Mobile operators for mobile advertising trick in prices

The Consumer Advice Centre North Rhine-Westphalia goes against the tricks used increasingly by mobile operators in the marketing of mobile phones in connection with tariffs. Against several vendors had already been successful.

Eight well-known companies had issued warnings to cease and desist or were forced via the courts to change their business practices, said the consumer organization. On the merits, it is important that companies take advantage of it more and more that the users have become accustomed over the years from receiving the contract for a subsidized phone.

More and more vendors move, however, to some extent or entirely by grants from and have the devices on installments paid during the term. However, it is often difficult for customers to see how the consumer advocates find more.

The trick here is that the company split in advertising the expensive mobile phone price in an exposed, low down payment as well – sometimes hidden – in monthly installments to be paid. Such high quality smart phones, for example, boldly, “uniquely 79.90 €” with “from 1 €” or promoted, though to be over the term of two years in addition to the contract abgestottert cost of the purchase price further. Others call turn in advertising only the amount of the monthly payment.

How customers are forced to seek the individual price components themselves in the small print and to add – in the hope that nothing is overlooked. This not only complicates the search for the best deal. This type of advertising is considered by the Consumer also a violation of price regulations dar. This demands that, that – where possible – the final price will be clearly stated.

Just eight wireless service provider has warned the consumer center North Rhine-Westphalia for such offenses. The provider Fonic, Freenet Mobile McSIM, O2, and then vowed Simply improvement and issued cease and desist. Three times had to call the consumer protection for the mobile phone scam the courts to properly enforce excellent prices. Were affected by various operators, call Prima and Vodafone, against the injunctions could be obtained in each case.

Huawei Ascend G300

Huawei attacks since September: Instead of the previous work as a contract manufacturer under foreign brands, the manufacturer presents aggressively for over a half a year in the smartphone and tablet segment as the provider of his equipment is not only the complete spectrum – from entry – want to use, but this set also with details such as custom SoC solutions studied accents – to participate in the performance class.

This leads to the secret star of this year’s Mobile World Congress four product classes that are to be expanded over time more and more: The targeting of a young, award-conscious clientele Y devices, and the the most affordable middle-class belonging to G units, which aimed at high-performance P-class and finally the high-price segment with standing for “diamond” symbol “D” in its name.

Today, Huawei is now used to start until 4 May continued Web 2.0 conference re: publica , to show the Ascend G300 his new middle-class smartphone for the first time in more detail.

Huawei Ascend G300 (first impression)
The G300 is expected before the introduction of some tension with MediaPad 10 FHD and its new flagship smartphone Ascend D quad be viewed as an interim step towards a more market shares in Europe. Huawei praises to the device as a “Rising”, which should appeal to all those who are a middle-class equipment at a reasonable price (in this case: 150 €) are looking for.

The equipment can, in effect the current middle-class sort: A single-core CPU with 1 GHz 512 MB of available and Adreno-200 GPU (Qualcomm SoC S1) to the side. The capacitive IPS display has a size of 4 inches with a resolution of 480 × 800 pixels. Other features include HSDPA (7.2 Mb / s), a camera with 5 megapixels and a 1,500 mAh battery. Internally, clear 2.4 gigabytes of memory available, which can be expanded as needed to a maximum of 32 gigabytes via microSD card.

Software side, an almost entirely untouched Android 2.3.6 is used. However, Huawei wants version 4.0 definitely put up more in the coming months – an update was “in the pipeline”.

Dropbox provides the means to share content

Dropbox , one of the services cloud storage most popular (25 million users in over 175 countries) for its versatility and ability to synchronize with almost any device that can connect to the internet, updated its website, the respective programs for different PC operating systems and apps for different mobile OS, which are of our concern to us.

It is interesting to see when this update is being made ​​public, as has been rumored that since Google will be revealed one day this week over its “Google Drive”, which would direct competition to the product that is offering the equipment Dropbox.
Seeing what’s new in this update from Mountain View will have to offer a comprehensive service to try to get existing customers Dropbox.

