IBLOG SPACE

Desi Boyz: Title Song

With the festive season around the corner, one of the most popular purchases remains a flat panel television. HD TVs are becoming cheaper (32-inch LCD TVs now start as low as Rs 21,000) and consumers with HD TVs also need a TV service that offers better features and performance as compared to regular cable. This is where DTH comes in – with increased competition in this space, number of features, HD channels, interacticity and better services are now a given. Currently, there are 6 major opertaors that offer DTH services – Airtel, Reliance Big TV, DishTV, Sun Direct, Tata Sky and Videocon D2H . There is no simple way to determine which is better for you – many of them offer similar services and performance. However, you can choose between operators on the basis of entry price point, various channel packages, monthly costs, multi-room discounts and HD services. Read on to find out more. CHANNELS DTH operators may try to entice consumers by advertising a large number of availabl

Buffalo Technology has announced a new and cool new external storage solution that will be a nice way to back up lots of digital photos very quickly. Buffalo says that the new DriveStation Velocity will transfer 1,000 digital photos in 6.8 seconds. Inside the desktop external storage solution are an ultra high-speed 7,200rpm desktop HDD and the drive has the TurboPC Ex utility for Windows installed. The storage device connects to your computer via USB 3.0 port and has a data rate of up to 5 Gbps making it perfect for lots of photos and video backups. The drive inside the unit uses 256-bit AES full disk encryption as well. That means the content you put on the storage device is automatically encrypted and protected from loss or theft. The DriveStation Velocity will work with USB 2.0 ports as well. The TurboPC Ex software also helps to increase the speed the drive handles data. In June, Buffalo Technology unveiled a MiniStation Plus portable HDD for on the go data storage. Pricing an

The military in all branches is starting to adopt robots and other devices like unmanned drones that can be used to survey a hostile battlefield and keep soldiers out of harms way. There are large robots that can be mounted with weapons of their own to fight the enemy and there are some that are small and meant to help the solider get eyes on a target. ReconRobots has announced that the Army has ordered up 315 of the Recon Scout XT robots that are small and compact. The robots remind me a lot of some sort of weed puller for the garden. The Army has also ordered up 315 of the SearchStick devices that allow the Recon Scout XT to be placed on a pole to see over walls and other obstacles. The massive order will be delivered by the end of October. The Recon Scout XT is a small robot that weighs in at 1.2 pounds. It can be deployed in the battlefield in five seconds and thrown up to 120-feet. The controller for the robot has only one button making it easy to use. Soldiers can also rechar

The Samsung Nexus Prime, aka the Galaxy Nexus expected to be revealed at the company’s event next Tuesday, has apparently been detailed as an Ice Cream Sandwich Verizon exclusive. The 9mm-thick device will have a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED HD curved glass display, BGR‘s source tells them, but rather than one of Samsung’s own Exynos processors will instead run Texas Instrument’s 1.2GHz OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 paired with 1GB of RAM. There’ll be 32GB of integrated storage, the tipster continues, along with WiFi a/b/g/n and NFC. Apparently the camera will only muster 5-megapixels – with a 1.3-megapixel camera up front for video recording – though will still be capable of 1080p Full HD video recording. Connectivity is said to be LTE or HSPA depending on carrier, though seeing as the Nexus Prime is said to be a Verizon exclusive in the US that will mean LTE. Versions abroad will presumably have HSPA (or HSPA+) instead, where LTE networks aren’t available. Finally there’s NF

Bose has more than a few Bluetooth devices in its line. Last month we talked about the new SoundLink mobile Bluetooth speaker. Bose has announced that its new Bluetooth headset called the Series 2 has now launched and is available for purchase online. The headset has noise cancellation tech inside and has a mic that rejects outside noise like wind so the caller can be heard clearly. There is one strange thing about the Bose headset though; it comes in dedicated right or left versions. You can’t buy one headset and use it in either ear. The device has the Bose TriPort acoustic structure and Bose Audio Adjustment tech to allow it to adjust sound with the noise level around the user so they don’t have to mess with controls. The headset also has Bose StayHear tips that are made for comfort and stability. The headset will work with devices supporting A2DP and Bluetooth hands-free profiles. Bose ships the unit with a zippered case, a one foot USB cable for charging, power adapter, and th

