Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 review: SuperResolution

Nvidia has always been right up there on the graphics card foodchain. With solutions not only for gamers but also for creative professionals who work with intensive graphics, 3D or video editing. Now, Nvidia has just launched the GeForce GTX 980, a mighty graphics card with a whole host of new features.

Design and build
The GeForce GTX 980's looks can only be summed up as industrial. The PCI express card is completely clad in a black and silver metal jacket, with a fiberglass finish along sections, protecting the powerful internals. On the jacket is a high speed fan as well as heatsink ribs on the side and a triangular cut duct on the IO panel to dissipate heat. All of these details are designed to follow the same industrial theme set.

Specifications

At the core of GeForce GTX 980 hums a second-generation Maxwell GM204 GPU consisting of 16 streaming multiprocessors and 64 render output units capable of upto 5 Teraflops and 144.1 GigaTexels/sec at a power consumption of 165 Watts with a transistor count of 5.2 billion in a 28nm die size with a 2MB L2 Cache.

The base clock speed of GeForce GTX 980 is 1126MHz and can go up to a boost clock of 1216MHz when games or applications demand it. GeForce GTX 980 has 2048 CUDA cores and it also comes with 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM with a 256-bit pipeline capable of 7GB per second — useful for loading up games fast, as well as making sure you have very high-resolution textures.

As GeForce GTX 970 too has 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM, the 980 could have done with a gigabyte or two of extra VRAM, especially when you consider the Titan Z has 12GB of VRAM.

Installation and setup
Installation was quite easy, though a fair warning: this card is massive at 10.5-inch in length, so you will need a large cabinet. As compared to GeForce units of past, the new Maxwell technology is extremely power efficient, and GeForce GTX 980 is the most powerful in the new architecture's fleet, requiring a 500 Watt power supply.

To power up the card you will need two 6-pin power connectors. Just plug it in and the GeForce GTX 980 logo lights up in green, too handsome to lock away under the hood of your cabinet.

Features
The GeForce GTX 980 is choc full of new graphical features, one of them being an Anti Aliasing algorithm called MFAA, which switches between various AA modes to do away with jagged edges on graphics smoothing pixels, and is 30% faster than 4x MSAA, currently one of the best modes for reducing aliasing out there today.

Also introduced was a dynamic lighting engine only used by the 980 called VXGI, Voxel Global Illumination, as shown in a nifty moon landing demo, with real time light sources being switched between.
The 980 is also ready for the Virtual Reality headset wave like the Oculus Rift, with VR Direct which makes sure the left eye and the right eye displays are both in perfect sync, thereby cutting down on nausea cause by motion sickness.

For gamers who love streaming on the popular gamestream network Twitch, which has been gaining popularity, Nvidia's ShadowPlay now lets you record and save QHD videos, not to mention you can also record and stream at the same time, while using your microphone to give real time commentary as you play.

Dynamic Super Resolution benchmarks

Rather than benchmark a card we already know is the fastest out there, we focus on one of it's biggest features, called Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) and make that the crux of this review.

Dynamic Super Resolution has been around for a while, a technique otherwise known as Superscaling or Downscaling, which allows you to run higher resolutions on your base resolution display. Therefore, you can run a Quadruple High Definition (QHD) resolution on a regular 1080p (Full HD) display.

Earlier, you had to tweak your system quite a bit based on math calculations of the resolution, so you get the least amount of aliasing. Now, Nvidia has offered 2 QHD resolutions for you to upscale to, so you can run your games, movies, programs at higher resolution. The DSR is, sadly, a Maxwell-only feature.

We tried a host of games as well as normal desktop uses on a HDTV as well as monitor using the upscaled resolutions. GeForce GTX 980 offers you a choice of two resolutions, 3840x2160p and 2715x1527p, both available from Nvidia settings and GeForce Experience panel as well as from within the games themselves. We tested the games on an Intel i5-3580k, 16GB RAM and Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard in a closed NZXT Phantom 420.

Desktop mode on a 27-inch monitor in 2715x1527p was quite usable, and though there was a bit of aliasing here and there, it was not too much. However, with Windows Aero enabled on Windows 7, there was a bit of aliasing on the mouseovers. 3840x2160p was a bit extreme as it made icons etc appear very small.

