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News courtesy CNN

CNN) -- Gmail experienced problems on Thursday, with some users reporting slowdowns and service outages.

The popular Web-based e-mail service from Google Inc. has crashed several times in recent months. That's led to a bit of anger and sarcastic sighs of despair on tech blogs and on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Google posted a note Thursday morning saying it is aware that some people are experiencing an e-mail outage. The Mountain View, California, company said all e-mail service was working by 11 a.m. ET, and that the problems caused e-mail to slow down but did not crash the site.

"A problem with Google Contacts caused many Gmail users to experience slowness and degraded service for about an hour today," the company said in a statement. "We're sorry for the inconvenience. As usual, we'll provide an incident report on the Apps Status Dashboard, where we also gave ongoing status updates as this issue progressed."
Gmail lets Internet users write e-mail messages, archive documents, chat online and store contact lists. Millions of people around the world use the free service.

As with previous service problems, the online community is complaining the service break disrupts office work and personal lives. As more computing power moves "into the cloud," storing information online rather than on home computers, online applications like Gmail become important parts of people's lives.
The most recent Gmail outage occurred September 1. Some tech writers seemed genuinely disturbed by the crash. Others mocked how addicted some people have become to online-only forms of communication.
Mashable, a blog that covers social media, posted a list of five things to do while Gmail is down.
One of the recommendations:
"Go outside! There's nothing left for it. Our cozy technosphere bubble has been burst by this point. Go look for someone to harass on the street in person and ask them what URL shortener they use."
Another recent Gmail crash occurred in February.
At the time, blogger Ron Schenone wrote that people put a lot of faith in big tech companies like Google.
"It seems to me that people want to believe that Google is infallible," he wrote on the Lockergnome blog network. "Though Google may be the king of search, their equipment is man made and their technicians are human."
Check out these Tweets from Google 

Intel Corporation has introduced several high-performance desktop and server processors today, bringing the next level of integration and intelligence to computers.

The new Intel Core i5 processor series, two new Intel Core i7 processors and the Intel Xeon processor 3400 series bring Intel’s latest Nehalem microarchitecture to mainstream desktop and entry server markets.

Formerly codenamed "Lynnfield", these new chips are based on Intel’s  Nehalem microarchitecture and are designed for consumers who need top-notch performance for digital media, productivity, gaming and other demanding applications. These processors, along with the new Intel P55 Express Chipset, are available today.

All processors are lead- and halogen-free and feature Intel Exclusive Turbo Boost Technology. The top-of-the-line Core i7 processors also support Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

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The new chipset brings the most revolutionary design changes since the invention of the PCI bus in the early 1990s and sets the stage for Intel’s forthcoming 2010 compute platform. The Intel P55 Express Chipset will be the baseline building block component for motherboards worldwide, delivering new levels of performance and scalability for everyone from the retail buyer to the technically savvy do-it-yourselfer.

The new Core i7 and i5 processors are the first Intel processors to integrate both a 16-lane PCI Express 2 graphics port and two-channel memory controller, enabling all input/output and manageability functions to be handled by the single-chip Intel P55 Express Chipset. Previous Intel chipsets required two separate chips. A new Direct Media Interface (DMI) connects between the processor and chipset. The chipset supports 8 PCI Express 2.0 x1 Ports (2.5GT/s) for flexible device support. Dual graphics cards are supported in a "2x8" configuration. The chipset also supports 6 SATA 3 Gb/s Ports with Intel Matrix Storage Technology providing RAID levels 0/1/5/10. Up to 14 USB 2.0 Ports can be supported with the chipset’s integrated USB 2.0 Rate Matching Hub, along with Intel High Definition Audio for premium digital sound. The new processors are the first to be supported by the new Land Grid Array (LGA) 1156 package and socket technology.

