Microsoft to begin trial of the use of white-space broadband

The BBC, British Telecom, Nokia and Microsoft will soon begin trial to test a technology that utilizes what is called ‘White-space broadband’, according to the Microsoft blog.

In layman terms, white-space is the unused pieces of the ultra high-frequency TV spectrum. We will leave it to corporate vice president Dan Reed to explain it further:

“Imagine a five-lane freeway at rush hour. Except on this freeway, four of the lanes are assigned to specific purposes and can only be used by a certain class of vehicles. Some of the assigned lanes contain a steady flow of traffic, but others remain clear most of the time. Meanwhile, the rest of us, traveling in thousands of cars, must use the single remaining lane for our commute.

Thankfully, this situation is not likely to happen on our roadways, but it does with radio spectrum. Our laptops, tablets, smartphones and other connected devices use spectrum to connect and transmit data. When the metaphorical spectrum traffic lanes get jammed, there is no way to avoid the congestion and switch to a clear lane. As a result, users feel the pain of frequent dropped calls and degraded quality of service.”

According to the group “The trial will attempt to demonstrate that unused TV spectrum is well placed to increase the UK’s available mobile bandwidth, which is critical to effectively responding to the exponential growth in data-intensive services while also enabling future innovation.”

UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has granted the consortium a multi-site license to begin the project immediately. The trail will be held in Cambridge.

Rumor: Windows 8 to go RTM in April 2012

Microsoft is all set to pull the back-to-school crowd next year as it works its way to a April 2012 release for Windows 8 RTM, according to s source at zdnet.com.

The source reports that a beta for Windows 8 will be launched during BUILD Conference 2011, which falls between September 13-16. This is the same conference where the next version of Internet Explorer is expected to release. An RC version is also planned shortly before the final build is pushed out, though there is so solid date on it yet.

The report also claims that Microsoft will be promoting the 32-bit, 64-bit and an ARM/System on Chip version of Windows 8 all at the same time.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play launches in Doha

Press release:
Xperia PLAY, Sony Ericsson’s latest phone in its XperiaTM range of Android-based smartphones and the first PlayStation-certified device, is a true game-changer, available today at Fifty One East outlets located in Al Maha centre and City Centre Doha.

With a fabulous offer from Fifty One East, customers can now get their hands on this fabulous gadget at Zero per cent interest with six installments made through Doha Bank, Mashreq, Commercial Bank, HSBC and QNB. This offer is valid till August 15, 2011

With functionalities that even the most serious power users would be delighted to toy with, XperiaTM PLAY offers an immersive gaming experience that is unparalleled by any other device in its category in the Middle East.

In portrait mode, the Android smartphone offers all the benefits that users in the Middle East have come to expect from Sony Ericsson’s existing range of XperiaTM smartphones.The five-megapixel autofocus camera with its brilliant four-inch480×854 FWVGA multi-touch screen suitable for recording video or video chat offers the most convenient social networking features for the best-in-class entertainment experience.

In addition, the 400MB memory can be easily expanded with an additional micro SD memory card up to 32GB for higher data storage capacity.

Run on Gingerbread 2.3, the latest version of Google’s AndroidTM platform, XperiaTM PLAY has access to PlayStation® game content provided through the PlayStation® Suite initiative, currently under development by Sony Computer Entertainment. This is due for launch later this year.

However, slide out the gaming control and users enter a new world of immersive mobile gaming. The slide-out game pad reveals a digital D-pad, two analogue touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation icons – circle, cross, square and triangle.

Qualcomm’s optimized Snapdragon processor with a 1Ghz CPU and embedded Adreno GPU graphics processor delivers silk-smooth 60fps play-back for 3D mobile gaming and web browsing with minimal power consumption. This enables XperiaTMPLAY users to enjoy long hours of battery life and game time.

In addition, the superior and multi-player gaming capabilities of XperiaTM PLAY deliver a whole new experience. Partnering with key publishers in the gaming industry Sony Ericsson delivers a rich, vibrant ecosystem at launch and post launch with many leading new titles.

Leading franchises coming to Xperia PLAY includes EA’s ‘Need For Speed’, ‘Sims 3’ and a world-first multiplayer version of ‘FIFA 10’ for mobile. GLU Mobile / Activision will be bringing ‘Guitar Hero’ while Gameloft’s titles include Star Battalion.

