News Snippets

[csmart 472]

Microsoft is considering buying Dell. Yes Dell. They are in talk with private equity players and also planning to make Dell a private co. Source

There are also reports that Dell buyout is in advance talk. TOI

Microsoft in talks to buy Dell: Reports

NEW YORK: Microsoft is in talks with private equity investors on a possible buyout of US computer giant Dell, the Wall Street Journal and cable news channel CNBC reported Tuesday.

The reports, citing sources close to the discussions, said Microsoft was considering investing $2 billion to $3 billion.

Dell has not commented on reports circulating since last week which said the popular computer maker, which has slipped from its number one position and has struggled amid a shift to mobile devices, was preparing to go private.

The move, which would delist the company from stock markets, could ease some of the pressure on Dell, which is cash-rich but has been seeing profits slump.

Microsoft did not respond to an AFP query on the reports, which said it was in talks with the equity firm Silver Lake Partners.

Dell shares extended their recent rally, gaining 2.4 percent to $13.15. The reports said a deal for the shares could be priced at between $13 and $14.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said a deal in that price range is possible, but that "a materially higher price is less likely."

Wu said in a note to clients that "attractive returns could prove difficult" for Dell and that based on prior buyouts "acquirers underestimate the secular pressures a company in decline faces."

"While going private makes sense in taking the company out of the limelight and public scrutiny, we are not sure it improves the company's fundamental position," Wu said.

He said that despite Dell's efforts to diversify, "about 70 percent of its business is tied to PCs."

"The reality is that ever-increasing competition from Lenovo, Asustek, Apple, Google, Acer, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, and Cisco isn't going away by going private," he added.

Edited January 23, 2013 by csmart

[st_7 138]

Research In Motion(RIM) Is Rebranded To 'Blackberry'

In a major announcement today along with the unveiling of new generation Blackberry phones Z10 & Q10, Research In Motion(RIM), the Blackberry phone manufacturer, has announced that from now on it will be simply called 'Blackberry'. So we won't hear Research In Motion(RIM) name any more and many think it's a righ decision and long over due as many people don't know Reseach In Motion(RIM) name. It helps the brand to reach audience further.

Edited January 30, 2013 by st_7

[astrokidvaibhav 37]

As it is they were known only for their blackberry line up. Not much of a.surprise there. But definitely a good move. Though i doubt how much it will help them collect the lost market share.

[digitalnirvana 646]

I read the review of Z10, sounds promising, for the betterment of mobile industry I hope BlackBerry succeeds.

Sent while mobile.

[Venkatagiri 53]

Ubuntu powered smartphones

Canonical, which had earlier confirmed to development of Ubuntu powered smartphones, has now stated that the open source platform driven smartphones will be available for purchase from October this year according to a Wall street Journal blogspot. The report also states that developers can get a feel of the Ubuntu smartphone platform on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, starting later this month.

http://www.techtree.com/content/news/2901/ubuntu-smartphones-hit-markets.html#.URWhvPJGniw

[csmart 472]

Parliament House attack convict Afzal Guru hanged to death at 8am

Source: Times of India

NEW DELHI: Parliament House attack case convict Afzal Guru was hanged to death at Tihar Central Jail on Saturday morning.

The hanging took place in complete secrecy at around 8am with only a very select group of officials and home minister Sushilkumar Shinde knowing the operation to execute his death sentence.

His mercy plea, which had been pending since 2006, was rejected by the President Mukherjee late last month after getting the file from the home ministry on January 23.

Afzal Guru was convicted for his role in the attack on Parliament in 2001.

His hanging took place in as secret an operation as it had happened in the case of the hanging of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case convict Mohammed Ajmal Kasab who was hanged to death in a Pune jail in November last year.

Afzal Guru was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2004. His hanging, scheduled for October 2006, was stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition on his behalf to the President.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Qualcomm Details Quick Charge 1.0, Available On More Than 70 devices

Allows Phone Battery To "Charge Up To 40 Percent Faster Than Older Phones."

Is your new phone charging much faster than your old one? It’s not your imagination, it’s by design. Your new phone or tablet could have new Qualcomm technology that speeds up charging so you can pick up your mobile device and go.

A phone with Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0 can charge up to 40% faster than older phones. A phone without Quick Charge 1.0 could be stuck plugged in charging for more than four hours. With Quick Charge 1.0, the same phone can reach its full charge in three hours or less. The less time you spend charging your mobile device, the more time you get to use it; your mobile device becomes truly mobile. Quick Charge 1.0 makes all this is available to the user with existing USB charging accessories—no new cables and wall chargers to buy.

