Panasonic, Philips and Sharp Launch Their Latest 4K TVs

While Samsung, Sony and LG have introduced various 4K and full-HD television sets (using display technologies like OLED and Quantum Dot, and based on platforms like Android TV, webOS, and Tizen) at the ongoing CES 2015 event, Sharp, Philips and Panasonic have also launched their 4K television sets in the market.

Panasonic has collaborated with Mozilla and has launched Firefox OS-based 4K TVs - the CX600, CX650, CX800 and CX850. The firm launched Firefox OS-based televisions last year also.

In the above mentioned Panasonic 4K TV models, users can run Firefox OS-compatible Web apps besides sending content from any device to the TV sets via the Firefox browser or a compatible app. As per the firm, users will also receive notifications from smart appliances when connected with the home network.

Panasonic's new Firefox OS-based TVs might prove to be a serious competitor LG's webOS TV sets and Samsung's Tizen OS-based television models, and even Sony's Android TV models. The price and availability details of the new Firefox OS-based television sets are not yet known.

Sharp has also announced its new range of 4K television sets at CES 2015, with most of them upgrades over previous versions. The Sharp 80-inch AQUOS Beyond 4K Ultra HD TV (seen above) features a unique Pixel Splitting technology that cuts each pixel in half vertically and also enables each pixel to produce colours - converting the television's 4K resolution to a near 8K (7,680x4,320 pixels) resolution. Sharp is also touting an improved LED backlight and a wider colour gamut in the model. The firm has not yet mentioned the price of the model but says it will arrive later this year.



Users will have other options from Sharp if they want to go in for a 4K TV. Sharp has introduced its already available UB30 series of 4K TVs in new sizes - 43-inch and 65-inches along with a new upscaler. New versions of 60-inch to 80-inch UE30 TVs also feature Android TV, LED dimming and a 480Hz refresh rate. Furthermore, the new versions of 70-inch to 80-inch TVs in UH30 series now sport colour-enhancing backlight and a faster 960Hz refresh rate along with a touch remote. The prices of these three models start from $750 (roughly Rs. 47,500) for 43-inch UB30 TV up to $6,000 (roughly Rs. 3,80,000) for 80-inch UH30.

Lastly, Philips has launched its new range of 4K TVs at the ongoing CES 2015 event. The Philips Smart Laser Backlight Ultra HDTV models (seen above) - 58PFL8900 (58-inch) and 65PFL8900 (65-inch) - play with the colours of the television panel by adding cyan LEDs and a red laser in the backlighting source. The combination is said by Philips to deliver a more accurate range of colours.

The Philips Smart Laser Backlight Ultra HDTV models also incorporate full-range vertical speakers, which can be mounted on both sides of the TV or can be detached and placed away from the TV sets. Miracast feature along with number of apps including YouTube, Vudu, Netflix and other are also included. Both the TV models will be available starting May and will be priced at $3,000 (roughly Rs. 1,90,000) for the 58-inch model and $3,500 (roughly Rs. 2,21,000) for 65-inch model.

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Toshiba Launches New Hybrid PC, Tablets and Hard Drives

Toshiba had several announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015) this year, from new laptop-tablet hybrids and tablets, to new hard drives, a TransferJet adapter for iOS devices, and a wireless SD card.
The Toshiba Portege Z20t, a Windows 8.1-based laptop-tablet hybrid, comes with a 12.5-inch screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, a detachable keyboard and an optional Wacom-made digitizer, which enables pressure-sensitive pen input (2,048 levels of sensitivity). The tablet will be powered by Intel Core M processors, which eliminates the need of cooling fans.

The Portege Z20t will go up on sale this month, with options for either 4GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of SSD storage options.

The starting price of Portege Z20t with the keyboard will be $1,399, while with the optional Wacom-made digitizer pen prices start at $1,899. The standalone tablet can also be purchased for a starting price of $899.

Connectivity options on the laptop-tablet hybrid include Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, Micro-USB, Micro-HDMI, Ethernet, RGB, and microSD card slot. The Portege Z20t tablet is claimed to provide up to 9 hours of battery life, and with the keyboard battery combined, it can deliver up to 17.5 hours of battery life, says Toshiba.



The company has also refreshed the Windows-based Encore 2 tablets lineup from last year. The new Encore 2 Write tablets from Toshiba come in 8-inch and 10-inch display sizes with a stylus called TruPen.

