India’s October 28 Mars mission on schedule: ISRO

ISRO on Saturday supposed the country’s October 28 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was on schedule, dismiss suggestions that NASA may not be in a place to offer it deep space network support following government blackout in the U.S.

“There is no setback. We are going ahead with our MOM as planned,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik told PTIin Bangalore.

The Bangalore-headquartered space activity is drawing reassure from the fact that NASA has announced that it would go ahead with its own MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission, slate for launch as early as November 18.

This, in other words, means that NASA would have to keep its DSN, an international network of antenna that track interplanetary spacecraft missions, prepared.

No likes for IIT? Facebook not at placements

MUMBAI: Last year's placement season at the leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) saw Facebook make one of the most well-paid offers to a handful of students. This year, the social networking hard has not even registered for placements at any of the IITs, leaving a number of hopeful upset.

Though the recent global economic decelerate has not had a major impact on the total number of companies registering at IITs, some big names are yet to turn up, placement co-ordinators told TOI.

At IIT-Bombay, for instance, approximately 210 companies have registered so far compare with last year's total of 280. Avijit Chatterjee, professor-in-charge for placements at IIT-B, though, hopes the numbers will rise by 100. Placements will continue till the end of the academic year in June.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 review: In a class of its own

When innovative Galaxy Note debuted in 2011, no one was sure of how well a gadget with a 5-inch screen would do in the market. It was considered too big, too awkward. And the stylus had gone out of fashion. But Samsung, which repeatedly stated that it made device after taking reaction from customers, was onto something. Note became a blow hit. 

Since then we have seen Samsung following up with Galaxy Note 2. Other players too have coupled the conflict with big screen devices. 

With Galaxy Note 3, Samsung not only has to offer a important succession over Note 2 but also has to match or surpass the devices from competitor. 

It is not an easy task. But in our opinion Samsung succeed. 

THE EVOLVING ROLE OF SOFTWARE

THE EVOLVING ROLE OF SOFTWARE

               Today, software takes on a dual role. It is a product and, at the same time, the vehicle for delivering a product. As a product, it delivers the computing potential embodied by computer hardware or, more broadly, a network of computers that are accessible by local hardware. Whether it resides within a cellular phone or operates inside a mainframe computer, software is information transformer— producing, managing, acquiring, modifying, displaying, or transmitting information that can be as simple as a single bit or as complex as a multimedia presentation. As the vehicle used to deliver the product, software acts as the basis for the control of the computer (operating systems), the communication of information (networks), and the creation and control of other programs (software tools and environments).

Software delivers the most important product of our time—information. Software transforms personal data (e.g., an individual’s financial transactions) so that the data can be more useful in a local context; it manages business information to enhance competitiveness; it provides a gateway to worldwide information networks (e.g., Internet) and provides the means for acquiring information in all of its forms.

The role of computer software has undergone significant change over a time span of little more than 50 years. Dramatic improvements in hardware performance, profound changes in computing architectures, vast increases in memory and storage capacity, and a wide variety of exotic input and output options have all precipitated more sophisticated and complex computer-based systems. Sophistication and complexity can produce dazzling results when a system succeeds, but they can also pose huge problems for those who must build complex systems.

Nano-SIM cards: What you need to know

With the Nexus 5 shifting to Nano-SIM, in all probability, this could pretty much be the standard for future Android flagship smartphones. This is what you should know of the new standard and how you can convert your card to a Nano-SIM.
Apple shifted to the Nano-SIM standard with the iPhone 5, and the two newer ones - the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, are following the same standard. Android phones till now, had remained on the micro-SIM standard, irrespective of the brand, the device or the price band it played in. Except for the Moto X, but that hasn’t made a splash in India, as yet. But, with the Nexus 5 apparently shifting to the even smaller SIM card standard, surely the next line of Android flagships (and beyond), will also make the shift.

Unless you are using an iPhone 5 or beyond, and suddenly decide to shift to the Nexus 5, you will probably not be prepared, in the true sense of the word. There are basically two possibilities in play here - either you have the Mini-SIM (the SIM card as we have known till recently) or the smaller micro-SIM, that most phones use these days. We tell you how to get your SIM card ready for the Nano-SIM standard.

What is the Nano-SIM?
The current Nano-SIM cards that we are using in the newer iPhones and now with the Moto X as well, are also known as the Fourth Form Factor (4FF). This SIM measures a mere 12.3 mm x 8.8 mm x 0.67 mm, which is 15% thinner than the micro-SIM cards that most Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 phones deploy, with dimensions at 15mm x 12mm x 0.76mm.

The basic idea behind the even smaller SIM card standard is that the Nano SIM (4FF) reduces the size of the SIM effectively to just the golden coloured contact area. The area around the contact area is just about enough to prevent any electrical shorts that may occur within the socket. Essentially, the socket (also known as SIM-card slot) design remains the same, only that it is now smaller in dimension because the area around the contact area is greatly reduced.

Why the shift to the even smaller SIM standard?
Albeit belatedly, Android phones are also moving to this standard, because this allows smartphone makers those critical extra millimeters to play around with, with the immediate demands of a faster processor, the cooling need that comes with it as well as the bigger batteries to make the phone last longer than they do these days, on a single charge. There is no performance or cost advantage, but just the technological and internal design aspects.