TechSac

Catch this:

ARM Cortex A9 dual core 1.4GHz processor

1GB of RAM

a super AMOLED HD with whopping resolution of 1280 by 800,

10 hours of rock solid battery life

16 GB of flash memory

8 megapixel rear camera

and a lot of class. That’s exactly what’s behind the latest and greatest Samsung right now. Yes you caught it right, I’m talking about the Galaxy Note.

Have you already heard about this? It’s the one Samsung claims “sets you free” — in the sense that it can be both a phone and a tablet… except it never quite manages to set standards in either.

Consider 5.3 inch screen both as a boon and a curse!!! The device runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) using Samsung’s “tweaked” TouchWiz UI (at this point, let’s face it, Samsung -TouchWiz was never a good idea).

While it works well for the most part, it never quite manages to cast an impression of awe on the user, which is very disappointing considering the money you’d be spending on it. The USP of the Note, though, is its stylus, which has unimaginatively been dubbed the S-Pen.

It latches onto the device and can be used for taking notes, sketching, and as a precision pointing device for one of the four customised apps that are designed specifically to be used with it. It also has buttons that turn it essentially into a multifunctional accessory. This is the single reason you’d want the Note over any other hybrid, and you’ll be glad to know that it’s a delight to use.

All in all, this device has a lot going for it — it’s crazy fast, it’s Android (though an Ice Cream Sandwich announcement is still in the works), and it’s got a delightful HD screen that might have you drooling. But then there’s the form factor. Would you want something that’s way bigger than your average huge smartphone, but miniscule when you put it head to head with your tablet?

If you ask me, I’d be rather uncomfortable using this as a phone (and trust me, anyone will be) and I can’t imagine doing any actual note-taking on these dimensions — it’s just too small. Like I said, it’s both a boon and a curse. Whether you want a Rs 34,000 double-edged sword is entirely your decision.

I want to hear from you what do you think about Samsung Galaxy Note?

Monday, November 21, 2011

Limited Budget MTS Android smartphones Review

1:59 AM

Khyati

With the Livewire and Mtag CDMA smartphones (both priced below Rs 6,000), MTS is making Android smartphones available for consumers with limited budgets. Both phones have a 2.8-inch touchscreen display - the Livewire has a resistive display, which is the primary reason for the lower price (Rs 4,999).

Mtag is priced slightly higher at Rs 5,499 and features a more sensitive and higher quality capacitive display. The display resolution on both is same (240 x 320 pixels), though the colors and brightness on the Mtag is clearly better than the Livewire. The build quality of both phones is surprisingly good.

Touch-sensitive Android buttons:

The Mtag has a matte finish on the back - providing better grip whereas Livewire has a white glossy finish on the back with a slot for stylus on the bottom left. Both the phones have touch-sensitive Android buttons at the bottom of the display.

An issue with the Livewire is that it does not have backlit buttons. The Livewire features dedicated call receive/end button at the bottom - helpful for voice calls as the display is resistive and at times does not recognize the finger swipe for receive/end at one go. The power button and the 3.5mm jack are present on the top. However, the power button of the Livewire is a bit too small for comfortable use.

600Mhz processor & Android 2.2:

Both phones run a 600Mhz processor and come with Android 2.2. The Mtag runs a custom user interface with large icons that makes it easy to use the phone on its 2.8-inch display, whereas the Livewire's user interface resembles stock Android. Interestingly, Livewire offers a few more options as compared to Mtag, like call recording and a preloaded task manager.

Connectivity feature: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AGPS and high speed EVDO:

The good thing is that they do not lack any connectivity feature - Wi-Fi with hotspot, Bluetooth, AGPS and high speed EVDO connectivity with full Android market access is present on both devices.

Do you want your own?

A 3MP fixed focus camera is present on both devices (with VGA video recording). The camera quality from both cameras is good enough to view on phone or for occasional posting on social networks. Audio output from both internal and external speaker was loud with good clarity in both phones.

Battery life:

Battery life on both phones came to just about a day - average for most android phones. The only other option for CDMA users is the Samsung Galaxy Pop (Rs 7,500) that has similar hardware with a 3.2-inch display and a 3MP AF camera with Android 2.2 OS.

Specifications & Conclusion:

2.8-inch display - Livewire (resistive), Mtag (capacitive), 600Mhz processor, microSD slot, EVDO, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3MP camera, 3.5mm audio jack, Stereo FM, Android 2.2

Positive: Well-built, all connectivity options, Android market access, sound output

Negative: Poor camera, resistive display on Livewire, small power button on Livewire

Posted in: Reviews

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Have you Googled on your Birthday?

11:08 PM

Khyati

Have you Googled on your Birthday? Now you might be thinking, what sort of wielder question is this. What is the connection of Google and your Birthday?

