Electronic devices

Nokia x7 free navigation

2011-08-22T01:07:00.000-07:00

With Ovi you always know exactly what’s happening around you. Instantly find the best of everything in your city – cafes, shops, hotels and much more. Millions of places reviewed and rated worldwide, with expert tips from Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet. And best of all, Nokia X7 comes with free lifetime walk and drive navigation including turn-by-turn voice guidance

Samsung Galaxy S II I9100, World's Slimmest and lightest Smart phone

2011-08-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

Samsung Galaxy S II I9100 is World's Slimmest and lightest Smart phone. Its 1.2GHz Dual core processor and bold-and-brash 4.27 inch Super Amoled Plus Screen really combine well to create a truly captivating, fast and eye-popping Smartphone experience, especially if you like watching video on the move. Experience the surprise mobile performance with Richer Browsing and more power battery.

Nikon D7000 Image

2011-05-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Some Innovative feature in HP Mini 2140 Notebook PC

2009-02-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

A large 10.1-inch diagonal LED display with 16:9 aspect ratio available in either standard-definition (1,024 x 576) or high-definition (1,366 x 768) resolutions.
User-friendly 92 percent of full-size QWERTY keyboard and a touchpad.
HP DuraKeys, featuring a clear coating applied over the notebook keyboard that protects the finish and printed letters and characters. HP DuraKeys offers 50 times more resistance to visible wear than keyboards without it.
HP 3D DriveGuard, featuring a three-axis digital accelerometer chip that sends a signal to shut down the hard drive upon sudden movement or shock.
HP Panel Protection System with a scratch-resistant acrylic LCD cover and magnesium hinge bracket for added durability in demanding environments.
Ability to view video, still-image capture, web conferencing or video-enhanced IM with no additional hardware to buy or carry. The integrated VGA webcam enables video and still-image capture to allow the addition of photos and video clips to presentations, documents and email.⁽⁴⁾
Two battery solutions – three-cell for lightest-weight configurations or six-cell lithium-ion battery for longer life.⁽⁶⁾
Optional Absolute Software’s Computrace,⁽⁷⁾ which allows IT professionals to work with local law enforcement to track and help recover stolen or missing computers, inventory computers district wide, and detect changes in hardware and software.

CYBER SHOT DSC-G3 FROM SONY: WI-FI DIGITAL CAMERA WITH WEB BROWSER

2009-02-10T02:01:00.000-08:00

With a focus on making photo sharing easier and more convenient, Sony introduced the world’s first Wi-Fi® enabled digital camera that uploads photos and videos to Web sites through any public hotspot due to its built-in Web browser.
The Cyber-shot camera makes it easy to upload images and video directly to popular photo and video sharing sites wherever a Wi-Fi connection is available.
The camera can wirelessly connect to any public hotspot, including hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and airports. Like a computer, the camera can connect to free or fee-based hotspots, as well as to secure and unsecured access points.
The new DSC-G3 model comes with complimentary AT&T Wi-Fi access to Sony’s Easy Upload Home Page until Jan. 31, 2012. It includes Wi-Fi access at thousands of AT&T hotspots across the United States.
The new camera makes it easy to connect to the Internet and upload images. By pressing the WLAN button on the camera, you can open its embedded Web browser.
Through the Sony Easy Upload Home Page, you can send e-mail notifications from the sharing Web sites to let friends and family know that you have posted new images and videos for viewing.

Nokia E63: Easy to send message

2009-01-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

Nokia E63 brings a fully featured QWERTY smartphone to an entry level pricepoint.
The Nokia E63 combines a QWERTY keypad, 3G network speeds and the mature open source operating system Symbian S60 3rd Edition.
Nokia E63 is more than just a QWERTY smartphone - it's a computer in the palm of the hand.
Nokia E63 can be used for corporate or personal email including Mail for Exchange, Lotus Notes and a variety of standard consumer ISPs.
The Nokia E63 also comes with a Files on Ovi subscription of 1GB of online file storage for free.

New hot key in Windows 7

2009-01-25T08:07:00.001-08:00

Win+Space provides an immediate peek at the desktop.
Win+Up maximizes a window.
Win+Down restores and minimizes a window.
Win++ zooms in on a page.
Win+Shift+Left jumps to the left monitor.
Win+Shift+Right forces a jump to the right monitor.
Win+P offers a look at all external display options.
Alt+P toggles the Preview Pane on and off for IE.

