Now, to save the cell phone users from that sinking feeling, Senator Charles Schumer and New York City Police Commissioner are vying to come up with a new law that would virtually make cell phone theft pointless.

• The New Law

This new law that is being formulated in the New York police drawing board is vying to make stealing someone else’s phone less desirable, while at same time making it impossible to be reactivated by thieves, if stolen. As things stand, once a phone is reported as ‘missing’ its carrier deactivates the device. Even so, a lot of potential damage can be done during the time that the phone takes to be deactivated. With the new law, which is scheduled to be implemented in November 2013, its MEID number – a unique electronic serial number – will be red flagged for a solitary database per carrier, which would mean that no one would be able to reactivate it at all.

This simply means that while in the past, a person could get the MEID number changed after getting hold of a particular phone, that won’t be possible now, since the number will be fixed. This connotes that you wouldn’t have to be a cell phone tracker aficionado to feel secure about your phone, you’d just know that no one but you could access your phone and its data.

• Common Database 

While Verizon has been making optimistic noises with regards to the new law, the fact that other carriers are also following suit and evolving to LTE and 4G technology means that there would be a need of a ‘cross carrier database’. This cross carrier database or a common database would help all networks and carriers ensure that stolen cell phones aren’t activated from other networks. Having a common database covers all the bases and outlets through which a human cell phone tracker or a mobile thief could possibly make use of someone else’s cell phone.

A Verizon spokesman has stated that once the law is implemented, 90 percent of American cell phone users would be supported by a humongous common database of unique ID numbers. This would allow all the carriers involved to disable any phone that is reported to be stolen.

• Plan Of Action

According to resources, leading companies including Verizon and T-mobile would be working on developing programs to disable stolen phones. This should be done within the next six months. And then 18 months after that, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) would fuse them all together into the aforementioned common database, which would nullify the possible usage of other networks.

However, while we all wait for the plan of action and the lawmaking to materialize, if your phone is stolen you should still notify your carrier as soon as possible. There are some smartphones that have apps to erase your private data remotely, plus you can also ask your company if they have a cell phone recovery plan. For, even as things stand, some companies have an array of plans that could at limit the damage that losing your phone could potentially cause.

• For countries except the US

The original Max Payne had put the players in a world which came to life in the depths of darkness. Darkness is what comes to mind when we talk about Max Payne; it has become synonymous with the series. And it’s not just a game mechanism, it is to beautifully-exaggerate Payne’s state of mind, and has been executed flawlessly in the first game. The second game ups the ante even further by taking madness to a completely different level. Hallucinations and nightmares ensue, which turn the game into more of a movie, better than most movies out there with similar story-lines.

And this is what I want to stress about the third part. It lacks the atmosphere. Okay, the trailer looks awesome, and the game might turn out to be a masterpiece. It also has multiplayer, which should be fun given the Bullet time element which will come into play. But still, it feels more like the game lacks a main ingredient that made the first two games so unique. Slowing time is a trademark feature of the series, but it has been implemented by many games out there. But what those many games don’t have is the setting and the eerie nature of the story. Max Payne 3 seems to have lost it as well.

On the bright side, the shooting mechanics are looking better than ever, and the player now has a multitude of options to handle each firefight. The classic 360 degrees action elements have been enhanced as well, in order to provide a more realistic feeling, while at the same time keep the fun intact. The graphics are looking spectacular. This might well end up becoming one of the best looking games out there. And the classic Max Payne sound track is there. It’s all there. It has all the makings of a great game, barring the one thing I might end up missing the most.

At the end of the day, it’s just a shot in the dark. What we have seen are just previews, which don’t signify what the full game might be like. Rockstar may be voluntarily hiding the atmospheric moments, so that we experience them first-hand without any spoilers. But of course, as a hardcore Max Payne fan, I can’t but express my concern from whatever I have seen until now. Whether it holds any value or not, only time will tell (which is ironical given how controllable time actually is in the game).

Samsung Galaxy S3 Camera Shot. Courtesy: Engadget

Apart from what’s mentioned above, there have been certain eccentric major ground breaking innovations that has helped Android stand out from other participants (or be the only participant) in the smartphone’s reality show. Samsung, a vital member of the OHA, despite of creating mass market offerings varying on price points, handsets, OS’s have been successful in creating a few top notch premium category devices that has captivated the audiences worldwide (S1,S2). Though a major part of the credit goes to the Google’s mobile OS market leader Android, a major part also goes to Samsung for its technological finesse.

