This way, instead of being restricted with a specific storage amount on one of those services, users will have the flexibility to allocate a large amount of space among these services based on their usage and preference.

This change has also affected the current Google Storage Plans, so if you are a free user, you will see how the space that you have is allocated among all those services, and you will get to upgrade you storage via the old plans that Google introduced last year. This change means that users are no longer limited to a 25 GB upgrade in Gmail, where any additional storage purchased now applies there.

Source: Gmail Blog

The article "Bringing It All Together: 15GB Shared For Drive, Gmail, Google+", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

The term “Lebanese Digital Lobby” was coined by caretaker Telecommunications Minister Sehnaoui back in April on his Twitter account, where he spoke directly to his followers and the young Lebanese tech enthusiasts telling them: “You are the Digital Lobby . Together let’s keep our voice heard until we reach our dream of a Digital Lebanon”. He also used this tweet to share a video showing the progress made along with the achievements of the Ministry of Telecommunication between June 2011 and February 2013.

Super Geek was born yesterday, but we are expecting him to have a strong mission that will entice some passion in the Lebanese youth. We don’t know exactly what his super powers are nor what kind of adventure lies in front of him, but we are listening., especially that caretaker Sehnaoui has been one of the most engaged public figures in the Lebanese cyber space.

Source: Instagram

The article "Meet Super Geek, The Symbol of The Lebanese Digital Lobby", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

The Lumia 925 has an aluminum frame around the side, while the back is made from the same material as the Lumia 920, which is polycarbonate. The body is just 8.8mm thick and weighs 135g with a 2,000mAh battery. The battery is non-removable and there’s no wireless charging out of the box, but this can be enabled with a special back cover that can be bought separately.

The phone comes with a 4.5″ screen with WXGA resolution at 768 x 1280. It is an AMOLED screen with ClearBlack display and Gorilla Glass 2. The Qualcomm chipset of the Lumia 925 packs a dual-core Krait processor at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory that unfortunately cannot be expanded due to the lack of a microSD card.

The main camera is an 8.7MP shooter with Optical Image Stabilization and f/2.0 aperture for great low-light images. The flash is a regular LED flash. The phone also has two IHF microphones that record distortion-free sound for the 1080p videos.

On the software side, The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces the new Nokia Smart Camera mode,  which offers an easy way to capture ten images at once and edit the pictures with options like Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus for creating the perfect high quality image. Nokia Smart Camera Mode will be coming as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones.

Nokia also announced Hipstamatic‘s new app, Oggl,which will allow people to take and share high quality pictures with like-minded creatives and photography enthusiasts from around the world. In addition to sharing photos on Oggl, users can simultaneously share photos on social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr and Instagram.

The Nokia 925 is expected to be available starting Q3 this year.

Source: Nokia

The article "Nokia Announces The New Lumia 925", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Rovio has finally announced the creation of something they call “Rovio Account”. What it does is basically assign the user an account, so that he/she can log into across Rovio’s wide arrangement of games and will sync the progress across all said user’s devices. Meaning, you can be playing on your mobile while on the bus/plane/car and then continue on your tablet once you are home. It also promises to sync progress across platforms, meaning you can play a game on your Android tablet and continue on your iPhone, or vice versa.

The two games that support this feature are “The Croods” and the classic “Angry Birds”. It is unfortunately only supported right now in FInland and Poland, but Rovio has promised to be rolling these features into more global areas soon enough.

Be sure to check out the FAQ here.

The article "Sync Games Progress Across Devices With Rovio Account", written by Malek Teffaha appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Videophones in the early 1970s, when video conferencing was first starting to make waves, were not able to communicate over certain distances. Videos were low quality and made with the intention of being used on a person to person basis.

Now, video conferencing offers high-quality video and sound to bring people in remote locations to the people that matter. This is why it’s increasingly becoming important in businesses, especially when quick decisions need to be made and groups of people need to come together.

However, it’s not just business applications that video conferencing has. As with any industry, communication is key; so it’s not surprising that its uses are being explored in places other than the boardroom.

