Finding an affordable compact camera with vertical controls can be a bit of a pain for the portrait snapper on a budget. Thankfully, Pentax has come to the rescue with its newly-announced Optio VS20.

The 16MP digital compact comes packing an extra shutter release button and a second zoom lever for vertical position shooting – plus a vertical position tripod mount and an accelerometer to reorient the 3in display.

For getting up close and personal, the Optio VS20 sports a 20x optical zoom lens with 28mm wide angle coverage, covering all the bases.

The Optio VS20's gunning for casual snappers, with an Auto Picture mode to automatically select one of 15 shooting modes depending on conditions, while a Face Recall feature can remember pre-registered faces to make sure that your best buds are the centre of attention in group shots.

In-camera filters include Handheld Night Snap, Fish-eye and Sketch effects, while video filters that can be applied to the VS20's 720p footage include Fish-eye, Sketch and Miniature modes.

It's not exactly going to challenge the upcoming Canon 5D Mark III, but if you want an all-purpose snapper that won't break the bank, the Pentax Optio VS20 hits stores at the end of February, priced £200.





25 Jan 2012
http://www.stuff.tv/news/cameras/news-nugget/pentax-launches-optio-vs20-digital-compact

Fujifilm FinePix X10 – retro revival 

Fujifilm has been indulging a recent obsession with retro-ism. First there was the sublime Fujifilm X100 with its fixed 35mm-equivalent lens, and now we have this less niche but no less lovely X10.

Like its more serious X100 stablemate, the X10 is aesthetically stuck in the past. While the X100 is undeniably '50s, looking like a Leica M3 that's been assimilated by the Borg, the black paintwork on the Fujifilm X10 evokes later rangefinder cameras.

The faux-Vulcanite covering and engraved top plate are visual and tactile treats, but the retro-icity extends beyond merely the aesthetic.


Fujifilm FinePix X10 – manual zooming

The first surprise comes from the manual zoom ring. Not just that it feels gleefully old school twisting the lens to zoom on a compact camera, but that it doubles as the on-off switch. As you twist, you get a satisfying click to announce that X10's powering up, then continuing to turn the ring makes the lens extend.

The only drawback to this is that there's rather a large portion of lens protruding from the body at all times, but the slimness of the rest of the design means it all still feels more compact than the Canon G12 and Nikon P7100.

Other old-school touches include a push-on lens cap – sadly it'll probably go walkies one day - and a threaded cable-release socket on the shutter button.


Fujifilm FinePix X10 – a clearer vision

There's also an optical viewfinder, and it's easily the best in class – a light-gathering joy to peer through, making the teensy windows on the Canon G12 and Nikon P7100 seem unusable.

The controls are well thought out and it all feels nicely balanced. The EV dial is positioned on the back right corner of the top plate, where it could be easily knocked – a problem we also found with the Nikon P7000 and P7100 - but it's thankfully quite stiff to move.


Fujifilm FinePix X10 – shooting down its rivals

The X10's larger-than-average (2/3-inch) EXR CMOS sensor is mightily impressive, pumping out glorious images at almost every ISO setting. The autofocus is pretty quick, and holding your zooming hand on the pin-sharp Fujinon lens helps keep shots reassuringly steady.

The sole disappointment is that video footage could be smoother - but surely you're waiting for a video camera retro-styled like a Bolex to capture any future YouTube moments, no? So are we.

The Fujifilm X10 not only delivers better image quality than its rivals; it makes photography as fun as it should be, so you'll just want to keep shooting.





source:
http://www.stuff.tv/review/fujifilm-finepix-x10

By Amber Riippa, NotebookReview.com Contributor | 1/23/2012
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6376

Will a new group help to spur the creation of more and better software applications for end users? Now less than two weeks old since its launch at CES, the new Application Developers Alliance (ADA) aims to promote "innovation and performance" by providing collaboration, education, cloud hosting, and other services to folks on both the consumer and business application sides in the fragmented field of software development.
Looking to recruit thousands of developers to its ranks, the ADA is offering free membership to all of those who sign up by January 31. As of January 11, the second day of CES, 600 developers had already hopped aboard.

Applications (or apps) for PCs, tablets, smartphones, and clouds
Although initially focused mainly on mobile OS such as Apple's iOS, Android, and RIM's BlackBerry, the ADA is also wide open to developers specializing in PC- and cloud-based apps.


"The Application Developers Alliance serves developers of every type [and] any [programming] languages, and across all platforms. Our members are individual app devs and the companies committed to their success. Developers have unique needs as creators and business people -- and we aim to be your voice as both," according to a statement by the ADA.
Specific services include industry advocacy within governments, along with free or discounted industry research and price breaks on product testing services, Rackspace cloud hosting, and a range of offerings around education and certification in application programming, trends, and platforms.
In terms of platforms alone, for example, developers now face the task of learning the ins-and-outs of major new environments such as Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich) and Microsoft's Windows 8.

Consumer and business software alike
Members in the consumer software space look likely to be plentiful. As its first education offering, for example, the group will co-sponsor a year-long Music Start-Up Academy geared to those interested in breaking into musical app development, an area involving complex issues around content delivery, DRM (digital rights management) and potential piracy. ADA members will be entitled to a 20 percent discount on events in the series, which is set to begin on February 14 in San Francisco.


However, the ADA is also designed to deliver a support structure for business application developers in both the SMB and enterprise categories. Enterprise-oriented developers, in particular, seek mechanisms in the areas of "regulatory compliance and mission-critical levels of service," suggested Philip Clarke, an analyst at Nemertes Research, in a research note about the ADA.
Membership in the ADA is also open to software vendors and other corporations, which are supplying most of the initial funding for the group.




By Jacqueline Emigh, NotebookReview.com Contributor | 1/23/2012
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6375

The 4G trial run by Everything Everywhere and BT in Cornwall has been extended until next summer. The trial of next-generation Internet access is pointing the way to a potential future of wireless web connection in rural areas.

Everything Everywhere -- the network merging T-Mobile and Orange -- and BT Wholesale today have been running the trial in and around St Newlyn East in Cornwall since October last year.

The trial involves LTE, a technology that knocks current 3G speeds into a cocked hat. It's still only at the trial stages over here, but is becoming more common in the US, where high-end phones like the Nokia Lumia 900 are equipped with LTE.

BT and Everything Everywhere reckon the trial demonstrates that a combination of fixed line and wireless connections are the future. While a nationwide fibre network connecting every home, business and farmhouse would be wonderful, BT says, "There isn't a single silver bullet to meet the rural broadband challenge. We continue to also assess other potential solutions including other mobile and wireless technologies."

Ofcom hopes 4G will bring the web to 98 per cent of the UK population, although it's currently delayed by legal wrangling among the phone networks.

We've visited the site to meet some of the Cornishfolk benefiting from decent Internet speeds for the first time -- hit play on the video to see how these seaside-dwellers are doing with a different type of surfing.




By Rich Trenholm on 25 January 2012, 6:01pm
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/4g-cornwall-trial-extended-until-summer-50006764/

NEWS
Apple sold more than twice as many iPads and iPhones from October to December than in the same quarter a year ago, helping drive a massive increase in profit.


The company sold more than 37 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPad tablets during the 14-week period ending 31 December, Apple said in its earnings release on Tuesday. It reported net profit of $13.06bn (£8.4bn) in the fiscal first quarter, up from $6bn the year before. Total revenue rose 73 percent to $46.4bn. By comparison, Google reported revenue of $10.58bn for the same quarter.

