Canon VIXIA Mini Compact Personal Camcorder

If shooting and posting video is your thing, the all-new VIXIA mini is for you – an innovative personal camcorder designed to help you share your talents and interests with the world. The VIXIA mini is super slim and weighs approximately 5.6 ounces, so you can capture beautiful, high-quality video and stills wherever you go. To match its outstanding image quality, the VIXIA mini features a built-in microphone to liven and enhance your video with superb stereo sound. Get creative with a genuine Canon f/2.8 fisheye lens for ultra-wide scenes (160° video/170° stills) that play with perspective, then switch to Close-up mode simply by touching the screen. Capture clear images even in low light with the Canon HS SYSTEM, which combines the 12.8 Megapixel High-Sensitivity CMOS sensor and Canon DIGIC DV 4 Image Processor. Shoot Full HD video in MP4 format for easy sharing, and record to convenient micro SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. Built-in Wi-Fi® makes sharing on blogs and social networking sites easy; you can even shoot remotely and live stream. The tiltable 2.7-inch capacitive touch panel LCD, adjustable integrated stand and tripod socket make self-shooting effortless. Cool features abound, like Mirror Image Recording/Playback, Slow Motion, Fast Motion and Interval Recording, and new Food & Fashion, Sports and Macro Special Scene modes. The VIXIA mini is ready to shoot when you are, with an automatic lens cover that opens when you power on. Use the VIXIA mini to express yourself in creative ways and let yourself shine like a star!

Princeton researchers use mobile phones to measure happiness

Researchers at Princeton University are developing ways to use mobile phones to explore how one’s environment influences one’s sense of well-being.

In a study involving volunteers who agreed to provide information about their feelings and locations, the researchers found that cell phones can efficiently capture information that is otherwise difficult to record, given today’s on-the-go lifestyle. This is important, according to the researchers, because feelings recorded “in the moment” are likely to be more accurate than feelings jotted down after the fact.

To conduct the study, the team created an application for the Android operating system that documented each person’s location and periodically sent the question, “How happy are you?”

The investigators invited people to download the app, and over a three-week period, collected information from 270 volunteers in 13 countries who were asked to rate their happiness on a scale of 0 to 5. From the information collected, the researchers created and fine-tuned methods that could lead to a better understanding of how our environments influence emotional well-being. The study was published in the June issue ofDemography.

The mobile phone method could help overcome some of the limitations that come with surveys conducted at people’s homes, according to the researchers. Census measurements tie people to specific areas — the census tracts in which they live — that are usually not the only areas that people actually frequent.

“People spend a significant amount of time outside their census tracks,” said John Palmer, a graduate student in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the paper’s lead author. “If we want to get more precise findings of contextual measurements we need to use techniques like this.”

Palmer teamed up with Thomas Espenshade, professor of sociology emeritus, and Frederic Bartumeus, a specialist in movement ecology at the Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes in Spain, along with Princeton’s Chang Chung, a statistical programmer and data archivist in the Office of Population Research; Necati Ozgencil, a former Professional Specialist at Princeton; and Kathleen Li, who earned her undergraduate degree in computer science from Princeton in 2010, to design the free, open source application for the Android platform that would record participants’ locations at various intervals based on either GPS satellites or cellular tower signals.

Though many of the volunteers lived in the United States, some were in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Palmer noted that the team’s focus at this stage was not on generalizable conclusions about the link between environment and happiness, but rather on learning more about the mobile phone’s capabilities for data collection. “I’d be hesitant to try to extend our substantive findings beyond those people who volunteered.” he said.

However, the team did obtain some preliminary results regarding happiness: for example, male subjects tended to describe themselves as less happy when they were further from their homes, whereas females did not demonstrate a particular trend with regards to emotions and distance.

“One of the limitations of the study is that it is not representative of all people,” Palmer said. Participants had to have smartphones and be Internet users. It is also possible that people who were happy were more likely to respond to the survey. However, Palmer said, the study demonstrates the potential for mobile phone research to reach groups of people that may be less accessible by paper surveys or interviews.

