Instagram launches time-lapse video app for iPhone

The Hyperlapse "app" was designed to let people easily make high-quality time-lapse videos even while moving around with a smartphone, according to Instagram.
   
Hyperlapse videos can be saved on mobile devices and shared on Instagram.
   
"From documenting your whole commute in seconds or the preparation of your dinner from start to finish to capturing an entire sunset as it unfolds, we're thrilled about the creative possibilities Hyperlapse unlocks," Instagram said in a blog post.
   
Hyperlapse applications were made available only for mobile devices powered by Apple software.
      
Market research firm eMarketer said in a report in March that nearly 35 million people in America accessed Instagram at least once each month as of the end of 2013, a jump of more than 30 per cent from a year earlier.
      
And the report said nearly 25 per cent of smartphone users in the United States will use Instagram at least once a month by the end of this year -- bringing the total user base to more than 40 million.

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Samsung rolls out Nook-branded Galaxy Tab

The 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook will sell for $179, the same entry price of the non-branded Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.

The move had been expected since Barnes & Noble said in June it would team up with Samsung to release co-branded Nook tablets in August.

For the first time, Nook will have a camera. The 1.3MP camera on the front is on par with what's on other tablets, but the 3.0MP rear one isn't as sharp.

Nook offers access to both Nook app store and Google's Play store for Android apps — the latter unavailable in previous Nook tablets.

The New York company spent years investing in its Nook e-book reader and e-book library, but they struggled to be profitable. And in December the chain said it was evaluating the future of its tablets. Still it offered a new non-tablet e-book reader during the holiday season.

In an interview, Barnes & Noble CEO Mike Huseby said Nook tablets hadn't done well in the past because they weren't full-featured. This one, he said, has a camera and other features expected in Android tablets, while offering additional ones targeted at readers.

While it's possible to install a Nook app on most Android tablets, Nook tablet goes further in offering a home screen with quick links to favorites and recently read books. You can pause reading to check email or Facebook, and then hit a book icon on the corner of the home screen to instantly resume your book.

Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets also emphasize reading, alongside shopping, movies and other Amazon services. They have had more success than Nooks.

Huseby said Barnes & Noble has the advantage of having more than 600 stores where customers can come in to check out the products before buying and return for tutorials and other help.

"Amazon doesn't have them," he said. "You can call them on the phone or chat online, but they don't have a store in which you can get a human contact and expert bookseller."

B&N has been trying to turn itself around as competition from discount stores and online retailers toughens, and as consumers shift away from traditional books to digital formats.

Barnes & Noble says it will continue to make and sell its $99 Nook GlowLight e-readers.

In July, Barnes & Noble said it would separate the Nook and retail businesses. The retail business includes bookstores and the BN.com website and has been outperforming the Nook unit. Nook Media, whose investors include software company Microsoft Corp. and educational book publisher Pearson, houses the digital and college businesses of Barnes & Noble.

The company expects the separation to be complete by April 2015.

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China develops mini-camera to prevent suicide bombing

A research team led by Chen Tong, associate professor at Southwest University in Chongqing developed a 'stress sensor' that can help the police to spot suicide bombers by capturing the stress levels of people.

"The sensor measures the amount of oxygen in blood across exposed areas of a body, such as the face. The higher the mental stress, the higher the blood oxygenation," it said.
  
"The readings of the device may not be always reliable. For example, with enough practice, a person can learn to control their heartbeat," the report added.
  
The technology comes amid heightened fears over security in China after the country witnessed brazen terror attacks by native Uygur separatists in the northwestern Xinjiang region recently.
  
"They all looked and behaved as ordinary people but their level of mental stress must have been extremely high before they launched their attacks. Our technology can detect such people, so law enforcement officers can take precautions and prevent these tragedies," Chen said about his invention.
  
Talking about the functionality of the device, Chen said that "officers looking through the device at a crowd would see a mental 'stress bar' above each person's head and the suspects highlighted with a red face".
  
