Donate organs? No, grow them from scratch

BERLIN -- Medical science, boosted by manufacturing and information technology, is on the cusp of being able to grow human tissue.

So believes Nina Tandon, a senior fellow at Columbia University's Lab for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, who for her Ph.D. thesis grew cardiac cells that beat like tiny hearts.

A third age of medicine is beginning, she said in a speech here at the TEDx Berlin conference held in conjunction with IFA consumer-electronics show. The first age, most of human history, had only a primitive understanding of the body. The second age ran from the first dialysis machines in 1924 to today's organ replacement procedures dependent on human donors and limited by the fact that many tissues are rejected by the body they're being transplanted into.

The third age builds replacement materials through tissue engineering.

"We've gone to growing pieces of the body that are living -- from scratch," Tandon said. Though she's careful to give credit where it's due: humans provide a framework and the correct environment, but "the real tissue engineers are the cells."

Her work so far has focused coaxing cells into activity with electrical impulses inside what she calls a bioreactor. Some of her work is shown in a video of a pulsating cube of lab-grown rat heart tissue. It's about 5mm on a side, a scale that makes her ambition -- growing a patch of heart tissue that could be applied after a heart attack -- seem more achievable. 

"We have some tissue-engineered products on the market," she said, including a replacement bladder one patient has had for several years. The early products are relatively inactive tissues such as tracheas, she said, adding that "cartilage is probably next."

And she's got commercialization on her mind, too.

"We're in the beginning of a startup doing a bone implant," Tandon said. "Cardac is probably much further down the line. It's probably more like 15 to 20 years.".

Engineered tissues have less glamorous but equally useful applications, she said. For example, drug developers could use them to test new drugs on actual human tissue, not just that of other animals.

"We could shrink down the time it takes to discover new therapies," she said.

And medical researchers could study health problems in a new way, she said. "If we grow more diseased tissues in the lab, we can learn a lot more about disease mechanisms and disease cures."

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57504295-76/donate-organs-no-grow-them-from-scratch/

Will AT&T's LTE network be more reliable than 3G for the iPhone?

The new iPhone launch is just around the corner. And eager fans are starting to consider which carrier might offer the best service.

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I help a reader, who has had poor experiences with his iPhone 3GS on AT&T, evaluate whether he should switch to Verizon Wireless for the new iPhone since it's likely to support 4G LTE. I also offer some advice about whether to buy the older Samsung Galaxy SII or the newer Galaxy SIII. And I explain why the recent court ruling in the Apple vs. Samsung patent case shouldn't factor much into that decision.

Also I want to let my loyal Ask Maggie readers know that my column will be on hiatus for the next three weeks. I'm getting married next Saturday and will be on vacation preparing for the wedding and enjoying my honeymoon for two weeks afterward.

I will return to CNET on September 24 and hope you all will check back with me for more Ask Maggie's. There should be plenty of great questions to discuss as we're expecting a flurry of product announcements over the next two weeks, including a Nokia Windows 8 Phone, a new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, and of course Apple's big iPhone announcement (and fingers crossed, possibly a mini-iPad announcement.)

Will 4G LTE solve AT&T's reliability issues for the iPhone?

Dear Maggie,

I am planning on buying the new iPhone when it comes out next month. I've heard it will have 4G LTE, just like the Apple iPad. With Verizon's 4G LTE on my iPad I get service everywhere. Its great! I currently have an iPhone 4S on AT&T. But in my high school where I go to school, AT&T doesn't have great reception. But my friends with Verizon, on the other hand, get service everywhere. (Just thought I'd put it out there, I'm not one of those students that use a phone all day, but when teachers allow us to, I like to. And I would like to get service when I am allowed to.)

I have basically hated AT&T since day one when I got an iPhone 3G. I really want to switch to Verizon with the "New iPhone," but I don't want to be paying $100 a month. With the 'New iPhone' supporting 4G LTE on AT&T and Verizon, will Verizon's 4G LTE be more reliable than AT&T's 4G LTE just like the current CDMA service is more reliable than AT&T's GSM network? Or are they both evenly reliable considering they are both LTE? On my iPad I get 4G LTE everywhere in my school, will I be getting 4G LTE on my iPhone with AT&T in the same places my iPad gets it? Thank you for your time, I really look forward to hearing from you about this topic. And I hope you keep up giving the great advice and answers!

Thanks,

Alec

Dear Alec,
As you know the new iPhone hasn't yet been announced, so we don't know for certain that it will support 4G LTE. But there's a very good chance that it will. While a recent survey of consumers indicates that nearly half of smartphone users don't get care if they get LTE, I think once they get a taste for the speed, they will find it hard to live without.

In general, Verizon Wireless has a superior 4G network compared with any other wireless operator around. Not necessarily because it performs better than AT&T, but because the coverage is far more extensive than anyone else out there building a 4G LTE network.

At the end of of the second quarter of 2012, Verizon covered 230 million potential customers in 337 markets with its LTE network. This is more than all the other carriers building LTE combined. By the end of the year, Verizon expects to cover about 260 million people in more than 400 markets.

By contrast, AT&T's LTE network covers only about 80 million people in the U.S. today, and it will only add another 70 million by the end of the year.

So what this means for many iPhone users is that Verizon will have LTE in a lot more places than AT&T will offer it. In your case, it's difficult to say whether AT&T will offer 4G LTE where you need it. You might want to check that out first.

