Physicists at a US laboratory said on Monday they have come tantalizingly close to proving the existence of the elusive subatomic Higgs boson - often called the "God particle" because it may bring mass and order to the universe.The announcement by the Fermi National Accelerator Lab outside Chicago came two days before physicists at CERN, the European particle accelerator near Geneva, are set to unveil their own findings in the Higgs hunt. CERN houses the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).The Fermilab scientists found hints of the Higgs in the debris from trillions of collisions between beams of protons and anti-protons over 10 years at the lab's now-shuttered Tevatron accelerator.But the evidence still fell short of the scientific threshold for proof of the discovery of the particle, they said, in that the same collision debris hinting at the existence of the Higgs could also come from other subatomic particles."This is the best answer that is out there at the moment," said physicist Rob Roser of Fermilab, which is run by the U.S. Department of Energy. "The Tevatron data strongly point toward the existence of the Higgs boson, but it will take results from the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe to establish a firm discovery."Scientists have worked long and hard to prove the existence of the Higgs boson, the final piece of a model proposed four decades ago laying out the basic building blocks of matter in the universe.The Higgs particle's presumed power to confer mass seems to endow it with the power of creation itself, which helped lead to its "God particle" nickname. Many physicists loathe the term, fretting that it makes their discipline seem self-aggrandizing.Physicists not connected to Fermilab expressed cautious optimism that the long-sought particle had finally been found."These intriguing hints from the Tevatron appear to support the results from the LHC shown at CERN in December," said Dan Tovey, professor of particle physics at the University of Sheffield in Britain."The results are particularly important because they use a completely different and complementary way of searching for the Higgs boson. This gives us more confidence that what we are seeing is really evidence of new physics rather than just a statistical fluke," Tovey added.Tovey said scientists will have to wait until Wednesday for the latest results from the European scientists before "getting the full picture" concerning the Higgs boson.A Nice ResultCERN spokesman James Gillies called Fermilab's findings "a nice result," but added that "it will be interesting to see how it lines up with CERN's results on Wednesday. Nature is the final arbiter so we'll have to be a little more patient before we know for sure whether we've found the Higgs."Tom LeCompte, a scientist at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois who works at CERN and knows the results, said he was confident the Higgs would be shown to exist, or not exist, this year. But he would not say if the findings to be unveiled Wednesday would be definitive."I know 2012 is the year. I can't tell you July is the month," LeCompte said.Others were less cautious. "This is the most exciting week in physics history," said theoretical physicist Joe Lykken of Fermilab.The Higgs particle is the final quarry in a hunt that began some 40 years ago, when physicists assembled what is now known as the Standard Model. The model is considered the culmination of a quest for the fundamental constituents of matter and the forces that determine how they interact, a search that began some 2,400 years ago with Greek philosopher Democritus' hypothesis that everything is composed of indivisible atoms.According to the Standard Model, matter is composed of various combinations of six leptons, including the well-known electron and the ghostly neutrino, and six quarks, to which physicists have given whimsical names such as "charm," "bottom," and "strange." The protons at the core of atoms, for instance, are composed of two "up" quarks and one "down" quark.The Standard Model also includes particles dubbed bosons, which carry nature's four basic forces.The best-known boson is the particle of light, the photon. It carries the electromagnetic force, which is responsible for such everyday phenomena as the scent of a rose and the pull of a magnet.Another boson is called the gluon. It binds together the quarks that constitute protons. Without gluons, quarks would stick together no better than an undercooked soufflé, atoms would not exist, and neither would stars, planets or life.Particle accelerators such as those at CERN and Fermilab methodically discovered all the particles predicted by the Standard Model except one.Square OneThe hold-out is the Higgs boson, and its refusal to show itself has long frustrated physicists. The Higgs particle is needed to complete and validate the Standard Model, since if it turns out not to exist scientists would have to figure out the constituents and mechanics of the universe from square one.Just as importantly, the existence of Higgs was postulated in 1964 to serve a crucial function: conferring mass on some particles that would otherwise have none. Technically, the Higgs particle itself does not provide mass; the particle is, instead, a little knot of matter squeezed out of a force field like a curd forming in soured milk.The force field is called - of course - the Higgs field.The Higgs field gives mass to some particles but leaves others alone, in a process one might compare to making cotton candy. As the wand is passed through the gossamer cloud of spun sugar, it