AppleCare

According to an Apple employee who attended last Thursday's town hall meeting between Apple's tech employees and company VP Tara Bunch, changes are coming to AppleCare and AppleCare+. A person familiar with the matter said that a number of changes will be referred to as the "One Apple" brand.

The biggest change has to do with how Apple iPhone models will be repaired. An anonymous active Apple employee who could not reveal her name, said that under the current process, someone bringing in a broken Apple iPhone has the unit exchanged for a 'like new' refurbished model whether the exchange is done at an Apple Store on through the mail. Under the new guidelines, Apple will try to fix the busted device right there in front of the owner with the target of handing the customer his own unit-repaired-back to him./Apple Stores, which currently have parts in stock to repair the speakers, receivers, home buttons, the vibrator motor and battery, will be adding more parts next month. Starting in June, Apple Stores will have the capability torepair and exchange displays. By July, Store employees will be able to deal with cameras, sleep/wake buttons and logic boards. Additionally, employees will be able to use advanced diagnostic tools that will more rapidly give them a diagnosis on what is ailing a broken iPhone allowing users to more quickly find a problem with an Apple iPhone and repair it.

The new in-house repair policy will start in the U.S. and will then get expanded overseas. Apple says it will save $1 billion dollars making the change. For those whose device is out of warranty, in-house service will cost extra based on the device. Apple has already started the new changes at certain locations with customers response being mostly positive. Apple is also looking to expand its home advisory employees which currently number 4,200. Apple wants to double the number of these employees on a year-over-year basis to cut overhead and also to have a larger pool of potential employees to choose from. 

Additionally, AppleCare will become a subscription model attached to a person rather than a specific device. Free after care phone support will cover 1 year with possibly two years getting covered in the future. Presently, 90 days of after sales free phone support is allowed without buying AppleCare. Online charts, articles and Genius Bar visits will continue to be free.

FIRST 3D ANDROID MOBILE WITHOUT 3D GLASS

After the A116 Canvas HD, the Canvas 2 A110, Canvas Viva A72, and theCanvas A100, Micromax is introducing a fourth member to the Canvas family. Christened the A115 Canvas 3D, the device boasts of an autostereoscopic 3D display. The Canvas 3D is priced at Rs. 9,999 and will be available form the first week of May.

Just like the Canvas HD and the A110, the Canvas 3D has a 5-inch display. The A115 also houses a 1GHz dual-core processor, and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The rear has a 5MP camera and the front has a 0.3MP camera for video calling. A 2000mAh battery powers the smartphone and Micromax claims that the device will last for up to 4.5 hours of talk time. The smartphone also supports Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and expandable storage up to 32GB via a microSD card. The RAM and built in storage isn’t known.

Being a 3D smartphone, Micromax claims that users won’t need to wear 3D glasses to consume content on the smartphone. Users will have access to “Micromax 3D Space” giving them access to 3D videos and 3D games.

This isn’t the first time that we have seen a 3D smartphone. We have had the LG Optimus 3D and the HTC Evo 3D hit store shelves in India. The two smartphones were premium priced and boasted of glasses free 3D displays and dual rear cameras for clicking 3D images. Both the smartphones failed to catch any market attention. We have also seen some budget smartphones take a shot at 3D displays but all in vain.

How the 3D display of the Canvas 3D performs is something we will comment on once we have our hands on the smartphone. Up till now there is only one device that has given us an accurate picture of depth perception without the use of 3D glasses and that is the Nintendo 3DS. The hand held gaming console is the closest we have come to having a great glasses free 3D experience. On other devices, especially the previously launched 3D smartphones, the experience has been mostly gimmicky.

Micromax has been on roll launching budget devices in India and making a name for it self. Recently, Micromax claimed that it has sold over 1 million Canvas devices. But all hasn’t been well for the budget smartphone king. Recently Ericsson sued Micromax for infringing patents pertaining to 2G and 3G wireless technologies.

The Canvas HD, Canvas A116 and the Canvas Viva A72 have been successful budget smartphones in their respective price brackets. Will this winning streak continue with the Canvas 3D, or will the smartphone crash and burn? Stay tuned, as we will bring you the complete showdown when we get our hands on the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D.

Microsoft to hold pre-E3 2013 Xbox press event on June 10

Microsoft has booked the Galen Center in Los Angeles for a pre-E3 2013Xbox press event, on June 10.

