TechWhiz » saurabh

India unveils low cost Laptop @ Rs.1500

saurabh — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:29:03 +0000

Kapil Sibal, India’s Human Resource Development Minister unveiled a low cost computing-cum-access device specially designed for the students. The laptop priced at Rs.1500 ($35) is the cheapest available computing device and the prices are expected to go down after production begins. It is the result of 5 years of work by the experts from IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras and IISC. India will distribute the laptop through educational institutions under ‘National Mission on Education through Information and Technology (NMEICT)’. With wireless internet connectivity being made accessible in rural areas by BSNL and this low cost laptop, students from rural parts of the country would be able to connect to the internet which was a distant dream for them till now. But we would have to wait for the device to be actually distributed to the students before we could comment on its usability any further.

Brief Specification of the device:

Design: Touch Screen, Tablet, Inbuilt key board

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Connectivity: WiFi, USB port

Power: 2-watt

Charging: Conventional, Solar

Features: video-conferencing, multimedia, PDF reader, unzip tool

We will keep our readers updated as we receive more information on the product.

News Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=63417

Image: http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/23/stories/2010072363902000.htm

iOS update: AVRCP stereo Bluetooth controls introduced in iOS 4.1

saurabh — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:11:49 +0000

A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) was introduced in iOS 3 which made bluetooth headphones compatible to listening music wirelessly from an iPhone/iPod Touch. You could play/pause the song but other features like changing volume didn’t work. With the introduction of AVRCP(Audio/Video Remote Control Profile) in iOS 4.1, the buttons on a bluetooth device will become compatible with iPhone/iPod Touch which will enable you to change volume and skip tracks while listening music via bluetooth headphones.

The new iOS 4.1 is currently available in beta only for developers. Its surprising why this feature was not integrated with iOS 4 and what made Apple to release this only to developers. Does that mean Apple wants to ensure this time, that AVRCP works fine before releasing it to the public, maybe now they have become concerned about customer’s and bloggers’ outcry over the antenna issue. It seems Apple is listening to its customers now!

[via MobileCrunch]

Enable/Disable startup programs in Windows 7

saurabh — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:40:00 +0000

Some programs are loaded as the system boots and some of them run in background which you may never find out unless you open task manager. They take a significant share of your computer’s resources continuously and some of those programs may not be required at all.

How to enable/disable programs to run at system boot?

Ensure that you are logged in as an administrator
Open the start menu, type ‘msconfig’ and press Enter
Navigate to ‘Startup’ tab
Uncheck to disable a program to load automatically during system booting. Similarly mark it checked to enable.
Once you are done, click ‘Ok’ and save the changes. You would be prompted to exit without restart or restart the system. I prefer to restart as the changes would be applicable only on restart, it can not close the program which are currently running.

MIT develops mobile phone based optometry solution

saurabh — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:32:06 +0000

The team at the MIT Camera Culture Lab have developed a portable and inexpensive solution for estimating refractive errors of human eye. Some common errors of the eye, including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and age-related vision loss can be diagnosed using this affordable technology which until now was possible using specialized equipment operated by a trained professional. An Indian postgraduate student and an Indian associate professors were in the team who conceived this innovative and affordable optometry solution.

Source: http://web.media.mit.edu/~pamplona/NETRA/

The new technology called NETRA (Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment) uses a special device and software on mobile phone to diagnose eye prescription. The cost of special plastic device is around $1-$2 now which is believed to come down to few cents once it goes into mass production. This is a major technological breakthrough especially for people living in rural areas of developing countries like India where basic eye clinics are still distant away. Please watch the following videos to know more about it.

Source: http://web.media.mit.edu/~pamplona/NETRA/

Android powered ebook reader now available at $149

saurabh — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:01:19 +0000

The first Android powered ebook reader Nook WiFi has been launched in the US by Barnes & Nobles and it is the cheapest ebook reader at a price of $149. It triggered a price war with Amazon slashing the price of Kindle from $259 to $189. Kindle comes with inbuilt 3G but without WiFi, while Nook’s entry level device which is priced at $149 comes with inbuilt WiFi but without 3G. The new Nook has inbuilt browser, mp3 player and games. But B&S has not made it clear whether Android applications will be supported on the new device or not. Ebook readers are transforming themselves into multi utility gadgets. But it should not be confused that ebook readers are trying to compete with iPad, while it seems like they might be trying to compete with iPod Touch.

Till now ebook readers has not been widely popular in India. Price was one of the major factors which has kept consumers away while availability is also an issue. It will be interesting to see if Android powered ebook readers given its low cost are launched in India.