Exploring the land of the midnight sun

Exploring the land of the midnight sun
The Southern Harbour, a short walk from Helsinki's city centre, is a popular hangout spot for tourists. Its dredge-free waters allow massive cruise ships to come and dock right on the water’s edge.

Exploring the land of the midnight sun
A brilliant white cathedral known in Finnish as Tuomiokirkko is the symbol of Helsinki and occupies a central place in the city’s skyline.



REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

Google Nexus phones: The journey so far...

Google is all set to unveil two new Nexus smartphones at a special event which it’s hosting later today. To showcase the capabilities of its Android operating system to developers, Google started offering Nexus devices in 2010. So far, we’ve seen six Nexus smartphones from Google. While Google designs, markets and even sells the devices (through the Play Store), the production and assembly of these devices is carried out by Google’s partner OEMs or original equipment makers. Barring a few instances, most of the Nexus devices don’t come with the branding of telecom carriers and feature the stock version of Android with all Google apps and services pre-loaded and have an unlocked bootloader. The Nexus devices are also the first ones to receive Android software updates which makes them an attractive proposition for Android fans (not just developers) in addition to the absence of bloatware and custom UI skins. Here’s a look at all the Nexus smartphones from the Mountain View giant’s stable...(Image courtesy: Business Insider)

One of the less popular Nexus devices, the Nexus 6 was made by Motorola and launched in November 2014. It was available in India days after its global launch.The Nexus 6 has a 6-inch display with QHD (1440x2560p) resolution, 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB RAM, Android 5.0 (Lollipop) operating system, 13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, and 3,220mAh battery. It comes in 32Gb and 64GB variants and lacks external storage.


REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA...

Redmi 2 Prime 4G (16GB, White)...

price=6999

• 8MP primary camera with omnivision image sensor and 2MP front facing camera
• 4.7-inch (11.93 centimeters) IPS HD capacitive touchscreen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and 312 ppi pixel density
• Android v4.4.4 KitKat operating system with 1.2GHz MSM8916 Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, Adreno 306 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory expandable up to 32GB and dual SIM (GSM+GSM)
• 2200mAH lithium-polymer battery
• 1 year manufacturer warranty for device and 6 months manufacturer warranty for in-box accessories including batteries from the date of purchase

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA...

Net neutrality: Facebook won't withdraw controversial Internet.org from India...

NEW DELHI: Social media giant Facebook said on Thursday that it will not withdraw its controversial zero-rated platform Internet.org from India despite scathing criticism from a top government committee, but will rather open it up further to newer telecom operators in order to provide internet access to the unconnected.

READ ALSO:
Times Group commits to withdraw from internet.org; appeals to fellow publishers to follow suit and support net neutrality

Kevin Martin, vice president for Facebook's Mobile and Global Access Policy, emphasized that Internet.org "does not violate the principles of net neutrality," especially as it offers an opportunity to all developers if they provide lighter versions that use limited bandwidth. "We have no program to withdraw Internet.org from India where we provide the platform with Reliance Communications," Martin, who has earlier served as the chairman of the high-profile Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the US, said.

READ ALSO:
Net neutrality row hits Facebook's Internet.org in India
Internet.org backlash: India is an outlier, says Facebook

"This programme is not exclusive and is open to all operators. We are trying to work with others, and are anxious to work with them," he told TOI on the sidelines of the 'India Economic Convention', organized by the India Foundation and International Chamber of Commerce.

A top committee of the Department of Telecom (DoT), which submitted recommendations on the various aspects of net neutrality in May, had come out strongly against Facebook's Internet.org initiative, saying, it favoured the social media giant and provided access only to select applications. The committee said content and application providers "cannot be permitted to act as gatekeepers and use network operations to extract value, even if it is for an ostensible public purpose."

Martin denied that the company is acting as a gatekeeper and said Internet.org facilitates internet access to the unconnected across the world. "Most estimates say that there are nearly 4 billion people across the world, who are not connected."

Join the Times campaign for a neutral internet here.

Elaborating further about Facebook's stand on net neutrality, Martin said companies who owned the telecom infrastructure (operators) should not be able to limit where people want to go on the internet. "So when a user purchases internet access, they should be able to go where they want to."

He said there should be no paid prioritization over the internet as it would enable companies with deep pockets to provide faster access by paying a fee to telecom operators. "We are are concerned about paid prioritization for fast lanes. We are opposed to this. There should be no throttling."

Stay updated on the go with Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

Sardar, Dwyer availability expected to spice up HIL auctions...

