VoiceCentral announced Black Swan, a Google Voice iPhone web app in December of 2009, but it was somewhat upstaged by Google itself, which released an official Google Voice iPhone web app in late January. Now Black Swan is out, so how does it compare with Google’s web app?

The need for web apps for Google Voice on the iPhone arises because Apple has purged the App Store of Google Voice apps in mid-2009, and has refused to accept Google’s native iPhone app. Web apps, which use the Safari’s capabilities instead of a native app, are subject to the App Store approval process, and thus can’t be blocked by Apple.

To install the Black Swan web app, you simply navigate to http://voicecentral.riverturn.com/install from your iPhone’s browser. You’ll then see a message says the app is installed, and it will then prompt you to add a bookmark to your Home Screen.

After that, you just add your account information (you do have a Google Voice account, still only invitation only, right?). The app is free, but VoiceCentral also offers a premium version, for $10 a year (currently on sale for $6). The premium version adds the ability to import contact photos, see billing transactions, Do Not Disturb, Favorites, and Inbox Search. You also get real customer support, as opposed to forums only.

Just remember, as a weblication, or a web app, Black Swan does have limitations imposed on it.

• Currently, weblications cannot access the iPhone’s contacts. However, Black Swan can import your Google contacts to provide similar functionality.
• The earpiece cannot be accessed by the app, so voicemails play through the speaker or the headphone jack.

The lack of an ability to link to your iPhone’s native contacts is annoying, but understandable.
There are also no push notifications. If, for example, there is a voicemail left on your Google Voice number, there isn’t a way for Black Swan to send you a push notification. Well, there is a way, but not without “help,” at any rate.

Additionally, unlike the official Google Voice web app, when you want to make a call Black Swan has Google Voice call you and then connects you to the actual number. The official web app uses an intermediate number and doesn’t require you to answer the “callback.” That’s a big convenience.

So, does the world really need another Google Voice web app? Not really, not in addition to the official web app. What it really needs is a more open App Store.

Watch a Black Swan video:

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After the big success of BMW z4 BMW is now introducing Z2 in India . BMW Z2 is a D+ segment Roadster which is having an extreme sporty look . It comes with a BMW Turbo charged engine which is able to deliver a maximum power of 480 Bhp at 6000 rpm and having 6 speed automatic transmission . The main features of BMW Z2 include 2 Airbags, Parking Sensors, Fog Lamp, Traction Control, EBD, ABS, ESP auto viper and auto headlamp. BMW Z2 expected to be available from middle of 2010 and the expected price in India is around Rs. 45,00,000

Technical specifications of BMW Z2

ENGINE :1.6L 4-cylinder gasoline direct-injection
Maximum Power : 150 Bhp
Seating Capacity : 2
Suspension: all Independent
Steering: Tilt
Brakes : Front Disk, Rear Disk
Gears : 5 Automatic
Driver Seat Adjustment: Electric
Central Locking: Remote
AC: AC with Climate Control
Music System: Dash Integrated

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Along with the VX50 ViewLED LCD moniors, ViewSonic will also introduce the VX39, VA31 and VA32 series LCD displays. The ViewSonic VX39 series will come in three models – in 22-inch VX2239wm, 24-inch VX2439wm and 27-inch VX2739wm while the viewSonic VA31 will comes in 19-inch VA1931wm, 22-inch VA2231wm and 24-inch VA2431wm models and the VA32 is available in 19-inch (VA1932) and 22-inch (VA2232) screen sizes.

The ViewSonic ViewLED VX39 series LCD displays will features Full HD 1080p resolution, HDMI port, 2ms response time, integrated Speakers with SRS sound, DVI and VGA inputs. ViewLED VX39 series LCD displays will have a sleek slim design which will be priced between $219-$339.

On the other hand the VA31 and VA32 series are more affordable compared to the VX39 Full HD displays. Both the VA31 and VA32 series displays will features a FUll HD display with 1920×1080 resolution and is priced at $149-$219.

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There’s still no content available, but manufacturers have started a 3DTV launch blitz that will make your head spin. They are counting on the popularity of 3D movies like “Avatar” to make a 3DTV the next must-have hardware for the home. Samsung, LG, Sony, and Panasonic are the top four TV manufacturers.

