BMW USB MINI Stick LifeStyle Collection

USB with a distinction. MINI produces selection in the everyday program and it is specifically creative in its interpretation from the computer system hyperlink. The original USB goods give just about every desk a brand new look and make buddies and colleagues sit up. They may be brilliant present tips for MINI fans and technical aficionados.

Panasonic SC BT300

Most Blu-ray HTIBs stick to traditional 5.1 configurations, but Panasonic SC-BT300 is a full 7.1 system. The system is made up of two tall boy speakers, four small speakers for the surround or surround back channels, a center channel and the subwoofer. The tall boy speakers stand 40.2 inches high, and the circular stands are 10 inches in diameter. Theyre big enough to dominate a room, so if space is limited you may be better off with Panasonics step down SC-BT200. The surround or surround back speakers are a little bigger than a soup can, coming in at 3.63 inches wide by 5 inches high and 3.2 inches deep, and each features a 2.5 inch bamboo cone driver.

The center channel is a little bigger (9.8 inches wide, 3.75 inches high and 3.2 inches deep) and features two of the 2.5 inch drivers. The sub has a 10 inch passive radiator and 6.5 inch woofer, and its footprint is also relatively small (7.1 inches wide, 14.2 inches high and 13.4 inches high). The combination receiver and Blu-ray player has a relatively nondescript look, with the faceplate featuring a reflective black finish. Toward the bottom is a flip down panel revealing an SD card slot, the auto setup mic input, additional playback controls, and a headphone jack.

One nice design touch is the pull out iPod dock just give a tug where the Panasonic logo is and a tray for the iPod is revealed. We prefer this integrated design (also found on some LG models) to the break out docks on the Sony BDV-E500W and Samsung HT-BD1250T, which cause a little more wire clutter. The included remote on Panasonic SC-BT300 is similar to the one included with the companys Blu-ray players and were generally fans of the design.

Frequently used playback controls are given big blue buttons and the directional pad is surrounded by important buttons like pop-up menu and top menu. There is one inexplicable omission, though : an open or close button for the integrated Blu-ray player. Sure, you have to get off the couch to change discs anyway, but we prefer to hit the button before we get up so theres an open tray waiting when we get there. Panasonic SC-BT300s main receiver has a Blu-ray player built in and it offers all the functionality of Panasonics entry level standalone player, the DMP-BD60K.

The DMP-BD60Ks full review has the most detailed information, but the short story is Panasonic SC-BT300 has full Profile 2.0 compatibility, on board decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and VieraCast functionality. VieraCast is the name of Panasonics proprietary Internet content portal, which currently offers Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg stock quotes, and weather. Panasonic SC-BT300 doesnt have built-in Wi-Fi, so youll need to make an Ethernet connection to enjoy this content. The additional content is certainly welcome particularly Amazon Video On-Demand but in our opinion, we prefer the Netflix or Pandora combination offered on HTIBs from Samsung and LG.

Merlin 1 2 Valiant

Valiant

Hello, Merlin Fans around the world! This video is of episode 2 from the first season of Merlin, 'Valiant'. The Knight named Sir Valiant arrives in Camelot for an annual tournament.

I've posted all 13 episodes of Season 1, and all 13 episodes of Season 2 for today. Enjoy!

Read more »

Samsung Renown

In many ways the Renown looks a lot like the Verizons Samsung Gleam. They have similar shapes, are about the same size (3.87 inches by 1.95 inches by 0.69 inch), and both have a glossy skin that catches the light. We havent seen anything quite like the chocolate brown hue before and we suspect it will be a matter of personal taste. We like it, but we realize other people may not.

Its also worth noting that the phone tends to attract fingerprints and smudges. The Renown is a tad heavier than the Gleam at 4.04 ounces. It has a solid feel, even if much of its skin is plastic. The external display is a little small for the phones size, but it supports 262.000 colors (96x96 pixels). It shows the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and photo caller ID. It also works as a viewfinder for the camera lens that sits above the screen.

Three touch controls for the music player sit just below the display they allow you to access the media player and control your tunes without opening the phone. On the left spine of the phone, there is a charger port and a volume rocker. The former uses a proprietary connection. On the right spine, there is a 2.5mm headset jack, a camera shutter, and a key that locks the touch controls.

The Renowns single speaker sits on its back. You must remove the battery cover to access the memory card slot. The internal display is a size able 2.25 inches. It supports 262.000 colors, which makes it bright, vibrant, and pleasing to the eye. The menus are easy to use and were glad they represent Verizons tweaked design. You can change the brightness, the menu font size, the back lighting time, the clock style, and the dialing font and size.

The Renowns navigation array is spacious and intuitive. Theres a four way toggle with a central OK button, two soft keys, a voice command shortcut, a speaker phone control, a clear button, and the Talk and End and power keys. Though all buttons are flush, tactile ridges between the individual controls give them some definition.

