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Bharti Airtel offers free TV viewing on Pocket TV on May 15 and 16

Airtel Digital TV subscribers can now stay updated with election coverage and poll results on May 15 and May 16 as the company offers free TV viewing via Pocket TV app. [Updated]

Update: Tata Sky has also introduced a similar offer for the Election results week. Tata Sky is offering a bouquet of 13 English news channels, 18 Hindi News channels and 38 regional news channels free this week. The offer also includes news channels available on Tata Sky’s Everywhere TV service.

Original story:

Bharti Airtel has come up with an interesting offer for those who want to stay updated with the election coverage and poll results on May 16. The operator is offering its DTH subscribers TV viewing free for its customers on its mobile application – Pocket TV on May 15 and May 16.

“With this, customers across the country can now download the mobile application and enjoy two days of free viewing of all news channels (Hindi, English and vernacular) on the application and catch all the latest news updates on the poll results anywhere, anytime,” says the company in a release.

The offer will be available to customers on May 15 and 16, post which customers will need to activate the service by sending the SMS <ADD TV> to 54325 from their registered mobile number. For more details, visit http://www.airtel.in/pocketTV

Airtel's Pocket TV is available on the Android and iOS platforms. Like Dish TV's DishOnline and Tata Sky's Everywhere TV, the service provides Live TV streaming on smartphones and tablets. Check out our

Truecaller ties up with Tata Docomo to offer unlimited free access

Truecaller has tied up with telecom operator Tata Docomo to provide unlimited access to Trucaller service to Docomo subscribers.

With the partnership, users will also get access to the premium features of Truecaller free of cost, for a period of 90 days. The premium Truecaller application includes

Ad Free: Users will experience an advertisement free Truecaller experience

Profile Views: Users will be able to see who’s viewed their profile. They can even see how many minutes ago someone saw it.

Monthly Contact Requests: Users will get 30 contact requests at the start of every month. With these requests users can contact other Truecaller users by looking for their name in the directory.

Truecaller says its new partnership is in-line with the strategy to tie-up with service providers in order to expand its user base in India. Currently, Truecaller has more than 30 million users in India, which is more than 50% of its global user base of 55 million.

“Truecaller finds this association with Tata DOCOMO an important catalyst of reaching out to millions of mobile users and offering a superior data enabled service. Importantly, by offering free data services and 90 days of Truecaller Premium service for free, Tata DOCOMO users will get to experience a very unique and most loved aspect of Truecaller. This is just a beginning of long standing relationship with Tata DOCOMO and we will be bringing in many more such offerings in months to come." says Kari Krishnamurthy, VP Growth and Partnerships for Asia, Middle East and Africa at Truecaller.

Samsung Galaxy S5 price slashed to Rs. 46,400

Price of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone Galaxy S5 has been dropped to Rs. 46,400. While the official Samsung e-store shows the original Rs. 51,500 price tag, e-commerce sites such as Flipkart and Snapdeal have the listed the smartphone with the slashed price.

However, it's notable Flipkart and Snapdeal are selling the “white model” at the new price. Flipkart is selling the black version at relatively high price – Rs. 49,999, while Snapdeal is offering the Black and Blue versions for Rs. 50,399 and Rs. 51,099 respectively.

According to reports, price drop could be either because of lesser sale of white model or the launch of the new flagship from HTC at around same price point. HTC's flagship One (M8) is scheduled to be released in the first week of May. The smartphone has been priced at Rs. 49,990. Check out our detailed HTC One (M8): First impressions

Do you think Samsung should further lower the price of the Galaxy S5? Let us know your views in the comments section below. Also check out our Samsung Galaxy S5: First impressions review and Samsung Galaxy S5: The Good, The Bad and the Unknown

Airtel launches Night Store with unlimited voice and data plans

Bharti Airtel has launched a slew of affordable plans (including voice and data), starting at Rs. 7. Branded as the Night Store, Airtel's new plans are available for prepaid users for data usage and local calling at night (between 12midnight - 6am).

Customers can try out the new Airtel schemes - for 2G, 3G and local Airtel-to-Airtel calls – by dialing *129# or calling 129 or logging on to m.airtel.in/night. Customers can select from a bouquet offers with benefits including unlimited local A2A calling at just Rs. 7/- or unlimited internet on 2G at just Rs. 8/- and more. There's an unlimited Facebook plan as well.

