How To Make Voice calls to your Facebook friends using iPhone

Think Facebook chat is cool? How's about a billion Facebook chats… with your voice?

After making their fortune in social networking and connecting you with your loved ones, its time for facebook to challenge Skype, although Mr Zuckerburg and the company is not offering this facility to the users, atleast iPhone users have it now through Apple store.

Facebook Messenger allows you to make calls to your friends and family free of cost over voip(voice-over-IP) through an application called “Facebook messanger” available on Apple's App Store  for a meager US$ 2.99.

This application is not limited to only apple devices. In fact, you can also make calls to your friends that are using face book on their PC or laptop etc.

Facebook Messenger by Crisp App combines two services that many of us hold near and dear: Facebook chat and VoIP.

Facebook Messenger also allows you post pictures, browse message history, view a friend's wall, use emoticons, receive instant replies via Push Notifications, and set up sound notifications and multi-tasking support from within the app.

Company is also planning to eventually offer paid plans for calling to regular phones through ths app world wide.

See this video, presenting a demo of this application, to see this Fcebook messanger on iPhone.



Facebook Messenger costs $3 and requires iOS 3.1.2 or later.

Is a great Great idea to give us yet another option for making voce calls to our facebok friends instead of typing, and very well executed. Although some minor niggles are their but all in all a fantastic way of speaking to friends for nothing.

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You got an iPad through Penny Auction for $2.19: Fraud or Acumen?

Get iPad for 2.19 dollars.

Get 99percentage discounts on your favorite laptop.

Get iPod for1.2 dollar?

And you really get it. They mean it what they say. Who knows who else is paying the rest amount of the product that your are getting. Nevertheless, it’s true. Someone have to pay in form of pennies to cover the total cost of the product.

This is “Penny auction”.

In short, penny auctions is Bidding fee auction where every bidder have to pay a few cents for the bid he/she is placing.

This is not eBay. Penny auction is much different and versatile technique of auctioning (or making fool!).

Here is a puzzler: How can a website sell a $10 Walmart gift card for 26 cents and still make money? Alternatively, sell an Apple iPod worth $100 for $3.30 and make an enormous profit?

I was curious about how these auctions worked, so I signed up for a BBB Accredited Penny Auction site with a good reputation called Bigger Bidder.

Penny auctions have prevailed on internet and easily outsourcing the other types of auctions like eBay.
SO, how these websites manages to sell extremely costly products at extremely low price and still making lots of money?

The answer lies in a simply mathematical trick.

Let’s take an example of how penny auctions work.

Say an item of worth $100 is on sale through auction and Participants pay 50 cents for each bid they place, and each bid increases the price of the item being sold by just one penny.

Therefore, the item that started with a price of one-cent reaches to 301 cents (3.01 dollar) after 300 bids. Nevertheless, at the same time, the website has managed to collect 150 dollars through these 300 bids at a rate of 50 cents per bid.

Who wins the bid?

The last bidder gets the product because he is the one that adds the last penny of the price to the overall price upto that time.

How many bids are normal in a bidding process?

Upto this point, you may be getting the sense of how the penny auctions work and how they get the enormous profit through this.

Virtually, infinite numbers of bids are possible. Especially at the last few minutes before the bid closes, everyone is trying to place a bid to confirm its place as the last bidder. Therefore, it’s a luck game but the rules are quite fair and visible. You may win you may not win the bid.

A real example:

For an Apple MacBook air (initial price 1 dollar), one website managed to get 8567 bids at a rate of 60 cents per bid. In addition, over 90 percent of the bids came in the last 60 seconds!

Let’s calculate the total amount website collected through this penny auction.

8567*60cents = $5140.20

The final bidder paid 86.67 dollars to get that MacBook!

Say the original price of the MacBook was 1500 dollars.

So the company’s profit=$5140.20 - $86.67= 5053$

Winners?

Company and the last bidder

Looser?

All other 8666 bidders(fools!) who placed there bid for mere 60 cents each.

Penny auctions: Fraud or legal?

Taking people's money and not delivering products is one thing -- fraud. But taking people's money for a chance to save a whole lot of money is another thing

Needed eagle eyed readers’ comments.

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High Quality Screen Capture with Free Snipping Tool in Windows

Microsoft snipping tool is a small yet powerful application free of cost provided with Widnow7 and Vista that lets you capture the screen or a desired part of it with ease and versatility.


Screen capturing (capture anything on your PC screen with full screen or a part of it) has always been a cumbersome process for many. In fact, I need screen capturing many times in my routine life interaction with my PC. I need to capture screen for using in my presentations or anything that cannot be download as a picture can be done by just capturing the full or a part of the screen.

 You may also find your own scenarios where you need to capture a part or full screen of your desktop screen.

Why do we need a different tool when we have Print Screen (Prt Scr) button on our keyboard?

Well, you are right. We already have a print screen button that do the same task but with some flaws!
IF you can sacrifice the quality of the captured image (captured part of your screen area) than go for it. You really don’t need any other tool!