You can set the toggle as a shortcut to four user defined functions. The keypad buttons have a similar design. Though theyre also flat, they are spacious and separated from each other. We could dial and text quickly and comfortably. We could dial by feel and the back lighting helps in dim situations.

Motorola DVX Moto G listed on Amazon UK for £159

Yes the Motorola G is now live for purchase on Amazon UK, for a very reasonable £159.99 - we dont have a clear picture of the config just yet but to say it will be high spec would be a bit far fetched.

Motorola will unveil the device but we suspect there will be no SD Card slot, and stock Android Kit Kat will be pre-loaded.  It does sport custom colour backs though, and a quad core CPU, until tomorrow we can only assume the S4 chip set will be included.

If youre feeling brave, then pre-order today :) Amazon UK Moto G listing.

Speed is nothing without Power literally

One of the biggest issues with most modern phones is battery life, yes were looking at you HTC. Nobody seems to care that they are looking for the power outlet in just a few hours of abuse. 

As mentioned before in this blog, the 7000mah battery for the S3 is fantastic but the extra bulk is something most wouldnt be able to live with, not to mention the additional weight. In IHAG Towers we decided we really couldnt care less as the additional power offset everything else.

Why cant manufactures have bigger & better battery life, HTC really cant get their head round it, Samsung kinda try, Sony have Stamina mode in the Xperia Z. Taking of which, we tested "Stamina Mode" and found many apps prevented the battery saver from kicking in (Facebook, Google+ to name two) which rendered the feature useless, we may be unkind here but the original test did kinda blow.

This brings us to the new incoming LG G2, Sony and Moto X - We know the Moto X and LG G2 are 2200mah and 3000mah respectively but the Moto has been optimized and only has a dual core CPU, the battery life on the G2 is yet to be tested, but LG have gone with some standard off the peg parts - not sure how optimized they are. Sony have gone with a 3000mah like LG but those Snapdragon 800s will really eat at that battery in both handsets.

...Would really like to see those companies pull out the stops to remove the need for additional power packs or looking for the outlet just a few hours from leaving home. LG made a great handset in the Nexus 4, but it fell short of being A+ because of the sucky battery life, did they learn a lesson ?!

Moto X / LG G2

Various apps can help, like the awesome Advanced Task Killer by ReChild keeps battery swallowing apps at bay, highly recommend the aggressive mode.

Sonys new handset could be the dark horse here, as long as they have sorted the stupid issues on the Stamina Mode on the Z, then they could be onto a winner. 

Motorola have said the X will last all day long, and we believe them, but in real world usage ?! Lets wait and see.


As for the G2, LG have a stepped battery, whatever thats means - other than it fits into a small space.

So will any of these out last the RAZR Maxx made in 2011 ? IHAG hope so, but think we are all in for a big let down.

Nintendo Wii Console

Nintendos Wii video game system (pronounced "we") is designed to attract people, regardless of their age or video game experience, to sit down and play together--whether theyre in the same room or on different sides of the globe. The systems name reflects this simple idea. Its easily pronounced in a variety of languages, and the distinctive spelling suggests two players side by side. The two Wii features Nintendo thinks will create new levels of gaming community are built-in Wi-Fi access, supported by a new online service, and Wiis intuitive, wireless, motion-sensitive game controller.

As with every new console release, much of the buzz surrounds the specs. The system boasts 512 MB of internal flash memory, two USB 2.0 ports, and a slot for SD memory expansion. Wiis technological heart -- a processing chip developed with IBM and code-named "Broadway" and a graphics chipset from ATI code-named "Hollywood" -- are said to deliver stunning performance. Instead of a tray, Wii uses a single, self-loading media bay that will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system, as well as Nintendo GameCube discs.

The real revolution in this system, though, is its controller, called the Wii Remote. Shaped like a TV remote, its been designed to be easily used by beginners and pros alike. Sensors determine the Wii Remotes position is in 3-D space, which means that racing-game steering and a tennis swing, for example, are done through movements of your hand rather than by just your thumbs. Whats more, a tiny speaker built into the Wii Remote promises some interactive surround sound experiences. The controller also has a force feedback "Rumble" feature and an expansion port for use with accessories, such as the Nunchuck, which adds an analog thumbstick and trigger buttons. An adapter that fits over the Wiis wee remote will be available for those who prefer the feel of a traditional controller. The Wii Remote communicates via the Bluetooth wireless standard. Up to four remotes can connect to Wii.

The 10 Most Wanted

FBIs Ten Most Wanted

Well, heres a widget featuring the Federal Bureau of Investigations 10 Most Wanted criminals. Im amazed that some people choose to learn the hard way ... crime does not pay, crime costs!