If AT&T's 4G LTE network is where you live and go to school, then I think the networks will likely deliver very similar performance. In fact, in a recent JD Power customer survey, wireless subscribers noted that devices on LTE networks, regardless of carrier, experienced fewer data-related problems than subscribers using 3G devices. Customers on LTE networks had a better experience than with other 4G devices, such as those that use WiMax, which is the technology Sprint and Clearwire have deployed, or HSPA+, the current 4G wireless flavor touted by T-Mobile USA.

"It's very interesting to see the stark performance differences between the newest generation of network technology, 4G LTE and other network services that were the first offerings of 4G-marketed devices in early 2011," Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power, said in a statement regarding the report.

The report points out that the improvement in performance on a 4G LTE network was regardless of carrier. In other words, AT&T's LTE network, where it's available, seems to perform better than its 3G and HSPA+ networks.

From my own personal experience using the Galaxy SIII on AT&T this summer, I can tell you that I thought AT&T's LTE network was amazingly fast. It nearly killed me when my device testing time ended, and I had to go back to my slow Galaxy SII on AT&T's HSPA+ network. The Galaxy SIII on the LTE network was so fast. It was truly like going from dial-up Internet service to broadband on my mobile device.

The bottom line here is that so far AT&T's LTE network seems pretty solid. Of course, you should also remember that the LTE network is not fully deployed and it's underutilized. Network usage is likely to go up sharply once the new iPhone is introduced with LTE. And once many of the LTE naysayers discover that they can't live without the faster speeds, there's likely to be even more subscribers on the network. And there's a chance that the heavier load on the network may affect performance in the future.

So what should you do? I will tell you what I tell everyone deciding which service provider to choose: You first have to make sure the service you want is adequate where you plan to use your phone. If AT&T's LTE network is available to you, I can almost guarantee you that it will be a better experience than what you had with the company's 3G network. There is a chance that AT&T's 4G LTE network will get better reception because of the frequency of spectrum it's using. Like Verizon, AT&T is using the old 700 MHz analog TV broadcast spectrum to build its LTE network. Signals using this frequency can travel over longer distances and penetrate through obstacles better than services using higher frequencies, which might result in better coverage and better indoor reception.

But if find that AT&T's LTE is spotty or not available at all to you, then I'd say Verizon is the better choice for you, especially since you know it already works in your school.

I know you mentioned price as a factor, but AT&T's plans aren't that cheap either. Still, if you do have a good deal with AT&T then that is definitely something to consider, since I wouldn't expect good deals from Verizon any time soon.

I hope this advice was helpful. And good luck.

How does Apple's patent victory over Samsung affect the Galaxy SII?

Dear Maggie,

My wife is up for a new phone, and I am thinking about getting her a Galaxy SII. Is that a bad idea with the recent court decision? What are the chances that that phone will be banned or have it's functionality reduced?

Thanks for your advice,

Paul

Dear Paul,


I do think it's a bad idea to get your wife a Galaxy SII. But I don't think it's a good idea, not because of the recent court decision. I think it's a bad idea because the Galaxy SII uses older technology and doesn't operate on the faster 4G LTE network of Verizon, AT&T or Sprint. I also think the enhancements to the software via Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung's TouchWiz are noticeable. And I just like the look and feel of the phone so much more than the Galaxy SII.

I am sure you are considering the Galaxy SII because you're getting it for a bargain. I've seen some carriers offering the Galaxy SII for $50 or less with a two year contract. Prices that low are tempting, especially when the Galaxy SIII is selling for $200 with a two-year contract.

But remember that your wife will have to use this phone for the next two years. And over that time, all the major carriers will have expanded their 4G LTE networks. And new features and functionalities will be added to even newer devices. Meanwhile, you're wife will be stuck with a phone that is using technology that was already a year old when she got her phone.

As for Apple's patent victory over Samsung, I don't think you should worry too much about it. The hearing that would ban any of the Samsung phones cited in the case will be held on December 6, 2012. So at the very least, you would have until December to purchase the Samsung Galaxy SII. As far as I understand it, the ban does not affect devices or customers who bought the device prior to the ban. It only prohibits the sale of new devices in the U.S.

What's more the ban does not mean that Samsung can't sell this phone overseas, so I don't think that the support for Galaxy SII phones will fall off dramatically since Samsung still has to support the product overseas. The other thing is that Samsung is likely to appeal the decision. So this legal fight probably isn't over yet.



At any rate, as I said above, I wouldn't recommend the Galaxy SII now. Instead, you should show your wife some love and get her the more expensive Galaxy SIII. She will thank you for it!


Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET, offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie's advice. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57503841-94/will-at-ts-lte-network-be-more-reliable-than-3g-for-the-iphone/

Bigflix app now available on Windows Phone Marketplace

India's movie on demand service Bigflix has launched an app for Windows Phone, after releasing apps for Android and iOS. Users can download the Bigflix app for free from Windows Phone Marketplace.

Users can use their same log in credentials to watch movies on smartphones, tablets or PCs and laptops. Bigflix points out that the Windows Phone 7.5 OS has been especially optimised for seamless multimedia experience on mobile devices, and leverages on apps such as Bigflix.

Windows Marketplace is one of the fastest growing apps store as it has garnered over 50,000 apps in less than a year since the launch of the Windows Phone 7.5 in the country.