Important feature of Panasonic TH-46PZ85U

2009-01-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

Panasonic 46-inch 1080p TH-46PZ85U Viera is priced approx $1200
In this model Panasonic significantly improved picture contrast and color saturation compare to its previous models.
A curved dark mirror-finish stereo speaker bar centered below the screen (and containing two 10W speakers) offers a pleasing contrast. Broadcast and disc-based materials sounded good, with no distortion (or internal rattle) at maximum volume levels, and the speakers' bass response reproduced lower frequencies better than most HDTVs.
A code list provided in the manual allows to be programmed to control VCR, DBS (satellite), cable, and DVD player hardware. The remote's responsiveness with the TV was very good from wide angles and at distances exceeding 20 feet.
HD-compatible inputs include two HDMI, two component, VGA, and an RF input that feeds a NTSC/Clear QAM/ATSC tuner. A set of right-side-mounted ports adds another HDMI port and an additional set of analog inputs. A small door on the TV's left side conceals on-display controls and an SD card slot.
The 46-inch screen features native 1080p resolution. When displaying 1080i/p video material.
The TH-46PZ85U's HDMI ports are compatible with 1080p60 and 1080p24 input, and component video input supports formats up to 1080i.

DMC-FS15 : New 12.1 MP camera from Panasonic

2009-01-22T04:33:00.000-08:00

Panasonic announced new addition to its LUMIX FS-Series of digital cameras, DMC-FS15.

The 12.1 megapixel DMC-FS15 features a 29mm wide-angle Leica DC VARIO-ELMAR lens with a 5x optical zoom.
Enhanced the Intelligent Auto Mode (iA).
Intelligent ISO Control
Intelligent Scene Selector and Face Detection.
AF Tracking enables the user to “lock” the focus onto a moving subject.
Additionally, Intelligent Exposure helps capture natural-looking images by suppressing blocked shadows and blown highlights.

Advantage of 512GB SSD from Toshiba

2009-01-21T23:23:00.000-08:00

Toshiba Corporation's NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSD) with the industry's first 2.5-inch 512-gigabyte (GB) SSD and a broad family of fast read/write SSDs based on 43 nanometer (nm) Multi-Level Cell NAND. The new drives provide a high level of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers, gaming and home entertainment systems.

Toshiba's second-generation SSDs bring increased capacity and performance for notebook computers, utilizing an advanced MLC controller which is also compatible with further advanced process, that achieves higher read/write speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling to optimize performance, reliability and endurance. The drives enable improved system responsiveness with a maximum sequential read speed of 240MB per second (MBps) and maximum sequential write speed of 200MBps, enabling an improvement in overall computing experience, and faster boot and application loading times. The drives also offer AES data

encryption to prevent unauthorized data access.

Nokia 6500 Classic-A Complete Blend Of Multimedia Technology

2009-01-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

Want a silver screen to watch movie on your palm! The Nokia 6500 Classic can offer fun imaging feature, allowing users to record, playback and stream video on the phone. Born with the best; the Nokia 6500 Classic Phone receives praises from the users because of its compact casing, 3G technology and a 2 inches QVGA LCD screen to provide sophistication while phoning, high speed broadband connection along with fast data transfer, multitasking capabilities and video streaming, and to provide excellent visual presentation respectively.

Order Nokia 6500 Classic from the retailing sites to get the excellent phoning, imaging, and web browsing at an affordable price. The Nokia 6500 Classic Phone encompassed with 2-mega pixel camera and music player provides users with the ultimate imaging and music experiences. The camera can steal the show by offering beautiful images and portraying videos on the screen. The music player can soothe the minds through its tuneful sound and melodious music. As far as messaging is considered; the Nokia 6500 Classic Phone has put much emphasis on text messaging, multimedia messaging and email to assess non-verbal communication. The clarity of communication is determined with wireless connectivity and networking. Order Nokia 6500 Classic online as it does not rely on cables t download games and applications, transmit data and files, send multimedia messages and email and browse internet on the move. In fact, the Nokia 6500 Classic Phone supports Bluetooth, USB, EDGE, Quad Band technology, HSCSD, WAP and XHTML to render wire free communication in the form of multimedia and mobile computing.

When multimedia communication is at its offing; the introduction of the Nokia 6500 Classic Phone has set a new trend of communication to develop computer-generated performance on the mobile phone. In short, the Nokia N6500 Classic is regarded as a sophisticated device designed with all the latest technology you could need.

Author : Austin David is associated with Contract Phones. To know more about Nokia 6500 Classic, Contract Mobile Nokia Phone, Order Nokia 6500, Mobile Phone Accessories please visit http://www.contractphones.me.uk/

Sony-vaio Vgn-cr313hb Laptop

2009-01-21T03:04:00.000-08:00

Sneak Peek

Sony-VAIO VGN-CR313H/B notebook features dual core processor and 1 GB RAM to increase your productivity and to make your life simple and easy. It gives you wealth of features and all round performance to extract maximum out of your notebook.

