Mozilla launched Firefox OS to compete in a field crowded by Android, iOS, and even Blackberry. Today, the company showed off seven new commercial handsets that will be available around the world, though not in the U.S.  Mozilla also announced plans to start a "flood" of $25 smartphones.
             "We are committed to an open platform [that] works across a variety of devices," Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation, told the crowd of 200 media here at Mobile World Congress today. "It is called the Web." Alcatel OneTouch, Huawei, LG, and ZTE are all building handsets using Firefox OS. Panasonic has even announced it will use Firefox OS to power a Web-connected HDTV.



Although largely unknown in the U.S., Firefox phones launched in a variety of countries, including Hungary, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Greece. These markets are being underserved by the major players (think iPhone 5c), and Mozilla sees an opportunity. The U.K.-based research firm Mediacells estimated that consumers in India and China alone will purchase more than 500 million smartphones in 2014, about half of global sales. For more than 400 million of those buyers, it will be their first smartphone ever.
Although nowhere near the top-of-the-line Android and iOS devices, Firefox phones are getting better, with Alcatel and ZTE announced multiple dual-core handsets at the show.

The ZTE Open II has dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 480-by-320 display, and 2-megapixel camera, while the ZTE Open C (pictured above) comes with a Snapdragon 200 processor, an 800-by-480 display, and a 3-megapixel camera. Alcatel is also offering three different OneTouch models, all with dual-core processors: the Alcatel One Touch Fire S, Fire E, and Fire C. The Fire is the top-of-the-line device with 4G LTE, a 4.5-inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera.

Firefox also announced a new reference handset (above, right) that it will make available to developers worldwide, the Firefox OS Flame. It runs a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8210 Snapdragon CPU, has a 4.5-inch screen, runs quad band with 8GB of memory. Although it ships with 1GB of RAM, developers will be able to simulate lower memory configurations to tests their performance. It supports Wi-Fi, 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth.


source : www.pcmag.com

For  Windows users,  you can increase extra internet connection speed 20%.  By default Windows  holds 20% of your internet speed for various service such as Windows Update and others.
                         If your internet speed is slow you can to tweak internet speed . By default, the Packet Scheduler of Windows ] limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default. That packet is QoS ( Quality of service) for Windows . This packet may not be often used, so Why don’t we change the setting to tweak internet speed.

 Determines the percentage of connection bandwidth that the system can reserve. This value limits the combined bandwidth reservations of all programs running on the system. If you enable the setting, you can use the “Bandwidth limit” box to adjust the amount of bandwidth the system can reserve. If you disable this setting or do not configure it, the system uses the default value of 20 percent of the connection.

 How to increase Internet Speed?

1. Click “Start” and then select “Run”
2. Type “gpedit.msc”  for Open Group Policy window
3. In Computer Configuration (left column) click “Administrative Templates”
4. Then click “Network” and click “Qos Packet Schedule”

 5. Double click “Limit reservable bandwidth”

6. Click “Enable” and change “Bandwidth limit” from “20%” to “0%”
7. Click “Apply” and then “OK”
Restart computer and try to surf internet again

It’s time to get down to basics with the plug-and-play customizable smartphone platform known as Project Ara - or Google Ara. Paul Eremenko took the stage at Launch this week to show off a non-working prototype of the device we’ve seen several times in the recent past. This is Google’s vision, not just for the future of smartphones, but for the future of the individual parts of smartphones.

             The device you’re seeing here is a high-fidelity industrial design prototype. While this is called "Project Ara" now, Eremenko suggests that, should it become a real device in the future (like Google Glass), it’d become Google Ara. As Eremenko takes the machine apart, piece by piece, it’s revealed that it all comes down to a piece of metal with a battery inside called an Endoskeleton.

Each slot in this Endoskeleton of Ara works with a 3 newton permanent magnet attached. Eremenko suggests that this is "just enough for you to put the modules in and be able to flip the device over without the modules falling out." You’ll also notice a bit of a lip over each segment to add a bit more hold - each area is a slot instead of a cubby.


The frame for this first iteration of Google Ara has a battery inside as well as connections between each of its slots. These connections allow for each module to communicate with the other, together creating a full smartphone experience. These connections use a protocol stack from MIPI (the mobile industry consortium) called M-PHY (on the physical layer), offering 10 Gigabits per 1x1 block.

In the base frame of Google Ara is a battery that's meant only as a reserve. To make the phone function fully, one of your modules must be a more traditionally-sized battery. The only thing Google restrains is the partitioning scheme - the 1x1, 2x1, etc sizing scheme for the hardware.

"Our goal here is to create a 3rd party ecosystem of module developers," says Eremenko, "to change the way innovation happens in the hardware space, and make it a lot more like the software and app store model."


Next what you’re seeing is a functional module. This module has a white enclosure - Eremenko is holding it in his hand - which is user-serviceable. This means that both the module bits inside and the casings are able to be swapped - you can make your phone look however you want as you make it function however you want.

