Best Way to Download Torrents Online Using IDM ?

Downloading torrents using torrent clients like BitTorrent, U torrent etc is big trouble, sometimes       torrents speed issues or somethings internet service provider restrictions so why don't we download torrents    directly ?

 

 Yes, it is possible there are many services that helps you in downloading torrents directly. Actually they firstly download torrents on there cloud/server  and the downloading speed of servers are too high so it takes less then a minutes in downloading 100 GB torrent file and then you can download that file like you download normal files using IDM with full speed and with no restriction.

There are many services available like ZBigz etc but they have many restrictions and they make the process very hard for free user, but I researched a lot and then I found a great free services named as Seedr. Trust me this is the best website for this job.

So, follow the steps below and start downloading torrents using IDM:

•  Signup on Seedr
• Verify your email
• and then start using it :)  or
• Open Zbigz
• Upload Torrent file
• select free
• Download & enjoy.

When you register for the first time you can get a Free 2GB of space. You can later increase it by referring the service to your friends and relatives or some other processes like:



Using BitTorrent you are absolutely open. It means that everybody in the network knows about you and your activity. Everybody knows what, when and how many downloads you have made. It is one of the main principles of a BitTorrent network and nobody can avoid it using the usual ways.
When you use ZbigZ you are shielded behind us. All your activity is on behalf of ZbigZ. You are absolutely anonymous.


You can use ZbigZ for free and even without (free) registration. You can try it right now.
There are some further opportunities for registered users and even more opportunities for Premium users.

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Mozilla Firefox is dear for smartphones

In a move that will surprise no one, Mozilla has announced it's pulling the plug on the Firefox OS for smartphones.

Making the announcement at its developer event in Orlando, Mozilla stated it would no longer develop or sell Firefox OS smartphones, though it would continue to experiment in the realm of connected devices and Internet of Things networks.

In a statement, Mozilla's SVP of connected devices, Ari Jaaksi, said, "Firefox OS proved the flexibility of the Web, scaling from low-end smartphones all the way up to HD TVs. However, we weren't able to offer the best user experience possible and so we will stop offering Firefox OS smartphones through carrier channels.


"We'll share more on our work and new experiments across connected devices soon."

Never achieving much success, Firefox OS devices were always at the low end of the spectrum in terms of features and pricing. The lack of native apps didn't do the platform any favours, either.

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5 devices unveiled at Google event

At an event in San Francisco, Google unveiled a total of 5 hardware devices, including two smartphones, its first laptop-cum-tablet convertible, and two versions of Chromecast. Here's a look at the five devices, some that have been leaked previously, while some that were a complete surprise..

1. Nexus 6P

Nexus 6P, the big-screen smartphone, has a 5.7-inch AMOLED display with QHD (1440x2560p) resolution, runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and comes with the integrated Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor on the back. The smartphone is powered by Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB RAM and comes in three storage variants: 32GB ($499), 64GB ($549) and 128GB ($649); there is no support for storage expansion. It has a 12.3MP rear camera with 1.55micron sensor and dual-LED flash. On the front is an 8MP camera, the highest resolution for selfie camera for a Nexus smartphone yet. The smartphone features an all-metal, 7.33mm thick body in white, grey and aluminium finishes, packs a 3,450mAh battery, sports USB Type C connector, and comes with front-facing stereo speakers.

2. Nexus 5X

Nexus 5X has a 5.2-inch screen with Full HD (1080x1920p) resolution and runs on the 64-bit Snapdragon 808 processor with 2GB RAM. The storage capacities of the Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) smartphone are 16GB ($379) and 32GB ($429), with no microSD card support. The 12.3MP camera of Nexus 5X also has a 1.55micron sensor and is backed by a laser autofocus for faster capturing; a 5MP selfie camera is in front. Available in black, white and blue colours, the smartphone has a 2,700mAh battery, fingerprint sensor and USB Type C.

3. Pixel C

Google's first laptop-cum-tablet convertible, Pixel C has a 10.2-inch display with 2560x1800p resolution and 500 nits brightness. It runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and packs the quad-core Tegra X1 processor with 3GB RAM under the hood.The compatible Pixel C keyboard supports inductive charging and will work for up to two months on a single charge. Google has used a USB Type C port in the new tablet, same as the new Nexus smartphones. Google said the 32GB variant of Pixel C will cost $499, whereas the 64GB model is priced at $599. The keyboard will be sold separately for $149. While there is no official release date for the devices yet, Google said it will become available in time for the US holiday season.

