The Mayans were right after all

Gangnam Style becomes first YouTube video to hit one billion views

Congratulations -- you've survived the end of the world! As you must have heard by now, the apocalypse warnings were absurd and your life is set to continue unchanged... or is it? PSY's Gangnam Style, which exhausted all entertainment value long before its popularity began spiraling out of control, has just become the first YouTube video in history to clock up a billion views (yes, you read that right... 1,000,000,000). We can only assume from this that the Mayans were right, and that the world is soon to descend into anarchy and chaos at the realization that PSY is basically the most important person in internet media, ever. We recommend locking your doors and prioritizing your perishables -- when you start hearing a faint hum in your head, and feel your wrists being drawn together against your will, you'll know its starting.

Karbonn launches the A30, a budget Android ‘smartphone’ with a monstrous 5.9″ display

Indian mobile manufacturer Karbonn has quietly launched A30, an Android4.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich)-powered smartphone with a huge 5.9-inch display. The device is currently available with online retailer Saholic at Rs 10,990. Though the seller is offering delivery period of three days and option of cash on delivery, it currently does not have the smartphone in stock. 


Karbonn A30's highlighting feature is its 5.9-inch TFT display, which is bigger than that of Samsung Galaxy Note II. However, unlike the top-of-the-line phablet by Samsung, Karbonn A30 has a 1GHz dual-core processor. The device has an 8MP camera with LED flash on the rear and a 1.3MP snapper in the front. 

Coming to connectivity, Karbonn A30 can access the internet over Wi-Fi, 3G and 2G, while files can be transferred via Bluetooth and microUSB. The dual-sim phone supports microSD card having capacity up to 32GB, is powered by a 2,500mAh battery and comes with built-in KingSoft Office productivity suite. 

Key specs of Karbonn A30: 

Display: 5.9-inch touchscreen;
Operating system: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich);
Processor: Dual-core 1GHz;
Storage: Support for 32GB microSD card;
Connectivity: 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, microUSB, Bluetooth;
Camera: 8MP with flash rear camera, 1.3MP front camera; and
Battery: 2,500mAh

Lava Xolo A800 available online in India, for Rs. 11,999

The recently revealed Lava Xolo A800, is now available online in India, listed at such online retailers as Infibeam.com, for Rs. 11,999.

A dual-SIM Android device, the Xolo A800 supports both GSM and CDMA networks. It features a 4.5-inch IPS LCD display, with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. The Xolo A800 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core MediaTek processor, and runs on Android 4.0 ICS.

Other features of the Lava Xolo A800 include an 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash, along with a front-facing VGA camera. The device runs on a 1,600mAh battery that will deliver roughly 5.8 hours talktime on 2G networks, and 7 hours of video playback time.

The Xolo A800 features 4GB of built-in storage with microSD card slot expandability, 512MB of RAM, as well as 3G/Bluetooth/GPS with A-GPS/USB 2.0/Wi-Fi connectivity.

It competes with the Micromax A110 which sports a bigger screen of 5 inch.

The Lava Xolo A800 was first rumoured at the end of November, and was expected to feature a 5-inch display, and be priced at roughly Rs. 13,000.

Google launches Instagram rival Snapseed

 Google said its online social network had grown to 135 million active users, as it added a photo-sharing app to compete against services like Facebook's Instagram.

"Today Google+ is the fastest-growing network thingy ever," said Google senior vice president Vic Gundotra in a blog post yesterday.



He added that "135 million (users) are active in just the stream," and that more than 500 million have upgraded their Google accounts to potentially participate in the social network, which aims to rival Facebook.

"This enthusiasm, we think, stems from our building tools that build real relationships -- in a live hangout, around a breathtaking photo, or with an inner circle of friends," Gundotra said.

"So today we're launching two new improvements that help bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software."

Google said it has now introduced the mobile photo-sharing service Snapseed, made by Nik Software, to the social network. Google acquired German-based Nik in September.

The Snapseed app was last year's iPad app of the year, and Gundotra said Google was excited to make the app available on its Android system as well.

The service, which is similar to Instagram -- bought by Facebook for a hefty price this year -- allows users to crop and enhance pictures before posting to social networks.

Snapseed had been available for $4.99 for Apple devices, but is now free on that platform as well as on Android devices, in a challenge to Instagram.

Gundotra said Google+ also will be adding a new feature called "Communities," which makes the Google+ "hangouts" into permanent locations.