Lenovo Announces The Vibe Shot And A7000 at MWC 2015

Lenovo has lately been in news for a mixed bag of reasons. That includes a much reprimanded Superfish debacle and a shock coming as reverberations to it with Lenovo website getting hacked. But ahead of all the turbulence, Lenovo has launched Lenovo A7000 and Lenovo Vibe Shot smartphones at the ongoing Mobile World Congress. With beautiful design and impressive features, these devices are set to grab attention in worldwide market.

Lenovo Vibe Shot is priced at $349 (about INR 21,500) and will be available by June. Lenovo A7000 variant would start at $169 (about INR 10,500) and will hit the markets by March. Lenovo Vibe Shot beats camera at heart. And the design too looks like one from the rear end. The buttons for camera control are placed at the right side of the device, giving a feel of point-and-click conventional camera. Rear camera is of 16MP type which is equipped with six piece modular lens. Rear camera is also coupled with a tri-colour LED flash. For getting a faster focus, the camera boasts a infrared focus feature. Camera unit has sensors to provide low-backlight illumination image rendering and optical image stabilization. There are options provided for pro and preset settings for the camera. The front camera unit is of 8MP. The secondary camera unit is of fixed focus type.

On the smartphone front, Vibe Shot holds a 5-inch full-HD (1080*1920 pixels) display. It holds a octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC which is coupled with 3GB of RAM space. Adreno 405 GPU will handle all the graphics related processes. Four of these cores run at 1.7GHz and the rest four at 1.0GHz. Inbuilt memory capacity is of 32GB and storage capacity can be expanded up to 128GB with the conventional microSD cards. Vibe Shot runs on Android Lollipop 5.0. Connectivity features comprise of the latest standards of WiFi and Bluetooth, LTE support will other basic necessities. This device is a dual-SIM type. It boasts battery unit of 2900mAh. With all these features, Vibe Shot is designed to target the high-end market and specially for the shutterbugs.

On the other hand, Lenovo A7000 is designed to impress the mid-range customers. It comes as a successor of A6000 and like the same this too is a dual-SIM device. This device holds a 5.5-inch 720p HD display unit. Under the hood, it holds a 64-bit MediaTek MT6752M processor which clocks as 1.5GHz. The SoC is coupled with 2GB RAM. Internal storage unit is of 8GB and the memory can be further extended to 32GB.

Primary camera unit for Lenovo A7000 is of 8MP and the secondary snapper is of 5MP. This would certainly cheer up the selfie lovers. Lenovo claims it to be the first smartphone having a Dolby Atmos surround sound feature, although it is said to have only one speaker outlet. Like Vibe Shot, A7000 too supports LTE and other connectivity features are listed as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and micro-USB slot. Also A7000 is powered by a 2900mAh battery unit. It runs on Android Lollipop 5.0 with Vibe UI over the top.

Overall with A7000, Lenovo has made its move to increase its presence in the mid-range devices. And weighing all the features with the price tag, it can be predicted to be a hit. Along with all these Lenovo smartphones, they also launched another gadget at its MWC presentation. It is the Lenovo Pocket Projector. For this device, Lenovo claims it to be the first standalone projector which is compatible with and Miracast or DLNA-enabled smartphone be it Android, Windows or iOS operating system based. It can project up to 110-inches of screen and has dual speakers inbuilt. It claims to have 2.5 hours of battery life and supports 32GB of memory unit via microSD card.

Guest Post by Ronak Totla

Ronak is an Electronics and Telecommunication Engineer and has worked on Embedded Systems and Robotics. He likes to keep himself updated with the latest technology loves to travel in his free time.

Flexible Screens in The Future, Thanks to Improvements in Transistors

Organic electronic building blocks are being researched upon extensively as they hold a lot of potential when it comes to building devices as they require less energy and will be cost effective. But the most promising feature concerning developments using the organic FETs(Field Effect Transistor) is the mechanical compatibility, meaning development of devices with flexible nature. Progress in this field has already given out a new paradigm, “Plastic Electronics”, which directly counters the existing “Silicon electronics”. A recent review published in Science and Technology Of Advanced Materials reports optical functionalities being integrated in the conventional transistors. Researchers also claimed that these improvements should soon be expected in manufacturing of transistors which can be used to develop paper-thin and flexible screens.

