Airtel Broadband: Bye To Kilo, Hello To Mega Speed

Minimum DSL speed will be 4Mbps in select areas, 2Mbps in ten cities, and 1Mbps in the rest of India. Of course, the Airtel FUP stays (Fair Usage Policy), whereby your Internet speed will fall to 256 Kbps after you cross a specified data transfer limit. On the plus side, Indian consumers will now have access to affordably priced DSL plans that offer speeds in the multi-Megabit range, priced from Rs. 549 to Rs. 2099 (excluding tax).
Those who currently have unlimited plan speeds of 1Mbps and 2Mbps, can double their speed to 2Mbps and 4Mbps respectively by paying Rs. 100 more, an offer valid in select areas. While "Select Markets" is likely to be a moving target along with expanding coverage, the "Top 10 Cities" have been defined as - Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. The table below is a list of the new plans announced by Airtel for June 2011.

All plans except Alpha and Ace are unlimited data transfer plans, wherein speed will drop to 256Kbps after the specified data transfer speed has been hit. The Alpha and Ace plans (highlighted in table) have data transfer limits as specified, and any further downloads/uploads will be charged at 20 paise per MB (thus Rs. 204 per GB), subject to a "bill cap" of Rs. 1,999. You'll be charged only upto the bill cap of Rs. 1999, Internet usage beyond that will be free but at a reduced speed of 256 Kbps. This is a good measure, to convince potential customers who're afraid of paying massive bill amounts if they cross over their Data Limits.

Note that the Data Limit includes both upstream and downstream traffic, so "file download" and standard web browsing/email form part of the limit. As for me, I'm just glad that Airtel has declared FUP limits for respective plans upfront, instead of being cagey and claiming to "abide by TRAI's guidelines for broadband to ensure minimum speed of 256 Kbps".

Motorola Xoom to Arrive Indian Shores by July

Motorola's much hyped and talked about tablet Motorola Xoom, which is the first tablet that runs Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and also the first tablet to receive Android 3.1 update, is expected to be available in the Indian retail market at the end of this month. Motorola has, however, not been specific about the release date or the retail price of the device.

The Motorola Xoom will join league of 10.1 inch tablets with the Acer Iconia Tab A500 already in the market and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is expected to release around the same time as the Xoom.

The Xoom is certainly an impressive device with a 10-inch widescreen display and a powerful dual core 1GHz Nvidia Tegraprocessor that's capable of 1080p HD video playback. The Xoom will run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) Google's mobile OS designed specifically for tablets. It also has a 5MP camera that can record 720p HD video and a 2MP front camera.

 

Asus PA24Q ProArt LCD Monitor Now In India

With a diagonal screen size of 24 inches, resolution of 1920x1200 (16:10 aspect ratio) and P-IPS panel for a wide 178 degree viewing angle, the premium positioned Asus PA246Q ProArt Series LCD monitor is now available in India. Like the Dell UltraSharp U2410, this Asus monitor claims a wide color gamut (1.07 billion colors to reproduce 98% of Adobe RGB color space)

The monitor stand is highly adjustable, including tilt, swivel, height and pivot functionality. Video input ports available are HDMI, DVI, VGA (D-sub) and DisplayPort (DP). Picture-in-picture multitasking allows users to view images from different signals simultaneously. More built-in functionality include two USB ports and a 7-in-1 media card reader.

The specifications are in line with what you'd expect of a high-end monitor in its price range, including a 12-bit LUT, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 400cd/m² brightness, 6ms (GTG) response time, VESA mount support and 7.3kg weight. A warranty of 3 years is offered upon the Asus PA246Q ProArt Seriesmonitor, currently priced at Rs. 31,000 (MRP).

Asus India's Country Head for Component Business, Mr. Vinay Shetty said, "PA246Q ProArt Series LCD Monitor is a high-end product designed for discerning users and a target audience comprising of photographers, animators and graphics designers who are particular about true color reproduction and features that suit their specific requirements. With numerous built-in ports, 100mm of height adjustment, a huge display of 1.07 billion colors and unique features like QuickFit Virtual Scale, the PA246Q is the ideal solution for professionals with demanding visual needs. Now they can enjoy the display of almost the entire color spectrum of a photograph clicked from a DSLR camera."