 Microsoft has booked it to hold the event a day before E3 2013 gets underway.

The event is scheduled just a couple of weeks after Microsoft will reveal its next-generation Xbox console on May 21. The June 10 event is likely to reveal a lot more on the next version of the Xbox, and so far, Major Nelson has stated that some of the console's preliminary launch line-up would be on display there.

Rumours hovering around also suggest possibilities of celebrities showing up. Over the past few years Xbox press conferences have seen appearances by Usher, Paul McCartney and Steven Spielberg to promote their games. Expect the same this year and enjoy the ride.

Security analyst develops Android app that can hijack and crash airplanes

A security analyst has revealed how simple it is to hack into the communication link-up between a plane and the air traffic control system, and the plane’s navigation system in order to change the plane’s route or even to crash it. Hugo Teso, an analyst with German IT security company N.Runs AG, and a licensed commercial pilot has developed an exploit framework called Simon which is used by an Android app to deliver data that can instigate an attack against an airplane.


While speaking at the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam, Teso revealed that he could exploit a plane’s Automatic Dependant Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system, the system that transmits the plane’s current navigation details to Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) and the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), a communication link between the plane and the ATC, to feed in false information and cause the plane to change course or get into an accident. Teso said that it took three years to develop the Simon framework which uses information from Flightsradar24, a free website that tracks flight paths in real-time, and publicly available Flight Management System hardware and software, both of which are very similar (but not exactly the same) as the ones used in the real world. Teso showed the audience at the conference that by sending the command “visit ground” through the app using radio signals, he could force the plane to change course and crash. He also showed how he could get a plane to change its speed, altitude and bearings using the same method.

Fortunately, Teso’s system can only be used virtually at present and a hijacker would only be able to remotely control a plane if it was within the antenna range of his hacking system. Also, if a pilot somehow was able to recognize the infiltration, he could take control of the plane manually, since Teso’s system can only influence the plane when it’s in autopilot mode. Teso stressed on how vulnerable the existing ACARS was and how a plane would have no way to determine if the data being transmitted through ACARS was valid.

Teso’s hacks have been developed keeping in mind the newly updated ADS-B system which will be implemented almost globally in the coming years as a result of a directive by the US government that states that by 2020, any flights operating in its airspace should have an ADS-B system installed. Teso says that he has been in touch with airlines to fix the vulnerabilities in the ADS-B system.

Along with Shodan, the search engine that can be used to control nuclear plants, Teso’s Simon makes the rest of the 21st century sound like a very dangerous time to live in. Fortunately, at least for the time being, both Shodan and Simon are almost exclusively being used by security experts and researchers to find and seal off security vulnerabilities rather than exploit them.

Why iOS 5 is better than Android Gingerbread 2.3.3

Apple’s robust operating system has just got better with the announcement of new iOS 5. The streamlined and integrated operating system is anticipated to hit the devices by fall of 2011. Google has been one pioneer in OS stream that has looked to challenge iOS with its Android platform.

However, its new release, Gingerbread, is still far behind the bench-marked iOS. In order to better understand the key differences between these platforms following parameters should be considered:

• Social Integration – The new iOS 5 platform will be integrated with Twitter streams and the photo tagging feature on the new platform will be intrinsic. Apple has not chose Facebook but instead opted for lighter, Twitter. There are no intrinsic social integration capabilities in Gingerbread and the custom apps should instead be downloaded on the Android enabled devices to access social streams on the go.
  
  
• Free iMessage Feature – iOS 5 will allow a user in sending free messages to other iOS users without any additional costs. No such feature exists till date in Android.
• Security – iOS is a matured, stable and highly secured platform that can be leveraged by the end users under toughest of security constraints without any hassles. Android’s Gingerbread has handful of bugs and is vulnerable to attacks. Instead of getting culminated the number of attacks is instead on the rise.
• Ad-Free Content – Apple’s iOS 5 will support Safari Reader feature allowing the readers to only view text stream without any ads, scripts or videos. Android’s Gingerbread lacks the feature all together and instead relies on third party vendor apps.
• Cloud Support – Apple has changed the dynamics of the tech market by announcing iCloud on new iOS 5. The end users will be able to store data and access apps over the new iCloud feature. The data will get automatically synced up with all iOS enabled devices without any hassles. As a result, customers need not buy apps again on all the iOS devices held by them. Android’s Gingerbread does not support any custom cloud based solution and instead relies on old school of local storage.
• Split Keyboard – iOS 5 will support split keyboard interface on the devices once the solution is upgraded. Gingerbread 2.3.3 supports standard keyboards which is pretty similar to iOS 4.3.
• Multitasking Capabilities – Although iOS 5 and Gingerbread 2.3.3 fair almost equally in the parameter the edge again lies with iOS 5. The new platform if used over A5 chipset will provide better results. Similarly, if Gingerbread 2.3.3 is used over 800Mhz-1Ghz CPU will yield better multitasking experience on the go.

