A word about Celebrity Apps ! Dont buy everything that you see

On Tuesday, World Wrestling Entertainment and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson offered up "WWE Presents: Rockpocalypse," a free mobile app for Google Play and iOS. The app, already knee-deep in a suspicious mix of five-star and one-star reviews, pits the world's most famous wrestler against a series of zombie-like extras on the set of The Rock's latest movie.
The lesson? Just because a celebrity endorses a product doesn't make it good.
When some besotted fan says she loves Justin Bieber or Chris Evans or David Hasselhoff, she's not falling in love with a person - she's falling in love with a brand. And in a world where Jennifer Lopez sells perfume, celebrity apps are no different - chances are that you're downloading the name, not the product.
Obviously, an app is only as good as its developer, and any app that markets a celeb can either take the high or the low road. A number of "soundboard" apps just offer audio clips that fans can play over and over, or at opportune times ("Hey, I've got the perfect comeback - just let me load this app...") or a chance to "connect" with the celebrity in question via embedded social media. The most useful apps complement a celebrity's claim to fame; it also helps when a celebrity also performs some useful function, like a chef.
The issue, of course, is that it's all a matter of perspective. Would an app that offers a chance to "kiss" Justin Bieber appeal to many 50-year-old straight men? Probably not. But that same app might be a prized part of some tween's digital hope chest. In general, celebrity apps suck -there, we've said it. But we've managed to find a few that may actually prove useful. See what you think.

Taylor Swift Greeting Cards

Want to remind someone that they're special? Try sending a Taylor Swift greeting card! Remind your boyfriend that there's a song waiting for him if he cheats! Anyway, the app is wildly popular on Google Play.

Jamie Oliver's 15-Minute Meals

One of the truly useful celebrity apps out there is Jamie Oliver's 15-Minute Meals, which costs $3.99 for Android but appears to be free for iOS. Still, you'll get videos, recipes, photography, and advice from Oliver, one of Britain's more famous chefs

Gordon Ramsay Apps

Gordon Ramsay, most famous for his numerous shows where he alternatively cooks, shouts, and swears, offers a pair of apps: Come Cook with Me HD, a $7.99 app on iTunes that boasts recipes and even a digitized Ramsay yelling at you. A free Cookery Course app on Google Play offers more recipes, but users have complained the app's content is hard to find

Mythbusters

Keep in touch with Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage via the Mythbusters app, available via iTunes. There's not only social media connections, but also a few games to play.

The Colbert Show

Nation, Stephen Colbert launched a new app for the The Colbert Show just a few days ago. Why don't you head on over to the the page to get it? Available for all major platforms, the app has video clips, quotes, and even a calendar so you can set reminders to watch. And all for free, thanks to government subsidies, we suspect. 

It's Britney!

I think at this point we stopped looking for celebrity apps that didn't suck, and embraced the awfulness. This iOS app allows you to get the news directly from Brit herself and digitally paste your face into a photo (which is worth the download). 

Wake Up with Pam (Anderson)

Have you ever wanted to wake up next to model Pam Anderson, and would do anything to realize even the faintest facsimile of that dream? If that's true, then this -99-cent iPhone app may help. Check out sexy videos from Pam, as she urges you to get out of bed. Pam? Pam, come back. 

Kiss Justin Bieber

Hey, ladies, if you ever wanted to kiss Justin Bieber, you need to check out this Google Play app! He even sings to you!

Game changing Mobile Phones

Motorola DynaTAC

The 1984 Motorola DynaTAC was the first commercial cell phone in the United States. It offered 30 minutes of talk time and 8 hours of standby, plus an LED display for dialing or to bring up one of 30 phone numbers stored in the phone. It was priced at $3,995, 

Motorola MicroTAC

Fortunately, by 1989 Motorola had created the MicroTAC, the first mobile phone that you could fit into your pocket. The MicroTAC was also the first "flip" phone, where the phone's plastic covered the microphone. It cost between $2,495 and $3,495 at the time

IBM Simon

IBM's Simon Personal Communicator phone, from 1994, was arguably the world's first smartphone, combining a phone and PDA into one device. Simon was able to send and receive emails and faxes, and offered now-standard "apps" like a calendar, calculator, and note pad - even with handwritten or typed annotations. BellSouth Cellular initially offered the Simon throughout its 15 state service area for $899 with a two-year service contract. 

