Facebook Messenger Getting Major Overhaul -Download the apk

Facebook is rolling out a new Messenger app update for Android that will let users chat with people on their contact list even if they are not Facebook friends.


As long as you have a person's phone number and they also use the Messenger app, you can message them.
It seems like this is Facebook's way of getting you to use its app instead of texting-which presumably was how you were reaching your non-Facebook-friend before.
Facebook is also threatened by standalone messaging apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat. Facebook even considered buying Snapchat at one point. Those apps are taking traffic away from Facebook, traffic and users that would - in their absence - be happily using Facebook for messages.Snapchat has about 100 million users.Whatsapp has 350 million.
Other than that new feature, the app update will also have a new user interface that will allow you to swipe left and right to see recent conversations, a list of the people you message, and settings.
Facebook will start testing the new app today with a limited group of Messenger for Android app users.

Download the new app from here

X MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Official Trailer Released

AFTER HOLLYWOOD let its faith in comic-book movies lapse in the wake of the “Batman and Robin”/Joel Schumacher disaster in the late ‘90s, the X-Men saved the day. Director Bryan Singer proved that superhero material, when taken seriously, could make a great movie, and “X-Men” (2000) helped usher in a new era of comic-book cinema.

There have been highs (“X-Men,” “X2”) lows (“X3: The Last Stand”) and successful new beginnings (“X-Men: First Class”). Now, the mutants are making their way back with “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” as the new trailer debuts today.
Time travel. Wolverine with gray hair. Kitty Pride/Shadowcat. A dark future for mutants that needs saving from the past. Many elements from the first trailer hint a strong resemblance to the original comic book story written by Chris Claremont and rendered by John Byrne. But as the case with many cinematic adaptions, it’s not a carbon copy. Which is fine.
Seeing the original “X-Men” movie stars merged with those from “First Class” is quite striking. Especially when a younger, clearly less-guided, not remotely as mature Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) tells his older self from the future (Patrick Stewart) that he doesn’t “want your future.”
Older Professor X sends Wolverine to the past while telling him: “I was a very different man. Lead me. Guide me. Be patient with me.” Yeah, because Wolverine is all about patience. The interactions with Logan and young Professor X should be particularly interesting.

BBM adds over 20 million new users from Android, iPhone app

BlackBerry says it has seen over 20 million new users join the BBM platform since the release of its iPhone and Android app last week.


The Waterloo, Ont.-based company said Tuesday that BlackBerry Messenger now has more than 80 million monthly active users, including over 20 million iPhone and Android users who waited patiently to receive their “pin” and start using the app.


“From here on out, we will focus on active users of BBM and will no longer focus on simple download numbers.”“It is great to see so many people downloading BBM, but the true measurement for us is engagement – the connections being made and the conversations in which our BBM community engages. The power of BBM has always been the active, real conversations and interaction that our customers enjoy,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President of BBM at BlackBerry in a press release.

The BBM app reached over 10 million downloads in the first 24 hours of being available, according to the company.



When the app was released, users were forced to sign up for the app on a fire-come-first-serve basis – leaving over five million potential users “in line” for a pin number on the first day alone.

However, BlackBerry said Tuesday that it removed the virtual line up feature from the app, allowing iPhone and Android users to immediately start using the app after they have downloaded it.

During the first week, BBM was the top free app in 35 countries in the Google Play store and in 107 countries in Apple’s App Store.

As of Tuesday the app still held the top spot in the App Store and Google Play in Canada.

BBM became popular with BlackBerry users because it allows texting in real-time on a secure server, without having to use an SMS text package from a service provider. The service’s secure server also made it a popular choice for BlackBerry enterprise customers.

Demand for the app is in stark contrast to other news about the Canadian smartphone maker, whose future remains unclear as a takeover bid from Fairfax Financial looms. The company announced Tuesday it would cut 300 more employees from its Waterloo headquarters.

Not all smartphone users are excited about the app.

