CEAT Tyre Assist road assistance Android app launched

CEAT Tyre Assist road assistance Android app launched

CEAT has launched a new monsoon road assistance app meant for bikers. The Android app, developed by LogicTree IT, is known as CEAT Tyre Assist, and gives complete solutions and assistance to bikers. The free app provides on road assistance and helps bikers in taking care of their tyres in monsoon.

Mr. Arnab Banerjee, ED – Operations CEAT, said: "We at CEAT have always tried to uphold the motto of ‘Safety’ for its customers. With the launch of CEAT app we are ensuring that our customers get a hassle free journey during this monsoon and enabling them to ride their bike safely by giving them all indicators required at this juncture.”

The CEAT Tyre Assist app offers unique features like parking reminder, water clogging indicator, road quality indicator, mileage tracker as well as free dealer locator for tyres and bikes. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for free.

CEAT’s Tyre Assist app will provide you with tips on how to take care of your tyres and save fuel. It will give reminders about oil change, tyre change, vehicle services etc. The user will also have access to emergency medical, police, repair, tow services numbers, etc.

The CEAT Tyre Assist app will apparently also ensure that you get a free tyre check-up at locations in 20+ cities offered as a part of the company’s ‘Monsoon Smart’ campaign. The app will also suggest to the user when they are near a check up center. It also has an interactive road sign quiz to test your knowledge and will tag and record water clogged roads for future reference.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/CEAT-Tyre-Assist-road-assistance-Android-app_15148.html

Google survey finds 60 million women internet users in India

Google survey finds 60 million women internet users in India

A recent survey done by Google India has found that of a total of 150 million internet users in the country, 60 million are women.

The report, titled Women & Web Study, was designed to understand the internet usage patterns of the fairer sex, and how the internet influences purchase decisions of women in India. 'It reveals that around 60 million women use the internet to manage their day to day life', said a statement.

"With the report it is clear that the internet is empowering Indian women with easy access to information and helping them to make more informed decisions in their day-to-day life," said Rajan Anandan, vice president and managing director, Google India.

Accessing the internet has become quite easy at homes, cyber cafes, as well as smartphones. The internet is also fast becoming the favourite medium for comparisons when making a purchasing decision. The study also revealed that younger and more affluent women were more inclined to use the internet.

According to the study, nearly 24 million women in India log on daily to check emails, social networking sites, followed by downloading music, educational content, job search, etc.

The study revealed that the top searches done by women in India were on apparels and accessories, closely followed by food and drink; baby care; hair care, and skin care products. About 25% of the total queries via mobile phones were related to food, drink, hair and skin care- making it the fastest growing search category.

Google India conducted this study by compiling search data related to skin, hair care, baby care, apparels and accessories along with TNS Australia’s research survey on 1,000 women.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Google-survey-finds-60-million-women-internet_15149.html

Qualcomm unveils new lineup of Snapdragon 200 processors aimed at budget phones, tablets

Qualcomm unveils new lineup of Snapdragon 200 processors aimed at budget phones, tablets

Qualcomm today announced that it is expanding its lineup of Snapdragon 200 mobile processors targeted at entry level phones and tablets by adding six new processors. According to a press release issued by Qualcomm, the new processors will be showing up in devices in emerging markets (like China and India) from late 2013 and will be manufactured based on a 28nm process. The processors will be available in both dual-core and quad-core variants.

The release continues to enumerate the kind of hardware that the new processors will support. These include two cameras- a rear 8MP one and a 5MP front-facing one, support for multiple SIM cards, HSPA+ connectivity and all popular operating systems such as Android, Windows Phone and Firefox. The new Snapdragon 200 chipset will also include an Adreno 302 GPU.

Considering the fact that Snapdragon has dominated the high-end segment with its Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors, it’s only understandable that it would want to do so in the budget segment as well. However, it may have a fight waiting for it in the entry-level segment in markets like India thanks to Taiwanese processor-maker Mediatek, whose quad-core processors are already present in popular products such as the Micromax Canvas HD, the XOLO Q700 and the Spice Stellar Pinnacle Pro. Hopefully, with Qualcomm putting renewed focus on the budget segment we will devices with more power at lower costs.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-PDAs/Qualcomm-unveils-new-lineup-of-Snapdragon-200_15143.html

Huawei launches 10.1-inch MediaPad 10 Link tablet at Rs. 24,990

Even though the Huawei Ascend Mate was the highlight of yesterday’s press conference, the Chinese manufacturer also showcased its quad-core tablet, the MediaPad 10 Link. The tablet is available in India for Rs. 24,990. You can pick it up from online retailers such as Flipkart.