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Shreyash Sigtia, Business Head, Bigflix said, “With the mobile platform becoming popular with high-end smartphones users globally, Bigflix aims to fulfill the need gap of Indian movies on Windows Phone. I am sure that the Bigflix app will be able to achieve the same success it has witnessed on iOS and Android on the Windows Phone platform too.”

Mr. Vineet Durani, Director - Windows Phone Business Group, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. said, “All of us love our daily dose of movies and Bollywood and Bigflix gives you yet another compelling reason to stay glued to your Windows Phone. With no ads and no breaks between you and the latest film; watching films via Bigflix is pure pleasure.”

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/Bigflix-app-now-available-on-Windows-Phone_10627.html

Google announces Let's Talk Mo service; helps create mobile site for free

Google India has come up with a new service called 'Let's Talk Mo', which aims to enable small and medium businesses to reach out to the 70 million mobile users in the country. With the Let's Talk Mo service, Google will help businesses create mobile sites for free.

“With Indian smartphone users spending over 157 mins daily on the mobile web (89 percent of them are searching for information), the user-experience is not optimized for the mobile screen as most Indian websites are still designed for the PC experience,” points out Google India in a blog post.

Google India is offering the businesses two options – create a mobile site for free, and test how user friendly your mobile website. For this purpose, Google has launched a dedicated website that gives users all the necessary tools and resources to create a mobile website.

Explaining the benefits of Let's Talk Mo service, Google says the GoMoMeter tool allows businesses to check how their site looks on a smartphone. The tool also helps them get personalised recommendations to make their website more user-friendly.

Businesses also get a Do It Yourself tool to create a mobile site. Moreover, businesses will also get information on current mobile trends, best practices, case studies and various other resources. Check out Google's customised Guides for the Let's Talk Mo service here.

To know more about Google's new initiative, visit http://www.letstalkmo.com/in/d/

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-PDAs/Google-announces-Lets-Talk-Mo-service-helps_10604.html

Indian PC market grows by 17 percent in Q2 2012: Gartner

According to research firm Gartner, the Indian PC market has registered a 17 percent growth in the second quarter this year as compared to second quarter in 2011. Gartner says India's combined desk-based and mobile PC market totalled around 2.9 million units in the second quarter.

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Gartner points out that Consumer PC sales has risen by 24 percent, which suggests that tablets haven't yet eaten away the PC market in India as in the West. According to Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner, the consumer growth has been primarily driven by entry-level products.

HP, Lenovo, Asus and Samsung have posted more than 50 percent growth in the consumer growth segment, while Ultrabooks haven't yet had much impact in the market. “However, with the availability of the new Intel processor and declining price points, we expect adoption to increase in coming quarters,” adds Vishal Tripathi.

Gartner is expected the PC shipment growth to continue in the third quarter of this year due to the festive season and some orders from the Tamil Nadu government. Mobile PCs, which grew 54 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011, helped drive overall market growth. Full information is available in the Gartner report "Quarterly Statistics: Personal Computers, Asia/Pacific, 2Q 12 Update”.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Laptops-PCs/Indian-PC-market-grows-by-17-percent_10593.html

Indian app development market to exceed $227 million in 2012: Gartner

According to a new Gartner report, the new software delivery models, improved development methods, increasing popularity of mobile app development and open source software will help the Indian application development (AD) market achieve a growth of 22.6 percent (more than $227 million) in 2012.

"The trend is compelling enough to force traditional AD vendors to 'cloud-enable' their existing offerings and position them as a service to be delivered through the cloud," said Raina. "AD for cloud demands rapid deployment, a high focus on user experience and access to highly elastic resources for software testing, while requiring comparatively less underlying infrastructure for developing applications."

According to the Gartner report titled 'Market Trends: Application Development Software, Worldwide, 2012-2016', cloud has changed the way apps are now developed and deployed, which has resulted in a major shift in AD priorities. While cost continues to be a major factor, agility, flexibility and speed have also become important criteria. The report expects about 90 percent of the major enterprises and government agencies to use some aspect of cloud computing by 2015.

"Application modernization and increasing agility will continue to be a solid driver for applications development spending, apart from other emerging dynamics of cloud, mobility and social computing," said Asheesh Raina, principal research analyst at Gartner is quoted as saying. "These emerging trends are directing AD demand towards newer architectures, programming languages, business model and user skills."

The Gartner report pins open source software to be major driver for the AD shift, and suggests it will continue to expand its presence in the near future. Gartner forecasts about 7 percent new enterprise Java apps will be based on an open source Java app server by 2017-end.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/Indian-app-development-market-to-exceed-227_10572.html

Google+ custom URLs start rolling out

Few weeks ago Google had unveiled custom URL service for Google+ profiles and pages, taking on vanity URLs offered by Facebook. And now Google has expanded the service to more brands and verified individuals.

Users, part of the roll-out, will see a notification on the top of the homepage that says, “your page is preapproved for the custom URL: google.com/CUSTOM followed by a Claim URL button that you’ll certainly want to push.” Such users will also be notified via an email to prompt them about claiming theirs.

It's notable the custom URLs service does not let you pick your own URL, but you can seek a different one. Google says once you select your custom URL, you cannot change or transfer it.

“We’re making these changes over the next few days, and we’ll be offering custom URLs to many more profiles and pages in the future. We appreciate your patience in the interim, and we look forward to hearing your feedback,” says Saurabh Sharma from the Google+ team.

