You can't blame anyone for the blurry or poorly framed selfies that you often capture because you might be scrubbing your thumb fishing for a virtual shutter button as the moment passes you by. For better selfies, consider some of these gadgets.

1. Halo/Hisy ($25, roughly Rs. 1,547)
This one is really simple. The Halo is a small plastic button that serves as a wireless shutter trigger for your phone's camera. Its only job is to trigger your phone's shutter when you click the button. One function, one result.The company makes an iPhone version called Hisy. You need to install its free camera app, Shutter Panorama, as neither Halo nor Hisy works with the regular camera app that comes with the phone.

Shutter Panorama doesn't have too many manual settings or special features. But the device does a good job in allowing me to place my phone in places other than your hand. It's more elegant than setting the camera's timer and running to get in the shot.

2. Kodak Pixpro SL25 ($300, roughly Rs. 18,500)
The Pixpro SL25 from Kodak is essentially a camera lens that mounts onto your phone, allowing for higher resolution than what your phone's camera can capture. The Pixpro communicates with your phone over Wi-Fi and lets you compose the image on the phone's screen. Once the photos are snapped using the shutter button on the Pixpro, the phone serves primarily to review and share the images to social media services.

The downside is you have a second device to carry around, which defeats the purpose of taking selfies on the fly.

The upside is image quality. The Pixpro shoots sharp 16 megapixel photos and full high-definition video at 1080p. This quality is common for rear cameras, but not the front ones for selfies. As a bonus, the Pixpro offers a zoom of up to 25 times, which is more helpful for regular shots than selfies. It's a real, optical zoom, not a software magnification phones typically use.The Pixpro has fold-out arms to attach to the phone, such that the two devices act as one. That, in itself, isn't different from using just the phone for selfies.

It has a wide-angle lens that fits plenty of action into the frame.

3. Satechi Smart Selfie Extension Arm Monopod ($50, roughly Rs. 3,100)
This telescoping monopod from Satechi helps get more than just yourself in the frame. Similar to the Kodak unit, this monopod has spring-loaded rubber pieces that grip the phone on its sides, holding it firmly in place. From there, you simply extend the telescoping device out to its full three feet and get lots of buddies or surroundings into the shot.What really helps is that a shutter button on the grip of the pole connects to your phone via Bluetooth, allowing you to snap the selfie without reaching up to the phone. 

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As our lives increasingly move to the cloud, the need for stronger passwords is more important than ever. But aside from avoiding easy-to-guess birthday/pet name passwords, what else can be done?

Google is now investigating alternatives to the password - like an USB-based card from Yubico that would sign you into your Google account when inserted into a device.

In a paper that will be published in IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine this month, Google vice president of security Eric Grosse and engineer Mayank Upadhyay explore the various ways that people might use passwords in the years to come.

Grosse and Upadhyay gave Wired a sneak peek at their paper, which includes the option to use a cryptographic card from Yubico to log into Google services like Gmail, Drive, or Chrome. As Wired noted, the Googlers had to make some changes to Chrome in order to get the cards to authenticate, but once that was in place, it did not require any additional installation - registration can be completed in one click.

"We're focused on making authentication more secure, and yet easier to manage," a Google spokesman said in a statement today. "We believe experiments like these can help make login systems better."

Those who work in industries that handle secure information - like banking - have long used authentication tokens to log into their work accounts. But consumer services like Google have stuck to the password approach for ease of use.

The paper also discussed options like a "smart ring" or a smartphone that could authorize a new PC with one tap. Ultimately, these devices could mean the end of passwords you'd have to remember. They acknowledged, however, that it can't live inside a Google bubble.

"Others have tried similar approaches but achieved little success in the consumer world," they said, according to Wired. "Although we recognize that our initiative will likewise remain speculative until we've proven large scale acceptance, we're eager to test it with other websites."

What happens if you lose your Google password gizmo? Yubico tweeted today that "many apps can bypass the YubiKey login if it is lost or issue a temporary token code." Multiple tokens can also be used - "it depends on the application and security selected," Yubico said.

The company maintained that the YubiKey is hard to lose since it fits on a keychain "like a key to your door."

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As smartphone are growing so are the growth of new technologies. And don't think that an invention of a new technology is the only invention. The usage of different technologies as one is also another invention. A researcher in U.S has made it simple to make a smartphone recognize knuckle and fingernail touches......!! Amazing ri8.......Watch the video...........!!

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Those of you who thought Samsung might take a cue from HTC and settle its patent differences with Apple can think again. Samsung vs. Apple is moving full steam ahead.

Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung's mobile and IT division, told reporters in Seoul recently that the company has no plans to settle, according toYonhap News.

"It may be true that HTC may have agreed to pay 300 billion won (US$276 million) to Apple, but we don't intend to [negotiate] at all," he said.

Over the weekend, Apple and HTC announced that they had settled a patent battle that dated back to 2010. The deal means the two companies will dismiss all current lawsuits in favor of a 10-year licensing agreement. Apple and HTC said terms of the deal are confidential, but "the license extends to current and future patents held by both parties," they said.

But don't expect a similar announcement from Samsung. Apple and Samsung have been fighting over patents since April 2011, when Apple fired the first shot. The case has since expanded to dozens of courts around the globe, but the biggest ruling thus far came in August, when a California jury ruled in favor of Apple and handed down damages of $1.05 billion. Samsung is currently appealing.

Prior to the start of the California trial, Samsung and Apple tried several times to hammer out a deal. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-Sung sat down in May and again just days before the trial started, but remained at loggerheads over the value of each others' patents. Cook then spoke with Samsung's Kwon Oh Hyun on the phone just before the case went to trial, but to no avail.

The fight could drag on for years; another California suit is not scheduled to go to trial until March 2014.

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As expected, Apple today unveiled a smaller version of its iPad tablet, dubbed the iPad mini.

The 7.9-inch iPad mini includes a 1,024-by-768 display, the same as the iPad 2.

Pricing starts at $329 for the 16GB Wi-Fi version. The 32GB Wi-Fi is $429, while the 64GB will be $529. The Wi-Fi plus cellular versions will be $459 (16GB), $559 (32GB), and $659 (64GB).

Buyers can pre-order the devices starting Oct. 26. The Wi-Fi version will ship on Nov. 2 and the cellular version will ship two weeks later.

The iPad mini comes in at 7.5mm thin and 0.68 pounds, 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than its 9.7-inch counterpart. "It's as thin as a pencil," Apple's Phil Schiller said.

Schiller said the Apple team "worked really hard" thinking about the size of the iPad mini. Cupertino wanted an iPad that was capable of running existing apps, but did not want a device that was so small "that it stops being incredibly usable."

"All the software made for the iPad works on the mini with no change," Schiller said.

Schiller compared the iPad mini to existing Android tablets, criticizing its rivals for using plastic materials, only making the screen 7 inches, and not having as many apps. "There is a gigantic difference in these products," he said. "They have phone applications stretched up, not tablet applications."

The iPad mini runs a dual-core A5 processor from Apple. It supports FaceTime HD and features and 5-megapixel iSight camera. There's LTE connectivity, as well as 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. Apple promised 10 hours of battery life.

The iPad mini will include the new Lightning connector found on the iPhone 5. Apple is also offering new polyurethane Smart Covers for the iPad mini in pink, green, blue, light gray, dark gray and (PRODUCT) RED for $39.

"It is every inch an iPad," Schiller said.

Speaking of the iPad, Apple also gave its existing 9.7-inch iPad a boost.

Rumors about an iPad mini have been making the rounds for months - even before the launch of the new iPad. But Apple unveiled its Retina display iPad by itself earlier this year, opting to give the iPad mini its own show.

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Apple has begun its preparations at San Jose’s California Theater ahead of Tuesday’s iPad mini announcement. The Cupertino company has erected a number of eye-catching posters, which match the brightly colored event invitations it sent out to the press last Tuesday.

As opposed to big banners sprawled across the front of the building, Apple has chosen to keep its decorations subtle for this event; it’s currently utilizing the poster frames that sit on the walls outside the theater instead. The sign above the entrance of the theater reads “Apple Special Event.” The posters themselves, however, aren’t so subtle.

Apple hasn’t held an event at the California Theater for seven years, since Steve Jobs announced the first iPod capable of playing video, and introduced TV shows to the iTunes Store. The company traditionally holds its events at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center, and occasionally at the Town Hall Auditorium on its campus.

Source:TechnoBuffalo

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The upcoming LG Nexus phone might have leaked all over the place in the last couple of days, but these here are the best and most detailed pictures of the upcoming smartphone. This time it's Belarus and local etailer Onliner that got a prototype LG Nexus, and it looks like a crossover between the LG Optimus G and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

With so much smoke, we can only conclude there must be fire - the LG Nexus is likely coming on October 29th. The device is known by many names: the LG E960 Mako, the LG Optimus Nexus and the LG Nexus 4 (it’s the fourth-generation Nexus).

