Generation Next Gadgets

Canon announces a groundbreaking new addition to its expanding, world-famous EOS range of Digital SLR cameras - the EOS 550D. The Canon EOS 550D redefines the boundaries of Canon consumer DSLR range, incorporating technologies and features more commonly found in semi-professional DSLRs into the compact, lightweight body favoured by consumers. With a newly-developed 18 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, coupled with Canon advanced DIGIC 4 image processor and the ability to shoot Full HD movies, photography enthusiasts are empowered to explore new levels of creativity.
The EOS 550D combines exceptional still shooting with the ability to shoot Full HD (1080p) video. To satisfy your creativity the EOS 550D features full manual control and selectable frame rates. You can also shoot high speed 50/60fps movies at 720P for when the action is really fast. An HDMI connection allows High Definition playback of footage and images on any HDTV. Also with compatible TVs playback can be controlled using the TV remote control.
The EOS 550D makes Canon powerful imaging technology more accessible to consumers. Canon advanced DIGIC 4 image processor and 18MP sensor support standard ISO settings of 100 X 6400 (expandable to 12800), while enhanced in-camera noise reduction technology boosts performance in low light conditions. The system 14-bit image processing also produces smoother tonal gradation and natural looking colours for high quality prints and on-screen display.
For swift and accurate focusing, the EOS 550D features a 9-point AF system with one extra-sensitive cross type point at the centre for f/2.8 or faster lenses. The EOS 550D also supports high-speed, continuous shooting at 3.7 frames per second (fps). These features provide users with the opportunity to exert greater control over their images, allowing them to capture split-second moments with ease and accuracy.

The UNISON B-XT Speakers. It basically is a desktop speaker that can pair with Bluetooth devices and play audio. We have seen products, mainly LCD TVs, that have this as a feature but not a speaker that is built around this single feature. Let’s see how the UNISON B-XT Bluetooth Speaker turns out and find out if it is a viable option for the end consumer.
The UNISON B-XT Bluetooth Speaker looks like a boom box. The first thing you would actually look for is an iPod docking station, as this speaker looks more like one of those docking stations. The B-XT is a standard model and only offers Bluetooth pairing and a stereo input. Cygnett UNISON has several other models that have docking stations for iPod/iPhones.
The B-XT Speaker is a well-sized speaker system. It’s neither too large nor too small for the features it has to offer. The speaker comes in a complete glossy finish, with the UNISON branding across the top of the speaker. The branding blends well with the piano black gloss finish of the speaker.
The front of the speaker has a mesh, behind which hide three drivers. The mesh can be taken off to make the speaker look more aggressive. With the mesh on, it can easily be mistaken for some piece of furniture. The drivers include two three-inch drivers on either side of the four-inch woofer. All the drivers have rubber edges, making the speakers more durable. In most speakers, the drivers are of a different material, mostly fabric. But here, as it’s of rubber, it’s possible to keep the drivers exposed by removing the mesh and flaunting an aggressive look. The two three-inch drivers have a white color coating that adds to the looks and plead for it to be exposed instead of hiding behind the fabric mesh, which makes the speaker look less than ordinary.
There isn’t much to speak about the rear of the B-XT Speaker. It mainly consists of the 3.5mm jack for stereo input to the speakers. Other than that there is only the power ON/OFF switch, power plug point and a switch to select power voltage. There is also a vent provided to exhaust heat as well as to support the woofer.
The Bluetooth adaptor is what lets many devices pair with the speakers. The adaptor has a stereo pin to connect to any output that supports the same. So you can connect it to your mobile phone, MP3 player, or for that matter even to your PCs stereo output. The adaptor needs to be charged and for that there is a custom USB port on the adaptor. There is also a button and an LED on the adaptor. The LED denotes pairing and power status of the Bluetooth adaptor. The adaptor features a detachable clip-like design, so you can clip it just like a pen to your shirt pocket.
The B-XT Bluetooth Speaker is a small system. However, its main use is to amplify the sound produced from a mobile phone or a small audio player. The quality of audio produced by this speaker is average. The speaker has three drivers; two for the mids and highs and a woofer. The woofer does pretty well producing decent bass. There is punch in the bass but it’s not wholesome, poorer than any of the iPod docks that we’ve tested.
The highs of the speaker are also not too good. This is because of the lack of a tweeter, but the two drivers manage to do justice to some extent to the mids. One thing that I particularly found very irritating was the continuous presence of white noise. I thought it was because of the wireless connectivity or because of the adaptor, but even when connected via the stereo cable the white noise remained. Overall a very average speaker; I had expected it to be high on quality, especially considering that it’s a niche product.

