CK - Tech n Tip

12 Coolest Conceptual Gadgets You May Have Never Seen Before

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 03:56:00 +0000

In this modern and advanced age technology to get people interested in getting into this new and innovative instruments. Some of these gadgets exists some or not. Hope so, it can be extremely high chance of getting into production anywhere in the future. Here are some really cool concept gadgets, just concepts for now but we really hope it’ll be implemented, that inspires. May be some will be upcoming gadgets soon. If we happened to missed something impressive, please let us know in comment.
iPhone5 concept (iphone5 coming on October as Reports)

The Internet is abuzz once again with rumors of the inevitable iPhone 5

Egg Computer Mouse
Elecom’s Egg computer mouse features beautiful design and comes in a variety of colors that would make even the Easter Bunny proud

Ezkey Keypad Computer Mouse (Probably Exist)

One thing that you miss when working from a laptop is a proper keypad. This computer mouse takes care of that problem

Hand Grenade Computer Mouse
Unique computer mouse mod: hand grenade, don’t pull the pin!

Giant Keyboard
Created by Maurin Donneaud, this giant keyboard rolls out onto the floor and lets you type with your feet.

Glass Keyboard
Futuristic “no-key” keyboard concept designed by Kong Fanwen.

Future Internet Search
All you need to do is point the tablet at any object and you should get search results as good as Google’s, just more interactivity.

Blue Sky I’m Watch Syncs with Your iPhone
Smart watches are the way of the future, and the design studio Blue Sky have come up with the touchscreen I’m Watch, that syncs with your smartphone via Bluetooth.

Cellphone Code
This phone uses haptic technology to provide physical feedback for making a call. To turn it on…twist a section, to dial a number…twist a bunch of sections, to make an international call…break your wrist!

Capsule Radio Clock
Not rocket science, but definetely cool to get one

Pixel Perfect Hour Glass
Title says it all. A perfect gadget anyone wants to own, I suppose?

How to Sync iTunes to Your Android Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:19:00 +0000

If you have iTunes, and you don’t have an iPhone – but an Android phone instead, syncing iTunes to your phone can be frustrating. So here are some tips to sync iTunes and make sure your cover art works well on your Android phone.

Syncing iTunes

Salling Media offers a complete solution for syncing your iTunes media to Android. On top of that it is really user friendly and super fast.

It will ask you to mount your phone as a disk drive when you launch it; so pick up your phone, swipe down the notification bar, and tap the disk drive option.

Once you mount your phone as a disk drive, Salling Media immediately detects your phone as an external storage media. Head over to the music tab, click the sync button, and you’ll find all your iTunes music in your Android; quick and easy.

If you happen to subscribe to podcasts, and you want to listen to them in your phone, Salling Media got you covered. You can sync all your podcasts

… or simply select those you want to listen. Click the sync button once you have made up your selection, and you’ll get all your podcast in your phone.

Download Salling Media

Managing Cover Art

Although iTunes music comes with cover arts, we like to pick our own images for our musics with “cover art downloader”. It’s not only free, it also has an awesome batch cover art feature that download missing cover arts for your music.

Check your cover arts, and tap any one of them which you want to change.

Tap the search button to look for alternatives cover arts online.

Tap the one that you want, and cover art downloader will replace your current cover with the one you want.

Feel free to share any other tips on syncing iTunes and managing cover arts in the comments section.

What Apple's iCloud Means For You

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:12:00 +0000

If you own any Apple device, it's likely you own multiple computing devices – one or more Apple portable gadgets such as an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod Touch, and a desktop or laptop PC.
And it's also likely you have some content on one of these portable devices – photos, music, documents, email, et al – that'd you'd like to access on all your Apple portable devices and PCs.
Apple's iCloud service, announced this morning (June 6), not only solves this one-to-one content/device relationship problem, but establishes a new way of thinking about where your content is stored and how you access it.
The idea is your content and personal data need not be trapped on whatever device it was created or purchased on. If you snap a photo on your iPhone, the photo is automatically propagated to all your computing devices. If you create a document on an iPad, it is automatically propagated to all your computing devices. If you update your Apple calendar or address book on your PC or Mac, that change is automatically propagated to the calendar or your address book on all your Apple portable devices. If you buy a song on iTunes, that song is automatically propagated on all your iPod-compatible devices.
In other words, all your content acts as your email does now – it's the same email regardless of which device you access or answer it, and it's always up to date. iCloud brings this universal email access to all your content. Whatever content you have, create or buy on one Apple device, you have access to on all your devices, even a Windows PC.
How? Like your email, all your content is stored in a remote warehouse – primarily Apple's new massive North Carolina data center facility – and you having a Wi-Fi or cell phone connection to both send your content there or to retrieve it, securely, wirelessly and automatically.
Apple's aim is to make accessing your content from "the cloud" as seamless as accessing it from the memory in your device or computer. In fact, that's the aim of a growing number of companies such as Amazon and Google. But Apple's ecosystem and reach makes its cloud concept easier to engineer and use.
Apple apps such as its iWork word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programswere used to demonstrate how documents created are automatically propagated to other devices. However, Apple is making its iCloud code to its App Store app developers, so expect to soon see a host of "iCloud-enabled" apps.

Music in the cloud
iCloud was just one of three major software upgrades Apple announced this morning. iCloud will be available along with a new operating system for your iPxxx device – iOS 5 – along with a new Macintosh operating system, Lion (officially OS x 10.7), sometime this fall.
iCloud will largely be free; the only fee is a $25/year subscription for accessing the music you've copied, or "ripped," from your own music collection into iTunes for storage in iCloud, a service called iTunes Match.
In other words, all the music you've bought on iTunes will be available on all your iPod/iTunes devices automatically (or once you tell your copy of iTunes to make it available). But Apple had to make deals with the record labels (reportedly spending around $150 million to do so) to let us store and access music we bought on CDs that we then copied into iTunes via iCloud.
With the iTunes Match subscription, Apple will scan your iTunes folder and find those tracks not purchased through iTunes and match them with tracks in Apple's 18 million-song iTunes catalog and make those available for you to access remotely as well. (How you get tracks you own, that iTunes doesn't sell, to iCloud isn't clear.)
Amazon and Google recently announced similar "cloud" music storage/access services, but didn't make deals with the record labels. This means you'd have to upload all your music to their "cloud," a process that could take hours or even days.