holds onto more and more of the pink strands.In much the same way, particles passing through the Higgs field picked up more and more mass, until they became the quarks and leptons and bosons that constitute the stuff of today's cosmos. In this analogy, some wands are oiled, preventing sugar from sticking; these particles remain without mass. Other wands are super-sticky, picking up more than their fair share of mass.The particle is named after Peter Higgs, now 83, of the University of Edinburgh in Britain, but five other physicists came up with the same idea almost simultaneously."The God Particle" was the title of a 1993 book by Leon Lederman, a Nobel-winning physicist and former head of Fermilab, and science writer Dick Teresi. The publisher vetoed titles with "Higgs" or anything else too esoteric. Lederman later said he wanted to call the book "The Goddamned Particle" because the Higgs was so elusive.Fermilab began its Higgs quest 10 years ago, using its four-mile (6.4 km) circumference Tevatron to smash together protons and their anti-matter twins, anti-protons. When matter meets anti-matter, the two annihilate, leaving behind pure energy.Out of that energy crystallize new particles. It was in this debris that the Tevatron scientists sought evidence of the Higgs boson.Because the Higgs is hypothesized to exist for a mere fraction of a second before decaying into other particles, the strategy was to look for these "daughter" particles.CERN's 16.7-mile (27 km) circumference LHC, which smashes protons against protons at nearly the speed of light, looks for two high-energy photons. The Tevatron looked for two bottom quarks. Before budget cuts forced it to shut down last September after trillions of proton-anti-proton collisions, it found as many as 1,000 pairs that could have come from Higgs particles."It is a real cliffhanger," said physicist Gregorio Bernardi of the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of High Energies in Paris and leader of one of the Tevatron experiments. "We know exactly what signal we are looking for in our data, and we see some evidence for the production and decay of Higgs bosons in a crucial decay mode with a pair of bottom quarks. So we are very excited."The Tevatron results indicate that the Higgs particle has a mass between 118 and 132 giga-electron volts (the unit of mass-energy used in physics in which 1 GeV is about the mass of the proton). Last year, the LHC pegged the mass at between 115 and 127 GeV. (Reuters)
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Nine long years, that's how long it's been since the pain-riddled ex-cop we know as Max Payne last made an appearance on our screens. Yet little has changed for the long-suffering protagonist, still wallowing in the past, a past deeply scarred by the loss of his wife and child. But with Max Payne 3, Max is back, back in a flurry of gore and bullets. Question is, with the passage of so much time, can the ol' chap still hit the mark?On the face of it, Max and the game at large look very different from the previous game in the series. Gone are Max's New York Police Department days, he now works as a bodyguard for a rich Sao Paulo family, and it isn't long before the bad guys kidnap his client's wife on his watch, thrusting Max into a rescue mission. Only that the rescue mission is just the beginning of a far more sinister story…Without revealing any more spoilers, it's suffice to say that developers Rockstar have taken a much-loved franchise and nurtured it to modern day expectations. The ‘bullet time' game mechanic, which allowed you to slow down time at any point to pull of insane slow-mo gunplay makes a reappearance, and despite many other games that have copied the effect, no one does bullet time better than Max Payne 3. Having said that, Max has visibly aged in the game though, and that shows – he's not as nimble as he used to be and he winces when he knocks into large objects. You get a real sense of controlling a character that's very human in his responses, rather than just a talking head that wields weapons and feels no pain.Just remember, this is a game that is seriously violent, almost unapologetically so. The gore and the grisly action are underscored by a brilliant soundtrack and well detailed environments. The multiplayer mode is a revelation too, feeling very much like it was like this by design and not an afterthought, and the Gang Wars mode in particular is a bag load of fun.Rating: 9/10Price: Rs. 2,499URL: http://bit.ly/JHOVbI (Intel)ligent Match Intel Inside. A badge proudly worn by our desktops and laptops for nearly two decades has finally made its way on a smartphone, courtesy the Lava XOLO X900. With the significant investments HTC, Samsung and Sony have made in competing hardware platforms, this was quite the marriage of convenience for Intel and Lava, with the former getting a hardware partner and Lava a much needed fillip in the smartphone space. The question I ask is, does the XOLO X900 serve up an Android phone different enough for the Intel Inside badge to matter? On the outside, the X900 feels premium and polished, and resembles the latest iPhone to some extent. A 4-inch display adorns the front of the device, along with the Android buttons – overall the treatment is very clean and minimalist. The display by itself is middling in nature – while it offers reasonable pixel density (295 pixels per inch) and offers above average color output and viewing angles, it pales in comparison to the Sony Experia and the One X. Granted, those phones are in a significantly higher price bracket, but if this is to be a