Samsung on Tuesday introduced its line of 3DTVs at an event in New York. Samsung will offer 3D in LED, conventional fluorescent-backlit LCD, and plasma TV sets. The least expensive Samsung 3D TV is a 46-inch LCD, due out in May for about $1,700.

Samsung’s plasma line includes six 3D sets starting with a 50-inch set at about $1,800, up to a 63-inch set at $3,800, all available in May. Meanwhile, Samsung’s LED line includes 46-inch and 55-inch 3D versions due this month at $2,600 and $3,200, respectively. There is also a 40-inch priced at about $2,000 due out in May. At the top is a new higher-end line with a 55-inch model for nearly $7,000.

Sony, on the other hand, expects to sell 2.5 million 3DTVs this fiscal year (ending March 2011). Sony anticipates selling 25 million TV sets, with 10 percent of them 3D. That is pretty optimistic when there is still a dearth of 3D content.

Panasonic said it’s planning to introduce 3D TVs at Best Buy, starting Wednesday of this week for only $2,500, about half the price they’re available for in Japan. Why the favoritism? It’s part of a strategy so that Panasonic can hit its target of 1 million 3DTVs (worldwide) sold in 2010.

Manufacturers have better hope the recession is truly over. There are many obstacles to adoption, including the glasses that must be worn to view 3D content. Many simply feel the glasses are too much of a pain.

There’s also the fact that this is the first “round” of 3DTVs. There is an old adage that you should never buy the first revision of any product.

Additionally, quite a few consumers just moved up to HDTVs, and would be hard-pressed to justify another purchase for a brand-new technology.

Finally, there is the lack of content. Until June, when ESPN launches ESPN 3-D, there won’t be much on TV. That network will showcase at least 85 live sporting events during its first year. That still seems a rather sparse mix, content-wise, if one doesn’t need to upgrade their set. ESPN 3-D’s first broadcast scheduled to be the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match on June 11th, between South Africa and Mexico.

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A user of Panda Cloud Antivirus has detected malware being shipped on an HTC Magic Android phone. Clearly, if malware can be distributed by a battery charger or digital picture frame, it can be distributed via a smartphone, which can show up as a disk drive when plugged into a PC.

After plugging the device into a PC with a USB cable, the users’s Panda Cloud Antivirus detected both an autorun.inf and autorun.exe as malicious. The phone was infected with a Mariposa bot which would spread to any PC the Magic was plugged into.

Once infected the malware “phones home” for more instructions. Typically these sorts of bots attempt to the user’s credentials and send them to the malware writer. The obvious root cause is that PC(s) at the manufacturing plant are infected, as with the older issues about digital picture frames.

Interestingly, Panda found two other types of malware on the device. The Vodafone HTC Magic also held Confiker and Lineage, as well. You may recall that Conficker was thought to be the “end of the Internet” by some, but with security firms, Microsoft, and others such as US CERT working together, it wasn’t as bad as expected.

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ViewSonic company shows its latest ViewLED monitor display – VX50 series LCD monitor. The new VX50 series LCD monitor from viewsonic will have a slim design that features the latese ViewLED backlight technology. The new VX50 series LCD monitor comes in 2 models – 24-inch VX2450wm-LED and 22-inch VX2250wm-LED.

Both the VX50 Series ViewLED Monitors features Full HD resolution with 1920X1080p, integrated stereo speakers with SRS premium sound, mercury free WLED backlight and is also comes equipped with DVI and D-sub inputs.

ViewSonic VX50 Series VX2450wm-LED FullHD monitor will be available at a price of $229 while the other VX2250wm-LED Full HD display will be priced at $219. The new ViewSonic VX50 Series ViewLED Monitors will be available from this April.

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New CompactFlash Cards that are ideal for digital SLR cameras and HD video camcorders, have been introduced by Transcend. These CompactFlash Cards by Transcend, is named as ”Ultimate” 600X and ”Premium” 400X. These two new variations of Transcend CompactFlash Drive have come up with a much higher data transfer speeds of up to 90MB/s and data is transfered using Ultra DMA (UDMA) mode 6.

The main thing to be noted is that each card features built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) that automatically detects and corrects any errors that might occur during data transfer. Transcend’s Ultimate series 600X CompactFlash cards operate in quad-channel configuration and Transcend’s Premium series 400X CompactFlash cards is fully compliant with CompactFlash 4.1 specifications.

