Flipkart offers iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, price starts Rs 53,500

Flipkart has announced that pre-order for the Apple Inc's
iPhone 6 and the larger screen iPhone 6 Plus is now
available on its site.
Flipkart has made iPhone 6 available at Rs 53,500 for the
16 GB version, Rs 62,500 for 64 GB and Rs 71,500 for the
128 GB unit. The iPhone 6 Plus is priced at Flipkart for Rs
62,500 (16 GB), Rs 71,500 (64 GB) and Rs 80,500 (128 GB).
Authorised distributor of iPhone in India, Ingram Micro had
earlier said it will start pre-booking of latest iPhone 6
series in the country from October 7.
The iPhone 6 and its higher end model iPhone 6 Plus will
be available across retail stores from October 17.

Galaxy Note 4 to go on sale in India from Oct 17

Samsung will start selling the Galaxy Note 4 in India from
October 17, the same day when Apple is going to put out
the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus in the Indian market.
Mahesh Telecom, a mobile phone retailer in Mumbai,
tweeted that the Note 4 would be available in his store on
October 17. For now no price has been announced for the
device but it is expected to be around Rs.50,000.
Ahead of the market availability, Samsung is expected to
announce the Note 4 for the Indian market at an event in
New Delhi tomorrow. The price of the device will be
revealed at the event.
The Note 4 has a 5.7-inch screen size with QuadHD
resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels). The Indian version of the
Note 4 is likely to be powered by Exynos 5433, an octa-
core processor that has four Cortex A15 cores clocked at
1.9GHz and the four Cortex A7 cores clocked at 1.3GHz.
The global version uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 805
chipset clocked at 2.7GHz. The Note 4 has 3GB of RAM,
32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot that
supports up to 64GB of storage. It uses Android 4.4 along
with Samsung's TouchWiz user interface.

Try to use 'Cash on Delivery' option

If cancelled orders weren't bad enough, spare a thought for buyers who may still be waiting for their refunds. Online retailers are very prompt, but refunds can still take up to 1-2 days to reflect in your account. This can be quite a bother, especially if you have been denied the discount.

To avoid this, choose the cash on delivery (COD) option. Even if you don't get the goods you order, at least you won't have to lock your money away.

Refunds or exchange? Not during a sale

Most sales, whether offline or online, have rules that are different from those that apply to normal purchases. Television advertisements by online retailers say that returning a product is very easy.

However, this is not true if you have purchased it during a sale. If you have second thoughts about a purchase, you won't get a refund or even be allowed to exchange the product (unless it is faulty). Many people who were able to get their hands on heavily discounted products during the Flipkart sale, and later wanted to exchange them, could not do so.

So, learn to rein in impulse buying during such sales since you cannot cancel the order and can't get store credit. All these stipulations were clearly specified in the terms and conditions on Flipkart's website. So, next time, go through these carefully before you click on 'accept'.

The deal on offer may not be the best

Cancelled orders were not the only reason buyers were unhappy with Flipkart. Many customers bought goods on Flipkart only to learn later that rival e-tailers, Snapdeal and Amazon, were offering them at higher discounts. For instance, a MacBook Air that was being sold on Flipkart for Rs 54,000 was priced at Rs 50,000 on Snapdeal.

It is customary for rival platforms to come up with their own deals when a peer announces a sale. So, the next time there is such a sale and if you have set your eyes on a specific product, compare its price on other platforms before you click on 'buy'.

If you have accounts with several e-tailers, comparing prices and purchasing the cheaper item becomes easier.

Save time by registering and using wallets

Most of the people who got their hands on the discounted products were mission-ready at 8am on Monday — the moment the sale began. If you were among them and still missed out, chances are you did not have a registered account with the e-tailer or didn't have a registered payment account (Flipkart Wallet).

While you were entering your credit/debit card details, those with registered accounts were pressing on the buy button.

If you want to grab future offers, having a Wallet, which you can top up beforehand, can speed up your checkout process. Also, browse the site beforehand, pick out the items that you are really keen on, and place them on a separate 'wishlist' that the site lets you create.

In this manner, you can access your top picks quickly and easily, and check whether they are being offered at a high discount.

Advertised discounts may not be yours

Though many buyers managed to buy things at fabulous discounts, thousands of miffed customers discovered that their orders had not been executed. The fact is that there are too many people jostling for the same goods.

According to Flipkart, it received a billion hits, while the number of people who actually managed to get their hands on the stuff was just 1.5 million. In other words, one in every 600 visitors to the site managed to shop. So, remember that you may not be able to get the advertised discount.

You may be well-prepared with all your payment details at hand, but you can never be sure that you will get the things you want at the discounted price. Take the case of the Xiaomi phones launched a few weeks ago. At times, they were gone in less than 3 seconds.