Kaspersky Labs has warned of a surge in Koobface, the highly prolific worm infesting social networking sites.
The malicious program targets sites such as Facebook and MySpace and uses compromised legitimate websites as proxies for its main command and control server.
During the past 2 weeks, the Kaspersky Lab research team has observed the Koobface live C&C servers shut down or cleaned, on average, three times per day. The number dropped steadily from 107 on 25 February, to as low as 71 on 08 March. Then, in just 48 hours, the number grew from 71 to 142, precisely doubling its total number, which all Koobface-infected computers use to get remote commands and updates.
The Koobface command and control infrastructure can be observed when looking at the evolution of the geographical location of IP addresses used to communicate with the infected computers. The usage of C&C servers is increasing mostly in the United Stated, growing from 48 percent to 52 percent. Currently, more than half of the Koobface C&C servers are hosted in the United States, far exceeding any other country.
“These latest happenings give us some indications of how the Koobface gang takes care of its infrastructure, says Stefan Tanase, Senior Regional Researcher, Kaspersky Lab EEMEA. Based on this, we can conclude that the cybercriminals are constantly monitoring their infrastructure status. They don’t want the number of C&C servers to drop too much, as that would mean losing their control over the botnet. When the number of active C&C servers drops to a critical level, they seem to be ready to implement dozens of new ones. The total number of Koobface C&C servers is constantly fluctuating, going from over a hundred to under a hundred and back again in a matter of weeks. It seems that when 100 C&C servers are online, the Koobface gang is relaxed. They also prefer to have their C&C servers distributed across the globe and with different ISPs, in order to make the take-down process harder. However, most of the Koobface C&C servers remain in the United States.”
Kaspersky Lab maintains that its users running any of the Company’s current anti-malware products are fully protected from all known variants of Koobface.