The specifications of the Encore 2 Write are mostly identical to last year's Encore 2 tablets. These include 8-inch and 10-inch 1,280x800 pixels multi-touch displays; an Intel Atom processor; 2GB of RAM; 64GB of built-in storage; expandability via microSD card (up to 128GB), and Windows 8.1 with Bing.

The Toshiba Encore 2 Write tablets will go on sale from January 11.

On the other hand, Toshiba has launched a new range of Canvio Connect II portable hard drives that come with remote access support through PogoPlug software.

The Canvio Connect II comes in storage capacities of 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 3TB storage. The company also launched the 3TB version of the Canvio Basics portable hard drives. While these may not be the first external hard drives to offer 3TB of storage, they are considered as some of the first portable hard drives with this storage capacity.



The PogoPlug remote access feature of the Toshiba Canvio Connect II can be used to view and share files over the Internet, and stream content to mobile devices. The company is also offering 10GB of free cloud storage with the drives, which can also be accessed through the PogoPlug software.

The company has also launched a TransferJet TJM35420LT adapter, the first with compatibility for iOS devices. The accessory will be available from spring 2015 in Japan, followed by Europe, the Americas and Asia, says Toshiba.



Alongside, Toshiba has also launched the 2nd generation TransferJet USB adapter TJM35420AUX for Windows and a Micro-USB adapter module TJM35420AMU for Android, both of which will start selling in the first quarter of 2015. The new adapters for the Android and Windows are claimed to offer a 1.7 times faster transfer rate, 30 percent lower power consumption, and 30 percent less volume than the previous generation adapters.

"TransferJet is a close proximity wireless transfer technology standard promoted by the TransferJet Consortium. The technology provides simple connections and ultra-high speed data transfers with low power consumption, and works simply by bringing the two devices in the transfer into close proximity. Maximum data throughput is 375Mbps, and 100 MBytes of data can be transmitted in approximately three seconds," explains the company.



Lastly, there is the all new Toshiba FlashAir III wireless SD card, which can communicate/ transfer data on a Wi-Fi network. While there is no word on its price and availability, Toshiba said that the card will be available in two capacities - 16GB and 32GB.

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MSI's GT80 Titan is an Nvidia 980M SLI monster with a mechan

The GT80 Titan looks like a gaming laptop for people who hate gaming laptops. The 10 pound heavyweight, with an 18-inch 1080p display, challenges most of the conventional issues gamers have with laptops compared to desktop rigs.
Hate cramped chiclet keyboards? The GT80 is the first laptop to use an actual mechanical keyboard. It has Cherry MX Brown switches. Want to be able to upgrade your components? A panel on top of the laptop gives you access to M.2 SSD slots, RAM, and a 2.5-inch drive bay. Even the graphics cards, a pair of Nvidia GTX 980Ms in SLI, can be swapped out for newer mobile graphics down the road. Aren't happy without a triple-monitor setup? The GT80 supports Nvidia Surround thanks to two DisplayPort and one HDMI output on the back.
Think laptop performance just isn't good enough? Well, a pair of 980Ms running in SLI is comparable to (and even slightly outperforms) the desktop 980, according to MSI. A 350 watt power brick ensures they have enough juice to run at full capacity.
That just leaves one major sticking point: price. And the GT80 Dominator isn't cheap. It starts at $3300, though the version on display at CES cost $3700 thanks to a step-up Intel Extreme 4980HQ processor. The system also included 24GB of RAM, a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD and two 128GB M.2 SSDs running in RAID. A trackpad on the right side of the keyboard doubles as a 10 key numberpad with haptic feedback.