Nevertheless, why should we sacrifice the quality? In fact, quality is everything and this is the situation where snipping tool jumps in.

There are 3 main drawbacks of using a print screen button:

1: We can not capture area of our interest with print screen. It just capture whole window or full screen.

2: After capturing we need another program like PowerPoint or Word to paste the captured image. And then we can save it as Jpeg or PNG etc.

3: Quality is always low for captured images.

I recently found this tool and I thought it is worthy to share it with my readers.
 Snipping tool:

Snipping tool in action.

Snipping Tool is an application/software that is included in Windows 7, Windows Vista and you don’t need pay for this small yet powerful and handy application. It removes all the 3 draw backs of print screen button and capture images with excellent quality.

Where to find:

If you are using window 7 or vista, and your are unable to find it, just use powerful search button of windows 7 and search for “snipping tool” or peak into the start button and all programs list.

How to use:

Pretty simple and straight forward.

Open the Microsoft snipping tool provided in your window seven or Vista (if you are still using this awful Vista).

In the New tab, you are given 4 option:

i)    Free form snip(Select area of your choice and any shape like rectangular, circular, free hand etc)
ii)    Rectangular Snip (Select rectangular areas of your choice)
iii)    Window snip (Capture the any window in full)
iv)    Full screen Snip (Capture the Full Screen)

 Choose anyone of the options of your choice from these and capture the area based on your selection. After capturing, you may also edit the image by using pen with different inks.

I hope this post would be helpful for you if , in case you didn’t already know about snipping tool.

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Lab on a Chip: What is this?

This digiknol is really not for every one as this is high tech or miniaturization technology. But you have to acknowledge that every electronics and some other fields are based on this miniaturization.

Scientists dream, as other people do. However, they dream for the welfare and betterment of humanity as a whole. When dream has a deadline, it is called a goal. Lab-on-a-chip has become a future goal for the scientists and researchers.

Lab-on-a-Chip technology is a rapidly extending area of science with applications in biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, chemical analysis, and pharmaceutics.

Looking back at the history, we see that IBM launched the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD) in 1956. The HDD weighed over 1000 kg and stored only 5MB of data. IBM needed an airplane at that time to transport that HDD storage device. Now we can place several GB data on our fingertip. The race of miniaturization started with the development of transistor and photolithography, and nowadays we have come to an era where scientists and engineers are trying to build a laboratory on a tiny chip.

The term “Lab-on-a-chip (LOC)” feels like an exaggeration, but it is a fact. LOC is a chip of only millimeters to a few square centimeters in size capable of performing several functions that are normally done in laboratory.

Hype was created with the introduction of the term LOC. Expectations started building up. It turned out to be the dream of scientists to fabricate fully functional laboratory on a small piece of substrate that may be a glass, Silicon or any polymer like PDMS. A normal chemical analysis laboratory has several functions to perform that include mixing, separation, identification, and storage of chemicals and interpretation of results.

A schematic of how laboratory functions are confined in a chip

When we go to a blood test laboratory, they take sample of our blood. Then, several functions are performed that make them able to deduce the results. Similarly, LOC also requires mixers, liquid flow channels, separators, storage wells, sensors, etc to complete the whole cycle from sampling to results. LOC is often called a subset of MEMS for good reasons because the components of a normal lab-on-a-chip like wells, mixers, micro pumps and a few others were borrowed from the MEMS technology. At the beginning of the 1990s, the LOC research started to seriously grow when the funding agencies realized the potential benefits hidden in these chips.

-How lab-on-a-chip is fabricated?

The root of the fabrication processes for LOC can be easily tracked down in the well-developed semiconductor fabrication technologies. The invention of photolithography gave a boost to miniaturization of devices back as far as in 80’s. The same photolithography is also being applied in the manufacturing of LOC. However, semiconductor technology is based on the Silicon that is not a material of interest as a substrate for performing biological test.

Attention was paid to Glass, PDMS and ceramics that have the properties desirable for LOC like specific optical characteristics, biocompatibility, and lower production costs. As rightly said that “necessity is the mother of invention”, engineers also developed new methods that were easily implementable with the materials like PDMS, glass etc. These methods include Hot embossing (or imprinting), injection molding, soft lithography etc. Details of these methods are out of the scope of this article. Therefore, summing up all these facts, we can say that fabrication process for LOC is a mixture of old and new techniques.

-Current status and future of LOC.

Currently, LOC is in active research phase. The total market for biochips was $2.4 billion in 2008, which rose to $2.6 billion in 2009. Expected market growth rate for biochips (LOC, DNA chip, Protein chip) in future is almost 17.7% to reach $5.9 billion by 2014, according to BCCresearch. Some prototypes have been demonstrated that are fully functional but manufacturing of LOC have not started yet on commercial basis. There are various challenges with the scaling down of traditional chemical principles. Mixing of two or more streams of fluids in micro size channels, and the signal to noise ratio (SNR) are the two major hurdles faced by the researcher in implementation of the technology to daily life. Nevertheless, the prospects are immense.

