Apple's Upcoming MacBook Air to Have More Storage

People considering to buy the new MacBook Air will be in for a treat. Not only will the new model be coming out with the new Lion OS, but there’s bound to be a bunch of improvements and additions. Reports have suggested that the new MacBook Air will be upgraded from 2GB RAM to 4GB RAM, an upgrade which previously cost users $100.

New MacBook Air

Ming - Chi Kuo, an analyst from Concord Securities noted that the memory upgrades along with the new Lion OS should yield good performance. Kuo also stated that Apple will be upgrading the SSD of the 11.6-inch model from 64GB to a 128GB one. Reports from CNET also state that Apple will sell 128GB and 256GB SSD versions of the notebook. The new MacBook Air will be coming out later this week.

This second generation model will be more refined and will be completely redesigned. It’ll include a high-density screen, an additional USB port and SD card slot. The new Macbook Air will also have upgraded new-generation processors, graphics cards and a Flash-based storage. About the battery life, Apple have stated that it would give users up to 7 hours of usage time and up to 30 hours of standby time. Along with these features, Apple will also include a back-lit keyboard.

Apart from the new MacBook Air, other Macs will also be recipients of the new Mac OS update. Reports note that Apple will be launching Lion, sometime this month, Although so far, no additional information has been given on the official date of release. We did however make a trip to our local Apple retailers and were informed not expect the new MacBook Air with Lion before August.

India Comes Together for Mumbai Via Twitter and Google Docs

After three bombs ripped through Mumbai last evening, the people of the city (and some parts of the rest of the country) came together to help each other out almost impeccably. Twitter and Facebook updates were filled with users posting not only information for helplines but also offering help. Hashtags for #needhelp and #Here2Help were created. Users that were at home offered shelter to other users that were still commuting.

The man behind the spreadsheet

Beyond Twitter, a Google spreadsheet was created by a Twitter user in Delhi, Nitin Sagar. Thespreadsheet contains information of Mumbai and non-Mumbai residents offering help as well as asking for help with their contact information and the nature of help that can be offered or is needed. There are currently 250 entries, most of which are users offering help. A map of live tweets can also be found on Google Maps. This doesn't seem to be updated in real time, however, it can be used to find users in the areas of the blasts.

It really is impressive to see citizens coming together to help each other out. Even though, sometimes, this method of coming together can really only help those who even have access to technology at the time (and the government blocked off cell phones for an hour after the blasts), there are concrete examples of citizens who have been helped just by responding to offers on Twitter and the Google doc.

Cisco Possibly Still Planning on Downsizing Global Workforce

Although still unconfirmed, reports on Bloomberg suggest that networking equipment manufacturing leader, Cisco Systems Inc. may soon be on its way to slicing off a considerable chunk of its workforce. We had already reported back in May of this year that this was in the works and although the company hasn't yet made it official, the situation seems to say that it's quite possible. In a bid to boost profits, and bring back some lost glory, Cisco may reportedly cut as many as 10,000 jobs from its total global workforce, comprising of 14 per cent of the entire strength.

Downsized?

As many as 7,000 employees will be let go by the end of next month, and some 3,000 employees who agreed to the buyouts are being presented with early-retirement packages. Apparently, the market share of Cisco, along with the reputation that the brand had built over the years, has been slowly slipping. Newer names like Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) have been usurping the switches, router market with lower-priced products. These changing trends have been giving Cisco officials sleepless nights and this cut-off seems to be the only logical option they have. 

The company plans to have substantial boosts in its profit margins post the cut-off. It may seem worthy to note that Cisco Systems had acquired Flipcam and Linksys, sometime back. Of which, Flipcam died a silent death as we reported a couple of months go.