This is absolutely a chunky laptop. In fact, I think "laptop" is a poor descriptor for it. The ventilation is designed to shunt most of its heat out the back, and MSI included a convenient button toggle to turn the fans on full blast if you want to keep the graphics cards as cool as possible while playing demanding games. Even if it doesn't get leg-burning hot, it's hard to imagine anyone using this system in their lap. It's absolutely a desktop replacement.
Because of its size, the GT80 is surprisingly light--much lighter than I expected before I picked it up. It's not a system you'd want to take on-the-go regularly, but for a gaming party at a friend's place? No problem (and MSI said they're throwing in a backpack to carry the Titan, as there aren't many bags for 18.4-inch laptops). You'll be the only one with a mechanical keyboard built into your laptop.
The screen is the one real weakness here. It's only a 1080p panel, which MSI says is an issue of availability—1440p or higher resolution panels simply aren't being produced at this unusual 18.4-inch size with the regularity they'd need to sell the GT80. Thankfully, MSI chose a Samsung PLS panel, which is a step up from the cheap, washed-out TN panels (with poor viewing angles, to boot) that many laptops use. 1080p is also a decent pixel density for the size, and games will naturally run better at 1080p than at 1440p. But if you're a stickler for high pixel density, you'll want to plug the GT80 into an external monitor.
For $3300, we'd rather build a small mini-ITX system in a compact case, throw a GTX 980 and desktop Core i5 into it, and pocket the extra $2000 or so. But it's cool to see MSI tackling upgradability, which we'd say is the major shortcoming of gaming laptops, with a system that's so open and accessible. You can even pop the Cherry MX Brown keys off the keyboard and replace them with another set, if you're so inclined.
The MSI GT80 Titan should be hitting online retailers soon. has a list of sites you'll be able to buy it from, including Newegg and Amazon. And now for some more photos:

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How to Improve Your Home’s Wi-Fi Signal

Wi-Fi is just radio waves, and many things can cause interference. But a strong Wi-Fi signal can give you faster performance and better coverage distance, so it’s important to properly position and configure your router for optimal signal strength. I’ll show you how; it just takes a few minutes.

Point the Antenna Up

Routers generally have physical antennas that are adjustable. The antenna often comes pointed horizontally to fit the router inside its box. For maximum signal strength, position your router’s antenna vertically, pointing straight up. If you have two antennas, you won’t get better performance by pointing them in different directions.

Position Your Router Properly

Consider where you put your router. If you have a large home or office, place the router close to the center to maximize coverage. If you position the router at one end of the building, you may have poor (or no) signal at the other end.But keep in mind that if you already have your router positioned at one end of your home and the signal strength is just fine on the other side, you don’t need to move it.

For maximum coverage, the router should also be high up. Placing it on the floor is the worst location possible – place it on a high shelf, if possible.

Don’t place the router on or near large metal objects, such as metal shelves or filing cabinets. These can block the signal. Metal or stone walls can also block Wi-Fi, while wood and plaster walls won’t cause any problems.

You might be able to root out other sources of interference. For example: microwave ovens, 2.4 GHz cordless phones, and 2.4 GHz baby monitors all have the potential to interfere with a Wi-Fi signal. I’ve personally experienced a Wi-Fi signal to my laptop dying every time a microwave oven was turned on. The microwave oven was in direct line-of-sight between my laptop and the router. The solution? Move any one of them so that the microwave isn’t in between. If you get interference from a cordless phone, you might want to purchase newer 5.8 GHz cordless phones; these workon a frequency band other than Wi-Fi and don’t cause any interfere.



Choose the Best Wi-Fi Channel

If you’re in an area with many different Wi-Fi networks — such as an apartment complex or even just a house close to other homes — your neighbors’ Wi-Fi networks are probably interfering with yours.

To minimize this, move your router further away from the other Wi-Fi access points, if you can. For example, if you’re in an apartment and have a router in the corner of your room, your neighbor’s router might be right on the other side of the wall.

But the best thing you can do is switch to a different Wi-Fi channel. You access this option on your router’s settings page — check your router’s instruction manual for instructions on how to do that. (If you don’t have the instruction manual, you can almost certainly find the instructions online.) Locate the Wi-Fi channel option in the router’s web interface and change it to a different channel with less interference.

It might take a little experimentation to find the best one, but you can get help choosing a Wi-Fi channel using the Wi-Fi Analyzer app for Android phones and tablets, which will monitor the Wi-Fi networks near you and recommend the least-cluttered Wi-Fi channel for your network. Unfortunately, similar apps aren’t available for iPhone or iPad due to the limitations Apple places on app developers.

That’s it — all you really have to do is position your router well and choose the ideal Wi-Fi channel to optimize your network. Of course, buying a new router that supports modern, improved Wi-Fi standards may also offer you a signal strength and speed boost.

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Amazon Offers 33 Paid Android Apps Worth $110 for Free

With the start of new year 2015, Amazon Appstore now has 33 paid Android apps worth $110 (approximately Rs. 7,000) available to download for free until Friday.
The 33 paid apps, which include a mix of games and utilities, will be free for all Android users via Amazon Appstore from December 31 to January 2.