Successful implementation of the technology will enable us to have small cell-phone-size devices to carry out medical examinations like blood test, urine analysis and DNA analysis in real time. Nowadays, these tests take from hours to weeks from sampling to results. Even, the technology will enable us to wear laboratory in form of wristwatch to check our body functions and parameters in real time and free of cost.

LOC needs only Pico liters of sample for testing purpose. For the sake of comparison, a drop of water is millions time larger than the liquid required for LOC. Complete mixing of two such a small liquid is the biggest issue in LOC. is possible with the help of LOC. DNA analysis,

LOC may hold the key to the future of the in-vitro analysis. These devices could one day guide us to a pinhead-sized implant or skin-mounted device able to instantly figure out the presence of disease bacteria or biochemical agents, Effective Drug delivery, DNA analysis. Lab-on-a-chip technology may soon become an important part of global health improvements through the development of point of care (PoC) testing devices.

Further information:

http://bit.ly/bQUmJH

http://smrt.io/aOCHmT

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Rubik Cube puzzle game and the race to solve it in minimum time

According to Erno Rubik, founder of the Rubik’s cube:

“A good puzzle, it's a fair thing. Nobody is lying. It's very clear, and the problem depends just on you”

Firstly, it would be better to give the introduction of the Rubik’s cube to the novice. The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toys in 1980.This has won the German game of the years award. Almost 350 million Rubik’s cubes have been sold as of January, 2009, making it the world's top-selling puzzle game. By "God," I mean Morley Davidson, John Dethridge, Herbert Kociemba, Tomas Rokicki and about 35 CPU-years. The long-sought magic number of moves to solve the Rubik’s cube puzzle from any position is determined.

An international team of researchers using computer time lent to them by Google has found every way the popular Rubik's Cube puzzle can be solved. The study is just one of the plethoras of attempts by Rubik's enthusiasts to figure out the mysteries of the cube, which has proven to be altogether far more complicated that its debonair colors might suggest. The study builds on the work of a veritable pantheon of Rubik's researchers, starting with Morwen Thistlethwaite who in 1981 showed 52 moves were sufficient to reach the solution from any given Cube position.

Ever since Erno Rubik conceived the Rubik's Cube in 1974, math-minded enthusiasts have been trying to find the most efficient number of moves required to solve the 3x3 Rubik's Cube in any script, which they refer to as "God's Algorithm".  And in God's Algorithm, the maximum number of moves for the worst case scenario has finally been solved—"God's Number" is 20.

The minimum number of moves reduced to 42 by the period of 1992 and by 2005 this number reduced to 28 but still the enthusiasts were looking for the perfect minimum solution which was termed as God’s Number and it was believed that no less than God’s algorithm would be able to solve it.

There are exactly 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 permutations of Rubik’s cube which is an unimaginable number to solve out. Any one of the movement pattern out of 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 permutations can be used to make up the cube. It was really challenging to define the number of moves required to cover any of the arrangement to make up the cube. 

So, how did a Google engineer, a Kent State mathematician, a German math teacher and a Californian programmer crack the code?

According to them, 

“We partitioned the positions into 2,217,093,120 sets of 19,508,428,800 positions each. We reduced the count of sets we needed to solve to 55,882,296 using symmetry and set covering. We did not find optimal solutions to each position, but instead only solutions of length 20 or less. We wrote a program that solved a single set in about 20 seconds of time. We used about 35 CPU years to find solutions to all of the positions in each of the 55,882,296 sets”.

The "Superflip" (left) was the first position ever found with 20 moves.

"It took fifteen years after the introduction of the Cube to find the first position that irrefutably requires twenty moves to solve; it is appropriate that fifteen years after that, we prove that twenty moves suffice for all positions."

If anybody is still in a condition of disbelief, the team of researchers has their own website to give a detailed analysis of how they did it including the history of God’s number.

Here is the link
http://www.cube20.org/

There is a race going over youtube to solve the cube in minimum possible time now. Trick actually depends upon your memory and your muscle movement. The current world record holder is Dutch Erik Akkersdijk who successfully solved the puzzle in just 7.08 seconds.

Erno Rubik rightly said that he did not truly consider himself an icon, but the Cube has been quite successful!

Are you a prodigy? Whats your minimum time in solving this cube?

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Welcome to the United States Capitol Virtual Tour

Welcome to the United States Capitol Virtual Tour. If you have been living under a rock for a good time, let’s remind you that United States Capitol building is among the most symbolically important, architecturally cogent and mesmerizing buildings of the nation. The United States Capitol is the forum of the United States Congress, and the legislature of the Federal government of the United States where politicians propose, discuss and ultimately pass or reject federal laws.

US Capitol (Image credit)

Not every person gets a chance to visit this building, So I thought about writing a DigiKnol to digitally itrode this building to you.

