How do those 2 fit together you ask? Microsoft has teamed up with Lionsgate to show off the latest HTML5 techniques (movie-like effect: stream, lens flare and video projections) and to promote IE9.
I had some issues getting onto the page, but I think it is because it is making the rounds in the internet and everybody is checking it out.
Nevertheless it is a pretty nifty and beautiful site and you have the ability to connect it to your facebook and your friends appear on billboards and screens.
The site also gives you some exclusive movie content and there are 2 easter eggs that reveal 2 never before seen clips.
1. In the Control Room you can type in "ivolunteer" on your keyboard after clicking on the map section
2. In the Avenue of Tributes you can click on Katniss and then Peeta to reveal a clip from the training center
I can’t wait for the movie to come out as it looks great and it looks like HTML5 is being pushed to its boundaries on this site.
Today Google and Samsung finally had their Nexus event where they released the next version of the Nexus phone series as well as the announcement of their new iteration of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.
So let’s start with the phone: Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Obviously it will be running ICS and it will have some very impressive specs:
- a huge 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720
- 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor
- 5 Megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 1.3 Megapixel front facing camera
- 1080p full HD video recording
- 1 GB of RAM
- Wireless N network
- NFC capabilities
- the usual accelerometer, compass, gyro, proximity sensor
- a barometer
and to power it all a big 1750mAh battery
It will be released in November, but so far we haven’t heard any carrier announcement or if it even hit AU shores any time soon. No price yet either.
So what about Ice Cream Sandwich?
Better known as Android 4.0, the update offers a massive redesign to the user interface and adds a lot of new features. Mostly developed to bridge the gap between handsets and tablets it is the first step to fight the Android fragmentation.
Some of the highlights include an NFC-enabled feature called Android Beam, that allows 2 NFC enabled devices to share information by simply touching them together.
Offline search in Gmail, new lock screen features and a fancy unlocking method called "Face Unlock," which uses facial recognition to obviously unlock your phone.
Ice Cream Sandwich also includes enhancements in almost every native app within Android itself. E.g. the camera interface is completely new, it is faster and easier with instant access from the lock screen, no more shutter lag which means photos are taken immediately, new panorama features, touch to focus etc etc.
The gallery app now has “Instagram” like filters and there is an inbuilt photo editor. Sort your shots by location or by person (if you tagged them) and video can now be captured in 1080p. And to really stress your battery you can now create time lapse videos right out of the box.
A Siri competitor or just a newer version of Google Voice?
The SDK is already available for Android 4.0 – here so what are you waiting for, get developing
We all had that issue at some stage where we took an awesome picture and when we looked at it on our computers the important parts were out of focus.
I have been talking about a lens developed by Adobe here, but now there is a competitor that says they will have a competitively priced consumer camera will be coming out later this year. They are called Lytro.
They are working on a light field camera that captures the missing dimensions of the light that flows into a picture. These cameras have been around for a while now, but they weren’t commercially viable.
With their product you can focus on the background, the foreground, somewhere in the middle or just make the whole picture in focus. There is also the possibility to slightly change the perspective of the shot.
check out the video with examples from about 1:04
Pretty cool stuff and I hope it is going to be affordable, because I will get one.
As usual everybody seems to be waiting to announce their new products at CES and this year hasn’t been any different.
And again we are overwhelmed with information from everyone and blinded by all the new shiny products. I will have to get a 2nd job to be able to afford all the new gadgets I want now.
So below is a list of my favourites from the CES this year that I found on different blogs around the internets (maybe one day I will be able to go there in person)
So here I will be showing you tablets, 3D stuff, Microsoft hardware and some other cool stuff I came across
Blekko is a search engine (in beta at the moment) that claims that it is a better way to search the web by using slashtags. Slashtags search only the sites you want and cut out the spam sites. e.g. if you only want to search for tech related stuff you put /tech after your query
The slashtags are user generated and can be either private or public. There are already hundreds of them, but you can also create your own.
But the CEO explains it a bit better in this video:
Another cool feature is the SEO link that you get with every single result
It gives you quite a substantial amount of information about your site, like inbound links, hostrank, crawl stats, site pages, you can compare your site to other sites and it tells you about duplicate content
There is also a SPAM link next to all your search result and you can get rid of searches you don’t want permanently – that search result will be dead to you.
Another interesting feature is the visualizing feature – here you can compare up to 4 different URLs with each other
Definitely a great idea and even though there are still some shortcomings blekko will be someone to watch out for. It is going to be big.
In my line of work (and because I love it) I come across a lot of cool gadgets and usually (at least if you ask my wife) I spend too much money on them.
So this year I will follow my moms advice and make myself a list.
Usually I start these lists with the least and work my way up to the best, but I want to start with the device I really really want this year.
1. Samsung Galaxy S
I have been using my 8310 blackberry for too long and for a while there I was carrying around 3 devices to do my phonecalls, emails and browsing and gaming, but the Samsung will be able to do all that.