Telemedicine

After an operation, patients are often expected to return to hospital or to their doctor for regular check-ups. With Telemedicine, there’s no need for them to leave their house.

Being able to see the patient over a video link means that doctors can make quick assessments of a home patient’s condition and eradicate the need to keep travelling to appointments. Not only does this cut costs, but it saves time.

It’s now also possible for surgeons and experts to contact each other during difficult operations. By being able to see exactly what is going on through a screen, surgeons who are miles away from the actual operation could save lives remotely.

Courtroom Video

For many years now, video links have provided courtrooms with a more secure way of bringing potentially dangerous criminals to trail. The costs and risk of transporting prisoners can sometimes be high, so video communications are often chosen in such cases.

On the same note, there are sometimes situations in which key witnesses are not able to attend. This is another application of video communication software.

The bonus of being able to read body language as well as hear the voices of those involved makes video calling second to them actually being there, says international communications experts powwownow.co.uk:

“There will always be situations where a face-to-face meeting is required. However, in most cases, video conferencing is as good as the real thing.

“Being able to see the people you are talking with means that you are better able to read responses through body language. This makes debates easier and, coupled with the ability to share and review data together in real-time, increases productivity.”

Cash Machines

A new kind of ATM is set to take the banking world by storm thanks to its innovative use of video communication software.

The SelfServ not only offers what standard ATMs do; it will also give users the option to talk to a real-time bank teller, and conduct the kind of transactions usually reserved for inside the bank.

This is a great move for those who are unable to get to a bank, or who live in remote locations.

There are so many applications for the video call, it’s likely that it’s bound to be integrated into everyday life sooner than you think.

The article "What’s Next for the Video Call?", written by John I. appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Users of Viber will just need to download the app (Windows or Mac links), add their mobile number that they already used on their smartphones, type in the activation code received on their numbers and voila! Viber is fully set up on your desktop.

Through this application, users will be able to text with their friends, send stickers, emoticons and photos to all their friends in addition to the regular voice and video calls (desktop only) they can make. Moreover, through a simple click of a button, users will be able to transfer the calls from their desktops to their mobile phones (must be both registered to Viber on the same number).

In addition to the introduction of a computer version, Viber has also updated their iOS and Android Apps to version 3.0 which includes added support for video messages, a novel voice engine to help improve call quality, the ability to check contacts’ online status and a completely redesigned interface.

Check the video below for a demonstration and an overview of the Viber desktop app.

Source: Viber

The article "Viber Announces New Desktop App", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Google pulled Grooveshark’s mobile app from Google Play in early 2011, after Apple had done the same the previous year. Moreover, Spotify launched in the U.S. in July, 2011 with the blessing of the major record labels and started stealing away Grooveshark’s users. It didn’t stop here: Universal Music Group filed a federal lawsuit against Grooveshark for uploading copyrighted songs. Sony Music and Warner Music Group joined the lawsuit the following month and EMI filed a lawsuit of its own in early January. That’s a full house.

Anyway, online music streaming services are on the rise, and we decided to do a quick roundup on the most serious offerings.

Spotify

Spotify is definitely the most popular online music streaming platform right now. The concept takes on Grooveshark’s model, but does it in a more…”compliant” way. It effectively pioneered the ad-supported free streaming model and it also got the most complete music library of any streaming service out there. Spotify also made the effort of being available across the whole board: iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and lots of other platforms like Sonos, Boxee…etc. Cost-wise, Spotify will cost around USD 10/month.

Main drawback: Spotify is not yet available in the Middle Eastern region (can be reached through some internet fiddling though).

Pure Connect

The Pure Connect is an online live radio, on-demand content (podcasts, listen again programmes, ambient sounds) gateway. Pure Connect is also a full on-demand music streaming service that will cost a very reasonable USD 5/month. However, the whole service still has plenty room for improvement: A sleeker interface, a wider catalogue, better streaming quality (instead of the current 128 kbps bit-rate), and an offline mode.

Bottom line: the service will be good to Pure Flow radio owners. Period.

Bloom.fm

Bloom’s UI and overall design are simply beautiful: from the cute animated bumblebee acting as your personal music collector/assistant to the minimalist colors, fonts and designs.

