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PDF converter for iPad

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Readdle, which had developed apps like Calendars and ReaddelDocs, has now come out with a new which helps users convert other documents into PDF right from their iPads.
Users can convert documents from a large variety of sources, such as Apple’s iWork and Microsoft Office. Users can load web pages through the app and convert them into PDF files for offline reading. Even email attachments can be loaded in the app which are efficiently converted by the app.

Other items that can be converted include users’ contacts, photos, and files in the Dropbox account. Converting files from the Dropbox account is a bonus, because users don’t need to take the trouble to load their files first on their iPad and then convert, since the conversion can be done right from Dropbox itself.

The converted PDF files can be stored in the app itself and users can choose to either view the PDF files there or transfer them elsewhere. Users can email these files, or transfer them to other apps which have the capability to open such files.

“Just last week I received a Word document on my iPad with NDA to sign. It took 30 seconds to make PDF from Word with PDF Convertor and 90 seconds to complete and sign the agreement in PDF Expert. Two minutes, it’s incredible!” comments Alex Tyagulsky, Readdle chief marketing officer. “With PDF Converter, available on the App Store, anyone can do this.”

The app makes it easy for those users who need to juggle a lot of PDF files. Those who are comfortable typing on iPad, can take the print out from the PDF itself, without going to their PC.
The iPad continues its march forward in reducing the need for the users to get back to their personal computer time and again. The PDF Converter adds one more reason why users can work from their iPad itself.

Android, Windows 8 to eat into Apple’s lead: Nomura report

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Apple’s iPad is likely to be taken over by other tablets in the market within three years, Nomura analysts have predicted. According to the report prepared by Nomura analysts, Apple will end up shipping about 35 million iPads this year, whereas others will be able to ship about 20 million tablets.

The lead of Apple is likely to become narrower in 2012 and 2013, and the iPad will lose its absolute majority in 2014 when non Apple tablets will sell 83 million compared to 78 million iPads.

In the short term, Apple will retain its 65 per cent market share and the only major challenger it would face would be Samsung which is likely to grab about 13 per cent of the tablet market due to its strong products like Galaxy Tab 10.1 whereas other major players would not be able to grow their market share higher than 4 per cent.

The year 2012 is likely to play along the same lines but with a slight difference would be Samsung and other smaller players eating in to the market share of iPad. will also gain from the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich.

The balance would tilt against Apple largely due to Microsoft, says the Nomura report. The Windows 8 tablets would begin the year (2012) with 5 million tablets and would go up to 20 million tablets by the year 2014. Despite being the smaller player among the other tablet players, Microsoft would still be the game changer which will break the current established order among the tablet manufacturers.

Such reports, which make predictions over a long term, run the risk of not anticipating some wild card factors, something which they missed to take into account. There might be a product failure, or a sudden success, or even a new platform which may change the market scenario altogether.

LG Optimus Pro and Optimus Net launch with Android Gingerbread

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LG has announced two new Optimus family smartphones – Optimus Pro and Optimus Net. Both these new Optimus devices will come loaded with 2.3 Gingerbread update. Appearing to mid-range affordable handsets, Optimus Pro is keypad featuring candy bar handset while the Optimus Net is a full touchscreen device. Apparently, LG will introduce Optimus Net with different versions for different markets and both devices will be made available in 30 markets starting with Europe.

LG is aiming at the lucrative mid-range Android smartphone category with two new easy looking handsets. The Optimus Pro is a portrait bar Qwerty handset and sports 2.8 inch capacitive touchscreen display. It’s the first touch and type handset from LG. Featuring an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227T processor with 256 RAM and 512 MB ROM, the Optimus Pro is aimed at the social networking and texting fanatics with a flavor of Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Optimus UI on it.

It has 3 camera that supports 4x Zoom and capable video recording at VGA 24 frames per second. Apart from all that, the Optimus Pro has the and proximity sensors. For wireless connectivity, this handset offers 3.0, WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) and also capable of creating WiFi hotspot. Other features include a FM Radio, 3.5mm Audio jack, and 1500 battery.

While the full screen LG Optimus Net has 3.2 inch capacitive touch display with HVGA (320×480) pixel resolution. Featuring the same 800 Qualcomm MSM7227T processor, 512 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM, the Optimus Net will feature Gingerbread with Optimus UI 2.0 layered on top of it. Other features of this touchscreen handset includes 3.0 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), 1500mAh battery and support.