Quick Charge 1.0 is offered to our customers as an integrated solution (as part of the PMIC, or power management integrated circuit) and a standalone solution that interfaces to the USB connector. Any phone or tablet’s charging port can be enabled with Quick Charge.

Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0 is available today in more than 70 Snapdragon-based devices including the Droid DNA by HTC, Samsung Galaxy S III, Nokia Lumia 920, Asus Padfone and LG Nexus 4. Below is a list of some of the commercial Snapdragon devices that feature Quick Charge 1.0

Acer

• Cloudmobile S500

Asus

• Padfone

Casio

• G’zOne TYPE-L CAL21


• Medias X N-07D


• MEDIAS U N-02E


• MEDIAS U N-02E ONE PIECE


• Disney Mobile on docomo N-03E


• MEDIAS TAB UL N-08D

Fujitsu

• Arrows A 101F


• Arrows ef FJL21


• Regza Phone T-02D


• ARROWS Kiss F-03E

HTC

• 8X


• 8S


• Droid DNA


• Evo 4G LTE


• One S


• One VX


• One SV


• HTC J butterfly HTL21

Huawei

• Ascend HW-01E


• Stream

Kyocera

• Digno S KYL21

LG

• Escape


• Mach


• Motion 4G


• Nexus 4


• Optimus G


• Optimus it


• Optimus Vu 2


• Spectrum 2


• Optimus Regard


• Optimus LIFE L-02E

Motorola

• Atrix HD LTE


• Droid RAZR HD


• Droid RAZR M


• Electrify M


• Photon Q 4G LTE


• Droid RAZR Maxx HD

Nokia

• Lumia 820


• Lumia 920


• Lumia 822


• Lumia 920T

Panasonic

• Eluga Power P-07D

Pantech

• Flex


• Vega PTL21


• Vega Racer 2 LTE

Samsung

• Galaxy Express


• Galaxy Rugby Pro


• Galaxy S Relay 4G


• Galaxy S III


• Galaxy S III Progre


• Galaxy Victory 4G


• Ativ S


• Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (LTE)


• Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (LTE)


• Galaxy Tab 7.7 Plus

Sharp

• Aquos Phone Series


• Aquos Phone Serie SHL21


• Aquos Phone si SH-01E


• Aquos Phone sv SH-10D


• Aquos Phone Xx 106SH


• Aquos Phone Zeta


• Aquos Phone Zeta SH-02E


• SH-01E Vivienne Westwood


• PANTONE 6 200SH


• AQUOS PAD SHT21

Sony

• Xperia AX SO-01E


• Xperia GX SO-04


• Xperia SX SO-05D


• Xperia TL


• Xperia T


• Xperia VL SOL21

Xiaomi

• MI2


• Mi2

ZTE

• Grand X LTE


• Flash

[shadow 119]

Bombs blasts in hyderabad ! dilshuknagar !

HYDERABAD: A series of powerful bombs ripped through a market place in Hyderabad on Thursday evening killing >30 people and injuring up to fifty as per initial reports.

The blasts took near a bus stand in the Dilsukh Nagar area. The area is a busy and crowded part of the city.

Intelligence Bureau told Times Now that they are not ruling out any possibilities.

The injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals.

More details are awaited.

live blog here :http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/serial-bomb-blasts-in-Hyderabad/liveblog/18612887.cms

4 of my friends were lucky enough to leave the snack shop just 3 minutes earlier !(i was on phone with them ) thank god they could survive and may the departed souls rest in peace !

indian mujahideen claimed it is responsible for the act !

i sincerely feel that its not the terrorists who should be hanged its the perverts , the insiders who back-stab their own mother country and help them to do such disgusting acts ! its not the failure of govt its the failure of national integrity and patriotism ! that those MOFU insiders lack !

[ramtech 47]

I visited that tiffin centre couple of times. Tiffin centre , Tea stall and pan shop are at same place and are attached within. and is exactly opposite to bus stop.Heavy rush always. Few of my friends stay in dilsukhnagar.

Very unfortunate to to see blasts are happening frequetly and that too in hyderabad.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Google Unveils Chromebook Pixel - The Ultimate Cloud Computing Machine At US$ 1,299

Google Chrome Blog: The Chromebook Pixel, for what’s next >> http://chrome.blogspot.in/2013/02/the-chromebook-pixel-for-whats-next.html

Stunning Design, Impressive Hardware!!!