As always, performance improvements and the elimination of some bugs are present in updating apps for different operating systems, but also (this is the great improvements we have) adds a button to folders or c HARING files are identified through a single link to them.
The main idea is to make the content we’ve gone into a cloud more accessible and easy to share.

Until now to share a file that we had to open up a folder, share it with one of our contacts and move the file to that folder (or upload it directly there), so we lost some time, unless we had the habit of climbing these files to the public – or in the case of photos, pictures folder, so that our friends and family could see the snapshots from the last trip we had done from the browser – but now, thanks to this button, we get a link to the folder or file you want and without complications so we can share the other person will be able to see (also from the browser) and download the document or file that you have shared, whether or not service users.

As well sums up Jeff Bartelma, Product Manager Dropbox:

We have simplified the process of sending files by reducing it to a few seconds, eliminating the need for attachments in emails.
Definitely a big step forward in improving services in the cloud, hopefully the other competitors will follow what the guys steps Dropbox.

Cargo Bot, the first game made entirely from the iPad

Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where we have to instruct a robot to go taking action and overcome the different levels. So far nothing flashy but it was because Cargo-Bot is the first application developed entirely from the iPad.

This author used codify at plication that allows for a complete programming environment on the iPad. Of course, I had codify the limitation of only being able to use applications created within your environment was resolved thanks to Open Source tool export. After that, the Apple introduced and this was approved.

The application created by Rui Viana, Cargo-Bot, is simple but shows how interesting alternatives have Xcode. Especially for users who begin programming in Xcode and those who find it too dense. In the extended entry is a video demonstration of codify.

Published planning releases of Ubuntu 12.10

In the absence of a few days to produce the release of Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin can see the first interesting facts about the next version of Canonical’s Linux distribution. They have already published, namely, planning on the various developmental milestones of Ubuntu 12.10.

Codenamed “Q” in the absence of the animal and the adjective that will make name for the next version. If you want to be attentive to the development of Ubuntu 12.10 you should note the following dates on your calendar:

June 7: first alpha
June 28: second alpha
August 2: third alpha
September 6: First beta
September 27: second beta
October 18: final release
Throughout this time comprises other milestones, such as closures of the development of documentation and translations, but the most relevant are those I have marked just above. However these dates are “somewhat” guidance: always can be no delay (remember that there is a version 6.06).

Samsung’s new patent complaints against Apple

Yesterday at least a little hope of peace today is the mud-patent battle between Apple and Samsung still cheerfully. Currently featuring Samsung. The Koreans take the Californians alleging infringement of eight patents before.

The yesterday announced or arranged ‘peace talks’ between the world’s two largest smartphone and tablet manufacturers are most likely to fail, since at least Samsung is currently not indicated willingness to do just great.

Thus, the South Korean manufacturer just gave in response to a lawsuit against Apple, the Samsung S2 Galaxy in mid-February announced that the iPhone and iPad maker would infringe on eight patents Samsung, among them are also two FRAND patents – those patents that have to be put to “fair and non-discriminatory conditions” are available. The reports for the blog ‘ FOSS patent ‘.

The Samsung now raised patents (or alleged patent infringements by Apple) have done all of the data transfer and control of smart phones and tablets, is relevant violations are practically giving all mobile devices from Apple, so iPhone, iPad, iPod touch.

Five of Samsung’s patents (including the two FRAND standards) were developed by South Korean manufacturers themselves, three one has purchased over time (eg, Hitachi). Samsung has, according to ‘FOSS patent,’ a total of 30,000 patents. However, it has been Samsung, writes Florian Mueller, never once “made anywhere in the world” to enforce an alleged violation.

Currently, Apple and Samsung are compared in nine countries, the next legal battle will take place next Friday on the way, the Mannheim district court.

Majadahonda have an Apple Store in the shopping center Gran Plaza 2

These days we hear of another Apple Store which will open soon in the outskirts of Madrid. It will be at the mall Gran Plaza 2 Majadahonda (specifically in the local 210), becoming the third Apple Store in a such center located near the Spanish capital.

