How to stop Google Now for iOS from accessing your location in the background and causing battery drain

While Google Now coming to iOS was a welcome news to users who were not able to experience the interactive service on their iPhones, a number of users have been reporting a drop in their iPhone's battery backup after using the service through the Google search app. Users have also reported seeing the location services icon on their phone's status bar even when they're not using the app.

Google Now offers snippets of information including traffic alerts, directions and other location based services that make use of the iPhone's Location Services to offer relevant information to users based on their current location. Google Now also uses location services in the background to report the user's location to Google to keep a track of the user's location history in his/ her Google account to offer better information through Google Now cards related to location.

This is one reason why the location services icon is displayed even when the user is not actively using the app and might result in depleted battery life.

Thankfully, location reporting can be turned off easily using  the Google Search app's Privacy settings. One can go to the Google app, tap on the settings gear icon on the top right, tap on Privacy, scroll down and turn Location Reporting off via the toggle. One can also clear Location History to delete previous location related information stored by Google.

Although you'd still be able to use Google Now without location reporting turned on, some kinds of information, such as traffic or local search might be limited or might not show up at all. So you'd not be able to reap the full benefits of Google Now.

If you don't want to use Google Now at all, you can turn off location services for the app altogether. You can go to the iPhone's Settings, tap on the Privacy sub-menu, select the Location Services sub-menu and turn Google's location services off. However, according to Google, the search results through the app will still reflect a rough approximation of the user's location based on the user's IP address and recent locations that have been saved.

Google claims that there's minimal impact on the phone's battery as Location Reporting has been optimized to use GPS as infrequently as possible. So if you've not noticed a significant drop in your iPhone's battery back-up you could continue to keep the Location Settings enabled to get accurate results from Google Now.

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Angry Birds Friends released for iOS, Android; original game free on Windows Phone till May 15

Rovio has released Angry Birds Friends, the latest iteration in everyone's favorite pig popping adventures. The game is now available as a free download for iOS and Android.
Angry Birds Friends puts a social twist to the game you are familiar with, letting you challenge your Facebook friends for the title of ultimate bird flinger. Players have the option to compete in weekly tournaments with friends and see if they can snag the gold, silver or bronze trophies. This is similar to how Rovio has been offering the game Angry Birds on Facebook.
Also included are daily rewards, the ability to send and receive gifts, and, of course, bragging about your accomplishments. If you're playing Angry Birds Friends on Facebook, your tournament progress will automatically be updated, so you can continue playing wherever you are.
The game also includes four classic power-ups, plus one exclusive to Angry Birds Friends on mobile.
Angry Birds Friends is now available as a free download for iOS and Android.
Rovia also announced a new version of the original Angry Birds game for Windows Phone, replacing the $2.99 version released earlier. The game has over 400 levels from the get-go, and is free to download for the first two weeks. The Windows Phone 8 version also features have Xbox Live integration with new achievements and leader boards.
Rovio didn't mention the exact reason for re-release, simply saying "it will be technically easier to support" the new version. The company recommends you download the new title even if you bought the earlier title, as the original game will no longer be updated.
Angry Birds for Windows Phone is free to download until May 15.

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BlackBerry CEO says no one will use tablets five years from now

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins is in the news again. After firing salvos at Apple and Samsung, he has come out in the open against the business case for tablets.

During an interview at the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles, Heins said that he does't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet in five years and that tablets were not a good business model. The interview was reported by Bloomberg.

 "In five years I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet anymore," said Heins. "Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model."

It's not the first time that Heins has questioned the tablet business. However, the new comment indicates that the company is not looking at tablets, at all.

In a previous interview Heins had talked about the company's stand on introducing a new tablet and had said that the business case for re-entering the tablets market was not compelling at least in the near term.

Heins had also admitted that with the PlayBook, which did not turn out to be a success, the company took the plunge a little too early as it was excited to show off its new operating system and majorly missed out on the app ecosystem.

"I wouldn't want to do it the same way again, if I do something around tablets, I want it to be really substantial and meaningful, and quite frankly it would need to be profitable as well," he had said.

"I think the profit pool is very very thin. Kudos to Apple, I think they really managed to own that space, so it doesn't make sense for me to just take this head on. I need to figure out, for my enterprise customers, for my consumers, for my BB10 audience, what can I do that provides them a mobile computing experience in the form factor of a tablet, which goes beyond just the puristic tablet experience."

So it looks like we're not going to see new tablets based on BlackBerry 10, if you consider the CEO's voice to be the determinant of the company's future strategy. Users are still waiting for a BlackBerry 10 update for the PlayBook, which the company had promised earlier.

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HTC One's 'downmarket' cousin M4's picture, specs leak

A cheaper version of HTC's critically acclaimed flagship phone, HTC One, has surfaced online. Codenamed, M4, the mid-range variant of the phone follows the same design language that we've seen in the One, although it's not known if it will also use the same materials. It also features two speaker grills on the front and comes with Beats audio.

