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The Week That Was
Techtree News Staff, Mar 06, 2010 1403 hrs ISTA quick Look at the top tech news of the past week
Another week has gone past us and its time to take a quick look t the stuff that hogged headlines in the past week. Let's start right away!
Google buys Photo-editing Site Picnik
Internet search giant Google has acquired web-based photo editing service Picnik for a "very, very happy number". Picnik's flash-powered photo editing features are already offered in Picasa, Facebook, Flickr, Yahoo Mail, and Photobucket. Google clearly announced that it will be making no changes to the site and will be working hard on integration and new features. As per a blog post on the official Picnik blog, this photo editing service will continue offering support to non-Google websites. As Google clarified in the blog post, no big changes have been planned and the focus lies only on integration as well as adding new features. Hence, no need to worry about the photos.
Samsung Corby Folder Now Official
It looks like Samsung has no plans to stop the influx of new Corby branded handset. After flooding the mid-range segment with feature packed touchscreen phones, it had launched non-touchscreen, full QWERTY phones that had the Corby label. Now, it has turned its attention to yet segment, which, so far, had been untouched by Corby with the announcement of the Corby Folder which happens to be a clamshell device. The Corby Folder range will be first seen in Korea where they will come in different variants the W930/W9300/W9350. The Corby Folder will feature a large QVGA display (measuring 2.6 inches) and a 3 megapixel camera. There is also a separate video calling camera. At 15.9 mm, the phone is quite slim. It's not that heavy either tipping the scales at just over 113 grams. The phone, like all other Corby branded devices, would be social networking ready and except for Wi-Fi, will feature most other connectivity options.
Opera 10.50 Browser Released
Opera has released the final version of Opera 10.50 web browser for Windows platform. Looks like Linux and Mac users will have to wait for a while. Boasted as the fastest web browser, Opera 10.50 features the new Opera Carakan JavaScript engine that claims to make the browser load pages faster. Opera 10.50 for Windows obviously supports all existing innovations of Opera - Opera Unite, Opera Turbo, Opera Link and Private browsing. Download Opera 10.50 for Windows from this page - http://www.opera.com/download
Nokia Launches Latest S60 Based Smartphone - C5
We all knew it was coming. The question was when the launch would happen - and it turned out to be March 2, 2010. Nokia has finally announced the launch of a new series with the launch of the C5, its latest S60 based smartphone that focuses on social networking. We had earlier seen leaked images of the C5 and already know what the phone looks like. Nevertheless, lets go thorough the official specs this time round. The C5 measures 12.3mm x 46mm x 112mm (0.48in x 1.81in x 4.4in) which makes it quite compact. The front side is dominated by a 2.2-inch 320 x 240 pixel display capable of displaying 16 million colors. The C5 has a fairly powerful 1050Mah battery that should be able to power this phone for a very long time. Other features include a 3.2 megapixel camera, memory expansion and full support for Ovi Mail, Nokia Messaging and Ovi Maps. With microSD card support, you can expand the memory upto 8GB. The phone comes with a 2GB card.
Apple Sues HTC for over 20 Patent Infringements
After the Apple-Nokia showdown, Apple has filed a suit for about 20 Apple iPhone related patent infringements against HTC. This is something unusual as we don't get to see these things from a company like Apple that has been sued every other month over iPhone-related technology. The 20 Apple patents relate to iPhone's user interface, hardware and underlying architecture that have been infringed by the accused - HTC. Apple's lawsuit has been filed at U.S. International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court in Delaware.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, in an official statement, "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." HTC, on the other hand, is entirely surprised over such heavy accusation over both Windows Mobile and Google Android based smartphones. The specific patent break down has been represented in three different ways by three different websites - Engadget, Gizmodo and AppleInsider. Not only that, even ITC had filed series of OS-level patent infringement complaints against HTC.
Chandrayaan Helps Find More Water on the Moon
If you thought the Chandrayaan Mission was over a few months ago, please be prepared to be proven wrong. After scrutinizing evidence garnered from various scientific instruments aboard the Chandrayaan, the NASA had last year announced the presence of "little" amount of water on the moon. It was back then, hailed a very significant discovery. A few months down the lane, NASA's Mini SAR probe aboard the Chandrayaan has managed to discover significant amount of water on the moon in an area near the north pole of our closest celestial neighbor.
Now, a Phone that Runs on AAA Battery!
If you are a cellphone freak with who wants to be always accessible, your worst enemy is probably inside your phone itself. The battery. As long as you continue using your phone, the battery will keep on losing power and eventually die. God forbid, you're in an area where there is no power source or if you didn't carry your charger along, you're in a fix! No longer! Say hello to the Olive FrvrOn (Forever On) - probably the only phone in the world that can take in an AAA battery - apart from the normal "flat" batteries seen on mobile phones. When you run out of power on the "normal" Lithium Ion battery, you can use the AAA battery to charge it for a few hours of usage! Now you know the rationale behind the rather weird naming scheme.
BSNL 3G Arrives in Andhra Pradesh
Continuing 3G launching spree across the country, BSNL has bought 3G to Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh and other major cities across the state. This comes barely days after the service was launched in Bangalore, Karnataka. The service is now live and can be accessed in 29 cities and 23 district headquarters across Andhra Pradesh.
PayPal Payments Up in India Again
After the suspension of payments to and from India via PayPal was announced a few weeks ago, a new blog post on the official Paypal blog has some good news for millions of PayPal users across the country. PayPal India has announced the resumption of the payment services and has confirmed that the Reserve Bank of India has given a green signal to restart bank withdrawals for settlements for exports of goods and services. Not all is well though as personal payments are still "turned off". The revamped withdrawal system involves users to fill an "export code" to initiate a withdrawal. This is as per the directive of the RBI, which wants this implemented to see more control and watch over the nature of cross-border merchant transactions. This means that personal payments will remain banned till PayPal gets the approval to allow personal inward remittances to India. This is something PayPal does not have as of now. In short, personal payments will remain banned till PayPal gets these necessary approvals.
LG GD510 Cookie Pep Lands in India
It might have sold over one million units across the globe, but it was six months after its international launch that LG thought it should bring the GD510 to India. The phone will be known as the "Cookie Pep" in India - thanks to the brand value that the Cookie has in India. LG has described the GD510 as the most compact 3-inch full touchscreen handset and we agree with that. The phone, like its competitors, comes with scores of applications and social networking features - and is aimed at youngsters.
Sony's PSP Phone Might be out before Year-end
If you have always dreamt about your PSP getting a miraculous update that will enable it to make phone calls, your dream might just come true. Sony has revealed that it is planning to introduce an entire new range of handhelds - including a phone that can double up as a PSP. The phone, which would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games, as well as connecting to Sony's online media platform, might be launched as soon as later this year!
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