Canon CanoScan 8600F

Quality that blew away the competition in the 8400Fs day is no longer as impressive. On top of that, the 8600F costs 20 percent more than the 8400F, which means it has to do better to match it on bang for the buck. The good news is that the 8600F does do better. The 8600Fs claimed optical resolution of 4,800 pixels per inch is significantly higher than the 8400Fs 3,200 ppi, and the actual ability to resolve detail which is usually limited by a scanners optics rather than its ppi rating is improved as well.

The difference isnt dramatic, but if you look at images of the same photo scanned by both models side by side, the 8400Fs scan shows slightly softer focus and a little less detail. More important, the 8600F scan quality compares well with that of its current competition. Setting up the 8600F is absolutely standard install the software and then plug in the power cord and USB cable.

The bundled software includes both Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 for photo editing, NewSoft Presto! PageManager 7.15 for document management, and ScanSoft OmniPage SE 4.0 optical character recognition (OCR) software for converting scanned documents to editable text. The installation program also installs Twain and WIA drivers, so the scanner can work with almost any Microsoft Windows program with a scan command.

You can also call up Canons scan control software to start a scan, or use one of the six scan buttons on the front of the scanner. The button choices include scanning directly to PDF format, your email program, or your printer. All of these options are easy to use, with the Twain driver offering a Simple mode, which handles most things automatically, and an Advanced mode that gives you much more control.

One of the features Ive long appreciated in Canon scanners is backlight correction, which lets you easily fix photos which have, for example, a darkened face against a bright background. The option lets you bring out detail in the face simply by turning the backlight correction on, instead of having to experiment with adjusting settings by hand. The 8600F driver offers three levels of correction.

When you change settings, it shows the effect on the preview scan, so you can pick the best choice before scanning. The driver also includes software based options to restore color to faded photos and remove dust and scratches. The color restoration and dust removal worked reasonably well in my tests. But like almost all similar features other than the hardware based (and expensive) Digital ICE, the software didnt do much to remove the scratches on my test photo, and the dust removal also mistook some fine details for dust.

Thats not unusual, but it makes the feature a mixed blessing. Otherwise, the 8600Fs scan quality for both photographic prints and film was more than acceptable, certainly good enough to print for friends and family as snapshots. Skin tone shading was smoother than on some other inexpensive scanners such as the Epson Perfection V350, and no worse than a match for others, including the HP Scanjet G4050.

Gaming news Scientists Excited by Future of Gaming Platforms

Powerful game consoles are often just as programmable as research computers, and scientists are finding real world applications for them every day.

There is no doubt that the entertainment industry is helping to drive the direction of high performance computational science," said Professor Peter Coveney of University College London.

The Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii in particular can function as great scientific tools.

Gaurav Khanna, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, uses an array of 16 PS3s instead of a supercomputer to simulate two black holes merging.

A single high-precision simulation can sometimes cost more than 5,000 hours on the TeraGrid supercomputers. For the same cost, you can build your own supercomputer using PS3s. It works just as well, has no long wait times and can be used over and over again, indefinitely," said Khanna.

Weve previously seen how the Wiis cheap motion sensing technology has been useful to surgeons, but more recently, the Wii has been used during rehabilitation for recovering surgery patients and as an aid in Parkinsons therapy. Now, you can go and explain to your wife/mom/savings account why you needed all three next generation consoles on launch day—to cure cancer, obviously.

Source- http://gizmodo.com/357431/telegraph-says-scientists-excited-by-future-of-gaming-platforms

Apple MacBook Core 2 Duo 2 4GHz NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

Internally, the big news is an Nvidia chipset with improved integrated graphics, while the "unibody" aluminum chassis, the buttonless (or more accurately, all button) touch pad, and edge to edge glass on the LED-backlit display are the major physical changes on the outside. While the base model keeps the same $1,299 price (our review unit was the upgraded $1,599 version with a faster processor, a bigger hard drive, and backlit keyboard), you lose the FireWire port in the transition.

And the $1,299 model gets you a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, rather than the 2.4GHz CPU. The higher end model keeps the same 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, but also costs $100 more. Both new MacBook models operate on a faster front side bus, (from 800MHz to 1066MHz) and move from DDR2 memory to DDR3. Even with the slower base model CPU and missing FireWire, the new MacBook represents both an impressive value and an impressive feat of engineering although its hard to expect anything else from Apples flagship computer product, which has been a consistent favorite for several years.

The most obvious changes are physical. The familiar white and black bodies have been replaced with an aluminum chassis that looks nearly identical to the new MacBook Pro, only smaller. The actual construction for both the new MacBook and MacBook Pro now follows the MacBook Air model, with a solid block of aluminum carved down, rather than a thin outer shell that has had support struts added to it.

The result is a lighter and thinner, yet stronger, chassis that feels more solid and substantial a notable feat, as the previous MacBook models were already extremely sturdy. Another notable new feature is a radically redesigned touch pad. This larger touch pad uses multi touch gestures similar to those found on the iPhone, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, and offers a much larger surface area than previous 13 inch MacBooks thanks to the elimination of a separate mouse button.

