lookup phone: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

25 Hidden iOS 8 Features You Probably Didnt Spot

With the switch to iOS 8, we get a lot of new features that really change the way our iPhones and iPads work. Visually, its a much smaller change than the move from iOS 6 to iOS 7, but new features like extensions, widgets, continuity, battery management, and a full raft of tweaks mean that your phone or tablet just went through a lot of changes.

There are a tonne of new features in iOS 8 and weve covered pretty much every major improvement to the OS. While doing that, we noticed several smaller features that are very useful, but might slip by unnoticed. Without further ado, lets jump right in to the best hidden features in iOS 8.

1. Systemwide Hindi support

Finally, you can set Hindi as the system language in iOS. Go to Settings > General > Language & Region > iPhone Language > Hindi. This doesnt just change the keyboard, but the entire UI as well.

2. New Indian language keyboards

Full system support for more Indian languages will take longer to arrive, but we have more keyboard options than before. Hindi and Tamil keyboards were already available in iOS 7, and the latest update adds Marathi, Bengali, Urdu and English (India) keyboards. Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard.

3. Hide keyboard prediction by swiping down

Speaking of keyboards, if you dont like the word predictions that pop up above the keyboard, you can quickly hide them. Just place your finger on the predictions and swipe down. To reveal these again, swipe up in the same place.

4. Hey Siri

You dont need to press and hold the home button to use Siri anymore. If your device is charging, just say, "Hey Siri" to activate it. Enable this at Settings > General > Siri > Allow "Hey Siri" > On.

5. Siri buys songs, identifies them too

You can also ask Siri to purchase content on the iTunes Store now. Also, it can listen to music and identify the track for you. Ask Siri what song is playing and it will listen and answer, via Shazam.

6. Zoom out to tab view in Safari [iPad only]

When youre Safari on your iPad, you can zoom out all the way to tab view. Use the pinch gesture (two fingers) to do so. This can be handy if youve got a lot of tabs open and want a quick preview to find the page you want, or even if you want to rearrange them.

7. Safari tab search button [iPad only]

When you reach tab view, youll see a Search button on the top-left. This lets you find a particular tab, which is useful if youve opened too many tabs and cant find what you need in the previews. It searches tab titles, so just enter the name of the website or title to find the right one.

8. Reader View Available text in Safari

Safari has a nice Reader View feature, which removes clutter from websites to make them reader-friendly. If Reader View is available on any website, Safari now shows the text: "Reader View Available" in the address bar. Just tap the three horizontal lines on the left side of the address bar to activate it. Once activated, you can increase or decrease font size as well, which wasnt possible in iOS 7. Tap the big A button at the top of the page to increase text size and the small button to reduce it.

9. Request Desktop Site, close iCloud tabs

Stuck on a terrible mobile website? Tap the address bar, swipe down the list of bookmarks and youll see a Request Desktop Site button. Tap it to open the desktop view. You can finally close iCloud tabs from other devices. iCloud tabs let you sync open tabs across your Apple devices. Previously it wasnt possible to close iCloud tabs from other devices. Now tap the tabs button in Safari, swipe upwards to iCloud Tabs and swipe left on any of the tabs to reveal a Delete button.

10. DuckDuckGo

You can now set privacy-focussed search engine DuckDuckGo as default in Safari. Tap Settings > Safari > Search Engines > DuckDuckGo.

11. Scan credit card

Open a shopping website or any webpage with a form for filling credit card details. Safari will show you an option called Scan Credit Card above the keyboard. Tap it to take a picture of the credit card and have Safari key in the details for you.

12. Recent, favourite contacts in app switcher

Double tap the home button to open the app switcher. At the top youll see a list of people youve contacted recently. Swipe to the right to see your favourite contacts. This can be changed by going to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > under CONTACTS, tap Show In App Switcher. You can select whether you want to see recent contacts, favourites, both or none.

13. Zoom controls

iOS 8 has advanced zoom controls. While this feature has been designed for the visually impaired, its quite useful when you want to zoom in apps that dont support it (such as Instagram). Head to Settings > General > Accessibility > Zoom. Now turn on Zoom and Show Controller. After this, double tap with three fingers anywhere in iOS and youll see a pop up that lets you zoom in and out. Drag three fingers on the screen to move round the screen.

14. Greyscale mode

Want a nice black-and-white interface? Enable Greyscale mode by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Greyscale > On. Its not useful for most people, and is meant for the colourblind, but it could be useful for when the screen looks confusing.

15. Guided access

This feature lets you block parts of the app and control how long you want to let others use an app. This is very useful for parental control. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access > On. In the same place, also switch on Accessibility Shortcut. Now open any app that you want to let others have limited access to. Triple-click the home button and tap Options. You can choose how long you want to let the person use the app and whether they can use the keyboard, volume, sleep/wake buttons, and even whether they can use the touchscreen.

