Nightline in Conversation

Feb 21 Consumer Test Lab

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:19:00 +0000

I got the Mcam for iPhone 4/4S B&H 155$US online also check vericorder.com for the other bits

http://www.actionlifemedia.com/store/p/26-mCAM-for-iPhone-4-4S.aspx
$170
Heavy, solid piece of metal
37mm screw-in macro/wideangle lens
Tripod mounts
Accessory shoe (for light, flash, mic)
External mic
I plan to also get the telephoto lens for this, and possibly a better mic
Not cheap, but if you plan to do video with your iPhone, this will certainly help
Makes you hold the iPhone in a more comfortable position
Makes video more stable, you can move the camera in a more steady motion

Air Free Air Steriliser 1400dhs

-for sterilising the air

-no filters

-no moving parts

-maintenance free!

-silent

-anti stress light

ozone, bacteria, pollen, virus, pet dandur, mould

99.9% micro organism destroyed at 204 c

DURABILITY

5just sits on the floor

PORTABILITY

5 Yes

EASE OF USE

5 very simple plug in

Design and Form Factor
5 nice!

DE 400 Atlas Encyclopedia Dictionary translator 314 dhs

-cool!

-geared to someone lerning english

-talking english arabic dictionary

-has idioms!

-basic encyclopedia

-western etiquette tests

-2 aa batteries

DURABILITY

5 fits in a pcket

PORTABILITY

5 Yes

EASE OF USE

3 small keyboard and very basic images at times it was not totally intuitive

Design and Form Factor
3 very practical I would like the keyboard to be larger

Sweex Go Speaker Bar USB (12 watt) 84 dhs

-audio and powerover USB or 4 aaa batteries

-black, on off volume on top.

-nice sound and a good addition to what your PC might have

-good for the price

DURABILITY

5 nice black moulded plastic case

PORTABILITY

5 Yes

EASE OF USE

5 very love the usb or cound cable

Design and Form Factor
5 very nice would look nice with any computer

Feb 14 Consumer Test Lab

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:44:00 +0000

Panasonic SDR-T76

SD Video Camera

Enhanced Optical 78X Zoom

8GB Built in Memory

High Speed USB 2

-love the way at download the title of track comes up on the screen.

-easy to download and comes with software (I used my mac)

-manual lens cover

-old school screen and basic click through commands (easy though)

-has a 33mm wide angle setting

-loved the stabalization ana dindication of panning too fast.

-good noise control for wind

-no external mic

Easy Uploading to YouTube™ and Facebook –

with the included software "VideoCam Suite 3.5"

lcd 2.7 inch screen can reverse

VERY small but easy to grip

100% plastic

no fire wire/headphone or microphone jacks

no remote control

DURABILITY

3 very light and plastic, worry about breakage. it feels cheap

PORTABILITY

5 super can fit in a pocket and has a nice stabalizer and pan control

EASE OF USE

4 not difficult, old school all the way

Design and Form Factor
4 it is there but nothing special

16/20 1200dhs

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Android 3.1 HoneyComb (no 4.0 yet!)

no USB

16GB Model

3 mb camera. who uses it anyway?

sim easy to install

seemed to be a battery hog!

liked the keyboard

LOVED IT!

Not rushing to get one!

love that it wanted a password to reset.

had all my regular apps

The fact that it pulled my previous apps onto it WOW!

DURABILITY

4 worry about bumping it but it is nice

PORTABILITY

5 Yes

EASE OF USE

5 very love the wizard

Design and Form Factor
5 very nice feels like an Apple!

19/20 2300dhs

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I WANT ONE!

From SAMSUNG and it is 100% true.

External Mic could be an issue and I am still testing the recording feature
Simplicity & Beauty
Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich—brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. Simple layouts with subtle animations and delightful flourishes make everything feel alive.

DURABILITY

5 seems so but hard to see screen in direct sun

PORTABILITY

5 love the size

EASE OF USE

4 super although there are still some apps and functionality that is more difficult than it should be, getting to audio recording

Design and Form Factor
5 LOVE IT

19/20 2400dhs

Feb 7 Test Lab

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:15:00 +0000

Viewpad 4 – Dhs.1199
Iomega Media Player – Dhs. 879
I-river MP4 – Dhs.429

iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player

1TB 3 year warranty or 2 TB

Iomega Media Player – Dhs. 879

-can play from home network, a connected USB or the device

Best to connect to TV and Network before powering up as it looks for devices

-you can get a wireless adaptor for it to connect to your internet (not provided)

-no internet cable provided

www.iomega.com/onlinemedia to create online media account and you can add to your player’s content this way by linking to your computer.

