WiMAX currently being tested in Kathmandu by Nepal Telecom

Nepal Telecom is currently testing WiMAX Base stations in Kathmandu, which is tentatively scheduled for launch this Dashain or tihar. They have already tested 10 Base Stations inside Kathmandu and going to install/operate 40 more Base Stations in the Valley. AirSpan, a US based Vendor is providing the Wimax solution to Nepal Telecom for the whole of Nepal and currently involved in fast roll out of Base Stations in Kathmandu. 

It is found from the test that a single Base Station can provide coverage up to 1 km with a speed of at least 4 Mbps but in compact building area, the coverage goes down to less than 500m. Now with the completion of 50 Base Stations and 400 more Wi-Fi hotspots in Kathmandu, Nepal Telecom will be launching the service after getting approval from NTA for the tariff. They have proposed a volume based package of 5GB WiMAX Internet service, worth Rs 800 to NTA and soon will be launching more packages for wholesale services to corporate (banks, NGOs, INGOs, Government offices and other companies). It is also known that they will be outsourcing the CPE/Support Services from another company and NT will soon make a pact with them for those services.

With the ever increasing demand of Broadband in Nepal, NT intends to install more of WiMAX Base Stations and around 1500 Wi-Fi hotspots in whole of Nepal to quench the bandwidth hungry customers and extend broadband coverage to remote areas. As WiMax allows users to have high speed internet service without having to rely on telephone or Optical fibre cables, We believe it will be more popular in remote areas where it will be the only one option to get wireless broadband there. The Wi-fi hotspot availability of the service with WiMax will be a sure-shot hit due to ubiquitous nature of Wi-fi in smartphones, tabs/pads and Laptops.

As the Internet reach extends to remote places of Nepal, this sort of project helps to lessen the digital divide (the gap between people who have and have not access to Information Technologies like computer, Internet) in the country and boost the economic activities there.
Source:

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Nepal's first 3D movie shooting completed, enters post production.

First 3D movie being made in Nepal named 'Vigilante' has recently entered studio for post production, completing its shooting in different locations of Nuwakot and Kathmandu. Dipendra K Khanal who stormed the box office with Sex psychology movie Chapali Height, is the producer/director of the movie. It is known that the overall budget of the movie will be 1 crore of which 20 lakhs is for the 3D camera alone.

Director Dipendra K Khanal and Actress Priyanka Karki of Vigilante

According to Khanal, the movie portrays urban life and it's problems. He believes the 3D movie will fully entertain people, bringing out new taste in Nepalese Film Industry. The movie include actors like Subash Thapa, Raj Ghmire, Priyanka karki in lead roles and other actors include Deep Shika Shahi, Menuka Pradhan, A Gurung, Shankar Acharya. Purushottam Pradhan is the cinematographer of the movie. Works like Editing and Sound mixing is being done in the post production according to the Cinematographer. 

Actors Priyanka Karki and Subash Thapa on the set of Vigilante.

Though the movie will be ready to be released in a matter of month, the movie release will be limited to Kathmandu and some multiplexes that support 3D projection (like QFX, Big, Gopi Krishna, Guna). So, single Screen Theaters need to work parallel to make themselves ready for screening the first 3D movie of Nepal "Vigilante"- I cannot read any story or even a part of the movie from the title itself which was easy for many of the Nepali movies before.

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Soundgarden to Release 'King Animal' on Nov. 13

Soundgarden will release "King Animal," the veteran rock band's sixth studio album and first in over 16 years, on Nov. 13. The set's first single, "Been Away Too Long," hits digital retailers on Sept. 27.

Since reuniting in 2010, the Seattle group has issued retrospective album "Telephantasm" and live release "Live on I-5." In June, they hit No. 4 on the Rock Songs chart with "Live to Rise," a hard-driving rocker written for "The Avengers" soundtrack that has sold 90,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron, Ben Shepherd and Kim Thayil co-produced the album with longtime collaborator Adam Kasper and recorded at Studio X in Seattle. "King Animal" will be released on Seven Four Entertainment and Republic Records.

In March, Cornell told Billboard the album's sound would be diverse.

"I don't really know how to describe it musically," he said, "because typically with Soundgarden... every time we write a song we always take it for what it is and try to make it the most it can be. It's very diverse, I can tell you that."

