The market is once again being ruled by Nokia Symbian, closely followed by RIM Blackberries. The other competitors are Apple, Android, Windows  and the like. Nokia Symbian is still the market leader with 47% of the market in 2010 and the rest is shared by the competitors. The share of Apple iPhone has almost doubled from the last year, which is a clear indication that the competition in the smartphone market has intensified.

The main growth of Nokia came from its growth in developing markets. The highest growth rate was seen in the Latin American countries. The greater China has seen a growth of 90% in the smartphone sales from the last year. Nokia has recently launched Ovi Music Unlimited in India.

However, Nokia’s Symbian is still under performing in the US market where the market leaders have been Apple and Android based phones, constituting 81% of the total market share. Nokia is facing fierce competition from iPhone and Blackberries. In a current study, Symbian’s market share has dropped by almost 5.5 points, whereas both Apple and RIM have been gainers. To stay ahead in the competition, Nokia, therefore, has announced an array of new generation smartphones. In the current year Nokia’s touch screen phones has crossed 50% of the total Nokia phones sold around the globe.

The future of the smartphone market

The competition in the smartphone market has been intensified over the years. In the last year smartphone sales constituted over 14% of the total mobile phone sold in the world, which is up from 11% in 2008. Also, more and more smartphone vendors are entering the market.  Sony Ericsson and Plam have also experienced growth in their respective market shares. The smartphone penetration in the global mobile phone market is expected to reach 50% by mid 2011.

The market trend shows that smartpone is likely to be the future of mobile phone. With more companies joining the smart phone market, the competition is likely to intensify in the future. This would benefit the customers as they would get access to better technology with every improvement at cheaper rate.

In what is being termed in certain technology circles Bing-nization of Yahoo! for other major languages and geographies will happen soon. In a recent official blog Yahoo’s Senior VP Shashi Seth said “Yahoo! began transitioning certain back-end functions for Yahoo! Search over to Microsoft’s search platform. Well, I am proud to announce that the transition of organic search between Yahoo! and Microsoft is complete.”

There were some who stated that doing so Yahoo! will cease to be a search engine. But the company counters this argument saying it has just outsourced its searches to Bing. In the official blog it said “Yahoo! is investing in many areas that will redefine and reshape search – we are still a search engine, and in a strong second place in this very competitive marketplace. Watch out for amazing stuff coming from this search engine!

The two companies went to a deal after having failed to take on Google individually. Most users would ask one simple question. Will the searches on Yahoo! become more comprehensive and better than Google? As of now the answer seems a ‘Negative’ as Bing hasn’t done anything out of the box to pose a serious threat to Google. It definitely has some good features but nothing marvelous which isn’t there in Google’s kitty.

One of the reasons for Google’s success has been the constant innovation and it continues to do so. Recently it announced the Google Voice feature whereby people will be able to call to telephones using their Google Account in what is seen as a direct challenge to Internet VoIP giant Skype. It integrated chat and mail into one platform to put Yahoo Messenger out of the market. Google’s plans to take on Microsoft in the Operating System domain have become a huge talk in the technology world.

Both Yahoo and Microsoft have failed to come up with generational change as far as Internet is concerned in the last few years. A few incremental changes and cosmetic touches isn’t enough to take the might of Google. There is another bigger threat to this agreement that looms over the two companies what happens if any one decides to abandon? It remains to be seen if this marriage of convenience can cause any significant damage to Google’s dominance.

Technical support Follow the technical support discussion threads on tech forum. Expert’s comments will help you troubleshoot basic PC issues at home and build a technical insight as well.

The windows phone 7 is a far cry from the old version of windows phone. This time you can surely see the efforts that Microsoft has made to turn it a success story in this highly competitive smartphone market.

Wide screen with live tiles: The wide colorful display screen with clear typeface  with live tiles would display the shortcuts of the favorite applications and websites of the user. The live tiles come with the live feeds which allows the user to check the details of the feed without actually opening the application.

The user can further get Facebook updates on the  Quick Launch screen of the phone. The screen is also touch friendly allowing smoother handling.

Xbox on your phone: For the game enthusiasts, they can now access their Xbox games in their WP7 phone and can pick the game up from their Xbox where they have left it. The user can login to their Xbox account through Xbox live id in their handset and continue gaming.

The WP7 phone would come with the Xbox LIVE games  which would allow the user to keep track of the gamer profile, avatar and achievements.