More Rumors About Apple iPad HD with High-Res Display Surface

While news is abuzz about the possible inclusion of a retina display on the next-gen iPad that’s being called the ‘iPad HD’, it’s been a curious question on everyone’s mind as to whether or not the iPhone 5 will have a higher resolution Retina display as well. As if the existing resolution of 640 x 960 with 326 ppi wasn’t high enough, but progress does mean moving ahead so it’s a possibly that Apple just might take things up a notch with the next model handset. The resolution that the ‘iPad HD’ is reportedly aiming to support is 2048 x 1536 with pixel density of 260 ppi for extra crisp viewing. Although we heard this rumor before we also heard that the possibility of this a high a resolution on a 9.7-inch display might not be realistically possible. Higher resolution for crisper images Never the less with details emerging about iOS 5 being able to sync 1080p videos with the iPad 2 and iTunes bringing a few Full HD movies to the scene, it’s quite possible that Apple would be working on high resolution displays for their devices. Come September/October when Apple makes it’s announcements for that part of the year and the iPhone 5 comes to light, I’d be pleasantly surprised if an iPad 2 variant or iPad 3 with a high-res display is also announced. We already know that the iPad 2’s A5 chips are quite capable of running Full HD videos which hopefully means Apple will kick things up a notch by showing off a high resolution display for better viewing. LG is responsible for the Retina display and they just happened to showcase a few high-res mobile type displays at an event held in May. That’s possibly another clue to the possibility of an iPad or iPhone HD making it out come the latter half of 2011. I believe it might be a little too soon to spring this on the customers who have only just dished out a lump-sum of cash on an iPad 2. But with Apple, you just never know.

German Security Unit Points Out Loopholes in Apple’s Security

Early this week, the iPad manufacturer, Apple’s site suffered a data breach. Although the loss of data was passed as minor by the brand, it did raise a lot of questions about the security of the users’ data on the site. Now, in an official release by an IT security agency based in Germany, Apple’s iOS, in its current form is heading for a bigger fall, which by all means is preventable.

Needs fixing!

According to the official release, in German by the German Federal Office for Information Security, or the Bundesamt fur Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI), Apple’s iOS device could easily succumb to malicious code if an infected PDF file was opened on the device. Although, the system hasn’t been attacked yet, BSI senses a strong attack in the making, if Apple officials don’t fix up the flaws.


Here's an excerpt from the German press release (which can be accessed here) translated into English:

When One Genre Isn’t Enough

Hollywood, when not churning out its staple romance, usually sticks to the tried and tested ribald comedy (aimed at mostly men who refuse to grow up), mindless action flick (ditto), tearjerker drama/chick flicks (women - of all kinds) or animated adventures for the ageless. But the nineties brought with it a wave of starlets from TV who were looking for their big break on celluloid and what followed was a genre that brought in women in droves and with them, their hapless dates, who in order to keep the "romance" alive in the relationship, tagged along meekly to see mild to offensive comedy swathed in huge layers of feel-good romance and tied up with a big pink bow of a happy ending - leading to the birth of the first mixed genre, the romcom, in contemporary Hollywood.

Hollywood then started experimenting with mixing certain genres to appeal to a larger demographic, or a mix of two or more. Some stars became synonymous with the mixed genres, some genres defined the career graph of others, but for the most part, Hollywood went laughing to the banks. Here's a look at some of the mixed genres and the Hollywood stars that define them, as Real Steel, the Reliance-produced, Hugh Jackman-starring sci-fi/action movie gets ready to release:

Romcom - Jennifer Aniston. In one of the smoothest ever transitions from TV to cinema, Jennifer, TV's most loved friend, went on to lead the romcom brigade. Most mainstream leading ladies of Hollywood, some of them Oscar-winners, have dabbled with one or two romcoms in their careers, mostly to desired effect.

Action-Comedy - Jackie Chan. Ably supported by either smart alecks like Owen Wilson or motormouths like Chris Tucker, or all by himself, Jackie Chan gave this mixed genre its pride of place in the land of cinema. Packed with action sequences that left viewers agape and comedy that had the hall in splits, this genre continues to be popular even today.