Key Features

Sony-VAIO VGN-CR313H/B notebook offers IntelDual Core T2370 processor and 1 GB RAM for fast computing high end performance. The in-built 160 GB hard disk provides you with enough storage space to keep your favorite movies, music and data. With the resolution of 1280x 800 pixels the screen produces bright and splendid images. It features DVD writer to burn large amount of data on the CD or DVD. The key board functions very smoothly. Even the hand space provided is very spacious. The touchpad also works very proficiently without being over sensitive to touch.

Design

The matte finish and luminous trim along with sharp sophisticated look make this a priced possession. With the dimension of 335.1 x 249 x 38.3 mm and weight 2.5 kg, including battery, it is simple and easy to carry while traveling. With the screen size of 14.1? Clear Bright display you will get crisp and clear images at a press of a button. It is also provided with an internal with the WiFi 802.11 b/g network.

Core Information

The cache memory of the Sony-VAIO VGN-CR313H/B is 1024 KB. This form of memory can be considered as an intermediary between the main physical RAM and the CPU. The cache makes any data regularly used by CPU instantly obtainable.

Cutting Edge Technology

Sony-VAIO VGN-CR313H/B Laptop comes with advanced features to provide greater flexibility to your everyday computing. The notebook has various ports and slots for different utilizations. It comes with 3 in 1 Digital Media Reader, Express card slot, 3 USB Port, Firewire port, Bluetooth and S-video port. Its built-in speakers give you rich quality sound to enjoy your favorite music. The notebook comes with integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 video card which has been manufactured by Intel.

Conclusion

People looking for a notebook with rich features and good value for money, then Sony-VAIO VGN-CR313H/B notebook is a nice choice. It offers good quality and performance. For style conscious users it offers sophisticated look.

Vinnit Alex is a well known author and has written articles on Laptops, Laptop store, Dell Laptops, online shop and many other subjects.

Minimum hardware requirement for windows 7

2009-01-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Microsoft suggested minimum hardware recommendations for systems that will be running the Windows 7 Beta. These recommendations for beta release only and subject to change:
Processor: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
Memory: 1 GB of system memory
Hard drive: 16 GB of available disk space
Video card: Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)

Nikon DSLR D60 Kit Digital Camera

2008-07-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Nikon DSLR D60 Kit Digital Camera is the latest model which is compact, bundled and functional having the VR lens on it. The 10 megapixel camera is one of the greatest of all attractions along with the APS-H Sensor. It is build along with the stabilized lens which is optically found and the best for the price concerned. The body of the camera is simply the perfect thing to have and it has all the features to make it the best in the new comer list.

It has the features specified in the DSLR which includes the fast burnt mode and also the RAW support completely. The quality of the image is simply remarkable and it suits the camera well and good. The color of the camera seems to be the best and the noise seems to be extra ordinary. One of the greatest of all advantages seems to be D-Lighting which seems to be the dynamic range booster.

The Nikon DSLR D60 Kit Digital Camera is simply the best for the beginner in photography as well as those who are into taking photos in the professional way. It has the latest VR lens which adds to the superiority. Another important related aspect is fast operation. The overall image quality is simply mesmerizing and it is the best for the concerned price. The body is simply sleek and can be handled pretty well.

There are just slight differences in the diffraction even though not in all the cases. The overall ranking of the camera states to be in the Very Good position. Using the camera is pretty easy and the buttons are very few and can be managed well in the best possible way. The rubber grooves works in the perfect way to prevent any kind of slippage.By John Axelberg http://www.electroniceasy.com

What is Blu Ray Disc

2008-05-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

In February 2002, the leading optical storage companies formed the Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF) and announced the initial specifications for Blu-ray Disc, a high-capacity CD/DVD-type optical disc format. By May 2002, the Blu-ray Disc (BD) specification 1.0 was released, and in April 2003, Sony released the BDZ-S77 for the Japanese market, the first commercially available BD recorder. In January 2006, the Blu-ray Disc Association also released a 2.0 specification for BD-RE discs. Blu-ray is a fully rewritable format that enables recording up to 25GB of data or up to 2 hours of high-definition video on a single-sided, single-layer 12cm diameter disc (which is the same as existing CDs and DVDs) using a 405nm blue-violet laser. Dual-layer BD recorders are also being developed and will record up to 50GB. Although backward compatibility with DVD and CD is not a requirement of the Blu-ray specification, it is a feature drive manufacturers can easily include. In fact, all the Blu-ray drives announced so far have full backward compatibility with DVD and CD formats.

