Top 10 Best Gaming Headsets to check in the Year 2012

To know the true worth of a diamond, you need to ask a jeweler. And if you are a true gamer then you are sure to know how absolutely imperative it is for you to have a top notch headset to have the best sound experience while you are gaming. Sound forms a very crucial element of the entire gaming experience and thus you must not compromise on it by going in for a headset that is locally manufactured just because it is cheap. Here are the top 10 best gaming headsets to look for in 2012. Most of these headsets are available in the market but if you want them at discounted rates you can try out online retail stores such as Amazon and Flipkart.

Plantronics Gamecon 777 Gaming Headset

Price: Rs.4500

Advantages

• Dolby Headphone technology incorporation
• Open ear design that lets you keep track of the sounds in the surroundings while you enjoy the gaming sounds

Disadvantages

• Feel slightly bulky on the head

Performance

This headset is a dream come true for gamers as they will get even the minutest details in sound with the help of this headset. The headset comes with a USB sound card that ensures that you get the quintessential surround sound experience. It also has a concealed noise cancelling microphone that can be brought out only when needed. Apart from this the headset has in lie volume and microphone controls that help the user to control the headset with maximum ease.

X12 & Xp500 Gaming Headsets

  

Price: Rs.12000

Advantages

• Highly customizable
• XBA Bluetooth adapter

Disadvantages

• Only compatible with the XBOX 360

Performance

These headsets have been designed solely for the XBOX 360 and thus it is a perfect match for the same. The headset comes packed with an XBA Bluetooth adapter and has features such as a digital signal processor, Dolby Surround Sound, Bluetooth Technology etc. The icing on the cake is that the headset is not just good for gaming purposes but also for listening to music and other related audio purposes.

Sennheiser Debuts PC 320 Gaming Headset

Price: Rs.6700

Advantages

• Snazzy external appearance
• Detailing in the bass and treble

Disadvantages

• Flimsy cabling of the headset

Performance

Here is another headset that has been specially designed for the XBOX 360. This headset is also exceptionally good as it has features such as a noise cancelling mic, bass boost, low noise amplifiers etc. The mic of this headset has more features than any gaming headset that I have come across till date. It gives you the choice of muting your voice by just twisting it and there are other outstanding features, as well. The headset offers value for money.

Sound Blaster Tactic3D Sigma Gaming headsets

Price: Rs4000

Advantages

• Impeccable sound quality
• Long cable connected to the headset

Disadvantages

• Average bass sound
• Crystalizer of the headset is a huge let down

Performance

Gamers are well acquainted with the Tactic series and this headset is a step ahead of all its siblings. It is loaded with features in the form of a detachable mic, USB adapter, in-line volume controls etc. The functioning of the headset is simple and the sound that it mirrors is great. The headset is not loaded with the THX TruStudio PRO software, but that is not much of an issue as the software is easily available over the internet. As a whole the headset works well and will be a great choice for any gamer. This is one of the budget gaming headphones that you are sure to love.

Cyborg Freq 5 gaming headset

Price: Rs.6900

Advantages

• 50 mm drivers with Neodymium Magnets
• On-ear controls

Disadvantages

• Strange design of ear cups

Performance

This high end gaming headphones set will woo you with its different looks and the features that it packs. It is undoubtedly a great choice for a gamer and I feel that it is one of the best gaming headphones 2012 will see. The main features of the headset are 50 mm drivers with Neodymium Magnets, detachable noise-canceling mic, on-ear controls, and a 2-meter USB braided cable.

Turtle Beach Z11 Gaming Headsets

Price: Rs.2000

Advantages

• Inexpensive
• Acoustically angled speakers

Disadvantages

• Basic design

Performance

Here is another set of gaming headphones PC gets and these also are garnering a lot of interest like the others. There are many headphones that are available in the market for computer systems and this one is one of the best gaming headsets that are presently available. With features such as PC/laptop adapter cable, in line volume controls, 4ft cable etc, this headset is a true performer and can be used with a variety of devices including mobiles and tablets.

