Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 15 Oct 2013 19:43

I'm scared to post in this thread since Guruji became an admin.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 15 Oct 2013 20:14

Singha wrote:It takes a mix of all types to make a large co work. Some of his type are also needed.

But Takla co seems to be dominated by this vision - personnel dont matter, jump at diktats do. Good for the company, consumers, but ppl there may differ..

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 15 Oct 2013 20:28

SwamyG wrote:
Sriman wrote:Takla is the new Mahdi. Long live the Mahdi!

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... d-stone#p1
Heard the author's interview last night on the public radio. As long as my AMZN keeps climbing I am smiling.

I did hear a part of the interview. Anybody read the book? Bezos seems to have the necessary killer instinct to be another Mahdi.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Oct 2013 20:45

Ran into this today. Changed my regd email from work addr to a harmless one suggested by a fellow admin.
That locked me out until another admin approved that and let me in again as a admin!

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 15 Oct 2013 20:46

archan wrote:A Not sure I have the correct term, but the one where you can refocus the image during post processing.

It is called iirc light field camera. Rumor had it that Mahdi - when alive

- wanted the camera to be put into iThings the haddi in kebab being the camera needed depth and would have made iThings at least 3 in "thin". The inventor is supposed to be working on making it shallower.

archan · Post by **archan** » 15 Oct 2013 21:22

Singha wrote:Ran into this today. Changed my regd email from work addr to a harmless one suggested by a fellow admin.
That locked me out until another admin approved that and let me in again as a admin!

Sorry, that was my suggestion.

It occured to me later that you might have gotten locked out and I hurried in to check but you had already been "rescued" by then.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Oct 2013 22:39

Sriman wrote:Takla is the new Mahdi. Long live the Mahdi!

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... d-stone#p1

Don't forget, you heard it here first many moons ago.

And finally....

Report: Google smartwatch “heavy into” Google Now functionality

If this is done right, this will be fantastic. If done Samsung style, it will be effed.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Oct 2013 06:50

Marten wrote: Is it possible to change the email ID at all to a gmail one? I thought the forum s/w disallowed it.

There are secret ways , paths through the shadow hills in and out of mordor which only the disciples of smeagol are privy to.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 16 Oct 2013 07:38

Raja Bose wrote: And finally....

Report: Google smartwatch “heavy into” Google Now functionality

If this is done right, this will be fantastic. If done Samsung style, it will be effed.

I dunno about any of these smart watches. Battery life is a big deal. Those of us who still wear a watch really hate having to change a battery or charge it more than once a year. I would absolutely hate having a dead watch when I need it the most.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 16 Oct 2013 07:46

Yes absolutely. Long battery life is key...dont know if people want to be fobbed off with one more thing to charge daily.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 16 Oct 2013 08:05

after seeing that curved samsung, i was thinking about it a bit more curved, but a dual strapped like in the smartwatch.. one could wear that on your hand.. pretty useful smart phone device, that could have enough battery power to last few hours. all you need is bluetooth to your wireless headset

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 16 Oct 2013 08:13

^^^Not a new idea sorry.

Mean-e-while, does it look like HTC will get purchased by Takla?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 16 Oct 2013 08:23

whaddyamean!? show me a pic then (what you liked

)?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 16 Oct 2013 08:28

^^^Do your own prior art search

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 16 Oct 2013 08:32

perhaps you may have one of these. [an assitant with an attitude!

]

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 16 Oct 2013 08:33

Raja Bose wrote:^^^Not a new idea sorry.

Mean-e-while, does it look like HTC will get purchased by Takla?

Acer and Asus seems to have lost lot of share (to Dell) in Q3 and may consolidate. But HTC seems to also fit within this context to strengthen mobility business so, IMO, there could be a threesome or twosome between these players.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Oct 2013 21:58

ibnlive:
Bangalore: Amazon.com is developing smartphones with HTC, putting it in a position to compete with Apple and Google, the Financial Times reported. One device is already in an advanced stage of development, the paper reported, citing a source. However, another source said Amazon may decide not to release it, according to the paper.

The device is likely to be launched in 2014 if Amazon decides to proceed with the project. Amazon and HTC could not be immediately reached for comment. Speculation that Amazon will launch its own mobile devices has been around for years. In 2011, Citigroup said that Amazon would launch a smartphone in 2012 through a partnership with contract cellphone maker Foxconn International. If Amazon turns to Asia to launch a smartphone, it will be following the example of Google, which tied up with Taiwan's Asus and South Korea's LG Electronics for its Nexus devices.

Read more at: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/amazon-htc-p ... ef_article

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 17 Oct 2013 03:03

India's Wonbo launches Street View maps of 54 cities

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 17 Oct 2013 10:02

Marten wrote:
chandrasekaran wrote:Flipkart has a very decent offer for the Nexus 7 (not 2013 - initial Nexus 7) tablet. If you have a standard charted credit card, you can have the 32GB Wi-Fi only version for 10,200/-. Lesser than the price it retails at Amazon (USD price). FYI
It is an outstanding price for a very nice tablet. We were planning to use cheap tabs as part of a planned soln. Will be using these instead. If only the front facing cameras had higher resolution!

our co. too.

wish it had rear facing camera.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Oct 2013 12:57

for those in the pipeline for a lumia...the 920 has been price dropped to 21K which imo is a great deal - 1.5ghz dual core, 2000mah battery, gorilla glass, 4.5" screen, 1GB ram and 32gb internal mem, 8.7mp cam. all the bells and whistles.

used to be 27K a while back. maybe they are trying to project the 925 as the next high end and phasing out this phone.