Japanese fans of mobile TV will be getting a smartphone only broadcast TV station next year that will be called Nottv. The new station is being backed by some of the largest TV stations in the country and one of the largest mobile carriers so it has the muscle to succeed if users like the content. Nottv was announced at Ceatec this week and will use bandwidth left over from when Japan ended analog broadcasts this year. The station will function as an over-the-air broadcaster so it will not suffer from bandwidth slowdowns like some digital content delivery stations. The demo of the app for Nottv was shown off at Ceatec and it has the ability for live commenting using Twitter and Facebook. It can also perform time shifting duties like DVRs and supports on demand viewing. The content made for the smartphone network will be much shorter than a typical show. Most programs will be about ten minutes in length so they can be watched completely during a smartphone user’s idle time. The inve

Android apps running on Apple’s iPad are now a possibility thanks to Alien Dalvik v2.0, developers Myriad have announced, as part of the company’s push for Android software on tablets, TVs, in-care infotainment and more. First announced for MeeGo devices earlier this year, Alien Dalvik basically wraps Android apps in standalone runtime packaging: to the user, it’s a seamless matter of booting an app that has become basically platform-agnostic. Although the iPad support is likely to be the most eye-catching, Myriad has greater ambitions for Alien Dalvik than just putting Android software onto iOS hardware. The company wants to make Android a default coding choice for apps across multiple platforms, including ereaders, ICE and smart TVs, with support not only for games and other software, but multimedia including live sports, recorded TV shows and on-demand movies. “From a user perspective, Alien Dalvik 2.0 is completely transparent and installed without user disruption. Users simply

A few days ago, we caught a glimpse at the first spy shots of the BlackBerry Messenger or BBM app for Android users running on a device. Some more screens of the app running what appears to be a different device have surfaced as well. The other screens show some of the same views that we saw previously, but it also includes a couple new views. TechnoBuffalo was sent some screen shots from a source and the source added a bit of background to go with the screen shots that add a little credibility to things. The source claims to work for RIM. The phone the screenshots show looks very rough, and there is apparently a reason for it. The phone is a dev unit that RIM whipped up and the buttons on the front are just stuck on according to the source. The source also said that in the leaked screens from earlier in the week, the Nicole account seen is the default test account for BBM testing. The images could still be bogus keep the salt handy. Still, the new shots are clearly from a differen

The magic of A R Rahman has just begun. After rolling out few songs like sadda haq, katiya karoon etc. It is time to hear Tum ho song sung by Mohit chauhan. This song has ranbir kapoor, nargis fakhri in lead roles.

Farmville has brought a new animals to the Farmville market for Coins, this animals is Pink Patch Bull. The Pink Patch Bull is a limited edition to the market and will expire in 6 days.

Plextor has announced that it has expanded its SSD storage line with the addition of a new M2P series of SSDs that are the standard 2.5-inch form factor. The new SSDs are designed for performance and use True Speed technology for sustained levels of performance to users. The SSDs are made to fit inside desktops and some notebooks as upgrade drives and they come in two capacities. The M2P SSDs come in 128GB and 256GB flavors and are the second series of SSDs that Plextor has announced this year. The SSDs have random read speed of 70,000 IOPS and a random write speed of 65,000 IOPS. The controller chip inside the SSD is a Marvell 88SS9174 and the SSD supports SATA III 6Gb/s interfaces. Plextor claims that the SSDs have the lowest average annual failure rate in the industry. The SSD bundles come with free upgrade software and a 3.5-inch bracket for putting the SSD inside a desktop. Plextor will be launching the M2P line in the UK this month with the 128GB version selling for about £20