The original source said that the inauguration is scheduled for April 27, although Apple has not confirmed anything about that day. Anyway, some pictures show us that the store is well advanced, only missing computers and devices placed on the tables of the shop and polish every detail to get everything ready.

If it opens later this month, the store will be advanced to Majadahonda and other shopping centers planned in Murcia (New Condomina) and Valladolid establishing itself as the Apple Store opened the sixth and tenth on which we have data. We look forward to when Apple confirmed the store with an opening date, because we insist: there is nothing official yet.

Playstation 4 and Xbox 720: first development studios working on next-gen games

On the Internet DICE has released an advertisement that hopes for a Battlefield game for the upcoming next-gen consoles Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox wakes 720th We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer for the development of a AAA title for the current and next generation consoles. The title could be called to act Battlefield 4, the end of 2013 – and thus parallel to the start of the Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 – could appear.

Gives specific information about a successor to Battlefield 3 has been found. Now developer DICE heats itself to the rumor mill. In a job advertisement looking for the development studio for a new employee. Published, the job offer on the Internet. What is needed is therefore a Senior Software Engineer for the development of a AAA title for the current and next generation consoles. This refers to the next-gen consoles Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720th

Which game is meant by the AAA title reveals DICE, of course. A game from the Battlefield series would be quite possible. Further details reveal the exact job description. So shall operate the new Senior Software Engineer, among other things the Frostbite engine. The Frostbite Engine 2 is already in use for Battlefield third Certainly is conceivable, therefore, that the corresponding expertise also in Battlefield 4 on the Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox is asked 720th

Remains unclear, however, the potential over time. Seems clear only that the developments are underway on a new game already. How long will the completion remains uncertain, however. Quite possible that the end of 2013 Battlefield 4 – and parallel to the start of the Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 – could appear. Whether this is actually realistic, however, remains to be seen.

HTC: New Desire series with dual SIM and Android 4.0

The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC is following the launch of its new HTC announced One series for western markets a range of new models for China, which have the name Desire revival.

Bank called HTC Kewang V (which in English means “Desire”), the company wants from 23 April with the sale of three new smartphones with Android 4.0 and support for simultaneous use of two SIM cards start.

In addition, designed to offer the Desire and the Desire VC VT two other variants, which differ only in design. Each of the models will each have one of the three Chinese carriers in the trade. The hardware of the new phones is located in the medium power range.

Under the hood, put on the new HTC V-series is a single core ARM processor with 1 GHz clock, which is installed together with 512 megabytes of RAM and four 4 GB internal flash memory. About a MicroSD card slot can expand the memory.

The Super LCD display has a diagonal of 4 inches and has a resolution of 800×480 pixels. The camera on the back has a resolution of 5 megapixels, has a front camera, it is not obvious. The supported mobile phone standards HTC was initially not available, probably the radio equipment but depend on the operator via GSM or CDMA.

MSR: context cache launches mobile apps faster

Microsoft’s research department has developed a system to speed up launching applications on a smartphone. The project is called ” Falcon “and has to develop a context-based caching technology for apps on the target.

The Mobile Computing Research Center, Microsoft Research will present the results of his work at MobiSys 2012 FALCON anlässlicher conference in June for the first time publicly. Already, the developers have released a video that is demonstrated in the context-oriented app caching.

FALCON is according to the developers in the situation in the light of the context data to speed up loading of applications. The software analyzes the user behavior of the user and invites you to sample a specific application in the memory of the phone when the user visits a particular place where he has already used the program more widely used.

Microsoft Research FALCON – pre-caching for smart phone apps

The video shows how FALCON provides the basis of the availability of certain Wi-Fi access points for that one game by the “preloading” can be opened quickly if the user stays in the vicinity. And GPS location data, or specific times can be used by apps as a parameter for deciding on the preload.

FALCON also uses extensive data from analyzes of user behavior and can therefore predict the actions of the user according to the developers already with great accuracy. A new algorithm helps the system in operation, is already effectively in a short time to adapt to each user.