BizzNtech » Techy news

Indian iPhone 3G Price- The Costliest in the World?

Joel — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:26:02 +0000

iPhone 3G has already hit many countries across the world. The iPhone 3G 8GB in US is priced at $199 and 16GB version at $299. That’s a sweet deal isn’t it? But looks like it won’t be the same in every country. We can take India as the best example. Well, iPhone hasn’t arrived in India yet. But the estimated price is way too much. It’s whopping Rs31000! ($740) for the 8GB edition and the thing that shocked me even more was that the price was exclusive of rental plans. The 16GB version will cost between Rs36,000 – Rs37,000 ($850).

In a statement, Bharti said that millions of Airtel subscribers will be able to purchase the iPhone at Airtel’s Relationship Centres from August 22. Oh boy! Give me a break. The pricing is utter nonsense. I wonder why would people even buy at that rate when it’s available for less than $200 in grey market.

GTA IV PC Edition Announced

Joel — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:54:20 +0000

Here’s something exciting for all GTA fans eagerly waiting for a PC edition of GTA IV. There were a lot of rumors over the web stating the release of a PC version of GTA IV. Rockstar has finally let the cat out of the bag. Rockstar has finally announced the PC version of GTA IV. The PC edition of GTA IV will be released on November 18th and 21st in North America and Europe.

“We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can’t wait for people to play it.” The game offers “a rich, immersive narrative experience; an original soundtrack highlighting the cultural eclecticism of Liberty City; and newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.”

For more info check Rockstargames.

Initial Intel Nehalem Bloomfield CPUs Prices and Release Date

Joel — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:44:35 +0000

We all know about the Intel Nehalem processors which are yet to be released. Intel’s initial Nehalem processors will be released in September this year. The 2.66GHz ‘Bloomfield’ CPU will be priced at just $284. Well, that’s the batch price. To get it at that rate you gotta buy 1000 CPUs. So, we can assume that the price will be slightly higher than that.

The Bloomfield Nehalem will also be made available in 2.93GHz and 3.2GHz versions. They’ll be priced at $562 and $999 respectively. A Chinese site HKEPC claims that the 3.2 GHz Nehalem will be an Extreme-branded gaming PC part.

Those of you planning for an upgrade to the Nehalem, you’ll have to get a new motherboard as the sockets will be LGA1366 (4 and 6 cores) and LGA1567 (8 cores). That’s a bit disappointing though. Well, the motherboards will be available only after October.

Other Nehalems

E-Ball Rolling Projector PC Concept

Joel — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:26:32 +0000

Here’s an awesome pc concept known as E-Ball designed by Apostol Tnokovski. Looks like he just said “balls” to current generation pcs. As you can see in the below pic, the E-Ball pc is a spherical PC concept. It stands on legs that emerge from its underside and is just 6 inches in diameter. It features a projected display screen and keyboard. Wait a sec! What about the mouse? Well, you don’t need to worry about the mouse, there’s an optical mouse attached to E-Ball which can be detached for use. So, if you carry this ball you don’t really need to carry a keyboard, monitor and a mouse. Oh boy! That sounds like a portable desktop. Isn’t it?

Now you might be wondering about the hardware present in it. I guess it might use laptop components due to the space restraints. Even if this pc is seen in reality I don’t think people will like the optical keyboard. Why? Well, the reason is simple. You gotta bang your fingertips on a desk for any length of time. And if you’re typing a long article you certainly won’t like it. And as far as the rest of the things go, it looks pretty good.

[via-electricpig]

Wazakura Koubou Japanese Gold Plated Keyboard

Joel — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:32:30 +0000

Like Gold? Well most of us do, even if we don’t we still desire for it simply because of its value. Nowadays we get to see a lot of gold plated gadgets, here’s one such. This time it’s a Gold plated keyboard manufactured by Wazakura Koubou, Japan. The keyboard comes with a two-port USB hub and the keys are apparently made from 99.99% pure gold.

