Every February, the GSM Association pulls together a big bash for anyone under the cellphone sun in an event we've come to know as Mobile World Congress. Hosted across eight different halls at the Fira de Barcelona — not to mention countless off-site locations — MWC plays host to the biggest phone announcements of the year. I take stock of the recently concluded MWC 2012 to bring you the key trends I've noticed coming out of this event.Camera's Are Back, Baby: Jaws dropped when Nokia unveiled the new 808 PureView, a phone with a 41-megapixel camera. Yes, no misprint there — the star of the show was a forty-unbelievable-one megapixel shooter from Nokia that allows you to never need optical zoom on a phone again — you simply zoom into the image since it's that detailed! Oddly enough, this may be the innovation that noone's going to buy, since the 808 is based on the older Symbian operating software that is rapidly falling out of favor even within Nokia. How about a PureView for your Windows Mobile devices, Nokia?Big, Bigger, Biggest: While Apple still pushes a 3.5-inch display in its devices, you'd be hard pressed at MWC to find a phone manufacturer who's not pushing displays that are at least an inch bigger, if not more. Forget the 5-inch Galaxy Note, Samsung launched a 10.1-inch version of the Note. Add that to LG's giant Optimus 4X HD and the Sony Xperia P's 4-inch screen, and it quickly becomes clear that smaller displays are so 2011. The effect isn't just to make the phone bigger — screens now stretch all the way to the edge, and the one phone launch conspicuous by its absence — the hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy SIII — is set to do away with a border altogether. Time to stitch bigger pockets?Horsepower Is Everything: Remember how dual-cores processors dominated phones in 2011? If you want to be a contender in the smartphone game, it appears the bar has just been raised — it's either quad-core or nothing! MWC saw LG launching the Optimus 4X HD, which was followed in close succession by HTC's One X and ZTE's Era devices — all three share the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor in common. With quad-cores high on the spec list for 2012 phones, consumers can expect to see better performance in computing-intensive tasks such as full-motion video games. And finally, these processors also ship with low power modes to increase battery life – a common complaint on these monsterphones. The Tegra 3 for example packs an extra processor that can be used for simple everyday tasks such as phone calls, emails and music playback without sacrificing battery life. Genuine question to all phone makers though: with your phones packing quad-core chips, where are the entertainment apps meant to stress even today's dual-core phones?Android Is Everywhere: You can't throw a stone at Fira de Barcelona without it hitting a vendor with an Android offering. Google is everywhere and every major vendor, including LG, Samsung, Sony and Motorola, is offering Android-based handsets and tablets. Also interesting was that at CES 2012 just over a month prior, there was a near total lack of devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. MWC saw Android 4.0 everywhere, with every brand flaunting the newest software on board. Expect other operating systems like Windows Phone 7 to see more love next year.NFC: For a technology that's been around for a while now, NFC really hasn't had much of a showing in the cellphone segment, with Nokia and RIM making some noise about it every now and then. At Mobile World Congress, Acer, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Orange, Samsung and ZTE all announced smartphones that can come with NFC. Hopefully this will drive the consumer apps that can change consumer reception about NFC. Asus Padfone Cheaper Smartphones: While the big guns did get the lion's share of attention, there were also some interesting announcements in the "non-quad-core-5-inch-screen" category, i.e. the category for the rest of us who don't crave the latest and greatest (or simply cant afford to!). Nokia announced the Windows Phone-based Lumia 610, which at about $250 will give users the one of the lowest entry points to buy into the Windows Phone platform. Intel's also announced the 1GHz Z2000 processor which should drive cheaper smartphones in the next 12 months – having missed the bus on the mobile space, Intel would be more than eager to make up for lost ground, so expect interesting announcements in this space in the months to come.Convergence Or Oddity: Is the Galaxy Note 10.1 an oversized phone or a tablet with an identity-crisis? Whichever way you look at it, converged devices made a strong showing at MWC. The most interesting was the Asus Padfone, which is an Android smartphone that docks into a tablet (the Padfone Station). At Mobile World Congress Asus announced that the Padfone Station will also be able to dock into a keyboard just like the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The keyboard dock essentially turns the phone into an ultraportable laptop and provides 9 times the original phone's battery. Think of the benefits — you carry essentially one device at all times, all your data is always synced (it's still one device powering the whole experience) and the form factor changes to meet your needs. Impressive, to say the least.iPad 3: Of course, Apple wasn't there at MWC, but the next iPad's shadow loomed over MWC, with just about every tablet maker trying to second-guess what Apple would do with the iPad, and beat them at that game. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 10.1, a 10.1-inch tablet with a stylus that can be used to draw or write on the screen, while Asus had their Padfone. And just as Google's Eric Schmidt took the stage for the keynote, Apple dropped the bomb and announced the iPad launch event. Classic show-stealing tactic that had many industry watchers chuckling at the timing.technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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Six years. It's been that long since Sony first launched the PlayStation Portable that delivered console style gaming with a vast library of mini-disc format games that you could carry with you on the move. Cut to 2012, and portable gaming has changed, and how! With casual gaming ruling smartphone charts and tablets and phones pushing out enough pixels to be mean gaming machines themselves, just how much space is left for the seemingly anachronistic PlayStation Vita?Think of how much gaming firepower a premium smartphone packs in, and you realise the Vita isn't hugely portable by any modern standard. But it is sleek, I'll give it that, and the build of the device is sturdy enough to let the kids have a go at the new toy. You did buy it for them, didn't you? The curvy oval shape of the PSP returns, and this baby measures over 7 inches from end to end! It's a device that certainly won't go unnoticed – the massive 5-inch OLED display has seen to that. This is the kind of screen that elicits superlatives – not only is the touchscreen extremely responsive, but it pops with rich colors and gorgeous in-game details as well. Just as well, since the touchscreen is the primary method of input outside of games. Flanking the screen are the two analogue sticks, a camera plus the familiar D-pad and the traditional PlayStation buttons. Two analogue sticks are plenty fun during games, allowing far more accurate control, but they also stick out of the Vita's surface in a somewhat ungainly fashion. What's interesting is that Sony's kitted the Vita with a rear touchpad to allow you to interact with the console without crowding the screen with your fingers. It doesn't see too much use, but it has definite potential.Under the hood beats hardware that rival the best in the business, with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU and the PowerVR Series5XT SGXMP+ chip providing the processing and graphical chops to handle all of the Vita's launch titles with consummate ease. Pity that I didn't really take to the Vita's new menu system – while the large circular icons are easy to use, it just isn't fitting for a device packing such power. It almost comes across as…kiddish.But let's face it, the gaming is real reason you've read so far, isn't it? Among the 20+ launch titles, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is the clear star of the lineup, and playing it on the Vita feels very natural and involving, almost at a level comparable to the console version of this game. Some others are hit-and-miss, but you have to give it to the Vita for bringing a console-level experience to a handheld. Sure, the iPhone and iPad fare well, but their size — too small or too ungainly – becomes an issue for extended gameplay. The Vita nails it on this front. The pricing is a letdown though – at nearly Rs 20,000 for the base model and with games starting at Rs 2,199, not to mention pricey proprietary memory cards to extend memory, the Vita is a downright pricey proposition. Rating: 8/10Price: Rs 19,990 (Wi-Fi), Rs 24,990 (Wi-Fi + 3G)URL: http://bit.ly/wAHaYm Rectified And Reinvented If you're one of the many who snagged a PlayBook during its recent price drops, you're in luck. With the release of PlayBook OS 2.0, RIM has plugged a number of gaping holes in the PlayBook's portfolio and added some features that will breathe new life into the otherwise well-specced tablet. With 2.0, the PlayBook finally gets a calendar and email client integrated with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and the Bridge App that earlier let you sync up with your Blackberry contacts and email now adds remote control functionality, so you can control your tablet via Bluetooth from your Blackberry smartphone. Social integration with the new Calendar and Contacts apps is pretty neat as well. Perhaps the most vaunted feature in 2.0 is the inclusion of the integrated Android App Player for running ported apps from Android on the PlayBook. You get these apps from the App World just like other PlayBook apps, but for now, one can't really see too many well known Android apps. A good dose of Android apps could change the game for the PlayBook, and finally give this little power-packed tablet its due. URL: http://bit.ly/AzLZJl technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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The Best Camera Is The One That's With You"Most professional photographers know this maxim from ace photographer Chase Jarvis to be true, despite the several thousand dollar camera that's hanging off their shoulders. What good is a fancy digital SLR that's just too bulky to be around when you need it? More often than not, the camera most folks have most at hand isn't a point-and-shoot or a dSLR, but a smartphone, and with the likes of the Nokia N8 and the iPhone 4S, that's a pretty good camera to have at hand, if you ask me! Here are some tips that can help you make the most of the images you shoot from your smartphone camera.Light Is Right: The biggest downside of shooting with a smartphone is the teeny image sensor it packs in, and while some handle low light better, any smartphone could do with more light streaming in. When outdoors, shoot with the sun behind you as far as possible, and while indoors, keep the lights on and you're back to the windows (if open).Know Your (phone) Camera: Each smartphone behaves and responds differently when you click the shutter, and you should know your phone's shutter lag and account for it. Hold the camera steady until the picture has been captured, and if there's a dedicated camera button on your phone, use it – jabbing at the touchscreen will only shake your phone and blur your photo.Start Me Up: If your phone doesn't have a dedicated camera button that lets you start up your camera really quick, you're going to end up missing a whole number of Kodak moments. At the very least, ensure that the camera icon is right on your phone home screen so you're not digging around in app folders looking for the camera icon.Clean Your Lens: Phones spend their lives in grubby pockets, so give your lens a wipe before you start shooting. Obvious but rather easily forgotten advice.Ready, Steady…: Camera phones are especially prone to shake and blur. Try and keep a good, steady grip on your phone while shooting, or use a nearby wall or table as a makeshift brace. If you shoot often, you may want to consider a dedicated cell phone tripod such as the Gorilla mobile from Joby. Also check if your camera app comes with a stable shot setting – which uses your phone's accelerometer to measure how much you're shaking the camera, and won't snap the picture until your hand has been steady for a certain amount of time. Very handy!Follow The Rules: It may be a small camera, but common photography rules apply here as well. For example, the rule of thirds — dividing the frame into a 3x3 grid and placing the subject along one of the lines, rather than dead center — applies to shooting with cell phones too. See the difference it can make.Keep It Uncluttered: Your cell phone camera is easily overwhelmed with unnecessary detail that crops into a picture, a complicated background for example. Try to keep the background uncluttered so that the focus can remain on your subject. And since the phone is so compact, you can exploit its size by trying interesting angles that you couldn't possibly try with a dSLR. Give it a shot!Flash Is Your Friend: Most folks think of using the flash only in the evening, and it goes against conventional wisdom to use the flash in broad daylight. Not entirely. If your phone has a fill-flash function, you can use it in bright daylight to provide even lighting on your subjects, useful in cases when there is very harsh sunlight falling directly on your subject.Say No To Digital Zoom: I can't stress this enough. If you care about the details in your photos, don't use digital zoom. Instead, walk closer to the subject or use an image editor on your PC to zoom in later. Zoom with your feet, as they say.Find Your (soul)App: There are literally scores of apps you can install on most platforms that can enhance the final results of your photos, but you will have to experiment a bit (or a lot!) to find the app (or three) best suited for your taste. Apps like Photoshop, FxCamera and Instagram are great to start of with, though.Dig Into Settings: Most new phones allow you to tweak settings like white balance, ISO (sensitivity to light) or High Dynamic Range — try these out and remember to change them when you're taking the next shot. The improvement in detail and colors alone will be worth the planning!And finally, shoot, shoot and shoot — take tons of pictures. The more pictures you take, the better you'll get to know the strengths and weaknesses of your phone's camera. On The Steep Side The Xtreme in its name is about right, what with the radical X-shaped design that the JBL OnBeat Xtreme sports, not to mention a particularly heavy price-tag. So what do you get in an iPod/iPhone/iPad dock that costs almost as much as an entry-level iPad? A well-built dock that looks and plays the part with your Apple devices, and excellent audio performance, possibly the best I've heard from a dock when it comes to mid-ranges and the bass output. It also packs in Bluetooth music streaming capabilities and USB, aux in/out and video connectivity options. Though it has basic controls on the speaker itself, there's a remote that comes with the dock, but it's far too laggy for my liking. All in all, a comprehensive but pricey sound solution for your iDevices. Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 25,000URL: http://bit.ly/A89RjQ technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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Canada-based Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, needs good news like we need oxygen. Once secure in the unique advantages of its products and snug in its cocoon of complacency, RIM woke up too late and rubbed its blurry eyes to note that big fat competition had all but gobbled up its share of the smartphone space. What's more, the iPad had meanwhile begun to redefine computing and mobility. Well, RIM decided to come back with an innovation of its own: the Playbook. At first glance, the eminently holdable, carryable Playbook with its multitasking, Flash, and gesture-based interface, looked like a fitting comeback. But oh, shock of shocks: the Playbook didn't have what was most signature to RIM - an email client, contacts, calendar, your data. Plus it was buggy, but that was small compared to the fact that these core functions were missing. You could only access them if you bridged with your BlackBerry phone. And oh, you had to do that anyway if you wanted connectivity on the go and were out of a wifi zone.Unbelievably, there were also no apps in its app-land, which I recollect someone as describing as a desert. Of course the Playbook didn't sell. Not until they slashed prices, causing the company a loss of — and two CEOs. RIM said it could and would fix everything. New operating system, lots of apps, even if it had to get them from Android, all the email and calendar you wanted, and no bugs. The world waited and waited, though not necessarily with bated breath, because meanwhile a spate of tablets in all sizes began flooding the market — and the iPad 2 looked down from its throne at them all. A rock-bottom stock, a riot, a stampede, a service outage and a new CEO later, Research In Motion has put its Playbook through the defibrillator and brought it back to life with all that it had promised. Finally. Now, when the iPad is about to go into its version 3 and Samsung, HTC and others have carpeted the place with tablets (with more being unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona even as we speak), the Playbook has been relaunched with earnest — and some new features. What's NewThe Playbook's operating system (just called OS 2.0 right now) has been upgraded to what RIM says is a hint at what the eventual BlackBerry 10 system will look like. Those who already own the Playbook can update free and will find that finally, the tablet has what it should have all along: email, calendar, and contacts. What this Messages area has additionally though, is social integration. Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin messages can be seen from within these core apps. You can't update your status etc from here though. One nice feature is tabbed email with which you can reference one email while you compose another, or put an email you're in the middle of composing on hold, while you type out a quick response to another message. The Playbook's OS 2.0 keyboard includes predictive text, which helps you get things done faster — or get annoyed, as the case may be. The calendar is more informative and relevant with information about what you need to do, reminders and even a one glance idea of how busy you are on going by the size of the dates. Like the inbox, which pulls together all messages, including from multiple accounts you might want to configure, the calendar pulls in information from personal and work appointments, along with social integration. There's also an interesting People View with which you can see your LinkedIn contacts. I'm very happy that the Playbook can do email and calendars — in fact, you could get notifications in stereo from both Playbook and smartphone and figure out which you want to grab — but there's still something deeply ironic about email just arriving on a tablet when the world is seriously talking about whether it's time for email to die of old age. True that the Playbook has moved on from there and included more social integration than other tablets have — and that's nice for those who already own the Playbook -- but you can't sell a tablet on the basis of social integration. Contacts is also rich with information, including on meetings and quick access to video chat. Blackberry Playbook The second critical new thing is the Android player, which is meant to plug in the app gap. This has been a long-promised addition to the Playbook, getting to the point where there was much scepticism about whether RIM would pull off Android apps on its tablets at all. At the moment, there is an infusion of Android apps, but not a significant amount. It is worth mentioning though that RIM has other interesting and powerful apps in the field of medicine, banking, loyalty and retail and other professional domains. Reviewers benchmarking the Playbook's performance