Of course it is not all about looks. With Bloom, you get genre-based radio playback for free; you can also borrow 20 tracks and store them locally for USD 1, or 200 tracks for USD 5 per month. For USD 10/month you even get unlimited streaming and borrowing.

As far as mobile apps are concerned, iOS and Android official clients are available for download.

Bloom does look extremely promising.

XBOX Music

Xbox is not only about playing games. Hence, it is about more than playing games. Hah. This is obviously why Microsoft used the Xbox name for their music streaming service. This service works on Windows 8 PCs, Windows Phone 8 (not everywhere though) and the Xbox 360. Unfortunately this service is not yet officially available in Lebanon nor the Middle Eastern region.

Xbox Music offers ad-supported Free streaming on Windows 8 and Windows RT devices (computers, laptops, tablets) in 15 countries. There are no duration restrictions during the first 6 months of Free streaming. After that there will be a limit on the number of hours of free streaming allowed per month. It also offers the Xbox Music Pass which is a pay subscription service (similar to that of Zune Music Pass) that allows users to listen to their subscription music. The pricing in US includes $9.99 per-month and $99.99 annual subscriptions. A one-month trial offer is available. The Xbox Music Pass is available in 22 countries. The service offers 30 million tracks from majors as well independent labels.

Rdio

Rdio is an ad-free music subscription service available in 17 countries - Not yet available in Lebanon. 

It is available as a website and also has clients for the iPhone, iPod Touch; iPad,Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone mobile devices, which can play streaming music or cache songs for offline playback. There are also clients for the Roku and Sonos systems. The web-based service also offers a native desktop client app for Mac OS X and Windows. Its library has content from the four major record labels, as well as the Merlin Network and the aggregators IODA, INgrooves, The Orchard, CD Baby, IRIS Distribution, BFM Digital, Finetunes, and Catapult. Rdio also offers social networking, allowing users to share playlists and follow others to see what music they listen to.

Rdio was created by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who were also behind file sharing network Kazaa.

Sony Music Unlimited

Music Unlimited, formerly Qriocity is a trading name for Sony Corporation’s on-demand streaming music service which is licensed and powered by Omnifone.

The music service, branded as Music Unlimited, was launched in December 2010 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It launched in the United States in early January 2011, and in France, Italy, Germany and Spain in late January 2011. It launched in Australia and New Zealand in February 2011.The service was suspended worldwide in April 2011 along with the PlayStation Network outage, but resumed in mid-May. On 16 June 2011, a free to download Music Unlimited Android app was released. 

There’s no completely free option, but 30-day and 60-day trials are available, after which it will cost around USD 5/month for access through PS3 and computer, or USD 10/month if you want to add it to Android, iOS, Vita and all other connected Sony devices. Catalogue is massive. But cross-experience is a bit… non-uniform. High quality mode (320 kbps) is only available on PS3, PC and Android, while Offline mode is only available on Android, Walkman and Vita. The app also doesn’t run in the background on PS3.

Still a very good plus for Sony owners.

Nokia Music

Nokia Music is only available on Windows Phone 8 devices, and comes in direct competition with Microsoft’s Xbox Music. It’s actually quite nice with free mix radio and a subscription option that offers unlimited streaming.

However, beside being not available in the region, it also has a very limited catalogue compared to other services, and only works on Windows Phone.

Deezer

Deezer works in Lebanon!!! YAY! It also works well, and the catalogue is rather… OK. It even contains a selection of arabic songs, oldies and new hits. We found the website to be very good, well designed and hassle-free. Pricing options are free-to-try (ad supported), unlimited desktop streaming for USD 3/month, and Mobile streaming + offline mode for USD 6/month.

With more than 20 million tracks in its catalogue, Deezer was our big “coup-de-coeur”, and we do encourage you to try it. You’ll definitely like it.

Napster

Remember Napster? It is still running, and also looks pretty good. With iOS, Android and web apps to serve it. It now joined forces with Rhapsody and is accessible for USD 10/month.

Of course, Lebanon is not a supported country yet.