flagship device for the Intel party, then comparisons are inevitable. And Intel's Atom Z2460 1.6 GHz processor powering it all? Despite it sporting only a single core, it performs at par with dual-core offerings, and has no sluggishness whatsoever. There is one thing to keep in mind, though - easy availability of apps for the Intel platform through the Google Play store could be an issue to begin with, especially several games which have reported compatibility issues or aren't supported. It doesn't help that a dated version of Android is shipped with the device - just doesn't cut it for a flagship device. Couple this with a "made by Lava" tag, and you could have customers balking at the price tag, despite the phone offering pretty good performance and looks for the price. Rating: 8/10Price: Rs. 22,000URL: http://bit.ly/Jwehel QuickLook: HCL ME U1 tablet Pros: Latest Android OS 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich), memory expandability up to 32GB, good build, well priced, full USB portCons: No Google Play store access, sluggish performanceURL: http://bit.ly/JWTYv9Price: Rs 7999/- technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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The Missing FlashSkyfire has one thing and one thing only going for it: the ability to play Flash videos, which the iPhone and iPad otherwise don't support. It isn't a great experience — just a necessary one if you're hell-bent on watching specific videos only available in Flash. When you come across a Flash video, SkyFire starts up a little player to convert the video to an acceptable format. This process could take a while because the video is essentially going to SkyFire's servers for conversion before coming back to you. Sometimes success is not guaranteed. SkyFire doesn't have tabbed browsing in the usual sense but you can open separate sites and come back to them by exiting one screen and getting into another. It has private browsing, support for multiple user accounts with hot swapping, and social sharing.Browser with a track pad?You wouldn't have expected to see a track pad or jog dial sitting in a browser. But Maven has three. It's these, and a few other features that set this iOS browser apart. The best dial is a red button floating towards the bottom of your screen. Touch it and it scrolls your page the way your finger pulls it. Every app should have this, frankly. Towards the middle, and tucked into the side as a little notch, is the Bookmarks dial. Slip it out and twirl it with a finger to go to a selected bookmark. Gimmicky, but cute and handy. A third dial is found further towards the top right. This is the brightness controller, for better reading comfort in different lighting conditions. An adjustable panel at the bottom houses the train of tabs. Not only that, you can view two web pages at the same time, with a split-screen option. Multi-taskers can examine a picture or a video in one part and scan written content in the other. It doesn't end there: Maven has a Reader button which lets you use Readability for any web page, reformatting text in long-form, changing text size and background colour.For writers and researchersAn interesting browser for those who need to gather information from many sources online is one that goes by the unpronounceable name of Knowtilius. This is a split-screen app where you can enter text in the top half and open multiple tabbed web pages in the second. In the clean text area, you can adjust text size, colour and font. You also have a keyboard with often-used punctuation marks ready at hand. When you open a new document, the previous will become a thumbnail in a drawer at the bottom of the page and you can just tap the document you want to go to it. Web pages also become thumbnails and can even go into collections such as frequently visited, bookmarks, RSS feeds and reading list. The clever part is how these categories can be made to slide up to take up more of the screen. You can open the pages you want in these slide-up sections and do so with multiple sliding tabs. Knowtilius has another unique feature: you can select text and have it read aloud. You can even choose different accents though these are all electronic — and vastly entertaining.(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 28-05-2012)
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Watch Your WristIf you can't bear to lose out on a single nano-second of activity on Facebook, Twitter, and email, wear the lot on your wrist, courtesy Sony, who've created the SmartWatch to put what's happening on your smartphone within constant reach. You can see your text messages, and the weather. The SmartWatch only has a 1.3 inch screen so there's only so much you can do with it, but whatever is incoming, you won't miss it. There are various apps for different functions and you communicate with the watch using touch. It works with an Android phone and alerts you to a call, letting you answer it remotely if you're Bluetoothed adequately. You need to install a special manager app from the Google Play store and a SmartWatch app. The two devices pair via Bluetooth. The SmartWatch has just been launched for $150 and may or may not make it to India. And, oh yes, the SmartWatch does indeed tell the time. All-RounderIf you think a watch sitting on your wrist, doing many things your smartphone does, is a solution in search of a problem, you may be in a minority. Pebble, just such a watch, has raised more than $10 million and seen preorders for 85,000 on Kickstarter, a site where anyone can support a new idea with funds. Apparently, it