Palmer’s doctoral dissertation will expand on this research, and his adviser Marta Tienda, the Maurice P. During Professor in Demographic Studies, said she was excited to see how it will impact the academic community. “His applied research promises to redefine how social scientists understand intergroup relations on many levels,” she said.

iOS App finds almost half of other apps access private data

Almost half of the mobile apps running on Apple’s iOS operating system access the unique identifier of the devices where they’re downloaded, computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have found.

In addition, more than 13 percent access the devices’ location and more than 6 percent the address book. The researchers developed a new app that detects what data the other apps running on an iOS device are trying to access.
The findings are based on a study of 130,000 users of jailbroken iOS devices, where users have purposefully removed restrictions that keep apps from accessing the iPhone’s operating system. Most apps in the study were downloaded from Apple’s App Store and access the same type of information on unlocked, jailbroken, phones and on locked phones, said Yuvraj Agarwal, a research scientist in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, who co-authored the study with fellow researcher Malcolm Hall. Agarwal will present the findings at ACM MobiSys, the premier mobile systems conference, which takes place June 25 to 28 in Taipei, Taiwan.
The findings suggest that although Apple’s App Store no longer accepts new apps or app updates that access the unique identifier as of March of this year, many apps can still get a hold of that information. The unique identifier allows app vendors and advertisers to track users’ behaviors across all the different apps on their devices, including iPhones, iPads and iPods. In addition, some apps can associate the unique identifier with the user’s email and other personal information.
The researchers believe that it’s the first time anyone has done such an extensive privacy study focused on iOS-based apps across a large user population.
The ProtectMyPrivacy App
To carry out their study, researchers developed an app of their own, called ProtectMyPrivacy, or PMP. It lets users know what personal information the other apps on their devices are trying to access. PMP enables users to selectively allow or deny access to this information on an app-by-app basis, based on whether they feel the apps need the information to function properly—for example, a map app needs to access the location of a device to provide driving directions. iOS devices currently notify users when apps try to access location, photos and contacts. But they do not notify users when apps access the unique identifier or music library and users can’t deny access to those two pieces of information.
Since gathering data for the study, researchers have also added notifications and recommendations for when an app accesses other privacy-sensitive information, such as a devices’ front and back camera, microphone and photos.
PMP also makes recommendations about whether to allow the other apps to access user data, based on an extensive crowdsourcing ‘recommendation engine’ that compiles the privacy decisions made by other users.
“We wanted to empower users to take control of their privacy,” said Agarwal, who is also an alumnus of UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering. “The choice should be in users’ hands.”
For locked devices, researchers are currently providing a web page that tells users which information more than 150 apps for iOS—some of the most popular—are trying to access and gives recommendations about whether to allow or deny access. The page can be viewed at http://www.protectmyprivacy.org/liveview/
For example, Facebook, the most popular app, accesses the devices’ identifier, location and contacts. PMP’s crowdsourcing engine recommends denying access to the identifier and contacts music, but allowing access to location.
Findings by the numbers
ProtectMyPrivacy has already been downloaded from the Cydia store by more than 130,000 users since March 2012. Its users have downloaded and used more than 225,000 unique apps from Apple’s App Store. The researchers analyzed the data accessed by those apps and found that 48.1 percent of them accessed the device’s unique identifier; 13.2 percent the location information; 6.2 percent the address book; and 1.6 percent the music library.
As of January 2013, Apple reported that it had sold 500 million iOS devices. Estimates of how many are jailbroken vary, but Forbes reported in February 2013 that seven million devices had been jailbroken in just four days after a new jailbreaking tool was released. Cydia, an app store that caters only to jailbroken devices, had 23 million users as of March 2013 –a sizeable portion of Apple’s mobile devices.
Read the full paper here.
Recommendations to protect your privacy
Almost all of PMP’s users—99 percent– voluntarily shared their privacy decisions, indicating which apps they think should be allowed—or denied—access to their privacy-sensitive data. These decisions – which are contributed anonymously – are then processed on PMP servers to generate the crowdsourced privacy recommendations shown to users. As a result, PMP is able to make recommendations for 97 percent of the 10,000 most popular iPhone apps. “We have already shown millions of recommendations, and more than two-thirds of all our recommendations are accepted by our users, showing that they really like this unique feature of PMP,” said Agarwal. Users chose to deny access to one or more pieces of sensitive data for 48.1 percent of apps.
The version of PMP available in the Cydia store gives users the option to feed fictitious or anonymized information to nosy apps. Examples include an address book filled with made-up entries, a random location that may be in a completely different country, and a randomly generated unique identifier.
The researchers say that they do not recommend jailbreaking your iPhone to install PMP, because doing so could potentially leave a user open to other vulnerabilities. But in order to conduct their research, they needed to be able to intercept information about the privacy-protected data that apps were accessing. This required low-level access to the operating system, which is not technically possible on locked, non-jailbroken, iOS devices.