Check out Airtel's new night plans below:

Night plans aren't a new concept. When the voice segment was booming, almost all the major telecom operators offered a wide array of service packs for night users that included discounted STD calls, SMS and local calling.

Currently, operators are mainly focussing on the data. And that makes Airtel's new Night Store plan is quite interesting as it focusses on voice calling as well as data and social media. Moreover, it is aimed at night users, especially those who don't get to catch up with their friends or browse Internet during the day.

Project Novena: World's first fully open source laptop now available

In a post-Edward Snowden’s disclosure world, where people and companies are seriously exploring options to keep their digital data and communication secure from NSA (or other illegitimate) snooping, here’s some good news.

Project Novena is alive and kicking, promising to bring you the world’s “almost” fully open source laptop. And it doesn’t just have open source software, but open source hardware. Hardware with open designs for anyone to manufacture and implement as they deem fit.

That’s what Project Novena’s Andrew “bunnie” Huang and Sean “xobs” Cross, two Singapore-based engineers, who care enough about open source products so as to go ahead and build something like Project Novena -- not just laptops, as we mentioned in the headline above, but other form factors of computing devices.

According to the project’s page on Crowd Supply, Novena is claimed to be “a 1.2GHz, Freescale quad-core ARM architecture computer closely coupled with a Xilinx FPGA. It's designed for users who care about open source, and/or want to modify and extend their hardware: all the documentation for the PCBs is open and free to download, the entire OS is buildable from source, and it comes with a variety of features that facilitate rapid prototyping.”

The Project Novena laptop looks like a 13-inch hobbyist device with a full-HD 1920x1080 display, 240 GB SSD, and 3000 mAh battery. It weighs just 1.36 kgs, according to the Project Novena laptop’s claimed specs.

And that’s not all.

Project Novena’s currently offering its open source motherboard, all-in-one desktop, laptop, and premium laptop labelled Heirloom.

Right now, the Project Novena laptop is priced at US $1,995, which puts it out of reach from most mainstream customers. It will only appeal to people driven enough to value open source and want to have complete control over every little aspect of their laptop.

But, given recent trends, where open source hardware is finding traction with tech companies -- like Facebook, for e.g. -- we wonder if this proof-of-concept Project Novena is truly just hobbyist in nature?

Rest assured, we’re watching this space closely for any exciting developments in the near future.

Microsoft: Windows free for smartphones, tablets

As India slept inconspicuously, Satya Nadella’s Microsoft made its most ‘Indian’ announcement till date in the wee hours earlier today. All versions of its Windows operating system will be made available for free on devices sporting less than a 9-inch display.

No jokes. You read that right: Microsoft’s Windows OS will be made available for free for device manufacturers as long as these devices (smartphones, phablets and tablets) have less than a 9-inch display.

This potentially game-changing announcement came at Microsoft’s Build 2014 conference currently underway in San Francisco, and is undoubtedly aimed at improving Microsoft Windows’ market share on high-growth markets and countering the meteoric rise of its chief competitor -- Google’s Android operating system.

Relief for OEMs, great news for customers!

According to a Reuters report, currently Microsoft charges between US $5 to $15 for every smartphone and tablet that has a Windows operating system running on it. Device manufacturers in turn factor in these costs on the final sales price of each of these Windows devices.

But all that changes after Microsoft’s latest announcement. This means, going forward, device manufacturers can install Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 on devices with a lesser than 9-inch display size at no additional cost.

This is a great development from customer's point of view, because they will in turn reap the benefits of reduced manufacturing costs for Windows devices -- be it smartphones, tablets, phablets or even hybrids.

By giving away free Windows OS to device manufactures, Microsoft seems to be geared towards focusing on monetizing Windows Store, apps, and its other cloud-based services.

This new free Windows development is definitely better than the supposed Windows 8.1 with Bing experiment that Microsoft was contemplating last month, where it was considering a stripped down Windows OS with lower costs for greater appeal towards device manufacturers.

Historic move

In some ways, this latest move by Satya Nadella-led Microsoft is in stark contrast to something that Bill Gates believed deeply and helped Microsoft become a tech giant -- that all software should be paid.