has sold out, so you'll have to wait for a while to get your own Pebble. This Allerta watch has a 1.26-inch 144x168-pixel black and white e-paper backlit display and in red, white and black, looks rather good. It works with both iOS and Android devices and gets notifications for email, messages, and more. This little gadget can potentially be made to do anything because of an SDK released to allow anyone to develop apps for it — which it can run simultaneously. The idea is to put the most important apps you need right up front, within easy reach. Pebble can also be trendy as it allows you to download watchfaces to make it match your own style. It will cost $99, which isn't much. People love it before they've even got it. Listen To The TimeThe Apple iPod Nano kits, designed by Scott Wilson of Minimal Studios and put up on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, made an appearance two years ago, but are still popular. If you have a 6th or 7th generation Nano, head to lunatic.com and see if you fancy carrying your music on your wrist. You could also get it from Amazon for $52. The LunaTik is a watchstrap kit that houses the Nano. Slip in the player into the protected slot using the little pins, and let it click into place. Then, just switch on your Nano and wear the accessory. It comes in silver, black and red. As the more recent Nano is nicely squareish, it looks smart. The LunaTik isn't the only Nano watch style accessory, there are many. But it is fairly popular. Mouse Gets TouchyWith everything else going touch, why shouldn't the mouse follow the trend? Logitech decided to create a halfway mouse as it were; a gadget that still gives you the precision control of a mouse, but takes you part of the way to touch. There's no outright clicking involved, but rather, you touch, swipe and even scroll with your fingers as they rest on the surface. It takes a little getting used to as old habits die hard, but eventually it should feel a little more like the tablets and smartphones we are now getting more accustomed to rather than like old world tech. The mouse is also wireless, in keeping with usability trends today. The Touch Mouse M600 is shapely and comfortable enough to place your palm over. Tap To PlayNokia has a colourful surprise for everyone. You're beginning to see those bright pop blues and pinks and greens on a bunch of accessories. One of these is the Nokia Play 360, a portable speaker for your phone, MP3 player or any Bluetooth-enabled music device. The speaker, of nice and solid build, comes with a pouch. But it isn't that light. Say about the weight of a laptop battery adaptor. Enable Bluetooth on the device you'll use and pair with the speaker. The sound is decent for a speaker of that size. If you don't want to use Bluetooth, use the 3.5 mm cable. But there's another option that makes the speaker special — the near-field communication (NFC). Tap the phone on the speaker to get it connected. The speaker will play with an Android phone, a BlackBerry, the Nokia N8 and N9 — but not with the Lumia phones. In India, the Play 360 is priced at Rs 9,350. Understated SolidityThe LG Optimus Sol seems to be designed to go unnoticed. But once you switch it on, it's as good as any worthy Android smartphone. There's a bright screen (3.8 inch, 480x800 pixels), displaying a no-nonsense interface with all the familiar features and menus. The camera is a 5 MP. The Sol has a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 512MB RAM. Quite enough. For a mid-range phone costing Rs 19,000, it has features found in high-end phones: flip to mute, for example.(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 28-05-2012)
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Apple CEO Tim Cook, who took over from late co-founder Steve Jobs last August, took the wraps off new services and updates at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference this Monday, clearly setting his sights on Google Inc and its fast-growing Android mobile platform.Apple tweaked several features in its mobile operating system to try to enhance its ability to entice users to stay within its ecosystem. The upgrades marked a bolstering of Apple's arsenal as it tries to keep its top-down applications and hardware environment ahead of competition from Android device makers such as Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility.But the highlight was the debut of Apple's in-house mapping service after years of development, a direct challenge to the same Google service that is one of the most popular functions on both Android smartphones and the iPhone.Apple's new mobile software - the iOS6 - will be available in the fall. It comes with a mapping system "built from the ground up," said software chief Scott Forstall.It will be replacing Google Maps, until now a pre-loaded app on the iPhone and iPad, with its own in-house map service, delivering a big blow to Google, which gets about half its mobile map traffic from Apple mobile devices.The move signals how the friendship between the two tech giants - former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once sat on Apple's board - has become a bitter rivalry shaping the evolution of the mobile industry. Late co-founder Jobs was famously quoted as saying he was willing to go "thermonuclear" on the search leader, after it decided to position Android against the iPhone.Now Apple will do its utmost to reduce its reliance on Google, said Colin Gillis, analyst with BGC Partners."What happens if one day Google decides to not provide Apple with maps," said Gillis. "You can't have that kind of dependency