New iPhone without a new iPhone
iOS 5 will offer so many new (for Apple) features compared to the current iOS 4 that it will seem as if you've gotten a new iPhone.
Here are a few iOS 5 highlights, many of which already have been available on Android devices:

Camera: Instead of searching through all your apps for the Camera icon, just double-tap the Home button to activate it. Instead of the on-screen shutter release icon, you can push the "volume up" button to snap a photo. You'll be able to pinch the screen to zoom in, touch a specific part of the screen to lock the auto-exposure and auto-focus lock, then crop, rotate, automatically reduce red-eye reduction.
Notification Center: Things happen on your iPxxx when you're not looking at them – new email comes in, voicemails are recorded, app updates become available, text messages are received, etc. You'll be notified of all of this new stuff in one place –just swipe down on the home screen to see them all (like Android), then swipe across on the notification to take you to that specific app.
Reminders: Do you suffer "senior moments"? You'll now be able to set reminders for things you're afraid you'll forget. These reminders can even be location based – your reminder can be set to alert you when you reach a specific destination, for instance.
Wireless Updates: No longer will you have to plug your iPxxx into a PC to update the operating system or other software. What's unclear is whether you'll be able to wirelessly sync your personal data.
Twitter Integration: If you snap a photo on your iPhone, you can now Tweet it immediately from iPhone's camera app. There'll also be a Twitter Settings menu where you can store your user name and password, which can be accessed by whatever Twitter app you use.
Safari Reader/Tabbed Browsing: When surfing the Web, you'll be able to view articles on a single scrollable screen in a more reading-friendly environment, and save stories to read later, share it with your other devices via the cloud, or Tweet it. You'll also get "tabbed" browsing – instead of each Web page on its own screen that you have to toggle between, you'll get folder tab for each open page in a single browser window.

According to Apple, there'll be more than 200 improvements to iOS 5. But we'll have to wait a few months until it's available before we can explore them all.

[via lifegoesstrong]

New iPhone 5, iPad 3 Coming Soon?

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:08:00 +0000

Thinking of buying a new iPhone 4 or buying your first iPad?
Wait.
The latest rumors have Apple unveiling its long-rumored iPhone 5 in mid-August at the earliest, sometime in September at the latest. A month later, there may be a next-generation iPad 3.
And all will run the new Apple mobile operating system, iOS 5, which you can read more about in "What Apple's iCloud Means For You."

To 4G or not to 4G?
Here's what the Apple cognoscenti doesn't know about the iPhone 5: whether or not it will connect to super-speedy 4G data cell networks for faster Web browsing, faster app loading and operating, and faster uploads and downloads.
As you might know, there are two different types of 4G an iPhone 5 could access.
There's LTE (which stands for Long Term Evolution, which you can now forget), the true next-generation 4G technology. Verizon launched its LTE network earlier this year, and has and will have the most extensive LTE coverage for some time.
AT&T, iPhone's primary carrier, has yet to officially launch its own LTE network.
Then there's HSPA Plus (High Speed Packet Access, which you also can now forget), essentially a souped-up version of the current 3G technology used in iPhone and by T-Mobile.
AT&T recently launched its own HSPA Plus 4G network.
You can bet your kid's college fund that the iPhone will NOT be LTE, even if the AT&T LTE network was ready. As anyone with an LTE device will tell you, the LTE connectivity drains battery life like Dracula sucks blood. At most, 4G phones continually connected to an LTE network will live, maybe, four hours.
For Steve Jobs, that kind of limited battery life is unacceptable.
So will the iPhone 5 be HSPA Plus 4G? It might solve some of AT&T's constant connectivity problems in major metro areas. But thus far there's been no indication whether or not the iPhone 5 will be a 4G phone.
If iPhone 5 is 4G, its got nomenclature problems (the 4G 5?). There has been speculation that the next iPhone will be dubbed the iPhone 4S, similar to the 3GS, which also offered speedier connectivity. A 4GS 4G iPhone? Makes a helluva lot more sense.
For the sake of consistency in no way reflecting my personal prognostication, for simplicity sake I'll just keep calling it the iPhone 5.

Other iPhone 5 attributes
Here's aggregation of current iPhone 5 speculation.
Form factor: Most observers believe iPhone 5 will look pretty much like the iPhone 4. But more recent rumors say iPhone 5 will have a completely different, thinner, more iPad 2-like sloping design, with a curved screen to keep adjacent prying eyes at bay and a tougher aluminum, instead of glass, back.
If the form factor remains the same, all of your current iPhone 4 cases and accessories will fit. A new design means having to shell out more shekels on new accessories. Thinner is nice, but I'd rather save some dough. But then, could you call a new iPhone with a radically new design an iPhone 4S? Wouldn't a new design demand a new model number?
My head hurts.

A larger screen: Considering the deluge of Android phones with 4- and 4.3-inch screens, Apple has to increase iPhone 4's suddenly miniscule 3.5-inch display.
If iPhone 5's form factor (and try saying that three times fast) is similar to the iPhone 4, Apple is space constricted. Apple can stretch the display bezel-to-bezel, increasing the screen about a quarter of an inch all around. That would create an iPhone 5 screen of about 3.7 or 3.8 inches. Nice, but I think we'll all be happy if iPhone 5 has a 4-inch screen – "4" is such a nice, round number, but which requires a redesign.

More power: iPhone 5 will certainly pack a faster processor, likely the 1.2 GHz engine currently found in the iPad 2, perhaps even 1.5 GHz (iPhone 4 uses a 1 GHz processor). This means everything loads faster and works faster. You will notice its zippy-ness.

More storage: I was really disappointed iPhone 4 topped out at 32 GB. But with the price of memory continuing to plummet faster than an iPhone dropped by a skydiver, the hope is iPhone 5 will be offered in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions, finally large enough to hold all 11,000 of my iTunes tracks. Although, with iCloud and the long-rumored Apple streaming music service, you may be able to settle for the cheaper 16 GB model.

Better camera: Or, at least a higher-resolution camera, probably 8 MP, which probably means full high-definition 1080p video recording (iPhone 4 records "only" 720p video).
But the better camera news is the rumor of a dual LED flash, which means brighter shots in darker locations. There's been some speculation the iPhone 5 camera will have 3D capabilities, to which I say BFD.

Better antenna: Or, more accurately, MORE antennas to minimize call drops and to access more global networks, which means…

More carriers: T-Mobile may become an iPhone vendor; there have been reliable reports of a T-Mobile iPhone being tested. But that doesn't mean we'll see one when the iPhone 5 launches. Verizon was testing iPhone for years before finally putting it on sale.
There has been a sprinkling of speculation surrounding a Sprint iPhone, which would be great because Sprint has a roomy 4G network (albeit with the same power-sucking issues as LTE), but I say it's unlikely, at least this year. Sorry, Sprint subscribers.
And that's all I've heard about iPhone 5 being ready, I can't tell you more 'cause I told you already, and here I am waving iPhone 5 rumors good-bye. Whoa whoa.

iPad 3 rumors
I apologize in advance for the cheap trick I'm about to pull. The headline, lead and photograph accompanying this article imply a new iPad 3 is coming this fall.
Yes, there may be. But if you want an iPad 2, go ahead and indulge, no need to wait.
If Apple unveils a new iPad 3 in the fall, it will likely be a more expensive "pro" version with a thinner, higher-resolution Retina display – 2048-by-1536 pixels, twice the resolution of iPad 1 and 2. An iPad 3 presumably also would pack a more powerful engine.

