Mitashi Launches Android Gaming Phone With a Joystick at Rs. 12,990

Mitashi on Thursday introduced two new Android-based gaming devices in its Thunder series, the Mitashi Play Thunderbolt smartphone and the Mitashi GameIn ThunderPro Quad-core Console, priced at Rs. 12,990 and Rs. 9,990 respectively. While the company hasn't given out the exact availability of both the devices, it said they will be available via Flipkart.

Designed for gamers, the Mitashi Play Thunderbolt smartphone comes with a joystick, dual speakers, OTG, and an 'ultra-sensitive' G sensor. The smartphone runs Android Jelly Bean OS out-of-the-box and also supports dual-SIM cards. The display on Mitashi Play Thunderbolt is 5-inch, with an HD (720x1280 pixels) resolution and 320dpi pixel density. It is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz processor with PowerVR SGX 544MHz GPU and 1GB of RAM.

The smartphone features an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front facing camera. The 16GB internal storage on the Play Thunderbolt is expandable via microSD card (up to 64GB).

The battery on the device is 4200mAh.The company added the first few lucky buyers will get a free sleek leather flip cover worth Rs. 990. The second Android-powered portable gaming console by the company, the Mitashi GameIn ThunderPro Quad-core Console, comes with a 5-inch WVGA (480x800 pixels) display, a quad-core 1.6GHz processor with a quad-core Mali 400MHz GPU, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB), and Android KitKat.

Upfront, the Mitashi GameIn ThunderPro Quad-core Console comes with trigger buttons, dual-joystick along with dual speaker.Mitashi also says that the device supports 8/ 16/ 32-bit games along with the usual Android games.

Its HDMI connectivity and Wi-Fi Miracast will allow users to connect the device to a big screen for larger gaming experience. The device comes preloaded with games from EA and supports OTG as well.

Google Reveals Top Apps, Books, Movies, and Music of 2014

Google has announced the names of most popular apps, games, movies, music, news and books of 2014 on Google Play. The Mountain View giant in an infographic titled '2014: The Year in Entertainment' has revealed some of the interesting downloads from Google Play this year.

According to Google, the most downloaded apps by category are Education - Duolingo (a language learning app); Social - Facebook; Health and Fitness - MyFitnessPal (a calorie counter app); Entertainment - Netflix; Music - Pandora; Sports - NFL Mobile; Photography - Flipagram (for making short video stories), and Travel - TripAdvisor. The top downloaded games on Google Play include Candy Crush Saga, Don't Tap the White Tile, Farm Heroes Saga, Subway Surfers, and Clash of Clans.

Google's movie of the year is Frozen, while the TV show of the year is The Walking Dead. The company's lists the Toy Story as comeback movie of the year. Interestingly, Frozen, apart from being the movie of the year, is also the album of the year with its original motion picture soundtrack. In 2014, Katy Perry's Dark Horse was the song of the year. Meanwhile, the song of the summer was Fancy by Iggy Azalea.

The company also shortlisted news sources of the year which had The New York Times topping the chart followed by TMZ, Forbes Now, The Verge, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, The Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, and Android Central. According to Google, book of the year is The Fault in Our Stars, followed by Fifty Shades of Grey, Divergent, Twelve Years a Slave, and Insurgent.

Brian Irving, global director of marketing for Google Play announced the top list of 2014 in a blog post and pointed that the source is Google Play's internal data. With the year 2014 coming to an end, company's such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have also announced data gleaned over the course of 2014. First, it was Facebook that revealed its '2014 Year in Review' top 10 lists, and then Twitter rolled out a list of the most popular tweets and personalities in the year 2014.

Google Says Nexus 5 Production Discontinued, Limited Stocks Available

A Google spokesperson has revealed that the company has discontinued production of the 2013 Nexus 5.

Speaking to Tech Radar, the company's representative said, "Once they are gone, they're gone, so we'd suggest people get them while they can". The comment from the Google spokesperson indicates the Nexus 5 might soon not be available to buy.