So, let’s start our tour!

Location:

 Located in Washington, D.C., it sits at the top of Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. However, not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the origin, which divides the quadrants of the District. Both the eastern and western sides of the Capitol are referred to as fronts. Historically, only the east front of the building was intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries.

Construction design and architectural work of the United state Capitol:

Begun in 1793, the capitol has gone through various phases of construction. According to Nps.com, “The Capitol covers a ground area of 175,170 square feet and has a floor area of approximately 16.5 acres”. Its height above the base line to the top of the Statue of Freedom is 288 feet. “The building contains approximately 540 rooms and has 658 windows and approximately 850 doorways”, states the official website of United States Capitol. It is typically a five-storey building. The first floor is occupied mainly by committee rooms and the spaces allocated to various officers.

The second floor accommodates the Chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate as well as the offices of the congress leaders. This floor also holds three major public areas. One is Rotunda, a circular space that serves as a gallery of paintings and sculpture. The curved chamber on the south of the Rotunda, served as the Hall of the House until 1857. Now it holds collection of statues donated by various states in remembrance of noted citizens.

The third floor gives access to the galleries from which visitors to the Capitol are able to watch proceedings of the House and the Senate during session of congress. Offices, committee rooms, and press galleries occupy the rest of this floor. Offices, machinery rooms, workshops, and other support areas occupy the fourth floor and the basement/terrace level of the Capitol.

The architectural work in this building depicts the development of the United States and the Congress. Their work includes important minutes in history, and the representations of the nation's ideals. In addition to its active use by Congress, the Capitol is a depositary of American art and history. Each year, almost 3-5 million people from around the world visit this building.

Marked by a dome and two wings, this monument has been a popular destination for visitors for the past two centuries. This marvelous building blends functionality with aesthetics.

Further information sources:

http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/index.cfm
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc76.htm
www.visitthecapitol.gov

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Google Chrome 6: What's New?

Google has released the stable version “Google Chrome 6”, of its stunningly light and fast web browser Google Chrome.

Release came out on 2nd September 2010. And it was deliberate to choose this date to keep it synchronous with the 2nd anniversary of Google chrome.  With some new features over Google Chrome 5, Chrome 6 once again represents the success of the minimalism which has outspoken some heavy contender in last two years.

Google hit the markets of web browser in 2008 by launching Google Chrome. Leaving Apple’s safari and Opera behind and earning a share of more than 7 percent in the Web browser market are the important milestones among many others achieved by Google chrome. In its two years of life, Chrome has made quite a dent in the field of Web browsers by its minimal design approach stuffed with breath taking loading as well as browsing speed.

Google Chrome Official logo

Though, Google Chrome 6 doesn't introduce any world-shaking new features, version six extends Chrome's JavaScript speed lead, and it pares down an already trim design. I took the new browser version out for a spin, and in general, the fine tunes in version six represent a net gain.
Let’s take a critical look at the features offered by version 6.

USER INTERFACE TUNING:

Already famous for its minimimal approaches, Google has further trimmed down its new version of browser to give it yet exciting look by taking a step forward and modifying some affairs.

•    OMNIBOX MODIFICATIONS: Omnibox, a feature announced by Mozilla in May 2008 but implemented by Google first, has also received a minor update the most prominent of them is the length of the address bar, replacement of bookmark button by another icon (which changes according to the terms entered in the address bar from a global icon for web address to magnifying glass for search terms) and removing the http:// term, probably in recognition that most users already live in a world where nothing else exists but HTTP. It has to be noted that if anyone tries to copy / paste the address “http://” will be added automatically so the link being pasted stays complete. The first to go was the “Go” button, the small arrow found to the right of the address line and is parallel to pressing “enter” after typing in an address or search term in the combined box.

•    ADJUSTMENT OF THE BUTTONS:  The “Go” button, the small arrow found to the right of the address line and is parallel to pressing “enter” after typing in an address or search term in the combined box has vanished now. Another removal in the user interface appears in the two menu buttons located along the line. In the name of minimalism, the two menus were combined into one large menu under the wrench button that includes all options. It is here that choosing the unification of the menus leads to a more complex and less comfortable menu where you have to navigate carefully to sub menus to arrive at the options like the add Ons that were easily available in the previous version. Finally, the browser also received a slight improvement in the color kit – less. With minimalism you have to know where to stop. Less blue – more gray – meant to make it easier on the eyes.

•    For AUTO FILL LOVERS: Chrome finally receives the ability to fill in forms automatically. Users of other browsers can now wonder, for this ability exists in Firefox since its launch and on IE since the late 90’s.

•    THE HOME PAGE: Homepage has added 3 buttons in it quite unnoticing way. These three buttons on the bottom right corner includes History, Downloads and Help in addition to the more prominent and already available tabs for the most visited and recently closed websites.