"King Animal" is the band's first studio effort since 1996's "Down on the Upside," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Other releases include the grunge standards "Ultramega OK" (1988), "Louder Than Love" (1989) and "Badmotorfinger" (1991). They reached a commercial peak in 1994 with "Superunknown," which has sold 3.8 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, and topped the album chart, yielding five hit singles and two Grammy Awards.

Overall, the band has 8.2 million albums sold in the U.S. during their career, according to SoundScan.

With this release of the studio album by Soundgarden, I expect an album from Rage Against The Machine (RATM) as well. Thanks to disbanding of Audioslave ( formed with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden and Others from RATM), after which Soundgarden and RATM got reunion and started performing live but no studio album news yet from RATM.

"King Animal" Track Listing

Been Away Too Long

Non-State Actor

By Crooked Steps

A Thousand Days Before

Blood On The Valley Floor

Bones of Birds

Taree

Attrition

Black Saturday

Halfway There

Worse Dreams

Eyelid's Mouth

Source: Billboard.com

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Samsung Galaxy S4 to be unveiled in Feb 2013.

Samsung is planning to launch its high end smartphone of the Galaxy series- Galaxy S4 or S IV at Mobile World Congress MWC 2013, Barcelona. Different media reports the news quoting an Official from Samsung as published in The Korea times on Sunday. This will be the launch of an smartphone in nine months for Samsung Electronics after this years May release of Galaxy S III- the record breaking Smartphone for this year. 

Samsung Galaxy S III launched May 2012

Samsung's new flagship rumor was heard immediately after the iPhone 5 launch but now with the official's words, it seems Samsung is becoming ready to compete with Apple's iPhone in terms of hardware and much more features. 

It seems obvious now that Samsung Galaxy S4  will be supporting LTE or who knows it may support LTE Advanced ( 3GPP Release 10 LTE Advanced)!. It is also rumored that the device will have 5 inch OLED display, powered by Google's Android Jelly Bean and Quad core processor.

Here is round up of rumors of the Samsung Galaxy S4 specs.

• 5 inch OLED display.
• Some change in the curved rectangular shape.
• LTE.
• Samsung's Exynos/ Qualcomm's Snapdragon Processor.
• Android Jelly Bean OS.
• MWC Mobile World Congress 2013 Launch day.

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Comparison of iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920 and Samsung Galaxy S3.

The latest smartphone to hit the shelves is Apple's iPhone 5 launched last Wednesday in San Francisco, with 4 inch integrated display, LTE support, iOS 6 and nano SIM. The iPhone 5 launch was just one week after the release of Nokia new flagship phone, Lumia 920 with 4.5 inch display, Wireless Charging, 8 MP pure view Camera, Windows phone 8 OS and Qualcomm Dual Core Processor. Though both devices are yet to hit the market, here is a comparison of iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920 with 2012's best selling (till now) smartphone Samsung Galaxy S3. 

iPhone 5 is termed as "the thinnest and the lightest" smartphone in the market as claimed by the manufacturer Apple and it seems they have downsized many components to make it thin and light, the integrated display(the screen having the touch censor in it) being one of them. Nokia on the other hand claims their latest flagship to be the brightest smartphone with HD display. Samsung claimed their smartphone Galaxy S3 to be the Smartest phone with display lighten till you close your eyes and lifting of the call as you put the phone in your ears like features. 

All three devices have LTE capability though their operating frequencies are different depending on the carriers they deal with ( LTE frequency spectrum shown in the chart below). iPhone 5 slips a little with no NFC support which goes against the major speculation whereas Nokia 920 and Samsung Galaxy S3 both have NFC support. 

Nano SIM is what Apple's iPhone 5 take in, whose size is smaller than the micro SIM that Nokia 920 and Galaxy S3 supports. This makes the iPhone 5, clumsy to be used immediately in countries like Nepal where nano SIM card is not being distributed by the telecom operators, and gadget buffs have to wait till the nano SIM becomes available.

We take a look at the processor specs when it comes to compare the speed and processing capabilities of a phone but Apple's Dual core A6 processor falls short as compared to the Qualcomm's processor in Nokia 920 and Samsung S3. 

Panorama feature in Apple's iPhone 8 MP sapphire Lens Camera is big to many who don't know the presence of many Android applications for better panoramic photo. Nokia Lumia 920's 8MP pureview Camera with better image stabilization and long shutter is a major feature for the photography driven Smartphone user.

Now lets put the point wise comparison of the iPhone 5, Samsung S III and Nokia Lumia 920 in the picture below.