So here’s what’s on this prototype. LG’s Nexus in its current version runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, but chances are it’d get an update to Android 4.2 just before its launch. There is a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 768 x 1280 pixels, a whopping quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip under the hood (hopefully an S4 Pro like on the Optimus G), and 2GB of RAM.

Internal storage is only 8GB and we’ve heard nothing about an expansion slot, and that would seem like a downer. The rear camera is an 8-megapixel one.

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The company's smaller tablet will reportedly come with a 7.85-inch screen, a Lightning connector, and thinner design than its predecessor. Apple plans to hold a special press event on October 23 to unveil its iPad Mini, All Things Digital is reporting today, citing sources. The news outlet didn't say when the iPad Mini might actually hit store shelves.

Rumors have been swirling for months that Apple is planning to launch a smaller iPad. More recently, reports had claimed that Apple had hoped to get it out sooner than now, but production issues have caused it to push the launch back.

The claims by All Things Digital's sources mesh with what earlier reports on the iPad Mini's features have been saying, including that the tablet will ship with a 7.85-inch screen and come with Apple's new Lightning connector. Further details, however, remain unknown. Given that, it's believed that the iPad Mini will be substantially cheaper than the new iPad, though it's not known by how much.

Source:cnet

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Apple was just granted a patent for technology that could lead to a fancy new biometric unlocking mechanism on future Apple products. The technology could also be used to implement new security features for ecommerce. The patent comes just a few months after Apple bought security technology company AuthenTec for $356 million over the summer.

According to Patently Apple, the patent calls for a hidden biomentric scanner that can hide behind a screen on your iPhone, iPad, etc. As described, the sensor could suddenly become visible when active or remain invisible. In one application, the sensor could be used as a fingerprint reader to add a second step of authentication during slide-to-unlock. It could also be used to recognize your face or eye for added security when you're completing purchases. Neither of these applications is especially new—what's interesting is Apple's seamless integration whereby the technology is hidden from you altogether. [Patently Apple via 9to5Mac]

Republished from http://gizmodo.com

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Despite the Apple iPhone 5 not being officially available in India, there are reports that online retailers and the grey market are seeing a lot of demand for the new smartphone from the fruity giant, despite the hefty premium being levied.

One of these retailers, Bhaap.com, will start selling the iPhone 5 in India from Friday, September 28. The site will make the smartphone available to customers for Rs 71,995. The deal on the website opens at 10:00 am and will only be available for 24-hours or until the very limited stocks last!

The price of Rs. 71,995 is for the 16GB version. No pricing details about the 32GB or the 64GB variant of the smartphones are known for Bhaap.com.

At eBay.in, the price of the iPhone 5 16GB is Rs. 79,900 and the 32GB is selling for Rs. 90,750. You can take a look at the eBay listing of the iPhone 5 here.

Apple hasn't announced the iPhone 5 officially in India but speculations on the Internet suggest that it will be available towards the end of October or early November.

If you are one who can’t wait for Apple to officially launch the iPhone in India, you can pick one up from the grey market today. The first iPhone 5 was sold in Khan Market, New Delhi for a whopping 1.35 lakhs a few days ago. In the grey market in India, the prices of the three variants of the iPhone 5 is as follows:

• 16GB: Rs. 76,000
• 32GB: Rs. 85,000
• 64GB: RS. 1,00,000

(Prices are approximate)

Apple’s 6th generation iPhone has a 4-inch Retina Display and runs on the all-new iOS 6. Under the hood, the A6 chipset powers it. 

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With its mysterious, Apple-designed A6 processor, the iPhone 5 is unique in the world of smartphones. Most high-end phones nowadays run on one of two architectures: ARM's Cortex-A9, which is used by Nvidia, Texas Instruments and others, and Qualcomm's Krait. But the A6, as AnandTech discovered, is something completely different—an ARM-compatible system-on-a-chip designed, top to bottom, by Apple.

We'll focus on five tests here. First the browser benchmarks: Sunspider, Browsermark, and Guimark 3 Bitmap all test Web browser performance. Sunspider is about JavaScript, Guimark is about interactive HTML5, and Browsermark is an overall browser benchmark. Different browsers will score differently on the same phone. We test with the default browser, because that's what most people use.

(Since you're wondering about Chrome, which is an optional download on Android phones, it gives similar Browsermark results to the default browser on the Samsung Galaxy S III.)