-Full size remote with basics on it only!

-supports up to 1080p high definition video running at 24 frames per second (fps), which is the frame rate of Hollywood movies.

-The device also supports other popular formats such as H.264, WMV, AVCHD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and more.

-Delivers online media content and comes pre-loaded with some popular links (US and Europe)

DURABILITY

5

this is a wonderful addition to any home media network be it a stand alone hard drive or networked. You don’t need to touch it once it is connected to your modem and TV!

PORTABILITY

5

Super

EASE OF USE

3

For the most part this is not a complicated device to use. There is a setup wizard that is very good. I found the Online media options a bit on the slow side and several options didn’t seem to work in this region.

BUT this device’s real value comes in you loading media onto it and in this respect it is super and it it is home networked the whole home can access it.

Design and Form Factor
5
Pretty standard black tower setup. It blends in nicely which is what you want. The fan is super quiet.

18/20

VIEWPAD4 by View Sonic

Viewpad 4 – Dhs.1199

I would see this as an entry level smartphone if price is an issue but you are thinking you want to be in the smartphone market this may be your phone.

This is an Android 2.2 smartphone

Has a nice 4.1 inch screen!

480X800 screen resolution

Bluetooth, WIFI and HDMI

5 MPS camera

.3MPS front facing

It is a heavy product and it tries to navigate that space between a phone and tablet, neither well.

It doesn’t have a standout feature.

DURABILITY

2.5

I worry about this device if it is dropped!

It is heavy. On a positive note when you remove the back to add your sim or Micro SD card this phone is solid! Lots of metal!

PORTABILITY

5

4.1 inch screen! I love it! Would I hook this up to a TV with the HDMI? Not likely.

Ease of Use

3

This is an android 2.2 device. Work pretty well and for the most part it is easy to navigate but it is not breaking any ground. The operating instructions out of the box are all pictorial and that is nice. Camera is ok, nothing to write home about.

Design and Form Factor
3
This is a little square brick! Reminds me of an LG phone in look!

13.5/20

iRiver S100 MP3 Player

I-river MP4 – Dhs.429

-in usa can access digital radio!

-comes in white black or pink

-4GB internal memory expandable to 32 with MicroSD

-manufacturer say 17 hrs battery life in continuous play music, maybe

-7.5 hrs video

-MP3 (MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer3), WMA, OGG, ASF, FLAC, APE

-AVI, MP4, WMV

-works with windows! Windows 7 / Windows Vista / WindowsXP / Windows 2000

Small Screen, why you would watch video on this but them people do with BlackBerry, 2.83" (7.2cm) TFT LCD (320x240) 260000 Colours

-ncie clean balck plastic body

small power button on lower left side and then a 5 button pad on the front that is invisible (hot key feature) Intuitive really)

-no touch screen

-FM Radio with Recording!

-easier to work with device if you download iRiver plus4 (only PC) Free

simple not very pretty

Durability

3.5

This is a light plastic case product.

The build seems ok but I was worried about losing it and don’t think of dropping it!

PORTABILITY

5

Super

Ease of Use

3.5

It is easy to use but the operating system is so basic it is easy to move away from a function. Love the recording of radio oprtion.

no mic, no camera

Really need to download iRiverPlus4 to get content on the device

Design and Form Factor
3
Nice screen, small and basic. Micro SD goes int he bottom, ok
It looks nice and does what it says on the box. The plastic is light and polished it could do with more weight.

15/20

Dubai Reviews Voila

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:19:00 +0000

Every other week VoilaDubai.ae teams up with Nightline to bring you actual reviews of places and things in Dubai by the people using them.

This is a great place to find out stuff and share rare finds!

And you get to have your say!

Love this segment of Nightline!

High School Radio Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:16:00 +0000

How many High School students get to take over a national radio show?

In Dubai on Nightline that is exactly what happens!

A group of students from Wellington International are the radio hosts for an hour bi-weekly creating radio their style!