Sometimes, it is not the apps themselves that access the data, but a third-party library or code contained within the apps. For example, Flixster, a popular app for movie reviews and recommendations, in its 5.2 version, was flagged for accessing some private data. Flixster contacted Agarwal and Hall to say that it does no such thing. The computer scientists did some digging and found that a third-party ad library used by the app was accessing users’ address books and sending back information. “We provided feedback to the app’s developers in case they are unaware that a third party library may be accessing their users’ private data,” recalled Hall, a visiting researcher in Agarwal’s Synergy Lab at UC San Diego. He also pointed out that “an updated version of Flixster now uses another ad library that does not access this kind of information.”
Agarwal and Hall tried submitting to the Apple Store a “lite” version of their app that wouldn’t interact with the iOS operating system, but the app was rejected. That version would have given users information about the data specific apps access and recommendations about what to allow and deny. It would not have given users the ability to protect their data by providing fictitious information.
Agarwal will join the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor in the fall.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 rumoured for 5.99-inch 1080p display, octa-core processor

Itching for the latest scuttlebutt on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3? There are some more details as to the specs of the device thanks to SamMobile. The site believes that the next iteration of the device will fit a 5.99-inch 1080p panel into roughly the same dimensions as the Galaxy Mega 5.8. How exactly is Samsung going to pull that off? By shrinking down the bezel on the Note 3 as much as possible. It’s the same tactic that the company used for the Galaxy S4. The South Korean manufacturer managed to slim down the bezel on the design of the handset to accommodate a 5-inch panel, a slight bump from the 4.8-inch display of the Galaxy S III. As for the display tech itself, SamMobile believes that once again Samsung will use Super AMOLED technology in a similar pixel arrangement to the Galaxy S4.

Other specifications are said to include an Exynos octa-core processor along with 3GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel camera, most likely the same sensor found on the Galaxy S4. In addition, the Note 3 may feature an even more powerful octa-core Mali 450 GPU. Just like previous rumours indicated, the device will run the latest version of Android, most likely 4.3 given recent indicators.

SamMobile closes by saying that the Galaxy Note 3 could be announced either in August or September. The most likely scenario is for Samsung to unveil the handset at IFA 2013, as the company announced the Galaxy Note II at the same event last year.

Lenovo K900 launching in India May 10 carrying a sub-Rs. 25,000 (440 USD) price tag

Lenovo K900, the 5.5-inch phablet with Intel's dual-core Clover Trail+ processor inside, is set to launch in India on May 10 at a "very aggressive price", NDTV Gadgets has learnt from its sources.

The India launch will be accompanied by a huge marketing push by the company, likely a TV campaign for the K900 corresponding with the final stages of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). While the exact launch price isn't known yet, our sources have revealed that K900 is likely to be priced in the sub-Rs. 25,000 (~$460) category, making it an excellent value for money proposition given the power it packs under the hood.

Lenovo K900 was first showcased at CES earlier this year. The K900 packs in Intel's dual-core Clover Trail+ platform, specifically the Intel Atom Z2580 dual-core processor clocking in at 2GHz. The device features a full-HD display, 2GB RAM and is expected to come with 16GB of internal storage.