When the cheaper Amazon Kindle reader came out with a scant $30 discount that was made possible by the ads on the device uses had to put up with, I knew it would never work for me. A savings of $30 isn’t enough to get me to put up with ads on anything. Still a bunch of folks did take Amazon up on the discounted price and were ready to endure the ads. I bet after using the Kindle for a while there are plenty of folks out there that are now wishing they had paid the extra $30 for the standard Kindle reader. Amazon knew that a bunch of folks would tire of the ads on the eReader and rather than have people angry about their purchase or making returns, there is a way to get out of the sponsored screensavers and ads. All you need to do is head to the Manage Your Kindle page and choose to unsubscribe from the ads. You will have to pay the $30 discount to remove them, but at least you can then use your device without ads bothering you. I’m actually surprised that all Amazon wants is the di

Yesterday Microsoft went official with the announcement of all sorts of new TV and entertainment features for the Xbox 360. We have now learned that a new app that will allow any Windows Phone device to be used as a media remote to control the Xbox 360 console is coming as well. That means your remote control will be in the palm of your hand if you are on the Windows Phone OS. The app lets the Windows Phone user to find content through the smartphone interface and the app will be offered for free when it launches. The main use for the app will be to let the user find games, music, movies, and TV shows using the access from the smartphone to the Windows Live Marketplace. The app is said to be similar to the coming dashboard update set for November. The app also allows the user to learn more about what content they are looking at with data similar to that of the IMDB. By touching the name of an actor in a movie for instance, the user can find other content that the person has been in

Some new details have leaked on a Nokia Windows Phone smartphone dubbed Sun (S46). The phone is said to be hitting stores between November 7 and November 13. Those dates are not long after the Nokia World Conference so all the details might be coming at the conference. We already know a lot about the smartphone thanks to the new leak. The device codenamed Sun will run Mango and rock a 1.4GHz processor. It has a unibody shell made of polycarbonate and 16GB of onboard storage. The rear camera is an 8MP unit and the screen of the smartphone is said to be a 3.7-inch AMOLED. It is also said to use a micro SIM card. The device sounds similar to other devices we have heard of, this may end up landing as a device that has been talked about before. We are expecting to see other devices we have already heard of land at the Nokia World 2011 conferences along with the Sun. The Sea Ray that has been rumored for a while along with the Ace and Sabre devices are being watched for at the show too.

Farmville has released 4 new trees to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme, these trees are Dark Apple, Giant Dark Apple, Halloween Lantern, & Giant Halloween Lantern. All of these trees can be purchased using Farm Cash and will expire from the market on the Oct 20th, 2011.

Farmville has released a few decorations to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme, these decorations are Haunted Drive Inn, Werewolf Gnome, Bat Pumpkin,& Giant Candelabra. Bat Pumpkin & Giant Candelabra are available for Farm Coins while Haunted Drive Inn & Werewolf Gnome can be purchased using Farm Cash, all of these decorations will leave the market on the Oct 20th, 2011.

Farmville has released two new buildings to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme, these buildings are Dilapidated House & Werewolf Shack. Both of these buildings can be purchased using Farm Cash and will expire from the market on the Oct 20th, 2011.

There are more Star Wars branded products out there than you can shake a stick at making many fans of the franchise angry that George Lucas pimps out our childhood memories to just about anyone. The place that makes some of the coolest licensed gear is ThinkGeek and I have yet to be disappointed by stuff that it offers. ThinkGeek has a new Star Wars item that is called the Star Wars Lightsaber Candlestick. The candlestick base is made from solid metal and is a perfect reproduction of Darth Vader’s lightsaber. The base comes with three no drip red candle sticks to put in it. This would be the perfect geek touch for your Christmas party since the candlestick is listed as shipping on December 5. Once you burn through the included red candles, you can use any tapered base candle for a replacement. This is an officially licensed collectible. The hilt is 8.5-inches long and the red candle blade is 10-inches long. You can unscrew the base that stands the candlestick up when you want to pl

Farmville has released 3 new animals to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme, these animals are Batwing Horse, Bat Rabbit, & Dire Wolf. All of these animals can be purchased using Farm Cash and will leave the market on the Oct 20th, 2011.

Farmville has released some new decorations to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme, these decorations are Raven, Dreadful Fence, Skeleton Flamingo, Misty Waterfall, Trick or Treat Gnome & Black Rose Planter. Dreadful fence, Skeleton Flamingo & Black Rose Planter are available for Farm Coins while Raven, Misty Waterfall & Trick or Treat Gnome can be purchased using Farm Cash and will expire from the market on the Oct 17th, 2011.