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Mobile Broadband in Nepal

It was an internet revolution when ADSL was introduced in Nepal by Nepal Telecom on Baishak 17,2065, with such unlimited plan price and ease of usage with the land line phone, ADSL got popular and the demand was enormous which made NT upgrade their system from 40K subscribers to 150k and distribute all around the country. Today the demand got shifted from fixed broadband to mobile broadband with the increase use of smartphones and the prompt availability of information from just a click in the smartphone/tab.

Recent survey shows that about 54 percent of total mobile users have smartphone in their hand and there is huge demand of internet bandwidth due to their readily availability of information but it has not been properly catered by Nepalese Internet/telecom service providers. Subscribers are complaining that world is going towards LTE, WiMax with internet speeds in Mbps but we in Nepal are still having the slow internet with GPRS, Edge and the so called "3G service" coverage not available all around the country. HSDPA (with H sign) is the fastest access technology available with GSM compatible 3G from which you could get max 3.8 Mbps data rate.

International Market has those data catered by newest access technologies like LTE, WiMax and some even operators testing LTE Advanced and WiMax 2 (4G) to release it till the end of this year 2012. Nepal Telecom, the leading Telecom operator has both the technology in pipeline and their IP CDMA project expansion also adds up another option for Mobile Broadband but it takes time for those technology to be available fully all around the country. The speed of the internet with Ncell 3G in cities all goes in vain from the non transparent and expensive tariff with hidden costs, as complained by the customers. Some private ISP are giving good data package both unlimited and usage basis with Wi-Fi hot spots but they are also limited to the periphery of the city. So people in remote areas and even in outskirts of the city has to rely on the data service of the telecom operators available all around but the slow GPRS and Edge leaves much disappointment.

Though LTE is going to be introduced by NT as a pilot project, it is not known when it is going to be operational as the authority body NTA has not made any clear remarks about the duplex type (FDD/TDD) and the frequency spectrum to be used for LTE. Nepal Telecom says they will be bringing the frequency duplex (FDD) LTE in 700 MHz with Huawei but that's of no avail if NTA (now without Chairman) does not decide that in time.

So for a revolution of Mobile broadband in Nepal, it seems like WiMax hot spots and 3G in whole of Nepal are the only solution that quenches the bandwidth hungry customers. And the increased access of the information from internet in rural areas helps to reduce the digital divide in the country and boost the economic activities there.
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Apple launches iPhone 5 just now. Here are the specifications.

Apple launches iPhone 5 in an event being held in San Francisco. Tim crook, the CEO of the giant company showed off the device with some major features and then leaves it to other for more of the features. Much of the features comes as speculated and leaked in the internet, and the most notable thing is that they are downsizing every component to make it the thinnest and lightest smartphone yet having bigger display than its predecessor. And as LTE is proudly there in the iPhone 5, we have to wait and see how Samsung is going to react with the sales of the thinnest and lightest smartphone ever, over  the LTE patent.

Here are the specifications of the Apple's latest Smartphone they call it iPhone 5 powered by iOS 6 their latest Operating System.

• Thinnest and the lightest phone ever.(18 % thinner and 20% lighter than iPhone 4S)
• 4 inch display that comfortably fits in your hand.
• 16:9 aspect ratio,1136 x 640 screen resolution.
• Made entirely out of glass and aluminum.
• Network: HSPA+, DC-HSDPA, and LTE.
• Single radio chip for voice, data and radio.
• 802.11 a/b/g/n, 802.11n 2.4GHz & 5GHz up to 150Mbps
• A6 Processor- smaller and faster than A5.
• better battery life than 4S.
• Sapphire Camera lens.
• 8mp, backside illuminated, hybrid IR filter
• Dynamic low light mode, precision lens alignment
• Improved processing 
• Better low light performance.
• 40 percent fast capture.
• Shared photo streams
• Panorama feature in phone
• 1080p video, improved video stability, face detection — you can take photos while shooting video.
• Three microphones.. bottom, front and back.
• Improved speaker design with 20 pc smaller size.
• Lightning connector....durable and 80 pc smaller.
• iOS 6 software.
• search engine in to find POIs.
• built in turn by turn directions in navigation.
• navigation works landscape in addition to portrait.
• great satellite imagery. 
• 3D modeling of actual pics.
• tap to tweet or post to facebook.
• fullscreen mode in safari.
• Passbook.
• photo stream sharing
• enhancements to SIRI.(direct status update, score reading and movie recommendation)
• feature to automatically send an SMS back when you can't take a call.
• Available in black and white color.
• Noise cancelling earpiece.
• Sept 14 pre order and Sept 21-28 sales.
• Price: $199 (16 GB), $299 (32GB) and $399 (64GB) with two year contract.