say it is now faster and smoother, though it still has some bugs. But the one feature that's really nice and that works well is the updated BlackBerry Bridge which lets users make a remote of their BlackBerry smartphones. With this in place you can control the Playbook, even inputting text to it through the phone's keyboard (which after all, has been one of the key reasons users love their BlackBerrys). Potential uses are controlling a presentation or output to TV via the Playbook. What's MissingSo is the Playbook now on par with other tablets around? I'm going to take refuge in an American cliché by saying the jury is still out on that one. Is it too little too late? Is it enough? Well, you can't be blamed for scratching your head over why there is still no BBM on the updated Playbook. And why you can only video chat with another Playbook. And why Angry Birds only came to the BlackBerry AppWorld recently and it still has no Skype. The top 50 most-used Android apps are, in fact, still not available. Connectivity is via wifi and that is obviously not going to change through a software update, so if you're on the go, you tether with your smartphone or even a portable wi-fi device. Who Is The Playbook For?There's no question that owners of the original Playbook should update. It's free and adds immense functionality to your tablet. But what about anyone thinking of buying the Playbook now? The Playbook is, after all, not only a robust piece of hardware, but not as expensive as some at Rs 19,990 for the 64GB model.If you already have a BlackBerry phone, you're in business, able to do most things that tablets do in both the work and wonderful time-wasting category. However, stop for a moment to think of whether you will want to carry two devices if your smartphone is one of the larger models. Speaking for myself, I am a big-phone-big-tablet person as long as the big phone doesn't exceed 4.5 inches. Each user will find a certain combination suits. Some people are, after all, only keen on carrying a small holdable phone with just enough to call and message. You could also factor in whether your BlackBerry is a company assigned phone or your own and what phone you think you might like to use in the near future. If you don't own a BackBerry phone, explore other tablets, though not discounting this one if you really like the form factor and the responsive gesture-based way you will interact with the tablet. The Playbook, like the smartphone though, works within the closed BlackBerry ecosystem, so the two devices are best paired.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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Pico projectors, or pocket projectors as they're more commonly referred to, have always walked a fine line, much like any other ultra-miniaturised product. Make them too small, and they typically scrimp on features and picture quality; make them feature rich and they're just too bulky to carry everywhere. Can 3M's latest model, the feature-rich-on-paper MP180 manage to deliver on both counts? Read on to find out!Form factor wise, the MP180 is indeed large by the usual pack of playing cards standards for this segment, and it's closer in size to a biggish torch, with most of the size taken up by the huge battery. Pocket projector this isn't, though it will still fit very comfortably into a big jacket pocket or just about any small bag. The finish is rubbery, which makes it easy to handle even for the clumsiest of hands.Thanks to its size, connectivity options abound on this baby, so you get a mini-USB port and a VGA/AV port that can take a variety of connectors via adapter cables. Included in the box are a D-Sub adapter and a composite video/stereo audio adapter, along with a USB cable, and a nice little desktop tripod. The projector even features a slot for adding a microSD card, which allows you to add extra capacity to the already impressive 4GB memory built in. This ability is a big win — being able to store presentations, slide shows and videos is hugely convenient, and it supports playback of PPT, XLS, PDF along with a host of other popular office and movie/music formats. Couple this with the two-hour battery backup, and you really don't have to carry a laptop or any cables to the presentation!Fancier still is the fact that this projector packs in Bluetooth file transfer capabilities and … wait for this… built in Wi-Fi so that you can access the Internet and access a presentation or streamed content you've stored on your website! Of course, the most obvious extra is the 2.4inch color LCD screen on top of the unit. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it — you could browse the contents of the built-in memory or load up a website before projecting it onto the nearest flat surface? Except that the MP180 is let down by a horribly poor touchscreen experience. We've been spoiled silly by modern capacitive touchscreens, and the MP180's resistive touchscreen requires more than a firm prod to use. While the menus are still navigable, the text entry experience — say for entering a Wi-Fi password or a website address — is abominably poor. Plus, the MP180 often seems a bit anaemic under the hood, and you're left waiting for menus to appear several seconds after you've quit an application.All the fancy doodads (and the one large bugbear) won't matter if performance is poor, and the MP180 delivers an above average experience. It's bright enough for a 40-inch display in a darkish room, and colors are vibrant and accurate. Contrast is a little disappointing, but that impacts movie viewing more than the office experience. Recommended for the suits who need the capability and the portability.Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 29,900URL: http://bit.ly/yC12Jy Multitasking Mouse Most homes are running out of space, and the consumer electronics industry is responding in good measure, what with the surfeit of all-in-one products — multi-function printers, integrated screen-PC combos and the like. Which is why LG's LSM-100 is such a big (actually rather small) deal — it's one part mouse, one part scanner — talk of multitasking! It looks no different than the average mouse, perhaps a tad taller, but completely forgiven given that it's packing in a hand-scanner underneath. Once you install the bundled software and select the scanning resolution, all you have to do is hold down the Smart Scan button and you're ready to scan documents and photos. It takes some getting used to for best results, but the practice is well worth it. Best, because the device isn't constrained by size like a traditional scanner, users can use it to scan documents larger than what most portable scanners can handle (LG tops its capacity at A3 sized-pages. The scanned image can be saved in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, XLS, DOC and PDF format and shared to a multitude of social networks. I quite liked its OCR text recognition technology – with this, you can scan and then have the text available for editing/use in a word processor later. At 3,500, this isn't meant for heavy scanning use, since there's a lot more manual work involved for each scan. A good option for households or businesses with a space crunch and the odd-scanning job to do. Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 3,500URL: http://bit.ly/xYajbZ technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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Normally, it gets my goat when a newsperson ends a controversial report with: Clearly, there are many questions — but no easy answers. But when it comes to freedom of speech and the Internet, I have to agree.The right to free speech, both offline and online, has been mired in a tangle of issues for the past few weeks. No one needs reminding of the numerous instances they have focussed on — from the political to the religious to the nonsensical. But the question of the licence to say and do what you like online saw a recent resurfacing when Mr. Sibal raked it up, calling for some kind of regulation of content by the social networks because there was obnoxious and offensive material being churned out. And the latest in the saga of speech is Twitter's new tweet censoring policy, which has outraged many. There are obviously many positions on whether the social web should mean free speech. At one end of the spectrum are users who believe that the Internet is synonymous with free expression. But take pause for a bit and see if you think hardened criminals from within a prison taunting their victims on Facebook is acceptable. Consider whether you think pro-Nazi posts on the social networks (still found without much effort searching) should remain. And there's worse, of course, but many netizens' belief that the Internet will cleanse itself and automatically ignore or weed out the rot, may not be founded in practicality.At the other end of the spectrum of free speech are those people who will react at the slightest imagined provocation. Just go up on the terrace and try shouting ‘I love Bombay' a few times. Because the agenda is control. The already complex problem of what our rights should be on the Internet are further muddled by the different motives coming into the fray. Those who have a vested interest in gaining or retaining power are obviously uncomfortable with opinion becoming rampant online without their blessing. They would far prefer to manipulate it, not hesitating to use the same medium and social networks to push their own opinion. But there are some things that the power mongers should realise. Online, they're dealing with a more aware audience. People who have access to different ideas and influences, people who have really made the Internet what it is, and most importantly, people who have found their voice. Barging in to silence them will only mean they will find another way. Discontent may be expressed on the Internet; it isn't born because of it. Trace it back deep enough and it comes from what is happening in everyday lives. Trample on people hard and long enough, and no Twitter censorship of tweets will prevent the repercussions; but only delay them.As far as Twitter goes, in agreeing to hide tweets in countries where a request is made to do so, is only safeguarding and furthering its commercial