3. Second-generation Chromecast

In its second iteration, Chromecast has shed the old USB-stick design and now sports a circular body and multiple colours. According to Google, the new Chromecast streams high-resolution content faster than its predecessor, with less buffering. Its Fast Play feature allows it to connect faster with the TV, the company said. It will cast videos in 1080p resolution (if available) by default and has features like universal search in apps, improved content discovery and has better Wi-Fi strength.

5. Chromecast Audio

A music-centric device called Chromecast Audio, which lets users stream audio on their existing speakers via Wi-Fi, was also announced at the event. The device automatically recognizes devices on the same Wi-Fi network and 'casts' audio from them to the speakers. It will support multi-room devices like Sonos and is compatible with apps like works with apps like Spotify, Pandora and Google Play Music.

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Snapdragon 820 V3 scores high on benchmark test

A new screenshot of a Geekbench benchmark test of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 v3 has surfaced, showing considerable improvement in the scores. This is the third leak that has now surfaced, showing higher scores than the two previously leaked benchmarks.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC will have four Kryo cores, clocked at 2.2GHz each, based on the 14nm FinFET technology. It will feature the Adreno 530 GPU alongside the new Hexagon 680 digital signal processor. According to the latest leak, the third version of the Snapdragon 820 has racked up some impressive numbers on GeekBench 3. Its multi-core score of 5910 is superior than all the current chipsets. It scored 2032 in single-core performance, managing to beat the Exynos 7420 and trails only behind Apple’s A9.

The first GeekBench scores of the Snapdragon 820 leaked out in June, revealing rather unimpressive scores of 1732 in single-core and 4970 in multi-core performance. A second leak showed an improved single-core score of 1800, although the multi-core performance score took a hit. In comparison, the Snapdragon 820 v3 has bettered the previous two benchmark scores. Qualcomm can be expected to further tweak the performance before it hits the market next year. Earlier this month, screenshots of a device named Green Orange X1 Pro appeared on Weibo, purportedly running a Snapdragon 820 processor. The images suggested that the device scored 83,774 and 82,307 in AnTuTu benchmark tests.

With the Snapdragon 820, Qualcomm is focusing on optimising power, instead of indulging in an exhibition of raw processing strength. The Hexagon 680 DSP will ease the load on the CPU by taking care of the always-on sensors and image processing tasks. Paired with the Spectra ISP, it will be capable of supporting advanced imaging and computer vision capabilities. However, the Snapdragon 820 will be up against some formidable competition, when it releases next year. MediaTek’s deca-core Helio X20 chipset, Huawei’s Kirin 950 and the Exynos 8890 will be in the fray. If rumours are to be believed, Apple will also be releasing a six-core A10 CPU, with a focus on improving multithreaded performance.

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Mark Zuckerberg and Prime Minister Narendra Modi changes their profile picture to support 'Digital India'

Facebook CEo Mark Zuckerberg on sunday changed his Facebook Profile pic ahead on his townhall interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Showing his support for the Prime Minister's "Digital India" initiative, Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Facebook: "I changed my profile picture to support Digital India, the Indian government's effort to connect rural communities to the internet and give people access to more services online. Looking forward to discussing this with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Facebook today."

PM Narendra Modi also changed his profile picture on the Facebook.

"Thanks Mark Zuckerberg for the support. I changed my DP in support of the efforts towards a Digital India," PM Modi wrote in a post on Facebook.

Readers too can change their DP here.

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Microsoft Office 2016 Launched : Top 10 New Features

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced the availability of Office 2016 for Windows desktop platform. Used by more than 1 billion people worldwide, Office is not only the most popular productivity suite available on the planet, it is also one of the biggest revenue channels for the company.

Microsoft drops a new version of Office every three years. But despite being one of the oldest, and the single-most dominant player in the market, Office today faces more competition than it has in the recent times. A number of emerging players including Google's Drive suite, and open source alternatives like OpenOffice and LibreOffice offer several of Office's features for no cost at all. So what new features has Microsoft added in Office 2016 to drive it miles apart from the rivals? Here are the top 10 features.

1) Co-Authoring
Perhaps the single biggest addition to Office is the introduction of a feature called co-authoring in several of Office applications -- Word and PowerPoint. Co-authoring allows more than one user to work on a document simultaneously. Microsoft says that users can work on a document regardless of the device - read the operating system - they are using.

In addition, when multiple users are working on a document, the participants can see where others are working in a document in real-time. The feature, however, is limited to Word.

