All Windows 8 apps will offer a try-it-before-you-buy-it feature

There's nothing worse than shelling out a couple bucks on an app, only to find out that it's absolutely terrible, right? Well, Microsoft has a plan to eliminate "app regret" — when you're considering an app from the upcoming Windows 8 Store, you'll be able to try it for free for seven days before you have to shell out cash for it.

The free trial program may be a necessary tool for Microsoft to overcome the challenges posed by their house minimum: All Windows 8 apps will have a price tag of $1.49 or higher (up to $999.99). That's significantly higher than the Apple App Store's 99-cent minimum. Microsoft no doubt hopes higher sales prices will mean more revenue — after all, the company just posted their first ever net loss last quarter.

While you're able to return Android apps for a refund within 15 minutes of purchase, Microsoft is truly offering a real try-it-before-you-buy-it option. While this is no doubt exciting for future owners of Windows 8, the news may also affect other operating systems if it proves successful. After all, if the public responds favorably to a try-it-before-you-buy-it scheme, it may very well become the standard.

BSNL's Pocket Wi-Fi Router @Rs 5,800

The 3G router will act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling you to connect your phone, laptop, tablet to the router.

This might be an answer to all your data connectivity issues. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in association with Shyam Networks is planning to launch a 3G Wi-Fi pocket-sized router called Winknet MF50. It is expected that the company will be announcing the router tomorrow, which will come bundled with attractive data plans. The cost of the router is reportedly Rs 5,800. The 3G router will act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling you to connect your phone, laptop, tablet to the router. You can carry the router in your pocket and is especially useful for on the move.

The company has launched Winknet 3G dongle for Rs 1,900, which also support 2G connections. It features a download speed of 7.2Mbps and an upload speed of 5.76Mbps. 

BSNL will not be the first company to launch a pocket sized Wi-Fi router. LAVA Mobiles launched a wireless router, W150, back in September 2011 followed by Kobian who launched Mercury 3G Mobile Router which could provide Wi-Fi connectivity to up to 6 devices with the push of a button.

The 3G Mobile Router is especially useful for SOHO, students and even for home use without creating a mess of cables around. The device primarily makes you pay for one device but gets a payback for six users, making it easy to share a fast mobile broadband network connection.

Google Compute Engine available for preview

Over the past few years, Google has been working constantly to build some cloud based platforms and other infrastructure for third-party developers, to help them build applications and websites, provide storage, or analysis of data.

Google has already built several products that do just this, such as Google App Engine, Google Cloud Storage, and Google BigQuery. The search giant recently introduced another product to that list at Google IO, called Google Compute Engine, which is a cloud based computing engine for application developers.

Google Compute Engine will allow users to run Linux Virtual Machines (VMs) in the cloud. It gives greater flexibility and control to application developers to manage and access computing resources more fundamentally.

Meant to be a powerful and affordable solution for businessmen and application developers, Google Compute Engine helps manage and process workloads in the cloud. Google claims you can run your workloads on Google's infrastructure efficiently. It actually provides 50% more computing power & high-end performance as compared to other cloud service providers.

Google Compute Engine provides various flexible services to users. It allows you to launch the Linux Virtual Machines inside it using variety of configurations. There are various additional solutions available to manage your workloads and those solutions are developed by the Google's ecosystem partners including RightScale, OpsCode and Puppet Labs.

Deployment of your various applications is now possible on an infrastructure that provides consistent performance. You can use some of the consistently fast, core technologies to store and host your data. You can launch Linux Virtual Machines on demands with the help of 1, 2, 4 and 8 virtual cores that provides 3.75GB of RAM per virtual core. 

Google Compute Engine also provides strong security to protect your online resources efficiently. You can use built-in data privacy and security capabilities that helps to protect your system from unwanted access. You can connect your Virtual Machines together using high-performance network technology. It helps to form a powerful compute clusters and to manage the Internet connectivity using configurable firewalls.

For now, Google Compute Engine is running in limited preview trial mode, and is not yet publicly open to everyone. You have to submit your request (sign up here) for gaining access to GCE, and we suggest you provide as much information as you can to get your application reviewed successfully.

Bharti Airtel launches cloud computing service

Telecom major Bharti Airtel today launched cloud computing services using HP's technology to provide software and related infrastructure to business organisations on pay-per-use model. 

"Cloud computing market in India is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 40 per cent by 2014. With our end-to-end telecom solutions bundled with the latest technologies like 3G and 4G, Bharti Airtel is poised to lead this space," Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoorsaid in a statement. 

Through its Cloud Enablement Platform (CLEP), Bharti Airtel will offer hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) applications to the small and large enterprises on a pay-as-you-go model, it added. 

In cloud computing, end users are not required to buy software or devices as they are provided by service providers on a rental basis. 

HP will implement and manage Bharti's CLEP. The company said that initially it will offer business solutions like ERP ( Enterprise Resource Planning), accounting packages and storage and compute. 

Going forward, the company will introduce diversify SaaS applications on the same platform especially for small and medium business customers, the statement said.

Five Reasons Why You Must Try Firefox 13

If you are using any other browser, use this opportunity to try Firefox, which comes with a fresh look and absolutely exciting features. Here are five reasons why you must try Firefox 13.


Mozilla has announced the latest version of its very popular browser Firefox. Firefox 13, which has been able to generate enough excitement is finally available for download. This new version of the free and open source browser brings along some new features, which promises much better browsing experience than ever before.

If you are a Firefox user already, you may get an update soon as Mozilla now follows the process of silent update. It began with the Windows version of Firefox 12. If you are using any other browser, use this opportunity to try Firefox, which comes with a fresh look and absolutely exciting features. Here are five reasons why you must try Firefox 13. 


1. Fast Speed
Mozilla introduced SPDY with Firefox 11. This feature has been enabled by default in Firefox 13. SPDY is projected as the successor of HTTP and takes lesser time for the websites to load. An official blog post on Mozilla blog says, “You will notice faster page load times on sites that support SPDY networking, like Google and Twitter.”

2. Security
Security is one of major features of this Firefox. SPDY ensures a boost in security as it encrypts each and every communication with SSL, making browsing securer than ever.

3. A Revamped Home Page
Firefox 13 brings a redesigned home page. Some of the changes that you will notice is that the icons at the bottom page let the users access bookmarks, settings, history and downloads via one-click shortcuts.

4. A Better New Tab Experience
This new Firefox brings a better experience to the users each time they open a new tab. The experience is slightly similar to that of Google’s Chrome. You will find the thumbnails of the recently used websites. Firefox 13 lets the users customise the New Tab page as they can add or remove thumbnails of the pages they visit the most.

5. Totally localised
Firefox 13 brings support for the Khmer language. The browser is now available in more than 85 languages and is now available to additional 15 million users around the globe.
The browser is available for Windows, Linux, or Mac. Click here to download the all-new Firefox 13.