16. Create a blank home screen

iOS 8 lets you go minimalist on the home screen. Just move all icons to the next home screen and you can finally create a blank home screen. This is really not useful, unless you want to make sure people can check out your cool wallpaper.

17. Send last known location

When your iOS devices battery is critically low, it sends its last-known location to Apple so that you can track it via iCloud. This is useful in case you lose a dead phone. Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone/Find My iPad > Send Last Location > On.

18. Hide photos

Open the Photos app. Make sure youre in the zoomed out view (where you can see multiple photos). Tap and hold any photo and press Hide. In the pop up, tap the red Hide button. This will hide your photos from the Moments, Collections and Years views, but will keep them visible in the Albums view.

19. Mail gestures

The Mail app in iOS 8 has some nice new gestures. Open your inbox and try a short right swipe on any mail to reveal a Mark as Unread option. Swipe to the left to reveal three options - More, Flag and Archive. You can change swipe actions by going to Settings > Mail > Swipe Options.

20. Add to contacts, create calendar events

The Mail app also prompts you to create Calendar events and add people to Contacts if it spots the relevant details in the mail.

21. Notifications for email replies

You can also set up notifications for replies to any mail thread. Open your inbox, slowly swipe to the left, tap More > Notify Me... > Notify Me. You can also set up notifications while composing any email. Tap the bell icon in the subject field > Notify Me.

22. Drafts to inbox swipe

Start composing a new email. Now swipe downwards from the top where you see the text "New Message" or the email subject. This puts emails in a tab view-like area below the inbox. It makes switching between the inbox and multiple drafts really easy.

23. GIF images in Notes, rich text editing too

You can finally add GIF images to Notes and use rich text formatting too. Select text, tap the tiny right arrow and tap BIU.

24. Interactive notifications

iOS 8 lets app developers make notifications interactive. System apps such as Calendar support it already. Pull down the Notification Centre and swipe left on any notification to see more options. This lets you hide individual notifications as well as perform actions such as accept or decline Calendar invites.

25. Text character count

Sending an SMS and want to make sure you arent exceeding the 160 character limit? Go to Settings > Messages > Character Count > On. Whenever you type an SMS, youll see the character count above the Send button.

Those are all the hidden features we could find in iOS 8. If you know of any others, let us know via the comments.

While the summer is the hottest season in the world, it seems that September is becoming the hottest month technology wise.

We are already waiting for the XiaoMi Mi 3 and the Meizu MX3, two flagships considered as heavy weights among smartphones. But Oppo seems to want its share of the pie too.
A few days ago, OPPO stated that they got a new lens technology to compete against the likes of Nokia Lumia 1020, the HTC One or the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Zoom.

The Oppo N1 is rumored to sport a Snapdragon S800 alongside with a 5.5" FHD display.

China has 591 millions Internet users here are the details

We talked in our previous post about the rise of Chinese companies, but this growth is not the unique privilege of professionals, the people of China consumer more online content than ever.

Here are some facts about Chinese internet users : 50% are less than 30 years old, they spend a average time of 20.5 hours (from 18 the previous year), the value of online sales match the US market.

Everything is detailed in the following Infographic made by Go-Globe.com.

Internet Usage in China – Statistics and Trends

Internet Usage in China – Statistics and Trends

Infographic by- GO-Globe.com

Best Android Food Apps for Your Kitchen

Being with friends and family is just amazing. However, meal takes the center-stage when your X-Mas holiday break rolls close to. This means that whether you are celebrating at home or even heading out with a meal, these amazing food apps can help you in cooking something oh-so-delicious for the celebration.

Food Network In The Kitchen

If you are a foodie and loves cooking, this app is just apt for you.This app provides wide ranging recipes directly at your kitchen areas. The app facilitates easy navigation and browsing.

From the kitchen area, you can easily manage a look-up depending on an ingredient as well as dishes. A few chefs have also listed a number of recipes in apps database. Altogether “Food Network In The Kitchen” gives ample choice of recipes to concoct something delicious everyday.

BigOven

There are several curated recipe choices such as Thanksgiving collection that currently offers recipes intended for turkeys.

Certainly one of the most popular functions, is “Search by Leftovers”. By using this function, you will be able to enter three ingredients you have inside your kitchen, and hunt for recipes.

BBC Good Food

If youre searching for weekday motivation, attempting to cook the ideal steak or endeavoring your own hand in crafting desserts, then get some real help from BBC Good Food app.

It is worth being called as one of the best cooking apps. This application gives you a chance to purchase and store all the existing BBC Good Food cookbook applications, and organize your favorite shopping records in one place.