The phablet comes with 13-megapixel rear camera with a new Sony Exmor BSI sensor and a 2-megapixel front camera. It is expected to ship with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Earlier this month, benchmarks featuring the device surfaced online, which showed the Lenovo K900 rubbing shoulders with the Samsung Galaxy S4 as far as pure benchmarks are concerned.

Having this much power at 50-60% of the cost of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will surely excite prospective customers, though Lenovo will have to address issues like brand image and dealer network, for the device to gain traction in the India market.

Lenovo K900 key specifications

5.5-inch 1080p IPS capacitive touch display
Intel Atom Z2580 2GHz dual-core processor (Clover Trail+)
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
13-megapixel camera with Sony's Exmor BSI sensor
2-megapixel front camera
Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

LG Optimus GK Comes With 5-Inch Display.

Is it just me, or do South Korean smartphone manufacturers just love the option of having plenty of choice when it comes to the kind of mobile communications device that you use? Take the Samsung Galaxy S series for instance, we have seen more than our fair share of different variants of a particular model, and LG is not absolved from this particular phenomenon, too, if you would allow me to call it just that. The LG Optimus G, for instance, has just received a new variant which specifically targets folks living in South Korea, where this new model is called the LG Optimus GK.

The LG Optimus GK is said to be similar to the one-off Optimus G Pro which arrived in Japan via NTT DoCoMo, where it would see features such as a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB RAM being crammed into a more manageable 5” form factor, but fret not, the Full HD display has not been tampered in any way other than the size, where it boasts a pixel density of 440ppi. Other hardware specifications include a 3,100mAh battery, 16GB of internal memory, a microSD memory card slot and a 13-megapixel camera at the back and a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter.

Google's Eric Schmidt admits talking to Glass is 'the weirdest thing'

We're still getting to grips with an Explorer edition of Google's Glass ourselves, but Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has noted that Glass may take some getting used to. Talking to an audience on Thursday at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, he said that alongside the unusual sensation of voice control, people would have to develop new etiquette to deal with the fact that incoming wearables like Google Glass would be able to capture images and access information at whim. "There are obviously places where Google Glasses are inappropriate,"

he said, while stifling a cheeky wink

iPhone 6 To Feature Fingerprint Sensor, Feature To Skip The iPhone 5S

 

Fingerprint security sounds like a pretty solid way of securing your devices, although after watching countless movies, thieves may not only steal our phone, but could end up chopping off one of our digits as well. Pretty scary stuff, right? However if you do not believe that will happen, or at least be a rare occurrence, then how do you feel about an iPhone with a fingerprint sensor that could act as a security measure? We’ve all heard the rumors that future iPhones could come with said technology, especially after Apple’s acquisition of security firm AuthenTec last year.

Many speculated that this feature would make its way into the iPhone 5S which could be seeing a release later this year, but Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, believes otherwise and claims that the fingerprint sensor will instead arrive on Apple’s iPhone 6, a rumored 4.8” device that according to Munster, will be revealed in Q1 2014. A rather odd date since Apple has of late revealed their phones towards the later part of the year, but then again with Apple releasing the iPad 4 less than a year after the iPad 3, we don’t see why not.

We’re not sure what the fingerprint sensor could do, or if it is even needed, but we guess it could give Apple an advantage in the enterprise and government sector if they could offer not just more secure software, but hardware as well. In the meantime we will be taking this with a grain of salt and suggest you do the same.

Apple Sued For Patent Infringement With Siri

 

Well, well, what do we have here? A company that has decided to take Apple to court? This is definitely something that most folks have taken for granted, considering how Samsung and Apple were trading barbs in the courtroom since last year. The latest lawsuit thrown in Apple’s direction does not come from the South Korean conglomerate, however, as it is a China-based company that decided to sue Apple for a patent infringement that involves Siri, Apple’s voice controlled assistant.

