Ever wondered how the Earth, or for that matter your city looked at night? You can stop imagining and check out this official blog post, where Google shares that users can now explore the popular "Black Marble" imagery from NASA/NOAA in Google Maps.

"Now you can explore this imagery in Google Maps - thanks NASA/NOAA for this data and amazing imagery!" Google reveals in its blog post. Users can begin by going here, and select the location they want to view either manually or by moving their cursor over the map and zooming in or out to view the world ‘at night’.

Nokia launches Asha 205 in India for Rs 3,499

The Nokia Asha 205 has been launched in India. The phone has a QWERTY keyboard, and introduces a new, dedicated Facebook button, with which Nokia is targeting those who want quick access to their Facebook profile. The phone also comes with support for popular email services like Gmail and with Twitter and eBuddy Chat pre-installed.
For Features & Specifications

Microsoft has rolled out its first update to its recently launched Windows Phone 8 OS and with it, the software giant has added a feature that issues a fix for the Wi-Fi problem that had plagued handsets running on this platform. A report by WPCentral states that the OS is now brought to OS 10211 up from the previous build which was 9905 and with it comes fixes for the device resetting as well as the keep Wi-Fi alive feature, which made the Wi-Fi connection go off when the display was turned off.

After releasing Angry Birds Star Wars for a range of platforms a month ago, Rovio has released Angry Birds Star Wars for the Windows Phone 7 operating system as well.

This app is available for $0.99 and those interested in purchasing this game will require having their handsets running on the Windows Phone 7.5 platform and WVGA resolution of 480 x 800. To download this popular game for your Windows Phone 7 handset, click here.

Android users have been giving Google Now a thumbs up for its all purpose notification services. Now it looks like this feature is about to come to Desktop Chrome as well.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will be initiating action against Idea Cellular for not implementing the UCC SMS complaint lodging module, it has stated officially. TRAI's run against pesky calls and SMSes isn’t unheard of, and has been on since a while now. In this respet, the TRAI had  issued “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Tenth  Amendment Regulations, 2012” on November 5, 2012 prescribing further measures to tighten the framework for controlling the menace of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC).

Samsung has recently released two videos showing off the features of the highly anticipated Windows Phone 8 Ativ S. Those eagerly waiting for the handset can learn about the features of this handset from these videos before it hits shelves across the globe.

Smartphones doubling up as diagnostic labs may soon become a reality, thanks to the initiative of a University of Sydney researcher. "This method makes heart rate research more inexpensive, portable and straightforward," said James Heathers, the doctoral student from University's School of Psychology behind the project.

"The sensor, placed on a finger instead of using electrodes on the chest, is so small we can mail it to study participants," added Heathers, according to a Sydney statement. Data on tiny fluctuations in our heart rate provides critical information on the state of our nervous system, and is essential for a range of psychological research including on anger, anxiety, stress and self-control.

Those using Google Docs, Sheets and Slides now have a wider variety of stock images to choose from - a good 5,000 more! In an official blog post, Adah Berkovich, User Operations Specialist at Google shares that the update is a result of suggestions from users, about expanding the selection of stock images in Google Drive, while also adding to the categories that they’re most inclined towards. Their suggestions have resulted in 5,000 new photos of nature , weather, animals, sports, food, education, technology, music and 8 other categories. These images will be available for use across Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. Interestingly, over 900 of these stock images were picked directly from user submissions.

Earlier this year, Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 in India and it was priced at Rs 32,990. There has been wide speculation that Apple’s new iPads would be coming to India today and from the looks of it, to fend off competition, the price of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 has now been dropped to Rs 25,900 as per a listing on online retailer Saholic.com.

The iPad mini and fourth generation iPad are expected to launch in India today with the base model of the 7.9-inch iPad starting at Rs 21,900 while the larger, 9.7-inch variant is expected to debut at Rs 31,900.

Google Translate app for Android has been updated to version 2.5.3. Those updating to the newest version of the app will be able to translate Chinese, Japanese and Korean languagesby recognising text with their camera. However, it only supports horizontal text at the moment. Moreover, the app can now recognise handwriting in more languages, i.e. Afrikaans, Croatian, Czech, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Welsh. To be able to use the Google Translate app, Android users will need devices running version 2.1 and above. Head over to the Google Play store to download the latest version of the app. 

