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ZyXEL unveils new range of 802.11ac Adapter Line for mobiles and laptops

XyXel has launched a new range of Dual Band 1200 Mbps and 600 Mbps Adapters for home and mobile users.

ZyXEL Communications, has introduced NWD6505 and NWD6605 802.11ac Dual-Band Wireless USB adapters that will help home and office users upgrade to the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology, for faster media streaming and online communications.

According to the company, Both the NWD6505 and NWD6605 Dual-Band Wireless USB Adapters support the latest 802.11ac technology. It offers an accelerated throughput of 802.11ac over 5-GHz frequency band that offers an optimal, lag-free experience with streaming video, web browsing, audio, VoIP, gaming and other entertainment and communication applications.

The ZyXEL NWD6605 Dual-Band Wireless AC1200 USB Adapter have data transfer rates of up to 867 Mbps on a 5 GHz channel or 300 Mbps at a 2.4 GHz channel. It features two antennas, that deliver wider coverage and wireless performance. According to the company the adapters are ideal for HD video streaming, multiple downloading, online gaming, and sharing multiple large files at the same time.
The NWD6605 supports USB 3.0 interface that is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and supports transfer data rates of 5 Gigabit per second. ZyXEL’s NWD6505 Dual-Band Wireless AC600 USB Adapter delivers data transfer rates of 150 Mbps at 2.4 GHz frequency or 433 Mbps data transfer speed at 5 GHz. 

The NWD6505 and NWD6605 adapters are meant for desktop and laptop users that need a dual-band wireless AC network connection. The devices are Microsoft Windows 8 certified, and comes with a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), that gives you access to a secured network with just a touch of a button. The company states that ZyXEL NWD6505 and NWD6605 devices are meant for road warriors, students, vacationers and offer great mobility and connectivity on the move.

Oppo teases plug-in camera lenses with OIS and up to 15x zoom

Oppo is a relatively unknown name outside of China, even though the company did make some headway with the Oppo Find 5, and is hoping to continue to establish itself on the world stage with its upcoming Oppo N1. There’s very little we actually know about the device, except for the fact that is expected to feature a rear touch panel, and house a great camera.

If you felt like the 13MP N-Lens “owl” sensor camera isn’t enough, Oppo is there to help you out. Today, the company teased a series of plug-in camera lenses that can be switched out and attached to its smartphones. The initial batch of these plug-in camera lenses use a 16MP Sony CMOS sensor with OIS (optical image stabilization), with one type featuring 10x optical zoom, and another thicker version boasting 15x optical zoom, along with support for NFC, WiFi, and SD card storage.

While Sony is all set to change the smartphone camera game with the highly-anticipated Xperia Z1 and the availability of external attachable lenses for other smartphones, it’s great to see companies like Oppo looking to shake things up as well by giving consumers a choice.

There is still no information on when these plug-in camera lenses will be available, but can definitely expect to get a better look at them during the upcoming launch event for the Oppo N1.

Pressy brings a customizable hardware button to your Android handset

So you picked up that shiny, new Android handset and now you find yourself wishing there was an easier, button-based shortcut for getting to your favorite Android functions. Wait a minute… you actually want more buttons on your smartphone? It’s 2013 folks, and less is more (unless it comes to screen size)!

To be fair, sometimes extra physical keys can come in handy, such as a button that allows you to quickly load up your camera. Most of today’s devices are lacking such physical buttons, but that’s where the new Kickstarter project Pressy comes in.

Most Android users are looking to ditch extra buttons, so we have to wonder if there is really a demand for something like Pressy.

Pressy is a tiny button that plugs into your headphone jack, allowing you to easily launch apps and services with the click of a button.

The button works in conjunction with a special Pressy app, and can be customized to do just about anything from launching a camera, to voice recording, opening up settings, launching a specific app or even calling home – the choice is yours.

Pressy isn’t just for one special function either, as it can perform multiple different tasks depending on whether you single-click the button, long click it or even double click.

This sounds pretty cool, but who wants to sacrifice the headphone jack? The good news is that you don’t have to. When you want to plug in a headphone, take out Pressy and put it into an included holder that clips to a keychain. Next, plug in your headphones and the headphone button can fully function as the Pressy key without issue – easy as that.

But is there demand for such a thing?

Most Android users are looking to ditch extra buttons these days, so we have to wonder if there is really a demand for something like Pressy. The answer appears to be a resounding yes, at least judging by the fact that Pressy has already exceeded its $40k goal with 45 days left to go. At the time of this writing, $173,532 has been pledged towards the project.

If you too are interested in getting your hands on Pressy and its accompanying app, you can head over to their Kickstarter page where a minimum pledge of $17 will land you a basic Pressy.

