#Facebook Messenger gets desi chumbak stickers

Chatting on Facebook and bored of using smilies? Well, here what can make you chatting on Facebook even more interesting. 

Facebook users can now send a sticker from the 'Chumbak Expressions' pack with an 'Oye' or a very aunty-ish, 'Any Good News'.

Chumbak Expressions pack is a set of stickers that is localised with Indian content, using day to day lingo. Stickers are available for free on the Messenger and Facebook apps for Android and iOS. 

Facebook has an estimated 80 million users in India of which a third are regular messenger users. 

#Google launches debit card in US

 









Google will offer a prepaid debit card that will allow consumers to purchase goods at stores and to withdraw cash from ATM machines, the internet company said.

The card, which is only available in the United States, lets consumers access the funds stored in their Google Wallet accounts. Google Wallet is a smartphone app and online payment service that lets consumers buy goods and transfer money to each other.

The new Wallet card will be accepted at "millions of locations" that accept MasterCard and at ATM machines, Google said in a post on its official blog on Wednesday. Google said the card is free and that the company will not charge cardholders any monthly or annual fees.

The card could help advance Google's efforts to play a bigger role in commerce and provide the company with valuable information about consumer shopping habits, though it appears to be less ambitious than the full-fledged credit card once rumored to be in the works.

Plans for a Google consumer credit card were shelved when the head of Google's Wallet and payments group, Osama Bedier, left the company in May, according to a report at the time in the technology blog AllThingsD.

Google, the world's No. 1 internet search engine, in 2011 began offering a special AdWords Business credit card that its advertising customers could use to buy ads on its website.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed that data about transactions made with the new Wallet card - including a description of goods purchased, the amount of the transaction and the name and address of the seller - would be added to the internal profiles that Google maintains for users of its services, which can be used to target ads.

Consumers add money to the new Wallet Card by linking it to a bank account or when another person transfers money to their Wallet account, according to Google. The card can be ordered online from Wednesday, and typically takes 10 to 12 days to arrive, a Google spokeswoman said.

#Apple iPhone 5S again goes out of stock in India

Every day Himanshu Chakrawarti'siPhone gets flooded with SMSes and calls with personal requests for speedy delivery of iPhone 5S. But the CEO of India's largest cellphone retail chain The MobileStore is unable to pay heed because he says the waiting list for Apple's top-end smartphone is more than twice the number he has sold till now.

The story is no different in other leading retail chains such as UniverCell Telecom, PlanetM Retail, Future Group and Videocon Group's Digiworld.

iPhone 5S is out of stock in almost all retail outlets about three weeks after its launch due to huge demand as well as limited supply.

Two senior trade partners of Apple in India said the company has not been able to keep pace with iPhone 5S demand in India since the company is sending more stock of its best-seller to western markets ahead of the year-end Christmas shopping season starting with Black Friday on November 29.

"There is acute shortage of supply of iPhone 5S in India, with consignments coming mostly once a week and that too only 2,000-3,000 units at best," one of them said.

Apple iPhone 5S out of stock in India as supplies head west Retailers say whenever fresh stock of iPhone 5S hits the store shelves, they get sold off within 24 hours due to pre-booking. CEO of a leading mobile phone retail chain said Apple is providing just one-third of the requirement. "It's like a daily call to their distributor for fresh stock, but they are not able to guarantee much," he said.

Gartner principal research analyst Vishal Tripathi said Apple might have underestimated demand for the Rs 40,000-50,000 smartphone in India, which is considered a low-cost device market. "The demand surpassed what it anticipated and therefore allocation is also taking time," he said.

An email sent to Apple spokesperson in regional headquarters in London was not answered till late on Wednesday. Jessica Kwee, analyst at market researcher Canalys, said the poor supply may hurt Apple's sales and market share in the country, but some other analysts and retailers said lack of availability is only fuelling consumer interest in iPhone 5S.

Manasi Yadav, senior analyst at market tracker IDC India, said that while there has been a global supply shortage of iPhone 5s, it looks like Apple is now using this as a covert marketing strategy to propel demand further.

"This scenario will ensure Apple maintains its niche brand positioning and also keep prices intact, which usually tend to dive once the launch craze is over," Yadav said.

D Sathish Babu, CEO of the country's second largest cellphone chain UniverCell Telecom, said iPhone 5S consumers are dedicated Apple fans who would rather wait than move to another brand due to unavailability of the model. "The shortage is creating a viral effect which is creating demand even in smaller towns," he said.

In India too, where there is huge demand for iPhone 5S, the plastic-body iPhone 5C is not selling much. This has prompted Apple to launch a buyback, cash back and zero-interest EMI scheme on iPhone 5C and its now entry-level iPhone 4S models this week.

