The Indian government thinks the $35 Aakash Android tablet has the power to change the world. After testing one out, we’d tend to agree.

An Aakash tablet was brought to the VentureBeat office on Tuesday by Vivek Wadhwa, a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley and Duke. Wadhwa, who is researching the Indian education system, and is a columnist with the Washington Post, was given the tablet by Kapil Sibal, the Indian minister of human resources and development, who has been the driving force behind the tablet project. The device (whose name means “Sky” in Hindi) was produced entirely in India — a point of pride for the Indian government.

The 7-inch Android-based device will be distributed at a government subsidized price of $35, making it the world’s cheapest Android device. The general retail price will be $60, which is still remarkably cheap for such a powerful device. A contract between the Indian government and Canadian development partner DataWind, should put between 10 and 12 million devices in the hands of students across India by the end of 2012, according to Computer World.

We tested the Aakash, surfing the web, using apps, typing text documents, plugging in peripherals and playing Bollywood videos. Here’s our exclusive first look at what a $35 tablet can really do. (See a video of the Aakash in action at the end of the article.)

Hands on with the Aakash

Jugaad is an Indian word which means “to make-do.” The Aakash tablet is a Jugaad in a very high tech way. The components inside the Aakash tablet are cheap, and easily sourced. For example, the Aakash tablet has a headphone jack and an audio-in jack, but no external speakers — an obvious cost-savings measure. However, with the addition of cheap headphones, and an equally cheap microphone, the owner can make calls on Skype and has the potential to communicate with people around the world.

The screen is pressure sensitive (also called resistive touch) and responds somewhat slowly to gestures. It’s definitely not as dazzling as the high-end tablets familiar to Western audiences, such as the capacitive touchscreen iPad, or even the HP Touchpad.

The Aakash is running Android 2.2, Froyo, with the UniSurfer browser installed. Made by DataWind, UniSurfer is supposed to make webpages process faster, probably to compensate for the slower processor and connection speeds. However, while browsing the Internet and testing out apps, we couldn’t help but notice that the reaction time seemed very slow. Scrolling, for example, is a swipe-and-wait affair. However, the speed is going to be quite sufficient for someone who has never in his or her life had a smartphone or computer. It’s all relative after all. Compared with the iPhone 4s, the iPhone 3G is a “slow” smartphone, only because speedier alternatives are available. Even in a context where the market is full of smart devices, like in the U.S., speed helps us make decisions incrementally faster, but rarely are these issues of genuine consequence.

And given how slow navigating the user interface is, watching videos on the device was incredibly impressive. We used YouTube to watch a clip from a Bollywood film, and the video came through fast and clear, with no hiccups.

The Aakash has both GPRS and Wi-Fi capabilities. Its battery power is limited to 180 minutes of use on a full charge, but it comes with an AC adapter. What’s important isn’t that the tablet can run off of the battery for long periods of time, but that it will still be able to work and surf the net when the power goes out.

Weighing in at less than double a handheld smartphone (350 grams), the device itself feels a bit like a toy. A goofy plastic cover protects the screen, slowing down the touch response considerably. It might remind you of the conference call controller in a corporate boardroom. Though its design is minimalistic, absent are any Apple-like design flourishes that might evoke the word “magic.”

Unlike the XO, the low-cost laptop produced by One Laptop Per Child for the world’s poorest children, with help from Frog Design, the Aakash tablet is not going to win any beauty pageants. This is certainly one of its strengths. A big problem with the XO is it was seen as relatively arcane technologically by the time it was actually available.

What makes the Aakash tablet different is that its creators didn’t strive for perfection. Instead, the emphasis was on getting the product into the market quickly so it could be adopted, tinkered with, and improved over time. As Wadhwa said, “to get the cost down, you have to make some compromises.”

The unmistakable impression we all got from using the Aakash tablet was that it is built for performance. Every design choice that might seem like a negative reveals three, four, five — or more — net benefits.

Why does it have two USB ports? So you can plug in a keyboard, of course, and still have a free slot for an external hard drive, or some other device. What about that screen cover that seems like it’s made from laminating material? If the tablet is meant for educational use, it’s probably going to have to contend with some pretty rough handling, dirt, dust and moisture. Better that it should withstand damage than look the extra bit nicer.