The images of the phone were brought to public domain by the notorious Evleaks who also informs that the phone would sport a 4.3-inch 720p screen, and will be powered by a dual-core processor, unlike the One's quad-core CPU. It will have 2GB RAM and the same Ultrapixel camera that featured in the HTC One (Review | Pictures).It will house a 1700mAh non-removable battery and offer 16GB of internal memory.

The report indicates that the phone will ship towards the end of the second quarter with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

It's not the first time that the existence of the M4 has been suggested. In February, with the M7 or HTC One leaks, Evleaks had indicated that HTC was working on two other phones, namely the M4 and G2. Evleaks had said that the M4 was a premium smartphone, which would be one notch below the HTC M7 and will come with a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon SoC running Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), along with Sense 5.0. He had also confirmed the other specifications including LTE support. The G2 meanwhile is rumoured to be an entry-level device with a 3.5-inch screen with HVGA display, 512MB RAM and a 5-megapixel camera. This smartphone is touted to have a 1GHz processor and run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Evleaks' leaks have mostly turned out to be reliable, so it's likely that we might hear about the new phone from HTC soon. It will be interesting to see HTC follow Samsung's footsteps and introduce mid-range variants of flagships. Samsung is reportedly going to launch the Galaxy S4 mini, a mid-range variant of its flagship smartphone, Galaxy S4.

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Microsoft mocks Apple-Samsung rivalry in latest Lumia ad

Microsoft has rolled out a new television commercial for Nokia Lumia 920. In this ad, Microsoft seems to be mocking the rivalry between Apple and Samsung to drive home the "Switch to Lumia" message.
The ad opens with a wedding ceremony in progress. As soon as the bride and groom are about to exchange their vows, everybody at the wedding takes out their smartphones and phablets to capture the moment. One of the guests gets up from his seat to click the picture through his Samsung Galaxy Note II phablet.

This tips off an iPhone 5 user who blurts, "Excuse me, would you mind moving your enormous phone?" This triggers a war of words between the Apple and Samsung fans present at the wedding. Soon the mocking turns into a physical fight and there is chaos all around.

In the middle of the fight two waiters are seen clicking pictures of the brawl with their Nokia Lumia 920. The male waiter asks his female colleague, "Do you think that if they knew about the Nokia Lumia, they'd stop fighting all the time?" To which the lady replies, "I don't know, I kind of think, they like fighting". And the message comes across, "Don't fight. Switch."

The idea behind the ad is that Lumia is a far better choice than Apple or Samsung and hence you don't need to argue and just switch.

Though the ad is funny and eye catching but it seems to be more about Apple and Samsung rather than Windows Phone. As a matter of fact, the Nokia Lumia 920 has a far lesser screen time than iPhone or Galaxy devices, so we don't really think that this advertising will be effective in boosting sales for the Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone in the US.

It's noteworthy that this is not the first time that Microsoft has targeted someone through an advertising campaign. In November, Microsoft had launched "Scroogled" campaign through which it tried to warn consumers that they risk getting "scroogled" if they rely on Google's shopping search service.

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IBM Creates The World's Smallest Movie

Bangalore: IBM Research Scientists on Wednesday unveiled the ‘world’s smallest movie’ made up of atoms. The movie tracks the movement of these tiny particles accurately placed to approximately create 250 frames of stop motion action.

Named as ‘The Boy and His Atom’, the movie conveys about science to the society in terms of data storage. According to IBM, this kind of science is required to improve computer data storage as tech firms resort to traditional methods.

The simple plot shows a character named Atom who makes friends with another atom and follows him on a journey of dancing and bouncing with playful music in the background.

According to IBM Research’s Principle Investigator Andreas Heinrich, “Capturing, positioning and shaping atoms to create an original motion picture on the atomic level is a precise science and entirely novel.” “At IBM, researchers don’t just read about science, we do it. This movie is a fun way to share the atomic-scale world while opening up a dialogue with students and other on the new frontiers of math and science”, he adds.

In order to make the movie, researchers used their own invented tool, a Nobel Prize acclaimed scanning tunneling microscope to move the atoms. The microscope precisely moved and placed the atoms in their specified locations by controlling a super-sharp needle along a copper surface.

As IBM says, the Movie is certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘World’s Smallest Stop Motion Film’.