RB has a 920 iirc.

this thing will be much better than galaxy grand or similar generic droids.

my wife and her group manager both went 820 and 520 at same time. seeing them, the entire dept is changing over to lumia one by one

archan · Post by **archan** » 17 Oct 2013 13:21

I have a 920 for some time more. I got it from US to gift my mother in law. She likes to take a lot of pictures of my little one so I got this one. I don't regret it a bit.
BRF actually displays better on the IE in it than on my skyrocket. The text is naturally bigger and smileys and other graphics are not. The empty space near the sides of the webpage is eliminated. The only little problem is it scrolls slower and takes more effort to get to the bottom of the page. In some browsers they give a down button while you are scrolling which will take you at the bottom. I haven't tried another browser though.
Singha, IIRC, the only difference in 920 and 925 was that they got rid of inductive charging to make it a little thinner and lighter. Other than that they are probably the same. In the states they have a 928, which is the same again, just CDMA I guess.
Basically facebook works, maps work, photos are great, I doubt my MIL would need anything more. Battery life is pretty decent too.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Oct 2013 16:56

the 925 has a different screen tech (amoled) and a metal case I think.
http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/feature ... ges-co.php

its a steal at 21.5k imho.

archan · Post by **archan** » 17 Oct 2013 16:58

Only thing missing is a Wacom stylus support. I'd pay more if they included that. I use a TF201 transformer android. It is OK. The issues are Android's - keyboard won't respond at times, selecting text, copy/paste can be a pain. Its good for a 1-liner email but if I have to write more, a traditional Windows/Linux machine is the way to go. If it slips from your chair/sofa and falls on the ground, expect a ding on the corner. Given that these are made of metal, it is a permanent deformation. Glass is dangerously close to the edges in those cases.
Mine has lost one rubber base foot as the glue came off. Too lazy to stick it back. In Indian heat, even my Lenovo started losing the glued parts.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 17 Oct 2013 18:14

I have a 928 for daily use, iPhone 5S for apphical use.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 17 Oct 2013 19:08

Neela wrote:
Anujanullah wrote by mistake:

In general, it is stupid to use an authentication token that cannot be revoked. Think a bit about it to understand why. Anything -- like passwords, smartcards etc if it is going to be used for authentication should be revokable and it must be possible to distribute a new one. Fingerprints fail that requirement.

However, this is for general authentication and not necessarily for insecure use. Think about a retail scenario -- possession of your credit card is the security step. If someone steals your credit card, it is game over. At that point you rely on an smart sales clerk to demand your drivers license to check your photo with your name and match it to your credit card. Fingerprint authentication in retail is similar. Using your fingerprint simply informs you that a transaction is about to be made. It is a secondary authentication -- primary authentication is having your phone. In this case: Phone == credit card. Checking your face with your name and matching it up to your credit card == your fingerprint. If done well, it can be quite useful.

When a card is lost, you have a problem which you can ring-fence. When a phone is lost, you have a problem of losing your entire identity. Not that this cannot happen when a wallet is lost, but more time is required to access key data. In the case of a phone, all your data can be squirreled away and used at will at a later date.
Fingerprints + Phones could be used but there is no added security despite what many are led to believe.
And if indeed this method is adopted, won't that will make Apple come under the ambit of local financial regulatory authorities as they need to store transaction details etc? I bet the EU / China will ask Apple to spread its....

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 17 Oct 2013 19:12

If you intend to buy some Tablet/Notebook over the next weeks , wait ....Intel says get ready for $99 tablets, $299 Haswell notebooks, $349 2-in-1 hybrids

prahaar · Post by **prahaar** » 17 Oct 2013 23:36

Neela wrote: When a card is lost, you have a problem which you can ring-fence. When a phone is lost, you have a problem of losing your entire identity. Not that this cannot happen when a wallet is lost, but more time is required to access key data. In the case of a phone, all your data can be squirreled away and used at will at a later date.
Fingerprints + Phones could be used but there is no added security despite what many are led to believe.
And if indeed this method is adopted, won't that will make Apple come under the ambit of local financial regulatory authorities as they need to store transaction details etc? I bet the EU / China will ask Apple to spread its....

About security, a top notch security technology director of a well known Anti-Virus company said to my friend, during a private conversation: The most secure method is to have your access password written on a piece of paper and then kept in your wallet

. I know, he was saying this in half-jest, but his point was that it is quite difficult to break into your account with only a password if the thief does not even know for what is that password.

The latest fad with all cloud services and such is to go towards a single-sign-on-ish type of user experience. It is great for the consumer if his device does not get compromised, but all these saved passwords is a recipe for dakaiti.

