Bangalore finally gets the new Airtel 4G network, making the city second (next to Kolkata) to get 4G connection in India.

The official 4G network launch triggered on May 7th in Bangalore where Huawei, a global leader in telecommunications network, promised to deploy the 4G LTE network in Karnataka. If you didn’t know yet, Airtel promised to offer speed of up to 40Mbps, which is three times that of 3G.

This speed will be achieved through the LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology.

As of now, you can activate 4G plans by buying any of these devices:

• LTE USB modem (Huawei E392)
• LTE Indoor Wireless Gateway (Huawei B593)

New 4G Plans

The 4G tariff plans haven’t changed a bit. The prices are still on the higher side.

Airtel is offering service package of 30GB for Rs. 2999. The sweeter part of the deal is the unlimited movie package. If you buy the Airtel 4G service in Bangalore, you are entitled to receive 10 movie titles free of cost. And if you want to watch unlimited number of movies, pay Rs. 149 every month.

Cashback Offer on 4G Service:

To expand the 4G footprint in Indian cities, Airtel is offering full cashback for the dongle / USB stick, thus bringing the cost of the device to zero. Needless to say, you should pay monthly rental fee (either Rs 1999 or Rs. 2999) to stay connected to 4G.

You can read the original blog post here Airtel 4G in Bangalore: Launch and Tariff Plan Details.

Did you know Google’s self-driving cars are already out on the road? As you may have guessed from the name, you don’t have to drive these self-driven cars. These automobiles will automatically drive themselves, while you sit behind the wheel and enjoy the journey.

Welcome to the future.

Using Artificial Intelligence software that can sense the buzz around, Google’s self-driving cars magically decides the right way to drive a car. The goal of such cars is to prevent accidents, free up people’s time and to reduce the carbon emissions drastically.

How does it work?

One person is behind the wheel, while the other person monitors a computer screen that shows the car’s planned route and keeps tabs on roadway hazards and traffic lights.

If there’s a glitch, the human driver can override the autonomous auto with a tap on the brake or a hand on the steering wheel. [Source]

These autonomous cars have variety of sensors and a route programmed into its GPS navigation system. Whenever a car is speeding next to you, your Google car will slow down. Needless to say, this car is endowed with better safety features.

Google’s self-driving cars might well be the future of cars, for efficient driving and whatnot — although we may miss the thrill of riding a car sometimes. To learn more about how these self-driving car works, check out the keynote presentation by Sebastian Thrun and Chris Urmson on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Price: For now, Google has modified the existing Toyota Prius car (priced at an approximate $25000) to include its self-driving technology. Google also plans to deploy this technology on Ford cars this year.

You can read the original blog post here Google Self-Driving Cars: How does it Work?.

Even wondered which is the smallest helicopter of our world and how much does it cost?

Gennai Yanagisawa is a 75-year-old genius behind the world’s smallest helicopter. He named this helicopter as GEN H-4, which has four engines and a top speed of about 56 miles per hour.

This one-seater aircraft is inspired by Leopard Da Vinci (well-known for painting Mona Lisa). Da Vinci was in fact the first ever to design the concept of helicopter. Watch the video below…

As of now, Gennai has sold four helicopters in Japan and two in the US. He has set the price of the helicopter to $57,140.

You can read the original blog post here Smallest Helicopter Inspired by Da Vinci [Video].

In an effort to redefine the data center economics, HP has launched HP ProLiant Gen8 servers.

These brand new HP ProLiant Gen8 servers have ProActive Insight architecture, which gives the intelligence and automation to the server to virtually manage themselves.

These intelligent Gen8 servers are the result of a $300 million project, and by announcing Gen8 servers, HP plans to automate every aspect of the server life cycle.

Compared to traditional servers, HP ProLiant Gen8 servers can deliver automation that can severely improve the uptime, and make deploying of system updates 3 times faster.

These ProLiant servers can deliver the following:

• Integrated onboard automation — 3 times administrator productivity.
• Smart Storage and Dynamic workload acceleration — over 6 times faster performance.
• 3-D Sea of Sensors — 70% more IT in the data center.
• Proactive servers and insights — 66% faster problem resolution.
• Automated energy optimization — low energy consumption.