#Google starts selling Nexus 5, new Nexus 7 in India

Finally, you can buy Nexus 5, the official Google Android phone, and the newNexus 7 with FullHD screen in India. The two devices are now available on Google's Play store for Indian consumers.

The 16GB model of Nexus 5 sells for Rs 28,999 while the 32GB model costs Rs 32,999. The Wi-Fi version of Nexus 7 costs Rs 20,999 for the unit with 16GB internal stoarge and Rs 23,999 for the unit with 32GB internal storage. 

The 32GB unit of Nexus 7 is also available with support for LTE (cellular data connection). The LTE version costs Rs 27,999.
Nexus 5 will also go on sale in retail stores across India from today. However, in retail stores the device has been priced at Rs 29,999 for 16GB model and Rs 33,999 for 32GB model. The price is Rs 1,000 higher because of added retail-related costs.

To buy from Play store, a consumer has to use a credit card registered with the Google Play store. The two models of Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (32GB) will ship immediately. the Nexus 7 (16GB) will ship after November 26.

The availability of the availability of Nexus 5 in brick and mortar shops may not be as good as what is possible for Samsung devices but sources said that it will be much better than what was the case with Nexus 4.

Nexus 5, which is made by LG, has high-end hardware but is sold at a much cheaper price compared to other high-end phones like LG G2 and Galaxy Note III because it is a low-margin product for Google. The device is powered by a 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor. It has 2GB RAM, a 4.9-inch screen with 1080P resolution, 16GB or 32GB internal storage, an 8MP primary camera with optical image stabilization, a 1.3MP front camera and a 2300 mAh battery. It weighs around 130 grams. It is powered by Android 4.4 aka Kitkat, which is the latest version of Android.

The Nexus 7 tablet is also priced very aggressively. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, a quad-core processor running at 1.5 GHz. It has 16GB or 32GB internal storage, 2GB RAM, a 7-inch screen with FullHD resolution, 3950 mAh battery, a 5MP primary camera and a 1.2MP front camera with fixed focus. The device weighs around 290 grams.

While the hardware in both Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 is best-in-class, the real appeal of these devices lies in the software inside them. Like all Nexus devices, Nexus 5 and nexus 7 are powered by the unmodified version of Android. They come with the default user interface unlike other Android devices that ship with a user interface and software features modified by device manufacturers.

Nexus devices are also official Google devices and the Android operating system is fine-tuned to run well on them. This makes Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 fastest Android devices in the market even though they may lack some software or hardware features compared to more expensive phones and tablets.

Nexus 5 and the new Nexus 7 tablets are also guaranteed regular updates for at least 18 months without delay whenever Google implements new features in Android. The same updates reach other Android devices with a delay because those devices are serviced by their manufacturers and not by Google, which controls the development of Android.

#Apple launches Macbook Pro laptops in India @ Rs 99,900

Apple has launched its new range of Macbook Pro laptops in India, bringing its revamped product line to the country within a month of launch. The 13-inch model starts at Rs 99,900, while the 15-inch variant has been priced at Rs 1,49,000. 

At an event last month, Apple unveiled its next-generation 13-inch and 15-inch Macbook Pro models, alongside the new models of the popular iPad and iPad Mini tablet computers. Both the models will come preloaded with OS X Mavericks, the latest version of the company's operating system, and iLife software suite. 

The 13-inch Macbook Pro will run on the fourth-generation Intel Haswell chip and Iris GPU. The graphics of this machine are 90% faster than predecessors and it will offer battery life of nine hours, up from seven hours in the previous model. It is also thinner and lighter, while the flash storage and Wi-Fi are faster as well. 

The device has a Retina display and features dual-core Intel i5 processor with clock speeds of 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz. It is available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB SSD versions, with options of 4GB and 8GB memory. This model has two Thunderbolt 2 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and one HDMI port and comes with a HD FaceTime camera. 

Apple's 15-inch Macbook Pro has the Intel i7 processor with clock speeds of 2GHz and 2.3GHz along with Iris Pro graphics. It comes in two variants -- 256GB SSD with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD with 16GB RAM. The battery life of this laptop is eight hours and it will also come pre-installed with OSX Mavericks and iLife. 

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with 128GB SSD has been priced at Rs 99,900, while the 256GB version costs Rs 1,14,900. The model with 512GB SSD will hit the market at Rs 1,34,900. Apple's revamped 15-inch Macbook Pro with 256GB and 512GB storage options will cost Rs 1,49,900 and Rs 1,99,900, respectively. 

