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Updating iOS5 Tips

2011-10-15T05:14:00.000+08:00

Problems updating to iOS 5? Here's what you need to know

iPhone and iPod users have reported a variety of problems when trying to upgrade to iOS5 (Photo: Apple)

The latest version of Apple's iOS left many iPod and iPhone users shaking their heads when they tried to upgrade. Problems ranged from lengthy downloads of the new iOS from iTunes, to some users who had been left with bricked phones and erased contacts after the update. Others complained that their paid apps had been wiped from their phones, and not restored when they did get iOS up and running.

On a personal level, about 50-percent of my iPhone-using friends experienced severe problems, the most common of which was a bricked phone. Those that did get the update still experienced issues with paid apps not showing up ready for download in iTunes. Those with bricked phones were forced to do a factory reset, and lost all of their contacts, saved notes, photos and videos.

The first signs of trouble began popping up on Twitter and in forums about an hour after the release of iOS 5.

Here's a quick rundown of the most common problems users are reporting, and a fix, if one exists.

"Internal Error 3200"

This is an error message that pops up during the iOS 5 upgrade process that indicates Apple's authentication servers aren't responding.

The fix: This problem has mostly fixed itself. The problem originated from the entire world trying to download the new iOS right as it had launched. Apple has opened up new server space, and the demand is dying off slowly due to reports of problems.

"Error -34"

If you get this error, it's iTunes reporting to the Apple server that you are out of disk space. As some of you have figured out, this may not be the case.

The fix: There isn't one just yet, but it was discovered that the problem originates mostly with users who compress their files to 128Kbps so that they can fit more music on their iPod. When upgrading, it seems that the file size is being reverted to the uncompressed form. Apple is aware of the issue.

"Error 1603"

Although the cause of this error is unknown, it's supposed to put your device into recovery mode shortly after you see it. It's not doing that in all cases with this new update. This is what most users refer to as a "bricked" iPhone or iPod touch.

The fix: You'll have to put your phone into forced recovery mode. You stand a good chance of losing stored data as your phone recovers. This is why it's always a good idea to make a backup of your data before doing a new iOS install.

Putting your iPhone or iPod Touch into forced recover mode

Disconnect the USB cable from the device, but leave the other end connected to the USB port on your computer.

Turn off the device by holding down the Sleep/Wake button. A red slider will appear next. Slide the slider and then wait as the device shuts off. If holding the power button doesn't turn off the device, press the Sleep/Wake button and the home button at the same time until the device powers down. Don't release the Sleep/Wake button or the home button until the device is off.

Press and hold the Home button while reconnecting the USB cable to the iPhone. Once the device is connected, it should begin to power on. Don't release the Home button.

Continue to hold the Home button until the "Connect to iTunes" screen appears. Release the button.

If iTunes doesn't open automatically, open it manually. You should see the "recovery alert" pop up.

Follow the prompts and allow iTunes to restore the iPhone or iPod touch.

Apple's new iPhone 4S

2011-10-05T09:39:00.003+08:00

No iPhone 5 folks, but say hello to Apple's new iPhone 4S

Apple's new CEO Tim Cook has taken the wraps off the company's new iPhone - the 4S

In his first product launch since becoming CEO, Apple's Tim Cook has announced a new version of the iPhone at Apple HQ in Cupertino, California. The iPhone 4S retains the ground-breaking Retina display technology and glass back of its predecessor, but has undergone something of an internal overhaul. Apple's new smartphone gets a brand new dual-core processor, an 8 megapixel camera capable of also shooting full high definition video, and a new personal assistant application that uses voice recognition. The 4S also promises up to double the previous download speeds and will be available on over 100 carriers worldwide.

Announced in the very same room as 2001's original iPod, Apple's new iPhone 4S runs on the new iOS 5 platform and is powered by the company's new dual-core A5 chip, that's said to be twice as fast as its predecessor. Mobile gamers will no doubt be pleased to hear that the included dual-core graphics are up to seven times faster than before. The new smartphone's battery life is claimed to offer either eight hours of 3G talk time, six hours of browsing, nine hours on Wi-Fi, ten hours of video playback, or 40 hours of music.

As the rumor-mill predicted, the 4S features a new 8 megapixel camera sensor (in actuality a 3264 x 2448 pixel resolution, backside illuminated CMOS sensor). There's a hybrid IR filter for more accurate colors and a five element f/2.4 aperture lens for 30 percent sharper images. The sensor also caters for full 1080p high definition video recording with image stabilization and noise reduction. Users can line up a shot using optional onscreen grid lines, and the new Photo app allows for simple in-device editing - such as crop, rotate, enhance and red-eye removal.

Access to the camera has been simplified - users just need to double-tap on the home screen to activate the new camera app, and use the volume up button as a shutter release. A new Apple-designed Image Signal Processor caters for face detection, improved white balance, and it sees the camera ready for its first shot in just 1.1 seconds (in only 0.5 seconds, the next one can be captured).

Improved call quality and voice control

Apple says that intelligent switching between the transmit and receive antennas results in much improved call quality, and users are no longer asked to choose between GSM or CDMA networks, as the 4S supports both. Theoretical data download capabilities have been doubled to up to 14.4 Mbps with HSDPA, with uplink remaining the same as the iPhone 4 at 5.8 Mbps. The 4S has also been treated to AirPlay Mirroring, which allows gamers to throw the device's image onto the big screen - wired or wireless.

As previously mentioned, perhaps most impressive of all the new features is an Intelligent Assistant named Siri, which uses sophisticated voice recognition technology to do your bidding. Press down the onscreen icon and speak to Siri via the phone's microphone, then everything from the local real-time weather to checking stocks and shares to setting appointments, alarms and reminders to searching online for information, is made available via vocal commands.

Apple has also included a beta version Dictation feature that currently supports U.S., UK and Australian flavors of English, along with French and German, with more languages to follow in the near future.

Pricing and availability

Pre-orders for the new iPhone 4S will start on October 7, with U.S., Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, and Japan getting first bite on October 14. Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have all been confirmed as U.S. carriers and both black and white versions will cost US$199 for the 16GB model, US$299 for the 32GB version and US$399 for the 64GB flavor (with a 2-year contract).

Another 22 countries (including Mexico, Singapore and most of the rest of Europe) will take delivery from October 28, and the 4S will be available in 70 countries by the year's end.

In other news...

The Apple team also highlighted a few of the 200 plus new features in the new iOS 5 platform - including an interruption-free, swipe down Notification Center, a new iMessage service for sending and receiving text messages, photos and videos between iOS device users, location-aware Reminders, the Newsstand feature with background downloading of latest subscribed issues, and wireless, PC-free updates. There's also an update to the Safari browser that brings tabbed browsing to the iPad and new reader functionality with device sync. iOS 5 will be available from October 12.

Apple is also launching its iCloud services on October 12, including Find My Friends, where you can view the locations of friends who've opted to share - useful for guiding lost guests to your new house. iTunes in the Cloud comes with iTunes Match, that scans your own music library, upgrades matched songs to 256kbps AAC file format, and places the matched files into iTunes - all for US$24.99 per year (available in the U.S. from the end of this month). iCloud comes with 5GB of online storage free for iOS/OS X Lion users, with more available at a price.

By Paul Ridden

Samsung's Galaxy Note

2011-09-02T23:18:00.002+08:00

Samsung's Galaxy Note supersizes the smartphone with 5.3 inch screen and stylus

The Galaxy Note next to Tim's Galaxy S II

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Samsung showed its new Note smartphone today at IFA, just 12 months after it showed the Galaxy Tab to great acclaim, and when history judges the 5.3" supersized smartphone it just might play a much greater role in the development of the personal computer form factor. The incorporation of a stylus and the 1280×800 high-resolution Super AMOLED screen give the thin Android phone additional functionality by way of both sketching and note-taking and when Gizmag's Tim Hanlon tried the phone with its 1.4GHz dual-core processor, he's now thinking of trading in his Galaxy SII.

"It might look like the awkward stepchild of a phone and tablet, but as soon as I went from my iPhone to the Galaxy SII, I became used to the additional screen-size instantly", said Tim.

"My old iPhone now seems like a toy compared to the SII and although the 5.3 inch Note looks awkward, it just might be indispensable once you get used to it. It is bigger than the Galaxy SII, but because it's thin, at 9.65mm, it's still small enough to slip into my jeans pocket."

"I wasn't crazy about the note taking feature as there was a slight lag, but it's likely to be a lot quicker than typing for a lot of people. The Note also loads web pages very quickly, and the camera seems much snappier than the Samsung Galaxy SII."

"It's funny, but I think the odd form factor is the type of thing that people might mock until they try it, then they'll have their opinion turned around like mine was. I pull out my iPad or laptop noticeably less with the Galaxy SII in my pocket, and I expect this would be amplified significantly if I had a Note...and although the Note won't replace my iPad, it will probably replace my Galaxy SII."

"Last but not least, it's surprisingly comfortable to use as a phone."

Computer research done on desktop computers has shown many times that the amount of screen real estate is almost directly proportional to productivity, so it may well be that the 5.3" HD Super AMOLED display offers considerable productivity advantages over existing smartphones.

Samsung also demonstrated two apps which leverage the Note's large screen and are sure to be sought after. One is the S Planner, a cross between a personal organizer and a management planning tool which integrates a To-Do list and schedule and will make a very useful life organizer. The other is a multimedia app named S Memo, which can take any form of user-created content (pictures, voice recordings, typed text, handwritten notes and sketches) and combine them in a memo which can be edited, annotated and shared. Those two apps alone will make the Note a very useful tool.

There's also a really easy-to-use screen-capture which means you can capture any screen and make notes on it before being filing or sharing - a genuinely useful tool .

There are several other trump cards associated with the Note. Firstly, its connectivity speed is exceptional as it has both HSPA+ and LTE, making it fast enough to stream video in real-time or participate in online gaming.

The other is via the use of Juniper Networks' Junos Pulse SSL VPN which enables secure remote access to corporate networks. This last one could prove to be a killer app as large enterprises have until now had very little choice in the smartphone arena and the SSL Virtual Private Network meets high-volume secure access and authorization requirements. By offering a smartphone that enables IT managers to centralize control and protect corporate data, Samsung has produced a device which can finally go head-to-head with the iPhone.

The Note will also no doubt sidestep most of Apple's legal complaints about "look and feel" too, as it's entirely different to either the iPad or iPhone and hence it looms as a real competitor to both as Apple is unlikely to be able to block its arrival in the marketplace.

The Note has enough smarts to significantly influence the form factor of the personal computer once more.