Corsair Dominator GTX 8GB DDR3 Kit Offers 2400MHz Speed at 1.65V

Corsair recently announced the production of a Dominator GTX 8GB dual-channel DDR3 kit operating at 2400MHz, with latency settings of 9-11-10-30, at a memory voltage of 1.65V.

"The purpose of these kits is to help overclockers explore the limits of memory performance," said Giovanni Sena, Director of Memory Products at Corsair. "They're the product of careful screening, selection, and testing, and we're eager to see what enthusiasts will do with them. As long as our customers are obsessed with making computers faster and more powerful, we'll continue producing extraordinary memory kits to help make that happen."

The Dominator GTX 8GB 2400MHz kit comes complete with Corsair's patented DHX+ heatsink and an AirFlow 2 GTL cooling fan for exceptional thermal performance. It is available for a retail price of Rs. 32,000 and with a lifetime warranty.

Duke Nukem Forever Gets Hit by Bad Reviews, Piracy

Duke Nukem may be the King but this week hasn't been very good to him. Duke Nukem Forever hasn't even been released yet (its releasing on June 15) and is already getting hit by bad reviews.

In its review published today, the Guardian gave the game (the Xbox 360 version) a mere two out of five stars calling its visuals "grainy", its aiming "clunky" and calling it overall "an, at best, average game." The IGN reviewer is also in the process of reviewing the game but has still put up a preliminary review, promising that "the complete review will be finished in fewer than 12 years." The review still manages to find plenty of faults with the game stating that its character development "is limited to crude dialog meant to elicit nothing more than cheap laughs." The reviewer also lambasts the game's poor level design and opines that at the time of reviewing there was little worthy of praise.

If the poor critical reception wasn't enough, it seems that the game has also leaked to torrent sites. I confirmed the presence of a "Duke Nukem Forever" game on a couple of popular Torrent sites but it's not clear if it's the actual game or not.

Although maybe its not fair to reach a conclusion based on one (and a half) review, it doesn't look like Duke is going to like the reception to his return. And he really should stock up on chewing gum because it doesn't look like he's going to kick any ass.

Nokia N8 in Pink to Hit Priority Stores on June 13

Ever fancied a pink smartphone? Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia provides you with a solution. The Nokia N8 is now available in pink.

Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India, said, "The Nokia N8 has been extremely popular in India and we are pleased to introduce it in a stunning new color.  The N8 in Pink is introduor our women consumers who are tech-enthusiasts and yet love to flaunt their vibrant, stylish side. It comes with a perfect combination of great looks and high powered multimedia capabilities coupled with one of the best cameras on a smartphone, making it this season's must have for the new age woman."

The pink avatar of the phone will house the same hardware configuration of the earlier N8 and will ship with some cosmetic updates like Little Pink Diva Theme, a Pink Neon Clock and fashion app by ELLE. The latest version of Ovi Store, with access to all the best apps – from games like Need for Speed Shift, to social networking services like Foursquare will also be present in the glitzy version of N8.

The Nokia N8 in Pink will be available in select Nokia Priority Stores across 18 cities from June 13, 2011.

New Fake Antivirus Software Attacks Windows Users

According a latest report, Windows users are being warned about a new fake virus attack, which tricks users into installing malicious software, by posing as a Microsoft security update.

Affected users will see an almost exact replica of the real Microsoft update page - the only difference being that the bogus page appears while surfing with third party browser, whereas the genuine Microsoft update site requires Internet Explorer.

The report by Sophos, makes an observation that such fake anti-virus attacks have become more professional in approach and appearance which leads to people getting tricked easily.

The use of the Microsoft update disguise takes advantage of the monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security updates that Microsoft regularly issues, and that users are encouraged to install to defend their computers.

"Users need to be more vigilant than ever before as bogus security alerts pop-up in their browsers. Fake anti-virus attacks are big business for cybercriminals and they are investing time and effort into making them as convincing as possible," said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos. "Malicious hackers are using smart social engineering tricks more and more often, and the risk is that users will be scared by a phoney warning into handing over money to fix problems that never existed in the first place."