After a ton of rumours and speculation surrounding its launch date, the Apple iPad mini has finally made its way to India. This mini tablet from Apple is now available at authorised Apple resellers for a starting price of Rs 21,900.

The 16 GB iPad mini Wi-Fi only version is available for Rs 21,900, while the 32 GB and 64 GB versions costs Rs 27,900 and Rs 33,900, respectively. The iPad mini Wi-Fi + cellular version costs Rs 29,900 for the 16 GB version, and the 32 GB version is priced at Rs 35,900. The high-end 64 GB iPad mini Wi-Fi + cellular version sells for Rs 41,900.

Ultrabooks are being sold across the board at different price ranges, and it seems like pricing of products is slowly coming down. They were first launched at price tags crossing Rs. 70,000, but with prices dropping, adoption rates are likely to rise. HP has quite a few models being launched and its Envy line-up received the Spectre XT Ultrabook a while back. For the more mainstream masses, now there’s the new Envy 4 1104TU, a larger Ultrabook from HP with a more ‘fuller’ keyboard.

The big names in the mobile industry seem to be finally taking dual-SIM phones seriously as we’re starting to see some relatively high-end phones launching with this feature as well. The latest entrant is the Desire SV from HTC that’s currently up for pre-order on some online retail stores in India. The SV is a dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) handset with a very impressive spec list, at least on paper. Let’s have a look how it is in reality. 

f you think mega zoom cameras are expensive, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H100 will pleasantly surprise you. Going by just the form and design, it easily comes across as an expensive, high-end model. But priced well under Rs 15,000, it falls under the price range of premium ultra compact and travel zoom digital cameras. Let’s find out whether it’s just brawny or actually let’s you shoot like a pro.

An official statement confirms that Wickedleak Inc. has expanded its smartphone portfolio and will be shortly introducing a new smartphone in the market. The launch comprises a 4.7- inch smartphone called Wammy Sensation. The company has priced it at Rs 16,000. The Wammy Sensation runs on Google’s Android 4.0 Icecream Sandwich OS.

Around this time last year, the country was abuzz with talks of ‘Aakash’, the world’s cheapest tablet and an educational initiative by the Indian government. Reams were written about how it has made every Indian proud and how it would change the educational sphere in developing nations, especially India.

Nokia today unveiled the Nokia Lumia 620, the third and most affordable smartphone in its range of Windows Phone 8 devices. Nokia claims that Lumia 620's body uses a new dual-shot colour technique to deliver a variety of color and texture effects. Dual-shot adds a second layer of coloured, transparent or translucent polycarbonate on top of a base layer to produce secondary colour blends and depth effects. One can add a personal feel to the handset as there are seven different exchangeable shells to choose from.

LG hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to smartphones. The company has delivered decent, value for money Android phones in the past, with the Optimus One P500 being one of the more popular ones, but only with moderate success. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and seeing the success Samsung has achieved with the Galaxy Note, LG has decided to take that route in hopes of wooing some undecided customers. The Optimus Vu is by no means an ordinary smartphone; in fact, we doubt it even qualifies as one, or even a phablet for that matter.

Design and build
Unlike the Galaxy Note, which still maintains its 16:9 aspect ratio, the Optimus Vu sports a 4:3 aspect ratio. Any sense of ergonomics goes for a toss here when you pack a 5-inch screen with this aspect ratio. The Vu is terribly uncomfortable to hold as you have to really stretch your hand across for a good grip. You can pretty much forget about one handed usage here as there’s always the fear of you dropping it. It also feels really strange in your pocket and we wouldn’t be surprised if the corners were to bore holes in your pocket over time. It’s quite a heavy phone too at 168 g, which adds to the discomfort. The 5-inch HD-IPS display surprisingly does not have an HD resolution. A resolution of 1024 x 768 on such a large screen is not the best when you compare it to the 4X HD from LG, which had a 4.7-inch HD screen.