Golden or gold plated gadgets usually look cool. But this one is probably one of the ugliest I’ve ever seen. Just look at those keys! Oh boy! They look like chocolates wrapped in wrappers. There’s hardly any design, this thing looks like an antic piece. Looks like Wazakura Koubou tried hard to come out with a golden gadget just like other manufacturers but simply failed.

Wazakura Koubou’s Gold Plated Keyboard is available in Japan for $270. Check out for more info over here(its in Japanese).

Top 5 iPhone Killers

Joel — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:01:59 +0000

For the first time when I saw iPhone pics over the net before it was even released, it was like “iPhone iPhone iPhone” in mind for a few days. I was pretty much convinced that the iPhone is as revolutionary as revolutionary devices go. But a few days back I was searching for devices which offer better features than an iPhone, in short we call them iPhone killers. And to my surprise I found many, after looking into several phones I compiled a list of 5 such phones which I feel are iPhone killers. Ok friends, I guess it’s time to see some good iPhone killers. Here they are:

HTC Touch Diamond:
I guess I don’t need to speak much about HTC, we all know that it makes handsets for most of the major handset companies. It was the first company to introduce finger gestures in touch. Ok, so regarding HTC Touch Diamond, all I must say is that it takes things to next level. It has a smoking 528MHz processor! I remember the time when there were PC’s which had processors slower than this one. Apart from the processor it sports a 2.8” display, Vibrant TouchFLO 3D user interface, mind blowing graphics, 4GB internal storage, 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, and an Integrated GPS for use with maps software for a full turn-by-turn satellite navigation experience.

Asus Lamborghini ZX1:
Asus Lamborghini ZX1 is sleek, stylish, and compact smartphone powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s a phone inspired by the edgy-wedgy looks of Lamborghinis from Saint’ Agata. You can enjoy an internet connection via 3.5G HSDPA which is nine times faster than 3G! Downloading files and surfing the web with the ZX1 is a breeze. Oh boy! ain’t that a Lambhorghini?
Additional connectivity includes Bluetooth v2.0,Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and USB v2.0. Other features include a 65k touchscreen, 3MP cam, 450MHz processor, 256MB of flash ROM and 128MB RAM (can be expanded using the Micro SD slot), Built-in GPS functionality, etc.

Samsung i900 Omnia:
When a person looks at the Samsung i900 Omnia for the first time he would say, “Is that an Iphone?” Well, looks like Samsung ripped off the iPhone’s design. Even the interface and features look kinda similar. It has a 3.2” display, 8 GB/16 GB internal memory, 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM, a 624MHz processor and weighs just 127 g. You won’t find a 2MP cam like you would in iPhone, instead there’s a 5MP cam which is certainly great.

OX2 XDA Orbit 2:
O2 seems to have lost the sheen it once had, thanks to the iPhone, but the Orbit 2 is a worthy inclusion in the list. The Orbit 2 serves to bring to the user a high level of features; 3Mpixel camera, fast processor, large RAM / ROM, GPS, Quad band, phone, Touch interface, etc. As HTC makes O2’s handsets, the Orbit 2 has similar features as the HTC Touch Diamond. It’s a bit bulky though when compared to the Diamond but should be good for the businessman on the move.

LG Viewty KE 990:
LG Viewty KE 990 is just simply awesome. The camera just keeps me drooling. It’s got a 5MP Schneider- Kreuznach camera which can record videos @ 120fps in DivX. It sports a 3” display, 256K touchscreen, 100 MB shared memory, microSD card slot, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, etc. Internet browsing is blazing fast just like in Asus Lamborghini ZX1. The makers have mainly concentrated on the camera feature of this phone. Overall it’s an awesome phone, good for people interested in photography using their cell phones.

Hope you liked them, got few more? feel free to share in comments.

AirTel Subscribers Get Notified on AirTel Apple iPhone Launch

Joel — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:43:48 +0000

Are you an AirTel subscriber eagerly waiting for iPhone’s arrival in India? Well, I got something interesting for you. You can now get notified with iPhone’s launch date, price, availability, tariff plans and other details exclusively on your cell phone. All you need to do is just message “iPhone” without quotes to 54321. It’s a toll free number so don’t worry you won’t be charged. Once you send the message they’ll send you a message requesting your name and email ID. You need to message them your name and email. They’ll notify you on further information regarding iPhone’s launch.

