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Saturday, June 4

iPhone 4 iShuttr case turn your phone into a camera, adds Xenon flash

Those of you who own an iPhone 4 know that the photos taken with it can sometimes come out too dark or blurry. We admit, the iPhone’s camera is better than a lot of cell phone cams, but it could always be better. Until the launch of the iPhone 5, which is said to have a better camera, we’ll have to find other ways to make our iPhone photo-taking a little better. One product in the works is the iShuttr: a case that adds a flash, zoom buttons, and a shutter release button to the iPhone.
Created by Robert Haleluk, a professional photographer and programmer, the iShuttr is still inKickstarter mode. The iShuttr is more
of a camera case for the iPhone 4 intended to make mobile photography better. Yes, the iPhone 4 already has an LED flash which works pretty well for close-up photos, but it doesn’t do much for shooting anything past a distance of two to three feet.
Haleluk said the team behind the iShuttr has acquired Apple’s MFi license, which stands for “Made For iOS.” So, the project is licensed by Apple, but in order to submit it to Apple for “consumer grade testing,” they need to create final units and have them tested by a third-party facility first. Hence, why they took the iShuttr to Kickstarter. The iShuttr crew needs to raise $50,000 in the next 72 days and has already raised a little under $5,000.
The iShuttr adds a Xenon Strobe flash to the back of the case. The case also has a zoom button which allows you to zoom in and out. In addition, the iShuttr features a shutter release, which is key since pushing the shutter button on your iPhone’s touchscreen actually pushes the lens a tiny bit. Although it’s a small movement, it’s enough to cause your photo to blur slightly.
The case can be used with a standard tripod to assure maximum stability. It also has an ergonomic grip so that the user knows where to put their hand while shooting, eliminating any fingers getting in the way of the lens. The iShuttr also has an external battery system which can be charged through an external USB port on the bottom of the case.
With today’s news that AT&T has run out of iPhone 4s, some may wonder why the iShuttr team is creating an accessory for a retiring product. Haleluk said that the iShuttr camera case will be available for iPhone 5 and select Android devices as well.

Xbox Live Diamond announcement expected at E3

Up until now Microsoft has offered two tiers of Xbox Live service. The first is Silver level which is completely free and gives you basic access to online features and the Xbox Live marketplace. Gold membership is the paid-for upper tier that adds multiplayer, access to services like Zune and Last.fm, as well as Video Kinect features.
We thought Xbox Live would stay at two tiers for the rest of this console lifecycle, but we were wrong. Microsoft is apparently going to unveil Xbox Live Diamond during E3 next week.
The new feature that Diamond level brings is the addition of Microsoft’s very own subscription TV service. With it, Microsoft will be in direct competition with other settop box service, but Microsoft has a major advantage for a new entrant due to the millions of Xbox 360 consoles already sitting under TVs in homes across the U.S.
The TV service is expected to fully integrate with the existing live sports offerings, music services, and Kinect control/avatars. It’s apparently something Microsoft has been working on for a while under the codenam Orapa. That suggests quite a healthy line-up of content from launch and on display next week.

Wednesday, June 1

Top 5 Android Phones @ India

1) Samsung Galaxy S II (I9100)

 

Price: Rs 32,890

 Key Specs. ::

Android v2.3.3 with TouchWiz 4.0
4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display
Super-slim body, weighs just 116g
1.2GHz Dual Core Processor
1GB of RAM
8MP Camera with autofocus
1080p video recording@30fps
HDMI port
USB 2.0 (MHL), USB on-the-go
NFC (Near Field Communication) ready

2) HTC Incredible S

 

 Price: Rs 26,399

Key Specs ::

Android 2.3.3 with HTC Sense UI 2.0
4.0-inch SLCD display
Slim, ruggedized body with excellent build
1.0 GHz Qualcomm MSM 8255 CPU
768MB RAM
8MP Camera with Autofocus
720p video capture@30fps
Gorilla Glass Display

 

 

3) Google Nexus S

Price: Rs 26,900 

Key Specs ::

Android 2.3.4
4-inch SAMOLED display
Well-built with contoured screen
1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor
512MB RAM
5MP Camera with Autofocus
WVGA (800x480 pixels) video@30fps
Gorilla Glass Display


 

4) LG Optimus 2x (P990)

 

 Price: Rs. 26,990

 Key Specs ::

Android 2.3
4-inch IPS LCD display (800x480 pixels)
World’s first dual-core smartphone
1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor with ULP GPU
512MB RAM
8MP Camera with Autofocus and LED flash
1080p HD video@24fps
Gorilla Glass Display

 

5) Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

 

My Personal Favorite 

Price: Rs. 27,499

Key Specs ::