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Today`S QuoTes

“Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”

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‘B-schools should cover sales as a separate subject’

What kind of skills are critical to the manufacturing sector?
Skills are very specific to a role in question. But at a broad level critical thinking and interpersonal skills are important.  
What kind of leadership qualities do you look for in your employees?
Ability to hold self and others accountable; ability to lead while there is uncertainty and ambiguity; leading with inclusiveness and in diverse environment.  
Do you offer any specific training programme to your employees?
We believe people develop most through experiences and exposure. So we invest a lot of time and energy in ensuring that people get those opportunities. Class room training is used more as a support to those efforts.  
Are there specialised degrees for these roles? Please give examples.
There are no specialised degrees in our type of industry as such. But we do hire Mechanical and Electronics engineers and related specialisation for our manufacturing, engineering and sales functions and management degrees for roles across various functions and businesses.
What kind of courses should the universities include in their curriculum to prepare students for this industry?
In case of business schools I feel they should cover sales as a separate subject and should have special focus on services selling as well as B2B selling. In many business schools there is far too much emphasis on marketing and that too FMCG marketing. Business schools need to go beyond that to make their products more relevant for us.  
What percentage of your hiring is done through campus recruitment? What kind of colleges/universities do you usually recruit from?
Traditionally we were not doing a lot of our hiring straight from universities. We have changed that in the last couple of years. Now we hire 15 – 20 % of hires from universities. We hire from engineering and business schools and we also hire trainees in commercial functions.  
What has been the hiring trend in the manufacturing industry so far?
The industry has seen robust growth for the last few years. We are witnessing certain amount of stagnation in 2012-2013. But things are going to pick up from the next year. Hiring has followed the same trend and I am anticipating higher level of hiring next year. 
What are some of the best practices for retention of talent in your industry?
We invest heavily in creating a great and consistent employee experience. Consistency is very important. To that end we invest a lot in developing our people managers. Because the company can say what it wants to say but at the end of the day for any employee the employee experience manifests itself through their immediate manager and their business unit or functional managers. If those people managers cannot manage and treat their people well every day of the year the employee is going to be unhappy. So I believe outstanding people managers are the key to retaining good talent.  
What are the ongoing challenges as far as recruitment is concerned?
Attracting diverse talent to our workforce, finding talent for operations and finance functions.

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You could be suffering from 'sitting disease'

Staying in a chair for long hours causes ‘sitting disease’

Want to stay healthy? Please stand up. Experts have reported an alarming connect between sitting down and chronic disease.

So, if you have always been inactive and prefer to park yourself on a sofa for hours or just flop down into the office chair and stay there for eight hours, get moving. The butt-bound philosophy is causing a new epidemic that has been referred to as 'sitting disease' by researchers.


What studies have found

A recent study by Richard Rosenkranz, a Kansas State University researcher showed that compared to those who reported sitting four hours or less per day, those who sat for more than four hours per day were significantly more likely to report having a chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Those sitting for at least six hours were significantly more likely to report having diabetes. The study is relevant to office workers sitting at desks and those sitting for long periods of time such as truck drivers, said the researcher. The study has been published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

According to another study last year, by reducing 'excessive sitting' to three hours a day, life expectancy could increase by two years.

Warning stats

-Chronic disease risk 6 per cent higher in men who reported sitting for between four and six hours a day, 10 per cent higher in men who reported sitting for between six and eight hours a day.

-Sitting between six to eight hours a day augmented the odds (15 per cent) of diabetes when matched with men who sat for less than four hours a day.

-Did you know? More than 70 per cent people spend six or more hours sitting a day.

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It's all about bonding for Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina of Chennai Super Kings celebrates his century against Kings X1 Punjab during the 6th Indian Premier League Match at the M A Chidambaram stadium.

CHENNAI: Suresh Raina is the league's most successful batsman but the only thing that had eluded him over six years was a century. On Thursday at Chepauk, the wait finally ended as he scored a match-winning, unbeaten 100 against Kings XI Punjab. "It's a very good feeling. I missed out on a hundred in South Africa. And when the team needs and you deliver, that's the best feeling, so I am really happy," he said after the match.
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Such was his confidence that he actually seemed to celebrate on 99 because he knew with two balls to go he would not miss out this time. Raina paced his innings to perfection on Thursday. He was cautious but positive and once he reached his fifty, he was unstoppable. Speaking about his innings, he didn't forget to mention the people who he feels have helped make him such a successful batsman in the format.

"I had to be a bit cautious against the new ball. I have been spending a lot of time with Duncan (Fletcher) and (Stephen) Fleming. Michael Hussey has been my role model in this tournament. I am working on my shape with Fleming. Twenty20 is all about how you play your shots and, at the same time, keep thinking how the bowler's going to do," he said.

The left-hander also spoke of the great environment within the CSK team that he feels has contributed to their success, especially in close contests.

"When you have a positive dressing room, you learn a lot of good things. It's all about your attitude, all about your hard work. I believe in hard work, discipline and commitment. Apart from the players, our franchise owners and support staff have also been working hard. We have a team room where we spend a lot of time together. We play table tennis and pool together. So, we are very close and know each other well as a team."

Raina revealed that there was also another reason for the team's grit during tight situations. "I still remember the final against KKR last year where we scored 190 and lost. So there's still that concern. We don't want that to happen."