"Laboratory tests of the technology had yielded encouraging results," Chen added.
  
The device maker also rued about the biggest obstacle of the invention as acquiring the remote data.
  
"Security officers, for instance, deployed in a busy bus station would need to filter a tremendous amount of data and process it in a short amount of time. Such computing power is not available in smartphone-sized devices," Chen said.
  
The invention has also sparked a controversy with the critics raising concerns over its misuse by the government.
  
"The technology can be used on terrorists, but harmless people such as petitioners and protesters could be the target as well. I would feel uncomfortable and tense if a police officer stared at me through strange goggles," the media report quoted Li Jiancheng, a resident in Shangha as saying.
  
Responding to the allegation, Chen said that his team would not let their technology out of the lab for commercial use until the laws are in place to regulate it.

Source: Latest Technology News

Celkon Millennium Dazzle Q44 with Android 4.4 KitKat launched

The company has listed Millennium Dazzle Q44 in their website and also posted an image of it on their Facebook page. The dual SIM phone is available both in retail stores and via e-commerce sites.

The company has also partnered with Airtel to facilitate their users 500MB of free data on 3G for the first two months.

The Celkon Millennium Dazzle Q44 features a 4-inch IPS OGS display and runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS. The device is powered by 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex A7 processor and 1GB RAM.

The smartphone comes with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front snapper. It provides an inbuilt memory of 8GB along with a microSD slot expandable upto 64GB.

The connectivity features of the phone include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPRS/ EDGE, and 3G connectivity.

The device is backed by a 1500mAh Li-ion battery and weighs 133.6 grams. It is available in Gold and Grey colour variants.

Source: Technology News

Too much twitter may drive you crazy

The study detailed the case of Mrs C - a 31-year-old heavy Twitter user - who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Germany because of intensive suicidal thoughts.

Mrs C's development of psychotic symptoms coincided with her ‘excessive’ use of Twitter - up to several hours a day reading and posting tweets, claimed the paper titled "Twitter Psychosis: A Rare Variation or a Distinct Syndrome?".

According to the paper, "the first symptoms were that she believed a 'famous actor' was responding to her tweets through symbols in his messages or through retweets by others".

The woman later recovered and lost interest in Twitter. If we believe experts, Twitter psychosis does not appear to be ‘real’ at this point.

"This is a single case which we presented to the medical community to discuss with colleagues if they have made similar experiences," Jan Kalbitzer of Charite-Universitatsmedizin, Berlin, was quoted as saying.

The paper appeared in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

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Karbonn launched A1+ Super, A5 Turbo

The Karbonn A1+ Super features a 3.5 inch HVGA display and is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core processor. The device supports expandable storage upto 32 GB via microSD card. The smartphone is adorned with a 3-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front shooter.

While Karbonn A5 Turbo comes with a 3.5 inch display and is powered by 1GHz processor. The device features a 3-megapixel rear camera, a microSD slot expandable up to 32 GB and 3G network connectivity support.

Both the phones supports dual SIM feature and connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EDGE, and Micro-USB.

The phone will join Karbonn’s KitKat based smartphones - the Titanium S99, Titanium S19, Smart A12 Star, and Smart A11 Star.

"Today, a large segment of consumer is shifting from feature phones to smartphones and looks for a smartphone with advanced technology and maximum features at affordable prices. This is the basis on which our new launches - the Karbonn A1+ Super and A5 Turbo are based upon which offers brilliant specs and greater functionality to the user and thus create a great choice in this segment," said Shashin Devsare, Executive Director of Karbonn.

The company has however not revealed about the RAM, inbuilt storage, battery capacity for both the smartphones.

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Samsung teases two new phones likely to be Galaxy Alpha and Note 4

Samsung executives have teased two new devices which will be making their way to the company's mobile portfolio within next six months.