I can understand when you are in a noisy environment or riding a motorcycle that having some sort of communication system with others is a big deal. There are a bunch of Bluetooth devices for motorcyclists, but not so much for the bicyclist that needs to communicate with a group that might be spread over a distance. A new device has launched for the cyclist called the HIOD One that uses Bluetooth and can connect up to five cyclists in a group. You can talk to one rider at a time over distances of up to 1,300 feet away with an intercom feature. The device will also allow for handsfree phone calls and users can listen to music. The device apparently has a few drawbacks though. The head unit mounts to the handlebars of the bike and has an OLED screen with lots of contrast for viewing in different conditions, which is good. The system uses voice units that clip to wrist, chest, or helmets. You have to plug the mic and earphone into the head unit to use them and there are wires between

Farmville has released four new Halloween themed trees to the Farmville market, these trees are Jack O Lantern Tree, Giant Jack O Lantern Tree, Fire Peach Tree & Giant Fire Peach Tree. All of these trees can be purchased using Farm Cash and will expire from the market on the Oct 17th, 2011.

T-Mobile went official yesterday with the new smartphones called the myTouch and the myTouch Q. The devices had leaked last month and now we have all the details on the smartphones including the time frame that they will hit stores. The timeframe is vague, but we know that they will hit T-Mobile stores before the holidays. That means that within the next two months or so they should land. Both of the smartphones are made by LG and they both run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Other common features between the two are the 1GHz processors, a 5MP camera that can record 720p video, a front camera is on the myTouch, and both will operate on the HSPA+ 4G network. The myTouch has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and uses the Swipe virtual keyboard. The myTouch Q has a slide out keyboard underneath the 3.5-inch screen. Both of the smartphones will ship with the Netflix app installed and T-Mobile TV capability integrated. T-Mo didn’t go official with the pricing of either of the devices, but the specs indic

In what can only be described as a futuristic show of internet-based dissent, Wikipedia has taken down the entirety of its Italy-based site in protest of a gag-law currently awaiting full passage. This law would, if passed, allow ease in censorship of any webpage showing up inside the country via a requirement for any and all websites to publish “corrections” at the request of ANY PERSON inside 48 hours, this without any sort of impartial 3rd party judge. I think you can see the problems this might incur right away, right? Wikipedia being a site that is without an editorial staff and has its entire contents made and edited by 3rd party contributors. In the case that there is a dispute about contents on any page, either an agreement must be met by the creator of the content and the person disputing it, or the content will be pulled entirely. What Italy’s new law would have done is to use government-inflicted requirements to have changes made without a judge – this is essentially what

Farmville has released a new building to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme, this building is Ghost Inn. Ghost Inn can be purchased using Farm Cash and will expire from the market on the Oct 17th, 2011.

Farmville has released four animals to the Farmville market as a part of its Halloween theme. These animals are Nightmare Unicorn, Nightmare Horse, Nightmare Cow & Nightmare Sheep. The Nightmare horse is a re-released horse, all of these animals can be purchased using Farm Cash and will expire from the market on the Oct 17th, 2011.

If you’re considering the iPhone 4S, you now have three of the four major US carriers to choose from, with the nation’s third largest being added to the mix that currently includes AT&T and Verizon. Since the iPhone 4S is now a dual-band world phone, the same model will be available to all three carriers, making the choice more a matter of network preference. However, Apple has given AT&T a bit of an advantage. When Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S yesterday, it was disappointingly without LTE or WiMAX support. Instead, Apple increased the device data speed to support the “faux-G” 14.4Mbps data speeds of AT&T’s HSDPA network, which currently offers other “faux-G” devices such as the HTC Inspire 4G and the LG Thrill 4G. Although not LTE or WiMAX speeds, this is still an improvement over the 7.2Mbps downlink data speed of the 3G iPhone 4. Hence, when it comes to the iPhone 4S on the other two carriers, the device will be limited to only their 3G networks, which may hit at mos