Ok, for those who don't know let me unveil the mystery.

Everybody knows that Google uses special logos (or doodles) to honor famous personalities, especially artists and scientists, on their birthdays. But you might be surprised to know that they do something very similar on your birthday as well.

Never miss a chance to visit the Google homepage on your birthday. Because Google would be waiting for you to surprise you with a special Birthday logo. And when you hover the mouse over that logo, it will greet you with some personalized text.

Now you might be wondering what is the magic trick behind this?
Its very simple. You provide your Birth date while creating Google Profile. And Google uses this data to know your birth date.

Note:
You must be logged in to your Google Account before Googling anything to see that birthday logo.

Google has introduced this feature for an year. But if you are also "Late Latifs" like me, then dont forget to remember visiting Google.com on your next birthday.

Posted in: News

Monday, November 7, 2011

A comparison: Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 and iPad 2

12:21 AM

Khyati

Hands-on of the handheld touch goodness iPad 2:

My need for a tablet was growing by the day, and I decided to go get a hands-on of the handheld touch goodness that was on display in a nondescript corner of a largely-TV-dominated-electronics store.

Immediately, I asked the not-so-informed executive to point me to the iPad 2, a product that I had my mind set on for a while. Here’s why.

It looks and feels amazingly sleek when you hold it. As Steve Jobs pointed out at the launch event, the device is thinner than the astoundingly thin iPhone. Of course, it’s still not exactly light, weighing in at 1.33 pounds.

Apple has a new 1GHz dual core chip it’s calling the A5, which has more than enough muscle for graphics processing.

There’s 512MB of RAM, which seems on the low side. A device in this class should probably be sporting 1GB, though you won’t run into memory issues. On the specs front the iPad 2 feels very iterative. There's nothing here that is totally mind-blowing, but there’s nothing here that makes it feel far off from its nearest competition.

The iPad 2 cameras are pretty bad, though. They’re not unusable, but it’s clear that the sensors employed are not top shelf by any measure. But the App Store is the leviathan that separates the iPad from the rest of the chaff, and a deal maker if you compare it with any other device. There is absolutely no question about it.

If you want something done using a tablet, there’s an app for that, period. Verdict: No, there isn’t a retina display, and no, it doesn't have the fancy hardware to boot, and yes, the cameras are severely lacking, but it never feels like Apple made a compromise.

If you want everything to just work, be it the web, your books, your movies, or your games, feel free to take a deep breath and dive in — the iPad 2 is as good as it gets right now. And it’s really quite good.

Meet the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Everyone was pretty excited about the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (renamed the Galaxy Tab 750 in India) when it launched worldwide earlier this year. Does the Galaxy Tab 750 live up to our long wait for serious competition toApple's iPad 2?

The Tab 750 is 8.6mm thick and weighs a mere 565g. That doesn't stop it from being one of the best tablet displays (if not the best display) available today and performance-oriented hardware. Watch a lot of high-definition movies?

Have no fear, Full HD video playback is here; and Samsung made sure that a wide variety of video formats are supported. The same goes for your music and the two in-built speakers on either side deliver a stereophonic listening experience.

On the communications front, you'll find support for 3G, Wi-Fi, GPRS and Bluetooth 3.0. Finally, we move to software. The Galaxy comes with Google’s Android Honeycomb OS, and you can optionally install Samsung's custom interface.

The multitasking is good, and you’ve got a host of Google services like Samsung Hub (stay connected, download music and e-books), and Polaris Office installed out of the box. Adobe Flash support is also a plus point.

It’s fully compatible with Windows, so adding files and music is as simple as copy-paste, with no extra software required. Verdict: To sum up, it’s a really good effort but there’s much more to be desired. The interface may feel unintuitive at times, the Android isn’t as mature as the iOS, so there are a few bugs and glitches here and there.

The Android Marketplace has limited apps available that take advantage of a tablet’s available resources, so I’d suggest you check if the apps you require are available.

Android is an open platform, so whoever knows how to write software programs may find it useful to make their own private apps. Hardware wise, Samsung really has put together a decent package, which I dare say is superior to the iPad 2.

FACTS SPEAK

APPLE IPAD2

Pros
* Superior market share, you'll usually find what you want and get support
* More mature OS
* Better for gaming
* Very responsive touch-interface
* Greater 3rd-party device support

Cons
* Inferior camera
* Screen resolution could've been better

MRP (for the 16 GB Wi-fi + 3G) Rs 36,990

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Pros
* Superior display
* Better or equal hardware to the iPad 2
* Openness and flexibility of android
* Superior 2 and 3 megapixel cameras
* Very responsive touch-interface

Cons
* Occasionally unintuitive software
* Android bugs
* May need experience with software for getting some things done

MRP (for the 16 GB Wi-fi + 3G) Rs 34,000

Posted in: Reviews

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

IE7 Internet Explorer hangs on opening New Tab or Browser

1:42 AM

Khyati

I have seen many of the people searching for IE7 Internet Explorer 7.0 hangs while opening a new page or new tab or new browser.