LG will sell different versions of the Optimus Net in different markets. For instance, Optimus Net with near field communication chip will be sold in Europe. For Asia, China, Brazil and CIS region, LG will offer these phones with feature.

These new handsets can be expected to prices somewhere around Rs. 15,000 or higher for Indian region.

Vodafone, Airtel, Idea join hands for 3G

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Vodafone, Airtel, Idea join hands for 3G

Last year Tata Docomo was the first private operator to launch services in India and others joined the bandwagon after that. But the spread of 3G is still too slow and many regions of India still await services. However, mobile subscribers of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea need not be disappointed as the three are working with each other to have nationwide presence through intra circle agreements.

Sharing their views on inter and intra circle roaming, Vodafone and Airtel spokespersons said, “Roaming agreements – both inter and intra circle – are the norm in the Indian telecom industry since they help a service provider to provide seamless service to its customers. Airtel has entered into a bilateral roaming agreement, both inter and intra circle, with Vodafone and Idea to provide 3G services to our customers in the circles where we have not built our own 3G network. With this agreement in place, Airtel will bring a pan-India experience of 3G services to its customers.”

Vodafone

Vodafone is offering 3G services in 49 towns and cities of Andhra Pradesh to its subscribers using Idea’s network. In Kerala too it is using the service provider’s network for offering 3G.

The tariff plan provided by Vodafone in these circles is quite affordable despite being made available through a rival network. In Kerala, a Vodafone prepaid customer can avail 50 of 3G data for Rs 26 a day. Rs 101 gives 200 MB for 30 days, and 1 of data over three days comes for Rs 375. For postpaid customers only plans that cost Rs 100 and Rs 375 are also available.

In Andhra Pradesh, Vodafone users can experience 3G at no extra cost over and above their current 2G data charges, but the catch is that these special data offers are valid only till the end of July after which regular tariff is implemented.

Airtel

Similarly, Bharti Airtel has entered an intra-circle roaming agreement with Idea to offer 3G services in Gujarat. Its tariff plans are the same as those it offers in circles where it has its own network.

Basic plans start at Rs 8, which gets you 10 MB for a day and Rs 61 for 65 MB over three days. Standard plans start at Rs 101, which gives 100 MB for 30 days, and go up to Rs 750 for 2 GB of data over one month.

While a FlexiShield plan is also available with 1.25 GB of data at 3G speeds and 2 paise for 100 thereafter till you reach a maximum bill of Rs 2,000. Once you have reached this cap you can access unlimited data but at a reduced speed of 20 Kbps.

Idea

On the other hand, Idea is offering 3G services in Delhi and Kolkata using Vodafone’s network because it has no spectrum in these cities. Idea’s subscribers can avail 3G in the two metros using sachet or regular plans.

The sachet plan is same for Delhi and Kolkata subscribers. Users can get 20 MB of data at Rs 7, while Rs 52 will buy 100 MB of 3G data for three days. Extra usage will be charged at 5 paise for 10 KB in all the plans.

Apart from that, Idea prepaid customers in Delhi can also buy 200 MB of data for Rs 102, while Rs 100 will get 100 MB if you are postpaid customer. Rs 1,250 is the highest plan value which gives 10 GB of data for a month for both prepaid and postpaid users.

For Idea’s prepaid subscribers in Kolkata, on the other hand, the choice is limited to only one usage based plan for Rs 103 per 200 MB of data, but postpaid users have more choice than their counterparts in Delhi with maximum plan value going up to Rs 5,000 for 30 GB of data.

An interesting trend in the offering by Airtel, Vodafone and Idea is that Vodafone, in a bid to promote 3G services, is offering services at a rate, which is subsidised relative to that offered by the other two operators for the initial period of two months.

We hope these partnerships will also provide frequent travelers an opportunity to be connected through 3G even while traveling. None of the operators have a nationwide 3G license so these agreements become important in having a countrywide network so that people can roam freely across the country and yet connect through a high speed network.

