Lumia Gestures

Microsoft has released Gestures beta app, which is soon to be inbuilt in future windows versions. A simple glance to it's call features is below.

Easy authentication - NokNok

NokNok is a product software company, that specializes in authentication hardware/software. The below video speaks about their recent plans and updates. Slowly, we can forget things like forgot password etc., with biometric authentications, that use voice/keys/fingerprint and the list is going on.

Bitcoin

Lot has been in news about bitcoins. Tidbits about it.

Bitcoin has been created by Satoshi Nakomoto in 2009 and released as open source software. There are a finite set of coins, which can be mined(by solving complex algorithmic problems) or can be bought from people who have already mined. They are used for payments in e-commerce etc., similar to normal currency. Bitcoin is not a Fiat currency, since no recognised central government of any country backs it. It is hailed by it's followers as first unified currency for all the world.

But don't think you can mine a bitcoin. It's not simple today, since as the coins grew scarce, the complexity of problems goes up. Today people are renting huge offices and running multiple computers to mine them. So it's near impossible to mine. The easy way would be to buy.

The speculation about their rates, in the initial days was high, and there is a saying that a man bought an apartment in London selling the bitcoins he mined. But today, their price is not volatile and it has become a bit flat. So no use in even buying them. Just for the sake of having an antique piece, the first sign of liberty in currency, you can have it.

Apple loses "App Store" patent fight in Australia

The Federal court of Australia today ruled against Apple, which wanted a patent for the term "App Store". Apple wanted it since App came int usage only after it's iphones and "App Store" has a creative element in it and thus wants the patent. The court ruled that the usage of App is there before Apple invented it, and the widely used term in public should not be contained and patented.

Apple went to Federal court after the Registrar of trademarks, Australia refused to grant patent for the same.

Solution for Wordflow Keyboard not working - Windows Phone

With Windows Mobile 8.1, Microsoft introduced Wordflow keyboard, where you can swipe the keyboard attaching the letters and it automatically converts it into the most accurate predicted word. This may not work sometimes, since it may not be supported on all types of keyboards. This keyboard setting may have changed without your knowledge or by mistake you would have changed.

For wordflow to work, long press the "ENG" or what ever is in it's place in the above screenshot. You will get options to change your keyboard language. Change it to some different "ENG", like if you are an Indian, you can change into UK English or US English and vice versa. Try if word flow keyboard is working. If not, change the keyboard and try again. It will work for one of the keyboards.

If it doesn't work at all, the only reason could be, your phone is not updated to 8.1.

NASA - Mission to Mars

NASA started planning to put man on Mars by 2021. The first step in that direction is happening on Dec-4th, when NASA's next generation spacecraft Orion will be put in deep space, at an altitude of 3600 miles from Earth. Although this is not a big distance, since moon is 252,088 miles away from earth, this will help NASA in verifying how the space suits will adapt to environments and the strength of Crew module. This is an unmanned journey.

Personally I feel a bit weird, since man already went to Moon, which is almost 1000 times away from current testing distance and the last mission to moon, Apollo-17 human beings spent approximately 22 hours on Lunar Surface in 1972. Why then these adaptability tests for crew modules and space suits?

Where in the current rockets are tremendously powerful compared to 1972, and space suits more safe and light weight too. One more thing is after 1972, no human being went beyond the Low Earth Orbit which is at max 1200 miles away from earth.

Anyway, the bottom line is governments need to spend aggressively on space exploration, so that we can have regular space crafts between Mars and Earth like our Aeroplanes by 2040.

Corning Gorilla Glass

Corning is a company that has been producing glass screens since 1950, and since 2005, it started making screens for smartphones. It claimed fame with iphones started coming out with Gorilla glass screens, with rest of smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, HTC adopting it.

These screens are better scratch resistant and break resistant. The latest one is Gorilla Glass-3, and the above is a video of Gorilla Glass-4, which is much tougher than Gorilla Glass-3.

Gorilla Glass is patented by Corning. Saphire displays are competitive to Gorilla Glasses but they cost 10 times more than Gorilla glass, and hence smart phone manufacturers may stick to Gorilla Glass, in the near future, unless the cost of making saphire displays comes down.