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Bharti Infratel in talks with Reliance for tower sharing

Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of Bharti Airtel, Tuesday said it will talk to the telecom units of Reliance Industries to lease out its towers, a top official of the company said today."We would definitely be in talks with them, we would like to do more and more business with them. So as far as we are concerned they are very credible customer, so we would definitely be in touch with them," Bharti Infratel Vice Chairman and Managing Director Akhil Gupta told reporters here.
He was replying to a question if Bharti Infratel is in talks with Reliance Jio Infocomm for tower sharing.
Last week, energy-focused RIL took a step closer to launching 4G telecom services with a deal to lease undersea cable capacity from Bharti Airtel.
Gupta, however, added no contract is being signed at the moment.
"As a tower company, its my job to go to every operator, existing as well as prospective," he added.
Reliance Jio Infocomm will use Bharti's submarine cable network to provide data connectivity across Asia Pacific.
After announcing the deal, a joint statement had said that Bharti and Reliance Jio would continue to build on this "strategic framework" and consider other mutual areas of cooperation and development.

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Bharti Airtel's quarterly profit drops 49 percent

India's biggest telecommunications company Bharti Airtel says quarterly net profit fell by nearly half to 5.1 billion rupees ($94.7 million). It blamed the steep drop in part on higher taxes.The company said revenue for the January-March final quarter of its fiscal year rose 9.2 percent from a year earlier to 205 billion rupees ($3.8 billion).
The company said it faced a tax increase of 1.3 billion rupees ($24.8 million) for the quarter over the previous year, cutting into profits.
India's mobile phone companies have been in a price war for several years that has dented earnings but Bharti said the situation eased in the latest quarter.
Higher operating expenses also brought per-tax profit down by about a quarter.

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Cellphone thefts grow, but the industry looks the other way

When a teenage boy snatched the iPhone out of Rose Cha's hand at a bus stop in the Bronx in March, she reported the theft to her carrier and to the police - just as she had done two other times when she was the victim of cellphone theft. Again, the police said they could not help her.Cha's phone was entered in a new nationwide database for stolen cellphones, which tracks a phone's unique identifying number to prevent it from being activated, theoretically discouraging thefts. But police officials say the database has not helped stanch the ever-rising numbers of phone thefts, in part because many stolen phones end up overseas, out of the database's reach, and in part because the identifiers are easily modified.
Some law-enforcement authorities, though, say there is a bigger issue - that carriers and handset makers have little incentive to fix the problem.
"The carriers are not innocent in this whole game. They are making profit off this," said Cathy L. Lanier, chief of the police department of the Washington, D.C., where a record 1,829 cellphones were taken in robberies last year.
George Gascon, San Francisco's district attorney, says handset makers like Apple should be exploring new technologies that could help prevent theft. In March, he said, he met with an Apple executive, Michael Foulkes, who handles its government relations, to discuss how the company could improve its anti-theft technology. But he left the meeting, he said, with no promise that Apple was working to do so.
He added, "Unlike other types of crimes, this is a crime that could be easily fixed with a technological solution."
Apple declined to comment.
The cellphone market is hugely lucrative, with the sale of handsets bringing in $69 billion in the United States last year, according to IDC, the research firm. Yet, thefts of smartphones keep increasing, and victims keep replacing them.
In San Francisco last year, nearly half of all robberies involved a cellphone, up from 36 percent the year before; in the Washington, cellphones were taken in 42 percent of robberies, a record. In New York, theft of iPhones and iPads last year accounted for 14 percent of all crimes.
Some compare the epidemic of phone theft to car theft, which was a rampant problem more than a decade ago until auto manufacturers improved anti-theft technology.
"If you look at auto theft, it has really plummeted in this country because technology has advanced so much and the manufacturers recognize the importance of it," said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit group focused on improving police techniques. "The cellphone industry has for the most part been in denial. For whatever reasons, it has been slow to move."
Carriers say they have faith in the database, which they created with police departments across the country. They also say they are taking independent steps as well to address the problem. Verizon, for instance, says it has its own stolen phone database, making it impossible for devices reported as stolen to be reactivated on its network.
"We do care very deeply about this," said Jason Young, T-Mobile's vice president of product management. "If you've ever lost a phone or had one stolen, it's a scary thing, it's a painful thing and it's a costly thing."
Apple provides some assistance in locating lost or stolen phones with its free software, Find My iPhone, which can find a missing iPhone or remotely erase its data. But the service does not work once the phone is turned off or disconnected from the Internet. To locate an iPhone, an Apple customer can log in to iCloud.com with a Web browser and see a map of its approximate location; then the user hits a button to erase its information.
Google does not include any software in its Android operating system to help people locate a missing phone, although some third-party Android apps offer the feature. Gascon of San Francisco said that is not enough. "What I'm talking about is creating a kill switch so that when the phone gets reported stolen, it can be rendered inoperable in any configuration or carrier," he said.
Some security experts say such solutions are possible. One is software to prevent a phone from working after it is reported stolen, said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer of Lookout, a mobile security firm. There would be ways to work around that, he said, but if companies make it time-consuming and expensive to reactivate a stolen cellphone, then people would stop stealing them so much.
Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., has proposed a legislative solution. A week ago, he introduced legislation that would make it illegal to modify a phone's identifier, among other preventive measures. In the United Kingdom, it is illegal already.
In San Francisco, the resale market for stolen phones is thriving, with a new iPhone netting a thief $400 to $500 in cash, said Edward Santos Jr., a police lieutenant who investigates robberies. The starting price of a new iPhone 5, without a contract, is $650.
Often, stolen phones are moved to a house or storage facility where middlemen erase the phone's memory, Santos said. Clearing a phone makes it difficult for the police to prove a phone was stolen and to return it to its owner.
In at least one case, Santos said, suspects were found to be hacking the phones' unique identifying code, known as an International Mobile Station Equipment Identity, essentially erasing all digital evidence that the phone was stolen. This also makes it possible to reactivate a stolen phone, even after it has been entered into the database. Santos said he suspected that this kind of modification was widespread.
Some industry experts say consumers should have the right to modify their phones' identification features to avoid being tracked.
The right to change the identification is a "pro-privacy measure," said Seth Schoen, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology-oriented civil liberties group in San Francisco.
In the last six months, San Francisco police have broken up more than half a dozen large-scale stolen electronics operations, uncovering thousands of stolen smartphones as well as laptops in houses and storage units across the Bay Area. In one raid in November, the police found stolen electronics valued at $500,000. The suspects told the police they sold their entire inventory every two weeks through sales at flea markets in Oakland, Calif., and by shipping the phones overseas.
Recent cellphone theft cases in San Francisco suggest that many end up as far away as Mexico, Vietnam and China.
The international reach, huge profits and technological know-how of these black market operators suggest possible ties to larger organized crime networks, Santos said.
"It could be just a bunch of small groups, but these guys are very well organized, very tech savvy, well trained and well funded," he said. "I think it is just a matter of time before we find the mother lode, a warehouse that is just stacked to the ceiling with smartphones.