One of the main application for higher-capacity optical storage is recording high-definition TV, which takes an incredible amount of storage. Current DVD recorders can't store enough data to handle high-definition video. Blu-ray, on the other hand, is designed to store up to 2 hours of high-definition video (or more than 13 hours of standard broadcast-quality TV) on a single-layer disc, or double that when dual-layer versions become available. As with DVD, Blu-ray uses the industry-standard MPEG-2 compression technology.

The Blu-ray Disc 1.0 specification includes the following formats:

BD-ROM. Read-only for prerecorded content
BD-R. Recordable for PC data storage
BD-RW. Rewritable for PC data storage

As of January 2006, only the BD-RE format, which is a rewritable format for HDTV recording, had been revised. The current specification is BD-RE 2.0.

Standard CDs use a 780nm (infrared) laser combined with a 0.45 numerical aperture lens, whereas DVDs use a 650nm (red) laser combined with a 0.60 numerical aperture lens. Blu-ray uses a much shorter 405nm (blue-violet) laser with a 0.85 numerical aperture lens. Numerical aperture is a measurement of the light-gathering capability of a lens, as well as the focal length and relative magnification. The numerical aperture of a lens is derived by taking the sine of the maximum angle of light entering the lens. For example, the lens in a CD-ROM drive gathers light at up to a 26.7° angle, which results in a numerical aperture of SIN(26.7) = 0.45. By comparison, the lens in a DVD drive gathers light at up to a 36.9° angle, resulting in a numerical aperture of SIN(36.9) = 0.60. Blu-ray drives gather light at up to a 58.2° angle, resulting in a numerical aperture of SIN(58.2) = 0.85. Higher numerical apertures allow increasingly oblique (angled) rays of light to enter the lens and therefore produce a more highly resolved image.

The higher the aperture, the shorter the focal length and the greater the magnification. The lens in a CD-ROM drive magnifies roughly 20 times, whereas the lens in a DVD drive magnifies about 40 times. The Blu-ray lens magnifies about 60 times. This greater magnification is necessary because the distance between tracks on a Blu-ray disc is reduced to 0.32um, which is almost half of that of a regular DVD. Because of the very high densities involved, a simple cartridge is normally used to hold the disc, which prevents it from being impaired by dust, fingerprints, or scratches.

The most important features of a Blu-ray disc are summarized:

Blu-ray Disc Specifications
Specification	Value	Specification	Value
Capacity (single-layer)	23.3GB/25GB/27GB	Tracking pitch	0.32um
Capacity (dual-layer)	46.6GB/50GB/54GB	Shortest pit length	0.160/0.149/0.138um
Laser wavelength	405nm (blue-violet)	Recording density	16.8/18.0/19.5Gb/sq. in.
Lens numerical aperture	0.85	Data transfer rate	36Mbps
Cartridge dimensions	Approximately 129x131x7mm	Recording format	Phase change recording
Disc diameter	120mm	Tracking format	Groove recording
Disc thickness	1.2mm	Video format	MPEG2
Optical protection layer	0.1mm

Blu-ray, or perhaps some other blue-laser disc drive, will eventually become the replacement for today's DVD drives. For more information about Blu-ray, see the official licensing website at www.blu-raydisc.info/, as well as the unofficial Blue-ray site at www.blu-ray.com.

The Best Information on HDMI and DVI cables

2008-05-04T00:49:00.001-07:00

With the advancement of so many electronical devices in the last decade, the need for proper cables has arose. There are countless cables out on the open market today designed for different features and different settings to enhance someone´s electronical experience. A couple of high demand cables include the HDMI cable and the DVI cable. These two cables are pretty similar but have a few key differences.

First lets talk about the DVI cable which stands for digital visual interface. It was released in 1999 primarily for carrying uncompressed digital video data to a display. Back then it was pretty much used for computer monitor, but now they are highly used for television sets. This part may get a bit confusing because there are three main connection types for DVI. They include the DVI-D which is digital only, the DVI-A which is analog only, and the DVI-I which is both digital and analog. So before selecting the best DVI cable for you, make sure you know which one you are getting.

The other cable I want to talk about is the HDMI which stands for high definition multimedia interface. This cable was introduced in 2002 and is an all digital´video interface capable of transmitting uncompressed streams of data. It is very similar to the DVI except the HDMI has the ability to also carry audio and video signals. The two cables do basically the same things, but the HDMI is a little better because it is a bit newer and can do a couple more features than the DVI cable.

Whatever cable you choose, make sure you get one that is compatible with whatever you are trying to connect it with. There are a number of cables that do different things and can affect your electronic device in different ways, so do as much research as possible before making your purchase.