After its introduction back in 2003, there has been a lot of improvements in developing the organic field effect transistors(OFET). OFETs were first developed to give out low cost large size display screens. But the latest reviews suggest improvements in light emitting organic field effect transistors (LE-OFET). LE-OFET combine functionalities of both, the OLEDs and the OFETs. These photoactive organic field effect transistors are said to possess the properties of amplifying weak signals and of receiving light too. Field effect carrier mobility of LE-OFETs has reached 20 cm^2/Vs which makes them good enough to be used in practical applications.

The review article also suggests that light emission efficiency and brightness of these transistors will soon improve. The next versions of the LE-OFETs are supposed to be compatible with the already existing electronic setups. LE-OFETs are also being used to develop transparent and flexible computer screens. With this said one can also think of their extensive use in smartphones too. These display units are said to offer faster response time and better energy efficiency. Above all these features, such display units inculcating LE-OFETs won’t require any backlight. This being said it is implied that the power consumption is bound to go down. They are also assumed to enable the development of optical communications and optoelectronic systems, since the switching rates of these transistors is quite good.

Japanese researchers also said that there are some issues in these components and a collaborative effort by organic chemists and device physicists is required to resolve these stumbling blocks. These developments would definitely open new frontiers for both electronic and photonic worlds with properties like flexibility, light weight, optical memory storage or high-density data storage. While it is speculated that such devices with all-plastic components and flexible nature will still take a decade to become ready for the users, you can only hope for its speedy development.

Finally, Orkut is shutting down

All Orkut users received last email(s) from Orkut. Orkut will shut down on September 30. 2014. All the details are provided in the email, copy of email is given below. But still, important points-

• Orkut will close on 30th September 2014.
• Users can download a backup of their data, which will be available till September 2014.

Users data, mainly all the pictures that you uploaded on Orkut, some years back.

How to backup your Google data on services like youtube, blogger, etc.

Farewell mail from Orkut

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Android L - Google I/O 2014 Keynote - Brief Introduction

Next version of Android OS is ready to be launched later this autumn, and will bring to users a lot of better features.

According to Google I/O 2014 - Keynote Android L will have more than 5000 API. Newer libraries for developers. One of the key feature in new UI (user interface) will be animation. New buttons and taps will provide active feedback. For example, ripple on touches/taps.

A single application design will update according to the screen size (watch, smartphone, tablet, etc.). Typography and grid is changed to make text look a lot more clean. A library named "Polymer" will take web experience to a whole new level, with animation running at 60fps.

Users can now access all notifications from the lock screen. The notifications will be prioritized to give users the most relevant and useful notifications.




For developers, the Preview version of Android L is available from June 26th. Full version will be available to users later this year in autumn.

Google's first priority has always been its users or consumers. So, Android L is made to evolve in accordance to human needs. When using any Android smartphones, the first thing a user wants is to get fast notification of everything. Smartphones have redefined online social life. Android L will take it to a step further with even better innovations.



On developers side, Android L will have a depth specification. This will allow developers to arrange elements, and elements will virtually cast shadows in real time.

A new library named, Pallets will automatically extract colors from images to display on the applications. Developers can now customize entry and exit animation.

Watch full details on Google I/O 2014 Keynote.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Should you change your password after HeartBleed - OpenSSL

First of all,

What is OpenSSL?

OpenSSL is an open source commercial-grade security implementation toolkit. It is used to implement SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) security protocols. OpenSSL is used by a number of small and big firms, even Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. use it.

What is HeartBleed?

HeartBleed is security bug or a programming error that can help hackers exploit all the websites using OpenSSL.

Should you change your password after HeartBleed

Here is a list of websites and apps affected or remained untouched by HeartBleed bug. See if you need to change you passwords orb not.

To discuss about HeartBleed security flaw, comment below ↓ ↓ ↓

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Make your Selfie your Gmail theme

Takin selfie is now a trend. In case you don't know, a selfie is a portrait or DP (Digital Picture) of yourself usually from a hand held digital camers.

Gail now allows users to place their own images like selfies as their Gmail's background image. Gmail also allows you to take your own picture via your WebCam, to help you get instant selfies.

Add custom theme on Gmail 

The Google team is calling it Shelfie not selfie, where the word refers to Shareable Selfie.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Facebook buying WhatsApp for $19 Billion

WhatsApp Acquisition

WhatsApp has over 450 Monthly Active Users. According to Facebook's blog, Facebook is purchasing WhatsApp for $16 billion in cash and stock. The deal is done for $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares and $3 billion in RSUs for employee retention.