These cooking applications will not just help you uncover the best, but also give you some additional tips to master the art of cooking.

About author:
Anna Harris working as web content writer and a strategist for a major IT firm specialized in various Android application development services.

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Meizu MX4 Pro review Sharpened up

Pro in a smartphones name implies bigger and better - so much so that its even been abused to fool the unsuspecting. Meizu did not resort to such trickery though and their MX4 Pro takes things up more than just a notch from the stock version.

An updated chipset and 3GB of RAM, a higher-res front cam, bigger screen and a fingerprint scanner are more than enough for the MX4 Pro to earn its stripes. But Meizu didnt stop there. They have the highest resolution screen on a mobile phone / phablet: 1536 x 2560px is between QHD (LG G3, Oppo Find 7 and the likes) and WQXGA (Samsungs S and Pro tablet series, the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9).

Not least, the Meizu MX4 Pro almost managed to keep the impressive screen-to-body ratio of the stock MX4. The hardware Home button / fingerprint scanner obviously needed more space below the screen and its probably the only reason why the Pro failed to match its siblings 75.5% screen-to-body ratio. At 73.7%, its close enough though.

Meizu MX4 Pro

The octa-core processor marks a change of allegiance from MediaTek back to Exynos and RAM has been bumped to 3GB. The selfie camera is a 5MP unit over the 2MP front-facer of the Meizu MX4. The battery capacity has seen an upgrade as well. Well soon find out whether its enough considering the outrageously pixel-rich screen. Lets get things going with a look at the Meizu MX4 Pros key specs.

Key features

5.5" 1536 x 2560px IPS LCD display of 546ppi
Heavily customized Flyme OS 4 on top of Android 4.4.4
Octa-core Exynos 5 Octa chipset, quad-core 2GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A7, 3GB of RAM
20.7MP Sony sensor camera with two-tone LED flash, 2160p video recording @30fps
5MP front-facing camera with 1080p@30fps video recording
16GB, 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage
Cat. 4 LTE (150/50Mbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.0; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou/QZSS; microUSB, USB On-The-Go
mTouch Home button with a fingerprint scanner
Active noise cancellation via a dedicated mic
3,350mAh battery
Allows for screen lock/unlock without ever touching the high-perched power button
Slim bezels and great screen-to-body ratio

Main disadvantages

Hard to find outside Asia
No microSD card slot
64GB option hard to get

Last season, fingerprint scanning was a feature no device with flagship aspirations could afford to omit. Meizu is jumping on the bandwagon as well. On the other hand, QHD screens were not as pervasive, most major players carefully weighing up the pros and cons. LG G3s announcement made a big splash but the real-life battery numbers were discouraging. Still, devices like the Oppo Find 7, Motorola Turbo, Samsung Note 4 and the Nexus 6 followed suit.

Now that even Sony is having a change of mind, if rumors of a QHD Xperia Z4 are to be trusted, QHD screen resolution will be the flagship grade for the next generation. The Samsung Galaxy S6 and the next HTC One are expected to rock QHD displays too.

Meizu is outing its first QHD+ screen in the off-season but the timing could turn out just right. Plus, beating the likes of Sony and HTC is certainly something to be pleased with. Whats more, the Chinese are making that little extra step. 96 pixels of extra vertical resolution may not be much but it means they dont have to share the top spot with anyone. Screen bezels as slim as 2.8mm are cool too.

Meizu MX4 Pro at HQ

Even at launch, the Meizu MX4 Pro naturally commands a lower price compared to some of its direct rivals but that shouldnt be the main reason to check it out. Meizus phablet looks impressive on paper and if it can deliver the expected real-life performance, users will be more than pleased. Battery life and benchmarks will certainly be watched closely - but not before weve looked at the build and bundle. Lets get to it.

Dell XPS 13 Review Review: The screen is amazing and perfect design looks great laptop XPS 13 became the first in 2015

2015 Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Review-It takes a great deal to move the needle on smart phone outline. Half breeds have demonstrated creative over the recent years, with Yoga-style frameworks and the smooth Surface Pro line rethinking what a versatile PC can look like. Anyhow for clamshells that dont swivel or turn, the leader outline may at present be Apples Macbook Air, which is now a few years old.

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook

Dell now steps to the cutting edge with a portable computer configuration change that feels so self-evident, its a marvel we havent seen it some time recently. Taking a prompt from the past few eras of TV plan, the screen bezel, the external outskirt of glass and aluminum that encompasses the showcase, has been decreased to insignificant millimeters. Dell calls it the boundlessness show, and depicts it as "essentially borderless."