interests.That brings us to the other set of powers — the "sovereigns of the Internet", as they're sometimes called; the big companies that also want to control everything. The tussle, here too, is that companies often act without the buy-in of their users — users without whom they are nothing. It's not unthinkable that there should be repercussions there too. How Twitter's selective untweets will work, is not yet clear, but of course, workarounds are already being posted online. On top of all this, we have allowed ourselves to live in an age of fear, where t turns out our speech is not half as free as we thought it was. This is because the threat of violence can always hold it to ransom. This is by no means a byproduct of the Internet, but a reality on the ground. Neither authorities nor netizens nor citizens have managed to do anything about this. And so, "hurt sentiments" can be called up any time to curtail freedom of expression. Your art is not my art. Your religion is not my religion. Your temple is not where I would go. New agendas, new misconceptions, new time-wasting reactions make a messy scenario worse. The world is not of one mind and no one agrees on what is right and what is wrong. How do we expect to decide it for the Internet? And the ever-present question: who is to decide it? But decide it we must, because just as we need some regulations to get along n society, we need some agreement on what goes on the internet. Not the laws and rules rotting in government archives, but rules made by stakeholders who want to shape the Internet to be a shade better than ‘real life' sometimes is. What those rules will be, I can't say. As they say on Facebook, "It's Complicated." mala@pobox.com, @malabhargava on Twitter (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 13-02-2012)
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ViewPad, Optimus Pad, Eee Pad, TouchPad. Clearly, adding a "Pad" in a tablet's name isn't enough to emulate the success of the iPad. But what if it's a ThinkPad? Does Lenovo's ThinkPad tablet live up to its hallowed name, or fall by the wayside? With a name like that, you really shouldn't be surprised the ThinkPad tablet's design is a serious throwback to the original IBM ThinkPad notebooks. A raven-black shell, soft matte finish, sturdy build but not the lightest (at 715 grams) or the slimmest (at 14mm) around the block — oh so ThinkPad, isn't it? That said, with its rounded edges, the tablet is comfortable to hold in the hand and the almost rubberised finish doesn't just feel great but also provides a secure grip and is quite rugged. Plain Jane looks aside, this is one tablet that really feels like the serious productivity tablet it claims to be. Straight off, aside from the mini-HDMI-out, SD card and SIM slots, you get a full-sized USB port that you can attach a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, or a keyboard/mouse. Also, noticeably different from the other button-less Honeycomb tablets is the ThinkPad's row of four physical buttons — to lock the screen orientation, launch the browser, a back and a home key — that would have been rather handy had they not been so stiff to operate. Getting to the ThinkPad's screen, this one packs in an almost defacto-for-premium-tablets 10.1in 1,280x800 pixel, IPS display, which features excellent viewing angles and pretty accurate colour reproduction. Front and rear cameras are also part of the package, but to be honest, the rear 5MP one produces the usual mediocre results I've come to expect from tablets, while the 2MP shooter is usable for the video chatting/conferencing needs. Possibly the real star of the show is the Tablet Pen, which lets you scribble notes in the Notes Mobile app or mark up PDFs or doodle in one of many drawing apps available. I used it during a meeting, and it managed to almost completely decipher my cursive scrawl — quite the accomplishment given how years of keyboards have taken their toll on my handwriting! And I personally love the really cute touch, topping off that pen with a red cap a la the signature pointing stick you'd find on any ThinkPad notebook. The icing on the cake is Lenovo's optional keyboard folio case, which provides one of the best typing experiences available on a tablet by combining a keyboard into a protective case. A full set of dedicated Android shortcut keys is provided along with media controls and Page Up/Down. You also get what looks like a traditional ThinkPad TrackPoint at first, but actually is an optical trackpad. Comes in handy on occasion, and it's safe to say the whole package is about the closest to a laptop experience I've seen on a tablet. Combined with the Pen, the folio case really takes the ThinkPad Tablet to the next level in terms of productivity. Meanwhile, on the software end, you get pre-installed productivity apps, note-taking/OCR and antivirus apps, remote monitoring and wiping apps, plus access to Lenovo's dedicated and carefully vetted app store. Stuff IT managers will simply lap up. Net, there's a lot to like about the ThinkPad. It offers good battery life, a good display and neat add-ons like the USB port and the Pen