Technology Updated News

BlackBerry Curve 8520 to be available with Vodafone subscription

2009-08-18T18:38:00.001-07:00

In a recent announcement from Vodafone, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 would be available at £25 per month on a 24-month deal, and at £35 per month for 18 months. RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 is an entry level QWERTY smartphone & emailer.

Curve 8520 is a pretty smart phone for the price it is being offered. The feature packed phone is meant at eyeing the young professionals, who wish to hold a BlackBerry but get disoriented to shell out more bucks.

Curve 8520 has rubberized keys and has an optical trackpad. It has a 2MP camera.

The phone is also little thinner that the BlackBerry Storm 9500. It doesn’t have a 3G board and the price is pretty inviting as well.

India completes design of Chandrayaan-2

2009-08-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

After the success of Chandrayan 1, India has now completed the design of Chandrayan 2.

India has completed the design of Chandrayaan-2, its next mission to the moon this time in collaboration with Russia that would have a lander and rover which can collect samples of the lunar soil and analyse them and send back the data.

"Right now, the design has been completed. We had a joint review with Russian scientists here," Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair, said.

According to the Bangalore-headquartered space agency, the Chandrayaan-2 mission would have an orbital flight vehicle constituting an Orbital Craft (OC) and a Lunar Craft (LC) that would carry a soft landing system up to Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT).

The target location for the lander-rover would be identified using data from instruments of Chandrayaan-1, India's own and first unmanned mission to the Moon launched on October 22 last year. While ISRO will be developing the orbiter, it will be Russia's job to make the lander and rover. Additional scientific payloads would be acquired from international scientific community.

Sony Ericsson W395 released

2009-08-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson W395 is available in the Indian market now. Now one can enjoy a full range of great music through special stereo speakers that boost your sounds.

The affordable W395 also comes complete with dedicated control keys for managing your music, a 1GB memory card and an FM radio to keep users up to date with the latest tracks.

Alexandre Cardon, Global product marketing manager (music) at Sony Ericsson says “Sony Ericsson takes pride in understanding the youth market, and the W395 is a mobile phone that caters to all their needs with great music quality.”

Features:
• Powerful built-in stereo speakers with high quality bass
• Stereo headset to turn your phone into a dedicated music player – be your own DJ
• True music machine with Walkman music player, TrackID and PlayNow
• TrackID - find the tracks you love easily
• PlayNow - download a full range of mobile entertainment
• Crystal clear 2.0” display – view your photos in all their glory
• Motion gaming support.

Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/S - 15.5in Laptop Review

2009-08-18T18:35:00.002-07:00

It's easy to get excited when Sony delivers one of its many super-expensive ultra-portables, like the VAIO TT or Z Series, to our door, but in the past its mainstream laptops have been a little hit and miss. For all the lustre and acclaim its VAIO brand engenders in consumers, the reality isn't always the all singing, all dancing computing experience people imagine. However, in the new NW Series, we reckon Sony might have finally cracked the mainstream affordable laptop.

One thing we particularly like about the VGN-NW11S/S we're looking at today is the lack of one material that's so abundant elsewhere: glossy plastic. This is actually true of most of Sony's laptops, making it one of the few manufacturers that hasn't jumped on this particular bandwagon. You still get a glossy display mind, but this is nothing like as irritating as dealing with fingerprints, dust and grease adorning every inch of the chassis.

Instead, Sony has opted for a textured plastic finish - in this instance silver, though a brown version is also available. We dare say it won't be to everyone's taste, but it's very hard wearing and exemplifies the decent build quality seen throughout the machine. There are some nice touches dotted around the NW11, too. Particularly worthy of praise is the touchpad, which comprises a moulded clear plastic plate integrated into the palm rest. Not only does it look rather fetching, its textured surface offers great tactile feedback - the two buttons are very good, too.

Above the touchpad we have the now commonplace isolation keyboard. Sony is the company that started it all, though, so it can hardly be accused of imitation. Initially the white keys appear a bit jarring in contrast to their silver surroundings, but it's a foible one quickly gets over and the keyboard itself is a peach. Keys have a lovely firm and responsive action and the layout is perfect - we really can't think of a criticism.

Continuing our upward journey, above the keyboard there's a speaker grille, into which is inserted some shortcut keys, the power button and status lights for Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock. A mute button is the only dedicated media control, with volume controls found on the keyboard, but there's also a button for turning off the backlight - handy if you use your laptop for listening to music. Most interesting, though, is the ‘Web' button, which launches a reworked version of the common Splashtop instant-on desktop.

Unlike other implementations, which feature a selection of applications, Sony has opted for just the web browser. It's not a bad idea either, since eliminating the other applications reduces the boot time even further (less than 30 seconds from cold to web page) and the web browser is arguably the most useful element of Splashtop. This makes it a neat feature for getting online quickly, but it is somewhat limited - you can't even adjust the display's brightness, so you're not going to use this mode for long periods.

Can ISRO Bhuvan compete Google Earth?

