Android 4.0 was launched on November 17, 2011 along with the Galaxy Nexus. It was a major step ahead of Gingerbread, the OS it replaced, but like every new software, had its fair share of issues. Due to this, Google had to release the first update in the form of 4.0.2 on November 28, less than two weeks after the first version came out. This version can still be found on the Galaxy Nexus.

When the time came to release the update for the Nexus S in December, however, Google directly released Android 4.0.3. Google also announced that this will be the new base version of Android 4.0 and OEM’s should start with this version when putting ICS on their devices. However, like the two versions that came before it, 4.0.3 too had several issues. So many, in fact, that Google never released it for the Galaxy Nexus and also pulled down the update that was being sent out to all the Nexus S users. Read more »

Canon has announced the highly anticipated successor to the popular EOS 5D Mark II camera, the 5D Mark III. Among the list of improvements include a brand new 22.3 megapixel full-frame sensor, 1080p video recording, 61-point auto-focus system, 63-zone metering system, 6-fps shooting mode and the new DIGIC 5+ processor.

When Canon launched the 5D Mark II back in 2008, it became an instant hit due to the presence of the 1080p video recording mode, something that was very new in the world of DSLRs. Finally, people could not only capture professional quality stills but also professional quality videos without spending a lot. Eventually, the 1080p video mode trickled down to other cameras and is now a common feature but the 5D Mark II still remains popular for being the first one to introduce it. With the 5D Mark III, Canon has taken the existing 5D Mark II and turned everything up by several notches. Read more »

Popular comic book company Marvel Comics has released 80 of its classic graphic novels on the iBookstore. Although, Marvel has had a dedicated app for the platform for a while now, you could only purchase single comics through it.

The first batch consist of a wide variety of graphic novels from over the years encompassing several genres such as action (X-Men: Messiah Complex), suspense (Secret Invasion), mysteries (Castle: Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm), literary adaptations (Pride & Prejudice) and children’s tales (Wonderful Wizard of Oz). As a bonus, Marvel is also giving away the first full issue of ‘New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout’ for a limited time. Read more »

Having launched three new cameras just a month ago and prophesying the doom of point-and-shoot cameras while at it, Sony is back with nine more digital cameras. Five of these are of the compact zoom variety, two belong to the super slim T-series and the last two fall in the W-series.

The model numbers for these cameras are HX200V, HX30V, HX20V, HX10V, H90, TX66, TX20, WX150 and W690. Following are the specifications of all these cameras. Read more »

Opera has released a new beta of the world’s most popular mobile browser, called the Opera Mini Next. This will give you a taste of some of the new features added in Opera Mini, which will arrive in the stable version later this year.

The changes you see will differ depending upon whether you have a feature phone or a smartphone. On feature phones, you will see a new homepage, along with your usual speed dial page. This new homepage will give you quick access to all your social networks and other information such as news, weather forecasts, sports, entertainment and more. The speed dial list is also updated and can now contain an infinite number of items. Read more »

After an accidental launch yesterday, where the app was prematurely made available on the New Zealand app store and then pulled down, the iOS version of Photoshop Touch is now available worldwide on the App Store. It will, however, only work on the iPad 2 and also requires the presence of iOS 5.

This app is part of Adobe’s mobile suite of applications for the iOS, which also includes the Adobe Revel, Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop, Adobe Nav for Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Express, and lets you ‘combine images, apply professional effects, share results with friends and family through sites like Facebook, and more – all from the convenience of your iPad.’. Read more »

I don’t know about you guys but when I saw Metro UI for the first time on a desktop PC, the first word that came to my mind started with ‘W’ and ended with ‘TF’. Sure, Metro is a beautiful user interface but when put on a 22-inch monitor it looks terribly out of place and doesn’t feel right when operated with a mouse. It looks even worse when placed alongside the old Windows 7/Vista UI, which will also be part of Windows 8. I wished Microsoft had come up with a way to make the existing Windows 7/Vista UI look more like Metro instead of having them simultaneously in one OS.