2) Office Sway
Microsoft has bundled Sway, a tool the company introduced earlier as a standalone service, right into the Office suite. Sway lets you make stylish media presentations that can be quickly made and embedded on websites.

3) Tell Me
Remember the annoying assistant Clippy that used to come in older versions of Office? Tell Me is a smarter version of it. Available in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Project, Visio, and Access, Tell Me is a smart assistant that can understand your queries written in completely human-y words. It will assist you with whatever issues you're having. There is also a feature called Delve, which as the company claims, uses algorithms to bring together the most relevant information or documents in one place.

4) Smart Lookup
Forget the crippled built-in dictionary, Smart Lookup features in the new Office version will provide you with contextual information about words and phrases you need to know more about. When you select a word or a phrase - in Word, PowerPoint, or any other Office application - the sidebar opens at the right side with details about the selected text from various sources, including Wikipedia.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced the availability of Office 2016 for Windows desktop platform. Used by more than 1 billion people worldwide, Office is not only the most popular productivity suite available on the planet, it is also one of the biggest revenue channels for the company.

Microsoft drops a new version of Office every three years. But despite being one of the oldest, and the single-most dominant player in the market, Office today faces more competition than it has in the recent times. A number of emerging players including Google's Drive suite, and open source alternatives like OpenOffice and LibreOffice offer several of Office's features for no cost at all. So what new features has Microsoft added in Office 2016 to drive it miles apart from the rivals? Here are the top 10 features.

1) Co-Authoring
Perhaps the single biggest addition to Office is the introduction of a feature called co-authoring in several of Office applications -- Word and PowerPoint. Co-authoring allows more than one user to work on a document simultaneously. Microsoft says that users can work on a document regardless of the device - read the operating system - they are using.

In addition, when multiple users are working on a document, the participants can see where others are working in a document in real-time. The feature, however, is limited to Word.

2) Office Sway
Microsoft has bundled Sway, a tool the company introduced earlier as a standalone service, right into the Office suite. Sway lets you make stylish media presentations that can be quickly made and embedded on websites.

3) Tell Me
Remember the annoying assistant Clippy that used to come in older versions of Office? Tell Me is a smarter version of it. Available in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Project, Visio, and Access, Tell Me is a smart assistant that can understand your queries written in completely human-y words. It will assist you with whatever issues you're having. There is also a feature called Delve, which as the company claims, uses algorithms to bring together the most relevant information or documents in one place.

4) Smart Lookup
Forget the crippled built-in dictionary, Smart Lookup features in the new Office version will provide you with contextual information about words and phrases you need to know more about. When you select a word or a phrase - in Word, PowerPoint, or any other Office application - the sidebar opens at the right side with details about the selected text from various sources, including Wikipedia.

7) Mail Triage
Microsoft's Clutter feature in Outlook analyses your email pattern and also observes the people you interact with the most, and using these metrics, it prioritises your emails and only shows you what's really important to you while putting low priority emails into a separate folder.

8) Better integration with OneDrive and Skype
OneDrive integration enables you to open an Office document from anywhere and from any supported device. Not only can you access these files, you can in fact pick up right from where have you left on another device.

Skype, as you can imagine, allows you to talk to your colleagues, initiate and join online meetings and share your screen with your colleagues.

9) Planner
Microsoft is also introducing a feature called Planner that allows a team to make projects and quickly make tasks and documents. It utilises Office Graph, a feature that keeps a record of every document, email-related actions, and other activity log of a user. It is very similar to Trello, but with its ability to tap on Office Graph, Planner is arguably more efficient and useful.

10) Windows 10 support
There are several Windows 10 features that work great with Office 2016. Windows Hello - a biometric authentication measure the company introduced with the new desktop operating system which checks a person's face to login to the computer - also works with Office 2016. In addition, Cortana can work in conjunction with Office apps too and fetch important information and perform handy tasks.

What are your favourite Office 2016 features? Let us know via the comments.

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Verizon to offer international roaming in Cuba

Verizon today announced that, starting next week, it will offer international roaming to customers traveling to Cuba, making it the first major US carrier to do so. Customers who opt into the Pay-As-You-Go International Travel option for their plans will be able to take advantage of the new package — so long as they have a device that works overseas. The price for connectivity is fairly high, though, coming in at $2.99 per minute for talk and $2.05 per megabyte of data.

Ever since the United States and Cuba moved to normalize diplomatic relations earlier this year, American businesses have moved quickly to expand their operations on the Caribbean island nation. Companies like MasterCard, Netflix, and Airbnb all set up shop in the country in the months that followed. With Verizon now offering roaming to its customers, restrictions that ban tourism make even less sense.