Its not genuinely borderless (an advancement Im certain is not very far away), however the contrast in the middle of this and the past era XPS 13 is striking, and the same can be said contrasting this with whatever other top of the line 13-inch smart phone or mixture, from the Macbook Air to the Yoga 3 Pro. This permits the suspension to be littler than other 13-inch laptops, fitting a 13-inch show into the same body measure as a 11 or 12-inch smart phone.

In the meantime, this is an essential smart phone for a larger number of reasons than simply the meager presentation bezel. This is the first portable computer weve tried with one of Intels new fifth-era Core i-arrangement Cpus, likewise known by the codename Broadwell. The new Core i3/i5/i7 processors are simply hitting frameworks in ahead of schedule 2015, and will be found in most new Pcs going ahead.

The new Dell XPS 13 price begins at $799 in the US and Au$1,499 in Australia, which gets you some quite entrance level (yet at the same time better than average) specs, as layouts underneath. At this point just the past rendition of the XPS 13 (without the new show and CPU) is accessible from Dells UK site, and that more seasoned model begins at £1,199.

Our survey model exchanges up from the section level Core i3 CPU and 128gb SSD glimmer drive arrangement to a Core i5 and 256gb SSD separately. Pretty much as remarkably, the 1080p non-touch show in the $799 model has been supplanted with a 3,200x1,800 touchscreen one, just for an aggregate cost of $1,399 (Aus$2,099 in Australia). Premium domain to make sure, however the low beginning cost for the same phenomenal form quality and outline makes it enticing for mid-value customers.

The most recent Intel processor performs fine in its first time out, with tolerable battery life and velocity, however its not blowing any frameworks with last-gen Cpus out of the water. Its not the quantum jump you may be anticipating from Intels promoting buildup - perhaps itll improve as Microsoft and programming creators advance for it - yet its a far sight better than the low-voltage Core M Broadwell chip we test drove late in 2014. That one, intended for super-thin laptops and tablets, didnt satisfy our execution or battery life desires.

In the event that you gage execution and battery desires as needs be, theres little to nothing with which to be disillusioned, and a considerable amount to love. Youll be taking a gander at the new XPS 13 on the grounds that it packs a wide screen into a little body, and, working framework aside, is just about what the vast majority would consider their optimal Macbook Air upgrade. So long as you put resources into the advantageous CPU, screen and capacity overhauls - wed prescribe something near to our $1,400 survey config - the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Touch is the first incredible portable computer of 2015.

Plan and peculiarities

From the start, this XPS 13 doesnt look all that much not quite the same as past renditions. The last form we took a gander at was in right on time 2014, and both that model and this one have a comparable level silver/aluminum top cover, with delicately adjusted corners and a round logo stamped right in the core. We flippantly called the more established XPS the Dellbook Air, and the correlation is still well-suited, regardless of the fact that this adaptation is closer to the 11-inch Air in general foot shaped impression.

Side by side with a 13-inch Macbook Air, the distinction is striking, the Airs thick bezel emerging like a sore thumb. Dead space encompasses the Macbooks console, at minimum contrasted with the hard stuffed inside here. This is much closer in physical foot shaped impression to the 11-inch adaptation of the Macbook Air, keeping in mind the vast majority of the intriguing new plans recently have included crossovers that flip or fold into tablets, this is an uncommon instance of a forward-looking outline fabricated immovably around the thought of a clamshell smart phone.

While the external surface is matte aluminum, within is fundamental dark, with an unobtrusive dull example over the wrist rest and dark keys set into a dark console tray. The keys are illuminated, which is a welcome extra is a framework this slender and little. While on the shallow side, the island-style keys are responsive and decently divided for touch writing. Media works on the F-key line are turned around, which implies you can modify the volume and screen splendor without needing to hold down the Fn key.

The expansive clickpad-style touchpad is like what weve seen on late top of the line Dell frameworks. It works fine for fundamental exploring and tapping or clicking, yet I discovered the exceedingly imperative two-finger span to be less smooth than Id like (or not as smooth as one would anticipate from a Macbook). Exploring all over long sites regularly sent me to the touchscreen to flick my route through, yet in the event that you try for one of the less costly non-touch setups, youre in a tough situation.

The 13.3-inch showcase is the first thing you perceive about the XPS 13, generally in view of its almost borderless edge-to-edge outline. The screen in our test framework is the higher-end of two alternatives, a 3,200x1,800 touch board, versus a 1,920x1,080 non-touch form in the sub-$1,000 setups. The higher-end variant looks clear and brilliant, with great off-hub survey plot, and the better-than-1080 determination implies you likely wont see singular pixels or a screen entryway impact regardless of how near to the screen you get. The 13.3-inch presentation is the first thing you recognize about the XPS 13, to a great extent as a result of it is almost perfect.