In fact, the entire touch pad depresses like a button, although a simple tapping (as on a PC laptop) will also work once you turn that option on in the settings menu. The all button touch pad concept is actually a bit difficult to get used to, and feels slightly clunky at first compared with a traditional fixed position touch pad. On the other hand, there are some useful new gestures you can hide all your apps by sweeping four fingers up on the pad, and you can also designate one corner of the touch pad as a "right click" zone.

Most useful, perhaps, is sweeping four fingers left or right, which brings up the application switcher. Once you get used to that, going back to a regular touch pad would be difficult. The 13.3 inch wide screen LCD display offers a 1,280x800 native resolution, which is standard for screens between 13 and 15 inches in size. It provides for text and icons that are highly readable, but wed love to see Apple move into the 16:9 display universe, as in the case with new systems from Sony, Hewlett Packard, and others.

Apple has also added LED-backlit displays (previously available on the Pro models), which means a thinner lid and some battery life benefits, plus the edge to edge glass were seeing more often on multimedia systems, such as the HP HDX18. The glass, however, also grabs stray light rays with ease, making the glossy screen seem that much glossier a problem if you prefer matte screen finishes.

Lenovo ThinkPad X300

The newest addition to the ThinkPad X series incorporates the best of the MacBook Air (13.3 inch display, full size keyboard, thickness less than one inch) with the best of the Portege R500 (solid state hard drive, thorough selection of ports) while also adding its own great features, such as a built in DVD burner, WWAN connectivity, and GPS.

The X300s ThinkPad DNA is evident in its instantly recognizable black, square edged case, but at 0.73 inch thick and weighing anywhere from 2.9 pounds to 3.5 pounds (depending on your battery and optical drive choices), its simply the sleekest ThinkPad yet. The biggest criticism of the ThinkPad X300 is its price the base configuration costs $2,476 and goes up from there. But innovative design, thorough features, and cutting edge components dont come cheap, and the ThinkPad X300 is truly unique in its balance of portability and usability.

Specification

• Price as reviewed or starting price $2,936- $2,476
• Processor 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL7100
• Memory 2GB of 667MHz
• Hard drive 64GB solid state drive
• Graphics Intel GMA X3100 (integrated)
• Operating System Windows XP Professional
• Dimensions (WDH) 12.5 x 9.1 x 0.73 inches
• Screen size (diagonal) 13.3 inches
• System weight, Weight with AC adapter 3.4 - 4.0 pounds
• Category ultraportable
  

Aside from the laptops dimensions, the design changes with the ThinkPad X300 have been incremental. The ultraportable still features a rectangular black case built around a magnesium chassis.

Theres still a blue ThinkVantage button above the keyboard, a fingerprint reader below it, and a keyboard light on the top edge of the display. However, ThinkPad fans will notice small changes that make the X300 a bit more attractive.

The lid and wrist rest feature an appealing soft matte finish the ThinkVantage, power, and mute buttons glow when pressed and the front edge is devoid of any ports or switches.

In addition to the keyboard light, the ThinkPad X300s display bezel includes a 1.3 megapixel Webcam and a noise canceling digital microphone for Web conferencing. The matte finish display itself features a 1,440x900 native resolution thats sharper than that of the MacBook Air and other similarly sized screens, resulting in text and icons that are a bit smaller than youd expect.

The sharper resolution doesnt cause tremendous problems, though we did find ourselves pumping up the font size on a newspapers Web site so we could read a lengthy article. We also zoomed in a bit when working on documents and spreadsheets. The trade off, more screen real estate for multitasking and, when its time for a break, beautiful video. Given the amount of typing the typical executive does through the course of the work day, a keyboard can make or break an ultraportable.

The ThinkPad X300 actually uses the same keyboard found on Lenovos 14 and 15 inch models which is to say, not the condensed keyboard found on previous X series models and many ultraportable laptops from other manufacturers. After conducting an entire mornings work and writing this review on the ThinkPad X300, we still dont feel like weve been typing on a laptop. We love it.

Lenovo decided to include both the red eraser head TrackPoint pointing stick and a touch pad on the ThinkPad X300. The decision is understandable many ThinkPad users are viscerally attached to their TrackPoints, while other users cant stand it, so why not include both methods? However, the double sets of mouse buttons seem to run counter to the overall theme of simplification that the ThinkPad X300 embodies.

In order to make room for the TrackPoints buttons, the touch pad is placed rather low on the wrist rest, with its buttons near the laptops front edge. Fortunately, the ThinkPad X300 is thin enough that we could use the touch pad with our wrist resting on a desk surface or on our leg, when the laptop was in our lap. Of greater concern is the fact that, during our lazier typing moments when our wrists dropped to the wrist rest, we were likely to graze the touch pad and accidentally misplace the cursor.