Also, WhatsApp messaging service will remain independent and will also retain its brand name. Furthermore, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook's board.

WhatsApp growth

• 450 million active users.
• 70% of these users are active daily.
• Messaging volume approaching the entire global telecom SMS volume.
• 1 million new users get registered every day.

WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton was rejected by Facebook and Twitter

In 2009, WhatsApp co-dounder Brian Acton was rejected by Facebook as well as twitter to work as an employee. After 4 years, the same person is selling his work to Facebook for $19 billion.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

New Identity Gender added by Facebook

Revealing one's true identity on Facebook is a priority. While signing up, you need to state to Facebook your gender, male or female.

Facebook has introduced custom gender, that allows lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgenders to truly reveal their identity with ease. Facebook has worked with LGBT organizations, to compile a list of gender options. In case you fall under LGBT gender category you can now change it by going to your profile's "about" page's "Basic Information" section and edit the gender.

Click edit button, and select custom from drop down menu and then start typing your gender, a list will automatically generate. Select the appropriate option. You can also select your gender as neutral.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Facebook adds trending topics

Another great functionality from Twitter is now available on Facebook. Facebook, recently rolled out trending topics that are displayed alongside of your Facebook newsfeed. The stories shared publicly are visible on the Trending.

But the fact that all the people don't share things publicly retards the trending. As the trending only contains public posts. For, now it is quite clear that maximum trending topics are from news pages or other such pages. The country of the user is also taken into consideration.

These trending feeds are customized by user interest. It is also possible that Facebook will start to place promoted post in the Trending section.

This will make Facebook a better stand for news digests. And will surely increase the engagement rate dramatically. The last Facebook hashtag, release is still not used by the majority of Facebook users.

Facebook is testing the mobile version of this feature. Trending is not available to everybody. The feature will be rolled out for a number of countries in the next few weeks.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

NVIDIA created crop circle to promote its Tegra K1 processor

NVIDIA, is prepared with its new Tegra K1 processor, that is reported to have 192 graphics core. NVIDIA tried to pull the graphics processor market with this new product. The graphic cores of this processor use the same Kepler architecture, that are used in the world's most powerful supercomputers.

To make the crop circle more relevant, the artists placed number 192 in Braille at the center of crop circle. The number 192 represents the graphic cores.

To get better market focus, and great publicity. NVIDIA used a whole new way to promote its Tegra K1 processor, by creating a crop circle.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Now dislike chat messaged on Facebook

Facebook, never had an unlike button. A great number of Facebook users are always complaining about this. So, Facebook has rolled out a new set of stickers for Facebook chat, that has a number of like/dislike stickers.

So, now at-least in chat or group chat you can point out something that you don't like. The sticker pack also has a number of more stickers to play with.

ALSO SEE: Compare your Facebook page with other Facebook pages
Post photos in direct messages on Twitter

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Gmail will now display all images for you

Images on Gmail were never displayed by default. As it could compromise the security of your computer or mobile devices. Not displaying images was one of the security measures that Gmail used.

The new image handler will server all the images from its own secure proxy server. Making images secure, and all the images will be checked for viruses and malware. This, is a check to keep Gmail users free of attacks, it doesn't matter whether email is received from a known or unknown user.

ALSO SEE: Compare your Facebook page with other pages
How to create your own company apparel online

Display Images below - Gmail

This update will be made available on Desktop, iOS and Android devices. It will become available for desktop version of Gmail on 12th December 2013, and for other mobile applications in the early 2014.

Still those users who want to have a control, over the display of image can select "Ask before displaying external images" option, under General tab in settings.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Post Photos in direct messages on Twitter

Twitter has a direct message feature, that allows users to send and receive messages directly, that is, without tweeting it publicly. Just like chat on Facebook.

Direct Message Twitter with photos

Twitter recently updated their Direct Message (DM) functionality and now allows its users to post photos in direct messages on mobile phone. A new tab is also added in the application's navigation bar to make accessibility of direct messages easier.

ALSO SEE: Gmail will now display all images for you

Create free eBook download system

There are a bunch of new updates for Twitter app on iOS and Android. Twitter for Android allows you to turn on notification for a specific user by tapping a star on their profile.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Compare your Facebook page with others

Facebook rolled out a new feature that allows Facebook brand page owners or admins to create a watch-list of other Facebook pages.