But in a post-PC world and constantly shifting market realities, free or freemium is the way to go, if Microsoft and Windows is to have any chance of breaking the Android-iOS hegemony of the market.

Just a few days ago, Microsoft announced the free availability of Office Mobile on Android and iOS devices. This is another significant shift from Microsoft’s traditional mindset of keeping Windows at the centre of deploying its Office services. But with Microsoft Office itself being a cloud-based service, the impetus seems to be on getting it on as many devices as possible.

And the same philosophy seems to be at work with today’s free Windows announcement.

What do you think? Will this help towards a greater adoption of Windows on smartphones and tablets? Can Windows finally challenge the Android juggernaut with this unprecedented incentive to device manufacturers?

Uninor offers unlimited Facebook, WhatsApp access at Rs. 15 per month

n a bid to boost its subscribers base in India and target the youth, telecom operator Uninor has launched a new scheme under which it offers unlimited access to Facebook and WhatsApp for Rs. 15 per month. Uninor hopes the new scheme will help boost its data users and revenue in 2014.

The new scheme also marks change in Uninor's Internet strategy – shifting from volume based Internet offerings (MB and GB offerings) to service based Internet offerings. “We are moving out of data and moving in to Internet. Internet is the way in which customers consume data and our approach will be to make that usage the cheapest among all operators,” says Morten Karlsen Sorby, nominated CEO of Uninor.

Uninor's new schemes are branded as the “Sabse Sasta Facebook” and “Sabse Sasta Whatsapp”. The scheme gives subscribers unlimited access to these services at one fixed charge for a period ranging from 1 hour to 1 month.

Take a look at the plans in the graph below:

“These plans are a great way to discover Facebook and stay connected with friends and family without worrying about data charges on Uninor.” said Kevin D'souza, Head of Growth and Mobile Partnerships, Facebook India. “In Uninor, we have a partner that has the vision and desire to make the Internet affordable and we are excited to help connect the world with them.”

“Selling Internet as rupees per MB is like selling air or train tickets as rupees per kilometre. What customers do with Internet is to use it for services like Facebook or Whatsapp. Our plan is to make these services the cheapest on Uninor,” said Sorby. “For us, internet will always be about affordability and relevance.

Uninor will be rolling out the scheme in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa circles by end of this month. Other circles are expected to follow soon.

Focus on the data market

As most of the telecom operators, Uninor has turned its attention towards the data segment. The telecom operator hopes to double its revenue by end of this year. “We have chosen to move away from the 2G, 3G and 4G discussions and also from the per GB and per MB model. Our customers use services like Facebook and Whatsapp and they expect their experience on these to be of good quality at affordable prices,” said Sorby. “This is a natural extension of our mass market strategy - best in basic services with the lowest tariffs.”

Technology upgrade

Uninor has kicked off an upgradation of technology and infrastructure to gear up for the expected surge in Internet traffic.

The capacity expansion project includes enhancement of packet core nodes, creation of dedicated resources only for these services and enhancing transmission and compression mechanisms. With these, and other measures, Uninor says its network infrastructure will be able to support two times the Internet demand than what it is today.

Indian students launch FreeKall, an offline voice calling service

Three Bangalore based engineering students, Yashas C Shekar, Vijaykumar Umaluti and Sandesh E, have launched FreeKall, a free voice calling service for those who do not have any internet access.

FreeKall makes money by making people listen to advertisements during calls. So once two users are connected, they will be able to hear 10 second advertisements after every two minutes in the middle of the call. Freekall has tied up with a media agency called Streetsmart Media Solutions for the advertisements.

To make a FreeKall users have to dial the numbers 080-67683693 or 080-67683693 and the call will be disconnected after a ring. After that, the automated system calls the user back and asks them to dial the desired number and get connected. The system can currently support 20,000 calls per second. FreeKall is currently in Beta as of now and so far it has already been used to make nearly four lakh (400,000) calls so far.

Registered users can make 12 minute calls in 24 hours and un-registered users can make calls for upto three minutes. Once the service goes live, registered users will be able to make unlimited calls.

The company is aiming for nearly 10 million calls a day after getting the necessary legal clearances and expects revenue of nearly $30 million at the end of the next fiscal year.