Sony NWZ E436F

Some pack their players with boatloads of extras, while others create unique and purportedly useful design elements. Some simply make a product thats just as easy to use, offers a similar array of features, and delivers great sound quality but then charge less for it. Such is the case with the Sony E-Series Wallkman, a flash player positioned to square off against the iPod Nano.

Unfortunately, the E-Series doesnt come in a 16GB model, but the 4GB and 8GB versions are priced to sell at $89.95 and $119.95, respectively. The Sony E-Series has a fairly standard design, which isnt necessarily a bad thing, as it makes the player very straightforward to operate.

Below the 2 inch screen are the main playback controls a five way control pad, a back or home button, and an option key that brings up various contextual menus. Sony includes a dedicated volume rocker on the right spine always a nice touch as well as a hold switch. The bottom of the unit houses the standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a proprietary USB port.

The E-Series measures a compact 3.2 inches tall by 1.7 inches wide by 0.3 inch deep, so its definitely pocket friendly and would not be an unreasonable thing to strap to your arm or waistband at the gym. It comes in a variety of colors to suit most tastes black, red, pink, or blue (4GB only).

Olympus E P2

Theres not exactly much in the way of specifics on either of these just yet, but the usually reliable French magazine, Chasseur dImage, has seemingly revealed in its latest issue that Olympus will be rolling out its E-P1 followup, the E-P2, before the end of the year, and that Leica will be releasing its M8 successor, the M9, as soon as September. The real kicker is that the E-P2 is said to be bringing with it an oft desired viewfinder, while the M9 will reportedly be a full-frame camera, and presumably cost more than a small car. Of course, neither are anywhere close to being official, but it may not be the worst idea to stick with your current gear a little while longer to see how things shake out.

Review Ponsel LG A290

LG A290 Ponsel kamera murah dengan 3 kartu | ponsel kamera | lg a290 | hp lg a290 | hp samsung 3 kartu | ponsel berkamera 3 MP | hp 3 sim termurah | harga LG A290 | lg hp tiga kartu | ponsel hp kapasitas 1000 contact | samsung 3 kartu | lg a290 ponsel dengan 3 sim card
LG A290 Ponsel kamera kapasitas standar mengusung keunggulan 3 sim card dalam satu handphone. Spesifikasi handset 3 kartu yang dirilis untuk jaringan GSM dan di sokong kecepatan 2G, akan bersaing dengan ponsel lokal lainnya yang menawarkan fitur 3 kartu seperti Beyond B70i, Beyond B555, Titan Q61 dan Cross CB99T serta Nexian 271D.

Desain: Desain handphone LG A290 muncul menggunakan casing batang, tampak elegan dan dinamis di dukung tombol keypad alfanumerik kapasitas yang sesuai dengan jari, spesifikasi tombol ponsel di tutup dengan rapat untuk menghindari masuknya air, debu dan kotoran. Kekurangan ponsel LG A290 hanya mendukung jaringan 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 di atas SIM1 & SIM 2 & SIM 3. Ponsel kamera murah terjangkau hadir dengan body Dimensions 113.5 x 51 x 13 mm dan terintegrasi layar teknologi TFT, mampu menampilkan 256K colors, resolusi 176 x 220 pixels lewat layar ukuran 2.2 inches.

Multimedia: Ponsel murah kamera LG A290 diperkirakan akan diluncurkan untuk market handset low end, dilengkapi dengan nada dering Vibration, MP3 ringtones dan Loudspeaker. Keunggulan Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32GB yang ditawarkan sebagai fitur, sangat memikat dibanding ponsel sejenis hanya mampu digunakan pada kapasitas maksimal 8GB.

Konektivitas: Bagian konektivitas sebagai pendukung dengan gadget kompatibel. Ponsel LG A290 cukup baik dan memiliki dukungan Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall dan Call records. Di fasilitasi dengan jaringan data GPRS, EDGE dan Bluetooth untuk tersambung dengan notebook, komputer dan handset, harga ponsel kamera murah juga dilengkapi dengan USB.

Mengusung kamera Primary 1.3 MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels, spesifikasi kamera LG A290 juga berguna untuk Video. Kekurangan handset terbaru 2012 belum di dukung Camera Secondary sebagai media video call.

Harga ponsel LG A290 yang murah dan terjangkau, built-in Messaging SMS, MMS, Email. Tambahan kapasitas browser standar WAP 2.0/xHTML yang disematkan untuk mendukung ponsel 3 kartu, fasilitas lain seperti Java, Organizer, dan Document viewer di tunjang Battery Li-Ion 1500 mAh sebagai tenaga untuk paket penjulan handset.