However, Google will continue to sell the Nexus 5 via Google Play and select retailers in Q1 2015. The company in an emailed statement told The Verge, "Nexus 5 will continue to be available for sale on Google Play and through select retailers in Q1 2015."

Additionally, Google has also quietly removed the Red and White colour versions of the Nexus 5 from Google Play, first reported by Tech Radar. Interestingly, the Google Play India also lists the Nexus 5 in just Black colour variant. Google back in February introduced the Nexus 5 Red variant in India.

At the time of writing, the Nexus 5 was listed as 'out of inventory' on Google Play India with no word on when the stocks will be replenished. The Google Nexus 5 went on sale in India same time last year and has been available in two storage variants - the 16GB model at Rs. 28,999, and the 32GB variant at Rs. 32,999. The handset was the platform lead device for Android 4.4 KitKat.

Facebook Dumps Microsoft Web Search Results

Facebook Inc has stopped including results from Microsoft Corp's Bing search engine on its social networking site.

The move, confirmed by a company spokesperson, comes as Facebook has revamped its own search offerings, introducing a tool on Monday that allows users to quickly find past comments and other information posted by their friends on Facebook. The decision may reflect the increasing importance that Facebook sees in Web search technology, a market dominated by rival Google Inc.

Searches on Facebook have long been geared towards helping users connect with friends and to find other information that exists within the walls of the 1.35 billion-user social networking service. But for years, Facebook's search results also included links to standalone websites that were provided by Bing.

"We're not currently showing web search results in Facebook Search because we're focused on helping people find what's been shared with them on Facebook," a company spokesperson told Reuters. "We continue to have a great partnership with Microsoft in lots of different areas."

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has flagged search as one of the company's key growth initiatives, noting in July that there were more than 1 billion search queries occurring on Facebook every day and hinting that the vast amount of information that users share within Facebook could eventually replace the need to search the Web for answers to certain questions.

London Hit by Air Traffic Control Computer Failure

The British government has demanded an investigation after a computer failure Friday at one of Britain's two air traffic control centers caused a major disruption of air traffic into and out of London. The congested airspace over the British capital was closed during the 35-minute shutdown, leading to severe delays and flight cancellations in London and other parts of Europe that officials said would spill over into Saturday.

The problem was traced to the computer system at NATS, the troubled U.K.-based air traffic management company, which has experienced a number of operational problems related to computer issues. British officials seethed over the system meltdown on a busy Friday afternoon during the run-up to the holiday season, when travel demand is particularly high.

"Disruption on this scale is simply unacceptable and I have asked NATS for a full explanation of this evening's incident," Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said.

NATS said a computer problem at its center in Swanwick, England, had touched off troubles in the system. After it was fixed, NATS said its operations were returning to normal but would not say how long that would take.

It said "further information" about the cause would be released when it becomes available. Problems were particularly acute at London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest. Some 66 flights were cancelled there as of 6 p.m. (1 p.m. EST), with more expected, since planes and flight crews were out of position.

Web-Surfers, Newspapers Worried Over Google News Closure in Spain

Spain's main web-surfers' association warned Friday that national media will lose huge internet traffic when Google shuts its Google News operation next week in protest at being made to pay for content, while newspapers called for talks to prevent the closure.

The US giant announced Wednesday that it will close Google News in Spain on December 16 because of the law which takes effect in January and forces it to pay news outlets whose content it publishes, even if in snippets for aggregation.

"The big losers will be media firms themselves, which, with the disappearance of their news from the search engine, will lose traffic to their pages," Spain's web-surfers' association, Asociacion de Internautas, said in a statement.

The law has been dubbed the "Google tax" in Spain but it would also apply to other big web companies with pages that reproduce and link to news content, such as Yahoo. The Spanish culture ministry said it would press ahead with enforcing the law despite Google's move, insisting it "does not obstruct freedom of information".