Zune music player and Bing map: Users would be able to manage their favorite music through Zune PC software in their window 7 phone. Also, the bing map introduced in WP7 would come with some unique features.

Integrate social media and office: The People Hub and Picture Hub would let you integrate all your social media in your phone. The ‘Recent’, ‘All’ and ‘What’s New’ screens would let you access the recent changes in the status of your friends, list of all your friends and latest updates respectively in your mobile. Similarly, the Picture Hub would help you manage all your photos.

The Office Hub would let your syncronise your phone with your office PC and access and manage documents easily.

The Microost WP7 is loaded with interesting features to make it a phone worth waiting for. Further, Microsoft would exercise more control over their hardware partners and hence the WP7 menu would remain the same irrespective of the developing company. The users therefore wouldn’t have to learn a new interface everytime they change the handset.

Microsoft has also remembered to keep control over updating the OS in their hand. Earlier the users had to depend on their service providers for the updates, which used to cause a lot of customer dissatisfaction. This wouldn’t be an issue with the WP7.

A group of researchers have developed the world’s first 3D television system, i3Space device that allows users to touch, pinch or poke images floating in front of them.  Norio Nakamura, senior scientist of this research team said that with this system we can feel images through the air. Poking a rubber ball or stretching sticky rice can very well be felt with the use of this 3D television system. The technology changes shape of three-dimensional images in response to our touch. This is aided by the six motion detection cameras that monitor how the fingers move. The technology has been developed by the research team at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

Although it is still not known when the technology will be available for practical use, the creators believe that the technology can be used to simulate surgical operations. It can also be used in video game software allowing players to experience the sensation of holding weapons or sports equipment. It could even use scanned images to supplement existing realities.

For visitors who love to explore, this technology can be used to create a virtual museum where visitors can touch and feel the valuable sculptures that are usually prohibited to be touched. This will greatly help the visually impaired who have never felt what a museum would be like and how it feels to be there.
However there are no insights of how the technology practically works and what will be the prospects of it.  People only believe that this technology will open the new world of 3D for many.

Although September 15 its launch date is still more than two weeks away the world might have got the first glimpse of IE 9. In some inadvertently leaked details by Microsoft’s Russian version a few screenshots of the browser were published by the technology giant. Although Microsoft was quick enough to remove those blogpost but thousands of Internet users has seen it and taken screen shots of what is being assumed to be IE 9.

First things first, it looks more like Chrome than any other previous version of Internet Explorer. The user interface of the browser has been made much simple compared to the previous version which looked more like a complex web application than a browser. This very Chrome like appearance will surely give the Google developers something to feel proud about. After all it’s not just a battle of technologies it’s also a battle of egos when Microsoft and Google are involved.

In Internet Explorer 9 the multiple toolbar menus seen in Internet Explorer 8 has been done away with and replaced by a single menu, with the address bar, search bar, and tabs now forming one elegant line. All of which is very reminiscent of Google Chrome. The search plus address features of Google Chrome has been liked by all users who have used it. The back and forward are inspired from the Longhorn with the back button larger than the forward button just like in Firefox.

The decision to integrate search and the address bar into one is quite surprising as Microsoft had said that this design to be a privacy flaw. Microsoft had taken a dig at Google and cited that the search-as-you-type feature allowed search engines to collect valuable data even as the customer typed the URL. It now seems that they have done a complete U-Turn on the issue after the success of Google Chrome.

Technology buffs around the world will be eagerly waiting for September 15 to try their hands on the new browser which many believe will be one of Microsoft’s last chances to reclaim lost grounds in the web browser market.

There are three basic touch screen technologies that are used. They are:

• Resistive
• Surface acoustic wave
• Capacitive

Resistive Technology: This consists of a normal glass panel that is composed of several layers. There are two layers of thin, metallic, electrically conductive layers that are separated by a narrow gap. These two layers are held apart by spacers, and a scratch-resistant layer is placed on top of the whole setup. When a user touches the screen, the two layers become connected at that exact spot. There is a change in the electrical field and it is noted by the computer to calculate the coordinates of the point of contact. Once the coordinates are know a special driver is used to translate the touch into a language that the Operating system can understand.  This is very similar to the mouse click or drag. Resistive touch screen panels are generally more affordable but offer only 75% clarity and the layer can be damaged by sharp objects but are not affected by outside elements such as dust or water.