"We were thrilled with the 37 million iPhones that we sold," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said on an investor conference call. "We would attribute it to a breathtaking customer reception of the iPhone 4S with iOS 5, and key features such as Siri and this incredible camera with advanced optics. Customers are absolutely loving this product."

The iPhone 4S, which went on sale during in October, gave the company its best-performing launch of any iPhone to date, Cook said.

Despite the record performance and the company's "strength in virtually every key region", Apple could have sold more iPhones but was hampered by a lack of supply in some areas, he added. Sales of the handset in China were "particularly huge", he noted, given that the iPhone 4S was being sold only via resellers and online, and not in retail stores, during the quarter.

"We felt we were betting bold [in China], as I think many of you would have thought, if you [had] what we were doing," Cook said. "But as it turns out, we didn't bet high enough."

iPad success
Apple performed similarly well with its iPad range, posting a 111-percent increase on the 7.33 million sold in the first quarter of 2011.

"The success is not just about the strong brand, it is about making products successful by caring for the detail. Apple gives you a new device type, the iPad, and they bring it to life with 170 million apps," Carolina Milanesi, mobile device analyst at Gartner, told ZDNet UK.

"Many industry watchers like to compare Apple and Samsung's results at a high level," she added. "Not many point out that Apple can do 37 million units in a quarter with one product that has an average selling price of close to $600. That is just not something that other vendors can do."

The company's Mac laptops also showed strong revenue growth of 26 percent. While it saw only a 12-percent increase in revenue across its desktop lines, Milanesi believes this will not be a cause of concern.

"Desktops are being impacted by the move to mobile — be it the Pro or the Air line — but this is to be expected. I am not sure that Apple is particularly worried about this. Nor are they worried about the iPad impacting their PC business, as iPad is impacting more the Microsoft PC business than their own," she said.

iOS devices

On the call, Cook revealed Apple has sold more than 315 million iOS devices (including iPod Touch units) since it introduced the platform. He assured investors it will keep working on the mobile operating system to counter the challenge from Android and others.

"iOS is doing extremely well. I wouldn't say it's two-horse race. There's a horse in Redmond that always suits up and always runs, and will keep running. And there's other players that we can never count out. So what we focus on is innovating," Cook said.

"We'll just keep on doing that and somewhat ignore how many horses there are," he added.

Milanesi believes Windows Phone and Android will have an uphill struggle to attract developers in numbers to a point where they can take on Apple.

"In order for other OSes to be successful there is a lot that needs to come together, from vendors focusing on overall ecosystem — not just hardware — to operators that start differentiating their data plans, reflecting more the real cost of the hardware," she said.





By Ben Woods, ZDNet UK, 25 January, 2012 17:34
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/financials/2012/01/25/apple-doubles-iphone-and-ipad-sales-40094904/

Android tablets and pesky passwords



I have an Archos tablet PC, which was set-up to access my Gmail account. However, I have changed my Gmail password on my laptop, which works fine, but I do not seem able to set it up to also receive them on the Archos. Whatever I do, I get either a message saying ‘user name or password is incorrect’.
D.J. Wilshire
You can’t easily delete or change Gmail account on an Android device without carrying out a full reset, which would result in all of your data being lost. To cut a long story short this is because Google developed Android, and you need an account to be able to access the Google Marketplace to download apps. However, there is a simple workaround and that’s to open a second Gmail account, using the new password. In theory you can then remove the old account, however, you may find that it deletes the messages and contacts associated with the existing account, so I would leave it alone.





By Rick Maybury7:00AM GMT 25 Jan 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/9028867/Android-tablets-and-pesky-passwords.html

A reader has formatting problems


My TV has a facility to accept a hard drive via a USB port. I connected one and formatted it using the TV as instructed. I now no longer need it on the TV and want to use it with my PC. The PC installs it and announces it is ‘Ready to use’, but doesn't allocate a drive letter. Although the drive appears in all the various lists and is reported to be working properly, I can find no way of accessing it to reformat it for the PC.

Gus Blanchard, by email

Plug in the drive then go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management. In the lower right hand pane scroll down to find your removable drive, right-click on the shaded area and select Change Drive Letter and Path, assign it a letter then go back to the right-click menu and select Format.




By Rick Maybury7:00AM GMT 24 Jan 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/9028547/Can-I-use-the-same-hard-drive-on-my-TV-and-PC.html

Using an iPad or other tablet computers can be bad for your shoulders as they encourage people to hunch over the screen, Harvard research suggests.



The millions of people who use the devices, hailed as a bridge between laptops and mobile phones, are also at risk of neck injuries, claims a new study.
Researchers found that the flexibility and convenience tablet computers are hailed for could actually be harming users, especially if held on their laps.

They are at risk of "iPad shoulder" or "iPad neck" because holding a tablet low down means its user has to gaze downwards more sharply, increasing the pressure on their joints.
Scientists say that iPads and other tablet computers should be held higher or placed in a special case that allows them to sit upright on a table, similar to a conventional desktop computer.
The research team, from the prestigious Harvard School of Public Health in the United States, asked 15 people to use an iPad and similar Motorola tablet in a variety of different ways, as well as with and without a special case.




By Richard Alleyne5:23PM GMT 25 Jan 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9039016/iPad-shoulder-becomes-the-latest-modern-life-affliction.html

Apple's iPad outsold Hewlett-Packard's PCs in the final quarter of last year.

Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, said the company had sold 15.43 million iPads in the final quarter of last year.

According to Gartner, HP sold 14.7 million PCs in the same period. Obviously, HP isn't the only computer manufacturer but the comparison shows how significant iPad sales have become.
Cook said: "There will come a day that the tablet market is larger than the PC market."
Cook also dismissed competitors such as Amazon's Kindle Fire and the Kindle e-reader. He said: "I think people really want to do multiple things with their tablets, so we don’t see these limited-function tablets and e-readers as being in the same category as iPad. We don’t think people who want an iPad will settle for a limited-function device."

Apple's set a new record for company profits, more than doubling quarterly profits to $13.1bn (£8.4bn) in the final quarter of last year. The news boosted shares in the company by more than six per cent, making Apple once again the most valuable company in the world by market cap.

The company said it had sold 37m iPhones in the last quarter and in 2011 as a whole it sold more iPhones than in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 combined.
According to research from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple's share of the US smartphone market doubled to 44.9 per cent in the final quarter of last year.
The company said that Apple was now growing at a faster rate than Android in Britain, Australia and the US. Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar, said: "Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover."

Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, said he was "thrilled" with the company's performance. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline," he said.
"Those numbers are just unimaginable. It's still an extremely well-managed company and they are showing that the product pipeline is sufficient even now to generate growth rates that are unrivaled." said Michael Obuchowski, chief investment officer at First Empire Asset Management.

Apple is rumoured to be planning a television set for 2012 but Cook did not offer any clues. He said: "Apple TV is doing extremely well; we just sold a record 1.4 million units. But we still classify this area as a hobby."





By Shane Richmond, Head of Technology (Editorial)3:52PM GMT 25 Jan 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9039008/Apple-iPad-outselling-HP-PCs.html

Asus customers who have found a GPS fault with their Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet are to be offered a refund or an extension of the standard warranty from 12 months to 18 months, the company has confirmed.

The announcement highlights what has been a turbulent few months for the hybrid laptop / tablet, with users complaining about the device’s Wi-Fi and GPS functionality, leading to rumours that its UK launch would be delayed.