A word of caution, the team behind Pressy is just getting things off the ground, and so they don’t expect to ship the little-button-that-could until March of next year. Still, good things come to those that (are willing to) wait.

HomeShop 18 revamps its website with a new look, advanced features

Shopping portal Homeshop18 has revamped its website in order to offer an improved and simplified shopping experience to customers. Launched in 2011, HomeShop18 today has over 600 brands across 13 different categories. With this new look, it has synchronised all of its three mediums – Web, TV and Mobile.

The new look HomeShop18 website that boasts of some new features has been designed on a responsive model and is compatible with desktop, tablets, and mobile phones. The website now offers users the option of live-streaming the HomeShop 18 TV channel via laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

All new look

Users can also view demo videos of the product they are interested in purchasing. This feature has been added to the service after gauging consumer behaviour through primary and secondary research, and feedback. One research said Indian online shoppers feel the need to be able to touch and feel a product in order to consider buying it and viewing images simply doesn’t cut it.  

HomeShop18 now also sports an all new voice-enabled search bar. Shoppers can now simply give voice commands on the home page search bar in order for the website to throw up results. Once the order is placed, users will now be able to track it better. Important details like update of the order, the date and time of when it was placed, when your order was shipped and when it will be delivered will be displayed. 

On the home page, you will now be able to go through product recommendations by the website. These products will pop up based on your browsing history. When you go to a particular product’s page now, you will be able to see more interactive features like reviews and whether or not the review has been helpful. 

This is not the first time HS18 has forayed into design innovation. Before the new website design, HomeShop18 launched an interesting mobile shopping model called Scan N Shop at Delhi Airport in January this year which was followed by mobile apps for Android and iPhone users.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 'Lite' rumoured to come with cheaper LCD screen

There's less than a week left for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and yet another leak has now cropped up about the upcoming device. According to a Korean site ETNews, there will likely be two versions of the Galaxy Note 3, and one of them will feature a cheaper display. The “Lite” version of the device is also likely to feature a low-resolution 8 megapixel camera.

This isn’t the first time that news about Galaxy Note 3 variants has surfaced, with previous rumours also hinting at Samsung planning multiple varients of the Note 3. Keeping the latest leak in mind, there is not much else known apart from the trade-off on the camera and the display. The leak does bring one question to light, though. Will we see a cheaper Note 3 variant at the launch?

Just a few days back, there were reports suggesting the possibility of 4k video recordingsupport and improved audio playback for the Note 3. Another leak also gave us a glimpse at the device showing off a 5.7-inch front display panel with a highly-reduced bezel.

What will the camera on the Note 3 be like?

According to the previous leaks, it is believed that the Galaxy Note 3 will come with a slightly different design while the display will most likely be a full HD variety. It is likely to pack in a 13 megapixel camera with the new S Orb feature, but the OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) function will be given a miss according to some rumours recently. The Note 3 is likely to be available in two versions – one with a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa processor and the other with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC. With the September 4 launch around the corner, fans who are eagerly awaiting it only have to wait a few days before seeing the final specs of the phone.

Why Western intervention in Syria will leave chaos

(CNN) -- Syria's civil war is not America's problem. Syria is surrounded by Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab nations with large standing armies and advanced military equipment. Their cowardice in acting to stop a war on their doorstep should give us pause for thought. Why will they not act, but we must?

Why is American gullibility for war so strong that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel can dispense of their moral duties to the American taxpayer?

Make no mistake about it: al Assad is a war criminal, having had his own civilians and soldiers slaughtered in a war to keep his family in power.

The sectarian, ethnic, and religious dimensions of the war have kept the Obama administration (rightly in my view) away from direct military involvement in the conflict.

But what has changed now? The use of chemical weapons to kill people jolts us into probable action, but millions displaced, wounded and 100,000 dead did not. Why? Because the banality of the policy shift rests on the assumptions that American cruise missiles can prevent further use of chemical weapons, provide a face-saving measure for President Barack Obama who can argue that he acted after his "red line" had been crossed in Syria, and neuter critics of Obama's Syria policy.

READ: Why is chemical attack a red line issue?

There is no absolute certainty as to whether al Assad used chemical weapons, or rebel factions did. Al Assad has no credible motivation to use these weapons at this stage, and in this phase of the conflict. He is not losing.

If, as the Russians claim, it was al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusrah group or Free Syrian Army elements that used weapons to bait America into the conflict, then U.S. firepower would be futile in establishing how a ragtag army and terrorists obtained chemical weapons. No amount of surgical strikes on government facilities will prevent non-state actors from further use of these weapons.