RIM BlackBerry 957

It's hard to leave out the RIM BlackBerry, although RIM (now BlackBerry) seems to be on the wane. Our original review of the BlackBerry 957 praised it for its high-contrast monochrome display, its tiny physical keyboard, the side-mounted jog dial, and the Esc key. For years, BlackBerrys were the smartphone to have, even after the first iPhones became available. People loved the keyboard, and still do.

Motorola StarTAC

Motorola's StarTAC was the first "clamshell" phone, where the phone essentially folded up in half, rather than just flipping to cover the mouthpiece, like the MicroTAC. The 1996 phone weighed just 88 grams and sold for about $1,000, making it one of the first popular cell-phone model

Samsung Uproar M100

The Samsung Uproar was the first MP3 phone. The phone included RealNetworks's RealJukebox for managing MP3 files, and a separate USB cable for downloading MP3 files to its 64MB of RAM for storing music, then about two hours' worth

Sanyo 5300

The 2003 Sanyo 5300 was the first to include an integrated camera, launching the craze for camera phones and helping to put an eventual, serious dent in the point-and-shoot digital camera industry. Still, the 5300 only allowed 640-by-480 images.

Motorola Razr

The 2004 Razr V3 was slim and sexy, and Motorola sold more than 130 million units of the thing, making it the best-selling clamshell phone in the world. It quickly became the "It Phone" to have, but also plunged in popularity after discounts made it less than exclusive

LG VX8000

The 2005 LG VX8000 may have had an awkward name, but the phone was the first to usher in 3G calling inside the United States, with the Verizon V-Cast service. Ironically, we found everything but V-Cast compelling, as the initial video clips weren't that impressive. The phone also lacked email and a Web browser, features that would become indispensible on successive high-speed smartphones. 

Apple iPhone

What can we say about the original iPhone? Apple's flagship phone of 2007 wasn't much of a phone, but everything else it could do screamed "the future": an integrated touch screen, an app store (that came later in 2008) that launched an entirely new industry of mobile app development, and MP3s that could be bought online and stored on the phone. The smartphone revolution was here to stay, as well as the enormous market for mobile apps.

HTC G1

The HTC G1 from 2008 (as a Google-branded developer model) featured a trackball, tiny screen, and Android 1.6 OS. Android? Yes, Android. Google's open-source OS might not have been much to look at it when it first launched, but the pricing (free for OEMs), incentives for developers helped make Android the world's most popular OS, and the G1 started it all.

This Dishonored Custom Xbox 360 Controller

For Some people gaming is life and death . Even breakfast and dinner too. Check out this very cool X Box controller.
We’ve seen tons of customized Xbox controllers in the past, but we can’t help but feel that perhaps this Dishonored-inspired Xbox 360 controller might take the cake. Designed by Devin Smith of End of Line Designs has finished piecing together a Dishonored Xbox 360 control pad which definitely goes beyond a mere painting or skinning. As you can see, almost every component on the surface of the controller is custom, ranging from the buttons, the grips and even the replacement of the Microsoft Xbox logo with the Dishonored symbol which appears to light up as well. While it looks pretty awesome, the metal “stitching” on the lower part of the controller might be somewhat uncomfortable after extended periods of time, but then again we have a feeling that controllers like these are meant to be admired more than played. We’re not sure if Smith will be selling his creation, but you can check out his other work and additional photos of the controller on his website.

4 G in Pune ! Airtel LTE In Pune now !!

Finally India is getting the LTE technology slowly . LTE is also known as 4 G or 4th generation Internet technology . It is claimed to be as much as 4 times more faster than 3 G network . It has been a perenial problem in India to establish network infrastructure. Even 3 G penetration is very minimal, Lot of people are really not using 3 G network as it drains battery very fast. On average 3 G consumes a fully charged battery within a few hours ! Right now there are nt much devices out there which supports LTE in India. Now this is available only as postpaid USB dongle. The Device itself costs around 4999 / - Only ! . It remains to be seen how successful the LTE will be. But going by the popularity of Internet and social network crazed Indians are sure to opt for whatever makes their internet connection faster and easier. Only and only if they discovered to make devices more lasting per charge cycle ! Going by experiences with 3 G , I fear most mobile phones wont even last an hour !!

