Top news this week: Gmail Photo Insert, Asus Fonepad 7 Dual SIM, PlayStation 4 and more!

This past week we saw a couple of acquisitions, some cool gadgets launches and more. If you’ve missed out on your daily dose of tech, then here’s a quick recap of top news this week.   Google Camera app is now on Play Store: Has Lens Blur mode and more Google has finally revamped its camera app for Android and at the same time it’s also releasing it to the Play Store for easier updating in the future. Just as it did with the Keyboard and Launcher apps, this one is available for any phone running Android 4.4+ KitKat. [caption id=“attachment_221949” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Google Camera App is here[/caption]   Nokia X price drops by Rs 900, now available for Rs 7,729 Nokia’s first Android smartphone that was launched in India last month has received its first price drop within a month. Nokia has slashed the price of the Nokia X by around Rs 850, and the device is now for Rs 7,729 on the company’s official site.   Google buys Titan Aerospace to bring Internet through solar-powered drones Google has beaten the world’s largest social network to purchase solar-powered drone maker Titan Aerospace as the search giant ramps up plans to deliver wireless Internet access to remote parts of the world. Facebook was also reportedly in talks with the company, but Google has pipped it to the finish line.   Former Apple CEO John Sculley’s Obi smartphone brand coming to India soon When we first heard about John Sculley headlining an effort to launch a new smartphone brand in India, we must admit to being a bit sceptical. The former Apple CEO was said to have hired top talent from the Indian smartphone industry, but was going to be playing in a tough price point. The brand whose devices would be in the Rs 5,000 – Rs 15,000 price bracket was clearly in for some rough competition. [caption id=“attachment_222007” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] John Sculley’s firm is launching new smartphone brand in India. Image from Wikimedia commons.[/caption]   Flipkart’s new offer for Moto G buyers: 100 percent cashback, free shopping worth Rs 1 lakh Flipkart has been rolling out some lucrative deals to attract customers towards the best-selling Moto G, and this week we saw yet another. This time around, the online retailers announced new prizes – a lucky winner could take home one-year of free shopping on Flipkart worth Rs 1 lakh and 100 customers could get full cash back on the Moto G.   Google Search results to rank encrypted sites higher with changes in algorithm: WSJ If the report from Wall Street Journal is to be believed then Google will soon start giving preference to encrypted websites in its search results. This could be so because Google has always looked at making search results relevant and now it’s targetting spam websites, which might have gamed the system, but which do not have encryption.   Guardian and Washington Post win Pulitzers for NSA revelations Washington Post and Guardian won the Pulitzer Prize in public service for revealing the US government’s sweeping surveillance programmes in a blockbuster series of stories based on secret documents supplied by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.   44 percent users have never tweeted: Here’s why Twitter should be worried A new report by Twopchart, a social media tracking website, has claimed that44 percent of Twitter’s accounts do not have a single tweet sent out from them, while 30 percent of existing accounts have only 1-10 tweets to their credit. [caption id=“attachment_221664” align=“aligncenter” width=“639”] Many of Twitter users are silent birds[/caption]   Asus Fonepad 7 Dual SIM arrives in India for Rs 12,999: Intel-powered tablet with voice calling Asus finally launched the Fonepad 7 with dual-SIM functionality for Rs 12,999, at an event held in Delhi. In addition to the dual SIM slots, the latest Asus Fonepad 7 comes with an improved processor and camera compared to the refresh launched last year.   Twitter buys social data provider Gnip, stock soars Twitter said on Tuesday it bought social data provider Gnip for an undisclosed amount, signaling that it would take on a new role of packaging and selling data, a service in demand by business and government.     Study shows Heartbleed bug can be used to access a server’s private keys The implications of the seemingly innocuous Heartbleed flaw have gotten worse by the day. The fear that the Heartbleed bug could not spare even highly secured severs and expose the confidential information could come true if a report on PCWorld is to be believed. [caption id=“attachment_221528” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Heartbleed, an Internet bug that has exposed millions of passwords[/caption]   Ubuntu ‘Trusty Tahr’ 14.04 released: Is it a replacement for Windows XP? Canonical has released the latest version of Ubuntu, 14.04 LTS and desktop and server installers are available on the Ubuntu website for download. The Long Term Support (LTS) release is supported and maintained by Canonical for five years and is also known as Trusty Tahr, as per Canonical’s naming scheme.   