Firstly, the company will be releasing a large-screened smartphone which is expecting will be a follow-up to Samsung's 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3. Samsung will likely announce the device early in September at the IFA trade show in Berlin, where it unveiled the Note 3 and Note II.

Although there's not lot of speculation about Samsung's second high-end smartphone as according to Samsung it will be a very attractive new model with a complete new display, which could also suggest a bendable screen.

Samsung is also getting ready to release its rumored Galaxy Alpha, which is metal smartphone. The Galaxy Alpha is rumoured to be launched soon, the Galaxy Note 4 is said to be in the testing phase.

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Sony launches new waterproof phone in Xperia series

Xperia Z2 is a decent looking phone with a sturdy aluminium-frame. The handset is IP58 certified, which means it can withstand dust and water. It also has covers for the micro-USB, micro-SIM, and the memory card slot.

The phone features a sharp 5.2-inch IPS display (1920x1080 pixels) with a pixel density of around 422 ppi. The phone boasts full HD screen in a waterproof body. The lock button is positioned on the right side of the phone making it easily accessible for the thumb.

The deviced is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor. It comes with 3 GB of RAM and Adreno 330 GPU. The phone features an in built memory of 16 GB and a microSD slot.

The phone comes with 20.7 megapixel rear-camera with Exmor RS sensor with 4K video recording. The phone adorns a 2.2 megapixel front-facing shooter. The other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and 3200 mAh battery.

The Xperia Z2 runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat and with powerful Snapdragon 801 inside, the device mostly runs smooth.

Source: Latest Technology News

App that pays you for exercise

Pact is an app which uses money to track your fitness goals. When you set up Pact, you give your credit card or Pay Pal information.

You also have to set your fitness goals like a pledge to workout a certain number of times in a week or eat healthy and Pact makes it specific.

Now enter a set distance you have to run.You must also decide the penalty you are willing to pay if you miss the workout.

The minimum penalty is Rs 300. The app tracks you when you check into a known gym and monitors how long you stay.

You can also wear a fitness band or use your phone's GPS to log miles. Reward money comes from people who failed to honour their pact, media reports said.

Source: Latest Technology News

Flipkart slashes rates of the Mid-Range Moto G

Flipkart, the exclusive retailer of for Motorola devices has announced the revision of prices.Moto G (8 GB) has reduced to Rs 10,499 from its earlier price of Rs 12,499. The 16 GB variant is now available for Rs 11,999. The offer however is valid till the stock lasts.Moto G comes with the reduced price as a result of its fierce competition with Chinese smartphone Xiaomi Mi3, which is priced at Rs 13,999.The reduction in price will play in favour for Moto G and will certainly attract the prospective customers. The company has also adopted the strategy of slashing the rates of Moto X in US for a limited period offer.The American multinational telecommunications Motorola had launched its Moto G smartphone in November last year (February in India) and recent rumours suggest Motorola is working on the device's successor. 

 

 

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Now express yourself better with Imoji App

A new sticker feature in ‘Imoji’ is what talked about these days. With this feature ‘Imoji’ is grabbing the eyeballs of users. Even, social networking site Facebook do lack with ‘Expression Stickers’ feature despite it has developed many apps for smileys.

   

Imoji allows you to make your own expression in stickers and it is so simple. You just need to take your picture with Imoji app. Crop the extra portion of picture leaving out your epxression of face. You can even add the expression of your pets too, which can be added on same board.

With Imoji, you will get rid of the old yellow stickers and can send the stickers as photo which is as simple that even an uneducated person can use it.

‘Imoji’ is right now iOS exclusive and is in process to start its Android version.

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Freedome app, to use internet anonymously

Freedome app is very simple to use. One just has to choose what one desires to block (phone, cell data, wifi data, bluetooth), select the time interval of blocking and hit start.