• 12.85 inch high-density 2560×1700 screen (that’s 4.3 million pixels) with a 3:2 aspect ratio.


• Chromebook has the highest pixel density (239 pixels per inch) of any laptop screen on the market today.


• Touchscreen Enabled.


• 0.55mm layer of touch-enabled Gorilla Glass fused directly to the screen.


• 400 nit screen brightness, 178° extra-wide viewing angle.


• Intel® Core™ i5 processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz), Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (Integrated).


• 4 GB DDR3 RAM.


• 32 GB solid state drive (64 GB for LTE model).


• Headphone/microphone jack, Built-in microphone array, Integrated DSP for noise cancellation, Powerful speakers tuned for clarity.


• 2 x USB 2.0, mini-display port, 2-in-1 card reader supporting: SD, MMC.


• BATTERY: Up to 5 hours of active use (59 Wh battery).


• NETWORK: Dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n 2×2, Bluetooth® 3.0.


• GOODIES: One terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage, free for 3 years

Chromebook Pixel: For What's Next VIDEO

http://youtu.be/j-XTpdDDXiU

New ChromeBook Pixel - Next Generation Concept VIDEO

http://youtu.be/d2dhMKSKGBg

[Genius 817]

Koi mere ko yeh manga do

In case you’re interested, the GooPhone i5S has a four-inch 854-by-480 pixel display, 3G cellular networking, a five-megapixel camera on the back, a 1.3-megapixel forward-facing camera and runs a 1GHz MediaTek MT6577 dual-core processor with 512MB of RAM.

http://android-sale.com/goophone-i5s.html

Edited March 13, 2013 by Genius

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Ericsson Sues Micromax For Patent Infringement, Claims About Rs 100 crore In Damages

Source

NEW DELHI: Ericsson, the world's largest mobile network infrastructure player, has sued homegrown handset major Micromax for patent infringement, marking the arrival of bigticket technology patent litigation to Indian shores.

The Swedish network equipment maker has moved the Delhi High Court claiming about Rs 100 crore in damages, saying it was taking legal action after three years of negotiations failed to yield a licence agreement on 'standards-essential' patents.

The claimed damages make it the largest patent suit in India's IT and telecom space, reckon patent experts. Ericsson alleged that India's largest domestic handset maker has refused to enter into a licensing agreement covering its patented innovations across several wireless technology standards such as GSM, EDGE and 3G.

Justice Manmohan of the Delhi High Court, in an interim order last week, asked Micromax to pay between 1.25% and 2% of the sale price of disputed devices and deposit the amount with the court.

The court also allowed Ericsson executives to join customs officials in inspecting Micromax's consignments to check for devices violating its patents.

"Indian courts respond swiftly and with speed, if a strong case is made out. This case marks the arrival of big ticket patent litigation in India," said Ericsson's counsel Pratibha Singh. Executives close to Micromax, which accounts for about 5.5% of the 200 million mobile handsets sold annually in India, rejected the charges saying the Swedish company had failed to adhere to global commitments on providing its industry-essential patents to handset makers under so-called fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

They also point out that the litigation was not unique to Micromax as Ericsson had recently filed a similar suit against South Korea's Samsung for failure to license 'standards-essential' patents. Executives close to Micromax claimed that Ericsson, which is no longer a player in the handset space after it exited its JV with Japan's Sony, was now trying to extort what they termed "irrational and inequitable licence fees".

If Ericsson's suit is upheld by the Delhi High Court, it will have a big impact.

If the Delhi Hight Court upholds Ericsson's suit, it will have a major impact because it may significantly undermine the low-cost business strategy of several domestic handset and tablet companies. It may also mark the beginning of a spate of litigation that may impact the Indian telecom handset and tablet space in the near future.

Ericsson is learnt to be mulling legal action against a few other local cellphone companies as well. Local players selling low-cost handsets include Lava, Spice, Karbonn and Intex Technologies.

Despite exiting the handset space, Ericsson continues to be among the biggest patent-holders in the mobile phone industry along with Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung. "Ericsson has taken legal action against Micromax for refusing to sign necessary licences on FRAND terms. For more than three years, Ericsson has made numerous attempts to sign a licence agreement with Micromax for products compliant with the GSM, EDGE, and UMTS/WCDMA standards. Since this is a pending legal process, we do not have any further comments," the Ericsson spokesperson said.

