'; var fr = document.getElementById(adID); setHash(fr, hash); fr.body = body; var doc = getFrameDocument(fr); doc.open(); doc.write(body); setTimeout(function() {closeDoc(getFrameDocument(document.getElementById(adID)))}, 2000); } function renderJAd(holderID, adID, srcUrl, hash) { document.dcdAdsAA.push(holderID); setHash(document.getElementById(holderID), hash); document.dcdAdsH.push(holderID); document.dcdAdsI.push(adID); document.dcdAdsU.push(srcUrl); } function er_showAd() { var regex = new RegExp("externalReferrer=(.*?)(; |&|$)", "gi"); var value = regex.exec(document.cookie); if (value && value.length == 3) { var externalReferrer = value[1]; return (!FD.isInternalReferrer() || ((externalReferrer) && (externalReferrer > 0))); } return false; } function isHome() { var loc = "" + window.location; loc = loc.replace("//", ""); var tokens = loc.split("/"); if (tokens.length == 1) { return true; } else if (tokens.length == 2) { if (tokens[1].trim().length == 0) { return true; } } return false; } function checkAds(checkStrings) { var cs = checkStrings.split(","); for (var i=0;i 0 && cAd.innerHTML.indexOf(c)>0) { document.dcdAdsAI.push(cAd.hash); cAd.style.display ='none'; } } } //Check iframes if (!ie) { for (var i=0;i 0 && doc.body.innerHTML.indexOf(c)>0) { document.dcdAdsAI.push(fr.hash); fr.style.display ='none'; } } } } } if (document.dcdAdsAI.length > 0 || document.dcdAdsAG.length > 0) { var pingServerParams = "i=" var sep = ""; for (var i=0;i 0) { var pingServerUrl = "/action/pingServerAction?" + document.pingServerAdParams; var xmlHttp = null; try { xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); } catch(e) { try { xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHttp"); } catch(e) { xmlHttp = null; } } if (xmlHttp != null) { xmlHttp.open( "GET", pingServerUrl, true); xmlHttp.send( null ); } } } function initAds(log) { for (var i=0;i 0) { doc.removeChild(doc.childNodes[0]); } doc.open(); doc.write(fr.body); document.dcdsAdsToClose.push(fr.id); } } else { fr.src = fr.src; } } } if (document.dcdsAdsToClose.length > 0) { setTimeout(function() {closeOpenDocuments(document.dcdsAdsToClose)}, 500); } } } var ie = isIE(); if(ie && typeof String.prototype.trim !== 'function') { String.prototype.trim = function() { return this.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''); } } document.dcdAdsH = new Array(); document.dcdAdsI = new Array(); document.dcdAdsU = new Array(); document.dcdAdsR = new Array(); document.dcdAdsEH = new Array(); document.dcdAdsE = new Array(); document.dcdAdsEC = new Array(); document.dcdAdsAA = new Array(); document.dcdAdsAI = new Array(); document.dcdAdsAG = new Array(); document.dcdAdsToClose = new Array(); document.igCount = 0; document.tCount = 0; var dcOrd = Math.floor(100000000*Math.random()); document.dcAdsCParams = ""; var savValue = getAdCookie("sav"); if (savValue != null && savValue.length > 2) { document.dcAdsCParams = savValue + ";"; }
Digital Life
Toss up ... smartphones tied with intimate relationships as two things business professionals said they couldn't live without. Photo: Reuters
This post was originally published on Mashable.
Which would you rather give up for a weekend - sex or your iPhone? 15 per cent of respondents to one study said they would choose a romance-free weekend rather than go without their beloved device.
A recent survey conducted by Gazelle.com (the company that buys your old iPhone) asked 1,000 people who have used the service to trade-in an old device if they'd rather go without sex or iPhone for a weekend. Yes, 15 per cent of people chose sex.
This isn't the first time smartphone owners admitted they would give up sex over their smartphone. In a related survey by another company, smartphones tied with intimate relationships as two things business professionals said they couldn't live without.
But there's another relationship between iPhones and people's sex lives - nearly 4 per cent of respondents to the Gazelle survey reported having used their iPhones while having sex.
A spokesperson for Gazelle said they were even more surprised at how many people said they would choose their device over Facebook.