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Huawei G510 review

While the market is mushrooming with phones or rather phablets from Indian brands that feature 5-inch+ displays and quad-core processors, many would prefer a phone that comes with a mid-size 4.3 to 4.5-inch display and offers a decent smartphone experience.

The Huawei G510 is an economically priced Android smartphone that offers a balanced specifications set with Android, Jelly Bean in a compact form factor. We try to find out if the phone is a decent buy at a price of Rs. 10,990.

Build/ Design
The Huawei G510 is a plain looking phone that doesn't arouse any emotion at first glance. The phone is a black rectangular slab with rounded corners. The front is dominated by the 4.5-inch screen, with the three capacitive buttons - Home, Menu and Back, for navigation just below it. The front facing camera, a notification light and proximity sensor sit above the display with the earpiece grill and a Huawei logo.

The phone has a removable back cover that wraps around the phone and even houses the power/screen-lock key and the volume rocker, that are located at the left side of the phone. Most smartphones feature the power button on the right side, so the arrangement feels a little awkward for someone who is used to it being otherwise. The Micro-USB port is also located on the left side of the phone, while the 3.5mm headset jack sits on the top. There are no ports on the bottom and on the right side of the phone. The back cover has a textured pattern making the surface rough and less slippery. A part of the back cover is also contoured with the edges giving the impression that it's removable, though the indented cut that's actually used to remove it is located further just below the screen. The back camera lens is located towards the top surrounded by a round ring-like contoured surface that's slightly raised. The LED Flash and a speaker outlet are located at either sides of the lens.

Overall, the device is not very aesthetically pleasing but the plastic material still feels durable and we didn't notice any creaks or wobbles while handling the phone.

Display
The Huawei G510 sports a 4.5-inch screen that has a resolution of 480x854 pixels and colour depth of 16 million colours. The screen has an IPS panel for wide-angle viewing. We found viewing angles to be good although the screen is very reflective which at times makes it difficult to view content. Under-sun legibility is also average.

The screen renders text, images and icons sharply and the size makes it optimum for watching videos. We also found the touch response of the screen to be good.

Software/ Interface
The smartphone offers Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Huawei's Emotion UI, a custom user interface layer added by the company. The custom UI modifies the default home screen-app drawer structure of vanilla Android and instead makes the phone a little similar to iPhone's layout, of course barring the fact that the latter's home screen cum app drawer can't keep widgets.  To users who're switching to the phone from another Android phone, the arrangement would be a little unsettling but otherwise it might not be much of a problem.

Users can add up to 9 home-screens that can be populated with widgets and app icons. There's a dock at the bottom where five of your preferred app shortcuts can be placed. This dock is static across all the home screens. One can customise the complete look and feel of the interface with themes that offer different icon sets, backgrounds, fonts and even notifications and ringtones. The phone comes with 5 themes with the option to download more from an online store. It even offers 9 different transition effects to choose from.