TechTalk with Magnus from Pingdom.com

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:58:00 +0000

As always we get down to tech news and business on a weekly basis with Magnus Nystedt from pingdom.com.

Here is what we were talking about.

http://checkthis.com/

Robin Good: With no need for registration, no set-up, and no installation requirements Checkthis makes it as easy as it can get, to publish a web page of multimedia content on the web.As soon as you click the Create a Page button, you can start immediately adding a main title, text, and any type of additional content including images, audio, web links, lists, video, maps, tweets and more. The appearance of Read more...

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/166786/bathroom-reading-study-finds-droid-users-most-lik.html?edition=42819

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/30/happy-5th-birthday-windows-vista-still-number-3-os-worldwide/

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/27/treat-your-geek-on-valentines-day-competition/

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/27/apple-celebrates-ipads-second-birthday/

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/26/new-era-in-supercomputing-is-born-chinas-homegrown-sunway-bluelight-is-operational/

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/31/south-korea-is-still-number-one-has-fastest-internet-speed-worldwide/

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/166792/yandex-taps-nokias-navteq-for-maps-mobile.html?edition=42819

http://searchengineland.com/too-many-ads-above-the-fold-now-penalized-by-googles-page-layout-algo-108613

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/digital/biz-categories-technology/social-media-increasingly-part-of-the-tv-experience/article2307062/

Watching the big game or your favourite TV show is not like it used to be.
Now, in a lot of cases, the TV is on in the background while people are interacting with smart phones, tablets and laptops. They are discussing a bad call or debating their favourite star’s red carpet look through twitter hashtags set up and promoted by a TV network, sports team or fan site. We’re constantly being encouraged to follow on Twitter or join the discussion on Facebook as a way of connecting and making the TV experience more social. Brands, advertisers and social media networks are all betting big on this trend continuing through 2012.

A study by Nielsen in October, 2011, showed that 40 per cent of tablet and smartphone owners use them while watching TV, while another done in November, 2011, by Razorfish said the figure runs as high as 80 per cent.
Either way, it’s clear that a large percentage of people are looking at more than just the television.
The next step is trying to monetize it. Expect to see a lot more promotion of entertainment check-in services like Get Glue and stars live-tweeting during their shows, like popular chef Anthony Bourdain has been doing through his @NoReservations Twitter handle.
The discussion is vibrant and can add great content to a broadcast, but the social media buzz it creates can add the most important part of the equation; more viewers.

CarTalk Jan 31

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:56:00 +0000

The boys from autodata.ae joined me in the studio to talk automotive issues. No shortage of opinions here.

Jan 31 Consumer TestLab

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:54:00 +0000

Mobile LG Optimus 3D P920)

2,538 dirhams
LG P920W Optimus 3D – Dhs.2699 + Branded Perfume Set OR Pilot Case worth Dhs.350 ( Valid for DSF promo until 5th Feb Only)

Android 2.2.2 (january 2011 release)

-would like to see the operating system updated

-as usual marketplace issues

-3D imaging was cool

-3D games also cool but hard on the eyes after a while

-3D YouTube not available on this region

-all who got hold of the phone loved the 3D

-has an HDMI cable

-love the box it comes in!

-came bundled with

a. car cradle and charger

b.HDMI cable

c. desktop cradle

d.hard case

GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100

HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 2100

Announced 2011, January

Status Available. Released 2011, July

BODY Dimensions 128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm

Weight 168 g

- Touch-sensitive controls

DISPLAY Type 3D LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

Size 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density)

Protection Corning Gorilla Glass

- LG 3D UI

SOUND Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones

Loudspeaker Yes

3.5mm jack Yes

MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory

Internal 8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM

DATA GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps

EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps

Speed HSDPA 14.4Mbps (21Mbps with update), HSUPA 5.76Mbps

WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot

Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR

USB Yes, microUSB v2.0

CAMERA Primary Dual 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash,check quality

Features Stereoscopic photos & videos; geo-tagging

Video Yes, 1080p@30fps (2D), 720p@30fps (3D); video stabilization, check quality

Secondary Yes

FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), upgradable to v2.3

Chipset TI OMAP 4430

CPU Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9

GPU PowerVR SGX540

Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM

Browser HTML, Adobe Flash

Radio No

GPS Yes, with A-GPS support

Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator

Colors Black, White

- SNS integration
- HDMI port
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail
- YouTube, Google Talk
- MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player
- 1080p@30fps (2D), 720@30fps (3D) playback
- 3D/2D video editor
- MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player
- Document viewer/editor
- Organizer
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input

BATTERY Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh

Stand-by Up to 450 h

Talk time Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 9 h (3G)

DURABILITY

5 This is a phone. The matt case backing seems like it can take a beating and the front is a full screen. It was tossed into my bag and rumbled around without any issues. The test device I had also came in a bundle with a case!

