Tech PIVI

SanDisk has launched a new range of products on Tuesday. The launch comprised of four USB pen drives and a high speed memory card. In addition to these products, SanDisk also introduced the SanDisk SecureAccess software that allows encryption and password protection for selected files on the USB drive. It also provides 2GB of online storage that can be accessed from any web browser. According to the company, the four USB flash drives namely SanDisk Extreme, Cruzer Glide, Cruzer Facet and Cruzer Pro are aimed and designed for the youth. The fifth product, SanDisk Extreme Pro has been labelled as the fastest microSD card in the world. SanDisk Extreme SanDisk Extreme is the fastest USB flash drive offered by SanDisk. Contrary to majority of the pen drives that are powered by USB 2.0, this one is USB 3.0 enabled. It can transfer and store files with a speed of up to 190MB/seconds, which means that a 3 GB file will be transferred on this pen drive in just 20 seconds and a 40 ...

Vodafone India has announced new 3G data plans for its subscribers. It is noteworthy, that other major telecom operators such as Reliance, Airtel, Aircel and Idea have already announced their revised tariffs and now Vodafone is following suit.  Vodafone's 3G plans start from Rs. 25 for 25MB data usage and go up to Rs. 1,599 for 12GB of data usage. For any usage beyond the stipulated data usage on each plan, the customers will be charged at the rate of 2p/10kb. The UK based telecom service provider also claims that its 'Pay As You Go' (PAYG) rate for prepaid customers is now the most competitive in the market. Now prepaid users will have to pay 2p/10kb, which is an 80 percent reduction from the existing rate. Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India without any additional charge. Commenting on these plans, Sanjoy Mukerji, Chief Commercial Officer said, "U...

India's GSM subscriber base grew by 1.08 percent in May, adding 7.27 million mobile phone users, with Bharti Airtel alone signing up over 2.01 million customers, according to data released by Cellular Operators Association of India. The total number of GSM subscribers in the country crossed 677.85 million as against 670.57 million in April. Airtel currently has 185 million subscribers. Idea Cellular followed Airtel by adding 1.8 million subscribers for a total of 116 million subscribers. Uninor, which stands to lose all its 22 licences cancelled following the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year, added 1.5 million subscribers to take its subscriber count to 45 million. Vodafone added 1.2 million users, taking its subscribers base to 152 million. Aircel added 0.8 million subscribers for a total of 64 million users. CDMA player Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), in a separate statement, said it added 2,54,995 customers in May to have a total customer base of ...

The website of state-run telecom company MTNL was disrupted by a hacking group to protest against "censorship" of the internet. MTNL's corporate website could not be accessed, following the attack since afternoon and officials said efforts were underway to restore it. However, its individual city-specific websites (for Delhi and Mumbai) were working. MTNL Delhi, Deputy - GM (Internet), Deepak Sharma said it was not hacking but 'denial of service attack' under which the server is unable to provide services to the customers. "The changes are being made and the website will be fully operational within the next 24 hours," Sharma told PTI. A post on the Anonymous Operation India web page claimed responsibility for the hacking saying "we are against Internet Censorship. Instead of blocking few URLs, the ISP (MTNL) blocked the whole domain of various file sharing websites." It has also asked netizens to wear 'Guy Fawkes' masks,...

Before we delve into the analysis of Max Payne 3, it would be important to understand that both Max Payne and its sequel were products of Remedy Entertainment. Remedy then sold the rights over to Rockstar Vancouver and continued on with Alan Wake. No one would have expected a company like Rockstar to serve another episode in the series, since it was never really thought to be associated with the arcade type action that was Max Payne. But it has definitely proved all critics wrong by successfully revamping a nine-year old franchise in style. The Story So Far A re-imagination of the classic franchise that enslaved millions, dragged us in to the frost ridden depths of New York City and the heart of the protagonist, the name Max Payne is well known in both hardcore and casual gamer circles. With its breakthroughs in graphic detailing, Max Payne was an early millennia marvel. The most engrossing part was the storyline and its narration by Max himself. The monologues were eno...

Xbox SmartGlass , the technology that lets you play and swap Xbox games between your console and your Windows 8 devices, may be coming sooner than you think. Microsoft just released the S oftware Development Kit  (SDK) to developers, giving them the tools they need to integrate the tech into their games and apps. Interested developers can download the SDK  here . It includes the Xbox SmartGlass Studio, which lets developers build  SmartGlass  actions; a SmartGlass JavaScript Library that contains device APIs to provide a consistent experience across platforms; and sample code. Microsoft   unveiled SmartGlass at E3, the annual gaming trade show. The feature promises to make your Xbox the center of any in-home entertainment experience. You can use it to push content from your phones and tablets to your   Xbox 360   console, and vice versa. In addition to Windows 8 devices, Microsoft said it would develop apps for iOS and Android. ...