In a blog post, Asus said: "Any customers who have purchased a Transformer Prime TF201 and are dissatisfied with the performance of the GPS module are advised to return the unit to their point of purchase for a full refund as per standard consumer rights that apply in the UK."

Customers who want to keep their tablet will have their warranty extended by 6 months. But if they purchased it from a retailer who offered an additional 12 months warranty, it will remain at two years.

On the issue of Wi-Fi problems affecting the Transformer Prime , Asus said: "After extensive checks we can confirm that no units have been supplied to the UK with a known Wi-Fi issue. Any customers experiencing Wi-Fi issues specifically are advised to contact our support hotline."

"Asus prides itself on delivering an unrivalled user experience, and we offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that our customers may have encountered," the company added.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is powered a quad-core CPU and 12-core GeForce GPU which allows for 1080p high-definition video playback. It runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb, packs an eight megapixel camera and comes with an excellent keyboard dock .




Fri, 20 Jan 2012
http://www.laptops.co.uk/news/2012/Jan/asus-offers-refunds-to-dissatisfied-transformer-prime-tablet-owners-92534331.html

Another year, another set of damn fine looking plasma TVs from Panasonic.






Key Features
*Latest NeoPlasma technology
*55in and 65in screen sizes
*active 3D playback
*2500Hz Subfield drive

Panasonic VT50 plasma TVs

While it might have been the Panasonic WT50 LED series that most caught our eye on Panasonic’s 2012 CES stand, it would be just plain wrong for us to have ignored Panasonic’s latest plasma TVs given the brand’s proven plasma track record. So we made sure we managed to spend plenty of time, too, with the VT50 series - 2012’s flagship Panasonic plasmas. And not surprisingly, we were glad we did.

Not that first impressions were particularly winning. For seeing the VT50 screens sat directly alongside the WT50s, while the flagship plasma screens benefit from a ‘single-layer’ finish and reasonably trim black bezel, they’re nowhere near as stylish as the glinting, uber-svelte WT50 LED models.


Still, with Panasonic’s plasmas it’s never been about their looks. All that’s really mattered is that they consistently perform arguably better than any other flat TV technology (until OLED arrives, anyway!). And in this respect there’s plenty of good news to report with the VT50 series.

For a start, Panasonic claims its latest plasma models are 1.5x brighter than last year’s VT30 series (and no, we have no idea what happened to the VT40s!). This is, of course, potentially very significant when you’re dealing with a screen that’s equipped with active 3D playback, as every last candela of brightness counts when you’re working with active shutter 3D glasses.

Panasonic has also once again refined the Louver filter in the screen to reduce room reflections (to boost contrast); has further improved its Infinite Black technology (it’s now called Infinite Black Ultra); and has introduced something new called the 2500 Focussed Field Drive. Essentially this ups motion crispness and clarity by delivering ‘2500Hz subfield driving’ instead of the previous 600Hz subfield driving.


In action, both the 55in P55VT50 and 65in P65VT50 on show at the CES both looked pretty much exactly as we would have hoped. Black levels looked nothing short of awesome, especially as the latest louver filter really did do an excellent job of soaking up the harsh lighting you inevitably get on a trade show floor. But also dark parts of the picture still contain plenty of shadow detail, thanks to the ‘self-emissive’ nature of plasma technology allowing individual pixels to enjoy their own more or less independent brightness levels.

Images also look startlingly bright. They’re not as intense as those of the WT50 models perhaps, but they don’t look nearly as muted as many plasma images tend to when placed in a high-brightness environment.



Motion seems nicely judged too, with no blurring and minimal judder despite the motion processing - assuming it was active - not causing significant side effects.

As for colours, they seem to deliver another improvement again over the already striking efforts of 2011’s top-flight plasmas, with a wider range that’s achieved without compromising the familiar tonal subtleties. Some colours looked a touch noisy, but we suspect this was simply because Panasonic had cranked up all the VT50 demo units’ picture settings to ’11’, to compete with the LCD models. In a normal, much less bright domestic environment it will likely be a fairly simple job to calm colours down to the point where the noise evaporates.

The same goes - hopefully - for the only other problem noted during our hands on: noticeable dot noise over skin tones during camera pans. This used to be common on plasma TVs, but thankfully doesn’t appear often these days unless, as is likely the case here, a plasma screen’s brightness setting has been left too high.


With the VT50 models also reminding us of plasma’s excellent viewing angle capabilities and carrying Panasonic’s latest, much-improved Smart Viera online platform, there seems little reason to doubt that they will be there or thereabouts again come awards time at the end of 2012. Especially if their 3D talents (which surprisingly didn’t appear to be on show at the CES) turn out to be at least as good as those of last year’s Panasonic plasma models. That said, there’s also no doubt that the competition they face from rival brands and even rival technologies this year will be unprecedentedly high.





Reviewed by John Archer
23 January 2012
http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-vt50-plasma-tvs_TV_review

HP’s dm1-3200sa is a decent enough ultraportable or high-end netbook let down by its somewhat discordant design and screen’s poor viewing angles. At its current price point of around £375, it’s worth spending a little more to get far superior alternatives.



Key Features
*11.6in 1366 x 768 glossy screen
*Dual-core AMD E350 CPU
*3GB RAM, 320 GB 5200rpm HDD
*Radeon HD 6310 integrated graphics

Design and Build

Straddling the line between laptop and netbook, budget ultraportables like the Lenovo X121e are a great option if you’re looking for something that does the basics and does them well. Unlike actual netbooks, little budget laptops like this can handle HD video playback and offer HD Ready screens, usually at 11.6 inches - a little larger than traditional 10in netbook affairs. This is exactly the kind of creature HP’s Pavilion dm1 is.


Based on AMD’s Fusion processors, in this case the dual-core E350, backed by up to 4GB of RAM (3GB is standard) and a 320GB hard drive while running Windows 7 Home Premium, specifications will be adequate for the daily needs of the majority of users. Price hovers between £300 and £400, though the cheapest we could find it at the moment was £375.

When it comes to style, the Pavilion dm1-3200sa seems to be suffering from dissociative identity disorder: on the one hand it wants to display the elegant touches of a classier, premium ultraportable (like curved sides and white LEDs for power and status), while on the other its cheapness becomes obvious the moment you examine it closely.


The lid at first appears to be the kind of glossy affair we love to hate, but as it turns out it’s actually far more resistant to fingerprints and smudges than most of its ilk and its unique pattern is reasonably attractive. Unfortunately things deteriorate from here. First off, the dm1-3200sa is rather bulky, tapering to a thickest point of over 3cm. It’s also quite heavy for a non-rugged 11.6in machine, at 1.56kg.

Opening the laptop up reveals a silver inside finish that attempts to give the impression of metal but fails miserably. It’s especially distracting on the bezel, which is already fairly large to begin with and is made to seem even more so by this finish. The black keyboard and touchpad look like they’re parts of a different machine altogether.


Build quality is decent, yet relative to the brick-like Lenovo X121e it just feels a bit Fisher Price, which is especially disconcerting when you remember that they weigh the same. We hope the Pavilion’s heavier battery will make up for the difference by lasting longer (a reasonable expectation as HP claims a whopping nine hours maximum!). To sum up, the dm1-3200sa isn’t unattractive or poorly constructed, but neither is it especially attractive or sturdy.