PORTABILITY

4 I think this is a very portable device given that it can be used to play video on your TV, via HDMI cable bundled into the package, but some had issues with the size!

EASE OF USE

4 This is an android 2.2 device that can be upgraded to a 2.3 operating system. It was easy to set up and there were items that could be bought from the Android Market. There are limitations to the YouTube 3D channel and games BUT it was possible to switch back and forth between the 2D and 3D mode. Basic device use was pretty obvious. I found a few of the functions in the systems folder counter intuitive at first but learned fast.There is still a cartoon feel to these devices.

Design and Form Factor
3 Black is good in the phone industry. 3D on a phone? Not sure that the gimmic is really necessary. There was an issue with using the 3D for extended periods, and the phone warns not to. The display was great but not excellent and there was noticable lag when playing the 3D games. As a game console it would have been nice to be more chunky, I know this is against what we usually ask with phones. Pretty standard LG look and feel if you like your LG you will like this phone!

16/20

DSLR Camera – Sony SLTA35K)

Alpha 35

3,248 dirhams
Sony DSLR SLTA35K with 18-55mm + 75-300mm Lens Kit – Dhs.3499 + 4GB SD Card + Case + Branded Perfume Set OR Targus Pilot Case ( Valid for DSF promo until 5th Feb Only)

42 minutes of film on a 4GB card

-16.2megapixels

-full-time continuous auto focus

-7 frames per second

-full HD video

-quick AF movie

-15 point Auto focus

-3 inch fine LCD

Alpha lens is the key here!

Alpha lens and the A35 becomes a hybrid: it has the speed and image quality of a semi-pro shooter, and the body of a long zoom digicam

Movie capture. Sony's Translucent Mirror camera design brings its greatest benefit during movie capture, and so it's not surprising that the company's A35 continues to offer Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) video capture, Dolby Digital AC-3 audio, with the video feed derived from 29.97 frames per second sensor data. At lower resolutions, the Sony A35 stores its video in MP4 format with MPEG-4 AAC-LC audio, with a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second.

-USB2 and HDMI

DURABILITY

3 Lovely camera but unlike some of the more common Canon, Nikon and other products, while weighty, left me worried about its ability to withstand the wear and tear of a vacation. Nice lenses that weren’t too bulky but again they made me feel, and this is only me, that they might not take well to a good rugged run

PORTABILITY

5 this is an easy camera to throw into a manbag and forget about

EASE OF USE

4 This is a camera that pretty much walks you through what you need to know. There are a good series of menus that in some cases were full of information and options that were really not necessary. Try to de complexify even more. Camera options are abundant and the movie option is also pretty easy to activate. The operation of the camera is new world but the buttons and such to adjust things are old school which I would like to see modified, maybe a touch screen and wifi!

Design and Form Factor

5 Everyone who touched this camera loved the way it felt in their hand. From King Kong to Yoda, people with those size hands, seemed to feel at home with the camera and I have to give them credit for putting the buttons where they would be expected to be.

17/20

Dyson Bladeless Fan

Dyson Bladeless Fan with Thermostat control – Dhs.1899

-the Dyson HOT

-air multiplier tech

-long range heat projection

-no burn smell

-very cool looking

-great info on box about how it works

-6X air movement

-osillation and adjustable angle

WONDERFUL packaging

DURABILITY

3 There is a whole lot of plastic here. I was surprised by the actual base at how cheap it was I was expecting something a bit more durable than a plastic ring that had to lock into the bottom of the unit. Generally this fan is made to last but at that I was also concerned by the number of electronic push buttons, bubble buttons. While this is a well engineered fan I wonder how long these pieces will last and about the electronic heat and fan component. there is nothing old school here.

PORTABILITY

5 Very!

EASE OF USE

5 Very

Design and Form Factor

5 this blue blade free fan is a work of art!