Acer Chromebook 15 release date 2015, review byelectronica-news company.

The image and characteristics only touch smartphone BlackBerry Rio Z20

Speaking of smartphones middle and upper price ranges, released this year, the efforts of the Canadian BlackBerry maker were mainly focused on the production models with a physical QWERTY keyboard like the BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic. But this does not mean that the company completely abandoned entirely touchscreen smartphones. Currently, resource N4BB published several images, which show the device codenamed BlackBerry Rio (Z20).

This unannounced mobile device could be the first flagship touchscreen smartphones after the BlackBerry Z30 model in 2013. As can be seen according to the above image, the device can claim to be the successor to the BlackBerry Z10 and Z30. According to N4BB, in terms of technical characteristics of the device belongs to the middle segment of the market.

BlackBerry

Equipping BlackBerry Z20 smartphone includes a 5-inch screen resolution of 1280×720 pixels, 2-core processor Snapdragon (MSM8960) with a frequency of 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, 8-megapixel camera and a battery capacity of 2800 mAh. Of course, these specifications have nothing to do with the powerful “filling» BlackBerry Passport. However, as expected, BlackBerry intends to position the device as an ideal choice for professionals eager to universal recognition of its technological awareness, for which price is the main criterion when buying any product.

Smartphone BlackBerry Z20 is expected to come in white and black color options execution in January-February 2015.

The image and characteristics only touch smartphone BlackBerry Rio (Z20)

GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA
SIM Yes
Announced 2014, October
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2014, October
BODY Dimensions 6 mm thickness
Weight 310 g (10.93 oz)
DISPLAY Type OLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 1600 x 2560 pixels, 8.4 inches (~359 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
SOUND Alert types Vibration, Polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes, with stereo speakers
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY Card slot microSD
Internal 16 GB, 2 GB RAM
DATA GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSPA+
WLAN Yes
Bluetooth Yes
USB microUSB v2.0
CAMERA Primary 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus
Features Intel RealSense 3D technology (2 x 720p cameras)
Video Yes
Secondary 2 MP
FEATURES OS Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat)
Chipset Intel Atom Z3500 series
CPU Quad-core
GPU PowerVR G6430
Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML
Radio No
GPS Yes, with A-GPS
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black
- MP4/H.263/H.264 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Document viewer
- Photo/video editor
- Organizer
- Voice memo/dial
- Predictive text input
BATTERY Non-removable
Stand-by
Talk time
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

When Apple announced iOS 8 at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) back in June, it called it the biggest ever update to its long-running mobile operating system. As well as sweeping visual changes, it also introduced new features for the iPhone 6. It will be a free upgrade to existing iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users from 17th September 2014. Some limitations on hardware apply, so check out our guide on how to prepare your iPhone, iPod or iPad for iOS 8 for the full information.

iOS 8 will launch on 17 September, just before the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and will also be coming to a host of older Apple devices, a full list of which you can find here. But whats new in Apples latest, greatest operating system? Heres everything you need to know...

A slightly newer look

When iOS 7 arrived, it introduced a radical new visual style to iOS. Apple has enhanced the design for iOS 8, adding extra details in some places but simplifying and removing redundant tabs in others. The biggest change is in the multitasking window, which places shortcuts to your most frequently contacted people above the currently running apps for easier access.

Notifications appear as a pop-up towards the top of the screen, rather than as a floating window that covers the center, and third party "widgets" are finally supported within the notification centre, although Apple still has final say on what makes it to the App store.

Apple Pay

With iOS 7 came Passbook, as a way to store vouchers, tickets and loyalty cards. With iOS 8 on the iPhone 6 Passbook can now be used with Apple Pay. This system stores credit cards securely in a digital wallet, letting you pay for goods using NFC and contactless payments. Authentication is via TouchID and your fingerprint, making the system secure and convenient. At the moment, this feature is only supported in the US, although we expect it to come to the UK before too long.

Continuity with OS X

iOS 8 will be fully integrated with OS X 10.10 Yosemite, with the ability to Airdrop files between mobile and desktop. Text messages can be displayed and responded to on a Mac laptop or desktop, and its also possible to make and receive phone calls using a paired handset from the OS X desktop.

Hand off mode lets you switch devices when working on a document then pick up where you left off, based on proximity awareness. If you start writing an email on your phone, then move within range of your Mac, a prompt will appear in the dock asking whether youd like to finish typing using the Mac keyboard.

Healthkit and homekit

Healthkit is a brand new addition to iOS, which will become a hub for all fitness and health-related apps to feed data into and share with other third party apps. Beyond heart rate, calories burnt and sleep patterns, it should also be able to track blood sugar and cholesterol using dedicated equipment.

