Epson intros A3+ Photo Printer

Epson has announced the launch of its eight-ink A3+ photo printer named "Stylus Photo R1900", which is equipped with Ultra Chrome Hi-Gloss inks. Meaning in addition to standard cyan, magenta, and yellow colours, this printer adds matte black, photo black, red, orange, as well as gloss optimizer. While orange helps expand the colour gamut in the red area, producing natural skin tones in A3+ size portraits; gloss optimizer helps create a smoother, glossier finish. In tandem with the advanced inks, the R1900 features Epson's new LUT technology that uses newly-created algorithms to calculate and translate RGB colours to match CMYK prints for maximum precision and consistency. The technology also makes for seamless transition between different shades of colours. Like in all Epson printers, the R1900 too features Variable Sized Droplet Technology (VSDT) that allows the print head to fire droplet sizes as small as 1.5 picoliters -- a feature essential in fine art prints. The R1900 is capable of printing on a wide variety of paper media, as well as directly onto CDs and DVDs. It allows users to take prints directly from digital cameras and photo-viewers via PictBridge. Meanwhile, dual USB 2.0 ports allow users for multiple PC connections. Source
The new printer is available for a price of Rs 39,999.

Asus, MSI cool Announcements at CeBit 08

While CeBit 08 is well over, the hangover remains. Among the many product announcements, Asus showcased its 'Concept Bamboo' products that utilize Bamboo as an alternative (eco-friendly) material in the manufacturing process. Meanwhile, MSI showcased the prototype of its "Wind PC" claimed to be a competitor to the Asus Eee PC.

The 'Concept Bamboo' series is Asus' attempt to lure consumers towards more environmentally-friendly products, by marrying nature and cutting-edge technology. With limited resources and ever-increasing demand, it's vital that both consumers and hardware manufacturers strive to protect the environment in every possible way. The 'Concept Bamboo' series comprises eco-friendly notebooks, LCDs, and mini-PCs. Some of the models showcased at CeBit 08 were the U6 NB, S6 NB, LS201 LCD display, and Essentio 5110.While MSI hasn't said when it'll launch its "Wind PC", whenever it does, the device will feature 8- or 10-inches screen with 1024 x 768 resolution, offering consumers a choice between either a solid state disk or a 2.5-inches hard disk drive. The "Wind PC" will be powered by Intel 'Atom' processors, promising clock speeds between 1GHz and 1.5GHz, and will come equipped with 1GB of RAM.

Consumers will have the option to choose between Windows and Linux. The "Wind PC" will be available in a variety of colors in Europe, and will be priced between 299 and 699 Euros, depending on the configuration.Source

Office 2008 for Mac Updated.....!!!!!

Microsoft yesterday announced the first update to its Office 2008 for Mac -- version 12.0.1. The company also released its Security Bulletin Summary for March 2008. Microsoft claims Office 2008 for Mac version 12.0.1 is aimed at improving security, stability, and performance of applications on machines that run Mac OS X version 10.4.9 (Tiger) or later. Importantly, it fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2008 for Mac that may allow hackers to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. Besides, with the update, Office Installer no longer grants restricted users' unauthorized access to Office 2008 for Mac program files.Meanwhile, four security bulletins, all of them tagged "critical", have been released in the month of March. First up, Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-014 fixes vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel that may allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file. Second, Security Bulletin MS08-015 fixes the issue of vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook. Third, Security Bulletin MS08-016 fixes vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office that may allow a user's computer system to be taken over by a hacker. Last up, Security Bulletin MS08-017 which also prevents a user's computer system from being taken over by an attacker by fixing vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web Components.Source

Did iPods Cause a Crime Wave?