18/20

EO in Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:59:00 +0000

You are going to love these guys from EO!

Want a shot in the arm to get out there and make things happen?

These are the guys to talk to!

Your Food Fix

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:57:00 +0000

Chef Andy is in the studio giving us a tour of the world of food.

An apple crumble is there to be enjoyed.

www.chefandycampbell.typepad.com

Cellphone Revenge

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:32:00 +0000

Nightline loves and hates the cellphone!

What about movies?

What do you do?

And what about those people who are eating and making too much noise....

Off the Rack talks Foreign Affairs

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:30:00 +0000

We took a nice tour through some journals on the academic bend.

I really do love Foreign Affairs!

Nightline's Consumer Test Lab

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Here is the portion of Nightline that we give some devices a run for their money.

Nokia Lumia 800

Nokia's first Windows phone

I've had it since last Friday

Great design (same as N9)

One piece solid polycarbonate, solid color throughout

Great camera, dedicated physical camera button

1.4 GHz processor (single core), 512 MB RAM

16 GB storage (no expansion), you get 25GB SkyDrive cloud storage

8 megapixel camera, f2.2 lens, Carl Zeiss lens, 720p HD video

Windows Phone 7.5

Fast, like the tile interface

IE 9 is fast, but doesn't render all sites correctly (Mobile Safari for iOS is better)

Apps is an issue (50,000 but not all that I need)

I can imagine how nice the 900 would be, with bigger screen, front-facing camera and LTE

DURABILITY

5, no concerns, the polycarbonate body makes it feel hi-class

PORTABILITY

4, no problems, battery life increased with software update

EASE OF USE

4, if you come from Android or iOS, there's a but of learning to do

Design and Form Factor
4, like the N9 - very good

Turtle Beach EarForce PX21
http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/ps3-gaming-headsets/ear-force-px21.aspx

About $80

Long and thick cable

Remote control too close to the headset

Soft earcups

Very flexible mic boom

Great sound for voice chat

Decent for music

DURABILITY

4 Some concerns, like the padding comes off easily

PORTABILITY

3 Very bulky, but not really meant to be carried around

EASE OF USE

5 Great, no problems

Design and Form Factor
4 Only that cord is very thick and inflexible

16/20

TechTalk

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:02:00 +0000

Here is the TechTalk show on Nightline with Magnus Nystedt.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/23/what-if-smartphones-were-as-popular-in-china-as-they-are-in-the-usa/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/youtube-cracks-4-billion-daily-video-views/article2311587/

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/012412-apple-has-become-biggest-buyer-255233.html?source=nww_rss

http://checkthis.com/

Robin Good: With no need for registration, no set-up, and no installation requirements Checkthis makes it as easy as it can get, to publish a web page of multimedia content on the web.As soon as you click the Create a Page button, you can start immediately adding a main title, text, and any type of additional content including images, audio, web links, lists, video, maps, tweets and more. The appearance of Read more...

http://searchengineland.com/too-many-ads-above-the-fold-now-penalized-by-googles-page-layout-algo-108613

Do you shove lots of ads at the top of your web pages? Think again. Tired of doing a Google search and landing on these types of pages? Rejoice. Google has announced that it will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads.

Top Heavy With Ads? Look Out!

The change — called the “page layout algorithm” — takes direct aim at any site with pages where content is buried under tons of ads.
From Google’s post on its Inside Search blog today:
We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.

So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience.

Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.
Google also posted the same information to its Google Webmaster Central blog.
Sites using pop-ups, pop-unders or overlay ads are not impacted by this. It only applies to static ads in fixed positions on pages themselves, Google told me.
How Much Is Too Much?
How can you tell if you’ve got too many ads above-the-fold? When I talked with the head of Google’s web spam team, Matt Cutts, he said that Google wasn’t going to provide any type of official tools similar to how it provides tools to tell if your site is too slow (site speed is another ranking signal).

http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/sony-announces-next-generation-image-sensors-smartphones-184745

Sony said Monday it has developed new technology for the tiny imaging chips that power cameras in portable devices, which will allow for clearer photographs while using less space and cutting manufacturing costs.
The company said it has developed a method for building CMOS sensors, widely used in mobile phones and digital cameras, that will reduce their surface area and allow imaging circuitry to be produced separately from the supporting logic. Sony said it will also add new technology to reduce picture distortion in dark scenes and allow videos to capture a wider range of light.

