Blue Bugle: Mobile, Desktop & Web Technologies

We did a short review on Surface RT tablets earlier in the blog. We also checked out Surface Pro, and their performance . Also, Surface RT is a tablet quite different from what you expect from a Windows tablet, and as a result they failed in the market . With these said, Microsoft has sent out invitations for an event in NYC on Sept 23 , where they will unveil the next generation of the tablets—Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. Let’s check out what you can expect from these tablets. Also, there is the rumored Surface Mini that may be unveiled too. Basically, a few things that we have been able to confirm about these tablets are these: NVidia Tegra 4 processor  on RT; Intel Haswell processor on Surface Pro 2; 1080p HD screen; two-step kickstand that helps maintain orientation on uneven surfaces; a battery-powered keyboard cover, known as power cover; an upgrade to RAM to about 4 GB or so; Windows RT 8.1 on Surface 2 tablet. What’s Wrong With Surface RT? Earlier when Surface RT...

Simply speaking, VOIP has become a means to make calls from your PCs to all kinds of devices. Here is a list of short reviews of the best of VOIP software programs out there. 6. Vonage In the large field of VOIP software, Vonage  (also UK edition ) is already quite a bit known. It is also one of the best services out there. The Vonage VOIP plans start at 9 dollars per month. The system has a box known as Vonage box that works with your broadband modem in order to bring unlimited calling worldwide. There are a lot of included and add-on features for Vonage service, including call management, voicemail, simultaneous ringing on five phones, enhanced call forwarding, virtual numbers, Fax, extra lines, toll free numbers, etc. 5. Nextiva Nextiva is a VOIP software program with business focus. It is feature-rich with quite a number of features listed here . You can also buy VOIP software phones from Nextiva at affordable prices. Nextiva has a number of plans at affor...

In a recent talk between Microsoft and Nokia, the two companies contemplated a merger. WSJ reported the story  yesterday, and for quite a while, industry leaders have been cogitating on this move. Since 2011, Nokia has been in tie-up with Microsoft to use Windows Phone operating system on all of its major devices, notably the Nokia Lumia series ( Lumia 920 , 928 , etc). This has helped both companies in great ways. Here is an analysis as to whether the merger could pave way to success to these companies. Nokia Nokia, the Finnish smartphone maker, has been quite big in the market up until Android and iOS destroyed the stronghold of its Symbian OS. Nokia subsequently fell from the top and now has the tenth position in global smartphone market with about 2.8 percent of the market, according to research firm Gartner. Nokia lost its stock value considerably, and the strong stock, which some time in 2007 was trading at a peak rate of 40 dollars, now trades at around 3-4 dollars...

It was a fine morning in January that 72 year old Tami Fletcher went to the Radioshack Store in Long Beach, New York and purchased an upgrade to her old laptop running Windows. She had a Dell laptop of nearly ten years old that was running Windows XP Media Center edition. In the recent times her applications and the Internet connection have been slowing down unnecessarily, and she was not able to display some web pages properly. A friend of hers suggested that she upgrade her laptop’s hardware and get the latest Windows. This was what drove her to Radioshack. When she got the laptop back after three days, with the necessary hardware upgrade and Windows 8 , she was quite happy, until she reached home, turned on the laptop, and found herself wondering where all her stuff went. She was specifically told that none of her stuff would be lost in an upgrade, but she was looking at what was completely new to her. And there was no way old Tami could get herself acquainted with the new Wind...

Nokia’s Lumia 920 is arguably the best smartphone in the market today due to a number of reasons. It’s major disadvantage is that it is a Windows Phone device, and hence, less number of apps. If Lumia 920 ran Android, it might have proven to be a much greater success. It has the best camera, great display (although smaller than Galaxy S3 and HTC One), and amazing build quality. It is simply the best Windows Phone device out there. Now, Nokia is all set to release its upgraded handset in the Lumia 900 family—Lumia 928. My Nokia blog  recently discovered a billboard of Lumia 928 (location unknown), shown here. We are also not sure if it’s real or faked. It could well be a billboard for Lumia 920 that someone doctored. The rumors of a higher-end Lumia 920 device for Verizon Wireless started appearing at the start of the year itself. It has never been officially confirmed by Nokia, until now. Nokia has a new 928 page here  that talks about this device. Updates on the announ...

In the last few hours, I was engrossed in all kinds of thoughts and skepticisms about the latest tablet PC from Acer, Aspire R7. The tablet computer runs Windows 8 and comes with what most people call a ‘weird design’. However, is that really the case? How good or bad this new product really is? Let’s find out through this article. The First Impressions on the Design I looked through almost all of the first look reviews I could lay my hands on. Most of them talk about one most important aspect of this tablet PC—its design. Acer Aspire R7 as you can see here in this image is a weirdly designed tablet PC. It is neither a tablet, nor a laptop, nor a PC. Still, it works as all of them. R7 comes with an aluminum unibody design that has a hinge known as ‘Ezel hinge’. With the help of the hinge, this computer can take four different shapes, you know kind of like Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga. Aspire R7 has one of the best design innovations that we got to see in Windows 8 computers . The four...

ECPA (the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) of 1986 in the United States has enabled the US government to legally seek information from online service providers about various activities conducted by their users. It had a major amendment in the form of the Patriot Act of Oct 26, 2011 , in response to the 9/11 attacks. With this amendment, the government and agencies affiliated to the government, such as the FBI, NSA, etc., can demand information about user activities from any company. Google, in its transparency report  about user data requests, did reveal the information demanded by government agencies. Quite recently, Microsoft also outed how much data has been requested from the company by the use of this law. Through the amendment known as the Patriot act (USA PATRIOT Act), law enforcement agencies are capable of demanding information required for further investigation and evidence-gathering through what is known as National Security Letters (NSL). ECPA, Patriot Act, ...

We know about Surface tablet running Windows RT (Run Time), the ARM-specific Windows operating system that works on tablets. We have looked at the differences it has with Windows 8 regular. Windows RT is a tablet operating system, and hence doesn’t have the capability to install and run regular Windows applications. In one of the recent talks, NVidia’s co-founder and chief, Jen-Hsun Huang expressed disappointment over the sales of Windows RT tablets powered by NVidia Tegra processor. NVidia has reason to talk about the sales of Windows RT devices. Three major Windows RT tablets— Microsoft Surface RT , Asus VivoTab RT , and Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11  are powered by NVidia’s Tegra 3 SoC. In another recent press conference, JK Shin, co-CEO of Samsung Electronics told to the WSJ : Smartphones and tablets based on Microsoft's Windows operating system aren't selling very well. There is a preference in the market for Android. In Europe, we're also seeing lackluster deman...

How many browsers do you know? From the old world text-based browsers like Lynx to the current topper in browser market, Google Chrome, there are innumerable browsers. Also, your hunt for the best and most compatible browser doesn’t end there. You have to know which browser works better based on the website you are visiting. Some websites have a certain type of content that doesn’t probably work with a browser you have. You may really need a number of browsers on your computer in order to view all kinds of websites. In this article, let me tell you about the compatibility of each browser and give you ways to identify which browser works for your need. Here is StatCounter’s global statistics of browser share from the beginning of this year. StatCounter Global Stats Top Browsers Per Country from Jan to Mar 2013 Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Market Share As you can see Chrome is the world’s browser choice, while IE and Firefox are close behind. Browser Layo...