The article "Music: Let’s Play It Loud and Cloud", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Swipe, a Web app that functions as a two-way presentation tool, recently launched into beta, allowing people to not only build Web-powered slideshows, but also share them with anyone. Those presentations can then be viewed on any mobile device with a modern browser.

Debuting at the Microsoft Bizspark Startup Rally competition at The Next Web Conference, Swype is trying to make presentations more engaging.

You know how presentations tend to be boring at best. Without going into deeper analysis about the reasons, presentations have always hovered around one person and one projector. Since most people sitting in a presentation have either a laptop, tablet device, or smartphone on hand, to make the experience more educational and informative, presenters could use the service as means to capture their undivided attention. Swipe also adds Dropbox integration, for enhanced cloud capabilities.

Swipe is accesible now through beta invites. Apparently, as declared by the company, all beta invitees will receive “free-for-life” accounts.

The article "Swipe WebApp Launches, Lets Everyone Share Presentations", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Google keeps introducing enhancements to its existing services, the latest being the ability to create events in Google Calendar directly from Gmail. Through an announcement on the Official Gmail Blog, Google stated that starting today, dates and times will be “lightly underlined” in email messages, where clicking them will allow users to schedule events directly in Google Calendar without leaving Gmail itself.

Clicking on one of those underlined dates will also allow users to preview their schedule for the day and change the title, date or time of the event. Clicking “Add to Calendar” will add the event to the personal calendar, and for extra convenience, the calendar event will include a link back to the original email.

This new feature is rolling out over the next week to everyone with the English (US) language with more languages to be added soon.

Source: Official Gmail Blog

The article "Add Events to Google Calendar Straight from Gmail", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Six months ago, Microsoft announced the rebranding of their popular email service to Outlook.com, with a complete re-design to go line-in-line with Microsoft’s own Windows 8 (as well as Windows Phone 8) and to allow Outlook to compete with Gmail as well as Yahoo!.

Outlook has been labeled as “customer preview” for the last six months, which means that it was only available as a trial for those who were interested in having a sneak peak at what will be changed and updated.

Source: PC Advisor

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it has completed the migration from Hotmail.com to Outlook.com, with more than 400 million active users and 150 million gigabytes of data.

This decision was made after Microsoft saw a huge increase in registration when the Outlook.com brand was launched, with about 1/3 of them being Gmail converts.

It’s important to note that the Hotmail upgrade only relates to branding and aesthetics, but does not actually affect the functionality of the email service. This means that users won’t lose their present email nor will they lose their ‘hotmail.com’ address. However, all new registered email addresses will require the ‘outlook.com’ extension instead of ‘hotmail.com’. Present mobile phone setups will continue to function without any issues as not changes in settings will be required. Moreover, The webpage Hotmail.com now redirects users to Outlook.com.

The article "Hotmail is Dead; Long Live Outlook", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

The Nexus 4 (our review here) was manufactured by LG and, despite some shipment issues at the beginning, proved to be a successful contender due to several factors. And if the rumors hold to be true, it seems that Google is satisfied with the outcome of this partnership that it is planning to hand over the manufacturing of its upcoming Nexus phone to LG again.

According to the report by The Korean Times, LG is not only in talks with Google, but allegedly working with the maker of Android on “another Nexus-branded Google Android smartphone”. The report claims that Google’s CEO Larry Page has been visiting the South Korean company often to discuss the technical aspects. However, there is no official confirmation from Google or LG just yet.

This is till far from being considered as tangible information, as Google usually announces their new Nexus phones around the end of the year, and so far there have been many leaks about a possible Google X phone manufactured by Motorola. So we will keep our eyes open and update you on anything that might add some credibility to this rumor.

Source: The Korean Times

The article "LG Is Reportedly Building the Next Nexus Phone – [Rumor]", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

However, the absence of the Start button wasn’t perceived as a good thing by most users, making a buzz wave online among PC adopters. It made the whole new computing experience rather confusing than swift, as intended.

Apparently, Windows 8.1 will include the return of the Start button. But this come back does include some changes and amendments on the traditional button which will only act as a method to simply access the Start Screen, not including the traditional Start Menu.

