Review: HTC One X

The HTC One X brings the best processor, an HD screen and a sublimely thin chassis as the Taiwanese firm looks to recreate the success of the original Desire.

The One X is a phone that's had us intrigued for a while – running a quad core CPU (Nvidia's Tegra 3) plus one of the largest screens on any HTC… and that's without being given a gargantuan name like the Titan.

It's clear from the outset what HTC is trying to do with the One X: shake off the slight doom and gloom surrounding the brand's fall in profits, and bring out a slick, powerful and, more importantly, useable handset that only costs £36 per month (about $57) on a two year deal.

Check out the HTC One X video below to find out the main features it's packing in that slim body.

With Ice Cream Sandwich running from the outset, this is the phone that really takes HTC to the next level – but is it a case of too much, too soon for a brand that's still really just over a decade old?

Mysterious Particle Found After Decades of Searching

An elusive particle that is its own antiparticle may have been found, and, if confirmed, would be the first time a phenomenon predicted decades ago has been seen in a real system.

Some researchers suggest that in the future, this mysterious particle called a Majorana fermion could be useful in carrying bits of information in quantum computers.

In a paper published in the journal Science Thursday, Vincent Mourikand Leo P. Kouwenhoven said they were able to make the Majorana fermions appear by exposing a small circuit to a magnetic field.

Until now, the only suggestion of the particle's existence was a theory posed by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937, who predicted the Majorana fermion. 

While the evidence is strong, there are still more experiments to do to confirm the finding. But that may be fitting: Majorana himself was, by many accounts, a brilliant physicist. (He was the first to propose a theoretical basis for the existence of neutrons.) But in 1938, he took a boat trip from Naples to Palermo and disappeared. His body was never found, and the circumstances of his disappearance have remained mysterious. 

Best smartphones to buy for less than $100 (and without a long-term contract)

Great deals on smartphones are not always what they appear to be.

Most smartphones that are “on sale” for less than $100 will end up costing you thousands over the course of a required two-year contract. Of course, you can buy a smartphone without a contract, but end up paying several hundred dollars for a device that could be outdated by the time you leave the store. Neither of these options are great for the pocketbook.
Thankfully, there are quality phones available at smart prices that you won’t have to commit to long-term. Whether you sign up for a more flexible plan from a smaller cellular carrier, go with a prepaid billing option, or purchase an “unlocked” smartphone from an online retailer, there are excellent deals to dial into.
Here are the best smartphones to buy for less than a hundred bucks, but with no strings attached.

BlackBerry Curve 8530/Virgin Mobile ($99.99)

Have you ever wanted to get your hands on a RIM BlackBerry device but felt priced out by the two-year contracts required by the major carriers including Verizon, AT&T, Spring and T-Mobile? Enter Virgin Mobile. Right now, Virgin is offering the BlackBerry Curve 8530 smartphone for just $99.99. This rugged device is still a favorite in the corporate world, offering great security and plenty of connectivity options. With a full QWERTY keyboard, access to thousands of apps in BlackBerry’s App World, a 2-megapixel camera, and social networking features, the Curve is a good way to enter into the world of RIM without the hassle of a long-term contract.

Virgin Mobile’s smartphone plans start at just $35 a month and include 2.5GB of full-speed 3G data. Best of all, there are no credit checks, activation fees or service contracts.

HCL MeTab U1 vs Micromax FunBook

Both HCL MeTab U1 and Micromax Funbook were launched within a span of a few days and both of them are focused on education. Here we've compared the two.

Hardware
Both tablets have more or less the same hardware and software. Both have 7 inch capacitive touchscreens with 800 x 480 pixel resolution. Both are based on Android 4.0.3. However, while the Micromax Funbook does offer access to Google Play app store MeTab doesn't, and this is a big flaw as it means that one will not have access to the lakhs of apps on Android's app store.

HCL MeTab also has a slower 1 GHz processor compared to the 1.2 GHz unit that powers the Funbook (however this difference could be the result of overclocking as both use ARM A8 processors). On the RAM front both use a 512 MB DDR3 RAM, which is low for an Android 4.0 device.

