Prakash Advani's Blog

Former Nokia employees have got together to start Newkia, a company which plans to do what Nokia missed — Build an Android phone.

Sounds like a great idea, since Nokia has very good engineers and one of the best hardware, what they lacked was good software.

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Amazon has come up with the New Kindle Paperwhite.

The paperwhite which was released last year, has a back-light making it easy to read in the low light conditions.

It sports a 1 GHz processor vs 800 MHz before and better touch screen.

However the space is still 2GB out of which you can use 1.25GB for ebooks which is enough for 1000+ books.

The claimed battery life is 2 months, which sounds great considering our phones don’t even last 1/2 a day 🙂

The e-book is recommended for those who read a lot on the move as the e-ink is much easier on the eyes.

This new model will start shipping on September 30, 2013.

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In Silicon Valley, tech startups typically build their businesses with help from cloud computing services — services that provide instant access to computing power via the internet — and Frenkiel’s startup, a San Francisco outfit called MemSQL, was no exception. It rented computing power from the granddaddy of cloud computing, Amazon.com.

But in May, about two years after MemSQL was founded, Frenkiel and company came down from the Amazon cloud, moving most of their operation onto a fleet of good old fashioned computers they could actually put their hands on. They had reached the point where physical machines were cheaper — much, much cheaper — than the virtual machines available from Amazon. “I’m not a big believer in the public cloud,” Frenkiel says. “It’s just not effective in the long run.”

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This machine isn’t your standard corporate-issue device, but a machine that from top to bottom is open in its design.

Every component in Huang’s laptop, known as the Novena, is open. Datasheets describing the design and workings of each component – from the motherboard, through to the ports and various processors – is documented and freely available online. Anyone with the expertise can build a complete firmware for each component from source.

The question is why did Huang, former hardware lead on the open source Chumby internet appliance, decide to do it?

Read More: http://www.zdnet.com/building-the-open-source-laptop-how-one-engineer-turned-the-geek-fantasy-to-reality-7000018987/

Intel has shipped its first “open source PC,” a bare-bones computer aimed at software developers building x86 applications and hobbyists looking to construct their own computer.
The PC, called the MinnowBoard, is basically a motherboard with no casing around it. It was codeveloped by Intel and CircuitCo Electronics, a company that specializes in open-source motherboards, and went on sale this month for US$199 from a handful of retailers.
It’s the first open-source PC to be offered with an Intel x86 processor, and the board’s schematics and design files are published and can be replicated under a Creative Commons license.

MinnowBoard includes 1GB of DDR2 memory, an HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet, USB ports, and a micro-SD slot for expandable storage. The board’s open-source UEFI firmware allows for the development of custom secure boot environments.

The board comes pre-loaded with the Angstrom Linux distribution and is compatible with Yocto Project, which enables the creation of hardware agnostic Linux-based systems.

Read More http://www.computerworld.in/news/intels-first-open-source-pc-sale-199-122852013

Amazon CDN (Content Distribution Network) service CloudFront is now in India. They have launched with edge servers in Mumbai and Chennai.

If you are already using CloudFront, you don’t need to do anything. Now users in India will get faster services through the CloudFront.

Read more on the announcement.

India ranked second in becoming the leading innovation centre for the world, third in the list of the most promising countries for disruptive breakthrough and fourth-most friendliest technology innovation country.

Read More: http://www.livemint.com/Industry/r6N1pw1LVz1D8fYDUcWBDL/India-among-top-3-in-KPMG-technology-innovation-survey.html

From Forbes:

Cost savings… elasticity….  scalability….  load “bursting”….  storage on demand…  These are the advertised benefits of cloud computing, and they certainly help make for a solid business case for using either third-party services or a virtualized data center.

But after the agreements are signed, systems and processes are set up, and users are retrained, something unexpected happens. The  initial use cases are realized, but then additional benefits begin to emerge — sort of like the icing on the cake, but often, these unforeseen benefits provide far more value to the business than initially planned.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2013/07/21/5-benefits-of-cloud-computing-you-arent-likely-to-see-in-a-sales-brochure/

IBM is backing Cloud Foundry the Open Source PaaS platform.

By teaming up with Pivotal and Cloud Foundry, IBM wants to help developers focus on getting apps to the cloud without having to worry about whether the underlying technology will be compatible.

The first product of the IBM-Pivotal partnership is IBM WebSphere Liberty, a lightweight version of IBM’s WebSphere Application Server that helps developers respond to enterprise and market needs more quickly by getting less complex, rapid development and deployment of Web, mobile, social and analytic applications using fewer resources, according to IBM.

Read More: http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/240158905/ibm-pivotal-partner-to-push-cloud-foundry-paas-development.htm

Next generation converged device with Phone and PC capabilities is here.