"This situation will cause many closures" of Spanish internet firms, the president of the web-surfers' association, Victor Domingo, said Thursday.

The Association of Spanish Newspaper Editors, known by its Spanish-language acronym AEDE, appealed for Spanish and European authorities to find a solution. Google is the "real doorway to the Internet" in Spain and the closure of Google News "will without a doubt have a negative impact on citizens and Spanish companies," it said in a statement Thursday.

Oculus Boosts Virtual Reality Development With Acquisitions

Facebook-owned Oculus VR moved closer to launching its virtual reality gear on Friday with fresh acquisitions of startups and talent. Oculus announced it bought two-year-old Nimble VR and a second startup called 13th Lab, but did not disclose financial details.

Nimble specializes in hand-tracking technology "which has the potential to be a great (virtual reality) user experience," while 13th Lab is focused on real-time 3D modeling such as simulated visits to pyramids in Egypt or the Roman Colosseum, according to Oculus.

Oculus also announced that it has enlisted the motion-capture skills of Chris Bregler, whose recent projects include visual tracking for the films "Star Trek Into Darkness" and "The Lone Ranger."

"Nimble VR, 13th Lab, and Chris will all be winding down their existing projects to focus on VR full-time at Oculus as part of both product engineering and Oculus Research," the company said in a blog post. Facebook early this year bought the virtual reality headgear company Oculus in a deal valued at $2 billion.

Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said that the acquisition of Oculus was a long-term bet that making the social network's offerings more immersion-focused would pay off.

"People will build a model of a place far away and you will just go see it, it is just like teleporting," Zuckerberg said.

Iran Hackers May Target US Energy, Defence Firms, FBI Warns

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned U.S. businesses to be on the alert for a sophisticated Iranian hacking operation whose targets include defense contractors, energy firms and educational institutions, according to a confidential agency document. The operation is the same as one flagged last week by cyber security firm Cylance Inc as targeting critical infrastructure organizations worldwide, cyber security experts said.

Cylance has said it uncovered more than 50 victims from what it dubbed Operation Cleaver, in 16 countries, including the United States. The FBI's confidential "Flash" report, seen by Reuters on Friday, provides technical details about malicious software and techniques used in the attacks, along with advice on thwarting the hackers.

It asked businesses to contact the FBI if they believed they were victims. Cylance Chief Executive Stuart McClure said the FBI warning suggested that the Iranian hacking campaign may have been larger than its own research revealed.

"It underscores Iran's determination and fixation on large-scale compromise of critical infrastructure," he said.

The FBI's technical document said the hackers typically launch their attacks from two IP addresses that are in Iran, but did not attribute the attacks to the Tehran government.

Cylance has said it believes Iran's government is behind the campaign, a claim Iran has vehemently denied. An FBI official did not provide further details, but said the agency routinely provides private industry with advisories to help it fend off cyber threats.

WTO Talks on Duty-Free Trade in IT Goods Collapse

Talks on cutting trade tariffs on hundreds of information technology products collapsed on Friday, delaying and potentially scuppering a deal estimated to be worth $1 trillion to global trade.

"We are disappointed not to be celebrating a deal this week. We missed a big opportunity," U.S. Ambassador Michael Punke said at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The talks aimed to update the WTO's 17-year-old Information Technology Agreement, which guarantees zero-tariff and duty-free trade on hundreds of products, adding about 200 more products to the list. Several participants blamed the failure on a deadlock between China and South Korea over liquid crystal display (LCD) screens.

"The participants have significantly reduced the gaps on expanding the coverage of the ITA agreement in recent days, but unfortunately it has not been possible to finalize the negotiations this week," WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said in a statement.

"Manufacturers urge negotiators to come back to the table as early as possible in the new year to agree to a strong product list in order to unlock much-needed growth opportunities for manufacturers and their workers," said Linda Dempsey, vice president of international economic affairs at the U.S. National Association of Manufacturers.