Our second biggest gripe with the Vu is the poor build quality. The plastics and the fake chrome trim just feel tacky, not what you’d expect on a phone costing upwards of 30K. Besides the volume and power button, there’s a very flimsy flap for the microSIM and a dedicated button to activate QuickMemo. This essentially takes a screenshot of your current screen and lets you write on it with the bundled stylus. Like the S Pen, LG calls the stylus a Rubberdium, which seems to use the similar inductive technology as it won’t work on any other phone. The pen is a lot thicker than the S Pen so it’s more comfortable to hold like a real pen. The trouble is that there’s no place to tether it to your phone. Given the thickness of the phone, we feel LG could have easily made some provision to slot the stylus in.

The Vu has a row of four capacitive buttons below the screen—the first three being the same as the ones on the Galaxy Nexus and the fourth one being the ‘Option’ menu. The design and build leaves a lot to be desired and sadly, this is one area where LG has a long way to go before it can even think of competing with the likes of HTC.

Features
Interface
Like many of the newer handsets, the Optimus Vu comes with Android 4.0.4 and LG's own Optimus UI. The UI is similar to what we saw on the 4X HD; it is functional and simple to use. The new lockscreen gets a cool little animation and you can unlock it by sliding your finger anywhere on the screen. The toggle switches in the notification bar are a nice touch and you can even edit, add and replace them. The colourful icon set and layout of the menu look an awful lot like Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.

Since we’ve covered all the features of the UI in the Optimus 4X HD review, we’ll jump to the new one and that’s the QuickMemo app. You can activate it by simply pressing the shortcut key on the top. This lets you either write directly on the screen that’s captured or switch the background to that of a notepad. You can choose between different pen styles, colours, crop the screen to a certain section and then share it via email or any other means. The stylus has only one level of sensitivity and does not react to pressure like the S Pen does. It’s just a feature that’s been added in order to compete with the Note more than anything else.

The UI is otherwise very smooth with hardly any lags or slowdowns. The Vu is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 SoC so you get four CPU cores and twelve GPU cores. This makes it ideal for gaming and you can really take advantage of some of the games that are optimised for the Tegra 3 SoC, like Dead Trigger. Speaking of apps, most of them (especially games) will overflow beyond the screen limits. To compensate for this, LG has included an app that automatically fits the apps to the aspect of the Vu. This means you’ll have to deal with unnecessary black bars around the app, which isn’t the best of experiences.

Apple promised us an overhauled iTunes to go with its latest iPods and iPhones when they were shown off in September, but version 11 of the all-in-one jukebox program has only just landed. This release aims to address the growing number of complaints from users about software bloat and degraded performance with a slick new look and reorganised controls. There’s also a concerted effort to make the iTunes Store and iCloud features more useful, but none of that is relevant in India since there is no iTunes music or movie store here.

Apple has never been known to abide by industry trends; instead, they have always been known to be trend setters more than followers. The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are three very good examples of products that have sparked innovation in their respective segment. However, last month, it seemed as if Apple was finally playing catch up when they launched the iPad mini. The 7-inch tablet segment received a big boost after Google launched the Nexus 7 at a very aggressive price. On the surface, the iPad mini seems like a shrunken down version of the iPad and in a way, it is just that. However, in order to keep the pricing competitive, Apple has had to cut some corners which you may or may not like.

When it comes to music players for Android, there’s no shortage of free players and after pretty much trying all the good ones, you will come back to just one and that’s Poweramp. Ever since Gingerbread days till now, Poweramp continues to be the most powerful music player for Android and has a huge fan following. Let’s take a closer look at what makes this paid player outshine any other in the Play store.

Interface and Features

Android 2.3 Gingerbread continues to reign supreme as the most-used Android version, but its share is slowly starting to go down as newer operating systems such as Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean swiftly grow in popularity.

This information has been released by Google, as it continues

WishTel announced the launch of the world’s cheapest Linux-based tablet PC, “PrithV”. Designed and manufactured in India, and priced at US$50, the tablet is designed to serve all the global education needs.

PrithV is a Linux-based educational Platform to be offered on tablets and net book PC supporting 85 global languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Urdu, Zulu and 23 Indian languages. PrithV has been developed in Association with Gnowledge lab, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education under guidance of Prof Nagarjuna. PrithV comes loaded with Educational Suite to offer Self Learning software’s for Pre-Primary, Tertiary, Higher Education for Languages, Science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, Geography, Math: Algebra, Calculus, Geometry, Medicine, Computing etc.