Toshiba's 55-inch 3D TV

2011-09-02T23:15:00.001+08:00

Toshiba's 55-inch, Ultra HD, glasses-free 3D TV

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Toshiba has taken the wraps off a 55-inch, 16:9 ratio LED backlit TV with glasses free 3D capability and Quad Full HD resolution. That's a massive 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, or in other words, four times as many pixels as a 1920 x 1080p TV. We've just checked out the Toshiba 55ZL2 on the floor at IFA and the consensus is that it looks great.

Billed as the world's first large-screen glasses free 3D TV, the 55ZL2 is designed to allow several viewers to watch 3D content from different positions. Its CEVO-ENGINE calculates multiple wide-angle viewing zones in front of the lenticular screen and face tracking operated by the remote control is used to detect the viewers' actual positions and optimize the nine viewing zones.

The CEVO-ENGINE also handles Auto Calibration which Toshiba says achieves "studio level picture quality" and personalized settings - including the volume level you last had the TV set to - can be stored for up to four users.

Content can be recorded to an external hard drive via USB, SMART-TV functions allow access to Toshiba's Places online platform, Resolution+ converts lower res formats into Quad Full HD resolution and if you have an iPhone, you can download an app and throw the remote control away.

The 55ZL2 can also display 2D content at the Quad Full HD resolution.

So how does it look? Our first chance to see the screen in Berlin today definitely left a positive impression - the 3D image had much smoother depth than the "cardboard cut-out" effect on other glasses-free units we've seen, bringing us hope that the reign of 3D glasses will be short lived.

Overall the 3D effect was more subtle, natural and real, with crisper images that seemed to recede into the background rather than jump out at you. In short, it's comfortable to look at.

Of course, native 3D content in Quad Full HD resolution might be a little hard to come by for a while, but the 55ZL2 could well be a new benchmark for the industry.

"It seems like a step towards maturity for the entire market," says Gizmag's Tim Hanlon. "I can't see the downside. This is a pretty sick TV."

The Toshiba 55ZL2 will be released in Germany in December 2011. Release dates for other European countries are yet to be confirmed and there's no word yet on how much it will cost.

The disruptor gets disrupted: how Apple is beating Nintendo at its own game

2011-08-11T23:07:00.002+08:00

The Nintendo 3DS

In an industry obsessed with polygon counts and frame rates, Nintendo's Wii console and DS handheld were the proverbial knives at a gunfight. They were grossly underpowered compared to the competition, meaning Nintendo could sell them at a profit from day one. Their innovative control methods ensured they still sold like hotcakes. An animated GIF of Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata holding a DS that printed money became the go to picture to run alongside quarterly announcements of Nintendo's gargantuan profits. If a disheveled man emerged from a time-traveling Delorian with tales of a near-future Nintendo struggling to sell its latest handheld, I'd have been more surprised about the Nintendo thing. So what on earth happened?

A wild STEVE JOBS appears! STEVE JOBS uses DESTROY VALUE. It's super effective!

Late last year, Steve Jobs told the press that Apple was activating 230,000 iOS devices every day, with a staggering 200 million already in the wild.

According to 148apps, there are 72,185 games available in the iOS App Store, of which 28% are 99 cents and 38% are free.

To say that 1% of these games would be worth playing would be an overly generous estimate. Most will pale in comparison to the console games they emulate. Many will take longer to download than they will to grow tired of, if they aren't quit in disgust and deleted immediately. Others will be lost in the noise of the App Store. Occasionally, one will appease the zeitgeist and make a fledgling developer very wealthy.

But what exactly is the alternative that Nintendo proposes?

NINTENDO used HEAD IN THE SAND. It's not very effective!

Satoru Iwata told AllThingsD that the ad supported, freemium and high volume/low cost models of mobile gaming "destroy the value of the game software" and made it clear he is not willing to lead Nintendo in that direction.

Unfortunately, the mass market has spoken - a firehose of cheap and disposable games on a multi-purpose device wins over a drip feed of expensive and...well, lessdisposable games on a dedicated gaming handheld.

It might take you somewhere between 30-50 hours to play through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, on your 3DS...but how many iPhone games can you get for that US$40? How many can you get for the price of the 3DS itself?

EA CEO John Riccitiello recently told Industry Gamers that consoles represent just 40% of the market, down from 80% in 2000. The casual market that Nintendo fueled with the Wii has jumped ship to cheaper pastures.

Big publishers like EA are coming along for the ride. That NBA Jam game you can get for $0.99 on the iPhone and $4.99 on the iPad is exactly the same as the $39.99 console version (...and it's one of those rare ports that plays beautifully without physical buttons). This probably sounds insane to someone who doesn't realize that they're completely different markets, or that there's people like me who will buy the iPad version and the Xbox 360 version.

What about testing the waters with a stripped-back Mario title in the vein ofCanabalt? Basically guaranteed to sell millions, and won't devalue the Mario brand at all - indeed, it would introduce Mario to a generation of kids who had never had a Nintendo at home. Give them the first hit for next to nothing, and get them nagging Mom and Dad for a 3DS in time for Super Mario 3D Land.

What about releasing a SNES controller dock for the iPhone with some classics from the 16-bit era like Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country? Charge $50 for the controller and $5-10 for the games. That's like a license to print money. Alternatively, what about a strategic move against Apple by throwing its support behind the Android platform, or a partnership with HTC or Samsung?

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, investors are pushing for an embrace of mobile too. Nintendo's share price jumped after JPMorgan Chase & Co. told its clients that Nintendo may start making games for non-Nintendo hardware in June, and fell again after an official rebuttal just hours later.

Qualcomm, makers of the Snapdragon chipset that powers many modern smartphones, also sees mobile phones becoming the consoles of the future. Already some Android phones and tablets feature HDMI outputs and the ability to connect to a console controller via USB or Bluetooth.

There's only so long a company can ignore the market, the industry, and investors.

SONY wants to fight NINTENDO. SONY uses IMPRESSIVE LAUNCH LINEUP! It missed!

With the casual market adequately catered for by the mobile space, Nintendo is increasingly reliant on adoption from the hardcore market. What a shame that Sony had to go and unveil the PS Vita this year, a device that has the hardcore set drooling over its dual analog joysticks, generous 5-inch OLED screen and console-caliber graphical prowess.

On launch, the Vita will have Wipeout 2048, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, LittleBigPlanet and Super Stardust Delta - and titles from system-selling franchises like Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Call of Duty, Killzone, Mortal Kombat andResistance are in the pipeline.

With Sony's recent admission that the PS Vita won't be released outside Japan until 2012, contrary to its original statement, the executives at Nintendo must be feeling like they've just dodged a bullet.

But can one original Mario title (Super Mario 3D Land), two Nintendo 64 ports (Star Fox 64 3D and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Edition) and a few third-party titles really compete with the generous array of games headed for the Vita?

NINTENDO used PRICE DROP. It's...?

There's a chicken/egg situation with consoles - people don't want to buy a console without a large library of games, but developers don't want to make games for a console without a large install base.

The 3DS is hurting as a result. With big third-party titles like Assassin's Creed, Megaman and Saints Row being cancelled, and Nintendo looking massively unprepared with its own meager software lineup, there's no rush to buy a 3DS.

Late last month, Nintendo announced it would drop the price of the 3DS from $250 to $170 on August 12. Is this enough to push the 3DS to a critical mass by the time the Vita drops? Only time will tell.

Feel free to chime in in the comments section.

By Tim Hanlon

Fujitsu releases Windows 7 F-07C Mobile Phone

2011-08-02T12:13:00.003+08:00

The Windows 7 F-07C mobile phone from Fujitsu - a smartphone mode and a PC mode in one device

Fujitsu has launched what is claimed to be the world's smallest Windows PC / smartphone. Available only in Japan at the time of writing, the new F-07C phone has two modes of operation - one which gives users all we've come to expect from a modern smartphone, and another that launches a full version of Windows 7 to offer personal computing in the palm of your hand. It's powered by an Intel Atom processor, has system memory and solid state storage, and benefits from a slide-out tactile keyboard.

Earlier this year we featured the Magic W3 microcomputer, a handheld computer that also happened to include mobile phone capabilities. Now Fujitsu has unveiled its Windows 7 F-07C mobile phone, a smartphone that's also a PC.

When in smartphone mode, the F-07C behaves much as you would expect a smartphone to behave, supporting the latest NTT DOCOMO services such as i-mode mail, as well as Osaifu-Keitai, i-channel, i-concier, and Oazukari Service for mobile phone data. At the push of a button, though, the device revs up the Intel Atom Z600 processor running at 1.2GHz (note: the Magic W3 features an Atom X530 processor running at 1.6GHz) and boots up a full version of the Japanese edition of Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit (with SP1 already applied).

The phone comes with a 2-year license for Microsoft Office Personal 2010, which includes Word, Excel and Outlook, to satisfy any productivity wants, and also includes Internet Explorer 9. Rather than the onscreen keying of the Magic W3, the F-07C features a slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard with trackball for basic mouse cursor control.

There's also a 4-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel resolution touchscreen LCD screen sporting 262,144 colors, a 5.1 megapixel CMOS sensor camera, 1GB of LPDDR400 system memory, 32GB eMMC SSD storage, and microSD/SDHC expansion support. As well as FOMA 3G, the phone also has 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR wireless capabilities. Its battery is said to offer 600 hours in standby, 370 minutes continuous talk time in voice mode, or 170 minutes in videophone mode.

With 4.92 x 2.4 x 0.77-inch (125 x 61 x 19.8 mm) dimensions and weighing 7.68 ounces (218 g) including the battery, the F-07C is both lighter and smaller than the Magic W3. For my money, it also wins in the looks department, too.

Physical connectivity to peripherals or big screen televisions/monitors is via a USB/HDMA cradle, which is sold separately.

Mozilla launches Boot to Gecko web-based mobile OS project

2011-08-02T12:11:00.002+08:00

Mozilla has announced the start of a new project aimed at creating a new app-centric, completely open, web-based phone and tablet operating system called Boot to Gecko (B2G)

The way we spend our time online is changing fast. While the browser still reigns supreme, more and more people are getting their online fix using apps. Mozilla, the folks behind the popular Firefox browser, has now announced the start of a new project to develop an app-centric, completely open, web-based phone and tablet operating system called Boot to Gecko (B2G).

There are, of course, a good many tried and tested mobile operating systems already out there already but useful apps created for one operating environment are not going to work on another. As a developer, if you want your killer app on an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S then you'll need to effectively create your innovation twice, or more, using different SDK's.

Rather than confine application development to vendor-specific operating environments like iOS, Android, WP7, webOS, the much-maligned Symbian and so on, the B2G project is looking to develop a complete, standalone operating system that will give developers the tools they need to create locally-cached apps at least as capable as native device applications but that will work across mobile platforms.