Dramedy - Kevin Spacey. The slightly balding, middle-aged man with a droll sense of humour in American Beauty paved the way for many average-looking leading men who could carve a path in Hollywood that was the envy of all the poster boys in tinsel town.

Horror-Thriller - Manoj Night Shyamalan. Probably India's most talked about export (his Indianness being only his origins), and heavily criticised after his first two films, Shyamalan redefined the horror genre, using sound effects, sinister music and the audience's anticipation of/reaction to horror to good effect instead of resorting to the age-old tricks of gore and blood.

Fantasy-Romance - Robert Pattinson. Surging hormones, rose-tinted glasses and fairytale romances got a new lease of life with the love story of the golden-hearted vampire Edward Cullen and his mortal lady love Bella. 3 billion hearts (assuming half the world's population is under 16) beat in tandem and an equal number of voices sighed in absolute rapture to the movie adaptation of Stephenie Myers' vampire-romance franchise, Twilight. (Much to my chagrin, they continue to do so.)

Erotic Thriller - Sharon Stone. Many of the world's hottest women tried to make this genre their own, but even those who paid respects at the shrine of Sharon Stone failed miserably. There could be no follow-up act to the infamous "commando" scene of Basic Instincts. The blink-and-miss peep at Sharon Stone's unclad nether regions in the movie that could be blamed for being the starting point of global warming remains a cult favourite, almost two decades after the movie first hit this world in its gut.

Sci fi-Comedy - Michael Bay. He might be accused of not growing out of his teens mentally, but let's not forget one thing - he gave the world Megan Fox. And the world hasn't been the same since.

Sci fi-Action - Hugh Jackman is poised to take a giant leap from his portrayal of Wolverine and star as a living, breathing man in Real Steel, albeit steering robots inside the boxing ring. Will his name become synonymous with this genre? Take a look at our exclusive on the upcoming movie.
Which other mixed genres do you think are synonymous with their stars?

NATO Hacked Again! This Time by Team Inj3ct0r

It was reported a while ago that a website that was related to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), e-Bookshop, had suffered a data breach. This time around a hacker group called Team Inj3ct0r claimed responsible for targeting a NATO server with a private zero day exploit. They have posted a leak backup of 2646 files obtained from the server on file hosting website Media Fire.

Team Injector hacks NATO server!

According to the report by The Hacker News, their reasons for hacking is the development and financing of nuclear weapons. They claim to have hacked the server Apache Tomcat Version 5.5.9 using a 1337 day pivotal exploit which is a zero day exploit. A zero day exploit is basically a computer threat that tries to exploit computer application vulnerabilities that are unknown to others or the software developer. They go on to claim that they are also able to deface the NATO website but will not do so. They claim they will just take the backup of the server and distribute it on the Internet.

Things are not looking so good for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, since this is the second time they have been hacked ever since their public speaking out in their New Strategic Concept conference in Lisbon. The organization said that Anonymous should be included in the same list as Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

For more information on the Anonymous and other hackers, click the link here.

WORLDSPACE Radio to Make a Comeback in India

WORLDSPACE was big once upon a time until it slowly vanished from TV commercials and stores, eventually. After all these years of lying dormant, it's ready to make a comeback in India. Saregama India Ltd. and Timbre Media Pvt. Ltd together will bring back WORLDSPACE in India, through a strategic alliance between the two parties. The two companies will use Saregama’s extensive audio library to provide 24-hour radio stations covering all genres from old Hindi films to classical music in a variety of languages. Coming soon.. This time you won’t be limited to that little black box at home. Here’s what Ms. Seetal R. Iyer, Co-Founder and Head of Content, Timbre Media had to say. “ For our listeners, this means that their favourite WORLDSPACE stations like Farishta, Jhankaar, Gandharv, and Shruti, to name a few, will be back again soon on various platforms.” Sounds like WORLDSPACE will be re-introduced as a service that you can avail of even through your mobile, which makes sense. We still don’t have any details on the subscription rates or when this will be available yet.