This rumor does come alongside another bigger one (strategic re-shaping): the option to allow users to boot directly to the traditional desktop environment rather than the far more complicated new layout (as heard among new W8 users). Microsoft explained away the Start button removal using data it gathered from the company’s Customer Experience Improvement Program. But apparently this program wasn’t particularly pertinent nor accurate.

We may see the Start button return in the upcoming Windows 8.1 Public Preview.

The article "Is Microsoft Bringing Back the Start Button to Windows 8?", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Google Now for iOS won’t have integration with notifications or alerts at launch as in the case of Android, neither every type of card that users will find on the Android version such as boarding passes, activity summary, events, concerts, Fandango and Zillow. It is expected that these will come up with time in future updates. This system will be working on a voluntary opt-in basis, this allowing users to decide if they want to use the personalized system or not.

In case you want to download the app, check this link which will direct you to iTunes.

Featured Image Source: The Apps Lab

The article "Google Now Comes to iOS", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Enter nabbesh.com (for our non-Arabic users, Nabbesh roughly translates to look for thoroughly), a job search site focused on allowing those freelancers to find the best opportunities through matching their skills to jobs, without having to rely on a predetermined list of keywords.

Launched in Dubai back in 2012 by Loulou Khazen Baz, nabbesh.com became a a website that helps to connect skilled individuals with those interested in hiring them either on a short-term or long-term basis. Users can list their skills and services while recruiters can post their requirements. The idea came up when the founder was searching for part-time consulting work and realized there was simply nowhere to go to list her services.

“There are many people who don’t want a full-time job or aren’t happy in their full-time job and are looking for opportunities. With some of the highest unemployment rates in the region, ranging from 28-40%, especially among youth, a new kind of platform is badly needed.”

Miss Bazz funded the project herself which she began in 2011 after leaving her job at a venture capitalist firm.

“I wanted to be part of something bigger and create something that had social benefit. I became very bored and demotivated. I had all this work experience but there was no channel to say these are my skills and I can do some consulting for a fee. There was no skills marketplace and so I decided to create one.”

On the site’s about page, you will read that the “focus when creating Nabbesh was to encourage people in the region, particularly the women and the youth, to find work opportunities that are suitable for their experience and address their lifestyle demands.”

The site covers many markets including Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen and include a large pool of skills such as Accounting, Financial Strategy, Fitness Training, Football Coaching and so on.

Today, the Nabbesh community has over 15,000 talented men, women and youth to satisfy any job requirement.

Source: Nabbesh, The National, Wamda

The article "Nabbesh.com, Your Skills Virtual Marketplace", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Wavii’s key functionality is to aggregate and summarize news from all around the world based on key elements.

Soon after the above took place, an announcement at Wavii’s website stated that “While we won’t continue to offer this particular service, we’ll be using our natural language research at Google in ways that may be useful to millions of people around the world“, which indicates that the info summarization service will be shutting down, while the company’s expertise in natural language processing should find its way into future Google projects.

The article "Google Acquires Wavii, A Lebanese Natural Language Processing Startup", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Mars One Program:

From what we can see so far, it does look like the first humans on Mars will most probably be reality TV stars. Why? Looking at the whole “selection” process did remind us of currently ongoing reality shows casting phases: select 24 to 40 candidates willing to travel to Mars in groups of four, the first time in 2023; This group will intermittently be followed by one additional group every two years. Moreover, final rounds of the search will be televised (as planned) in 2014. This selection process also takes advantage of web and social media viral effects, through asking the public to rate the application videos to help narrow down the selection pool.

Mars One Habitat

The reality TV show will fund the mission apparently - It will cost $6 billion to get the first group of four to the red planet. Of course… Billions more would be required to keep the colony going and growing beyond that, but apparently, we’re not there yet.

To filter out spam applicants, Mars One is charging an application fee that varies by country (it’s $38 in the United States). Applicants must create a 30- to 70-second video that explains why they’re the best candidate. Applications close August 31, 2013. As declared by its officials, Mars One has received more than 10,000 emails from more than 100 countries around the world, voicing willingness to sign up for a one-way ticket to the Red Planet.