But, Saphire is already being used in latest Apple iphones since iphone-5, for Camera screen and start button.

Good website for applying jobs - Hirist.com

Recently been reviewing various websites that will help techies find jobs and I find hirist.com, better than all. The reason being simple interfacing, and what ever is required only appears on screen. For example the menus contain, C++ jobs, Java jobs which will directly open the related job postings. Also there are filters like 1-3 years, 3-5 years, along with location filters, it simply is too good.

And you can multiple jobs at a time by clicking the checkboxes and hit submit. And what's awesome is, it tells you whether recruiter viewed your profile, moved it for future use or not what he is looking for. Fast and Easy, simple and reliable

One Plus Phone

For 299$, you cannot get a Nexus or iphone, but a way better phone in the form of OnePlus, that outperforms both the said flagship phones with a huge margin.

Except for the screen size which is 5.5 inch, this phone has all the things, which are best. For example, it's 13 MP back camera with Sony Exmor sensor and six lenses is the best in it's category. Also, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor is the most latest in market. For graphics, there is Adreno 330 GPU and it runs on Android Kitkat, upgradable to later versions. Coming from Cyanogen mod developers, who used to release custom Android for better performances, this phone stands upto it's tagline "Flagship Killer"

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3G version launched

Chinese Handset maker, Xiaomi launched it's Xiaomi Redmi Note 3G variant in India. Below are the full device specifications.

For a price of Rs.8999, you can't expect more. For this price range giving an Octa Core Processer is also unexpected. Xiaomi is leveraging it's Chinese advantage, where manufacturing costs are low, and produces on the basis of demand, so it won't have to produce anything extra than demand.

The screen size is a big one, and carrying might be a problem. Other than that, all features look good.

It will be better if companies release 4 inch phones, with good specifications, which actually fit in our pocket. Unfortunately only Apple produces such devices, which are generally three to four times costlier than Android devices.

Amazon selling Small Drones in India

Amazon has started selling drones in India. These are small drones, which can assist us in a lot more ways, if we learn to use them creatively. I personally feel physically disabled persons or paralysed people who are unable to move will find these drones very useful. Below is a video shared by Amazon India in Facebook.

Post by Amazon India.

Screenshot on Windows Phone 8.1 and later

To take a screenshot on Windows Phone 8.1 and later, just press Volume Up and Power button at the same time. The below is a screenshot taken in my Lumia phone.

Yota Phone - 2 Review

Yota Phone is from a Russian startup, with a novel concept of mixing mobile phone with e-book reader. Many of you must be aware of Amazon's kindle - the tablet like device, reading from which doesn't harm your eyes. So, this Yota Phone has a second screen on it's backpanel, which is similar to ebook readers. Here's a short video below for you to give a glimpse of Yota Phone - 1, which is available in market.

 Yota Phone - 1, although an innovation, it's kinda beta device for checking the user interest on second screen. After a more than perceived huge interest on Yota Phone - 1, Yota is coming up with Yota -2, with a bigger front screen (4.7 inch) and more beautiful second second screen. Below is the picture of upcoming device. The picture says it all.

This phone is going to be released in December in UK and for third world countries like India, the phone will be available during the last quarter of 2015.

Review for Spiderman Unlimited Game of Gameloft

Downloaded the game in my Lumia 520 and started playing. You need to be connected to the internet to play, even when there is nothing to download from internet.

I completed two levels and immediately a screen came saying there is an update and it wants to download it. And there is only one "ok" button on it. I have no option but to press ok. Even if I reopen the game the same screen reappears. The update is huge again, and I have to use wifi for the download, since with Edge, it takes a whole day to update.

Lumia 520 has 512 MB RAM which is very less, so the game occasionally crashes or moves slowly at times. The process of 1.2 GHZ single core is fine for this game. You need atleast 1 GB RAM for good playing experience.

The game is great interms of content and you get a real spidey experience of playing it, fighting villains, churning out web, and comics like visuals.

Bottomline: The game is good in terms of design, but regularly needs to be updated and the user should be given an option to cancel the update if he wants to.