Hacking of Fox News claimed by group with links to Anonymous

The fake messages about President Obama's assassination on the Fox News account

A group loosely connected to the hacker collective Anonymous says it took control of the Fox News Politics Twitter account to claim that President Obama had been assassinated while campaigning in Iowa.
The Fox News Politics account – @foxnewspolitics – was used to put out a number of fake tweets saying that President Obama had been shot in the head and died, and that vice-president Joe Biden had been installed in his place. The tweets went out at around 2am Pacific time (5am EST, 10am BST). Obama is in fact thought to be in Washington at the White House, where his schedule shows he is due to give a speech in the Rose Garden at 6.30pm.
A representative of the group 'Scriptkiddies' said in an interview with Stony Brook University's Think Magazine: "We are looking to find information about corporations to assist with antisec [a concerted hacker attack on corporate and government security]. Fox News was selected because we figured their security would be just as much of a joke as their reporting."
He warned too that Fox News might see more attacks: "I've looked into their security, and site defacement does not seem to be an option. Everything else is fair game."
The Script Kiddies representative added: "I would consider us to be close in relation [to Anonymous], two of the members of our group were members of Anonymous ... I was a member of Anonymous. We hope to be working with them soon."
'Script kiddie' is a generally insulting phrase used by hackers about inexperienced would-be hackers who used ready-made programs to attack sites. The group's name here plays on that.
The attack is the latest in a rapidly growing list of attacks this year on the online presence of corporations and governments since Sony's PlayStation Network was hacked in April, exposing the details of more than 75 million users. Since then many other game and company sites have been hit, with varying degrees of disruption.
The Script Kiddie representative told Think Magazine: "It will be a never-ending battle. The names change from time to time, like LulzSec and Anonymous or Script Kiddies. But there will always be a group of people that need to stand up for everyone else and attempt to keep the government in balance with its people. Without groups like Anonymous, what is there to prevent corruption?"
The group tried to create a number of Twitter accounts, but they had all been suspended wtihin hours of being created.
Meanwhile, "AnonymousIRC" – thought to be composed of some of the leaders of LulzSec – has continued to attack web systems belonging to the Arizona police. They also leaked the user names and encrypted passwords to a survey system belonging to Apple, saying: "Apple could be [a] target, too. But don't worry, we are busy elsewhere."

John Carmack Talks Doom 4

Doom 3, id's highly anticipated shooter received mixed feedback where some gamers loved it but most hated on it.  But that was nearly seven years ago. Over the years, there have been rumors regarding its successor but apart from an official annoucement back in 2008, we got squat. And now that id are nearly done with RAGE, John Carmack breaks the silenece (well kind of) in an interview with Gamespot.

No official date on Doom 4 launch yet

While Carmack didn't go into specifics, he did mention that id would begin work on Doom 4 as soon as their current project was completed. He also spoke about the frame rate limitations set for Doom 4. Apparently the single player version of the game would run at 30 fps while multiplayer would be locked at 60 fps. This has obviously been implemented to help consoles cope with the processing load when there are 30 characters crawling all over the place.

There's really not much in here for the Doom fanatic but it's good to know that id will now concentrate all their resources on the game. Hopefully we can expect some sort of footage at this year's Quake Con.

IPad challenger Xoom: the rise of Android tablets

Apple has been dominating the market for tablet computers. But now, with Motorola’s Xoom and other tablet PCs rolling out, alternatives to the iPad are coming to stores, many using the new Google operating system Android Honeycomb.

Companies like Motorola, Samsung and LG are bringing out tablets with Google’s Android 3.0 operating system, also known as Honeycomb. In some ways, these new versions outscore the market leader.