How to recover deleted files: Tutorial

Accidentally deleting files - it's something we've all done, but erasing a file isn't the only thing that can go wrong when you're working in a hurry.

It's also very easy to edit a document, save it and then later change your mind about the editing you've done.

The good news is the Previous Versions feature of Windows 7 can help you eliminate these problems by saving snapshots of your hard drive automatically, so you have the option of reverting individual files to an earlier version if necessary - or even restoring files that have been accidentally deleted.

Protect your work

Use Previous Versions to rescue files after accidental edits or deletion 

1. Enable System Protection

Click the 'Start' orb and then the 'Control Panel' shortcut to the right. Now click the 'System' icon followed by the 'System Protection' link to the left of the window.

In the Protection Settings section towards the centre of the dialog that appears, click the entry for your C: drive and then the 'Configure' button.

The cheapest cars in America to fill up

As gas prices hover near $4 a gallon nationwide, there aremore than 20 SUVs and trucks that cost more than $100 to fill up. But, there are almost 30 cars that cost less than $50 to refuel. We crunched the numbers and found the cheapest cars in America to fill up.

The cars that cause the least pain at the pump are almost exclusively small cars. The largest fuel tank in the group is 12.7 gallons. These tend to also be rather fuel-efficient cars, going beyond limiting pump-price shock by minimizing true operating costs. Consequently, the driving range for these vehicles is relatively long, stretching from 394 miles for the Kia Soul to 655 for the Toyota Prius.

25 Awesome iPhone tips and tricks

Whether you're a seasoned user or brand new to the iPhone world, chances are you're probably not using your smartphone to its fullest.

Don't worry, you're not alone, as these pocket-sized computers boast many hundreds of features buried in the operating system.

And so here we share a number of our favoriteiPhone tips and tricks, some of which you may know already. Hopefully there's a good number of ones you aren't aware of yet. Most of these following 25 suggestions will work with all versions of the iPhone, but be sure to have the latest software installed (iOS 5.1).

OK, here we go:

Take a photo with your headphone cord: Now that you can use the volume up or down buttons to snap a photo, steady your hand while framing up the photo and when you're ready to take the picture, press the button on the cord so it won't shake the iPhone. Voila!

Top 5 Google+ Tools and Apps for Marketing

Are you looking for Google+ apps and resources to enhance your marketing?

This article reveals five categories of tools and apps you can employ to greatly enhance your Google+ experience.

Check this out: Thirty-six percent of brands on Google+ have seen a 100% increase in circle size in less than 3 months, according to a recent study by Simply Measured.

This is a stunning metric when one considers that there’s no Google+ advertising platform to fuel campaigns. Brands are forced to use great content to engage and can’t “pay to play” by using sponsored stories or other advertising gimmicks.

A Bad Workman Blames His Tools
With this spike in activity, developers are scrambling to create tools to help businesses of all sizes manage, integrate and promote their Google+ communities. Below I’ve outlined some great tools to help businesses manage Google+. I’m sure this list is just the start of many innovative tools that will be created to help communities thrive on Google’s social network.

This new frontier is a bit rocky as the needs driving Google+ management are still taking shape. It’s important to remember that tools and tactics do not equate to strategy. Taking the time to research, listen and discover your community’s needs and strategizing to meet those needs is TOP priority.

You can learn how three of the top Google+ pages engage their audiences by reading my last post on Social Media Examiner, 3 Successful Google+ Pages and Why They Work.

Toshiba’s 13-Inch Tablet

“The Excite 13 is what we see as a home tablet,” Jared Leavitt, a Toshiba spokesman, told Wired. “The larger size makes it an ideal kitchen tablet. You can watch how-to videos while you’re cooking, or look up recipes. And then later, you can bring it into the living room to watch videos with the kids, or to look at family photos with friends.”