Earlier, Google+ custom URLs rolled out to a limited number of 'verified' users. Google revealed that few celebrities such as David Beckham and pop singer Britney Spears, along with brands like Toyota, Delta, and Hugo Boss have already received the custom URLs.

In another Google+ news, the social networking site is now going to get new notification controls. Users can now “mute” notifications on their profile. Moreover, users can subscribe for e-mail alerts for updates on certain Circles they want to.

"For these select circles, we often have news we really want to share — like getting engaged, or landing a job," Austin Chang from the Google+ team, wrote in a post. "In these cases you can now check 'Also send email' when sharing, to help make sure your friends see your message."

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Google-custom-URLs-start-rolling-out_10560.html

Yes, a Microsoft Store wows a naysayer

BOSTON -- OK, so Microsoft impressed me.

Microsoft opened its first local retail store here this morning. It's in the upscale Prudential Center in the city's equally upscale Back Bay. It also happens to be across the street from a very large and very sleek Apple store -- a common occurrence, it seems, for locations of new Microsoft stores.

Here's what I expected to write about the new Microsoft Store: A somewhat snarky but data-driven piece on Microsoft aping Apple's retail strategy and how it shows the desperation of this once-mighty company. I expected to say this store was a cheap knockoff of Apple's giant, multi-story place across the street. Black velvet Elvis paintings, Formica counters? I dunno. My expectations were not high.

I also expected to mention that last week I sat in on an engineers' meeting at a local cloud-computing startup called Acquia, and was stunned to see that every one of the 30 or so people in the room was working on a Mac. When even the most hardcore of developers are working on Macs, it's a bad a sign for Microsoft. That's the kind of ecosystem, once established, that can take years to break. And Microsoft certainly knows a thing or two about courting developers and creating ecosystems that take years to break.

But here's what I find myself writing now after visiting the new Microsoft Store here: Yes, the company is in a tough spot. It's way behind in the two hottest consumer electronics markets, tablet computing and smartphones. It's made plenty of mistakes over the last 10 years. Heck, I'm writing this on a MacBook because I became so frustrated with the Vista operating system that I gave up on Windows.

But, and it's a big "but" based more on a hunch that hard data, Microsoft seems to understand how it's been consistently outmaneuvered by Apple, Google, and all those companies in the Android mobile orbit. The company gets it, and it's fighting back.

Of course, Microsoft has to produce better products, and we'll find out over the next few months with the next version of Windows, the Surface, and other releases if it has managed to do that.

It also needs to create a better consumer experience, and that's where the stores come in. When Apple first opened its stores, critics scoffed. Clearly, they were wrong. The stores became a conduit to customers. When you buy an Apple product, it's the beginning of your relationship with that company, not the end of it. The convenience of those stores (yes, not everyone is close enough to an Apple store to enjoy that experience) and the education they can provide are priceless to a company that prides itself on customer loyalty.

The Microsoft Store that opened in Boston today was Microsoft's 23rd. They are already in cities ranging from Palo Alto, Calif., to Austin, Texas. It expects to open 44 by next June and 75 total. I say, open even more. Microsoft fans like 34-year-old Michael Hayes of Boston, who was standing in line to get into the store this morning, think these stores allow Microsoft to better connect with its customers.

"I think it's assumed people know how to use Microsoft products. There's not enough training so people understand what they're using," Hayes said. And Hayes, who said he works for a third-party company that trains retailers to sell Microsoft products, might know a thing or two about how these products are sold.

Further back in the line, Pavan Veenla, a graduate student at the nearby Northeastern University, was simply standing in line because he was excited to see a Microsoft Store and what they had to offer (for the record, he uses a Dell laptop running Windows 7). Of course, he added, last week he stopped into the Apple Store across the street and bought an iPhone 4S.

Microsoft officials estimate about 700 people waited to get into the 3,600-square-foot store (granted, a few of them might have been tourists confused by the line bumping into the Duck Boats kiosk). It was a slick event, worthy of, yes, that big computer store across the street. For those of you in Silicon Valley, the Prudential Center is kind of like the Stanford Shopping Center. For those of you in New York City, the Prudential Center is kind of like, well, New York City.

No doubt, this is just a start for Microsoft. Apple has more than 370 stores, it has all the momentum in the world, and it (did you ever think this was possible five years ago?) even has far more money than Microsoft.

Celtics star Paul Pierce is expected to stop by the new store to play some Xbox games this evening. And Saturday, rock star Lenny Kravitz is supposed to perform at a Microsoft-hosted event in town. That 700 people lined up as early as 5 a.m. to get into the new store might have something to do with Microsoft giving away free tickets to the show. Fair enough. Now I'm not much of a Lenny Kravitz fan (maybe I resent his great hair and tight abs), but good on Microsoft for putting on a show.

This is the part where planned to make a crack about how Microsoft and Lenny Kravitz are a perfect match because they were both more influential in the '90s. But people tell me he was great in "The Hunger Games." I'll take their word for it.

And I'll say this about the new (I almost just typed Apple) Microsoft Store: The people who work there are smart. A number of Ultrabooks are well-displayed. The kids love the Kinect station. It's brightly lit and the computer stations have plenty of elbow room. The walls are covered with video screens and store employees seem to be everywhere. And it provides the kind of relaxed customer experience Microsoft and its partners must provide to compete with Apple.

In other words, it ain't Best Buy.