First Panoroma picture from iPhone 5. 

• iTunes availability and Facebook likes integration in app store design.

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Ram Raja, the first republic leader who had met with Che Guevara died today.

Ram Raja Prasad Singh, the first republican leader of Nepal who envisaged our nation without Kingship, passes away today during treatment in teaching hospital. Whole nation was being shutdown by Student wings of political parties for the recent hikes in petroleum products by the Government when he died in the morning today, and the student unions later called off their strike due to his death. 

Ram Raja Prasad Singh, the legendary leader was well known for his involvement in bombings near Royal palace and several government offices including PM office. His property was confiscated by the government for the conviction of the bombing. He was put in jail in his young days with his father for the support of Anti British Rule Protest in India but later released after India got independence.

He was the only one leader from Nepal who had met with Revolutionary Leader Che Guevara in Burma during his law studies and it is believed that the meeting drew republican inspiration from him.

The true republican leader was also a candidate for the first President of Nepal backed by a Rebel turned democratic party Nepal Communist Party Maoists but the last minute alliance made Congress Leader Ram Baran Yadav- win the First President of Nepal. 

Man of his words and a firm leader was really happy with the attainment of the republic Nepal that he had dreamed of from several years. Ram Raja (age 77) will be written in golden letters in the history of Nepal. Long live Republic, RIP Ram Raja.

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Samsung, HTC await LTE in iPhone 5: Rumor

Enough of Nokia blog posts and their disappointing camera focused new Lumia (920 and 820) launch, I am now eyeing on the September 12 Apple iPhone 5 launching event and probably the whole world will be watching the new iPhone that always outsold its previous model. Though the rumors say this new Apple smartphone presumably called iPhone 5 will be the best selling smartphone of all time, but there are some hurdles with the current rivalry of the patent warfare between Samsung and Apple. As Apple won 1 Billion USD over Samsung for some copyrights issues of patent that belongs to Apple, Samsung, HTC mainly the Android handset makers who have major patents in LTE are ready to sue Apple if it comes with LTE capability. 

It's almost sure that the new device from Apple is gonna be LTE compatible if it wants to be in top among all as Samsung already topped the smartphone sales all around the world in this year's three quarter with Samsung Galaxy S3 having LTE support. So its gonna be tough time for Apple if Samsung, HTC want to ban it right away after the release (probably September 21 be the release date in stores).

Here is rumor roundup for the specifications of iPhone 5 that is going to be unveiled in an Apple special event on Wednesday, September 12 in San Francisco. Plus there are always bigger surprises from the giant like SIRI during last years iPhone 4S event. We all have to wait till 24 hours more to know what's Apple is cooking inside for the new device. Here are the rumors.

• Bigger screen Size: 4 inch 
• Processor (Quad Core Processor Apple's A6)
• LTE support ( Frequency spectrum not known)
• iOS 6
• NFC support.
• Nano SIM.
• Compatible with both GSM and CDMA.
• September 21 Release date.
• Price $ 950 sin contract.
• Bigger Battery Size.
• Some Camera up-gradation for enhanced feature.

It is known that Apple will be unveiling iPhone 5 along with new models of iPod, whereas the iPad mini launch is probably going to be delayed. 

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Nepal Cricket team upgraded to Division 3.

With fifth consecutive win in Division 4 Cricket League happening in Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia, latest wining over Denmark by 25 runs on Duckworth-lewis method (due to rain), Nepal Cricket advances to Division 3. Earlier Nepal won against Singapore, Malaysia, Tanzania, USA in the Division 4 Cricket League. 

Today Anil Mandal scored 113 runs out of 134 balls (84.32 SR) and second high score was from Sharad Bheswakar 27 giving a total of 240 in 50 overs. Game was stopped due to rain when Denmark was at 77/3 (25 over) and the target was shortened with Duckworth- Lewis Method to 134 runs in 31overs. Paras Khadka took over 4 wickets whereas Shakti Gauchan was very economical (12 runs in 7 overs with 1 wicket). And Denmark managed to score 130/9 at 31 overs, loosing against Nepal. Anil Mandal was declared Man of the Match for his century. 