Open from day one

While the similarly cloud-based Google Chrome OS heads mostly for netbook-like devices, Mozilla has its eyes on the phone/tablet arena for B2G. Unlike other so-called open source developments in that area, though, B2G's code - built around the Gecko engine that drives its Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client - will be available for all to see from the start.

"We want to do Boot to Gecko the way we think open source should be done," says the project's Andreas Gal. "In the open, from day one, for everyone to see and participate."

As a starting point, the team intends to re-use a small portion of the lower layers of the Android OS. According to the project's Mike Shaver, this only represents the kernel and device drivers, in addition to libc and some ancillary bits and pieces. Although test hardware hasn't yet been chosen, the team says that it's likely that Tegra 2 devices will be chosen for initial rounds because of its support for hardware acceleration of open audio/video formats.

Developers will need to build entirely new web developer tools - as opposed to vendor-specific SDK's - that will allow B2G users to make phone calls, send text messages, take a photo and present a gallery of images, read e-books, play games, utilize near-field communications technology, and all of the other things we've come to expect from our mobile devices.

The project is still very much in its early stages at the moment, being driven by a four-man development team on a part-time basis but could mushroom very quickly as it gathers pace and veer off at any point into wholly unexplored territory. While the project infrastructure gets cemented in place, Mozilla is appealing for ideas and contributions from the online community.

Mozilla's B2G project is also looking for inspiration from and collaboration with other projects such as Chrome OS and Webian, folks at the latter having already expressed an interest in helping via the project development thread.

Huge undertaking

The B2G project is a huge undertaking for Mozilla and will clearly take more than a team of four to oversee the building of an operating system from scratch. That said, the collaborative community approach has proved quite successful for the non-profit group in the past and has also had positive knock-on effects for users of products from other brands - just look how other browser vendors upped their respective games when Firefox started snapping their market share heels.

Anyone else interested in either following or joining in with the development of B2G can find more information at the dedicated Mozilla Wiki page.

If you're wondering, the project team says that Mozilla has no plans to release a Firefox phone.

Nokia 500 - first 1GHz Symbian smartphone announced

2011-08-02T12:00:00.001+08:00

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Positioned as a "low-cost, full-function smartphone", the freshly announced Nokia 500 is the first Symbian Anna-based device to utilize a 1GHz-clocked CPU. The handset is lightweight at 93 grams (3.28 oz) and features a 3.2 inch, 360 x 640 resolution capacitive touchscreen along with a 5 megapixel flash-less camera at the back (no front-facing camera) and 2GB of internal memory expandable via a microSD card slot up to 32GB.

Connectivity comes courtesy of WiFi b/g (no 'n' support), GPS and A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB, HSDPA/HSUPA support and a 3.5mm audio jack. There's an FM Radio and three different-colored battery covers (included in the box). Nokia Maps is pre-installed with free driving and walk navigation, as is every GPS-enabled Nokia cell phone these days.

The Nokia 500 will be available in black starting from Q3 2011 (a white version is expected in Q4) priced at EUR150 (around US$213) "before taxes and subsidies."

The latest arrival in Symbian Anna line of devices joins the likes of Nokia E6 and Nokia X7 which were first to introduce the updated platform. Symbian Anna is the successor of Symbian^3, bringing such improvements as faster browsing, new icons, virtual QWERTY keyboard in portrait orientation or refreshed OVI Maps.

New naming convention

The Nokia Conversations blog has also explained that no letters in new smartphone's name means a change in Nokia's naming policy. From now on, Nokia will resign from letters suggesting the phone's application (e.g. "E" - for business, "X" - for entertainment, etc.).

"The classifications were indicators, but often, they didn't match-up to what people were actually doing with their phones," Nokia says. It will instead stick to just numbers where "Nokia 900 would be top dog and a Nokia 100 is the most accessible option."

The Controversial Col. Generoso Mariano Video

2011-07-18T18:30:00.003+08:00

The controversial Col. Generoso Mariano video calling for a change of present government..

Panasonic to launch first Android-powered Toughbook tablet

2011-06-22T06:08:00.002+08:00

Panasonic introduced a 10.1'' ruggedized Toughbook tablet running Android OS.

Panasonic will introduce a ruggedized Toughbook tablet running Android OS in Q4 2011. Aimed at enterprise users, the Android Toughbook tablet will offer a sunlight-friendly matte screen, a 10.1'' XGA (1024 x 768) multi-touch display, "full-shift" battery life, GPS connectivity and an optional 3G/4G embedded modem.

Panasonic says the device will be built with functionality and real-world reliability in mind, with heightened security "embedded at the hardware level."

"The vast majority of tablet devices--regardless of the OS--are engineered for consumers and don't offer appropriate levels of security and durability or the functionality needed for business use," said Rance Poehler, president, Panasonic Solutions Company.

The new Android Toughbook tablet will be available in Q4, but Panasonic has not yet specified hardware and pricing details, or confirmed which version of Android OS it will run. It will join the Windows 7-based, 10.4'' Toughbook H1 Field in Panasonic's rugged tablet range.

Android 3.2 Huawei 7" MediaPad

2011-06-22T06:02:00.001+08:00

Huawei 7-inch MediaPad first to run Android 3.2

Huawei says its 7-inch MediaPad will be the first to use the newest version of Honeycomb (3.2)

Huawei today unveiled its 7-inch MediaPad, which the company says will be the first to use the previously unannounced Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS (specifically optimized for 7-inch tablets) and the first to use Qualcomm's 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor. All the specs look to be on the mark but no pricing was announced. The release date is slated for Q3, 2011, so that could be any time between the end of next week and September 31.

I must admit to watching the release of iPad competitors with a the same fascination I have only once experienced before, while watching soldiers waiting to go into battle - I admire their bravery and commitment, but fear for the worst. Motorola, Samsung, HTC, RIM and LG have already proven that having equal or better specifications than the iPad won't steal many sales - the total buying experience and the longevity of the line, and the comforting knowledge that Apple will produce an iPad 3, and an iOS5 and 6 and 7, all weigh heavily in the mind of the consumer. As in love and war, the incumbent usually wins.

The MediaPad does look a treat though, as plays full 1080P video, has a very high pixel density (217 PPI compared to the Apple iPad2's 132 PPI) and has no shortage of processing power considering the powerhouse dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor.

In terms of creating media, it sports a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video calling and 5 megapixel, auto-focus, rear-facing camera with HD video recording capabilities.

It's thin (10.5 mm = 0.4 inches) and light (390 grams = 0.86 pounds) and will be supported by Huawei's Hi-Space cloud solution and Google Android market.

With HSPA+ 14.4Mbps and high-speed WiFi 802.11n connectivity, the MediaPad will not be available in wWiFi-only form.

The MediaPad supports HSPA+ data services, Flash 10.3 videos and comes pre-installed with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let's Golf and Documents to Go.

Check out Huawei's promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp71nELkXHA&feature=player_embedded

Sony Next Gen Playstation Vita

2011-06-09T08:27:00.001+08:00

Sony PlayStation Vita

At its E3 press conference Sony finally revealed that its next generation handheld - previously codenamed the NGP - will carry the official moniker of the "PlayStation Vita". Most of the details of the Vita - which is Latin for "life" - have already been revealed, leaving the price and name as the only real new information, along with the announcement of some of the upcoming titles heading to the device when it is released from the end of the year.

The PS Vita will come in two flavors: a Wi-Fi only version and a 3G/Wi-Fi version. The Wi-Fi only version will be priced at $249 in the U.S., JPY24,980 in Japan, and EUR249 in Europe, while the 3G/Wi-Fi model will go for US$299, JPY29,980 and EUR299. Sony says it the Vita will have a successive global launch starting from the end of 2011.

Titles from SCE Worldwide studios heading to the Vita include, "GRAVITY DAZE," "Uncharted Golden Abyss," "Little Deviants," "Hot Shots Golf," "Reality Fighter," "Hustle Kings," "ModNation Racers," "Wipeout 2048" and "Super Stardust Delta".

A pre-installed "near" application will enable location-based gaming features and let PS Vita users share game information with each other, while a newly developed "Party" application will provide social networking features via voice and text chat, both during online gaming or when using different games and applications.

Sony Playstation Vita specs:

ARM Cortex A9 core (4 core) CPU
SGX543MP4+ GPU
5" OLED touchscreen (16:9, 960 x 544)
5" rear touch pad
Two analog joysticks
Front and rear cameras
3G, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and GPS
Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Built in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
PS Vita card slot
Memory card slot
SIM card slot (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
Multi-use port (for USB data communication, DC IN, Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In], Serial data communication)
Headset jack

The Nintendo Wii U revealed

2011-06-09T00:04:00.002+08:00

The Wii U and its touchscreen controller

Nintendo took the wraps off its new Wii U console at E3 today, sporting a controller as unique as we've come to expect from the company that brought us the Wii and the DS. With a 6.2" touchscreen, dual-analog sticks, D-pad, four face buttons, four triggers, front-facing camera, microphone, and motion controls (gyroscope and accelerometer), it's safe to say we'll see some innovative game mechanics invented to make full use of this thing.

The graphics capabilities appear to be on par with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Games can be played with or without a TV, which will likely save countless domestic arguments across the globe, and the Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii software and accessories.

Confirmed titles include Smash Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Me, Lego City Stories, Tekken, Assassin's Creed, Darksiders 2, Batman: Arkham City, Dirt, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Metro, Battlefield 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.

No pricing details were announced, but we can give you a release window: expect to see the Wii U in stores between April 2012 and December 2012.

Apple iOS 5

2011-06-07T09:11:00.001+08:00

Apple today officially unveiled iOS 5, the latest version of its mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

At its Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple officially unveiled iOS 5, the latest version of its mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The new system reportedly includes over 200 new features, one of the more noteworthy of which is the iCloud online data storage service. iCloud includes 5GB of internet-based memory space, and it automatically syncs all of a user's iDevices whenever new files are added to any one of them. iOS 5 will be available to consumers as of this Fall (for Northern Hemisphere readers, or this Spring for those in the Southern Hemisphere).

Apple's press release touches on some of the highlights of iOS 5, stating:

Notification Center provides iOS 5 users with an innovative way to easily access all notifications―text messages, missed calls, calendar alerts, app alerts and more, all in one place, from anywhere in iOS 5. When they arrive, notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen without interrupting what you're doing. With one swipe you can see all your notifications, and a simple tap will take you right to its app for more detail. Notifications also appear on the lock screen, with the ability to be taken to the notifying app with just one swipe.

