The competition: Google introduces Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus

The keynote went a little bad over in Hong Kong with both the Facial Recognition and the Quick Response features not working or crashing the device. Overall though, there are some interesting new features that certainly differentiate Android from iOS and Windows Phone 7.

As for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone, it has a 5-megapixel camera which has to be a letdown when compared to 8 megapixel cameras that are standardizing on the high end across the industry. Its most impressive feature (unless you are trying to squeeze it into your pocket) has to be the 4.65-inch 720P display. Although Pentile, which means not every pixel gets RGB dots, it does get close to Apple’s 326 PPI Retina display with a 316 PPI density. Like the as yet unpopular Honeycomb tablets, it doesn’t have any front facing buttons but has screen buttons that shift around as well as all of those new Android 4.0 features.

Rediff Launches A Twitter-Like Product, Zarabol

Rediff has launched a twitter-like product called Zarabol that works just like Twitter. That is, you share your updates (140 chars), follow people and topics (#hashtags).

Given that quarterly results are to be announced very shortly, I’d assume that Rediff has got something new to talk to its shareholders. Otherwise such products add no value, especially when Rediff has no social graph and engagement is more via comments (on articles) and not within users.

BlackBerry offers freebies globally, Indian operators silent

CHENNAI: In the aftermath of one of the worst service outages in its history, Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) announced a slew of freebies on Monday to thank users for their 'patience' during the outage. Under the scheme, a selection of premium apps worth more than $100 will be offered free of charge to each subscriber worldwide. RIM's enterprise customers will also be offered one month of free technical support.

RIM's move comes after a slew of operators abroad announced some form of compensation for their affected customers. While Vodafone announced that it was reviewing various options for its customers worldwide, Spain's Telefonica SA has already compensated monetarily to its customers as it is legally bound to pay its customers for every 24 hours of service disruption. United Arab Emirates' (UAE) largest operator Etisalat said it will offer users three days of free usage. All the South African operators have said they will issue service credits or offer free usage of their services for a limited period to make up for the disruption.

Tips for buying memory cards

BERLIN: They may be called compact flash cards, but they aren't really all that compact any more. And there are plenty of smaller alternatives to the 4.3 cm by 3.6 cm memory devices.
Memory cards are also going through the trend of miniaturisation. The selection of compact flash (SF) cards is not nearly as extensive as a few years ago.
'Until now compact flash cards have been especially interesting due to their high processing speed,' said