Gen8 servers also include cloud-based management system that allows the client, from small to large enterprise, to access the server from any devices including smartphone.

Price of Gen8 Servers:

According to the Press Release, the new HP ProLiant Gen8 platforms are expected to ship worldwide in a few weeks, and the starting price will be based on the configuration.

The initial price is said to range from $1723 to $2878.

You can read the original blog post here HP ProLiant Gen8 Servers Launched.

Insert a coin into the vending machine, grab your bottle, sit down and take advantage of the drink as well as get connected to the free Wi-Fi. If you are in Japan, you can do this all day long.

Asahi Soft Drinks has devised a vending machine that not only offers drinks but also free Wi-Fi, if you are within the 50m range from the machine.

You don’t have to pay anything to access Wi-Fi. You don’t even have to buy a drink to enjoy free Wi-Fi. Sit anywhere near the vending machine, use your smartphone, tablet, any Wi-Fi enabled device to connect to the Wi-Fi — it’s that simple!

The vending machine will automatically cut off the Wi-Fi signal after 30 minutes; this is to avoid people sitting forever near the vending machine and wrecking the speed like a true freeloader. Such 30 minute browsing limit can bring in more number of people, ultimately increasing the sales.

Emily has a valid statement on why Japan will embrace the Wi-Fi vending machine. For one, there is “a growing need for Wi-Fi” and such “vending machine hotspots will allow people to get connected in more areas.” Even if the consumers are ready to wholeheartedly accept the notion of free Wi-Fi, these fledgling vending machine will see the light only in 2012, as Asahi plans to install around 1000 of them in eminent areas of Japan.

In the US, Skype offered free Wi-Fi at over 50 airports for a week. A week of free Wi-Fi access, that too only in the airport, doesn’t benefit the major part of the audience who are away from the airport. Perhaps stores like Starbucks and McDonalds should introduce free Wi-Fi for its paying customers.

You can read the original blog post here Free Wi-Fi Access With Vending Machine is a Reality!.

The TiE Entrepreneurial Summit will be held in Lalit Ashok Hotel, Bangalore, to help you garner crucial tips from successful entrepreneurs and familiarize yourself with the entrepreneurship culture.

The simple theory to be successful is to learn from the experts. And when we have over hundred speakers taking over forty entrepreneurship sessions, under one roof for two consecutive days, you will be walking out with vast amount of knowledge that can probably change the way you think and do business forever.

TES 2011 event to be held on December 15th and 16th is dedicated to bring successful entrepreneur together and create a vibrant environment in Lalit Ashok Hotel for two days.

There’s also GuruTalks session that brings stellar names of the industry together where they will interact and answer your questions. While you are at it, you also have the opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs.

Overall, if you are knitting ideas for your next start-up and don’t know how and where to begin with, or if you are not able to scale your business to newer heights, then this event can certainly spawn motivation and help you generate, revisit your business goals.

I’ll be attending this event. Let’s connect.

Venue: Lalit Ashok Hotel, Bangalore.
Registration: Rs. 5000 for regular members; Rs. 10000 for non-members.
More details: TES 2011 Website.

You can read the original blog post here TES 2011 Event in Lalit Ashok Hotel, Bangalore.

For those who want to run Windows on your Mac, check out VMware Fusion 4, which is the latest installation of VMware’s virtualization product. Touted as the best way to install Windows on Mac, VMware Fusion has been knitted with 90 new features and performance tweaks.

VMware Fusion 4 also runs seamlessly on Apple’s Mac OS X Lion.

Features of VMware Fusion

As VMware Fusion has been engineered to run seamlessly on Mac OS X Lion, it welcomes better performance and has a more mac-like experience. Also, for users running OS X in a virtual machine, VMware Fusion offers a host of useful features.

VMware Fusion 3 users upgrading to this newer version will notice a change in library and snapshot menu. If you haven’t upgraded yet, launch VMware Fusion and check for updates now.

The latest version of VMware Fusion also runs Windows 8.

Price of VMware Fusion 4

Although the product is normally priced at $79.99, but the promotion offer discounts $30 from the original price. So, it all comes down to $49.99.

The limited promotion extends till the end of this year. You can register a license copy of VMware Fusion 4 from VMware’s official website.

You can read the original blog post here Latest VMware Fusion 4 Works on Mac OS X Lion.