Add pages to Watch

This feature will allow users to add the page under the same company or the pages of the competitor. Track will be provided so that a user can have a glimpse of the total number of likes other pages have collected and the recent changes in the number of likes. 

ALSO SEE: Forward Facebook chat conversations
Why Alexa ranks Facebook above Google?

For example, if other page that you are monitoring has lost some likes it will show red colored arrow pointing down, with the number of likes or fans that page lost recently. In case of new likes or gains, you will see a green arrow pointing upward.

The pages with no loss and no gain will show 0, grey colored. Your own page will be highlighted with light blue background color.

Pages under watch

The watch-list can contain as many pages as you want. So that you can keep a track to maximum possible pages. But your own page will automatically get added to the list and the watchlist section is currently very small. Therfore, you, must keep the list small so that you can have your top competitors on the top. The list will get arranged alphabetically.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Google Adsense has a new interface for Overview page

The online advertising giant, Google Adsense, is still working on putting the Google Plus effect every where. The notification, the hangout in email, etc.

The user interface of Overview Google Adsense now highlights, the newly added parameters like, Scorecard that displays stats for Revenue Optimization, Site health and Google+.

This change is only visible for the first overview page only and is in a trial state, you can switch to this an switch back very easily.

ALSO SEE: How to opt out of Google's shared endorsement?

Google Analytics application for Android

There could be more coming. The only problem with the new interface is that, it don't look well partitioned, like the previous one. Currently, only the overview page is changed, the rest of the user interface is left untouched.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Avast extension - a threat to online economy

A major part of internet users, use free or paid versions of Avast. Web is full of annoying advertisements. A lot of users, use ad-blocking software to block such ads.

Major online publications use different advertisement networks to generate revenue. This revenue helps in keeping the internet news running. Avast now installs a new avast extension, which is, by default blocking ad networks like Google Adsense, BuySellAds, etc.

Google Adsense and Adknowledge blocked

Not only ads, the extension also blocks a number of social media plugins or widgets like twitter, Facebook like button, addthis.

ALSO SEE: How to opt out of Google's shared endorsement?
How to display delete confirmation dialog box, in Windows 8 & 8.1?

How to enable/disable this extension in Chrome browser?

1. Go to Menu > 'Settings'.
2. Select 'Extensions'.

Enable / disable extensions

Give your views about future alternatives to online revenue generation in the comments below.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

GTA V Secrets and Easter Eggs

The highly anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto V is making so much noise these days. Here, we have uncovered all the top tips, tricks, secrets, and cheats for you. So, not wasting any more time, let's start with the vehicles you are going to drive in this game.

Gamers will have access to a lot more vehicles in Grand Theft Auto V than in any GTA previous games. Though, GTA V is also linked to previous GTA games in many ways.

Vehicles which you will be able to drive in GTA V includes ATVs, BMX bikes, road bikes, dirt bikes, mountain bikes, wide variety of cars/trucks, helicopters, planes and jet skis. Players will be able to access nice cars & planes too, as Trevor( one of the persons behind the Rockstar game) is a former military pilot.

In GTA V you will find:

• Sports & Super Cars ,
• Motorcycles and Bicycles
• Sports Super Cars
• Vintage Cars
• Hatchback
• Sedans
• SUVs
• Pick-Ups and Vans
• Public Service Watercraft & Aircraft

Some people criticised GTA 4 for its lack of easter eggs, but the company behind the GTA games, Rockstar, seem to have listened this time, and GTA V is no doubt the most egg-stuffed game ever released with. Not only this, you will also see there one of GTA 5’s unique vehicles, a rusted tractor. Most of the people don't even know where it is in the game. So, here is the secret. You’ll find that tractor near a farm in Cape Catfish, in the north east part of the map.

But,this tractor is little bit boring because it is rusted to hell and doesn’t have any tires. Besides, it’s also very slow.

Secret of UV map

The map that comes up with special edition of GTA 5 includes messages that can be revealed by shining a UV light over it.

Secret of Alien spaceship

You will find a hidden alien spaceship underwater in the north part of the game world.

Lenora Johnson's Ghost

Lenora Johnson is murdered in the GTA 5. By picking up fifty scraps of paper across the city, you can solve her murder mission, but you can also find her ghost. Her ghost appears on the cliffs between 23:00 and 00:00, on the top of a mountain Gordan in the top-right side of the map.