Seeing the tablet’s potential

The Aakash Tablet is an example of a “leapfrog technology,” a concept where the latest innovations jump directly into areas where legacy technologies never penetrated. Tens of millions of people throughout India who never had access to a landline phone now walk around with cell phones in their pocket. Many of those likely to use or own the the Aakash Tablet will never have used a desktop computer, and it’s possible they never will.

Now imagine the educational potential of the world’s lowest-cost tablet being unleashed to hundreds of millions of Indians eager to join the world economy. At the heart of the Aakash tablet is an HD video co-processor that will connect viewers to one of the largest educational libraries ever assembled: YouTube. When the Aakash tablet reaches villages across India, an entire generation will have instant access to rich educational content such as the Khan Academy, and anything else their hearts desire.

And with the Aakash tablet in hand, students across India will be free to do what their global counterparts do — or should do — with their computers. There are the educational basics such as creating documents and spreadsheets, and browsing the web for research materials. But as with anything, young people will probably spend a fair amount of time playing games online and chatting with their friends.

India’s history with affordable tech

India, which has a population of nearly 1.2 billion and is home to 40 percent of the world’s poor, has experience paring down high-end technology and making it affordable and accessible.

A similarly transformative Indian-created product is the Tata Nano car, a revolution in automobile design built to give mobility to millions of low-t0-mid-income Indians. When it came out in 2009, the Tata Nano was heralded as the world’s cheapest car. But while the Tata Nano is ultimately a destructive force — adding drivers to the congested roads and vehicle exhaust into the air — the Aakash tablet will be used to educate hundreds of millions of children.

The Hole in the Wall initiative is another example. It put a computer kiosk in several rural villages throughout India, giving thousands of children and adults their first access to a computer and the Internet. The organizers compared it to the village well, where the community could come together to exchange knowledge and learn from each other. In this case, however, the well was connected to the world’s deepest reservoir of knowledge, the Internet.

And next month, the first Aakash tablets will go on sale throughout India, and millions of children will be able to join the tablet revolution that is transforming education, communication and entertainment across the world.

Continue reading Amped Wireless gives your WiFi 1.5-mile range: never lose signal in the garden again

Amped Wireless gives your WiFi 1.5-mile range: never lose signal in the garden again originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

By way of Raymond Johnson, the best statistics multiple choice question ever written on a chalkboard. Try not to think too hard. [via]

President Obama has added a new web service to his repertoire: Tumblr, the hot blogging service that just raised another $85 million in funding. You can find the new blog right here.

The site was set up by the 2012 Obama/Biden campaign, which also runs his Facebook page and Twitter account (The White House also recently launched an account on Foursquare).

Tumblr is generally known for having a youngish audience (particularly teens), and its reblog feature will help anything the campaign posts spread like wildfire across the service. The folks at Tumblr are undoubtedly smiling — the President’s presence can be worn as a badge of honor, and also generally leads to plenty of free mainstream press coverage.

In the first post on his blog, Obama’s team writes that they want Tumblr to “be a huge collaborative storytelling effort—a place for people across the country to share what’s going on in our respective corners of it and how we’re getting involved in this campaign to keep making it better.”

To do this, the site will be accepting submissions via the Tumblr submission feature. Fortunately the campaign isn’t being naive — they’ve preemptively asked submitters to think of their mothers before they send anything nasty.

There will be trolls among you: this we know. We ask only that you remember that we’re people—fairly nice ones—and that your mother would want you to be polite.

Square makes a larger mark on the brick-and-mortar scene, available in more outlets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple has made their special, internal celebration of Steve Jobs’ life video available on their website. It included talks from Apple CEO Tim Cook, SVP of Design Jony Ive, board members Al Gore and Bill Campbell, and performances from Norah Jones and Cold Play.

Of course you can still submit your thoughts on Steve’s passing to Apple, which are now also appearing on the Apple site.

You can go and watch the video at the Apple website, via the link below.

Source: Apple

We're human, so there's something wrong with all of us. Fortunately, thanks to modern science and psychology there's probably a solution. If you've got a bad habit, could stand to be a bit happier, are a little socially awkward, or just need to get your brain in proper order, here are some tactics you might want to try this weekend.

Eliminate Your Bad Habits

Whether you need to lose weight or stop biting your nails, we have plenty of tips on breaking bad habits. When you have a goal of improving some part of your life, it helps to figure out your biggest temptations in advance so you don't stray from the path you set for yourself. It'll also be easier to override your bad habits if you develop some good ones to support you. Programming your day in advance is a simple, good way to start.