Participants are expected to reconvene in 2015 to see if they can overcome the blockage. South Korea, home to top LCD producer LG Display Co Ltd, wanted LCD screens included in the deal, participants said.

Apple Pacts in Canada May Have Raised Mobile, Wireless Prices: Court Filing

Canadian consumers may have ended up paying higher prices for cellphones and wireless services because of contracts between Apple Inc's Canadian unit and domestic carriers, the Canadian Competition Bureau said in a court filing this week.

The iPhone has given Apple extraordinary bargaining power with mobile carriers around the world, and the Canadian watchdog wants to know if it used that leverage to force domestic operators to sell rival devices at a higher price than they otherwise would have.

"Of course it is natural for them to want to push in that regard, and let's see if they pushed too hard," said Colin Gillis, a technology analyst at BGC Partners in New York.

The affidavit filed on Tuesday by Vincent Millette, who is heading the Competition Bureau's investigation, and obtained by Reuters on Friday listed several ways the agreements with the phone companies may have prevented or lessened competition. It formed part of the agency's filings with the Federal Court on Tuesday seeking documents from Apple as part of an investigation into possible anti-competitive behavior by the company.

The bureau said on Thursday it had not reached a conclusion of wrongdoing at this time.The Competition Bureau is seeking details on volume commitment, minimum order quantities, and any special treatment that Apple may have sought from the carriers, the filing showed.

Washington Takes on Uber With Its Own Taxi App

Washington is developing a smartphone app to enable its taxis to compete head-on with Uber and other ride-sharing services, the US capital's taxi commission said Friday. Beta testing of the Universal DC TaxiApp is scheduled to begin in March, and if all goes well it could be fully in service by late spring.

"We are the first in the country to have a universal taxi cab app," DC Taxi Commission spokesman Neville Waters told AFP.

"This is not targeting Uber per se," he said. This is a result of what consumers have been demanding -- and it enables taxis to compete on a level playing field with other private operators."

All 7,000 licensed taxis in Washington will be obliged to make themselves available on the app whenever they are out on streets and on duty. Drivers and taxi companies will be free to keep using alternative taxi-hailing apps alongside the Universal DC TaxiApp, Waters said.

Consumers, meanwhile, will still be at liberty to opt for Uber, Lyft, Sidecar or other ride-sharing services in lieu of a conventional cab. While the DC Taxi Commission is developing the app, it will be up to an taxi industry cooperative to maintain it and set user fees.

Isro to Test-Fly Heaviest Rocket, Crew Module on December 18

India will test-fly its heaviest and upgraded rocket - the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-Mark III) - on December 18, space agency Isro said Friday.

According to a tweet by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the 630-tonne rocket will be powered by liquid and solid fuel engines while the cryogenic stage/engine will be a passive one. The rocket will also carry a crew module to test its re-entry characteristics.

"The main purpose of the mission is to test the atmospheric characteristics and stability of the rocket on its way up. We also decided to use this opportunity to test one component of the crew module - a human space mission that India may embark on at a later date," M.Y.S Prasad, director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, told reporters in a recent interaction. The experimental mission will cost Rs. 155 crores and will not carry any satellite as the cryogenic engine needed for the purpose is still under development, he said.

"The cryogenic engine is under development and will take more two years to be ready," he said.

"This will be India's new launch vehicle. It is bigger and can carry satellites up to four tonnes," said GSLV Mark III project director S. Somanath.

As for the crew module, it will not carry any living being and is only for study purposes. The main objective of the crew module is to demonstrate its re-entry flight and aero braking, and end-to-end parachute system validation.

The rocket will go up to 126km and the crew capsule will then detach and fall into the Bay of Bengal, 20 minutes after blast-off. The descent speed of the crew module will be controlled on board motors for some distance and then by three parachutes.