The gaming apps on offer include some big titles like Angry Birds Star Wars II, Fruit Ninja, Kingdom Rush Frontiers, Monopoly, Riptide GP2, and more. Some of the utility apps include AVG AntiVirus PRO Android Security, LYNE, JEFIT Pro, and Pho.to Lab PRO.

Additionally, Amazon has slashed the prices of a number of apps like Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake, which is down from $4.99 to 99 cents, and games like Final Fantasy IV from $15.99 to $6.99.

If you don't have Amazon Appstore installed, you can get it from the Amazon website.

Here's the full list:

Angry Birds Star Wars II
Alarm Clock Xtreme
Alice Trapped in Wonderland
AVG AntiVirus PRO Android Security
Azkend 2: The World Beneath
Bills Reminder
BuildCalc
Buttons and Scissors (Pro)
Calculator Plus
Clockwork Tales: Of Glas
Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson
Distant Suns: Unleash your inner astronaut
Fruit Ninja
Food Diary and Calorie Tracker PRO by MyNetDiary
Garfield's Escape
JEFIT Pro
Kingdom Rush Frontiers
LYNE
Monopoly
Mini Piano
Might and Magic Clash of Heros
Orrery
Pho.to Lab PRO
Patchworkz (Full)
Riptide GP2
Republique
Sparkle 2 Evo
Stack the States
Table Top Racing
Townsmen Premium
Thomas Was Alone
Uncanny X-Men: Days
Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client

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Xiaomi Working on an Internet-Connected Water Purifier

WorldTechzone.Com

Popular smartphone-maker Xiaomi, which recently launched an Internet-connected air purifier, is now reportedly planning a water purifier on the same lines.
GGV Capital, an early investor in the Chinese company, says Xiaomi has shown a prototype of the new water purifier to its investors, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

"They have a product pipeline," Jenny Lee, Managing Partner at GGV Capital, told Bloomberg in a telephonic interview. "Going forward it's not just going to be the Xiaomi phone or the TV. The upside and the investment around Xiaomi is the hope they can get into the smart home."

Last month, the company made a move in the Internet of Things (IoT) sphere with the launch of Internet-connected Mi Air Purifier. The purifier was designed by a company called Zhimi, which Lei revealed was one of the 25 startups in which Xiaomi has invested.

Priced at CNY 899 (approximately Rs. 899), the Mi Air Purifier can connect to the user's smartphone and alert them if the filter has reached end-of-life and needs to be replaced. Xiaomi says that the air purifier can produce up to 406 cubic meters (14,000 cubic feet) of clean air per hour and sends pollution readings to connected smartphones.

As the report notes, the Chinese electronics company also recently started selling a light bulb designed by another startup called Yeelight. The colour of the light that the bulb emits can be changed by a remote.

"The smart home is a much bigger market," Lee said. "Homes are getting connected with phones, tablets and TVs in ways that are highly synergistic. Xiaomi definitely wants to be part of that. That is their key strategy."

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Top 10 Tech Companies to Work for in New Year 2015

Worldtechzone.Com

Google has topped popular career community Glassdoor's list of 50 best companies to work for in new year 2015.
Glassdoor, which collects feedback from company employees to compile the annual Employees' Choice Awards for best places to work across the US and the UK, has recognised Google as the number one company to work for in new year 2015.

Facebook, Qualcomm, Adobe, Apple, and LinkedIn are the famous names in the list of top 10 tech companies to work in new year 2015.

The social networking giant Facebook is the third-most preferred tech employer (behind Google and F5 Networks), while Qualcomm and Adobe take the next two places in the list. Micro-blogging site Twitter, which was the second best company overall and the number one tech company last year, has fallen off the grid and is even out from the list of top 50 companies to work across the US and the UK.

"It is probably the single biggest change and surprise this year that Twitter did not make the list at all," Robert Hohman, Co-Founder and CEO of Glassdoor, told CNBC.

It's worth pointing out that Glassdoor only ranks US and UK-based companies with at least 1000 employees as part of its annual list.

Apple is the seventh-most favoured tech employer on the list for new year 2015 behind MathWorks and others mentioned above, with LinkedIn, Zillow, and Mindbody rounding off the list.

Here are the top 10 tech companies to work for in new year 2015:

1. Google (overall #1)

2. F5 Networks (overall #4)

3. Facebook (overall #13)

4. Qualcomm (overall #14)

5. Adobe (overall #18)

6. MathWorks (overall #19)

7. Apple (overall #22)

8. LinkedIn (overall #23)

9. Zillow (overall #33)

10. Mindbody (overall #34)

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