Escape Apple's limitations and jailbreak your iDevice to get access to unique apps, themes, and customizations with this simple guide. Courtsey : www.cnet.com

IBM has won back the world supercomputer crown with the Sequoia, which has topped the most recent list of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world. The race for supercomputer bragging rights is the 21st century's version of the space race, both between companies and between countries, analyst Rob Enderle remarked. "But these bragging rights can open the door for billions of dollars in follow-on business." IBM 's (NYSE: IBM) Sequoia supercomputer has headed up the most recent   Top500 list   of the world's fastest supercomputers. The list, released on Monday at the 2012 International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany, is compiled twice a year. Sequoia has overtaken Fujitsu's K Computer, installed at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan. IBM's supercomputer chalked up 16.32 petaflops using almost 1.6 million cores. The K Computer hit 10.51 petaflops using just over 705,000 processing cores. A ...

Web users in India are once again able to access video and file-sharing sites, including The Pirate Bay. Activists argued that the original internet legislation amounted to censorship.   The country's Madras High Court has changed its earlier censorship order which centred on the issue of internet copyright. The original ruling made Indian internet service providers (ISPs) block access to entire sites to prevent a single film from being shared online. The new order was issued following an appeal filed by a consortium of ISPs. It states that only specific web addresses - URLs - carrying the pirated content should be blocked, but not the entire website. "The order of interim injunction dated 25/04/2012 is hereby clarified that the interim injunction is granted only in respect of a particular URL where the infringing movie is kept and not in respect of the entire website," reads the updated decision. "Further, the applicant is directed to inform about...

A camera capable of creating images with "unprecedented detail" has been unveiled by US engineers. The prototype machine - dubbed AWARE2 - has the potential to take pictures with resolutions of up to 50 gigapixels, equivalent to 50,000 megapixels,  according to the team from Duke University in North Carolina . It works by synchronising 98 tiny cameras in a single device. The machine is likely to be used first for military surveillance. In its current state the researchers say it can take one gigapixel images at up to three frames per minute. Undetected images The camera was developed by a team led by engineer David Brady and Michael J. Fitzpatrick, professor of Electric Engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, along with scientists from the University of Arizona, and the University of California. They received funding from Darpa - the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The prototype camera itself is two-and-half feet s...

TAIPEI—PCMag is getting ready to decamp back to our head offices in New York City following an exciting week here covering Computex 2012. The largest technology trade show in Asia, and the second largest in the world, was a show case for lots of interesting products and highlighted some key trends that will undoubtedly continue to play a role in the months and years to come. Hopefully we've given you a good idea over the last several days of some of the most important things the show announced or produced. But what were our favorites? That's more difficult to answer. Because this year's Computex wasn't about making a lot of news, aside from incessant chatter about Windows 8 (maybe you've heard of it?), there weren't truckloads of new computers to see aside from the ultrabooks and tablets that every major company now apparently feels they have to put out. So, although we picked a few specific items we got to see and play with, we also selected some of the ...

Los Angeles:  Microsoft seems to have gotten the design and form factor right with its new Surface tablet computer. But the user interface, not so much. That's an odd conclusion to make about a device from a software company that usually lets others do the manufacturing. Still, that's how I felt after feeling the heft of the device, examining it from all sides and making a few swipes at the screen. The Surface has a touch keyboard cover that feels great and, to me, is a big step forward for tablets. The tablet's software interface, however, seems non-intuitive and sluggish. Microsoft is clearly straddling the uncomfortable divide between the old world of mice and keyboards, where it dominates, and a future ruled by touch screens, where Apple and Android devices prevail. Although the Surface won't go on sale until this fall, I had the chance to spend a few minutes with some devices in a group demonstration after Microsoft unveiled them in Los Angeles on...

Sony Ericsson released some nice mid-range Android smartphones last year in the form of Xperia neo, Xperia Ray and neo V and now Sony (sans Ericsson) is trying to achieve the same this year. The Japanese manufacturer launched three mid-range devices this year at Mobile World Congress to cater to almost every consumer in the price-segment. Sony Xperia sola is one of the three devices to be launched in India recently. Priced at Rs 20,449, it brings 1GHz dual-core processor, 3.7-inch Floating Touch display (more on this later), 5MP camera and Android 2.3 to the table, but is this enough to make the consumers go for it over the competition in the market? We will find out in this review. Hardware:  Sony has followed a fixed design style for all of its 2012 smartphone launches apart from Xperia sola, which offers a distinct basic design that might not win design awards but is pretty decent. There is no transparent bar or curved back, but Xperia sola comes with ...