But if we believe that al Assad used these weapons, and launch punitive attacks on Syria, what exactly are we targeting? The secretive and globally isolated nature of the Assad regime and therefore his chemical stockpiles means that we do not know where these are located.

We intervened in Libya with greater confidence because Gadhafi's chemical weapons were mostly eliminated by an international inspection arrangement prior to the Arab uprisings. By bombing Syria now we increase the risk of al Assad using chemical weapons on populations and cities that are not under government control, or to quell new rebellions. Damaging his air force and known military installation would force him to consider his more extreme options for regime survival. Syria is now a fight to the death for both sides.

READ: Gingrich: Stay out of Syria's civil war

U.S.-led military strikes in Syria will not change the tide of the war. That is not the mission, nor is it achievable by aerial blitzing. The Syrian opposition is not a government in waiting. It is too fragmented ideologically, overwrought by al Qaeda affiliates, deeply anti-American, and dominated by suburban fighters with little control of major cities, mercenaries who are not committed to peaceful coexistence with Syria's religious Christians, nor its Jewish neighbor.s in on Syria

Syria after al Assad will be worse. A new civil war will break out between opposition factions. By bombing Syria today, we bear the burden of the instability we leave in our wake.

President Obama imprudently mentioned a "red line" in Syria and is now hostage to fortune. The president has changed his policy stance on using illegal wire taps, closing Guantanamo Bay, gay marriage, and more.

Opinion: 5 reasons the U.S. must intervene in Syria

The heat of the moment and push from the chattering classes to "do something" without knowing what will consume Obama into another Middle East war. He beat Hillary Clinton as an anti-Iraq war candidate.

By intervening, Syria may well prove to be Obama's war, bequeathed to a new president in 2016. Civilian casualties are inevitable: The images on our screens will not be Syrians using chemical weapons to kill each other, but American bombs creating carnage and killings in yet another Muslim country.

 

Obama is mulling the least bad option

(CNN) -- Among the most enduring urban legends about high-level policy-making in the U.S. government is the proverbial memo with three options: 1. do nothing; 2. do everything; 3. find a middle ground and muddle through.

And yet in truth, Barack Obama really does have only three options in Syria. It appears that the president, rightly the avoider-in-chief when it comes to Syria, has chosen option three, the least bad alternative. And here's why.

Do nothing

This isn't really an option. Forget the fact that the president a year ago drew his own red line against Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons. Disregard the reality that this is reportedly the largest single deployment of chemical weapons since Saddam Hussein used them against the Kurds in 1988; dismiss the fact that 100,000 Syrians have died in this civil conflict; and the president is accused of fiddling, Nero-like, while Syria burns.

Just focus on the events of the past five days in Washington. What has been emanating from administration officials both on and off the record is the most well-advertised and telegraphed military action in the history of modern warfare. Rarely do we get this kind of preview of the operation, its size and character.

Combine that with the Secretary of State John Kerry's brief but powerful statement of moral outrage the other day and the president's PBS interview, and you get as authoritative a commitment to strike as is humanly imaginable.

Indeed, forceful statements and actions of the past few days have now constituted their own red line. And if the president doesn't enforce it, he will be truly damaged goods when it comes to foreign policy for the remainder of his term.

Neither his regional allies (Israel and the Saudis) nor his adversaries (Iran, Hezbollah, Russia) will find him credible or believable. As it is now, everyone says no to the U.S. without much cost or consequence.

Do everything

From the beginning, Sens. John McCain and Lindsay Graham and a whole host of liberal interventionists and neoconservatives outside the government have repeatedly called for a more robust policy on Syria, even suggesting that the president, by not acting sooner, enabled all of this misery to unfold. Syria, the president's critics maintain, is a major threat to U.S. interests -- and to our allies in the region -- and only a takedown of the al-Assad regime through supporting the opposition and direct application of U.S. military power will begin to address the problem.

The argument has not called for boots on the ground but for extensive use of no-fly zones, the use of U.S. air and missile power to degrade the regime and military support for the opposition.

ma: SyrPresident Obama has wisely and willfully avoided this approach. And he continues to avoid it now. The reason has to do with the general problem of an open-ended military commitment and the lack of correlation between the use of U.S. military power and its relation to the end state.

Syria is in the throes of a brutal civil war. The opposition is composed of more than 1,000 disparate rebel groups, the most effective allied with al Qaeda and other Sunni extremists. A victory of the latter would be a blow to U.S. interests. Ousting al-Assad won't be cheap or easy. It took eight months to get rid of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, and he had no weapons of mass destruction, no serious air defenses or military capacity and no credible allies. And look at the end result: a post-Gadhafi environment in which there are too many guns, grievances and regional rivalries and no credible central authority.