Sony to bring series of ebook readers

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Sony plans to bring a new series of upgraded ebook readers in a bid to challenge Amazon’s Kindle. The product may be introduced within a month and could be priced within $180 (about Rs 8,000) and $300 (about Rs 13,300), reports Bloomberg.

The company plans to continue with its ebook reader segment because these are cheaper than tablets. Tablets cost about $500 whereas ebook reader users are more comfortable paying $100 to $200 for their reading devices.

Sony’s ebook readers business is not expanding as quickly as the company had hoped, and continues to lag behind the more popular Kindle from Amazon and Nook Color from Barnes and Noble.

So far Sony ebook readers have not been visible because most shipments were directed within Japan itself, since Sony tied up with local content providers such as newspapers and magazines to cater to the local audience in its own language and the strategy worked well. It is, however, still not clear what kind of screen or will be used by Sony in its ebook readers.

Amazon Android tablet in October

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Amazon is reportedly working on an tablet to compete with Apple in the tablet segment. Citing sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that the online retail giant is planning to release the Android tablet by October.

With a nine inch display, the tablet will feature Amazon’s newly launched Android App Store with Kindle App integration.

That Amazon tablet will be launched in October this year as reported by WSJ. Another model is also under development but is expected to arrive next year. No further details are available on the specifications of these tablets.

Back in April we had reported that Samsung would be making a tablet for Amazon.

Amazon already has a third-party Android App Store and got enough audience by offering a ‘Free App of the Day’. The company has a music and ebooks offering that was followed by video streaming services launched earlier this year in February.

So far there are no figures but mere words of Kindle’s popularity and high-grossing sales. Also, most of Amazon’s services are limited to the USA and other selected regions. If the company wants to make the best of its multimedia services and tablets, more regions need to be catered to.

Most important is the tablet’s pricing, else it would be standing amidst all the other Android Honeycomb tablets with hefty price tags but not enough features.

Manage your Facebook friends with Katango

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Managing friends on Facebook is one of the biggest problems most of face today. A new startup, Katango has now brought a free which uses an algorithm to categorise the Facebook friends of the users.

The categorisation is done on the basis of various criteria such as schools the users went to, friends of friends and of course the location of the users. The Katango app tries to solve the same problem which Google+ also attempts to solve. Users can’t share the same pictures with their college friends and close family members, they would like to keep these two worlds apart.

Google+ allows the users to do the same, so they can separate friends into different groups, such as colleagues and college pals and close family so one group can be kept separate from the other.

Currently, the app, Katango can only be used on Facebook on iPhone. The company, however, intends to increase its product offering to Twitter and LinkedIn as well.

This is surprising how the app has just arrived at the same time when Google Circles has also been released in the market. It does not seem to be a reaction only as it appears a lot of hard work has gone into creating the app, which involves an algorithmic approach to managing users’ Facebook contacts.

To some extent, Katango takes a look at the problem and solves it by coming up with a computer programme. Google Circles simply knows that the problem would arrive later, and allows the users to manage their contacts before they become unmanageable.

Mobile app security for women

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Mobile app security for women

With atrocities against women rising in India, Mindhelix Technologies has come up with an that aims to bring help to users when their security is threatened or they are in an accident etc.

Sentinel is a cross platform application and is hence available for all phones including feature phones.

Kallidl Kalidasan, the chief executive officer of Mindhelix, while talking to ‘The Mobile Indian’ said, “Sentinel is a smart security solution specially developed for women. In times of need, the Sentinel application will send out an and an email to three different mobile numbers and email addresses. The email message also includes a screenshot of the map from where the person sent out the SOS message for better and easy search for the person.”

Once installed the application activates the receiver (Assisted GPS in case of feature phones) to track the person’s movement at all times. In emergencies, the application sends out exact coordinates both by SMS and email to pre registered numbers so that help can arrive as soon as possible.

While traveling by a vehicle users can also add its registration number in the application and that too is sent to registered numbers in times of need.

Sentinel application is available free of cost and the only cost associated with it is in terms of SMS charges and data that the application uses to send out alerts.

Mindhelix has also developed a corporate version of this application that can be adopted by small to large corporations for securing their employees and tracking their locations. The application can easily be installed on employees’ phones and can be tracked by the user interface that is handed over to the IT manager of the company. Employees’ privacy has been well taken care of with this application as the employee is notified about location tracking and can accept or reject it.