On social media some are making fun of the fact that BBM is an older chat service that had been replaced by apps like WhatsApp – an app that many former BlackBerry users began using in place of BBM – and other services like Apple’s iMessage.

WhatsApp remains a popular choice for smartphone users – the company announced last week that it had over 350 million monthly active users, up 50 million in just two months.

Apple earnings fall despite strong iPhone sales

Apple's quarterly earnings are still sagging even as sales of its iPhones are rising, a vexing phenomenon feeding investor worries about whether stiffer competition in the mobile device market will continue to undercut the company's prosperity.


The company's earnings have been shrinking along with its share of the smartphone and tablet computer market that Apple reshaped with the 2007 release of the first iPhone and the 2010 introduction of the iPad. Apple hasn't come up with another breakthrough product in a new category since then, raising questions about the company's ability to innovate following the death of co-founder and chief visionary Steve Jobs two years ago.

Apple's earnings have now fallen from the previous year in three consecutive quarters after a decade of steady growth.

The Cupertino, Calif., earned $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per share, during the three months ending Sept. 28. That compared to income of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per share, last year.

The latest quarterly earnings topped the average estimate of $7.92 per share among analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $37.5 billion — about $600 million above analyst predictions.





Investors were evidently hoping for a better showing and, perhaps, a more optimistic forecast for the current quarter, which covers the crucial holiday shopping season. Management predicted Apple's revenue will range from $55 billion to $58 billion in the quarter ending in late December. Analysts had projected revenue of $55.6 billion. Apple also indicated that its profit margins would be in the same range as the past quarter.

Apple's stock dipped $6.45, or about 1.2 percent, to $523.43 in extended trading after the numbers came out.

Activist investor Carl Icahn, who holds a 0.5 percent stake in Apple, is pressuring the company to spend $150 billion buying back its own stock in an effort to boost the price. His idea would more than double the $60 billion that Apple's board has budgeted for buying back stock during the next three years.

Apple apparently doesn't have any immediate plans to placate Icahn. CEO Tim Cook told analysts on a Monday conference call that the board won't announce any potential changes to its current program for buying back stock until early next year.

The latest quarter included early sales of the latest iPhones released last month.

The models consist of a 5S, a high-end version featuring a faster chip and a fingerprint reader, and the 5C, a slightly cheaper version that comes in a variety of brightly colored plastic cases. Apple didn't specify how many of each of the new models sold during the final week of the quarter.

The company sold 33.8 million iPhones in the past quarter, a 26 percent increase from the same time last year. But the prices for those iPhones averaged $577, a 7 percent decrease from an average price of $618 a year ago.

Apple's iPad sales edged slightly upward, with 14.1 million of the devices sold versus 14 million a year ago. The average price for an iPad slipped 14 percent to $439, a shift reflecting the growing popularity of a smaller version featuring an 8-inch display screen.




An update to the iPad Mini with a higher definition display screen and a higher price is scheduled to go on sale at a still-to-be determined date next month. At the same time, Apple is cutting the price of the original iPad Mini by $30 to $299. A thinner and lighter version of the full-sized iPad, called Air, will go on sale Friday.

x

An update to the iPad Mini with a higher definition display screen and a higher price is scheduled to go on sale at a still-to-be determined date next month. At the same time, Apple is cutting the price of the original iPad Mini by $30 to $299. A thinner and lighter version of the full-sized iPad, called Air, will go on sale Friday.

x

An update to the iPad Mini with a higher definition display screen and a higher price is scheduled to go on sale at a still-to-be determined date next month. At the same time, Apple is cutting the price of the original iPad Mini by $30 to $299. A thinner and lighter version of the full-sized iPad, called Air, will go on sale Friday.

x

An update to the iPad Mini with a higher definition display screen and a higher price is scheduled to go on sale at a still-to-be determined date next month. At the same time, Apple is cutting the price of the original iPad Mini by $30 to $299. A thinner and lighter version of the full-sized iPad, called Air, will go on sale Friday.

x

An update to the iPad Mini with a higher definition display screen and a higher price is scheduled to go on sale at a still-to-be determined date next month. At the same time, Apple is cutting the price of the original iPad Mini by $30 to $299. A thinner and lighter version of the full-sized iPad, called Air, will go on sale Friday.