And Libya pales in comparison with Syria's complexities. Devising a serious military strategy to get rid of al-Assad -- serious weapons for the rebels; no-fly or -drive zones; and sustained air/missile strikes against Syrian military units, infrastructure and leadership targets -- also means U.S. responsibility for what follows. Barack Obama has avoided this option because he rightly doesn't want America getting stuck with the check for Syria.

Muddle through

The option the U.S. is likely to undertake -- focused more narrowly on trying to deter the Syrians from using chemical weapons again and degrading al-Assad's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal. Although I think the administration's military actions will be far more devastating than the limited strikes being talked about, it is unlikely to change the arc of the battlefield balance.

There are other downsides, too. Once the glass ceiling against the use of force is broken, the expectations and pressures to use it again will grow. There's always the danger too of a response by Hezbollah or Syria against Israel, however unlikely. And sooner or later, al-Assad will commit some other horror that will require another U.S. response. This kind of episodic intervention without a real strategy can undermine American credibility, too.

To be sure, there are real risks in acting on option three, and Obama most assuredly is a reluctant warrior. Indeed, in view of the parliamentary opposition to British Prime Minister David Cameron's willingness to join the U.S., he may be a lonely warrior, too. But he's going to war with Syria nonetheless. Al-Assad's apparent use of chemical weapons, the president's own words and those of others in his administration leave him no other choice.

 

Gionee launches 4-inch, dual-core P2 for Rs 6,499

gionee has now launched a new handset for the Indian market called the Gionee P2.  The new smartphone comes with a 4-inch display and caters to the budget segment with a price tag of Rs 6,499. 

The P2 comes with support for dual SIMs. It is nice to see that this budget handset run on Android’s latest flavour, Jelly Bean v4.2. Internally the smartphone is powered by the Cortex A7 MediaTek 6572 dual-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz along with 512MB of RAM. The company has settled on a 1700 mAh battery for this smartphone.

The Gionee P2 will come dipped in white and black colours for customers to choose from. Taking the price tag into consideration, the smartphone will be competing in the sub-Rs 7,000 price range, which includes a slew of handsets from Chinese and local smartphone makers.

A new budget smartphone from Gionee

The smartphone could also face off with the likes of the Xolo A500,  which also sports a similar price tag and specifications. The only difference is that the latter runs on an older version of the Android OS. We’ve previously seen some budget Gionee phones like the CTRL V4, and the slightly higher priced Elife E3. For the price, the features included seem quite good.

Take a quick look at the key specifications of the Gionee P2:

• 4-inch capacitive display with 480×800 pixels of resolution
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
• 5-megapixel rear camera and VGA front-facing camera
• 4GB internal memory, expandable to 4GB via microSD card slot

US security agencies paying companies for covert data gathering programmes

Anew report by the Washington Post has shed some light on just how much money the US government is spending on its mass-surveillance programmes. The NSA is reportedly shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars a year to various US companies for secret access to their communications grid. And this access includes weeding through massive amounts of traffic for foreign targets using a process that also ropes in huge amounts of telephone calls, e-mails and instant messages.

The total budget, termed by the source as "Black Budget" is staggering, with the US government having spent $52.6 billion since 2004 on covert surveillence programmes. Agencies like the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency have contributed to this amount by shelling out $10.8 billion and $14.7 billion respectively, in that period. 
 
According to a multi-volume intelligence budget obtained by the source, the most amount of money is spent on participants in a Corporate Partner Access Project for major US telecommunication providers. What is worrisome to note is that, despite having massive amounts of funding, security agencies are still unable to gather important data pertaining to a range of national security threats. 
 
According to the spending sheet for the fiscal year of 2013, the agency is tapping into the “high volume circuit and packet-switched networks.” The report indicates that the programme was expected to cost $278 million in the current fiscal year. The programme had, in 2011, peaked out at $394 million, the highest the agency has ever spent, according to the report.

Newly leaked slides shows the codenames that corporate projects were given (Image credit: The Washington Post)

The intelligence budget report shows that cooperation with the main providers of global communications goes as far back as the 1970s. One of the projects functioned under the cover name BLARNEY, according to documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The scary part is that these mutually-beneficial relations have been around long before the PRISM programme came to light in June. 

In leaked briefing slides, the NSA has shown how BLARNEY and three other corporate projects, codenamed OAKSTAR, FAIRVIEW and STORMBREW worked by capturing data across fibre-optic cables and gateways that direct global communications traffic. While all companies need to stick to lawful surveillance orders, the multi-million dollar payments can serve as a strong spur to offer more than the required assistance to government agencies. 
 