About Author

Written by Grant Foster. Find the latest information on an HDMI Adapter
Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-grant-foster-8033.html

Multimedia features of Motorola RAZR2 V9m

2008-01-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

RAZR2 V9m (sprint) probably the best multimedia RAZR phone. Some of the important features:

RAZR2 V9m uses the RAZR2's huge Large 2.0" QVGA 65k color display to show dozens of channels of streaming TV and to let you navigate through your music.
This mobile comes with 2.0 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom.
The flagship feature on this handset though is the more than 30 channels of SprintTV
Sprint provides 30 channels of SprintTV which can be displayed on the V9m's outside screen.
You can play AAC and MP3, but not WMA files.
RAZR2 V9m also has Web browser from Obigo.
You can use the phone as a GPS navigator with the Telenav service.
RAZR2 V9m has Embedded 32 Memory. Plus your are going to get microSDTM 256MB Memory Card.

Key feature of Nikon Coolpix s51c

2007-12-31T13:31:00.000-08:00

8.1 megapixel
3x Optical Zoom-Nikkor Glass Lens
Optical VR Image Stabilization.
Huge, Bright 3.0-inch High Resolution LCD
Auto Adjusts up to ISO 1600. makes it ideal to take photos in low light.
send pictures directly to your Flickr® account right from the camera in Wi-Fi open access hotspots
creates in-camera slide shows with your music.

Enjoy with GPS Enabler: Sony Ericsson K530

2007-12-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

Sony ericsson K530 is a compact less weight of 92g, the Sony Ericsson K530 packs a 2.0-megapixel camera, M2 card slot, secondary video call camera, 2.0-inch LCD screen, 3G connectivity, and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP.The Sony Ericsson K530 is a slim 3G phone that gives full and fast access to the Web, plus performance imaging with a 2 megapixel camera and a variety of news, weather and entertainment features

The Sony ericsson K530 is the perfect partner for the GPS Enabler HGE-100. The K530 as a phone and accessory combination, the two can record speed and distance, and also provide visual post-training analysis on the good-sized 2" screen. The 2 megapixel camera on the Sony Ericsson K530 boasts a x2.5 digital zoom and video recording capabilities.

The most affordable 3G phone from Sony Ericsson , the K530 will keep you in-touch Screen. Its slim, pocket-sized so can take it with you anywhere and enjoy the full 3G experience . The Sony Ericsson K530 is a UMTS 2100 and GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 phone and is available in Warm Silver. Sony Ericsson K530 is just a standard candybar, tri-band GSM with UMTS 2100. Still it features 2-megapixel camera with video recorder, 176x220 display, stereo Bluetooth and Radio. Please Purchase online http://www.phoneandbeyond.com/

About Author

Representing Sony Ericsson K530 in the website http://www.phoneandbeyond.com/

Panasonic released ultra thin Blue-ray drive

2007-12-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

Panasonic now shipping ultra thin Blue-ray drive which can idle to fit in light weight notebook.

Along with the capability to read and write High definition video in Blue-ray format, this can also read and write standard CDs and DVDs. And can store 50 Gbytes of content.

Initially this drive has 2X writing speed.

Toshiba also said that it has plan to release an equally thin drive for reading and writing DVDs in the HD DVD format, which competes with Blu-ray.

HD features in Qosmio G40

2007-12-28T15:28:00.001-08:00

Toshiba introducing first HD DVD-RW laptop Qosmio G40, initially they are selling this only in Japan.

This laptop comes with 17in notebook, 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, 2GB of memory, two 200GB hard drives and an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics chip with 256MB of graphics memory attached.

The GPU drives the 1920 x 1200 display. G40 also provides HDMI port, this will give you option to hook the laptop up to an HD TV.

But the most significant feature in this laptop is the HD DVD-RW drive .It reads and writes both burn-once HD DVD-R media as well as the rewriteable version in both single- and dual-layer forms. It'll also handled DVD±R/RW discs, DVD-RAM and CD-R/RW.

Camera in Verizon Wireless XV6800

2007-12-28T14:53:00.001-08:00

Verizon Wireless XV6800 comes with a 2-megapixel lens with flash. This has autofocus, and video-recording capabilities. You have five choices to select resolution while taking still image. Plus you have self-timer option and the option of adding a time stamp. In video mode available options are limited but you will have white balance settings, effects, and two resolution choices.

Music Videos for Iphone-How To Get Them

2007-12-07T19:36:00.001-08:00

Iphone's are proving to be tremendously popular, and one of the most popular things to go with it is to download some music videos for it. The Ipod beforehand has proved to be a very popular device, and it's now likely for the Iphone to repeat that success.

In order to download the music videos for the Iphone, the first thing you need to do is to make sure the videos you are downloading are in the MP4 format, as this is the only video format the Iphone can currently support. Luckily you'll find that most sites are primarily based around this format anyway.

