BlackBerry Pearl 8110 Now in India

A day after Valentine's Day, Vodafone and Research in Motion (RIM) have launched the stylish BlackBerry Pearl 8110 smart phone in the country. Highlights of the new Pearl are: built-in GPS, rich multimedia features, and powerful communication capabilities of the BlackBerry solution, to name a few.
The elegant Black-colored BlackBerry Pearl 8110 pinpoints a user's location using GPS capabilities, and according to RIM, offers out-of-the-box support for a variety of location-based applications and services including Google Maps.
The smart new phone is capable of accessing up to ten supported email accounts using the BlackBerry Internet Service, and corporate email and data systems via the BlackBerry enterprise server. Another lifestyle edition of the BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 makes it easier for professionals on the move to make calls, email, surf the net, take and send photographs, listen to music, and access their organizer and a range of other applications for both work and play.
By inserting a microSD card, videos can be recorded on this smart phone. Specifications of the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 smart phone from Vodafone include: support for GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity; built-in GPS to support location-based applications and services; 2 mega pixels camera with 5x digital zoom and enhanced Flash; video capture in two resolutions (240 x 180 and 176 x 144) for sharing via MMS; BlackBerry Desktop Software that includes Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry and Roxio Photosuite 9 LE; support for Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP); supplied standard 3.5mm stereo headset jack; Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD); Bluetooth 2.0 support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits, and Bluetooth peripherals; externally accessible microSD/SDHC card slot for additional storage; trackball navigation system; and RIM's SureType keyboard system including word completion and spell checker.

Speaking at the launch, Harit Nagpal, director (Marketing and New Business) of Vodafone Essar, said, "The sleek new BlackBerry Pearl 8110 is yet another convenient and stylish smart phone solution for our customers. With its novel features, the new model is designed to support our customers' business and personal needs."

The BlackBerry Pearl 8110 is available across Vodafone Stores in the country for a price of Rs 24,990.
Isnt that a slightly overprized phone in his segment without any features in it (missing Wi-Fi, 3G etc.). Prices will drop to 50% of its current price in a span of 6 months. So stay away from this phone.

EA Developing C&C: Red Alert 3

Electronic Arts (EA) Los Angeles is currently developing "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3", the next iteration of its popular 'Command & Conquer Red Alert' game series. EA said the mainstay of the new game is its fully cooperative, story-driven campaign rendered in a 'light-hearted' style. By contrast, EA's 'Command & Conquer Tiberium' series has an essentially serious, stark tone.

Add to "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3" some really weird time travelling, and you have a game that alters the course of history -- at least the way we know it. A dwindling Soviet Union takes refuge in an Eastern European avatar of the Time Machine to try and prevent Russia's imminent defeat in the prevailing Cold War.

But in vain; instead, the Soviets end up helping Japan to set up an empire of its own -- sans that mammoth eventuality, World War II. With the shadow of a near World War III looming large on the horizon -- what with Stalin having invaded Western Europe. The warring factions being: the Allies, the Soviet Bloc, and the Empire of the Rising Sun.

The gamer could be part of any of these factions. The humor in the game essentially arises out of the irony of timelines that create a history that is beyond bizarre. Hand in glove with the oddity of it all are a couple of 'wacky' weapons with which the war is fought: tesla coils, war blimps, teleportation, armored bears, intelligent dolphins, floating island fortresses, and transforming tanks, to name a few.

And there's a whole lot of naval combat weaved in since a large part of the war unfolds against the backdrop of the vast Pacific Ocean. While the official "Red Alert 3" Web site has been launched by EA, the company hasn't yet announced a release date for "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3".

However, those who buy the limited edition of the other Command & Conquer (Tiberium) Series, or its Kane's Wrath Expansion Pack, will receive an invite to the game's beta test scheduled for later this year. Meanwhile, EA said "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3" would be available for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

I hope this time around they do something different for multiplayer games. I mean we are in an era of MMO so its only logical they work on some sort of co-op play with a bit more depth than ''log on game, destroy enemy, end game'' type of game.

Sony Intros External Card Reader

Sony Electronics has introduced its new external memory card reader, the MRW62E-S2, which is primarily targeted at home, SOHO, and professional users. With dimensions of 86 x 50 x 15.7mm (width x depth x height), the MRW62E-S2 promises to be very convenient to ferry around. It has a USB 2.0 interface, and no additional power is required, which makes it one of the easiest card readers to use, according to Sony.