Maybe I drank the Kool-Aid. But with its most ambitious product lineup in years, Microsoft has a great opportunity to win back the customers it has lost over the last 10 years or so. If it happens, its stores will be the tip of the spear in that fight.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57499419-75/yes-a-microsoft-store-wows-a-naysayer/

YouTube brings TrueView ads to mobile devices

Google has announced that users now watching YouTube videos on smartphones and tablets will also have the option to skip video ads after five seconds. The functionality, known as TrueView ads was so far only available for PCs.

Google in a blog post said that now advertisers need only pay when someone decides to watch the video/ad. Google also revealed that about 15-45 percent of viewers of desktops and laptops have opted to let ads play out on YouTube. However, the TrueView functionality has become of the one of the most popular formats among advertisers, with 50 percent of them having skippable ad feature, discloses Google.

“With TrueView, we’ve developed a model where user engagement matters -- people can skip ads they aren’t interested in after five seconds. Giving viewers choice over ads they watch has led to a better, more engaged viewing experience, benefiting the entire YouTube community of users, advertisers, and content creators. Advertisers only pay when someone chooses to watch the ad, so their budgets go toward the people most interested in what they have to say,” says Google in the post.

The Internet giant also pointed out the greater impact with a comprehensive ad campaign, running across PCs, phones and tablets. “Bringing TrueView video ads to mobile devices will make it easier to create and manage multi-screen campaigns and will give you additional reach. All new and existing TrueView in-stream campaigns are now enabled to run on mobile platforms,” adds Google.

Google also says it has just begun testing the new version, but 'early indications' show users engage with these ads the same way as they do on the desktop.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/YouTube-brings-TrueView-ads-to-mobile-devices_10544.html

Nintendo may announce Wii U price and launch date on Sept 13

It looks like September the 13th could be a day of reckoning for Nintendo, as the gaming giant may just make its debut in the HD gaming era. Nintendo is holding a Wii U preview event and invites have been sent out which read, “Interested in learning more about how the Wii U will change the future of gaming and entertainment? Join us for a presentation by Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime followed by hands on gameplay and demo.”

We hope that at the event Nintendo finally announces a launch date and pricing for the console. We think that in the U.S., the system may be priced close to the $350 (Rs. 20,000 approx.) price point. Will Microsoft and Sony cut the prices of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 respectively to steal some of the Wii U's thunder? Only time will tell.

The last time Nintendo held such a conference outside of the known gaming events (E3, Gamescom and TGS), was to show off the 3DS, which hit store shelves two months after the event. Could we see the same trend for the Wii U?

The lineup of games expected to launch for the device too is quite stellar. This list includes the likes of New Super Mario Bros U, Nintendo Land, Assassins Creed 3, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, FIFA 13 and more.

Apart from having a traditional controller and being compatible with the motion controller of the Wii, the Wii U has a new controller called the Wii U GamePad. This controller houses a touchscreen along with traditional controller buttons. The touchscreen can be used as a secondary display and has unique gameplay mechanics as well as can be used as a primary display for playing games even when the television is off.

Rayman Legends is one of the games that has shown off the capabilities of the Wii U's touchscreen controller. The game was demoed both at E3 2012 and gamescom. You can check out the trailer of the game below.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Gaming/Nintendo-may-announce-Wii-U-price-and_10525.html

Facebook finally deleting unwanted photos from servers

Facebook said this week that it has fixed a glitch that allowed links to deleted photos to stay live long after a user thought they'd been banished from the site.

Photos that users have deleted are quickly removed from Facebook profiles and newsfeeds, but if you happened to have a link to the deleted pic, that link stayed live for some time. An update to the Facebook network, however, has fixed the problem, a spokesman for the social network said.

"As a result of work on our policies and infrastructure we have instituted a 'max-age' of 30 days for our content distribution network (CDN) links," the spokesman said. "However, in some cases the content will expire on the CDN much more quickly, based on a number of factors."

"To be clear, the photos stop being shown to other users on Facebook immediately when the photo is first deleted by the user," he continued. "The 30 day window only applies to the cached images on the CDN."

The update was first noted by Ars Technica, which said the photo-deletion problem has been plaguing Facebook users for three years. The publication first questioned Facebook about the issue in 2009 and discovered back in February that it was still unresolved.

Twitter and Flickr manage to delete photos from their CDNs in "mere seconds," Ars said, but MySpace took months and Facebook took more than a year.

Ars tested out photo deletion on Instagram, which Facebook just acquired for $1 billion, and found that aside from a four-month delay on one photo, other pics were instantly deleted from Instagram's servers.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Internet/Facebook-finally-deleting-unwanted-photos-from-servers_10499.html

7Seas introduces The Dark Man game for Android

7Seas Entertainment Ltd, a Hyderabad based game developer has launched a game for the Android mobile platform called The Dark Man.  The game is priced at $0.99 (Rs. 55 approx.) but there is a free version that lets you play 10 levels. 

Apart from being available on the Google Play store, the game will also be made available on the Samsung App Store and the LG Store as well as other alternate app stores that allow users to download apps on Android devices.

Maruti Sanker, managing director of 7Seas Entertainment, said, "Priced at $0.99, the game was played by 1.5 crore gamers online in the last one year. The physics-based puzzle game has 30 levels. For now, it is offered for free with up to 10 levels on a trial-and-buy mode. The player dons the role of an archer and there are different interesting targets (apples) on the characters' heads. All a player needs to do is to shoot the apples off their heads without shooting the characters to move on to the next level.”

