Maruti launches Alto 800 VXI

Google launches campaign to simplify the web for Indian users

Google India has launched a campaign which is aimed at simplifying the web for the country's internet users.

"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, said here.

He said that as more Indians come online for the first time, they are increasingly looking for convenient ways to find information on the web.

"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 said.

With more and more Indians surfing the internet using their mobile phones, Menon said, "today the next billion users are making the leap from no internet to mobile internet, without ever having used a desktop computer."

Terming the youth of the city net-savvy, he said, "it is in fact quite fascinating to see an overwhelming response from the youth dominated Chandigarh populace who have readily embraced the technology in their lifestyle. Chandigarh is believed to be one of the top cities when it comes to internet usage. It is great to know that cities like Chandigarh are using Google Search for their smallest of requirements."

Menon also touched upon the top Search trends that majority of people including Chandigarh search for most using Google Trends.

Batteries are game changers

Longer-lasting batteries are crucial for a new crop of wearable computerswhose rise may upend Apple and Google's dominance of mobile devices, two of the field's pioneers say. 

Wearable devices - from bracelets that monitor physical activity and sleeping patterns to clothing with built-in sensors and Web-ready glasses - may mark the next big technology shift, just as smartphones evolved from personal computers. 

That transition has put the unglamorous battery in a starring role. 

"All this wearable stuff is constrained by battery technology. It's not a computing problem," Hosain Rahman, CEO of Jawbone, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit. 

While battery technology has not expanded at the same clip as miniaturization and displays for instance, some wearables pioneers are hopeful for a breakthrough in coming years. 

"There are other things that will come up five years down the road like remote charging that will cause a huge next leap because it breaks this dependence on the battery. But right now the biggest challenge is the battery that's small enough and serves you," Soulaiman Itani, chief executive of Atheer Labs, said at the summit in San Francisco. 

Itani likened wearable computing's current stage of evolution to smartphones during the mid-2000s. 

"It's at the Palm stage, and you need an iPhone to come out," Itani said, referring to Palm Pilots that predated the 2007 iPhone that won strong reviews but was rendered defunct after Apple's seminal device was launched. 

Rewriting the rules
According to Forrester Research, about 5 per cent of online US adults say they wear a device with a sensor that can monitor some form of activity, such as running or sleeping. 

Asked what gadget they would be most keen on using, 29 per cent of participants cited a device that clips on to clothing. 

Devices that attach to the wrist were close behind with interest from 28 per cent, while glasses trailed other options, garnering interest from 12 per cent of the participants. 

Google is testing a $1,500 version of Glass, a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on a pair of eyeglass frames. Apple and Samsung Electronics are said to be working on other forms ofwearable technology, such as a smartwatch. 

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has called wearable computers an area "ripe for exploration." But during his comments at the AllThingsDigital conference last month, he stopped short of confirming reports the company was developing a smartwatch. 

Google and Apple, which have the two most popular smartphone operating systems, have the heft to boost the nascent market and potentially control it, thanks to a vast number of users and the hundreds of thousands of apps that run on their software. 

Some think the market for wearable computers won't take off until Apple enters the fray, providing the kind of clever design and marketing blitz that helped transform smartphones into a must-have consumer item. 

"If Apple enters the market that would be a rapid leap forward," said Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps. "Apple is a market maker. Any Apple device can sell tens of millions of units."

The Reiki Method for Personal Development

These are the 5 Ideals of Reiki.

More powerful than the ideals put forth in these 5 lines is the idea of taking development one day at a time. I think anyone can commit to doing something for just today. This is an excellent practice for remaining present and tackling long-term goals.

For example, let’s say I wish to stop drinking. Instead of saying “I’m not going to drink for the next 30 days”, I would commit to not drinking for today. And tomorrow, I’ll think about if that choice served me the day before. If so, I’ll go for another day without it. Repeat.

What can you choose to do just for today

Saints Row SDK coming soon: modding community taking hold

Saint’s Row is a game that’s brought a rather odd assortment of open-world experiences to the fingertips of PC gamers for several generations. It’s a game that exists in the Grand Theft Auto-like universe of open sandbox playability: here offering a place for gamers to run around like wild, doing whatever they might, driving, interacting with fellow characters, and everything in-between. This world is strange, and with Saint’s Row IV, it’s about to get a lot stranger: but up until now, the game has been closed to the modders of the world.

What it means to modify a game in today’s hardcore environment of developers is to create a full-on different version of a game. Back when the game Half-Life was introduced, a community of modders changed it into the game we now know as Counter-Strike. Once the modified game became more popular than the original, the original creators of the game took notice – the modders “Gooseman” and “Cliffe” were contacted by Valve who then began to take part in creating the first real store-bought release.

"“Some of the ideas we have in store are going to blow people’s minds, and the open world crime genre will never be the same.” – Idol Ninja Games"

Will big things happen when Saint’s Row gets mod support from the current studio in charge of the game series? The folks at Idol Ninja Games and Volition seem to think so.

What’s going on here is that the team at Idol Ninja were hanging out with the team at Volition play-testing Saints Row IV, having a chat. One of the team at Idol Ninja suggested that the Volition team offer up an SDK (Software Development Kit) to the public for Saints Row along with a public contact for developers who had questions about modifications.

Volition’s team suggested Idol Ninja write up a proposal – they did – and here we are today: modification time!

“Jeff Thompson, the Studio Director of Programming at Volition, is putting together a package for us containing documentation, file formats, tools, and more on the Saints Row: The Third engine. Myself, Minimaul, and gibbed will be working closely with Jeff over the coming months to use this information to create a robust set of modding tools to supplement our existing ones and creating what is essentially a full sdk for the game!