Media companies longing to bring a paid-for culture to the Internet might just get what they want if they pay more attention to the smartphone revolution that is changing the way people access the Web.
Huge numbers now use mobile phones instead of desktop computers to get online - a development that has spawned whole new business models in China, the world’s biggest Internet market. Paying to read content on the Web, an outlandish idea as recently as a year ago, is slowly but surely establishing itself as the next business model in the Western media mainstream, spearheaded by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. But meantime, sales of smartphones part of a telecoms economy very different from the PC Web - are set to outpace sales of desktop computers by 2012, IT research firm Gartner said this week. Some believe it could be as early as this year. And in China - which has more Internet users than any other nation - paid content is a non-starter, says Kai-Fu Lee, a former head of Microsoft’s and then Google’s China operations who recently quit to run his own company. “Chinese consumers have a stronger conviction that things should be free, so efforts to charge for premium content have basically completely failed,” Lee said at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit this week.
Traditional publishing groups like News Corp, the New York Times and Axel Springer have decided recently to take the plunge and start charging for news online, risking smaller audiences for potential gains in subscription revenues. Their decisions, taken after much agonising, are as yet largely untested on consumers, but a consensus is growing that there is no alternative because advertising revenues that were devastated in the recession will not return to previous levels. “We certainly believe there needs to be dual income-stream business models — both advertising and subscription,” said Jon Miller, head of digital media at News Corp. Publishers argue that they need consumers to rethink their presumption that Web content must be free in order to fund the creation of high-quality news and entertainment.
Lee, on the other hand, said the qualities of the Internet itself rather than the needs of media companies would drive how content was delivered and paid for. He cited in particular the Web’s ability to offer both marketing and sales at one click. Asked about the feasibility of generating subscription alongside advertising revenues, he said: “It’s not the single or multiple that really matters to me but whether the model leverages the growth of the Internet and the strengths of the Internet.” “It can have either premium subscription or advertising or app store or other kinds of business models.”
App stores - online shops for small software applications that run anything from games to dictation tools to fitness aids on phones - have proliferated since Apple launched the original App Store for the iPhone in 2008. In the 18 months to January, consumers downloaded more than 3 billion iPhone applications, most of them free and the rest typically costing less than $1 each. Despite the low price, high volumes mean the market will grow to $6.8 billion in 2010, IT research firm Gartner predicts. The software creators, whether newspaper publishers or geeks in their garage at home, get a 70 percent revenue share from Apple.
Sales of smartphones like the iPhone are forecast to grow by about 50 percent this year to 250 million units, compared with 20 percent growth to 366 million units for PCs. New mobile connected devices like Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and the soon-to-be-launched Apple iPad tablet computer, aimed at a market somewhere between laptops and smartphones, will also increase the scale of the opportunity. E-readers, still a nascent business, so far offer terms that publishers find friendlier than advertising-funded models. Hans Vestberg, chief executive of mobile equipment maker Ericsson, repeated his prediction this week that there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020. “Mobile Web adoption is growing eight times faster than the first wave of PC Internet adoption,” Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt told the conference this week. “There may be some limits, but we’re not anywhere near them.”
In China, more than half the nation’s Internet users - who totalled 384 million by the end of last year — are already accessing the Web from a mobile device, and Lee told Reuters that would grow to 800 million in five years.
China’s largest online retailer Taobao, part of leading e-commerce group Alibaba, plans to launch mobile phones preloaded with applications this year to bring more users to its online shops. And, unlike its U.S. counterpart eBay, it does not charge sellers to list items for sale, but funds operations through advertising although advertising will not be the answer to everything. Lee also gave the example of a Chinese browser, gaining in popularity, that removes all visuals and advertising from Web pages to cut the bandwidth needed by cost-conscious consumers. “These kinds of unusual aberrations will happen as a result of specific things that happen in each country, so if you want to develop your content for the whole world it’s important not to assume that the whole world is the same,” he said.

WD has announced that the company is shipping its first consumer-oriented solid state drive (SSD) with the new WD SiliconEdge 2.5-inch SSD family. WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs offer fast read/write speeds and high SSD capacities, making them an ideal storage solution for read-intensive applications requiring high performance and plug-and-play compatibility.
WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs, in capacities up to 256 gigabytes (GB), feature a native SATA 3.0 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface with read speeds up to 250 megabytes per second (MB/s) and write transfer rates up to 170 MB/s. Fast and rugged, WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs accelerate application performance and deliver maximum tolerance for drops, shock and vibration along with silent and low-power operation.
The new WD SiliconEdge Blue product family has passed WD’s extensive functional integrity testing procedures, which subjected the WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs to over 250,000 hours of testing to ensure they meet the industry’s highest data integrity, reliability and compatibility standards. Designed for both read-intensive client/consumer applications and write-intensive, 24/7 OEM applications, WD’s new multi-level cell (MLC) -based SSDs feature patented and patent-pending technologies, such as advanced wear-leveling and error correction control, as well as TRIM and NCQ (Native Command Queuing) command support to ensure maximum drive performance and endurance with easy plug and play compatibility.
WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs are available through select distributors and resellers. The manufacturers’ suggested retail price (MSRP) for WD SiliconEdge Blue SSD 64 GB (model SSC-D0064SC-2100) capacity is Rs 16,250; for 128 GB (model SSC-D0128SC-2100) is Rs 30,900 and for 256 GB (SSC-D0256SC-2100) is Rs 58,250.
The WD SiliconEdge Blue drive is backed by WD’s world-class technical support and comes with a three-year limited warranty.