So why do I want it?
for a start I don’t like the iPhone (don’t get me wrong I think it is a good phone for “normal” users), but it just doesn’t do what i want from a phone.
apart from that here is my shortlist on why I want it:
* 4 inch WVGA Super Amoled screen (finally a device i can use outside) * big (as in big capacity) battery – 1500mAh * 16GB internal memory + extendable with micro sd * wireless n * camera capable of 720p video @ 30fps * support of MPeg4, H.263, H.264, WMV, RV, DivX, Xvid and MKV – no more converting movies * Samsung Social Hub – no more opening up app after app after app – I just have it all in one inbox – sweet
2. Tablet
I had a chance to play with the iPad for a few weeks now and I have to say I am not impressed – especially since Apple announced the AU pricing for it today and again, Australia gets screwed – all you really get is a big iPod
Swiss company Atracsys sold its tech knowhow to Sony and the company is today informing the world that its atracTable is ready for mass production and commercialization this June.
The system is a dual camera-based system that tracks and analyzes body movements in three dimensions, in real-time. Initially designed for use with a computer in a sterile operating theater, the interface not only notices subtle changes in the position of your body, arm, hand, or finger position, but it’s also determine rough age, sex, or facial expression of the user.
of course nobody knows a price yet, but they promise a high-contrast, Full HD screen, which is already better than the surface table from MS.
It will be able to communicate with your mobile devices or respond to motion input, which is picked up by a pair of Sony camcorders.
the iPad is out and it seems that it is very popular as it sold over 300000 units in its opening weekend. I have been talking about alternatives to the iPad already here, but every day I come across more and more of them.
So here are a few more.
It seems that the windows versions are getting more attractive. Not only that they are running windows 7 (which just sold more than 100 million licenses a couple of days ago), but they also support multitouch, flash and everything else that windows supports out of the box.
GBook tablet
1.2GHz Intel ULV SU2300 processor with integrated Intel graphics and 2GB of RAM – it looks like you can put a 2.5 inch HDD or SSD in it for storage. it will run win 7 and the multitouch panel supports up to 10 touchpoints – no word on price or release date yet, but definitely an option to keep your eye on
Jumper’s JK01-TT
10 inch screen with multitouch, running win 7, 667MHz processor, GMA950 graphics, Realtek audio, 2GB RAM, 250GB SATA HDD, 2 megapixel camera, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI out, WiFi b/g, and 3G and it ships with a wireless keyboard, mouse, and a stand – all that for US$ 672 from here
here it is in action
The other option that I always come across are the Android tablets and even though Google and HTC seem to work on one together, others have already released their low cost versions
Enso’s zenPad
5 inch screen, 800 x 480, Android 1.6, 8GB of storage (on a replaceable microSD), 667MHz Samsung processor and WiFi all for US$ 155
And if you want to spend an additional US$ 60 it comes with GPS and an external 3G adapter.
Not the best specifications on the planet, but you can’t expect the world for US$ 210. available here
Vi10 from Onda
there is not much known about this 5 inch tablet, but it is meant to be powered by a 600MHz Rockchip and has WiFi and 3G connectivity. no price or release date yet.
Toshiba tablets
Toshiba just confirmed that it will release Windows and Android tablets in the beginning of next year. The Windows one will be the more expensive version, but it also comes with 2 screens (like a book? or the MS Courier?) the cheaper option will run Android, but of course it is still too early to speculate anything else. One thing that seems to be common knowledge is that they will have NVIDIA Tegra 2 internals which should make them nice and powerful.
WePad
I have talked about the WePad already in my earlier post here, but I wanted to share this video with you of the WePad in action
Looking at these options it will get harder and harder to make a decision on which pad is the right one for you and me and it will probably come down to what do you need it for? do you just want something you can play games on and watch the occasional (converted) movie? or do you want to do proper work with it, connect your other devices to it, maybe even make a phone call or stream your 1080p videos to your big TV?
In the end it is really up to you which one you choose and which one you can afford – all I am saying is that there are plenty of alternatives out there and you don’t have to go for the shiny one
Let me know which one you go for or if you have found another one that I didn’t see in the comments.
Microsoft today launched its new series of touchscreen mobile smartphones called Kin.
There is a 4GB and an 8GB version with 5 and 8 Megapixel cameras with flash, capable of HD video and both models focus heavily on all your social networks, e.g. Twitter and facebook.
It seems that these phones are targeted at 18 to 35 year olds.
check out the video here
not the phone I am going to go for, but impressive to see how MS is putting all its eggs into social networking.
I’m very much looking forward to this. Not because I’m jumping on the Banksy band wagon (Back in my uni days I went to one of his first exhibitions and failed to buy a piece of his work for peanuts … foolish) but because I’m pretty sure it will be nothing like the trailer and do something completely unexpected.
Anyway, here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it already:
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