Earlier, taking a jibe at Microsoft's OEM partners, CEO Tim Cook called the competition "confused" and said they tried to make tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets and chased after netbooks. He reaffirmed the company's commitment to desktops and described how the new Mavericks OS update will improve performance and battery life.

How to fix 7 #Windows 8.1 upgrade issues

Microsoft recently released Windows 8.1, an upgrade to Windows 8 which arrived with mixed reviews. Most people see Windows 8.1 as a type of Service Pack. The updates introduced by Windows 8.1, however, are much more pervasive and consequently seem to be causing more trouble than Service Packs in previous Windows versions.

Windows 8.1 can cause several issues during the process of upgrading and even more afterwards. If you're faced with one of them, read on to see if there's a potential fix. Alternatively, if you're considering an upgrade, make sure to prep your computer for Windows 8.1 beforehand.

Hardware support 

An issue that is often experienced is reduced hardware support. For one reason or another, Windows 8.1 changes something deep in the system that can affect drivers, resulting in unrecognized or malfunctioning hardware. In this case, the backlight of the laptop was no longer controllable — it was ridiculously too dim, and the brightness buttons on my keyboard wouldn't change the setting.

Ultimately, to fix issues like this, make sure that all of your drivers are up to date via various channels. The best places to look are at the manufacturer's website or Windows Update, as sometimes it can deliver driver updates. A personal issue here was resolved whenSamsung released a "brightness fix patch" via their SW Updater software package. Make sure to check your respective sources as well.

Bad drivers

On a related note, Windows may refuse to upgrade to 8.1 if it doesn't like certain drivers. For example, a select number of people have a specific driver which Windows asks you to remove in order to upgrade. Of course, you'll need to do so in order to continue. Alternatively, you may be able to just update your drivers to a possibly Windows 8.1-friendly version, so that you don't have to remove it completely.

SkyDrive files gone "Online Only"

If you're an avid SkyDrive user, you may come across an issue where SkyDrive claims that all of the files that were once downloaded to your computer are now "online only". This is incorrect, and the files are actually still on your computer as they previously were. All you need to do to resolve this "blemish" is to open Windows Explorer, right click on SkyDrive in the left-hand pane of common folders, and click on "Make available offline". This should make sure that all your SkyDrive files will be synchronized, or just mark them as synchronized if they're already present.

Upgrading from Windows 8.1 preview

If you were a user of the Windows 8.1 Preview, you will probably face issues upgrading to the real release. Microsoft already announced the problem ahead of time, stating that you'd most likely be able to upgrade to the final code, but you would have to reinstall all of your desktop and Windows Store apps. If that's the case, you might as well go ahead and do a complete reinstall when upgrading to the final code, as clean installs are much less buggy than upgrades.

Error screens

If you received a "Couldn't update to Windows 8.1″ error with a code of 0xC1900101 - 0x40017 or something similar, you can attempt to get around the problem by unplugging all of your peripherals — except the necessary ones like your mouse and keyboard, obviously — and make sure that your graphics card driver is up-to-date before performing the upgrade. The bug still remains at large, but these tips can give you a better chance at beating it. The good thing about this error, at least, is that the installer rolls your system back to Windows 8, so you're not stuck with a bricked system.

If you receive an error stating "Sorry, it looks like this PC can't run Windows 8.1. This might be because the Users or Program Files folder is being redirected to another partition.", and this is actually the case, then you'll need to move your User or Program Files folder back to the primary system hard drive/partition. Since this error wouldn't show up without you having changed the location of those folders, just follow the same instructions to move them back.

Secure boot watermark 

If, after successfully upgrading to Windows 8.1, you see a watermark in the corner of your desktop saying "Secure Boot isn't configured correctly", then you'll need to head into your computer's BIOS and mess with the Secure Boot settings to enable or configure it. Afterwards, Windows should stop complaining.

Conclusion

Windows 8.1 introduces many new and improved features, including the option to boot to the desktop, deep SkyDrive integration, and an updated UI, which now supports dynamic Snap for multiple apps or sharing the desktop wallpaper with the Start screen. Most of the changes, however, are behind-the-scenes, which may be why so many people are having issues. Generally, it is recommended that you stick with Windows 8, unless you read about a Windows 8.1 feature that you absolutely need. In that case you should prepare to upgrade to Windows 8.1 with the option to roll back.

#Candy Crush Saga installed by half a billion people

The hugely addictive game 'Candy Crush Saga' has been installed by half a billion people, it has been revealed. 

According to developer King, the game has been installed more than 500 million times across Facebook, iOS, and Android, The Verge reported.

The game, which is expected to file for an initial public offering soon, has become so popular that one out of every 23 Facebook users is a fan of the game.