Reviewed by Ardjuna Seghers
23 January 2012
http://www.trustedreviews.com/hp-pavilion-dm1-3200sa_Laptop_review

While it's certainly still not ready for a commercial release, Sony's CES glasses-free 3D screen is perhaps the best we've seen so far. And certainly better than Toshiba's incoming ZL2.



Key Features
*46in glasses-free 3D screen
*4k native resolution

Sony 46in glasses-free 3D TV

The most noticeable thing about 3D at the 2012 CES was its absence. Samsung hardly bothered with it at all, while for many other brands it only got secondary billing to their new Smart TV functionality. Only LG really went a bundle on it.

With this in mind, it was no great surprise to find most brands completely ignoring glasses-free 3D technology. The only two serious exceptions were Toshiba, which still reckons its going to launch a glasses-free 3D model by April, and Sony.

Sony had two glasses-free 3D screens tucked away in the same Future Zone corner of its stand where we found its previously discussed CLED TV: a 15in model, and a much more eye-catching 46in model. Naturally it’s the larger of these models we spent the most time with.

The first thing that struck us about this demo unit was that, unlike the booth for Toshiba’s glasses-free 3D model, there were no ‘footprints’ painted on the floor in front of Sony’s screen showing you ideal standing positions. This suggested that either Sony was just being more careless than Toshiba or, hopefully, that Sony’s glasses-free technology wasn’t as dependent on viewing position as Toshiba’s.

Happily the latter possibility seemed to apply. For watching Sony’s effort from a variety of different positions and angles suggested that it’s actually more flexible where viewing angle is concerned - despite only being a prototype - than Toshiba’s soon-to-be-launched option. A few of the relatively wide angles we tried lost a degree of focus on the far side of the image, but overall we were pleasantly surprised by how the Sony handled this thorny glasses-free issue.

The Sony screen also handles the glasses-free problem of ‘seams’ in the picture rather well. The need to try and cater for multiple viewing angles with the lenticular lenses on the front of the screen commonly means that if you move your head even a few inches while watching 3D, you can see an obvious line in the image where you move from one catered-for viewing angle to another. But while you can certainly see some evidence of these viewing angle shifts if you move your head much, their appearance is relatively low-level.


More good news about the Sony’s glasses-free 3D images concerns their sharpness. For unlike the rather soft, mushy look still exhibited by Toshiba’s glasses-free model, the 3D Blu-ray image being shown on Sony’s set actually looked HD, with decent levels of clarity and purity, even when there’s motion in the image. It’s worth adding here that like Toshiba’s ZL2 glasses-free 3D TV, the Sony model also employs a 4k native resolution.

Also impressive is how ‘invisible’ the screen’s necessary filters are. By which we mean that you can hardly see signs of their structure at all, unlike the line and ‘diamond’ structure still visible over pictures on Toshiba’s screen. To be fair to Toshiba, though, this may have something to do with the Sony screen only being 46in while Toshiba’s is 55in.



There’s still clearly work for Sony to do. The ‘seaming’ is still annoying despite being reduced, and there’s less of a sense of depth to the 3D image than we’re accustomed to seeing with glasses-based TVs. Furthermore, the fact that the world already seems to be moving past 3D raises real questions about whether Sony will ever release a glasses-free 3D TV for consumer use.

This doesn’t stop Sony’s clear advances with glasses-free 3D technology from grabbing our attention, though. Especially as, ironically, even though Sony still won’t put a potential release date on its glasses-free 3D screen, the efforts of its 46in prototype were still quite a bit more watchable than those of Toshiba’s supposedly about-to-go-on-sale ZL2...




Reviewed by John Archer
20 January 2012

Renaissance Photography Prize 2012 - The Renaissance Photography Competition is now looking for entries.

A photography competition that has £8,000 in prizes up grabs and raises money for a good cause is now accepting entries.

The Renaissance Photography Prize 2012 is an international photography competition which raises money to support younger women with breast cancer. By entering, you get the chance to have your work judged by some of the top names in photography and be exhibited in the prestigious Mall Galleries in the heart of London.

The judges this year include: Brett Rogers (Director, The Photographers’ Gallery), Mary McCartney (Photographer), Michael Hoppen (Gallery Owner), Brigitte Lardinois (Curator & Magnum Magnum Editor) and Monica Allende (Picture Editor, Sunday Times Magazine).

Categories include Expression, Environment, Memory, Perspective and Disorientation and all entries must be submitted by 24 February 2012.

100 entries will be shortlisted for exhibition at The Mall Galleries which will run from 10 - 16 June 2012.

For more information about the competition and to enter, visit Renaissance Photography.




Posted: 23rd January 2012
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/renaissance-photography-competition-18311

See Who's Won A Vanguard Tripod This Week - Find out who's this week's winner in Vanguard's eight-week long photography competition.



Another week of Vanguard's eight-week long photography competition series has come to a close and after some deliberation, the judge has made their final decision.

Low light was the theme for this competition and with over 200 entries, it wasn't easy to narrow down a shortlist and even harder to pick just one winner. But it was decided that alastairwilson's Camping with glaciers was most definitely a worthy winner.

Here's what the judge had to say: "Not only is the shot impressive, the amount of time and dedication put into producing it is too. There's interest right through the shot, starting with the tent in the foreground and finishing with the sky that's just spectacular. It's a brilliant shot that sums up 'low light' perfectly."

Well done to our winner and to all who were shortlisted. Thanks also to everyone who entered.

For another chance to win an award-winning Vanguard Alta Pro 283CT tripod enter the 'Weather' photography competition. This is the last competition in the series so get your entries in now before it's too late! Good luck!




Posted: 23rd January 2012
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/vanguard-alta-pro-283ct-week-7-competition-winner-announced-18316

BSkyB, Sky TV's parent company, has invested in tech startup Zeebox - and that means tablets are about to become more useful for Sky TV customers. The deal gives BSkyB exclusive rights to use Zeebox's technology in its own apps, starting with the Sky+ app for remote recording. The deal's an important one: Zeebox cites research that says almost one-third of British internet use happens while we're also watching TV, with more than half of viewers using laptops or tablets while watching programmes.

Zeebox's technology does two key things: it integrates social media, so you can chat with friends or tweet about the programme you're watching, and if it knows what you're watching it displays interesting links about the programme in what it calls "zeetags". You can use it to grab a look at what your friends are watching, discover more about the people, places and things you're watching, and you can even use it to control your TV if you've got an internet-enabled set. It also integrates with various shops so that you can buy things related to the programme - the book the presenter is talking about, the film being reviewed or the music being played on the soundtrack.

Zeebox describes itself as "the best thing to happen to TV since TV", and it's attracted legions of fans already - but don't worry if you're not a Sky customer: the stand-alone iPad app and the browser-based web application will continue to be available for free.



Posted on 20 January 2012.
http://www.comparetablets.co.uk/sky-turns-tablets-into-remote-controls/

Having already attempted to take on the Android tablet market with the ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 7e, ViewSonic is back with a cut-price device.

The ViewSonic ViewPad 10e pairs what, at face value, appears to be an acceptable array of entry-level specs with a cheap and relatively cheerful shell to appeal to those not convinced by the iPad's much higher price tag.

Looking to steal a couple of market share percentage points from Apple, ViewSonic has forgone a number of core Android values when adopting Google's operating system for the ViewPad 10e, most fundamental of which is the overlooking of the now standard 10.1-inch display in favour of an iPad-mimicking 9.7-inch offering.