"The response has been phenomenal. Our servers crashed about seven times and we had to bring it back up," said Yashas Shekar, the 23-year-old who co-founded the company with college-mates Vijayakumar Umaluti and Sandesh Eshwarappa. "On the flip side Sandesh, and Vijayakumar have not slept since Saturday," chuckled Shekar.

Recently an Indian student had developed a prototype of a computer system that uses a microchip, embedded with an operating system. It allows the system to work on both Windows and Linux-based software simultaneously. The system is called Revo Book and runs on an operating system called ReVo IX

WhatsApp to add free voice calls after Facebook acquisition

Messaging giant Whatsapp will soon be adding free voice calls for its 465 million users. The update comes shortly after the app was acquired by Facebook in a $19 billion deal.

The new service is likely to be available in the second quarter of this year. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that they want to hit 1 billion users with the new feature.

“We are driven by the mission that people should be able to stay in touch anywhere and affordably,” Koum said at the Mobile World Congress industry fair in Barcelona on Monday.

The company's move will not sit well with telecom operators. Adding free calls threatens telecom revenue source which has been declining anyway as carriers' tweak tariffs to focus on mobile data instead of calls. Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber and WeChat have won over telecom operators' customers in recent years by offering a free option to text messaging.

However Koum states that the company is not attacking Telecom operators but is working with them. The messaging app has tied with Telecom operator e-plus to offer special tariffs to access the app. He added that Whatsapp will continue to function the same way as it was before the Facebook acquisition. “There are no planned changes and we will continue to do what we set out to do, even after the acquisition closes,” Koum said. “Still no marketing.

Aakash 4 to launch in market for Rs. 3,999 soon: Kapil Sibal

The Indian government's ambitious ultra low-cost tablet PC – Aakash 4 – will be available in the market by end of March for Rs. 3,999. Confirming the development, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal revealed tender for the Aakash 4 has been already floated by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGSD).

The Aakash 4 will feature a 7-inch scratch resistant capacitative touch screen, 4GB internal storage, external memory card slot with storage capacity of up to 32 GB and front camera. For connectivity, it'll support Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G and 4G. You can check out the proposed specifications for the Aakash 4 tablet here.

As many as 17 companies including Dell, Intel, HP, Acer, Microsoft, DataWind, Micromax and Simmtronics are in race for the Aakash 4.

Despite various delays and spate of controversies, the Aakash has continued to be an important project for the Indian government. The tablet, aimed at bridging the digital divide in the country, has already been showcased at the international platforms including the UN.

While the consumers continue to wait for the government's ultra low-cost tablet, the market is already awash with a wide range of ultra low-cost tablets.

Do you think excitement around the Aakash tablet has faded? Let us know your views in the comments section below. Also read: Aakash 4 - Will it be more than just pie in the sky

Eterni.me lets you Skype with the dead

'Eterni.me' is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Entrepreneurship Development Program. The start-up created virtual avatars of the ceased for the loved ones to chat online.

The site claims that it can digitally reconstruct your personality after your death by assembling portrait based on your online activities. The team looks into your social-network information, chat logs, photos, e-mails and then uses this information to reconstruct your memories and mannerisms.
"Eterni.me collects almost everything that you create during your lifetime and processes this huge amount of information using complex Artificial Intelligence algorithms," according to the website.
"Then it generates a virtual YOU, an avatar that emulates your personality and can interact with, and offer information and advice to, your family and friends after you pass away. It's like a Skype chat from the past," it said.
The site received 1,300 email registrations and 36000 page views within 24 hours of going live, confirmed Marius Ursache, the startup's chief executive. Apart from that there isn't much information available, except a few headshots of the team of designers, engineers and business people involved in the development of the website. However, interested users can enter their e-mail address to receive updates about the launch, which is "soon." "We'll be accepting new users gradually," the page reads.
If the site works as promised, it may provide a fascinating model for people who want tangible connections with their deceased loved ones.

Now, SMS alert after confirmation of waitlisted railway tickets

Soon, you will no longer have to dial the 139 or visit the railway website to check the status of your waitlisted ticket. Railways will now send ticket booking status messages to passengers on their mobile phones, if their tickets get confirmed before journey.

