Minister tackles reckless driving

Johannesburg - More than 900 people have been killed on South Africa's roads this month, according to Road Traffic Management Corporation (RMTC) spokesperson Ashref Ismail.

"We are extremely concerned about head-on crashes," he said.

"Out of the 16 major fatal crashes since December 1, 13 were head-ons.

"These are the most devastating because the chances of survival are so low."

On Monday, 19 people were killed in a head-on collision between a taxi and car in the northern Free State.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele called for the courts to be quicker to confiscate and suspend the s
driving licences of motorists found guilty of road traffic violations.

"In conjunction with the Ministries of Police and Justice, as well as the National Prosecuting Authority, we will continue to ensure that we are more aggressive in dealing with irresponsible drivers," Ndebele said in a statement.

"Drivers arrested for any offence must have their driving licences seized as well as suspended and/or cancelled."

His spokesperson, Logan Maistry, said the National Road Traffic Act placed a duty in courts to "suspend or disqualify a driving licence for a person found guilty of drinking and driving, reckless and negligent driving".

People found to be driving over the speed limit by 30km/h in urban areas and 40km/h outside urban areas, also risked having their licences suspended or disqualified.

A first offence would result in a confiscation for six months, a second for five years and a third or subsequent offence would merit a 10-year cancellation or suspension of a licence, he said.

Ismail said a full set of preliminary figures of road deaths would be issued on Wednesday.

A total of 1 149 people were killed on South Africa's roads between December 1 and December 28 in 2010 and 1 304 deaths were recorded for the same period in 2009. - Sapa
Source:Iol.co.za
Tags: Transport Minister,accident stats,licence suspension

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Nokia bid to buy Blackberry

Microsoft and Nokia mull BlackBerry buy
Posted by Chris Davies on December 21, 2011.

Microsoft and Nokia discussed a potential takeover of beleaguered BlackBerry manufacturer RIM, leaks have revealed, while RIM itself has approached Samsung, HTC and others about potentially licensing the new BlackBerry 10 OS.

Talks between Microsoft and Nokia began several months ago, the WSJ reports, though while executives from the two firms apparently regularly meet with top brass at RIM, it's unclear whether the Canadian company has been involved in potential acquisition planning.

RIM is refusing to countenance any possibility of abandoning its hardware business and focusing instead on enterprise software and services. Instead, it has supposedly broached the idea of licensing out BlackBerry 10 – the company's QNX-based next-gen OS that was initially to be called BBX until a trademark dispute forced a rethink – to other companies, in the same manner that Google and Microsoft license their own platforms.

Whether rival firms would be interested in that is uncertain. Samsung and HTC, each of which currently produce both Android and Windows Phone devices, are apparently among those to have been approached by RIM, but no indication of the success of those licensing talks has been given. RIM's profit strategy is also unknown: Google gives Android away, and makes its cut based on mobile advertising and app downloads, while Microsoft charges manufacturers royalties for using Windows Phone 7.

Unfortunately, unexpected delays in when BlackBerry 10 is expected to hit the market – now tipped for late 2012 rather than early in the year as previously believed – may leave RIM's licensing strategy simply too late to gain traction. The company is also said to be considering opening up some of its network services, perhaps including BlackBerry Messenger, to others as another potential way of making money.

Co-CEO Jim Balsillie has apparently said internally that the company will wait until the first BlackBerry 10 handsets go on sale before seriously considering takeover bids.

Source : Slashgear.com
Tags : Nokia,MicroSoft,Blackberry,bid

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Holiday Driving Safety Tips

Speed Limits

The maximum daytime speed limit on most interstate and state highways is 120km per hour. In some areas, the speed limit is lower because of residential areas on certain sections of roads.

Observing speed limits means more than driving faster or slower than the posted speed: it means driving to conditions. When it's raining or foggy, when ice is on the road, when traffic is heavy or when road construction is ahead, adjust your speed accordingly.

Keep Left

Watch for signs on multi-lane highways that read "Right Lane For Passing Only." These signs let you know that the left lane on a divided highway is not a "fast" lane; it is a passing lane.

Sharing the Road with Trucks

Trucks can weigh up to 8 tons and may need up to 500 meters to stop. Here are some tips to help keep you safe when you drive near trucks:

Maintain a safe following distance. When the vehicle in front of you passes a fixed object, you should be able to count at least two seconds before you pass the same object.