Apple made an appearance in a Shanghai court today, where the Cupertino-based

firm had to deal with a patent suit that claimed that the Siri digital assistant which is currently featured in iPhones and iPads is actually software that infringed on the China-based company’s patents. Zhi Zhen Network Technology, received a patent for their Xiao i Robot software in 2006, where Xiao i Robot boasts of voice interactions, and has the smarts to answer questions and carry out simple conversations. A monetary settlement could end up as a result for a happy ending for everyone, but Apple is definitely not going to give up without a fight.

Windows Phone Outsells iOS And BlackBerry OS In Several Markets

Just how well do you think that Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform is doing at the moment? Well, we know for sure that they are not going to overtake the two 800 lbs gorillas at the moment, namely iOS and Android, but it sure as heck has a fighting chance to remain in third position, with the only real competition around being the BlackBerry 10 operating system that was introduced earlier this year alongside some of the newer BlackBerry devices. According to Microsoft’s VP of Corporate Communications,

Frank Shaw, he cited a report by the IDC that stated how Windows Phone has already outsold the iPhone in seven markets, while the BlackBerry has been slain in 26 markets.

Of course, there was no mention just which of these 7 and 26 markets, respectively, were the ones with Windows Phone in front, but surely it oozes with a glimmer of hope that Windows Phone is a platform that is certainly gaining its fair share of traction among those who are tired of the iOS and Android formats?

The Sun & Cloud Camera Needs No Batteries, Operates By Cranking It Manually

The problem with cameras is that they rely on batteries, meaning that if you don’t charge it, or bring a spare battery, you might find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having your camera die on you in the middle of the day. If you’d like to prevent that from happening, would a camera without batteries be of interest to you? While it might not necessarily be the most practical or take the best photos, the Sun & Cloud camera does have a degree of novelty value, thanks to its shape and the fact that you have to crank the mechanism by hand in order to power it.

The camera comes with a 3MP sensor and allows users to apply a variety of filters to it. It can also be charged via USB for those lazy to crank it themselves. Like we said, we doubt it will take the best photos but if you’re into lomography, basically non-conventional styles of taking photos, perhaps the Sun & Cloud camera might be worth taking a look at. It is priced at $199 and is available for purchase via AC Gears.

Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 8.0 to take on iPad Mini

Samsung Electronics is beefing up its tablet range with a competitor to Apple's iPad Mini that sports a pen for writing on the screen.

The Korean company announced on Sunday in B'arcelona that the Galaxy Note 8.0 will have an 8-inch screen, putting it very close in size to the Apple's tablet, which launched in November with a 7.9-inch screen. It's not the first time Samsung has made a tablet that's in the Mini's size range: it's very first iPad competitor had a 7-inch screen, and it still makes a tablet of that size, but without a pen.

Samsung will start selling the new tablet in the April to June period, at an as yet undetermined price. It made the announcement ahead of Mobile World Congress, the wireless industry's annual trade show, which starts Monday in Barcelona, Spain.

The Note 8.0 fills a gap in Samsung's line-up of pen-equipped devices between the Galaxy Note II smartphone, with its 5.5-inch screen, and the Galaxy Note 10.1, a full-size tablet. Samsung has made the pen, or more properly the stylus, one of the tools it uses to chip away at Apple's dominance in both tablets and high-end smartphones. Apple doesn't make any devices that work with styluses, preferring to optimize its interfaces for fingers, mice and touchpads.

On Samsung's Note line, the pens can be used to write, highlight and draw. The screens also sense when the mouse hovers over the screen, providing an equivalent to the hovering mouse cursor on the PC. However, few third-party applications have been modified to take full advantage of the pens.

Apple grabs 20% of consumer electronics revenues in 2012

While consumer electronics revenues have been going down for the past few years, some companies are seeing in increase in market share when it comes to total revenues for consumer technology devices. Apple accounted for 20% of consumer electronics revenues in 2012, which is a roughly 3% boost from 2011. Samsung also saw a boost to 9.3% from 7% in 2011. Rounding out the top five are HP with 8.2% (down from 8.9% in 2011), Sony at 4.4% (down from 5.7%), and Dell with 3% (down from 3.3%). So, essentially, out of the top five companies who made the most money, only Apple and Samsung saw a boost in the percentage of consumer tech revenue, which is surprisingly really, since both companies are doing quite well.

