Google speeds WebP image format, brings animation support to Chrome

Google has built a new version of its WebP software into Chrome to let browsers display its image format 25 percent faster, the company said Friday.
The better performance new libwebp 0.4.0 is part of Google's general effort to speed up the Web, and the new software also uses less memory and fixes an issue that had blocked Google from supporting animated WebP images. The updated WebP support is built into the version of Chrome that's currently in beta.
Animated GIF images, popular on sites such as Tumblr and Imgur, are the last remaining holdout for the elderly Graphics Interchange Format, which otherwise has largely been replaced by PNG (Portable Network Graphics) and JPEG. Google argues WebP can replace all three image formats, but has yet to persuade other browser makers to support WebP despite some urging from sites such as Facebook and Netflix.

Microsoft: Here's $100 if you drop Windows XP

April 8 is the day support for XP ends. So, Microsoft is reaching into its bag of discount tricks to get users to drop the decade-plus old operating system.

If you own a PC with XP and upgrade at the Microsoft Store, you get $100 off, 90 days of free support, and a "free data transfer," as spotted by Neowin.

The offer includes a new PC or Surface device priced at $599 or more and excludes Surface 2"and some PCs," Microsoft said.

And you have to make an online purchase with a Windows XP machine or take an XP PC to a physical Microsoft Store.

Nokia Lumia 630 spotted running Windows Phone 8.1

The as yet unannounced Nokia Lumia 630 has been spotted running Windows Phone 8.1.

Microsoft is expected to launch Windows Phone 8.1 at the Build Developers Conference in April, but we could be looking at one of the first devices to run Microsoft’s newest mobile OS.

The Nokia Lumia 630 has been spotted on Sofica Camspeed running the latest Windows Phone 8.1 mobile OS, with the version listed as 8.10.12324.0.

Sofica also revealed that it has a 5-megapixel rear camera and lacks a flash. This is in line with previous rumours and would explain how Nokia keeps the Lumia 630’s price low.

The Nokia Lumia 630 would be the successor to the popular Nokia Lumia 620 released last year.

Purported specs include a 4.5-inch 854 x 480p display and 3G only support.

Currently we don’t know much else about the device, but expect it to be formally announced post Microsoft’s Build Conference in early April.

Windows Phone 8.1 Features
In recent months the Windows Phone 8.1 leaks have kicked into overdrive, especially surrounding the heavily rumoured WP8.1 voice assistant Cortana.

According to leaked demonstration footage, “Cortana is a personal assistant on your phone, ready to help with reminders, suggestions, tasks and lots more.”

Competing with the likes of Siri for iOS, it seems Cortana will have a few more features and capabilities than Apple’s voice assistant.

Cortana will be able to offer basic information like settings alarms, searching the internet, checking weather forecasts, providing stock info, sending messages or offering directions. However, it will also be able to take notes for you, activate the Do Not Disturb Mode, toggle Bluetooth, make calls and take advantage of your smartphone apps.

Microsoft’s voice assistant will be able to track event data it discovers in emails and offer tailored notifications and directions, as well as storing other useful data within its Notebook system.

Tamil Nadu government slaps Rs 2,400 crore tax demand notice on Nokia

CHENNAI | NEW DELHI: Nokia India found itself battling on a new front with tax authorities after it received a Rs 2,400-crore claim from the Tamil Nadu government alleging that the mobile handset maker avoided taxes on devices sold within India by masking them as exports.

Nokia India filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court on Friday against the notice after talks with taxmen, that have been going on for the last fortnight, failed.

Nokia, whose devices and services unit is being bought by Microsoft, is already fighting a Rs 21,000-crore claim by the income tax department over royalty payments made to its parent company in Finland.

On Friday, Nokia India denied any wrongdoing. "It is absurd that the Tamil Nadu tax authority is now claiming that devices made in Chennai were not exported and were instead sold domestically in India," it said in a statement.

"We contend that this allegation has no basis in reality whatsoever; it could easily be rebuffed by a check of documentation provided to various governmental departments including Customs. Nokia will defend itself vigorously in this matter."

The Supreme Court last week upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict ordering Nokia India to provide Rs 3,500 crore as guarantee against future tax liabilities until which time its lone Indian facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai would remain frozen. This has raised doubts about whether the facility, which provides direct and indirect employment to 7,000, would be part of the Microsoft acquisition.

Microsoft had given a deadline of March 31 this year for all Nokia's assets to be transferred to the technology firm. "This is definitely a big threat for our employees," said G Udayakumar, advisor to Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangam (Nokia India Employees' Union). "Now, we are unsure whether the company (in Chennai) will exist or not."

