Hangouts now available for iPad with dedicated Google+ app

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oogle recently announced the Google+ app for the iPad and with it, the search giant added all sorts of functionalities that gives users the best possible experience of the app. Google claims on their blog that in May, they redesigned the Google+ experience for iPhone by adding full bleed photos that fall into place and bold visual elements that bring a user's stream to life. They state that they are now introducing new features for the iPhone and an iPad app.

Google claims that the Google+ app for iPad was designed with the device in mind. A user’s stream styles content based on popularity, type and orientation. They state that they have also added unique ways to interact with the app such as:

• Pinch and expand posts right in your stream to add your comments
• Use two fingers to drag a post from your stream to easily re-share it
• Start a Hangout from your iPad and stream it to your TV using AirPlay

Nokia Belle gets 'Upload to Skydrive' software update

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okia’s ‘other’ devices, the ones running the Belle OS, are getting a small, optional software update. Symbian Tweet reports that Belle-powered smartphones are getting an ‘Upload to SkyDrive’ option that allows automatic photo upload to Microsoft’s cloud storage solution, SkyDrive. All users need to do to get this update is click the ‘SW update’ application on their smartphone. It’s a 170kb download and following a restart, your phone will have the update.

Sony Xperia LT30 surfaces, 4.6-inch screen and 13MP camera on board

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ony has been on a roll the past few months with a lot of mobile announcements. The latest comes from Bluetooth.org, which details a Sony LT30 smartphone that’s slated for a global release, and judging by the specification, it’s all set to be Sony’s new flagship smartphone. The specifications are similar to those of the Xperia GX, a high-end LTE Android phone that Sony launched exclusively for the Japanese market back in May, so the LT30 could very well be the international version of the Xperia GX.

Samsung Galaxy S III website allows voice-based navigation

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amsung’s Galaxy S III website has got a new feature that aims to help you navigate the website while showing off features of the Samsung Galaxy S III. Samsung’s S III website can now be viewed using voice commands; you can tell the website what you want to see about the Galaxy S III by touching a small mic icon on the top. Starting off, you’re greeted with a statement that says, ‘The Samsung Galaxy S III, designed by humans, inspired by nature’ following which you can give your commands as to what you want to see about the phone. Saying "features" while touching and holding the mic icon takes you to the features tab. We tried navigating the website using voice commands and it was a bit of hit or miss – sometimes our voice couldn’t be recognized, while the other times it worked well. One of the advertised features of the Galaxy S III is the S Voice that aims to provide you a handsfree experience as you speak to the phone to get certain tasks accomplished. The website tries to imitate a similar experience for users visiting the site.

Lumia 610 users in India to get Nokia Music and Mix Radio

N okia has launched its Windows Phone enabled Lumia 610 in the Indian market. The handset will be made available with the Nokia Music and Mix Radio. Moreover, it isn’t just the Lumia 610 but the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 that will also get these music attributes once the updates begin to roll out. Nokia Music brings to users more than 40 lakhs music tracks to download, without any charges. However, the Nokia Music subscription for Lumia users is expected to be for just 4 months. After this subscription period, users will require recharge vouchers to extend the subscription.

US trade panel remands Motorola Mobility case

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U.S. trade panel has decided to defer a final ruling on a complaint filed by Google unit Motorola Mobility accusing Microsoft of infringing its patents to make its popular Xbox. A judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in April that Microsoft infringed four patents owned by Motorola Mobility, now a Google unit, but did not infringe on a fifth named in the complaint.

The full commission said on Friday that it would send the case back to the judge for reconsideration. That reconsideration will likely take months. A final decision in the case had been expected in August.

Samsung reveals its Jelly Bean upgrade plans

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he much-talked-about Google I/O 2012 saw the search giant unveiling the latest flavour of Android, Jelly Bean. However, while all the suspense surrounding the event has been done away with, it leaves just one last question - When will it come to our Android devices? Reportedly, Samsung is the latest one in the group to have commented on this (HTC did it last, according to a report by Pocketnow). Here's what Samsung revealed - "Samsung will soon announce which additional devices are eligible for the Jelly Bean update. As the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, Samsung leads the Android community with best-in-class devices like the Galaxy S III, and is creating new device categories with products like the Galaxy Note. Samsung has delivered the most Nexus-branded lead OS devices and we are pleased that Google will be bringing Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S customers the first experiences of Jelly Bean on aHTC's comment on their Jelly Bean adoption plans, according to AndroidCentral, read: "We are excited about Android Jelly Bean and are planning to support it across a variety of our devices. We are reviewing the software to determine our upgrade plans and schedule, so please stay tuned for more updates on specific device upgrade plans."

Microsoft fight Apple with its new tablet

For decades, Microsoft has made the software that runs the majority of the world's personal computers, leaving a gang of outside hardware companies to design the machines. Apple, its rival, makes it all.

Microsoft is about to concede that Apple may be onto something.

On Monday, Microsoft is expected to introduce a tablet computer of its own design that runs a new version of its Windows operating system, according to people with knowledge of Microsoft's plans who declined to be named discussing confidential matters. It is the first time in the company's 37-year history that it will offer a computer of its own creation. The device is aimed squarely at Apple's blockbuster iPad, which has begun to threaten Microsoft's hegemony in the computer business.