 Intel has also announced the Uber Gamer Championship in association with Zapak to mark the launch of the new Core  i5 and i7 processors. The championship starting on the 11th of September will see India’s best gamers play knock out games of NFS Most Wanted, Crysis and FIFA 09.  Click here for more details.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia will start to make laptops, entering a fiercely competitive but fast-growing market with a netbook running Microsoft's Windows operating system

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Nokia had earlier this year said it was considering entering the laptop industry, crossing the border between two converging industries in the opposite direction to Apple, which entered the phone industry in 2007 with the iPhone

. Nokia has seen its profit margins drop over the last quarters as handset demand has slumped, and analysts have worried that entering the PC industry, where margins are traditionally razor-thin, could hurt Nokia's profits further. "We are fully aware what has the margin level been in the PC world. We have gone into this with our eyes wide open," Kai Oistamo, the head of Nokia's phone unit, told Reuters. "There's really an opportunity to bring fresh perspective to the PC world," he said, adding that Nokia would introduce extended battery life and continuous connectivity. Nokia has produced PCs before, but divested the unit in 1991 when it started to focus on the mobile phone industry. But Nokia's first netbook, the Nokia Booklet 3G, will use Microsoft's Windows software and Intel's Atom processor to offer up to 12 hours of battery life while weighing 1.25 kilograms. Netbooks are low-cost laptops optimised for surfing the Internet and performing other basic functions. Pioneered by Asustek with the hit Eee PC in 2007, netbooks have since been rolled out by other brands such as HP and Dell. "The question is: How will Nokia differentiate? This is already a crowded market. If they manage to differentiate it's going to give them competitive advantage," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Research firm IDC expects netbook shipments this year to grow more than 127 percent from 2008 to over 26 million units, outperforming the overall PC market that is expected to remain flat and a phone market which is shrinking some 10 percent. "Nokia will be hoping that its brand and knowledge of cellular channels will play to its strengths as it addresses this crowded, cut-throat segment," said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight. "At present we see Nokia's foray into the netbook market as a niche exercise in the context of its broader business." Nokia's choice of Windows software surprised some analysts who had expected the company to use Linux

in its first laptop. Analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said the technology choices were a good win for the U.S. companies. "We believe ARM and Symbian are among the main losers from the Nokia Booklet announcement," he said. Shares in ARM were 0.2 percent lower at 1400 GMT, underperforming slightly firmer DJ Stoxx European technology shares index. Shares in Nokia were 1.6 percent stronger at 8.91 euros, while Microsoft was 0.6 percent firmer. Nokia said it would unveil detailed specifications, market availability and pricing of its new device on Sept 2.


A source close to Nokia said the new netbook would use the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft says a stripped-down version of Windows 7 will be introduced to netbooks the same time as its general release on Oct. 22. Local media reports in Taiwan have said that Compal, the world's No. 2 contract laptop PC maker, has pitched netbook models to Nokia, but there has been no official confirmation from either side. Nokia declined to comment on the manufacturer it uses. Most of the world's top electronics brands typically do their own design work, but outsource the manufacturing process to contract manufacturers such as Compal and its larger rival Quanta.

Finally your days of seeing that wait icon on your computer running Microsoft windows are over, if reports are to be believed Google Chrome Netbooks will soon be launched by the end of 2010. Check out the article from official Google blog below:

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.

HP has unveiled the world's first web-connected home printer - The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web.

The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web features an entirely new web-based printing platform with HP applications(apps). Similar to other Internet-connected devices, these apps, which are viewable on a TouchSmart panel, allow people to connect instantly with fun, informative and personal content.

In addition to receiving apps preloaded on the printer, people can download new ones as they become available at the HP Apps Studio to suit their interests and needs. With the sweep of a finger, users will be able to browse and view popular web destinations and simply touch the app of their choice to launch a web page where they can customize and print content on demand in an easy-to-read format.

The world's first HP app partners will be USA TODAY, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku and Weather News Inc. Through these apps, people will have free access to customized daily news, maps, coupons, coloring pages, movie tickets, recipes, personal calendars and more – all at the touch of a finger.

The new printers also will connect directly to a user's Snapfish account to view, print and upload photos. People additionally can access projects from the HP Creative Studio.

People will be able to create and share their own apps to customize their printers through the HP Apps Studio starting in late 2009.

From Google Maps, consumers will be able to enter their destination and print a map; from Google Calendar, they will be able to print their weekly schedule to place on their refrigerator or bulletin board.