NEW DELHI: The ball for the fourth edition of the Hockey India League will get rolling with the players' auctions on Thursday featuring big-ticket players such as Sardar Singh, Jamie Dwyer, Rupinder Pal Singh and Moritz Fuertse to name a few. The event, which will be conducted by renowned auctioneer Bob Hayton, will see a total of 277 (135 Indian and 142 foreign) players going under the hammer.

But there is little doubt for whom the franchises will be bidding vigorously. The Indian men's national team skipper Sardar Singh was released by his franchise Delhi Waveriders and the midfield maestro will be the hottest property at the auction. Sardar, with a base price of USD 20,000 (INR 20,00,000 approx.) is expected to garner the most bids for an Indian player - especially keeping in mind the new goal system in which a field goal will fetch two points, thus making a midfielder's role even more crucial. His Waveriders team-mates in goalkeeper Nicolas Jacobi and Rupinder Pal Singh will also be in the franchises' radar.

Hockey legend Dwyer, released by last year's runner-up Jaypee Punjab Warriors and with a base price USD 30,000, will be on top of the buying list when it comes to foreign players and again, like Sardar, the Australian's demand with the new goal system should be very high.



REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA

Exploring Hong Kong Disneyland

Situated in Lantau Island, Hong Kong Disneyland is the perfect destination for families, kids, and just about anyone who wants to relive their childhood. The theme park is divided into seven different lands—Main Street, U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land—that promise uninterrupted fun and the chance to meet and befriend your favourite Disney character. Inaugurated in 2005, the park also incorporates Chinese culture and traditions. (Text by Mayank Kumar)

Situated at the main entrance of Disneyland, Main Street, U.S.A, is designed to resemble a 20th century small town in America. It also hosts a daytime parade called Flights of Fantasy, during which visitors can mingle with Disney characters such as Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Pluto and Goofy.

Main Street, U.S.A
Visitors can also take a ride in period vehicles such as a Paddy Wagon or a Main Street Taxi. The roadsides of the Main Street, U.S.A are lined with food carts offering American and Cantonese-style snacks, as well as several bakeries.



REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

iPhone 6S, 6S Plus vs four biggest rivals...

Apple has thrown in its latest challengers in the smartphone race, bringing its new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus to lure more buyers away from Android phone makers.

But manufacturers of Android smartphones have been busy on their own too, launching phones with features like Force Touch, 4K display resolution, curved screens etc just weeks before Apple took the covers off the new iPhones.

Let’s take a look at where iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus stand in comparison to their biggest rivals in the market, namely Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, Huawei Mate S and LG G4.

Apple iPhone 6S: 4.7-inch ion-strengthened IPS screen with 750x1334p (HD) resolution

Apple iPhone 6S Plus: 5.5-inch ion-strengthened IPS screen with resolution of 1080x1920p (Full HD)

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+: 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with 1440x2560p (2K) resolution and Gorilla Glass 4

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium: 5.5-inch scratch-resistant IPS display with 2160x 3840p (4K) resolution

Huawei Mate S: 5.5-inch AMOLED screen with 1080x1920p (Full HD) resolution and Gorilla Glass 4

LG G4: 5.5-inch IPS screen with Gorilla Glass 3 and 1440x2560p (2K) resolution

(Image: Sony Xperia Z5 Premium)

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

Movie Reviews....

Hero Movie Review

Mohar Basu, TNN, Sep 10, 2015, 08.38PM IST

CRITIC'S RATING: 3.5/5

AVG READERS' RATING: 3.9/5

CAST:Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty, Aditya Pancholi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sharad Kelkar, Anita Hassanandani

DIRECTION:Nikhil Advani

GENRE:Romance

DURATION:2 hours 12 minutes




refrences=times of india 

Apple IPhone 6S, 6S Plus

Apple's new iPhones are here. The tech giant unveiled the two updated iPhones -- iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus -- at an event in San Francisco’s mega Bill Graham Civic auditorium. Talking about the new smartphones, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "They look familiar, but we have changed everything about these iPhones."

One of the key new features of the new iPhones is the new touch capability called 3D Touch which allows the screen to sense multiple types of pressure.

Here are 10 things you need to know about Apple's latest iPhones.

Most smartphone users are accustomed to 'multi-touch' -- the ability for phones to recognize touches from multiple fingers, enabling such capabilities as pinching to zoom. With new iPhones, Apple brings in 3D Touch.

Pressing down hard on the new iPhones will launch additional capabilities. For example, you can get quick access to tasks such as taking a selfie or getting directions home. From a message, 3D Touch will give you a preview of a web link without launching the browser.

Similarly, press for a few seconds on a document icon, and a preview pops out. Press on an address in an email, and a map opens up. On some video apps, the pressure determines how quickly you forward or rewind.

