Samsung Galaxy Camera (Review)

Nothing can be more interesting than having a sophisticated upgrade to the device we all like. And Samsung has done just that. 

Samsung's Galaxy Camera combines the best of its mobile and photography teams in a single gadget. This gadget will create a room in the marketplace for a new hybrid: the heart of a true camera with the added sprinkle of some smartphone magic. It is difficult to state whether its a phone in a camera or otherwise... Read on to check out its specifications...

DataWind Clearing its pre-bookings for Aakash in Six weeks

The Akash tablet maker, Datawind will clear their backlog of paid orders for the commercial version of tablet (With Sim) in Maximum Six Weeks. They will deliver the tablets without Sims in 10 working days.

Suneet Singh Tuli, DataWind CEO, said that his company is going to start production of SIM-based tablets within two weeks. "Right now we are doing 2,500-3,000(units) a day. We are targeting that, by end of the year, around 10,000 (units) on a daily basis. Then we will keep enhancing expanding," Tuli said.

These, so called 'cheapest' new tablets sport a 7" screen which come with two variants - capacitative and resistive. It runs on Android 4.0 (ICS) .

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Digital Marketing (Concept cum Tip)

The Metrics for calculating the impact of a digital campaign has been subject to change, thanks to the many new platforms and techniques which are emerging.

CTR, CPM, CPC are a couple of things you need to know to promote your campaigns on social media sites (FB, Twitter)

Wish You a Very Happy Diwali

This Diwali is Koool

Happy Dhanteras !!

Here's Wishing you a Very Happy Dhanteras

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Facebook gives you free Wi-Fi at coffee shops

Yahoooo to all the Facebook'ers !!

F'Book will soon set up a new Wi-Fi hotspot service for local businesses with which, we will get free internet access if we check-in to Facebook. Shops would get a Facebook router that directs customers to its Facebook page.

"We are currently running a small test with a few local businesses of a Wi-Fi router that is designed to offer a quick and easy way to access free Wi-Fi after checking in on Facebook," the company confirmed to Inside Facebook. (The Economic Times)

While shops would provide the internet access, Facebook would provide a router. Page owners would be able to monitor how many new 'Likes' the page received from those who used the Wi-Fi service. 

Visitors who don't want to jump through the Facebook hoop could still access the regular network via a password.

@vaimasters

My First Magic Trick (Lost Card)

This is my first attempt at this card trick. No matter how many times you watch this video, I will have you stupefied. You probably wouldn't believe if I said that I made this video on PowerPoint.

Do comment and hit Like. 

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Convert PowerPoint files (PPT, PPS , PPTX or PPSX) To Video Format

So, you have worked hard on a presentation and have put in your everything to make it work and suddenly you come know that the client, to whom you had to send the presentation, doesn't have PowerPoint installed. What to do?

Well, its easy, convert it into a video file and share the video directly. You will find plenty of these softwares online. Just google it.

On the same lines, I found this shareware software called "Leawo PowerPoint to Video Pro" (download link at the end). It lets you quickly convert your powerpoint presentation into video for meant to be played on your computer or laptop or smartphone or even tablet.

Hotel Hyundai i30 Wagon (Concept)

Amazing concept again. Here's Hyundai Netherlands turning its i30 Wagon into four-wheeled, plush, five-star hotel room.

The i30′s has been revamped including a new name–”Hotel Hyundai,” complete with a double-H logo that matches the i30′s manual transmission H-pattern–and custom linens, bathrobes, slippers, and towels. Hyundai also installed two seatback LCD monitors and a micro-fridge between the seats to make sure guests were comfortable, quenched, and entertained. Hyundai parked the i30 on the patio of The College Hotel in Amsterdam, which allowed guests access to its other facilities and even use of its room service.

Well, I'll let their video to talk for itself. Sit back & enjoy.

AT&T Halloween TV Commercial

It truly expresses how Oblivious one can get with the AT&T. But well, only if the network could match up to the ad. And now with Sandy hitting hard on the networks, AT&T needs a strong plan in place.

Which ad do you think matches up to this idea??

Happy Halloween.
@vaimasters

Keep the change, HTC

At the recent Microsoft Windows Phone 8 launch event, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer took to the stage, and praised all the latest Windows 8 devices. But the real story started post the event when it was time for the brands to market their devices more aggressively. 

The gloves are off and the brands standing at the two corners of the market ring waiting to take blows at each other. Punches have begun flying albeit subtly. On its official Facebook page, HTC has posted an image of the HTC 8X with a caption stating, “Don't get weighed down. The HTC 8X is more than 20 pennies lighter than that "other" Windows Phone.”

The caption is befuddling, but a second glance at the image of 20 pennies reveals that the '‘other phone'’ referring to as a 'heavy' handset is the Nokia Lumia 920. The weight of 20 pennies is exactly 50 grams. The Nokia Lumia 920 weighing 185 grams is approximately 52 grams heavier than the HTC 8X.