Youll also be able to create an "emergency card" which contains allergies, blood type and other medical information, which can be accessed from the lock screen without actually unlocking the handset.

A smarter keyboard

iOS users have been stuck with the same basic keyboard since iOS first launched with the original iPhone, so the upgraded keyboard in iOS 8 is long overdue. The addition of QuickType predictions are supposed to suggest different words based on whether youre messaging a friend or writing a work email. Should you be asked a question, it will try to provide relevant answers.

If that doesnt sound convenient enough, youll finally be able to install a third party keyboard to replace the stock Apple one. That means popular Android keyboards like Swype and Swiftkey will soon be getting iOS alternatives, letting you type by dragging a finger over the keyboard instead or tapping.

Interactive notifications

Notifications were previously static, forcing you into the relevant app rather than let you interact directly from the notification screen like you can with an Android device. Thats no longer the case with iOS 8, meaning you dont have to leave one app when you get a text message; you can simply tap out your reply and return to what youre doing. This can be done from within the notification centre, or from the lock screen.

Spotlight on search

Spotlight, the system-wide search accessed by pulling down from half way down the screen, has been updated to provide context-sensitive results based on what apps you have open and where youre physically standing. It can now also report back with results from multiple sources.

If you type the name of a restaurant, iOS 8 will display contact details and provide a link to map directions. Type in the name of a film and youll get results from iTunes, as well as showtimes from your local cinemas.

Hands-free Siri

On iOS 7, you had to double-tap the home button to actiate Siri, Apples smart voice assistant. With iOS 8, Siri will be always on, so youll simply have to say "Hey Siri" followed by your command or question. Siri will also be able to buy things from the iTunes store for you, dictate in an additional 22 languages and will be fully integrated with Shazan, letting you ask what a song was to find out the artist and track details.

And the rest

Mail messages can now be marked as read, unread or flagged with a simple swipe, which should speed up organising your inbox. Threads can also be marked as VIP to track updates to important conversations, with red highlights to make them easier to identify.

The Photos app now saves every photo into the iCloud, meaning youll be able to view them instantly on any iOS device using your iCloud account. You get 5GB of storage by default, and you can crop, straighten and add filters to your images. Edits are nondestructive, though, so you can always change your mind and restore the original image.

You can now send video and audio clips directly to other iOS users with the updated Messages app, as well as start group conversations and share your location with others.

Finally, the Safari web browser has been overhauled to bring it closer to Googles Chrome. As well as a cleaner, less cluttered interface, youll be able to request desktop websites rather than the mobile alternatives, open private and normal tabs simultaneously, get an overview of all open web pages (which groups tabs from the same site together) and use the camera to scan credit card details when making a purchase online.

Microsofts Larry Hryb, also known as Major Nelson, on Thursday announced the start of the roll-out of the latest Xbox One system software update, which will bring several new media and social-related features to the game console- many of which wereannounced at Gamescom earlier this month.

Hryb says the latest Xbox One system software update contains features requested by users, and will roll-out globally "over the next few days." The first major update is the new Media Player app that allows users to play files from an attached USB device. DLNA support for home servers is promised to come soon, as well as extended support for dozens of new file formats that will arrive by the end of the year.

The latest Xbox One system update also brings a new Party App, which brings the party leader setting that allows the party leader to change the invite-only setting, and remove others from the party. Other users in the party will also be able to what everyone else is doing, and now have the ability to quickly mute players, join games, or invite players to games.

The next major feature to receive an update is SmartGlass. Users can now post status messages from the Activity Feed and comments, or share items from both their Activity Feed and Game Clips. Hyrb explains a new personalized Activity Feed has been added to users profiles, and that messages now feature a new layout with a full conversation view. Users can now also record game clips directly from the Now Playing bar.

Users in new regions (Australia, Canada (French), Italy, Spain, and Mexico) have been given support for the Kinect voice command Xbox On with the latest Xbox One system software update, which turns the console on when already in connected standby (Instant On) mode.

Brazil, Mexico, Austria, and Ireland users have been given the OneGuide feature with the update, which allows users to configure live TV listings. The ability to use OneGuide and the Universal Remote Control in SmartGlass will also arrive in these markets.

Other new features included in the latest Xbox One system software update are Boot to TV (booting directly to TV when coming out of connected standby), Bandwidth Usage display, and the ability to delete multiple GameDVR clips in the Upload app. Users can now also save their Avatar Gamerpics to their OneDrive accounts.

The last Xbox One system software update began rolling out on August 17, and broughta new Activity Feed, the ability to share game clips both publically and privately, the ability to like game clips, and more.