Recently the all new second generation iPhone 3G was launched in 22 countries but unfortunately India wasn’t one among them. But don’t worry people we should see one within few months, if not then we’ll surely see it before this year end. iPhone was launched at a price tag of $199. I’m sure it won’t be that cheap in India but we can certainly expect a price tag of 10-12k. Well, I’m just assuming, let’s hope it will be true, a lesser price tag would be even better but I don’t think it will be cheaper than that.

Download Opera 9.5 Final, It’s Finally Out!

Joel — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:22:18 +0000

Finally the beta stage of Opera 9.50 has come to an end; Opera team just released the final version of Opera 9.50. The build number of the final Windows release is 10063. I just installed the final version of Opera 9.5 today, it seems to really promising. It has an all new black interface as shown in the Beta version and the browser is way faster than before. Many performance, stability and memory improvements have taken place throughout the engine.

Some of the new features included in Opera 9.5 are:

Opera Link feature:
It enables the synchronization of Bookmarks, Personal bar, Speed Dial and Notes with other instances of the browser via the menu option File > Synchronize Opera. See: Opera Link - Web Everywhere.

Quick Find feature:
It’s an improved full text history search tool. Quick Find searches for text inside pages previously visited, not just the title and address. It is available from: the address field, the history panel, opera:historysearch

New redesigned Address bar drop-down is displayed when entering text in the Address bar.

New default black skin introduced

Re-enabled the Status bar by default and copied some UI elements from the View bar to Status bar; View bar is now disabled by default.

Speed Dial- Changed default Speed Dial search engine from Yahoo to Ask.

Check out for other features over here

Download Opera 9.5

iPhone 3G Now Official! Available for just $199

Joel — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:29:09 +0000

Finally the long awaited iPhone 3G- the second generation iPhone is official. Steve Jobs announced the all new 3G iPhone at WWDC 2008 today! The new iPhone is pretty much similar to the old iPhone.
What’s new in iPhone 3G?
The iPhone 3G has some awesome features which are certainly worth mentioning. It’s a tri-band 3G phone, Apple claims that the 3G in the iPhone is 36% faster than the N95 and Treo 750 and is three times faster than EDGE. It includes A-GPS which supplements regular satellite GPS data with info from cellular towers for faster location. The phones backside look has changed a little bit; it has a black plastic back in the black edition and a white plastic back in the white edition. The battery backup has also improved considerably. The phone has 300 hours of standby, 8-10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio.

What hasn’t changed?
The iPhone look remains the same, no changes except the back. The 2.0 MP camera and the display hasn’t changed. WiFi is still 802.11b/g, no support for Wifi N yet.
Availability and pricing:
The iPhone is priced at $199 and $299 for the 8GB and 16GB editions respectively. The phone will be available in 22 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US) on July 11th. Remaining 48 countries will get it later this year. In addition to this you won’t be able to get one online or activate it online. If you want one then you gotta get it from a nearby store.

Sit back and Enjoy Surfing Internet with The Surf Chair

Joel — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:21:44 +0000

The Surf Chair is surf station designed by Kenneth Lylover. It was designed for the ‘Internet Collection’ competition at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair; it was declared as the winner of “Best Product” in the fair. Kenneth must be a true geek to create this design, as only a geek can understand the difficulties involved in surfing internet for long hours in a day. If you sit in front of your computer for long hours surfing internet you get posture related probs. But this is a perfect design which keeps all the posture related problems at bay.

So how comfortable is it? Well, looking at the picture above you can have a rough idea of it. There are numerous pillows fixed to support every part of your body. The monitor is smartly suspended in front of the user by this one piece work station which makes viewing much easier. The keyboard is to be placed on your lap and the mouse on the ground. Well, a folding mouse tray underneath would have been much interesting though.