However, both resolutions on HDTV's worked superbly. 2715x1527p on a 40-inch monitor just did the trick, while 3840x2160p made everything too small; However, if you do have a bigger HDTV, about 55-inch plus, this resolution would work perfectly.

In order to push the new Maxwell to the max, we used the highly detailed open world of Chicago. At 1080p with maximum crown, vehicles and rain particles the game ran flawlessly at above 60fps, not even a hint of slowdown. We upscaled it to 1527p and the game was still playable at 30-32fps.

At 2160p (the highest possible currently), the game crawled along at 17fps. However, the image quality got a bit muddled. Since Watchdogs packs very high detail textures into their game already, the upscale and then condensation into a smaller resolution resulted in detail loss. However, the game looked absolutely gorgeous at 1080p and 1527p. All these settings are running in ultra.

Battlefield 4 is now almost a year old, but the Frostbite 3 engine it uses is the most malleable in the gaming world. Its destruction and particle effects is a test for any GPU, and it's old enough to benefit from the upscaling process.

We cranked all settings to ultra and the game was perfectly playable on all three resolutions, yielding in excess of 90+ fps on 1080p, 1527p gave about 53fps and 2160p ran smooth at 32fps. The game looked absolutely gorgeous on the highest resolution, with the textures and graphical fidelity bringing the game on par with what we've seen of games coming out later this year.

Metro: Last Light Redux is a beautiful and dark game, with an almost God-like level of detail in each stage, which will bring most GPUs to a crawl. We got 50fps at 1080p, 34fps on 1527p and just 6fps on 2160p; however, like Watchdogs, this game looks and plays fantastic on 1527p.

On Uniengine's Heaven benchmark, which tests overall performance (including how fast textures load, the Physx engine as well as temperature), we got 62.2fps and a score of 1568 at 1080p, while 1527p yielded an average of 32.7fps. Through all these tests, the card remained cool at about 55-60 degrees.

So what does all that mean?

To summarize the above tests, the Dynamic Super Resolutions increases the quality of your gaming, media, desktop exponentially. However, if you want to use DSR on a daily basis you can use the 1527p setting. The 2160p setting is useful when you have an older title that needs the upscaling without you losing the performance. Not only that, it's especially useful in real-time strategy games like StarCraft II or DOTA 2, which render a larger map space and give a larger area of view.

Those running this card on native QHD monitors will get silky smooth frame-rates, as the GPU is just rendering one frame on the native resolution. So, if you have a 2560x1440p monitor or HDTV, you will see a good performance boost.

Conclusion
Gamers on a budget can go for GeForce GTX 970, which has the same architecture and VRAM but has scaled-down specs. It retails for Rs 28,000, which is almost half of GeForce GTX 980's price.

However, If you are a gamer who has been holding out, saving up for a rainy day, then the 980 is that thundercloud on the horizon. Sure, it may cost a pretty penny at Rs 46,000, which is what most smartphones and consoles cost nowadays. However, you're getting a powerful addition to your PC that not only lets you turn your 1080p monitor or HDTV into a QHD beast, but also has enough pixel pushing power if you're a graphic professional, 3D artist or video editor.

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Microsoft Band: 5 things to know

Microsoft Band weighs in at 2.12 ounces with a width of 19mm and thickness of 8.7mm. The display screen is 11mm by 33mm and features a touch-enabled TFT full-color display. The band has 64MB internal storage and an ARM Cortex M4 MCU processor.

There are ten sensors built into the device: An optical heart rate sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, gyrometer, GPS, ambient light sensor, skin temperature sensor, UV sensor, capacitive sensor, microphone and a galvanic skin response sensor.

You can also set email, text, calendar, social, incoming calls and alarm notifications to pop up on your wrist.

Microsoft has also partnered with several companies like Starbucks ? which will let you scan your wrist instead of your Starbucks card. Microsoft Band also syncs data with RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal, plus Gold's Gym, where you can get workout prompts while tracking your fitness.

You'll also get access to Cortana if paired to a Windows Phone 8.1 ? meaning you can take notes or set reminders with your voice. She can also give driving directions and more just like she would from a mobile device.

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E-commerce jobs on radar of MBA, engineering grads: Assocham

NEW DELHI: Engineering and B-school graduates are opting for jobs in the e-commerce industry over sectors like FMCG, consulting, financial services and infrastructure, according to a poll by Assocham.

"The number of intakes by the e-commerce sector from the various B-schools and engineering colleges has gone up by 65% this season over last year (35%)," Assocham secretary general D S Rawat said.