The iPhone 4S running the Safari browser in iOS 6.0 on a dual-core 800MHz A5 processor is about on par with leading Android 4.0 phones like the Samsung Galaxy S III and theMotorola Droid RAZR M, both of which are using 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processors. Obviously, the difference is that Safari is a faster browser than the Android browser.

The iPhone 5 takes things to the next level with a processor that can compete with the S4 along with the fast browser. Its Browsermark score is 80 percent higher, and it shows much quicker Sunspider times. GUIMark, like most mobile on-screen graphics tests, maxes out at 60 frames per second because that's as fast as your screen updates.

Geekbench is a processor benchmark, which tests the basic components of a phone's system. Here you see less of a difference, but it's still there. Look at the subscores. The A6 and the other processors do math about as fast as each other, but the "memory" and "stream" scores, both of which test loading data in and out of RAM, come out much better on the Apple device.

Mix together the two sets and you see how much of a difference the Safari browser makes, but also that the iPhone 5 still wins with the browser taken out of the picture.

GLBenchmark 2.5 is a graphics benchmark, creating and walking through simulated game scenes. Performance in the "onscreen" tests is dependent on a phone's graphics power but also on screen resolution (you can do more frames per second if you're pushing fewer pixels.) The "offscreen" tests are purely graphics-crunching power. The Galaxy S III has 26 percent more pixels than the iPhone 5 (921,600 to the iPhone's 727,400) but as you can see, in the "offscreen" measure of raw graphics performance, the iPhone 5 doubles the Galaxy S III's result. It's simply a more powerful phone.

A phone's hardware performance can't be taken in isolation, but it's definitely a piece of the puzzle. Based on these benchmarks, the iPhone 5 lives up to the promise of being twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. It's also, for now, the fastest handheld computer sold in the US.

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To know where you’re going, you’ve got to first know where you’ve been. On Jan. 9, 2007, Apple’s Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone at the MacWorld convention in San Francisco. It was promptly dubbed the “Jesus Phone” by a critical public that crucified it worshipped it like a gift from God itself.

And so it began.

This week, Apple is scheduled to announce what many expect to be the iPhone 5, the successor to the iPhone 4S, which many expected to be the iPhone 5. No matter. We’ve taken a crack at the rumors before: larger screen, LTE, improved Siri, a slot for connecting rainbows and fairy dust. But we'll find out soon enough what Tim Cook has up his sleeve.

The iPhone’s success certainly stems from its hardware design. But Apple should be credited with developing the app ecosystem, convincing a world of developers to not only develop apps for the iPhone, but to cede Apple a cut of the profits, submit their apps to Apple’s guidelines, and let Apple cut out possible competitors when it chooses. In all honesty, developing that apps ecosystem almost stands as a greater achievement than the phone itself.

Over the years, the iPhone has slimmed down, added an additional color, an additional antenna, some additional carriers, a friendly yet somewhat cheeky personal assistant, and yes, a few additional customers as well. Since Apple announced the phone, "antennagate" and "You’re holding it wrong" have entered the tech lexicon, when an irascible Steve Jobs reluctantly announced the infamous bumper case promotion. Apple spent a few dollars worth of rubber to placate an irate public (and tech press) who, correctly or not, took issue with their $400 phone not working properly in areas of low signal. Meanwhile, the iPad entered the market, dismissed by many as just a larger version of the iPhone. We know how that turned out.

As you flip through the following pages, be sure to check out how the phone’s basic design has been left unchanged. That has served Apple well, as the iPhone has remained an iconic slab of black (and white) against a sea of Android devices - several of which copied elements of Appe's design, according to a San Francisco jury.

Motorola ROKR

This collaboration with Motorola actually predated the iPhone, and likely convinced Apple to go it alone, rather than with a partner. The ROKR E1 phone essentially flopped and is barely remembered today.

iPhone

When Steve Jobs announced the $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB) iPhones in 2007, consumers went nuts, lined up in droves, and spawned a new generation of fans eager to be first to own Apple’s latest product. The first iPhone also saturated AT&T's network, causing years of angst until Verizon signed on in early 2011. The first iPhone also was the beginning of the end for the iPod, as the spacious 8GB of storage was enough to hold most of one's music collection.

iPhone 3G

Launched on June 9, 2008, the $199 (8GB) or $299 (16GB) iPhone 3Gupgraded the 2G connection used by the original iPhone to a speedier 3G, adding assisted GPS in the process. That, in turn, helped the iPhone lock onto a GPS signal faster. But the real innovation was iOS 2.0, which included the App Store, MobileMe, and push email, along with other enhancements.