Gmail rolling out new ‘Insert button’ for attaching Auto Backup and Google Photos to your emails Those who capture all those candid moments using their smartphones and often Gmail these clicks to friends and family, here’s an interesting piece of news. Google has started rolling out a new ‘Insert’ button in Gmail, enabling users to share images with a few clicks. In its official blog, Gmail announced, “Starting today, you can save time and insert your Auto Backup photos from your phone into Gmail messages on the web using the new Insert Photo button.”   LinkedIn crosses 300 million registered users, will focus more on mobile going forward Today, LinkedIn announced in a company blog post, that it has reached 300 million registered users, 100 million of which are based in the US and the rest outside the US. These numbers are not to be mistaken with monthly pageviews. LinkedIn’s monthly active user figure is around 139 million unique views in Q4 ’13.   Facebook adds new location-sharing feature Facebook users in the US will soon be able to see which of their friends are nearby using a new feature the company is launching this week.The “Nearby Friends” feature must be turned on by the user, so people shouldn’t expect to broadcast their location unknowingly.   Marissa Mayer wants Apple to ditch Google and choose Yahoo for mobile serach: Report Yahoo’s Chief Executive Marissa Mayer is working on a plan to persuade Apple to ditch Google as its default search engine in favour of Yahoo, technology news site Re/code reported, citing sources within Yahoo.     Gionee Elife 7 mini 13MP rotating camera launched for Rs 18,999: Android Kitkat update promised Earlier this week, Gionee officially announced the MOP of the Elife E7 mini at Rs 18,999. Gionee has followed the Sony way, as the E7 mini does not come across as a toned down variant of the E7. It bring the same functionalities as its elder brother but in a smaller display size. Sporting a 4.7-inch 720p display, the E7 mini is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek processor coupled with 1GB RAM.   Google Q1 revenue misses Wall Street targets, ad prices slide Google’s first-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street targets and margins narrowed as the price of its ads continued to decline, underscoring the challenges Internet companies face as the world shifts toward mobile devices.   Toshiba launches Satellite P55t laptop with 4K Ultra HD display starting at $1500 Toshiba has raised the curtains off its latest laptop dubbed the Satellite P55t. The biggest USP of the notebook is that it sports a 4K Ultra HD display, the first of its kind in a laptop.Priced at $1,499.99 that amounts to approximately Rs 90,419, it will be available directly from the Toshiba website starting April 22. At the moment, the laptop is not available for purchase in India. [caption id=“attachment_221896” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Toshiba Satellite P55t[/caption]   Apple’s iPhone 5s is more durable than Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 smartphone is more durable than last year’s model and other leading Android phones, but the iPhone 5s outperformed all of them in part because of its smaller size, a new study finds.   Microsoft sold over 5 million Xbox One units so far Microsoft  has sold over 5 million Xbox One video game consoles to retailers since its launch in November, the company said on Thursday. In January, the US software company said Xbox One sales had crossed three million as of the end of 2013.   With 7 million PlayStation 4 consoles sold, Sony has the lead on Microsoft On the other hand, Sony says it has sold seven million PlayStation 4 worldwide since its launch last year and admitted it can’t make them fast enough, in a welcome change of fortune for the Japanese consumer electronics giant. “The response from the global gaming community for PS4 (PlayStation 4) has been overwhelming and we are truly humbled that gamers are selecting PS4 as their next generation console of choice,” Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., said in a statement.   8GB iPhone 5c now available in more countries; no word on India launch yet Last month, Apple had officially launched an 8GB version of the iPhone 5c. While there is yet no word on when the device will reach the Indian stores, Apple has begun selling it in Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Poland and the Czech Republic. The device is already available in UK, China, Germany, France and Australia. [caption id=“attachment_220002” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] 8Gb iPhone 5c India launch?[/caption]   Google still a top pick for Wall Street, despite mobile ad challenges Google’s disappointing first-quarter results left Wall Street unfazed about the internet giant’s ability to come to grips with the shift to the fast-growing mobile advertising market.Google shares were down about 3 percent in early trading on Thursday, and at least 12 brokerages cut their target price on the stock. But most analysts kept a “buy” rating or equivalent on the company’s shares.