Newsstand is a beautiful, easy-to-organize bookshelf displaying the covers of all your newspaper and magazine subscriptions in one place. A new section of the App Store features just subscription titles, and allows users to quickly find the most popular newspapers and magazines in the world. If subscribed to, new issues appear in the Newsstand and are updated automatically in the background so you always have the latest issue and the most recent cover art.
Safari is the world's most popular mobile browser, and with iOS 5 it's now even better. New features include Safari Reader, which gets all the clutter out of the way and sets the right font size on a web page, so you can easily scroll and read through a story; Reading List, so you can save articles to read later and they automatically show up on all your iOS devices; and Tabbed Browsing, which makes it easy to flip between multiple web pages on iPad.
iOS 5 includes built-in Twitter integration, so you can sign in once and then tweet directly from all your Twitter-enabled apps, including Photos, Camera, Safari, YouTube and Maps with a single tap. New APIs give third party developers the ability to take advantage of the single sign-on capability for their own iOS 5 apps.
iMessage in iOS 5 brings the functionality of iPhone messaging to all of your iOS devices―iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Built right into the Messages app, iMessage allows you to easily send text messages, photos, videos or contact information to a person or a group on other iOS 5 devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. iMessages are automatically pushed to all your iOS 5 devices, making it easy to maintain one conversation across your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. iMessage also features delivery and read receipts, typing indication and secure end-to-end encryption.

The new Reminders app helps you manage your tasks; create and group related tasks together; and set time or location-based reminder alerts, priorities and due dates, so you can be reminded of a task as its deadline approaches, or when you arrive or depart a given location. Reminders can also be viewed in iCal and Outlook and are updated automatically.

iCloud, however, should prove particularly popular. Instead of having to physically connect your various devices to your Mac or PC in order to keep them on the same page, the service will make all mail, contacts, calendars, photos, apps, books, music and other files accessible to all devices, as soon as they're added via any one of them. Should you download a song to your iPod touch, for instance, it will automatically become accessible to your other devices.

Full details on iOS5 and iCloud are available on the Apple website.

DO NOT TALK TO THE PARROT

2011-06-07T09:06:00.000+08:00

Susan’s washing machine quit working so she called a repairman.

Since she had to go to work the next day, she told the repairman, "I'll leave the key with my next door neighbor. Fix the washing machine, leave the bill on the counter, and I'll have somebody send you the payment.

"Oh, by the way, don't worry about my Rottweiler. He won't bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to my parrot! I REPEAT, DO NOT TALK TO MY PARROT!!!"

When the repairman arrived at Susan’s apartment the following day, he discovered the biggest, meanest-looking Rottweiler he had ever seen. But, just as she had said, the dog just lay there on the carpet, watching the repairman go about his work.

The parrot, however, drove him nuts the whole time with his incessant yelling and name calling. Finally, the repairman couldn't contain himself any longer and yelled, "Shut up, you stupid, ugly bird!"

To which the parrot replied, "Get him, Spike!"

That’s what happens to people who do not follow instructions.

Following instructions is simply discipline in action. Discipline is inevitable. We either discipline ourselves, or life brings other people to do it for us.

Don’t you hate those awful pink fences that line up the major streets in our Metropolis? Fences to keep people from jaywalking, fences to keep vehicles in their proper places, fences to keep buses from wandering and the question is why are those ugly fences there in the first place? Because motorists and pedestrians do not want to follow instructions and so somebody has to do something to force us to follow.

Fences enclose. Fences restrict freedom. But the irony behind those fences is that they were put there because of a lot of people’s insistence to do what they want rather than obeying orders and following instructions.

Now there is the great analogy about pink fences and our personal life.

We all long for freedom and the ability to "do whatever I want." And yet, the successful people who seem to have the most freedom also happen to be the most disciplined, the most focused and self-directed people I have ever met.

Many people think that freedom is the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want, sleep all morning, enjoy happy hour, act on impulse and charge their credit cards to the max. Take a little sip here, take a little drag there, snort it up, gulp it down, inject it into their veins, jump from one bed to another and pretty soon they find themselves losing the very freedom they want; chained by chaos, conflict and frustration living an undisciplined life that leads to disappointment and pain.

Discipline is inevitable. We either discipline ourselves, or life brings other people to do it for us. We either manage our lives on our own, or we lose the very freedom we cherish.

We either practice self-discipline or pretty soon our creditors “convince" us to work more hours. Our bosses "persuade" us to work harder or longer or smarter. Our families "encourage" us to do our work, fulfill our responsibilities and "behave ourselves." Taken to the extreme, eventually people with uniforms and titles like "guards" or "warden" will structure our time and our lives for us.

Look at the way we rear up our kids.

Children are not expected to know how to structure their lives, so parents teach them. Parents get them up for school and remind them to make their beds or do their chores. Parents are charged with teaching children that joy is the REWARD for effort and discipline. This is why it is good to have children involved in competitive sports. As they practice, work hard and fulfill their commitments, they gain skill, and skill leads to victory and celebration on the playing field, and in life.

Freedom therefore is the RESULT of a great life, not the raw material.

If we start by living a free and undisciplined life, true freedom slips away. It gets lost in a thousand petty or careless "little" decisions that eventually deny us the life we want.

You know the old cliché, but it still rings true today. You cannot have freedom without responsibility. Simply put, you cannot live an undisciplined life and expect to be free to live the life you want. Do you know how freedom is destroyed? The answer is simple. By abusing it as well as taking it away.

Begin with a handful of daily commitments that suit your unique situation.

Pray. Work. Exercise. Eat healthy. Read. Stay faithful – in your work and in your family.

Be productive. Do it now! Build the habit of personal discipline. It's the road to personal freedom. And when we have learned discipline as a people…then maybe…those pink fences would go away.

By: Francis Kong

Ford`s Smallest Motor

2011-06-07T09:02:00.001+08:00

Ford produces the smallest motor in its history - three cylinder 1.0-Liter EcoBoost

It's a sign of the times that Ford is gearing up to launch the smallest capacity engine, with less cylinders than any it has previously produced. The new 1.0-liter EcoBoost will be launched globally in all small Ford cars, and in addition to recognized technologies employed by Ford in its EcoBoost engines, such as turbocharging, direct injection and twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT), the new three-cylinder engine will have an offset crankshaft for improved fuel economy, a split cooling system that allows the cylinder block to warm up before the cylinder head, and the exhaust manifold is cast into the cylinder head to lower exhaust gas temperatures and save weight.

The one liter EcoBoost engine was first spied at the 2010 Beijing Auto Show in theFord Start concept and this year featured in the Ford B-MAX shown at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.

The EcoBoost 1.0-liter engine was designed at Ford's Dunton Technical Centre in the U.K. where engineers focused on improving thermal efficiency and reducing friction, particularly during warm-up when engines emit higher pollutant levels.

Though no specific figures have been released, Ford claims the new engine will deliver performance equivalent or better than most normally aspirated 1.6-liter petrol engines. Details of the new motor will be announced at this year's premier European auto show in Frankfurt.

World’s first 100 watt equivalent LED replacement bulb

2011-05-19T22:49:00.003+08:00

World’s first 100 watt equivalent LED replacement bulb

Switch Lighting's 100 watt-equivalent LED bulb

Currently the brightest options for those looking to ditch their incandescent light bulbs in favor of the longer life and more energy efficient LED variety are those equivalent to 60 watt incandescent bulbs, such as the GeoBulb II. Things got a little brighter last month when California-based Switch Lighting announced its 75 watt-equivalent LED bulb and now the company has gone one better with the announcement of what it claims is the world's first 100 watt-equivalent LED bulb.

To solve the problem of LEDs projecting light in only one direction, Switch has mounted outward-facing LEDs on metal fingers. But the real key to the brighter bulb is the company's "City of Light" technology that allows for maximum brightness with fewer LEDs by creating a self-cooling environment inside the bulb. To draw heat away from the LEDs, the bulb dome is filled with a nontoxic liquid that flows out towards the surface of the bulb as it warms. The heat then dissipates evenly over the surface of the bulb and the liquid is then drawn back in to repeat the process.

Switch Lighting says all its LED bulbs offer incandescent quality light and the 100 watt-equivalent LED bulb is no exception. The bulbs are also dimmable and can be mounted in any direction. Additionally, in accordance with the Cradle to Cradle principals, all parts of the bulb can be reused, recycled or reclaimed.

Switch Lighting's Chief Strategy Officer, Brett Sharenow says the company's 100 watt-equivalent A19 bulb produces 1700 lumens in neutral white, which is the same white color as halogen track lighting. Switch Lightbulbs will be available later this year and the company says it will also offer a warm white version of the 100W equivalent bulb in mid- to late-2012.

While no concrete pricing has been announced, Switch Lighting says its LED bulbs will cost much less than existing LED bulbs. A figure of US$20 to $25 for the company's 15.5 watt, 75 watt equivalent bulb is being bandied about, which would see the bulb paying for itself in about a year and is much lower than other LED replacement bulbs currently available.

UPDATE: Switch's 100W e LED bulb consumes 16W with an efficacy of 100 Lumens/Watt. Switch says it has an average lifetime of 20,000 hours and is dimmable from 20 to 100 percent.

LG's Optimus Black Android smartphone

2011-05-18T08:11:00.002+08:00

LG's Optimus Black Android smartphone

LG has announced a European debut for its Optimus Black smartphone featuring a 700-nit NOVA display and useful energy-saving screen optimization

Following previews at CES 2011 and the Mobile World Congress, and boasting pre-orders from 56 network carriers in 50 different countries, LG is set to debut its Optimus Black smartphone in Europe. Slimmer (just) than an iPhone 4, the Optimus Black features a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen 1GHz processor, front and rear facing cameras and runs on Android 2.2.

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LG says its world first "NOVA" 700-nit IPS LCD delivers better outdoor visibility, more natural colors and true blacks and whites. By comparison, the iPhone 4 is 500 nits and the Samsung Galaxy S – with its AMOLED screen – is 300 nits. but the 800 x 480 resolution of the Optimus Black is trumped by the iPhone 4's 960 x 640 display. There's also a built-in environment sensor which automatically adjusts power consumption when indoors.

At 4.8 x 2.51 x 0.23 - 0.36-inch (122 x 64 x 6 - 9.2mm), it's just a tad slimmer than the iPhone 4 but around 20 percent lighter at 3.84 ounces (109 g). The Optimus Black is powered by a 1GHz OMAP 3630 processor from Texas Instruments, has 2GB onboard memory with expansion via microSD and runs on Android 2.2 – with an upgrade to Gingerbread (v2.3) in the works. Gesture control allows users to take calls, activate the camera or start music playing by lifting, shaking or tapping the phone.