If a poor diet is your bad habit, there are so many things you can do. It helps to start with making small changes, and using your imagination can also be a powerful tool. It can be really important to pick the best diet for your needs as any diet can be effective if you're able to enjoy it. Before you start, you may also want to create a psychological profile so you're prepared for the ways you tend to sabotage yourself when changing your behavior. Certain diets may bring mysterious allergies so you'll want to watch out for those as well. Obviously, the more issues you can eliminate early on the better so there's less to through you off track.

Find Ways to Be Happier

I believe that being happy is pretty simple—you just need to figure out what makes you happy and then do it, even if it scares you. But everyone has an opinion on that subject and there are a lot of little things that can eat away at your everyday happiness. TV is one of them, apparently, and so is perfectionism. Faking happiness is also a bad idea, but thinking about what made you laugh today can put you back in a good mood. It also helps to remember that if you're having a bad day, it might actually just be all in your mind. Remember that the grass is rarely greener on the other side, and that you should set your life goals as the person you are and not who you wish you were. It is also important to remember that not every day is going to be good, and sometimes long stretches of time will be bad. For that reason, pursuing happiness might not be a great idea in the first place. Sometimes you just need to look at the bad times as a time to learn and grow.

Become a More Likeable Person

Realistically, you're always going to have a few people who suck. (I certainly do.) That said, you can still tip the scales in your favor. Ben Franklin has a great trick for turning haters into friends (hint: it involves asking your enemy for a favor). You'll also want to brush up on your etiquette. If you're looking to make new friends, being the designated photographer at a party, event, or whatever is a great way. (I used to spend time as a movie set and event photographer, which is a great way to meet new people.) Of course, you can't like everyone either. If you have tell someone you don't like them, at least be kind and tactful.

Part of being likeable is not being an asshole, so if you could stand to be a bit nicer to people there are a few things you can do. First, figure out what's capable of making you an asshole so you can stop doing it. You'll also want to get the hang of your lying and truthtelling skills so you can use them tactfully and for good. If you have to respond to another unkind individual, try this neat text expansion trick so you can let out your anger without ever showing it.

Let Go of Your Anxiety

If you've got a horrible, crippling fear, we have a guide to getting over it, but if you're just feeling temporarily anxious from time to time you can offload it by putting it on paper. Sometimes you can even solve the problem by scheduling some worrying time so you get it out of the way and prevent it from interrupting your day. When nothing else works, you probably need to make getting over your anxiety your only option.

Got any great solutions to your annoying brain problems? Share 'em in the comments.

So you've decided it's time to learn your way around the kitchen, but you don't really know where to start. From knife basics to budget stretching to proper food storage, here are the most important things you'll want to learn as you become a master chef.

Photo remixed from an original by Zhukov Oleg/Shutterstock.

10. Get the Right Tools for the Job

If your kitchen's feeling a little bare, it might be time for a shopping trip. We've gone through some of the must-have tools for any kitchen before, as well as a guide to buying knives (and keeping them sharp). You don't need to break the bank, but with the right tools, you can make cooking much easier on yourself. Photo by star5112.

9. Learn Your Basic Kitchen Skills

Once you've got those tools, it's time to learn how to use them. You might already have a few tricks up your sleeve, but to make sure, check out our station by station guide to becoming a kitchen pro, where you'll learn how to use those knives, how to keep your oven in shape, make the most of your dishwasher, and more. You might also want to check out these six kitchen skills you can pick up over the weekend, which is great if you're a bit short on time. Photo by Sara Björk.

8. Make Recipe Creation and Organization Easy

Even the best chefs start with a basic recipe, and the more you can start building up your library, the better you'll get at cooking those dishes. Start with our 10 dishes and drinks everyone should know how to make, and file them away in a recipe organizer on your iPhone or Android. When it comes time to cook something you don't have a recipe for, we've got you covered with the five best recipe search tools, too. If you really want to make your life easy, you can mount that iPad right in your kitchen for $3 and have quick access to your recipe tools at all times. Photo by Liz West.

7. Stretch Your Budget

We can't repeat this enough: Just because you want to get into cooking doesn't mean it needs to cost a ton of money. You can improve your meals a lot with some simple tricks and skills, moreso than you might buying expensive ingredients from fancy stores. Check out our guide to eating like a foodie on a budget for more info. If you're having trouble sticking to your budget, try a grocery delivery service—you won't have that same temptation you do in the market, and you won't even have to make the trip to the store. Photo by benicce/Shutterstock.