The Dark Man is a simple artillery game of shooting apple with out hurting the man who holds the apple on his head. But what makes this game unique is implementing physics in hurdles and design the levels carefully to make the player excited.

If you are interested in trying out the free version of the game, you can download it here. You can download the full paid version of the game here. This isn’t the first app developed by 7Seas Entertainment Ltd for the Android platform. You can take a look at all the apps from the developer here. 


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Gaming/7Seas-introduces-The-Dark-Man-game-for_10486.html

Bharti Airtel, RCom lock horns over routing of toll-free calls

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications (RCom) have locked horns over the issue of routing toll-free calls. The telecom giants have accused each other of violating an agreement reached between the two back in 2007.

According to a Hindu Business Line report, the spat between the telcos has become murkier with Airtel blocking toll-free calls from RCom's enterprise calls. In response, RCom has moved the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal.

It's learnt that a telecom operator manages a toll-free number in the back-end and is supposed to enter into an agreement with other telcos, so that subscribers of different networks are not charged for calls to the toll-free numbers.

According to the report, RCom had the same arrangement with Bharti Airtel, allowing subscribers to make calls to toll-free numbers, starting with ‘1800’ and ‘1860’. As per the agreement, RCom pays about 52p per call to Airtel.

The spat began when RCom allegedly started terminating calls originating from Airtel's network to a location outside India. Airtel argues toll-free calls starting with 1800 cannot be terminated outside India and that the international toll-free numbers should start with ‘00800’ and in such scenario RCom is supposed to give Rs 1.10 per call.

RCom, on the other hand, has accused to Airtel of creating an 'artificial' distinction between calls terminating in India and outside India. "Bharti Airtel does not have any locus standing or any legal right to question the numbering used by RCom or withdraw interconnection agreement for IN services... role of Bharti Airtel as an access provider is limited to handling over the calls originating from its subscribers to RCom at the nearest POI," RCom is quoted as saying. 

The Hindu Business Line report also points out the stance of the Department of Telecom on the issue. It says the DoT 1800/1860 series is “meant only for national calls and cannot be used for making international calls”. The DoT is further planning to file an affidavit in the TDSAT to this effect.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-PDAs/Bharti-Airtel-RCom-lock-horns-over-routing_10471.html

Microsoft to replace Metro UI codename with Modern UI

Microsoft was recently in trouble for using “Metro UI” for its tablet and smartphone interface. The Metro UI name, that originally began as a codename, stuck on in the final version of Microsoft’s mobile OS, Windows Phone 7 and translated to their new desktop OS, Windows 8.

Recently, we reported that Microsoft would be changing the “Metro UI” name but the new and final name wasn't clear. For some time we thought it would be replaced with Windows 8, leading to Windows 8 UI, or Windows 8 apps, etc.

Lately, however, Microsoft representatives have started calling the new OS UI as the “Modern UI Style”.  As reported by The Verge, employees are calling referencing the new name in blog posts and training courses, with examples like - Modern UI design language and principles, Modern UI Style apps, and Modern UI Style UI (this last indicates it might be a rushed copy-paste job). Check out one blog post example, here.

It is still unclear whether this will be the final name, or if Modern UI is another placeholder till Microsoft decides on another one. The change in name from Metro UI started when Microsoft started facing copyright infringement issues.

During the development of the Windows 8 operating system, Microsoft used a variety of names like immersive, modern, fast, and fluid to describe its new desktop operating system. But the most common name that the company used and the one which stuck was the “Metro-style”.

The launch of the new OS is just around the corner and we are wondering whether this is the final name of the OS or will we see some more tweaks and changes as far as the naming game is concerned.

Windows 8 is expected to launch on October 26. You can read everything about Windows 8 here.

What do you think? Is the change in the name of the UI, apps and interface really that big a deal? Let us know in the comment section below.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Software/Microsoft-to-replace-Metro-UI-codename-with_10458.html

To fight Apple-flight, Microsoft must hang tough on Surface

I just pray that Microsoft doesn't cave to pressure from partners to punt on Surface.

The first public plea came this week from Acer, which, in effect, begged Microsoft to drop Surface.

If that happens, Microsoft will lose the consumer to Apple for good. Probably sooner rather than later.

And if Acer is that worried about Surface, then it should out-design Microsoft or look elsewhere. Right now I don't see anything from Acer that would make me chuck my MacBook and iPad.

But Surface could. And it gets even more interesting when I see that Redmond is already working on Surface 2.

(Of course, if Microsoft isn't able to follow through with a stable, reliable finished product that lives up to the hype, all bets are off. In other words, it needs to be as good as Apple at executing.)

But whatever happens, Hewlett-Packard or Dell or Acer would never have conceived of a Windows 8 Pro Surface. It's not in their design DNA and Microsoft knows this better than anyone.

So, MS came up with a 10.6-inch, 903-gram device packing a 1,920x1,080 display (that's some pretty serious pixel density), Mini DislayPort (means I can hook it up to my Apple Cinema display), Core i5 processor (let's hope it's a very power-frugal variety), and a 128GB solid-state drive.

And of course that 5mm-thick physical keyboard. 

 

To counter Surface, PC makers will engage in a lot of Windows 8 puffery about their ultracool convertible or touch-screen ultrabook. I don't know about you, but I need more than that to give Windows 8 equal time on my desktop.