The Huawei MediaPad 10 shows off a 10.1-inch IPS display with a 1280x800 pixel resolution. Under the hood, the tablet has the 1.2GHz Hi-Silicon K3V2 CPU coupled with a 16-core GPU and 1GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean skinned with the Huawei’s Emotion UI. The rear of the tablet has a 3MP camera without a flash and the front has a VGA camera for video calling. It has 16GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card slot. A 6600mAh battery powers the entire package.

The tablet also boasts of two speakers located at the back of the tablet. The MediaPad 10 Link supports Dolby Surround Sound.

For a budget of Rs. 25,000 you can take a look at the Nexus 7 32GB, Wi-Fi+3G, iPad Mini and more before making your purchase decision.  If you are in the market to pick up a tablet, you may want to take a look at our top 10 tablets list before making your purchase decision.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Tablets/Huawei-launches-101-inch-MediaPad-10-Link-tablet_15105.html

Google launches Start Search India campaign, aims to simplify web for Indian users

Google India has announced a new initiative called 'Start Search India' in a bid to help simplify web for the Internet users in the country.

"The objective of the campaign is to help simplify the Web for Indian users, showing how they can get instant answers to their most common queries," Sandeep Menon, Director, Marketing, Google India, is quoted as saying.

He noted that more Indian users are coming to the web for the first time, therefore looking for convenient methods to explore/browse/search information on the Internet.

"Whether it is to find out about the weather, checking flight status, or even looking for a restaurant for dinner date, Google Search can give users instant answers to these common queries in the form of information cards that appear above search results," he add.

Considering growing number of Indians accessing the web via mobile phones, Menon added, "Today the next billion users are making the leap from no internet to mobile internet, without ever having used a desktop computer."

In a related development Google has launched a new ad format 'Product Listing Ads' in India. The new ad format is aimed at providing users information such as brand of products, price and images, helping users to have improved online shopping experience. Google believes the new format would provide great opportunities for merchants to display their business online and promote their products.

The new Product Listing Ads will be visible on shopping-related queries on Google.co.in. The ads will be placed on the right-hand side of the search results and labelled as 'sponsored'.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Google-launches-Start-Search-India-campaign-aims_15093.html

BlackBerry 10.2 SDK brings Android 4.2 app support

The BlackBerry 10.2 Software Development Kit (SDK) is already in beta and apparently, it will bring a feature to the platform that might just save the sinking boat that it has become. The update will bring to the platform the ability to side-load Android 4.2 Jelly Bean apps on the BlackBerry.

The company took to their blog to explain the update, stating that ‘Adobe AIR 3.5 brings with it Stage3D for accelerated OpenGL graphics and the Android run-time upgrade brings it up to Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) compatibility. As with any beta, this is a work in progress as we work our way towards the gold release of the BlackBerry 10.2 SDK.’

Blackberry had stated earlier that their BB10 OS would be able to run Android apps designed for Gingerbread (Android v. 2.3) only, which did limit the scope of usability of this feature since most Android apps have since then been updated for Jelly Bean. The new 10.2 SDK will update this feature in the next version of the BlackBerry 10 software, version 10.2, meaning users will then be able to side-load apps for Android 4.2 and below.

While this is excellent news not just for the platform, but for users as well, we currently have no word on when the update will actually roll out to the masses. However, when it does roll out, we will definitely let you know.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/BlackBerry-102-SDK-brings-Android-42-app_15070.html

Google to retire Chrome Frame plugin for Internet Explorer

Google is planning to stop Chrome Frame For Internet Explorer and cease updates and support from January 2014. Chrome Frame was launched in 2009 by Google to help businesses to move to a modern framework without having to change from the Internet Explorer. Google Frame allows developers to set tags that automatically prompt Internet Explorer to Google Chrome Frame or of they do not sport Chrome Frame it directs them to their Installation Page.

Google stated, “Today, most people are using modern browsers that support the majority of the latest web technologies.” “Better yet, the usage of legacy browsers is declining significantly and newer browsers stay up to date automatically, which means the leading edge has become mainstream.”

Google elaborated that it is retiring its Chrome Frame Plug In as users for legacy browsers like Internet Explorer 6 and 7 have declined considerably and people are now using modern browsers instead. Google is recommending businesses using Google Frame to switch to either modern browsers or Chrome for Business that now.