Selected participants will have to move to the United States to spend the next seven years as full-time, salaried employees of Mars One. This phase will be a training round before the real deal in 2023.

Some Technical Data Now: Is Mars One For Real?

SpaceX’s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, has repeatedly said it’s technically possible to put humans on Mars in 10 years. Veteran rocket engineer Robert Zubrin agrees that Mars One’s plan is technically feasible, but adds that it’s incredibly challenging: “They have set a very high bar for themselves, and I’m not sure they have the resources,” he told NBC News.

Other challenges include weathering the radiations exposure and health effects of long-term weightlessness on the way to Mars, and being able to perfectly equip, maintain and supply astronauts living on Mars, with no possibility of heading back to Earth, in terms of logistics, healthcare and… so much other stuff!

We’ll be definitely following this matter up, updating you as we go.

… So guys, jump off Tech-Ticker now, and head to Mars One’s portal and enroll now. And if you ever make it to the final list, make sure you do let us know, so we’d get to pay you a warm goodbye.

The article "Want To Live and Die on Mars? Apply Now!", written by Chadi Abou Nohra appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Well, as per Apple’s ubiquitous catchphrase, “There’s an app for that”, and it is called “People of Leb” for iOS. It is an innovative application that allows you to find any information about any Lebanese person (worldwide) via your iPhone or iPad.

When fist launching the app, you will be greeted with a specific number of categories that will allow you to browse Lebanese people who belong to them, such as Prime Ministers, Lawyers, Doctors, Miss Lebanon, Parliament Speakers, Presidents, Deputies, Engineers and so on. You can also search for a specific Lebanese individual to find out more information about him/her.

You can accurately find the professional profile of any doctor or engineer if you wish, along with all the relevant details that you may require.

Additional features of this application is that it allows you to:

• View the daily obituary list of Lebanese residents
• Find out how people view your profile
• View people’s biographies, photo albums, family members, and timelines
• Stay updated with the latest news, Tweets, and Facebook posts of prominent Lebanese people
• Access Lebanon’s demographic statistics and view graphical reports about Lebanon sorted by geographical region, religion, family, name, and age
• Explore Lebanese families from the largest to the smallest
• Find the most used names in Lebanon

We have reached to Miss Danielle Ayoub, the Marketing Executive of Softech S.A.R.L., the company behind “People of Leb” and with whom we had a short Q&A about the application.

1. What is the current source of information related to the public as well as other profiles?

While coming up with the idea of this application, we noticed that there’s no website or application in Lebanon that gathers information about all Lebanese from public figures to other profiles. So we collected the information from different public sources which are stated as a reference in each profile, then we organized them in order to make them more user-friendly and targeted. For example, we gathered all doctors in one section and we had the data published from the syndicate of doctors in Lebanon. As for other profiles, we have used the ballot list (that the Lebanese government of Interior affairs has made public on its website dgps.gov.lb) and we made it searchable and the source of the information always appears on the relative page. In addition, People of Leb is powered by a website called Katagogi.com, so any Lebanese who registers to that website automatically appears on People of Leb.

2. How is the content confirmed to be genuine and accurate?

On the internet there is nothing 100% accurate and genuine, however we have a data entry team that always controls the information that we gather and we try to collect the information from the most credible sources.

3. How is the content maintained from your end?

As we said above, we have a data-entry team that always updates the information.

4. How do you deal with privacy issues?

All the information is retrieved from public sources with respect to the reference. We don’t get the information from any illegal or private sources. So we don’t abuse anyone’s privacy.

5. How frequently is the content as well as the overall application updated?

No data is stored inside the application, any data updated in the back-end will reflect automatically on the application and our data entry team updates the data on daily basis. Also, some features can be added without having a new release for the application and show automatically in the application.
In general, we are always working on integrating new features to the application, some of these features take longer time to be developed, others less, but in average we release a new version of the app every month and each release offers new functionalities and new categories of people. For example, our latest release holds a unique and first platform social media accounts tracking in Lebanon, and the new categories are those of Lebanese artists. Since we support young Lebanese talents, we offer them exposure on the app. For the current release, we have cooperated with the renowned Lebanese photographer and the pioneer in his profession Raymond Yazbeck and we digitized his book “Expressions”, as well as with two young artists with very special works : Rana Radwan, a pop surrealistic painter with her character “Roones” and Bassel Abu Khzam, a contemporary artist with his “ArtWork”.