on a competitor."Apple's map service comes with three-dimensional images of cities called "Flyover" along with real-time traffic updates and also turn-by-turn navigation, the last a feature that Google has in Android devices but had not made available in Apple devices.And Siri, the innovative voice-activated iPhone search-feature users have criticized as faulty and inadequate, will now also be available on iPads and recites a larger database of answers, especially sports, restaurants and movies.Siri is also integrated into the new mapping service so users can ask for step-by-step directions.While Apple is late to the game with turn-by-turn directions, Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said that Apple's new service featured various nice touches, demonstrating Apple's ability to take an experience offered by rivals and "go even further."He also cited a new app for iPhone and iPads called Passbook that organizes a user's electronic airline tickets, movie tickets and restaurant loyalty cards. The app is a "harbinger of them doing much, much more," said Golvin, pointing to the electronic payment and mobile commerce market.Finally, executives said Apple has integrated No. 1 social network Facebook deeper into the operating system, allowing Siri-users to post photos with voice commands.The EdgeLong lines marked the beginning of the week-long annual Worldwide Developers' Conference, where Apple developers rub shoulders with employees, test the latest products and software, and connect with peers. Apple kicked off proceedings by touting its hardware, its biggest edge over Google.The consumer device giant introduced an all-new addition to its MacBook Pro lineup, Apple's highest-end laptops. At 0.7 inches and weighing under 4.5 pounds, the new MacBook Pro ranks among the thinnest laptops in the market and will hit store shelves months before many Microsoft Windows-equipped "Ultrabooks." They will employ the "retina" displays that have won strong positive reviews for the new iPad, but start at $2,199.Along with the introduction of the new MacBook Pro, Apple also updated it current Mac lineup including the MacBook Air.Marketing chief Phil Schiller outlined how the redesigned MacBook Air notebooks will be about $100 cheaper on average than predecessors, but sport quicker Intel Corp processors, potentially eating into territory staked out by Hewlett-Packard, Dell Inc and other PC makers.Analysts have speculated that the company will begin aggressively competing on price, gradually shrinking the premium its Macs carry in general.More than ever, Apple finds itself in a pitched battle with Google: in smartphones, cloud computing, and a never-ending competition to attract the best software developers. That is crucial as Apple looks to draw users deeper into its applications ecosystem.Cook told the audience that customers have downloaded more than 30 billion Apple apps so far, choosing from more than 650,000 apps - the largest library in the industry.Battling in many arenas, the rivals employ different weapons. Apple's vise-like grip on its ecosystem - with the closely managed app store and seamless integration with hardware - stands in stark contrast to Google's free-for-all approach.The open system approach, reminiscent of Microsoft Corp's hugely successful strategy of creating standard-setting software that runs on a variety of hardware, has allowed Android to capture the market lead in smartphones, albeit with nothing close to Apple's profit margins.Android has also helped create several potent hardware rivals to Apple. Samsung Electronics' Android-driven Galaxy SIII is drawing favorable comparisons to iPhone and Amazon.com Inc's cheaper Kindle Fire is challenging Apple in tablets and digital content.The move - years in the making - to replace Google Maps is a dramatic example of how the rivalry between the companies has been evolving.Google has invested huge sums in mapping technology over the years, and about half its mobile map traffic now comes from iPhones and iPads. Among other things, the traffic from those devices reveals valuable location data that helps improve the mapping service and provides features like real-time traffic reports.(Reuters)
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With the third generation of Apple's iPad due to hit Indian stores on 27 April and the iPad 2 still available for a lower price, many will be wondering which to buy. Is it more worthwhile to pay a bit more and get the spanking new one, go for the older one because it's a lot to pay for a device you're not very sure how you're going to use, or go for a non-Apple tablet altogether. After all, there's the Samsung Note, plus many new low-cost Android tablets coming out, and soon new ones from Google turning up. Let's explore some of these questions: Tablet Or Notebook? The first is whether to buy a tablet at all. With tablets and smartphones, there's often a chicken-and-egg going on because these devices only become indispensible once you start using them thoroughly. Many people who buy them but don't use them thoroughly just can't understand what the fuss is about. The truth is that unless you dive right in and explore the apps that bring smart mobile device alive, you'll never see the point of them. And once you do, you will be amazed at the many ways they can enable the everyday things you do or the new capabilities they bring for you. But minus curiosity and worse still, with resistance, you will end up not discovering these new capabilities. It isn't difficult or as time-consuming as people think: just involving.So before people get