Apple Reaches Agreements with American Express MasterCard to work on iPhone payments system

A report in May revealed that Apple was expected to launch an iPhone payments system with the iPhone 6 and iOS 8.

Subsequent reports echoed that same Information including naming Visa as a partner. Re/code today reports that Apple has signed up a major American financial institution to work on its iPhone wallet program.

Apple has reached an agreement with American Express to work together on its new iPhone payments system, according to sources
familiar with the talks. American Express is one of several partners Apple will need to sign up before it can launch its new payments plan, which sources say it plans to announce at its September 9 product event.
Apple’s new payments system is expected to let iPhone 6 owners use their phone in place of a credit card or cash to pay for goods in brick-and-mortar stores. Customers will present their phones at the checkout counter of partnering retailers to transmit payment information to complete a purchase. It’s not clear which retailers have signed on to accept such payments.

Apple doesn’t have to re-invent the wheel here. Many U.S. stores now accept NFC-enabled Amex, Google Wallet/MasterCard Paypass, Visa Paywave and other electronic forms of payment besides the typical credit card swipe.

A gaming PC can be a lot cheaper than a console, and you also have a lot more flexibility about your budget - you can skimp now, and upgrade to the monster rig of your dreams later if you choose.

Theres an intimidating number of choices available but we can help you to build up a budget rig on your own. Our focus is on building the cheapest gaming rig that still delivers an acceptable experience. Clearly, this machine well build will not be for the purists - well do that at a later stage - but something that you can use as a reference point if you are looking to take your gaming a little bit more seriously.

You can then choose to step up from there depending on how much youre able to spend and what level of graphical quality youre looking for.

What you need
The basic considerations you need to keep in mind are a CPU, which youll typically buy from Intel or AMD, a GPU, which would usually come from Nvidia or AMD, a hard drive, and RAM. First, lets talk about some of the different choices, and then well move on to our sample configuration.

On the CPU front, AMD does not have anything compelling to offer at the moment, but the excellent Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition (the G3258), is a low-priced monster that runs beautifully on its own, and can easily exceed speeds of 4GHz when pushed beyond its official specifications.

The GPU market is constantly in flux. Prices are not stable, as Nvidia and AMD keep trying new tricks to outdo each other. Nvidias recently launched GTX 750 and 750 Ti are based on the new Maxwell core which performs well and consumes very little power.

For AMD, its less clear, but repeated price drops and some pretty interesting deals on free bundled games are promising.

RAM prices have doubled since the start of 2013, and will likely stay this way for a while. As a result, we have to allocate more of our budget to memory or change our expectations.

Hard drive prices are fairly reasonable now, but SSDs are becoming more and more tempting. An affordable SSD thats only enough for the OS and applications will still make a huge difference, but it might not fit in our entry-level builds budget.

Weve given ourselves a budget of Rs. 40,000 all inclusive. This will give us modest but consistent performance, and leave the doors open to multiple upgrades over time. Heres the best we managed to do, considering high import duties and a weak exchange rate. Note that prices fluctuate every day and vary from area to area, so you might need to tweak this a little.

The build
If youre looking for a simple list of things to buy, then the table below has you covered. But we also talk about what you can change and tweak in this list, so read on to know more.

This basic build is a little above what wed budgeted, but you should be able to save some money by using the mouse, keyboard, monitor and PSU if you have an existing PC. Your old HDD and RAM should also be used, if possible, to get the costs even lower.

With this basic setup, you should be able to get 40-60 fps with high detail settings in most current games at the monitors native resolution. If you want to step up to HD 1080p, youll need a better GPU and monitor, which would add at least Rs. 10,000 to the budget.

Intels Core i3s are fast and dont consume a lot of power - they dont quite have the muscle of a quad-core i5 but do a decent job as far as games are concerned. Disappointingly though, the i3s cant be overclocked.

The most affordable motherboard option we were comfortable with were was MSIs H87M-E35. Youll get all the important features such as multiple USB 3.0 ports and a PS/2 port as compared to the MSI board. It also has two more RAM slots, SATA 6GBps, HDMI, and PCIe 3.0.

A year ago, you would have would have been able to fit 8GB of DDR3-1600 RAM into this budget, but we have to step down to 4GB due to market forces. The same budget considerations lead us to suggest Sapphires Radeon HD 7770. It is a potent GPU for the price, and should handle gaming at 1366x768 quite well.

As expected, we cant include a solid state storagedrive, but if you already have a hard drive, you could get a small SSD to install Windows to, for quick booting.

Corsairs VS450 is a nice, affordable and stable power supply, with ample enough PCIe, SATA and Molex cables for a budget build.