But, that’s not all! Saints Row: The Third is only the beginning! Jeff has confirmed that he will also be digging up all the Saints Row 2 info that he can so we can do the same for it as well, and that this undertaking is actually a “test run” for Saints Row IV.” – Idol Ninja

This situation has taken off already – there’s a xenForo thread started by Volition Staff member “Knobby”, aka Mike W, the first programmer in charge of helping those folks out in the public that want to grab on to this opportunity. Randall from Volition is also in the thread as a sort of secondary contact – he’s also been with Saints Row from the very beginning!

So welcome to the next generation. The creators of this game have opened up their already expansive to the world to let it grow exponentially. Sound like a good enough reason to pick up Saints Row IV when it’s out? Either way, you’ll be seeing some very strange stuff in the near future.

VIA Kotaku

iPhone 5S display hardware leaks aside inner components

This afternoon it would appear that two rather key components to a next-generation Apple device have surfaced, and while neither piece of architecture will be able to be verified as such, it would seem that these two may fit together with one another, if nothing else. It’s being suggested by MacRumors that these two components may be pieces of the iPhone 5S. It’s also noted that, with the hardware shown here, the two do appear to be able to latch on to one another.

As is often the case, the iPhone 5S (as we’ll be calling it here for consistency) does not appear to be bringing any major cosmetic changes to the iPhone 5. This model will be bringing at least a black iteration to the market with the same 4-inch display as the iPhone 5 as well.

The flex cable that appears sprouting from the display above shows two connectors, one horizontal while the other is vertical. This setup would seem to fit well with the logic board that was also leaked today. These two connection points represent the display and digitizer. The machine itself has been suggested – but of course, again, not verified by Apple – to come with an upgraded camera and a boost in computing power.

This device will likely be revealed on schedule later this year as each successive version of the iPhone has for the past several years. The iPhone 5 brought on a 4-inch display and a thinner body, while the iPhone 5S will likely work with essentially the same thickness and outer bits with improvements under the hood.

The iPhone 5S has also been suggested to be appearing later this year with a companion “budget” iPhone which would work with some amalgamation of parts that would allow it to be released at a lower price point. The budget rumor has been joined by no shortage of mock-ups and suggested plastic body forms, but has also not been substantiated by any entirely solid evidence.

SOURCE MacRumors

New Large Screen Lumia Windows Phone Device Spotted In Nokia Presentation

In the last few days we have been hearing a lot about large screen Lumia devices. There were rumors about Nokia releasing  5 inch or more Lumia devices in the future. In a recent presentation while releasing Nokia Lumia 925 at Russia, a new large screen Lumia device was spotted which you can see in the image above.

It could be just a graphic device used for marketing purposes but If you want me to guess the device, I’ll place my bet on Nokia’s Samsung Galaxy Grand competitor which comes with specs similar to Lumia 820 but with 5inch screen.

What do you think?

Source: WP7Forum

Skype Video Messaging Comes Out Of Beta, Available Across Platforms Except Windows Phone!

Microsoft Skype today announced that the video messaging feature which was in beta period so far has now graduated into final version. Skype video messaging is now a free feature in Skype for Windows desktop, Skype for Windows 8, Skype for Mac, Skype for iPhone, Skype for iPad, Skype for Android and Skype for BlackBerry. Yes, not yet available for Windows Phone devices yet! With Skype video messaging, you can now record and share a personal video message…

Yahoo! reveals law enforcement data request numbers

On June 11, Google made public a letter it sent to the Attorney General and the FBI requesting permission to include FISA and similar data requests in it Transparency Report. A couple days later,Facebook and Microsoft revealed aggregated government data request numbers, followed soon after by other companies. Now Yahoo! has revealed its own numbers.

The numbers were revealed on Tumblr by Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and Yahoo!’s General Counsel Ron Bell. The announcement starts out with a statement that the company has worked hard to earn its users’ trust, and as such it does not want to jeopardize that trust, something that has resulted since PRISM was detailed by the media and soon expanded on by a variety of sources.

Like other companies, Yahoo! is not allowed to detail the specific number of requests it has received, nor is it allowed to zero in on any sort of range for FISA requests in particular. It can, however, reveal an aggregated range of total law enforcement data requests, which it says include FISA requests, as well as other requests.

The data range spans from December 1 of 2012 through May 31 of 2013, a six-month period similar to the timeline specified by other companies that have revealed their numbers. Within that time range, Yahoo! says it received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests from law enforcement, and that among those requests, homicide, fraud, kidnappings, and or criminal investigations were the most common reason.

Yahoo! says that it is pressing the government to change its stance on allowing companies to publish their FISA request numbers, saying that “democracy demands accountability.” Following this, Yahoo! says later this summer it will publish its first Global Law Enforcement Transparency Report, which will detail numbers from the first half of 2013, updating with new data two times a year.

SOURCE: Yahoo!

HTC Finally Releases Missing AT&T HTC One Kernel Source, Along With The Long-Lost Thunderbolt ICS Source

HTC must've been doing a bit of spring (read: summer) cleaning when it suddenly stumbled across some source code that should've been released to the public ages ago. First up is the AT&T HTC One's kernel source, which was nowhere to be found back in late April when all other One variants' source hit the scene.

What's even more interesting, however, is that the company also released the Thunderbolt's ICS kernel source. Just now. If you remember, the TBolt (finally) got its taste of ICS back in February – four full months ago. Better late than never, I suppose.

If you're the tinkerin' type, a ROM maintainer, a source code collector, a or just someone who likes to download things, you'll find all the new source code offerings at the link below.

[HTCdev]