Sagging face? Blame your smartphone

Are you glued to your smartphone all the time? Then you are likely to be affected by a new condition called the ‘smartphone face.’ No, your face doesn’t take the shape of a smartphone, but too much looking down in your phone results in a drooping jawline. So, basically use of mobile devices like phones or laptop that make you bend your head downwards for prolonged hours can lead to losing the elasticity of the facial skin. This problem is being coined as ‘smartphone face.’ Dr. Mervyn Patterson of the Woodford Medical group explains this new condition, and says, "If you sit for hours with your head bent slightly forward, staring at your smartphone or laptop screen, you may shorten the neck muscles and increase the gravitational pull on the jowl area, leading to a drooping jawline."

How to Root and install Custom Recovery on any Android aphone

As is the case with any smartphone, the initial ownership period is always the most exciting one. Your phone is new and you can’t wait to try out all the features it has to offer. After a while, though, you tend to get bored with it and that’s when you start thinking about buying a new one. Unfortunately, what many don’t realise is that at times, manufacturers aren’t able to exploit the phone's true capabilities due to various reasons and one of the best ways to achieve that is by rooting it (if it’s Android) or jailbreaking it (if it’s an iPhone). You may have heard these terms thrown around the Internet or amongst your friends and may have wondered what’s the big deal behind this. Well, today we’ll talk about what is rooting? How to root virtually any Android phone? And finally, installing a custom recovery and why you may need it.

Windows 8 or Windows RT? How do you decide which tablet to pick?

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couple of days back; we got our first glimpse of an actual retail tablet from Dell that will feature Intel’s upcoming Clover Trail SoC and Windows 8. The tablet comes from their Latitude series, which means it’s geared more towards businesses, so we are yet to see what their Inspiron and XPS series of tablets will look like. If we had to guess, we’d hope to see something like the Inspiron Duo that  Dell teased us with a couple of years ago, but never actually managed to get to retail shelves. Only, this time we think the notebook would be a lot slimmer, so that it could actually be used as a tablet, single-handedly. Clover Trail is an interesting SoC, as it uses the similar architecture as Medfield, but will feature two cores, instead of one and will most likely feature HyperThreading. Clover Trail is also designed specifically for tablets and since Windows already has good support for threaded CPUs, we feel it should do just fine.

Google's Project Glass taken for a spin, 720p video recording showcased

The ability to digitize a part of our world for accessing all kinds of data based on location and what you’re actually looking at, i.e. augmented reality is no longer science fiction. While mobile applications have been available for some time now, based on AR technology, we as consumers are always “looking” for something more advanced and that’s where Google’s Project Glass (PG) comes into the “pictures” (pardon the puns). 

Project glass has been an intriguing concept, since Google’s fascinating advertorial video for the prototypes made it out, about a month ago. The idea that we could have mobile technology combined with AR tech in a lightweight, wearable module naturally piqued the world’s curiosity. Within the span of its ‘debut’, test results of the Project glass prototypes have been making the rounds as Google employees take the technology to the field. There’s nothing like a field test to give you the right perspective. 

Pod2g releases untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1

Apopular statement at late Steve Jobs-hosted Apple launches would come just when would think that the show was over; he would turn around and say ‘… and one more thing.’ One may have thought that with his demise, these words would not be echoed again in a similar fashion. However at Hack in the Box 2012, these words were spoken not by an Apple employee or someone associated with the brand, but by developer Pod2g, who is famous for releasing jailbreaks for iOS devices. Like the late Apple co-founder, these words did have the desired effect as Pod2g had officially unveiled Absinthe 2.0, a jailbreak tool for iOS devices.

Airtel 4G launches in Bengaluru today

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ometime last month, there were reports about Bengaluru being the next Indian city (the second one), after Kolkata to receive Airtel’s 4G services. Although back then, the popular service provider in the country had not provided users with a definite date, it had mentioned that it would be roughly 30 days from then that the service would be launched in Bengaluru. Reports coming in now confirm that Airtel 4G services have been officially launched in Bengaluru today, following a launch event. Airtel 4G services in Bengaluru were inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Karnataka, D.V. Sadananda Gowda. Quoting Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel at the event, a Biztech2 report states, “As seen the world over, the total data usage is exploding and is doubling each year to grow to nearly 3.6 hexabytes by 2014. With the launch of 4G, India will move from being a follower in technology to matching the world in this domain. Leading from the front, Airtel is now the only operator that gives citizens of the Information Technology capital of Bengaluru, access to entire spectrum of broadband services including 2G, 3G and now 4G - thereby giving the customers never seen before data experience.” 

Android apps for Indian Railway ticketing

As the travel industry in India continues to grow by leaps and bounds, they seem to be embracing newer mobile trends with equal gusto. The railways in the country appear to be a favoured mode of travel, despite there being other options. Having said that, one does tend to get discouraged at the thought of having to stand in long queues and spend hours to book tickets. In the past few years, though, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, popularly known as IRCTC has been striving at simplifying the ticketing process for their passengers. Remember, mobile ticketing was a huge hit in Kerala, and a GPS-based software will be soon implemented to track movement of trains for both official and personal use. To make rail ticket bookings easier, eliminating those long serpentine queues, there are several apps in the Android Market. We’ve picked top 5 free Android apps to get your railway ticketing process simplified.