"When asked which device or platform they would not be able to live without, a majority (65 per cent) chose iPhone, while only a few (one per cent) report not being able to do without Facebook," the press release for the survey states.
The survey was open to Gazelle customers for about one week. A spokesperson for Gazelle told Mashable they wanted to make the survey available for iPhone owners because the questions related to that device. Check out some other highlights from the survey:
- Consumers want an iPhone with a larger screen. Nearly 40 per cent of respondents report a bigger screen is the feature they would most like to see added to the next version of the iPhone.
- Thanks to iPhone, consumers have been able to reduce the number of devices they own. Nearly 70 per cent of survey respondents report waving goodbye to their iPod or mp3 player since purchasing an iPhone. Fifty-five per cent have ditched their camera, and over 40 per cent have gotten rid of their GPS unit since buying an iPhone.
- iPhone is ruining our manners and we love it anyway. More than 25 per cent of survey respondents report that they "almost always" use their iPhone while in a social setting such as during a meal or while at a party. iPhone hasn't just changed how we communicate and access information – it's also completely changed live social interaction. A combined 58 per cent of respondents say they use their iPhone in a social setting either "usually" or "occasionally," while only 17 per cent of respondents report using their iPhone in such a situation either "rarely" or "never."
- Think twice before you reach for a friend's iPhone – you don't know where it's been. Nearly 85 per cent of respondents report having used their iPhone while in the bathroom.
Mashable is the largest independent news source covering digital culture, social media and technology.
3G war rages on, Vodafone cuts rates again in less than a month - Economic Times
The Indian arm of the British telco also claimed its new `pay as you go' (PAYG) price plan for prepaid users is the cheapest in the industry. At 2 paise/10 KB, it is an 80 per cent reduction from the existing rate of 10 paise/10 KB, making it a plan tailor-made for everyone".
"Our new PAYG price plan at 2 paise/10 KB is now the lowest in the industry, below the existing base rate of 3 paise/10 KB data plan," claimed a Vodafone India spokesman.
Last month, Vodafone had announced a mix of increased benefits and reduced rentals on data plans to remove imbalances between its 3G packs and its PAYG pricing. For instance, subscribers using the Rs 100 plan got a higher 300 MB data benefit instead of the earlier 200 MB. While heavy data users on the 1 GB and 2 GB plans saw their monthly rentals drop to Rs 250 and Rs 450 from Rs 375 and Rs 650 respectively.
But for usage levels beyond the stipulated data download quota on each plan, Vodafone India users will now pay Rs 2 paise/10 KB while there will be no additional charges for roaming.
"The new price plans, we believe, will induce people who shied away from 3G to experience the service without fear of a bill shock," said Vodafone India's chief commercial officer, Sanjoy Mukerji.
Over the past month, all leading telcos slashed 3G price plans to crank up market penetration and shore up revenue streams. Especially, since the actual number of 3G customers across the country remains at a shade over 20 million, effectively below 2% of the 900 million-plus pan-India GSM subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel had set the ball rolling by cutting 3G tariffs by upto 70 % for prepaid subscribers. Soon after, Idea, Vodafone, Rcom, Aircel and Tata Teleservices followed suit to bring in the volumes.
The continuing 3G price war comes even as telcos are up in arms over sector regulator Trai's recent recommendations on the airwaves auction and have warned that tariffs could surge by 100% if the government accepts its proposals. The industry move also counters joint efforts by all operators to raise voice tariffs over the last 12 months.
All mobile phone companies have raised voice call rates by 20-40% over the past year and further hikes are scheduled over the next couple of months.
HCL to launch 3G tablet ‘Y2’ at Rs 18,000 - Times of India
"The code name of the product is Y2 and it will be launched in August," HCL Infosystems Executive VP and Head (Mobility) Gautam Advani told reporters here.
He said the company enjoys 15 per cent market share in the overall tablet market while in the sub-Rs 10,000 category, it is around 50 per cent.
HCL Infosystems entered the tablet market in October last year with the launch of 'Me Tab X1' at Rs 10,990.
The company launched another tablet 'U1' priced at Rs 7,999 in April this year.