NEAR INVISIBLE CHANGES:

Improvements regarding to performance and stability are almost invisible for average users except for very heavy sites like expanding support of the HTML5 standards including support of Google’s new video format, WebM and a result of 227 in HTML5 on html5test.com to 190 for Firefox’s latest beta version and 27 to IE8. One of the directions where chrome does not align itself with others but stays ahead of the race is its synchronizing capabilities between different computers.

The innovation in version 6 is that synchronization also includes the add Ons the user chose to install, so that surfing experience in every computer running chrome will always be constant. Built-in PDF support and Bug fixes for Mac and Windows is also a part of version 6. For existing users, the latest version of chrome 6 will automatically be installed to replace 5. The upgrade is simple, automatic and recommended.

The IE losses and Firefox gains are an old story. But the more important story here is potentially that Google's Chrome making it a threat to the top browsers.  This highlights the power of Google's "open source" software model vs. its competitors.

Although Google chrome 7 has also been released just two days after the release of Google chrome 6, it’s still in testing period dev channel.

If you are really a staunch Chromw lover, don't forget to check this website

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Vodafone to distribute Nexus S Black as well as White model in UK

Google Nexus S

Vodafone gain the exclusive rights of distributing Samsung/Google Nexus S smart phones in UK. They should release soon but the exact date is a mystery that we will keep a close eye on.

we have already covered the full in-depth review of this smart phone here. Here we want to remind you that its the Googles flagship phone after Nexus one. Nexus s runs on Android Gingerbread 2.3 and features 4 inch stunning super AMOELD display and Near Field Communication technology (NFC).  Design of this phone is pretty much similar to the Samsung Galaxy S.

To Date the Android smart phone was only available through Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy and now that Vodafone will put it to market.

Vodafone has also confirmed it will be the first UK network to stock the White Google Nexus S, once the handset launches in the “next few months”.So, Not only will the operator be stocking the standard all-black model, it will also be selling an exclusive white version of the device.

Via: Dialtosave

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Apple Secures display supply, NO intentions for AMOLED!

Your dollars are definitely working for Apple as Apple has secured display supply chain with mighty invest of 3.9 Billion dollars.

According to CFO Peter Oppenheimer and acting CEO / COO Tim Cook, the company's made a two-year; $3.9 billion deal with three suppliers to secure a "very strategic" component for its products.

There is no denying that massive smartphone demand has OEMs excited to assure their reliability of their supply chain. Apple is apparently soliciting some of its seemingly bottomless cash reserves to secure display technologies for the iPad and iPhone.

IHS iSuppli quotes that Apple spent nearly $2 billion on displays for its iPad and iPhone lines in 2010, sourcing LCD panels from LG Display, Samsung Electronics, Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display.

"In the era of the iPad and iPhone, the user interface – particularly the display and touch screen – has become the most critical competitive differentiator for tablets and smartphones," noted Vinita Jakhanwal, director for small and medium displays at IHS, in a statement, citing high demand as the reason Apple has decided to secure its display supply.

That makes one thing pretty much clears pertaining to the rumors on the internet that Apple may ditch retina display in favor of AMOLED display for their next generation of products. This huge investment for the next two years in IPS LCD panels reveals that Apple has no plans

With Apple trying to invest in assuring IPS supply, and Samsung Electronics having preferential access to small- and medium-sized AMOLED supply, the rest of the smartphone makers are caught between the two giants, said Vinita Jakhanwal .

This has left other OEMs to resort to other technologies when it comes to advanced displays, giving Apple and Samsung a huge edge in product differentiation in a highly competitive market."

Via: Venturebeat

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Reminding you the flexible AMOLED display from CES 2011

We covered the CES 2011 and all he happenings in that event regarding AMOELD display gadgets and expos. Samsung showcased many products in CES2011 that have had AMOELD or its variant displays. Samsung Also showcased a cell phone with flexible displays. Here, we found some amazing pictures of extremely thin 300 um (0.3 mm) display. This is actually a prototype media player. To keep things n perspective, just recall that average human hair size is also about 100-300 um thick.

This is awesome level of miniaturization for a display.

Via: technabob

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Samsung Galaxy S 4G coming on T-Mobile

T-Mobile denotes the release of another 4G Smartphone this month that will come up with its fast 4G network – Samsung Galaxy S 4G preloaded with inception movie!

Samsung Galaxy S 4G redeems enhanced video entertainment over the Web through services like YouTube and live relays through T-Mobile TV from stations such as ABC News NOW, FOX Sports, PBS Kids and Azteca America. Apart from access to Android Market, users can also rent or purchase movies and TV programs from the Samsung Media Hub.

Specs are almost similar to the Galaxy S 3G phones. Fortunately, Samsung is not going to ditch super AMOLED display in this phone as Samsung is going to do with Galaxy S in some other countries by riveting the display back to SL LCD.

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Samsung SCH-R910 with Super AMOLED display coming soon through MetroPCS

Another Samsung Phone with super AMOLED siplay is in news.