"Once the SMS-based service is operational, passengers will get the updated status of their wait-listed tickets automatically. Only those passengers will get the message whose tickets get confirmed,” a Railway Ministry official is quoted as saying.

Software for the SMS-based service is being developed by CRIS, the technological arm of Railways.

The new service is certainly going to benefit a number of passengers and also help reduce load on the government railway website.

It's notable IRCTC has already launched a facility to book tickets using mobile phones. To make ticket booking process easier, IRCTC has launched mobile apps as well. Read: In Focus: IRCTC App for Windows Phone 8

IRCTC recently launched e-wallet scheme, wherein users have an account with the IRCTC and have a sum already deposited that can be used for future tickets bookings.

Banglore City Gets Free WIFI Service

The Karnataka government has launched Wi-Fi service Namma which will allow free wireless Internet connectivity to visitors to MG road in Bangalore on their smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices. The government claimed this to be the first of its kind in the country

People can use the service when they are around M.G. Road and Brigade Road in downtown, or at Shantinagar or Yeshwantpur bus terminals, and at upscale Indiranagar in the city's eastern suburb.

"The facility is a first step to make Bangalore a smart and connected city," said Internet and Wi-Fi service provider D-VoiS Broadband Ltd managing director Ramesh Satya.

iOS 7.1 beta points at a possible release of the iOS in the Car feature

It seems that Apple is on target with the potential launch of the “iOS in the Car” feature, with the iOS 7.1 beta screenshots indicating that the next major iOS update will unlock those features on compatible devices. The screenshots show a toggle button in the Settings menu, labeled “Car Display.”

iOS in the Car allows compatible iOS devices to connect to a car’s infotainment console, through either wireless protocols or via a USB cable. An iOS interface for managing Maps, Messages, and Music appears on the infotainment system’s display.

A number of car manufacturers, including Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti, Ferrari, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Volvo, Opel and Jaguar, have already confirmed hardware and in-car setup to support the iOS in the Car feature. Earlier this month, Honda became the first car maker to announce the HondaLink feature with the 2014 Civic launched in the U.S.

At the WWDC in June 2013, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook had said that iOS in the Car is a key feature that Apple is developing. “I see it as very important. It’s a part of the ecosystem. Just like the App Store is a key part of the ecosystem. And iTunes, and all of our content are key. And the services we provide from messaging to Siri and so forth – having something in the automobile is very, very important. It’s something that people want, and I think Apple can do this in a unique way – better than anyone else. It’s a key focus for us,” he said.

This would just be the start of a series of upgrades and new features that the Cupertino giant has in store. Apple is said to be working on a new Maps app, which will add indoor mapping and transit directions functionality. The company is also testing ways to integrate the iPhone’s sensors with the in-car dashboard systems.

HTC Desire 500 officially launched in India for Rs. 21,490

HTC has officially launched a mid-range smartphone called the HTC Desire 500 for Rs 21,490 in India. The device is available on online ecommerce stores snapdeal and flipkart as well as across retail stores in India.

The HTC Desire 500 has a 4.3-inch WVGA display with 400 x 800 pixels resolution. It has a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM. The handset runs on Android 4.2 and comes with integrated Sense 5.0 UI. The smartphone comes with BlinkFeed that gives the user access to newsfeeds from over 10,000 news feeds per day. It has 4GB of internal memory, expandable via MicroSD card up to 64GB.

The smartphone features an 8MP rear camera with an LED flash and a 1.6MP front camera with a BSI sensor. The Desire 500 is capable of 720p video recording. It comes with Beats Audio system and an 1800mAh battery. The smartphone offers dual-SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS with A-GPS connectivity. It has inbuilt Accelerometer, Proximity sensor and Ambient light sensor. The Desire 500 is available in Black and Silver colors.

"The Desire range has become renowned for bringing a premium mobile experience to the mass market. This particular model enables powerful multitasking and boasts of an excellent camera," HTC India Head Faisal Siddiqui said in a statement.

HTC has also launched its One Mini smartphone in India for Rs 34,999. The device features a 4.3-inch 720p display with 720 x 1280 pixels resolution. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core 1.4 GHz processor and runs on Android 4.2. The HTC One Mini has a 4MP Ultrapixel camera and a 1.6MP front camera.

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