The Micromax spokesperson said the Indian company was committed to negotiate a FRAND agreement. "Micromax is committed to negotiating a FRAND licence with Ericsson as has Ericsson undertaken to providing a FRAND licence to Micromax. Since the matter is pending before the honourable court, it would be incorrect for Micromax to make any further statements on the matter."

The disputed handsets and tablets of Micromax include select models from its popular Ninja series, Funbook Talk, and the Canvas 2 series.

Executives close to Micromax said they would abide by the interim order and pointed out that the court had asked both parties to negotiate a FRAND licence agreement which would be valid till the next hearing. These executives said Micromax would deposit the interim payment with the court.

Technology giants Apple and Samsung have fought a long-running war over alleged patent infringements in various parts of the world, as have Taiwanese company HTC and Finland's Nokia. However, there is a significant difference between the big-bang global patent wrangles and the Ericsson-Micromax case. While in global patent fights both protagonists are technology owners, in the Ericsson-Micromax case the Indian player is not technically the owner of technology.

[csmart 472]

Rumour:

Getting SMSs since long about Sharad Pawar's death. One SMS states that he died in the morning and waiting for formalities in order to declare it..

[sathishq 27]

China Mobile's four new TD-LTE phones

• Huawei Ascend D2
• HTC One
• LG Optimus Vu II Plus
• ZTE U9810

All of them are 4G TD- LTE Compatible . Reliance JIO Infocomm is already in talks with Samsung to launch TD-LTE mobiles for around 4500 Rs .

We already knew that LG's now jumped on the TD-LTE bandwagon with the demo of a modified Optimus G, but it turns out that China Mobile also announced several devices that are destined for its 4G market, including the 5-inch 1080p HuaweiAscend D2 (D2-TL), the 4.7-inch 1080p HTC One (TD101), the 5-inch XGA LG Optimus Vu II Plus and the mysterious 5-inch 1080p ZTE U9810. Interestingly, our brethren over at Engadget Chinese also spotted a TD-LTE-ready Samsung Galaxy S III at China Mobile's MWC booth (note the "China Mobile 4G" logo on the back of the phone, pictured above), but it wasn't mentioned at the Global TD-LTE Initiative summit at MWC. Obviously, let's not forget ZTE's Grand Era LTE that's compatible with both modes of LTE.

Knowing how fresh some of these devices are, it seems like TD-LTE service will be available to the Chinese public well within this year, which will match what China Mobile announced back in January.Also announced alongside the aforementioned phones were four TD-LTE mobile hotspots, including Huawei's E5375, ZTE's MF91S+, China Mobile-badged CM510 plus CM512. These all feature battery lives between six to eight hours, and can handle up to 10 devices simultaneously. Some even support the more common FDD LTE, with Huawei's already capable of Category 4 LTE at up to 150Mbps.

Source : http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/china-mobile-td-lte-phones/

[nitink 279]

Indore: In a development which is probably the first of its kind in the country, BSNL's Indore division on Wednesday launched a wi-fi technology module for cars which will enable people to use Internet while they are travelling.

A wi-fi technology module which costs around Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 was first installed on an experimental basis in the official car of BSNL Indore unit's General Manager GC Pandey. Pandey said that this was probably the first model in the country where the car has an antenna which receives wi-fi signals with a 3.5 mbps speed, from an exchange based on CDMA technology.

The model is expected be adopted by customers in a big way, once it gains popularity, he said.

http://m.ibnlive.com/news/tech/bsnl-launches-first-wifi-network-module-for-cars/383008-11.html

[csmart 472]

Rumor has Google close to buying WhatsApp for $1B

Source

Google is said to be well into negotiations with the team behind WhatsApp, with the search giant reportedly considering a $1 billion price tag for the popular cross-platform messaging app.

Sources reportedly close to the negotiations tell Digital Trends that Google is looking to acquire the popular messaging app, and that WhatsApp's team is "playing hardball," holding out for an acquisition price close to $1 billion. Bringing WhatsApp into the fold would likely provide Google with a faster route to unifying its disparate messaging services — Google Voice, Google Hangouts, Google Talk, etc — making it more capable of competing in the communication segment against Internet rival Facebook.

Such a service unification may be high up on Google's priorities list right now. Rumors have the search leader working on a project known as Babble, which would provide cross-platform communications between its services. The rumored WhatsApp negotiations could be a means of bringing an accomplished team into Google's own operations, as Google did when it acquired popular iOS mail app Sparrow in July.