Thankfully, Toshiba is shipping the Excite 13, which runs on Google’s Android 4.0 operating system, with a stand that will relieve owners from having to hold, or prop up, the large device themselves. And despite being bigger than pretty much every other competing tablet on the market, the Excite 13 is fairly thin and light for its size, Leavitt said, noting that it will weigh 2.2 pounds and measure 0.4 inches thick.

Airtel launches 4G services at Rs 999/month

Bharti Airtel, has launched India’s first 4G services in Kolkata today. Airtel , which had bagged BWA spectrum in four telecom circles -- Kolkata, Maharastra, Punjab and Karnataka -- for Rs.3,314.36 crore in 2010, selected Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE to manage its services in Kolkata. The services are priced between Rs 999 per month to Rs 1999 per month for with a free quota of 6- 9 GB.

"High speed wireless broadband has the potential to transform India, provide a robust platform for building the country’s digital economy and truly empower people. With one of the largest pools of young population in the world, India will see massive growth in consumption of data and content over mobile devices and proliferation of mobile commerce. I look forward to Airtel playing a pivotal role in shaping this exciting future for India," Bharti Airtel, Chairman Sunil Mittal said.

Airtel plans to launch its 4G services in Bangalore within 30 days. Bharti and its rivals paid a total 385.43 billion rupees to buy fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband spectrum in a 2010 government auction, which saw bids at much higher prices than initially expected.

Budget-friendly tablets

With high competition in the tablet market, cell guru gives you 3 economy class tablets from Micromax, Zync and Intex with great specifications.

The top ten technology companies in the world

First Apple went past Exxon Mobil to become the world’s most valuable company. Now, it has gone ahead of Google to claim the number technology company spot in terms of share price. Experts are tipping the company be the first to blow past $1 trillion in market capitalization. Yahoo! Finance takes a look at the top technology companies in terms of market cap listed on the NASDAQ.

1. Apple: $590.82 billion The cream of crop among technology companies is Apple. Already the world’s most valuable company, it is tipped to become the first company to blow past the $1 trillion mark. There were some concerns about growth slowing down after the demise of its iconic founder Steve Jobs died but Tim Cook has been a worthy successor. What’s next? How about a refurbished Apple TV.

The 28-Year-Old Who Made $400 Million

Kevin Systrom is the cofounder and CEO of Instagram, which Facebook just acquired for $1 billion. Reports say Systrom will make $400 million in the deal. Instagram is a photo-sharing app that launched just a couple years ago, and already has 30 million users. Facebook is going to IPO next month, and that means its executives – now including Systrom – are required to honor the SEC's "quiet period" rules.

Fortunately, Systrom is not just a wildly successful CEO, he's also a Quora addict. He's answered over 50 questions. Also, Systrom did a Q&A with Business Insider's Matt Rosoff last fall. 

Below, we've collected (and lightly edited) some of the best questions and on-record-answers from those resources to compile a Q&A with Silicon Valley's newest $400 million man.

Infiniti LE concept previews a real-word electric luxury sedan

Electric cars benefits and disadvantages remain a point of endless debate among car people, but one thing that's been missing from most is a sense of beauty. Infiniti, Nissan's luxury brand, will change that with an all-electric luxury sedan that will look much like this when it arrives two years from now.

Dubbed the LE concept at the New York Auto Show, the sedan pairs the underpinnings of the Nissan Leaf electric hatchback with a slinky body and upscale interior. Infiniti executives vow that unlike several previous electric Infiniti concepts, most of what's visible in the LE will glide from an unspecified factory, with Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn saying its 85% of the production version.

Facebook Buys Instagram For $1 Billion

 Facebook is the proud new owner of Instagram, the photo-sharing mobile app. Cost of the acquisition? A cool $1 billion. News of the purchase immediately sent the web into overdrive, launching the company into a trending topic on Twitter and causing a frenzy of searches on the social site.

The picture-taking application that is barely two years old allows users to choose various artsy filters on the snaps taken with their smartphones. Predictably, loyal followers of the photo-sharing tool took to Twitter to voice their shock at the sale.