For most of us, that additional resolution and processing speed, especially for the expected price premium, is unnecessary. So forget I even said anything about an iPad 3.

[via lifegoesstrong]

Another Google Easter Egg: Search "Tilt" on Smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:55:00 +0000

Can't get enough of Google's search pranks? Grab a smartphone and search for "tilt" or "askew" on Google's mobile website.

Doing so knocks the search results off kilter, as you can see in the image above. If you're without a smartphone, you can check out the gag on the mobile-formatted version of Google's desktop site.

Google already messed with us last week on April Fool's Day. Searching for "helvetica" returned all search results in comic sans. Searching for "comic sans" had the same effect. Those searches are back to normal now, but I guess Google wanted to get smartphone users in on the fun, albeit a bit late.

I've already made the mistake of staring at the image for too long. Now everything on my computer monitor looks tilted as well.

(via TheNextWeb)

How to embed Bing search results and content directly in your email

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:02:00 +0000

We live in times where we rely heavily on the search results shown by various search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. You may be, at times, required to use them to download content so that you can mail as an attachment. But you can if you wish, directly embed the results in your Hotmail.

Let’s add the Bing search results directly into your email:

Then drag down the list.You will find variety of options like images, videos, maps etc.

I am choosing Images just for the sake of simplicity.

Type “Windows 7” in the search box to get the results beneath the search box.

Click on Insert which you find after every result.

We just added the image in our email in just few seconds.

Now let’s try something for Bing Maps.

I searched Meerut, India to add my location. I chose Bing Maps as an example, because the speed and accuracy which Bing Maps provide is just fabulous.

You can add similarly clip arts, videos etc from Bing in the similar fashion.
Save time try From Bing in your mails!

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-embed-bing-search-results-directly-in-your-email#ixzz1IqFaP4MQ

Answers to 7 common Windows 7 Power issues – FAQ

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:58:00 +0000

If you have some questions pertaining to some Windows 7 power issues or problems then this FAQ will definitely be able to help you. Microsoft has compiled an excellent resource of answers to the common questions which a Windows 7 user may have while troubleshooting Power options or issues.

Q1: Why does my computer wake every day at 12:48 and then run a diagnostic tool?

A1: To determine why this occurs, use the -WAKETIMERS option to determine what is currently set. Scheduled tasks are one of the primary items that the -WAKETIMERS option will show. To use this option, run the following command:
POWERCFG -WAKETIMERS

Q2: How can I determine all the available sleep states?

A2: Use the -AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES option. To do this, run the following command:
POWERCFG –AVAILABLESLEEPSTATES

Q3: Why did the battery life on my mobile PC that has a VGA display decrease after I upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows XP?

A3: This is a common issue in which the display is using the default VGA driver. This driver is not optimized for the video card and will consume more power. To resolve this issue, update your video card driver.

Q4: Why can’t I see some power-management settings?

A4: Windows 7 cannot display power-management settings that the computer does not support.

Q5: How can I determine whether Group Policy is in effect and is forcing or recommending a particular power plan?

A5: Use the Gpresult command. This command shows what power options are applied. For more information about the Gpresult command, visit the following Microsoft TechNet website:
Gpresult (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733160(WS.10).aspx)
The power plan can also be configured by using policy preference. Additionally, tracing can be enabled to troubleshoot preference issues that are related to power options.

Q6: How can I set a power plan in place without a restart?

A6: Use the POWERCFG -SETACTIVE {GUID} command.

Q7: My computer is running slow on the “Power saver” power plan, and the battery is draining faster than I expect. What can I do? Can I diagnose what is occurring?

A7: To diagnose the problem, create a power report. To do this, follow these steps:
Click Start.

In the Search programs and files box, Type cmd.
Right-click CMD, and then click Run as administrator.
At the command prompt, type powercfg -Energy -output c:\temp\energy.html, and then press ENTER.
In the Temp folder, open the Energy-report.html file. This report uses a 60-second run. However, the report time is configurable.

For details, visit Microsoft.

How to wake up your PC from Stand-by mode or Hibernation

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:54:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to wake up your system from a Stand-by mode or Hibernation programmatically? The answer is yes, it’s possible. Wake-Up is a utility which will do it for you.

Once activated it resides in the system and wakes it up at predefined time, runs a file and if necessary sends it into Stand-by mode, hibernates it or shuts it down. It can also be used to run scheduled operations every day, or on specific day(s).

The features of this program are:
* Can restore almost every Windows-based operating system from a Stand-by mode that support ACPI
* Can run a file or open a web page at a predetermined time after a wake-up event
* Can send system back to Stand-by mode (hibernate it, shut it down, or log off user) after a certain time interval;
* Can detect if Stand-by mode (or hibernation) is supported by your system;
* Can turn the monitor on and hold off screen-saver during the waiting time;
* Can repair local area network and high-speed Internet connection upon waking up from a suspended state;
* Can send system into Stand-by mode or hibernate it with more options than available through Operating System;
* Can be incorporated into an in-car (entertainment) PC system to speed up booting time & save battery
* Can be run from the Windows Command Line without user interaction;
* Can be saved as a batch file for later use.
Read Manual for details |Download Page.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-wake-up-your-pc-from-stand-by-mode-or-hibernation#ixzz1IqE8jbK0

How to turn off logon password protection in Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:52:00 +0000

When you start Windows 7, by default, you are required to present your logon password credentials in order to proceed.

However if you are the only user and if you do not wish to password protect your PC, you can turn it off and enable automatic LogOn to Windows 7.
To do so, type control userpasswords2 in Start search and hit enter.

This will open the User Accounts settings window.

Under the Users tab, un-check Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.

Clip Apply > OK. Reboot.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-turn-off-login-password-protection-in-windows-7#ixzz1IqDiS3Po

How to create a custom Email ID for your domain in Hotmail

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:48:00 +0000

Hotmail is one of the most popular and most widely used email service in the world right now. If you own a domain name and want to create a custom email ID associated with your domain name, you can easily do that using the Windows Live Admin Center. You will be able to use this email ID as Windows Live IDs and can use them with Windows Live Messenger, etc, just as you do with a normal @hotmail ID.

The first thing that you have to do before starting is to register a domain name (if you don’t already have one). After you have purchased a domain name, you can start the procedure.

To set up you custom email ID, first go to domains.live.com. Click Get Started.

In the next page enter your domain name. As we want to setup an email account, select Setup Windows Live Hotmail for my domain. If you select the other option, you will be able to use you email ID with Windows Live Messenger but an email inbox will not be setup.

Next you will have to assign a Domain administrator. A domain administrator, as the name suggests is the one who will be managing the Admin Center account and can add or remove user accounts.

Now confirm the details that you have entered and accept the terms and conditions.

The next step is to prove the ownership of the domain and setup necessary MX records on your domain registrar/webhost for the Hotmail to work with your domain name. You will be provided with the details to enter as shown below.