Here's Why Your Facebook Friends Have Become Giraffes

No, your friends haven't just discovered how adorable giraffes are. An emerging trend on Facebook has people changing their profile pictures to images of the long-necked animal after failing to solve a tough riddle.


Here's how it works: Someone posts the riddle on Facebook, challenging their friends to answer it in a private message. If the person gets it right, congrats: He or she keeps the same profile picture. But if the person gets it wrong, the unfortunate friend must make his or her profile pic a giraffe.


The riddle goes like this:


3:00 am, the doorbell rings and you wake up. Unexpected visitors. It's your parents and they are there for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, wine, bread and cheese. What is the first thing you open?


These people apparently got it wrong:








It's unclear how the game started or how giraffes relate to the riddle at all, but we're just glad a fun game like this is going viral instead of another scam.


And there are, for the record, two accepted answers to the riddle being discussed online. Scroll down past this giraffe to see what they are.





Answers: "The door" and "your eyes." After all, it's 3 a.m. in the riddle.

Leaked Android 4.3 test firmware for Galaxy Note II (GT-N7100)

Samsung is expected to officially start rolling out Android 4.3 update to the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II in the month of November and to meet that dead line Samsung is releasing a new test build every two days, so it can iron out all the bugs before the actual release. Do keep in mind that this is a pre-release firmware and there might be a few bugs here and there, so make sure to backup all your stuff before flashing this test firmware on your device.

In the Android 4.3 update, Samsung has updated the core UI elements to more like Galaxy S4/Note 3′s interface, including the tabbed settings. Samsung has included many new features in the Android 4.3 update, many taken from the Galaxy S4/Note 3. Samsung Knox and Samsung Wallet are also present in this test firmware. Android 4.3 update is still under heavy development and Samsung may add more features before rolling out the official update itself.

Model: GT-N7100
Country: Open Asia
Version: Android 4.3
Changelist: 1903221
Build date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 23:49:26 +0000
Product Code: OLB
PDA: N7100XXUEMJ5
CSC: N7100OLBEMJ4
MODEM: N7100XXUEMJ5
Download: N7100XXUEMJ5_N7100OLBEMJ4_N7100XXUEMJ5_OLB.zip

NOTE
- This test firmware will NOT increase your binary counter NOR void your warranty.
- This test firmware is a pre-release firmware and not official from Samsung.

INSTRUCTIONS
- Extract (unzip) the firmware file
- Download Odin3 v3.09 (From here or here)
- Extract Odin .ZIP file
- Open Odin3 v3.09
- Restart phone in download mode (Press and hold Home + Power + Volume down buttons)
- Connect phone and wait until you get a blue sign in Odin
- Add N7100XXUEMJ5_N7100OLBEMJ4_N7100XXUEMJ5_HOME.tar.md5 to AP
- Make sure re-partition is NOT ticked
- Click start button, sit back and wait a few minutes.
- If you encounter any issues with the firmware (Any FC, Bootloop etc)
- Boot into recovery mode (Home+power+vol up)
- Choose to wipe/factory reset. (THIS WILL ERASE ALL OF YOUR DATA INCLUDING YOUR INTERNAL SD CARD!)
- Then choose reboot and you should be good to go!

Samsung Galaxy S III beats iPhone 5s and 5c in touch accuracy

A recent study found that Apple’s new iPhone 5s and 5c beat all other smartphones in existence when it comes to touch response time – however, when it comes to touch accuracy, both of Apple’s new iPhones fell behind the Galaxy S III, Samsung’s yesteryear flagship that is now more than a year old. A touch accuracy test was done by OptoFidelity, a Finland-based tech test and measurement company, and the results were universally in its favor.