The union had recently planned to approach the labour department to discuss this issue and file a petition seeking intervention by the state to protect their jobs.

Tensoft Fabless Semiconductor Customer Adesto Technologies Chosen as a Finalist for 2014 Microsoft Dynamics Customer Excellence Award

TLANTA, GA, Mar 03, 2014 (Marketwired via COMTEX) -- MICROSOFT CONVERGENCE -- Tensoft ( http://www.tensoft.com ), a leading end-to-end supply chain and ERP solution provider for the semiconductor industry, announced today that an implementation of its Fabless Semiconductor Management (FSM) solution integrated with Microsoft Dynamics enabled its customer, Adesto Technologies, to become a finalist in the prestigious Microsoft Dynamics Customer Excellence Awards competition.

In October of 2012 Adesto acquired the Serial Flash memory group from Atmel, instantly transforming the company into one shipping hundreds of millions of units a year to its Tier 1 customers. With neither an existing ERP system nor a supply chain solution on board, Adesto contracted with Tensoft to quickly ramp up. By implementing its cloud-based solution for the semiconductor industry, Tensoft helped Adesto to accomplish this ambitious goal.

"With the acquisition, we immediately needed to put in place integrated systems to support finance, manufacturing and sales operations for thousands of part numbers and a worldwide customer base. We needed to scale rapidly and implement the right business software infrastructure," said Ron Shelton, Adesto's Chief Financial Officer. "Working together with Tensoft's implementation team, we were able to implement and build a scalable system based on Tensoft's cloud-based solution to support a growing business that shipped more than 100 million units during 2013."

"The Adesto story is truly an amazing illustration of what can be accomplished by a talented and dedicated team of professionals. Our software is designed to support the needs of this industry -- and the Tensoft team brings years of industry experience to help. We were able to combine our capabilities with the Adesto team's vision and dedication," said Tensoft President and CEO Bob Scarborough. "The amount of change and scaling the Adesto team accomplished with such a lean organization more than qualifies the company for this recognition."

About Adesto Technologies Corp. Adesto Technologies is a leading supplier of value-added semiconductor solutions for code and data storage. Its product portfolio includes, DataFlash(R), Serial Flash and Conductive Bridge RAM (CBRAM(R)) memory products. CBRAM is an ultra-low power, CMOS compatible non-volatile memory that is customized for a wide range of discrete and embedded markets. Adesto is based in Sunnyvale, 

Dell Venue 7 and Dell Venue 8 review

It isn't surprising that Dell has jumped into the Android tablet fray - it's only surprising that it took them so long to get serious about it. The PC industry's decline is now well documented and every major player is looking to diversify into other areas. Dell first tried its hand at smartphones and tablets back in 2009, but none of its attempts since then including the original Venue, Venue Pro, XCD, Streak and Mini product lines ever amounted to much.

Now, after a few years of focusing on Windows-based Ultrabooks, hybrids, and all-in-one desktops, Dell is has decided to give Android another shot. The Venue brand has been resuscitated and is now being used across a line of new tablets. There are two Android-based Venues and two Windows-powered Venue Pros.

Where's my warranty? The growing perils of shopping online in India

The next time you buy a laptop or a camera online, you'll need to do more than just check the price and the specifications. Make sure you read all the fine print as well, to make sure that you're buying a product covered by warranty. In a bid to combat grey market sellers who undercut the prices of products that come through proper distribution channels in India, many manufacturers are taking harsh steps against online stores.

On February 19, Lenovo warned users that Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart are not authorised resellers of the Chinese manufacturer's products, and also issued an advisory with a list of all authorised stores and genuine partners. "E-commerce websites like Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon India are not authorised Lenovo resellers. We encourage you to check your warranty entitlements when you buy from these websites," Lenovo said in the advisory on its website.

Snapdeal said it takes "utmost care" to list products only by those sellers who have the necessary authorisation to sell these products." Customers can rest assured that all the products including Lenovo and Toshiba products which are available on Snapdeal.com are genuine and eligible for warranty," a Snapdeal spokesperson said.

Nikon might have been the first brand to take up this issue though - in a blog post in September last year, the company stated: "Please note that Flipkart (Flipkart Internet Private Limited) and Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Private Limited) are not our authorised partner/dealer in India for Nikon Products." Toshiba has also issued a similar statement, and now, so has Canon. Canon has stated that they will give incentives to people who buy their cameras offline, such as a 15-month warranty in lieu of the more standard 12-month warranty that will be given to people who buy their products online.