Even though there were several device manufacturers offering several options to choose from, there existed a revolutionary device that changed today’s smartphone scenario, one that took the smartphone standards to the next level and outmatched customers expectation. When we thought of a device that’s fast, powerful & vivid, most of us would agree that it was none other than the Samsung Galaxy S2. Unarguably (the most successful Android phone since the existence of Android and risen from a successful predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S), it stimulated not only Androids but also Samsung’s market presence. Packed under the hood a super fast dual core processor, massive 1GB RAM, huge and lavish Super AMOLED Plus display, astonishing 8 megapixel camera coupled with an amazing 2 megapixel front camera, huge phone memory (16GB built-in plus 32GB ext) and a amazingly slim and light design.

The S2, not only made us think over replacing our current device but had us keenly awaited for the immediate successor to this game changing player. A year passed while the New Galaxy was in the works. On the 3rd of May 2012, the day several Samsung users worldwide eagerly awaited while competitors feared. Press conferences were held, curtains dropped, users hooked onto their PCs, eager to get a peek into what will next occupy their pocket space.

On the first look there were shouts of disappointment (seeing quite an ordinary design for a phone of that caliber), but the whole inspired by nature act which seemed laughable at the first look, was believable post the presentation videos of the amazing fast and fluid display, interface and functions preloaded into the device, some tweaked and some never seen before.

As we know, like every successful device, the Galaxy S3 has its pros and cons.

• Where it meets our expectations

Hardware

4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED with Gorilla Glass 2

1.4 GHz Exynos 4 Quad Processor (Quad-core)

Rear 8-megapixel Camera(AF+HDR) + Front 1.9 Megapixel Camera

133-gram in weight with 8.6mm thickness

2,100mAh battery

1080p playback

NFC technology with Wi-Fi Direct

Software

Android Beam - It allows an NFC enabled device to push an NDEF message by tapping the two devices together. Basically, it enables the convenience of tossing multimedia between phone just by just tapping each other.

Smart Stay - Should we claim this one genius add-on? When the phone screen turns off with the pre-set timer, this phone will actually read your eye movements (with the front camera) and turn the screen on to avoid annoyances. Now that’s a step up!

S Voice - A Siri like feature from Samsung

Android 4.0 ICS

The owners of Samsung Galaxy S3 get 50GB of free Dropbox storage

• Where it falters

Design could have been more contemporary

Too much power which is yet not harnessed completely by most apps out there, while the need has not been yet established. Or has it?

Whether it will live up to match the achievements of its predecessor is yet to be seen.  What is your opinion?

First of all this is not your typical Zombie slaying game. So if you’re expecting something akin to Left 4 Dead, don’t give this game a try. It’s based on the critically acclaimed television series, and hence its focus is more on the story and the characters than on the zombies. It’s a character driver game where you interact with the world around you and unravel the story. And Telltale game studios have done an excellent job of recreating the world as shown to us by its television counterpart.

As visceral as it gets!

The major highlights of the game are the solid story and the immersive graphics. The graphics are especially impressive, and coupled with the brilliant set-pieces, really bring the game to life. Again, I did not really expect the game to be this good, and so I had to play the game twice just to ensure that I wasn’t getting carried away! That does not mean that it does not have its flaws. The game lacks good puzzles; a game such as this needs some puzzles to keep the entertainment factor going throughout. The other thing that I didn’t like is the low level of difficulty. Difficulty makes the game even more entertaining. Well, I guess Dark Souls has spoiled me.

Overall, I feel The Walking Dead is an amazing achievement. It does not have the hype or the funding, but Telltale games have created a shocker of a good game which will be an underground sensation and will be talked about for years to come. And this is just the first episode. More are coming, which just adds to the excitement. This year just keeps getting better!

Gameplay:

Microsoft’s Home Operating System research is about pushing the home eco-system management to a broader level. Of course, refrigerators, television sets, washing machines, air conditioners, etceteras, are the most common home applications that automate a good deal of manual work. But consider a time when you are not home and you have a set of activities to perform, which can only be achieved in your presence. Or may be a point where you need to perform a step-by-step list of activities that require physical presence just to tip-tap buttons and get the machines working (television, set-top boxes, lamps and so on). This is where HomeOS steps in to organize the menial tasks into one place and conveniently control, like as easily from a smart phone.