6. Do you have any future plans for the application?

We sure do, we already have features that allow users to keep track of their Twitter ranking (variation of followers, followings, tweets) and we are working on the same plan for Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and all major social networks. These are some of our future plans, but we have a very innovative set of ideas that haven’t been implemented neither in Lebanon not the Middle East, so we will keep you up-to-date with our news. In summary, the main vision for the application is to connect all Lebanese through one application.

7. When will “People of Leb” be available on the iPad, Android and Windows Phone 8?

People of Leb is already available for iPhone and iPad users. And we are currently in the process of developing an Android version. This way we will be covering the biggest part of the Lebanese market. Currently, we don’t have plans for the Windows 8.

“People of Leb” can be downloaded from this link and it costs $2.99. Let us know what you think of this application.

About Softech

Software Technology Solutions was established in Central Beirut, Lebanon on August 2000. Soon after, another branch office was opened in the United States of America. Softech is an IT consulting firm that specializes in delivering state-of-the-art web-based solutions to meet the needs of our clients. Our Objective is to centralize all the essential competencies in order to come up with an original solution to all your projects. Whatever your requirements may be, we will have the pleasure to meet up with you and to think together of the solution that best suits your business activity.

Official Website: Softech

Feature Image by Wissam Shekhani

The article "“People of Leb” Application Review and Interview", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

The Asha 210 will have a 2.4″ LCD screen of QVGA resolution (320 x 240 pixels), Wi-Fi connectivity and a dedicated Wi-Fi on/off hardware toggle (spacebar of the keyboard), a  2 megapixel camera at the back (no front camera),  a 3.5mm audio jack, an internal memory of 64MB with microSD card slot for expanding it by up to 32GB.

It will be available in both Single-SIM and Dual-SIM versions, with the latter offering  support for Easy Swap, meaning you can exchange the secondary SIM without powering off the handset.

Other key features for Nokia Asha 210 include:

• Social phonebook integration with the ability to launch WhatsApp direct from contact cards in the Phonebook
• Preloaded YouTube launcher for direct video streaming
• Chat screen notifications that keep users up-to-date on new conversations
• Nokia’s renowned long battery life: up to 46 days with Single-SIM and up to 24 days with Dual-SIM

The Nokia Asha 210 is going to be available in yellow, cyan, black, magenta, and white. The estimated retail price for the Nokia Asha 210 is around $72.

Source: Nokia

The article "Nokia Announces the Asha 210", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

With the latest range of Lumia WP8 devices, Nokia is all set to lead the change for the Windows Phone ecosystem with its Lumia differentiators.

Alaa Remayyed, General Manager for Nokia Levant, stated, “We are proud today in Lebanon to present the amazing Nokia Lumia range. In line with the company’s strategy of delivering devices that will revolutionize the industry and redefine the future of smart devices, the Nokia Lumia range will deliver compelling experiences to our consumer across price points.”

Nokia Lumia 920

The Nokia Lumia 920 includes the latest advances in Nokia PureView imaging innovation. Using advanced floating lens technology, its camera takes in five times more light than competing smartphones without using flash, making it possible to capture clear, bright pictures and video indoors and at night. It also introduces optical image stabilization for the clearest, brightest pictures and video even when shooting indoors or at night.  Additionally, The Nokia Lumia 920 is the first integrated wireless charging smartphone, with the technology built right into the handset.