Don't squeeze between trucks and the curb. Trucks make wide right turns, and the driver may not see you.

When passing a truck, don't move back into your lane until you can see both truck headlights in your rear view mirror. Never cross behind a truck that is backing up.

Move Over

When you approach a stopped emergency vehicle with lights flashing, law requires that you:

move a lane away from the emergency vehicle.

Give Yourself a Break

If your eyes close or go out of focus, you can't stop yawning, your thoughts wander or you're drifting between lanes, wake up: you're a "drowsy driver." Try to stay alert by doing the following:

Get plenty of rest before your trip.

Get out of your vehicle and stretch your legs every two hours. Rest for 15-20 minutes during each stop.

Don't drink and drive

Even small amounts of alcohol can impair your judgment and your reaction time.

Adapted from: Txdot.gov
Tags : Safety tips,Driving tips,Holiday tips


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Kia Rio wins awards in SA

(SOUTH AFRICA), 22 December 2011. After its unveiling at the 2011 Johannesburg International Motor Show, the new Rio sparked the interest of many South Africans.


It was launched to the South African media exactly two months later, and has turned out to be a very popular and sought after Kia model.


"The new Kia Rio is a complete revolution from the previous model, and is a highly competitive offering within the very competitive B-segment", comments Ray Levin, CEO of Kia Motors South Africa.

Kia Rio 2012

"The Rio TEC is our flagship model and is very successful. This model offers features only found in more expensive C-segment models, and this creates a very high value proposition due to very competitive pricing", he adds.


After not being on the local market for more than two months, the new Rio has already raked in numerous awards, both nationally and internationally. On 15 December 2011, Independent Newspapers South Africa announced the new Rio as the overall winner in the "Best small/budget car" category in their Motoring Car of the Year competition.


The publishing group describes the Rio as a car "blending trendy styling with impressive ride quality and neat handling" and further describes it as a B-segment car with a "larger than average" interior.


Merely a day later, the Rio was crowned as the Australian Car Guide's Car of the Year, beating close rivals, the Volvo S60 T4 and Ford Focus, finishing second and third respectively. "We are very excited about this news and feel that the Rio was the deserved winner in both cases", adds Levin. "We are confident, that these wont be the only awards that this fantastic product will receive, and that there will be many more to follow", he concludes.


Source : 3Dcars.com
Tags : Kia,car of the year 2011, Kia Rio
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Fuel shortages hits Kruger National Park areas

Johannesburg - The Kruger National Park on Tuesday warned visitors to fill up their petrol tanks before heading to the reserve as it was experiencing a fuel shortage.

Petrol

Spokesman William Mabasa said there was a shortage of unleaded petrol at most of the park's filling stations.


The situation was a result of a general shortage of fuel in the country which was not only affecting the Kruger National Park but many other filling stations in the region, he said.


"There is still petrol in some of the camps. However, rest camps such as Skukuza, Letaba, Lower Sabie, Pretoriuskop and Shingwedzi have no unleaded petrol at the moment.


"We expect delivery of fuel from the supplier on Wednesday, 21 December and as management, we will work around the clock to ensure that this problem is resolved as quickly as possible," Masaba said.


Mabasa said park management would also like to ensure there was enough fuel for guests during the coming Christmas weekend.


"On behalf of management, we also take this opportunity to apologise to all our guests for the inconveniences which they may have suffered as result of this situation," he said.


Source : Fin24.com
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Samsung galaxy note review

Tablets, smartphones and security fears topped our list of most popular stories this week, with the Samsung Galaxy Note in at number one. 


V3 readers were keen to check out the tablet/smartphone hybrid which we rated an impressive four stars thanks to its Super Amoled HD screen and HSPA+ support.


On the same theme, our top 10 tablets and top 10 smartphones to give as Christmas gifts proved popular among V3 readers looking for some advice or ideas for presents for the family.

Samsung galaxy note

Security fears pervaded the top 10 once again, with news of a critical Adobe flaw, a hefty Patch Tuesday from Microsoft and privacy concerns over the latest NFC bank cards all proving popular.


On the smartphone side, news of a Windows Phone SMS bug and Android malware stats also piqued the interest of V3 readers.


Samsung Galaxy Note review
An excellent Android smartphone/tablet hybrid with a handy little stylus 




Source : V3.com
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Christmas money saving ideas

1. Budget


Set yourself a realistic budget, and stick to
it. Rather than adding it all up on a scrap of paper, use our budget calculator to keep a record of everything you spend in the
run-up to Christmas so you always know where you are with your cash.