Opera has launched Opera Mini 5 on the Android platform.
Opera Mini, with more than 50 million users worldwide, enables Web browsing on almost any handset by compressing data by up to 90 percent before sending content to the phone, resulting in significantly improved page loading and speed.
With a simple, easy-to-use interface, Opera Mini offers a desktop-like Web browsing experience on a mobile phone, with features such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, password manager and bookmarks. With  Opera Mini optimized for Android, more people will be able to get a PC-like browsing experience on their mobile handsets.
“Android users should not have to compromise when it comes to surfing the Web on their phones. Opera Mini will give Android users a fast and cost-efficient access to their favorite Web sites and services,” said Dag Olav Norem, Vice President of Products, Opera Software.
Download Opera Mini directly to your Android phone from m.opera.com/next with the Android browser or search for Opera Mini 5 in the Android Market.

After Criterion’s ballistic FPS Black, there hasn’t been a first person shooter that lets you destroy pretty much everything with reckless abandon. But all that’s about to change with Bodycount, a brand new FPS from Codemasters (and some of the guys who actually worked on Black).
Experience the intense thrill of close-quarters combat in a shreddable world as Bodycount blasts outrageous fire-fights and ferocious action from both barrels.  Become a powerful combat asset green-lighted to eliminate enemies known only as ‘Targets’ on behalf of the ‘Network’, ensnared in a clandestine global power struggle that rages away from the headlines and under the cover of conventional war zones.
This exhilarating shooter drops players into chaotic areas of operations equipped with a mouth-watering selection of contemporary weapons to tear through environments and enemies, chaining kills, earning power ups and building up a bullet meter to unleash devastating air strikes on enemies.
Bodycount will release for the Xbox360 and PS3 sometime in 2011.

Asus has added yet another member to its Seashell family of ultraportable Eee PC. However, this time around, this ultraportable comes with an AMD processor in it. New Asus Eee PC 1201T features AMD Athlon Neo processor and supports full HD playback. Ideal for those who watch HD movies while on the move, this notebook also equips ATI Radeon HD discrete graphics.
Bearing the stylish Seashell design, this ultraportable comes in a glossy chassis with an in-Mold roller technology. The panel around the chiclet keyboard too appears glossy. The new 12.1-inch Eee PC 1201T has 1366×768 pixel resolution supporting LCD display with 16:9 aspect ratio. Though the screen is technically capable of supporting full HD content, the difference between half HD (720p) and full HD (1080p) would hardly be visible to an average Joe.
Apart from that, the 1201T equips 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, 2GB DDR2 memory, and 320GB HDD for storage. To support the HD playback, Asus has placed ATI Radeon HD 3200 discrete graphics in this ultraportable notebook. Here, the pre-installed ArcSoft SimHD software upscales the standard definition video to an HD video. The only heart breaking part here is the absence of HDMI outport.
Even with Asus Super Hybrid Engine feature for power management, this ultraportable offers a battery life of six hours with a six-cell battery pack. Other standard features of this notebook include a 0.3 megapixel web cam, HD Audio Codec, multi-media card reader, three USB 2.0 port, LAN port, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n). Surprisingly, the default operating system in this ultraportable is DOS and hence customers will have to buy a copy of Windows 7/Vista/XP.