Here is the specs:

• Dual boot Ubuntu mobile OS and Android
• Fully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC when docked
• Fastest multi-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage
• 4.5in 1,280 x 720 HD sapphire crystal display
• 8mp low-light rear camera, 2mp front camera
• Dual-LTE, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, NFC
• GPS, accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer
• Stereo speakers with HD audio, dual-mic recording, Active Noise Cancellation
• MHL connector, 3.5mm jack
• Silicon-anode Li-Ion battery

 Order yours here.

If you have a cracked phone/tablet where the touch is broken. You can can use it by connecting external keyboard and mouse.

How to do it ?

If your device has a micro USB port, you can use a USB On-The-Go cable (provided your device supports USB On-The-Go.

CNET has a good article on this and also how to convert it into an ebook reader.

Read More:  http://cnettv.cnet.com/turn-cracked-nexus-7-e-book-reader/9742-1_53-50150705.html

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According to an article published on Thursday by the British newspaper, internal National Security Agency memos show that Microsoft actually helped the federal government find a way to decrypt messages sent over select platforms, including Outlook.com Web chat, Hotmail email service, and Skype.

The Guardian wrote that Snowden, the 30-year-old former systems administrator for NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, provided the paper with files detailing a sophisticated relationship between America’s intelligence sector and Silicon Valley.

Read More: http://rt.com/usa/microsoft-nsa-snowden-leak-971/

Rockchip’s RK3188 processor is one of the fastest ARM Cortex-A9 chips around. The 28nm quad-core processor outperforms the chips found in the Samsung Galaxy S III and Google Nexus 7, for instance. And it’s a relatively inexpensive chip, which explains why it’s proven popular with Chinese tablet and TV box makers.

Most devices featuring the RK3188 processor ship with Android 4.1 or Android 4.2. But soon you may be able to run Ubuntu, Fedora, or other desktop Linux operating systems on an RK3188 device.

Read More.

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Computer scientists have made a working model of multi million pound cloud computing technology using just Lego bricks and a handful of 20 mini computers.

The University of Glasgow’s Raspberry Pi Cloud project links together 56 Raspberry Pi computer boards in racks made from Lego, which mimic the function and modular design of commercial cloud computing infrastructure.

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Honda has launched the Honda Amaze which looks like a good alternative to Maruti Swift Dzire. Here is what looks interesting:

• First, it is designed as a Sedan unlike the Dzire. The Dzire looks like a hatch-back with a boot, while the Amaze is a proper Sedan.
• Best mileage. Honda has worked hard to provide the best mileage since that is such a big thing for Indians.
• Diesel option, Honda’s first Diesel car in India offers a choice of both Diesel and Petrol.
• Automatic option (only in petrol). In heavy traffic condition, Automatic is a pleasure to drive and this is a good option if you prefer to drive on your own.
• It also has a bigger boot than the Dsire but smaller than the Etios.

More when I get to test drive, until then drool.

Here is an inexpensive Ubuntu notebook, the ASUS X201E-DH01.

• Intel Celeron 847 (1.1GHz) Sandy Bridge
• 4 GB DDR3
• 320 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 11.6-Inch Screen, Intel GMA HD Graphic card
• 1 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0
• SD MMC Card Reader
• WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth 4.0
• 1 HDMI and 1 VGA
• 5 Hours claimed battery life.
• Light Weight: 1.3 Kgs (2.9 Pounds)
• Ubuntu 12.04 preinstalled!

It is not the fastest PC around, but enough for day to day tasks. Runs faster on Ubuntu than Windows. Is light weight for people on the move, inexpensive and has enough of ports.

Let us rise up and be thankful,

for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,

and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick,

and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die;

so, let us all be thankful.

-Buddha

While it is not certain if Google is going to offer Android or ChromeOS for PCs, but Intel is already working on making the $200 Android PC to boost the sagging PC sales.

So far, the notebook market is dominated by two players, Windows and OS X, but there’s an operating system that could drop into this mix and be highly disruptive — Android.

There’s been a lot of discussion bouncing around the tech blogosphere about Intel’s plans to get all disruptive and start supporting Android on devices that will cost in the region of $200.

While Microsoft might not be happy about being sidelined by a company that was once one of its biggest supporters, this is exactly what the PC industry needs.

Think this is a huge leap? It isn’t. Some of Intel’s Atom processors are already compatible with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

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 Public cloud services market in India is forecast to grow 36 per cent in 2013 to total $443 million, research firm Gartner today said.

The public cloud services market stood at $326 million in 2012, Gartner said in a statement.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), including cloud compute, storage and print services, which was the fastest- growing segment, grew 22.7 per cent in 2012 to $43.1 million.

It’s expected to further grow 39.6 per cent in 2013 to $60.2 million, Gartner said.

Software as a service (SaaS), which is the largest segment of the cloud services market in India, comprised 36 per cent of the total market in 2012.

Gartner expects that from 2013 through 2017, $4.2 billion will be spent on cloud services in India, of which $1.6 billion will be spent on SaaS.

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