Roger Capriotti, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer director, said that, "More and more people are using modern browsers every day. To help move the web forward, we continue to upgrade our Windows customers through Windows Update to ensure they have the latest version of IE for their PC. We also encourage developers to build modern HTML5 sites that are interoperable and help move the web forward."


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Software/Google-to-retire-Chrome-Frame-plugin-for_15057.html

Simmtronics launches XPAD X-722 voice-calling ICS tablet at Rs. 5,999

Simmtronics has announced the launch of a new voice-calling tablet called the XPAD X-722. Competitively priced at Rs. 5,999, the Simmtronics XPAD X-722 runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a Cortex A8 1.0GHz 2D/3D processor.

The Simmtronics XPAD X-722 features a 7-inch display screen with a pixel resolution of 800x 480. It sports 2MP rear camera and 0.3MP front camera. The tablet has 512MB DDR3 RAM, 4GB built-in storage and expandable storage up to 32GB via microSD card.

For connectivity, the tablet supports 2G voice-calling and data (GSM/GPRS), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G via USB Dongle. There's a 3,500 mAh battery powering the tablet.

Simmtronics has earlier launched the XPAD X-801, an 8-inch tablet with voice-calling functionality. The tablet features an 8-inch capacitive multi-touch display with an 800x600 pixel resolution. The tablet runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS and is powered by 1.2GHz processor. The device has 512MB of DDR3 RAM.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Tablets/Simmtronics-launches-XPAD-X-722-voice-calling-ICS-tablet_15053.html

Gmail people widget now allows brands to promote Google+ profiles and posts

Google has introduced a new feature for its Gmail people widget that enables businesses to highlight their Google+ profiles and latest Google+ posts within customers' inboxes.

After having signed in, Gmail users can follow the brands' Google+ page from within the e-mail, without needing to visit Google+. The widget shows information culled from the business’s Google+ page, including the logo and recent Google+ activity, alongside opened Gmail messages originating from the business’s domain name.

Google says the updated widget allows brands to boost their Google+ following by prompting users right from Gmail. The widget also boosts visibility of Google+ posts. To appear in the new Gmail widget, businesses or organization needs is a verified Google+ page and digitally-signed emails. Learn more about the widget here

“Today we're expanding the +Gmail people widget to include brands and businesses (http://goo.gl/wx2mI), making it easier for your customers to connect with you on Google+. This way, when people receive emails from your domain, they can follow your Google+ page directly from their inbox! Your recent Google+ posts can also appear in the widget (alongside your email message), helping customers find and engage with your content,” says Google+ Your Business team in a post.

Google recently introduced a new dashboard for businesses and Google+ page owners that aims to make it easier to manage online presence. The new dashboard allows users to manage their activities around Google tools through a single platform. Read more about the update to Google+ Dashboard here.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/Gmail-people-widget-now-allows-brands-to_15016.html

Lenovo to launch smartphones priced below Rs. 5,000 in India

Lenovo is now aiming to compete with the likes of Nokia and Samsung in the budget smartphone segment in India as it plans to launch phones priced below Rs. 5,000. Moreover, the company targets to sell one million smartphones in the country this year.

“We are watching the space because we know there are people who are upgrading from feature phones to smartphones, and that is a big trend in emerging markets today,” Hindu Business Line quotes Nick Reynolds, Executive Director – Worldwide Product Marketing, Lenovo as saying.

Reynolds further said the company is considering to launch smartphone at various price points. He said the company will spend more money on advertising and marketing. Also, Lenovo will enter partnerships with channels such as Ingram, Advanced Computer and Redington to amp up presence in tier-II and tier-III cities.

Lenovo recently launched a slew of smartphones, including its flagship Intel-based phone, IdeaPhone K900. While the K900 is priced at Rs. 32,999, other new Lenovo phones range from Rs. 8,689 to Rs. 26,399.

The Indian budget smartphone market is already flooded with a range of phones from the likes of Samsung and Nokia. Moreover, the Indian handset companies such as Micromax, Lava and Karbonn have further intensified the competition. For Lenovo, dominating the Indian budget smartphone market currently seems to be a daunting task, but not impossible of course. With revenues from PC segment is already shrinking, Lenovo has to increasingly look to make up with higher smartphone sales.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-PDAs/Lenovo-to-launch-smartphones-priced-below-Rs_14980.html

Disney launches its first ever mobile-only drawing game, Scribble Mix

Disney has officially announced the launch of its first ever mobile-only game title called ScribbleMix. The game involves two players who play against each other in a Pictionary-style contest. One of the players is supposed to draw the clue while the opponent must guess based on a bunch of words generated.

