V. I. K. I.

While the megapixel war has more or less cooled off, there are still sales people out there who are pushing the "more megapixels is better" line to first time digital camera buyers or digital camera owners who are upgrading from older digital cameras. I see this just about every day on our forums where people, when comparing a 6 megapixel camera to a 8 megapixel camera, that the 8 megapixel camera is the one to go with. A great analogy for the whole progression of the ever-increasing megapixels is the computer processor industry. For a while, it was generally accepted that a faster (faster clock speed) processor meant a faster computer. Then, as different architectures were introduced, a processor could achieve the same, if not better performance, at a slower clock speed. Also, processor speed has progressed more quickly than what computer applications need, so we now have processors that are much faster than what most people use them for. If you just browse the web, do so...

Google has made its latest Android OS iteration, the Android N developer Preview live yesterday. The Preview has revealed new features that Android N will bring with itself and we covered it in detail on our sister site GadgetOx. Surprisingly many of these new features are already available in Windows 10 Mobile stable release version. Usually we hear many fans cribbing about lack of features in Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile when compared to Android and iOS, but grass may not be always greener on the other side. So, here are those Five features that Android N brings and it is already available in Windows 10 Mobile.  Direct Reply: Windows 10 Mobile already allows to reply to messages and supported notifications directly Bundled Notifications: We already have Group notifications on Windows 10 Mobile Data Saver: We have Data Saver feature on Windows 10 Mobile In-Built DPI Settings: Windows 10 Mobile allows to change DPI settings already Dark Theme: It is present i...

When it comes to popular tech companies, it is quite difficult to keep a product release a secret, and that’s why Google has managed to surprise us all with the Android N Developer Preview. Yes, most of us woke up to the official announcement from Google about the Android N Developer Preview, something we didn’t expect until Google I/O. Interestingly, it is available as an over-the-air update and Google has made it easier as you just need to sign up at g.co/androidbeta starting today to get the update onto your Nexus device. Now, Google does recommend that the preview is “not intended for daily use or consumer use.”. The N Developer Preview features an updated SDK with system images for testing on the official Android emulator and on Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Nexus 9, and Pixel C devices. Google says to help test out these features on a tablet, developers can get a $150 discount on Pixel C. Well, now let’s see what to expect in Android N. Split-screen multit...

App development arena is becoming more and more competitive with every passing day. There are hundreds of thousands of app developers working across the globe, some making tons of money while others just keep it as much as to cover their expenses. According to a new survey, 55 percent of app developers earn around $1,000 a month with just a minor 4 percent racking up around $100,000 a month. Things are still a little better for those developers residing in North America. The survey suggests the developers on average earn $9,400 a month despite the fact that 49% of developers are still earning less than $1,000. As for those residing in the Asia-Pacific region, 61 percent of them still earn $1,000 at most. Coming over to the most interesting bit of the survey, developers tied to Microsoft’s operating system earn the most money — Windows Phone developers can net around $11,400 a month as per the report. On the other hand, Android developers make the least money, that is, $4,900 a mon...

What if people in India could soon use Skype as an authentication service? According to a report from Indian Express, Microsoft is currently working with the Indian government to link Skype with the national ID database Aadhaar to see if the service can be used to enable authenticated communications with government institutions. Aadhaar is a unique 12-digit identity number affected to Indian residents and linked to centralised government database collecting biometric and demographic data. It’s currently voluntary and not mandatory, but because of the privacy concerns some Indian civil liberty groups have opposed what could be one of the world’s largest national identification number project. However, Microsoft’s President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith told Indian Express that the company has embraced the universal ID system: We have been pursuing work, initially on a pilot basis, to use this specific technology and integrate it with Skype. We see Skype evolving in a way that ...

If Microsoft has enough patience to stick with it, Windows Phone could be a much more successful platform within a few years. The future is the mobile web. They're all piling on after the bad Windows Phone news, pointing their thumbs down and predicting that Emperor Satya will do the same. I think Microsoft is more patient than that, but clearly times are tough for Windows 10 Mobile (née Windows Phone). There are many reasons I could cite for why Windows Phone still might have a future, but I'll focus on two. The first is the more important one: The build-out of the mobile web will diminish the significance of native apps. I recently wrote a large feature on this in Ars Technica, but here are the highlights: HTML/JS/DOM standards for web browsers are advancing rapidly to the point nearly everything you'd want to do in a native app you'll be able to do on a mobile web site. This is not the way things are right now; many of the standards are not implemented yet,...