The toughest thing about downloading the music videos for the Iphone is actually finding them. It's pretty tough to find the best download sites unless you know where they are. There are several different kinds of site, some of which may well prove to be a lot more trouble than they are worth. Probably the biggest danger is to use a peer to peer site for your downloads. Whilst these sites have been popular in the past, it's best to avoid them as they are breaking the law, and so will you be if you download anything from there. Another major danger is the software itself-you can seriously damage your computer and Iphone by using these sites, as there is no regulation of what is uploaded by the users. This means hackers and spammers use sites like this as a method of introducing new viruses to the internet, putting you at direct risk.

The good news about this is that you can now find a few sites which can offer you all the positive sides of the peer to peer sites, but very few of the negatives. The way it works is that you pay a one off fee to join the site, and in turn they give you unlimited downloads. Because you pay the sites a fee to join, they use the income to keep their downloads clean and regularly add new downloads to their stocks. You'll also find that these kinds of sites keep a lot more in their database than music videos-you'll also find movies and games as well as TV shows. This gives these kinds of sites a tremendous amount of value for money.

If you are looking to download some music videos for your Iphone, this article will hopefully let you know anything you need.

Iphone Games

Downloads For Iphone

http://www.IphoneDownloadsReviews.com

The New Sigma SD14: 4.7 Megapixels = 14 Megapixels?

2007-12-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

Photokina is going to be one hell of a show this year, and one of the many secrets being released and teased is that Sigma is coming out with with another DSLR, the SD14. Just from the name, DigitalDingus assumes it will be marketed as a 14MP DSLR, but will actually be a 4.7MP imager. Confusing? Yes, and the tradition continues in the world of image sensor spinning.

Preliminary Results? Pretty Good

The SD14 appears to put out some great images, just like the SD10 and the SD9 did many years ago. And this I won't really debate because how can a person debate a camera in and of itself? What is to be debated, is the way Sigma and Foveon present their cameras in relation to all the other competitors on the market.

Sell Your Camera, Not Your Spin

The DSLR market is certainly competitive. The Megapixel Wars have been battling each other several years now, but why add to the problem of an already confusing consumer product by adding subjectively different terminology as well. Fuji is another company which loves to hype it's "Honeycomb" sensors. In fact, Fuji and Sigma (along with Foveon who make the imagers for Sigma's SD DSLRs) are the two companies which I really have an issue with over any other camera manufacturers.

Sigma and Foveon are still telling the consumer, there is more than one "pixel" which is absorbing light in their cameras. Not true. If this were true, the imager wouldn't be 3.34MP in the former Sigma SD10 (as in 10MP imager--3.34MPx3). With the SD14, I'm assuming Sigma and Foveon have not actually made a 14MP imager. If they did, I'd certainly revise my preview and would be congratulating both companies for taking a giant leap in technology and honesty. I still have a small grain of hope come September 26, 2006, when Sigma will announce the full details (however, I am sure we'll get a hold of the specs much earlier and post them here...as well as a gazillion other camera forums).

Why Sigma DSLR Images Look Good

Pixel. Pitch. Those two words need to be ingrained in every camera users brain. The reason why Sigma's DSLR images have looked rather good, is because the imagers have an exceptionally high pixel size (i.e., pixel pitch) which are in the same league as the Canon 1DMKII imager. Having fairly large pixels in a DSLR will consistently produce great images. In fact, the Canon 1D, only a 4.2MP DSLR, released over 5 years ago, is still used by many professionals. Why? The pixel size is 10.8µm x 10.8µm. We will discuss pixel sizes in another article, but for now, the general consensus is the larger the pixel, the better the image. The larger the bucket of water, the more water you can capture...

Resolution Does Matter In The Overall World Of Photography

While pixel size is certainly the #1 priority in my book, if your overall resolution is not in the same ballpark as your competitor's, your imager's benefits become less of a benefit. For example, Nikon has released the D200 10.2MP and D80 10.2MP DSLR. Canon has released their 13MP 5D. If the Sigma SD14 is actually 4.7MP, we have at least double the pixel count and over 25% more resolution from other competitors (we have to remember in order to get twice as much resolution, you would need four times as many pixels).

Now, Sigma and Foveon are attempting to make a claim you don't need high resolution imagers. This is somewhat confusing. Maybe Foveon just doesn't have the technological and financial resources like Canon and Nikon have to make larger imagers. It takes a lot of money to research and develop larger imagers with more resolution, while still maintaining or exceeding image quality of a comparable smaller imager. Canon has virtually endless financial resources and in-house imaging, and Nikon already has Sony making most of its imagers, so these two companies already have a formula for creating competitive DSLRs.