Usually these settings can be found under DNS Management option in your host/registrar’s control panel. If you aren’t sure how to add MX record via your host’s control panel, check their documentation or contact support. Here’s an example on how the DNS editor will look like.

Once you have finished adding the MX records, return to the above shown page and click refresh. Windows Live Admin Center will detect the MX changes and you can now start using your custom email ID from Hotmail. To add more accounts, just go to domains.live.com and click Manage Accounts in the left pane. From the right pane,select Add Accounts.

That’s it!

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-create-a-custom-email-id-for-your-domain-with-hotmail#ixzz1Iq6Jzb8E

Windows 8: Automatic Aero colorization based on wallpapers

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:11:00 +0000

Windows 8 Automatic Aero color

Microsoft is planning to auto color the Aero UI inside Windows 8 to correspond to a users wallpaper choice.
The latest in a series of leaks by Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott reveals the latest customisation feature for Windows 8. Microsoft has added an automatic color selection tool for the Aero border color. The control works by picking up colors from a users wallpaper. Rivera has posted several screenshots of the new feature in action which demonstrates the Aero border color switching based on several wallpapers.

Microsoft is believed to be working on a Metro design user interface for Windows 8. Leaked screenshots, posted earlier this month, also show a flattened Metro UI interface codenamed “Aero Lite”. The screenshots show a flattened interface consistent with Microsoft’s Metro UI. Microsoft’s primary Windows 8 interface is believed to be fully 3D. The interface will be “fully dynamic” and able to adapt to user habits. Icons and shortcuts will adapt to different usage scenarios to speed up daily tasks. Windows 8 is also rumored to include a new fast hibernation system. The system will hibernate in around three to six seconds and save all open documents and running tasks. Rumors suggest that Microsoft will create a dual-UI for Windows 8. A tile-based user interface codenamed “Mosh” will reportedly be included.

The software giant is also planning its own Time Machine feature named “History Vault”. The feature will allow Windows 8 users to backup files and data automatically using the Shadow Copies function of Windows. According to one person familiar with the company’s plans, the backup feature will include the ability to restore to a specific time or date on the system. Users will also be able to select files and restore them to different timestamps.

Microsoft has so far been extremely quiet on the Windows 8 front. Windows Chief, Steven Sinofsky, took to the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January to introduce a technology preview of Microsoft’s Windows ARM support and show off an early build of Windows 8. Microsoft is partnering with ARM-based manufactures NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments to produce new Tablet devices.
Microsoft has started to distribute Windows 8 builds to key OEM partners via its Connect testing site. The company has distributed build 7971.0.110324-1900 to OEMs in a special invite only “Windows 8 and Server vNext Pre-Release Program.”

Image Credit: Rafael Rivera (WithinWindows.com)

[via winrumors]

Display your User picture in Windows 7 taskbar

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:47:00 +0000

Taskbar UserTile is a small freeware which allows you to add your User picture tile in the Windows 7 taskbar.

Simply click on the downloaded app and your user pic will get displayed in notification area between the clock and the Show desktop buttom.From this button you can change your settings, customize your look, log off, lock PC or switch user.

To exit, simply right click and click Close.

Download: DeviantArt.

Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/display-your-user-pictures-in-windows-7-taskbar#ixzz1IpqpQxwO

Google’s Gmail Motion Prank Turned Into Reality [VIDEO]

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 08:27:00 +0000

Remember Gmail Motion, the new feature that lets you use body gestures to compose and send emails in Gmail? It was obviously an April Fools joke, but now it’s also real, courtesy of the folks from the Institute of Creative Technologies.

The technology is jokingly dubbed SLOOW – Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving – and it uses a Microsoft Kinect camera to control Gmail. The same team used the technology, which is actually called Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST), to play World of Warcraft using only body motions in December 2010.

Amazingly enough, it works pretty much as Google had intended: you can type text into Gmail by using body gestures, and send an email by “licking” the stamp and slapping it onto an imaginary envelope. Check out the video below for a demonstration.

[via ict.usc.edu]

HANDS ON: Chumby8, a Bigger, Better Networked App Player [PICS]

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:53:00 +0000

The third model of the Chumby line is about to hit the streets on April 5, and the bigger, better networked app player is called Chumby8. We got one of the first ones available for review.

What the heck is a Chumby8, anyway? Depending on how you’d like to use it, at $199, it’s either the most sophisticated alarm clock in the world, or it’s a clunky, anachronistic distant relative of the iPad with a non-removable kickstand in the back.
Like its older brethren, the Chumby Classic and Chumby One, Chumby8 wirelessly connects to your Wi-Fi network, and then lets you use one of its 1500+ apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Pandora. By far, its strongest capabilities are its alarm clock features, able to launch apps or wake you up to music or anything else, whenever you schedule them.
I’ve been a Chumby user for a couple of years now, so I’ve grown accustomed to its idiosyncrasies. Why did I call it a clunky distant relative of the iPad? Because if you compare its screen with that of the iPad, this one feels like a throwback to the ’90s. It doesn’t use the easy capacitive touchscreen of most of today’s tablets that requires just the lightest of touches. Instead, it has an old-fashioned resistive touchscreen that’s a lot less sensitive, making you push harder or even use a fingernail to assure that it works. It takes some getting used to.
Chumby8′s 8-inch 800×600 LCD touchscreen has narrow viewing angles, so unless you’re sitting right in front of it, it looks dimmer as you move to the side, or above or below it. Even though it looks fairly sharp and bright, it’s just not a very good screen. For a device that costs $200, you’d expect its screen to be better than this.
It has a 800MHz Marvell Armada 166 processor whose clock rate is almost twice as fast as the Chumby One (compare the Chumby One and Chumby8 here), giving it snappy performance when launching apps. But its comparatively sluggish graphics performance still won’t allow it to smoothly dissolve from one picture to the next — it’s capable of about 10 frames per second, making it a mediocre digital picture frame.
That harsh criticism aside, I love the Chumby, and this one improves upon the virtues of its groundbreaking predecessors. It’s great to be able to insert a CompactFlash, MMC or SD card into it, and then it will either play your music or photos from there, or let you load them onto its 2GB internal flash drive. You can even upload pics to photo sharing sites from it. There are also a couple of USB ports into which you can plug an Ethernet adapter and extra storage. And if you’re a hacker, look at all the crazy things you can do with this Chumby8.
I especially like the new design. Take a look at the gallery below, and you’ll see that this is one solidly-built unit, its rubberized finish is available in either red or black. It has a couple of speakers hidden inside, giving you decent sound, albeit without enough bass to take them seriously. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack in the back where you can plug in external speakers, resulting in the most sophisticated clock radio in the world, able to pick up more than 10,000 Internet radio and podcast stations.
If you’re looking for a Pandora alarm clock with a relatively giant screen and all kinds of versatility, this might be the one for you. Like its predecessors, Chumby8 has multiple scheduling capabilities, letting you turn on music or any of its apps at predesignated times. You can program it to go into Night Mode at bedtime, showing the time but at a dimness that’s dark enough for even the most light-sensitive whiners to get to sleep. Then, you can program it to wake you to your favorite Internet radio station while displaying your Twitter feed.
There’s an welcome new capability that was sorely missing in the first two Chumbys: It lets you tap links within apps, and then it will open up a Webkit browser that has fairly snappy performance, well, except for that awkward touchscreen navigation. Even so, this is a big improvement, giving you the ability to actually use Twitter and Facebook, tapping on links and reading them in a browser.
By far, the strength of Chumby 8 is its huge library of apps (different from Android or iPhone apps, and able to run Flash), including some of the most creative, clever clocks I’ve ever seen. In fact, if you want to use this as an extravagant alarm clock, it nails it. If you’re thinking this will be a good digital photo frame, it’s barely passable, but as a less-than-half-priced iPad substitute, it’s not, nor was it meant to be.
Chumby8 is good for doing things such as watching a few YouTube videos before you go to bed, that is, if you don’t have another device that can do a better job. That’s the rub with Chumby: What is it for? People who want to use its myriad functions probably already have a device that can do all of them better. But this one does all of its tricks with an even a bigger screen than its predecessor, so if your needs fit within its narrow niche, and you have an extra $199 to blow, Chumby8′s a lot of fun.