It's easy to see why iPods would be alluring targets for criminals: The music players are valuable and easy to resell, and people absorbed in their personal soundtracks can be vulnerably oblivious to their surroundings.But could the temptation for stealing iPods be so strong that they're behind an increase in the crime rate? Researchers at a public policy institute say yes.They argue that the tantalizing gadgets are perhaps the main reason U.S. violent crime rose in 2005 and 2006 after declining every year since 1991 - although a close look at the findings suggests the hypothesis has holes.The Urban Institute, a Washington think tank, first raised the subject of an "iCrime wave" last September, and held a panel discussion Tuesday to explore it further. The researchers don't blame iPod maker Apple Inc. or any other device maker for crime, but they do say consumers should demand technologies that would render stolen gadgets useless.Apple - which has explored anti-theft locks in patent filings - had no comment.A key point in the Urban Institute's argument is that robberies - the taking of something by force or the threat of it - had seen dramatic reductions since the 1990s, but jumped in 2005 and 2006. FBI statistics show the robbery rate went from 137 per 100,000 people in 2004 to 141 per 100,000 in 2005 and 149 in 2006. That helped boost the overall rate of violent crime in those years, even as rape rates fell and aggravated assault was generally flat.During those years, iPods were going mainstream. In late 2004, Apple had sold about 5 million iPods. By the end of 2005 that had ballooned to 42 million, and in 2006 the number neared 90 million.One widely accepted theory holds that crime happens when three things come together: A motivated offender encounters a suitable victim and perceives a high chance of getting away with it. And the Urban Institute researchers believe the sudden prevalence of iPods increased all three factors.Source

BPL Mobile Introduces Jukebox

BPL Mobile, has introduced 'BPL Mobile Jukebox', a mobile radio service that will allow its subscribers to listen to their choice of music while they are on the move. This service greets its listeners in their preferred language, remembers their favorite songs and presents them with their previously chosen song categories. It allows the user to skip songs that they are bored of or replay the ones they like. Also in the event of one skipping a certain mood/category over 5 times, he/she gets an option of switching the category/mood.BPL Mobile Jukebox is a full-Song mobile music service that offers a variety of songs ranging from Bollywood to Devotional, from English to Ghazals and from Retro to Regional. The service will be available to both post-paid and pre-paid subscribers of BPL Mobile and also accessible on a basic entry-level Non-Data enabled handset.The subscriber is required to dial 543213 to listen to the complete song from the Jukebox Catalog which has over one thousand songs. This service comes at a monthly subscription of Rs. 25 and charges of 50 p/min (9am - 9pm) and 20 p/min (9pm - 9am). BPL Mobile Jukebox also enables listeners to download the ringtone of the songs that they like as well as dedicate those songs to their loved ones at Rs. 10 per song.

S. Subramaniam, CEO, BPL Mobile said, "With our new mobile music service – BPL Mobile Jukebox, we are not just making music of our subscriber's choice affordable, but also easily accessible on their mobile phones. It addresses the mood function of each of our users and offers them a huge variety of high quality, legal music at their fingertips."Source

BioShock 2 officially announced

Take-Two Games just announced that their last year’s success story - BioShock - is all set to re-emerge from the murky depths towards the end of 2009. The game will be developed by the new 2K Marin Studio, which could mean that Ken Levine might not be as big a part of the game, as he was in the original.There’s no mention of whether the game will be a prequel or a sequel, or perhaps follow an alternate storyline in the world of Rapture. With such a well-conjured world in their hands, the developer could shape the game around any part of its timeline. We’ll keep you updated as and when we come across details.Source

New MP3 Player - Sansa Fuze by Sandisk

SanDisk has unveiled a new MP3 Player, the Sansa Fuze, in 2, 4 and 8 GB capacities.In addition to playing music, video, photos, FM radio and audiobooks, the Sansa Fuze includes a microSD card slot to add and transfer content, a voice recorder and a 1.9" color screen that allows users to navigate their music or watch videos in landscape mode.The Sansa Fuze MP3 player gives users access to subscription download services from sources, including Rhapsody To Go, Napster, eMusic and others. It supports playback of a wide range of popular music formats such as MP3, WAV, Audible (for audio books) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) in both unprotected and protected files and supports MPEG-4 video and JPEG photos. Its internal rechargeable battery can play up to 24 hours of audio and five hours of video.The MP3 player works with computers running Windows XP or Windows Vista and Mac and Linux operating systems (under MSC mode).
"The Sansa Fuze is an eye-catching player that consumers will enjoy for its looks, capabilities and incredible value," said Eric Bone, vice president of product marketing for Sansa, SanDisk’s audio/video product line. "This new MP3 player combines some of the best features found on other Sansa products, including great sound quality. It’s yet another strong offering by SanDisk in the sub-$150 music player market."
The Sansa Fuze is expected to be available in U.S. stores in early April, in Canada and Europe in late spring, with other regions of the world to follow.
The 2GB version, available in black, will cost $79.99, the 4 GB version, available in black, red, pink or blue, will cost $99.99 and the 8 GB version, available in silver, will cost $129.99.Source