Refarming 900 MHz spectrum: Telcos fear Rs. 3.15 lakh crore hit

In what is being dubbed as a serious jolt to the major telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, the Telecom Commission has recommended all spectrum allocated to operators in the 900-MHz band would be replaced with the 1,800-MHz band at the time of renewal of their licenses.
Announcing the recommendation, DoT (department of telecommunications) secretary R Chandrashekhar said, “We have recommended that full refarming of the entire 900-MHz band of spectrum should be adopted. We will refer this to the EGoM, which will take the final decision on this.”
The commission in its meeting had taken up three alternative proposals - one that included retention of up to 5 MHz of spectrum, retention of up to 2.5 MHz and refarming of the entire spectrum.
If the recommendation is approved by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom, the operators may suffer a blow of over Rs. 1.15 lakh crore to switch their 900-MHz network and subscribers to the 1,800-MHz band.
The decision is believed to have an adverse impact on consumers as well, who may have to shell out additional 60p per minute as the operators are expected to pass on the costs to them. Right now, the average tariff a minute is about Re. 1 per minute.
The GSM operators associations Cellular Operators Association Of India (COAI) has strongly criticised the move. “Spectrum refarming in 900 MHz band is against consumer, industry as well as the national interest and one that is discriminatory for the GSM industry,” the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the primary lobby group of the GSM operators, said in a release on Wednesday.
The statement also said the move was “tantamount to forcible dislodgment of a legitimate occupant and goes against licence terms and conditions. Networks are designed around frequency bands, not the other way round”.
The affected operators are expected to the move the court against the commission's recommendation.
In 2012, the telecom regulator TRAI had recommended 'refarming' of the 900-MHz band, as the spectrum was globally used for 3G services and had said the band shouldn't be used for giving 2G services. The Cabinet has already given its nod to the refarming as part of the new telecom policy.
According to reports, the government is going to keep a different reserve price for the 900MHz spectrum auction than what the TRAI had recommended earlier. The 900MHz spectrum is believed to more efficient band, which enables operators to provide more coverage using lesser towers.

HTML5 - Browser Support

HTML5 specification has lots of promising features for Mobile Web Applications. With Apple strongly backing up HTML5, the classic three "HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript 1.4" are going to rule the mobile world from now on. Both IPhone and Android use the same browser layout engine called 'WebKit' and hence application developed using the classic three will run on both iPhone and Android. Webkit is also used in Apple's Safari and Chrome browsers.

Majority of the browser vendors have started supporting HTML5. Chrome, Safari and Firefox (Gekco) are leading the race with more HTML5 implementations and support. The below image is a compilation of different browsers available on market and their current support for HTML5

Floodgates Opened for iPhone Application Development

For as active as iPhone application development community is, achieving success in iTunes has been an elusive affair for those who participate in this vertical. The two main obstacles presented to anyone who wants to create an iPhone applications are: one, finding resources/developers with the right skill set; and two, marketing the application after the application has been submitted. The bad news is Apple keeps iTunes a black box. Unless your application has been reviewed or mentioned on review sites or blogs, no one will be able to find your application outside of iTunes. This makes marketing your application relatively difficult. Here’s the good news: the cost to build an iPhone application should come down substantially as it no longer requires a developer with an exclusive knowledge to a specific technology to build an application for iPhone.

When Apple first announced to openly accept applications from developers, the prerequisite for the developer is a somewhat extensive knowledge in a language called “Objective-C.” For a short while, it would seem as though the developers who could produce Objective-C codes were superstars that also came with a superstar price tag. Such stardom, however, did not last. When PhoneGap was introduced as an open source development tool for iPhone via JavaScript, the web development community devoured it like salmon to a hungry bear. Shortly after PhoneGap’s success, Mono framework was released in the commercial sector that provided the necessary development tools to the vast number of C# developers across multiple platforms. And to unhinge the final bar from the floodgates, Adobe has just announced that the next release of Flash is capable of compiling a flash project directly into native iPhone application. Simply put, a project can go from design to finish without even being touched by a developer.

The implication for this phenomenon is a curious one: how will Apple respond to the rush of new applications when the floodgates are finally open? Will Apple still be able to keep its manual review process intact? When the market is saturated with developers and applications, will Apple be able to to maintain iTunes exclusive distribution channel and continue to motivate merchants to participate?

How all of this will affect Apple or iPhone developers is yet to be seen. However, one thing that seems to be true is that when given enough demands, people will find ways to liberate a technology regardless of how businesses are structured around it.