Chumby8 Front View

Chumby8 Side View

Compact Flash and SD card ports

Chumby8 Rear View

USB ports, 3.5mm audio jack, power

Home button on top

Pandora!

Chumby8 UI: Channel Selection

Set up your apps, grouped in channels, on the Chumby website. Then they show up here. Unlike previous models, you can arrange, add and delete apps on the device, too.

Pre-loaded Music Apps

You can keep playing music from these apps while you view others.

Main Screen

Tap the crescent moon icon, and Chumby8 goes into Night Mode, which shows just a stock clock, dimmed down. Great for those who need near-total darkness to sleep.

Settings

Network Configuration

It works almost automatically, but lets you get into manual settings.

Brightness Controls

I have Night Mode dimmed down as much as possible here.

Device Info

Alarms & Tasks

Schedule almost anything Chumby8 can do as a task or alarm.

Photos & Videos

Plug in a flash memory card, it shows up here

Photos: Memory Card

Choose which pics will display here.

[via mashable]

HOW TO: Get the Most From YouTube Editor [VIDEOS]

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:38:00 +0000

YouTube‘s online Editor launched in June last year as a very basic video editing suite originally borne from one of Google‘s “20%” projects. Now it has seven full-time developers working on it and new features are gradually being introduced.

Mashable spoke to Tom Bridgwater, a YouTube software engineer and one of the founding members of the team that developed Editor, about how to get the most from the free video editing software.

If you’d like to know how to trim your videos, improve the image quality and add free music, then take a look through the gallery of short video demos below. Let us know your favorite YouTube Editor function — and what else you’d like to see in the future — in the comments below.

1. Intro to Editor

The YouTube Editor is comprised of three areas -- the media picker window on the top left, the preview video window on the top right and the "storyboard" across the bottom of the screen.

"We choose to go with the storyboard metaphor because we felt it was easier in concept," explains Bridgwater. "It's like a storyboard where you just take Post-It notes and stick them on the wall in the order in which you want things to happen.

"As opposed to having to fiddle around with dragging times and getting everything lined up perfectly -- it's more just 'this is the sequence of videos' and that's what you're focussed on."

To open the YouTube Editor once you're signed in, click on your username in the top right of the screen, select "Account" or "My Videos" then hit the "YouTube Editor" tab.

2. Adding Clips to the Storyboard

Adding clips to the storyboard is super simple. Just drag them into the storyboard window, or click the plus sign on the video you want to add. Once the clips are in you can drag and drop to re-order them, or remove them from the storyboard either by dragging them back up to the media picker window or clicking the "x" in the top right corner.

Bridgwater has a tip for anyone who wants to use several parts of the same clip in your finished video. "You can use one video multiple times by just putting it into the storyboard multiple times." So if you want to repeat a clip, or use the beginning and end of a clip at different times in your final video, just add it to the storyboard as many times as you want to use it.

3. Rotating Clips

If you need to rotate a clip, simply hover over it in the storyboard window and hit the arrow icon. You can now rotate it 90-degrees left or right until it's at the correct orientation. When it is, hit save.

"This was a huge thing when we added it because we have a lot of users who upload from their mobile phones," says Bridgwater.

"Certain phones are able to send orientation information, other phones aren't. It's not very standardized how phones communicate the orientation of a video. In the upload priocess we try, if the phone gives us that information, to rotate it, but it's often not done. So this gives users the opportunity to rotate a video back to the correct orientation after they've uploaded it."

4. Trimming Clips

You can trim the beginning and end of clips in Editor. Hover over the clip you want to trim and select the scissors. You can now drag the handles along the frame strip to cut unwanted footage. As you drag the handles, the player above seeks to where you're dragging to, but you can get even more precise, as Bridgwater explains:

"Say someone walks into a room and you want to start the clip at the moment they enter. You can step through frame by frame by using the little left and right arrows at the top of those drag handles. This means you can 'nudge' the start point and the end point on a frame-accurate basis."

5. Changing the Brightness and Contrast

"Brightness and contrast are just pretty much like an old TV set where you have the two knobs," states Bridgwater. "And black and white just makes the video a black and white video."

Simple enough, but the near-live preview is pretty handy. "Our mantra for the video editor is that the preview has to be 'what you see is what you get'" says Bridgwater. "We show you a lower resolution version of the video that you're putting together with all the effects. You don't have to wait more than a couple of seconds, no matter what you do."

To access these controls, hover over the clip you want to adjust, select the wand icon and then you can play around with the settings to get the best result for you. Checking the "Preview effects side by side with original video" will allow you to do just that.

6. Stabilizing Clips

The stabilization functionality is new to Editor, and it's something that YouTube is pretty proud of. Perfect for stopping citizen journalism-style clips from being too bumpy, the tool can also be used on any clip shot on a handheld device that could use some stabilization. You can try the effects out in Editor with near real-time previews, as Bridgwater explains:

"Editor can actually do a preview of a stabilized clip in real time. This is in contrast to a lot of desktop video editing software where you click the 'stabilize this video button,' go and get a cup of coffee and wait for it to do its work."

To try out the functionality you need to hover over the clip you want to edit, hit the wand icon and then check the box next to the stabalize options. It works on a sliding scale, which Bridgwater elaborates on:
"If you are on the left end, the less stable end of the slider, your video will be slightly more shaky but the advantage is that you lose less of the video. The way any stablization works, no matter what algorithm you're using, is by cropping the video a slight amount. In our case, at the less stable end we crop 3% of the video and on the far right end we crop 30%."