6. Pick Out the Right Produce

One of the things that can make or break a good meal is the quality of produce you use, and it isn't hard to find good produce at a cheap price. Make sure you buy locally and in season to start. Each fruit and vegetable has its own tricks to finding out whether it's ripe or not, so be sure to learn these simple tricks for selecting fresh, ripe produce, no matter where you are.

5. Use Your Refrigerator Effectively

Once you start loading up on food, chances are your fridge is going to get a little crowded. You probably don't need to store all your food in the fridge; though, check out our guide to what can stay unrefrigerated and what needs to be chilled for freshness. Then, be sure you're using your fridge and freezer to their maximum potential, so your food stays fresh and safe for as long as possible. Photo by Rubbermaid.

4. Learn to Grill Like a Champion

Don't be afraid to venture out of the kitchen once in a while, especially when the weather's nice—just because you're a foodie now doesn't mean you can grill the heck out of some steaks. We've got the full guide to becoming the Memorial Day grill master, but it's applicable any time of year. If it's too cold to head out to the grill, though, you can still cook a great steak in the oven, or cook it sous-vide for perfection every time. Photo by Another Pint Please....

3. Perfect the Art of Substitution

Every great chef knows a little experimentation never hurt anybody, and with some clever substitutions, you can take a good dish to great with no work at all. We've featured a few of these before—like using lemon juice instead of salt, substituting applesauce for eggs in baked goods, baking pie crusts with vodka instead of water, and flavored salts instead of messy sauces. Don't be afraid to try new things; you never know where they'll take you. Image from Secret Tips From the Yumiverse.

2. Bust Those Food Myths

We hear a lot of things in popular culture about food that just aren't true—like that wooden cutting boards don't go well with meat, or that salt makes water boil faster. If you really want to be a whiz in the kitchen, make sure none of these myths are in your knowledge base, since they can often make a big difference in how you cook your food. Check out our list of 10 stubborn food myths that just won't die for more information. Image remixed using a photo by Alex Galt.

1. Stay Healthy

Food is tasty, but it can also mean the difference between a high-energy workday and lethargic, midday exhaustion. Take a look at the modern version of the food guide pyramid (it's probably much different than you remember) and learn how it works to better craft your meals for good health. When it comes time to shop, use a grocery list template to keep you on track, and make sure you get all the right food groups in your trip (and to avoid the bad ones). Food is great for a lot of things, but you don't want to do more harm than good. Make sure you keep everything balanced and all things in moderation, and you'll be on your way to becoming a master foodie in no time.

We've featured mountains of food tips here at Lifehacker, and this is just a smattering of the important skills and tips a budding foodie should know. Check out our #food tag for more useful kitchen tricks, and if you've got your own essential food knowledge to share, sound off in the comments below.

This isn’t a new trick – and you could probably use the same technique to push reminders to any CalDAV-compliant system, but the folks at to-do list makers RememberTheMilk have gotten reminders to pop up automatically online.

The trick is to add RememberTheMilk as a CalDAV account. In Settings, select Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Add a new Calendar and enter rememberthemilk.com into the server field. Then type in your login and password. Then add RememberTheMilk to your default accounts.

Now, when you create a reminder, the iPhone will push the reminder to RememberTheMilk and store it locally. It’s one way to skirt Apple’s current controls over the Siri API although its usefulness is fairly limited right now.

via Mobileburn

Kevin Rose took the stage today at the Web 2.0 Summit to give a demo of Oink, the first product from his mobile lab, Milk. He’s talked a bit about it before, but went into more details today. “With Oink, we wanted to build a platform to rank things,” he explains.

Oink is a mobile app that lets you rank things in different places. So instead of ranking a restaurant or point of interest, you can rank specific things at those places. Rose showed an example of one of his favorite places, The Samovar Tea Lounge. On Oink, you can rank the different teas at the lounge, and see how they rank against the other teas there and teas you can get nearby. Everything is based on hashtags like #tea, and each type of #tea is ranked by place or within a geographic radius. You can chose to find the best #teas within 1 mile, 5 miles, 25 miles, etc. And they all show up on a map.

“You can rank an item like Matcha tea,” explains Rose, “or add it to to-do list.” You can see if your friends have voted it up, rank it by tag, or by best #teas within a 5-mile radius. You can rank anything, best #chocolates, #rollercoasters, #massages.