When there are millions of people competing against you, keep in mind that the probability of you making a purchase is bound to be extremely low.

flipkart sales

It was pegged as the mother of all sales, and it had the shoppers salivating. But when the D-day arrived, there was a barrage of consumer criticism that dwarfed the scale of the sale itself. The complaint: most of the shoppers failed to get the goodies.

Of the one billion who visited Flipkart, 998.5 million came back empty-handed. If you too were among those disappointed, here are some pointers that can help you prepare better the next time you want to binge on such a sale.

Web-scale IT

Web-scale IT is a pattern of global-class computing that delivers the capabilities of large cloud service providers within an enterprise IT setting.

The first step toward the Web-scale IT future for many organizations should be DevOps ? bringing development and operations together in a coordinated way to drive rapid, continuous incremental development of applications and services.

Software-defined applications and infrastructure

Software-defined networking, storage, data centers and security are maturing. Cloud services are software-configurable through API calls, and applications, too, increasingly have rich APIs to access their function and content programmatically.

To deal with the rapidly changing demands of digital business and scale systems up ? or down ? rapidly, computing has to move away from static to dynamic models.

Cloud computing

The convergence of cloud and mobile computing will continue to promote the growth of centrally coordinated applications that can be delivered to any device.

In the near term, the focus for cloud/client will be on synchronizing content and application state across multiple devices and addressing application portability across devices. In the future, games and enterprise applications alike will use multiple screens and exploit wearables and other devices to deliver an enhanced experience.

Smart machines

Deep analytics applied to an understanding of context provide the preconditions for a world of smart machines. This foundation combines with advanced algorithms that allow systems to understand their environment, learn for themselves, and act autonomously.

Prototype autonomous vehicles, advanced robots, virtual personal assistants and smart advisors already exist and will evolve rapidly, ushering in a new age of machine helpers. The smart machine era will be the most disruptive in the history of IT.

Context-rich systems

Ubiquitous embedded intelligence combined with pervasive analytics will drive the development of systems that are alert to their surroundings.

Context-aware security is an early application of this new capability, but others will emerge. By understanding the context of a user request, applications can not only adjust their security response but also adjust how information is delivered to the user.

Advanced, pervasive and invisible analytics

Analytics will take center stage as the volume of data generated by embedded systems increases and vast pools of structured and unstructured data inside and outside the enterprise are analyzed.

Organizations will have to find ways to manage how best to filter the huge amounts of data coming from the IoT, social media and wearable devices, and then deliver this information to the right person, at the right time. Big data remains an important enabler for this trend.

3D printing

Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are expected to grow 98% in 2015, followed by a doubling of unit shipments in 2016.

New industrial, biomedical and consumer applications will continue to demonstrate that 3D printing is a real, viable and cost-effective means to reduce costs through improved designs, streamlined prototyping and short-run manufacturing

The internet of things The internet of things

The combination of data streams and services created by digitizing everything creates four basic usage models ? manage, monetize, operate and extend. These four basic models can be applied to any of the four "internets."

Enterprises should not limit themselves to thinking that only the Internet of Things (IoT) (assets and machines) has the potential to leverage these four models. For example, the pay-per-use model can be applied to assets (such as industrial equipment), services (such as pay-as-you-drive insurance), people (such as movers), places (such as parking spots) and systems (such as cloud services). Enterprises from all industries can leverage these four models.

Computing everywhere

As mobile devices continue to proliferate, Gartner predicts an increased emphasis on serving the needs of the mobile user in diverse contexts and environments, as opposed to focusing on devices alone.

According to David Cearley of Gartner, as phones and wearable devices become part of an expanded computing environment, it's the overall environment that will need to adapt to the requirements of the mobile user. This will create significant management challenges for IT organizations as they lose control of user endpoint devices. It will also require increased attention to user experience design.

Top technology

Wonder which are the technology trends that are likely to have a significant impact on organizations in the year 2015? Research agency Gartner has identified 10 such technologies that organisations cannot afford to ignore. However, it is not necessary that companies adopt and invest in all of these trends at the same rate, but companies do need to look to make deliberate decisions about them during the next two years.

Here's looking at the top 10 technology trends that will prevail in the coming year.

Apple cuts price of Macbook Pro by Rs 11,000

Apple has reduced the price of its 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro by Rs 11,000 to Rs 78,900. 

 Tech giant Apple has reduced the price of its 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro by Rs 11,000 to Rs 78,900. The California-headquartered firm also updated MacBook Pro with Retina display with faster processors, doubled the memory in both its entry-level configurations.

The Retina MacBook Pro features a high-resolution display, is 0.71-inch thick, has the latest processors and powerful graphics, and offers up to nine hours of battery life, Apple said in a statement.

"Apple has lowered the starting price of the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro, a very popular system with Windows switchers, by Rs 11,000 to Rs 78,900," it said.

The 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro is available with a 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1GHz, 4GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and a 500 GB hard drive starting at Rs 78,900 inclusive of VAT (Rs 75,000 excluding VAT).