Nokia Lumia 820

The Nokia Lumia 820 is a stylish, mid-range smartphone that delivers high-end performance in a compact package. Microsoft’s unique productivity offerings also make the Nokia Lumia 820 the obvious smartphone choice for any type of business.   While the Nokia Lumia 820 has the same unibody look and feel as the high end Lumia smartphones, it comes with exchangeable shell covers in a range of vibrant colors, including the option to add wireless charging. Like the Nokia Lumia 920, the Nokia Lumia 820 also boasts the world’s most sensitive touchscreen and Nokia ClearBlack display technology or easy visibility in the brightest sunlight.

Nokia Lumia 620

More fun and more youthful, the Nokia Lumia 620 uses a new dual-shot color technique to deliver a variety of striking color and texture effects.  With five different exchangeable shells to choose from, people can adapt the look of their Nokia Lumia 620 to their own personal taste and style. With NFC support, the Nokia Lumia 620 can easily share and receive content by tapping with compatible devices.

Nokia Lumia 720

The Lumia 720 delivers a high-end camera performance at a mid-range price point. A large f/1.9 aperture and exclusive Carl Zeiss optics are designed to deliver bright, clear pictures day and night, while the HD-quality, wide-angle front-facing camera makes taking pictures with friends and video calling more enjoyable. The sleek and stylish smartphone comes with the latest high-end Nokia Lumia experiences, including Nokia Music, the HERE location suite, and the option to add wireless charging with a snap-on wireless charging cover.

Nokia Lumia 520

The Lumia 520 is Nokia’s most affordable Windows Phone 8 smartphone, delivering experiences normally only found in high-end smartphones, such as the same digital camera lenses found on the flagship Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Music for free music out of the box and even offline, and the HERE location suite. A four-inch super sensitive touchscreen makes for a more responsive and immersive content experience than can usually be found at this price.

All of Nokia WP8 Devices are available across Lebanon, will you get one? and which model?

The article "Nokia Lumia WP8 Devices Officially Available in Lebanon", written by Zaher Hallab appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.

Not to be confused with an iCar (which we hope will eventually come to existence), the iBeetle will feature an interface that allows the iPhone to integrate into the vehicle’s functions via a specially developed app called the“Volkswagen Car Net The Beetle” along with a docking station, allowing the iPhone to become “an integrative component”.

The docking station is designed to allow the iPhone to snap into the cradle, which will then provide owners with the ability to make use of the specially designed app. The iPhone can be used to navigate, make and receive calls via a hands-free unit, listen to music from the media library via the audio system’s amplifier and loudspeakers, and much more.

Once launched, the respective app allows the driver to perform several functions that have been specified as the following:

• “Spotify” to stream media such as new songs, customized playlists or online radio stations directly to the iPhone and from there into the sound system of the Beetle. In addition, users in the Beetle can switch between “Spotify” and “iTunes” at any time.
• The “Expert” menu offers five functions which make the iPhone an extended on-board instrument of the Beetle. Offered here are a G-Meter (for measuring transverse acceleration), oil and coolant temperature gauges for the engine, a chronometer and a compass.T
• The “Trainer” can be used to compare driving times, distances and fuel economy values for different routes between any two destinations, with access to social networks like to post trip details and recommendations.
• The (social) “Reader” lists the latest messages from social networks like Facebook. There is also a practical function for having iPhone messages read aloud here.
• The “Postcard” sends the current location of the Beetle to friends as a digital postcard with a map motif with the sender identification: “Sent with the Beetle App”.
• The “Photo” function allows to take a photo from the interior of the Beetle by iPhone camera and post it on a social network with the sender identification is: “Sent with the Beetle App”.
• In the “undocked” mode, the “Milestones” menu is available. Here the app rewards its users with virtual “milestone stickers” for the Beetle when certain tasks have been completed.

The iBeetle will be available in various colors that are “stylistically linked” to Apple.Volkswagen offers two different ways to acquire the innovative interface between iPhone and Beetle. First, as an optional feature. Second, as a standard feature of the newly conceptualized iBeetle and iBeetle Cabriolet. The German car maker will be launching these special models on the market in parallel with the iPhone 5 integration at the beginning of 2014.

Source: Volkswagen Media Services

The article "Introducing the iBeetle: A Volkswagen Car with an Apple Touch", written by Azmi Sayadi appeared originally on Tech-Ticker.