that really help with taking work on the road. Buy the optional folio case with keyboard built in, and you get possibly the best typing experience this side of a ThinkPad notebook, albeit on a tablet this time around! Bear in mind its chunky profile will deter some buyers looking for the slimmest tab on the market, but the feature set sets it apart as the most versatile option on the market.Rating: 8/10Price: Rs 29,500 (16GB,WiFi), Rs 41,900 (32GB, 3G), Rs 46,900 (64GB, 3G)URL: http://bit.ly/zLCgt5 Fashionable Calling A good pair of headphones often make you look like an air traffic controller when you wear them. Not the case with the Jabra HALO2, which looks more like a slightly oversized hairband, in a seriously stylish sort of way. The cans fold away for decent portability — this also switches them off (and on), which is neat — but the durability of the folding flaps worries me just a wee bit. Not the kind you'd want to throw into a backpack crammed full of stuff. Pair the HALO2 over Bluetooth with your laptop or smartphone, and with its support for the AVRCP Bluetooth connection type, you can control the music playback options (track change, play/pause) from the headphones itself. Looking good does come with some compromise on the audio front. While the talk time for this headset isn't half bad at around 8 hours, the lack of an external microphone means that voice quality on the other end is just about average, as is the music listening experience. Strictly recommended only for the fashion-conscious. Rating: 7/10Price: Rs 6,499URL: http://bit.ly/w73X6H Extended Support If you work on a laptop for extended durations, a notebook stand is one of the best investments you can make for your health, not to mention your laptop's. Try the Cooler Master Notepal Ergostand — it combines a cooling pad, notebook stand and a USB hub, all rolled into a package that's built like a tank. Not only does it bring the laptop up to an ergonomically correct height on your table, but the fan-cooled base also regulates your notebook's temperature, and the cable management clips are a welcome touch. URL: http://bit.ly/w8Nk9hPrice: Rs 3,000 technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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Facebook has finally filed for its much anticipated IPO, in a bid to raise $5 billion, leading to a possible valuation of the company of $75 to 100 billion.At the same time, CEO, Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook isn't really a company and isn't about maximising profits. Easy to say when you could soon be among the richest people in the world and already own a private jet - at the tender age of 27. Zuckerberg was addressing shareholders in a letter, describing Facebook as a company to whom profits were secondary, "We don't build services to make money," Zuckerberg wrote. "We make money to build better services." You would think usually, investors would want to hear about growth plans, but Zuckerberg isn't usual and in laying out Facebook's values he's trying to show the strength of the company's fundamentals. Among the driving principles that he said should shape every Facebook employee's behaviour was to always think of Facebook as a social mission; a way to make the world more connected, more open, and a better place.When Zuckerberg mentioned how he wanted Facebook to be a platform where governments could connect with people, I couldn't help thinking of how far, especially at the moment, we were from this vision in the country. In fact, you could almost say that our powers that be have distanced themselves further with social media. When so many in governance have a silent or top-down style, increasingly alienating at least the middle class, Facebook should have been a godsend and helped them to somehow connect, even in some measures, with people. Last week, India added 5,452,980 more users to beat Indonesia. Instead, they went the route of mostly broadcasting their views on social media at the same time trying to tame it, losing out on an opportunity to connect at a time when all we hear is negative and all we see is vituperous election speeches and bickering spokespersons on television. It doesn't take time — only will.It is not surprising then to find that many political leaders have what I think of as a negative footprint on social media.Instead of pages where they could sometimes — even for fifteen whole minutes a week — say something to ordinary people, you'll find collections of fake pages, snarky comments, and well, the hate pages are taken down else you would have found those as well. A handful are regular on Twitter though some not in their own capacity and even fewer are actually engaging with people. Those who do, definitely see a different connect with people than those who stay off or merely maintain a lofty presence. If they had been active, the very thought of the Prime Minister say, using Instagram photos from a trip around the country, wouldn't be such a bizarre idea. Barack Obama does it — and surely he's just as busy.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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