into buying an expensive product like a tablet, they try to justify the cost by thinking it will replace their laptops. Read slim books, netbooks, etc as well. At this point, I would say no. Inputting data into tablets has improved in many ways and is possible with many workarounds such as a good external keyboard, but the overall experience and the things you are used to are still not the same as on PCs and laptops. A simple task like quickly dragging and dropping a piece of text from one file to another isn't possible, for example. Simple tasks you don't think about on PCs take many workarounds to achieve.So, a tablet isn't yet a replacement, but it is a fantastic second or third device. Only if your work involves "consuming" content rather than creating any, can you get away with just a tablet. On the other hand, there are now things you can do on the tablet that you can't on a laptop, not only because of the innovative apps, but because of the touch interface. iPad Or Non-iPad?Many alternatives to the iPad have come up since Apple started and defined the category in 2010, but the truth is the others are not quite there yet. This isn't because of poor hardware or features, but because Apple has had a long headstart and has a vast ecosystem of applications that just keeps growing. Without the apps, the tablet is just a slate. And the best apps still go to the iPad first. The popular photo-sharing app and social network Instagram is a case in point. Although many are impatient with the photo filters that make images look old or as if they were shot with a toy camera, the truth is that 40 million people thoroughly enjoy the interaction of sharing with their circle of contacts. The Instagram app only came to Android phones recently, after a year and a half of its existence on the iPhone.Despite alternatives, some of which may have better features, the momentum gained by Instagram couldn't be matched by anything else. And so it is with many other apps across different categories. They are developed for iOS and sometimes never make it to other platforms at all. That's one of the reasons the Pad remains dominant. Of course, its cult design and the experience don't play a small role either. The Android ecosystem of apps is growing too, but is neither as polished or as secure. The number of fake and malicious apps doing the rounds is lamentable. These are some of the reasons for recommending the iPad over other tablets, if you want a smooth and enjoyable experience. Why Not A Low Cost Tab?There is, of course, no reason why you should rule out a low-cost tablet — and there are so many of them — if you don't currently have the budget for an iPad. Just as long as you don't expect the same experience and are interested in the basics, such as mail, browsing, etc. It's still enabling to be able to read on the go, watch videos when you need to, clear out a batch of email, and of course explore apps. The hardware will be scaled down and the difference will show up immediately, but you could be paying less than Rs 10,000, so why not? It's not the iPad, but it is a mobile device with new capabilities. The smoothness of the touch interface, the camera, graphics, speed browsing experience, gaming, etc all will be diminished, but it can still be a useful device. IPad2 (Reuters) Should One Upgrade?If you're already using an iPad 2, you need very little introduction to tablethood. But you may well feel you're missing out on something if you don't have the new iPad. Well, if you're using the original iPad (let's call it 1), you look at a significant step-up in experience, though the original iPad isn't exactly obsolete. Apps will work better and of course look nicer on subsequent iPads. If you're doing fine with your iPad 2 and aren't ready to give it away to someone else in the family — or sell it — you aren't doing too badly. The resolution on the brilliant Retina Display is the biggest draw, and many apps are being designed specifically to take advantage of that, but it s by no means an essential. There's a better main camera so you can take pictures directly from the iPad, especially in well lit places, but the front camera is not dramatically different. If you're very visually oriented and have zero tolerance for anything less than crisp and clear text, sharp pictures and if you do a lot of gaming, you might want to consider upgrading, but there's no hurry and you might even consider waiting for some of the problems reported with the new iPad to settle down. Heating, connectivity and battery problems have been spoken of, but it doesn't look like the complaints are widespread, but if you're not iPad-less and don't necessarily have to be first in line, you may consider waiting to buy a second one. Only The iPad 2If you're on a tight-ish budget, you could really do worse than opting for the iPad 2. The base models of 16GB are available and you may have to hunt harder for models with more storage. The difference between the base model and higher ones is of storage and connectivity. A workaround for those who don't manage to get the 3G model: you can use your phone to create a wi-fi hotspot when you're outside of a w-ifi zone. Alternatively, there are small portable router devices that will also give your iPad connectivity when you're on the go. The iPad 2 wi-fi-only is Rs 24,500 and with 3G added is Rs 32,900. The new iPad equivalents are Rs 30,500 and Rs 38,900, so there is a difference. Only The New iPadIf you have the money and don't find the difference between the iPad 2 and new iPad enough of a deterrent against buying the new iPad, head for the new iPad. If you aren't worried about the teething problems people have talked of, make sure you have a warranty and your iPad will be replaced in case of any problems anyway. Buying the device "without bill" is not a good idea. The new iPad is available in 16-, 32-, and 64GB models. My recommendation would be to opt for the 32GB because apps may be getting a bit bigger and because you may store more visual data on the tablet because the enhanced resolution makes it nicer to play with photos and videos or keep hi definition movies around. Mala Bhargava is a personal technology writer and media professionalContact her at mala at pobox dot com and @malabhargava on Twitter