Some of the symptoms are :
When I have a few IE7 windows open, I am often getting one browser page that will hang, lock up, not respond at all when I "Open in New Window" or "Open in New Tab" - it doesn't discriminate as I can have 2 or up to 10 tabs/browsers open on any of thousands of websites I visit.

It can happen at any time. I can have 2 or more tab browsers open or 2 or more separate browsers open and at any time when I "Open in New Window" or "Open in New Tab" - no particular number at all. Then the hang occurs.

I therefore am stuck with a hang that can cause all of the open IE windows/browsers to crash or I manage to close the window if I am quick enough before all IE windows crash at once. Many times I cannot close the hanging browser and can only work with the current browsers that are open only.

Once this happens I also lose the RIGHT CLICK function on the mouse

Therfore, I have learnt that it is a good idea to then close down all IE browsers altogether and start fresh

Once I do this I regain the RIGHT CLICK function on the mouse again and the browsers work as normal till the next hang

Solution:
It has been noticed that this problem occurs after KB943729 was installed.
To fix it we should disable "Windows Live" plug-ins (Tools->Internet Options->Programs(Tab)->Manage Add Ons).

Once you disable this addon. It should look like below:

Posted in: How-Tos

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Know Whats Best Among Upcoming E-Readers

9:01 PM

Khyati

Amazon Kindles

Amazon announced three new e-ink Kindle models for fall 2011, including new touch-screen models. All are affordably priced from $79 to $189. The company has also generated huge buzz with the debut of its new colour 7-inch tablet, the $199 Kindle Fire. However, most of these new products won’t be out until mid-to-late November.

Verdict: Worth waiting for, especially considering the mystery surrounding the Kindle Fire.

Apple iPad

At $499, the iPad is two to six times more expensive than the e-reader products listed above — but as a full-fledged multimedia tablet that competes with some laptops, it’s really a different class of product. Nevertheless, iOS 5 has brought even more reading options, most notable of which is the new Newsstand app — basically an app store for magazines and newspapers.

Verdict: An excellent tablet is only getting better, but the iPad’s comparatively large price and size will give bargain hunters pause as cheaper competition looms.

Rumored Barnes & Noble Nook Color

The original Nook Color was launched in October 2010, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see a new model hit now (about a year later). Many think B&N’s Nook Color and $139 Nook Touch were the best readers in their respective price classes for months — with an emphasis on the “were”, so it’s obvious they need to get their act together now.

Verdict: Not much. B&N isn’t that big on coming to this side of the world.

Sony Reader
Sony, a pioneer in the e-reader space, is releasing its 2011 Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1 in October for $149, and offers a touch-compatible e-ink screen, Wi-Fi, audio playback capability, and support for reading library books — but the forthcoming Kindle Touch matches all of those features for $50 less.

Verdict: Skip it. Too expensive.

Recommendation
Wait. The next four to five months will completely overturn the e-book and tablet product categories in India. The new and updated products listed above offer the potential for more choices and better values than we’ve ever seen.

We strongly recommend that you hold off on any buying decisions unless you’re absolutely desperate.

Posted in: Reviews

Friday, August 26, 2011

Android Eats other Smartphone Shares

5:05 AM

Khyati

When it comes to smartphones in the U.S., Android and Apple keep growing at the expense of other mobile platforms like RIM, Windows Phone, and Nokia’s Symbian. The latest mobile subscriber numbers are out from comScore. Android leads the pack with 40 percent market share of U.S. smartphone subscribers as of June, 2011, up 5.4 percent from March, 2011.

Android is also widening the gap compared to Apple, which ended the period with 26.6 percent share. But Apple did grow 1.1 percent from March, whereas RIM (23.4 percent), Microsoft (5.8 percent), and Symbian (2.0 percent) all lost share.

Apple’s share did not budge compared to May, 2011, but Android gained 2 points in share in just one month. It definitely is showing momentum, according to this set of data. Expect to see this trend continue until a new iPhone comes out, perhaps in September. Raise your hands if you are waiting for it to come out before you buy your next phone.