In December 2010, UnwiredView reported a Samsung Android Phone that was intended to launch through MetroPCS. Now, The LTE-enabled Samsung SCH-R910 has just passed the FCC. As usual, this reveals the device can now be debuted in the US – where MetroPCS will sell it.

Notable Specs: (Via: Pdadb)

LTE enabled handset.
Super AMOELD touchscreen with 16 M colors, WVGA display.
Android 2.2 Froyo.
Wi-Fi.
5MP camera, Autofocus.
1GHz Hummingbird processor.
3.5 mm audio Jack.


The R910 comes with CDMA and LTE connectivity, and seems to have many of the features the Galaxy S has, that include TouchWiz UI, a 1GHz CPU, and a 5MP camera.

At the moment, the Samsung R910 runs Android 2.2, but it will likely be updated to 2.3 Gingerbread sometime later. Reportedly, MetroPCS will launch the handset this quarter, possibly for under $400 free of contract
-----------------------------
Via: Unwiredview

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Samsung Wave II Vs Wave I: Pros and Cons

Samsung has launched Samsung S8530 Wave II, an upgrade to the Wave I that was  launched in earlier 2010.

But, Let’s think is this really an upgrade over the predecessor by every means?

In fact, there are only a few things that were upgraded in wave II. Let’s take a critical look at the differences between the two Bada models.
·         Wave II comes with Bada 1.2 upgrade

·         Wave II have Music recognition

·         Wave II is slightly bigger in all 3 dimensions as compared to wave I.

·         135 g as compared to previous 118g.

·       Super Clear LCD capacitive touch screen display with Scratch-resistant oleophobic   surface While Wave I has Super AMOLED display with Gorilla glass

·        The screen has grown to 3.7 inches in wave II from the 3.3-inch in wave II

These are the only difference between the two handsets with every other specs are perfectly similar.

Therefore, if we take a look at these five changes, we feel that Music recognition and Bada upgrade is definitely a good thing to have while dimensions and weight are slightly bulky as compared to the previous model. We loved the bigger display of Wave II.

The big thing: Samsung have sneakily changed the display of Wave II. Instead of Super AMOLED display, it has a SL LCD display that is definitely a big con of Wave II compared with the first model that have a stunning super AMOLED display. IF you are an avid reader of our posts, you are well aware of the fact that AMOLED display technology is far ahead of other display technology.The super AMOLED unit has wider viewing angles, and its colours remain unchanged to the very edge. The super clear LCD on the other hand tends to lose some contrast when viewed at a wider angle and this is certainly a step down.

The Bada mobile operating system is consolidating its hold on Samsung's portfolio as the Wave family gets bigger and better. The Samsung Wave II S8530 is an improvement or not, I am going to put this discussion upto the audience.

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Samsung Wave III ???

Bada equipped Samsung Wave sequal is popping up in the news.

The Bada-equipped Samsung Wave II may have just hit the UK, but it looks like Samsungcould already be working on its sequel.

According to bloggers over at Phone-OS, the above shown picture belongs to Samsung Wave III.
Although we are not convinced on the reliability of the source, the Polish bloggers claim the next-generation Wave will launch with Bada OS 1.2, alongside a hefty 800MHz processor and 448MB RAM. It’s also rumoured to arrive with a 3.5 inch super  AMOLED plus display, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and up to 32GB of storage via microSD.

positive? No neither are we. If we’re proved wrong, and the Samsung Wave 883 is in fact real, it could be hitting the market “later this year” with a mid-range price tag.
We would try to digg out this further to gain some weight behind this news.
--------------------------
Source: SamFirmWare

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Galaxy S 2 to have 4.5 inch super AMOLED Plus display and Gingerbread

We already have details about Galaxy S 2 phone posted few days ago that Galaxy S 2 is an upcoming phone with super AMOLED display and android operating system and it is going to be officially unveiled at MWC 2011 (later this month).

Now, Tweakers.net describes that an “industry source” has confirmed the size of the Galaxy S2’s display: 4.5 inches.

We were expecting to have 4.3 inch display, so it is a surprise for us that we are going to have 4.5 inch display which is really big conspiring that it is a smart phone with Super AMOLED plus display technology.

Apparently, it’s been also confirmed that the new Galaxy would run Android 2.3 Gingerbread (no surprise here).

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Ramblings: Nokia and its Symbian Vs Android!

What happened to Symbian in U.S.?

Although it is still pretty much popular in other regions especially in south aisa and middle east. But,  after all USA is a market every one wants to corner.

What is the difference between Symbian and Android?

First off, I think a lot of it is the user interface. Symbian is painfully outdated. I seriously think that Nokia's software still looks like something from the 90's. Symbian also tends to be a jumbled mess when compared to its competitors. I remember adding my mom to my plan and getting her a Nokia Nuron free. Granted the phone was pretty decent for a freebie, but the menu structure among other things was difficult for me to navigate and I'm a former Nokia owner and all around tech nerd.