The survey sample included over 500 students from various B-schools, including IIMs, BITS, ICFAI Business School and Symbiosis Institute of International Business (Pune). The survey was conducted between September and October 2014.

Over 71% respondents preferred e-commerce sector and even aspire to become first-generation successful entrepreneurs by investing in the sector, the survey said.

The e-commerce industry has experienced unprecedented growth with its total revenue increasing over 60 times between 2010 and 2014.

"More and more pass-outs from B-Tech and MBA graduates are flocking to e-commerce industry over highly leveraged sectors like FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), consulting, financial services, services jobs, telecom, real estate, power and other infrastructure," Assocham said.

Nearly 3 million Indians work in the e-commerce sector, whereas 18 million jobs are created in other sectors as a result of e-commerce operations like marketing, IT, logistics and payment services.

"India is successful in becoming the largest e-commerce market in the world. The rapid transformation in logistics, innovation, consumerism and productivity prove to be an interesting case study for other emerging economies," Rawat said.

"The hiring activities are expected to grow by over 60-65 per cent in this sector and may help create between 5-8 lakh employment opportunities in three to five years," he added.

E-commerce companies are offering nearly around Rs 10-25 lakh annual package, higher than the average starting salary of Rs 4-7 lakh in the private sector for fresh engineering graduates and others, the poll showed.

The survey also revealed that fresher packages are around Rs 2-3.5 lakh per annum for roles like customer service representatives but for other management and technical roles, the starting package would be anywhere between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 14 lakh per annum.

Estimated to be a $3 billion segment, the Indian e-commerce sector has been growing at a massive pace with players like Snapdeal and Flipkart raising funds from a range of investors. Also, world's largest online retailer Amazon has committed investment of $2 billion in the country over the next few years.

A report by consulting firm Technopak pegs the $2.3 billion e-tailing market to reach $32 billion size by 2020.

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Google, Apple most in-demand employers globally: LinkedIn

NEW DELHI: Google is the world's most sought after employer in the world, followed by Apple and Unilever in the second and third places, respectively, according to a report by professional networking site LinkedIn.

The 'World's 100 Most InDemand Employers: 2014' was based on billions of interactions from LinkedIn's over 300 million members.

READ ALSO: How to get a job at Google

No Indian company made it to the coveted list; however, a significant number of them do have their presence in the country. The list was dominated by American companies with as many as 63 'in-demand' companies were headquartered in the US. Moreover, eight of the top 10 most sought after employers in the world are US-based.

Besides Google, Apple and Unilever, other companies in the top 10 list include Microsoft (fourth), Facebook (fifth), Amazon (sixth), Procter & Gamble (seventh), GE (eighth), Nestle (ninth) and PepsiCo (10th).

A sector-wise analysis showed that the top three sectors that dominated the list include technology, telecom and media; followed by retail and consumer products and oil and energy.

As per the LinkedIn survey, around 15% of in-demand companies have fewer than 5,000 employees. The employee count for each company was based on the number of member profiles on LinkedIn associated with the company.

As per the report, the top three smallest companies by number of employees are Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with 1,622 employees, Airbnb (1,836) and Netflix (1,906). In order to calculate the winners LinkedIn analyzed over 10 billion data points between members and companies and compared the data with surveys of thousands of members to determine a company's "familiarity and engagement score".

"The analysis also weighted member actions like viewing employee profiles, visiting Company Pages and following companies," LinkedIn said.

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3 cool ways to make your photos more fun

There was a time when photographs were just flat images that you stashed away in an album. However, today's tools and techniques let you take pictures with an added dimension, so you can relive them like you are in the moment all over again. Here are some advancements in photographic technology that you can try out right now:

Photo sphere
We've all seen those extra-wide panorama shots that help bring out the magnificence of mountain ranges, rolling grasslands and looming skylines... but what if you wanted to see everything the photographer could see in every direction? That's precisely what photo spheres are for.

A photo sphere is captured by taking pictures in every field of view from a single point, and stitching them together so viewers can pan 360-degrees and up and down; it feels like they're truly sharing the photographer's perspective from where he/she was standing.