Sample shipments of image sensors that use the new manufacturing method will begin from March, with mass production to start in the fall. The new imaging technologies will be introduced into broad production late this year or early next, the company said.
"Initially we will work to insure that these sensors can be used in all smartphones," said Yasuhiro Ueda, an executive in Sony's image sensor division. "After we have achieved success with phones, we are planning to expand into areas such as audio-visual products, surveillance and manufacturing."
Ueda spoke to reporters at a press conference in Tokyo, where the company showed demonstrations of the clearer images and video it said can be produced with the new chips.
While Sony has an extensive line of digital cameras and smartphones of its own, it is also a major supplier of advanced image sensors for such products. Teardown reports have shown that the company's imaging chips are used in the iPhone 4S, and Apple listed Sony as a supplier in its corporate responsibility report issued earlier this month.
Sony's new manufacturing process layers image sensors on top of supporting logic using separate, stacked chips, as opposed to the current method of arraying both imaging and logic side by side on the same chip. This will create sensors with a smaller area while giving more space to processing logic, and allow for the two components to be produced independently.
Ueda said Sony could outsource the logic portion while focusing more on the image sensors, one of its strengths.
The company also said it would add white-light image sensors to the traditional red, green and blue found on such chips, providing better clarity to photos taken in low lighting. It will also increase the dynamic range of video recordings, allowing light sources of varying brightness to be captured in the same scene.
Sony has rarely held press conferences for its raw technology and components in the past, focusing instead on complete consumer products. But it is making an effort to maintain its reputation as a cutting-edge tech company as it gives up market share to massive rivals like Samsung and innovators like Apple.

Nokia Lumia 800

Nokia's first Windows phone

I've had it since last Friday

Great design (same as N9)

One piece solid polycarbonate, solid color throughout

Great camera, dedicated physical camera button

1.4 GHz processor (single core), 512 MB RAM

16 GB storage (no expansion), you get 25GB SkyDrive cloud storage

8 megapixel camera, f2.2 lens, Carl Zeiss lens, 720p HD video

Windows Phone 7.5

Fast, like the tile interface

IE 9 is fast, but doesn't render all sites correctly (Mobile Safari for iOS is better)

Apps is an issue (50,000 but not all that I need)

I can imagine how nice the 900 would be, with bigger screen, front-facing camera and LTE

DURABILITY

5, no concerns, the polycarbonate body makes it feel hi-class

PORTABILITY

4, no problems, battery life increased with software update

EASE OF USE

4, if you come from Android or iOS, there's a but of learning to do

Design and Form Factor
4, like the N9 - very good

Turtle Beach EarForce PX21
http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/ps3-gaming-headsets/ear-force-px21.aspx

About $80

Long and thick cable

Remote control too close to the headset

Soft earcups

Very flexible mic boom

Great sound for voice chat

Decent for music

DURABILITY

4 Some concerns, like the padding comes off easily

PORTABILITY

3 Very bulky, but not really meant to be carried around

EASE OF USE

5 Great, no problems

Design and Form Factor
4 Only that cord is very thick and inflexible

16/20

Know your Cervix?

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:38:00 +0000

How much do you know about cervical cancer?

It would appear that many women are not giving a lot of attention to their cervix and this something that needs to be changed.

We spoke about this topic for 45 minutes which was very informative.

Energy and buildings

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:34:00 +0000

How efficient is our building process today? We are talking energy efficiency.

What about solar power are we using it well? What do we know?

Dr. Bassam from BUiD helps us unpack what is going on around us.

www.buid.ac.ae

BAN distractions in cars!

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:31:00 +0000

I wonder if we are too distracted when we drive our cars because we are too curious and just can't put down our BBs, twitter, tabs and laptops.

Imagine if we could eliminate all distraction in the car?

Well this is what people in the UAE had to say.

Love your job?

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:29:00 +0000

It is a little odd the number of people that hate their jobs but do nothing about it!

I mean really.

There are always options and that does not mean ending your employment.

On the same token many people love their work and that doesn't mean they are making big money!

Here is a conversation on job satisfaction from Nightline.

Get your brand PLUG-UAE ed!

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:16:00 +0000

www.plug-uae.com

These guys are so off the wall and switched on that they seem to make every idea they latch onto sing!