CM Storm Sirus Gaming Headsets

Price: Rs.6200

Advantages

• Two replacement ear-cups
• Different modes dedicated to gaming, music and videos

Disadvantages

• Slightly bulky

Performance

With a sturdy build and snazzy looks this is also one of the gaming headphones laptops will have and they are not just for laptops as they are compatible with other devices as well. The main features of the headset are that they are incorporated with the surround sound technology and has gold plated connectors. The major plus point of this headset is that it can be used for purposes other than gaming.

Turtle Beach Ear Force XP400, XP300 Wireless Gaming Headsets

Price: Rs.10780 for XP400 and Rs.8500 for XP300

Advantages

• Wireless headsets

Disadvantages

• Only compatible with the XBOX 360

Performance

Here is another set of gaming headphones XBOX 360 gets, and these ones are indisputably different from the other recent launches. They are wireless and thus you can comfortably rest on couch while playing, without any trouble. These headsets are simply great and there is nothing that will let you down. The headset houses features such as dual-pairing Bluetooth, a rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, multiple EQ presets, dynamic chat boost, a variable microphone monitor, and an auxiliary input will provide you with a sound quality that is unimaginable.

SteelSeries Flux headsets

Price: not released yet

Advantages

• Compatible with a wide range of devices
• Light weight

Disadvantages

• No specific technology incorporation

Performance

Among the many headsets that SteelSeries has, Flux is the one that steals the show and there are reasons galore for that. To start with, the headset is very light and compatible with almost all your devices. It has interchangeable ear cushions and thus you can get ones in your favourite colour and attach them to the headset. The headset is not just for gamers but also for music and videos and this is what adds to the aura of the headset.

Tritton Primer Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Headset

Price: Rs.5000

Advantages

• 5.8 GHz Wireless Technology

Disadvantages

• Basic design

Performance

This Tritton headset is another one that has been especially designed for the XBOX 360 and is a wireless gaming headset, as well. The headset will stun you with the features that it has. Among them, the most alluring is the clear bass and treble control that the handset is equipped with. Another amazing feature that it has is that it is ready for use out of the box.

These are the top 10 best gaming headsets to look for in 2012. Each of these headsets is a technological wonder and they will leave you amazed with their sound quality and features. If you call yourself a gamer then any one of these headsets is a must have.

Winners of the Global Mobile Awards 2012 – At MWC 2012

At the Mobile World Congress 2012 we saw the GSMA awards, where the best companies and products are awarded from the votes they received for being the best. To make it simple, Samsung Mobile has been awarded for being the best Device Manufacturer for the previous year after their multiple devices which had made millions of sales, and the total sales in the end of the year recorded 325 million, with Samsung setting a target of a million sales every day in 2012.

Here is the list of award categories and the winners:

• Best Mobile App for Consumers – Rovio Entertainment Ltd. for Angry Birds Rio
• Best Mobile App for Enterprise – Citrix Systems for Citrix Receiver
• Judges’ Choice – Best Overall Mobile App – WhatsApp Inc. for WhatsApp
• Most Innovative Mobile App – SwiftKey
• Best Mobile Advertising & Marketing Campaign – Brandtone for Carling Black Label “Be the Coach”
• Innovation in Mobile Advertising – Poken for the leading CMS for NFC
• Mobile Marketing & Advertising Agency of the Year – [am.o.bee]
• Best Enterprise Mobile Service – Fiberlink for MaaS360
• Best Consumer Mobile Service – Google for Google Maps for Android
• Best Network Product or Solution for Serving Customers – Turkcell for Turkcell TiklaKonus
• Best Product, Initiative or Service for Underserved Segments – Safaricom for Grundfos
• mWomen Best Mobile Product or Service for Women in Emerging Markets – Etisalat, Qualcomm, D-Tree International and Great Connection Inc. for Etisalat Mobile Baby
• Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations – UBL Omni for Transparent and Efficient Cash Disbursement Service after the 2009 IDPs Crisis and the 2010 Flood Crisis
• The Green Mobile Award – Flexenclosure for E-site
• Best Mobile Health Innovation – Etisalat, Qualcomm, D-Tree International and Great Connection Inc. for Etisalat Mobile Baby
• Best Mobile Innovation for Education or Learning – OnPoint Digital for CellCast Solution
• Best Mobile Innovation for Automotive, Transport or Utilities – Ford Motor Company Ltd. for Ford SYNC with Emergency Assistance
• Best Mobile Money Innovation – Etisalat, MasterCard and Oberthur Technologies for Etisalat Commerce
• Best Mobile Innovation for Publishing – Financial Times and Assanka for The Financial Times Web App
• Best Smartphone – Samsung for Samsung Galaxy S II
• Best Feature Phone or Entry Level Phone – Nokia for Nokia C3-00
• Device Manufacturer of the Year – Samsung
• Best Mobile Tablet – Apple for Apple iPad 2
• Best Embedded Mobile Device (Non-Handsets) – AT&T for Garmin GTU 10
• Best Mobile Broadband Technology – KT for KT’s Premium WiFi Solution
• Best Infrastructure Technology – Alcatel-Lucent for lightRadio Network
• Best Technology Breakthrough – Vodafone Group PLC for Quad Rate Technology: An Evolved Path Doubling the Efficiency of Mobile Voice
• Best Cloud Based Technology – Appcelerator for Titanium Integrated Development Platform
• Best Technology Product or Solution for Safeguarding and Empowering Customers – Cloudmark for Cloudmark Mobile Messaging Security Suite
• GSMA Chairman’s Award – Joint Winners KDDI, NTT DOCOMO, INC. and SOFTBANK MOBILE
• Government Leadership Award – Government of the Republic of Colombia