Unfortunately, my wish was left unfulfilled by Windows 8. But there is a designer out there who took almost exactly what I had in mind and made a mockup out of it. This, according to me and that designer, is how Windows 8 should have looked like. Read more »

Chrome Beta browser for Android has received its first update. The biggest improvement is added support for more regions. The updated list now also includes Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Poland, India, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland. As before, however, the browser is only available on devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, and it’s going to stay that way.

Other changes include the addition of Android Beam support, which means you can now beam URLs to other NFC-enabled Android devices by simply touching them. Lastly, there are some bug fixes and some performance updates. Read more »

Unlike most other quad-core architectures out there, Nvidia’s Tegra 3 also features a fifth companion core. The job of this core is to handle all the usual menial tasks while the four performance cores rest, to be called upon only when there is a need for significant graphical muscle power, such as in 3D games. This results in amazing battery life because the companion core consumes very little power compared to the four performance cores.

This kind of architecture is called as variable symmetric architecture (or vSMP). But as you can image that’s not something that would look at home on a box or a store sign, which is why Nvidia kept calling it things like having a companion core or ninja core. But now they have finally come up with a proper name for it and they have trademarked it too. And that name is 4-PLUS-1. Read more »

Not really a surprise but it’s worth noting that just like the brand Sony Ericsson, its website www.sonyericsson.com is no longer in existence. Entering that URL now directs you to a brand new website: www.sonymobile.com.

Sony has completely revamped the site and it looks nothing like the old one. Along with a new design and navigation you would also notice that the number of products on display has vastly been reduced. Read more »

The native Twitter apps for Android and iOS have been criticized a lot since they were updated a couple of months ago. The iOS version removed basic things like the ability to swipe on tweets and mark all direct messages as read and the Android version was downright unusable due to its sluggish UI. Thankfully, the latest update fixes all that.

The new update brings a host of changes on both the platforms. On Android the performance has greatly been improved, making the application infinitely more usable now. You can also swipe on tweets now to access commonly used functions such as reply, retweet, etc. The latest update also adds optimization for devices running on Ice Cream Sandwich. Read more »

It’s no secret that Microsoft and Google aren’t the best of friends these days. Their most recent spat was prompted by attempts by Google to get around the user privacy settings in Internet Explorer, the same way they did with Safari and both companies took to their blogs to take digs at each other and explain their side of the story. However, that was not enough for Microsoft. So they did what they did last time they had an argument with Google; make a cheesy video.

You probably remember the Gmail Man video made by Microsoft targeting the way Google goes through your emails to deliver your ads. This time they have another new video, with a character they like to call the Googlighting stranger. Read more »

The Windows logo has gone through several changes over the years. What started as a simple, monochrome 2D logo with Windows 1.0 slowly became more complex as more colors were added along with a bit of depth, until it started resembling a flag by the time XP came out. That ‘flag’ then got ensconced inside an orb with Vista and has been the same ever since.

With the Windows 8 logo, Microsoft has attempted to move away from this flag shaped logo towards something that goes well along with the ‘Windows’ name, as well as fit with the new Metro style of the UI. For this they hired the designers at Pentagram and thus the new Windows 8 logo was born. Read more »

Apple has said that the next iteration of its OS X operating system will be sold exclusively through the online Mac App Store. This means you will require a fast Internet connection and an Apple ID in order to upgrade to this OS when it releases later this year.

Apple started this trend with Lion, which was its first OS to be sold online. They even removed the software DVDs that were provided along with Macs that were sold with Lion pre-installed. However, later on Apple did start selling the OS on bootable flash drives through its stores for $69, which is a lot more than the $29 you pay for the OS through the Mac App Store. However, that option will be discontinued with the release of Mountain Lion. Read more »

I know most of you will be going “Not another Angry Birds!” by now but this one is different. Angry Birds Space promises to be an exciting departure from the usual Angry Birds gameplay. Yes, there will still be some limbless bird flinging but this time the conditions are different.

As the name suggests, the game will take place in outer space and this introduces some interesting new parameters to the gameplay. You will be playing in zero gravity, which should heavily affect the game’s physics. Meanwhile, there are also going to be some new birds to fling, along with some familiar ones. Read more »