You can now capture your own photo spheres using mobile apps, including Google Camera (Android), Photo Sphere by Google (iOS) and Sphere. And the process is easy enough: just stand in one spot, follow the on-screen dot on your device to take shots of a still scene (so yes, ask friends to kindly stay still or keep out of your scene for a minute) in every direction, and let the app stitch the photos together into a lovely photo sphere.

Advanced photographers can share equi-rectangular (360-degree by 180-degree) images from their DSLRs on Google+ and allow the Auto Awesome feature to convert them into web- and mobile-friendly photo spheres.

When you're finished shooting, you can showcase your photo spheres on Google Maps for others to discover as they navigate the globe on their desktops and mobile devices, or share your creations with the Sphere app community and other social networks, and find gorgeous new places to visit and sights to see, in all their 360-degree glory.

Hyperlapse
While time-lapse photography involves shooting a scene from the same position over an extended period of time to show the effect of time passing quickly (such as celestial motion over a lake), hyperlapse is a variation of this technique that involves moving the camera while shooting an extended scene.

This method is great for a range of exciting new stories, best told at six times their original speed: go on a 15-second tour of The White House, take in the urban majesty of Times Square or drive through Yellowstone National Park in a flash.

You can check these out on Instagram by looking up #hyperlapse. To create your own, grab the free Hyperlapse app (iOS) and shoot scenes while moving your camera the app will automatically speed up your capture, while magically stabilizing your shots so your panning is a lot smoother than you'd expect with a handheld device. Show off your home or office, take a walk through a busy market or hop on a ferris wheel for some great hyperlapses.

Light field photography
With most conventional photos, the camera's focus is fixed at some point, so that part of the composition is sharp, while the rest of the image is slightly blurred. The depth of the field helps draw our attention to the subject in focus, while allowing the rest of the image to provide context without overwhelming the viewer.

But imagine if you could take a picture and refocus it later to get a better look at the rest of the scene. With light field photography, it's a snap!

This photography technique allows you to capture a shot along with information about the light moving in every direction in your picture, so that you can later refocus to any point in the image. So if you've got a light field image of a kitchen with the focus on a fruit on the counter, you could refocus to bring out detail in the cabinets, appliances and floor.

Lytro, a startup company, makes consumer- and professional-grade light field cameras that produce image in which you can refocus to multiple points and also tilt and rotate to shift your perspective. The company's site and mobile app (iOS) lets you check out works from light field photographers around the world — just tap and drag to bring out detail in whatever you'd like to see.

The closest you can get to this effect rightaway without a real camera is 3D pictures that you can shoot with Seene (iOS). Simply tap to take a picture and move your phone smoothly in one direction to get a cool perspective-shift effect that you can almost reach out and touch! Snap away and share with the Seene community for an extra dimension of fun.

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E-commerce companies wooing Indians in Silicon Valley to join

NEW DELHI: As e-commerce companies scale up their businesses dramatically, they're being forced to look overseas — Silicon Valley in particular — for people with the skills needed to fill top positions. Flipkart, Quikr, Ibibo-Group, PolicyBazaar, Urban Ladder, CBazaar, Jabong and Caratlane among others are looking to persuade highly qualified Indians and even some expats to shift base and are prepared to pay to get them on board.

Such hires have worked well for Flipkart and Infibeam and they're keen on adding more such employees to their rolls as they expand at breakneck speed.

Online retail in India is expected to grow to $6 billion in size next year, according to research firm Gartner. "We do believe that expats and Indians working abroad bring a different perspective in conducting and scaling the business," said Manu Midha, V-P of planning and strategy at Infibeam. "We are also recruiting for overseas expansion of the platform

E-commerce in India is witnessing phenomenal growth and has become an attractive option for many techies at senior level with rich experience and knowledge to return (to India) and join the bandwagon."

Flipkart has people with international experience in key positions across technology, retail, marketing, supply chain, corporate development and other departments.

"If we find people that match the job profile and have a passion to succeed, we hire across boundaries as well. For an organization like Flipkart that is looking to create a world-class experience in the Indian market, this kind of talent adds value," said Mekin Maheshwari, chief people officer at Flipkart.Most such hires are in their late 30s or 40s and are attracted to the prospect of coming home.

While pay packets vary, annual salaries are typically pegged at Rs 1.5 crore along with stock options. If there was one event that brought home to e-commerce companies that they needed to get serious about hiring the right people, it was the $1-billion investment in Flipkart. Suddenly, they were about to move out of the shallows and into the deep ocean with such leviathans as Amazon and would need to swim or sink. The advent of the Narendra Modi government with a substantial majority also acted as a tonic, said Mayank Pande, a partner at Amrop India.