As for the top five categories of consumer electronics, tablets saw the most growth from 2011 to 2012, with a 45% increase in revenues. Smartphones had a 25% growth, while laptops, HDTVs, and desktops all suffered a loss, with desktops seeing the biggest loss of 11% — no surprise there, really.

Best Buy, Walmart, Apple, Amazon, and Staples were the top retailers, yet again, in 2012. Staples just recently became an official Apple reseller, where all Staples stores will begin selling Apple products. This is a huge deal for Staples, and due to the popularity of iPads and Macs, Staples should see quite a bit more traffic coming through its doors.

LG launches LTE-equipped Tab-Book Ultra and U460 laptop in Korea

We weren't convinced LG's Z160 convertible was skinny enough for Ultrabook status, but the Korean company has run with the title and launched the Tab-Book Ultra in its homeland. The 11.6-inch slider runs full-fat Windows 8 on an Intel Core i5 CPU in the top-end configuration (GH5WK), and much to the joy of data-hungry users, packs an LTE radio in addition to standard WiFi. Those who want a more traditional laptop experience but also need 4G for the road can now purchase an LTE refresh of the U460 notebook, which has been launched in tandem. LG will be showing off the LTE-equipped Tab-Book Ultra at MWC later this month, although its 'new series' of smartphones is sure to steal all the attention. We're still in the dark about when the Z160 will be available elsewhere, but Korean e-tailers are listing it at circa 1,400,000 won (around $1,300), so we can probably expect a similar price when it starts touring.

This pen with plastic ink draws in 3D!! And you can buy it soon!

The 3Doodler, invented by Peter Dilworth and Maxwell Bogue, gives people a freer hand in creating sculptures and brings computer-aided design software front and center.

You hold it just like a regular pen, but instead of building a shape layer by layer, as a 3-D printer does, this pen it extrudes the plastic into the air.

The plastic is soft when it is extruded, but it hardens quickly enough that it can form a stable structure. It’s the same kind of plastic (called ABS) that is used in 3-D printers. The pen is hooked up to the supply of plastic, which comes in the form of long, thin strings, so it has a kind of tether on it. It doesn’t need a computer or any software to work.

ASUS Transformer Book Windows 8 hybrid goes up for pre-order

Despite being announced long before the budget-minded VivoTab Smart, ASUS' higher-end Windows 8 laptop / tablet hybrid known as the Transformer Book has yet to make its way to store shelves -- or receive official pricing, for that matter. Nonetheless, those intent on throwing one of the machines into their satchel can snag the Transformer Book on pre-order, which is available through MacMall for $1,479.99. The 13.3-inch system sports a 1,920 x 1,080 display, and in this particular configuration, you'll fetch a dual-core 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U CPU with Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive that's augmented by a 128GB SSD. This price includes the keyboard dock, but it's worth reiterating that you might pay more than necessary to snag the system on pre-order.

SwiftKey 4 launches with Flow, personal style detection

SwiftKey has been promising its own answer to Swype ever since it launched the SwiftKey Flow beta late last year, and the company's retort is at last finished. The newly available SwiftKey 4 -- Flow is just a component here -- brings Android writers the promised gesture-based typing along with Flow Through Space, which lets users glide to the spacebar to keep typing rather than pause after every word. The upgrade also expands contextual word prediction to 60 languages, offers simpler corrections and watches for personal typing habits to adjust accordingly -- it should learn whether you're a hunt-and-peck newcomer or a seasoned pro blazing along with both thumbs. The update is free for existing users in both phone- and tablet-sized forms, and it's temporarily priced at $2 (normally $4) to lure in anyone who isn't happy with their existing input methods.