Anyways, in a social war that was taking place over these phones, the best answer that I found was "Keep the Change, HTC. You will need it soon"

So good to see some Microsoft-Nokia fans still out there in the wild.

-@vaimasters

Apple's Lightning fast Pocket Connector

US launch of the iPhone 5 was nearly a month ago and till date, not a single Lightning dock accessory has been released. Even if you are willing to buy a new speaker dock, charging stand, car connection kit, etc., you won’t be able to for at least a few more weeks. 

17 Products Apple Should Make Next

iPhone 5 is now launched and that too with "Hey, it's a different size!" as its only selling point. And now it's only a matter of time until Apple begins branching out into other, less well-advised products. Cracked.com asked its viewers to show them what that might look like. So here are the Top 17 responses that it got:

Viral GANGNAM STYLE (video)

ONE South Korean Rapper...

• Completely made the video in TWO days
• Max grosser in the last SEVEN years online
• Stepped into the Guinness Book of World Records
• Mashable says kids don't eat without this song
• FOURTEEN flash mobs across the globe have used this song
• The West Indies cricket team did a Gangnam after winning the T20 World Cup finals.

You just cant miss this one. WoW

@vaimasters

Supernatural Season 8 Starts

Watch the first episode of Supernatural Season 08.
Follow the link: http://watchseries.eu/episode/supernatural_s8_e1-199945.html

Select any one server and sit back n enjoy.

Stay connected for updates on other episodes.

@vaimasters
http://pinterest.com/vaistorm/

An Apple till today, kept the Critics Away

At the start of this week, Apple Inc. announced the sale of 5 million iPhone 5 units in just three days of its launch. The company shares rose to an all time high to $703 with the launch (I wonder what the Microsoft-Nokia venture has to say about this). The sales tally is a record for any phone, but it beats last year's iPhone 4S launch only by a small margin and the analysts expected a better market reaction.

Top 5 mobile phone vendors market share in second quarter 2012

1. According to IDC, the global mobile phone market grew by 1% year over year, in the second quarter of 2012

2. Apple, Samsung, Nokia, ZTE and LG Electronics are the top 5 mobile phone vendors in second quarter 2012

3. Samsung and Apple have more than doubled their combined market share over the past two years, which has created more distance between the companies and the competition

Top Five Total Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q2 2012 (Units in Millions)

Vendor	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	2Q11 Unit Shipments	2Q11 Market Share	Year-over- year Change
Samsung	97.8	24.1 percent	75.4	18.8 percent	29.7 percent
Nokia	83.7	20.6 percent	88.5	22.0 percent	-5.4 percent
Apple	26.0	6.4 percent	20.4	5.1 percent	27.5 percent
ZTE	17.7	4.4 percent	16.3	4.1 percent	8.6 percent
LG Electronics	13.1	3.2 percent	24.8	6.2 percent	-47.2 percent
Others	167.7	41.3 percent	176.4	43.9 percent	-4.9 percent
Total	406.0	100.0 percent	401.8	100.0 percent	1.0 percent

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A New Galaxy in Town

Samsung is making some buzz in the media with its Galaxy S III smartphone and it is truly rocking even the modest of Apple pillars. Earlier there were two kinds of smartphone fans, One being Apple fans and Others... Well... Just Fans!! But with the newest announcement in the Samsung Galaxy family, the Galaxy S III has some things that even the Apple loyals still want from their Idol phone maker.

This new jewel features a 4.8” 720p Super AMOLED Display, a lovely back, a stronger battery and also is NFC enabled. Well, you are bound to be awestruck when you find out that the amazing 8MP + 2MP cameras are on that monster not just to click and shoot.

Having said that, Samsung has also tweaked the colour balance on the Galaxy S3 where the display is not as saturated as before.

On the Interface front, Samsung is portraying the device as a “Nature Phone”. The lock screen is now more interactive than ever as the user doesn’t get a visual clue while unlocking. Instead, touch the screen and you'll see a little water ripple under the finger along with a “Natural” little water drop sound. More than a pleasant experience, I see this irritating many complaining about it in the near future.

Samsung added a new character to the phone’s personality called the Smart Stay, which is an Eye-Tracking tool. This idea will track your eyes when looking at the display, and dim it when you're not checking out your phone. In practice it seemed a little all over the place when trying it, but there's only a momentary icon that pops up to let you know if the eye has been tracked by the camera. This feature will help keep the power consumption in check. This is much needed considering that the quad core 1.4 GHz Exynos CPU could suck power a little too dramatically

Talking about innovation, Samsung has been able to almost replicate Siri (iPhone) and has named it S Voice. Not complete sure if the phone will “please” the users as much as the iPhone did but the app surely looks good. It listens to your commands, but a very few ones. Searching using the Google search, turning the camera on, calling someone, checking the weather etc. is what all is done listening to your commands.

