Apple to offer full refund for iPhone 4 users

 Apple's much awaited "Antennagate" press conference was held yesterday.

Basically Steve Jobs was trying to explain how this iPhone 4 reception problem was just a media hype and that this problem is not exclusive to the iPhone.

• Here are some bullet points that Jobs emphasized upon during the course of the conference.
• Only 0.55 of all iPhone users have contacted Apple with a reception issue.
• The iPhone 4 drops less than one more call per 100 calls when compared to the iPhone 3GS.
• The iPhone 4 has a return rate of just 1.4% compared to the 3GS' 6.0%
• All smartphones have weak spots. (Including the iPhone)
• The iOS4 4.0.1 update released on July 15 fixes the antenna bar and the Exchange bug
• The reception issues have been blown out of proportion. 

Steve Jobs also took this opportunity to claim that even their competitors' phones including the likes of the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, and Samsung Omnia II can be affected by this left handed grip issue.

That said, Apple will also give away free bumper cases to users who would want one. This is because the case apparently solves the reception issue. For those of you who already spent your money on the case, there is a refund coming your way. For the still unhappy customers, Apple has announced a full refund to customers who return their phone within 30 days of purchase.This offer is valid only for phones purchased before September 30th this year.

Brammo Empulse : The electric superbike.

When you think electric bike, you must be thinking those small slow things, which are just a little better than a man powered bicycle. Well thats what used to come to my mind too.

Now its time to think again. Brammo Inc is a leading electric vehicle technology company headquartered in North America. They had previously developed an award winning electric bike, Enertia, which you wouldn't obviously call a sports bike. It had a 13.7 Horsepower rating, with a top speed of 50 mph and a range of 45 miles. Hasn't got much looks too. Hers what it looks like.

But now, Brammo has come up with a new bike. The EMPULSE. It is much better looking, much powerful, much faster, and has got a longer range. The Empulse is capable of doing over a 100 mph with a distance range of about 100 miles. Its got a horse power rating of 55, nearly comparable to the 600cc bikes available in the market. And it looks like a sports bike too.

There will be three models offered: the 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0. These indicate the distance range capacity of the bikes, with the lowest managing 60 miles of "average range" and the top of the line 100 miles, each of which can be extended by taking it easy on the bike (not compulsory to get to the top speed just because there is one) . The 6.0 will naturally be the cheapest, starting at $9,995, the 8.0 for $11,995, and the 10.0 will go for $13,995.

Here's the Brammo Empulse advertisement video:

Asus ARES Officially Launched in India : The ultimate graphics card comes with metal case and gaming mousepad

Asus has officially introduced its all dual ATI Radeon HD 5870 loaded graphics monster card dubbed ARES in India. Named after the Olympian God of War, this is the ultimate option for the hardcore gamer. ARES is a limited edition graphics card that has two Cypress HD 5870 GPUs and measures 11-inches long. This limited edition graphics card will be sold in India for Rs. 1,00,000 approximately with unique metal case and Republic of Gaming mouse bundle.

Asus ARES graphics card incorporates two 40nm fabrication process made Cypress GPU based ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics on a single printed circuit board. The GPU runs at 850MHz clock speed and the memory is clocked at 1200MHz. So far, ATI's Radeon HD 5970 graphics card is crowned as top of the line performance card. Both these GPUs have access to 2GB GDDR5 video memory thus making total 4GB GDDR5 video memory that has 256-bits (for 2GB each) memory interface.

The new ARES is equipped with three PCI express power connector points - two 8-pin port and one 6-pin port. For cooling, Asus has incorporated huge Fansink that promises 600 percent air flow. For best heat dissipation, 8mm oxygen-free copper heatpipes have been used. One would require 750Watts power supply unit to run this monster graphics card.

Of course, this graphics card is CrossFireX configuration ready. This graphics card is constructed from aluminum material and has one HDMI along with twin dual-link DVI-I ports for sourcing out HD video.

Since this is a limited edition graphics card with metal case and ROG gaming mouse, it's better that you either grab it now or forget about it.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 released; Windows XP SP2 officially 'dead'.

At the on-going Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference at Washington DC, Microsoft has announced public availability of the first beta of Windows 7 Service Pack 1. Brandon LeBlanc, Windows Communication Manager for Microsoft, noted on the Windows blog, that the Windows 7 SP 1 is simply a combination of updates already available through Windows Updates and bunch of other hot fixes.