A growing ecosystem

A Flipkart spokesman said the site connects thousands of sellers across India to millions of buyers and helps the traders scale their business at a fraction of the selling cost. "In a lot of cases, these small retailers have seen a month-on-month growth of 40 percent in their business after listing on our marketplace."

According to an Amazon spokesperson, "Amazon.in is a marketplace platform that enables Indian merchants to sell products to customers across India. Merchants on Amazon.in independently decide price of their products. Amazon.in assures that its merchants list genuine products with manufacturer warranty. This applies to all brands. Amazon.in also extends A to Z guarantee on all products offered by its merchants. Customers of Amazon.in enjoy 100% purchase protection on products bought under the A to Z guarantee."

Windows XP won't die without a fight

Microsoft continues to urge people to dump Windows XP as it preps to end support for the operating system next month, but the 13-year-old OS refuses to go away quietly.
XP's cut among desktop operating systems actually rose slightly the past two months, according to the latest Web traffic numbers from market tracker Net Applications. In February, XP's share inched up to 29.5 percent from 29.3 percent in January and 28.9 percent in December.
Of course, those are minor increases, a possible blip in XP's long-term decline. Just two years ago, XP was still the dominant desktop OS with a 46 percent share, according to Net Applications. A year later, that number had dropped to 39 percent before falling to the most recent figures.
A share of almost 30 percent still leaves a hefty number of XP diehards among the more than 1 billion Windows PCs worldwide.

Google, Samsung diss MicroNokia in China -- report

Google and Samsung have taken to the China Ministry of Commerce to express concern over Microsoft's impending $7.5 billion acquisition of Nokia, a new report claims.
The companies went before the Ministry of Commerce recently to say that the acquisition could give Microsoft too much control over the patent market by taking on Nokia, which has a massive patent portfolio, and thus could put competitors in a troubling competitive position, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the talks.
Microsoft isn't technically taking on all of the Nokia's mobile patents in the deal, deciding instead to leave the portfolio in Nokia's control. Still, Google and Samsung argue that Microsoft will have enough influence to hurt competitors on licensing fees.
This isn't the first time we've heard of companies expressing some concern over the patents Nokia owns. Last year, in fact, several Microsoft competitors went before the European Union raising the same competitive concerns. The EU approved the deal, but said it would watch Nokia's licensing to ensure it fell within legal constraints.

Apple's 'iOS in the Car' technology to roll out next week, says report

Apple's "iOS in the Car" operating system, which would let drivers access various iPhone functions through a car's built-in screen, is set to head out of the garage next week, says a report.
Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo are the automakers on board for the launch, says the Financial Times, which cited unnamed sources in reporting that the official announcement will take place at the Geneva Motor Show. The FT said neither Apple nor the carmakers would comment.
Apple talked up iOS in the Car at its Worldwide Developers Conference last year, with VP Eddy Cue -- a Ferrari board member -- showing a mock-up of a car's LCD with Apple menu buttons for maps, phone, music, and messaging. Cue said the functions could be accessible via Siri as well. Many cars already include integration with iOS music functions. Cue said Chevrolet, Ferrari, Honda, Jaguar, Mercedes, Nissan, Volvo and others would be introducing iOS integration this year.
Beyond smartphones, "the bigger opportunity for Apple and its ecosystem is becoming essential not just for people texting, checking news, watching movies, and playing games, but for massive growth areas such as transportation, home automation, and health care," CNET's Dan Farber noted last week, following a report that Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions had met with Elon Musk, CEO of electric-car maker Tesla, in 2013.
Apple's rivals are also aware of those opportunities. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that Google had teamed up with Audi to develop in-car entertainment and information systems based on its Android OS. And, of course, on the home automation front, Google is set to buy Nest for $3.2 billion.
Here's Eddy Cue talking about iOS in the Car at last year's WWDC:

Microsoft's latest stab at Apple: Macs are no good for weddings

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to discuss the fact that Apple has no feelings.
Anyone with a heart knows that if you're going to plan a wedding, you have to be able to poke and stroke your laptop screen. Otherwise, it's bad karma.
That is my initial reading of Microsoft's latest ad aimed at belittling Apple.
There have been a few lately. Everything from telling you you'll fail at college if you use an iPad to sending a decaying apple to iPhone users.

Android and Windows getting along inside your PC? Nope

That's the political problem. "Neither [Microsoft nor Google] can be very happy about it," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64, alluding to the fact that it's a shotgun wedding of the two rivals' software, which can never turn out very well.hen there are the technical challenges. For example, will Asus come up with a way to elegantly, easily share files across the competing operating and file systems? How is memory sharing implemented? And when there's the inevitable glitch, who owns it, Microsoft or Google?