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, told the source that, “It turns surveillance into a revenue stream, and that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. The fact that the government is paying money to telephone companies to turn over information that they are compelled to turn over is very troubling.”

Hugo Barra leaves Google for Xiaomi. Reasons: not of romantic nature

A top Android executive is reportedly leaving Google and taking a job with China-based Xiaomi, a new report says, suggesting that he has resigned before a personal matter involving other Googlers may have pushed him to do so.

Hugo Barra, Google’s Vice President of Product Management for Android or the guy we kept seeing on stage during various Android-related events in the past years, is reportedly leaving the company.

According to sources familiar with the matter that spoke with AllThingsD, Barra is leaving to take a job with Xiaomi, the extremely popular Chinese Android handset maker.

The reasons for his departure are currently unknown, but it looks like Barra has “tendered his resignation, [...] before a recent personal situation related to the end of a romantic relationship he had with another Googler” and is unrelated.

We normally wouldn’t be interested in such matters, but it looks like this particular romantic relationship involves one of Google’s co-founders.

Apparently Sergey Brin has separated with his wife, and he’s in a new relationship with a Google employee – apparently the Googler Barra split up with at some point before resigning from Google. We won’t further dwell into matters of the heart on this one, but we’ll add that a divorce between Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki won’t result in troubles for Google, as there’s a prenup in place that will protect Brin’s Google voting powers.

Interestingly though, Wojcicki’s sister remains a top executive at Google – Senior Vice President of Advertising and Commerce – and happens to be the owner of the garage where Google established its first headquarters “in its formative days.”

Moving back to Barra, it’s not clear what he’ll do at Xiaomi, when his employment with Google will end, or who will replace him at Google:

A Google representative could not immediately say how Barra’s responsibilities will be handled. Barra was not immediately available for comment.

We’ll certainly keep an eye out on this one, as it’s certainly an important event in Android’s history, with Barra being the second top exec that leaves Android after Andy Rubin

BLU launches three new DASH smartphones, starting at just $49 outright

BLU might not be a big name in the smartphone world, but they are known by some folks as a cheap alternative to bigger name brands when you are looking for a semi-decent Android experience at rock bottom pricing. The latest members of the DASH series push costs down even lower than ever before, ranging from $50 to $130.

So what does so little coin get you, in terms of hardware? Certainly nothing mind-blowingly powerful. Read on to see what the Dash Junior and its slightly more upscale brothers bring to the table:

BLU Dash Jr.

The Dash Jr (pictured above) packs extremely modest specs including a 1GHz Spreadtrum 6820 CPU, a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 display, 512MB storage and just 256MB RAM. Other specs include a 2MP rear cam, microSD and a 1,000 mAh battery.

As for the OS, the archaic Android 2.3 Gingerbread resides on this device.

BLU Dash Music 4.0

If you want a bit more power but are still looking for a extremely low priced device, the Dash Music 4.0 is just $99 and actually has reasonably decent specs, considering the price.

The handset features a 1.3GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6572 processor, a 4-inch 480 x 800 display, 4G storage, a rear 3.2MP cam, 4GB storage, microSD, 512MB RAM and a 1,500 mAh battery.

This time around you also get a respectable version of Android, with the handset running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

BLU Dash Music 5.0

Last but not least, the Dash Music 5.0 is the highest cost option at $130. The Music 5.0 is the exact same device internally as the Music 4.0, but trades in the 4-inch display for a 5-inch TFT with a resolution of 480 x 854. The battery also gets upgraded to 2,000 mAh.

Okay, none of these devices are going to blow anyone away, and the Dash Junior is damn near laughable. Still, if you are looking for a temporary smartphone, for say traveling abroad and not risking damage to your fancier device – BLU’s new handsets could come in handy. Of course you could always save just a bit more cash and get yourself a Nexus 4 for just $199.

If you have your heart set on one of these handsets, they will be available by the end of September in the United States and will also rollout to over 30 countries in Latin America.

Samsung Galaxy S5 to feature a metal chassis?

We are at least six months away, if not longer, from the next Samsung Galaxy flagship, let’s call it the Galaxy S5 for now, and the rumors surrounding the device have already begun. Following a report that the 2014 Samsung flagship could feature a 16MP camera with OIS, a  new report states that the Galaxy S5 could feature a metal chassis.

According to ET News, Samsung is planning to use a metal chassis for the Galaxy S5, with plans to begin a production line by the end of this year. Apparently, a sample has been created in Europe and sent to Vietnam, where the chassis will be mass-produced. The report goes on to state that Samsung is approaching this idea with caution, and will do a lot of pre-production testing to avoid issues faced by devices using full-metal bodies, such as radio interference.

