Zen Pad based on Android is Now Available for Rs.13,999

Now Finally, you would be able to get your hands on a 7-inch Android tablet without having to break into a bank. H.T. IMPEX has launched one such tablet under their brand name ZEN The Master, also known as Zen Pad. The Zen Pad is a tablet running Android OS 2.1, with a high resolution 7-inch touch screen and comes in a very slim form factor.

Zen Pad can be used to access wireless Internet to stay abreast with the latest happenings around the world, watch photos, videos and movies, listen to music, read eBooks and play games. Being an Android tablet has its advantages as you can get almost unlimited amount of free apps from the Android Market. It can be used for Social Networking and chat applications to stay in touch with your friends. There is also a built-in YouTube app, which lets you enjoy streaming videos at your comfort. Of course, after some play, you can also put it to work because it is a convenient way to manage office documents, presentation and emails no matter where you go as long as you take it with you.

Images, videos and presentations can be output to any big screen LCD TV or a compatible display device using the HDMI out and the included HDMI cable. The Zen Pad comes with a 1.0 GHz and 256 MB DDR2 memory. The 7-inch resistive single touch screen (which is probably the only and major gripe about this product) has LED backlight with a resolution of 800x480. It also features a back camera with a resolution of 0.3MP. Wireless 802.11 b/g is supported for internet access.

Available in a single color with silver front and black back, the Zen Pad can be all yours for just Rs.13,999 and can be bought soon in most retail IT chain stores. It comes with an 8GB memory card and a pouch with keyboard. This makes for a good New Year gift and now you have one less reason not to buy an Android tablet. Expect a review soon as we will get a review piece in the next few days.

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Macs, iOS devices to do Wireless Presentations?

For people having their heads spinning over the title and sub-title of this story, let's begin right with the basics. AirPlay is a simplified jargon for the technology that allows transmitting audio-visual content from a Mac or an iOS device (like the iPhone or iPad) to the Apple TV. Apple TV is a small box that connects to a television via HDMI and streams content over the Internet or stored locally using Wi-fi. 

Now, Keynote is an application and part of the iWork suite for creating presentations on a Mac (and even the iPad) - like Microsoft PowerPoint that most of you would know. Now, while their creative application suite called iLife was updated to the latest 2011 version, the iWork isn't yet updated from version 2009. And the reason for them to delay this update? Because they're trying to get AirPlay to work with Keynote.  

Softpedia reported about a person who mailed Steve Jobs if AirPlay would allow streaming wireless presentations via an iOS device or a Mac, and got back an "It is all coming soon" answer. So, is this news any worthy to jump off your chair? If you own or plan to own an Apple TV, then maybe. With it and the new Keynote 11 software, you would be able to wirelessly project your presentations to an LCD TV. You could do it on a projector as well; provided that it has an HDMI port or you have an HDMI-to-VGA converter ready (since Apple TV only has the HDMI out port).  

While this may be good news, we hope this feature will also come to Keynote on the iPad soon. I'm sure many corporate folk using an iPad would want to show off their hand-made slides with the freedom of walking around the boardroom.

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