So how does the algorithm work? "Video that is shot professionally and made to be stable typically uses dollies and tripods, so the camera itself remains stable. What this algorithm does is tries to recreate what the camera motion should have been if you were using one of those tools, a dolly or a tripod."

7. Adding Transitions

Editor gives you the option to add transitions to your clips, at the beginning and end of your video, and in between the clips themselves. The transitions last for two seconds. Clips adjacent to a transition must be at least two seconds long. If there is a transition on both sides of a clip, then that clip must be at least four seconds long to accommodate both transitions.

To add a transition to your video, go to the media picker window and click on the bow tie icon. You can now drag and drop your selected transition into your storyboard.

One thing to note about transitions," says Bridgwater. "As you drag and drop the transition it'll give you some feedback about exactly where it will land. The feedback, the blue highlight, will straddle clips and transitions to show you where the thing you're dragging will land."

More transition tips from Bridgwater include: "If you put a transition at the very beginning, before the first clip, or at the very end, after the last clip, it's going to transition from or to black. If there's a transiton between videos the audio between those two clips will [also] similtaneously cross fade between the two videos while the transition is occuring."

8. Adding Music

"You can replace the audio in your own video with a track from our library of free songs," says Bridgwater. To find a song, go to the media picker window and hit the musical note icon. There are around 50,000 songs for you to choose from. You can search via genre, artist or keyword. To preview a song simply hover over it and hit the play arrow. To add it to your storyboard hit the plus symbol.

9. Managing Music

Once you've added a song to your storyboard you can manage it by scrolling down to the bottom of the page where your choice is displayed. To remove it entirely simply hit the "x" or to adjust the levels, here's Bridgwater's explanation of the functionality.

"If you put an audio track in the storyboard it will replace the entirity of the audio for your edited video, but you can choose how it's mixed."

"If the slider is all the way to the left -- set to 'only music' -- it's the same result as you get using the regular 'AudioSwap' feature on YouTube. If the slider is all the way on the right you might as well have not added to the track because it won't be heard over the clip's audio.

With Editor you're able to do a mix anywhere in between. Dead center is an even mix betwen the original audio from the video clip and the music track that you've selected, so you can choose the balance."

10. Previewing Your Video

Once you've edited your clips and added any music or transitions you want, you can preview the finished product simply by hitting the play button on the preview window on the top right of the screen.

11. Naming and Publishing

When you're happy with everything, you'll need to give your video a title. To do this just type in the text box on the top right of the screen. Then you can hit the publish button to send your video live.

If you hit publish without giving your video a name then YouTube will give it a default title comprised of the date and time. You can still edit this after you've published it. Simply load up the video and hit the "Edit video detail" button that's just beneath the YouTube logo on the top left of your screen.

[via mashable]

HOW TO: Land a Job at Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:20:00 +0000

So you want to work at Facebook, one of the world’s hottest companies — what do you have to get your foot in the door and get noticed?

It’s not going to be easy — you have competition. Facebook received 250,000 job applications last year and is consistently rated as one of the best places to work. And with Facebook’s IPO around the corner, the competition for jobs is only going to heat up.
There are plenty of ways to get noticed and stand above the crowd, though. I chatted with Thomas Arnold, head of recruiting for the social network, on what the company looks for and what it takes to get a job at Facebook.

What Jobs Are Available at Facebook?

Photo: Facebook HQ in 2009 at the launch of Facebook Usernames

Ever since Facebook announced it was moving to a bigger office and raised $2 billion in funding, it has been ramping up its hiring.

While there are many openings in legal, communications, HR, marketing, online operations, business development, IT, design, user experience and internationalization, the company is especially looking for technical talent, especially software engineers and product managers.

The Facebook Interview Process

I actually went through the entire Facebook interview process in 2008, before I joined Mashable as an associate editor. And while it’s definitely changed since I applied for a job on the company’s User Operations team, the basic format has remained the same.

The first step is almost always a recruiter phone-screening — Facebook will begin exploring your resume, asking you about your previous work, especially about what you’ve built and what leadership roles you’ve had in the past. Sometimes there’s a second screening, depending on the role.

If you pass the screening, the company will fly you out to its Silicon Valley headquarters for a series of on-site interviews with the hiring manager (your potential future boss) and a group of your peers — in other words, you will be interviewed by the members of the team you’re hoping to join. As Arnold explained to me, these interviews are designed to determine whether you have the skills for the job and whether you’re a cultural fit. The group then makes “a collective decision on whether you’re a great fit” for the position.

The process itself greatly varies from group to group — expect more technical skill challenges if you’re applying for an engineering job. Oh, and one extra piece of advice from me: Always put the user first in any scenario or interview question.

Standing Apart From the Crowd

With more than a quarter of a million applicants, how does Facebook whittle down the applicant pool?
“We’re primarily looking for builders,” Arnold says. He explains that Facebook has an entrepreneurial spirit and is a flat organization, and thus it’s looking for people who can thrive in that environment. Employees need to be self-starters who don’t need a lot of direction, so autonomy and self-motivation are highly valued.
Builders — especially engineers who like to build projects on their own and have cool, working products or apps they can show off — are sought after by the Facebook team. If someone builds a unique application and/or solves a problem in a way that hasn’t been done before, he’s going to get Facebook’s attention.

Strong applicants to Facebook also “just get the social space,” Arnold says. They not only understand the product, but can see the company’s vision. Even more important is that they’re active users of the product. This may seem like a no-brainer, but Arnold says his team finds a lot of applicants who haven’t used their Facebook accounts in weeks or even months. And that is a very clear sign to Facebook that the person won’t be a good fit.

Finally, it’s very helpful to know someone at Facebook who can vouch for you — this was true even when I interviewed with the social network three years ago. While I got special consideration due to my unique history with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, I still had a Facebook reference.

Final Thoughts

While I ultimately failed to secure a job at Facebook, you don’t have to let that be the case for you. For those of you applying to non-technical roles, be sure you’re active users, understand the company culture and have a resume filled with leadership and “builder” activities. It’s more impressive if you launched an organization or product than if you simply took it over.

For technical talent, the best thing you can do is build something. If you build a really impressive iPhone application that gains some traction, you’re going to get noticed. If you are a major contributor of open source code to various projects, you’re going to get noticed.

In the end though, the big filter is cultural fit. There isn’t really much you can do to prepare for that — the Facebook team simply knows if you’re going to mesh well with them or if you’re not going to be able to keep up.

And as I said before, be sure to have an employee refer you. Otherwise, you’re going to have a really difficult time just getting the phone screening.

Have you gone through the interview process and landed a job at Facebook? Tell us in the comments below.

[via mashable]

Spy Shots: Windows 8 With a Ribbon Interface? [GALLERY]

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:15:00 +0000

Microsoft is experimenting with a ribbon interface for parts of Windows 8, and we have a gallery of leaked screenshots showing examples of an early build.

Microsoft Word users are already familiar with the idea of a ribbon interface, where a tabbed and extra-tall toolbar resides at the top of the page, offering dynamic groups of icons in an attempt to make the user interface more efficient. Microsoft also added the ribbon interface to a couple of applets within Windows 7, including Paint and WordPad.