This new app runs on Android and iOS and understands how helpless most people feel when they worry about being watched all the time while using mobile phones. To put it simply, the software is a blend of virtual private network, anti-tracking, anti-virus and anti-phishing technology rolled into one package.

The Freedome UI features just an On-Off toggle at the interface one lands on upon clicking open the app. It connects to the internet through the company’s F-Secure Cloud or chooses to hide your IP address by picking another country such as US, UK, Finland, Germany and Sweden as your virtual location.

The developers of this app confirm that advertisers won’t be able to track users’ locations and there’s less reason to fear public Wi-Fi hotspots owing to the data encryption technology.

If one is traveling abroad and want to stream content from a favorite online service which is not available outside one’s home country, can use fake your virtual location for the same.

The app offers you stats on the number of viruses, harmful sites and trackers among other things that it has managed to deal with appropriately.

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Aircel launches 4G services in four circles

With this launch, Aircel has become the second telecom operator after Airtel to provide services under all the three existing technologies of 2G, 3G and 4G LTE.

“Our existing technological leadership position further lends to providing a promising and reliable 4G LTE service to our customers. The wireless broadband services offered will help customers transform their workplaces and homes into ‘smarter’ entities,” chief marketing officer of Aircel Anupam Vasudev said.

Aircel had 71.15 million subscribers at the end of April, as per data released by industry body Cellular Operators Association of India.

It holds 20MHz of spectrum in the 4G LTE 2300 MHz band across eight circles - Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and North East and Jammu and Kashmir.

Source: Latest Tech News

Play Angry Bird with a robot soon

Researchers envision the robot-smart tablet system as a future rehabilitation tool for children with cognitive and motor-skill disabilities.

"The robot is able to learn by watching because it knows how interaction with a tablet app is supposed to work," said Ayanna Howard, a professor in the school of electrical and computer engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

How does it happen? Kids teach the robot how to play Angry Birds by dragging their finger on the tablet to whiz the bird across the screen.

In the meantime, the robot watches what happens and records ‘snapshots’ in its memory.

The machine notices where fingers start and stop, and how the objects on the screen move according to each other, while constantly keeping an eye on the score to check for signs of success.

When it's the robot's turn, it mimics the child's movements and plays the game.

If the bird is a dud and does not cause any damage, the robot shakes its head in disappointment.

If the building topples and points increase, the eyes light up and the machine celebrates with a happy sound and dance.

The robot analyses the new information and provides appropriate social responses while changing its play strategy.

In the new study, children spent an average of nine minutes with the game as the adult watched. They played nearly three times as long (26.5 minutes) with the robot.

The findings were presented at the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) 2014 annual conference in Denver recently.

Source: Latest Tech News

33 percent of tweets are at fourth grade reading level: Study

The test found that teen sensation Justin Bieber and pop star Lady Gaga tweet at fifth grade level, while Obama tweets like a seventh grader.

According to TIME magazine's analysis of one million public tweets, 33 percent of tweets test at a fourth grade reading level.

The test relied upon a commonly used reading comprehension survey known as Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) to assess the complexity of messages sent on the micro-blogging site.

"Gobbledygook" is a word of three or more syllables.

The results show that most tweets require no more than a fourth grade education to comprehend.

"Although a tweet's limit of 140 characters makes it difficult to compose a message at a higher reading level. But not impossible. This test did pick up a handful of 12th-grade tweets," the report said.

Tweets were downloaded with the Twitter application programming interface (API) and run through a version of the SMOG test written for JavaScript.

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TRAI notifies minimum broadband speed at 512 kbps

The amendment has been made to the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012 and the regulations will be called the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2014, the TRAI said in a notification.

Accordingly, the new definition of broadband is "a data connection that is able to support interactive services including internet access and has the capability of minimum download speed of 512 kbps to an individual subscriber from the point of presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide broadband service".

The regulations will come into force after publication in the official gazette, it added.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had revised the broadband speed in consonance of the National Telecom Policy 2012 and TRAI recommendations, the regulator said.