2. Don't leave it to the last minute
Shopping in a rush means you're more likely to put pressure over price and pay over the odds.


3. Use the internet
Avoid the crush-hour crowds and save money by comparing prices on lots of websites.


4. Store card scrooges
Stay away from expensive store cards. They'll charge you around 8% more than you would pay on an average credit card.


5. Get the right credit card
Getting the right credit card can save you cash so compare deals and make sure you're not paying too much interest on yours.


6. Guard your Christmas gifts
The number of house burglaries soars over Christmas, so take precautions, lock up carefully when you go out and check that you're insured.


7. Get out and walk
Deliver as many cards as possible by hand instead of spending money on stamps and petrol. It'll help burn off those mince pies, wine and chocolate.


8. Keep a cool head
It's easy to get carried away in the run-up to Christmas. Twinkling lights, jolly jingles and the general air of cheer in stores are all designed to help part you from your cash
and it can be a hard balancing act between being generous and knowing when to stop.
Stay focused and don't get distracted from the task at hand.


9. Don't fall for the January sales trick
Bargain-hunters heading for the sales often buy things that don't fit or aren't useful because they're cheap. If it's not in your size or you wouldn't have bought it when it was full price, don't buy it now.


For more information visit thisismoney.co.uk
Source : goodtoknow.co.uk


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South Africa Car Sales improve for November

South African vehicle sales improved by 11.7% year-on-year in November, driven by low interest rates and debt servicing costs, declining new vehicle prices in real terms, and the introduction of new models.

Vehicle sales reached 49 499 vehicles sold in November, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said on Friday.

A total 44 318 vehicles were sold in November 2010.

Total year to date domestic aggregate new vehicle sales remained 16% ahead of the corresponding 11 months of 2010. Export sales reflected an improvement of 17% in volume terms.

2012 Audi A6

Total new car sales during November 2011 at 33 074 units reflected an improvement of 3 555 new cars, or an increase of 12%, compared to the 29 519 new cars sold during November 2010, with the latest figures reflecting a decline in the growth momentum in the new car sales cycle.

The major contributor to the decline was the lower contribution by the car rental industry due to seasonal factors.

"The slowdown in the rate of growth in the new vehicle sales cycle was consistent with the slower economic growth recorded in the general economy," Naamsa said.

"The low interest rate environment and corresponding lower debt servicing costs, declining new vehicle prices in real terms, the competitive trading environment and new model introductions should support domestic sales over the medium term."

The association anticipated growth to be at a more subdued rate in line with the overall performance of the South African economy.

"The direction of the global economy remained uncertain and international financial markets continued to be characterised by extreme volatility and turbulence. Prospects of slower global growth, particularly in developed economies, could impact on industry export sales going forward."

Moderation in export demand

Exports of South African produced vehicles in November 2011 at 20 480 units reflected a decline of 8 084 vehicles or 28.3% compared to the 28 564 units exported during November last year. The latest export sales figures suggested a moderation in demand in various international markets.

Of the overall sales of 49 499, 85.7% represented dealer sales, 5.8% of the sales were to government, 4.9% represented sales to the car rental industry and 3.6% represented industry corporate fleet sales.

Sales of industry new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses at 14 125 units during November, 2011, reflected a gain of 12.2% compared to the 12 591 units sold in November 2010. For the first 11 months of 2011, new light commercial vehicle sales were ahead by 11.5% compared to the corresponding period last year.

Sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of industry was recorded at 844 units and 1 456 units respectively. Total year to date sales of medium, heavy commercial and buses remained 22.2% ahead of the corresponding 11 months of last year.

Source : http://www.businessday.co.za
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COP 17 Conference Begin in Durban

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) begins today and Joburgers are urged to show their support by wearing green.


WHETHER it’s a cap, a T-shirt or even a Bok jersey, Joburg residents are encouraged to wear green in support of the forthcoming 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) taking place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December.

COP17 - CMP7 Durban

“I urge Joburg residents to wear a green shirt in support of the COP 17 meeting,” said the City’s director of air quality and climate change, Barney Kgope, who explained that COP 17 was a negotiation between developing and developed countries to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.


Representatives of the world’s governments, international organisations and civil society are attending the gathering, the 17th annual Conference of the Parties. The discussions will seek to advance the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in 2007 and the Cancun Agreements reached at COP 16 last December.