Granted, similar rumors surfaced around the same time last year as well with regards to the Samsung Galaxy S4, so we have no idea whether Samsung is actually considering a move in this direction, or whether to company will continue use a plastic body. If true, it’ll be interesting to see whether the company will continue to feature a removable battery, or go for a unibody metal design, like the HTC One, for it’s next flagship.

As I’ve said before, we’re still a long way off before any Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors can be given any credence, but it’s definitely a good way to see towards which option Samsung’s large consumer base prefers

Ceros Revolution review – Quad core, 2048 x 1536, 9.7 inch tablet

I am constantly amazed at the range of Android tablets that are coming out of China. As the song goes there are short ones, tall ones, fine ones, kind ones – okay maybe not kind ones, but there are tablets for almost every need. However the 9.7 inch category still remains popular due to the success of the iPad. Many Android tablet makers including Google (with its Nexus 10) have tried to push the 10.0 to 10.1 inch size and it seems to be working. Personally I find the 10.1 inch form factor just a little too big and I have often found myself preferring 9.7 inch or even 7 inch tablets over larger devices.

The Ceros Revolution is clearly aimed at those who want an Android device that looks physically similar to an iPad (meaning an iPad 3 or iPad 4) and with some of the same specs as the iPad, but without the hefty price! The tablet sports a 9.7 inch, 2048 x 1536 IPS display with a pixel density of 264ppi – very similar to the iPad, plus the device is the same height, width and thickness to the iPad (give or take fractions of a millimeter here or there).

Design

Looking directly at the front of the Ceros Revolution it physically looks very similar to an iPad however once you start to turn it around in your hands you will see some interesting design differences that clearly show that this is an Android tablet. One is the lack of volume buttons. The volume is controlled using the soft keys that appear on the system bar on either side of the traditional set of back, home and recent buttons. This makes the device seem more streamlined and in fact to further aide streamlining the HDMI port, the micro SD card slot and the micro USB port are all hidden under a little cover. The only buttons that protrude from the device are the on/off button and just below it a back button.

The device is well constructed mainly out of plastic, including the screen, but for the price that is to be expected. In your hands it feels sturdy and doesn’t suffer from any plastic creaks or groans when you are using it. It is also available in black. A couple of minor negative points are that the device is charged using the supplied charger and can’t be charged via USB, plus there is only one speaker, no stereo here!

Display

With a resolution of  2048 x 1536 the display is very clear and crisp. The viewing angles are excellent and the colors vibrant but yet not over saturated. Using the web at this resolution is enjoyable and high-res photos from sites like Flickr are stunning. When reading an ebook with an app like Kindle the text is sharp and easy on the eyes. The QXGA display has a 4:3 aspect ratio and packs in some 3.1 million pixels. Remembering that 1080p is 1920 x 1080, the display on this device will easily display any HD videos.

Hardware

Besides the high resolution display the Ceros Revolution also features a quad-core CPU, 16GB of internal storage, 2GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel rear camera and an 8000mAh battery!

The full specs are as follows:

• Android 4.2
• 9.7 Inch IPS display with a resolution of 2048×1536
• 1.6GHz RK3188 Quad Core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with a Mali-400 MP Quad Core CPU.
• 2GB RAM
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
• 5 Megapixel Rear Camera + 0.3 Megapixel Front-Facing Camera
• Google Play support
• 8000mAh battery
• Micro SD Card up to 32GB
• HDMI
• Gravity Sensor
• Accelerometer Sensor
• Dimensions: 240x187x9.8mm (L x W x D).
• Weight: 596g

Software

The tablet uses a fairly vanilla version of Android 4.2.2 but with some minor changes. There is a section in the settings for controlling the HDMI port. Here the port can be activated and deactivated and the TV screen resolution can be set. The is also a section in the settings for controlling a screenshot button which, when activated, is placed on the system bar along with the volume, back, home and recent buttons. Even though this is Android 4.2, one missing feature is the ability to create separate user accounts. Other than that everything looks standard.

If you are into rooting and custom firmware upgrades or long term Android upgrades then this tablet probably isn’t for you. However Android 4.2.2 is the current shipping version of Android for most manufacturers.

I installed various different apps from the Play Store and found hardly any compatibility issues (something that used to plague Chinese OEM tablets). Games like Riptide and Asphalt 7: Heat installed without any problems and ran nicely on the high-res display. Unfortunately Asphalt 8 reported that it wasn’t compatible with this device, but that was the only problem title that I found in my quick tour through Google Play.