The MRW62E-S2 is capable of reading different types of cards, including: Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Micro, CompactFlash, Microdrive, SmartMedia, xD-Picture Card, SD Memory Card, mini SD Card, Multi Media Card, and RS-MNC. Introducing the MRW62E-S2, Edmund Tan, assistant manager (Sales and Marketing - Computer Peripherals Products) of Applications and Devices Marketing (Singapore-based division of Sony Electronics), said that today, when most users use one or the other type of memory card, it becomes vital to introduce an external card reader that can be carried and used easily anywhere.

Adding to it, Kapal Pansari, director of Rashi Peripherals, said that today, Indian users largely prefer smart phones and digital cameras over any other device, and to get the maximum out of these, they need extra storage which various cards are able to provide. To get data on to the PC or laptop, you need to have a good quality card reader.

...which makes it one of the easiest card readers to use.

The Silver colored MRW62E-S2 will retail for around Rs 700.

MMG's From Reliance Communications (RCom), along with CanvasM Technologies

Reliance Communications (RCom), along with CanvasM Technologies (a Tech Mahindra-Motorola Joint Venture), has introduced multi-player mobile games for its customers in India. Multi-player mobile games (MMGs) enable gamers compete with other mobile- and PC- gamers who happen to be playing the same game.

MMGs have other features like: lobby chat, messenger chat, game chat, score posting, profile, allowing users to invite others to play games.
A mobile value-added services company, CanvasM Technologies, has partnered with RCom, and will provide RCom with a variety of domestic- and international- multi-player games. The company's multi-player gaming platform boasts a catalogue of 15 cross-media games. CanvasM also has provisions for developing content, and fostering third-party content.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahesh Prasad, president (Applications, Solutions, and Content Group) of RCom, said RCom's launch of multi-player mobile games will generate huge interest from their mobile customers -- especially the gaming audience. Adding to it, Jagdish Mitra, chief executive officer of CanvasM Technologies, said CanvasM is keen to get some of the new technologies to India, and that they are pleased to work with RCom, who has taken this pioneering initiative to do so.

Meanwhile, to download the multi-player mobile games, customers need to access Reliance Mobile World>Games>Multiplayer Games. Customers would be charged a monthly fee of Rs 99 for downloading a pack of three games, with unlimited plays for a month.

So chillout my all mobile gaming lovers... its your turn to explore the world of gaming.

Massive Patch Tuesday for Microsoft

This Tuesday, February 12, Microsoft released 11 patches that address 17 security vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities include problems in Microsoft Office, in IE, and two new denial of service (DoS) attacks. As a result, this particular "Patch Tuesday" (the term used to describe the second Tuesday every month when Microsoft releases security fixes in one bundle) has been the biggest in a period of one year.

Microsoft also tends to use "Patch Tuesday" to release other updates designated as "non-security, high-priority". IE7, for example, was sent to users on a Patch Tuesday. This time round, it is two updates that prepare Vista computers for the Vista Service Pack 1. That is, a Vista computer needs to have these installed before SP1 can be installed (later, in March). Actually, a total of three updates is required before one can install SP1 on Vista. However, Microsoft has already sent one out via the Windows Update last month.

The patches have been marked "Important", and install automatically if a user has Windows Update set to the recommended configuration; reads a post on the Windows Vista team Blog. The first of the patches is an update to Vista's "servicing stack", while the second is a "multi-component update", according to the Blog post authored by Nick White, a product manager for the Vista team. Some users already know this: when Microsoft first put up Vista SP1 for download (the Release Candidate, or RC, in December 2007), it informed users that there would be three prerequisites.
Meanwhile, some users are still confused:
the idea of having to update a Vista installation before one can update it later with SP1 doesn't seem to make perfect sense. Besides, couldn't the updates have been included in the final SP1 release? Talking of which, there happen to be driver incompatibilities, due to which some machines might not work right now after applying the update. Microsoft is hoping to address these issues by mid-March, and only then will SP1 be available on Windows Update. For the record, many of those who have already tested SP1 for Vista are complaining about slowdowns, and no real improvements.
Isnt that great news.