Mobile users across the country would soon see yet another series of mobile numbers, possibly as early as February 2010. While the Department Of Telecommunication (DoT) has issued all almost all numbers starting with ‘9′ and ‘8′, the new numbers would start with ‘7′. You may recall that TELECOM TALK was the 1st to announce ‘8′ series mobile numbers (MOBILE NOS STARTING WITH ‘8?, SOON) on 15 August 2009, which was introduced less than a month later on 9 September 2009 – MOBILE NUMBERS STARTING WITH “8? LAUNCHED!

All ‘9x’ levels ranging from 90 / 91 / 95 / 96 / 97 / 98 / 99 have been allotted to various operators (and levels 92 / 93 / 94 reserved for Tata Indicom/ Reliance Mobile/BSNL respectively) while among the ‘8x’ levels only some series (80/81/88/89) could be alotted to mobile operators due to several series already being in use for STD codes.

Here’s a look at the 1st series of ‘7x’ series which would soon be rolled out:
Circle Operator Code
Andhra Pradesh Tata DoCoMo 7842
Bihar – Jharkhand S Tel 7808
Delhi Reliance GSM 7827
Himachal Pradesh S Tel 7807
Madhya Pradesh Reliance GSM 7828
Madhya Pradesh Airtel 7869
Orissa S Tel 7809
Punjab Reliance GSM 7814
Tamil Nadu Tata DoCoMo 7845
Uttar Pradesh (E) Idea 7860

So those of you crazy about numbers, especially the significant ‘786′ series, get ready to select your special number!

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has unveiled the iPad, a tablet-style computer that resembles the iPhone,but larger.

"It's so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone," Jobs said on Wednesday at the device's highly anticipated debut in San Francisco.

Jobs demonstrated how the iPad is used for surfing the web with Apple's Safari browser. He typed an e-mail using an on-screen keyboard and flipped through photo albums by flicking his finger across the screen.

The CEO says the iPad will also be better for reading books, playing games and watching video than either a laptop or a smart phone.

Dressed in his trademark blue jeans and black turtleneck, Jobs demonstrated some of the features of the iPad, which he said include browsing the Internet, playing games, listening to music and watching high-definition video.

"We've got movies, videos, TV shows," Jobs said.

Jobs also showed off the virtual keyboard on the machine and said the iTunes music store is built into the iPad.

The iPad is half an inch thick (1.3-cm) and weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kilograms), he said, and will come with 16- 32- or 64-gigabytes of flash memory.

"We have been able to achieve 10 hours of battery life," he said. "I can take a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole way on one charge."

No price or information on availability was immediately announced.

Now Apple will have to convince consumers, many of whom already have Internet-connected phones, computers and TVs, that that's the case. Tablet computers have existed for a decade, with little success.

Shares in Apple fell $4.65, or 2.3 percent, to $201.29 in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company's shares have more than doubled over the past year, partly on anticipation of the tablet computer.

Orkut's 6th birthday!



It may not have popped up in your birthdays list, but today is orkut's big day: the site is now 6 years old! In the past 6 years we've learned to walk, talk, and color inside the lines, among many other achievements. We've even shaken things up and reinvented ourselves not once but twice!

More importantly, we've made a ton of great friends along the way (over 80 million worldwide), and are happy to include you among them.

A chewing-gum sized Chinese device known as “dual SIM card holder” is now available in the market, priced as low as Rs 50 to Rs 200, which can be placed under the battery of your mobile phone and that has a provision to hold another SIM card, which can be activated whenever there is a need to call.

You don’t need to carry two mobile phones, one to receive calls and the other to make calls, or buy a new Dual-SIM phone. This small device can be used in most of the low-to-middle-end models. So, you can retain your current number for many years and subscribe to a new operator and a better plan. No need to worry about mobile number portability being delayed in India!

Once installed, you an simply use the new Dual SIM/AUTH option in your phones menu to swap between SIM cards with a simple menu press.

