NEW DELHI: After not-so-impressive sales of Galaxy S4, Samsung seems all set to start 2014 with a bang. The company will launch the world's first smartphone with a bendable screen next year, but that's not all.   The top-tier Samsung handsets will get a camera upgrade next year and will feature a 16MP Isocell sensor. Thus, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 4 - the company's top two models - will get this high resolution camera at launch. This was revealed at Samsung's recent Analyst Day conference, where the company also revealed the roadmap for other technologies like displays, processors and memory.   Isocell technology ensures better light sensitivity on backside

BANGALORE: A day after reporting a blockbuster third-quarter performance, Cognizant CEO Francisco D'Souza - in his customary post-results internal blog post - said the company would share its success with its employees through a higher bonus payout.   "Assuming that we continue our strong performance in the fourth quarter, I expect our annual bonus programme will pay out at well over 100% of target on average for 2013 - a level that will be well above last year's bonus payout," he said.   The qualifying first part of the sentence is unlikely to worry any employee because the company has just raised its full-year revenue guidance, and with just one more qua

NEW YORK : Microsoft Corp has narrowed its list of external candidates to replace chief executive Steve Ballmer to about five people, including Ford Motor Co chief Alan Mulally and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, according to sources familiar with the matter.   The world's largest software maker also has at least three internal candidates on its shortlist, including former Skype CEO Tony Bates, who is now responsible for Microsoft's business development, and Satya Nadella, the company's cloud and enterprise chief, the sources said.   Despite the narrower list - the company started with about 40 names - the process could take a few more months, the sources said. I

SAN FRANCISCO: Google is launching a service that lets consumers pay for live video chats with experts who can provide everything from step-by-step turkey cooking instructions to marriage counseling.   The Google Helpouts service, features roughly 1,000 partners in fashion, fitness, computers and other topics, available for live, one-on-one video consultations. The video sessions can be as short as a few minutes or can last several hours, depending on the topic, with pricing set by each individual provider.   The video consultations represent an expansion of Google's traditional web search service, which for years has answered consumers' questions by pointing people

BEIJING: US software giant Microsoft has developed a new cost-effective sign language translator that converts signs into spoken and written language - and vice versa.  In collaboration with researchers in China, Microsoft created the Kinect Sign Language Translator, a prototype system that understands the gestures of sign language and converts them to spoken and written language--and vice versa.    The translator uses a computer and a Kinect camera that recognises signing gestures, then gives a spoken and written translation of languages for people who can hear.    The system captures a conversation from both sides: the deaf person is shown signing, with a

How often do you use your smartphone camera? With every new model that comes out, it seems like camera quality is often a huge selling point. But do you take advantage of those advancements? There are a lot of neat uses for that camera you carry around everywhere regardless of whether it's the latest and greatest or three years old.    Personally, I use my smartphone camera maybe once or twice a year. It's pretty sad and a waste of potential, so I've been interested in figuring out how to make better use of it. If you're in the same boat as me, you may be surprised to find out that your smartphone camera is great for more than just family photos and Instagram fi

WASHINGTON : Texting may not be the best way for couples to solve disagreements, apologise or have serious conversations, a new study has found.    Brigham Young University researchers Lori Schade and Jonathan Sandberg studied 276 young adults around the country and found that being constantly connected through technology can create some disconnects in committed relationships.    Researchers found that for women using text messages to apologise, work out differences or make decisions is associated with lower relationship quality.    For men, too frequent texting is associated with lower relationship quality, the study found.    However,

NEW DELHI: In a Diwali bonanza to its customers, Vodafone India today said it has slashed data rates by up to 80% across the country, with effect from November 1.   In June, the company had reduced the price from 10 paisa per 10kb to 2 paisa per 10kb in Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circles and it has now extended the same rates to all its circles from November 1.   "Post the successful pilot launch in three circles in mid-June, this attractive and lowest mobile Internet charge is now being rolled out pan India," the company said in a statement. It added the rate would be applicable from November 1, 2013 for all prepaid and postpaid custom

SAN FRANCISCO: When Apple came out with a smaller iPad last year, the original version suddenly seemed heavy and bulky. The iPad Mini fit more easily in pockets and bags, and it felt more comfortable in my hands. It was also cheaper than the full-size version. The release of the new iPad Air, along with a price increase for a new Mini model, narrows those distinctions.    At just 1 pound, the Air is 28% lighter than last fall's full-size model and just a quarter pound heavier than the new Mini coming out in a few weeks. The size of the screen is the same as last year, at 9.7 inches diagonally, but Apple managed to shave the iPad's frame so that the tablet is narrower

BANGALORE: Infosys, India's second-largest IT services exporter, has agreed to pay $34 million in a civil settlement with US authorities investigating its use of visas in the United States, the company said.    US authorities have been investigating Infosys's use of visas since 2011.    "There were no criminal charges or court rulings against the company. Furthermore, there are no limitations on the company's eligibility for federal contracts or access to US visa programmes as a result of the settlement," the company said in a statement.    "As reflected in the settlement, Infosys denies and disputes any claims of systemic