With Coupons.com, users can save money by printing coupons for groceries, restaurants, entertainment and more. People also can browse and print recipes for quick, easy meal planning.

Consumers will be able to search movies in their local area from any one of Fandango's 16,000 theater screens across the country. They can then buy tickets in advance and print their tickets at home or the office, helping ensure an easy and convenient movie-going experience.

Through the DreamWorks Animation app users also will be able to view movie trailers to upcoming releases without having to log on to a computer. Nickelodeon printables will include color-ins, word finds, mazes and more from top properties, including "Dora the Explorer,” "The Wonder Pets!,” "SpongeBob SquarePants” and "iCarly.”

For commuters, Weather News Inc. provides a weekly forecast to allow for informed travel planning. With Web Sudoku, people can quickly print brain teasers for light entertainment on the go.

The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web has an extra-large 4.33-inch touchscreen and can print, faxes, copies and scans – producing laser-quality text documents and lab-quality photos. With a full range of wired and wireless connectivity options, the printer provides the flexibility to print directly from Wi-Fi-enabled PCs, Bluetooth-enabled devices, the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod touch using HP iPrint Photo.

Expected to be available this fall, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web will retail in the United States for a target street price of $399. 

If you're a budding photographer moving up in life, Sony says they've got just the thing for you. Three things to be precise. They've just introduced what they claim to be three easy-to-use Alpha DSLR cameras - the DSLR-A380, DSLR-A330 and DSLR-A230 - that will come loaded with four new lenses. Senior manager for the Alpha business at Sony Electronics Inc. had this to say:

"Our new alpha cameras, lenses and accessories make it easier for new users to get the great photos they expect without the steep learning curve that DSLRs have traditionally required.

By overcoming the obstacles, we've made it much easier for newcomers to take great pictures with DSLRs."

 The way they're overcoming obstacles is via what they claim to be an extensive built-in Help Guide, that will help new photographers by showing them the ropes.

The A380 will support up to 14.2 megapixel while the other two cameras will go up to 10.2 megapixel. The camera will come equipped with Sony's Quick Autofocus (AF) Live View technology, so you can frame photos on the camera's LCD screen as well as in the optical viewfinder. In addition, they'll all feature extensive HDMI compatibility, so you'll be able to view images on any HDTV if you connect the camera via HDMI. To futher the Sony integration, you'll be able to control the camera's photo/video preview on Sony's  Bravia via the Bravia's remote. The cameras will release this July. There's no India price out yet, but here are the American prices -

The A380L, Aa330L and A230L will cost about $850, $650 and $550, respectively. The L series one-lens kit comes with the SAL-1855 standard zoom lens.

The A380Y, A330Y and A230Y will cost about $1050, $850 and $750, respectively. The Y series two-lens kit comes with both the SAL-1855 standard zoom and SAL-55200 telephoto zoom lenses.

Sony has waved its magic wand once again, and given us a sparkling new LCD TV, the 40-inch Bravia ZX1. It is touted as the world's slimmest LCD TV - 9.9mm thick and weighing in at about 15kg.

The ZX1 comes with many technologies to help contribute quality images and digital entertainment experience. At its heart is the Bravia Engine 2, surrounded by Edge LED technology, Motionflow 100Hz and Image Blur reduction. The ZX1 comes with a Full HD display resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels, and a glossy black bezel and screen.
Apart from the usual Bravia features like Live Colour Creation, 24p Cinema, Xross media bar, Bravia Theatre Sync, the ZX1 has audio enhancement features like digital amplifier, S-Force Surround, voice zoom, dolby digital plus, etc. This screen has two integrated speakers and a woofer that delivers a net output power of 20 watts (5 Watts for each speaker + 10 Watts for woofer).

The main USP is probably Wireless HD, one of the most innovative features in the Bravia ZX that enables users to enjoy Full HD quality images without any messy wires and cables. Wireless technology allows the user to utilize the media library located anywhere in the house, via the supplied HD media receiver. Wires from the HD devices are connected to the HD media receiver and the display will receive the input signals from the media receiver wirefree, with the help of high-speed wireless connection and RF technology.The connectivity of the Bravia ZX1 is distinguished with 4 independent HDMI inputs, a PC input, composite inputs, component inputs, USB connection, and a RBG compatible SCART input.