Surface Acoustic Wave Technology: As the name suggests this technique makes use of the ultrasonic waves in sending and receiving signals. These waves pass over the touch screen panel. There are two transducers where one receives and one sends. These are placed along the x and y axis of the monitor’s glass plate. There are also reflectors that are placed on the glass that are used to reflect an electrical signal sent from one transducer to the other. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the wave marks the position of touch event and sends the information to be processed. Surface wave touch screen panels are the most advanced of the three types, but they can be damaged by outside elements.

Capacitive Sensing Technology: In this system, the touch screen panel is coated with a material that stores electrical charges. Since the human body is a conductor a small amount of charge is dispersed to the user and the charge in the capacitive layer decreases. Circuits located at each corner of the panel measure the charge and send the information to the controller for processing. Capacitive touch screen panels must be touched with a finger but the resistive and surface wave panels use fingers and stylus combined.

In its official blog the company said “Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer’s microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time. Given that most of us don’t spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, “wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones?” Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail.”

The free phone calls have been initially launched for US and Canada where as the company will charge users to call elsewhere. The company claims that the rates are much lesser than the normal telephone rates. Added to it is the feature where the receiver will get the number of the caller displayed on his/her screen which will make this unlike anything else available in the market.

There are analysts who feel that Skype may not be Google’s primary target behind launching this feature. Google wants to create a strong and comprehensive mail platform which has no matches in the world. It was only a few months ago that Google launched the social networking and messaging tool which it has integrated into its mail. Although this hasn’t done any great damage to Twitter, it definitely has made it easy for people to post their thoughts right from the mailbox. And now this feature of calling will definitely put Gmail miles ahead of its competitors.

Google has already carved out a formidable presence in the smart phone market with its Android operating system, is now launching a calling service directly into its popular Gmail service. The launch of its Nexus One was seen as a huge technological revolution in the world. Many have drubbed it to be the biggest challenge to Apple’s iPhone which has been selling like hot cakes for the past few years.

The Seaswarm robot is an army of hi-tech robots that talk via Wi-Fi and GPS, and eat and clean oil off the water’s surface. Not only they clean but also purify the oil by pulling around a conveyor belt made of a reusable, oil-absorbing material. The robots work on a continuing cycle during the cleaning process.

The Seaswarm is an autonomous 16-foot long, 7- foot wide robot that has an oil-absorbing conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is covered with a nano wire mesh that is designed to absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil while repelling water. The interesting feature of this robot is its ability to function independently. It is affixed with two square meters of solar panels that virtually require no maintenance at all. The Seaswarm can run at full power continuously for weeks together without getting exhausted. The robots can communicate with each other and device their path through the GPS and WiFi. Since these are solar powered they do not require any additional powering systems.

The robots are intended to be deployed in masses to clean up the oil spill. The inbuilt GPS and wireless telecommunication will help the robot to effectively navigate itself through the spill and clean easily. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims that a swarm of 5,000 robots could clean up a Deepwater Horizon-sized spill in a month. Now that is some good news we can use.

The social networking site has been a heated market for quite some time. Orkut was very popular in Brazil and India with bulk of its users coming from these countries. But off late Facebook has even defeated Google’s baby in its stronghold. For many Orkut has become passé and Facebook with its huge collection of applications became more than a social networking site or rather became a social engagement website.

Facebook, Inc. has been minting money through its website after having patronized the idea of social media marketing. A user base of 500 million is a serious threat to Google’s online ad revenue. There seems to be more faith for Facebook in the minds of the users. Unlike Orkut the number of impersonators and scammers is much less. Comparatively more people use their original names and identity in Facebook which is a huge boost for the website.

Google which is not used for seeing its products overshadowed by competitors seems to have pressed the acceleration button in a bid to gain back lost territory. In the last year or so Google had tried to revive its networking fan base with the launch of ‘wave’ and ‘buzz’ but both these products failed to live up to their names. The search giant went back to the drawing board and has come out with a new strategy to revive its social marketing business. Angstro is a part of that plan.

In the coming months the social networking sites won’t remain just an amusement tool but something people will use to look for a doctor or buy an electronic item. Analysts are predicting that the next generation of social networking sites will be a one stop destination for all needs for the users. It will be interesting to see how the battle between Facebook and Google goes on in the near future. It will perhaps be the technological dual for many years to come.