Google is said to have approached WhatsApp in the past, broaching the topic of an acquisition in early December. Around the same time, Facebook was also said to be considering buying WhatsApp.

WhatsApp has proved immensely successful in the time since its release, netting tens of millions of users across Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Apple's iOS platform. It is currently the second-most popular paid app in Apple's iTunes App Store, and the service saw 18 billion messages transmitted this past New Year's Eve.

Eschewing advertisements, WhatsApp has managed to pull in considerable revenues with a simple yearly subscription fee of $1. iPhone users pay that fee upon first downloading the app, though recent rumorshave the service moving to a model more in line with its incarnations on other platforms. Users on other platforms can download and use the app for free for the first year before being presented with the option to pay a $1 per year subscription fee. While WhatsApp has not released any details on its financial operations, Digital Trends' source says the company may be pulling in roughly $100 million in revenue.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Google Announces 'Inactive Account Manager'

A Tool That Lets You Manage What Happens To Your Personal Data After Death

Source

Death is a subject that no one likes to discuss – be it that of a family member or our own. Unfortunately, it's a part of life that we'll all have to deal with at one point or another. When it comes to preparing for your own death, however, what's left behind in the digital space is often overlooked. Considering our digital life is becoming such an important part of who we are and the legacy we leave behind, a simple way to manage what should happen to our data in the event our passing is quickly becoming requisite.

To set your Inactive Account Manager up, head here >> https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/account/inactive

Official Google Public Policy Blog Post >> http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.in/2013/04/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with.html

[csmart 472]

A must read for all of us... Micromax targeting to achieve US$ 1 Billion... Yes 1 billion..

read here on Economic Times..

[nitink 279]

Samsung Electronics said today it had successfully tested super-fast fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology that would eventually allow users to download an entire movie in one second.

The South Korean giant said the test had witnessed data transmission of more than one gigabyte per second over a distance of two kilometres. The new technology, which will not be ready for the commercial market before 2020 at the earliest, would offer transmitting speeds "up to several hundred times faster" than existing 4G networks, it said in a statement.

That will permit users to "transmit massive data files including high quality digital movies practically without limitation", it said. "As a result, subscribers will be able to enjoy a wide range of services such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition (UHD) content, and remote medical services," it added. Samsung said it had found a way to harness millimeter-wave bands which have proved to be a sticking point for the mobile industry to date. The test used 64 antenna elements, which the tech titan said overcame the issue of "unfavourable propagation characteristics" that have prevented data travelling across long distances using the bands. One of the most wired countries on earth, South Korea already has around 20 million 4G users.

- See more at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/samsung-announces-5g-data-breakthrough/1115122/#sthash.Wy1t61YJ.dpuf

[Rahul Always 87]

Good news for all those using Windows 8

Microsoft today announced that Windows 8.1, the update later this year for Windows 8, will be free to current users of the operating system, confirming analysts' expectations.

Analysts applauded the decision to give away the update. "Making the upgrade free will make the ecosystem and installed base very happy," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, in an email Tuesday.

Tami Reller, CFO of the Windows division, made the announcement in prepared remarks at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecomm Conference today. "Windows 8.1 will be delivered as a free update to Windows 8 and Windows RT," said Reller. "It will be easy to get right from the Windows Start Screen from the Windows app store."

It's unknown whether Microsoft will use the "Windows 8.1" name for the simultaneous update to Windows RT, the tablet-centric offshoot designed for devices running ARM processors. Microsoft did not reply to questions about the naming of the Windows RT update.

Reller declined to provide additional information on the update, such as the timing of the final release or specifics on Windows 8.1's contents.

A public preview will ship during BUILD, Microsoft's developers conference, which will run June 26-28 in San Francisco. That preview will also be distributed through the Windows Store.

Earlier this week analysts said that Microsoft had little choice but to offer the update free of charge.

Today, industry experts praised the gratis status of Windows 8.1 as well as the numbering choice.

"Microsoft made a good move on the naming and with the free upgrade," said Moorhead. "Calling it 8.1 signals that it's an improvement on its predecessor, not a sea change. This sets the right expectations."

However, Michael Silver of Gartner said Microsoft should quickly answer several up-in-the-air questions that enterprises have about Windows 8.1.