There is no price point attached to the Bravia ZX1 as yet. You'll know as soon as we do.

Looks and Features
If you thought the shuffle was already small, think again! The new one is a bit longer but a lot slimmer, making it about the size of a pencil eraser or a small Bluetooth headset. Its weight is nearly unnoticeable when clipped onto your clothes or bag strap. It looks absolutely clean and smooth, without a single bump, ridge or mark on the front and only the stainless steel clip on the back. The upper surface is where you find the earphones/USB socket and a tiny power/mode switch.


The new shuffle’s biggest talking point and the boldest move so far in its history of culling common features is the complete lack of controls on the device itself. The ring of buttons is gone, and you have to use the inline controls on the earphones’ cord for all track navigation and volume changes. It takes a while to get used to the idea, but considering how small the shuffle is in the first place, it makes sense to tuck it away while keeping the controls within reach.

Bharti Airtel has launched 16 Mbps broadband in the country.

This service, powered by Airtel's Carrier Ethernet Network, will be initially available in Delhi NCR, Chennai and Bangalore with phased roll-out in Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata.

K Srinivas, Joint President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said, "Airtel has constantly strived to innovate and deliver high quality products to its broadband customers. We are the leading private broadband service provider in the country and pioneered 8 Mbps broadband. It gives us great pleasure now to be able to introduce the fastest, wired broadband service on DSL. We will be able to offer 16 Mbps broadband to 70% of the households in the 3 cities of Delhi NCR, Chennai and Bangalore."

Airtel delivers its broadband service to customers through a fibre backbone of Carrier Ethernet Network with last mile delivery on copper using ADSL2+ technology. This technology enables ultra high-speed broadband which is scalable and affordable.

Customers have 2 tariff plans to choose from -

- Speed Combo 2999 - receive 16 Mbps broadband speed with monthly data transfer limit of 20 GB along with a fixed line connection at Rs. 2999 per month.

- Speed Combo 4999 - receive 16 Mbps broadband speed with monthly data transfer limit of 50 GB along with a fixed line connection at Rs. 4999 per month.

A Swedish court handed down a guilty verdict and a year in prison on Friday to all four defendants in a copyright test case involving The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing websites. The verdict could be a step toward helping music and film companies seeking to recoup millions of dollars in revenues lost through illegal downloads.

"The Stockholm district court has today found guilty the four individuals that were charged with accessory to breaching copyright laws," the court said in a statement. "The court has sentenced each of them to one year in prison." Companies including Warner Bros., MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI were also asking for damages of more than 100 million crowns ($12 million) to cover lost revenues. The court also ordered the defendants to pay just over 30 million Swedish crowns ($3.58 million). The men linked to The Pirate Bay - Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom - were charged early last year by a Swedish prosecutor with conspiracy to break copyright law and related offences. The accused had denied the charges.

The group that controls The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, has maintained that since no copyrighted material is stored on its servers and no exchange of files actually takes place there, they cannot be held responsible for what material is being exchanged. The prosecution has said that by financing, programming and administering the site, the four men promoted the infringement of property rights by the site's users. Not all industry specialists were convinced the verdict would have a lasting effect. "Every time you get rid of one, another bigger one pops up. Napster went, and then up came a whole host of others... The problem of file-sharing just keeps growing year on year, and it's increasingly difficult for the industry to do anything about it," said music analyst Mark Mulligan of research firm Forrester.

Microsoft Corp.'s next version of its Office desktop programs will reach consumers next year, though not likely in conjunction with the Windows 7 operating system


Microsoft is set to announce Wednesday that Office 2010 will be finished and ready to send to manufacturers in the first half of next year.

From there, it can take six weeks to four months or more for the programs to reach PC users, said Chris Capossela, a senior vice president in the Microsoft group that makes Office. The timing will differ for big businesses and individual consumers, and for people who buy packaged software versus those who download it.