Also, Nokia's got a lot pride that needs to be swallowed. They've remained on top in pretty much every cell phone market (aside from the USA) because of solid hardware and a relatively easy to use operating system. Apple hasn't really penetrated all markets due to the fact that the iPhone is quite expensive and there isn't a dumbphone version of it. Blackberry is more of an American business thing, along with Windows Mobile 6.5 and earlier. Then you have other manufacturers with their own operating system software that tends to lose out due to bad hardware. All these things helped keep Nokia at the top until Android came out.

Android's big claim to fame is that it goes anywhere, does anything, runs on everything, and is extremely easy to mod, both mechanically and visually. Android is essentially the wet dream of all Linux users who wanted their OS to hit big. The amazing level of customization, function, and cost effectiveness (it is free after all) is why Android is beginning to pummel Nokia. The fact that cell phone carriers can now offer smartphones for free is making people who wouldn't ordinarily look that way become interested.

Nokia doesn't want to, as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Although I think that Nokia using Android is a good possibility. I doubt that they are so prided that they're willing to let all of their market share slip away just because they don't want to include Android on their hardware. Nokia's key advantage is that they are both the hardware and software makers for their phones. While their are likely some licensing fees to use Google's own personal suite of applications, Android's cost to hardware makers and carriers is virtually nothing. Nokia would still be making money on the hardware. I think Nokia will come around eventually and may even see a rise in popularity in the USA which has been the one market they can't penetrate.

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Concept AMOLED Phone: HTC Metal

After Nokia N 14, Now we have HTC metal for you , A concept phone equiped with AMOLED display.

The phone looks like a combo between an Xperia and a Nokia new generation device, but if HTC’s making it, there shouldn’t be any trouble with the design

The HTC Metal boosts a 1 GHz processor, a 3.7-inch AMOLED display and an 8-megapixel camera.  the traditional hardware Android keys and a trackball are there on the right side of the phone, similar to the original Google phone, the G1. The four-row QWERTY keyboard looks to draw inspiration from the HTC Touch Pro2, recessed beneath the screen.


As much as I love a beautiful slate, touchscreen-only smartphone. I would be remiss if I didn’t express my inner desire to return to a hardware keyboard. There’s just something about the tactile feedback, the ability to pound out emails with ease and convenience of not having to look at the screen while typing. If the HTC Metal materializes in an Android product launch, who else is with me?
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Via: ConceptPhones

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Super AMOLED display may be discounted for Galaxy S in future. (Update: Its official Now.)

Galaxy S

Smasunghub through Bestboyz reports that Samsung is going to replace Galaxy S phone (GT-I9000) with a slightly changed model Samsung Galaxy S (GT-I9003).

It is expected that the change is going to happen only in the display niche of the phone and we might not have Super AMOLED display on Galaxy s phone with all others specs being same. Super Clear LCD will replace super AMOLED display in future.

The news is obviously unconfirmed but makes perfect sense considering Galaxy S2 is just around the corner. The AMOLED production allotted for I9000 can be diverted to make Galaxy S2’s screen that is confirmed to have a Super AMOLED Plus screen.This move of Samsung may compensate the shortage of AMOLED panels.

If you have not heard of Galaxy S2, read here about this upcoming big thing from Samsung.

*Update*

Samsung has officially declared on its Middle eastern and Asian website that Samsung Galaxy SL drops AMOLED for LCD, and Hummingbird for TI. A number of subtler changes are in store, as the device is about 0.27 inches thicker and carries a larger 1,650mAh battery. It ships only with 16GB of storage, though this isn't different than with most Galaxy S models. Android 2.2 comes preinstalled.

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Nokia E7 slider with AMOLED display coming March 21, aimed at £489.99?

The Nokia E7 is the next big thing coming from Nokia side and is the most anticipated Symbian^3 smartphone to be let loose on to the world. Made to keep you in touch, the Nokia E7 is everything you need to stay connected to both the office and your personal network. The angling touch screen and keyboard takes in typing messages easy, the 4-inch AMOLED display lets you tailor-make your home screen with the information you want.

A built in HDMI port even allows you link the E7 to a HD TV or projector for everything from exhibiting presentations and emails to watching movies on the big screen. The Nokia E7 is set to cause a stir when it finally lands, the 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen – the first Nokia has hatched – while the slide-out QWERTY keyboard makes it ideal for social network users as well as business types. Nokia has said that it will appear in Q1 of this year but has not been any more circumstantial than that.

Earlier, the E7 glorious slider was aimed to release in December 2010 but due to some hardware issues, the release date was extended to March 2011.

We can't blame Nokia for wanting to ensure the best possible user experience -- it's just a shame that it will require the holiday shopping season to sort it out.

 However, we have found one major retailer play.com that is stating that March 21 it will start selling the Nokia E7.


 Price tag is also set by play.com for E7 at £489.99.