If you dont have an LCD monitor already, the AOC unit weve listed is a good place to start. A 1080p monitor like Dells S2240L is a nice option for Rs.9,000 but it requires a more powerful graphics card as well.

The rest of the parts are pretty standard, and even if you choose another DVD drive or cabinet in the same budget, it should make a difference.

Upgrade options
As far as the motherboard is concerned, you may want to step up to a more feature complete board like the Gigabyte H87M-DH3. Overclockers should consider something with the Z prefix, like MSIs Z97 PC Mate, which appears to be the cheapest 9-series chipset available. Again, this depends on what savings you can make from using parts from your older desktop, unless youre ready to expand the budget.

RAM is simple, get DDR3-1600 with timings of 9-9-9-24 or tighter, but dont pay extra for anything beyond this, because its usually not going to be worth it as far as games are concerned. G.Skill, Corsair and Kingston are good choices.

It boils down to how much RAM you want to add and how much you want to pay for it. Wed recommend 8GB at the minimum, if you can afford it. Try and buy RAM sticks in identical pairs to ensure a stable dual channel configuration.

Graphics is a highly scalable market. The more you pay, the more performance you usually get, so it comes down to how smooth you want your gaming to be and at what resolution.

While the 7770 is good till 720p resolutions, wed recommend getting at least a GTX 750 Ti for higher ones (900p or 1080p). It is priced between Rs.10,500 and 11,500 online, and we certainly wouldnt pay more.

The next step up would be an AMD R9 270X at around Rs.14k, and its a solid deal considering its basically a higher clocked Radeon HD 7870.Note that you still wont always get 60 fps at 1080p. The GTX 760 is a good way to mostly achieve that; prices start from 17k.

Finally, the R9 280X and GTX 770 are the highest wed mention in this article; both cost around 25k and provide a solid 1080p gaming experience.

As far as HDDs are concerned, Western Digital and Hitachi are known to be reliable, so just pick any, really, if you simply want a secondary storage drive. For the boot drive, pick an SSD from Intel, Samsung or Corsair, and you should be good to go.

Cabinets are 80% functionality and 20% personal taste and aesthetics. A decent cabinet can make the difference between bruised fingers and awkwardly crammed components, and a nice, clean, easily serviceable system.

While the Elite 311 will get the job done, look towards cases from Fractal Design, Antec, NZXT, Corsair or higher end cases from Cooler Master itself, like the HAF 912 Advanced.

Easily removable filters, good airflow and fan/water cooler mounts, relevant front panel ports (e-SATA will go waste, as will FireWire), a bottom PSU mount and space for cable management are all things to look out for. The case should be tall enough to accommodate the CPU cooler you want to use, and long enough for the graphics card of your choice. Removable drive bays and a CPU cut out are good ideas too.

CPU Coolers are fairly simple: From a pure functionality standpoint, the Hyper 212 EVO from Cooler Master sells for around Rs. 2,000 and is quite excellent. Noctuas Noctua NH-D14 is probably the only other air cooler you should consider; its one of the best there is (but over twice the price of the Hyper 212). Of course, smaller cases may need smaller coolers like Noctuas NH-L9i 95mm SSO2, or you may want something fancy looking like the Cooler Master V8 GTS.

Note that if youre not overclocking, the boxed cooler is usually sufficient, but if it spins up too often and is too noisy, or the CPU starts hitting temperatures above 80*C, you may want to consider getting a third party one.

Power supplies are mostly simple too. Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, and certain Cooler Master PSUs are good choices, usually. You wont usually need more than 550W for a single GPU build, unless youre using a GTX 780 Ti and Ivy Bridge-E CPU together, where it would be on the safer side to consider a 600W PSU.

Otherwise, just make sure you have the appropriate connectors (especially PCI-e for the graphics card) and that theyre long enough to route behind the motherboard tray. 80%+ efficiency is also a good thing.

With that in mind, consider the Corsair VS 550, Seasonic ECO 500 or Antec VP 550, among others. You may want a modular PSU, to reduce wire clutter and increase airflow inside the case, or for Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX enclosures. Such PSUs are appropriately marked (usually with an M somewhere in the name, like CX430M or M12II 520) and usually more expensive. Try and avoid fully modular PSUs (in which all wires can be removed), as some undesirable electrical characteristics can be more pronounced on the higher power rails with such designs.

Last point to consider
If youre considering sinking 20k into a GPU today, we say save another 10 till the end of September and go for the GTX 880 when it launches. Itll be well worth it.Of course, it means that your budget gets a little bigger, but the difference in performance will be equally noticeable.

We hope this guide serves as a guide for inexperienced DIY gamer and also serves as a refresher and template for more advanced users returning to the field after a long time. If you have some suggestions about different components, tell us via the comments.

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