Will Nadella appointment weigh on debate over tech visas?

In his first e-mail to Microsoft employees in his newly-minted role as chief executive, Satya Nadella included a brief but important section titled, "Who am I?"

Over the last week especially, the world came to know a lot more about the executive, after thenews was leaked that Nadella was the expected choice for the company's top job. But still, a dark horse he was, beating out splashier choices like former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Ford CEO Alan Mulally. So we've still got a lot to learn about the new leader in Redmond.

Long-life laptop battery the tech industry doesn’t want you to have JORDANA DIVON

Fed up with the dwindling battery life of his BlackBerry Bold 9000, Carleton University chemistry student Tim Sherstyuk took a straightforward problem to his electrical engineer dad, Nick: Could the two of them come up with the technology to make a standard lithium-ion battery last longer?

Lithium-ion batteries are the rechargeable life forces powering most portable consumer electronics. If you have a smartphone or laptop, there’s a good chance you’ve also dashed for a power outlet in a public space once your device reached its first birthday.

After a year of trial and error, the Ottawa-based father-son duo hit an engineering bull’s-eye. By pairing batteries with their own specialprinted circuit board, they were able to increase a battery’s capacity by 30 per cent. Their battery management system also boosted the number of recharging cycles available. Today’s standard lithium-ion batteries are good for about 300 cycles; the Sherstyuks boosted this to an amazing 2,500.

“The best analogy I can make is, inside the battery there’s something called the SEI layer, and it’s kind of like the plaque on your teeth,” explains the younger Mr. Sherstyuk, 20, who dropped out of school to focus on building the business. “As time goes on, this layer grows and it stops the battery from charging as much as before.

“Our technology is able to electronically maintain this layer and keep it very small, so we’re essentially brushing this battery’s teeth,” he adds.

In 2012, the father-son team patented the technology under the company Gbatteries Systems Inc., and they’re shopping it to major players in the consumer electronics and energy storage industries. They recently relocated to California’s Silicon Valley to test the waters there, although they will keep their headquarters in Ottawa for all development-based work.

Mr. Sherstyuk believes their market edge comes from the fact that they are “using already mass produced batteries and making them work better.”

But at the same time, he’s adamant about promoting the product’s consumer and environmental benefits. Increased calendar life means Joe Laptop won’t have to shell out for a new machine as often. This means fewer dead batteries leaking their toxic innards into landfill earth.

“I would like to do something good for the world, personally, and I think that right now I have the opportunity,” Mr. Sherstyuk says.

Unfortunately, these altruistic intentions are not finding a receptive audience along Technology Row. While he remains focused on promoting the increased calendar life, Mr. Sherstyuk says most of the major players he has met with so far are interested only in the increased capacity and, in fact, want to downplay the longer life. The reason, he says, is that these companies have expressed concern that the longer-lasting batteries will result in fewer units sold, as consumers will be able to hang on to their devices for much longer.

Though their technology would end up increasing calendar life regardless of the way it is marketed, Mr. Sherstyuk feels strongly about aligning with retail partners who share the same value system and are willing to promote its environmental benefits.

While a number of smaller companies have expressed interest in this, Mr. Sherstyuk has held back before jumping into any partnerships. He says he’s aware he has a potentially game-changing product and wants to make sure that, as a newly minted entrepreneur, he’s leveraging his company’s potential to the widest and most lucrative market possible

Brokerages raise Tech Mahindra’s target price post Q3 results; stock up 4%

MUMBAI: Most brokerages have increased their price targets on Tech Mahindra after the company surprised the Street by reporting over three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,009.8 crore in the quarter ended December, largely on account of growth in telecom, financial and manufacturing sectors.

Revenues in dollar terms showed strong growth despite a sequentially weak quarter due to holiday season. It grew 4.4 per cent to $791 million. This was led by 11.5 per cent growth in the US while Europe declined 2 per cent QoQ.

ndia receives Rs 65,000 crore investment proposals for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing business

BANGALORE: The department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) has received proposals for investments worth a total of about Rs 65,000 crore in the area of semiconductor and electronics manufacturing.

Of these, proposals for investments of about Rs 13,800 crore are under an incentive scheme, and the remaining accounts for investments in two silicon wafer foundries India is looking to build. At the IESA Vision Summit 2014, the annual industry conclave of Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association, J Satyanarayana, secretary of DeitY, said, "We have identified 2014 as 'Made in India' year. We are creating the infrastructure for the sector."

