Facebook, YouTube blocked in Kashmir

The government had issued orders to Internet
service providers to restrict access to the websites.

New Delhi: Internet users in Kashmir are unable to access Facebook and YouTube. The government had issued orders to Internet service providers to restrict access to the websites. This move is believed to be in response to the protests against the anti-Islam video on YouTube.

It was previously reported that the certain URLs with offensive content had been blocked, but it now seems that access to the entire websites have been restricted. Last month the Government of Jammu & Kashmir had directed service providers to ensure that the controversial YouTube video was not accessible from the state.

The order was issued by the state Home Department, invoking the powers conferred under section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885.

"In the interest of public safety and for maintaining public order, the government directed all licensed Telecom Service Providers and Internet Service Providers to make arrangements to ensure that their subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir should not be able to download or upload the contents" with regard to the video, the order said.

The order also emphasised that if necessary entire domains could also be blocked by service providers. "If necessary, due to technical reasons, the Fully Qualified Domain Names shall be blocked viz www.youtube.com, www.facebook.com etc," the order read.

Greater Kashmir quoted executives from telecom service providers in the state who confirmed that there was indeed a block in place, but when Greater Kashmir contacted Aga Ruhullah, Jammu & Kashmir's minister for information technology, he claimed ignorance. "There is not any ban on these websites. I don't have proper information of it. I can't confirm whether there is any technical snag in it," Ruhullah said.

Meanwhile, the Government of India has asked private telecom operators in Jammu and Kashmir to provide at the earliest a mechanism for fool-proof monitoring of real-time Internet traffic in the state.

New ultrathin lens to make mobiles as thin as credit cards

The new lens is flat, distortion-free and so
small that more than 1,500 would fit across the width of
a human hair.

Washington: Scientists are developing a new ultrathin lens which could lead to smart phones as thin as a credit card.

The new lens is flat, distortion-free and so small that more than 1,500 would fit across the width of a human hair - capable in the future of replacing lenses in applications ranging from cell phones to cameras to fiber-optic communication systems.

In a study published in journal Nano Letters, Federico Capasso and colleagues explained that the lenses used to focus light in eyeglasses, microscopes and other products use the same basic technology dating to the late 1200s, when spectacle lenses were introduced in Europe.

Existing lenses are not thin or flat enough to remove distortions, such as spherical aberration, astigmatism and coma, which prevent the creation of a sharp image.

Correction of those distortions requires complex solutions, such as multiple lenses that increase weight and take up space. To overcome these challenges, the scientists sought to develop a new superthin, flat lens.

Although the new lens is ultra-thin, it has a resolving power that actually approaches the theoretical limits set by the laws of optics.

The lens surface is patterned with tiny metallic stripes which bend light differently as one moves away from the centre, causing the beam to sharply focus without distorting the images.

The current version of the lens works at a specific design wavelength, but the scientists say it can be redesigned for use with broad-band light.

BSNL launches landline phones with video call facility

NEW DELHI: State-run BSNL, in partnership with SIS Infosystems, today launched telephones with video calling facility which will primarily be used to set up public Video Call Offices by replacing many of the PCOs. 

"We will convert existing Public Call Offices (PCOs) to VCOs with these phones. People will be able to make voice calls to any phone and video calls to any other IP (internet based) phone,"BSNL Chairman and Managing Director R K Upadhyay told reporters here. 

He said that most of the revenue of BSNL comes from landline phones and this new services is one of the initiative to increase company's revenue.

BSNL will charge Rs 3 for 45 second video call made from VCO which will include 30 per cent commission for the franchise owner.

"There will be no need to use computers for making video calls for user of these video phones," Upadhyay said.

BSNL's Senior General Manager for Broadband, A K Jain said that around 770 PCOs have confirmed to shift their business to VCOs and the target is to have 10,000 VCOs set-up across the country.

The service was inaugurated by Advisor to Prime Minister Sam Pitroda who stressed on the use of video phones to reach rural masses.

"It will bridge the gap between urban and rural India. This will be a platform for growth as this network can be used for purposes like job interview, tele-medicine, tele-education and host of other services," Pitroda said.

BSNL will provide various categories of VCO franchisees based on the services that a franchisee owners wants to provide.

SIS officials said that people looking for franchisee will have to pay for VCO devices which starts from Rs 25,000 and will have to sign an agreement for the business.

An official said VCOs having medical devices attached to it for remote diagnosis of a patient will also be made available. Many other services will be launched shortly for which prices will differ.

Huawei launches world’s first plug and link datacard HiLink in India

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, on Thursday commercially launched the world's first plug and link data card, the HiLink E303Cs in India.

Powered by a number of patented technologies, the HiLink E303Cs automatically connects users to the Internet in as little as 15 seconds after the datacard is inserted into the USB port, without the need for a tedious dial-in process, driver installation or manual configuration. This is up to 75% faster than products currently on the market. The HiLink E303Cs is the first EDGE/GPRS/GSM-compatible product in the Huawei HiLink series that supports HSPA+network with 7.2 Mbps Downlink. The HiLink is available pan-India July 2012 onwards, in telecom and PC stores and online channels. MRP of HiLink is 2199.

                                                               

 “Huawei is committed to providing Indian consumers with products that feature ease of use and optimal user experience. With customers at the heart of our strategy, we have been at the forefront of datacard development with industry leading technologies and product form factors. Leveraging revolutionary 4th generation datacard technology, the HiLink series is poised to change the datacard industry landscape. The HiLink technology is the result of more than one year of dedicated research and development and we believe that it will not only enhance consumers’ user experience, it will also enable operators to reduce backend development and maintenance costs and speed up UI customization, enhancing the competitiveness of their products”, said Victor Shanxin, President, Huawei Device India.