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Moto X at best deal at Rs.18,499 : The Lowest cost Android flagship

Motorola has launched the third generation Moto X Play at an event in New Delhi on 14 September. Unlike the previous generation, this time around there will be two flavours of the Moto X, the other being Moto X Style which sports a 5.7 inch Quad-HD display.

Moto X Play has been launched at Rs 18,499 for the 16GB variant and Rs 19,999 for the 32GB variant. The phones will start selling on Flipkart from 12am tonight, along with a raft of introductory offers. We spent some time with the Moto X Play and here are our first impressions.

Build Quality and design

The Moto X Play is beautiful to look at, although you will notice design changes as compared to the Moto X second generation. For instance, the camera section is placed on a rectangular strip of plastic with a minimal dimple, as opposed to the prominent Motorola dimple on second gen Moto X. Also the top portion has the dual SIM card and microSD card slot.

The phone is easy to hold thanks to thin bezel in the sides, but one handed use is not comfortable thanks to the 5.5inch display. The rear textured cover feels nice in the hand and gives a good grip.

The left hand side of the Moto X Play is clean, whereas the right hand side has the power/ standby and volume rocker buttons. While the buttons have a good feedback, Moto could have done with a better build on them. The rear cover is removable, but the battery is concealed. Just like the Moto G 3rd gen, the Moto X Play also comes with the water resistant chops.

Display

The Moto X Play comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The display looks crisp and we did not notice any backlight bleeding. Thanks to the thin bezels the Moto X Play has a respectable body to screen ratio. The phone did not have any video samples to check out so we cant comment on that, but text and app icons look sharp.

Chipset, storage, RAM

The Moto X Play comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC with an octa core processor with one quad core cluster clocked at 1.7GHz and the other quad core cluster clocked at 1GHz, along with Adreno 405 GPU. This is paired with 2GB RAM. While preliminary use, the phone seemed to run smooth. There were no noticeable lags in animations, switching applications and so on. We will be putting the phone through its paces when we review it.

The phone comes in two storage variants, 16GB and 32GB. Both variants give you the option to expand the storage using a microSD card slot to upto 128GB.

OS, Connectivity

As we have seen with previous Moto devices launched this year the Moto X Play also comes with the latest Android 5.1 OS with barely any custom skin. Motorola does have its special app called Moto Assist which lets you interact with the phone via voice commands, set profiles according to locations, along with gesture support such as quick twist of the wrist to launch camera, Moto chop feature to launch the flashlight and so on.

On the connectivity front you have a dual 4G nano SIM card configuration, Wifi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with A-GPS.

Camera and battery

Saving the two best features of the Moto X Play for the last. The phone comes with a 21MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing camera. The camera user interface is not very different from Moto G.

Generally when shooting at 16:9 aspect ratio (full screen shooting mode) the resolution of the camera is cut by a certain amount, but with the Moto X Play you still get 16MP image size. We will have to test the camera to see if this camera delivers good image quality with the higher resolution as well.

Battery is the other most important feature. The Moto X sports a non removable 3630mAh battery. That’s a high capacity and Motorola claims a 2 day battery life with this phone. We will have to test that claim and also the one where Motorola states that you can extract 8 hours worth of talk time with just 15 minutes of Turbo charging.

Conclusion

Motorola has certainly packed in a lot on the Moto X Play and is offering it at a highly competitive Rs 18,499 price tag. The 21MP camera and 3630mAh capacity battery give the Play an edge over competing devices. A stock Android experience and the ability to expand storage will also win the phone extra brownie points.

But will the phone deliver as an everyday workhorse? We will only be able to conclusively tell that once we properly review the Moto X Play. But first impressions certainly look good.

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Xiaomi ready to sell Redmi Note 4G without registrations starting today

Those who couldn’t get their hands on the Redmi Note 4G, here’s yet another chance. Xiaomi’s Note 4G will be up for grabs today, sans the need for any registrations.

As usual, the company has made these announcements via its social pages. The official Mi Facebook page post reads, “Good news! We now have sufficient stock of Redmi Note 4G for all Mi fans and you can purchase yours any time you want from Flipkart, just in time to catch the ICC Cricket World Cup.”


Besides, it has also tweeted a similar message stating from February 12 anyone can buy the Note 4G on Flipkart, just in time to catch CWC15.

However, while writing this article, the Flipkart page still hasn’t started selling the device. However, it could start anytime soon, probably 2PM, like most Xiaomi flash sale on the e-store.