In preparation for COP 17, the City worked together with several big organisations to host events that will provide a platform for local government to discuss issues concerning climate change. With the theme “Mobilising citizens to act now to secure a smart city”, several campaigns aimed to educate and engage people about climate change have also been held by the City.


In terms of the effects of climate change on South Africa, recent studies predict that it will result in the increased incidence of drought and floods, with prolonged dry spells being followed by intense storms.


Over the next century, this warming trend and changes in precipitation patterns are expected to continue and be accompanied by a rise in sea levels and increased frequency of extreme weather events.






Source: http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?

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Table Mountain Nature Seven Wonders

DAVE MARRS: Mountain is now officially, like, totally awesome
Capetonians have been droning on about how wonderful their lump of rock is for as long as you can remember


SO TABLE Mountain is one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. But you already knew that, because Capetonians have been droning on about how wonderful their lump of rock is for as long as you can remember. I’m told even the muggers that haunt the slopes above the city are awful when experienced in their natural habitat.


So what’s with all the cynicism I’m picking up over the new seven wonders of nature concept? Some are going so far as to imply it’s nothing more than a moneymaking racket for the Swiss operators of new7wonders.com, which ran the competition.

Table Mountain -Seven Wonder of the World

Sure, they stand to make millions of dollars, given that they get a cut from each of the billion or more SMSes that were sent during the voting stage, just as they made millions when a mere 100-million votes were cast in their New Seven Manmade Wonders competition in 2007. Respect for that: they thought of it first, and anyone who can persuade nations to fight among themselves to get their populations to pay you for the privilege of voting for features of their natural environment — and then charge millions more for use of the New Seven Wonders brand in perpetuity — deserves every cent. I have several Nigerian e-mail penpals who are standing by to transfer money to your bank account in recognition of the sheer genius of it. All they need is your PIN.


Others question the credibility of the top seven list, given that it’s based on a worldwide poll with no limit to the number of times an individual — or algorithm — can vote. Indeed, it does seem a little odd that another moderately famous lump of African rock popularly known as Mount Kilimanjaro hasn’t made the top seven. And good luck trying to persuade tourists to pay good money to kick back and sip a cocktail while watching the sun set over the Puerto Princesa Underground River, which I believe is buried somewhere in the Philippines.


But no matter. If the Tanzanians and Kenyans were snoozing while the rest of the world was installing fibreoptic cable and cellular base stations and creating a consumer society, that’s their loss. The ever-industrious Vietnamese worked their thumbs to the bone over the past week SMS-ing their votes for the inclusion of Halong Bay among the magical seven. According to the Financial Times, Vietnam’s central bank even sent out an urgent communique to all of the country’s financial institutions urging them to make sure their employees voted. One bank set its drones a target of 600 SMSes each, with a vague promise to reimburse the costs.


It worked: Halong Bay is among the new seven natural wonders of the world and Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay (home to Ko Tapu, better known as James Bond Island) is not, although you’d have to be an amateur geologist to distinguish one cluster of pointy islands from the other. It worked the other way, too — the Dead Sea failed to make the grade, despite the high percentage of Israelis with access to cellphones and the internet, partly because of a concerted campaign by Palestinian sympathisers to persuade the world not to boost the Israeli tourism industry.


Still, such worldwide recognition of Table Mountain’s wonderfulness is not to be sneezed at. Tourism research company Grant Thornton has calculated that making the top seven in the list will increase the number of tourists visiting Cape Town by at least 20%. And since about 70% of them are expected to be foreigners, that could translate to R1,4bn a year in extra revenue over five years.


So lay off Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, who have copped a bit of criticism for participating so enthusiastically in the campaign to ensure The Mountain cracked the top seven. According to Grant Thornton, the number of visitors to Petra in Jordan increased by more than 60%, and to Christ the Redeemer in Brazil by 30%, after they were included among the new man-made wonders, so the promised increase in tourism to Cape Town is more than a pipe dream.


Besides, they’re both from Cape Town, and for a Capetonian the thought of Table Mountain not being considered among the top seven natural wonders of the world is as preposterous as Mount Everest being left off the list. Oh wait, it was.


• Marrs is Cape Editor.


Source : http://www.businessday.co.za
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Eskom signs a huge loan to go green

Eskom has signed a US250 million (about R1.9 billion) loan that will finance the building of South Africa's largest solar energy and wind power generation projects.