Some industry watchers had expected a new version of Office this year, but Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer extinguished that rumor at a meeting with analysts in February.

Capossela declined to be more specific about a launch date. Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista is scheduled to reach consumers by the end of January 2010.

Office 2010 - previously known by the code name "Office 14" - will include slimmed-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that let people create and edit documents in a Web browser. Consumers will have access to a free, ad-supported version, and Capossela said the company is still hammering out what to charge businesses that want a version without ads.

Microsoft plans to let hundreds of thousands of people test a technical preview of the new Office portfolio starting in the third quarter of 2009, Capossela said. The company did not say whether average PC users will have a chance to test a more polished beta version.

Microsoft also said a new version of its Exchange e-mail server will be available for purchase in the second half of 2009. When paired with the next version of Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program, Exchange 2010 aims to prevent e-mail faux pas and would warn people against trying to "reply all" to a huge distribution list. Microsoft said it can also be tweaked to stop people from sending e-mail outside the organization, helping businesses cut down on unnecessary e-mail and prevent leaks.

A beta version of Exchange 2010 was to be made available on Wednesday.

India's No. 4 mobile operator, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), said on Friday it had launched third-generation (3G) services in 11 cities and planned to expand services to other areas in the country.

BSNL said in a statement it had invested 27 billion rupees ($530 million) on rolling out 3G infrastructure and would cover all district headquarters and important commercial towns.

India will hold an auction of 3G spectrum later this year, but state-run firms have already been given one slot in each service area, and will have to match the highest bid from private operators. Third-generation services give users a chance to enjoy fast Internet access, games and a host of multimedia content from maps to music on their cellphones. BSNL provides telecoms services across the country except in the major cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, which are covered by another state-run firm, MTNL.

Google has rolled out two new improvements to its search.

The first offers an expanded list of useful related searches and the second is the addition of longer search result descriptions - both of which help guide users more effectively to the information they need.

Google is deploying a new technology that can better understand associations and concepts related to searches, and one of its first applications offers users more useful related searches (the terms found at the bottom, and sometimes at the top, of the search results page).

For example, if you search for [principles of physics], Google's algorithms understand that "angular momentum," "special relativity," "big bang" and "quantum mechanic" are related terms that could help you find what you need.

With this Google can target more queries, more languages, and make their suggestions more relevant to what users actually need to know.

They are also offering refinements for longer queries.

The new related searches will feature starting today in 37 languages all around the world.

The second change is when users do a search on Google, each result starts with a dark blue title and is followed by a few lines of text ("snippet"), which gives you an idea of what each page is about. To give more context, the snippet shows how the words of the query appear on the page by highlighting them in bold.

When a long query with more than three words is entered, Google will increase the number of lines in the snippet to provide more information and show more of the words typed in the context of the page.

 Microsoft Corp is set to publicly launch Internet Explorer 8 early on Thursday, the latest version of its market-dominating web browser.

The application an integral part of Microsoft's eagerly awaited Windows 7 OS can be downloaded from Microsoft's Website from 9 a.m. Pacific time, free for people using licensed Microsoft operating
systems IE8, as it is commonly referred to, has been in public beta testing for about a year, but Thursday's launch marks its full public rollout. Microsoft, the world's largest software company, said IE8 will run with Windows Vista its latest operating system, and also Windows XP, the previous version which some users still prefer over Vista.

The application replaces IE7, which has a lock on the browser market. According to a recent survey by IT consultants Janco Associates Inc, Internet explorer has a 72.2 percent market share, ahead of the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser with 17.2 percent. Google Inc's new Chrome browser has only 2.8 percent of the market, while Apple Inc's Safari has less than 1 percent. Microsoft has run afoul of U.S. and European antitrust regulators for bundling its browser with its operating system, which competitors say is an attempt to drive them out of the market.

Last month, Google joined Mozilla and Norway's Opera in protesting Microsoft's dominance in the browser market. In January, European regulators brought formal charges against Microsoft for abusing its dominant market position by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with its Windows operating system, which is used in 95 percent of the world's personal computers. Microsoft has already announced that users of Windows 7 - expected later this year or early next year - will be able to turn key programs like Internet Explorer off, making it easier to use other browsers.