Modern phones use SAT (SIM Application Toolkit) functionality to allow them to use extra functionality built into newer SIM cards. The card holdedrs use this to enable a new Dual Card/Auth option on your phone.

Most of these card holders work just like swapping SIM cards manually. Any information saved on the SIM is automatically retained. Your text messages and phone numbers are saved automatically to the SIM card they belong to. Any information stored on your phone is also saved, no need to loose any data.

Make sure there is enough space between casing and/or battery to place the other SIM card. One SIM card is inserted in the SIM card slot of your mobile phone and the other can be folded to be held between your back casing and the battery, but you need to make sure such space is enough for the SIM to fit there. If your phone is too slim, you might not be able to fit the SIM.

According to industry estimates, 20% of the existing mobile user base is using more than one SIM.

The success of Avatar throughout the world has forced Television manufacturers as well as broadcasters to take 3D seriously. It's no wonder that in the world's biggest electronic show, Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, 3D managed to capture everyone's attention. But can 3D TV at home become reality and be used at a large scale as it has its own share of other problems. Not everyone can enjoy the 3D experience, and many people cannot see 3D at all or suffer headaches or other ill effects from it.


In order to have 3D experience at home, a user will need new 3D content, which can be in form of 3D TV channel, a 3D Blu-ray Disc, or a 3D video game. ESPN and Discovery have decided to take a step in the 3D world as both have announced that they will soon make 3D content available. ESPN has announced that the upcoming Football World Cup will be broadcasted in 3D. Many movies are already available in 3D and may games are also following the trend.

Samsung
Samsung Electronics has announced that in 2010, the company's premium models in the LED TV lineup - 7000, 8000 and 9000 will all include Samsung's proprietary built-in 3D processor and emitter that is optimized for, and enables compatibility with multiple 3D standards including half and full HD resolution formats as well as the Blu-ray Disc Association approved "Blu-ray 3D" standard. In addition, Samsung's 3D system delivers a picture using a full color spectrum for an unbelievable, immersive viewing experience.


Sony
Sony's XBR-HX900 series has local dimming with a full array of LEDs behind the screen. This TV is 3D compatible and has 240Hz refresh rate. It also comes with Bravia Video interactive suite with Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, NPR, Yahoo Widgets and more. A user can decided whether to go for the optional Wi-Fi connection or not.

Sony XBR-HX900 series has two models, XBR-52HX900: 52-inch, XBR-46HX900: 46-inch and both will be available by this summer. Sony has still not announced the price of these products.

Mobile 4 Mumbai, Mumbai based Mobile software development group, has announced the launch of Mumbai City bus guide on mobile phone.

Mobile 4 Mumbai (m4mum.com) will help all mumbaikar to download and have this Java application on mobile phone. This application does not require GPRS or SMS, but works on any Java enabled phone. It is very easy to search bus route information on mobile application than carrying booklet or ask the persons.

This application can be downloaded ans installed within a minutes from m4mum.com Since the mobile application does not require GPRS or SMS, you don’t need to send SMS and spend a paisa. No internet connection (GPRS) is required for operating this application. It is encouraged to share the application via Bluetooth to your friends and co-passengers!

The application claims to be user friendly, you can search your bus route information within 10 key presses, in less than 10 seconds. The Java application boasts to be better than the BEST bus route maps, it contains almost all names of even the not-so-famous bus stops which are not available even on BEST official website.


As per the statement on official website of Mobile 4 Mumbai, Daily more than 42 lakh people are travelilng using BEST buses. Mobile 4 Mumbai have also announced “Contribute and Get Famous” initiative to attract people to contribute to Mumbai Bus Route information which they may miss in the current version. Top-3 person who will provide maximum information will get their name on the next app version as credit.

It is indeed a great effort. It would be great if the Mobile 4 Mumbai team can release the project as open source and make it more developer friendly to make this available for other Indian cities as well! [via]