Spesifikasi LG A290
- 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM1 & SIM 2 & SIM 3
- Body Dimensions 113.5 x 51 x 13 mm
- Display TFT, 256K colors
- Size 176 x 220 pixels, 2.2 inches
- Sound Alert Vibration, MP3 ringtones
- Loudspeaker
- Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32GB
- Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall
- Call records
- GPRS
- EDGE
- Bluetooth
- USB
- Camera Primary 1.3 MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels
- Video
- Camera Secondary No
- Messaging SMS, MMS, Email
- Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
- Games No
- GPS No
- Java
- Triple SIM
- MP3/MP4 player
- Organizer
- Document viewer
- Predictive text input
- Battery Li-Ion 1500 mAh

Now Get Programmatic Access to your Billing Data With the New Billing API

Tools for monitoring, analyzing and optimizing cost have become an important part of managing cloud services. But these tools are difficult to build if the usage data is only in the Google Cloud Console. We are happy to announce a solution to this problem. The Billing Export feature addresses this need, and it is available in Preview.



Once enabled, your daily Google Cloud Platform usage and cost estimates will be exported automatically to a CSV or JSON file stored in a Google Cloud Storage bucket you specify. You can then access the data via the Cloud Storage API, CLI tool or Cloud Console file browser. Usage data is labelled with project Number and resource type. You have full control of who can access this data via ACLs on your Cloud Storage bucket.

"Billing Export is a great new feature of Google Cloud Platform. It allows us to analyze the detailed usage of all our cloud projects in one place and optimize our costs. It also gives us a great tool to monitor our applications over time and understand trends in our usage" said Dave Tucker, Director of Platform Development, WebFilings.



You can manage Billing Export from Cloud Console.

View of the cloud Storage bucket after enabling billing export

As you can see in the example output below, your billing data appears in simple JSON displaying all the important attributes such as service name, date, project number, measurement and cost.

[ {
  "lineItemId" : "com.google.cloud/services/compute-engine/StoragePdCapacity",
  "startTime" : "2013-11-02T00:00:00-07:00",
  "endTime" : "2013-11-03T00:00:00-07:00",
  "projectNumber" : "176782591794",
  "measurements" : [ {
    "measurementId" : "com.google.cloud/services/compute-engine/StoragePdCapacity",
    "sum" : "66325032468480000",
    "unit" : "byte-seconds"
  } ],
  "cost" : {
    "amount" : "2.383101",
    "currency" : "USD"
  }
}, {
  "lineItemId" : "com.google.cloud/services/compute-engine/VmimageN1Highcpu_8",
  "startTime" : "2013-11-02T00:00:00-07:00",
  "endTime" : "2013-11-03T00:00:00-07:00",
  "projectNumber" : "176782591794",
  "measurements" : [ {
    "measurementId" : "com.google.cloud/services/compute-engine/VmimageN1Highcpu_8",
    "sum" : "44220",
    "unit" : "seconds"
  } ],
  "cost" : {
    "amount" : "6.4119",
    "currency" : "USD"
  }
} ]
 

We would love to hear your feedback and cool ideas on how to improve Google Cloud Platform billing experience.



-Posted by Rae Wang, Product Manager

Leverage Google Cloud Platform features for your Hadoop deployments

Accenture recently demonstrated Google Compute Engine as an excellent place to run Hadoop for performance and price. They demonstrated both familiar HDFS-based deployments as well as performance and cost advantages of using the Google Cloud Storage connector.



If you use Apache Hive with Hadoop, we want to show you another great feature of the Google Cloud Platform that will save you time and money. The default Hive installation uses a local single-session database as the Hive Metastore to store Hive table and column names, column types, and so on. This local database is fine for single-user/single-session usage, but to use Hive with multiple concurrent connections, you need to install and maintain a relational database such as MySQL.



Google Cloud SQL is managed MySQL in the cloud, which now supports the MySQL wire protocol, so you can connect to Google Cloud SQL using common tools from anywhere. Why not use it to run your MySQL database in the cloud too, and save yourself the time and cost of having to install and maintain MySQL? Let Google take care of it for you.



We provide a sample application to help you get started running Apache Hive and Pig on Google Compute Engine. The README includes detailed instructions for using Cloud SQL for the Hive Metastore.



The rest of this blog post hits the high points for what you need to do to use Google Cloud SQL for the Hive Metastore.



Create a Google Cloud SQL instance

In the Google Cloud Console, create a Google Cloud SQL instance. Make sure to:

• Choose the Compute Engine zone of the Compute Engine instance running Hive as the preferred location for the Cloud SQL instance.


• Select "Assign an IP Address" to the Cloud SQL instance.


• Add the external IP address of the Compute Engine instance as an Authorized IP Address. Be sure to append "/32" to the IP address entered in this field.


• Define a root password for MySQL (its good practice).

Install MySQL client and MySQL JDBC Driver

Connect to the Google Compute Engine instance that is running Hive and install both the MySQL client and the MySQL JDBC driver. Add the JDBC driver JAR file to Hives CLASSPATH. The simplest method is to copy the file to the hive/lib/directory.



Create the hivemeta database and the user to access it

Use the mysql command line tool to:

• Connect to the Google Cloud SQL instance


• Create a database called hivemeta (Hive requires the database to use latin1 character encoding, which youll need to specify explicitly).