Android 2.3 (2.3.3 update available)
4.2-inch Reality Display (854x480 pixels)
Super-slim and elegant, contoured design
1GHz Scorpion processor with Adreno 205 GPU
512MB RAM
8MP Camera with Autofocus and LED flash
720p HD video@30fps

Google Again Makes Indian Boundary Contorversial

Google's depiction of Indian boundaries has raised a stink with a right-wing group that has decided to stage a protest against the global online technology giant for having left Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir out of Indian bounds in their Analytics product.
THIS IS THE LIMIT: The state of Kashmir's boundary as seen here, is marked with a dotted line, as Google considers it a 'disputed' territory.
THIS IS THE LIMIT: The state of Kashmir's boundary as seen here, is marked with a dotted line, as Google considers it a 'disputed' territory.
Spread the word
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) on Tuesday staged a demonstration against Google at its Mumbai offices and have appealed to Indian citizens to stop using Gmail, Google Search and other services as a mark of protest.

HJS functionary Narendra Surve said that the group is now mulling a demonstration outside Google's India headquarters in Hyderabad. "Our mails to them have gone unanswered but we will continue to protest if the maps do not change," said Surve.

Interestingly, the map of India hosted on google.co.in shows Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir as part of the country, while in the map hosted on google.com, these areas are marked by a dotted line.

The HJS have also launched an online petition that has had over 4000 signatories so far. The petition will be forwarded to the Home Ministry and US Embassy apart from Google authorities.

In a statement released by Google, the company said that their demarcation of disputed territories was in line with their global policies. "It has been Google's consistent and global policy to depict disputed regions as per the claims made by the disputing/claiming nations on its global properties. This does not in any way endorse or affirm the position taken by any side but merely provides complete information on the prevailing geo-political situation to our users of global properties in a dispassionate and accurate manner," said a statement from Google India.

They however added that Google Analytics was not trying to display accurate images of country maps. "The depiction of geographic regions on the tool is an illustrative representation of the region and is neither drawn to scale nor does it try to represent an accurate image of the maps. This is a common practice, and users of mapping products do not generally look to tools such as Analytics for accurate map information," said the statement.

Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Morocco, Netherlands and China are some of the other countries that have had objections to boundaries defined by Google products.

Tuesday, May 31

Computex 2011: ASUS Officially Announces the Padfone


ASUS was likely to launch the Padfone, a tablet which would allow smartphone docking. Well, the Padfone has now officially been announced at Computex.
The mockup included a 10-inch Tablet and a 4.3-inch smartphone, with display switching done dynamically. The smartphone, once docked, will be able to recharge its battery via the tablet’s, but the 3G connectivity will be restricted to one option, with the tablet using the docked smartphone’s SIM card to connect to the internet. The smartphone comes with dual-cameras and the tablet will have only a front-facing one, but will be able to use the smartphone’s as its primary rear camera. Of course, this is only a mockup, and ASUS have said they still haven’t decided on the final hardware specifications and dimensions.

Here's what ASUS had to say about the Padfone: "Innovation is at the heart of ASUS design and the new Padfone reveals exciting new possibilities for mobile computing and communication. This convergent device combines a smartphone and a tablet computer into one symbiotic gadget that allows consumers to choose the screen size that best fits their activities while seamlessly sharing data and 3G internet access."

The Padfone will run on Android Honeycomb for the Tablet and Android 2.3 Gingerbread for the Smartphone, but Ice Cream Sandwich might be part of the final retail package. The device is expected out around Christmas time this year.

Monday, May 30

Google introduces new flight schedule search feature globally !!

We were wondering what happened to Google’s acquisition of ITA,
 the world’s largest flight information company, and just exactly what it would do with it, ever since the news broke last year.
 Well, Google was recently allowed to buy the company after running into some hot water with the Department of Justice,
 and has now launched a flight schedule search feature, though it insists it did not use ITA technology.
The news was posted on the official Google blog, and explained the company’s rationale behind the move:
“…finding flights is one of the most popular online activities, so to make it a little easier to find results for your travel-related searches, you can now see a quick summary of flight information right on the results page.
Now, all users will require is a destination in mind, and when they enter a simple query 'flights from [source] to [destination],' they will get a some non-stop flight schedules, or a summary of daily flight details. A full time table is available as well, in a link entitled “Schedule of non-stop flights.” Looks like hopping flights aren’t supported yet.
Related Stories
  The feature will also allow users to see all the destinations possible from a particular airport,
 by searching 'flights from [source].' For now, though the service has been launched globally,
 it is available in ten languages – English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Turkish, and Catalan.
Apropos ITA, Google will admittedly be using their technology in the future,
providing even richer flight options and searches, not in the least, including price searches.
 The current move is apparently just “a small step towards making richer travel information easier to find,” and Google hopes to “make finding flights online feel so easy, it’ll feel like... well, a vacation!”

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