New features in IE8 include right-clicking on addresses or other web features to go straight to a map or put into a blog or other Website, which Microsoft calls an "accelerator". Users will also be able to put in keywords in the address bar to recall sites visited related to that word. The new browser also has enhanced security protection, for example warning users if they are about to download something from a site known to be a source of malicious software, or "malware".

Nokia and Skype announced plans to fully integrate Skype into select Nokia devices. Kicking off with the Nokia N97, Skype will be part of the address book in the device. This will enable users to easily see when their Skype contacts are online. It’ll also enable them to use 3G and Wi-Fi to make and receive free Skype to Skype voice calls.

Scott Durchslag, Skype’s Chief Operating Officer said “Collaborating closely with Nokia to preload and integrate our software onto their devices will benefit the many Nokia customers who already use Skype, as it makes Skype easily accessible and simple to use on the go. It will also bring Skype new users who love Nokia’s Symbian Series 60 experience.”

Meanwhile Jose-Luis Martinez, Vice President, Nokia N-series said “With more than 400 million Skype users worldwide, the integration of Skype on Nokia N-series mobile computer is a significant step in bringing converged internet experiences from the desktop to the world’s most advanced mobile computer.”

Skype will be rolled out on other devices after the Nokia N97 goes live in the third quarter. New Nokia N97 devices will have it pre-installed, whilst early versions will be able to get it through a software upgrade. Other select N-series devices are also likely to come with integrated Skype functionality which includes Skype contacts, Chat, VoIP and Presence.

If you've held back that urge of yours to buy a PS3, your wait has finally paid off! Sony has launched the 80GB PS3 in India, which comes bundled with a copy of Resistance 2 and boasts of a pretty decent price tag of Rs. 25,990.

The folks at Gmail Labs have been busy and they're now dishing out offline access to Gmail.

 On enabling offline access, Gmail will load in your browser even if you don't have an Internet connection. You can read messages, star, label and archive them, compose new mail and messages ready to be sent will wait in your Outbox until you're online again.

It's built on the Gears platform, which has already been used to offline-enable Google Docs, Google Reader, and other third-party web applications

To get started with offline Gmail -

- Sign in to Gmail and click 'Settings'.
- Click the 'Labs' tab and select 'Enable' next to 'Offline Gmail'.
- Click 'Save Changes.'
- In the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username, there will be a new 'Offline' link. Click this link to start the offline synchronization process.

Standard Edition users can follow these instructions immediately, while Premier and Education Edition users will first need their domain admins to enable Gmail Labs from the Google Apps admin control panel.

LG Electronics today officially launched the LG KP500 (nicknamed Cookie) for the Indian market.

Anil Arora, Business Group Head, Mobile, PCs and DAV, LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd said, "At LG, we continuously strive our best to innovate and launch world class products at affordable prices. Extending the touch generation phones from LG, we launched the LG-KP500 which is packed with dynamic features like sophisticated design; convenient user interface. The LG Cookie will expand touch screen technology to many people around India. We are certain that LG Cookie will appeal to all and it will be the handset that everyone will be reaching out for."

The LG KP500 has an embedded stylus pen concealed at the base for the advanced handwriting recognition program that allows the user to write memos and text messages, and also edit photo images by touching the screen with the pen tip. The QWERTY onscreen keyboard slides into view when the LG-KP500 is held horizontally, and the auto rotating display always shifts images or documents for proper viewing no matter which way the handset is turned. Also packed into the LG KP500 are motion sensor games that are played by turning, flipping, and shifting the handset for a more active and fun gaming experience with just a flick of your wrist.

The phone packs in a 3 megapixel camera and has an internal memory of 48 MB and also bundles a 1GB micro SD card.

The LG-KP500 phone is 11.9 mm thick and weighs in at 89gms. 

The LG-KP500 is available for Rs. 13,500. 