The smartphone has built-in 802.11b/g/n connectivity and Wi-Fi Direct technology, which allows wireless file transfer direct to compatible devices. The 2 megapixel camera at the front is joined by a 5 megapixel autofocus snapper at the rear and back covers will be available sporting artwork by Keith Harring.

LG says that after its initial launch in Europe later this month, the Optimus Black will head stateside, and that white and pink versions are to be introduced in June.

4-inch NOVA Display (700 nits1 brightness)
Dimensions:122 x 64 x 9.2mm
Weight: 109g
1GHz processor (Texas Instruments OMAP3)
Wi-Fi Direct™
5MP Rear Camera / 2MP Front Facing Camera
Gesture UI powered by Gyro-sensor
2GB Internal Memory and Micro SD up to 32GB
1,500 mAh Battery

Thin-film flexible 'Paperphone' created

2011-05-15T15:57:00.001+08:00

Researchers have created a thin film flexible smartphone, known as the Paperphone (Photos: Queen's University)

Researchers from the Human Media Lab at Canada's Queen's University have created a fully-functioning floppy E-Ink smartphone, which they also refer to as a paper computer. Like its thicker, rigid-bodied counterparts, the Paperphone can do things like making and receiving calls, storing e-books, and playing music. Unlike them, however, it conforms to the shape of its user's pocket or purse, and can even be operated through bending actions.

"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said its creator, Roel Vertegaal, who is also the director of the Human Media Lab. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."

The device has a 9.5-cm (3.74-inch) thin film flexible E-Ink display, underneath which is a flexible printed circuit incorporating resistive bend sensors. Those sensors allow it to be programmed to recognize different types of bending gestures, which will subsequently result in it doing things such as navigating menus, making calls, selecting songs, or any other function. A built-in Wacom tablet also allows users to draw on its screen – making it even more paper-like.

When not actually being operated, the Paperphone consumes no electricity. Vertegaal's team have also created a similar device, the Snaplet, which can be worn like a wristband. It operates as a watch when in a convex state, becomes a PDA when flat, and can be used as a phone when turned concave.

The technology is the result of a collaboration between Queen's University andArizona State University, and will be officially presented on May 10th at the CHI 2011conference in Vancouver.

"This is the future," said Vertegaal. "Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years."

By Ben Coxworth

xmen first class movie character

2011-05-15T07:54:00.004+08:00

XMAN FIRST CLASS CHARACTERS

What to Expect...Waiting for this in Imax theater..

Havok

Mystique

The Beast

OFFICIAL TRAILER - INTERNATIONAL RELEASE

Banshee

Some helpfull tips to Office Workers

2011-05-15T07:12:00.003+08:00

I have found this one from francis Kong writings, I found it little interesting simply because of its lessson and the memories come back to life,i am not working presently in a company anymore. I have my own little entrepreneural things i am busy with right now. I miss those day getting up early, rushing up early drive like a race car driver just to make it on time..And the feeling of yeeeeeeeeees!!if i make it on time, not late maybe 30 secondsbefore the bell rings..I dont blame the traffic my house simple too far from my work then...Hope you will find reading this interesting to!!

DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE COURAGE

By Francis Kong

Have you ever met people who are almost always late for work every day? Well this was what happened.

As the pretty office assistant, entered her office half an hour late her boss stood there with a mean look on his face said, “Miss Gomez, you should have been here half an hour ago!”

And Ms. Gomez gave a surprised look and said, “Why? What happened?”

One wag says: "My boss refuses to accept 'the early bird catches the worm' as a valid excuse for leaving work everyday at 2:00 pm

Another one says: "The trouble with being punctual is that nobody is there to appreciate it."

Are you always on the rush?

I am. I rush from one speaking engagement to another.

I rush from one meeting to another and the terrible traffic in Manila really deprives people the opportunity of living a quality life.

I must have heard at least 2 speakers joking about this. They say that the 2 most popular nationalities in the work place are Russians and Argentinean. And there I was sitting down trying to figure out what he was talking about until he explained and said, “You always hear people say: “Rush yan!” or “Urgent yan.” And I kind laughed and agreed that it is indeed the case.

But famous author and popular motivational speaker Zig Ziglar offers us wise advice. In an article entitled “Difference Makers Have Courage,” Ziglar says:

Workers are basically honest and they are almost always at work on time. However, for most workers, the last one hundred yards to get to work are pretty hectic. There is the mad dash into the parking lot, the rush to the building, the clocking in, the sprint to the coffee pot, and the unloading of bags, briefcases and outer garments. The work day frequently starts five to ten minutes after the paycheck starts. Maybe in our country it starts a whole lot later. But Ziglar says: Typically, workers who are supposed to work until five o'clock usually do exactly that. However, about ten minutes before five they begin to clear off their desks, pack their bags and slip on their garments or shoes as in the case of the ladies. If video cameras were in place, we would be able to see these people in the three-point sprinter's stance, ready to make a mad exit when the clock strikes five. We would see them hustle to the car, jump in and screech out of the parking lot, complaining about the dangers of the freeways. This approach creates unnecessary stress, reduces productivity, and shortens our life span.

Solution: Get to work ten minutes early and get that cup of coffee. Go to your post and casually prepare your work station. By starting time you can be in full production. At the end of the day, work until five o'clock. Then pack up and head for home. It will be quieter and safer and you will feel more relaxed.

The benefits to this approach are many.

First, you'll feel better about yourself because you'll know you've put in a full day's work.

Second, you'll be more relaxed and able to accomplish a great deal more.

Third, you will impress your employers.

End of article.

But please allow me to add some comments to this.

That 10 minute difference means a lot of difference but what about trying to wake up a whole lot earlier by hitting the bed earlier the night before.

Turn off the TV, prepare your clothes and your things for the next day, read a book or listen to quiet music and then turn the lights off earlier than usual. This way you wake up earlier and can get to your work place not only on time but just a bit earlier too. Reduces stress and makes you a lot more productive than ever.

Traffic and work pressure is no longer a problem. Because had they been problems then there would have been a solution. They are now facts of life so learn to live with it.

I do. And then of course never forget to make time for prayer and meditation…it’s the only way for us to keep our center and sanity as well.

Royal weeding Look Alike

2011-04-30T05:44:00.001+08:00

Royal Wedding brought forward? No, it's a William & Kate lookalike competition

Onlookers would be forgiven for thinking the Royal Wedding was being held two days early.

But the regal bride and groom posing for pictures were in fact taking part in a William & Kate lookalike contest.

Orsola Rossi and Simon Watkinson UK were flown to London for the competition final, organised by EasyJet.

And the winners are: Orsola Rossi from Italy and Simon Watkinson from the UK win the William & Kate look-a-likes competition

Hot competition: Ten couples took part to win one year's worth of flights with EasyJet

The pair - dead ringers for the future King and Queen - were the obvious winners and went home with one year's worth of flights with the budget airline.

Besides being a mirror image of the Royal love birds, they had to impress judges by waving like a Royal, acting out a romantic wedding proposal and throwing the bridal bouquet.

Simon Watkinson said: 'I’ve often been told that I look like Prince William, particularly since the Royal engagement was announced, but I can’t believe that I’ve been crowned the winner.

On bended knee: Couples were judged on romantic proposal...

Flower power:...and bouquet throwing skills

'I’m so excited to have won a year’s worth of free easyJet flights and to be in London for the big day.'

His partner was equally pleased.

Orsola Rossi, 30, from Milan, said: 'To be voted the best double to one of the most famous women in the world is very exciting.

This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity and there isn’t a better place to be to enjoy the celebrations.'

Standing tall: Hundreds of people from Europe entered the contest but only ten finalists were chosen

Royal wave: The panel judged William look-alikes on their waving abilities

The duo were among ten couples, from all over Europe, to take part.

The contestants were judged on resemblance, curtseying, throwing of bouquets, and proposal speeches.

The contest is just a small part of the Royal Wedding fever gripping the nation ahead of Friday's nuptials.

Swept off her feet: Orsola and Simon, from Italy, will stay in London to watch the real Royal Wedding celebrations

Simon and Orsola will stay in London to watch the real Royal wedding celebrations and take in the sights of the city with a friend courtesy of the low-cost airline.

Paul Moore, Communications Director at easyJet said: 'The competition has been fierce with hundreds applying to be crowned the best Will and Kate look-a-likes Europe has to offer.

'However, Simon and Orsola stood out as they bear such a striking resemblance to our future King & Queen.

'It has been great fun to fly look-a-likes from all over Europe to London to enjoy the wedding celebrations and crown our very own easyJet Royal couple.'

Helping hand: A bride forgoes her competitive streak to help another to pin her veil back

Sony announces two Android 3.0 tablets

2011-04-26T22:27:00.002+08:00

Sony announces two Android 3.0 tablets

Sony Tablet: the S1 and S2 devices will hit the market later this year

Sony has announced its intention to crash into the tablet PC market with two devices set for release later this year. Codenamed S1 and S2, both models will support WiFi and WAN (3G/4G) connections and run on the tablet-oriented Android 3.0 OS.

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There's little in the way of specifications available at this stage, but Sony is clearly looking to stand-out from the crowd in terms of form-factor. The S1 features a 9.4-inch display and looks pretty much like a "traditional" tablet aside from its wedge-shaped "off-center of gravity" design aimed at improving stability, grip and comfort.

S2 gets a little more radical with its portable, horizontally hinged design and dual 5.5-inch displays which can be used separately (using the bottom screen as a soft keyboard for example) or combined as a single large screen for viewing video or web content.

The tablets will be of course be linked with the company's gaming, ebook and Qriocity music and video service. The S1 will also pack infrared technology so it can be used as a universal remote control for Sony AV devices and DLNA functionality will allow content on the tablet to be shown on big screen TVs or played through wireless speakers.

Sony's new tablets will become available in autumn 2011 and – although it's out of the starting gates a year after Apple's iPad and now faces stiff competition from big players like Samsung, Motorola, HP and RIM as well – Sony wants to catch up fast, having previously stated its intention to hit the number two position in the market by 2012.

That's a big challenge ... and it's a big market. In 2012, IDC forecasts worldwide tablet shipments of 70.8 million units. In Q3 2010 Apple shipped 4.2 million units – an almost 90% share worldwide. What in-roads the newcomers can make in this fast changing landscape remains to be seen.

Buy satellite and provide free Internet

2011-04-15T09:36:00.003+08:00

ahumanright.org plans to buy satellite and provide free Internet access for entire world

ahumanright.org is a charity group that plans to buy a used satellite, and use it as the first step in a network that would provide free Internet access to everyone in the world

For those of us who live in the developed world, internet access has become pretty much a given. It’s become so ubiquitous that we almost expect to have it at all times and in all places, but even in this “Information Age,” the majority of the world’s population lacks access to the internet – either because service isn’t available where they are, or they can’t afford it. Kosta Grammatis has a plan, however. Through his charity group ahumanright.org, Grammatis aims to set up a network of satellites that will provide free internet access to everyone in the world. He’s starting by attempting to buy a single used satellite that’s already in orbit and moving it to a location above a developing country.