Nokia Lumia 900, Lumia 610 coming to India tomorrow

Nokia India is set to roll out two new smartphones running on Windows Phone 7.5 (Tango) in India tomorrow, Lumia 900 and Lumia 610. As per the press invite sent by the Finnish manufacturer, it will also launch The Dark Knight Edition of the former at the event. There is no official statement regarding the prices of the phones.

Lumia 900 is a top-end smartphone that boasts of a 4.3-inch AMOLED display and 8MP rear camera. It will run on a 1.4GHz processor coupled with a 512MB RAM and have 16GB internal memory. The Lumia 900 Batman edition smartphone, which has already hit stores in UK, will be offered with exclusive The Dark Knight Rises content, including themed wallpapers, ringtones and limited edition Batman or Bane character images.

The other phone to be launched tomorrow is the Nokia Lumia 610, which had made its debut atMobile World Congress. It sports a 3.7-inch display, 5MP camera, 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 256MB RAM and 8GB of internal memory. The Mobile Indian has reported that this smartphone will cost around Rs 11,000.

Microsoft, which has developed the Windows Phone platform, has stated that it will upgrade these devices to Windows Phone 7.8, which consists of some Windows Phone 8 (WP8) features. However, these devices will not receive the Windows Phone 8 update, Microsoft has said. 

Apple plans smaller, cheaper iPad to take on Google’s Nexus 7

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple plans to debut a smaller, cheaper iPad by year-end to help maintain its dominance of the tablet market, two persons with knowledge of the plans said.

The new model will have a screen that is seven to eight inches diagonally, less than the current 9.7-inch version, said the sources who asked not to be identified. The product, which Apple may announce by October, will not have the high-definition (HD) screen featured on the iPad that was released in March, said one of the sources.

A smaller, less expensive iPad could undercut the ambitions of Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com to gain traction in the advancing tablet market, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach.

The new device will probably have a price closer to Google's Nexus 7 tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire, both of which have 7-inch screens and cost $199. "It would be the competitors' worst nightmare," Wu said in an interview . "The ball is in Apple's court."

Since the iPad went on sale in April 2010, Apple has dominated the tablet market, which is predicted by Display-Search to reach $66.4 billion this year. Apple has 61% of the market, according to research firm Gartner.

Apple's rivals are eager to gain a toehold. Google said on June 27 that it will sell a tablet-style device called the Nexus 7.

Earlier in the month, Microsoft announced a tablet called Surface that will have a similar screen size as the current iPad. Amazon's Kindle Fire was released last year. The entrants' best chance of success has been to focus on markets where Apple had no toehold, said Jan Dawson, an analyst at Ovum.

The Surface comes in two models that are most likely to appeal to buyers who want to continue using Microsoft's Windows software, Dawson said. While Microsoft has not disclosed pricing or timing for either, the higher-end version will probably be pricier than the iPad and targeted more at an emerging class of laptop PCs called Ultrabooks, he said.

The latest iPad ranges in price from $499 to $829. Google's Nexus 7 could stack up well against Amazon's Kindle Fire, which went on sale in November.

The Nexus 7, manufactured by Asustek Computer, has a faster processor and better battery life than the Kindle Fire, as well as a front-facing camera. Still, competing with a lower-priced iPad will be more challenging, Wu said. Apple benefits from having more than 225,000 apps that have been tailored specifically for the current iPad.

Can a Google patch save the Galaxy Nexus from its US ban?

Google just might help Samsung overturn a ban on its Galaxy Nexus phone, after a  US judge rejected a request by Samsung to lift a pre-trial injunction against sales of the device.

On Friday, US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, also granted Apple’s request to block sales of the smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus. Samsung had asked the court to stay the injunction pending resolution of an appeal. Apple had objected to the Galaxy Nexus, saying that it infringed on four of its patents.

According to Apple, the Nexus’ “Quick Search Box” which is able to search multiple sources through a single interface is like Apple’s Siri. Apple insists that this is patent infringement. The other three areas where Apple has accused Samsung of patent infringement are actionable linking, slide-to-unlock, and touch screen word suggestion.

Now it seems that Google will help Samsung fight the ban. According to TheNextWeb Google has revealed that is ready to roll out a software update that it hopes will overcome a possible US sales ban on the Galaxy Nexus.

According to the report, Once the patch is rolled out, devices that are updated will see the homescreen-based quick search option simplified so as to only show results from the Web, with local search options disabled entirely on the device. The voice search option will also be restricted to retrieving results from the Web.  

The restricted search option could thus ensure that Samsung could get the injunction reversed if the smartphone no longer uses the unified search platform, which seems to be the major cause for contention.

Meanwhile it seems that Google has ceased sale of the phone from Google Play in the US, reports the Verge. The Verge also states, the description of the phone now reads “Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ (soon with Android 4.1, Jelly Bean),” which suggests that maybe the company merely stopped selling devices without the new update.

This current fight seems to be over search options in the smartphone. With Jelly Bean, the Nexus will get Google Now, which is similar to Apple’s Siri. Hopefully the new OS or the software patch will ensure that Samsung can avoid the ban.

As a condition of the Galaxy Nexus injunction, Apple was ordered to post a bond  of more than $95 million to secure payment of any damages sustained by Samsung should the injunction be deemed a wrongful decision later.

This is a significant victory for Apple as pre-trial injunctions are rarely granted.