"We don't yet know what they're going to do to the desktop," said Silver, who also ticked off support -- specifically, how long Microsoft will support each of the expected annual updates. Will Windows 8.1 share the support lifecycle of its parent, Windows 8 -- which won't retire until January 2023 -- or have its own schedule? "Will they support 10 different updates?" Silver wondered.

But the fact that Microsoft will make good on its promise to shift to a faster release tempo had Silver more optimistic about Windows 8's future.

"Microsoft has a chance here," he said. "By the second half of 2014, there will be a lot more touch-enabled systems. That, and these updates, could help Windows 8 long term. I don't think Windows 8 will be more successful than Windows 7 [in the enterprise] but if 8.1 is easy to deploy, that could change over time."

Most important to enterprises, said Silver, will be the ease of updating from Windows 8 to version 8.1. If the first "point" release is painless to distribute to Windows 8 hardware, Microsoft will have a better shot at convincing enterprises to adopt the radical OS.

"If enterprises see that this is relatively easy to deploy, they may start thinking about Windows 8," Silver said. "What Microsoft needs to do is get some credibility here."

After Microsoft moved to a regularly-scheduled Patch Tuesday in the fall of 2003, companies instituted a complicated process of testing and spot-deploying the updates before rolling them out en mass, said Silver. But as time went on, many halted the practice as they became confident the patches would not cripple computers or break applications.

"Now, very few organizations do that," Silver maintained. "Microsoft needs to gain that kind of credibility for these [Windows 8] updates."

Courtesy: www.computerworld.com

[ami1 237]

Soon Windows will be hosted on sourceforge and freshmeat as opensource free download while Ubuntu will start charging for its distro and doing other stupif MS type stuff like integrating amazon search into the unity launcher etc.

[csmart 472]

Google updates GTalk or Talk to Hangout+ on android. I got the update on my Note 2 last night. In fact their site also now directs to Google+ Hangout site.

Google+ Hangouts for Android now live, replaces Google Talk [uPDATE]

Source

Google I/O just wrapped up, so now we’re inevitably waiting for all the new features to start rolling out. The first out of the gate is the new Google+ Hangouts app, which is now available for Android. The app replaces Google Talk on Android, and will also eventually make its way to iOS, making it the first time that a Google chat app will be released on iOS.

Google talked a lot about Google+ Hangouts during the keynote, and they essentially took all of their different chat clients and combined them into one. The app will let you message other Google users, as well as video chat with them using Google’s Hangouts feature that we’ve all seen before in Google+.

The cool thing with this new app is that you can message a friend and have it delivered to them without them actually being signed in, making it a viable option for a text messaging replacement, rather than just another IM client of sorts. The app includes the ability to insert photos and videos, and there’s even cross-platform support with a web version as well.

Of course, before you get to chatting using the new app, you’ll need to sign up for Google+. This isn’t time-consuming, as Google+ uses your Google account anyway, but you’ll simply need to confirm a few things and get your profile initially set up. Once that’s done, you’ll be all set and ready to chat away with friends and family.

However, Hangouts doesn’t have an “Invisible” status available, which could be a turn-off for some users, but we can’t say that many users will miss that feature. Other than that, the app is ready to go. We’re not sure when the iOS version will be releasing, but we’re guessing it’s currently in the hands of Apple as they take it through their submission process.

UPDATE: Google+ Hangouts is now available on iOS.

[iChinmay 1]

Reliance Launches Instacare Application

I have tried this app on my cdma mobile,

must be available for GSM also,

Works fine with me:

Link:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rts.ic.ym&feature=search_result#?t=W10

The Reliance InstaCare App will help you manage your Prepaid/ Postpaid account on the go from the convenience of your Android device:

Check balance or view unbilled amount
Do an instant recharge or make bill payment
Locate the nearest Reliance Store
Find the best deals
Start or stop services

The App has a rich and intuitive interface. The easy to navigate menu has been designed to enhance usability and ensure a pleasant user experience.

The Reliance InstaCare App is available for download on Google Play Store Click here

The App can be downloaded free however charges as per your data plan are applicable.

The App is compatible with Android 2.2 and above versions.

[aalok 442]

^ thanks for sharing but its already posted..

http://www.rimweb.in/forums/topic/33813-must-have-android-apps-for-your-smartphone-part-ii/page-53?p=291282#entry291282

please use search feature of the forum before posting..

triggered from razr...

[iChinmay 1]

Sorry,

I don't know how I missed that.

Won't happen again.