Blue Bugle: Mobile, Desktop & Web Technologies

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...

It was March 30, 2011 . Google announced its plans to build an infrastructure that will provide ultra-high-speed broadband to a few lucky users in Kansas City, Kansas. This is Google Fiber, the ultra-fast Internet service from the search giant. With this development, one has to wonder if we are there yet? In terms of the fastest speeds in broadband, the United States, despite being a giant in technology, is ranked nowhere. South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, etc., have broad band connections with an average speed around 50 Mbps. As reported by the NY Times in a recent article, South Korea already had plans to build nearly 1 Gbps speed into every home in the country; already, about 1500 homes in 5 cities have been connected to 1 Gbps Internet. We don’t know how far the program has progressed since then. In the recent analysis, South Korea already has the fastest Internet speeds in the world, with Hong Kong competing close behind. That country’s Internet is easily 200 times f...

Apple iPhone has been available in all of the major US carriers—Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. Only T-Mobile didn’t have iPhone up until now. The fourth major carrier in the country has announced that it will be selling iPhone 5 from the next month, specifically April 12, 2013 . T-Mobile has also announced how it is thinking about doing away with the carrier-lock plans that you get with a discounted smartphone purchase. In this new method of buying a phone, all you do is pay a tiny amount for the phone upfront, and then pay for the phone in installments over the coming months. You get an unlocked phone and there is no need to go for a data plan from T-Mobile. Check this video out, John Legere, chief of T-Mobile, explains: T-Mobile’s Mobile Plan The idea that T-Mobile has put forward is that you can purchase any smartphone for a discounted initial price, you know similar to the contract phone purchases, but you don’t have to sign up for any contract. All you do is pay for the smar...

Don’t you find it difficult to digest that iPhone is priced at around 700 dollars, although to manufacture that device, Apple has to spend only around 250 dollars? Apple does put hefty prices for its devices in the market, so hefty that it is not accessible to a huge part of the population. Why would a company that already has a huge hoard of cash want more from its devices? Also, how is it that none of the retailers out there is unable to give you any discount on iPhone or iPad or any such Apple products? First of all, there is something called MSRP, Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, which is the price suggested by the manufacturer, based on the manufacturing cost, required profits, investor suggestions, etc. It is also known as RRP (Recommended Retail Price). It is also the price that you pay to get your iPhone from Apple’s website. Currently, iPhone 5’s MSRP is 649 dollars for 16 GB, 749 for 32 GB, and 849 for 64 GB models. If you look through the carriers of iPhone, AT...

Remember how we liked BlackBerry’s new features in the launch last month? Z10 and Q10 are already in the market. In UK, Z10 and Q10 were launched the very next day of the BB 10 keynote on Jan 31. In Canada, the homeland of BlackBerry, the devices were available since Feb 5 th . And in the US, the devices were made available on Feb 10 by a carrier named Solavei, which is a MVNO under T-Mobile (that means it doesn’t have its own network, but operates under T-Mobile’s network). While the official availability may be only in March, Solavei is already selling BB 10 devices, but for a premium price of 999 dollars. That is a thousand bucks for the taste of the new BlackBerry! Is it really worth it? If you note, Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet PC  costs less than that. We have done an analysis of how the BlackBerry phones have been selling in various markets. The data is not quite available, although we have a little bit. Google's search trends about BlackBerry has been a little bit ...

In CES, there are only innovations, one could say. However, which are the best and the most eye-candy? Difficult to say as the taste differs by person. If you have been going through Engadget, CNET, etc., you have already seen most of what matters. However, we are doing an attempt at a few noticeable tech innovations of CES this year in this post. Check it out and let us know what you think. LifeProof Cases for iPhone, iPad, etc. These cases will not only make your iDevice waterproof as shown in the figure, but also dust-proof, dirt-proof, and shock-proof. Siemens Aquaris Siemens Aquaris is the first ever hearing aid to be waterproof. This soft hearing aid is scratch-resistant, dust-proof, and shock proof as well. Siemens tells this hearing aid is specifically designed for the people working in harsh environments. ClearSounds i800 This sleek cordless phone has a place for your iPhone. It can not only charge your iPhone, but also route the call between phones. ...

Everyone knows about Qualcomm’s upper hand in mobile processor world . It powers more mobile handsets than any other processor manufacturer out there. Here is the market share given by Statista in 2011: We noticed Apple powering a huge number of smartphones. But you should know A6X chip is available only on iPhone. Samsung’s Exynos processor is available only on certain select models of Galaxy. And NVidia Tegra processors are coming on too few smartphones. The rest of them all use Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. About five hundred devices (smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, etc.) use Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, and about 400 new devices will be released in the coming months. This year in CES, Qualcomm has announced the latest edition of Snapdragon series, four new processors—Snapdragon 200, 400, 600, and 800. CEO and chairman of Qualcomm, Dr. Paul Jacobs says Snapdragon 800 and 600 are the “most advanced wireless processors ever built”. Snapdragon S1 to S4 and the S4’s sub s...

Nexus 4 is Google’s fourth generation smartphone running Android operating system . The phone is as usual high end and the first product running Android Jelly Bean 4.2.1. It is also the only high end smartphone priced very competitively (that is if you purchase the Google Nexus 4 from Google Play store, not from a carrier). The price of this Google smartphone starts from 299 dollars (that is the base model). This is also the first time Google is teaming up with LG for smartphone manufacturing. Do you need further reasons to buy Nexus 4? Here they are. Also, there are a few reasons not to purchase this smartphone. Tech Specs First up, the technical specifications. Property Value Dimensions Height 133.9mm Width 68.7mm Thickness 9.1mm Weight 139 g Connectivity Besides GSM & GPRS, 3G UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+; HSDPA at 42 mbps; no LTE The Display 4.7 inch; LCD IPS; 1280x768 px; 320ppi ...

You may have come across great apps that you would love to install on your iPhone but you cannot since Apple hasn’t approved it. You have to jailbreak your iPhone before you can install such an app. Apple has stringent guidelines in place for including an app in its store. Getting Apple’s approval is a difficult process for app developers. Let’s look at why people jailbreak iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products. In 2010 Apple went to court against jailbreaking iPhones. They argued that it was a direct violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). However, the court ruled against it and made jailbreaking legal. Unlocking vs. Jailbreaking You have probably come across the term unlocking. It is the process of removing the control over the phone by telephone operator. If you unlock the iPhone, you will be able to have it work with any carrier out there. It is different from jailbreaking. When you jailbreak an iPhone, it is not unlocked, but in order to unlock a phone, y...

WCIT (World Conference on International Telecommunications) is about to be held in Dubai, from 3rd to 14th of December, 2012. Next month, this conference, held by ITU (The International Telecommunications Union), a body of the United Nations, is widely believed to spell the end of the free Internet as we know it. Is there truth to this? Google firmly disagrees  this move by ITU and WCIT. Facebook should disagree as well, and so should YouTube! What is going on really? There are proposals in WCIT that may be passed and if done could cause catastrophic effects on online business as we know it. Three fourth of 193 participants (country governments) of the current ITU WCIT should agree on the proposals to make them official. The first edition of the conference was held in Melbourne in 1988, and it made the Internet that we know today—an entity not ruled by anyone anywhere in the world, a place where people have the freedom of speech and innovation. The new conference received a n...