Posted in: News

Monday, August 8, 2011

Add Fancy "Share This" Social Bookmarking Widget to blogger

2:16 AM

Khyati

Here’s a cool new social bookmarking widget for your blog, with on-hover animation effect. By adding social networking icons to your blog you will definitely boost your blog’s traffic.
To see live demo : Demo 1
Step 1: Firstly, Log in to Blogger. Now go to “Design” and then click on “Edit HTML” tab.Then download the present template as a backup.
Then Click on “Expand Widget Templates” checkbox. ____________________________________________

STEP 2: Now find [CTRL+F] this code:

     ]]></b:skin>

 ___________________________________________

JUST ABOVE/BEFORE THIS CODE, paste the following code:

/* Fancy SocialBookmark*/
 
#sharebox{
height:48px;
width:400px;
margin:0;
padding:5px 0;
}
 
ul.sharebox { margin:0px; padding:0px; list-style:none; position:relative; display:block;}
ul.sharebox li { float:left; margin:0 0 0 0px; padding:0px; position:absolute;}
ul.sharebox li a { margin:0 0 0 -24px; display:block;}
ul.sharebox li a:hover { margin:0 0 0 -8px; }
ul.sharebox li img { border:none;}

_____________________________________________________

Step 3: Now find (CTRL+F) this in the template;

</head>

______________________________________________________

And immediately ABOVE/BEFORE that paste this code

<script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
 
<script type='text/javascript'>
(function($){
$.fn.sharebox = function(){
var element = this;
 
$(element).find(&quot;li&quot;).each(function(i){
$(this).css(&quot;z-index&quot;, 12- i);
if (i&gt;0)
$(this).css(&quot;left&quot;, i * 24 + 100);
});
 
}
})(jQuery);
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
$(document).ready(function(){
$(&quot;#sharebox&quot;).sharebox();
});
</script>

 __________________________________________________________

Step 4: Now find (CTRL+F) this in the template

   <data:post.body/>

___________________________________________________________

And BELOW/AFTER that, paste this code:

<ul class='sharebox' id='sharebox'>
<li><img alt='Share this' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileoSbNGlAG8bxZhL0bvkf8TzyWYyc4a0FtxggDYnZ4VeLSGLbToGriJTn-UgFZnDRV6zTedfN3i6xHZSUAwOYhRgPtB1s2N4tEZwQCYzrgS38wkyBJTUxfyGFIqi4r9CyIUEOiyWNkFI/s400/sharethis.png'/></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot; http://digg.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Digg' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCq4HyZDExxdeRwgZXs2pZKIkEzaUDnPhzNlgzaduHR-ena7Jldf7nhfOBAFt-0BBzuL4hwr7RByBI_hbMlMb6v4WfL_eWV9IlrKUFBlmKCmW00mo61KFxeDIXweTNPxDhkv6tWq9vp2w/s400/digg_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot; http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to StumbleUpon' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq8S247u5rWHQy69brmI5Mj6ytASqoeludb80C4v4L5D9IoyqHee2qXtE_jTRZ3AkRFSTZNEUrPwTiwGWiwmFX6sWJBWjpTHiCtoFU3IcfGxVF76PV_S_EZa7ZF6vKDKhKGVranXGE74/s400/sumbleupon_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot;http://del.icio.us/post?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Delicious' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJdbobXnJB6-01GJScRAVSvMPa9crIHGhOmlztuN37LRGoAk7RFHGUwWiYmhXZex6_sIuohCs1WlTIdiQFVB71Q9tjAxavzqOnEfxLM2HDz4QBFxsSMXigIy1iETDHJaAAKWOrEqz9Wd8/s400/delicious_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot; http://technorati.com/faves?add=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Technorati' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHMriCFyw2jvP47cRyH2IK4fnCbYJ5DTHFQtECSRy-hkRTTbEgr_0R5A6tVx-zyscSSrIEEIrXhNjqyHE8fdtpr9db2V2Ex36ujUAsKkrH8tV8_jIHSOlZ-76uLvJg5HeGC6JaUFAiJo/s400/technorati_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot; http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Reddit' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXlDUb__T0L2IYJxQhvxVPUN0GL-eqpZr9VVs0uPG7oKT2pIe5_3TP82aKws14Gi46PTFZRJrS-Co2dFltUx3I5AHrqw3Aj3ax4C1i3P352-Lx7yg84K_CNR0YN5JfMo2WMu-g8Movbc/s400/reddit_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot; http://www.mixx.com/submit?page_url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Mixx' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1Hp6X3wWpgcxyIHd7I6Iy7x6g7cZNHvtXNCyltlJLYw3QgxOhv7VUOu9TisiGRAGX1FA4JPL_9-fv5h_IDv9AETeVz-NbO3Fxfv7VXUzSiLPHcK-7bSDir7t8NVXmZd54WR_JCevqo0/s400/mixx_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot;http://twitter.com/home/?status=Chk Out-&quot; + data:post.title + &quot; &quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Twitter' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86e5TMENgq9P5a1xT9n-XWEGe6EUzDIeTissISk31guAhh0_Qt4eLAx_snotDYTiPDDEyg1iWBJMFKo-t7gEAnMGATkln8y-7x141qNclWFJZEAg0fc9bSpjZRgCowhpqlt1hHvYLMLc/s400/twitter_boxed_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot; http://www.furl.net/storeIt.jsp?u=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Furl' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj96YYiMOJNgiv6VF7JR-4WhEc15AXYCOv56Gwnfjx0FydenDU5MIwtDxScZXv6eni1w8sKD3nSFsDKG-CSHVM-HgGiBC_ak86qGtZU9xi_m4h1iUrTFyjyd_WzWEizsyTQQEpGDDYhNnI/s400/furl_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot;http://www.designfloat.com/submit.php?url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Design Float' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDfIAVuxbUAOqqH1Ezi1rVQr5HCqJ9QS63nBfa5kBXE3tN3Wn3bDx-XX6St5e4WhV_7x90ymdt4vyjfSAt-44wx2V1l3yuSh6QuvzafNnc7Wez2lpyuRbkkRV7rEjpjKXkY9vTu-mkcI/s400/designfloat_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot;http://www.blinklist.com/index.php?Action=Blink/addblink.php&amp;Description=&amp;Url=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Blinklist' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGlJ_Jt4uTKRFzuXUr9W-6cNKJhetwZZG8vsYp_NGPTYHGU_gtX_KGOvy0mT-S57hXwnX15eQTJ5MCwzcIVuae0vaif9bcGYOdX4HrkHKwnmfM8khqmbodR2WmIKUx6C_EcCMt58DKBEE/s400/blinklist_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot;http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/&quot; + data:post.url' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Yahoo Buzz' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqbtc7RNWrq6W7zrlMvBokoBltshUf2JR7bn9wYoBa1qfXykK2V62InQdtUCybWfNnDgTdK_hqyhgbzvbYCTr8-nVlpnPy2yH9k97A0WFxmJVn2NeIE1m47fmklPQA3wNtVFSFbRJB4e8/s400/yahoo_48.png'/></a></li>
<li><a expr:href='&quot;http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&amp;output=popup&amp;bkmk=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;title=&quot; + data:post.title' target='_blank'><img alt='Sumbit to Google Bookmarks' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikWAZL4HBROX51iNIBmV0-VA_iw2yWWQjWDu0IgnKvWGs1pMVzO5HiEHxTPduPt3yoMjDdOtpTF04Xx7H8nkhnWEEMNNhBrz_JI6_roReU6a8Q5U_dRhG_NEosdQHc9QZU37lZEodpErE/s400/google_48.png'/></a></li>
</ul>