The earlier minimum broadband speed of 256 kbps was as per the Broadband Policy 2004.

According to National Telecom Policy 2012, the government aims to raise the broadband download speed of to 512 kbps from 256 kbps and subsequently to 2 Mbps by 2015.

According to TRAI data, total broadband subscribers in the country rose by 5.82 percent to 65.33 million at the end of May 2014 from 61.74 million at the end of April 2014.

While wired broadband subscribers stood at 14.95 million as of May this year, mobile device users (phones and dongles) were 49.97 million and the fixed wireless (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point, Radio and VSAT) subscribers stood at 0.41 million for the same period.

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Twitter appoints Katie Stanton global media chief: Source

Stanton, formerly head of international strategy, fills in for Chloe Sladden, who left the online messaging service as part of a recent management shake-up that also included the departure of former chief operating officer Ali Rowghani.

Twitter has reported lackluster user and usage growth for the last couple of quarters, and its stock price has nearly halved in the last six months.

Stanton will now oversee Twitter's continuing efforts to court TV networks, Hollywood studios and other media companies around the world. The service in recent years has become a popular platform for promoting the content of media companies, and for viewers to interact around programmes and live events.

That in turn drove advertising and revenue growth.

Stanton's new role as vice president of global media entails working with media companies around the world. That expands on Sladden's US brief and builds on Stanton's previous role, which involved expanding Twitter's operations outside United States, the source said on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not been announced.

Stanton, who formerly worked for US State Department, already leads Twitter's relationships with foreign media companies such as the BBC and Brazil's Globo, and sits on the board of French conglomerate Vivendi.

Media industry publication Variety first reported Stanton's new role on Monday.

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Motorola rolls out Android 4.4.4 KitKat update for Moto E, Moto G and Moto X in India

In the latest version of Android, Motorola offers more security for browsing web content on your phone. According to the company officials, the Motorola customers can upgrade their smartphones for free of cost. All they need to pay is for the usual data connection charges.

The users of the three smartphone models will receive notifications to update their Operating System. They can also get the updates manually by scrolling through the settings menu.

Upgrade your Motorola devices to Android 4.4.4 KitKat. Here are the steps:

    Select the settings icon in the apps menu.  
    Select ‘About phone’.
    Select ‘System updates’.
    Select ‘Download’. Once the software is downloaded, select ‘Install’.
    After installing the software, your phone will get auto re-start.

Source: Latest Tech News

Sony Xperia Z2 tablet now available in India

E-commerce website Infibeam currently has the device in stock.

Powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz, the tablet has 3GB of RAM.

It has a unique active noise cancellation technology is one of the lightest tablets in the market.

While the tablet sports a 8-megapixel camera with a Sony Exmor R sensor capable of shooting video at 1080p at the back, it has a 2.1-megapixel camera in the front.

Key specs of the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet:

- 10.1-inch WUXGA TFT LCD

- Android 4.4 KitKat

- 2.3GHz quad core Snapdragon 800 SOC

- 3GB RAM

- 16GB internal storage, 64GB microSD expandable

- 2.2MP front camera, 8.1MP rear snapper

- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, HSPA+, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, IR LED, LTE (not confirmed)

- 266mm x 172mm x 6.4mm dimensions

- 426 grams weight

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Sony launches three new camera models

Priced at Rs 1.54 lakh, A7S would be available from mid of July this year. It has features as extraordinary sensitivity, low noise and spectacular 4K video quality. 

It has also launched three models of A77 II, priced between Rs 84,990 to Rs 1.14 lakh. It has features as 79 autofocus detection points with 24.3 megapixel image sensors and available in the market.

Sony also launched Cyber-shot RX100 III with features as wide angle Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70 mm F1.8-2.8 lens, 20.1 megapixel sensor and Bionz X processor.

Priced at Rs 54,990, RX100 III is available in the market.

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