India top Spam Source according to Kaspersky – Indonesia and South Korea follows

According to the antivirus and security company Kaspersky, India is the top spam producing country in the whole world while it was two other countries from Asia which followed India. Spam has been on the rise always, and at one time it was Nigeria and the African countries doing the highest of it. Lately India had become the highest spam producing nation, and still holds the position. It contributes to 11.5% of the total spam that is produced all around, and Indonesia took the 2nd place with the 8.1% spam distribution.

• The amount of spam in email traffic remained unchanged compared to December and averaged 76.2%.
• The percentage of phishing emails also remained unchanged compared to the previous month and accounted for 0.02%.
• Malicious files were found in 4.3% of all emails, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to December’s figure.

Here is the list of the top 10 spam producing countries:

• India
• Indonesia
• South Korea
• Brazil
• Peru
• Vietnam
• Italy
• Great Britain
• Poland
• Argentina

The list proves that the top six countries which produce spam have the Asian and Latin American countries. The top 20 countries in the world saw a percentage change of not more than one percent. UK was out of the top 10 list in December, but the increased number of spam from there in January brought it directly into 8th position.

Sony to rename Ericsson venture as Sony Mobile Communications

Sony has completed its buy-out of Ericsson from the Sony Ericsson handset joint venture, confirming that the business will be renamed Sony Mobile Communications. The company said that it would take the mobile phone market as one of the serious sides, and the mobile phone business as one of the vital elements in the electronics business, with the aim of accelerating convergence between Sony’s lineup of network enabled consumer electronics products, including smartphones, tablets, TVs and PCs.

The companies first announced the agreement in October 2011, at which point Ericsson highlighted “declining synergies in combining network and handset operations.” Ericsson today said that its gain on the transaction will be “approximately SEK7.5 billion (US$1.1 billion),” which will be reported as part of its first quarter 2012 results.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sony and Ericsson have also entered into a broad IP cross-licensing agreement.

Sony Ericsson is one of those brands which joined the bandwagon led by HTC and Motorola which said that they got poor results during the Christmas this season. When Sony Ericsson launched a 4G LTE based mobile phone recently, they didn’t put the name Ericsson anywhere and it was just Sony which was branded. Now the focus would be on Sony during the Mobile World Congress where we could be seeing any official public announcement of gadgets after the buyout is done.

How to go Greener at your Workplace

Environment groups along with concerned citizens are now ringing the bell that all must change the habits and try saving the planet Earth. With simple steps, one can start going green in the workplace and help to save the Earth.

Recycling is the key

Recycling paper is the first way through which one can go green in the workplace. You can use the semi used papers or write on back side of the papers.

How to use printers?

Another way is to take consideration about the usage of printer at your office. If you print the material on both sides of a paper, it will help greatly to cut down on the amount of paper that you use. And so, when there is less use of the papers, this simply means less cutting down of the trees and more of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Not just can the text or graphics be printed on both sides, you can even recycle the paper products rather than just discarding them away.