Priced at Rs 9,999, the Redmi Note 4G sports a 5.5-inch HD IPS display and comes powered by 1.6GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8928 processor. Other specs include 8GB onboard storage, microSD card slot up to 32GB, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front shooter for selfies and 3,100mAh battery. It runs Xiaomi’s customised MIUI OS, based on Android 4.2.


The Redmi Note, if you recall, is Xiaomi’s blockbuster device. In a flash sale carried in July 2014 in Taiwan, 10,000 units reportedly sold within a second.

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WhatsApp allows anyone to track you regardless of your privacy settings

If you are using WhatsApp and feel secure by the thought that your privacy mode is set to offline, well, you might have to think again.

A serious flaw has been detected in the cross-platform mobile messaging app which enables a user’s status to be tracked and also keep an eye of their changing profile pictures, privacy settings or status messages regardless of their privacy settings.

The web based tool called ‘WhatsSpy Public’ has been designed by Maikel Zweerink, a student of Dutch University. This tool is a web-oriented application that tracks every move of whichever user one wishes to follow. This application is setup as an ‘Proof of Concept’ that Whatsapp is broken in terms of privacy.

Once the application is set up, users can track WhatsApp users that they want to follow. Once it’s running, it keeps track of activities such as Online/Offline status, Profile pictures, Privacy settings and Status messages. The tool requires an SIM Card or non-Whatsapp used phone number and some other resources.

In a blog post on his website, he pointed out that his software tool has revealed that even a hacker without a WhatsApp account, can monitor the activities of a WhatsApp user even if he or she has turned on the privacy settings.

The software web-developer himself stated that, “I made this project for you to realise how broken the privacy options actually are. It just started out as experimenting with WhatsApp to build a bot, but I was stunned when I realised someone could abuse this “online” feature of WhatsApp to track anyone.

He also added that, “I could just say this in like a blog article that the privacy options are broken, but you wouldn’t realise the impact it actually has.”

This isn’t the first time there has been an issue regarding WhatsApp’s privacy. Few days ago, a report pointed out that a new security bug found in WhatsApp lets anyone see a user’s profile photos even if they have set it to ‘Contacts-only’. The 17-year-old security researcher, Indrajeet Bhuyan had discovered this problem.


The problem occurred due to the new web version. It is said to be a result of the phone app not being  synced properly with the new web interface.

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HTC-One Android 4.4.2 KitKat update started in Europe

Back in November HTC promised that it would roll out the Android 4.4 Kitkat update for the HTC One users in EMEA countries (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) starting from January-end. It has kept its promise and has started rolling out the KitKat update in parts of Europe, including Nordic region. The HTC One Google Play Edition got the KitKat update back in November last year.
The new software update (v4.19.401.8) for the HTC One brings

• Android 4.4.2 update
• Security enhancements
• Printing improvement – Cloud print service
• Bluetooth improvement – New Bluetooth profiles to support more media interactions
• Browser – Support of Flash Player removed

The KitKat update also brings white icons, but the battery indicator is still in green. Adobe killed the Flash Player development for mobile devices back in 2011. HTC has finally decided to remove Adobe Flash support in the stock HTC web browser, since it has switched to Google’s Chromium engine, according to ROM developer LlabTooFeR.

The Android 4.4.2 for the HTC One is available as a OTA update, which is 308.24MB . The version and the size might vary depending on the region. Since Asia is not in the early roll out list, Indian users would have to wait for the update.

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iOS 7.1 beta 4 served up by Apple-UPDATED

Just a hair under two weeks after rolling iOS 7.1 beta 3 out to registered developers, Apple today seeded iOS 7.1 beta 4.

The new software is build number 11D5134c and is now available for download from the iOS Dev Center. As with the previous betas, the iOS 7.1 beta 4 update is available for the iPad Air, iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad mini with Retina display, iPad mini, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and fifth-generation iPod touch.
The first beta of iOS 7.1 was released in mid-November, followed by beta 2 in mid-December and beta 3 earlier in January. Each new beta update has brought with it a few notable tweaks, such as the dark keyboard toggle in beta 1 and a new Power Off slider in beta 3. Since beta 4 is just now rolling out to developers, there's no word yet on what goodies Apple has crammed into this latest update. The good news is that the details of these updates usually slip out shortly after the software is made available, so it likely won't be long before we learn more about what makes beta 4 tick.

UPDATE: So far it sounds like iOS 7.1 beta 4 may not have as many changes as previous versions. According to 9to5Mac, the iOS 7.1 beta 4 update brings with it a new Voice Gender option for U.K. English as well as slight text changes for the Slide to Unlock and Slide to Power Off user interface elements.