The notification tray includes toggles for settings such as Wi-Fi, Brightness, Rotation, Bluetooth, GPS, Data, Screen timeouts and profiles (for alerts, other notifications and settings). More toggles can be added to the panel.

The notification tray also features a settings shortcut and a clear all notifications button, along with expandable notifications (expanded with the two finger pull gesture). Android 4.1 Jelly Bean also brings in Google Now, which needs to be initialised for the first time, before use.

For the uninitiated, Google Now is a voice based information assistant and an extension of Google search. You can ask questions and the tool returns answers or search results. It uses 'cards' which are essentially small boxes that offer different sets of information ranging from weather forecast, directions, traffic information, scores, appointments, and currency conversion, among others. Google Now collects information based on the user's behaviour, location, and even e-mail, to offer information automatically.

The three capacitive buttons, Back, Home and Menu help in navigating through the phone, with the Home button also doubling up as an app switcher/ task manager on long press.

Among the widgets, Huawei offers a Me Widget that offers glance able information for time, and weather, in addition to two frequently used contacts, music player and picture gallery. The phone comes preloaded with Huawei's own app store - App Center, App Installer, Phone Finder, Backup, Cloud Sync, Flashlight, Movie Studio, Notes and Weather apps. Huawei's App Center features apps we've not really heard of, perhaps they're popular in China. At times the update notifications were also in Chinese.

We also noticed that the settings menu of the phone offers popular settings under the General tab and hides the complete set of settings under the All tab. This makes things simple for new smartphone users but increases a step for people familiar with the default Android settings menu.

The Emotion UI tries to make things simple for new smartphone users and makes the interface as different from stock UI as possible. At times it adds customisability and eye candy but at others we're not sure it's the best implementation, and we prefer the stock Android UI.

Camera
The phone features a 5-megapixel autofocus shooter that takes average images in daylight. Pictures taken indoors under artificial light were a little grainy.

The camera app is a little different from the stock Android camera app and also features the Panorama mode. The camera app features settings for white balance, exposure and ISO. The camera can only shoot videos in VGA mode and doesn't offer 720p recording. Videos captured through it were just about average.

The front camera is strictly functional at best but can be used for casual video chats.

Performance
The Huawei G510 is powered by a 1.2GHhZ Qualcomm ARM Cortex-A5 dual-core processor with 512MB RAM onboard and Adreno 203 GPU. There is 4GB of internal storage, however only 1GB storage is available to the user as a large part is occupied by Huawei apps that are not removable. Users can expand the available storage by adding microSD cards of up to 32GB capacity.

The overall experience of navigation through the interface was at times a little slow which might be due to the heavy skinning. We also noticed lag while running multiple apps in the background which could be due to the limited RAM.

We did not experience much lag while playing casual games or scrolling web pages but graphics intensive games don't run too smooth.

We were not able to play full-HD clips, and the phone's native video player doesn't support formats like .AVI and .MOV natively. The speaker on the phone delivers good quality sound at high volume levels. The headphones that come with the phone offer average quality sound output. The phone also featured FM radio.

Call quality was good, during our testing process but we faced network issues in weak signal areas.

The phone comes with a 1,700mAh battery, and based on our experience, it will last more than a day with moderate to heavy usage including 1-1.5 hours of phone calls, two e-mail accounts with push notifications, screen at maximum brightness, playing some music and video clips, Twitter notifications and WhatsApp chats. It's also worth pointing out that we had turned off Wi-Fi and auto-brightness, and the phone was hooked to a 3G network. Altering these settings might help in running the phone for a longer duration, depending on your usage pattern.

Verdict
The Huawei G510 is a decent Android smartphone that offers good features in a budget of Rs. 10,990. However, it's not the best phone that money can buy at this price.

At the same price, you can buy the Karbonn S1 Titanium, which has a quad-core processor, and sports a 4.5-inch qHD (540x960) multi-touch capacitive touch display and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The XOLO A1000 is another phone to look out.

The Spice Stellar Pinnacle Mi-530 and Micromax Canvas HD are also great phones that offer a better smartphone experience, if you can bump up your budget a bit.

Price: Rs. 10,990

Pros

• Above average performance
• Decent display

Cons

• Underwhelming camera
• Boring design
• Video recording limited to VGA

Ratings (Out of 5)
Design: 2.5
Display: 3
Performance: 2.5
Software: 3
Camera: 2.5
Battery Life: 3.5
Value for Money: 3
Overall: 2.5

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Google Now comes to iPhone, iPad as an update to Google Search app

Google Inc is bringing its Google Now technology to the iPhone, where it will compete head-on with Apple Inc's Siri to serve as the primary service that smartphone users rely on to get everything from weather updates to traffic forecasts.

Google Now, which made its debut last year on mobile devices powered by Google's Android operating system, will be available as a feature in the new version of the Google Search app for iPhones and iPads starting on Monday.