12MP rear camera

After being stuck with an 8MP camera sensor since iPhone 4S, the iPhone range has finally received a substantial megapixel upgrade. iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus sport a 12MP rear camera, with 50% more focus pixels to ensure faster autofocus.

Apple says that the new iPhones' camera will deliver more detailed photos than ever before. It can also capture panorama shots in 63MP resolution and capture videos in 4K (movie hall quality) resolution.

5MP selfie camera

The selfie camera has also got an upgrade this year, jumping from 1.2MP in iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to 5MP in iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Though it is not backed by a front-facing LED flash, Apple has used a technology called Retina Flash to deliver brighter selfies. This feature increases the brightness of the screen by three times, which Apple claims is comparable to that of its rear dual-LED flash.

The front camera also gets an upgrade. It'll be 5MP FaceTime HD camera that uses the phone's Retina display for a flash for "detailed selfies." Apple claims that the new capabilities will now let the display light up 3-times brighter for a flash that's comparable to that of the TrueTone flash on the back.

Apple has also debuted a feature called Live Photos in the camera app, which will capture a 1.5-second video before and after you click the shutter in order to create animated GIFs.

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

7 Hot Smartphones With 3GB RAM Under Rs 20,000

With economies of scale moving in the handset makers’ favour, a number of manufacturers have started offering phones with high-end specifications at a mid-range price.

RAM is one of the most critical hardware components -- more RAM translates into better multi-tasking performance and the ability to run multiple tasks in the background. 2GB RAM has almost become standard for mid-range phones but we even have some phones offering 3GB and 4GB of RAM. 

We take a look at seven smartphones that come with 3GB RAM priced under Rs 20,000.

OnePlus One 16GB

OnePlus One 16GB, available only in a white coloured variant, is a great ‘value for money’ phone that comes with 3GB RAM. 

OnePlus One sports top-of-the-line hardware specifications, including a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM, a 5.5-inch 1080P display, 13MP camera with F2.0 aperture and Sony image sensor, 5MP front camera, 3,100mAh battery, 4G-support and and NFC.

Xiaomi Mi 4

Xiaomi’s last flagship, Mi 4, is one of the company’s best selling phones. After a recent price cut you can get the 16GB variant at Rs 14,999 while the 64GB version retails at Rs 17,999.

Mi 4 has a 5-inch full-HD screen and is powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor and 3GB RAM. The phone runs MIUI 6, a new version of the company’s operating system, based on Android 4.4 KitKat. The phone sports a 13MP rear and 8MP front Sony stacked CMOS camera and a 3,080mAh battery.

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

1 million-year-old monkey fossil discovered in underwater cave

WASHINGTON DC: A team of scientists has recently discovered a species of monkey fossil dated to be more than one million years old. 

The discovery was made after the team recovered a fossil tibia (shin bone) belonging to the species of extinct monkey Antillothrix bernensis from an underwater cave in Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic. 

The species was roughly the size of a small cat, dwelled in trees and lived largely on a diet of fruits and leaves. 

Researcher Melissa Tallman said that they knew that there is a diverse extinct fauna on the Caribbean Islands, but dating the material has been difficult. 

Tallman added that Antillothrix bernensis is one of two species of extinct primate on Hispaniola. Previously discovered primate material has all been dated to within the last 10,000 years. This new material is morphologically consistent with the previously collected material, but is dated to 1.3 million years ago." 

The fossil was embedded in a limestone rock that was dated using the Uranium-series technique. Tallman, along with Andrea Morrow, '14, used three-dimensional geometric morphometrics to confirm that the fossil tibia did belong to Antillothrix bernensis. 

This process helped them reconstruct how the small primate might have moved about in its environment and allowed the comparison of relatively young examples of Antillothrix bones to the newly discovered million-year-old specimens. 

The research appears in Journal of Human Evolution. 



REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA

5 hot smartphones under Rs 7,000

Nowadays, you can pick up an entry-level smartphone with a 5-inch display and which handles Full-HD movie playback, almost every productivity task, and even social networking. 

Here are five hot options to choose from...

Redmi 2 Prime

The Redmi 2 Prime smartphone boasts of the same solid build quality as the Redmi 2, with buttons that feel firm to operate, and a fully-laminated touchscreen for scratch protection. Its display is capable of vibrant colours and crisp text, and is readable under sunlight in bright setting.

On the downside, it's the only handset in this roundup with a smaller 4.7-inch display. Also, the navigation controls under its screen are not illuminated, and this can prove to be quite frustrating when operating it in the dark -- at least till you get accustomed to the device.