Via 9to5Mac

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Beats Music now available on Android and iOS, Windows Phone app coming later this week

After months of teases and a username reservation program, the Beats Music streaming service is officially launching in the U.S. today.

Just as we learned earlier this month, pricing for the service is set at $9.99 per month or $119.88 per year for unlimited access to the Beats catalog of music, which is said to contain more than 20 million tracks. AT&T and Beats have teamed up to offer a special deal to the carrier's family plan customers that is priced at $14.99 per month and includes 5 accounts that can be used across 10 devices. AT&T customers can also get a free 90-day free trial before signing up, while everyone else can test out Beats Music for 7 days before forking over any cash.
Beats Music is available on the web and also as dedicated iOS and Android apps. A Windows Phone app is also planned, but Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers has revealed that that app won't launch until this Friday, Jan. 24. 
While Beats Music allows users to seek out and listen to specific content just like any other streaming service, the big focus for Beats is on curation. The service offers playlists and Highlights that are created by music experts from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and more. Another tentpole feature of Beats is Right Now, which is a sentence that users fill in with information about where they are, what they're doing, who they're with and what kind of music they want to hear. After completing the sentence, Beats Music will serve up a playlist of music that it thinks is appropriate for that situation.

There's certainly no shortage of streaming music options available today, with services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora and more all vying for your ears and your cash. So far Beats Music looks like a nice enough offering with attractive mobile apps and a focus on personal curation. Whether or not those features are enough to tempt users of other services to switch and convince other consumers to sign up for their first paid service remains to be seen, but the fact that the Beats name is attached is sure to get many folks to at least look into the new service.

Are you planning on checking out Beats Music now that it's finally live?

Via Beats Music, WPCentral, @iancr, Beats Music apps: App Store, Google Play

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Verizon announces World Messaging Unlimited with free unlimited texts and discounted calls

Do you send a lot of international texts, or make a ton of international calls? Verizon has a new texting plan just for you. Big Red's World Messaging Unlimited plan charges just $5 per month per line for unlimited texts sent to most countries. When calling Canada or Mexico, you are charged just 1 cent per minute. Calls to the Caribbean and Central America are rung up at the price of 5 cents per minute.

Verizon is offering those who sign up for the the World Messaging Unlimited plan a $15 savings, by making the first three months free. Keep in mind that Verizon is characterizing this as a limited time offer, so don't start making a long 200 page list of pros and cons. If you make international texts and call often to Mexico, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean, this would seem like a no brainer.

source: Verizon via Engadget

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Sony Windows 8 handset to arrive in 2014

Not so long ago Microsoft had a handful of trusted Windows Phone partners in the form of HTC, Samsung, Nokia and Huawei. Nowadays it’s basically just Nokia. But all that could change in 2014 as Microsoft attempts to make its platform more attractive to handset vendors.

We previously reported that Sony could be working on a Windows Phone 8 handset linked with a 2014 launch. According to Digitimes, sources have confirmed Sony is working on handsets and one or two will be released in 2014.

The deal aims to sell Sony Mobile handsets to US consumers whilst Microsoft can use the opportunity to tap into the Japanese market.
Taiwanese manufacturer ODM Compal Communications will produce one or two handset models for Sony and two of three other models are currently under discussion. Each of these will only reach tens of thousands of consumers to start with as Sony tests the demand.

What this would mean is the first Sony phone linked in to Microsoft's Xbox ecosystem - controversial!

Sony Windows Phone handset linked with 2014 launch

 

A report over at The Information suggests Microsoft may have bagged Sony, one of Google’s key hardware partners. The report suggests Sony will launch a Windows Phone handset in early-2014 as part of its already well-known Vaio product line. 

Nothing regarding specs or hardware was mentioned in the report, however, but with the Windows Phone GDR3 update now in the wild it’s likely we’ll see the device kitted out with a decent – full HD – display and powerful Qualcomm quad-core processor, most likely the Snapdragon 800.

The report says the deal between Microsoft and Sony has not yet been finalized and could come undone if the two firms disagree over licensing costs. According to reports from late-2013, Microsoft is currently "seriously" looking at abolishing the license fees associated with Windows Phone in a bid to make the platform more attractive to hardware firms.

Sony released a Windows Mobile in the past and even experimented with Windows Phone 7 when the platform first launched – it built a prototype handset that never made it to market.