A pre-loaded application enables users to easily discover and download titles that have been optimised for game play on XperiaPLAY, access recently played games and see information about the games they have downloaded.

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ PLAY is now available in Qatar at Fifty One East outlets with six preloaded games: FIFA 10, The Sims and Tetrisfrom EA, Star Battalion from Gameloft and Bruce Lee from Digital Legends. The broad range of game genres varying between sports, social, arcades, action and fighting cater to the different wants of the enthusiastic gamer.

Fifty One East is the retail chain with the longest-standing heritage in Qatar and is the exclusive address for a style savvy population seeking life-enhancing elements. Driven by unfaltering customer loyalty, immeasurable retail known-how and a diligent belief in its commitment towards providing its community with nothing short of the most premium indulgences, Fifty One East brings the epitome of modernity fused with the essence of the Orient.

Fifty One East paves the way for Darwish Holding’s vision to bring forth international standards in-keeping with the country’s well-respected heritage and identity. Representing Qatar’s coordinates, Fifty One East accentuates Darwish Holding’s productive role in boosting the country’s developmental endeavors.

Fifty One East is the continuation of what is still considered in the heart of many as the Home to the world’s best and the country’s firsts.

Rumor: Google’s first Ice Cream Sandwich to be produced by Samsung

Google will be once again teaming up with Samsung to manufacturer the first Android 4.0-based smartphone device, according to a report from BGR.

Little is known about Android 4.0, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, although from the report, it seems it has its ‘HD-everything’ covered. The device will be called Nexus Prime and will feature a Super AMOLED HD display, with a native resolution of 720p. The packed in TI OMAP 4460 processor, according to TI’s website, has enough muscle to power through 1080p recording and playback, and also has dual core Cortex A9 innards with a max clock speed of 1.5GHz. The smartphone will also feature a 5MP camera, which the report claims will outperform anything we have seen on a phone yet.

Interestingly, the report also says that, unlike with Android 2.0 and Android 3.0, which launched exclusively with Motorola devices (DROID and XOOM, resp.), Android 4.0 will be spread out to multiple manufacturers across multiple carriers.

GoNabit nabbed by LivingSocial

Press release:
LivingSocial, the online source for handpicked experiences at a great value, today announced it has acquired GoNabit, a daily deal pioneer with a presence in four Middle Eastern countries; Ensogo, the market-leading deal site in Thailand and the Philippines; and DealKeren, an Ensogo company based in Indonesia. LivingSocial also introduced Daily Deals in the Netherlands.

These three acquisitions and the Netherlands launch bring the total number of countries in which LivingSocial operates to 21. The company’s reach now spans six of the seven continents. Ensogo, with members in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, marks the first LivingSocial acquisition in Asia.

“As with previous acquisitions, LivingSocial has again chosen to align with local companies that possess similar values and ways of doing business,” said Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO and co-founder, LivingSocial. “We are excited to enter the dynamic Asian market and our presence in the Middle East and the Netherlands further strengthens our strategic global efforts to bring LivingSocial values to members across the globe.”

GoNabit was co-founded by Dan Stuart and Sohrab Jahanbani in January 2010 and is currently the leading daily deal provider based in the United Arab Emirates. The site also presents family friendly offers suitable for children and parents alike, with Dubai Family, as well as travel-specific deals through GoNabit Getaways. In addition to being the first group-buying site in the Middle East/North Africa, GoNabit is the first company of its kind to offer deals in Arabic. Members in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Dubai, Beirut, Cairo and Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman have saved more than $5 million USD in the past year.

A milestone in the development of the Middle East’s group-buying industry, the announcement marks the first large-scale acquisition of an e-commerce company in the region, as well as LivingSocial’s entry to this market.

“GoNabit’s acquisition by prominent local commerce player LivingSocial demonstrates not only our achievements as a homegrown group-buying website, but also significant maturity in regional e-commerce. Under the LivingSocial name, we are committed to bringing great deal experiences to our customers and savvy marketing options to our merchant partners. This acquisition gives us the opportunity to bring world leading group-buying expertise and the latest in technological developments to e-commerce in the Middle East,” said Dan Stuart, CEO and Co-founder, GoNabit.com.