Arch rivals Flipkart and Amazon have accumulated huge investments to power their growth. Flipkart has raised more than $1.2 billion this year, while Snapdeal has received about $850 million, including the funding from SoftBank this week. Amazon India got a commitment of $2 billion from its parent in July. Naturally, staffing is surging: By the end of the fiscal year, Flipkart will increase employee count to an estimated 26,000 and Snapdeal to 3,600. Flipkart's numbers include hiring for its logistics arm.

Much of the talent pool available locally is not as evolved as those found overseas. "We are compelled to look at Silicon Valley and are in the process of shortlisting a few names for our clients," said Pande. "Most ecommerce companies (with sound funding) as well as brick and mortar companies looking at building/strengthening their e-commerce business are looking at Silicon Valley for experienced, evolved cutting-edge talent." Vikram Chhachhi of Heidrick and Struggles agreed with this.

"Niche talent required for the e-commerce space lies globally as the existing domestic pool of talent in technology and supply chain relevant for these companies is scarce," said Chhachhi, a principal at its Mumbai office and a member of the global consumer markets practice.

He pointed out that e-commerce companies themselves weren't prepared for this kind of growth. Having people with the requisite knowledge has become even more critical to sustain rising volume and cope with competition. "Else many companies will soon go bust if they fail to attract best talent," Chhachhi said.CBazaar, formerly Chennaibazaar, gets close to 90% of its revenue from overseas. It's looking for a chief financial officer and a marketing head.

We have not come across anyone (locally) who can understand our business and help us to grow it. We are now exploring talent in the US through headhunters and our network," said CBazaar chief executive officer and co-founder Rajesh Nahar. The company, which is funded by Inventus Capital Partners and Ojas Venture Partners, is eyeing another round of funding.

Infibeam, which is heading for an initial public offering, recently hired Soumya Banerjee to head its digital initiatives. The company intends to gain from his experience in the new technologies space, said Midha. The company has also hired Parag Raval, who is currently working in the CEO's office at Infibeam. Before this, Raval was the founder of ConsulTeam, a California based strategy, financial and management consulting firm.

Flipkart hires include Indians with exposure to global markets, especially the US, coupled with e-commerce and technology experience. The list includes Michael Adnani, currently vice-president of retail and head, brand alliances; Vaibahv Gupta, senior vice-president, business finance; Saran Chatterjee, vice-president customer platform; Sameer Nigam, senior vice-president, engineering; Prasad Menon, senior director, human resources and corporate social responsibility.Quikr is also looking overseas, primarily in the areas of product management, technology, analytics, sales and operations.

"In a smaller set-up, one resource is expected to play multiple roles while as the organization grows in scale, roles get specialized," said Dhruv Dubey, vice-president, human resources, at Quikr.com. "We are looking for specialists from traditional companies and from established internet companies outside India."But it's not all pull—there's also push.

He said overseas workers are keen on exploring opportunities in India. "We have been in touch with several such professionals," Dubey said. Avdesh Mittal of Korn Ferry said, "E-commerce players are open to hiring foreigners and foreigners too are willing to join the e-commerce story in India. India is the future of e-commerce and foreigners are only too delighted to have India on their resume." Mittal is regional sector leader, digital, Asia-Pacific.

Jabong's HR head Ashu Malhotra said the company will explore talent outside India as and when the need arises.

Urban Ladder is scouting for talent at senior levels. "We have mandated headhunters for finding the right fit from overseas for online marketing, design and product management. At present, these functions are handled by the co-founders including myself," said Urban Ladder co-founder and CEO Ashish Goel. Nasscom, the grouping of IT and IT enabled services companies in India, relates today's e-commerce story to the IT services industry of the early 2000s.

"Clearly this is what happened in the IT services space in India over a decade back where many Indians overseas sensing opportunities returned to join the software wave, just this time the industry has changed to e-commerce," said Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice-president at Nasscom.

"The roles of venture capitalists will be crucial in selecting the right talent as they have bet big in this game."

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13 most popular tech CEOs in US

It's tough being a CEO. You have to constantly meet your sales goals, introduce new ideas, motivate your employees and keep expanding the business — too. Things only get harder if you're in tech, where everything changes so quickly.