With the unwritten rule of the tablet market seeming to be 'if you can afford it, plump for the iPad', ViewSonic has looked to dramatically undercut the market leader in an attempt to win favour with the masses, jumping in at a low price with a very impressive £199 retail tag in the UK, and $399 cost in the US.


This is significantly cheaper than the entry-level iPad 2, which starts at £399, or $499.

The ViewSonicViewPad 10e is also cheaper than the leading Android tablets, save for the currently US-exclusive $199 Amazon Kindle Fire, and even ViewSonic's own 7-inch offering, the original ViewPad 7, which retailed at £300.


Sadly, as will all facets of the tech market, this low-end price tag does come with a number of device-hampering limitations, with a somewhat shoddy build quality combining with a number of lower-end components and weak specs to fulfill the old truism 'you get what you pay for."

While the ViewSonic ViewPad 10e does run Google's Android operating system, it isn't a true Android tablet.

Unlike a number of its roughly 10-inch Android tablet competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Xoom 2 and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the ViewSonic ViewPad 10e doesn't run a fully certified version of Android.

Instead it opts for a slightly flaky version of the OS that means, among other things, it has no official Android Market.

Despite some hardware and software restrictions, ViewsSonic has done something with the ViewPad 10e that the likes of Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Sony and Asus have failed to do: get the tablet to market with a price that will appeal to the everyman, not just those with a hefty wedge of spare cash and a keen interest in tech.

Although a sub-£200 price tag can't counteract all problems, a number of the ViewSonic ViewPad 10e's issues can be overlooked when you consider the device's price compared to its competitors - a trait that will no doubt be adopted by a number of consumers looking to enter the tablet scene.




Reviewed by Tech staff - TechRadar
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/viewsonic-viewpad-10e-1055407/review

The Philips GoGear Connect 3 is a portable mp3 player like nothing we’ve seen before. Why? Well, it sports Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which means alongside playing music and video it can access thousands of apps through the Android Market. Yes, we know what you’re thinking: it’s a bit like Android’s answer to the Apple iPod touch and is also set to go head-to head with the recently announced Sony Z Series Walkman with Android.

Philips GoGear Connect 3: Build

Sadly, despite the Philips GoGear Connect 3 costing only a tenner less than the equivalent iPod touch, its build quality doesn’t measure up to Apple’s gloriously sturdy device. There’s too much plastic here, and you feel like one unlucky drop would see the whole thing crack – but on the plus side it is very lightweight.

There are buttons to control power and volume on the right side panel, and the standard back, home and options buttons you find on most Android phones below the screen. Connection-wise, there’s micro USB and a 3.5mm headphone socket.

Philips GoGear Connect 3: Features

Obviously Android is the biggie here. The Connect 3 is compatible with thousands of Android Market apps, instantly giving it a massive advantage over most (non-iOS) media players: you can play games, check emails, tweet or even make Skype calls.

There’s Wi-Fi of course, so you can download those apps and use data, as well as Bluetooth, an FM radio, voice recorder, accelerometer and speaker for (tinny) headphone-free sound. Unlike the iPod touch, there’s no camera on board.

Philips GoGear Connect 3: Screen

The GoGear Connect 3’s display is a 3.2-inch, 480 x 320 capacitive touchscreen. It delivers a decent enough picture (videos look more than passable) but is leagues behind the iPod touch’s wonderful 3.5-inch 960 x 640 display. The low resolution means games look blocky, and small text (in the web browser, say) can be tricky to read at times.

The size of the screen also has an impact on usability, as the on-screen keyboard and icons are sometimes annoyingly small and squashed together, resulting in you pressing the wrong keys or controls.

Philips GoGear Connect 3: Performance

Music playback is impressive, partly thanks to the Connect 3’s Songbird player which features both a customisable EQ and FullSound, a Philips technology that intelligently ‘fills in’ data lost during MP3 compression to make music sound cleaner and fuller, and partly thanks to the nice set of in-ear headphones that come in the box.

The headphones are noise isolating, and come with several earbuds to ensure a snug fit in your lugholes. The player is also compatible with loads of formats, including lossless, audiophile-friendly FLAC.

General Android performance is not so hot, thanks mainly to a host of apparent bugs and general sluggishness. The Wi-Fi takes ages to connect and some apps just don’t work properly (the Spotify app won’t go online, so you can’t sync up your playlists).

Philips GoGear Connect 3: Verdict

The Philips GoGear Connect 3 looks promising on paper, but when you consider what the iPod touch (a mere £9 more expensive) delivers and how well it does it, it’s difficult to recommend this over Apple’s player. The Connect 3 is sluggish, buggy and its screen isn’t as crisp as the iPod touch’s, so it’s tough to see how anyone apart from the staunchest Apple-hater would pick the Philips.

That said, as a music player it has a lot going for it: it plays a huge range of audio formats, it offers a nice level of customisation to the sound and it comes packaged with a pair of earbuds that far surpass the leaky, cheap ‘phones supplied with an iPod.

Philips GoGear Connect 3 availability: Mid-January 2012

Philips GoGear Connect 3 price: £160 (TBC)




10:41 23 Jan 2012 by Sam Kieldsen
http://www.t3.com/reviews/philips-gogear-connect-3-review

Check out T3's Apple iPhone 4S review for our run down of the best Apple iPhone 4S features, specs, some info on the iPhone 4S design and processor, and to find out if Siri really works


The world's handset manufacturers have also been playing a fierce game of catch up, releasing a raft of ever-improving

smartphones with faster processors and more features, all trying to steal a march over Apple and its seemingly unstoppable freight train of success.

Many T3 readers have told us how they'd forgone the Apple iPhone 4 because of reported signal problems, or were tied into long 3GS contracts. They were itching for something new. Something special. Something worth waiting for.

So, when Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing at Apple, took to the stage to announce the long-awaited 'iPhone 5' last week, he needed to pull something big out of the iBag.

What we got was the iPhone 4S. The most powerful iPhone Apple has ever made, yet criticised by many as nothing but a cosmetic upgrade.

So how different is it and, crucially, is it worth upgrading? We've been living with the iPhone 4S, iCloud and iOS 5 for a few days. Here's what we think, in a few words...

Apple iPhone 4S Review: Unboxing

Out of the box, the iPhone 4S looks identical to its older sibling bar the distinguishing birthmark of a brace of top-mounted incisions

signifying that a new antenna design lurks within. Switch on the phone, however, and things are different.

Unless you're restoring the data from an older iTunes backup, the 4S doesn't require a computer for activation. You can restore the phone from an iCloud account, or set up as a new phone. If you don't have an Apple ID, you have the option to create one.

iCloud can also be activated from the phone for storing and wirelessly pushing photos, apps, contacts, calendars to and from your 4S. The whole process, whether restoring from iTunes or setting up fresh, takes less than five minutes. And because it's the same case design, iPhone 4 users can just swap over their SIM card.


Unfortunately, in-app information isn't transferred, so you'll need to re-enter login details, re-download offline Spotify playlists and re-affirm personalised settings in every app that requires it. An obvious security measure by Apple, but it was these actions that took the longest to complete.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: Hardware changes (processor)

Many iPhone 4 owners will be asking themselves why they need an iPhone 4S when the free iOS 5 upgrade will equip their current phone with most of the new 200-odd features. We'll get into the meat of those features later, but know this: Apple has built its best phone to date.