Now, Apple comes with finger scan, which is supposed to make the device more secure, which is height of idiocy. At least for a password, someone needs to make you speak, which is not needed for iPhone unlocking. Apple fanbois never question the efficacy of a supposed innovation.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 18 Oct 2013 01:54

^^^umm.....even a passwd cant save you if the passwd itself is weak and can be broken thru dictionary based attacks etc.

prahaar · Post by **prahaar** » 18 Oct 2013 02:04

Raja Bose wrote:^^^umm.....even a passwd cant save you if the passwd itself is weak and can be broken thru dictionary based attacks etc.

Totally agree. My point was not that one is useless compared to the other. A finger scan has different types of vulnerabilities compared to a password. In the hands of users who understand the limitations of each, the risk is minimum. After living in an alcoholic country for about a decade, it becomes quite clear that neither a safe password nor a finger scan is safe on a Friday or Saturday night

. It is not uncommon for people to block certain phone numbers, to prevent accidental phone calls - that is the level of self control a user can exhibit.

BTW, a question for the folks in US: is it still common for banks to have a single password for account login/transactions?

In many parts of Europe, I see quite a bit of variety in bank transaction authentication methods.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 18 Oct 2013 02:18

In massa, at least in some major banks they have the one-time pad style authentication using those RSA crypto cards.

negi · Post by **negi** » 18 Oct 2013 02:58

Raja Bose wrote:I have a 928 for daily use, iPhone 5S for apphical use.

Hiyar hiyar ; bahut funde deta tha. Fruit co ka samaan wo bhi 5 S !
You wear cargo shorts to your office to carry those things everyday ?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 18 Oct 2013 03:35

^^^Kya be?

I have had iPhunwa for apphical purposes for many years now. My personal phunwa used to be a flip phone before this....very reluctantly changed to a smartphone this year.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 18 Oct 2013 04:15

Got the large Kindle today and charged it up. Ready to dive into some tech books and papers

negi · Post by **negi** » 18 Oct 2013 06:21

^Sab yahi bolte hain

Speaking of tech. I still have my Millman & Halkias and Nashelsky & Boylstead ; I kept them thinking that they will make a nice chi chi addition to the library and some day mi kids will grow in awe of their father, all for H&D onlee.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 18 Oct 2013 09:39

Flipkart India seems to have a Diwali offer going for Nexus Tablets! 16GB one for 9K.

chilarai · Post by **chilarai** » 18 Oct 2013 12:06

negi wrote:^Sab yahi bolte hain
Speaking of tech. I still have my Millman & Halkias and Nashelsky & Boylstead ; I kept them thinking that they will make a nice chi chi addition to the library and some day mi kids will grow in awe of their father, all for H&D onlee.

Even in second hand bookshops , Millman Halkias is found in very pristine conditions !

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 18 Oct 2013 12:08

Micromax, India is gate crashing into the big league. Now they just need to create an eco system for the production of handsets in India.

No Khan or Kapoor: Hugh Jackman is the face of Micromax

It will be interesting to see how this will effect, the market.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Oct 2013 12:45

chilarai wrote:
negi wrote:^Sab yahi bolte hain
Speaking of tech. I still have my Millman & Halkias and Nashelsky & Boylstead ; I kept them thinking that they will make a nice chi chi addition to the library and some day mi kids will grow in awe of their father, all for H&D onlee.
Even in second hand bookshops , Millman Halkias is found in very pristine conditions !

these books are to be kept nicely on bookshelf with knuth, dragon book, ullman theory of computation etc to impress brunette femme freshers & kids with. throw in a couple thin books on Lisp and Prolog for spice. few dusty copies of printed journal papers the prof gave for waste disposal strategically placed untidily around the place also builds street cred.

Anand K · Post by **Anand K** » 18 Oct 2013 13:15

OT, but talk about Millman & Halkias ityadi made me Google up Irodov-thaatha and look what I've found.

Wikipedia Entry

October 16, 1941 I.E. Irodov was drafted into the Red Army. He fought on the southern and southwestern areas in the 1st and 4th Ukrainian Fronts. At the front of I.E. Irodov was the shooter, a draftsman, cartographer. He fought for the liberation of Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia. During the war, I.E. Irodov was awarded the Order of Patriotic War II degree (1945), Red Star (1944), and the medals "For Courage" (1943), "For Military Merit" (1944), "For Victory over Germany" (1946). November 23, 1945 I.E. Irodov was demobilized from the ranks of the Red Army for health reasons and returned to Moscow

Some frame of reference eh?

vina · Post by **vina** » 18 Oct 2013 17:53

Ah.. Haters like Raja Boseullah and Aunjanullah are now having to double their orders of crow and having to gulp it down rather quickly.

Looks like despite all their barbs thrown at Mohtarma Meyers, Yahoo is undergoing a turnaround. Yahoo mail is definitely quite pleasing now. So the Products Mohtarma, if she can get a couple of big hits to the fence, will get the mojo back into Yahoo and Raja Bose will have to order crow soup in gallons!