• Create the database user (for example hdpuser).


• Issue grants on the hivemeta database to the database user.

Configure Hive to use Cloud SQL

Update your hive/conf/hive-site.xml file to connect to the Google Cloud SQL database. Add the following configuration, replacing cloud-sql-ip-addr with the assigned IP address of the Cloud SQL instance, and replacing password with the hdpuser database user password:

Hive is now configured to use the Google Cloud SQL database as its metastore; theres no need for you to maintain a MySQL installation.



Other software that uses MySQL can similarly use Google Cloud SQL. Since Cloud SQL is MySQL, you wont need to migrate code - just establish connectivity and you are off and running.



-Posted by Matt Bookman, Cloud Solutions Architect

ZTE V970 Dual SIM with 3G support

Introduction

Approximately one month after MediaTeks official launch of the new MT6577 platform, the first devices based on that same chipset started to emerge...

The usual replicas of the hottest smartphones available on the market will always continue to appear, but also big Chinese companies are betting hard on MediaTek platforms. Lenovo is a great example of that, with some successful models such as A60 (MT6573), A750 (MT6575) and the most recently released A789 (MT6577).

Another known Chinese manufacturer choosing MediaTek platforms to power its devices is ZTE. By 2011, ZTE was the worlds fifth-largest telecommunications equipment maker measured by its revenues and the worlds fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer measured by unit sales. This review will cover details about the newly released ZTE V970, a dual SIM smartphone based on MT6577 chipset.

Specifications

Chipset
Name:	MediaTek MT6577
CPU:	Dual-core 1 GHz ARM Cortex™-A9
GPU:	PowerVR™ SGX 531
Instruction set:	ARMv7
Software environment
Embedded:OS:	Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Body
Dimensions (width x height x depth):	127.4 x 65 x 9.9 millimetres
Weigth:	140 grams (battery included)
Color:	Black
Battery
Capacity:	1600 mAh
Memory
RAM:capacity:	1 GB
ROM-capacity:	4 GB
Expansion slot:	microSD memory card, supporting up to 64 GB
Network support
Primary phone:	GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS900, UMTS2100
Secondary phone:	GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
Data links:	GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA
Display
Type:	IPS-LCD capacitive touchscreen
Size:	4.3 inches, qHD resolution (540 x 960 pixels)
Camera
Main (rear):	5 megapixels with autofocus and single LED flash
Secondary (front):	None
Interfaces
Bluetooth (802.15):	Bluetooth 3.0 + Enhanced Data Rate
Wireless LAN / Wi-Fi (802.11):	IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n
USB:	USB 2.0 Client, Hi-Speed (480 Mbit/s) USB Series Micro-B (Micro-USB) connector
Satellite navigation
Built-in GPS module:	MT6620 chipset
GPS antenna:	Internal
Complementary GPS services:	MediaTek EPO (Extended Prediction Orbit)
Additional features
Sensors:	Gravity, Proximity and Light sensors
Analog Radio:	FM radio (87.5-108 MHz) with RDS radio receiver
Others:	Dedicated LED for notification of missed calls / new messages

Design and construction

The overall design of V970 is relatively sleek, resembling the Nexus S in its preference for slimness and rounded corners. The outer bezel around the display is made of metallic plastic while the back cover is made of a textured rubbery which provides good, solid grip and a nice feel when holding the phone.

There are four Android touch-keys on the bezel  –  Menu, Home, Back and Search. The buttons are illuminated by a backlight when the screen is turned on.

On the top left corner, it is placed the usual power charging LED (red colored). But in addition to that, there is also a green LED that becomes permanently lit when the battery is fully charged and also blinks as form of notification of eventual missed calls / new messages received.

The volume rocker is placed on the top left edge while the microUSB port is located further bellow.

The 3,5 mm headset jack and power button are located on the top edge.

On the back side, theres a 5 megapixels autofocus camera placed left to a single LED flash.

Placed in the lower-left corner, there is a small notch that allows you to peel off the rear cover, providing access to the SIM card slots, battery and microSD card slot.

The fact that you can access this memory expansion slot without removing the battery isnt just a matter of convenience - V970 lets you hot swap microSD memory. That means you can remove and replace memory without turning the handset off, much like you would on a computer.

Display quality

The phone features a IPS-LCD. Its 540 x 960 resolution and 4.3 inches diagonal are in line with the HTC One S, and while the 256ppi density means it doesnt approach retina display levels, its still extremely sharp.

Functionality

This phone comes pre-installed with Android 4.0.4. It makes no sense to detail the features all over again taking into consideration that the framework from MediaTek hasnt changed much from the previous Android 4.0.3 builds. So, Ill leave here just a few screenshots and deeper details can be found under ZOPO ZP300 functionality review as the same applies to V970.

The phone supports quad-band GSM as well as UMTS 900 MHz and 2100 MHz as confirmed under hidden MTK Engineer Mode.