The results revealed that the iPhones are rather inaccurate around the edges and towards the top of the display. The Galaxy S III was also a bit less accurate on the sides, but was found to have largely accurate response across the middle of the screen, much more than both iPhones. As a result, typing errors were much lower, so it looks like while response time may be in Apple’s favor, higher accuracy on the S III (and likely other devices) levels the playing field and takes away its advantages, at least as far as typing is concerned.

Green areas show accurate touch registration, red once show deviations.

Source

Canvas Turbo A250 Price and Pros/Cons

Canvas Turbo specifications (spec source : canvas turbo official site)


Screen                        12.7 cm (5) SHARP FHD CGS (Continuous Grain Silicon)
OS                              Android Jelly Bean 4.2.1
Processor                   1.5 GHz MediaTek Quad-Core (MT6589T)
Camera                      13MP AF Rear and 5MP FF Front Camera
Screen Resolution     FHD 1920*1080
Screen Type               IPS
Colour Depth             True color(16.7 M)
Battery Capacity        2000 mAh
Standby Time             105hrs
Talktime                     7hrs

Frequency Band         850/900/1800/1900/MHz WCDMA 2100 MHz
Network                      GSM/GPRS/WCDMA
                                     HSPA DL-42Mbps, UL-11Mbps
Wi-fi                             yes
Bluetooth                     V4.0
Location :                     GPS yes
 

RAM                           2 GB
ROM                           16GB Nand flash
Internal Memory         0.98GB(For apps installation), 12.47GB(For user data)
Expandable Memory   NA
Sensors                         Light Sensor, Motion Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Magnetic Sensor,                                                     Gyroscope Sensor.

USB Version                Micro USB (5 pin) , USB 2.0

Ear Jack                       3.5 mm
Dual Sim Support         yes (SIM+Micro-SIM)

Video Formats             3GP, MP4, AVI(MPEG)

Video Resolution         1920*1080

Video Frame Rate       30 fps

Audio Formats             MP3, Midi, AAC, AMR, Wav

FM                                yes (with recording)

SUMMARY

Micromax Canvas Turbo or Micromax A250, comes with a 12.7cm of Full HD 1080p IPS Display screen. It is the first Micromax Smartphone to feature 1920 x 1080 pixels full display resolution. The phone includes 16.7 million true color CGS screen, to provide high light penetration and will consume less power. Currently we can’t say anything about it’s viewing angles or clarity as we haven’t got our hands on it. But we will test it in our full-review.

Canvas Turbo has got a full aluminum body, according to Micromax, “Canvas turbo has been engineered to excel. The 8.6 mm anodized aluminum body keeps your phone secure in a tough aluminum shell. It also doubles up as an antenna and will boost the signal strength.

Micromax Canvas Turbo is powered by 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6589T quad-core processor which is also referred as Turbo Processor. It has got 2GB of RAM, so there will be not much problem regarding it’s performance or speed. To provide a buttery User Interface, it runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean Operating System.

Canvas Turbo comes with 13-megapixel of rear and 5-megapixel of front facing camera. The Micromax Canvas Turbo includes various cool new features like Cinemagraph which will allow you to capture a video and create a gif by animating any object. 360-degree Panorama and Object Eraser tool which will allow you to remove unwanted objects from your picture

Micromax Canvas Turbo comes with smart gesture support as similar to Canvas 4. This smart gesture will help you to:

• Answer a call simply by placing the phone on your ear.
• To put your phone on silent during an incoming call, just flip over your phone upside-down.
• To put your active call on speaker, simply flip over the phone.
• To dial a contact, select the person in your contacts list and place the phone on your ear to call.
• Slide your hand over the screen to unlock the phone and save battery by switching off your screen automatically with the proximity sensor.
• Click photos by putting your camera in proximity mode and wave your hand at the screen to click a photo.