iPhone 3GS

Launched on June 8, 2009, the iPhone 3GS, priced at $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) upgraded the processor used by the iPhone 3G, and added a compass and 7-Mbit HSDPA support, to boot. But the 3GS's main addition was an upgraded camera, which finally allowed users to record 480p videos and put another nail in the coffin of the camcorder industry. Apple's iOS 3.0 also added copy and paste functionality, finally.

iPhone 4

On June 7, 2010, Apple announced theiPhone 4, its most controversial model yet. Of course, who can forget that Gizmodo obtained a prototype of the phone that was left in a bar, photographed it, tore it down, and was banned from Apple product launches as a result. When Apple finally launched the three models of the iPhone at $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), and $399 (64GB), excitement was at a fever pitch. The drama escalated when the "grip of death" controversy manifested, as magazines (including PCMag) reported that cell signals dropped in fringe areas. In 2011, Verizon was added as the iPhone’s second carrier, while the first white iPhones, shipped, too.

iPhone 4S

Siri, what was the most recent iPhone named? Why, the iPhone 4S, of course, which kept the same pricing structure as the previous model. Apple’s latest iPhone added the personal assistant plus support for iCloud, although the launch was overshadowed by the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs a day later. A host of smaller improvements were also included. Following the release of the iPhone 4S,Sprint, Cricket, and other carriers now carry the iPhone - save for poor T-Mobile, which is trying to lure unlocked iPhones to its network.

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Apple's poised to unveil its next-generation iPhone and iPod touch devices during its September 12 media event, but those may not be the only products showcased. The tech world fully expects iOS 6—Apple's updated mobile operating system that was first unveiled in June during Apple's June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC)—to launch the day of the event or shortly afterward.

iOS 6 will be a free download, compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (fourth generation), iPad 2, and new iPad (third generation), but some features aren't available on all devices due to either hardware limitations or being iPhone and iPod touch-centric. That means if you have an incompatible device, you'll either have to stick to the older operating system or upgrade to a new device.

iOS 6's overall feature set isn't quite as game-changing as iOS 5's, which brought iCloud, iMessage, Notification Center, wireless syncing, and more to the iOS platform. But version 6 adds numerous potentially useful features that may make the update essential if you own a compatible iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Apple's iOS 6 Web page lists several features—either new or improved—that are designed to enhance your iOS experience, but we're highlighting the five that are the most attractive.

If you're ready to check out our five most anticipated iOS 6 features, dive into our slideshow that details what you should fire up when the operating system is available for download. Let us know if you agree or disagree with our iOS 6 most anticipated feature selections by leaving a comment below.

Facebook Integration

New to iOS6 is operating system-level Facebook integration, and it works similarly as the Twitter integration that arrived in iOS 5. From the Settings menu, you will be able to enter your Facebook credentials, and the social network will be baked into the operating system. You'll be able to update your update, post links or photos to your wall, and add location-based information. You'll even be able to use Siri to update your Facebook status without touching the virtual keyboard.

iCloud Tabs

Safari's main enhancement looks like it will come in the form of iCloud Tabs, which display links to Web pages that you have open on other Apple mobile devices. If you were reading, for example, PCMag.com on your iPod touch, you will be able to continue where you left off on a different iOS device by launching Safari and tapping the iCloud icon.

Maps

Maps is Apple's in-house replacement for the soon-to-be exiled Google Maps. At first glance, Maps looks very similar to Google's offering with its turn-by-turn navigation, local search, and traffic reports, but it differs in one major area: Flyovers. This new feature renders major cities with photo-realistic 3D models that you will be able to pan, zoom, tilt, and rotate in order to get a better view. Maps' Siri compatibility means that pretty soon you'll be able to plot trips using just your words.

New Call Options

iOS 6 will add new calling options that offer more flexibility over how you handle incoming calls that you don't want to pick up. Instead of simply declining a call, you'll be able to reply to it with a text message or create a callback reminder to notify yourself at a later time to reach out to the person who rang. Apple is also adding a Do Disturb Option that ensures you won't be bothered when you choose to enable it, save for contacts that you've set up as exceptions.

Passbook

Passbook is an iPhone and iPod touch-exclusive app—at least for now—that will act as a tidy central hub for all your passes and tickets. Instead of handing over a paper ticket, coupon, boarding pass, or gift card to be scanned, you'll simply whip put your device, which will display the appropriate item when you stroll into the appropriate store or airport. The success of this app, unlike the others mentioned in this story, will rely heavily on third-party support. The list of companies standing behind the technology is likely to be unveiled September 12, but two are already known: American Airlines and Delta.

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