Here are a few quick features in the Samsung Galaxy S III:

1. 4.8-inch 720p Super AMOLED Display
2. 8MP rear camera
3. 1.9MP front camera with “face recognition”
4. 2100mAh Battery
5. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS

Some of the other super features that the Smartphone features are Direct call, S Beam (NFC), Burst Shot. There is Wireless charging option available but as there was no demo piece or information disclosed, we will have to just wait and watch how the feature works out.

The device will be available in the global markets from 29th May 2012 but in India, one can expect it to arrive sometime in June 2012.

Stay Tuned for more information on the Galaxy S III and other Tech updates.

You can also Follow me @vaimasters

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Photography with Cameras

A Camera has been treated as an equipment for the skilled. Companies like Canon, Nikkon, Kodak, etc, over the time, have played around with the concepts and eased the way to look at things. Photography then, was just point and shoot. But now the old times are back with more focus being put on the camera features and their purpose at different scenarios.

Photography, for me, is a process in which the Camera is Not the important object, its You, your brain and your eye... and obviously your Heart. The You factor, I cant explain... but what I can help you understand is a few Camera related information that might be of help.

There are certain basic but important things to consider while capturing a pictograph. A Camera comes with a lens, shutter, flash, a view finder and a camera man to look through the view finder. A correct combination of these will give you a great deal of satisfaction but that is not easy even for the Sachins in the business.

There are a number of online tutorials which can guide you and teach the basics of camera and photography. The important aspect to this is "How much you are willing to take from others and How much are you willing to find out on your own". A true enthusiast would take an idea and innovate it in a 100 new ways even though it might have been already tried and tested. A photographer has to have a open eye in the practical world, where everything is abnormally normal. Ideas and thoughts never leave you at any point in time, it is on you as to how much you remember to execute.

Hope this is a good motivational speech for the new enthusiasts.

Drop me a mail on vaistorm@gmail.com for queries
Follow me on @vaimasters

Suzlon's One Earth proposes a Green Future

For all the Green Enthusiasts, Suzlon has a campus in Pune, Maharashtra, called 'One Earth' which is  a corporate headquarter spread over 10 acres. According to Suzlon officials, the place was conceived with a business and functional need to bring all business verticals and corporate services under one roof, which although linked to each other would be independent enough to be able to perform as per their respective needs and requirements.

The campus is aptly named One Earth as Suzlon’s business believes in caring for the Earth and is focused in bringing a Greener tomorrow.

The project is 100% powered by a combination of onsite & offsite renewable energy sources. Out of this, 7% of the total energy consumption comes from 18 onsite hybrid wind turbines, solar panels & photovoltaic cells and 93% of the remaining is from offsite wind turbines.

Other USPs of the campus include:

1.           Bamboo flooring used at workstations ensure reduced consumption of energy

2.           LED street lighting is completely powered by renewable energy based systems located on the site thus reducing approximately 25% of the total lighting load. 90% of regularly occupied spaces have daylight exposure, thereby saving on artificial lighting

3.           Storm & Rain water management system which prevents soil erosion too

4.           At One Earthair conditioning & cooling systems used are free of Chloro Flouro Carbons (CFCs), Hydro Chloro Flouro Carbons (HCFCs) & Halons (compounds threatening to the protective Ozone layer). The refrigerant used is with zero Ozone Depleting Potential.

5.           Daylight sensors are used in the workstation area for optimized use of artificial lighting. Occupancy sensors control task lighting in unoccupied workstations ensuring savings of about 20% of energy costs.

Apart from the cool technologies being used, the entire campus is built with world class infrastructure. One might say that the space is poorly managed but they fail to come out of the daily congested life and get into a more comfortable and relaxed environment which also helps  worker output. With so much innovation and work station consolidation, Suzlon's One Earth is arguably one of the best campuses in India.

For other updates, take a look at  : Monkey Business :

- Vaibhav K.

Blackberry Curve 9220 - a sub-9000 smartphone

Some very good news for the Blackberry lovers. RIM is very likely to launch its sub Rs. 9,000 Curve 9220 in India by April. It is a successor of the Curve 8520 and will sport a 2 MP camera and a 2.4" QVGA screen. It will not have 3G support but with the WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity along with the OS 6.0, you wouldn't even get the difference. And any which ways the 3G connectivity is still budding. Whats more, this new Curve will have dedicated keys for BBM and for Media. for the people who always wanted an inbuilt radio, this smartphone will impress you.


Curve 9220 specs:

• 2.44″ display
• EDGE/2G only
• 2MP camera
• 512MB RAM
• Magnetometer
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensors

While this new Curve is a downgrades in terms of camera and radio bands, the things I find worth investing in are the raised menu keys that we were first introduced to us on the Torch 9850/60. These buttons were later applied to the new Bold 9790 which raised the hate-o-meter amongst the users. I will say these buttons tend to fit the Curve series a lot better than the Bold due to the raised keyboard buttons so in my opinion, they look good.