______________________________________________

Step 5: Now save the template.

Courtesy: themeblogger-noi

Posted in: How-Tos

16 Must to Know LCD/LED TV Related Terminologies

1:11 AM

Khyati

Old CRT TVs are out of date box in this world. It has been found that more than 60% of the world population is using LCD/LED TVs these days and remaining are opting to upgrade their Old TV boxes. Recently one of my friend went to purchase LCD/LED TV and boggled up with some of the technical words. So before buying LCD/LED TV we should be aware of couple of terms. One of the critical thing is LCD and LED categorizing.

Many of the people still thinks LED TV is far better than LCD TV. So let us start from this point. An LED TV is nothing but an LCD which uses LED back-lighting. TV manufactures has hyped this topic and advertise this sort of display as LED display. This not true LED display but is often called so. The basic difference between the two is that an LED TV uses light emitting diodes for the backlighting, where as an LCD uses fluorescent lamps as backlights. There are two types of LED TV backlighting Edge lit and full array.

1. Screen Size

Length of TV diagonally measured.

2. Aspect Ratio

Ratio of the TV width compared to height. e.g. 16:9

3. Resolution

More number of pixels = the greater the picture quality. e.g. 1920(H) x 1080(V)

The primary difference between Full HD and HD Ready TVs is resolution. Resolution of a Full HD TV is double of that of a HD Ready TV.

Resolution of Standard Definition (Conventional) TVs is 720 H x 480 V = less than 1 million pixels.

Resolution of HD Ready TVs is 1366 H x 768 V = 1 million pixels

Resolution of Full HD TVs is 1920 H x 1080 V = 2 million pixels.