The new A5 dual-core processor (as seen in the iPad 2) makes things noticeably nippier. Apps launch quicker, web pages load faster, multi-tasking is more fluid and resource-hungry apps like Pages now allow you to edit documents without any lag. Competitors will argue that their phones have been able to produce similar results for months, and they'd be right, but it remains a welcome (if a little late) upgrade.

The processor also supercharges the iPhone 4S's graphical prowess. We tried Real Racing 2 HD and, while the visuals were a little smoother, we didn't notice the 7x improvement as claimed by Apple. This is because games will need to be tuned to take advantage of the new chip. We had a demo of Infinity Blade 2 (confirmed to launch later this year) at the iPhone 4S launch and were blown away by the detail and speed of the polygon pushing. We're talking PSP Vita graphics, if not better.

Another benefit of having the A5 processor is to mirror 4S content over AirPlay. Wirelessly, the 4S will push out 720p to an Apple TV. Over connected HDMI, that will jump to 1080p. The simplicity of pushing small-screen content to the big screen on the fly is a neat trick, especially when you start rotating and zooming. It's also something to brag to iPhone 4 owners; T3 was told that the older model simply can't cope with the demands of such technological wizardry.


The potential for playing games on the big screen from your phone is something Sony and Nintendo should keep an eye on, too. Note that, in our demo, the super-charged Infinity Blade 2 was jumpy over wireless. Tiny Wings has never looked better, though.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: Antenna

Antennagate rocked Apple's world for the wrong reasons after the launch of the iPhone 4, so we were keen to see how the new design 'improves call quality' and 'reduces risk of dropout'.

Both the 4S's antennas, which run around the top of the phone, can transmit and receive data, allowing for faster 3G connections. Apple claims that maximum download speed over HSDPA is 14.4Mbps – twice as fast as the iPhone 4.

In the few days we've been testing, we haven't noticed an improvement in call quality and didn't experience any dropouts. But we have definitely seen faster download speeds over 3G and quicker web page loading. T3.com took an average of 5 seconds to load on the iPhone 4S, compared to an average of 8 on the iPhone 4.

We also ran the SpeedTest app (on O2-UK network) and got an average of 3.34Mbps download and 1.45Mbps upload. On the older iPhone 4, on the same network in the same location, we achieved average results of 2.32Mbps download and 1.31Mbps upload.

We also tried the death grip (for old times' sake) and didn't see any signal bars dropping off a cliff. Hurrah.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: Camera

The camera's had a major overhaul, now capable of taking eight-megapixel stills and recording 1080p video. Apple claims upgrades to the optics allow for more light, better colours and improved white-balancing. We didn't dismantle the 4S to find out, but did take a range of shots in a variety of conditions to test the assertion.

Photos are crisper, no question, but it can't compete with traditional cameras with bigger lenses in low light. You can now choose to have a grid on the screen when taking shots, perform basic image-editing within the Camera Roll and jump straight to the camera function via a shortcut.

Log into Twitter and you can post photos from the Camera Roll directly to your feed. It's quick and makes a cute tweet sound when sent into cyberspace. Anti-cutes can, however, switch off this slice of audible joy before tucking into their sour-faced sandwiches.

iOS 5 brings with it the option to use the '+' button as shutter when taking landscape shots. Face detection is also an upgrade and works well.

The 1080p, 30fps camera is impressive. Clarity and detail are excellent and the A5 processor allows for image stabilisation of the go. Shaky hand, be gone. We played back footage on our 47-inch TV and, even in full screen, video quality was great. We can hear the home camcorder industry wincing from here.

Sound quality is limited due to the small in-built microphones, but good enough for most things, especially YouTube where videos can be uploaded directly from the 4S. Which leads us onto a point of compromise; with an upgrade in image quality comes an increase in file size and it's no wonder Apple needed to launch a 64Gb version. You'll also want to do more uploading and sending over wi-fi as not to upset your network operator and/or bank balance.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: Siri

The main talking point of the iPhone 4S, quite literally, is Siri – a voice-controlled in-built app that acts like your own PA. Hold down the home button to launch Siri and then ask it to perform certain tasks. We barked a variety questions and demands, all with varying responses and success rates, which can be seen as follows:

The command “call my wife” resulted in Siri asking who our wife was from our address book. Once confirmed, repeating the same instruction resulted in a call to the wife. 1-0 Siri.

“What is 477 multiplied by the circumference of the moon?” we asked. Siri consulted the Wolfram Alpha engine and presented an accurate and detailed result. It's 6786.03 miles, in case you were wondering. 2-0 Siri.

T3: “Set a reminder to buy some milk tomorrow” Siri: “Calling Simon now” 2-1 Siri

Nevertheless, what makes Siri so clever is how it can maintain a conversation to perform a task. While driving we asked, through our headphone mic,: “what's the weather like in London tomorrow?”, to which Siri dutifully replied. ''Rainy”. We then followed with: “And on Sunday?” and Siri was clever enough to contextualise the conversation and give us a report: “Weather for this Sunday is....Rainy.”

You can also have fun with Siri – asking it things like the meaning of life, the meaning of naughty swear words, why Siri exists, or whether Brian Blessed has the loudest voice in human history. The results can be entertaining. We'll leave you to discover them.

Siri needs at least a 3G connection to operate and we found that Wi-Fi works better. It's presently in beta, so we're expecting some improvement as and when updates are released.

Albeit fascinating and entertaining, we don't think Siri is reason alone to upgrade to a 4S. It's undeniably amazing technology but we just can't see how often people will use it. Asking it to do things like “set the alarm for 6.30am tomorrow morning” will save a few buttons clicks, but most things we asked of it are quicker to do manually. Apart from the moon calculation bit.

If you do decide to form a relationship with Siri, a word of warning: your partner will go mental. Smartphones already come between us and our dearest, so striking up a conversation with a robot rather than talking to your beloved, or Siri being the last person you talk to before falling asleep might just be a step too far in today's society.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: iCloud

The notion of cloud computing is still a mystery to many and we were pretty skeptical as to how Apple, the maestros of uncomplicated explanation, would decipher this one for the mainstream. But therein lies the genius, you don't have to understand how iCloud works to get it working or benefit from it. You just need to enter your Apple ID and start using your Apple kit.

Mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, bookmarks, notes, are all updated whenever you make a change. It takes the pain out of worrying where things are and gives you time back. We're amazed Apple is giving everyone 5GB of storage free, but think an upgrade (and accompanying annual subscription) will be all but necessary for those with a half decent media collection.

iTunes in the Cloud isn't currently available in the UK so we haven't been able to test music, movie and app syncing.

PhotoStream is a cool feature of iCloud but we found the time between taking a picture on the 4S and it appearing in our iPhoto stream slow. We'll update as to whether this was a case of teething.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: Notifications

Although part of iOS 5, rather than iPhone 4S-specific, notifications are a a great addition to the art of using an iPhone. Run your finger down the top of the screen to bring up a list of your latest feeds from Twitter, Mail, Facebook, calendar and reminders, among others. You can customise what appears in the list and how notifications appear – in the centre of the screen or a banner at the top of the phone. Again, many phones already have this, but it'll be a welcome first for iPhone fans.

The Apple iPhone 4S Review: Battery

Battery life has also been improved. Apple claims 8 hours of 3G talk time, upto 9 hours of wifi use, 10 hours video playback and 40 hours of musical pleasure. In our experience, we can say that when compared to the iPhone 4, all of these activities had less of a drain on battery. Whether this will still be the case in six months time, we'll have to see. We did notice the battery draining a little quicker when in standby, however.