Top 5 Android music player apps

1.PowerAMP
  

There are lots of Android music player apps like SoundHound, tunewiki, DoubleTwist etc but I have selected Power AMP over others because its simple, easy to use, Awesome user interface and the list goes on. 
PowerAMP has a great features called robust equalizer, with the ability to customise settings.You will get everything from this little but powerful app so download it right now. 

Ford EVOS concept car

Ford EVOS features four gull-wing doors

The EVOS concept car introduces a new design direction for the global car manufacturer Ford, debuting at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. The vehicle is an interpretation of a fastback body-style design featuring four gull-wing doors which open to reveal a four-seat layout. The concept offers a bold red driver's seat and the vision of unprecedented driver interface. The two rear seat passengers host dedicated touch-screen display to interact with the vehicle and individually adjustable sports seats.
The concept's technology experience embraces a new generation of driver interaction and awareness, in which the seamless connectivity between the vehicle and the driver's 'personal cloud' of information is the heart of the vision for its capabilities with information from the cloud. 

Micromax unveils tablet at Rs 6,499

A digital education and entertainment device, "Funbook on Ice Cream Sandwhich", combining learning and fun was launched by eucational publisher Pearson, Micromax Informatics and education company Everonn. Micromax Funbook is available in 2 variants; suave silver and brilliant black. A perfect combination of hardware, content and seamless connectivity for a high-quality and engaging experience, Funbook is poised to change the way fun and learning is consumed on the go. The device is targeted at at nearly 20 million of the total urban youth population in India and costs Rs 6,499.

The device, launched on the Android 4.0.3 digital platform, will help children watch their favourite movies, read books and play games at the same time.

While Pearson,will provide content for students, BigFix, Zenga and Indiagames will pitch in with games and entertainment features in the Funbook.

The device can be customized as a mini library by storing contents upto 4GB in its internal memory which is expandable up to 32GB for avid readers.

Does Your PC Have a Virus? Or Is It Just SLOW?

This time we are going to talk about how to figure out if you really have one. Accurate diagnosis can be tricky, so let's run through major symptoms, minor clues, and a few surefire ways to tell.

4 Major Virus Symptoms

• Your system crashes or locks up often.
• It randomly restarts.
• You see strange error messages or pop-up boxes especially alerts about firewalls or viruses.
• Your system suddenly runs much slower, and the key here is suddenly. If it progressively slows down, it's probably getting bogged down by too many programs running in the background, you haven't defragmented it recently (or ever), or you are nearing full capacity on the hard drive. But if the computer suddenly takes minutes to load a web page, or suddenly takes 10 minutes to shutdown/start-up it's a good clue that you have a virus.

Test Drive: Continental ‘Simplify Your Drive’

Can you imagine your car changing its demeanour according to your driving moods? Weekdays a sedan for relaxing business trips, Saturdays a budget car to go shopping, Sundays a sports car for sheer driving fun - and all these at the tap of a button? Interesting; isn't it?

Continental AG has developed a technology that changes the driving dynamics of the car, out of a choice of three pre-configured modes - Comfort, Eco and Sport. The system called 'Simplify Your Drive' enables drivers to exploit their vehicles' full functional potential, rather buy one car and experience many different ones.

Most anticipated phones of 2012

The mobile market has changed drastically over the recent years. If the technology of the mobile phone keeps on developing at the current rate, mobiles will be able to substitute personal computers in a couple of years. This year we saw a lot of new mobile phones with newer, faster and more amazing technologies. Let’s see which mobile phones are awaited to be launched in 2012 and what all features will they carry.

World's fastest phone

At the 'Mobile World Congress' 2012, Huawei's latest offering, the Ascent D QUAD, boasts of being the fastest phone with a 4.5" screen, supporting a resolution of 720x1280p.

Six problem that the new iPad has

The new iPad from Apple has received overwhelming response from consumers with three million units selling in just three days of its launch. However, the new tablet with famed Retina display is also facing its share of negative publicity with reports pouring in about the problems with the New iPad.