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Years ago, a fitness gadget would have meant a clunky pedometer sitting heavy in your pocket, measuring how many steps you took. Not any more, as fitness devices today blend in discreetly into your lifestyle, while packing in far more sophisticated internal hardware. So whether you want to track how many calories you're burning, or simply increase daily activity levels, these state-of-the-art gizmos will help you reach your goal. Now, if only one of these could knock all thatFitbit Ultra($99.95, fitbit.com): Small and highly portable, the Fitbit Ultra clips onto your shirt or jeans pocket and stays there all day, tracking calories burned, steps taken and distance travelled. And when you retire for the night, it records when you went to bed, how long it took for you to fall asleep, and how well you slept. For $99, you not only get a device packed with both an accelerometer and an altimeter, but also access to a website where you can add and track more data such as your weight goals, etc.Motorola MOTOACTV ($249.99, motoactv.com): If you're more serious about your fitness (and especially if you're a runner), the MOTOACTV from Motorola may be the one device you need. Part GPS-tracker, part body tracking device and part MP3 player, you wear the MOTOACTV like a watch. It cleverly measures and correlates and displays data from your workouts, such as the map of your route and your pace during each song on your playlist. And the coolest part – since it keeps track of what songs make you work out the hardest, it lets you build your own high-performance playlist. Plus, if you have a Motorola Android smartphone, you can download a free app to receive calls and texts during your workout directly on your MOTOACTV device. About as close as you can get to a personal-trainer-in-a-gadget!Nike+ FuelBand ($149, nike.com/fuelband): Very retro-chic and rather understated in its design, the Nike+ FuelBand stays strapped onto your wrist like a sporty wristband (with a snazzy LED dot matrix clock, no less) and collects data on how active you are in the day, such as how many calories you burned while walking, climbing or pretty much any activity other than swimming. Bear in mind, you will need a Nike+ compatible device such as an iPhone or an iPod touch to use the free iOS app/website and view your fitness efforts.Adidas Micoach Speed Cell ($69.99, micoach.com): Don't have a Nike+ compatible shoe and device? The Adidas micoach Speed Cell fits not only into compatible Adidas trainers but also onto any pair of standard running shoes. When activated, the device records running speed, distance and pace continuously for upto 7 hours, and you can transfer the data to your PC/Mac/smartphone/tablet using the supplied dongle, to pit your personal bests against your friends and family.Timex Health Touch (Rs. 3,995, timexindia.com): Place a finger on the bezel ring of your Timex Health Touch watch, and the watch detects your heart rate, handy for long distance running or cycling. It also tries to approximate calorie burning as well, but it isn't very accurate since it cannot factor in inclines. Pity also that the watch doesn't record any statistics whatsoever. Drivers Of Change Many folks fear losing the practically-antiquated CD/DVD drive when they're considering an ultrabook, and it's with these folks in mind that Samsung squeezed in a DVD drive into an ultrabook that's still only 0.8-inches thick. Outfitted with a 14-inch screen, the Series 5 ultrabook packs in a roomy hard drive instead of the low capacity solid state drives you normally get to see in ultrabooks.Using the Series 5 is a mixed bag. While the 1366 x 768 pixel display is a step down from other ultrabooks, the screen is super bright and great to use for almost any scenario. With the exception of the hard disk, the internals are the same as most ultrabooks around, and the inclusion of 16 gigabytes of express cache does its bit to accelerate the start-up process, reduce resume times and launch apps quickly. The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable to use as well. Net , the 14-inch screen and optical drive will appeal to folks who find their exclusion limiting, although I can't help but feel those numbers are dwindling, and it's nothing a cheap portable USB DVD drive (coupled with a faster ultrabook) can't fix. Quick Specs: 14-inch screen, 6GB RAM/ 1TB HDD with 16GB Express Cache, AMD Radeon 1GB Graphic Card and Super Multi DVD-RW Optical DriveRating: 7/10Price: Rs 54,390URL: http://bit.ly/LMNpX2 technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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A roomful of sound, and just the one visible speaker. That's the promise of soundbars, a recent phenomenon in the home AV market. Little wonder really, home theaters either meant dealing with professional installers or the prospect of meters of wires running all over your entertainment