Prices :

TS16GCF400 (16GB, 400X): Rs 5,200;
TS32GCF400 (32GB, 400X): Rs 9,000;
TS64GCF400 (64GB, 400X): Rs 17,000
TS8GCF600 (8GB, 600X): Rs 5,000;
TS16GCF600 (16GB, 600X): Rs 8,500;
TS32GCF600 (32GB, 600X): Rs 17,000

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How draconian is the App Store approval process? That’s been discussed over and over again. How draconian is the iPhone developer agreement, however? Copies of the agreement have been hard to come by for non-developers (for good reason; more on that later), but the EFF managed to get one, and it’s eye-opening.

The EFF used a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get a copy of the agreement, after spying a NASA app in the App Store. The copy they obtained is, they noted, out of date, but it is likely it has not been significantly modified since the Rev. 3-17-09 version.

For one thing, in order to code and distribute apps for the iPhone which, unless the iPhone is jailbroken, can only come from the App Store after Apple’s approval, developers give up a number of rights. One of those is to even discuss the developer agreement.

10.4 Press Releases and Other Publicity

You may not issue any press releases or make any other public statements regarding this Agreement, its terms and conditions, or the relationship of the parties without Apple’s express prior written approval, which may be withheld at Apple’s discretion.

And that is probably why we never hear anything about the agreement.

Section 3.2 is the so-called “non-jailbreaking” section. It’s rather long, but the jailbreaking portion says:

(e) You will not, through use of the Apple Software, services or otherwise, create any Application or other program that would disable, hack or otherwise interfere with the Security Solution, or any security, digital signing, digital rights management, verification or authentication mechanisms implemented in or by the iPhone operating system software, iPod touch operating system software, this Apple Software, any services or other Apple software or technology, or enable others to do so;

More EFF-discovered Apple limitations on developers:

Section 7.2: Applications developed with the use of Apple’s SDK can only be distributed through the App Store (sorry Cydia and RockMyPhone). Additionally, Apple can reject an app for any reason, even if it meets all of the formal requirements of Apple.

Section 8: Apple can “revoke the digital certificate of any of Your Applications at any time.” Yup, you were approved, and then rejected. It has already been made clear that Apple has a “kill switch” by which it can remotely disable apps, as well.

Section 14: Apple will never be liable to any developer for more than $50 in damages.

Section 2.6: No reverse engineering (including, the EFF points out, the kinds of reverse engineering for interoperability that courts have recognized as “fair use” under copyright law).

The conclusion of the EFF, which echoes the opinions of some who believe the best smartphone in the market is a jailbroken iPhone:

Overall, the Agreement is a very one-sided contract, favoring Apple at every turn. [...]

If Apple’s mobile devices are the future of computing, you can expect that future to be one with more limits on innovation and competition (or “generativity,” in the words of Prof. Jonathan Zittrain) than the PC era that came before. It’s frustrating to see Apple, the original pioneer in generative computing, putting shackles on the market it (for now) leads. If Apple wants to be a real leader, it should be fostering innovation and competition, rather than acting as a jealous and arbitrary feudal lord. Developers should demand better terms and customers who love their iPhones should back them.

It’s pretty obvious why developers put up with this type of agreement: it’s the only way to access the full set of iPhone users (as opposed to just jailbroken ones). As the iPhone is the smartphone right now, Apple has leverage. The EFF’s copy of the iPhone developer agreement is here (.PDF).

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Sony Ericsson recently introduced an Eco- friedly phone Sony Ericsson Naite which supports both 2G and 3G networks . It is having a marathon battery having a standby time upto 600 Hours and it consumes only.03W power in the standby mode.

Technical Specifications of Sony Ericsson Naite

Networks:
2G Network – GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network – HSDPA 2100 , HSDPA 850 / 1900 / Quadband Networks GSM 850, 900,1800 , 1900
USB – Yes, v2.0
HSCSD – Yes
GPRS – Yes
EDGE – Yes
WLAN – No
Height (mm) 108 Width (mm) 47 Depth (mm) 12.6 Weight (g) 84 g
Battery – Standard battery, Li-Po 950 mAh (BST-33IrDA)
Camera resolution – 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels
Memory Internal – 100MB
Card slot – microSD (TransFlash) up to 8GB
Call Records – 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Additional features: TrackID , E-manual , Eco friendly materials , Ecomate, CO2 Calculator

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