Officially launched in June 2010, Ensogo is known as the No. 1 social shopping website in Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia and currently serves more than 800,000 members. It continues to gain massive popularity and trust among Asian consumers as the market share leader, and Ensogo members have saved more than $25 million USD in the past year.  Ensogo is backed by Rebate Networks, a leading international VC specializing in the social commerce space.

Ensogo, DealKeren and GoNabit users will enjoy the same deal-buying experience to which they are accustomed.

Terms of the deals were not released.

Elop: No going back to MeeGo

Much to everyone’s surprise, and probably even Nokia’s, it’s MeeGo mobile operating system, the first Symbian replacement before Microsoft swooped in with the WP7 deal, gained popularity among a small sect of people when it was launched with the N9 device. However, due to the WP7 deal, Nokia decided to stop support for the operating system, receiving a resounding backlash from the community who felt the company had given up before a fair shot in the market.

Despite that, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that the company will not change it’s mind about MeeGo.

“I have talked a lot about how we increase our staff’s accountability, our empathy to listen to our clients and each other, and our aim to avoid being arrogant. The N9 features many new breakthroughs related to its usability, design, and materials, which we will be utilising and developing further in our upcoming models. I cannot speak of them more specifically just yet, but they will soon become apparent. I have taken part in the conversations with the teleoperators and I have been part of the consumer test groups. The feedback has been extremely positive and I am sure that the Windows Phone system will be a great success. Nokia will continue its research and development on the software side, as well as in services and equipment design. We will build inventions for our Windows phones that will make us stand apart from our competitors and bring significant additional advantage to our application developers.”

Elop recently revealed a N9 look alike WP7 device called ‘Sea Ray‘ in a private media briefing. A video of the demonstration was leaked on YouTube.

Logitech M305 Wireless Mouse Review

“The Logitech M305 proved to be a very capable and inexpensive 2.4 GHz wireless mouse. The M305 is also easy to use thanks to the fact that you just plug it in and it works. The performance of the M305 was on par with what we’d expect for a mainstream wireless mouse and thanks to the SetPoint software we were able to adjust it to work exactly how we wanted. We used the mouse for several weeks and the battery life barely budged, so the claim that the single AA battery will last for up to 4 months doesn’t sound too far fetched…”

Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1646/1/

Samsung Nexus S 4G Review

URL: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General-Tech/Samsung-Nexus-S-4G-Review-Google-Bliss

Quote: “While the Nexus S 4G didn’t benchmark quite exactly to our
expectations, it is still the best Android experience I have had to
date. Having used a lot of phones, I love the speed and fluidity that
the stock Android 2.3 interface can provide. While things like HTC
Sense and Samsung TouchWiz have nice visual elements and widgets, they
cannot match the speed of a vanilla Android experience. To me, this
phone has reaffirmed that Google has a clear vision for the Android
platform, and it is a good one. “

The Leading Cause Of The Recent Linux Kernel Power Problems

Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=16181
Summary: “”Mobile users are urged to seriously consider these results, and possibly even avoid the Natty Narwhal…I hate to say it, especially in an Ubuntu review, but the mobile edge goes to Windows for now…There are also compelling reasons for folks to avoid [Ubuntu 11.04] at all costs. Linux gamers should see substantial improvements, while mobile users suffer a dramatic loss in battery life,” were among the critical comments that Tom’s Hardware had in their Ubuntu 11.04 review as they were referencing the power regressions I discovered nearly two months ago within the mainline Linux kernel. As I mentioned on Sunday, the Phoronix Test Suite stack and I have now nailed this major power regression in the Linux 2.6.38 kernel that is affecting a significant number of mobile Linux users. Here is what is happening and a way that you should be able to workaround the serious regression should it affect your computer system(s).”

ASUS Xonar Xense Premium Gaming Audio Set Review

Quote: “When you first see the ASUS Xonar Xense’s EMI shield, you get a sense that this isn’t an ordinary soundcard. The non-ironic conclusion is, you’re right. ASUS has put together another great soundcard and bundled it with a great pair of headphones, the Sennheiser PC350 Xense Edition. The Xonar Xense offers a myriad of inputs and outputs, and can chug out high definition audio up to 192kHz/24bit without breaking a sweat. It easily is one of the coolest pieces of hardware you can add to your rig. Need more convincing? Continue reading to check out all of the details of the ASUS Xonar Xen se.”

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/asus-xonar-xense-premium-gaming-audio-set-review/

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