To ensure Windows Phone keeps growing Microsoft needs the support of other key hardware vendors – Nokia cannot do it all by itself. HTC and Samsung committed to Windows Phone early on but have since returned their attentions to Android. Getting Sony onboard could be just what the doctor ordered.


We’ll update as soon as we know more. 

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Top 5 changes in Facebook in 2013

5 Graph Search

 

Facebook opened the Pandora's Box once again with this one. Their decision to launch Graph Search was seen as a direct attack on Google Search. However, the initial brouhaha phased out and so did security concerns. And Facebook continued its autonomy.

4 Shared Albums

This was one of the best changes of 2013. Facebook let FB users collaborate and create shared albums. Perfect for groups who are regular travellers or even for those family events. No need to each create a separate account. All members can pitch in with their pictures and create one common account. Darned nice!

3 Mood Indicator

We do not really know if this was more for FB advertising (Why do I always get chocolate adverts when my mood indicator shows 'sad') or for us. But this feature has been much used - and abused - and is one of the favourites. Not just your mood, Facebook even let users share their reading lists, activities, playlists, etc.

2 FB Trends

Do we call it Twitter inspired? Or just a copy? However, just like Twitter, Facebook introduced the # or the hashtag and along with the # came Top Trends. While the hashtag hasn't really caught up on Facebook (your updated need to be set to public for it to work), the trends feature is pretty cool and useful.

1 Embed Posts

Now is is plain copy. Twitter let's users embed tweets and add to their blogs/sites. However, while Twitter added images to their embed this year, Facebook decided to let users embed posts for public updates. The feature is definitely nowhere as popular as Twitter but there is good potential.

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Apple releases iOS 7.1 beta 2 with improved speed and design

Nearly one month following the initial iOS 7.1 beta, Apple has released a second beta to developers. The beta is available via the online developer center portal, and has also just begun hitting devices over-the-air. New versions of Xcode 5.1 beta and software for Apple TV are also available. The previous iOS 7.1 beta brought various, minor interface tweaks and new accessibility options.

You can find the changes below:

- Touch ID and Passcode Settings are now more prominently displayed.

- Animations are now even faster than in beta 1.

- Bug where all tones were the default is fixed.

- Control Center has a new bounce animation when you toggle it and a new label to show you which app audio is coming from.

- New list view redesign/toggle in Calendar app.

- You can now turn on button shapes so you know where to tap.

- Dark keyboard option from beta 1 has been removed.

- A new iPad wallpaper (from the iPad Air ad).

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Oct-2014 is launch for Apple iWatch ?

A published report out of China on Friday, says that the long rumored Apple iWatch will finally be launched in October 2014. According to a source who is said to have a good track record with leaks involving Apple, the Cupertino based tech titan is testing two different prototypes of the iOS powered timepiece. Both are equipped with a 100mAh battery, which is roughly one-third of the 315mAh capacity of the cell on the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch. And despite an update last month that improved the Galaxy Gear's battery life, it still is the subject of some complaints. In other words, if a 315mAh battery doesn't provide enough battery life on Samsung's smartwatch, what can 100mAh bring to the iWatch?

There might be some response from Apple to this subject matter. The report out of China insists that the Apple iWatch will be able to support wireless charging from 3.2 feet away. This would mean that the wireless charging would not be based on Qi's standards, but would use a magnetic resonance system similar to what Samsung is rumored to be using for its smartphones starting in the middle of next year. If you had enough chargers, you could set them up in certain areas of your home or in your car or office, and the watch could recharge once you were within range.

We caution you to take this report with a grain of salt since at this point, reports about what the iWatch will look like or its functions are speculation. Even those who claim to have seen the watch with their own two eyes don't know if what they were looking at was a prototype that could be changed before it is released.

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Lumia 1320 specs, features, price and release date in India

Nokia is hoping to really carve a niche for itself in the smartphone arena this time with its well endowed, affordably priced mid-ranger Lumia 1320. Armed with a massive 6-inch screen, the handset offers users all that's new an improved in Microsoft's revamped Windows Phone 8 Black operating system.

The Lumia 1320 has a lot of girth, coming as it does with dimensions of 164.2 x 85.9 x 9.8mm and a weight of 220g. Nokia has given its newbie a good build quality and oodles of personality with its orange, black, white and yellow removable covers. The phone comes with today's popular form factor of curved edges that make it comfortable to grip and use.

Its 6-inch IPS LCD screen ships with a HD resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and a pixel density of 245ppi. The phone is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Nokia has given it some powerful inners too. The handset runs on the Qualcomm dual-core 1.7 GHz Snapdragon S4 chipset, its Krait 300 processor, its Adreno 305 GPU and a 1 GB RAM.