Micromax Canvas Turbo has got its maximum features from Canvas 4. It also comes with Blow to Unlock feature and as similar to Canvas 4, it comes with popular video and popup browser feature, a smart pause feature which will automatically pause the video if you are not watching it.

One of the new feature in Canvas Turbo is, ‘iFloat‘. Which is a touch button present on-screen all the time and when access will allow users to access the key features of Canvas Turbo.

Final Verdict

Choosing hugh jackman as the brand ambassador for its new phone sure states that micromax has big plans for its new phone. But its not such a big step from its previous flagship phones.

Biggest cons are  its battery capacity and no external sd card slot. 

PRICING

At flipkart its available for Rs 19999

Official site price   Rs 19990

I am sure you can get it for Rs 19000 or less from your nearby local mobile store.

Flipboard - All the news that you want

Flipboard brings together world news and social news in a beautiful magazine designed for your Android phone and tablet.

It collects the content of social media and other websites and presents it in magazine format and allows users to "flip" through their social-networking feeds and feeds from websites that have partnered with the company

Once you pick a few topics, your Flipboard is built and you can instantly start flipping through the pages of news you care about and stories and photos friends are sharing. And with Flipboard 2.0, when you find things that you want to save for later or collect into your own ‘magazine’ on Flipboard, just tap the “plus” + button on any item.

Flip through the news from your Twitter timeline as well as from outlets like the Financial Times, USA Today and The Verge. See everything from posts and photos shared by friends on Facebook and Instagram to videos from YouTube and pop culture nuggets from Rolling Stone. Find inspiration for your travel, style and life from places like National Geographic, Etsy and Cool Hunting. Or create your own magazines on anything from Cooking to Chemistry.

Lot of apps out there that claim to arrange all  your social media feeds into one single timeline. But nothing beats this app. Not only does it bring all your social feeds together but it also gather all the news from different websites, sources from all over the internet and categorizes them.

So if you are a tech freak you can add tech magazine and check it regularly. I can bet that you won't have to check any other app or site to stay updated with the latest tech news.

To download flipboard for android click here

To download Flipboard for Iphone click here

WIFIKILL - App to disable the internet connection of devices on your network

Well, with this app you can disable internet connection for a device on the same network. So if someone (anyone) is abusing the internet wasting precious bandwidth for a Justin Bieber videoclips you could just kill their connection and stay happy with a full bandwidth just for yourself.






















This app requires Rooted Android phone.
It is still in development stage so you can expect some bugs on your device. On my Galaxy S3 it starts up and works normal but when i try to turn the app off it reboots my phone.
Using this app is pretty simple as you cab see from the images.

Launch the app
Give root privileges
Let the app load vendor lists
Click on the top left corner where it says "OFF" (It will now turn into ON)
App will now scan for all the devices on your wifi network. it will take some time depending upon how many devices are connected.

In front of every device there is a check box. You can check the box for whichever device you want to kick off the network or you can tap on the top right corner and select "ALL".
you will soon notice the difference in you  internet speed.
Also it depend on the user antivirus and the type of wifi card in his device. This app may or may not kick off 100% of the users of the current network.
So if it failed to kick off that one person that is hogging all the bandwidth then you are in for bad luck.
It consumes lot of battery and resources so i suggest don't put your phone to power save mode when you are using it as it might hang your phone.
Also your device will get heated very fast using this app.

Also one interesting features which i forgot to mention is that you can also see which sites other user are visiting.

You can download the trail version from here
Free version has ads, and is shuts down after 5 minutes. In future version more limitations will follow.

For pro version click here

Source

Whatsapp vs BBM

It took one failed launch and almost a month after that failed launch but BBM is finally here. BBM downloaded by 10 million users withing 24 Hrs of its official launch, no surprise there.

All the users who switched from blackberry to android or iphone has obviously missed their favourite app.
so here i am presenting you with a list of features of both BBM and Whatsapp.