The more your friends vote up the things you rank, the more cred you get. So people can see where you rank among your friends for #teas, or #chocolates, or #rollercoasters. In that way, they can get a sense of whether you have any taste in those areas.

Once Oink gathers enough rankings for enough things, it can start recommending things to you based on your location (kind of like Foursquare is doing with Radar).

Apple just announced that it sold four million iPhone 4S handsets over the last weekend. The phone hit stores on October 14th and it took just three days to move the massive lot. Incredible.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of Worlwide Product Markteting notes, “iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days.”

Moreover, Apple just announced that 25 million are already using iOS 5 and over 20 million have signed up for iCloud.

The iPhone 4s will hit even more countries in the coming weeks. It will be available in more than 22 countries after October 28 and more than 70 by the end of the year. Apple previously noted that it was prepared for a massive launch and it seems as if the company delivered. After the busy first weekend, the phone is still on backorder at most carriers and retailers with the Apple Store indicating a 1-2 week shipping delay.

[image credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP]

Mac: We've discussed ways to ways to make your computer adapt to your environment, but if you'd rather make your Mac do it all for you, Sidekick is a utility that will adjust your network settings, change default printers, start or close apps, and more—all based on your physical location.

Sidekick is made for people who travel, or at least anyone tired of manually switching default printers, network settings, disconnecting or connecting to servers on the network, and more every time they get to the office or go home for the night. Once installed, tell Sidekick where "home" is, where "work" is, and any other locations where you'd like the application to adjust your settings. The app then uses Mac OS's built-in CoreLocation positioning service to get your position when you arrive, and while it's not super-accurate, it's enough to tell whether you're at home or at work and adjust your system to match.

The app can tweak common system settings like your network configuration, turn Wi-Fi on or off, change the default printer, and open or close installed applications, but it can do much more as well. The app allows you to select "actions" to perform when you arrive at a specified location, like changing your Adium or iChat status to reflect that you've arrived at work, change the screensaver settings to require a password, automatically connect to a network location, and even change your wallpaper to suit the location.

Sidekick used to be known as an app called Network Location, but the developers have given it a new name and an overhaul for it's recent release. It'll set you back $29 USD, but if you travel often it may be worth it.

Sidekick | Oomph via Macworld

iOS 5 is out and there are plenty of new features, some of which require a little bit of set up. We'll walk you through the entire process so you're up and running in just a few minutes. Click on the feature you want to set up for a video walkthrough and written instructions as well.

How to Set Up Wi-Fi Sync in iOS 5

One of the most exciting things that iOS 5 offers is the ability to sync without plugging your iDevice into your computer. This is all thanks to iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, but the set up process isn't quite as straightforward as it should be. Here's how to get up and running in just a few minutes. More »

How to Set Up iCloud in iOS 5

Apple's had a few false starts with .Mac and MobileMe, but iCloud promises to be the push sync we've all wanted on our iPhones. Here's a quick look at how to get it set up and configured so you can start syncing your data and backing up your device to the cloud. More »

How to Configure Notification Center in iOS 5

Notifications Center finally rids us of those annoying pop-up alerts Apple forced upon us, but not every type of notification on your iDevice defaults to the new, less-obtrusive method. Or maybe you like the old method for things like alarms. Here's how you can set your notifications preferences to exactly the way you like them. More »

How to Configure iOS 5's Awesome Built-in Text Expansion

It seems Apple added text expansion to iOS 5 and decided not to mention it. This is a great, highly-desired feature that can save you tons of time typing frequent phrases and long words. Here's how to set it up and some suggestions for some time-saving phrases to add right away. More »

Everything You Need to Know About iOS 5 in Seven Minutes

If you want to learn about absolutely everything in iOS 5, we've got a quick little video and screenshot tour that runs down all the new features and how they work in a quickly digestible format. More »

iPhone: Social location-tracking app Foursquare released a new update today for the iPhone, adding a new feature called Radar. Radar pays attention to what you're following on Foursquare and alerts you when you're near any followed location. For example, if you're following a Top 10 Dessert Restaurant list and happen to be near one of the restaurants, you'll receive a notification from Foursquare to remind you to check it out. This update seems to require iOS 5, so be sure to upgrade and get yourself set up first.

Note: The update to the Foursquare app may not be available to everyone right this second, so be patient and it should show up for you at some point later today.

Foursquare for iPhone | iTunes App Store via Foursquare Blog