Nokia android certified

Nokia's anticipated Android-powered handset, the Nokia X (also known as Nokia Normandy), has continued to stay in the news, and now new reports indicate the handset has been certified in Indonesia and Malaysia.

It is being reported that a Nokia device with a model number RM-980 (previously spotted in a benchmark listing) has been spotted at Malaysia's certification body, soon after it was noted that the same device had been spotted at Indonesia's certification agency.

Recently enough, the Nokia X handset was said to fall under the Nokia's Asha device line-up. Reports state an unnamed senior executive officer from Nokia India, who reportedly also confirmed that the much-rumoured dual-SIM Windows Phone device, aka Moneypenny, would be launched in the country at the same time.

Some of the specifications are also rumoured for the handset. The Nokia X will apparently be powered by a dual-core Snapdragon processor clocking at 1GHz. While the precise SoC is not known yet, some previous rumours indicate the handset will feature a Snapdragon 200 8225Q.

Other leaked specifications, as shared by @evleaks, include a 4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480x854 (FWVGA) pixels, 5-megapixel rear camera, 4GB storage with microSD card, 1500mAh battery, 512MB RAM, and dual-SIM support.

The handset is said to run a highly customised version of Android 4.4 KitKat also feature Nokia's own application store on board, similar to what Amazon has done with its Kindle Fire tablets.

The Nokia X is also rumoured to come with dual-SIM support, while connectivity options including 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, AGPS and Micro-USB. Other specifications include 4GB of inbuilt storage and Adreno 302 GPU.

semiconductor innovations -MIT launches “Semiconductor Innovation” newsletter

MIT's Technology Review magazine is launching a “Semiconductor Innovation” newsletter. The newsletter will describe R&D, entrepreneurial pursuits, and economic and technological analysis of the semiconductor industry. The editors of this newsletter claim that the chip industry, “…is on the threshold of dramatic change,” although they don't mention what this change entails. The twice-monthly electronic newsletter costs US$795 annually, and this price includes a discount from the regular price. A free sample issue is available, and contains stories on subjects such as, “souped up opto-chips,” and, “3D integration process.” The newsletter also has prominent, bold bylines featuring statements such as, “…making three-dimensional semiconductors is like building a house on expensive land.” Semiconductor Innovation appears to be directly competing with MDR's Microprocessor Report, which provides similarly expensive and proprietary analysis. Technology Review may have made a mistake in charging so much for a subscription. If the company charged a fraction of the current subscription price, the sheer volume of subscribers might rise enough to increase total revenues. As it is, the newsletter appears to be aimed at busy executives who would be willing to pay a premium for condensed industry news and terse economic and technological analysis.

Jolla: Taking aim at Android, after a jilting at Nokia

HELSINKI: Marc Dillon still remembers the sick feeling that overcame him when Nokiaannounced it was scrapping a software project that he and hundreds of other developers had spent years creating. 

It was early 2011, and Nokia, the Finnish cellphone giant, was struggling to compete with the sudden rise of Apple and Samsung in the global smartphone market. In response, Nokia's chief executive, Stephen Elop, ended the company's plans for its own operating system and joined with Microsoft to focus on building Windows-based phones. 

"I almost threw up when I heard the news," said Dillon, an American engineer living in Finland, who was laid off after the company's strategy shift. "Nokia did a lot of great things for a long time. We didn't want to see this part of the story end." 

So Dillon and three other former Nokia executives took it upon themselves to prove their onetime bosses wrong. 

Over the past three years, with the help of around $20 million in outside investment, they have built Jolla, a 100-employee company of mostly former Nokia engineers, to develop the operating system that Nokia discarded. Their goal is to compete with Android, Google's dominant mobile software. Late last year, they finished the first part of the effort, releasing a smartphone powered by its open-source software, Sailfish. 

nokia android leak images

Semiconductor Stock Outlook: A Stable Industry

The Semiconductor Industry serves as a driver, enabler and indicator of technological progress. Developments in the industry determine the way we work, transport ourselves, communicate, entertain ourselves and respond to our environment. The PCs we work on, the cars we drive, the phones we communicate with, the electronic gadgets on which we watch movies, listen to music and play games on, and the planes and weapons used to transport or protect us use semiconductor devices.

As environmental issues have become more of a concern today, semiconductor devices are being made to reduce power consumption, reduce heat dissipation, capture solar energy, create more efficient lighting solutions and so forth.