Nepalese Cricket Team celebrating their Win in ICC Division 4  Cricket League.

USA is the second team to be promoted to Division 3 along with Nepal, beating Singapore by 37 runs in D/L Method. 

Nepal and USA now meet each other second time in the Division 4 Final Monday September 10 at 2:30 GMT ( 08:15 Nepali Time). No matter what result be tomorrow, Nepal and USA will play with Uganda, Bermuda, Oman And Italy in Bermuda for the 2013 Division 3 World Cricket League.

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Morgan Freeman died today or a death hoax?

Morgan Freeman was declared dead in 8th September 2012, sparking panic among fans. However, the rumor has now been proven to to be another death hoax and the actor has been reported to be alive and well.A Facebook group was established earlier this week reporting that the actor had passed away, sparking a flurry of rumors and reports spreading across the Internet. However, one angry fan wrote: "What a jerk you are for writing this. Get a life!!"

Some fans have been expressing their distress at the news, although others immediately identified the report as a hoax and attempted to reassure others that Freeman was in fact still alive.

Others have been joking about the incident, saying that Freeman was God - a reference to his part in "Bruce Almighty" and "Evan Almighty" where he played the character of God.

The Facebook group that declared the death hoax has been "Liked" by more than 59,000 people, with many fans leaving their messages of condolences as posts under the news.Celebrity death hoaxes have become increasingly popular over recent months, and numerous websites have attempted to "kill off" famous celebrities in the hopes of gaining attention to their claims.

Last week Eddie Murphy was reported as dead by Global Associated News - a website which has now become notorious for faking death claims of the rich and famous.

According to the GAN: "The actor & novice snowboarder was vacationing at the Zermatt ski resort in Zermatt, Switzerland with family and friends. Witnesses indicate that Eddie Murphy lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed."

That fake report also sparked a wave of concerned fans to take to social media sites discussing the death. 

However, for the eagle eyed readers there was a disclaimer contained at the bottom of the GAN article explaining that the story was completely fake and fabricated for "entertainment purposes."

Other fake celebrity deaths recently have been Bill Cosby, who said it was "not funny," as well as Rihanna, and British actor Robert Pattinson.

Source:enstarz.com

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Facebook Group strips to support UK's Prince Harry.

UK's Prince Harry may be in trouble inside the palace after the nude photos from Las Vegas were leaked in a newspaper and went wildfire in the internet but he has now around 36K supporters in a Facebook group who are stripping to salute their Prince Hero who is now serving in military operation as a Pilot in Afghanistan. Members in a Facebook group named "Support Prince Harry with a naked salute!" are uploading and tagging their naked pictures with a salute but editing/covering their "thing" with hand, gun, hats or just posing to hide it.

There is even a website dedicated to the cause, Salute4Harry.co.uk. The page and website is getting so much popular that even soldiers from all around the world are posing nude with their guns. The page starter ex-soldier Jordan Wylie and his friend Lee Kirkton has set up the page to support Prince after he was criticized for the Las Vegas nude picture with two girls. 

Now they have more admins to save the page from nudity and even they are using the page to fund a good cause, Walking with the wounded- a fundraiser for the war torn soldiers and their family. Here are some pictures from the facebook page "Support Prince Harry with a naked Salute".

Here is a picture from Nepal who also supports Prince Harry with a salute in the group.

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Nokia unveils Lumia 920 and 820 Windows 8 phone with Microsoft.

In an event dubbed "Nokia and Microsoft Press conference" on Wednesday, two new Windows 8 powered Smartphones are launched by Nokia. Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are the two devices whose features are unveiled along with the demonstrations of various aspects of Windows 8 OS. Wireless Charging, NFC, and brightest HD screens are some of the key features included in both the device. Here is the round up of the event highlights.

Nokia Lumia 920 specs:

• 4.5 inch Curved glass display.
• Smartest Pureview 8 Megapixel Camera.
• Offline Navigation.
• City Lens that shows the name of restaurants, cafes and other places in the display.
• Wireless charging through Qi Charging technology.
• 2000 mAh Battery
• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.
• High definition Screen that the video appears to pop off the screen.
• Built in NFC.
• Grey, Red and Yellow Colors.
• Brightest Smartphone with HD display.
• Super Sensitive touch even possible with gloves on.

Nokia Lumia 820 specifications include a 4.3 inch screen lower end smartphone having Wireless charging, NFC ,a 1650 mAh Battery, mirco SD slot and all Windows 8 OS features.