That's why, for many CEOs, staying popular among employees is often pushed to the back burner. Yet, some manage to keep both their employees and shareholders happy.

Bloomberg has put together a list of the most popular CEOs heading public companies in the US, based on a survey done by Glassdoor. We have narrowed it down to the 13 tech CEOs who received the highest approval rating.

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An era ends with Nokia smartphones

As the world moves rapidly towards the era of smartphones, a brand synonymous with mobile phones for two decades and one that actually introduced these more advanced devices to the masses will not be part of this future. Nokia, arguably one of the most popular mobile phone brands across the globe, will cease to exist among smartphones in the years to come as Microsoft, the new owner of Nokia's devices business, has decided to pull the curtains on one of the most iconic names of our time, even if only partially.

Microsoft will use the Nokia brand for 10 years for feature phones and has decided to re-brand the Nokia Lumia range of smartphones to Microsoft Lumia and discontinue the Asha and X ranges of smartphones. Redmond-headquartered Microsoft bought Nokia's devices and services business for $7.5 billion in April, along with the right to use the Nokia brand

"It's the end of an era," said brand consultant Harish Bijoor, who recalls that his second mobile phone was the Nokia Communicator, a brick-like yet swanky device that split open to become a mini laptop with a qwerty keypad and business apps. Owning this handphone at Rs 60,000 or Rs 72,000 more than a decade ago was akin to owning jewelry. It also meant you had arrived.

"Nokia is a loss. It's a brand that I have real affection for. It still has the largest brand recall," Bijoor added. Nokia made all the right moves in its heyday to become one of the most trusted brands among discerning Indian consumers who wanted value for money and high quality in any product they bought. It partnered with retailers, carriers and content makers and introduced a variety of models month after month to create a flourishing ecosystem for mobile phones in India, one of its top priority markets globally.

"When all phones were limited to few colours, Nokia launched the full colour screen phone, which was my first mobile phone," said 32-year old graphic designer Krishnaraj Singh, who has since used more than a dozen Nokia phones. Nokia's durability was another killer feature that no mobile phone can match today. "The phones wouldn't break even if I were to throw them," said 30-year old Kavita Kapoor, a public relations professional at a clothing brand in Gurgaon.

"It's a brand that has captured the imagination of every single person," said PepsiCo India Chairman and Chief Executive Officer D Shivakumar, who spearheaded Nokia's growth for almost half of its 18 years in India, during which it set up India's first mobile phone manufacturing factory in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in 2009.

At its peak, the factory produced 25% of all Nokia phones sold, which was 11% of the world's cellphones. From November 1, the factory will stop functioning. The plant was excluded from the Microsoft deal after its assets were frozen in tax-related proceedings.

"Nokia was more than a brand. It was consistent as a brand and as a culture, humble, honest, caring and empathetic," Shivakumar added. Not everybody feels that the former pride of Finland has lost its legacy. The brand will live on, even if it is restricted to feature phones used by 71% of India's 900 million mobile phone owners, which is only diminishing as they upgrade to smartphones.

"The brand equity will remain intact," said a former senior executive at Nokia, who did not want to be identified. "It will only move to Microsoft, which is not an unknown brand in India. I have seen customers walking into Microsoft retail stores that were earlier Nokia Priority Dealers with the same ease and confidence they had in Nokia," he added.

Many consumers believe that in terms of recall, the brand will prevail even for smartphones because it will take a while for the change of brand to register. Customers, especially those who have used or are using Lumia devices, are likely to habitually keep referring to them as Nokia Lumia instead of Microsoft Lumia.

"Buying a Microsoft Lumia is just not the same as buying a Nokia Lumia. For a generation that has grown up with the idea that a smartphone equals N Series or E Series, not being able to buy a Nokia smartphone will leave a void. Ten years later, no one will reminiscence about their iPhone 5, 6 or 10, it will be the Nokia N95 that they will recall," said Vaibhav Sharma, a lawyer and tech blogger who has followed Nokia for several years.

"If Nokia's demise proves one thing, it is that nothing stays forever in the world of technology. So don't be surprised if you see Nokia make a comeback in 2016. Remember, they didn't sell their patents or the HERE mapping division to Microsoft," he added

Under the terms of the deal, Nokia, which now operates telecom equipment, HERE maps and technologies businesses after the acquisition, will continue to own and maintain the Nokia brand. After the transaction closes, Nokia cannot license the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and cannot use the brand on Nokia's own mobile devices until December 31, 2015.