The spacecraft in question is the Terrestar-1 communications satellite. Given that the company that owns it, Terrestar, has recently filed for bankruptcy, it may soon be up for sale. Grammatis’s plan is to raise US$150,000, so that his group can put together a business plan for funders, process the legal and business aspects of submitting a bid, and hire engineers to figure out how to move and repurpose the satellite. At the time of this publishing, he has raised a total of $37,687.For those of us who live in the developed world, internet access has become pretty much a given. It’s become so ubiquitous that we almost expect to have it at all times and in all places, but even in this “Information Age,” the majority of the world’s population lacks access to the internet – either because service isn’t available where they are, or they can’t afford it. Kosta Grammatis has a plan, however. Through his charity group ahumanright.org, Grammatis aims to set up a network of satellites that will provide free internet access to everyone in the world. He’s starting by attempting to buy a single used satellite that’s already in orbit and moving it to a location above a developing country.

Once it has the money, ahumanright.org will make a bid on Terrestar-1, begin developing a low-cost modem, acquire an orbital parking spot and radio wave spectrum, and draw up plans with partner governments. The final phase of the project would involve actually moving the satellite into position over a partner country or countries, distributing the modems, and beginning service.

Grammatis told Gizmag that the idea first came to him at Palomar 5, a think tank for 30 people under the age of 30 that took place in Berlin. There, he heard the story of Malawi’s William Kamkwamba.

“Re-inventing the wheel isn't something we would wish upon anyone, but William Kamkwamba's story provides an example of the information disparity slowing down progress for the brightest minds,” said Grammatis. “William couldn't afford the US$80 per year it cost to attend school so he spent his time at the library instead ... over the span of four years he re-invented the windmill to provide himself with electricity. He shared his first Google experience with journalists: ‘He said, Do you know Google? and I said, What animal is a Google? And when I Googled windmill I found there was millions of applications! I said, Where was this Google all this time?!’”

While some people might worry that free web access for all would put internet providers out of business, Grammatis doesn’t think it would be a problem. “All over the world free television and radio is beamed to millions of people,” he said. “It's free, and that service has never threatened cable or satellite TV, in fact, people are happy to pay a premium for a premium service. We have the same vision – basic internet access would be free. It wouldn't be great, but it would do the job.”

While there is currently no price tag attached to Terrestar-1, ahumanright’s Buy This Satellite fundraising website points out that a used Iridium communications satellite was sold in 2000 for $23 million – a steal, considering it reportedly cost $5 billion to build new. Still, the whole venture sounds quite daunting, and it likely wouldn’t be possible without the help of highly-motivated volunteer “ambassadors” who are promoting the charity around the world.

“We're not going to do this alone, and the response has been outstanding,” said Grammatis. “If we all sat around and waited for someone to solve our problems, we'd be waiting a long time.”

What a fantastic idea! Good luck.

ASUS Eee Pad

2011-04-14T23:14:00.001+08:00

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer gets US price and release date

The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and the optional docking station that turns the tablet into a netbook

While Taiwan and the U.K. have already seen the release of the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, the U.S. release has been delayed until the end of April, with supply shortages due to higher than expected demand apparently to blame. With a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 IPS LED back-lit, capacitive multi-touch display, micro SD card slot, front- and rear-facing cameras, USB and HDMI ports, 1GB of RAM and powered by a 1Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, the Eee Pad Transformer, which runsAndroid 3.0 (Honeycomb), is seen by many as the first serious Android challenger to the iPad's dominance.

But aside from the specs, it's the US$399.99 price tag of the 16GB Wi-Fi model Transformer that undercuts the price of the new 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 by $100 that could also help sway consumers away from Apple's device. Throw an optional portable docking station into the mix that provides a full QWERTY chiclet keyboard, an extra two USB ports, a touchpad, 3.5 mm audio jack, an SD card reader and ups the tablet's eight hour battery life to 16 hours, and its easy to see why the Eee Pad Transformer is generating some excitement in Android circles.

The 16GB Wi-Fi ASUS Eee Pad Transformer will be available in the U.S. through Best Buy and other retailers at the end of April for US$399.99. There's no word on the price of the optional dock that turns the tablet into a netbook or a release date for the 32GB model as yet.

Earth's last frontier Exploration

2011-04-12T23:37:00.000+08:00

Virgin Oceanic's ambitious plans to explore Earth's last frontier

Seventy percent of Mother Earth's surface is covered in water, yet we know more about the moon than we do about our deepest oceans. In yet another ground-breaking initiative under Virgin's multi-faceted "Branded Venture Capitalism", Richard Branson intends to change all that with the Virgin Oceanic Five Dives project.

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The project is a series of ocean expeditions to the bottom of the five deepest trenches in the world, beginning with an attempt on the world record 35,911 foot dive to the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench – the deepest point on earth.

The dives will be performed using the Hawkes experimental prototype DeepFlightChallenger submersible – a submarine more akin to an aircraft in the way it maneuvers than a traditional submarine because it glides on wings and used positive bouyancy. Constructed of extremely strong lightweight materials such as titanium and carbon fiber and quartz, the DeepFlight Challenger submarine will need to resist 1,000 atmospheres as it plumbs the lowest points on earth.

Each of the five dives will be the world's first solo dive to the bottom of the five oceans:

Mariana Trench Pacific Ocean 11,033m 36,201ft
Puerto Rico Trench Atlantic Ocean 8,605m 28,232ft
Diamantina Trench Indian Ocean 8,047m 26,401ft
South Sandwich Trench Southern Ocean 7,235m 23,737ft
Molloy Deep Arctic Ocean 5,608m 18,399ft

Now as we all know, Branson doesn't do anything just for fun. In addition to his brand's five main brand values - quality, value-for-money, innovation, competitive challenge and fun - there's a sixth factor involved in all of the 250 companies which have been spawned from the core brand: profitability.

Hence, one of Branson's many partners in the project will be BBC Earth and the Five Dives expedition will be used to create new and totally unique, ultra-high resolution 3D IMAX+ quality content for film and television - apart from selling this content, it will be (no doubt tastefully) impregnated with the Virgin brand, further creating recognition of the name to school children and nature enthusiasts across the globe.

In addition to the core brand recognition factors, Branson's investment in the adventure tourism industry is a far-sighted vision of the future. His investment in Virgin Galactic has already seen hundreds of wealthy adventurers put USD$200,000 on the table to secure a trip into space, and his vision is even beyond that - he makes no secret of the intention eventually leverage that business into ultra-fast sub-orbital travel. The Virgin Oceanic venture is the perfect partner for the Galactic business as "a voyage to the bottom of the sea" has been on every well-heeled, red-blooded adventurer's bucket list for as long as a trip to space.

Finally, the high tech submarine to be used (as opposed to the submersibles which hold the current record and are lowered by cable and hence non-steerable), which can dive almost twice as deep as any current submarine, will be developed by Hawkes Ocean Technologies. The experimental prototype DeepFlight Challenger submersible is just one of three deep sea projects in which Hawkes will be involved in the next two years, the others using two Deepflight Super Falcon craft; a Hawkes-led project in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan and a multi-year ocean expedition, led by venture capitalist, Tom Perkins.

One of the world's most charismatic businessmen, Sir Richard Branson discusses the reasons for the venture on his blog, and explains how the project fits into the larger Virgin picture in this vide o.

Microwaves utilized to convert used motor oil into fuel

2011-03-30T23:40:00.002+08:00

Scientists from the University of Cambridge have developed a system that uses microwaves to convert waste oil into vehicle fuel

It has been estimated that over 8 billion US gallons (30.3 billion liters) of used motor oil are produced every year by the world's cars and trucks. While some of that is re-refined into new oil or burned in furnaces for heat, neither of those processes are entirely environmentally-innocuous. In other cases, it is simply discarded. Today, however, researchers from the University of Cambridge announced the development of a process that uses microwaves to convert waste oil into vehicle fuel.

Scientists have already been using a process known as pyrolysis for recycling oil. It involves heating the oil to a high temperature in the absence of oxygen, and causes the oil to break down into a mixture of gases, liquids, and solids. While the gases and liquids can be converted to fuel, the Cambridge scientists state that traditional pyrolysis doesn't heat the oil very evenly, making the fuel conversion process difficult and impractical.

What they did, however, was to add a microwave-absorbent material to samples of waste oil, before subjecting it to pyrolysis by heating it with microwaves. The addition of the material caused the oil to heat more evenly, allowing almost 90 percent of it to easily be converted into a mixture of conventional gasoline and diesel.

Study leader Howard Chase, a professor of Biochemical Engineering, believes that their unique brand of pyrolysis shows great potential for being scaled up to the commercial level.

The research was presented today in Anaheim, California, at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Incredible Gadgets You Would Kill For

2011-03-07T23:03:00.002+08:00

Gadgets are more unusual and more clever than normal technological objects and that makes them gain popularity. These wonderful gizmos ease our daily routine and keep us in contact with the innovative movement, making sure we don’t get stuck in the past. But of course, in the world of gadgets there are also some devices that take it a little bit far, making us gaze at them with hope that we will get our hands on them sooner.

Window phone concept

Is it a window, is it a phone? No. Actually, it’s Window phone and this is the part where you are saying “Whaaat? What are you talking about?”. The phone is actually a concept with extraordinary features. Surely if this could be actually put into production, it would set a new standard for the term “cool”.

AFGT Gaming Device

This gadget seems to be the holy grail of the gaming world. Its interesting feature is the tactile feedback that is used to enhance the gaming experience. This very interesting gadget is made out of touch sensitive silicon, to be more specific, silicon air pockets, each with a pressure generator.

Sound Mug Speaker

This particular device could look a little bit strange at a first impression but actually it’s a damn cool thing. The crazy looking speaker can fit in your car’s cupholder and don’t worry about batteries, the gadget is powered by car’s accessory socket.

Vestalife BumbleBee Earbuds

If you’re a guy, it’s unlikely that you will be interested in these little pink earbuds but as a girl, you’ll find them pretty glamy.

Babelfisk

In case you’re getting lazy in classes these wonderful glasses will give you some help. They have two microphones that can be directed to where someone is speaking and you have text and audio recorded into a flash drive.

QWERTY Keyboard For iPhone

Surely, this sounds like a dream come true. The Iphone is everywhere and probably a lot of you have it encountered the typing problem. With this tiny little qwerty keyboard you can type fast and accurately.