Windows 8 OS features.

• Ability to shrink tiles to small and medium ones.
• Aggregation of text messages, Facebook messages and Facebook posts together.
• Over 100,000 apps compatible with Windows 7.
• Internet explorer: Change the button to favorites or tabs.
• Screenshots supported (first ever in a smartphone).
• Pinch Zoom and third party application in Camera.
• Auto Upload of photos in Skydrive.
• Blink lens app takes best picture from multiple frames taken by the camera.
• launching Nokia music.
• City Lens provides address and phone no information with camera.
• Angry Bird Roost app Integrated.

Nokia Lumia 920 lets you have two lens type namely smart shoot lens and Cinemagraph lens. Smart shoot helps you remove objects/people moving in an image for example it helps in removing people in art gallery picture. Cinemagraph lens is like a GIF maker that animates part of the image to make it lively. 

They even claim that their Pureview camera that lets you open the shutter for long, is more effective than the high end DSLRs.

Let's see how the device goes with the tech pundits with all the impressive features more on the camera side with Pureview,  but it lil disappoints me over the absence of  SIRI and Google Now like assistant from Nokia which I expected it to be there to battle strongly with Giant Apple and Google. 

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Nokia and Microsoft Windows Phone event live blog

Nokia and Microsoft are jointly organizing an press conference to launch new Nokia Lumia phones with Windows 8. In about 15 minutes time, the event will kick off at  Wednesday 6:30 a.m PT/ 9:30 a.m ET (7:15 pm Nepali time) and the world will know if the rumor for Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 or earlier rumor about 'Phi', 'Arrow' and 'Atlas' comes true. I will be bringing the live blog of the Nokia Microsoft event, with compilation from engadget, cnet, and PCworld. Stay Tuned.

Latest Updates on the top.

• "This is Lumia, the world's most innovative smartphone. Thank you very much." Elop Concludes the show.

• "The next app developer to hit it really really big will be on Windows." Ballmer

• "Perhaps as importantly as anything else, we bring a developer platform and a store in a common way to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8."

• "We integrate in the Microsoft account, a single place to log in and get access to SkyDrive, Skype, and Outlook.com."

• "We bring the power of Bing as both a search engine and a set of technologies that support NUI."

• "Over the course of a month or two we'll see the rest of the Windows Phone 8 software."

• "The launch today of the two new Lumia devices really fills out of the proposition in a really powerful way." Ballmer

• Ballmer and Elop giving broader context of Microsoft with Nokia.

• Stephen Elop coming back.

• New purple color and wireless charging.

• Nokia Lumia 820 specs:  "4.3-inch display", Built in NFC, a 1650mAh battery and microSD slot.

• Unveiling Nokia Lumia 820.

• The Lumia 920 is a phone that really adapts to your life and not the other way around and he says there is no need of extra camera with you when you have got 920 in your pocket.

• Camera can be held so smooth, you can capture all that extra light for the night photography without flash.

• Camera works more effective than the high end DSLRs.

• Object image stabilization works to hold the camera steady even when your hand is shaking.

• Pure View Camera lets the shutter open for longer time for more exposure.

• Cinemagraph lens takes a capture and does some processing to animate parts of the image like GIF maker.

• Smart shoot lets you analyze and finds the objects that are moving and tap to remove the people in your images. For instance it helps in taking a picture in an art gallery with moving people around.

• Angry Birds Roost app is an integrated experience that allows me to discover the best of Angry Birds.

• Address and phone number information provided within City Lens.

• City Lens- Use your camera as a way to explore the real world around you.

• Nokia Music is coming to the United States, should be downloadable in the Windows Phone Marketplace any moment now.

• launching Nokia Music and the tapping to turn on Speaker demonstration.

• Integrated NFC Near field Communication.

• Introducing the JBL power up.

• Lumia 920 comes with inbuilt wireless charging.

• Super sensitive touch allows you to touch the display with gloves

• WXGA, higher than 720p resolution.

• Brightest smartphone HD display ever.

• He says its the World's most innovative smartphone with curved glass display in  Slate grey, Red, and Yellow colors.

• Kevin Shields from Nokia is coming on stage to discuss the Lumia 920.

• It chooses the one that it thinks is the best.

• Blink Lens app, written by Microsoft's Research team to get best picture of a face from a lot of frames taken by the camera.

• Even third-party photos will be uploaded to SkyDrive automatically.