Regardless of a manufacturer's methods, the result has been creating an imager with more resolution. Why is it we see a few companies twisting the definitions of pixels and resolution, and duping an already-confused DSLR consumer market?

Resolution in itself is certainly not the only answer to a camera's quality. We see many compact cameras announcing higher megapixels every 6 months. Compact camera resolution and DSLR resolution are pretty much in different categories since DSLRs still have larger pixels, and the image quality, is by far much better. So please don't think I am saying resolution is better 100% of the time because in some cases, it is not. However, when you follow Nikon and Canon's image sensor technology, their images have become better over the years in parallel to more resolution. This is not easy. And it's not cheap. Which is why many camera manufacturers are not producing 10MP DSLRs currently.

Being The Oddball Sells

In today's world of consumerism, not only does popularity sell...but being the outcast as well. If you have a competitor, or a few of them, and you know darn well there is no chance to compete because you flat-out don't have the personnel or resources to compete on the same level, simply create a reverse-popularity market, and create yourself as the oddball product that is better than your competitor. Believe it or not, it works. And it works darn well. Take any popular product and do a little research on the smaller competitors. Then look at the smaller competitor's marketing strategy. More than likely, you'll see a form of "oddball advertising". And on a curious note, some major competitors even use the smaller competitors' strategies to further their market share! Overall, it's a sea of marketing disinformation and confusion.

Don't Compete With The Big Guys, Just Sell Yourself

Another point I'd like to make is if you're a manufacturer who is struggling to survive and can't compete with the big guys...don't. Don't compete with them. Just sell yourself. Just sell your product. If Foveon and Sigma would just sell their product for what it was, and not compare it to proven camera giants like Canon and Nikon, you wouldn't be reading this editorial preview article. You'd simply be reading a preview on a cool new DSLR, improving on its previous DSLR model.

Would I Recommend A Sigma DSLR?

Well, I will not debate the SD DSLRs image quality because they are darn good. If I begin to compare them to other DSLRs, the amount of lenses available, the lens technologies such as Canon and Nikon, as well as new imaging technology from Canon and Nikon, the Sigma DSLR option becomes much less significant. If you're a Foveon imager fan, then the new SD14 is certainly going to get you excited. But I would like to request if you are going to purchase a Sigma DSLR, you conduct some simple tests.

Most camera shops have displays of the latest DSLRs available and you can bring your own media card and take images, then go home and open them up in your favorite image editor. What I recommend, is waiting until the SD14 becomes available in stores, take some images with the SD14, then take some images with a Canon 20D and a Nikon D80 or D200. Take all the images home which you've shot and compare them. If the Sigma seems it's better, then I am not one to tell you, you should do anything different. Buy the SD14. But if you like the other images from the Canon or Nikon, then go in that direction as well.

Nokia N73: User Friendly Mobile Phone

2007-12-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

N Series memberNokia N73 is a simply attractive 3G mobile phone. The Nokia N73 handset comes in a choice of four attractive colors. The Nokia N73 weighs 116 grams & measures 110 x 49 x19 mm in total which is a compact & well designed handset. The phone is full of great technology which is user friendly & improves the phones performance.

Nokia N73 comes with TFT color screen which provides 262k colors & a 240 x 320 pixel screen resolution. The integrated 3.2 mega pixel camera is of outstanding quality & has a 20 x digital zoom and auto focus option. The user can use the cameras built in flash when taking a photo in duller conditions.

The Nokia N73 camera feature comes with many different setting modes to ensure the user will capture the perfect photo each and every time. There are also options of advanced camera mode selection .The user can use the second VGA camera to take part in a video call.

The VGA camera comes with a 2 x digital zoom which allows the user to get a closer image on the video call. The user can store their photos on the phones memory, send to other contacts via multimedia messaging service or email, print using Nokia Xpress printing & download to other devices using the phones connectivity options.

The user can have a fun music experience on the Nokia N73 as it comes with best quality music feature that provides clear sound. The handset have all the messaging features according the need of user which includes email with attachments, text messaging, multimedia messaging & instant messaging.

Nokia N73

Mobile Phone Shop for Mobile Deals

HDMI: Guide to HDTV Connection of the Future

2007-11-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

Background:

As the HDTV market continues to heat up, consumers are in need of being educated on the latest technology. One of the terms that you, the consumer, will surely run into while selecting a HDTV set is: HDMI. For most this is an unfamiliar term and we will explain the details of HDMI in this article so you, the consumer, is armed with the proper knowledge to make intelligent purchasing decisions.