[via- coroflot, gadgettastic]

Charge your Gadgets using The Solar Panel Briefcase

Joel — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:51:30 +0000

Well, I’m pretty sure that the title itself has convinced you what I’m going to talk about. If you’re not, then it’s a briefcase which has two solar panels one on each side when opened. The briefcase is capable of charging 3V, 6V, 9V and 12 V appliances. I really like the idea of keeping the solar panels intact within the briefcase as it protects panels from any damage and in addition to this it also reduces the size of the two panels as a whole.

The solar panels are capable of producing 13 watts of power which is quite enough for you to recharge a cell phone in an hour. It’s extremely useful if you are travelling in a hot region and all of a sudden your gadgets battery goes down. The briefcase is quite slim which makes it easy to carry. If you liked it then you can get one for just $49.99.

[via- crave]

How to Fix the Problem of Endless Reboots in XP after installing SP3

Joel — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:04:13 +0000

Most of you are already aware of the problem XP SP3 has caused to AMD configs. Well, if you don’t then let me tell you what it is. Some of the users who installed XP SP3 on their AMD configs reported that their PCs rebooted endlessly. You can check out the story over here which was covered previously.
The fix for the problem…
Jesper Johansson, once a program manager for security policy at Microsoft and currently an MVP who works at Amazon.com, has come up with a fix for the problem.
He has created a small 16K VBScript file which checks whether the PC is running an AMD processor, if yes; it examines the Windows registry to find out if a device driver (IntelPPM driver) meant for Intel-based machines is set to load. If it is set to load, it will offer an option in order to disable it. You can download the file from here. To run it just double click on it.

If you need to check many computers on a network you can do it by running the following script from the command line:
removeIntelPPMonAMD.vbs …

For more information have a look at the blog post on Jesper’s blog.

Solar Powered Bra from Triumph

Joel — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:23:28 +0000

We have seen various kinds of solar powered gadgets and other stuff recently. But the weirdest of all is the solar powered bra! Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd came up with the idea of creating an environmental friendly bra. Now what does this mean? Well, this bra is capable of storing solar energy for future usage.

The bra is green in color and features a solar panel which is worn around the stomach. The panel requires light to generate electricity. It’s a pretty hot move by Triumph but as usual everything has drawbacks. We won’t be able to see one of these very soon as it’s not possible to wear clothes over it! And obviously people don’t go out without wearing clothes. Well, there may be exceptions though.

“It is very comfortable and I can really feel involved in eco-friendly efforts as well,” model Yuko Ishida said.

[via- reuters]

Download Opera Mini 4.1, it’s 50% faster than 4.0!

Joel — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:39:48 +0000

We all know Opera Mini 4.0 for its great features and its acceptance by more than 44 million people. Opera Mini has not only proved to be one of the best browsers for cell phones but also has made browsing internet easy. I really liked Opera Mini 4.0 for its speed but the interesting thing is the new version that’s Opera Mini 4.1 is 50% faster than the previous version! Now isn’t that awesome?

That’s not all, there are several other new features included in Opera Mini 4.1, some of them are listed below:

URL completion suggestion feature included in Opera Mini 4.1 which makes address input easy and intuitive
You can save a particular web page for later off-line viewing
Opera Mini 4.1 gives you quick access to the word or phrase you want in Web pages
Images, ringtones and other content can be downloaded without leaving Opera Mini.

Opera Mini 4.1 is available for free and can be downloaded from www.operamini.com.

Windows XP SP3 Sends Few PCs into endless reboots

Joel — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:10:03 +0000

After installing Windows XP SP3, few users reported that their PCs rebooted endlessly. Messages from frustrated users began accumulating on the XP SP3 support newsgroup just a day after Microsoft released the update to the general public.

Here’s what user- Dan had to say, “I installed SP3 this morning but when rebooting it loops between startup screen and restarting screen. I can boot into safe mode. Is uninstalling XP service pack 3 the only resolution?”

Jesper Johansson, a Windows blogger, has claimed that the problem only involves machines using AMD processors. Hopefully we will get to see updates from Microsoft within few days that will fix this problem.