Modules will be developed using a Module Developers Kit, that's an MDK, and we'll certainly be hearing a lot more about it as this project progresses. This includes an open platform specification and a reference implementation that allows developers to create for Google Ara. This developer program will be published in a little over a month.

Eremenko shows off a couple of custom-printed enclosures created by 3D Systems, a group that Google is partnered with for Ara to print 3D enclosures galore. This is the same company that’s 3D printing food, mind you.

"The consumer gets to decide exactly and only what functionality goes into the device," suggests Eremenko. "So if you don’t want a camera, if you want a really inexpensive and stripped-down phone, you can do that. In fact you can get a Wi-fi-only device."

The $50 Google Ara phone you may have heard of is also known - by the team here - as The Gray Phone. Working with only the basics - an application processor with Android, a display, and a Wi-fi module, this device is targeted at $50 for launch sometime in the near future.

"We're less interested in people's margins than we are in the pace of innovation in the hardware ecosystem." Eremenko continues, "I think that there are plenty of opportunities to make money out of a highly competitive ecosystem, but what we are after is getting the number of brains in that ecosystem up into the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. Comparable to Android app development."

New modules will be able to be printed. This opens up the door for at-home innovation and community-created creativity like we've never seen in the smartphone industry before.

One module could have a printed casing, but also a printed radio antenna, allowing the user to create connectivity to the carrier of their choice with only a file and the correct printer materials. You could also (even without printing yourself), hot-swap out a module to move your smartphone from one carrier to the other.

Another swapping opportunity comes in the containment of your data. Your identity - all of your settings and personal data - can be contained on one memory-based module that you can pull out easily. You can use this to switch between phones, to lend your phone to a friend, or whatever other odd bit you can think of.
source : www.slashgear.com

Look, ma: I'm browsing with no hands! The latest Chrome Beta integrates the "OK Google" voice command for hands-free searching.
Users in the United States running Windows, Mac, and Linux will gain access to the new function over the next few days. Initially available for English speakers only, support for additional languages and Chrome OS is coming soon, Google said.
"If you've ever tried to cook and search at the same time—say, when your hands are covered in flour and you need to know how many ounces are in a cup—you know it can be tricky," software engineer Ji Adam Dou mused in a blog post on the official Chrome site.

 

Forget the typing, clicking, and hard-washing. "Simply open a new tab or visit Google.com in Chrome, say 'OK Google,' and then start speaking your search.
Well, you may need to type, click, or wash you hands to open that tab, but after that, it's all hands-free!
You will be able to perform searches by asking "OK Google, how many ounces are in a cup?" or set an alarm with the command "OK Google, set a timer for 30 minutes."
And, when your kitchen fills with smoke from the too-burnt cupcakes, just tell Google to "remind me to pick up dessert from the bakery at 6 p.m. tonight."

To enable the hands-free feature, visit Google.com and click on the mic icon to "Enable OK Google."
The search giant also added the ability to import supervised users onto new computers, making it easier to keep an eye on young Web explorers. Using the new "import" option, you can now allow supervised users to browse on any PC.
Just click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar and select "Settings." Under the "Users" heading, tap "Add new user," then "Import an existing supervised user." Select the appropriate person, and click "Import supervised user" to complete the syncing process.
The Chrome browser function is currently supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and will be available soon for the Chrome operating system, Google said.
Most recently, Google's predictive digital assistant, Google Now, arrived on the Chrome browser, adding notifications like those that appear in the Android and iOS mobile apps.
source ; www.pcmag.com

Microsoft is reportedly testing a free version of Windows 8.1, which will come bundled with its Bing search engine.Creatively titled "Windows with Bing," the software appears to be similar to the standard Windows fare, with the additional built-in search capacity—perhaps best described as a sideways move, since Bing SmartSearch is already included with Windows 8.1, ZDNet pointed out.
                           Russian leaker Wzor this week posted screenshots of the new SKU, which ZDNet said is a monetization play by Redmond.Citing unnamed sources, the tech site reported only minor differences between the current Windows 8.1 and this new, free license version, adding that "it may be a kind of placeholder for the future when consumer operating systems are, basically, free."

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on the reports.
It is unclear whether this move could mean a free copy of the software for new Windows users, or a free update for existing users.

Microsoft's final release version of Windows 8.1 arrived in October, reviving some sorely missed functions from pre-Windows 8 platforms but also adding to Redmond's goal of evolving highly mobile, touch-enabled, always-connected computing.
"Windows is delivering the most personal computing experience out there, making your device a unique extension of you and offering more ways to create an experience that is personal, expressive and keeps pace with your life," the company said at the time.

But, as is often the case with new software—especially with software developed by Microsoft—many longtime Windows users are still not happy with the new UI paradigm that's still front-and-center in Windows 8.1. Redmond appears to be working on a fix, details of which were leaked earlier this month, pointing to search and power buttons added to the Start screen, as well as a boost to keyboard and mouse functions in the UI.
Microsoft corporate vice president Joe Belfiore told a Mobile World Congress audience earlier this week that the updates will likely launch during Microsoft's Build conference on April 2.
Source : www.pcmag.com