Microsoft made Windows 7 available worldwide on October 22 last year and within nine months, has rolled out first beta of Service Pack 1. However, we shouldn't get our hopes high since it isn't bringing any path breaking feature for your desktops and laptops. Just a bunch of cumulative updates which are already available comes in Service Pack 1. So, who'd like to update when no new features are included? Well, there are several hot fixes that would bundle along to form a cumulative update pack.

From today, Microsoft's sale and support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 will die. No PC maker would be able to pre-install Windows XP SP 2 in new desktops or notebooks. However, there are many individuals and enterprises who haven't updated their systems from Windows XP Service Pack 2.

So, if you don't update to Windows XP Service Pack 3, Microsoft won't be able offering any support to you. The ideal choice here would be buying Windows 7 and then, if you wish, installing this Windows 7 Service Pack 1 beta.

Microsoft is planning to release final version of Service Pack 1 in the first half of next year. Download Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Beta from here. All you need is a Windows Live ID to login to download the beta.

India's PSLV C -15 Successfully Launched

India's space aspirations received a major boost yesterday morning when India's indigenously built PSLV rocket successfully placed 5 satellites into orbit. The rocket took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 9:22 am IST on July 12, as scheduled.

The PSLV C15 carried five satellites, which also included a remote sensing satellite, the Cartosat 2B and one pico satellite called the STUDSAT made by engineering college students of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The other satellites were Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland. This launch comes barely three months after the failure of the GSLV D3, which failed to complete its mission and crashed into the Bay of Bengal.

The Cartosat 2B happens to be the latest remote sensing satellite to be launched by India. It joins its siblings the Cartosat-2 and 2A, both of which are currently in service. Alsat from Algeria, too is a remote sensing satellite and tips the scales at 116 kg. The other nano satellites are quite lightweight weighing just six kilos. The satellite designed by the engineering students is even smaller and weighs just a kilo.

Since its first launch in 1994, the PSLV has so far placed 17 Indian and 22 foreign satellites into orbit - making it one of the most successful launch vehicles ever - worldwide.

3G enabled, low cost Nokia C5 Launched in India : Priced 7,999

A few months after the launch of the lower end  C3, Nokia has launched its latest C Series device, in India - the C5.

The C5 is a mid-range handset targeted at users looking for a decent entry-level smartphone. The phone features a 2.2-inch, QVGA LCD TFT display and runs Symbian OS 9.3. It has a 3.15 megapixel camera complete with an LED Flash and video recording support. Videos can be recorded at VGA resolution at 15 fps. The phone would be a good choice if you want a low-cost 3G capable device as it has a front facing video camera for video calling as well.

Other features include support for EGPRS, an FM Radio receiver, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and a 3.5mm jack, which are becoming standard features these days. The phone is powered by a relatively powerful ARM 11 processor that runs at 600Mhz and with 128MB of RAM, you can expect this one to be quite fast - especially for a Symbian phone of this price tag.

The C5 has 50MB of internal memory and supports memory expansion with microSD cards. A 2GB card is included with the phone and should you need more memory, you can add in a 16GB card as well. The C5 has a relatively powerful 1050Mah battery that should last quite a while when used normally.

The C5 will cost Rs. 7,999 is India, which a pretty decent price for a phone with all these features.

More specifications of the phone here.

Images:

Canon Wonder Camera : No more changing lenses, and says no more photography.

  

You must have seen all those digital cameras with those large lenses in front. These high quality SLR and DSLR cameras make use of large lenses for ultra long range photos or super close up photos, aving the need to use different lenses for different types of photography.

Well, Canon has laid out a  multiple lens free future for photography, thanks to the Wonder Camera Concept.

According to Canon, about 20 years in the future, they are confident they can bring out a single lens camera to do the trick. According to them, this non-interchangeable single lens could be used for super close up macro photos or for long range photos.

The concept camera that Canon showed off in the Shanghai Expo 2010, boasts an extremely high resolution sensor, very high zoom range, and advanced image stabilization mechanism, making shooting at high zoom levels possible. It also has a knob less, full touch screen back interface. All this is apparently small enough to be comfortable in our hands.

The most important of all is that, this will be a video only camera. The idea is that, with ultra high resolutions available even on video modes, now you dont have to wait for a perfect moment and click a snap. Just shoot a video and from the frames of the video select the best. The high resolution makes capturing images from video frames possible. And there is no need to worry about the images being out of focus, because they claim that the wonder camera can keep everything on the scene in focus, leading to better extracted photos.

Even if twenty years may seem a short time, to some people, for such a radical development, considering the rate of development in the past few years, it must be possible for such an advancement to take place.

Check out the presentation video of the Canon Wonder Camera at the Shanghai Expo 2010 :