In productivity benchmark tests, the Prime notched the highest scores in this roundup, and -- as expected -- it performed smoothly when browsing the web, editing images, and handling multiple apps. There is a discernible drop in frame rates when playing 3D games, though most entry-level apps offer no challenge.

This smartphone handles full-HD videos without a stutter, and works just as well for music listening. Phone calls are loud and clear, and is comparable to higher-priced devices. Still, you would need to rely on earphones when watching movies.

On the camera front, snapshots captured by its rear shooter appear slightly overexposed, and brighter areas in pictures might appear devoid of details, but this is not a deal breaker at this price point. What you also get is a snapper that's capable of clear macro shots, and a wider front cam lens for selfies, though we wouldn't recommend its beauty setting that tends to over smoothen details, while also adding an extremely pink tinge to Indian skin tones.

Buy if you want a smartphone that's capable of call recording; comes with 16GB internal storage, a microSD slot, USB OTG and which handles most productivity tasks while giving you a full day's use on a single charge.

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA 

Don’t Miss This Some Pics SRK, Kajol Filming On Top Of A Crashed Airplane (1)...

A local media in Iceland reported the news and has put up a video of the stars shooting. As per the report, “The pair climbed on top of a US Army Douglas Dakota airplane, crashed in the Icelandic desert in 1973, in order to perform.”

They further reported – Motorcyclist Krystian Sikora, received an unexpected phone call Thursday morning, when he was asked to lend Shah Rukh Khan his orange Kawasaki motorcycle for the movie. Sikora, who was at work, didn’t think twice, got leave from work, found someone to babysit his children and rode his Kawasaki to Dilwales location at Sólheimasandur, a few hours away.

REFRENCES=www.bollywoodlivenews.com

These selfies of Salman Khan are too cute to miss...

The Dabangg Salman Khan who is undoubtedly the most celebrated star in Bollywood. Salman is the eldest son of screenwriter Salim Khan and his first wife Sushila Charak. He is cited in the media as one of the most commercially successful actors of Hindi cinema. Salman Khan is known to have a heart of Gold. Take a look at these selfies of Salman Khan are too cute to miss.

REFRENCES=http://www.bollywoodtabloid.com

Shah Rukh Khan gets a new vanity van worth Rs 4 cr designed by DC -

A King deserves nothing but the best. And when it comes to automobiles, the only trusted name the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan turns to is car designer Dilip Chhabria 

Dilip, whose company DC Design has earlier made SRK’s previous vanity vans, has now made a brand new vanity van for the superstar replete with all modern amenities and high-end technology. And the new vehicle has apparently cost the superstar a cool Rs 4 crore approximately. A small amount if you consider the array of facilities that the van offers. Speaking about the brand new vanity van, a spokesperson of DC Design on condition of anonymity told Indian Express: “It’s an upmarket vanity van that we have made for Mr. Khan which includes a good amount of comfort. Special care has been paid to his love for sci-fi and we have built the van accordingly but at the same time Mr. Khan likes the sci-fi kind of interiors.” The van took an estimated 45 to 60 days of manufacture and DC Design calls it the best vanity van in the country. “It won’t be wrong to say that this is the best and highest version of vanity van available in the country,” confirmed the spokesperson. Talking about the special amenities, the official said, “We have used glass on the floor of the bus which is backlit and illuminated and we have wood panels on the roof. Just to give Mr. Khan a little bit more room inside we have created a small extension. So, once he goes to the sets and parks it, he can extend one side to make it into a bigger room.It has a pantry section, a wardrobe section, special make-up chair, separate toilet cubicle and an in built shower.” - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/shah-rukh-khan-gets-a-new-vanity-van-worth-rs-4-cr-designed-by-dc

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA...

7 Fastest-Charging Smartphones You Can Buy...

Battery life is one of the most important aspects of any smartphone, be it an Android phone or an iPhone. How many times have you been frustrated when you need to go somewhere and your phone’s battery takes up over half an hour to charge to sufficient levels? In such cases, a fast-charging smartphone is what you need.

The folks at Tom’s Hardware conducted a test on popular smartphones like Apple iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S6, OnePlus 2, Asus Zenfone 2, LG G4, Motorola Droid Turbo and Google Nexus 6 to see which of these popular handsets is the fastest to charge…

Battery charged in 5 minutes

Asus Zenfone 2 – 17%
Google Nexus 6 – 12%
OnePlus 2 – 12%
Samsung Galaxy S6 – 11%
LG G4 – 11%
Motorola Droid Turbo – 11%
Apple iPhone 6 – 6%

REFRENCES=TIMES OF INDIA