Advani said 'Me tablets' have been in the market for eight months and the company is getting good responce from consumers.
HCL Infosystems today launched two models under its beanstalk range of AIO (All in One) PCs in a price range of Rs 37,908-Rs 33,696 and smart series laptop at Rs 20,990.
Powered by second generation Intel core processors, both models sports features like a 47 cm LED backlit and anti glare display.
"HCL Infosystems has a strong tradition in consumer computing products and today with the unveiling of the first set of consumer computing 2012 products we are taking another significant step as a manufacturer of computing devices," HCL Infosystems VP and Head Consumer Computing Princy Bhatnagar said.
Asked if the company will bid for manufacturing 'Aakash 2', the enhanced version of world's cheapest tablet PC, Advani said the company can decide only after seeing specifications for the upgraded version.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had said that specifications for 'Aakash 2' would be out by the end of June.
'Aakash' was launched in October last year by Sibal. It comes with a price tag of Rs 2,276 only whereas high-end tablet PCs cost anything between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000. However, ever since the launch, the project has been running behind schedule.
'Aakash' is being supplied to students at a subsidised rate of Rs 1,500 and the government is keen to launch the upgraded version at similar prices as its predecessor.
iPhone bedding will keep you comfy - Phones Review
One for the iOS faithful today that simply must have everything Apple, so they can show their undying lover of Apple’s iOS smartphone, and their ultimate devotion to Apple, a three-piece iPhone bedding set to keep you warm and comfy when you hit the sack, so you can dream of all things iOS.
The iPhone three-piece bedding set is brought to our attention by the guys over at Ubergizmo by way of Inventor Spot, and enables the iPhone lover to curl up under a large sized touch screen display for possibly about a twin size bed, a matching iPhone pillow case, and a small iPhone cushion.
Unfortunately though there isn’t a great deal known about this three-piece iPhone bedding set, and even the person who originally posted the images of the set over on Baidu didn’t bother to say where the set can be purchase or what price tag the iPhone bedding set might command.
Obviously just for the lover of the iPhone, and not for rival Android fans, who no doubt would also love a bedding set sporting their little green robot, but for now at least it would appear the person simply isn’t letting on where you can get it.
However, if you are such a devoted iOS fan and simply much be able to go to sleep wrapped up in the likeness of your favourite smartphone, you can always head on over to eBay where you can place a bid for a single iPhone bedding set. Would you love to own an iPhone bedding set?
Google Offers Now Available for iPhone - Mashable
Google Offers app is now available for the iPhone. The app is only available in the United States with deals located in a wide swath of major metropolitan areas. A complete list of cities can be found on the Google Offers website. Users can find nearby offers suing the app’s map view, or they can search for specific deals by category.
After purchasing a deal, you can easily track your offers in the My Offers section of the app. Deals can be redeemed instantly from your iPhone without having to spend time remembering to print and bring your voucher.
Google Offers can be downloaded in the App Store for free. It is designed for the iPhone and iPod touch but is also compatible with the iPad.
Google’s iOS availability may be huge for its Offers platform. When the Android version of the app launched last fall, users spent three times more time on the app compared to the site. That’s a pretty big difference.
As of publishing time, the featured deal is for new Netflix streaming subscribers. After watching three movies or TV shows on the service, you can receive two movie tickets for $1.
Vodafone cuts 3G rates by up to 80% - rediff.com
Vodafone 3G plans now start from Rs 25 for 25 MB data usage and go up to Rs 1,599 for 12 GB data usage.
Under the pay-as-you-go for pre-paid customers, the rate has been cut by 80 per cent to 2 paise per 10kb.
With reduction in tariffs, Vodafone also announced there will be no additional charges for roaming on data usage.
"Additionally, Vodafone will now allow its customers to use data from their bundle package while on-net roaming across any location in India [ Images ] without any additional charge," a company statement said.
Last month, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular [ Get Quote ] and Reliance Communications [ Get Quote ] had reduced tariffs for its third generation high speed Internet services.
"With the introduction of these plans, we aim at establishing a foundation for providing a 3G data plan for everyone, making it affordable to the masses in the country,"Vodafone India Chief Commercial Officer Sanjoy Mukerji said.