Battery

The 8000mAh battery is impressive and battery life shouldn’t be an issue with this device. During my testing I found that an hour of intense 3D gaming used around 23 percent of battery. This means that any gaming fanatics should get 4 to 5 hours life from this device just playing games. For other activities like watching movies the battery will give over 11 hours of usage. Streaming YouTube videos will probably work for around 7 hours. Leaving it on standby overnight only used 1% of the battery. That means on average you should get about 8 or 9 hours usage out of this device before it needs to be recharged. Maybe more if you are careful.

Connectivity

As well as Wi-Fi  b/g/n the tablet also supports Bluetooth and the use of a 3G USB dongle. Although I don’t have a definitive list, the tablet should support any USB 3G dongle listed as Android compatible. In general this means modems from Huawei and ZTE. Because of the support for 3G the build of Android installed on the device includes mobile network related settings about data roaming etc.

A problem that has affected cheaper Chinese tablets in the past is poor Wi-Fi reception. However the Wi-Fi on the Ceros Revolution is solid and works well. During my testing I was able to use Wi-fi normally within and around my house.

Performance

At the heart of the tablet is the RockChip RK3188. RockChip processors, like MediaTek ones, are a popular choice for cheaper tablets, especially those coming out of Asia. the RK3188 is a quad-core based on ARM’s Cortex A9 design. The chip is manufactured using a 28 nm process and runs at 1.6GHz.

Looking at performance benchmarks the tablet managed an average score of 14621 on AnTuTu making the device faster than a Nexus 10 but slower than a Samsung Galaxy Note 2. For Epic Citadel the results were good but not stunning, this is because the GPU is now having to render the image for the large 2048 x 1536 display. In High Performance mode the tablet managed a respectable 34.1 frame per second and in high Quality mode 32.9 FPS. In both cases this is more than sufficient for smooth 3D gaming plus you get the advantage of the high resolution display.

During normal use the tablet is smooth and doesn’t seem to suffer from any lags or annoying delays.

Camera

The tablet has a 5MP rear camera and a very basic 0.3 MP front-facing camera. With tablets the most useful is probably the front facing camera for video chats and although something better than VGA would have been nice, VGA is sufficient for most video conversions. You are unlikely to be using a tablet as your main camera but when something unexpected happens the best camera is the one you have with you. In general the pictures are OK, it suffers from a loss of detail in white areas, but other than that it functions well enough for a tablet. The camera app itself is basic and only allows the white balance to be set. There auto-focus does take a little longer than expected to lock so there can be a delay from when you tap to take the picture and when it is taken, however for a tablet camera it is sufficient.

Here are a few test shots!

Conclusion

The Ceros Revolution is available directly from Chinavasion, who ship worldwide, for $239.99 or 180 Euros. For half the price of an iPad and $150 less than a Nexus 10 you get a quad-core tablet with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage featuring a display with the same resolution as Apple’s Retina display. It is faster than the Nexus 10 and includes a micro SD card slot, something missing on both the iPad and Nexus 10

Google+ Hangouts to go HD on the desktop

Don’t be surprised if you switch on Google+ Hangouts sometime next week and see that the video quality is suddenly much better. Google is working on bringing an update to its video calling platform that will let you see videos in 720p.  

GigaOM had originally  reported about Google+ Hangouts going HD, and the news has now beenconfirmed by Vic Gundotra, Senior VP of Engineering at Google. According to the report, the company began rolling out the update to a handful of users last week. 

Gundotra said the update will be rolled out over the next few weeks and will reach the desktop version of the service. Initially, the upgrade will affect Hangouts On Air, which are public sessions, and there's a broader roll out for private chat coming up.

HD Hangouts coming up

This is probably a step towards making Hangouts a plugin-free experience. Currently, Google uses the H.264 video codec for Hangouts, and is now moving to VP8, an open and royalty-free video codec it released three years ago. VP8 will allow Hangouts to add participants to the chat without requiring to hit the pedal on processor power. Essentially, more people and better videos are coming to Hangouts. 

That’s not all: turns out, the shift to VP8 is only a step towards WebRTC. This shift will eventually remove the need for plugins used on browsers such as Chrome and Firefox. Google as well as Mozilla have been vouching for this set of audio and video standards, but this changeover is still months away. 

Google’s Vice President of Engineering Chee Chew believes that the transition to WebRTC will reduce the need for downloading any additional software to be able to video chat right from the browser. “The role of the plugin will diminish,” he says.

Mind control? Brain controls brain in new demonstration

(CNN) -- Every so often, you see something that makes you think: The future is here.

Researchers at the University of Washington have demonstrated what they say is the first example of a noninvasive human-to-human brain interface. In a video posted online, they show how a scientist could control another scientist's hand motions just by using brain signals sent over the Internet.