Great design Well priced Plenty of editing features Great battery Decent audio player and FM radio

Touch sensitivity and accelerometer are erratic

I was completely taken aback when I saw the box with the pricing of this touch screen handset the LG KP500 cookie - Rs. 13,990. It amazed me that a large screen touch sensitive handset would cost so little. This could well be the cheapest totally touch screen handset on the Indian market, but what I’m sure you'd need to know is if it's still worth even that price. Let me clue you in this entry level touch screen handset.

Form Factor
The KP500 has a large 3-inch TFT touch screen display featuring a 240 x 400 pixel, 256K color resolution. Just under the display are a set of 3 keys – Call take, end and a center shortcut menu key that can also be used as a sort of 'End task - Task Manager' option to close all active applications. The stylus is neatly concealed and located at the bottom but slides out from the side.

 This extremely slim handset (11.9mm) has a microSD card slot on one side followed by a screen lock key and a dedicated camera key located below that. On the opposite side is where you’ll find a proprietary port for the handsfree, charger and USB and volume/zoom keys. A 3 megapixel camera is located at the rear. That's pretty much it for the design; it's simple, slim and quite stylish. Here's how it does in functionality.

Features and Performance
Interface
Running on a Flash UI the KP500’s touch screen functionality is a bit erratic most of the time. Then again there have been times that it's been an absolute pleasure to use. Hence erratic is as accurate a term as any. The handwriting recognition would rival any Windows Mobile device and probably end up being better. The accelerometer is possibly the worst there is though and saying this was erratic would be an understatement. Nevertheless the KP500 sports a QWERTY style virtual keyboard when in landscape that is quite responsive and easy to manage.


The menu set up is a neat division of features according to functionality. I quite like this. It's all very easily usable with just your fingers rendering the stylus redundant most of the time. The only time the stylus is handy is for drawing, handwriting as an option for writing messages and the browser that sometimes makes it a bit tricky selecting options or links from the screen.

There are times when the navigation can get quite frustrating if you're using your fingers. Scrolling can sometimes be an issue as the sensitivity is not consistent and trying to insert a contact into a message is a bit off too.

It could be the start of a bad year for a lot of mobile phone users. Reports are stating that within the first week of January about 25 million mobile phones could be rendered un-usable due to a security issue. The department of telecom (DoT) has told all network providers in the country to disconnect all handsets which do not have an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number.

This has been the works for awhile now due to the vast array of fakes and Chinese mobile handsets that have flooded the market in the recent months. Many of these handsets do not have IMEI numbers and considering the very recent bombings and terror attacks in the country, the government had decided that a serious clamp down is necessary.
In case you're not very sure, an IMEI number is a 15 digit code that you’ll find underneath your mobile phone battery. The number is a technically a tracking system for mobile operators to know about the calls being made from the handset. This number will flash on their systems to derive further information for billing, security etc.

The same reports also state that the date that this 'shut down' system would fall into place would be January 6th 2009, which is not too far away. So if you happen to be using a fake handset or one of the Chinese varieties, you might want to take a quick peek underneath your battery to look for the number or enter *#06# from your keypad.

All right don’t go sobbing to your mom, since we haven’t received any official confirmation about this yet, but it seems Electronic Arts is considering axing the Need for Speed series for good.

According to The Electronic Playground EA has canceled all NFS games in production after the debacle that was Need for Speed Undercover. And it’s not just Undercover. Even since Most Wanted this series has been going downhill. I think Undercover just broke the camel’s back.

Either way we’ll keep you updated as and when we hear any sort of official announcement from EA.

Google's Friend Connect is now available in beta, seven months after its preview release.

Friend Connect makes it easy for users to sign in to a website, share a bit about themselves through a personal profile, discover other people with similar interests, invite their contacts, and interact with friends, all through their existing account from Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID.

Users can choose to to either establish a new profile or use profiles and friend sources from other social networks that have opened up their services, like Plaxo and Orkut.

Google's been working with a handful of website owners, social networks, and application developers to improve Friend Connect's speed and scalability, ease of use, and customization capabilities. They've also expanded the features available to users with more integrated profiles and new ways to discuss and share content, like including YouTube videos in comments.

Websites that use Friend Connect become OpenSocial containers, capable of running applications created by the OpenSocial developer community.

Click here for more.