With such a solution, it is easier still for companies to track the status and movements of their employees, especially female employees who work late night shifts in organisations like BPOs.

Aside from the security aspect, the same service can be used to monitor the movement of shared transport by companies, thereby allowing them to make changes and improving their system.

For such services Mindhelix offers the corporate version of the application at a price of Rs 250 per user for a year. This includes all the features of the original Sentinel application. From a security perspective this is a small price to pay.

Heavy use of smartphone could harm your eyes

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The researchers evaluated viewing distance and font size in smartphones. While wearing their usual vision correction (glasses or contact lenses), 129 smartphone users were asked to demonstrate how they would hold their device while reading a text message or a typical Internet page.

The researchers then measured the size of the text on the handheld devices. The goal was to find out whether the working distance at which users held their phones was appropriate for the font size on the devices.

The average font size was comparable to that of newspaper print for text messages, but somewhat smaller for the internet page. The average working distance for text messages was 36 centimeters (14.2 inches). This was closer than the typical near working distance of 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) when reading printed text. The average working distance when viewing a web page on a smart phone was even shorter: 32 centimeters (12.6 inches).

Holding smartphones at such close distances could place increased demands on the eye’s ability to correct for distance (accommodation) and coordination between eyes (vergence), compared to the distances typically used for reading printed text. Over time, this could lead to symptoms such as eyestrain and headaches.

“Optometrists should pay attention to the working distance at which patients hold their smart phones and perform appropriate testing at those distances,” according to the study by Mark Rosenfield and colleagues of SUNY State College of Optometry, New York.

Typically, optometrists follow a ‘1, 2, 10’ rule when prescribing vision correction&#151assuming a working distance of about one foot for cell phones, two feet for desktop computers, and ten feet for television viewing. The new study is one of the first to examine the working distances at which patients use smartphones or other handheld devices.

The new study suggests that patients tend to use handheld devices at closer distances compared to printed materials, which could have important implications for vision correction.

Smartphones “may present a variety of visual demands that are significantly different in terms of working distances, gaze angle, and text sizes,” Rosenfield and co-authors write.

The researchers believe that further research is needed to investigate eye’s response to prolonged smartphone use. In the meantime, the researchers believe that optometrists should ask patients in detail about how they use their handheld devices, and possibly perform further tests at those closer distances. Especially for older patients, changes in lens design may be needed to meet the visual demands of smart phones and other new technology.With mobile phones getting smarter, people are using them for a variety of purpose including sending text, reading mails, web surfing and even reading books, and in doing so they spend a lot of time watching the smartphone screen. According to a recent study, such users are putting high pressure on their eyes.

Earlier, it was assumed that only prolonged computer usage had adverse impact on our vision, sitting posture and even fingers. However, the study says smartphone is not immune to these. In-fact if recent researches are to be believed smartphones are more dangerous than the computers.

The problem is that the smartphone users reading text messages and internet pages hold their devices at a closer distance than they would for printed text. This puts a lot of strain on the eyes.

The study was published in the July issue of Optometry and Vision Science, the official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

GroupMe messaging app arrives on Windows Phone 7

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The GroupMe app has now been launched for the Windows Phone 7 platform, according to a report . With this, the application now supports all the major platforms including iOS, and BlackBerry.

Notably, WP7 will get its dedicated group messaging application with the upcoming Mango update.

The app brings messaging and conference call features to the WP7 platform. Notably, the two features are also available in Android and iOS versions. Whenever a connection is available, the app uses it for sending messages otherwise it uses SMS.

However, the other popular features such as photo sharing and location mapping are not currently available to the Windows Phone 7 users as they are still in the development stage.
GroupMe is calling the Windows Phone 7 app just a preview since the users are getting only the basic functionalities, but it still helps the users cut down on their charges and users can manage their groups as well. The advanced features would be brought by GroupMe later.

The GroupMe app has Foursquare integration as well, so the users can check in at different venues and find out if their friends are nearby or not.

In the full version of GroupMe, users need to create a group, add friends and send message to all the friends. Once the group has been created, the group gets a unique phone number through which messages are sent to all members of the group. The group members can also be viewed on a map as well. A conference call can be started by just dialling the group phone number.

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