Various models of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display are available in the price range of Rs 94,900-1,29,900 inclusive of VAT.

Similarly, the models of 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display are available in the range of Rs 1,44,900-1,79,900 (including VAT).

Apple launches cheapest iMac

The new model has a slower processor, lesser storage space and lower-end graphics, but is Rs 13,000 cheaper than the current iMacs.

 Apple has launched a cheaper iMac, aimed at boosting sales as tablets eat up the market share. The new model has a slower processor, lesser storage space and lower-end graphics, but is Rs 13,000 cheaper than the current iMacs.

The new iMac has a 21.5-inch Full HD screen with dual-core 1.4GHz Intel i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard disk and Intel HD Graphics 5000 as standard configuration, priced at Rs 79,900 in India (US pricing is $1099). Buyers can also choose 1TB SATA, 1TB Fusion Drive or 256SSD storage options, which raise the price. Connectivity options of the new iMac include 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity, four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports and Bluetooth 4.0 and SDXC card slot.



This new model has been positioned as the new base model for the iMac lineup and will sell alongside the .iMacs that were launched year

Apple will start shipping orders for the new iMac from today itself, with delivery time of 24 hours.

In April this year,Apple refreshed the Macbook Air line with a faster processor, but cut prices by Rs 2,000.

Sad people stalk less attractive friends on Facebook

People who are in a bad mood are more likely to look up their less attractive and unsuccessful friends on Facebook to feel better about themselves.

 People who are in a bad mood are more likely to look up their less attractive and less successful friends on Facebook to feel better about themselves, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that, in general, people use social media to connect with people who are posting positive and success-oriented updates.

"But when people are in a negative mood, they start to show more interest in the less attractive, less successful people on their social media sites," said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study and professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

These findings give more context to recent studies that found people who spend a lot of time on Facebook tend to be more frustrated, angry and lonely — presumably because of all the happy updates from friends that make them feel inadequate.

"People have the ability to manage how they use social media," said co-author of the study Benjamin Johnson, an assistant professor at VU University Amsterdam.

"Generally, most of us look for the positive on social media sites. But if you're feeling vulnerable, you'll look for people on Facebook who are having a bad day or who aren't as good at presenting themselves positively, just to make yourself feel better," said Johnson.

The study involved 168 college students. Researchers first put participants in a good or bad mood by having them take a test on facial emotion recognition.

Regardless of their answers, the students were randomly told their performance was "terrible" (to put them in a bad mood) or "excellent" (to put them in a good mood).

All participants were asked to review what they were told was a new social networking site called SocialLink. The overview page presented preview profiles of eight individuals, which the students could click on to read more.

The key to the study was that the eight profiles were designed to make the people profiled appear attractive and successful — or unattractive or unsuccessful.

Each profiled person was ranked on a scale of 0 to 5 on both career success (number of dollar signs next to their profile) and attractiveness, or 'hotness' (number of hearts).

The profile images were blurred so that participants could not see what they actually looked like.

Overall, the researchers found that people tended to spend more time on the profiles of people who were rated as successful and attractive.

But participants who had been put in a negative mood spent significantly more time than others browsing the profiles of people who had been rated as unsuccessful and unattractive.

"One of the great appeals of social network sites is that they allow people to manage their moods by choosing who they want to compare themselves to," Knobloch-Westerwick said.

The study was published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.

Tiny cylinder may be a Google Glass alternative

A tiny cylinder that can be held up to one eye when you want to check your Twitter feed or Instagram may become an alternative to Google Glass.

 A tiny cylinder that can be held up to one eye when you want to check your Twitter feed or Instagram may provide an alternative to the intrusiveness of wearable devices such as Google Glass.

Researchers from Nokia and several universities have created a cylinder about the size of a tube of lipstick that provides an eye-level display for quick, discreet access to messages, news and updates.

When not in use, it can be worn as a pendant or tucked away in a pocket.

The prototype of the cylinder is dubbed Loupe, so named because it bears a resemblance to the little magnifying glass that jewellers use to inspect stones, 'MIT Technology Review' reported.

With the Loupe, researchers suggest, the obvious act of holding it up to your eye, rather than gazing into the distance as you would with a head-up display, makes it easier to signal to someone that you are using it.

This could make people around you more comfortable, since they know whether or not you are paying attention to them — a common concern with devices like Google Glass.

"By having a handheld device that is in front of the eye only when it is used, we provide a very strong signal," said Kent Lyons, a principal research scientist at Yahoo Labs and paper co-author who conducted the work while working for Nokia.

"Just as it is pretty obvious when someone is using their phone, the same is true of Loupe," Lyons said.

The Loupe prototype is three centimetres wide, with a circular hole at one end that users look into to see a small, circular floating display.

Four rings of copper-coloured touch electrodes encircle the device, and an actual jeweller's loupe is included near one end for manually focusing the image.