* H = number of Horizontal pixels, V = number of vertical pixels

This animation demonstrates the interline twitter effect. On the left are two progressive scan images. Center are two interlaced images. Right are two images with line doublers. Top are original resolution, bottom are with anti-aliasing. The two interlaced images use half the bandwidth of the progressive one. The interlaced scan (right) precisely duplicates the pixels of the progressive image (left), but interlace causes details to twitter. A line doubler operating in "bob" (interpolation) mode would produce the images at far right. Real interlaced video blurs such details to prevent twitter, as seen in the bottom row, but such softening (or anti-aliasing) comes at the cost of resolution. But even the best line doubler could never restore the bottom center image to the full resolution of the progressive image. Note – Because the frame rate has been slowed down by a factor of 3, you will notice additional flicker in simulated interlaced portions of this image.

4. Dynamic Contrast Ratio

The difference between the brightest whites and darkest blacks a TV can show. e.g. 1,000,000:1

5. Viewing Angle

The max viewable angle when viewing left to right. LCD/LED TV which offers closer to 180* are better.

6. Edge lit LED

Refers to the placements of LEDs along the edges of an LCD display. Due to such arrangements the edges might appear to be brighter than the rest of the picture. Edge lit panels are slimmer in dimensions but can also cause bleeding of light around the edges.

7. Full Array

Refers to arrangement of LEDs which are placed in a full matrix or array, this gives constant and flat back-lighting.

8. Bleeding

LCDs block out redundant light coming from their backlit source, bleeding happens when the back-light behind the LCD surface is not 100% blocked. This results some areas to appear lighter than the rest especially on a dark or black background. Fact is that, almost all LCDs suffer some amount of bleeding.

9. Response Time

Latency or response rate means how quickly the screen can refresh a video image. It basically means the rate at which the LCD can display moving images. It is generally measured in milli seconds (ms) and you should look for TVs with faster response time.

10. Refresh Rate

The number of times your LCD screen refreshes itself per second is known as refresh rate giving you clear, uninterrupted image. Generally the refresh rate is measured in Hertz(Hz). A refresh rate of 120 or 240 Hz refers to the number of times a frame is drawn each second.

11. Ambilight

Philips is an Inventor of Ambilight, refers to the ambient light which is generated corresponding to the video content currently being played on the screen. This effect gives you a feel of a much larger and immersive TV screen.

12. Ghosting

Appearance of a false image on the screen refers to ghosting. This generally happens when a previous image displayed on the screen can still be seen.

13. Bezel

A bezel refers to the outside edges of a Liquid crystal display screen or any screen for that matter.

14. 1080i and 1080p displays

Video mode displaying 1080 lines of vertical resolution is written in shorthand as 1080p, the ‘p’ stands for progressive scan where as on the other hand a 1080i display is shown in 16:9 aspect ratio which gives a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Here the i stands for interlaced.

15. Progressive scan

Also known as non-interlaced scanning is a method of displaying or transmitting a video images in which all the lines of each frames are drawn in a sequence.

16. Interlaced video

This form of transmitting or storing moving images scans only the odd lines, then the even lines of each frame are drawn alternately.

So, these are the common LCD/LED terms used by the manufacturers. The Ghosting, bleeding are problems that commonly seen in displays. I hope this article will be helpful for the next visit to a TV shop. Have a Happy Weekend.

Posted in: How-Tos

Friday, August 5, 2011

Now Facebook will reveal your real identity

4:30 AM

Khyati

Facebook's online privacy woes are well-known. But here's an offline one: its large database of profile photos can be victimised to determine you as you're travel walking the street.

A Carnegie Mellon University researcher today described how he built a database of nearly 25,000 photographs expropriated from students' Facebook profiles. Then he set up a desk in one of the campus buildings and asked few volunteers to peep into Webcams.

The results: face recognition software put a name to the face of 31 percent of the students after, on come, lower than trey seconds of rapid-fire comparisons.

In a few years, "facial visual searches may be as popular as today's text-based searches," says Alessandro Acquisti, who presented his development in cooperation with Ralph Receipts and Fred Stutzman at the Black Hat computer conference.

As a check of idea, the Carnegie Mellon researchers also formed an iPhone app that can position a exposure of someone, piping it through facial recognition software, and then exhibit on-screen that person's canvas and essential statistics.

Few of the professor from Carnegie Mellon University belive that this could be an ominous risks for privacy of any individual.

In another test researchers compared 277,978 Facebook profiles against nearly 6,000 profiles extracted from an unnamed dating Web site. Here also the success rate of software was 40 percent match. Funniest part in this tests are, almost 1 in 10 of the dating site's members--nearly all of whom used pseudonyms--turned out to be identifiable name. Now, this can be a risk for guys dating multiple girls.

Facial recognition technology, which has been developing in labs for decades, is finally going mainstream. Face.com opened its doors to developers last year; the technology is built into Apple's Aperture software and Flickr. Google bought a face-recognition technology in the last few weeks, and Facebook's automated photo-tagging has drawn privacy scrutiny.