Sliding Pooltable

Bio Robot Refrigerator

The Bio Robot fridge cools biopolymer gel through luminescence. It might look stinky and sticky but it’s actually an odorless gel that envelopes the food.

eRoll

eRoll could be the future of e-reading, along with iPad and another gadget that will be presented in this article. If you don’t want it to read ebooks on it, you can use it as a self defense weapon.

Folding-out Laptop

The Transformers wallpaper on this laptop says it all. This laptop transforms into a mega-laptop as soon as you unfold its keyboard.

Wind circle

This will surely start a lot of discussions with your house guests but besides that it will also cool the air in the room. Yeah, it does that too…

Bracelet phone

Concept phones are becoming very popular these days. The stranger their shape is, the more popular they get. Probably that’s why this bracelet phone got so many fans or because it has a round dialer on it, like in old land phones.

World`s Most Expensive Foods

2011-02-28T23:47:00.000+08:00

Rich people like to eat exotic foods. Here are some of the most expensive foods that one can ever eat. Most of us can only read this post and that's about it.

10. Matsutake Mushrooms – $1000/pound

9. The World’s Most Expensive Bagel – $1000

8. The Zillion Dollar Frittata – $1000

7. Wagyu Steak – $2800

6. Samundari Khazana, the World’s Most Expensive Curry – $3200

5. Domenico Crolla’s "Pizza Royale 007″ – $4200

4. Dansuke Watermelon – $6,100

3. Yubari Melons – $22,872

2. Almas Caviar – $25,000

1. Italian White Alba Truffle – $160,406

The US$930,000 Rebellion REB-5 Black Diamond

2011-02-22T22:32:00.003+08:00

The US$930,000 Rebellion REB-5 Black Diamond – the intersection of jewelery and horology

Given that everybody carries a mobile phone, which also keeps time, you'd think maybe the wristwatch might have run its race as a relevant accessory in the 21st century. Not so! Roughly one person in five on planet earth still buys a watch each year and Swiss watches, which account for only 2% of volume but more than half the value of the worldwide watch market, will have a record year in 2011.

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The watch industry's origins in 16th Century Switzerland when John Calvin's Reformation banned jewelery. This meant that the wristwatch, at that time a state-of-the-art technological masterpiece, became the only decorative object a male was permitted to wear. Swiss goldsmiths and jewelers of the time turned their hand to horological science and they have been creating exquisite objects of ever-increasing complexity ever since.

Heading on for 500 years later, the watch still only masquerades as a timepiece, for it remains the primary form of male adornment, and like so many social protocols that have endured long past their raison d'etre, shows no sign of changing any time soon. Given the competitive nature of testosterone, watches have also come to display power and wealth among the elite.

Take these two watches from Rebellion for example. The watch on the right is a Rebellion REB-5, which sells for 189,000 swiss francs (US$196,000) and it's hard not to take someone seriously if they're wearing one. The one on the left is unique. It's the Rebellion Black Diamond REB-5 and the person who buys it will have parted with 890,000 Swiss francs (US$928,500). It is the point at which jewelery and horology meet.

The watch is special mainly because it is one of the finest examples yet produced of a scientifically excellent horology melded with the jewelers craft.

We've included some fine detail close-ups of the face of the Black Diamond to highlight just how special the watch is. It's workings may be identical to the limited edition (12 only) REB-5 at right, but the entire case had to be rebuilt to allow for the setting of the gems.

The mounting technique employed in the design was developed by Van Cleef & Arpels for setting precious stones without any of the claws showing. Without any metal to obscure any part of the 307 diamonds on the case (24.05ct) and 12 diamonds in the crown (1.02ct), the jewels appear free, and not surprisingly, this brings them to life.

This "invisible" setting was not without its cost. In order to apply this exacting jeweller's technique, the stones had to be cut with extreme precision and set using minimum tolerances. The setters worked under microscopes, much like micro-surgeons. Each stone was selected based on its Top Wesselton quality and its IF to VVS clarity, then individually shaped according to its position.

Rebellion collaborated with setting workshop Bunter SA so the very best craftsmen and specialists worked on the watch. All told, the programming of the machines and tools, cutting of the diamonds, visual inspection of each part, setting, assembly and adjustment consumed just under 1,000 man hours.

While the diamonds and craftsmanship have added three quarters of a million dollars to the "base" REB-5, it is the mechanicals of the watch which will provide the most fascination.

The tourbillon was invented around 1795, by Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold and improves the accuracy of a watch by countering the effects of gravity on the oscillator. It does this by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage in order to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece and hence, the escapement, is rotated.

The REB-5 goes one step further than the "standard" tourbillon – it should be noted that the tourbillion is in itself, a display of watchmaking virtuosity – by using twin mainspring winding barrels so that the rotating of the cage every sixty seconds, does not diminish the power reserves of the watch unduly. Whereas most tourbillion watches relatively short power reserve, the REB-5 has seven days of power! The movement was developed specifically for Rebellion by renowned Swiss master watchmaker, Laurent Besse.

The REB-5 dispenses with a traditional dial, using the open movement to offer full visual access to the intricate working of the usually hidden micro-mechanics.    Turn the over-size crown and you can see the twin mainspring barrels winding, while a window on the side of the case ensures that the pulsing heart of the watch, the animated tourbillon and oscillator, can be fully appreciated.  

Turning the watch over reveals an equally open back with the tourbillon, the two mainspring barrels, the wheel train and the winding and time-setting mechanisms all visible. 

The detail is remarkable. The screw heads use the brand's helice logo, the mainspring barrels are engineered to resemble the brake disks and wheels of a sports car and the hands are open-cut so as as not to obscure any feature from sight.

For a company little more than three years old, Rebellion has certainly carved a name for itself at the extreme high end of watchmaking remarkably quickly. The REB-5 is already a classic, a testimony to the design talent of Eric Giroud. Unlike some Swiss watchmakers which now have their tourbillons manufactured in China, Rebellion does all its design and manufacture in Switzerland.

Only 12 REB-5 watches are produced each year and can be had in Red gold, titanium or black DLC titanium black alligator leather straps with double folding buckle.

There have been two diamond models of the REB-5 produced – a full (white) diamond and the black diamond, identical except for the color of the white gold 18 K cases.

In summary, I'm not sure what I found most astonishing in researching this article. The REB-5 is an extraordinary piece without the diamonds, yet with the craftsmanship involved in setting over 300 rare gems with what is essentially a press fit, it represents an astonishing feat.

The cost of a wristwatch approaching a million dollars is probably what will get the most attention. A number of people I mentioned it to commented that it was obscene that a watch could cost that much. One pointed out that you can purchase one of every model in the Porsche range and still have a half million dollars change, while another commented that you can buy entire islands for less. Still, at the extreme elite end of the jewelery and watch markets, a million dollar wristwatch is not without its precedents.

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing for me at the end of the day, is that the religious reformation might still be having such a dramatic effect on the current day dress protocols for men.

"Pag-asa ng mga nakakalbo"

2011-02-19T00:18:00.002+08:00

Researchers stumble on potential new treatment for hair loss

The mice before and after injections with astressin-B

It’s long been recognized that stress plays a role in hair loss and, although there have been numerous hair-restoration remedies emerge over the years, even legitimate medications such as minoxidil have only shown limited effectiveness. The UCLA-led team says their findings show that the chemical compound they have uncovered could provide long-term hair regrowth from a short-duration treatment.While conducting research into brain-gut interactions, a team led by researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Administration may have inadvertently stumbled across a new treatment for hair loss. During an investigation into the affect of stress on gastrointestinal function, the researchers believe they may have found a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking a stress-related hormone associated with hair loss.
Instead of looking for mice burdened with debt or in the process of moving house, for their research the researchers had been using mice that were genetically altered to overproduce a stress hormone called corticotrophin-releasing factor, or CRF. As these mice age, they lose hair and eventually become bald on their backs, making them visually distinct from their unaltered counterparts.
The UCLA and VA researchers then injected a peptide called astressin-B, which has the ability to block the action of CRF, into the bald mice to observe how its CRF-blocking ability affected gastrointestinal tract function. When the initial single injection had no effect the investigators continued the injections over five days to give the peptide a better chance of blocking the CRF receptors. They measured the effects of this regimen on the stress-induced response in the colons of the mice and placed the mice back in the cages with their hairy counterparts.
Three months later the researchers returned to the mice to conduct further gastrointestinal studies and found they couldn’t distinguish them from their unaltered brethren as their previously bald backs were now covered in hair.
"When we analyzed the identification number of the mice that had grown hair we found that, indeed, the astressin-B peptide was responsible for the remarkable hair growth in the bald mice," said Million Mulugeta, an adjunct professor of medicine in the division of digestive diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a corresponding author of the research. "Subsequent studies confirmed this unequivocally,” he added.
Particularly noteworthy was the fact that just one injection a day for five consecutive days was enough to maintain the effects for up to four months.
"This is a comparatively long time, considering that mice's life span is less than two years," Mulugeta said.
Whether the same effect happens in humans remains to be seen, but the researchers say the fact that the bald mice also showed mild hair growth when treated with minoxidil alone, as is the case in humans, suggests that astressin-B could also produce hair regrowth in humans. In fact, it is known that the stress-hormone CRF, its receptors and other peptides that modulate these receptors are found in human skin.
UCLA and the Salk Institute have applied for a patent on the use of the astressin-B peptide for hair growth.

HP unveils new webOS smartphones

2011-02-10T23:47:00.003+08:00

HP's new webOS smartphones â€“ the HP Veer and Pre 3

As a way to shoehorn its way into the smartphone market, last April HP acquired Palm along with its webOS mobile operating system. Obviously keen to see a return on its US$1.2 billion investment HP today unveiled three new mobile devices running webOS – a 9.7-inch tablet called the TouchPad and two new smartphones, the pint-sized HP Veer and the third generation Pre, called predictably enough, the HP Pre 3.

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HP Pre 3

The business-oriented Pre 3 retains a similar form factor to the original Palm Pre, which became the first device to use webOS at its launch in 2009. There’s the familiar rounded corners and vertical slide out keyboard, but HP says Pre 3’s backlit keyboard is the largest and widest on any webOS phone to date. The display has also been improved with the Pre 3 sporting a 3.58-inch multitouch screen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution. A 5-megapixel rear-facing camera provides 720p HD video recording, while a new front-facing VGA camera enables video calling.

A 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor provides the grunt for true multitasking with users able to switch between multiple open applications without closing anything. The Pre 3 is available with 8 or 16GB of memory, which can be used to store files that can be easily transferred to or from PCs or other devices via a USB mass storage mode. The device supports 802.11 b/g/n and can act as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to five devices. There’s also Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo, integrated GPS and A-GPS, proximity sensor, compass and support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta.