room and many hours trying to hide them all yet ensuring they're all plugged in correctly! Is there a catch to soundbars, though? I took the recently launched Bose Lifestyle 135 soundbar for a spin to find out.Unboxing the 135, the emphasis on simplicity is pretty evident — the package consists of a soundbar, a wireless Acoustimass module (for the really low frequencies) and a control console, which accepts all your AV sources including the bundled iPod dock. The soundbar can be placed either vertically alongside your TV or horizontally under your TV — a feature called Flexmount automatically adjusts the sound to compensate. The Unify setup system then holds your hand via on-screen messages/images while you go through the motions of connecting each new device and configuring it to work with the Bose remote. Connectivity options on the 135s console are rich — 4 HDMI inputs for audio and video, 2 HD audio and component/composite inputs, among others. There's USB too, but sadly doesn't play back audio or video (only photos), which means that you're still going to be plugging in an additional media player for all your video format compatibility.All these inputs get pushed out over one output to your TV, so your Bose console can be the one box that rules them all. A set of infrared emitters is also included in the retail package, so that you can keep all equipment hidden away in a cabinet and still control everything using the Bose remote. What's even more neat is that the Acoustimass module connects wirelessly to the soundbar, and only needs a power source, so it can be hidden away unobtrusively somewhere. The end result- a clean uncluttered room with the soundbar and the console the only signs something has changed.Once the system is plugged in and the sources are connected, Bose's AdaptiQ calibration system can analyse the dimensions of your room (including things like furniture that absorb sound) and intelligently adjusts the speaker's output to best deliver surround sound across the room. Performance is pretty great - you don't get the feeling you're dealing with a single speaker setup, and sound is dispersed evenly across the room. I wouldn't go so far as to rate it the best sound I've heard coming out a Bose system, but it performs above average across a range of movie and music audio.Which really begs the question - would you pay the asking price for the Lifestyle 135 when you could get a 5.1 system from Bose for thereabout the same price, just for the convenience of setup and somewhat arguable space saving? I'm guessing not. It's the price which lets the 135 down — while the design, aesthetics and setup are brilliant, putting down 1.8 lakhs for a soundbar setup is something only very few space-constrained-yet-wealthy folks will want to consider.Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 1,79,888URL: http://bit.ly/Hkmy8G QuickLook Nokia Asha 300Pros: Great build quality, 3G support, small and light, average resistive touchscreen, Angry Birds!Cons: Pricey (approx. Rs. 6000) for a Series 40 device given the great Android handsets in this price bracket, under utilised processor, poor 5MP camera, no Wi-FiURL: http://bit.ly/I4p1Tw LG Optimus SolPros:Impressive display, good camera performance and results, multimedia pro, average battery life, thin and lightCons: Plasticky build, no flash, no TV-out capabilities, jerky UI, not as feature rich as the competition for the price (Rs. 16990)URL: http://bit.ly/Hd2Tmh Screening The FutureGot a new tablet and want to eke out some more value from the device? Did you know that you could turn the iPad or an Android tablet into a second monitor for your PC/Mac and extend your screen estate? Imagine it'd be a boon for laptop users, wouldn't it? Now, with a few apps, you can make the iPad or Android tablet work in tandem with the PC/Mac, rather than let it languish unused when you're at your main computer. Here's what you need to do? Pick up one of the many apps —Air Display/iDisplay for the iPad or iDisplay/Screenslider for your Android tablet — install the accompanying server software on your Windows or Mac computer, and then run the app on your tablet. Simple, isn't it? (While there are some free alternatives, Air Display easily outpaces the options and is well worth the price.) You can then drag the Windows/Mac software you want to run on the secondary tablet display, and use the tablet touchscreen to interact with the software. Air Display adds in some additional functionality, such as the ability to mirror your desktop, so you can show someone what you're doing on your computer, say when you're teaching someone. Or you could use Photoshop on the secondary display and use a stylus to draw something on the screen, or even keep a stock market website open permanently on the tablet to keep an eye on the market while you work! Whatever the use you pick, the tablet screen is just the right size for parking instant messenger windows or other small but useful widgets and gadgets that you'd like to keep an eye on but don't want to clutter up your main screen with. Just keep in mind that you will need to be connected to a wireless network for all these apps to work, but you can read the link below to setup an ad-hoc wireless network if you're say at a coffee shop and don't have a wireless network handy. AirDisplay: http://bit.ly/Ib2GC1 ($9.99),ScreenSlider: http://bit.ly/HknLN8 ($0.99) and iDisplay: http://bit.ly/I0nn1H ($4.99)How to Setup an Ad-Hoc Wireless Network: http://bit.ly/IJ4FQWtechnocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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