Make a recycle bin

You can even encourage your co-workers to make a recycle bin for the plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Then you can use these proceeds for paying for some employee’s appreciation dinner or party.

Use technology

Emailing is yet another technique for going green in the workplace. Send reminders of deadlines and meetings through the emails and lessen the use of printed notices.

Telecommunication is also something that helps a great deal when it comes to going green in the workplace. This is something that has made it really easy to get the work done without even leaving the home. Just maximize this benefit by holding the conferences and meetings online or on phones rather than asking people to meet at some location. This will save a huge amount of gasoline required in travel and the pollution that is caused by motor vehicles.

Save on energy

More so, minimizing the usage of energy helps a lot as well to go green. Try turning off the lights when they are not required. Also, do not use more lights or fans than are actually adequate. Use the fluorescent bulbs as they burn less of electricity and reduce the usage of incandescent bulbs. Further, keep the computer on energy saving mode and turn them off when you will not be using it for some time.

If you wish to go green in the workplace, you can even donate the old magazines and newspapers to some local shelters, hospitals or nursing homes.

Going green for the Earth

Thus, going green campaign can be started with some small steps. When each one of us does the small part, it will surely make big difference in the end. So, start conserving the natural resources not just at home but even at your workplace.

Going green at workplace will not just be useful to you and your office, but even to the mother Earth. You just need to make some changes in your daily lifestyle to go green. But even a smallest of effort will definitely contribute in saving the natural resources and the Mother Nature.

Top 5 Smartphones unveiled at MWC 2012

Biggest show of the mobile industry has come to an end. Like every year, Mobile World Congress was packed with tons of phone and tablet launches. Here we are covering top 5 smartphone unveiled by popular brands.

Nokia 808 Pureview

Yes it runs on crappy Symbian but still makes up to the list of top five. Reason behind all this is a whopping 41 megapixel camera  which you expected to see on any smartphone by 2013 or even later. The phone features a 1.3 GHz processor and 4 inch display with resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. Whats more surprising is the phone winning the official Best of Show award at Mobile World Congress. Well no one expected this award will be going to Nokia, atleast I didn’t. But 41 megapixel camera on a phone is really a big deal. The official sample pictures clicked by the phone have been also uploaded to Flickr by NokiaOfficial.

HTC ONE X

HTC One X is the first phone running on Quad Core Processor. Its sports a 8 Megapixel with auto focus, smart LED flash, and BSI sensor for capturing some amazing moments of your life. The phone also has stunning 4.7 inch HD display with resolution of 1280*720 pixels. ONE X is my personal favorite not just because of powerful processor but also because of its design, build quality, beats audio, HTC Sense 4 & some of the cool new features introduced for the first time.

HTC ONE V

Second phone in the HTC X lineup, ONE V shares some of its specifications with Rhyme. The phone is powered by 1 GHz dual core processor, 512 MB of RAM, 5 Megapixel camera with 720p Video Recording and lastly 3.7 inch display with resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. HTC ONE V also has beats audio and is expected to hit stores with ONE X & ONE S in first week of April 2012. Pre-order is already up on Clove UK for ONE Xat £410.00, ONE S at £375.00  and ONE V at £220.00. Credit for high pricing goes only to Beats.

NOKIA LUMIA 900

I know Lumia was announced at CES 2012 but that was only LTE version with AT&T, America’s leading network. But finally after a month wait, Nokia has finally announced the global version (unlocked) available in its usual colors white, cyan and black.  The phone is powered by 1.4 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM with 4.3″ AMOLED display. It sports a 8 Megapixel camera with LED flash. Lumia 900 will be available in Q2 of 2012 and will retail for 480€.

ASUS Padfone

No, Its just not a single thing. This is a phone, a tablet and a netbook.  Confused? Well, Let me explain. Asus, the Taiwan based smartphone and tablet manufacturer has unveiled the much awaited Padfone running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone features a 4.3 inch display and when it is placed inside the optional PadFone Station, it transforms into a 10.1 inch tablet with five times more powerful battery. Pure Magic, isn’t it?  There is more, if you now connect the tablet to an optional accessory such as keyboard the battery life is 9 times more. This is certainly one of the best technologies we have seen in last few years. To get a better idea you can watch this video here.

That’s all from Mobile World Congress, do tell us which one is your favorite ?