We’ve already shown you leaked pics of Windows 8′s taskbar, but what we see here are experiments with Windows Explorer (for you Mac users, that’s the Windows version of the Finder), adding various groups of tabbed ribbons at the top of the window. As you’ll see in the gallery, these leaked pics, courtesy of our new pals at WithinWindows, show a UI that’s very much under construction, with most of the future icons substituted by mere placeholders so far.

We also included a bonus screenshot in the gallery, a peek at the Windows 8 login screen that was revealed on Friday and many thought was an April Fools’ Day joke. While it’s been confirmed as the real thing by a few different sites, we’re thinking its design will probably change before Windows 8 hits the streets, which we’ve heard might happen in early 2012.

None of this is too pretty yet. We’re giving this artwork the benefit of the doubt, because Windows 8 is still in its early developmental stages. But we’ve gotten used to the ribbon interface in Microsoft Office 2007, and can understand its inherent efficiency. It gives interface designers a way to place lots of controls within easy reach, rather than burying them under multiple menus.

On the other hand, with today’s wider screens, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to use up even more vertical space on user interface elements.

What do you think, commenters? Is Microsoft moving in the right direction with Windows 8?

Ribbon Menu
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

Ribbons
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

Status Bar
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

Windows 8 Ribbons
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

Windows 8 Ribbon 2
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

Windows 8 Ribbon 3
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

Windows 8 Logon UI
Screenshot courtesy Withinwindows

[via mashable]

Sony CEO Accidentally Reveals Secret Details About iPhone 5

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:58:00 +0000

Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, accidentally told everyone in the world that his company will be supplying image sensors for Apple‘s iPhone 5.

In an interview late Friday with the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, the Sony chief was talking about earthquake damage to 15 of the Sony’s factories in Japan, and inadvertently mentioned that a camera sensor made in one of those plants is on its way to Apple, and that sensor would be delayed because of the quake and tsunami.

Stringer didn’t specifically say that Sony is building an 8-megapixel image sensor that will go into the iPhone 5, but since Sony is currently not manufacturing any image sensors for Apple, this confirmed that Sony plans to supply components of the iPhone 5.

This points to the distinct possibility that in the iPhone 5, Apple will no longer be using those OmniVision 5-megapixel image sensors currently inside the iPhone 4. This is supported by an analyst’s report from February of this year saying that OmniVision might lose out on supplying cameras for the iPhone 5 because OmniVision’s 8-megapixel sensor won’t be ready for the iPhone 5′s rumored mid-summer launch.

Because Stringer was talking about the irony of supplying the company’s best camera to Apple, we can only surmise that he was talking about an 8-megapixel sensor. Here’s what The Wall Street Journal wrote about Stringer’s quote when reporting on its own event this morning:

Early on, he raised the irony of Sony supplying camera components for Apple devices. It “always puzzles me,” he said. “Why would I make Apple the best camera?” It is unclear what devices he was talking about as Sony isn’t known to supply key camera components, known as image sensors, to Apple; A Sony spokeswoman declined to comment and an Apple spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment.

Stringer’s inadvertent slip also lends credence to the rumors of a delayed release of the iPhone 5.

So what do you think, readers? Is this enough evidence for us to bet on a Sony 8-megapixel camera going into the iPhone 5?

[via mashable]

iPhone 5 Rumor Roundup [INFOGRAPHIC]

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:53:00 +0000

Not since the first iPhone was rolled out in 2007 has there been so much chatter about one gadget. There have been so many rumors about the iPhone 5, it’s difficult to keep them all straight, but those talented French artists at Nowhere Else have laid them out for us here in beautiful style. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!

Be sure to check the blue progress bars for the likelihood of each one of these rumors to actually occur. They look mostly accurate to us, with one exception: After last night’s revelations about Sony’s involvement with the next iPhone’s image sensor from Sony’s Sir Howard Stringer, that 50% chance of a better camera seems like it ought to be around 80 to 90%.

Let us know in the comments if you think these predictions are accurate.

[via mashable]

Google ‘launches’ Gmail Motion Beta (for gullible people)

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:35:00 +0000

Of all the days in the year, Google chooses today to introduce a highly-suspect new service: Gmail Motion Beta.

The mouse and keyboard are entirely “outdated technologies,” says Google. They require us to sit at a desk, scrunched up in to balls of tension that, when held long enough, can literally drain a person’s will to live. This unnatural contortion is especially problematic when sending emails with the embarrassingly-antiquated type-and-click functionality that has hardened our souls into lumps of coal from years of over-use.

Luckily for us all, Google announced today a much-needed remedy: Gmail Motion Beta.

Taking a cue from Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect, Gmail Motion allows users to compose emails with the use of gesture-based controls. The new development uses your computer’s camera and a “spacial tracking algorithm” to turn “physical movement into actionable commands,” says Gmail product manager Paul McDonald in a new video about the service.

The next part may take some a bit of time to get comfortable with, especially while in a crowded office setting. But, as Google says, it’s totally worth it.

Rather than simply click on an email’s subject line to open the message, for example, Gmail Motion enables users to simply make the movement like opening an envelope. That makes sense, right? Or, to reply to a message, just point backwards with your thumb. Use two hands to “reply all.” Pretend to lick a stamp and place it on an envelope to send. The list goes on.

Actually, it doesn’t.

As you certainly already guessed, Gmail Motion is one of Google’s many April Fool’s Day pranks this year, and doesn’t actually exist. (But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to convince your gullible co-workers to give it a try.)

Other Google pranks out today include the “Voice-alyzer,” which claims to prevent Google Voice users from making regrettable late-night drunk-calls; and “Autocompleter,” a fake job at Google that involves monitoring live searches and filling in users’ search suggestions by hand.

Of course, YouTube didn’t miss out on the April 1 action. When accessing videos on YouTube.com, a new “1911″ feature button appears on the right side of the video control bar. When pressed, it turns any video into a old-timey silent film complete with film scratches and silly music.

April Fool’s Day pranks abound in the tech world today. The good folks of Tech Crunch have released the most comprehensive list of all the tricks, spoofs and jokes online. So unless you want to look like an idiot at least once today (and it’s totally OK with the rest of us if you do), we recommend you give that one a solid once-over.

[via digitaltrends]

Google hires Java creator James Gosling despite Oracle suit

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Java's core creator James Gosling revealed on Monday that he was joining Google. He didn't know what his efforts would focus on but did anticipate it would be a "bit of everything." The new, unnamed position took effect the same day.
The hire is likely to focus on Android, where Java is the core of the app system.

Google's timing has raised attention as it comes just as the company is facing Oracle accusations of copying Java code. The Dalvik Java engine that powers Android 2.2 and later has multiple instances where code appears directly lifted from Sun, which Oracle now owns. If Oracle was successful in its lawsuit, it could force Google to change its Java code, reach a royalty deal, or face a ban on virtually all Android devices that could cripple competition with Apple.