OK, so Mac users aren't going anywhere and Windows 8 means diddly-squat (or worse) to them. But that's not Microsoft's objective. It simply needs to staunch the flow of defections to OS X and iOS.

Thus the June 15 Windows-8-plus-Surface pre-announcement. A soup-to-nuts hardware and software platform that is unmistakably Apple-like. And proposes to trump Apple and make Tim Cook eat his refrigerator-toaster analogy in the process.

The only remotely valid reason for Microsoft to abandon Surface is if it suddenly spurred HP, Asus, Acer, et al to design consumer devices that are cooler than Surface and go head-to-head with Apple.

Anyone out there think that's possible?

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57491412-92/to-fight-apple-flight-microsoft-must-hang-tough-on-surface/

Preview: Final day promises to be golden

The London 2012 Olympic Games come to an end with a star-studded Closing Ceremony, but there are still 15 gold medals to be handed out before the festivities commence. 

The North Greenwich Arena is set to be one of the hottest tickets in town as the USA's 'Dream Team' bring the curtain down on the men’s Basketball competition with a final against Spain.

The Spaniards start as underdogs having lost two games during the group stage, while their USA counterparts are unbeaten.

The Host Nation’s focus will be on the ExCeL, where Fred Evans and Anthony Joshua will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Nicola Adams by claiming a gold medal in the Boxing ring.

Welshman Evans meets two-time world champion Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan in the Welter Weight division, before Joshua takes on Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle in the Super Heavy Weight gold medal bout.

There is also British interest in the women’s Modern Pentathlon, where Mhairi Spence and Samantha Murray could find themselves among the medals but face stiff competition from event favourite Lena Schoneborn of Germany.

Russia will be hoping to avenge their pool-stage defeat to Brazil as they meet the South Americans in the final of the men’s Volleyball, while Sweden will aim to do the same to France as the men’s Handball competition reaches its climax.

Croatia take an unbeaten record into the final of the men’s Water Polo where they are set to meet Italy, whose only Games defeat so far came against their gold medal opponents.

Kenya and Ethiopia have the opportunity to get their hands on gold as they look set to dominate the men’s Marathon, with Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich and Ayele Abshero among the favourites to take top spot on the podium in the race around the streets of London.

In the men’s Cross-country Mountain Bike race, Switzerland’s Nino Schurter will be hoping to live up to his status as one of the event’s leading riders by cycling to victory at Hadleigh Farm, while France’s Julien Absalon aims to add to the gold won by compatriot Julie Bresset in the women’s competition.

The final day of competition also sees the conclusion of the Rhythmic Gymnastics and Wrestling programmes, before athletes and spectators flood to the Olympic Stadium to see the Games brought to a close in spectacular fashion. 

Source: http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/preview-final-day-promises-golden.html

Google exposes 'smart' results in search

SAN FRANCISCO -- Your search results in Google are about to get a big dose of Knowledge, the company announced today at a press breakfast at its San Francisco office.

Google's Knowledge Graph, its "smart" recognition of people, places, and things in search queries, is coming to English-language search results in a big way, starting with a rollout tomorrow.

Integrating the Knowledge Graph


The main component of the Knowledge Graph integration will be rolled out in parts, with all English-language searches getting the basic integration. This means that if you're searching for "Chiefs," for example, Google will prioritize your location. People searching from the United States will see the Kansas City Chiefs football team at the top of the results, while people searching from Australia will see the New Zealand rugby team.

But integrating the Graph into search is more than just location-aware searching, said Amit Singhal, the senior vice president at Google for Engineering Search.

"If we are to build the future of search, we have to solve the hard scientific problems of speech recognition and natural language understanding. We will have to build artificial intelligence. We're not there yet, but we're taking baby steps today," he said.

Those "baby steps" have so far involved 58 experiments, and more than 530 smaller changes to search. The Knowledge Graph integration is one of the first to go public, said Shashi Thakur, the Knowledge Graph team's technical lead. "We're using the knowledge base to build apps," he said, to give the database with more than 3.5 billion attributes and connections some real-world utility.

"You shouldn't have to be a mini-search engine before you search," said Singhal, and to that end the Knowledge Graph integration is meant to let a wider range of search queries find more accurate results than before. So, searching for "famous graffiti artists" is more likely to produce the results you're looking for than it used to. It will also suggest differentiated results as you type into the search box, so both choices for "Chiefs" will appear.

The Knowledge Graph results will appear to the right of the traditional search results, but when clicked they'll appear across the top. Visual components of the results, such as pictures, will appear as a horizontal scroll bar for easy navigation. Google demonstrated this working smoothly on both a traditional PC and a tablet.

Gmail comes to search


Also new to Google search is a Gmail "field test" that integrates Gmail search results with the Knowledge Graph, available now. Google is making this available to an even smaller subset of people -- U.S.-based Gmail users only. To activate it, you must opt-in at Google's registration site.

Once you're in, you'll get Gmail results in the same spot as the Knowledge Base when you query relevant terms. You can use the keyword "Gmail" with your query to get Gmail results -- when seeking package-notification e-mails from Amazon, for example, you can search on "Gmail Amazon."

However, you'll also be able to use more natural queries to bring up the e-mails you want to see. Type in "My Flights," and your upcoming flight itinerary will appear, complete with confirmation number and flight information such as number, time, and seat number. The feature will also leverage the Knowledge Graph so that a real-time update of the flight status appears, a quick way to check whether your flight has been delayed.