Samsung has been a company that has always managed to inspire the world of technology with their advancements made in every possible field.

Come February, Samsung will be showcasing to the world the best of their super slim range of laptops that is sure to give buyers one of the most light weight and cutting edge pieces of technology that has helped a lot of people grow professionally as well as on an entertainment level.

The new Series 9 Samsung Laptops promise to be the next generation of computing where they offer the best of slim casings to accommodate some of the best notebook hardware around.

Specifications of the Samsung laptops are expected to be sized at a 14.5 inch screen that is clubbed with a LED Backlight display, a 12GB SSD Card and more. Additionally, the notebooks are expected to run with a 1.4Ghz Core Processor and a respectable memory slot.

While buyers can expect this to be priced at around $1500, it can be an expensive masterpiece but it will certainly break the monotony of Apple’s Macbook dominance in the market.

You can read the original blog post here Samsung to Unveil Ultra Thin Laptops.

2010 is almost over – hard to believe, but true. This year flew past faster than data through a broadband connection, and we’ve seen a great deal of progress happening on the tech front.

The year started with a bang when Apple introduced the world to the next great iGadget, the iPad, and effectively started a new paradigm shift on the bookstore and reading front. However, their evolutionary iPhone 4, whilst including some impressive improvements, came with some major flaws. Google continued its smartphone onslaught with Android, and replied to Apple’s iPad with Chrome OS, the company’s own operating system with heavy emphasis on cloud computing.

Sony and Microsoft joined the immersion movement in gaming with the PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect, ready to take on Nintendo’s Wii. Facebook introduced its geo-location service Places and a site redesign, and Mark Zuckerberg promised to put an end to email with a major change to Facebook Messages, introducing a “one inbox fits all” product. Research in Motion announced their competitor to the iPad, targeted at the business crowd, in the form of the BlackBerry Playbook. Oh, and Apple also introduced a Mac App Store.

I’ve decided to compile a list of my top tech advances of 2010. This list spans hardware products to software services; the core aim is to define the technological products and services that will or have improved our daily lives.

10. Android

Google’s Android mobile operating system has grown exponentially since it was introduced to the world in October 2008. Now powering hundreds of different devices, and coming in a wide variety of flavors, the open-source system has proved a deadly threat to both Research in Motion’s Blackberry OS (which dominates the business world) and the popular Apple iOS.

For us consumers, Android is a great competition instigator that, being open source, allows for innovation to occur and pushes the boundaries of mobile computing, meaning that at the end of the day, we get the best products developed by all mobile companies.

9. Facebook Redesign

Every time Facebook introduces a site overhaul, it’s met with widespread criticism. However, with this latest revamp of the popular social network, the new Facebook Profile displays vital information in a direct manner, and emphasizes the important aspects of the site (viz. Photos and bio’s).

The inclusion of being able to add what projects one has worked on, and the cleaner look of the Profile means that navigating the site, and spending time on the desktop version of Facebook is a lot easier than before. Plus, the redesign asserts the fact that Facebook takes its desktop site seriously – a good thing for future updates.

8. 3D Printing

2010 has certainly been the “year of 3D”. As The New York Times has pointed out earlier this year, 3D printing – the art and science of “printing” 3D models – has taken off, with companies in New York offering the services of printing real-life models of designs users have created on their home computers using free software like Google’s SketchUp.

3D printing is certainly taking off, and cheaper printers like MakerBot are paving the way for this technology to make its inroads into the mainstream consumer market. It’s a sure signal of what the future of consumer technology will look like, and opens up new opportunities for home industries.

7. Kinect

Microsoft’s Kinect poses the biggest threat Nintendo’s Wii has ever seen. It’s concept of doing away with the traditional controller altogether, and instead using the body as the controller, sounds like something out of a Bond movie. Yet the technology is now commercially available, and allows a new dimension into immersing one’s self in a game.

Already, tech pundits are predicting uses for Kinect’s technology outside the gaming world; it seems like motion-activated control is going to be the “next big thing” after the touch revolution brought on by Apple’s iOS devices. One thing’s for sure: Kinect is set to change the way we perceive computing in the not too distant future.