The 3G tariff war is happening at a time when most of the operators are up in arms against the high reserve price of spectrum proposed by sectoral regulators Trai.
The government is likely to take a decision on spectrum price in the Empowered group of Ministers meeting on July 21.
The operators have warned that mobile bills could increase by up to 100 per cent in certain circles if the proposals are accepted.
According to industry experts, the price war in 3G tariffs may be an effort to cash huge investments made by telecom operators.
The government had received over Rs 67,000 crore (Rs 670 billion) from the 3G auctions held in 2010.
With operators taking huge loans to pay for the 3G licences, experts say operators are under pressure to recover the investment.
China Mobile backed OS meant to rival iPhone falls into obscurity - PC Advisor
China Mobile's effort to support its own mobile operating system to compete with the likes of Apple's iPhone appears to be falling by the wayside, mired by its failure to attract developers and enough backing from handset manufacturers.
The operating system, originally called the Open Mobile System, but better known as the OPhone OS, began appearing on China Mobile smartphones in 2009. The operating system is based on Google's Android, but was localized for the Chinese market, and incorporated features to connect to the carrier's services.
China Mobile, which now has 672 million customers, had wanted to offer a wide-range of OPhone devices at a time when the country was just beginning to offer 3G services. But development of new smartphones using the OS has stalled, according to Teck Zhung Wong, an analyst with research firm IDC.
"Our understanding is that OPhone is in a zombie state," he said. "It looks to me that the most likely path for OPhone is a silent retirement, with any updates likely to be incremental."
Many of the handsets using the OPhone OS came out in 2010, and included smartphones from Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Huawei. But since then, fewer OPhone smartphones have been released to the market.
However, there is still some activity: The newest smartphone using the OPhone OS was released by Huawei last month. Called the Ascend G305T, the phone comes with OPhone 2.6, which is based on Android 2.3. The device is priced at 1199 yuan (US$190).
What plans China Mobile has for the OPhone is unclear. A China Mobile spokeswoman and directors belonging to its research arm declined to talk or did not respond to requests for comment. The OPhone's developer, a Beijing-based company called Borqs, also could not be reached for comment.
While China Mobile had grand ambitions for the OPhone, the operating system often fell behind upgrading to the latest version of Android, Wong said. This made it difficult for the OPhone to be compatible with the latest Android apps. At the same time, China Mobile struggled to attract developers to build apps for the OPhone, with many instead wanting to develop apps for Android.
"The other thing that tripped it up was the selection of devices. They couldn't attract enough handsets," he said. "Frankly, I think its an embarrassment for China Mobile."
While China Mobile is the country's largest mobile carrier, the company has in the past struggled to offer the hottest handsets for use on its 3G network. Analysts have said part of the problem lies with how China Mobile's 3G network uses a homegrown technology called TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), which is not widely deployed outside of China. As a result, devices including Apple's iPhone have to be redesigned for use on the carrier's 3G network.
Although Apple has yet to make its iPhone officially available on China Mobile, other handset manufacturers have rebuilt their flagship phones to work on the carrier's 3G network. A version of HTC's newest phone, the HTC One X, will be available for China Mobile. Samsung has done the same with its newest Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Both handsets, however, use the Android OS.
Despite the lack of development around the OPhone, handsets running the OS can still be bought. Poter Huang, who lives in the Chinese city of Foshan, said he purchased an OPhone device about a month ago after being sold one at a China Mobile sales promotion event.
"I feel like the OPhone is a copied product, it doesn't have its own innovation," he said, noting that his device was no different from an Android smartphone. "I think it would be hard for this smartphone to compete against the bigger brands," he added.
iPhone 5 transparent concept looks stunning in mock advert - Crave
I'm looking through you -- you're not the same, as birthday boy Paul McCartney memorably put it. This cool advert for a possible future iPhone 5 definitely isn't the same -- and you can look through it.
The first glimpses of the next iPhone have started to emerge, revealing that the phone is set to have a new widescreen design. Those glimpses, such as the video comparing the prospective iPhone 5 with the current iPhone 4S, may or may not be genuine -- but we know this one's from the realm of pure fantasy.
Click play on the video to see the advert for the gorgeous see-through iPhone concept.