Personal assistant technology such as Apple's Siri, Google Now and products created by various start-up companies aspire to play what could become a critical role on smartphones by helping users with daily chores such as looking up information on the Web, handling calendar appointments and managing travel plans.

Some analysts believe Apple's Siri, which comes pre-loaded on iPhones and iPads, represents a growing threat to Google, the world's No. 1 search engine. The information that Siri provides on common topics such as sports scores and nearby restaurants reduces the need to visit Google's search engine, the analysts say.

Johanna Wright, Google's vice president of Search and Assist for Mobile, described Google Now as the next phase in the evolution of search, in which answers are served up without a user needing to type in a query.

The technology taps into Google's various online services, from Web search to personal Gmail email and Google Calendar entries, to deliver relevant information throughout the day in pop-up windows that Google refers to as "cards." By accessing an email with a flight itinerary, for example, Google Now can automatically remind a traveler about an upcoming trip and suggest the best time to leave for the airport based on current traffic conditions.

Unlike the Android version of Google Now, in which users can swipe the phone's homescreen to quickly access the pop-up cards, the version for Apple's iOS will only display these cards when a user has opened the Google Search app.

The smartphone has emerged as a key battleground between Google and Apple as consumers increasingly access the Web with mobile devices instead of personal computers.

In September, Apple replaced the Google Maps app that once came pre-loaded on iPhones with a new maps app that Apple created in-house. The Apple maps service contained embarrassing errors, drawing fierce criticism from consumers and reviewers and forcing Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook to offer a public apology.

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Latest Windows 8.1 build beefs up IE developer tools

Build 9385 of the upcoming OS update revamps the developers panel that pops up in Internet Explorer when you press F12.

 

Developers who need to peek at the code behind Web pages in Internet Explorer will find more robust tools in Windows 8.1.
A leak of Windows 8.1 Build 9385 reveals an overhaul to the developer panel in IE. Pressing F12 in any current version of Internet Explorer displays a panel that allows you to examine the HTML and CSS code, scripts, and many other elements. Developers can use this feature to analyze the code behind third-party Web sites or to troubleshoot problems with their own Web pages.
Windows 8.1 has upped Microsoft's browser to Internet Explorer 11, which appears to show a slicker and friendlier flavor of the developer panel, which has remained unchanged for the past several years. A video of Build 9385 posted by Bavogames, a tech-focused channel on YouTube, shows the panel as easier to navigate and the code and other elements as easier to modify.

The screen itself also sports a more "Metro" or "Modern" design and resembles the look of the interface in Microsoft's Visual Studio.
A number of Windows 8.1 builds have dribbled out the past couple of months, each one revealing enhancements mostly to the Start screen and other select Windows 8 features. Reports have suggested that Microsoft will also add a Start button and boot to desktop option to Windows 8.1, which is expected to officially arrive later this year.

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Twitter gives developers new embedded timeline options

Embedded timelines can now have a specific number of tweets, and don't have to have a scrollbar.

Developers got a little more control today over how embedded Twitter timelines appear.
In a blog post Thursday, Twitter said it has made some minor modifications to the way its embedded timeline tool works.
For one, the post said, developers can now choose how many tweets appear, so long as they're happy with a number from one to 20.
Second, Twitter now lets developers decide whether they want a scrollbar to appear on an embedded timeline. Apparently, this is something that people have been asking about. But while Twitter is now enabling those who want to get rid of scrollbars to do so, the company cautioned developers to "consider the accessibility implications of hiding standard UI from users though, and where it's appropriate in the context of your site or application."

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Microsoft boasts 400M active Outlook.com accounts

Microsoft has completed its Hotmail.com to Outlook.com migration and now is claiming 400 million active Outlook.com Web mail accounts.

 

Microsoft has completed moving its Hotmail.com users over to Outlook.com, and executives are now claiming the company has 400 million active Outlook.com accounts as a result.
Microsoft announced the completion of the Hotmail-Outlook.com transition on May 2. The company added that it's migrated 150 petabyes of e-mail over the past six weeks.
As part of the announcement, Microsoft also said it's adding two new features to Outlook.com: SMTP Send, making it easier to send mail from different e-mail addresses, and deeper SkyDrive integration.
The new SMTP Send support streamlines the process of sending from an alias, without recipients seeing a message saying, "Sent on behalf of..." And on the SkyDrive front, users can now insert files and pictures directly from SkyDrive.

In February of this year, Microsoft executives said they had 60 million active Outlook.com accounts. At that time, they said they'd be closing Hotmail and moving the hundreds of millions of existing Hotmail.com users to Outlook.com.
Of the current 400 million, 125 million Outlook.com users are accessing their accounts from mobile devices, Microsoft said.
To those Hotmail users who are struggling with the Outlook.com interface, I'd suggest you check out this video and frequently asked questions document. I've heard from many (many, many) of you that you can't find your calendar, contacts, etc. Hopefully, this page will provide some help.