Among the 200-odd new features in iOS 5 and other things we've noticed thus far, here's a collection of what's floating our boat on the iPhone 4S. And what isn't...

Apple iPhone 4S Review: T3 Verdict

So, as previously mentioned, the iPhone 4S is the most powerful and feature-packed phone that Apple has ever made. The camera, processor and antenna are all well-needed improvements. And Siri is eccentric genius, if a little before its time. However, the fact that you can upgrade your old iPhone 4 with a smorgasbord of brand new features for free, with iOS 5 and iCloud, will undoubtedly put many off upgrading to the new phone.

16 months is a long time for the competition to catch up and the iPhone 4S has some serious opposition. However, what no-one else can offer is the colossal, yet slick infrastructure that is iTunes and iCloud. And this may be just enough to coerce those teetering on the edge into opting for the iPhone 4S. What's more, are people really going to wait another year to see the iPhone 5?

We don't think so.

It may not be what people were hoping for - whatever that looked like - but the iPhone 4S is now the best phone from the Apple stable. A powerful mobile device with a great OS and some cutting-edge tech to boot.




10:04 20 Jan 2012 by Luke Peters
http://www.t3.com/reviews/iphone-4s-review

Skyrim, Arkham City, Modern Warfare 3, the best games of 2011 are going to be a hard bunch to beat. But with the arrival of the PS Vita and the Nintendo Wii U joining the current console stalwarts, gamers will not be short changed in 2012.


Looking ahead to the year in gaming, we pick out the top titles across the formats that we can't wait to get some hands-on time with. Get saving and feast your eyes on these...


SSX

After SSX 3 was so successful, it seemed strange that the SSX franchise just seemed to disappear into thin air, even if follow-ups such as SSX On Tour and SSX Blur were less than successful. You can count us among the scores of happy virtual slope-rippers who cheered when EA announced a new SSX at E3 in 2010, especially since the the stunt-heavy snowboard sim will feature real-world locations this time round, along with a slope-stomping new soundtrack to accompany some classic SSX gameplay.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3

Release date: February 2012

Link: SSX trailer

Next The Last Guardian




17:20 23 Jan 2012 by T3 Online
http://www.t3.com/features/best-games-2012#main

A new trailer has been unveiled for the upcoming Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock game which is coming out for PS3, Xbox 360 and the PlayStation Vita.

The new trailer shows actual gameplay for the game and it looks as if the developers have gone for a retro feel with the side-scrolling platform feel making a refreshing change and echoing that of the recent Tintin title.

Elsewhere it's clear that a lot of attention has been put into authenticity with each character looking picture perfect with some characters (we're looking at you Alex Kingston) having been given an outfit that screams 'The Avengers'.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock see's Matt Smith's Doctor travel across space and time as he and River Song battle through the universe to try and save Earth.

Players will be able to play both characters and will have to master the intricacies of time-travel where even the smallest decision in one time will have major consequences in future levels adding an entirely new aspect to conventional gaming.

The game has been written in collaboration with the BBC Wales team that work on the series and will feature full voice-acting from the entire cast. The Eternity Clock is just one of three Doctor Who games planned in the series.

All in all it looks to be shaping up as a brilliant platformer and with the release for PS Vita as well it'll be great to see those graphics really shining through on the handheld.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock trailer





15:43 23 Jan 2012 by Thomas Tamblyn
http://www.t3.com/news/doctor-who-the-eternity-clock-announced-for-ps3-ps-vita-and-pc

Nokia Lumia 900 coming to the UK in June

We're yet to hear anything official from Nokia on the matter, but it seems that the US-exclusive Lumia 900 Windows Phone device will be coming to the UK after all. The 4.3-inch Windows Phone Mango handset was debuted to great acclaim at CES earlier this month, but was announced as an AT&T-only phone. Carphone Warehouse has a holding page on its website saying it'll be arriving in June.
Link: WP Central

President Obama to Hangout on Google+

There's no doubting Barack Obama's is the most tech-friendly politician of the modern era. The US President who spearheaded his 2008 election campaign on social media sites will now embrace a new one by answering public questions in a Google+ Hangout next Monday. The president will address voters in real time as he explains the finer points of his State of the Union address.
Link: Gizmodo

Facebook engineer by-passes Search Plus Your World with something fairer
Speaking of Google+, a Facebook engineer and a team of like-minded pals have created a way to add a little more democracy to Google's controversial Search Plus Your World results. If you add the 'bookmarklet' created by Blake Ross and co, instead of seeing only content from Google+, you'll see the most prevalent results from Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn and the rest, and it's all from Google's own organic algorithms too.
Link: TechRadar

New Sony CMOS sensor to make iPhone's even thinner?

The iPhone 4S has been on the shelves for around four months now and we're still blown away by the quality of the stills camera. The modules for the snapper are created by Sony and now the Japanese giant has announced a next-generation CMOS sensor, which packs more into less and could see even thinner iPhones in the future.
Link: AppleInsider

New RIM CEO plans to change... nothing

A reshuffle at RIM has seen little-known Thorsten Heins take the reins from embattled due Jim Basillie and Mike Lazaridis, which led many to believe there'd be big changes at the crisis-hit BlackBerry-maker. Well apparently not. Heins told reporters that "no drastic change" was needed at the company and that he plans to stick with the existing strategy for existing strategies for forthcoming projects. Shares fell 8 per cent on Monday.
Link: HuffingtonPost





00:30 24 Jan 2012 by Chris Smith
http://www.t3.com/news/tech-today-thinner-iphone-5-incoming-nokia-lumia-900-uk-bound

Samsung has revealed that it is to offer a newly hued rendition of its oversized smartphone come undersized tablet with a white Samsung Galaxy Note device to hit the UK today, January 23rd.

Officially unveiled last week, the white Samsung Galaxy Note will follow on from its standard black hued brethren landing with the same dual-core processor and 5.3inch display.

"At Samsung we always want to offer our customers choice and are delighted to bring the Galaxy Note in white to the UK," said Simon Stanford, MD of Samsung’s UK and Ireland Telecommunications and Networks Division. "The Galaxy Note is an innovative addition to the Samsung Galaxy family and a new category of device that consumers can’t get anywhere else."

White Samsung Galaxy Note Release Date

Landing with a period of exclusivity to the London Oxford Street branch of designer department store John Lewis the White Samsung Galaxy Note is to cost the same as its darker toned sibling with a special offer to see the first 100 units sold come paired with £250 worth of music, films and eBooks.

Those looking to pick up a white Samsung Galaxy Note device in a location more convenient to them will be able to choose from a selection of retailers and networks from February.

White Samsung Galaxy Note Features

Dominated by its 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display with a 1280 x 800p resolution the Samsung Galaxy Note comes packed with a bevy of high-end specs from its 1.4GHz dual-core processor to Android 2.3 Gingerbread innards.

Paired with the Samsung S Pen Stylus the multi-functional device packs an 8-megapixel rear-mounted camera with 1080p Full HD video recording capabilities. A second, 2-megapixel, snapper sits on the Note’s front allowing for video calls.

Were you originally tempted by the Samsung Galaxy Note? Does the introduction of a white model further pique your interest in the 5.3-inch device? Let us know via the comments box below.

Via: PocketLint





10:31 23 Jan 2012 by Luke Johnson
http://www.t3.com/news/white-samsung-glaxy-note-released-in-the-uk-today

If your February wasn’t busy enough, the Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition will be out on February 7th in North America and February 10th in Europe. It will retail for $49.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360 with a PC version selling for $39.99.