The game will be launched on both iOS and Android devices. We can also expect a Windows 8 version in the near future.

Each level begins with the drawer given a phrase.The drawer eventually has to scribble the phrase and submit it to his opponent. The game includes a set of nouns, verbs and adjectives. The words will be assembled based on drawer's choice. The game provides three game packs to choose from, with additional premium packs based on big named movies and popular TV shows.

Disney has said that the target groups are those 18 years and over, but also mentions that the game is suitable for younger audience as well.

The free version of the game is downloadable from the Apple App store and Google Play. They can also go for the ad free version of the game for $0.99.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Gaming/Disney-launches-its-first-ever-mobile-only-drawing_14972.html

Facebook to make ads simpler with uniform visual display

Facebook has been relentlessly working to amp up its revenue from different sections of the social network. However, the company has come under criticism for having too many types of advertisements that have been been confusing advertisers to choose which one of the ad campaigns is best suited to them. Well, Facebook has finally decided to do something about it – now it plans to bring forth a simpler and uniform process for creating ads.

Moreover, Facebook plans to ditch almost half of its 27 ad formats and will soon allow advertisers to purchase ads based on objectives. Facebook executives say objectives may range from apps instalment, get likes for the page or simply increase brand awareness.

One of the notable ad formats that Facebook is abandoning is "Sponsored Stories”, which will be soon diluted into other types of advertising . Facebook is also ditching “Offer” ads that are used to distribute product discounts or coupons.

“...we are pleased to announce an ongoing effort to simplify our offerings. When we work with a marketer, we always start with their business goals, and we are going to do the same thing with our ad products. Our vision is that over time, an advertiser can come to Facebook and tell us what they are trying to achieve, and our ads tools will automatically suggest the right combination of products to help them achieve it,” says Facebook in an announcement.

“In the next six months, we plan to streamline the number of ad units from 27 to fewer than half of that while mapping all of our ads to the business objectives marketers care about — be it in-store sales, online conversions, app installs, etc.”

Facebook says it will eliminate redundancies, which includes removing the Questions product for Pages. The future Facebook ads will look more consistent, with uniform visual display of all ads.


“This will reduce the number of ad formats and make the ad creation process much simpler for advertisers who run multiple campaigns or want to test which ad creative performs the best. We think this will ultimately help advertisers optimize their campaigns across desktop and mobile,” adds Facebook.


Facebook says it hasn't fixed date for this process to start, but the roll-out should begin within the next few weeks.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Facebook-to-make-ads-simpler-with-uniform_14962.html

Zoink's 'Stick it to the Man' set to launch on the PS3, PS Vita by 2013-end

Swedish developer Zoink and Sony have announced that the publisher's new game, Stick it to the Man, will be launched on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

The game is in many ways similar to Media Molecule's upcoming PS Vita game Tearaway, but eventually takes a whole new direction.“It’s a mix of platforming and adventure games,” Zoink’s Klaus Lyngeled explained, and focuses on a “poor guy called Ray, who ends up in [a] coma and wakes up with a 16-foot pink spaghetti arm sticking out of his head."

"The arm gives him the power to actually listen to anyone’s thoughts, which he hears as an inner monologue. But that’s not all – he can also put thoughts into people’s heads, change what they think about, and even pull objects out from people[‘]s thoughts.”

The game has over 100 characters to mind read and " more than 10 hours of voice acting according to Adventure Time writer Ryna North.

Lyngeled has confirmed that the game will be unveiled by the end of this year on both PS3 and Vita.Still on board, the studio will showcase more of the game before its final launch, with a playable version at E3 next week.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Gaming/Zoinks-Stick-it-to-the-Man-set_14932.html

Amazon marketplace goes live in India; currently offers books and movies

Global e-commerce giant Amazon is bringing its online shopping portal to India – Amazon.in. Initially the service will offer books, movies and TV shows for sale.

“This marketplace will provide Indian customers with a shopping destination to purchase products from third-party sellers. India represents Amazon’s tenth marketplace launch. With the introduction of the Amazon.in marketplace and launch of two new programmes — ‘Sell on Amazon’ and ‘Fulfilment by Amazon’ — sellers across India now have access to unlimited and free ‘virtual shelf space’ and a scalable, pay-as-you-go fulfilment and customer service offerings,” the company said in a statement.