NEW DELHI : Wary of cybersnooping, the government could ban e-mail services such as Gmail and Yahoo for official communications by December this year in a move to safeguard its critical and sensitive data.    The government is expected to route all its official communication through the official website NIC's email service.    The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) is drafting a policy on e-mail usage for government offices and departments and the policy is almost ready. The department is now taking views from other ministries on it.    "E-mail policy of the government of India, as this policy will be called, is alm

WASHINGTON: The US government plans to punish Indian outsourcing giant Infosys with the largest immigration fine ever for seeking visas fraudulently for workers at big clients in America, the Wall Street Journal reported.    Infosys is accused of putting workers on visitor visas rather than work visas. The former are much easier and cheaper to obtain than the latter. The fine is expected to be about $35 million, the paper said, quoting people close to the matter.    A probe by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department concluded that Infosys used easy to get B1 visas, which are meant for short business visits, to bring an unknown number of its wo

KOCHI : BSNL has launched a new mobile application 'My BSNL App' for Android and Windows Phone users.    With increasing penetration of smartphones, this simple and smart app will enable customers to pay their postpaid bills and prepaid recharges from anywhere at anytime, it said in a release.    This mobile-based access to online payment gateway enables BSNL to reach the customers in the nook and corner of the country and provide a visually appealing, user-friendly application facilitating a hassle free payment mechanisation for its landline/wireless (GSM/CDMA/WiMax) postpaid and prepaid segment. My BSNL App also enables customers to check their outs

WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed a new method for 4D printing which enables production of objects fixed in one shape that can later be changed to take on a new shape.   Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder incorporated 'shape memory' polymer fibres into the composite materials used in traditional 3D printing, which resulted in the production of shape-changing objects.   The team led by H Jerry Qi, associate professor of mechanical engineering at CU-Boulder, and his collaborator Martin L Dunn of the Singapore University of Technology and Design tested the method for 4D printing.   "In this work, the initial configuration is created b

BANGALORE: Wipro announced the setting up of a mobility centre of excellence at Hyderabad in partnership with Kony, a US-based mobile application development firm.    "The centre will develop solutions based on Kony's mobile application development platform and next-generation technologies, including mobility, cloud and analytics," the global software major said in a statement here.    The facility has also been equipped to showcase mobile solutions leveraging Kony's platform to global customers.    "The rapidly changing mobile landscape comes with challenges, which require an agile development environment for bringing people,

Home bred handset maker Micromax Informatics is ready for its next phase of growth. To start with, the company is planning to launch smartphones in Russia by the year end, as it starts on an aggressive road map of international expansion, having roped in Hollywood star Hugh Jackman as its brand ambassador, says co-founder Rahul Sharma.    In an interview with ET, Sharma says the company is also planning to launch 4-G enabled handsets by December 2014 and a Windows phone next year. Excerpts:    Do you think Nokia's sale to Microsoft has had any impact on players like yourself? Are you planning to make Windows smartphones sometime in the future? It has been go

Samsung seems to be planning another big launch in the country for the coming festive season. According to a report on AndroidOS.in website, the company is all set to launch its flip phone Galaxy Golden in India.   As per the news report, "The company has already imported around 1650 units of the phone in the country, which will soon reach the retail stores." An official announcement is expected sometime next week.   Launched in South Korea in August this year, Galaxy Golden has a clamshell design and sports two 3.7" Super AMOLED displays with WVGA resolution. The phone with dual touchscreens also has a alphanumeric keypad.   Galaxy Golden is powered

External drives — either USB flash drives or external hard drives — should be easy to use. In some cases, you may connect your drive to a Windows PC or another device with a USB port and find that it's not recognized. This problem can be caused by partition issues on your external drive, using the wrong file system, dead USB ports, driver issues in Windows, or other problems. In a worst case scenario, the drive itself may simply be dead.    The steps below will be the same for both USB flash drives and larger external hard drives, which work similarly.    Does the drive show up in disk management? First, let's check whether Windows detects th

Security researchers are calling LinkedIn's new mobile app, Intro, a dream come true for hackers or intelligence agencies.   "I'm flabbergasted by this," Richard Bejtlich, the chief research officer at the computer security company Mandiant, said in an interview Wednesday. "I can't believe someone thought this was a good idea."   Intro is an email plug-in for iOS users that pulls LinkedIn profile information into emails so that the sender's job title appears front-and-center in emails on a user's iPhone or iPad.   Some bloggers have hailed it as a smart play by LinkedIn to get more mobile action and to get users to stop think

SAN FRANCISCO: LinkedIn just gave its users another reason to ensure their resumes are up to date. The online professional network has introduced a mobile feature that shows information about people's careers in emails being read on iPhones.    The tool, called Intro, pulls details from the profiles of LinkedIn's more than 238 million users so the recipient of an email can learn more about the sender.    The information will be limited to what the email senders already allow anyone to be seen on their LinkedIn accounts, unless they already have granted the recipient broader access through a connection on the service.    The feature works with