Signing the guarantee, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said South Africa had "a huge comparative advantage" when it came to solar power generation.


Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said the loan was an indication that there was "great investor confidence in South Africa".


The 40-year loan, signed in Pretoria, will help finance the building of a 100 megawatt solar power plant near Upington and the 100 megawatt Sere wind farm near Vredendal in the Western Cape.

Renewable Energy

The 200 megawatt capacity of the two power plants could generate enough electricity to power 200,000 homes.


Eskom chief executive Brian Dames said the wind farm would be completed by 2013 and he the solar farm a year later in 2014.


Repayments on the loan will start in 10 years. It is expected to be paid off over the following 30 years at an interest rate of 0.25 (CORR) percent annually on the amounts dispersed.


The loan was approved by the World Bank on October 27 and comes from its clean technology fund.


Eskom has already received US100 million (more than R700 million) from the African Development Bank for the two projects, which will be the largest in South Africa.


The loans are being guaranteed by the South African government.


It is hoped that each project will reduce South Africa's carbon emissions by five million tons a year.



Source : http://www.timeslive.co.za
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South African GDP forecast cut by treasury

CAPE TOWN Oct 25 (Reuters) - South Africa's National Treasury on Tuesday cut its 2011 economic growth forecast to 3.1 percent, rising to 3.4 next year and said this depended on global prospects and was not enough to reduce unemployment and poverty in line with government goals.


Growth in Africa's largest economy is expected to improve gradually over three years before reaching 4.3 percent in 2014, assuming the European debt crisis is solved and the U.S. avoids recession, while emerging economies continue to perform well.


"The pace and progress of recovery is uncertain. The threat of global contagion is still with us," Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in a Medium Term Budget Policy statement in parliament -- his outline of policy objectives over the next three years.

"While this level of growth is not as vibrant as we would like, it is a base on which to build," Gordhan said, adding that the country's economic fundamentals were sound.


Stagnating global growth would reduce South Africa's exports, which is heavily reliant on trade with Europe, while capital flow reversals could see weaker equities prices on the Johannesburg bourse, putting greater pressure on the volatile rand currency.


Less demand from emerging markets could also reduce profitability in the underperforming mining sector, a top employer and major economic sector.


Gordhan said it was time to take difficult decisions as financial constraints forced government to choose between competing goals, with a shift of resources in favour of growth and jobs envisaged while keeping an eye on rising debt levels.


Infrastructure spending, which amounts to 802 billion rand ($101.1 billion) over three years, is key to helping the economy grow, he added.


"Ensuring a sustainable level of debt is also necessary to create an environment in which the private sector can grow, invest and create jobs based on stable inflation, a low cost of capital and a competitive real exchange rate," National Treasury said.



Household spending has helped the recovery but growth in consumption will moderate as rising inflation limits disposable income.


Inflation has stayed inside the Reserve Bank's 3 to 6 percent since February 2010, allowing the Reserve Bank to leave interest rates at 30-year lows. The Treasury expects inflation to average 5 percent in 2011, before rising to 5.4 percent next year. The Reserve Bank has kept the repurchase rate unchanged at a 30-year low of 5.5 percent since November 2010.


"Domestic conditions are largely supportive of growth. Real interest rates are low and will assist in bolstering private-sector consumption and investment over the medium term," National Treasury said.


At a press briefing later, Treasury's director-general Lungisa Fuzile, said the treasury expected pressure from oil and food prices to ease in future.


($1 = 7.932 South African Rand)  
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Marius Bosch)





Source : http://af.reuters.com
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Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich Introduced

When I said it would be a busy fall, I didn’t expect us to be covering two big announcements in one day, or three/four/five, depending on how you choose to count them. Samsung didn’t just show off new hardware, Google was there to show off the new software behind that hardware. Details of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich have been leaking for some time now but with the SDK published and the event wrapped up we have a better sense of what Google has in mind for the next phase in Android. Let’s get started.

Matias Duarte started off by introducing the audience to Android’s new font, Roboto. Playful though the name is, it is a stylish and elegant font, and while it might not strike the right note for everyone it certainly seems easy to read. It’s featured throughout ICS, including the digital clock on the lock screen which is where we’ll begin. The layout is familiar, and not too divergent in look. In function there’s some new tricks to show off. Swiping the unlock icon to the right takes you to your home screen, though swiping left takes you to the camera app, more on that in a bit. This trick has been seen before, most recently in HTC’s Sense 3.5. New - though perhaps not as revolutionary - is facial recognition based unlock, which Google aptly calls Face Unlock. This was a feature in my Lenovo S10 from several years back, and judging by the demo this implementation may face the same hurdles as that Lenovo, poor lighting leads to poor recognition. This may pan out, though right now it seems like a solution searching for a problem. 

