Dell for Developers, launches Ubuntu based Linux laptops

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:47:53 +0000

Dell has always been a positive promoter of open source, be it it’s enterprise servers or consumer oriented laptops. The latest news is that Dell is rolling out Ubuntu Linux laptops, specially aimed for Developers. Dell person on this release, Barton George said that they will be selling 12.04 LTS release of Ubuntu Linux in mobile and stylish laptops. The thing to note will be, are they as sleek as Windows OS powered regular Ultrabooks or not. Dell is probably the only OEM to roll out such developer aimed laptops in recent time. Although Dell will not be stuffing apps in this version as each developer has its own specific need so they are trying to create a stable meta-system where developers can manage their configuration.

HP rolls out new Sleekbooks (Just replace Intel with AMD Processors)

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:29:57 +0000

Recently, HP has been quite on roll with introducing new line of ’Ultrabooks’ which contained latest ivy-bridge processors of Intel and better battery life and more robust performance guarantee. Now they have gone one lane across (not one step ahead) and launched a new terminology called ‘Sleekbook’. So what exactly is Sleekbook ? Just replace Intel Processors with AMD Processors, including all those features of Ultrabook staying constant, you get what is called by them as Sleekbook.

What differs here is price tag attached to it. The price will be down by $150-$200 or so, 14-inch laptops available at $700 while 15-inch at $600.

Battery Life : Battery life claimed by HP is about 8-9 hours.

The 14-inch notebook offers 500 GB Hard disk while 15-inch has 320 GB hard disk.

Thickness : They are still 20 mm thick as i already said, they meet other informal criteria stated for Ultrabook .

Weight : Starting from 1.81 Kg or 4 pounds.

Sleekbooks further has same accessories as HP ENVY and Elitebook series model like HP’s beat Audio which has 2 speakers and a subwoofer. ENVY series sure has great new features like its Spectre XT series will be shipping quad speakers along with HP beats from June 8th, 2012. Sleekbooks are targeted for those customers who want sleek design but at a cheaper price.

Fujitsu unveils thinnest FMV series line of laptops with Ivy-Bridge processors

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:08:23 +0000

Japanese notebook producer Fujitsu has unveiled their new summer collection of PC’s which are added to their existing FMV series (their consumer series). It has added total 17 models categorized in 6 different family. What we are talking about is their ‘LIFEBOOK’ family of Notebook which has started new UH family, specially for Ultrabooks which will be made in Japan. They will be the thinnest Ultrabooks till now comprising of Intel’s 3rd Generation Ivy-Bridge processors (the new ‘tick’ with 22nm die shrinking fabrication technology).

Thickness : 15.6 mm at their thickest point.

Weight : Lightweight (Refer below)

LIFEBOOK UH Family Ultrabooks :

1) UH75/H : 14″ wide-format LCD screens with 15.6 mm at its thickest point and 1.44 kg weigh, making it the thinnest in the world till date with Hard-disk included. Battery life is about 9 hours.

2) U55/H: 13.3″ wide-format LCD. (Includes Intel’s 3rd Gen. processors)

LIFEBOOK SH Family Ultrabooks :

Worlds thinnest 13.3″ wide-format LCD with integrated optical disk drive and using latest Ivy bridge processors of Intel.

Thickness : 23.2 mm at its thickest point.

Weight : 1.34 Kg.

Batter life : 14 hours (wooh!).

The SH series is best for enterprise oriented people who require mobility and longer batter life. Also in their new summer lineup, they have incorporated ‘My cloud’ feature which enables you to record comment with photos and organize them in an album. They have also incorporated various in-house built technologies in their FMV series desktops and laptops, all specially for summer models. Check the official press release here.

Microsoft reserches in Augmented Reality (AR) device using a MirageTable

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:48:55 +0000

Microsoft research team has forayed into what can be called integration of Virtual and Real objects onto a table top which can be used as a task space which simultaneously several users can use. This can be also be called as seamless 3-D work space for several networked users. This is an Augmented Reality (AR) system which does not use any heavy or complex devices for this environment to happen. It is a type of MirageTable which can fool our eyes making us feel we are all in a 3-D workspace.

The setup is not that complex, it consists of a 3D video projector which sends a beam of light on a curved plastic sheet material which is placed in front of user, on top of sheet they have Kinect depth sensor camera which captures shape and size of objects placed in front of it and also the looks and stare of user. the user has to wear a ‘Shutter glasses’ in order to experience and see 3-D impact of screen.

It is amazing to see how things can be projected on flat and non-linear surfaces and the task that can be performed in this workspace. Here’s a video which demonstrates it. For more information, read microsoft’s paper on it.

Now Simultaneously make 2 outgoing phone calls in Gmail, Multiple Incoming calls

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:25:05 +0000

Gmail’s chat has been getting better and better with time. First it added video chat facility by simply downloading a plugin and then it allowed to make phone calls, at some great rates. Calls to US and Canada are absolutely FREE ! (yes, true). The latest news is that now you can pickup more than one call. So you can also pick up someone Else’s call (Voice or Video) and put the current one in ‘Hold’ mode. But you can at maximum make simultaneously only 2 outgoing phone calls. This is a great feature since you don’t need to make other Gmail caller waiting if you are busy with someone. You will get notified that some other user is trying to call you and you will have the liberty to pick that another call or reject it. This way you can handle multiple incoming calls while putting other ones on ‘Hold’. You can also put a single call on ‘Hold’ if you are going for some ‘just a second’ work.

One thing impressive practically are its call rates. You get some amazingly less rates compared to other market players like Skype. Plus no hassle of connection fee like Skype does. Although you don;t get advanced facility like getting a permanent telephone number online but pretty cheap compared to others if you want to simply start making phone calls. Here is the complete list of Google’s Calling rates to different nations.

File formats supported by Google Docs Viewer

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:03:49 +0000

Google Document viewer is an excellent service for opening several common file formats online itself rather than downloading it. This way you can view less important files online and not get in the mess of downloading the file and then deleting it. You can upload your files on google docs and send its link to people you want to share that document with. It supports most common formats like Adobe PDF and MS Word, excel, powerpoint,etc. This online service by google does not support all file formats to be read or accessible online. But it keeps adding new file formats as time passes. It recently added .ZIP and .RAR , 2 most common compression file formats by WinZip and WinRAR. Here is a list of file formats that it supports :

Archive file types (.ZIP and .RAR) (Latest addition)
Microsoft Word (.DOC and .DOCX)
Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
Microsoft PowerPoint (.PPT and .PPTX)
Adobe Portable Document Format (.PDF)
Apple Pages (.PAGES)
Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
Tagged Image File Format (.TIFF)
Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
TrueType (.TTF)
XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Google removed .co.cc extension domain name sites from it’s index

admin — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:09:55 +0000

About an year ago, extension .co.cc was being allowed to be registered for free (yes, free!) by a Korean company as they control this extension. Now this extension is being removed by google in its indexes as lot of spammy sites have got this. So you won’t find any .co.cc extension URL in google search as it won’t index it and all existing in its indexed database have been removed. I suppose as they were being offered for free with DNS server, lot of spammy sites got registered as it was all free with no single penny to pay for.