The two participants in this demonstration were the scientists themselves, Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco. They were situated on different parts of the University of Washington's campus when Stocco's finger moved on a keyboard, controlled by Rao's brain signal.

An ethical review board gave the two of them specifically -- and no one else -- permission to try it out, Stocco said.

"So far, we are the only human beings whose brains are being connected," said Stocco, a research assistant professor at the university's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

They have now done several trials of this brain communication in their unpublished pilot study and hope to expand it.

How they did it

Rao wore a cap with electrodes that were connected to an electroencephalography machine, a contraption that reads electrical activity from the brain. Rao played a video game without using his hands, just using his mind. By imagining moving his right hand, he could move a cursor on the computer screen to click "fire," in order to fire a cannon at a target. The goal of the game is to hit rockets fired by pirate ships and avoid hitting supply planes.

Meanwhile, in Stocco's lab across campus, Stocco wore a purple swim cap. A transcranial magnetic stimulation coil was placed over his left motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls hand movement.

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The electrical activity of Rao's brain was read by the electroencephalography machine, which then sent signals over the Internet to Stocco's brain by way of the transcranial magnetic stimulation coil. The signal activated the neurons that prompted Stocco's right hand to move.

Because of this connection, Rao's thinking about moving the cursor almost simultaneously caused Stocco to press the space bar of his own keyboard with his right index finger.

The first time, says Stocco, "I didn't know precisely if my hand moved because actually I got the signal from the machine or if I was twitching."

"I never twitch, so I was pretty sure that it was the signal, so I felt happy."

Caveats

This all sounds futuristic and spacey. But wait -- this isn't published in a peer-reviewed journal, which is the gold standard for scientific results, says Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, professor of neuroscience at Duke University, who has pioneered brain-computer and brain-brain interface techniques.

Stocco said he and Rao plan on submitting their results to journals, but wanted to get the word out quickly after they had evidence of their success.

What's more, Nicolelis says, Stocco was not consciously interpreting the signal from Rao. Instead, the brain signal caused Stocco's finger to move involuntarily.

The absence of choice in this situation makes it less impressive from a scientific standpoint, Nicolelis said. The same effect could have been achieved by a cell phone or a computer triggering the involuntarily movement.

"It's like a technical trick, but it doesn't cross the threshold of brain-to-brain communication," he said.

What came before

Harvard University researchers have also shown that a human could move a rat's tail with their minds, translating the person's neural signals to excite the motor area of a rat that had a motor sensor on it. This study was published in the journal PLOS One earlier this year.

A true brain-to-brain interface would involve the ability for choice, and for feedback, Nicolelis said. In other words, the receiver would have the ability to send signals back to the sender.

Nicolelis' own research has shown this more complicated technique is possible, at least in rodents. In an experiment described in a study in the journal Scientific Reports, two rats were placed in separate chambers with several levers. The brains of these rats were connected through arrays of tiny electrodes. One rat got a visual cue about which lever would lead to a reward of a drink of water. When this rat pressed the correct lever, the second rat received brain activity from the first rat corresponding to that decision.

The researchers believe that the receiving rats were actively using and interpreting this information, not just pressing a lever involuntarily, because the receiving rat pressed the correct lever about 70% of the time. That is still fairly high, but not 100%.

Here's the more impressive part: The rats appeared to demonstrate two-way collaboration in their brain network -- the rat sending the signal changed its brain function and behavior when the receiving rat did not press the correct lever. The researchers incentivized this by not giving a full reward to the sending rat if the receiving rat messed up.

This kind of two-way brain communication between humans has yet to be demonstrated. But that doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Future research

For now, the University of Washington scientists can show off their technique using simple brain signals, but their technology doesn't allow people to read each other's thoughts.

And don't worry -- it was done in a laboratory setting in accordance with a strict human-testing protocol, so it would not be used to control people's behavior without their consent, they say.

The technology is still in its early stages, but Stocco imagines many practical applications: For instance, a senior surgeon could control the hands of another surgeon in training during an operation. Stocco also told the University of Washington's news office that a person with disabilities could signal that he or she would like food or water, or a pilot who becomes incapacitated could be assisted from the ground.

"It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain," Rao told the University of Washington's news office. "This was basically a one-way flow of information from my brain to his. The next step is having a more equitable two-way conversation directly between the two brains."

The researchers said they intend to conduct another experiment involving more complex information from one brain to another. They will try the technique on more people if that is successful, and if approved by the ethics board.

If they can pump up the technology to do what Nicolelis has demonstrated in rats, this would be, quite literally, a meeting of minds.