Secret of Bigfoot

One of the earliest rumour about the GTA 5 was bigfoot. But it’s real now, it can be seen during a mission called Predator. To see this bigfoot, start thermal imaging and slowly look across the forest.

You’ll be able to see the heat signature of Bigfoot. However, it’ll be disappeared when you look directly at him.

UFO & Alien

You will find a lonely, frozen alien at the start of the game. Apart from this, there's also a crashed UFO rests at the bottom of the sea at the northern edge of the map. Take a submarine if you want to find alien's wet buddies.

Zombie in the Game

Grand Theft Auto V is not a zombie game. But, there is a zombie walker in there. When you go through one of Los Santos’s sidewalks, you’ll find a zombie there. He has a voice-acted story to tell you too. Go and check out this zombie if you haven't seen him yet.

Shark - The best addition in the game

Shark in GTA 5

When you swim out far enough in the game, you’ll meet one of the most terrifying characters in the game that is a great big shark. It can hijack your boat, drive it out into the blue until you see a red blip on your radar which indicates that there is a shark nearby.

Apart from these easter eggs, you will also found a Playboy Mansion, Master Chief Imposter, a car which number plate reads, "4G3NT".

So, these were some GTA V secrets, hope you found them interesting. Please share with us if you also know any secret that is not mentioned over here.

Author's Bio: Rakesh is the founder of news4today.in. He writes on current affairs and is also passionate about blogging. You can contact him here. Or Follow him on Google +

Search for "Google in 1998" and take a peek back in 1998

Google is celebrating its 15th birthday Friday by launching a Doodle with a birthday cake. Along with this, there is one more search query launched, that allows you to take a peek at Google back in 1998. Just type -

"Google in 1998"

Google has also rolled out, an update to its core search algorithm, named 'Hummingbird'. Before this, Google made core search algorithm update in 2010 named 'Caffeine'. The new update is made to cope up with more larger and complex search queries. It has reportedly effected 90% of total search queries.

Google back in 1998

The above query will return 237,000 result for "Google" with visuals of Google as they were back in 1998. The number of results are different from the actual query as it will return 1,940,000,000 results.

ALSO SEE: How to see new likes on your Facebook Fan Page?
How to add new users to your Google Analytics?
Email Google Analytic data directly from Google Analytics

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Grand Theft Auto 5 crossed $ 1 billion sales in only 3 days

The Rockstar's latest game innovation, the Grand Theft Auto 5 has successfully broken the revenue collection record by collecting over $ 1 billion in just three days. The game made sales worth $800 million on the very first day. While, the analysts were expecting to earn $ 1 billion in the first month.

The game became the fastest selling game in the UK, selling 1.57 million units on the first day collecting £65 million.

Before this, Call of Duty Black Ops earned $ 1 billion but it took almost 15 days to reach $ 1 billion mark. Where as GTA 5 took only three days. Rockstar spent $115 million in the games development and $150 million in marketing.

The game is till now only available for XBOX 360 and Playstation 3. The online version of the game will be launched on October 1st and online version will be packaged free with every copy of GTA 5.



The greatest innovation in the gameplay, is the ability to switch between the three players and experience all three sides of the interwoven story. With a lot of stuff to do when on the free run.

Author's Bio: Shubhashish Shukla (follow him) is the person behind Sector Techno (twitter, facebook), a technology blog. An always learning web developer.

Samsung planning for a 64-bit processor smartphone

In this era of smartphones, smartphones are now judged by its speed. The faster it processes the better it gets.

After launching iPhone 5, Apple announced to launch even better versions of iPhone 5, the iPhone 5S and 5C. The launch of these two new iPhone were to get ahead of Samsung.

Click to enlarge: iPhone 5S

To defend itself, Samsung also has plans to launch 64-bit processors in its next generation smartphones. Though, it will take a long time.

ALSO SEE: Facebook rolled out verified accounts

According to The Korea Times, Shin (Samsung business chief) did confirmed that Samsung will launch smartphones capable of processing data in 64-bits. A 64-bit processor will make a remarkable change in the way we use smartphones. 

A great deal of change is also expected in the gaming experience too. Having a 64-bit processor is more like utilizing one more LTE technologies.

All the war between the two smartphone manufacturers, is for acquiring the market of China as well as Japan.