Gosling wouldn't necessarily be brought on to rewrite the disputed Java code but would be uniquely qualified to do so by having an understanding of the very deepest levels of the run-anywhere platform. His experience could also be used simply to improve Java for future versions of Android. [bottom image via Peter Campbell]

James Cameron pushes for higher frame rates to improve 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:59:00 +0000

Avatar director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau are currently pushing the film industry to adopt higher frame rates, a move which is said to be necessary to improve 3D content. Moving from 24 frames per second to 48 or 60 frames per second is touted as a way to enhance the overall image quality and brighten the picture to compensate for darkening from 3D glasses.
"An artifact in 3D (creates) strobing that goes away at higher frame rates. (Strobing) is more noticeable in 3D (than 2D)," Landau told The Hollywood Reporter.

The producer suggests most digital cameras are already capable of shooting in 48 or 60 frames per second, but the feature is generally utilized solely for slow motion effects played back at 24 frames per second. The proposal seeks to push manufacturers to enable playback at the same rates.

"We think it will make a big difference to the audience experience -- not just for 3D movies, but for all movies," Landau argues.

[via Electronista]

How the Internet of Things is Changing the Way We Work

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:44:00 +0000

Several years ago, before the Web had become as ever-present as it is now, Wal-Mart was the shining example of a future where inanimate objects communicated, aka the Internet of Things. The company had a plan to implement RFID tags to better optimize its supply chain. The problem? The RFID technology could not be programmed to exchange data.

In the past few years, we've seen the emergence of the application programming interface, or API. APIs have become very popular. It's evident when you look at the directory from Programmable Web, which has 3,000 APIs.

APIs are used all the time to connect Web apps, cloud-based services, devices and increasingly, inanimate objects. APIs are making our world programmable. We can program a bridge, the door to a house or the cart that trucks your luggage to the plane.

And with mobile devices, we can track that data no matter where we are and use real-time analytics and a geospatial context to find intelligence in the collective data.

The Internet of Things is only practical when you have a critical mass of devices and a cloud infrastructure. We have that now. But we also need the geospatial context to know where everything is located, all the time.
All of this has implications on the way we work.

For example, a municipality cannot afford to replace all of its aging roads and bridges at one time. But it can place sensors to transmit data that can then be analyzed in real-time. The analysis tells the people managing the system how the bridge is faring. This can be replicated across the entire transportation network.

By doing that, the systems manager can get a granular view that was not possible before. Road crews with sensors on trucks can be monitored, too. Teams can be distributed across the network, based upon the data analytics that indicate weak points and potential weak points in the system.

This kind of approach means automation on a scale that we have not seen before. We need this automation as this kind of data becomes a deeply woven mesh into all aspects of society.

[via readwriteweb]

Ad Industry Execs: Google’s +1 Could Hold Us More Accountable

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:30:00 +0000

Is Google’s +1 feature likely to be an online ad industry game changer?
Ad experts were split on whether Google’s new recommendation system will catch on, but if it does, it’s likely to further an existing move toward marketing transparency.

Voicing the most pessimistic view on +1 was David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer. He notes that search is more a utility than a social activity, making recommendations an odd fit. “It’s not a medium where people spend time,” Hallerman says. “It’s a tool that people use.”

But as DeepFocus CEO Ian Schafer suggests, +1 could make search more social, changing behaviors in the process. “When someone is searching for a piece of information about a product, a review, or insightful commentary, it is typically a very insular activity,” says Schafer. “But being able to place a ‘seal of approval’ next to a search result may have the effect of making a typically insular activity more collaborative -– hopefully improving the ‘algorithm’ through the quality of your connections.”

Alisa Leonard, director of strategy and planning at iCrossing, expressed doubt that people on Google Contacts were as influential as Facebook friends. “In Facebook, my social graph is highly qualified and much more intimate,” she says. “On Google, my contacts may be less intimate and less qualified.”

If +1 gains currency, however, there’s a strong possibility that marketers will begin trying to collect +1s the way they currently try to accumulate Facebook likes. “It encourages that kind of behavior — the gamification of marketing,” says Josh Rose, executive vice president and digital creative director of ad agency Deutsch LA. “This will definitely play into those hands.”

On the other hand, +1s are likely to provide another advertising metric, and that could have some value. “It will definitely be interesting to see if ads with a lot of +1s perform better,” Rose says.

If +1s aren’t gamed too much, Rose and others see the new recommendation aspect of search as a positive force, holding brands and their advertising more accountable. Leonard points out that if the +1s contribute to a marketer’s Quality Score, they will pay less for advertising than others with lower scores, giving consumers a new way to, in effect, vote on a brand. A large number of +1s could raise expectations about a product, Leonard says.

[via mashable]

Everything You Need To Know About Google’s +1

noreply@blogger.com (Kakrona Chan) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:06:00 +0000

Google’s announcement that it’s adding a “+1” button to incorporate sentiment into its search results raised a lot of questions not addressed in the company’s official announcement.

We spoke with Google rep Jim Prosser about +1. Here are some of our questions answered. What other questions do you have about the new product?

Why is Google doing this?
Aside from the fact that it represents another way to compete with Facebook, Google’s officlal line is that it will make search results more germane. Says Prosser: “People consult their friends and other contacts on decisions. It’s very easy and lightweight way to make search results more relevant.”

Will the number of +1s affect search rankings?
Prosser says no, but adds that it’s something Google is “very interested” in incorporating in some form at some point.

Who are these contacts we’re seeing next to the +1s?
They are from Google Contacts, which come from various Google products, most notably Gmail, Buzz and Reader.

Will we see Facebook friends giving +1s at some point?
Not likely. Prosser draws a distinction between the “open web” and Facebook’s closed system. Google is up for incorporating open social media apps, but not Facebook. And Facebook isn’t likely to be interested in bolstering +1, a competitor to its “Like” button.

What about Twitter?
That’s a different story. Google already incorporates Twitter data into its searches, though Prosser says there are no immediate plans for integrating Twitter results with +1.

What about using data from other social networks?
Prosser says Google is interested in using more data from Flickr and Quora, which Google considers “open web” apps. Initially, though, you won’t see your Flickr or Quora friends’ +1 recommendations.

When will we start seeing the +1s?
Not for a few months, at least not en masse. Those who are interested in experimenting with +1 right away can go to Google.com/experimental. Otherwise, Prosser says only a “very small percentage” of searches and sites will have the +1 button within the next few weeks.

Will +1 be incorporated into banner ads?
Not right away, though Google is interested in that possibility.

Can marketers game the system by running “check +1 to enter” promotions?
It seems that Google frowns on this sort of thing, but it’s unclear whether the company expressly forbids it. Meanwhile, to maintain the integrity of the results, Prosser recommends that marketers don’t tweak their copy to ensure more +1s.

[via mashable]