‘Tough’ choice

Olympus ‘Tough’ series cameraspromises to be all-weather,

shock and waterproof. With addi-tional features like freeze proof,dust proof and crush proof thecamera is always said to withstanda 6.6-foot drop, 220 pounds ofpressure and 33 feet of water sub-mersion and -10 degree Celsiustemperature. We are waiting forsomeone to actually try these out !

Sunlight in your ear

The new Solar Voice 908 fromiTech is the first solar-powered

Bluetooth headset that promises abackground noise reduction forclarity in phone calls. Andthe highlight — or ‘sun-light’ — the gadget ischarged on exposureto sunlight. Check itout at Rs. 6,499.

Movies on phone

For all you movie buffs out therethriving on a diet of world

movies, a Blackberry Messengergroup is now dedciated toyou. In a first time everinitiative on phones, theUTV World Moviesgroup on the messen-ger will not only enableusers to create theirown list of favouritemovies to be watched,

but also ask for recom-mendations on a particular

genre or title. The platformcan also be used as a socialnetworking tool where the UTVviewers can share videos, musicand photos.

DEBJEET KUNDU

Debjeet Kundu■ debjeet.kundu@hindustantimes.com

It’s kind of creepy if suddenly some-one tells you that ‘isn’t your landlordChaddhaji’, or points out your

sister’s date of birth. But that’s exact-ly what this new portal, www.jan-takhoj.com, empowers you with.

With a claim to be India’s first andlargest people search portal, itis backed by a huge database

of over 300 million Indians.“The sheer size of Indian popula-

tion makes it difficult to access andsearch public records for reference,”explains Ajit Gupta, founder & chair-man, JantaKhoj as being the reasonbehind such an initiative. The websitethrows up infinite search results of aparticular person, which one canfurther scale down by specifying theplace, occupation and so on.And though this very extensive

nature of the portal is its highlight, itis also a reason for worry for a few.“I was taken aback when my friendasked whether my uncle was in theDefence Services,” says Anoop Ray, asoftware engineer. “But later, I wastold about this site, which gave all theinformation.” It provides not onlycontact details of those who areuploading it, but also relatives andneighbours’ listings.“But every information on the

website is verified and removable atthe providers wish,” assures TarunBangari, founder and CEO. “We justwant to democratise the backgroundverification process as it promotesgreater transparency in society,”he adds.The premium services for individ-

ual customers cover background veri-fication of matrimonial candidates,domestic help, drivers and tenants.The services allow the customer toselect different applicable checks(address, criminal, education, workexperience, driving license, reference)as required.

New Delhi, Tuesday June 15, 2010

gadgetdidyouknow?The term ‘camera’ comes from camera obscura (Latin for “dark chamber”),an early mechanism for projecting images 05

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUTThe newportalJantakhoj.compromisesto get you connected toeveryone in the country. Thiscan even be creepy at times

WAKE UP CALLAlan Wake — the new ‘thriller’ onthe Sony XBox.We like: This is a thriller on thegaming console rather than otherway round. Great narration,backed by some excellent graphicwork and soundtrack, this onegrips you right from the word go.The supernatural elements arenot gross to look at, yet theirpresence and appearance thrillsand chills you even as you fight

for survival. You can alwaysexpect something around everybend as you wade through brokenbridges and forests. The col-lectibles on offer are not your life-lines but your only help to live on,and hence, indespensible.Thegame moves at a great pace withbreathers at the right moments.A best-selling author’s journey onthe XBox has all the ingredients tobecome a best-seller in itself.We didn’t like: Criticism for the

heck of it isn’t the norm for us.Probably, its biggest advantage isits only disadvantage. The cine-matic way this game moves justcarries the player along and some-times you feel lesser mortal infrontof it — as if you have no power todo anything yourself.Go for it? A blockbuster materialat Rs 2,399, it’s the standard.And if you are still waiting for usto spell out the verdict — wake up!

DEBJEET KUNDU

PHONE IN A CAMERAThe Spice S-1200 mobile phone.We like: A phone with a 12 megapixel camera with a 3X optical —

now that makes you think whetherits a phone or a camera! S-1200 isone of the cheapest 12MP cameraphones in India. It’s a bundle of

Xenon Flash, Multiple FaceDetection, SmileShutter, Anti-

shake, and AF. Even the lens comesout of its shell as you would expecta normalcamera to do.Oops, we have to talk of thephone too, after all that’s what itis. Functionwise, too, it’s quitehandy and loaded. It comes

with a 2.4 inches display, 70MB internal memory — 32GBexpandable — TV-out, Bluetooth,GPRS/EDGE connectivity, FM radio,audio and video player, UnitConverter, FM recording, photoeditor, built-in two JAVA Games.

We didn’t like: But when it comesto weight, it looses it points. Itsadvance keypad with inbuilt cameraoptions makes typing a mess. Thekeys are soft but since they aresmall you end up hitting end/exitwhile typing messages.Go for it? At Rs 14,500 it seemsexpensive. But that’s the price youare practically paying for thecamera. But even while justifying,the price comes as a touch bitexpensive — after all camerascome cheaper than that, and cell-phones too. ZABEEH AFAQUE

MARKETWATCH

IN NEWS

Television lovers and soccer fans (L-R) Joel Martinot, Timothy Chan, Hiba Ayache andJoanne Argyrou settle into their chairs as they preview their attempt to watch the WorldCup and associated soccer programs continuous for more than 86 hours in an effort tobreak a world record at a casino in Sydney. The participants each have their owntelevisions and a comfortable chair for their record attempt that will began Sundayafternoon and will end Thursday, if they successfully break the record PHOTO:AP

Canadian scientists aredeveloping new software

that can measure emotionalreactions to the Web.The new software meas-

ures everything in Web users,from body heat to eye move-ments to facial expressions

and analyses how they relateto online activities.The software will investi-

gate how people react to Websites, too. Such studies willprovide companies with factson how they can improveonline experience. ANI

The FIFA backup

The FIFA World Cup fever isspreading thick and fast. And if

jerseys, boots and other merchan-dise weren’t enough to flaunt yourfan following, now you can evencarry it in your pocket — that too asa backup option! The new AmketteWorld Cup Series Flash Drives notonly come in the various jerseycolours, but also in their shape.With a 4GB space at Rs 990, youhve ample space to store the Messivideos and Ronaldo wallpapers.

HTC

Emotionallyyours

FIFA FEVER

GO CHECK OUT