And there's the track record of computers in the past marketed as dual-OS. "They've never been successful," Brookwood said.

The Duet created a buzz at CES in January (see video at bottom), with both Asus and Intel promoting the device as a way to bridge the gap between mobile (Android) and desktop (Windows). The device, in fact, consistently drew crowds at the Intel CES booth, where it was being demonstrated.

Specs, as announced in January, include Windows 8.1 Standard / Android 4.2.2; a 13.3-inch Full HD multitouch display; up to an Intel Core i7 processor; 4GB of RAM; and up to 128GB of SSD storage in the tablet.

Twitch Plays Pokemon conquers Elite Four, beating game after 390 hours

In a stunning display of sheer perseverance and impressive strategizing, the players participating in the endlessly strange and wondrous Twitch Plays Pokemon have, after more than 390 hours, reached the end of the game's main plot and bested the final frontier, the Elite Four. If anything, this definitively proves that if the Internet spends enough time at something, it can achieve the seemingly impossible.
hroughout the course of the first series of repeated attempts at defeating the Elite Four -- which began shortly before 11 a.m. PT on Friday and ended around 1 a.m. PT Saturday morning -- viewership on the stream doubled to around 100,000 and hovered there, only dipping down when especially ill-fated failures seemed to dampen the spirit. Though many had postulated that it might potentially take weeks to overcome the final hurdle, it in fact took only less than two dozen attempts in a single day.

Pros and cons of an ultra-connected world

We're in the beginning of a world in which everything is connected to the internet and with one another, while powerful yet relatively cheap computers analyze all that data for ways to improve lives.

Toothbrushes tell your mirror to remind you to floss. Basketball jerseys detect impending heart failure and call the ambulance for you.

At least that's the vision presented this past week at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain. The four-day conference highlighted what the tech industry has loosely termed "the internet of things."

Some of that wisdom is already available or promised by the end of the year.

Fitness devices from Sony and Samsung connect with your smartphones to provide digital records of your daily lives. French startup Cityzen Sciences has embedded fabric with heart-rate and other sensors to track your physical activities.

Internet-connected toothbrushes are coming from Procter and Gamble's Oral-B business and from another French startup, Kolibree. The mirror part is still a prototype, but Oral-B's smartphone app does tell you to floss.

Car makers are building in smarter navigation and other hands-free services, while IBM and AT&T are jointly equipping cities with sensors and computers for parking meters, traffic lights and water systems to all communicate.

Internet-connected products represent a growth opportunity for wireless carriers, as the smartphone business slows down in developed markets because most people already have service.

With the technological foundations here, the bigger challenge is getting people, businesses and municipalities to see the potential. Then there are security and privacy concerns: health insurance companies would love access to your fitness data to set premiums.

At a more basic level, these systems have to figure out a way to talk the same language. You might buy your phone from Apple, your TV from Sony and your refrigerator for Samsung. It would be awful to get left out because you aren't loyal to a single company. Plus, the smartest engineers in computing aren't necessarily the best in clothing and construction.

Nokia X hacked to run Google Play Store

NEW DELHI: Nokia X, the recently announced series of smartphones that run a heavily modified version of Android, has been hacked to run the Google Play Store and key Google services.

While Nokia has replaced key APIs and services, including Google's Maps and applications marketplace, with its own apps and Microsoft's services, an XDA ddevelopers forum member has posted a way to root the Nokia X so that it could run the Google launcher, Play Store and other Google apps, including Gmail and Maps.

One of the reasons why the apps work is that Nokia has apparently left the application framework untouched in order to allow apps from third-party app stores work on the phone.

Nokia has mentioned on its official SDK page that the phone will be able to run around 75% Android apps without any modifications. Developers only need to make changes if their apps use Google services for push notifications, maps or in-app payments.

It's worth pointing out that rooting the phone will void its warranty. Also, unlike Android, Google's own suite of apps are not open source, so technically, it's not legal.

With the Nokia X series, the handset giant is targeting the budget segment - just above its Asha series and just below the Windows Phone-run Lumia series - trying to leverage Android's app ecosystem, which is comparatively richer than Windows Phone.

It is also worth noting that Nokia's handsets division has been acquired by Microsoft and the transaction will be complete in a few weeks. It's not clear if Microsoft will continue with the X-series as it runs an OS developed by its arch rival, Google.