Gaming is going to get a makeover this November. And yes, that means you had better start saving some extra bucks to buy Microsoft&rsquo;s Kinect &mdash; a controller-free, gesture-based gaming device that allows one or more people to play.

A Kinect with energy

Business Standard

Noise-isolating earphones are something that we just had to try on. And believe us, it only takes a few seconds of listening to these &mdash; the very best in class audio-phones &mdash; to dump all fears of any discomfort of having a pair of earphones inside your ears. The biggest reason? These earphones also jam out external noise to deliver a distinctly better sound.

Plug in to keep the noise out

Wouldn&rsquo;t it be nice if you could be motivated enough to get to the gym and work out, or eat healthy everyday? The smartphone you carry in your pocket can now inspire you to lead a fit life with a wide range of apps (free and paid) that can help you track and stay informed about your health.

An 'app' a day to keep the doctor away

It&rsquo;s hard not to notice the colourful Ed Hardy phone covers that Britney Spears and Paris Hilton use to decorate their mobile phones. Someone back in India, too, must have noticed the monotonous laptops, similar variants of mobile phones or boring accessories we were being sold in the name of cutting-edge technology.

Add a little gloss to your gadgets

The market for mobile phone operating systems hots up, with around six of these vying for your attention. The battle to conquer the market for mobile phone operating system (OS) is hotting up. From just three mobile OSes &mdash; Research in Motion (RIM), Symbian and Windows &mdash; available in India in 2006, the number has now reached six.

Smooth mobile operations

S serious audiophiles will agree that a good pair of earphones can be critical for your music experience. Here are two latest pairs of audio delights that we stumbled upon.

Head towards a better sound quality

It&rsquo;s not just the price tag, you have to be careful about hidden costs and maintenance too.

Before you grab that gizmo

There are few gadget makers who would openly declare that they are &lsquo;for women only&rsquo;, but Motorola, Micromax and Alcatel are saying so with their new mobile phones. Their bold designs and unique looks are bound to catch your eye and won&rsquo;t even dent your pockets.

For the square and savvy

A new breed of processors should draw a collective cheer from users, but that&rsquo;s a rarity. Primarily because, most users do not realise what a fast processor can do to a machine &mdash; Intel&rsquo;s Core series of processors makes a PC or laptop sing, literally.

The new secret sauce in laptops

Based on the age-old racing concept, Nintendo&rsquo;s Mario Kart, ModNation Racers on the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) is the newest game in the play-create-share line of games from Sony.

Games you must play

High-definition (HD) compact camcorders have been in fashion ever since the launch of the Flip camcorder. But the category &mdash; best defined as pocket-sized gadgets for shooting near HD-quality video &mdash; seems to be expanding fast with recent additions.

Record and shoot

Soon, we will forget flash drives just like we did floppy disks. The reason being web apps (applications) now allow users to work from virtually anywhere. So, not only does this negate the need to carry around our files, you can even work on them from anywhere &mdash; whether you are editing a document from home or collaborating with someone from any corner of the world.

Working on docs in the air

If you live in New Delhi or Mumbai and have a BSNL or MTNL mobile third generation (3G) connection, you may be among the 1,650,000 users who can brag about knowing what 3G technology is all about &mdash; in terms of data speeds. We tested some top-of-the-line 3G handsets on an MTNL prepaid connection in Mumbai and were pleasantly surprised with an average speed of 256 Kbps (for downloads) and 128 Kbps (while uploading data). Not exactly the typical 3G speed, but it was definitely faster than existing data connections with MTNL charging just Rs 2 per MB (pulse rate is 2 paise/10KB). Although MTNL claims to deliver broadband speeds of up to 2 Mbps, what is actually delivered is not entirely unacceptable.

Handsets for surfing at 3G speeds

The runaway success of movies like James Cameron&rsquo;s Avatar and Disney&rsquo;s Alice in Wonderland has not only generated a welcome interest in cinema-goers but also driven interest in 3D gaming. Simply speaking, jump-out-of-the-screen &lsquo;stereoscopic 3D&rsquo; is the technology that has caught everybody&rsquo;s attention, including gamers&rsquo;. Here&rsquo;s what you need to do to get 3D gaming home.

PCs get a 3D vision

LG&rsquo;s Chocolate BL40, an addition to its premium Black Label range, is by far the next best option after Apple iPhone. You have to give it to LG for designing a screen that makes images look so crisp &mdash; a monster resolution of 345 x 800 pixels helps.

It's either bold or chocolate for smartphone fans

In the days leading up to the unveiling of Apple&rsquo;s impossibly hyped iPad, Mozilla quietly launched the Firefox 3.6 and claimed a whopping 20 per cent speed gain over its previous 3.5 version. Three days later, Google also unveiled its Chrome 5.0 browser.

Explore browsers beyond 'e'

A low price tag always gets our attention. So, when Infibeam.com launched its e-reader Pi at nearly half the price of Amazon&rsquo;s Kindle, it not only made headlines but also drew our interest.

E-readers turn the page for bookworms

If you have the money and you also want to spend it, why not spend on gadgets? You could slide a dazzling Rs 2-lakh mobile device into your Armani pockets or, perhaps, acquire a wickedly handsome high-definition 3D TV for Rs 1.63 lakh to get your daily dose of entertainment. After all, life&rsquo;s sure to be a notch easier when you are surrounded by gadgets and appliances that feel chic, look elegant and are a cut above the rest. Priyanka Joshi lists some of the elite devices that fit this description...

Have money? go splurge it!

Never have more Indians donned the silly-looking 3D glasses simultaneously. So, if Avatar has brought 3D films back in vogue, it makes perfect sense to pocket a 3D camera this year.

3D in your pockets

Microsoft never got things so right. It has taken a long time to bring its flagship Office suite to the web (think Google Docs) and now Office 2010 (beta version) is finally available for download. Within days of its announcement, it has already been downloaded by over 2 million users. In the wake of potential challenges from Google&rsquo;s browser-based apps and its new Chrome operating system, the software giant&rsquo;s three screens strategy &mdash; ability for products to synchronise across phone, browser and desktop &mdash; seems to be finally working.

Building a better Office

Digital photo printers come in different shapes and sizes but they all do one thing &mdash; transform your brilliantly-coloured digital pictures into high-quality photo prints. HP&rsquo;s latest printer, the HP Photosmart Premium C309g, packs in many features but still delivers as a well-rounded all-in-one inkjet printer (scans, copies and prints).

Print your photos in colour

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