Acquisti is the first to admit that the technology isn't perfect. It works best with frontal face photos, not ones taken at an angle. The larger the database becomes, the more time comparisons take, and the more false-positive errors arise.

On the other hand, face recognition technology is advancing quickly, especially for nonfrontal photos. "What we did on the street with mobile devices today will be accomplished in less intrusive ways tomorrow," he says. "A stranger could know your last tweet just by looking at you."

Read more here

Posted in: News

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

BMW interesting facts

11:50 PM

Khyati

Originally, BMW was an airplane engine manufacturer!!! Surprised to hear this? Yes, thats true. Top class car manufacturer BMW is a business entity of Rapp Motorenwerke. The company which was creating aircraft engines in 1917. BMW was forced to stop aircraft engine production by the terms of Versailles Armistice Treaty. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties created at the end of World War I to finish the state of war between Germany and the Allied of Powers.

After stopping engine manufacturing, BMW switched to Motorcycle production in 1923 once the restrictions of the treaty started to be lifted. And finally BMW jumped into automobile business in 1928-29.

Do you know BMW's Logo is derived by company's first business, Rapp Aircraft Engine Manufacturing?

BMW logo is registered in the named of "Roundel".

The BMW emblem represents the colors of Bavaria and is an adpatation of the original RAPP trademark when BMW acquired all assets of RAPP MOTORENWERKE the engine manufacturing company. Here is a "Line-Art" render of the BMW LOGO STYLE GUIDE.

Here we have the original RAPP Logo; a dark horse or a Knights Chess Piece Bust, represents Horse Power which is the accepted European unit of power for rating engine frequency and rate of piston generated energy throughput. During the first world war, this very profound symbol represented gallantry, masculine power and of course speed and agility.

The Blue and White color in the logo represent the colours of the Free State of Bavaria.

There is a myth that BMW logo represents Engine Propeller. This myth devloped when BMW in 1929 twelve years after the Roundel was created released following picture. The picture represents the circular blue and white BMW logo (roundel) as the movement of an aircraft propeller, to signify the white blades cutting through the blue sky.

Following Video is released by BMW which demonstrates evolution of BMW Logo (Roundel):

Some of the interesting use of BMW Engines:

"Rail Zeppelin" by Frank Kruchenberg, driven by a BMW aircraft engine that brought the train speed to a record-breaking 145 MPH in 1931.

Now a days, BMW engines are used in Small Aircrafts:

BMWJet Engine used in Brutus 545:

Posted in: Sci-Tech

Monday, August 1, 2011

Phones which knows how you walk

10:12 PM

Khyati

Researchers in Oulu (Finland) are now a day busy in defying thieves. How? Lets explore by visiting Oulu which is located in Finland. Travelers can enjoy summer in Oulu but in Winter when sea will be frozen only a mad guy would dare to visit this place. But when we came to know that researchers in Oulu are busy in inventing a device which will almost stop Mobile theft even when you are drunk, we could not resist visiting this place and exploring the whole story. Related to this we met one Professor (name could not be disclosed) in Oulu who is Identification expert but he never uses old methods like finger prints or iron scan to identify thief. Instead, he relies on his new invention which will identify thief by the way he walks.

Professor believes that mobile phone theft is a big problem. For example 5% of the burglary in UK is related to Mobile phone. And professor is busy in searching a way how to handle this problem. His biometrics devices are equipped with advanced technology which can sense the way you walk. Your phone could be in your pocket or bag monitoring your day to day activities. Phone will sense the way you walk and if someone will lift it from you then phone will come to know that it is in wrong hands and immediately locks itself. Professor and his team have done lots of experiments to know whether such ideas will really work in real life or not.

A small motion sensor will be installed in your smartphone which will recognize the way you walk by using 3 directions. For Left and Right Yellow line, For Up and Down Red Line and For Forward and Backward Green line. This device is invented in such a way that when you are walking, your way of walking will be recorded into this device.

Similar to our voice, every person has different way of walking. Suppose I am a thief and I steal someone’s mobile phone then mobile phone will immediately recognize that I am not the owner of the phone. How does this idea work? Every human being have different walking style and this depends upon various factors like shape and size of our skeleton, what is my sex and what are my muscles shape and size. Even our mind also plays very important role in the way we walk. It’s been believed that a happy man will have different walking style then others. This invention is still in its premature stage, but experiments so far divert this on positive note.

There are few challenges to implement this invention. Like when we walk on Ice our walking style will be different. This technology would be a trouble for people staying in such regions. Also, when you are drunken you not only forgot yourself but you forgot the way you walk. But researchers have a very simple solution for this. In case the phone gets locked, you can simply enter the pin code to unlock it. But what if you are tired and going through a depressive stage? In this case chances are there that you forgot your pin. And probably this is the biggest problem with this design.