The stock ROM from ZTE doesnt provide access to Google services, but that situation can be easily overcome by installing the latest version of Google apps.

Final thoughts

Im very impressed with V970 and must say that it is actually one of the best dual SIM smartphones I have ever had, leaving behind the memories of my "good old" G11i Pro.

This phone can be bought from etotalk.com. ZTE V970 is now available for 205.99 USD.

Highs:

• High quality product from one of the worlds biggest mobile phone manufacturers
• Very good performance

Lows:

• Lack of front camera

Nokia announces Batman themed Lumia 900

You may remember the limited edition The Dark Knight Rises Lumia 800 that Nokia announced late last year. Nokia will now be making a similar version of the new Lumia 900 as well.



Just like the Lumia 800, the 900 will be available in Black and have the Batman logo on the back. The logo is not just printed on the phone but engraved on it, so you can feel the depression. Other than that the phone will also have some other content on the phone such exclusive wallpapers.

The phone is expected to go on sale in a few weeks in UK, France, Germany and a few other European countries. It will be limited edition so make sure you act fast if you want to get your hands on it.

Source

Nokia Facet smartwatch patent and demo video leaks out

Sometimes we see products turn up in patent applications that look like they’re ready to go, with the full polish of commercial devices, and are just itching to hit retail. Then there are those devices that are certainly captivating, but seem more like good ideas for the future than necessarily anything ready to be released. Finally, there are those designs that just have us wondering “what were you thinking?” That last boat is one we’re in today, as we look at Nokia’s Facet smartwatch concept.

This first started getting attention when a Nokia patent application was uncovered, describing a “a multi-segment wearable accessory” – a smartwatch. That multi-segment bit refers to the use of an interconnected series of individual screens, rather than just the single screen and a strap that we’re used to – here, the chain of screens themselves act as the strap.

More interesting than that, the news of this patent application led to the discovery of the video you’ll see below, showing a demo of this tech in action. The clip dates from last year, and we don’t have any reason to necessarily believe that Nokia is still working on anything along this line (and the leak of a possible smartwatch strap sure doesn’t look too compatible with this design), but it’s still a fascinating glimpse into its R&D work.

Don’t get us wrong – it’s a neat idea and might turn into something worthwhile with some more refinement – but the idea of a bulky bracelet made of damage-prone displays doesn’t sound like a particularly lovely idea for a watch. Pocketnow

AdSense for mobile content now integrated with DoubleClick Mobile

Posted by Alexandra Kenin, Product Marketing Manager, mobile ads

Last week we launched our new mobile image ads, which give mobile web publishers the flexibility to display image ads in addition to text ads on their sites. As of today, AdSense for mobile content publishers who have configured their sites to display mobile image ads can now have ads served to their sites from DoubleClick Mobile. This means more advertisers for AdSense for mobile content publishers, more inventory for DoubleClick Mobile advertisers, and more ad relevance for browsers of the mobile web.

Read our press release to find out more.

Search Gmail Docs with Google Mobile App on BlackBerry

In January we updated Google Mobile App for BlackBerry so it can search your on-device email and contacts. Today we’re pleased to announce it can also search the cloud to find items in your Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Docs.

Here’s a quick example: youve just received an email from a friend whos coming with you on a camping trip this weekend and hes reminded you that you should take a look at the checklist to see what you need to bring along. Its been a while since you created the list, but you can just say checklist to Google Mobile App and find it in your Google Docs in a couple of clicks.

To do this on your BlackBerry you’ll need to start Google Mobile App and log into your Google Account (you’ll only need to do this the first time). Just as with any other query, you can either type or speak to find what you’re looking for.

Search results for "checklist"



Google Docs: Mountain camping checklist

Now that you’re already signed in to your Google Account you can launch web-based apps such as Docs or Reader without having to log in again.

Google takes information security very seriously, so all your Gmail and Google Docs searches are sent over a secure https connection. Your password is never permanently stored on your phone, and your account details are encrypted during transmission.

To download Google Mobile App to your BlackBerry, visit m.google.com. Learn more in our help center.

Posted by Luis Sigal, Software Engineer

Win 500 10 000 App Store Gift Card Now

Now is your chance to win a lot of money just by downloading an app from the Apple App Store.

Yes you read it right. Apple says App Store download is approaching 50 billion downloads and therefore would be giving out a cool $10, 000 worth of gift card to anyone that download the app that will make it 50 billionth download. 

 
This means that if App Store download is 49, 999, 999, 999, the downloader of the 50 billionth app will receive $10, 000 gift card.

Also another 50 persons that download 50 apps after the 50 billionth app will receive $500 worth of gift card.

It doesnt matter if the download is a paid or free app. All that matter is that the download is made either from iTunes or App Store from device.

This is Apple rewarding its fans. So, hurry up and enter the game and who knows, you could just be that winner Apple is looking for.