Simmtronics Semiconductors has announced the launch of its latest motherboard - an Intel G41 Chipset based model - SIMM INT G-41 E(J). The new, low-end motherboard packs in Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 for a decent multimedia experience.
The G41 is designed for Intel Core 2 Duo processors and according to the company, it offers major advancements in Video, Graphics, responsiveness and scalability. In addition to the video, the Intel G41 Express Chipset delivers optimized 3D graphics performance and support for Microsoft DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0 and OpenGL 2.0. It is powered by Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 and includes built-in support for smooth high-definition video playback without the need for add-in video cards.
The Simmtronics G41T-M motherboard uses technologies for better power efficiency and supports Intel Core 2 multi-core processors including Core 2 Duo Quad processor and various upcoming 45nm processors.The new G41T-M motherboard supports socket LGA775 Intel processors with HT technology that the company said doubles the bandwidth of the system memory up to 12.8GB/sec to pump up system performance.
The new G41T-M motherboard supports SATA2 specification which doubles bus bandwidth from 1.5Gb/s to 3Gb/s data transfer speed. The Native Command Queuing specification enables out-of-order execution of commands for efficient retrieval of data. Hot Plug support allows users to insert and remove hard disk drives without shutting off power to the system.
The Simmtronics G41T-M motherboard delivers 1333/1066 or 800 MHz FSB and offers support for several latest CPUs including Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, Intel Core 2 Quad processor, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Intel Pentium processor Extreme Edition, Intel Pentium D processor, Intel Pentium 4 processor Extreme Edition, and Intel Pentium 4 processor, Intel Celeron processor in the LGA 775 package.
Micro ATX Form Factor size 244 mm x 204 mm, Simmtronics G41T-M motherboard features has the Ultra Durable design for its CPU VRM (Voltage Regulator Module) that ensures better cooling, lower power loss and longer lifespan for computers in daily operation, consequently boosting system stability even under extreme conditions.
The G41T-M motherboards supports Intel latest high performance CPU delivers the most energy-efficient performance. Based on Intel Micro Architecture, the Intel multi-core processors with 4 cores and two shared L2 caches provide the best capability-per-watt solutions and are an ideal choice for multi-media enthusiasts and intensive multi-tasking environments.
The Simmtronics G41T-M is equipped with Atheros AR8112 chipset for LAN network interface that delivers a high-speed LAN connection with data transfer rates up to 100Mb/s, ideally suited for seamless internet connection such as streaming audio and video contents. In addition, it offers USB v2.0 port connectivity that allows data transfer at the rate of upto 480Mb/s.
Simmtronics G41T-M motherboard motherboard also features PCI Express interface which provides scalable bandwidth for multi-purpose usage. The PCI-E x16 interface delivers the utmost graphics experience while PCI-E x1 interface delivers twice the bandwidth of up to 250MB/s of PCI interface for new generation I/O peripheral devices.
Simmtronics G41T-M motherboard motherboard also offers support for advanced Dual Channel DDR2 800 memory architecture, with upto 8-GB SDRAM in 2 DIMM sockets delivering superior performance for the most demanding applications.Simmtronics G41T-M motherboard features integrated VIA VT1708B chipset offering 6-channel HD Audio CODEC and delivers advanced multi-channel audio, thus, delivering the experience of home theatre-quality sound quality.

Samsung has expanded its line-up of Dual SIM handsets in India with the launch of two new dual SIM phones.Samsung has launched a new Dual SIM (CDMA+GSM) phone, Duos 256, in India. Samsung Duos 256 is an over market handset which supports all the CDMA and GSM mobile networks. Samsung Duos 256 is a bar styled phone equipped with 1.3 mega pixels camera, games, Bluetooth, video recording and supports up to 8GB expandable memory.
As the name suggests, the Samsung Duos Touch is a touchscreen device with Dual SIM (GSM+CDMA) capability. The Duos Touch boasts of features like Bluetooth, 4GB expandable memory card support and 2MP camera. It also has a 1140 mAh battery and can be used on Tata Indicom, Reliance and Virgin Mobile CDMA Networks and all GSM networks in the country.
Next in line is the Samsung Duos 259, which is an Open Market Handset (OMH) and supports all CDMA and GSM mobile networks. The Duos 259 comes with a very basic 1.3MP coamera and full support for GPRS, Motion Games and Bluetooth. The phone supports microSD cards for memory expansion and like the Duos Touch, has a 1140 mAh battery.If you happen to be a Tata Indicom user, you can avail the 1,000 free minutes offer till the end of this month after changing to one of these handsets from your existing phones.