The mid-ranger carries 8 GB of internal memory that is expandable externally by another 64 GB. The phone also comes with 7GB of free SkyDrive cloud-based memory. Nokia has equipped it with a 5-megapixel camera and a secondary front facing VGA snapper. The handset boasts of features like a Carl Zeiss lens, auto focus, geo-tagging, touch focus, LED flash, 1080p video capture at 30fps, Nokia Camera app etc.

A 3400 mAh battery powers Nokia's device which ships with support for Bluetooth, USB, WLAN and 4G networks. Nokia really does seem determined to take on the competition with its well speced mid-ranger, for it has priced the Lumia 1320 at $339, approximately Rs. 21,000.

Design

• Device type:
  • Smart phone
• OS:
  • Windows Phone 8
• Dimensions:
  • 6.46 x 3.38 x 0.39 inches (164.2 x 85.9 x 9.8 mm)
• Weight:
  • 7.76 oz (220 g)
    the average is 4.6 oz (132 g)

Display

• Physical size:
  • 6.0 inches
• Resolution:
  • 720 x 1280 pixels
• Pixel density:
  • 245 ppi
• Technology:
  • IPS LCD
• Colors:
  • 16 777 216
• Touchscreen:
  • • Multi-touch
• Features:
  • Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Scratch-resistant glass, Polarizing filter

Camera

• Camera:
  • • 5 megapixels
  • Flash:
    • LED
  • Aperture size:
    • F2.4
  • Focal length (35mm equivalent):
    • 28mm
  • Camera sensor size:
    • 1/4"
  • Features:
    • Auto focus, Touch to focus, Face detection, Exposure compensation, ISO control, White balance presets, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, Panorama
• Camcorder:
  • • 1920x1080 (1080p HD) (30 fps)
  • Features:
    • Continuous autofocus, Video light
• Front-facing camera:
  • • 0.3 megapixels VGA

Hardware

• System chip:
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
• Processor:
  • Dual core, 1700 MHz, Krait 300
• Graphics processor:
  • • Adreno 305
• System memory:
  • 1024 MB RAM
• Built-in storage:
  • 8 GB
• Storage expansion:
  • microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC up to 64 GB

Battery

• Talk time:
  • 25.00 hours
    the average is 12 h (741 min)
• Stand-by time:
  • 28.0 days (672 hours)
    the average is 20 days (485 h)
• Talk time (3G):
  • 21.00 hours
    the average is 12 h (700 min)
• Capacity:
  • 3400 mAh

Multimedia

• Music player:
  • Filter by:
    • Album, Artist, Playlists
  • Features:
    • Album art cover, Background playback, Dolby Headphone
• Radio:
  • • FM, Stereo, RDS
• Speakers:
  • Earpiece, Loudspeaker
• YouTube player:
  • Yes

Internet browsing

• Browser:
  • • Internet Explorer 10
• Built-in online services support:
  • Facebook, YouTube (upload), Flickr, Picasa/Google+, Twitter

Technology

• GSM:
  • 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• UMTS:
  • 850, 900, 2100 MHz
• FDD LTE:
  • 800 (band 20), 1800 (band 3), 2600 (band 7) MHz
• Data:
  • LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s, LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s, HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS
• Micro SIM:
  • Yes
• HD Voice:
  • Yes
• Positioning:
  • GPS, A-GPS, S-GPS, Glonass, Cell ID, Wi-Fi positioning
• Navigation:
  • Turn-by-turn navigation, Voice navigation, Points of interest (POI)

Connectivity

• Bluetooth:
  • • 4.0
• Wi-Fi:
  • • 802.11 b, g, n
  • Mobile hotspot:
    • Yes
• USB:
  • • USB 2.0
  • Connector:
    • microUSB
  • Features:
    • Mass storage device, USB charging
• Other:
  • NFC, DLNA, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync

Other features

• Notifications:
  • Haptic feedback, Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones, Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone
• Sensors:
  • • Accelerometer, Compass
• • Voice dialing, Voice commands, Voice recording, TTY/TDD

Availability

• Officially announced:
  • 22 Oct 2013
• Scheduled release:
  • Q1 2014 (Official)

Shopping information

• Accessories:
  • Nokia AC-60 MicroUSB Charger, Nokia Charging and Data Cable CA-190CD, Nokia Stereo Headset WH-108, Quick guide
• MSRP price:
  • $ 339

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