2009-08-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

Bhuvan came with great promises like visualisation of AWS (Automatic Weather Stations) data/information in a graphic view and use tabular weather data of user choice, Superpose administrative boundaries of choice on images as required, Visualise multi-resolution, multi-sensor, multi-temporal image data, Visualisation of AWS (Automatic Weather Stations) data/information in a graphic view and use tabular weather data of user choice, Fly to locations ( Flies from the current location directly to the selected location) but after testing the beta version on the site many facts has came into picture. Which asks everyone to think on the question Can ISRO Bhuvan Compete Google Earth?Bhuvan (meaning earth in Sanskrit) a web tool just like Goggle Earth was launched by Indian Space Research Organization last week. It Promises to give a gateway to explore and discover virtual earth in 3D space with specific emphasis on Indian region. Many people has given her a nick name as ‘Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Earth killer” people has commented that Bhuvan promises to show better 3-D satellite imagery of India in comparison to the US-based software giant plus a host of India-specific features like weather information and even administrative boundaries of all states and districts.

Bhuvan also provides tools for measuring, drawing, saving, printing and visualizing thematic information. The resolutions currently on offer are good enough to view a vehicle moving on a road quite clearly. The ISRO has revealed that the beta version is under testing on the site since yesterday and the fact revealed that it won’t pose a challenge to Google’s popular service anytime soon.
In comparison to Google earth there are number of differences between both of them like
Google Earth works on a downloadable client where as Bhuvan works within the browser (only supports Windows and IE 6 and above).

The site was unreachable for the better part of the weekend and even now, it gives up or hangs the browser every once in a while. When a layer (state, district etc.) is turned on, it delivers unevenly and sometimes fails to deliver the information at all.

The navigation panel failed to load routinely and it felt like a rare sighting when we could actually use the panel.

You will be surprised to know that above quibbles are minor in comparison to the major disappointment which is that the promise of high resolution pictures/images is not kept.
The Bhuvan was supposed to offer zoom upto 10 metres from the ground level (this is contrasted with apparently 200 metres for Google Earth),but not even a single image is there with promised detailing. The navigation tools are quite similar to Google Earth (GE). The search doesn’t work if a query returns multiple results.

A pop up window is made-up to give the multiple results from which the user is supposed to be able to choose. People who have started testing the beta version onto their pc are claming that in two days search they found result only once. The rest of the time the window would pop up with no results or display at all but when the search is accurate, the software flies to the exact location, the same way as Google Earth.

For using Bhuvan users has to follow three simple steps .The basic version of Bhuvan is absolutely free on net, Once you register and you login, you will be asked to download the Bhuvan plug-in. ,Accept the installation of the plug-in and you are ready to use the full features of Bhuvan.

The Bhuvan offers a lot of information on weather, population details of various administrative units and on water bodies too. The beta version of Bhuvan is not able to show weather data as promised. The a administrative units offers only basic details like population

PS3 Slim coming today, PlayStation Network taken offline

2009-08-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sony will soon hold its press conference in Cologne, Germany at Gamescom, but it's clear that something big... or should we say, Slim, is coming. Kmart spills the beans and PSN is being taken offline during the show, so it's time to officially get excited about potential price points and features.

Sony's Gamescom press conference in Cologne Germany is still a few hours away, but big announcements aren't made without large amounts of rumbling across the gaming press and retail sources. We've laid out the evidence of the PS3 Slim being made official today, but it looks as if Kmart has given up the latest bit of confirmation: a new PS3 is on its way, and it will cost $299.99.

The ad was spotted earlier today by multiple sources and our inbox has likewise been flooded by reports from gamers surprised to see such public evidence of the Slim. If you click on the ad, you're taken to a preorder page for a $299.99 PS3 Slim. Keep in mind that this sort of retail confirmation often happens before the pricing information is confirmed, but still... a $300 PS3 Slim would be an amazing thing indeed.

Kmart website reveals listing for $299 PS3 Slim

2009-08-18T10:49:00.001-07:00

The original PlayStation 3.

Sony

An incomplete listing on retailer Kmart's website is promoting a PlayStation 3 Slim available starting August 24 for $299.

Touting the revelation on their home page earlier with the headline "The rumors are reality," the Kmart site details a slim version of the PS3 with a 120GB hard drive and DualShock 3 controller included. The home page promotion has now been removed.

Engadget reports a similar online listing appearing on the Sears website.

Sony Reportedly Cutting PS3 Price By $100

2009-08-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Sony (SNE) today is going to announce a $100 price cut on the Playstation 3 to $299. according to CNET and various other Web sites. Kmart apparently ran a Web ad for the new lower price ahead of the expected announcement.

Sony is about to start a press conference at the Gamescon game industry conference in Germany, which is where the company will supposedly unveil the news; Kotaku is live blogging the event.

SNE today is up 50 cents, or 1.9%, to $27.52.

Korea's First Space Rocket Naro to Blast Off Wednesday

2009-08-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

South Korea's first space rocket, commissioned to place a sun observation satellite into orbit, was Tuesday cleared for Wednesday's launch.

The clearance came after officials at the Naro Space Center, the launch site, and senior government officials in Seoul discussed whether to delay the launch upon the death of former President Kim Dae-jung.

Following a consultation with Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology concluded that the launch could not afford another postponement, especially with the typhoon season of September approaching close.

"The rocket is already on the launch pad, and it would be difficult to remove it. We also have about 160 Russian engineers here, and should the launch be delayed, it would be difficult to reschedule," Kim Jung-hyun, vice science minister, said in a news conference.

"The late Kim showed a great commitment to making Korea a strong nation in space technology. Our engineers are intent on doing the best up to the last moment to make him proud."