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Twitter outrage over 'suspension' of accounts

NEW DELHI: Twitter timelines of most Indian users were abuzz on Saturday due to a controversy about some accounts being 'suspended'.

The term 'Twitter India' was also trending all over India with Twitter users pouring out their outrage over the issue.

It all started when Twitter accounts of some media personalities including former WSJ India columnist, Rupa Subramanya, Faking News (a satire and humour website) Editor Rahul Roushan, and Newslaundry.com's Arunabh Saikia were allegedly suspended.

Rupa Subramanya tweeted that Twitter had sent her a warning that her account would be permanently suspended if she doesn't change her "behaviour."

She also alleged that Twitter was suspending accounts of right-wing personalities including those of @AgentSaffron, @Sushuptii, @wallflower_ish, @sureshnakhua, and @readernewspaper.

Another user with the handle @Stupidosaur also alleged that his account was suspended and posted a screenshot of the communication received from Twitter. The message informed that the account was caught up in spam groups by mistake but it was also possible that one of his tweets or retweets appeared to be spam. The message also mentioned that he needed to change his behaviour to continue using Twitter or his account would be permanently suspended.

Later, Twitter India via its account tweeted that the suspension of some accounts was accidental and that the issue had been resolved. The tweet said, "The issue with the accidental suspension of some accounts has been resolved. Regret the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience."

It's worth noting that Twitter mentions a number of reasons for account suspensions including spamming, abuse, harassment, username squatting, invitation spam, selling usernames, malware, phishing and pornography, among others.

However, there seemed to be more than meets the eye behind the latest incident, believed several users who sent out a number of tweets and RTs panning Twitter India for an 'unannounced censorship'.

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3D printers shipments to cross 2.17 lakh in 2015 globally: Gartner

BANGALORE: Worldwide shipments of 3D printers (3DPs) will reach 217,350 units in 2015, up from 108,151 in 2014, said IT advisory firm Gartner. 3D printer shipments will more than double every year between 2015 and 2018, by which time worldwide shipments are forecast to reach more than 2.3 million.

"As we noted last year, the 3D printer market is at an inflection point," said Pete Basiliere, research vice president at Gartner. "Unit shipment growth rates for 3D printers, which languished in the low single and double digits per year throughout the 30 years since the first 3D printers were invented, are poised to increase dramatically beginning in 2015. As radical as the forecast numbers may seem, bear in mind that even the 2.3 million shipments that we forecast will be sold in 2018 are a small fraction of the total potential market of consumers, businesses and government organizations worldwide."

Seven technologies constitute the 3D printer market, with material extrusion leading the market's growth through 2018 due to significant worldwide consumer adoption of 3D printers costing less than $1,000. The primary market drivers for "consumer" 3D printers are lower prices, improved performance and expanded global availability. The primary "enterprise" 3D printer market drivers are the viability of 3D printing technologies for prototyping and manufacturing coupled with lower 3D printer costs, improved quality and a wider range of materials.

"The high material extrusion shipment growth numbers are basically driving the 3D printer forecast," said Basiliere. "New providers are entering the market, sometimes directly, sometimes through crowdfunding campaigns, on what seems like a daily basis. These providers are leveraging the expiration of early extrusion technology patents to make low-cost, low-priced devices targeted mainly at consumers."

End-user spending on 3D printers varies by technology and shipments, but other market forces also come into play. Material extrusion spending is impacted by the high number of startup and small companies worldwide that are taking advantage of the low barrier to entry to sell consumer 3D printers for less than $500. Whether these startups and small companies have sufficient revenue to cover not only their production and overhead costs but also service, sales, channel development, research and development, and owners' profit remains to be seen.

Conversely, providers of technologies such as directed-energy deposition and powder bed fusion will be able to hold prices as demand for their equipment rises, adding value in ways other than a costly price war in order to attract and retain enterprise buyers.

Gartner predicts that end-user spending on material extrusion technology will increase from $789 million in 2015 to around $6.9 billion in 2018. Overall, end-user spending on 3D printers is expected to increase from $1.6 billion in 2015 to around $13.4 billion in 2018 with technologies such as Vat photopolymerization and material jetting leading this growth due to expanded acceptability within the consumer and enterprise markets.

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