We gave the final version a spin on a Galaxy Nexus, and much of what we saw in the SwiftKey Flow beta holds true with SwiftKey 4. Anyone comfy with a gesture-based keyboard will be happy with the speed and accuracy here, especially when they don't have to lift their finger between words. However, the previous quirks remain as well: Flow Through Space tends to melt down after a few words, so you'll want to stop after "the quick brown fox" before you finish with "jumps over the lazy dog." The style recognition is harder to gauge when this author is an an experienced user who's only had a short while to teach the app any tricks, but the simplified corrections are handy for quickly polishing up a sentence. While we don't feel that SwiftKey is orchestrating a revolution with version 4, it doesn't have to -- the appeal here is not having to give up SwiftKey's generally well-regarded feel to get a feature previously reserved for competitors. It remains our go-to keyboard for those times we don't like what Google or phone designers have to offer.

Hasselblad Lunar Nex Camera

Swedish manufacturer of photographic equipment Hasselblad revealed at the CP+ show in Japan the “Lunar” Nex camera.

“The Lunar embraces the traditional Hasselblad state-of-the-art image capture combined with stunning Italian design features. For the first time we are using carbon fiber, titanium, wood, leather and precious metals – including gold.”

The picture on top shows it with one of the future new Zeiss primes for NEX, the 12mm f/2.8 Distagon. As you know the 2.8/12, 1.8/32 and 2.8/50 macro will be released to the masses this coming summer. Rumored to sell for around 4,438.85€ so you might want to start saving for this masterpiece.

Transparent cell phone 'will happen near the end of 2013' promises tech company

Taiwan-based Polytron Technologies may have the next leap forward in cell phones, promising a transparent mobile by the end of 2013.
The company has already begun marketing a transparent multi-touch.
The company's prototype uses what they call Switchable Glass technology. That's a conductive OLED using liquid crystal molecules to display images. When the phone is off the molecules align to form a milky composition, but when switched on they realign to form text, icons, and other images.
Electric current is carried through transparent wires.
'It will happen near the end of 2013. Trust me,' said Polytron general manager Sam Yu.
The device still has some parts that are not transparent, including a SD card and SIM card. The microphone, camera, and batteries are also visible, and will be hidden behind a dark glass cover when the model goes into production.
Yu said the company will develop a smaller lithium ion battery that would be much less noticeable. When complete, the phone will have a dual-sided multi-touch display in front and back.
The prototype has yet to feature any software or operating system.
Still to be determined is what the market demand for such a device is. Samsung and LG have had large transparent displays for years, but there's been little effort to make smaller devices.
Tokyoflash recently used a transparent LCD in its Kisai Spider wristwatch but had trouble adding hardware to the smaller frame.
'The challenge of using a transparent display in a wristwatch, and I suppose other wearable technology, is that you need to store the batteries somewhere else (usually they are stored behind the LCD panel),' Tokyoflash marketing manager Paul Cooper wrote in a e-mail. Polyton's model will offer much more room to work in hardware.
Also at question is whether transparency by itself will attract buyers, as the prototype doesn't offer significantly different functions than most smartphones.
'Display quality is paramount,' Avi Greengart, research director at Current Analysis, told The Verge. 'If the display quality is not up to par with the best of today’s AMOLED and LCD screens, a phone using it won’t sell even for its novelty value.'
Yu isn't worried. He even plans to announce a prototype transparent tablet within the next couple weeks.

New Watch Could Help Reduce Rape In India

The gang rape that happened in India on December 16th last year brought about plenty of national as well as international outrage, with the victim ending up dead. What else can be done to help offer a certain degree of protection to the girls and ladies who want to move around safely? The Indian Centre for Development of Advanced Computing is currently formulating plans to develop a new device, which they hope are able to eventually help reduce such inhumane crimes.

The first device off the bat? A possible wristwatch which is said to increase women’s safety as it will act as a SOS device, sending an alert to the local police in the form of a text message, in addition to having buttons that have been programmed to carry pre-selected numbers of family and friends. The watch itself will come with GPS capability, so that it can pinpoint the exact location of the girl when the message was sent, unless of course, she is in a place that does not have adequate coverage. It is hoped that mass production of these watches will not see its final sticker price exceed $50 to make it as affordable as possible across the board. Thing is, even if the police receive the alerts, are there enough manpower to arrive at the scene of the possible crime in time? What you see here  is meant for illustrative purposes only.