		WHATSAPP		BBM
Invite Friends		Yes eg by SMS, Facebook, Hangouts, Google+, Email, LinkedIn or Skype		Yes eg by SMS, email, NFC, PIN or QR Code Scan
Address Book auto-update		Yes		No
Registration type		By cell phone number		By E-Mail
Use on multiple devices		No		No
Chat features		Sending text messages, emoticons attachments voice messages, photos (gallery or camera), location, contacts, videos Copy complete chat history		Sending text messages, emoticons attachments voice messages, photos (gallery or camera)  Copy complete chat history Add another chat partner
Group Chats		Yes		Yes
Broadcasts		Yes		Yes
Widgets		No		Yes
Additional functions		Adjustment of layout and notifications for each chat Blocking contacts Direct call from contacts		Group management (appointments, tasks, lists, notes, photos) Blocking contacts "Pinging" of people
Price		Free for 1 year. 0.99 cents per year afterwards.		Free

Both BBM and whatsapp has certain features which gives one advantage over other, depending on the user's preferences.

For example for some people BBM being PIN based is a good thing as it protects their privacy and you don't have to inform your friends every time you change you'r mobile number. For the other bunch its a rather they prefer whatsapp as it automatically scans your contact list for the person available on whatsapp.

BBM would be preferred by those people who are concerned about their privacy.

And also considering the time it would take all your close buddies to switch to BBM will ultimately decide the BBM fate. For me most of my friends have already installed the BBM.

Some because of our same views and others because they want to have a taste of that forbidden fruit which until now was exclusive to blackberry phones.

Avoid virtual line of BBM for android and iphone

Finally BBM app has arrived on both android and iOS. After a big failure a month ago it is finally here. Some people are not that happy though, after waiting for a month they have to wait once again. and  this time again blackberry has failed to mention that how log this wait is going to be.

For some people this virtual line is never ending. No one know when they will be in front of the lie. All my friends have not yet recieved ny email from BBM notifying them that they have reached the front of the line, nither did i. but i still managed to sign up and get my BBM PIN.

So i will guide you through the process which i went through. It might help some lucky few out there.

I did sign up for alert on BBM site but never received any Alert for BBM launch. It was because of my habit of staying up to date with all the ch news that i came to know about its launch. So no alert from blackberry for BBM launch.

I wasn't that mad till now. I was happy that its finally here. So i downloaded the BBM app as soon as it was available in play store.

This is the screen which You get when you first open BBM app.

After entering your email id you click next and if you are those lucky few who registered for BBM alert you will now get this screen.



Although i have seen people complaining on play store and some forums that even after signing up for alerts they still had to wait in virtual line. it happened with me too. When i clicked next i was directed to the screen where i had to sign in with my existing blackberry id or create new one. As i already had blackberry id i entered my id and password. I was excited as i didn't had to wait in line but my excitement soon ended when it showed error that no internet connection. Apparently i was in an are of bad reception. So i had to start all over again. But this time BBM app treated me like new user and it gave my virtual spot to god knows who and put me in line again. Well done BBM you managed to live up to your reputation.

I tried rebooting my phone. re-installing app and clearing app data and whatever i can think of,  but still nothing. So i kept on ding what any normal person would do. signing in again and again with the same id hoping for a miracle. Lot of users are facing this problem. At least i wasn't the only one. and the next day i emailed BBM support with my problem. But whenever i found some free time i would go back to the app and try again. I even tried tricks available on net to bypass the waiting line but it didn't work. Suddenly out of the blue i manged to pass through  once again. I had to admit though my cell reception again played it trick. So i almost decided to give up. I told myself this is the last time if it doesn't work now i will wait for reply from BBM support or my email when i am finally in front of line. This last time i finally managed to go all the way.

My friend in UK also didn't received any email he just kept on trying and he finally made t through without any hack. He owns an iPhone. None of my friends received any email from BBM that they are in front of line. They all kept trying again and again and finally made it through without any trick.
So i suggest all of you that don't wait for the email just keep trying.

BBM for Android click here
BBM for iphone click here