6. 3D TV and 3D Cinemas

As I mentioned above, 2010 has been the year of 3D. Riding on the runaway success of James Cameron’s epic blockbuster Avatar, more and more film studios are buying in to the “3D gimmick”. And so it only makes sense that TV makers the likes of Sony and Samsung are developing 3D televisions.

Whilst I (like quite a few others) feel that 3D is a huge gimmick, the fact is that 3D films sell. And this it’s justified to take the technology into the home theater.

3D TVs may be expensive now, but as demand increases for the new technology, and competition between manufacturers ramps up, we’re sure to see prices decelerate.

5. Geo-Services

Facebook and Twitter, the two most popular social networking sites, have introduced GPS services to track one’s location, and “geo-social” “games” such as Gowalla and foursquare have continued to up their services. Geo-location has become an important part of social networking, and another way that visionaries are integrating the “real world” with the “virtual world”. It’s big technology that’s definitely going to get more prominence as our favorite networks continue to update their services.

4. Mac App Store

It’ll be released in January 2011, and like the App Store before it, the Mac App Store will revolutionize the way we obtain software for our computers. It carries that trademark and unmistakable “Revolutionary Apple” feel to it – I can expect Microsoft and others to jump on this bandwagon with their own version of an “app store” for desktop applications.

The Mac App Store has the potential to revolutionize the way we discover, purchase and share desktop applications.

3. Chrome OS

We’re not quite sure whether it’s an OS or a glorified web browser (okay, it really is an OS, but seriously, it’s just Chrome on top of Linux) but Chrome OS sure looks interesting. A different take on using a computer, this Google operating system emphasizes the best of cloud computing.

I can see it becoming popular with students in Internet-connected countries where one can work on a document wherever there’s an internet connection, regardless what device one uses to write that doc with. Chrome OS introduces the world to a new way of using computers, and for that, we applaud Google on their endeavor.

2. Facebook Messages

In a bold move, TIME Person of the Year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced late 2010 that he plans to “kill” email with the introduction of a single inbox for all messages – from instant texts, to SMS, to the traditional email messages we’ve become accustomed to. I see this as a phenomenal move in the way we communicate, and it represents, for me, the future of connecting with people.

1. iPad

Whilst Facebook Messages represents a drastic change in the way we communicate, the medium of communication – the computer – is still the most important. And for that, first prize of the best tech product for 2010 undoubtedly goes to Apple’s “magical” iPad. It is already doing to books and magazines what the iPod did to music. And it is constantly changing the way we access information, and consume rich content from pictures to video to text.

The iPad shaped the personal computing horizon for 2010 by drastically influencing the competition: rivals like Samsung and HP began scrambling to develop a device worthy of competing with the iPad – but they were too late; the iPad had already captured the hearts of millions around the world, and it has, like its brothers before it, become a symbol of digital content consumption for the new era in computing.

The above is just my opinions of the best tech for 2010; what’s yours? Drop a line or two in the comments!

You can read the original blog post here My Top 10 Tech for 2010.

We have probably seen these in on the big screen where Sci-Fi heroes share data along with others with a simple flick of their hands. Soon enough, Pioneer will be bringing it into reality as they get ready to launch their all new discussion table.

While many may say that they table is just one large iPad, there is much more that meets the eye when it comes to features. The Pioneer Discussion table is not in its launch phase as yet and hence, we do not know much about the device and what it holds up to.

For now, we do know that it has coffee table sized multi touch screen with custom firmware that is yet unknown and probably patented by Pioneer itself. It supports a Core i7 based processor which is backed up by a Windows Embedded Standard 7 Edition interface and that is only the base model of coding that we know.

Technically speaking, there aren’t words to describe The Pioneer Discussion Table as you need to see it to believe it. Check out the video to see how technology is going to change the way businesses will communicate with each other.

It supports a one page scanner that is fitted on a side and also comes with TransferJet to share media wirelessly. The video shows how it seamlessly integrates with other devices and how the multi-touch interface works that seems to be one device that will revolutionize business meetings.

The Pioneer Discussion Table seems nowhere close to being within a price range for everyone to afford, but only time will tell. For now, it seems like business operations and meeting rooms will need an all new investment. May 2011 should reveal more.

You can read the original blog post here The Pioneer Discussion Table Will Blow Your Mind.