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Google Keep note-taking comes to Chrome

Google Keep debuts as a Chrome Web app, bringing its simple note-taking features to Chrome browsers and Chromebooks.

Keep for Chrome.

Google Keep wants to be the app that you dump all your little notes and big thoughts into, and Google introduced a Keep Chrome Web app version on Thursday.
To install it, you must use the link above, as it's not yet available by searching the Chrome Web Store.

Like Keep in Google Drive and Keep for Android, it lets you write notes in a stripped-down interface that lacks all but the most basic features. In addition to standard note-taking, you can change the text color or insert an image.
Keep for Chrome launches in its own window, and it also works when you're not connected to the Internet. Offline may not be a big deal for Chrome as a browser, but for Chromebooks and Chrome OS it's been a poorly implemented feature. Being able to take notes and then have them sync once you're connected again could go a long way toward helping convince people that Keep is a keeper.

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Intel has a new CEO: Now what?

Brian Krzanich's appointment to the top job may mean bigger chip manufacturing deals -- with Apple, for instance -- but watch closely for subtle shifts, too.

Intel pitches itself as the sponsor of tomorrow, but it could lose that position if it doesn't break into mobile.

Intel decided to play it safe with its next leader. By going with tradition and tapping an insider, Chief Operating Officer Brian Krzanich, as its new CEO, Intel is signalling to the world that it has no intention of making any radical changes.
Nevertheless, Krzanich will need to make some big moves if Intel is to retain its dominant position in the technology world. The choices he makes in the coming months and years will have a big impact, not only on the company, but also on the future of the broader computing arena.

Krzanich takes over at a time when there are increasing questions about Intel's role in the mobile world and how it will handle the slowdown in the PC market. Yet, he isn't expected to abandon the x86 architecture -- the technology behind traditional computer chips that make up Intel's bread-and-butter -- in favor of the ARM technology popular in processors powering smartphones and tablets. What Intel likely will do under Krzanich's leadership is focus even more on its manufacturing prowess. It may push deeper into the business of building the processors for other chip companies, possibly even Apple, and it may look for ways to pull even further ahead of its rivals in the technology behind crafting those chips. It also could sell some businesses that are less important or lower performing.
"The question [the board members] asked themselves was as we look at the next five to eight years, what direction do we want to take the company and what do we want to leverage?" Evercore analyst Patrick Wang said. "When you ask that question, it makes sense that you stick with your guns here and flex your manufacturing muscle."
Krzanich was widely expected to nab the top job at the Santa Clara, Calif., company. Intel has never picked an outsider for CEO, and it typically signals a successor by naming that person to the role of operating chief. Krzanich has a three-decades-long history at Intel and a deep technical background, both factors that should help him steer the chip giant in the years ahead.
Manufacturing, Krzanich's wheelhouse, is where Intel could make its biggest moves. It currently serves as a foundry for a few smaller chip designers, such as Altera and Microsemi, but none are at the same scale as a company like Apple.

Brian Krzanich, the next CEO, currently serves as Intel's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Intel has said it wouldn't strike a deal to manufacture chips for Apple, or any other big ARM-based processor designer, unless there's a pretty enticing incentive. But industry sources have told CNET that Intel and Apple have held such talks on and off for the past two years. And Krzanich may be more open to such a move than his predecessor, Paul Otellini, particularly if more of Intel's factories sit idle. A weak PC business -- the chief market for Intel's processors -- means less demand for chips out of Intel's factories. Manufacturing mobile chips designed by others, even those based on technology from ARM Holdings, could be a way to keep Intel's fabs full and generate a new source of cash. J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Danely estimated that Intel's foundry business could generate $4.2 billion in annual revenue by 2017, offsetting the loss of revenue from the slowing PC market.
Aside from manufacturing, an immediate top priority for Krzanich will be figuring out just what's going on in mobile and what Intel needs to do to really succeed in that market. The company has managed to get its chips into a handful of phone models, but it has yet to appear in any major handsets and volumes remain low. It's crucial for Intel to break into the smartphones and tablets as the growth of its core PC industry stagnates. Krzanich will have to determine whether Intel's current strategy is the right one or if it needs to change course.
"Job No. 1 is to break into mobility," Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Pat Moorhead said. "They have to do that."
Intel will also need to look at related markets, like the "Internet of Things." That industry encompasses products that have sensors and are always connected to the Internet, such as wearables and smart refrigerators. And it will need to figure out how to make PCs desirable again. That could include pushing "perceptual computing," such as gesture and voice recognition, or helping design more attractive products.
Intel also will need to defend its position in the data center chip business. The company provides processors for the majority of the world's servers, but some hardware partners have started designing low-power microservers that use ARM-based chips. Intel will have to fend off those competitors while also making sure it's not sacrificing its high margins to gain business.
Krzanich, who will assume his new role on May 16, is unlikely to detail his strategy for Intel until later in the year. Until that time, market watchers can expect much of the same for Intel. But you can bet they're waiting to see what's up next for the chip giant.

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