I am very impressed by Lucy and her ideas.

I was so impressed I asked her to join me on a monthly basis to talk branding!

Here is what happened this month.

TEDxYouthJumeirah

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:13:00 +0000

Well this is simply one of the coolest events in a very long time.

And this is organized by Emirati Women, for the most part.

Did I mention I was their professor?

I have NOTHING to do with this amazing event they have done it all and I urge you to go and look at the site and go!

www.tedxyouthjum.com

Here is our short chat.

Need a Fitness Boost

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:11:00 +0000

Marcus Smith is Mr. Inneerfight.com, go check out his site!

Marcus is mad and I mean crazy when it comes to health and fitness.

His site is free and his advice is real.

Check out what he is talking abut and tell us how you make on!

TECH with Magnus from the Pingdom

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:08:00 +0000

There is a whole world of technology to talk about and Magnus from www.pingdom.com.

I am always amazed at what Magnus finds.

Show notes live at www.dxbtech.com.

Diary for Jan 11th

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:02:00 +0000

2 weeks of great content.

Mita and Sherif find it and bring it to you.

As far as I know this is the only place that you can get a heads up on some of those group buying sites!

Sherif is funny as he talks about a huge meat eating event.

Rash Radio Interview

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Rash Radio is a sensation out of Cairo.

This guy is great.

Rash listens to Dave Mathews, that is it!

ANd I love the piece where he talks about inspiration. Every song he finishes he thinks is his last and then the next one just comes.

WOW.

And the music is good, great, listen to the podcast below.

Dubai's Diary

noreply@blogger.com (James Piecowye) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:41:00 +0000

There are a lot of magazines and radio programs giving you a roundup of stuff going on in the city.

But no other program is quiet like this!

Mita and I had a great laugh this week.

DURABILITY	5just sits on the floor
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	5 very simple plug in
Design and Form Factor	5 nice!

DURABILITY	5 fits in a pcket
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	3 small keyboard and very basic images at times it was not totally intuitive
Design and Form Factor	3 very practical I would like the keyboard to be larger

DURABILITY	5 nice black moulded plastic case
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	5 very love the usb or cound cable
Design and Form Factor	5 very nice would look nice with any computer

DURABILITY	3 very light and plastic, worry about breakage. it feels cheap
PORTABILITY	5 super can fit in a pocket and has a nice stabalizer and pan control
EASE OF USE	4 not difficult, old school all the way
Design and Form Factor	4 it is there but nothing special

DURABILITY	4 worry about bumping it but it is nice
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	5 very love the wizard
Design and Form Factor	5 very nice feels like an Apple!

DURABILITY	5 seems so but hard to see screen in direct sun
PORTABILITY	5 love the size
EASE OF USE	4 super although there are still some apps and functionality that is more difficult than it should be, getting to audio recording
Design and Form Factor	5 LOVE IT

DURABILITY	5 this is a wonderful addition to any home media network be it a stand alone hard drive or networked. You don’t need to touch it once it is connected to your modem and TV!
PORTABILITY	5 Super
EASE OF USE	3 For the most part this is not a complicated device to use. There is a setup wizard that is very good. I found the Online media options a bit on the slow side and several options didn’t seem to work in this region. BUT this device’s real value comes in you loading media onto it and in this respect it is super and it it is home networked the whole home can access it.
Design and Form Factor	5 Pretty standard black tower setup. It blends in nicely which is what you want. The fan is super quiet.

DURABILITY	2.5 I worry about this device if it is dropped! It is heavy. On a positive note when you remove the back to add your sim or Micro SD card this phone is solid! Lots of metal!
PORTABILITY	5 4.1 inch screen! I love it! Would I hook this up to a TV with the HDMI? Not likely.
Ease of Use	3 This is an android 2.2 device. Work pretty well and for the most part it is easy to navigate but it is not breaking any ground. The operating instructions out of the box are all pictorial and that is nice. Camera is ok, nothing to write home about.
Design and Form Factor	3 This is a little square brick! Reminds me of an LG phone in look!

Durability	3.5 This is a light plastic case product. The build seems ok but I was worried about losing it and don’t think of dropping it!
PORTABILITY	5 Super
Ease of Use	3.5 It is easy to use but the operating system is so basic it is easy to move away from a function. Love the recording of radio oprtion. no mic, no camera Really need to download iRiverPlus4 to get content on the device
Design and Form Factor	3 Nice screen, small and basic. Micro SD goes int he bottom, ok It looks nice and does what it says on the box. The plastic is light and polished it could do with more weight.