One of the forerunners is Motorola’s Xoom. The U.S. company kept close tabs on the development of Honeycomb and was the first to be able to come out with an Android 3.0-ready tablet. At 730 grams, the Xoom is a little heavier than the 600-gram iPad and a bit wider. But it has a higher resolution in its 10.1-inch screen (1,280x800 pixels versus 1,024x768). Just like the iPad, the Xoom has solid aluminium housing.

Motorola took more pains with its built-in cameras than Apple. The camera on the back offers 5 megapixels, while the one on the front for video chat features has 2 megapixels, significantly more than the iPad 2. That means the Xoom can record videos in quality of up to 720 pixels, even though its recordings tend to have a slightly bluish tint.

Honeycomb tablets don’t have mechanical buttons for functions like menu, home, back and search, meaning the Xoom is completely controlled via its touch-sensitive screen.

Xoom runs with a dual-core processor (a set of 1 gigahertz processors) to allow speedy work and smooth video playback. Just like with the iPad, the Xoom’s battery has a charge of about eight hours, or the equivalent of a full workday or a long-range flight.

While there are more than 200,000 programmes available for Android, all of which should theoretically work on the Xoom, very few of those programmes were designed with the tablet exclusively in mind. Meanwhile, there are 10,000 programmes just for the iPad.

Unlike the iPad, Xoom supports Adobe’s Flash Player, which has to be separately installed. The player only plays a small role in video playback, since leading portals like YouTube have started distributing most of their online videos in the iPad-compatible format H.264. But Flash often crops up in interactive graphics, live tickers and online games.

Android Honeycomb also gives users more freedom in setting up the look of their homepage. While the iPad only allows the display of programme icons, links and notices, Honeycomb allows the display of up to five so-called widgets, small preview programmes for things like weather forecasts, email and stock market reports.

But these advantages don’t quite go far enough toward making up for the disadvantages the Google tablet suffers in its marketplace for apps and media services.

Prithvi-II successfully flight-tested

 Nuclear weapons-capable, surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile on Thursday was successfully flight-tested for its full range of 350 km by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) personnel.

The nine-metre tall Prithvi-II, the first indigenously built surface-to-surface strategic missile, was fired from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex-III at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa. It achieved a high degree of accuracy and zeroed-in on the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a CEP (Circular Error Probability) of less than 10 meters.

The flight test met all the mission objectives and was like a text-book launch.

A battery of radars, electro-optical telemetry stations and a naval ship located near the impact point tracked and monitored the entire event, including the missile's trajectory and final splash down.

The missile was picked up randomly from the production lot and the launch operations were carried out by SFC personnel and monitored by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Capability

The single-stage, liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II that is capable of carrying payloads ranging from 500-1,000 kg had been inducted into the armed forces. It is equipped with a high accuracy inertial navigation system with sophisticated on-board control and guidance. It could be launched from anywhere with its mobile launcher having user-driven features.

Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat, who witnessed the launch, congratulated the armed forces and scientists for the successful flight-test. V.L.N. Rao, programme director, AD, S.K. Ray, Director, Research Centre Imarat and top officials of the SFC and DRDO were present during the mission.

In December last, two Prithvi-II missiles were successfully test-fired for different ranges within a span of one hour.

Nokia C3-01: Average Looking but Feature Rich

ust last week, we saw why the X3-02 is a really good handset for the average mobile phone user. Today we look at the C3-01 which in many ways resembles the X3-02. The design of both handsets is very different but otherwise most of the features and specifications of the X3-02 and C3-01 are pretty much the same. So what does the C3-01 have to offer to its users?

Say hello to the C3-01

Design and Build Quality
As mentioned earlier, the C3-01 looks like a completely different mobile phone if you have to compare it with the X3-02. The basic candybar form stays the same, however the edges of the C3-01 are curved and it weighs a little more than the X3-02. The handset has a metallic matte finish throughout except the keypad which is plastic. The overall grey gives the handset a professional look but the functions speak otherwise.