The HP Pre 3 measures 111 x 64 x 16 mm (4.37 x 2.52 x .63 inches) and weighs 156 g (5.5 oz). HP will offer HSPA + and EVDO Rev A world phone versions of the phone when it is released later this year.

HP Veer

With a form factor “the size of a credit card and no thicker than a deck of cards” the everyday consumer-oriented HP Veer looks like a Pre 3 that has been hit with a shrink ray. In a market dominated by slab of glass smartphones, HP is hoping to attract consumers looking for something a bit different. Measuring just 54.5 x 84.0 x 15.1 mm (2.1 x 3.3 x 0.6 inches) and weighing in at 103 g (3.6 oz) the Veer is the smallest phone to run webOS to date.

The Veer is powered by an 800MHz Snapdragon processor and sports a 2.57-inch, 320 x 400 pixel resolution multitouch screen. It sports many of the same features as the Pre 3 including the vertical slide out keyboard and 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, but there’s no front-facing camera, A-GPS or compass. Still, not bad for a phone of this size.

The HP Veer will come in Tri-band UMTS and quad-band GSM/EDGE world phone varieties when it is released in a few months.

HP is yet to announce pricing and carriers for both the Veer and the Pre 3.

Building a 15-story hotel in less than six days

2011-02-10T23:30:00.003+08:00

hotel in less than six days

Building a 15-story hotel in less than six day

China's impressive building credentials have been in the news regularly over the past few years, particularly those in evidence at the Shanghai World Expo andBeijing Olympic Games. The most recent example of the striking capability of the Chinese building industry took place in Changsha, Hunan province a few months ago. China’s Broad Group showcased their rapid building technology by constructing the 15-story Ark Hotel in less than six days. Using a team of 200 workers the structural framework was erected in just 46.5 hours and the external cladding and internal non-structural surfaces were completed in another 90 hours.

The Ark Hotel used one sixth the material of an equivalent sized building with a cost saving of 20% while still being able to withstand a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. In addition the building uses several technologies to result in energy efficiency five times that of comparable buildings. This includes triple pane windows, external solar shades, 6 inches of thermal insulation, heat recovery ventilation, and LED lighting systems. The plan is to construct 15 similar structures in China and 30 more in other countries.

To be fair, the foundations and other below-ground construction were completed prior to starting the clock and the construction system makes significant use of prefabricated components produced in a dedicated factory, so the “time cost” of these aspects of the process have been left out of the six day figure. But even taking those caveats into account the speed from ground level to 15 stories is certainly impressive as shown in the video below.

The Broad Group and its rapid building technology first came to international attention when they constructed a pavilion for Shanghai’s World Expo in one day! The following video shows that remarkable feat and also showcases some of the innovations integral to the building approach.

While it is undoubtedly the speed of construction that will bring this building technology to the attention of developers worldwide it is the environmental aspects that are, I believe, most impressive. Energy efficiency, reduction in material use and building waste minimization are all of paramount importance if we are to build a sustainable human environment into the future.

LG to unveil world’s first 3D smartphone

2011-02-01T23:24:00.000+08:00

LG to unveil world’s first 3D smartphone

LG to unveil world’s first 3D smartpho

The 3D bandwagon continues to gain momentum, if not followers, with the news LGplans to unveil the world’s first 3D smartphone at Mobile World Congress 2011 later this month in Barcelona. The LG Optimus 3D will pack a glasses-free LCD panel as well as a dual-lens camera for capturing 3D images and vides to help address the current lack of 3D content. It will also feature 3D-capable HDMI 1.4 and DLNA connectivity options for sharing 3D content.

As evidenced by Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS, mobile devices can offer glasses-free 3D as they only need to create a “sweet spot” for a single user, unlike larger display3D TVs that rely on glasses to create the 3D effect for multiple users over a wide viewing area.

It will be interesting to see what specs the Optimus 3D will be sporting. All will be revealed at a special press event on February 14 at Mobile World Congress.

Researchers develop genuine 3D camera

2010-12-10T12:11:00.000+08:00

Researchers have developed a camera system that snaps multi-gigabit images at 30 frames per second over 360 degrees and then displays them as one three dimensional panorama

Cameras that can shoot 3D images are nothing new, but they don't really capture three dimensional moments at all - they actually record images in stereoscopic format, using two 2D images to create the illusion of depth. These photos and videos certainly offer a departure from their conventional two dimensional counterparts, but if you shift your view point, the picture remains the same. Researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) hope to change all that with the development of a strange-looking camera that snaps 360 degrees of simultaneous images and then reconstructs the images in 3D.

The researchers have created two prototype models, both inspired by the multi-lens eyes of insects like the house fly. One has a lens head about the size of an orange and features over a hundred camera lenses - like the ones used in mobile phones - and the other about the size of a golf ball and sporting 15 lenses. Unlike the stereoscopic photographic or video cameras with a front facing lens setup, the prototypes are able to record images from all around them.

The lenses point out through a hemispherical frame and are positioned in such a way that each image captured overlaps slightly on its neighbors. Sophisticated algorithms built into a dedicated hardware platform then judge the actual distance between the camera and subjects in the frame and merges the many gigabits of photographic information captured at 30 frames per second into a 360 degree panorama.

"With this invention, we solved two major problems with traditional cameras," said Professor Pierre Vandergheynst. "The camera angle, which is no longer limited thanks to the camera's ability to film in 360 degrees and in real time; and the depth of field, which is no longer limiting thanks to the 3D reconstruction."

The researchers report that images are captured in real time and without distortion and that users can choose to snap a single shot from a particular lens or have them all work together to produce the 360 degree, three dimensional panorama.

The team's Professor Yusuf Leblebici said that the "work is likely to change the entire field of image acquisition, with a huge range of potential applications" including movie-making and immersive games design.

The project is a collaborative project between the EPFL's Signal Processing Laboratory - who authored the algorithms to calculate the distance between the camera and subjects and those tasked with assembling all of the images into one 360 degree panorama - and the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory - who developed the apparatus and took care of the processing needs.

In the following video LINK, Vandergheynst gives a short explanation of the technology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFsERnHu0Cc

Scientists attach barcodes to mouse embryos – human ones coming soon

2010-11-26T23:06:00.001+08:00

Spanish scientists have attached silicon barcode labels to embryos and oocytes

Fans of the film Blade Runner may remember a scene in which the maker of an artificial snake is identified by a microscopic serial number on one of its scales. Well, in a rare case of present-day technology actually surpassing that predicted in a movie, we’ve now gone one better – bar codes on embryos. Scientists from Spain’s Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), along with colleagues from the Spanish National Research Council, have successfully developed an identification system in which mouse embryos and oocytes (egg cells) are physically tagged with microscopic silicon bar code labels. They expect to try it out on human embryos and oocytes soon.

The purpose of the system is to streamline in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer procedures. If egg cells and embryos can be quickly and easily identified, then things should run much smoother, and success rates should be higher.

The labels, which had been declared biologically innocuous in an earlier study, are microinjected into the perivitelline space of mouse embryos – the perivitelline space is a region between the cell membrane and the zona pellucida, which is a cover that surrounds the embryo’s plasma membrane. The embryo exits the zona pellucida before entering the uterus, so the bar code would be shed at that point.

In the UAB lab studies, labeled embryos were shown to develop normally up until the blastocyst stage, which precedes implantation. The researchers also studied how well the labels stayed on throughout the development cycle, how easily they could be read with a standard microscope, how they could be eliminated after the shedding of the zona pellucida, and how well they could stand up to the freezing and thawing of their host embryo.

There were some problems with embryos being able to free themselves from the labels when they shed the zona pellucida. The scientists are therefore now looking at modifying the surface of the labels, so they could be mounted on the outside of the covering, instead of being injected into the perivitelline space. They are also working on an automated bar code reading system.

Permission has been given by the Government of Catalonia’s Department of Health for UAB to begin testing its system with human oocytes and embryos from several fertility clinics in Spain.

The research was recently published in the journal Human Reproduction.

Mount Everest 3G Base Station

2010-11-03T00:52:00.001+08:00

3G networking reaches the top of the world

All of the TeliaSonera/Ncell 3G base stations in the Mount Everest region run on solar or solar hybrid power

Cream brought the country blues classic Sittin' on top of the world to an international audience in the late 1960s... and now you can watch it on YouTube while you're sitting there. Through its subsidiary Ncell, the Swedish telecommunications group TeliaSonera has launched 3G services in the Mount Everest area of Nepal – which makes the company the providers of the world's highest mobile data service.

The new 3G base station is located at an altitude of 5,200 meters (around 17,000 feet) and "will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services to the people living in the Khumbu Valley, trekkers, and climbers alike," according to Lars Nyberg, President and CEO of TeliaSonera. The company has confirmed that those at the summit will be able to update their Facebook profile with a photo from the top of the world (although in such a deadly environment, you could be forgiven for having your mind on other things).

The first video call made over the network was to the highest base station on October 28, with speeds of up to 4-5Mbps being available. TeliaSonera also told Gizmag that there are now seven 3G base stations in the Everest region, all of which are either solar or solar hybrid powered. The company says that 14 cities in the area are also 3G-enabled, including Katmandu, Itahari, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj.

Although the company reports that mobile device use by locals is still relatively low, it is increasing and Ncell says that it will provide coverage for 90 per cent of the people of Nepal by the end of 2011.

Source:

Paul Riddden

Cassete Tape as case for your iPhone4

2010-10-30T00:14:00.001+08:00

iTapedeck is a retro case and stand for your iPhone 4

The ridiculously retro iTapedeck for iPhone

iPhone owners will be pleased to hear that they can now wrap their cutting edge mobile device in a ridiculously retro case from technology's past. iTapedeck, from Homeade, is a protective skin for the iPhone 4 that looks just like a cassette tape.

iTapedeck will certainly turn more than a few heads when you hold what looks like a cassette tape to your ear in public. No doubt more than a few onlookers will remark 'That's not how you're supposed to listen to music!' But the iTapedeck is definitely a conversation starter if there ever was one.

Also included with the cassette tape skin is a plastic case that you can use for extra protection. The case has another practical application – it functions as an iPhone stand.

iTapedeck is available for purchase from the Japanese mobile accessory gurus at Strapya, who have priced it at 1600 yen (US$18.80). It's available in two color combos: black and red, and blue and white.

iPhone users might also be interested in Homade's other iPhone stand, the wonderfully named iPlunge, which is little more than a plunger-type kickstand that sticks on the back of your phone. These are wonderfully wacky iPhone accessories for users who don't mind drawing a little attention.