For those who are reading about E 7 for the first time, here are the major specs given below while detailed specs can be found at gsmarena.

Specs:

•    Quad Band GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
•    Dimensions 123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6 mm
•    Weight 176g
•    4 inch AMOLED display
•    Qwerty Keyboard
•    Scratch Resistant Glass
•    Vibration
•    Internal 16GB Memory
•    256 MB RAM
•    1 GB ROM
•    HSDPA
•    Bluetooth v3.0
•    8MP Camera
•    Wi-Fi
•    3G
•    Video Recording
•    Symbian Operating System
•    ARM 11 680 MHz Processor
•    Stereo FM Radio
•    Digital Compass
•    Active Noise Cancellation
•    TV Output
•    MP3
•    MP4
•    Document Editor(Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF)
•    Flash Lite
•    Voice Memo

I am simply lovin’ the form factor and design of this phone. It really combines the best of both world.

What’s your take? Are you waiting?

By the way, do not forget to watch this mouth-watering un-boxing of Nokia E7

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Cowon's D3 Plenue (AMOLED display) now has a price tag, ready for pre order

As seen on Amazon.

Most awaited Cowon's D3 Plenue now has a price tag. This media player is listed at amazon for $369. Although, the product is not available yet but it is ready for pre-orders at Amazon.
The D3 Plenue is an Android (v2.1) PMP with a 3.7" AMOLED display, Full-HD (1080p) support, Wi-Fi, HDMI out, Bluetooth and a T-DMB TV tuner.

Product Features

•    3.7inch  AMOLED Capacitive Touch screen, 16 million colors, res. 800x480, ultra portable

•    Play all your digital entertainment: movies, TV shows, photos and music

•    Supports MP3/2/1, WMA, WAV, ASF, FLAC, APE, M4A and OGG Vorbis audio formats;full HD    1080p Video playback

•    Bluetooth, MicroSD Card Slot, G-Sensor, Built-in Speaker, internal microphone and TV-out supporting composite connections & HDMI

•    Maximum 10 hours of video playback and maximum 21 hours of audio playback

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Another use of Transparent AMOLED: The real translator!

Ironically, we feel that making of transparent display is far more easier than finding real world applications of transparent screens!
In addition to already mentioned some applications of transparent displays, here is another unique concept use of transparent display that could be an AMOLED or less likely an LCD.

Travelling to other countries could be a full-grown headache because of the language barrier. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there were a device to solve this? Samsung may be up to the challenge with its concept device: the Real Translator.

It supposedly works by holding up the device equipped with a transparent AMOLED while facing the person you are talking to. The device will then interpret whatever is spoken in real time and give a rough translation on the spot by using the speech recognition technology.

And because it is using a transparent display, so it is capable of showing both persons’ speech on the two sides of the screen.

It actually sounds so dreamlike to the point that it has raised many questions in our heads:

How accurate would it be?

Samsung Mobile Display is claiming that this product can be mass produced in due time.”

Will this gadget prove itself really useful?

What’s your take?


Source: SamsungAMOLED

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LG starts AMOLED Production at 4.5 G Plant, Aims to head quickly towards AMOLED TV

A few days ago, AUO started AMOLED panel’s production and now its LG’s turn at their 4.5 Gen plant. According to OLED-a, LG display have embarked on mass production of its Gen 4.5 OLED/AMOLED line at 4,000 substrates/month and anticipates to reach 12,000 substrates/month by the end of the 2011. Rumors were quite dominant that LGD would next follow Samsung (SMD) with a Gen 5.5 fab, but last week the company indicated it would skip the 5.5 generation and move immediately to the Gen 8 size. 

LG was investing heavily in LCD panels in previous years that forced LG to put their AMOLED/OLED panels’ production to set to a lower priority. 

Nevertheless, as I mentioned in my previous post that decline of LCD sector embarked losses for LG display in 2010. Therefore, they are rightly shifting towards AMOLED/OLED production keeping in mind the trends of display industry.

And also, during LGD's recent Non-Deal Road Show on January 21 in Seoul, CFO Jung Hoyoung announced that the company could launch AMOLED TVs as early as the end of 2011 or the start of 2012. 

Responding to analysts questions regarding the OLED investment, Mr. Jung said LGD's CAPEX will be a total of KOR 5 trillion Won in 2011, distributed evenly at 28% to their P8, P9 and maintenance costs with the remaining 16% dedicated to OLED panel production. Mr. Jung arrogated that even though it has already established its Gen 4.5 OLED panels for small application, its Gen 8 OLED fab will be used for TV application. LGD sensed that it is important to have cost effective AMOLED TVs when it starts mass production since the investment cost per OLED panel would be as much as 2X to 3X the cost of a similar size LCD panels using a Gen 8 and even higher with a Gen 5.5. 

The total investment in AMOLED in 2011 will be $720 million US - which will be used to raise the capacity of the Gen-4.5 line and to start working on the Gen-8 line.
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Source: OLED-A 

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