What do you think about this technology? Our future smartphones should be equipped with this? Write in your comments.

Our Inspirations:
Nokia Blog
Technology Review

Posted in: Sci-Tech

Monday, July 25, 2011

How to use CSS to display rating stars in Blogger, Blogspot

1:47 AM

Khyati

Rating stars are widely used in Blogger blog posts. Everyone will be Reviewing some or the other things using Blogger. But I have never come across any of the posts which will describe how to use CSS to display rating stars in Blogger. Hence, I am writing this post to describe how to display rating stars in Blogger.

Rating stars are star like images that indicates the rating of an item. The more stars, the better is the product. Usually we find a scale of 0 to 5 stars, and most often these are in increments of half-stars of even full-stars only.

In this tutorial we’ll discuss how we can "use CSS to display the stars" in a very elegant manner. It even allows to show any rating very clearly, so you’d be able to distinguish a rating of 3.8 from a rating of 4.2!

5 star rating system in action:

Before starting, lets have a look here at this system in action. Look at the reviews posted for Bollywood Movies on this posts. We have inserted Star rating after describing each reviews.

How to use it in Blogger Template:

The stars are constructed out of only two images. A bright

, and a faint star:

.

The html for these stars is very simple – one DIV inside another:

 
<div class="rating_bar">
  <div style="width:51%"></div>
</div>

The style attribute for the inner DIV is what determines how many stars are displayed. A rating of 100% corresponds to 5 full stars. A rating of 40% corresponds to 2 stars, a rating of 42% corresponds to a little more than 2 stars, and so on.

So, you have to use above code in your blog posts as it is. But remember you should not write this on different lines, else Blogger blog post will show Bright and fainted images on different lines.

The class on the outer DIV allows us to apply CSS. The CSS used is as follows:



.rating_bar {
  width: 55px;
  background: url(/img/star_x_grey.gif) 0 0 repeat-x;
}

.rating_bar div {
  height: 12px;
  background: url(/img/star_x_orange.gif) 0 0 repeat-x;
}

1. To place this code, Goto Design -> Edit HTML -> Expand Widget Template.
2. Backup your template.
3. Search for <style>
4. Place above code before this tag.

The first rule-set applies to the outer DIV. It defines the width for the entire set of stars. The width determines how many stars will be visible. In our case, we have stars that are 11 pixels wide and we want 5 of them – hence 55 pixels wide. The faint star image is set as the background image.

The second rule-set applies to the inner DIV. The height needs to be the height of your star image. The bright star image is set as the background image.

This all combines to create our example:

You can think of it as two layered boxes. The lower one is filled with the faint stars and takes up the entire width. The upper one contains the bright stars and it’s width is what conveys the bar’s meaning.

Did this tutorial solved your problem? Is it Pretty simple? Write in your comments to keep this blog alive and share your experiences too.

You can ask your questions in Comments.

Posted in: How-Tos

Thursday, July 21, 2011

How to find out Human Head Weight?

11:22 PM

Khyati

How much your head weighs? If someone asks this question, it seems to be funny to us. But did we ever try to get answer of this question? How can I weigh my head?
Well, sometimes answer to this question may be terrible as well!!! Because some people might think that to weigh a head, I should ask some magician who will detach my head, then weigh it and again fix it.

What about lying down and placing head on a scale?

Thank God, Science has answer to it. So we should not rely upon above solutions.

1. Get a (very) large metric measuring tub placed into another tub and a friend.

2. Ask him to tie a rope on your leg and hang you upside down.

3. Fill the tub with enough water to fully submerge your head.

4. Make sure the tub is fully filled with water and allow some time so that water gets rest.

5. Ask your friend to drop you down, so that your head is completely dunked into the water. You’re your mouth closed and puckered to get rid of as much air as possible.

6. As soon as had dunks into the tub, excess water will come out in the outer tub.

7. Now, measure volume of water displaced in cubic centimeters. Water has a density of 1 gram per cubic centimeter. Thus, the volume of displaced water in cubic centimeter should be equal in number to the mass of the displacing object in grams. Here, displacing object is our head.

Why This Method?
Water is major and important things to all living beings. In some organisms, up to 90% of their body weight composed of water. Talking about Human body, Up to 60% of the human body is water, brain is composed of 70% water and lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water, which helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature. And finally Scientists have discovered that Human Head consists of 90% of water.
Hence, this method will give you 90% accurate results. Average Human Skull weighs around 4 to 5.5 KG.
So, next time when your friends ask you question that how much your head weighs. Don’t forget to follow up TechSac suggested method.
Do write in your comments and Don’t forget to share this article with your friends if you liked it.