• Full resolution auto upload of photos to SkyDrive in Windows Phone 8.

• camera button to engage the Microsoft Photosynth lens- third party application for camera.

• pinch zoom is now supported with usual press and hold camera button function in Windows Phone.

• Demonstrating Camera in Nokia 920.

• Joe tweets first ever screenshot pic from Windows https://twitter.com/joebelfiore/status/243357525167194112

• Screenshots now supported in Windows Phone 8

• IE: an excellent HTML5 web site as part of customized Start Screen.

• Showing Internet explorer,  "You can change the button in IE to favorites or tabs"

• CNN app for windows,  "CNN has built an app and what they're going to do with Windows Phone 8 is support some of the new features."

• Over 100,000 apps backward compatible to Windows 7 apps.

• Aggregation of  text messages, Facebook messages and Facebook posts together.

• Joe showing how you can shrink tiles down to medium and small ones.

• Start Screen experience with small tiles with Windows 8 in Nokia 920.

• Now Joe Belfiore talking about Windows 8 features for Nokia 920.

• Fat boy Recharge Pillow: "Fatboy is one of the many partners we are working with to make wireless charging fit into your everyday live."

• Built-in wireless charging- through Qi charging technology.

• Up to 30 percent more battery efficient than quad-core alternatives.

• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.

• 2000 mAh battery.

• Nokia 920 specs: 4.5 inch curved glass display.

• The screen color tone and brightness adjusts automatically based on the sun light.

• "Nokia City Lens is only the first application to use this approach, Nokia Maps will also get augmented reality."

• " Nokia City lens allows you to see the names of restaurants, cafes, on your smartphone display." -Nokia Drive and Transport features

• "When you found a route in Maps, you can launch Nokia Drive for free voice navigation out of the box."

• Harlow talking about Offline maps-a key feature of the Nokia Maps experience.

• PureView lets the shutter stay open longer. 

• "Nokia PureView stands for the latest smartphone camera innovation and the highest quality images and video."

• Nokia Lumia 920 unveiled with smartest camera ever on phone and wireless charging.

• "As Stephen said, we've taken several important steps over the last 18 months." Jo

• Jo Harlow is coming on stage to discuss Lumia.

• There's so much more innovation in the space ahead: Elop

• Proxy browser in Asha is saving users in India money on data. Elop discussing Nokia Asha range of devices.

• Elop discussing Nokia's Strategy. "First, we joined the Windows Phone ecosystem. We shared a vision with Microsoft that we could create a new smartphone experience."

• They say they will be starting up the show in 15 minutes 7 a.m PT.

• The verge: Mystery under cloth: May be new tab under it.

• The verge: #switchtolumia is the hash tag for twitter users.

• PC world: It says at least 100-150 people with laptops and cameras are in the event and the whole room is lit with blue light.

• The Verge: There's two device shapes on stage here in white, they look rather familiar.

• Here the event starts (update goes on top of this).

Nokia Lumia 820 first pic: Nokia windows 8 press meet.

Yellow is new color for new Lumia

Nokia lumia 920 first look: Nokia with windows 8.

Elop, CEO of Nokia discusses New Lumia phones.

#switchtolumia is the new hash tag for Lumia tweet.

Opening picture from Nokia and Microsoft joint Event.

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Nokia to launch Lumia 920 and 820 with wireless charging: Rumors

Nokia and Microsoft is jointly having a event to launch Windows 8 powered Lumia smartphones in about 12 hours time. Rumor has it that the new Lumia lineup will be Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, the direct successor to 900 and 800 respectively. 

Nokia 920 specs: Rumor
The rumored Nokia Lumia 920 will replace the Nokia Lumia 900 as the high end device. Rumored specifications include 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, and 4.5 inch HD display. There is also speculation that this device will include a PureView camera, but unlike the fabulous 808 PureView indications are that this will have an 8 megapixel one and not 41 megapixel. 

Nokia 820 Specs: Rumor
Another rumored device Nokia Lumia 820 looks to be Nokia's new mid-range WP8 device with a 4.3 inch display, 8GB storage and microSD card slot, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, and camera similar to the Lumia 920. It may also have changeable rear covers, similar to the current Lumia 710 device.More rumor about the device is the wireless charging capability via Qi charging technology. The new lumia wireless charging will be done via a built-in magnetic induction loop. It is rumored that the 920 will implement Qi wireless charging, a standard developed by the Wireless Power Consortium. With Qi tech, you will be able to charge the Lumia 920 by simply placing it on a wireless charging mat. In theory, you should be able to use a generic Qi charging mat, or you can buy a very colorful wireless charging mat from Nokia which will probably cost more.In just a week before the launch of Apple's iPhone, the joint Nokia Microsoft event is viewed as the event that determines the fate of Nokia and Microsoft partnership.