The Ultimate Edition includes the Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road add-on packs as well as all of the addition seen in the new Courier’s Stash and Gun Runners Arsenal packs.




January 19, 2012- Jason Dunning
http://trendygamers.com/2012/01/19/fallout-vegas-ultimate-edition-february-7th/

NIS America announced that Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 will be out in North America on February 28th and Europe on February 24th for the Playstation 3.

If you are unfamiliar with the game, Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is the sequel to the popular RPG Hyperdimension Neptunia, in which you control personifications (humanoids) of videogame consoles with the objective of protecting the world of Gamindustri. In Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, the four heroines are the younger sisters of the CPUs (Console Patron Units) from Hyperdimension Neptunia. Once again, fans can indulge in the mysteries and adventures found within Gamindustri!

The game will also feature an all new free roam battle system which offers more strategic combat, a streamlined combo system that allows for faster combo executions, new item synthesis system to craft item and weapons, and a Coliseum to test your might and face powerful opponents.




January 19, 2012- Jason Dunning
http://trendygamers.com/2012/01/19/hyperdimension-neptunia-mk2-launches-february-28th/

Eyeglasses that overlay data and imagery onto the real world will unlock new kinds of mobile computing.



Eyeglasses that overlay data and imagery onto the real world will unlock new kinds of mobile computing.





The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas isn't just a place to see new products from gadget giants like Samsung and Sony; it's also a place to see small companies with disruptive ideas that become big consumer technologies in the future.

This year, several of the most promising small exhibitors were showing off technology that could free us from having to peer down at our mobile devices—glasses that can overlay digital data onto the world around us.

(See a gallery of augmented reality devices on display at CES.)

One of those companies was Lumus Optics, based near Tel Aviv, Israel. It demonstrated prototype glasses that display translucent, almost opaque imagery that fills the wearer's view like a 10-foot-wide TV two feet in front of his face. Ari Grobman, business development manager for Lumus, told Technology Review that his company was working with "a number of top 10 consumer device companies" interested in commercializing the technology. He said nondisclosure agreements prevented him from saying more.

"We have a crazy amount of computing horsepower and bandwidth in our small mobile devices, but you can't get the full utility of that," says Grobman. "This will change that."

In demonstrations, the glasses overlaid video of dancers or of a mocked-up GPS navigation app onto the wearer's vision.

The glasses rely on a computer or phone to provide them with imagery, a link that can be made using Bluetooth. Adding sensors like accelerometers and a camera to the glasses will enable sophisticated apps, says Grobman, such as one that uses facial recognition to call up useful information about people. The technology to enable this is already available. Facebook and Google use facial recognition to help users tag photos, while Israeli company Face.com provides a facial recognition service that can be built into other software.

"Once you have it, the community of developers will bring stuff we haven't thought of yet, the same as with touch screens and the iPhone," says Grobman. He guesses that consumer devices will appear in "two years, maybe less."

Vuzix of Rochester, New York, estimates that its augmented-reality technology will reach consumers in a similar time frame. At CES the company displayed a monocular display that will go on sale later in 2012 for $5,000 to $10,000. That first product will be aimed at the military and industry, says Clark Dever, marketing manager for Vuzix, but the company plans to develop a more consumer-friendly version, too.

The industrial version is intended for things like overlaying schematics of a machine onto the vision of a mechanic. "When you call tech support, they can draw guidance in your field of view," says Dever. The lens of a Vuzix display is made from glass etched with waveguides that steer light emitted in the frame to a place where mirrors patterned into the glass direct it to the eye of the wearer. It can also connect with any device that uses Bluetooth.



TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012BY TOM SIMONITE
http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/39471/?p1=MstRcnt

Meet a cycling android, a remote-controlled orb, and other robotic curiosities from last week’s Consumer Electronics Show.


Murata Boy, made by Japanese electronics manufacturer muRata, was built to showcase the company’s sensors and other technologies.

The cycling robot stands 50 centimeters high and can stay balanced on the bike even when it’s stationary, thanks to the flywheel in its chest; input from gyroscopes and accelerometers provide it with a sense of balance.

The robot can recover if given a light shove, can ride up a 25-degree slope, and can go backward. The most recent version of Murata Boy showcases its maker’s energy-efficient technologies—it can be charged wirelessly and enter an efficient sleep mode.

Credit: Technology Review



BY TOM SIMONITE
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39481/?p1=MstRcnt

It's likely to be way too expensive to become a home product in the short term, but as an exercise in the extent to which 4K screen resolutions can transform your viewing experience, Panasonic's 20in 4k monitor is a resounding success.





Key Features

20in LCD screen
4k resolution
IPS Alpha panel design
Panasonic 4k 20in LCD screen
Normally we’re not sceptical about 4k resolution in the slightest. We’ve seen enough of it in action both in commercial cinemas and in forward-thinking domestic gear demos to know that we can’t wait to get 4k installed in our living and home cinema rooms.

However, when Panasonic announced at its CES press conference that it had made the world’s first 4k2k 20in LCD screen, we couldn’t suppress a smirk. Why on earth would anyone want to put so much effort into squeezing 3840x2160 pixels into a 20in screen?! Surely you’re not going to be able to appreciate the benefits of 4k in such a small environment?


Dutifully, though, the day after the press conference we ducked into a special curtained-off area of Panasonic’s CES stand to have a quick shufty at the 20in 4k2k LCD panel in action. And by the time we emerged, our earlier cynical smirk had turned into a smile of happy disbelief.

Not surprisingly, Panasonic hasn’t found it easy to fit 4k’s worth of pixels into a 20in screen. It’s had to develop a high aperture ratio process capable of delivering a staggering 216 pixels per inch (versus the usual 60-odd). This new process also allows the panel in the 20in screen to be just 3.5mm thick - more or less the same as a normal full HD screen.

Impressively the 4k panel also uses specially refined alignment technology to make it an IPS Alpha screen, meaning that it can be watched from much wider viewing angles than most LCD TVs before colour and contrast plummet.


The 4k screen was presented in the darkened area of the stand in a ‘head to head’ format with a normal 20in full HD panel, with each screen being fed a selection of 4k still images. And the difference in quality between each screen really was nothing short of startling - especially to people as previously cynical about small-screen 4k as us.

The extra detail, texture, clarity and simple precision in the 4k screen was astonishingly obvious. This was especially true if you stuck your head right up close to the screen. But the difference was also clear as day from a sensible viewing distance - as much as 10 feet away.


We’ve posted a few pictures of head to head material here, just as it appeared in the demonstration. But sadly it has to be said that while the 4k ‘difference’ might be easy to see in real life even on a 20in screen, we couldn’t really find a way to accurately recreate it when using 72dpi JPEGs on a website! But hopefully the shots give you at least a sense of the circumstances in which we found ourselves amazed by Panasonic’s little star.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Panasonic is currently only seeing its 4k 20in screen as a ‘commercial’ device aimed at business that need to be able to see an exceptional amount of detail onscreen at once. But even though the 4k2k panel isn’t likely to be finding its way into your kitchen or bedroom any time soon, it’s still another very strong addition to the growing 4K product canon in that it shows that you don’t, after all, need a really huge screen to enjoy the benefits 4k resolution can bring.




Reviewed by John Archer
18 January 2012
http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-4k-20in-lcd-screen_TV_review