Sundar Pichai to head Android at Google after Andy Rubin steps down

Sundar Pichai, the Google executive responsible for projects such as Chrome, Chrome OS and Google Drive, will be heading Android after Andy Rubin’s departure. Pichai, whose last position within Google was Senior Vice President of Chrome and Apps, will now be responsible for the Android mobile OS and also the Chrome web browser and laptop OS, perhaps pointing to a Google strategy that merges both operating systems to form a single platform.


Pichai has been with Google since 2004 and one of his first projects was the Google Toolbar browser add-on that let users install a Google search bar on their browsers, that also provided access to other Google services like YouTube. Pichai is an IIT-Kharagpur alumni where he did his B.Tech in Metallurgy, after which he did courses in Stanford and Wharton Business School. In 2011, Pichai was closely linked to a move to Twitter to head the social networking company’s product division but he stayed with Google.

Pichai succeeds Rubin who founded Android in 2003, and later headed the mobile OS team when it was acquired by Google in 2005, till the present day. Rubin is widely recognized for being one of the main Google execs responsible for Android’s rise as the biggest mobile platform in the world. Rubin is now rumoured to start working on projects involving robotics and home automation.

As mentioned above, one of Pichai’s key responsibilities in his new role will be to oversee the gradual merger of Chrome OS with ANdroid in order for Google to present a single operating system running on mobiles, tablets and PCs. This isn’t a new Google strategy but something that has been discussed earlier in the corridors of Mountain View as revealed by Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, who revealed to CNET that Android and Chrome OS “will likely converge over time.”

7 tips to give your smartphone a fresh start

From unused apps to files you downloaded once from the internet, extra mobile clutter can make your phone sluggish or simply make it difficult for you to find what you are looking for. Follow these easy tips to give your phone a fresh start.

1. Get into the habit of backing up your data

Running out of space in your phone to save your pictures, music and more? Upload them to the cloud or simply copy everything to an external hard drive. That way, your data will also be safely stored elsewhere in case something happens to your phone. TrySugarSync, a file syncing service that will sync your new photos and other files to the cloud automatically.

2. Drop unused apps like bad habit

If you have not used an app in the last few months, it’s not likely you will use it again. Instead, the icon sits there taking up space and making it harder to find the apps you do use. Go through all your apps and see which ones you use on a daily basis — delete the rest.

3. Move to a smarter browser

Something like the Opera Mini, if you haven’t checked it out. The Opera Mini app shrinks data to as little as 10% of its original size before it lands on your phone. This speeds up the web on your phone, saving you a great deal of time — since you’ll be able to open websites in the blink of an eye — as well as money and battery.

4. Periodically clear cached files

Your apps and browser create temporary files that can take up space and memory. You can download an app to help you do the job, such as Easy Cache Cleaner (for Android), which scans your phone and allows you to clear out the cache files. Once you’re done, you might as well delete the app.

5. Spruce up your message, email inbox

You’ll gain space, and you are never going to read them again anyway. It only takes a few seconds to delete them all — you can even use an app like Delete Old Messages (for Android) to help you — and you’ll feel refreshed after you do it. Do the same for your email inbox, and your phone’s memory will love you for it.

6. Investigate your contacts list

If you cannot figure out who that person in your contacts is or where you know them from, ditch them. Also, check for duplicates on your address book, as syncing from different sources can cause double-ups. It’s all about the space.

7. Conserve power

If your phone drains battery, there are a few steps you can take. Close the apps you’re not using, turn the mobile data, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off when you don’t need them, lower the brightness on your screen and turn the keyboard clicks off.

With these tips you will get your phone spruced up prim and proper. Even if it’s working fine, following these steps will keep things from piling up on your phone, giving you more free space to use when you need it and making it easier to find what you’re looking for.