A student demonstrating how to turn on and off lights via gestures with a Kinect (an excerpt from the white paper)

With HomeOS, you can add remote surveillance for security and monitor the energy consumption at your home. All and more of these capabilities will be available and setup through the HomeStore gateway installed on the user’s computer. The user can accordingly add more functionalities to the home system from the HomeStore. According a video shared by one of the contributors of this research, the add-on like functionalities in HomeOS are coded in C# language.

In the following video, Ratul Mahajan (one of the contributors to this project) demonstrates how the HomeOS system would work on a very basic scale.

• Crysis 3

Expected release date : 2013

Crysis 2 was a good game. But still the fans weren’t convinced of its greatness, especially given how much of a hit the first game was. The diversion of focus to consoles, loss of the open ended environment, and the loss of emphasis on game-play didn’t bode too well with the fans. And the sales testified to this. And now Crytek seems to have learnt a lesson, and are trying to woo fans again by promising a PC focused game which will take more from the original game than its successor. And if it’s even as good as the first game, if not better, then we will gladly put our social lives on halt to play it. Color us excited!

• God of War : Ascension

Expected release date – 2013

Well well well! We did not see this one coming. Actually we did, but not the direction it would be taking. Instead of continuing from the mess that was God of War 3′s ending, we’re now being taken through an entirely new chapter in the life of the almighty Kratos, the most bad-ass God of War out there. I’m a hopeless God of War fan-boy, so i’ll accept it in whatever shape or form it arrives, so long as it arrives.

• Medal of Honor : Warfighter

Expected release date – October 23, 2012

EA’s reboot of the Medal of Honor series last year was a love or hate affair for many. It had an excellent and compelling multiplayer component, but the single player lacked the quality of previous Medal of Honor titles. Now EA is having another go at its beloved franchise, and this time around, they seem to be focused on doing it right. Rather than describing a single conflict, Warfighter will be based on a multitude of issues spanning the entire globe. It’s a formula the Call of duty series has used since the beginning, and if done right, it cannot go terribly wrong.

• Halo 4

Expected release date – November 6, 2012

Halo 3 was considered by many to be the end of Master Chief’s journey. But how could Microsoft ever sell even more copies of their beloved console without of constant barrage of the big sellers. And so we have Halo 4. The obvious difference between this Halo title and all the previous games in the series is the change of development studios. While Bungie developed the first three games, it is 343 industries who will carry the torch from here. And if they don’t deliver, a one Mr. Gordon Freeman will be waiting to strike the definite blow on the whole HL vs Halo debate. And while that may sound enticing from a sadist’s perspective, I just don’t want to play a Halo game and feel bad about it. So here’s hoping it will be another classic I will be talking for years about.

• Resident Evil 6

Expected release date – October 2, 2012

This for me is the hottest game announcement of the year. And it topples Halo 4 mainly for one reason: I loved RE4, but I also loved the action oriented approach of RE5. So, to have a game which switches between survival horror and action definitely sounds like a good prospect. As long as they can maintain the balance, and still keep the game horror friendly, i’ll be happy. And you cannot possibly match a zombified president scaring the hell out of Leon Kennedy. Bring it on Capcom. I’m ready!

That’s it folks. These are my picks for the hottest game announcements for the year. This is not a most anticipated 2012 list, or the list would have been drastically different. The city of Columbia intrigues me more than anything else, and it’s number one on my wishlist. So lets see how that goes. So what are your most exciting announcements of the year? They may take time to be actually playable, but the hype meter does not need to be alien to their existence.

• Metro Application Development Support

Visual Studio has always sought to improve the quality of code by refactoring it. This is taken a step further in Visual Studio 2011. Now, instead of being purely developer dependent, Visual Studio will scan the logic of the code developed by you and try and factor the code into methods which can be user later in the program. And this is done not just by scanning through identical blocks of code; Visual Studio searches for semantically similar blocks based on heuristics developed by Microsoft Research.

• Reviewing Code

• Other Features you’ll see in the 2011 version

In addition to the aforementioned features, Visual Studio 2011 also has the following benefits over its predecessors,

• Support for development of cloud computing applications.

• Solid integration with HTML 5 and CSS3.

• ASP.Net MVC4.

• It includes a new template for mobile development which makes mobile development easier and more efficient.

• New and more improved version of JavaScript to make the programmers life even easier.

• New profile which lets the user choose between building the application and publishing it.

• Visual Studio 2011 now supports web socket protocol which helps in server to client data transfer. It has support for both ASP.net 5 and IIS 8, so that we can easily read and write data into a socket object.

PS: The Beta versions have been out quite since a while and you can get them from Microsoft’s website.

Via [CodingHub, MSDN]