Sagar Kamdar, the director of product management for Universal Search at Google, explained that the Gmail integration is more limited because of the unique challenges e-mail presents. "Gmail is almost the same size as our Web corpus, and now you need to make it private and secure," he said.

That body of data is enormous, said Singhal. He cited 30 trillion URLs on the Web, as compared with 1 trillion in 2008, and on an average day Google crawls 20 billion of those.

The Gmail test comes with some rudimentary security controls. You can click a globe icon on the upper right of the results to hide results, and a human silhouette icon lets you restore them. Gmail will not appear in mobile search results yet, however, because of complications from implementing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) on the mobile Web. "It is coming," said Singhal.

Better search in iOS


And in a slight that's sure to irritate Android owners, the Google Search iOS app is getting the kind of voice integration that Google debuted in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at Google I/O in June. This means that more-natural voice queries, such as, "What will the weather be like this weekend?" will return results that recognize your geolocation and tell you the upcoming forecast. If Google recognizes a direct result, such as when you ask it to solve a math problem, it will speak the result back to you as well as showing it in the app. The feature has not yet been made available to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

In the demo that Google's engineering director for Mobile, Scott Huffman, showed us, the voice integration worked most of the time, though it repeatedly struggled with differentiating "flight" from "flights" in a search for "When is my flight?"

The update to the Google Search app has been submitted to Apple, and Google expects it to be approved in the next few days, Huffman said.

Google has bigger plans for the integration of search into its other products, said Singhal, including Calendar and Drive, which he referred to as Docs. That minor and inadvertent slip nevertheless points up the struggle the company faces in forcing a deeper level of integration of its services without causing rebellion. While from a data perspective, it may feel natural to have all your data in one place, it's a big shift from how things are currently. And toggles or not, privacy experts are likely to be concerned about Google's stronger ties between personal data and global results. 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57489395-93/google-exposes-smart-results-in-search/

 

Strontium launches new HAWK SSDs, starting Rs. 6,999

Strontium Technology has announced a new series of high-performance solid state drives called HAWK. These are Hynix-made solid state drives with Strontium branding and after sales support. They are based on SandForce’s SF2281 controller and SK Hynix flash.

The drives are said to be an upgrade option for consumers who are looking to buy new laptop or desktop. With over 500MB/s of read and white performance, the HAWK SSD will make laptops and PCs run faster. In addition, SSDs feature enhanced durability, shock-proof, silent operation and are more reliable as compared to traditional hard drives.

According to Strontium, HAWK SSDs make computers more responsive than before, with quicker boot up and shorter lead time in applications loading. HAWK SSDs are backed by a three-year warranty and the reliability of Strontium.

Features:

• 2.5” Drive
• SandForce SF-2281
• MLC NAND Flash for Fast Performance
• Available Capacities: 120GB and 240GB
• Sequential Performance (256KB, MAX): Read: 510 MB/s, Write: 470 MB/s
• Random Performance (4KB, MAX): Read: 50,000 IOPS, Write: 38,000 IOPS
• Supports SATA I/ II/ III Interface
• TRIM Support (O/S Support Required)
• Power Consumption: 0.82W (Active), 0.26W (Idle)
• Mean Time between Failures (MBTF): 1.2M
• 3 years hassle-free Strontium Limited Warranty

Strontium’s HAWK SATA III are available in two different storage capacities i.e. 120 GB and 240 GB with part numbers SRSSDHK-25/120GIII and SRSSDHK-25/240GIII and are available with Strontium’s authorized distributors and e-retailers at a street price of Rs. 6,999 and Rs. 12,999 respectively.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Storage/Strontium-launches-new-HAWK-SSDs-starting-Rs_10394.html

Microsoft dropping 'Metro' name in Windows 8

Since Microsoft first showed off Windows 8 last year, the company has consistently referenced the operating system's dual interfaces - the standard, Windows desktop with which we're all familiar and the more mobile-friendly Metro-style option that replaces icons with apps.

Now it appears that we will bid adieu to the phrase "Metro style" before Windows 8 makes its official debut in October.

"We have used Metro style as a code name during the product development cycle across many of our product lines. As we get closer to launch and transition from industry dialog to a broad consumer dialog we will use our commercial names," a Microsoft spokeswoman said in a statement today.

News of the switch was first reported yesterday by The Verge, which said Microsoft was notifying its developers not to use the word "Metro" within their apps and swap that term for "New User Interface."

Despite the insistence from Redmond that Metro is simply a code name that it always planned to phase out, there are reports that the move was prompted by a trademark challenge from Germany-based Metro AG.

Metro AG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Verge later pointed to an internal memo from Microsoft to its employees, which said that "discussions with an important European partner" prompted it to ditch the Metro moniker.

At the Windows 8 Consumer Preview launch in Barcelona earlier this year, Microsoft handed out a product guide that included a brief section on Metro style app principles.

"More than just an app platform, Metro style is a design philosophy that helps you build attractive, easy-to-use apps that will delight your customers with their intuitive and common interaction model," the guide said.

Common principles associated with Metro-type apps, according to Microsoft, include: fast and fluid; support for multiple states; support for the right contracts; live tiles; and settings and data that roam through the cloud.

The news comes several days after Microsoft released Windows 8 to manufacturers. It will roll out to several other groups in the coming weeks before its general availability on Oct. 26.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Software/Microsoft-dropping-Metro-name-in-Windows-8_10363.html