The gold standard for notifications systems has been WebOS since its introduction, with Android following close behind. In its latest incarnation the differences are mainly cosmetic and in the addition of a music notification with playback controls and the ability to swipe away individual notifications. These are features that we’ve seen in skinned and modded versions of Android for some time, but welcome nonetheless. What we haven’t seen is the ability to peek at notifications from the lock screen and then go directly into the app that originated the notification upon unlock. 

 

Having unlocked your phone you are now presented with a home screen that looks like a comfortable marriage between Honeycomb and Gingerbread. Honeycomb’s on screen buttons have evolved and are delightfully animated, and though anchored to the bottom or right hand side of the device, depending on orientation, they rotate appropriately. This area is called the System Bar, and will also be home to the Notification shade on tablet ICS devices. Just above the System Bar is the Favorites tray, an evolution of the docks we’ve seen before. Here you’ll find icons for Phone, People, Messaging, Browser and, of course, App Drawer, though it will be highly customizable, even supporting Folders. When you do decide to open an app, the Favorites tray becomes the Action Bar and provides contextual actions for the app you’re in. It can be at the top or bottom of the screen and can change configuration within the app based on context. In the Gmail demo, for instance, they showed how while in the Inbox the Action Bar had buttons to compose a new message, search your messages or access labels. Upon opening or selecting an e-mail, new buttons populate the Action Bar. Adopting the Action Bar will be a key UI element in ICS apps. 

 

Back to the home screen, Google apps are now resizable and that functionality will be opened up to developers. The familiar home and back buttons are rejoined by the Recent Apps button from Honeycomb. This multitasking implementation looks and works very similarly as in the tablet OS, with the added ability to kill individual tasks with a swipe. This was an oft lamented absence in Honeycomb, as the list of apps could get quite long after several days of use. 

 

Phones are meant as communications devices so Google spent time on the Phone, Messaging and People apps. The People app replaces the Contacts app of old, and is livened up with larger pictures and a lot more data. Opening a contact’s profile reveals the typical list of numbers and e-mails, but it also includes connections through social media, and a swipe to the left reveals an integrated aggregation of that contact’s updates within those networks. They’ve also included a new Favorites tab that introduces a UI concept that we’ll see recurring in Android from now on, and it may look familiar to Windows Phone 7 users. The Favorites tab displays larger high resolution images of your most common contacts in a tightly aligned grid that is described as a ‘magazine style UI’ and bears a striking resemblance to the panels popular in Microsoft’s Metro UI. 

 

 

The Phone app has been updated with in-line visual voicemail (through Google Voice) amongst your call log, and a Favorite’s tab, as in the People app, that allows you to call common contacts with one touch instead of opening their profile first. Calling one of your contacts yields a new in-call screen that features a large profile image overlaid with call information and call functions. 

 

The Messaging app gets its biggest update from the improved keyboard, which has in-line spell check, improved word suggestion with easier to select options, and a  refined way to add words to the dictionary. The voice recognition functions of Android have been improved and they’ve implemented an ‘open microphone’ experience that allows you to dictate long messages and insert punctuation, regardless of any pauses you might have while composing. The engine even supports emoticons. 

 
Screenshot of the article, within the article... How meta.

The Browser gets a new ‘Save for off-line reading’ function that is aimed at more than just storing articles, but can include things like boarding passes, and train schedules. It also gets a tab management system that mirrors the Recent Apps function. The stock android browser now also includes incognito mode, which no doubt will be used in conjunction with Flash for lots of scientific research. 

 

Every browser iteration from Android features performance improvements and this one is no different. Google notes that the stock Android browser gets much improved rendering speed through an improved and updated version of WebKit, and faster JavaScript performance thanks in part to an update to V8's crankshaft JIT engine. Google claims an improvement of 220% in Android 4.0 over Android 2.3 in V8, and 35% faster SunSpider 0.9.1 performance on the Nexus S alone. We look forward to testing out this improved Android browser and seeing what other improvements are lurking inside very soon. 