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Nokia still dominates Nepalese mobile market: Survey.

Though total world market is dominated by Samsung, Android ,Apple phones, Nokia releasing new Lumia lineups partnering with Microsoft to regain the market share, still has the highest number of users in Nepal.

In a survey conducted by www.nepalitelecom.com from facebook and its website, it is found that the Finnish handset maker still has around 48 percent share of the total handset market in Nepal. That includes normal handsets to high end smartphones but the non smartphone number is pretty high as near as 65 percentage of the total Nokia users. Samsung stands second with 25 share of the handset market and almost 70 pc of them being smartphones, so that makes Samsung the leading Smartphone in Nepal. Apple's iPhone comes third with 10 percentage of the market share in Nepal. Statistics for HTC, Sony Ericsson, LG,Blackberry and all other Chinese handset market share is shown below in the pie chart.

Mobile Market in Nepal Stats

The survey also reveals the popular app in Nepal to be Opera Mini Browser, and Facebook, Nimbuzz, Mig33 are among others being used the most in Nepal. It looks like free messenger applications and browsers are found to be popular in Nepal other than gaming apps. Top free VOIP call and messaging applications include Viber, Whatsapp, Binu Messenger, Ebuddy, and Skype.

Popular Apps in Nepal stats

For a question asked to 1000 people in the internet (social medias and the website) about the quality of the network, only 46 % people feel the network to be "just ok" whereas 22 percent are not satisfied with the network quality. In a question for the preference of subscriber to choose either for Good voice quality

or fast internet, People are equally divided over the issue for the prospect of next generation networks.

Mobile Network Quality stats

Source:

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Government soon inviting Strategic Partner in NT

It's been years for the privatization of State owned Telecom operator Nepal Telecom and the process for Government to sell certain share to international telecom giants, in a term what people call it Strategic Partner. And It seems like NT management, Senior Government officials and even Political rulers are now convinced that the strategic partner in Nepal Telecom will help the company to compete well enough with private telecos due to instant decision making and fast roll out of projects.
Government had already decided to divest at least 26 percent share to foreign partner as suggested by a high level task force in 2010, but the decision could not take into effect due to lack of political consensus and competent enough committees for action.
Though there were several committees formed to study and make a proposal for inviting strategic partner for state owned telecom operator, the newest technical one has just prepared the draft of the bidding document. It is also known that the final document for bidding will be submitted within the stipulated time of the committee.
With the Increased Competition due to aggressiveness of network expansion and fast decision making by Ncell, concerned authorities are of the view to invite foreign partner in NT to stop it from going down like the other government owned corporations. Also there is equal recommendation by NT officials to amend Public Procurement Act for the state owned telecom company to compete with Private companies, which according to them is a major hurdle to bring new projects in time.
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Shiris ko Phool Movie to be released soon.

There had been news and promos in the media some years back for the adaptation of popular novel "Shirish ko Phool" of the same name in a movie by a Japanese national Toshiaki Itoh. But the first premiere of the awaited movie happened yesterday at QFX, after 4 years of production. Different media persons, writers, movie actors producers were present in the show. It is also told that the movie will be soon released all over Nepal. 

The movie is known to include many new actors including Ganesh Lama as Suyogbir, Sharmila Gurung as Shakambari, Jagat Rajthala as Shivaraj, Apsara Karki as Sanu, and Santosh Lama. The movie also features known actors like Saujanya Subba as Mujura, Basundhara Bhusal and Late Gopal Bhutani as well. 

'Shiris ko Phool' is the highly acclaimed and best selling books of all time in Nepali Literature and the translated book is also included in the text book at University of Maryland. The novel features a former World War II Soldier Suyog and his fascination for a girl Shakambari, 16 years younger than him. The book of 60 pages has made much impact in the people with human psych for a relationship and the sorrowful ending with demise of Shakambari. It's really a tough job to put a hand on such an acclaimed book, but we have to wait till the public release to find out how the movie turns out to be.
Here is the trailer of the movie "Shiris ko Phool" with Japanese sub title as it is directed and co-written by Toshiaki Itoh.

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