Designed by Apple fan Dakota Adney, this speculative iPhone concept design sports an 'iClear retina display' -- in other words, it's transparent, layering text, apps and games on the clear display.
The see-through screen is handy for taking photos, as well as offering augmented reality, layering information on the screen over whatever's in front of you.
Set the phone down on a flat surface and twin projectors beam a virtual keyboard in front of you, with sensors spotting where you tap and turning that into typing.
If you like the idea of a transparent phone, the designer of this concept has also put together a promo video for a transparent iPad.
For more mind-blowing concept phones, check out our favourite made-up iPhone 5 designs, our favourite made-up iPad designs, a Nokia phone that's a touchscreen all over, and a bendy PaperPhone flexible phone.
We're expecting to see the next iPhone this autumn. Whether it's called the iPhone 5 or the new iPhone, Apple's next blower will be the first to show off iOS 6, the latest version of i-flavoured software, complete with improved Siri, a new Apple maps app and assorted other improvements.
Would you use a see-through phone? What would you like to see in the iPhone 5? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
iPhone app rates nutrition level of food products - Miami Herald
The unspoken question for food shoppers is “should I eat this?”
The answer now comes from a $2.99 iPhone app called NxtNutrio, created by Fuat and Laurie Kerkinni of Burnsville, Minn. When a shopper scans a food product’s UPC barcode with an iPhone, the app is designed to list the contents of the product.
While NxtNutrio is not the first nutritional app, Fuat Kerkinni said it provides more information than most. Taking into account any special food restrictions the user has, the app will offer an opinion on whether the user should eat the product, using the classic traffic signal colors green, yellow or red.
“We have no ties to any food manufacturers,” Kerkinni said. “We look at the food ingredients, because what goes into the food has to be good for the food to be good.”
NxtNutrio’s website says “bad” ingredients include allergens, food additives and food processing methods that can adversely affect the body.
The Kerkinnis, both 48, developed the NxtNutrio app through Fuat’s Burnsville-based software company, Nxtranet, but they have plans to spin it off as a separate business. At this point, the app isn’t profitable, even though it has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since 2009, he said.
“We know we’re not going to make any money on it for a while,” he said. “But once we get over 100,000 to 150,000 apps downloaded we’ll start to see the fruits of it. Within about a year we should be able to break even.”
Today, NxtNutrio can search a database of 200,000 food products and their ingredients, or about 10 times more entries than it had when the product launched three years ago, Kerkinni said. That doesn’t cover all the food products available, so the Kerkinnis are focusing on packaged items typically carried by food co-ops.
One user is the Linden Hills Co-op in Minneapolis, which lets shoppers use the app on their spare iPhone.
“So many customers have dietary issues, such as the need for gluten-free or dairy-free food items, and when they use the app they can customize it to their dietary concerns,” said Luke Schell, general manager of the co-op. “When the iPhone scans the bar code on the item, the app tells you if that food is recommended or not.”
The app is helpful to co-op consumers who are sometimes puzzled by ingredient lists on foods, Schell said.
“I don’t think there are a lot of users of this app yet, but we see the potential. So we bought couple of copies of the app to put on our store’s two iPhones.”
Laurie Kerkinni, whom her husband described as “an evangelist when it comes to nutrition,” supervises the database from which the app draws its ingredient lists and nutritional recommendations. A culinary school graduate, her information comes from sources including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, based in Washington, D.C., and the Cornucopia Institute, based in Cornucopia, Wis.
Some say not all of the app’s advice is good. Heidi Greenwaldt, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Dietetic Association, took issue with a statement on NxtNutrio’s website that food packaging nutrition labels listing calories, total fat, cholesterol, sodium and total carbohydrate percentages “are about as meaningful as telling you that the human body is made up of three basic elements.”
“NxtNutrio is kind of peeling down to another layer of information, which is good, but the top layer is still important to know about,” Greenwaldt said. “People with diabetes need to see how many carbohydrates are in food, and people who have kidney problems need to know the sodium level.”
Fuat Kerkinni agreed.
“I think we’ve just scratched the surface,” he said. “There will be later versions of the product, and we listen to what people are saying.”
No comments:
Post a Comment