On Amazon.in, Indians will be allowed to act as third-party sellers on the marketplace. The third-party seller will be able to list their products for sale on the website. 

Apart from books, movies and TV shows, Amazon also has a coming soon section that lists mobiles, cameras and more. As an initial offer, customers will get free home delivery and cash on delivery for a limited time. After the offer expires, orders above Rs. 500 will be home delivered.   

In the past, we have seen the launch of Junglee.com, which was Amazon’s debut in the Indian market. You can catch the details of that story here. Amazon also has its Kindle store along with Kindle digital publications in India. The Amazon Android app store too is live in India.

What remains to be seen is how Amazon.in takes on the existing established online retailers in India that include flipkart, saholic, ebay.in and more.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Amazon-marketplace-goes-live-in-India-currently_14919.html

Computex 2013: Asus unveils ROG G750 gaming laptop, 31.5-inch 4K monitor and more

Apart from tablets launching tablets and notebooks at Computex 2013, Asus has shows of some other computing hardware that includes a gaming rig and monitors.

Starting with the Asus ROG G750 it shows off the GeForce GTX 765M along with 4th generation (Haswell) Intel Core i7 processors. The laptop has a brushed aluminum finish surrounding the keyboard. The keyboard itself is backlit and includes gamer-friendly isolated arrow keys. ROG has added an amplifier within the headphone socket to bump up the audio output for gaming and music.

At Computex 2013, Asus has shown off a 15-inch USB-powered monitor. This is a first for Asus. The 15-inch display has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels but a full HD version of the same will also be available to consumers. The 1366x768 version of the monitor will be available in July for $159 (Rs. 9,000 approx.), where as the full HD variant will ship in August for $209 (Rs. 12,000 approx.). The monitor shows off an anti-glare panel, and weighs 800g.

Asus also showed off two touchscreen monitors - 19.5-inches and 23.6-inches. Both the monitors show off a 1080p display and have a thick bezel. The 23.6-inch model has an IPS display where as the smaller one does not. There is no information available on the pricing of the monitors.

Last but not least, Asus showed off a tri-panel gaming setup. The setup included three 27-inch, 1080p IPS displays. The highlight of the monitors was the slim bezel.

The showstopper for Asus however has to be the new 31.5-inch 4K monitor, which is priced at a whopping $3,799 (Rs. 2,15,000 approx.). The 31.5-inch display shows off a pixel resolution of 3840x2160. The panel of the display is matte along with anti-glare. The bezel of the monitor too is very thin. ASUS is also planning a 39-inch version of the monitor. There is no pricing information about the 39-inch monitor. The 31.5-inch monitor will ship in June.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Laptops-PCs/Computex-2013-Asus-unveils-ROG-G750-gaming_14905.html

Evernote to introduce two factor authentication for premium accounts

An unauthorized infringement compelled Evernote to reset 50 million plus user passwords on the March 2. In less than 3 months after the breach, it is adopting more stringent security, with three new measures which include a two factor authentication, initially to go live to its premium users.

In lieu of the breach in March, the company proposes to introduce a two-step authentication for all registered users "later this year" and a security measure- which will use SMS for verifying the identity of a user- to be introduced, along with 'access history' and 'authorized applications' measures.

The two-step verification was adopted by Twitter as well to better protect user accounts from hacking and unauthorized entries. The feature will function in the same way that it does with Google and other services. As the company says that Two-step verification will include an additional security measure to log into an Evernote account in order to make sure that the person logging is the rightful owner of that specific account. The process with two step verification enabled requires a username, password and a unique code that's sent across to the user's cellphone and generated by Google Authenticator app or can be printed out by the user in advance.

Adding more skin to the protection, access history will keep users informed about the locations from which they have logged into Evernote from, which can be altered if their account has been accessed by a third-party.

Authorized application is another important security feature which lets users have a clear view of which services are associated with Evernote and have full control to do away with any service that they do not approve of.

The company intends to bring all these security features to all users in the near future. Premium users will be chosen to trial as they are the most engaged and will able to provide quality feedback.

“With feedback from our Premium users, we’ll be best prepared to address questions and concerns as we continue the roll out to our larger user base,” the company said in a blog post.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Evernote-to-introduce-two-factor-authentication-for_14869.html