No shortcut keys for music or SMS

The 2.4-inch screen has a decent 240 x 320 pixels resolution which looks pretty good for the size of the display. The brightness of the screen is quite good and the colours are quite nice as well. Below the screen, there isn’t any dedicated music or SMS keys like the X3-02, rather it houses two keys for making and ending calls. The keypad is the normal T9 design without any change made to the *, 0 and # keys. The volume rocker, screen lock and the camera button on the right are well placed and easy to use. Although the mini-USB port on the top might feel awkward for some, there’s not much of a problem while connecting it to a laptop or PC.

The build quality of the mobile is really good. The phone does not boast of any ruggedness. However, it does have a solid feel to it. Overall, the design and build quality of the C3-01 is really nice.

Features
Interface
Here’s where the similarity actually shows. The C3-01 runs on the same Symbian OS, S40 platform 6th edition. So there’s not much of a difference between how the two function. The touchscreen is resistive and responds really well. Transitions between menus and options are all very fast and apart from a couple of occasions where it lagged a bit, overall operation is really smooth.

Well built but doesn't have a trendy look

The homescreen is the same as before, where you have the options to customize and select shortcuts that you usually use. You can add a maximum of three shortcuts and below the homescreen, the quick launch bar lets you add four more shortcuts. So the user has a total of seven shortcut options to select from, which is a pretty wide range.

Media
While the piece that we received for review did not have bundled earphones, we still checked out the sound quality with external ones. This feature, just like previously, does not disappoint at all. The mids seem to be almost perfect and the highs sound good as well. The base seems to be a little low but that’s not too bad. The C3-01 has a Stereo FM Radio with RDS which also sounds good.

Volume rocker and other keys are well placed

The C3-01 supports one less video format than the X2-01, that is the XviD format. However, the 2.4-inch screen is still too small to actually watch videos and we recommend that you don’t really use the phone for videos in particular.

There are three pre-loaded games on the C3-01 and you can also download more games and other themes or apps from the pre-loaded Nokia Ovi Store.
Connectivity
The regular connectivity options of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are present and the C3-01 is also 3G-enabled so you have some great connectivity options right there. The phone is also EDGE/GPRS enabled for those who cannot completely avail of 3G services. Something we did notice was that the speeds on EDGE were pretty neat and although not superfast, they weren’t slow at all. The phone also has a mini-USB port for interfacing it with a PC or laptop and transfer rates are quite decent.


The C3-01 has a Nokia Communities app which lets users access Facebook and Twitter from that same app. Although not the best out there, the app still does the job.

Miscellaneous Features
Regular features like the To Do list, Alarm Clock, Calendar, Voice Recorder and even more are all present in the C3-01. Obviously if a user wants to download some app, they are always free to do so from the Ovi Store.

5 megapixel camera with LED flash

Camera
The C3-01 has the same camera as the X3-02 with a 5 megapixel lens and can shoot pictures at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. The one extra feature that this phone’s camera has over the X3-02 is that this one might just get some better images in darker backgrounds thanks to the LED flash. Apart from the flash, the image quality is pretty similar to that of the X3-02 and yet again there’s not much you can actually speak of.

Very average indoor images

The camera can also shoot videos in a 240 x 320 pixel resolution at a frame rate of 15 fps.

Comparatively better outdoor shots

Battery Life
Even after speaking for around two hours and some slight music and internet usage, the phone can last till the end of the day. One thing to be noted is that the talk time spent on the phone was not continuous, but even then you can fully charge the C3-01 and the phone will last you throughout the day.

Verdict
Probably one of the toughest decisions to make is whether a user should actually buy the C3-01 for Rs. 8,000. The phone costs about Rs. 400 less than the X3-02 and the features are almost the same. There’s a slight advantage of the LED flash but that’s only if you’re really hell bent on taking pictures in the night. If you’re more for looks, the X3-02 is a great option. This one on the other hand, is a very average looking version of the X3-02.