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
		HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 2100
	Announced	2011, January
	Status	Available. Released 2011, July

BODY	Dimensions	128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm
	Weight	168 g
		- Touch-sensitive controls

DISPLAY	Type	3D LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density)
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
		- LG 3D UI

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory
	Internal	8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	Speed	HSDPA 14.4Mbps (21Mbps with update), HSUPA 5.76Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	Dual 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash,check quality
	Features	Stereoscopic photos & videos; geo-tagging
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps (2D), 720p@30fps (3D); video stabilization, check quality
	Secondary	Yes

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), upgradable to v2.3
	Chipset	TI OMAP 4430
	CPU	Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9
	GPU	PowerVR SGX540
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML, Adobe Flash
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- SNS integration - HDMI port - Google Search, Maps, Gmail - YouTube, Google Talk - MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player - 1080p@30fps (2D), 720@30fps (3D) playback - 3D/2D video editor - MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player - Document viewer/editor - Organizer - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 450 h
	Talk time	Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 9 h (3G)

DURABILITY	5 This is a phone. The matt case backing seems like it can take a beating and the front is a full screen. It was tossed into my bag and rumbled around without any issues. The test device I had also came in a bundle with a case!
PORTABILITY	4 I think this is a very portable device given that it can be used to play video on your TV, via HDMI cable bundled into the package, but some had issues with the size!
EASE OF USE	4 This is an android 2.2 device that can be upgraded to a 2.3 operating system. It was easy to set up and there were items that could be bought from the Android Market. There are limitations to the YouTube 3D channel and games BUT it was possible to switch back and forth between the 2D and 3D mode. Basic device use was pretty obvious. I found a few of the functions in the systems folder counter intuitive at first but learned fast.There is still a cartoon feel to these devices.
Design and Form Factor	3 Black is good in the phone industry. 3D on a phone? Not sure that the gimmic is really necessary. There was an issue with using the 3D for extended periods, and the phone warns not to. The display was great but not excellent and there was noticable lag when playing the 3D games. As a game console it would have been nice to be more chunky, I know this is against what we usually ask with phones. Pretty standard LG look and feel if you like your LG you will like this phone!

DURABILITY	3 Lovely camera but unlike some of the more common Canon, Nikon and other products, while weighty, left me worried about its ability to withstand the wear and tear of a vacation. Nice lenses that weren’t too bulky but again they made me feel, and this is only me, that they might not take well to a good rugged run
PORTABILITY	5 this is an easy camera to throw into a manbag and forget about
EASE OF USE	4 This is a camera that pretty much walks you through what you need to know. There are a good series of menus that in some cases were full of information and options that were really not necessary. Try to de complexify even more. Camera options are abundant and the movie option is also pretty easy to activate. The operation of the camera is new world but the buttons and such to adjust things are old school which I would like to see modified, maybe a touch screen and wifi!
Design and Form Factor	5 Everyone who touched this camera loved the way it felt in their hand. From King Kong to Yoda, people with those size hands, seemed to feel at home with the camera and I have to give them credit for putting the buttons where they would be expected to be.

DURABILITY	3 There is a whole lot of plastic here. I was surprised by the actual base at how cheap it was I was expecting something a bit more durable than a plastic ring that had to lock into the bottom of the unit. Generally this fan is made to last but at that I was also concerned by the number of electronic push buttons, bubble buttons. While this is a well engineered fan I wonder how long these pieces will last and about the electronic heat and fan component. there is nothing old school here.
PORTABILITY	5 Very!
EASE OF USE	5 Very
Design and Form Factor	5 this blue blade free fan is a work of art!

DURABILITY	5, no concerns, the polycarbonate body makes it feel hi-class
PORTABILITY	4, no problems, battery life increased with software update
EASE OF USE	4, if you come from Android or iOS, there's a but of learning to do
Design and Form Factor	4, like the N9 - very good

DURABILITY	4 Some concerns, like the padding comes off easily
PORTABILITY	3 Very bulky, but not really meant to be carried around
EASE OF USE	5 Great, no problems
Design and Form Factor	4 Only that cord is very thick and inflexible