 

Google's Browser Performance Benchmarks (Courtesy Google)

In the emulator the benefits of this new version of WebKit are readily visible, where Android 4.0's browser scores 230 and 3 bonus points, compared with 177 and 1 bonus point in Android 2.3.5. The new browser also thankfully now exposes a desktop user agent switcher, something that has been missing for far too long from the stock Android browser.

 

The Calendar app gets a new layout and features pinch to zoom for easily shifting from a broader to a more granular view of your agenda, and back again. They’ve extended the use of the swipe here to allow you to go back and forth between days/weeks/months. This same motion is found in the new Gmail app for browsing through e-mails quickly. And that Gmail app now gets two-line previews along with the other UI changes. 

Source : http://www.anandtech.com
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Blackberry Service Blackout Reasons

Engineers at its European headquarters in Slough, Berkshire, as well as its corporate base in Waterloo, Ontario, are still investigating what went so badly wrong. According to industry sources, however, a picture is beginning to emerge.


While Slough is the site of RIM’s European headquarters, and is also in charge of operations in the Middle East and Africa, it is not the physical location of the stacks of networking equipment that actually serve the tens of millions of BlackBerry users in these regions.
The firm is famously tight-lipped on such matters, but it is widely known within the mobile industry that the machines are actually maintained at its site in Egham, Surrey.


The problems began on Monday at around 10AM BST. Mobile networks noticed that BlackBerry internet traffic had fallen away completely. Senior RIM executives confirmed to them that there was a problem, and that an urgent investigation had been launched.

Blackberry OS7 Phones

Brief outages are reasonably common in the internet industry and at this stage there was no indication that this one would lead so many customers to vow to abandon their BlackBerry in favour of rival smartphones.


RIM’s investigation revealed the apparent cause of the outage to be a failed Cisco switch in its core network. Switches are basic components of Internet Protocol networks. They are specialised computers that direct communications within networks; in this case the emails, web browsing and instant messages of millions BlackBerry Internet Service users.


On day three of the crisis, RIM publicly admitted it had suffered a “core switch failure”.


If everything had worked to plan, the failure would not have mattered. A backup system also failed, however, for reasons that remain obscure and will surely be among the top priorities of RIM’s own post-mortem investigation.
Ironically, suspicion has fallen on a network upgrade programme specifically designed to prevent outages. 


Involving “fundamental” changes, it was initiated after a North American BlackBerry outage in December 2009. Work in Britain was completed only two months ago, sources said.


After Monday’s morning’s collapse, RIM’s engineers decided to revert the software running the switching infrastructure to the pre-upgrade version. This meant the Internet Protocol backbone of the BlackBerry network in Europe, the Middle East and Africa had to be rebuilt from scratch. Effectively reset, the switches and routers had to learn where they were within the network and how to talk to each other again.


Yet this is normally relatively simple job, perhaps taking a few hours, experienced network engineers have told The Telegraph. The core switch and backup switch failure, and the software rollback, need not have caused a 72-hour-plus disaster.


But an unknown point following the switch failure, the Egham data centre’s Oracle database, a bespoke and heavy-duty communications data storage application, was corrupted. This database is effectively the “brain” of the BlackBerry Internet Service, handling messages and forwarding data to users.


With saving the Oracle database the top priority, RIM was forced to repair software while it was still running – a difficult and fraught process known as a “hotfix”.
“Working with a live database like that is the stuff of nightmares,” explained one network engineer..
This database corruption problem, according to industry sources, is thought to be the reason the outage lasted well into Thursday for many users.


The period of message delays and patchy browsing that marked the end of the outage, and spread to North America and Asia, was caused by the backlog of data that built up. RIM’s global systems had to grind through huge quantities of data on as its European systems were gradually fixed.


The firm had prematurely declared victory on Tuesday morning, when it said services had been “restored”. But the database problems prompted a second collapse before users received any data. Of all the public relations mistakes commentators have said RIM made this week, this act of optimism annoyed its network partners the most.


“They should have just asked us - we weren’t seeing any BlackBerry traffic,” said a source at a British network.
"They were being far too positive. It didn't help."
Britain’s mobile network chiefs are said to be “absolutely furious” with RIM, but they know that the must continue to work with it, as BlackBerry users’ internet service will always depend on the firm.


In a press conference at 3PM on Thursday, Mike Lazaridis, RIM's founder and co-CEO, having already apologised profusely, finally announced systems were returning to normal. This time he was backed up by the mobile networks, who saw their BlackBerry subscribers data connections flicker back to life.


Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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