The past decade has seen big changes in the industry, with most players streamlining operations and transferring more routine production to low-cost locations. This led to the development of the Asian market, where most memory production and backend operations have shifted.

However, since innovation remains largely within the country, the sector is one of the biggest employers of labor, with a corresponding significant impact on the overall economy.

Sprint brings walkie-talkie feature to select Android phones

Sprint wants to bring a little Nextel back into its phones. Specifically, the much-loved walkie-talkie bit.

The company said on Monday that select Android smartphones will be able handle push-to-talk communications through a simple app downloaded through Google Play. Sprint Direct Connect is free on some plans, although many plans charge an additional $5 for the feature.

Sprint Direct Connect is the company's way of easing Nextel customers back into the fold. Even up until the shut down of the Nextel network last year, customers were on their Nextel phones with the familiar chirp of the push-to-talk function. Nextel customers were fans of the feature, which offered faster response times than a typical cellular call.

The Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, LG G2, G Flex, Optimus F3, and Kyocera Hydro Edge will be the first batch of phones to get the capability, while three other Samsung phones are in the works.

The walkie-talkie features was one of the core hang-ups that slowed the integration of the Sprint and Nextel networks. Sprint had worked for years to create a push-to-talk service that could run on its network as well as it did on Nextel, but only managed the feat in the recent years.

windows 8.1 leaked

An update that could hit Windows 8.1 in March should prove more friendly to plain, old-fashioned PC users.

The update already had been revealed in January, courtesy of screenshots from Windows leaker Wzor. But now that update is making the rounds of file-sharing sites, allowing more people to peek at it.

One major change spotted by The Verge is anew title bar for Windows 8 apps. Clicking specific icons on the bar lets you close, minimize, and snap apps side-by-side, just as you can do with regular desktop applications.

Right-clicking on the Start screen displays a popup menu with commands to resize, unpin and pin to Taskbar, and uninstall anyWindows 8 app. A new search icon also appears on the Start screen, while a new power button lets you more easily and quickly shut down or restart your PC.

Perhaps the update's biggest improvement is the ability to launch a Windows 8 app right from the taskbar. Hover over an app's taskbar icon, and you see the familiar preview window. Click on the icon or its window, and it launches on the desktop.

nokia launching android phone in march

The much-awaited but yet-to-be-announced Nokia X, aka the Nokia Normandy budget Android smartphone, is once again in the news, this time, with a report of the device being set to launch in March in India, under the Asha line-up.

The report, by GoAndroid, quotes an unnamed senior executive officer from Nokia India, whoreportedly also confirmed that the much-rumoured dual-SIM Windows Phone device, akaMoneypenny, would be launched in the country at the same time. 

The numerous rumours (some from established tipsters) surrounding the speculated first Android phone from Nokia are slightly difficult to believe, what with Microsoft's takeover of Nokia's mobile devices and services division - why would the Redmond giant allow Nokia to offer a device on a competing platform? We'll have to wait to see if such a device actually arrives.

The alleged Nokia X aka Nokia Normandy was previously reported to be introduced at the upcoming MWC 2014 event held in Barcelona, starting from 24 February. The March launch timeline is therefore in line with this report. 

Last week, the rumoured Nokia X has been leaked in live images, revealing design of the alleged device. A French publication, No Where Else, has posted three images of the alleged Nokia X, showing the front panel, the rear panel, and the side panel.

Also last week, a new leak via Browsermark 2 benchmark's database purportedly revealed the alleged Nokia X phone to come with model number RM-980. Unfortunately, the listing did not reveal any details about the device, but includes an image that purportedly showed Nokia X wearing Nexus 5's wallpaper and home screen icons. However, the current image contradicted earlier reports that claimed that Nokia, following the lead of Amazon, has been working on a fully-tailored or forked version of Android, like the software on the online retail giant's Kindle Fire tablet range.

The alleged Nokia X was also recently listed at a Vietnamese online retailer that revealed most of the specifications, including a 4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480x854 (FWVGA) pixels; a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor; 5-megapixel rear camera; microSD card support and Android 4.4 KitKat.

Further, the Vietnamese retailer listing seemingly confirmed that the rumoured Nokia X would come with dual-SIM support, while connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, AGPS and Micro-USB. Other specifications include 4GB of inbuilt storage and Adreno 302 GPU. Notably, the listing claimed that the alleged Nokia X supports Google services like Google Play store, Google Search, Google Now, Google Maps, Calendar and YouTube.