What is HDMI: HDMI is an acronym for High Definition Multi-Media Interface. The HDMI specification (now at 1.2) was created by some of the largest consumer electronics manufacturers in the world: Hitachi, Matsushita, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson, and Toshiba. HDMI is the latest digital HDTV interconnection standard. The notable differences between HDMI and the earlier HDTV interconnects standards (component video, and DVI) are:

-HDMI is all digital unlike analog component video cables

-HDMI supports multi-channel audio in addition to digital video. (DVI only supports digital video)

- HDMI is more compact in size and carries both audio and video signals therefore eliminate cable clutter.

-HDMI incorporates content protection called HDCP ( high definition content protection)

What does a HDMI connector look like: HDMI looks similar to a USB cable. The compact size and high integration (carries both audio and video) makes the HDTV installation experience truly "plug and play."

Why should I use HDMI:

-HDMI is all digital, so picture quality is "perfect" from source to display

-HDMI is both a digital audio and video connection. This will minimize cabling in your system

-HDMI is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for HDTV connections.

How does HDMI transport the digital video: The video portion of HDMI is carried by 3 separate differential pairs. Each pair transports 1 of 3 uncompressed native digital R,G, B signals from source ( dvd player, set top box) to the sink ( HDTV display). A unique protocol, T.M.D.S.( transmission minimized differential signaling), is used to transport the digital data. Each pixel is represented by 24 bits ( 8 bits each for each of the primary colors). The T.M.D.S. protocol then "calculates" and stuffs 2 extra bits to the video data stream in order to create a digital stream with minimum transitions ( lower EMI, lower interference) and also minimize long strings of '1' and '0' which can cause detection errors.

A fourth differential pair, called the TMDS clock provides the pixel clock for timing the data stream. The maximum TMDS single link pixel clock rate is 165 MHz.

What is the data rate of a single link HDMI connection: The maximum pixel clock rate is 165MHz and each of the 3 TMDS video streams carries 10 bits. Therefore the aggregate data rate is 3 x 10 x 165MHz = 4.96Gbps.

How many pins are included in the HDMI connector: There are 19 individual pins in the HDMI connector. There are 3 pairs of TMDS signals which carry all the digital audio and video signals.

How is the digital Audio signal transported: The multi-channel audio is time multiplexed into the TMDS data streams. Audio is much lower data rate (192kbps) and the extra time is used to demux the audio signals.

What is HDCP: HDCP is an acronym for High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection. HDCP is an encryption method developed by Intel in order to control unauthorized copying of digital media. The encryption is carried out in the HDMI transmitter found in the "source" ( dvd player, set top box) and decryption is carried out by the HDMI receiver ( the HDTV display). The secret keys for encryption are exchanged between the source and display over an I2C bus ( pins 15 and 16).

Is HDMI compatible with DVI: DVI is the predecessor to HDMI. HDMI and DVI are identical as far as video is concerned. Therefore, video backward compatibility exists. However, DVI will not support digital audio. For example, if you have an older DVI connection on your source and a HDMI connector on your display, a HDMI to DVI cable is all that is needed in order to view the video. A separate audio cable ( TOSLINK or SPDIF) will be needed to carry the digital audio.

What formats will HDMI support: HDMI is high speed digital connection and will support resolutions of 480i, 480P, 720i, 720 P, 1080i and in the future,1080P.

Conclusion:

HDTV technology is changing rapidly. HD connections such as HDMI will become the de facto standard in HDTV connections. We have outlined the important features of HDMI, so the consumer is well informed and ready to make intelligent purchasing decisions.

Jeff Su is product development manager at www.octavainc.com. Jeff is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology (BSEE, MSEE) and has over 10 years of experience in CATV systems, RF, and microwave designs. He may be reached at info@octavainc.com

Choosing A Digital Camera Printer

2007-11-24T20:59:00.001-08:00

There are so many types of digital camera printer on offer that finding the right one for your personal and business needs can be a very daunting task. However, there are a few main points to consider when choosing a digital camera printer that will help make the process a little easier.

It isn’t necessary to have a high-resolution digital camera printer to make great pictures. The higher the printer resolution you use, the more pixels you'll need in your original image file to produce a decent size print with your digital camera printer. The actual file size (in pixels) of the image from your camera, divided by the printer resolution (in dots per inch), determines the final print size. So, if the image file size is 1,478 x 1,280 pixels, and you print the file at 163 dpi with your digital camera printer, the final print size will be 9 x 7.8 inches.

If your digital camera printer resolution is 300 dpi, then you will have a higher resolution with more dots per inch laid down on the paper but a smaller print size. It is therefore important to ensure that you have the image file size to support the resolution of your digital camera printer.

The price of a digital camera printer is lowering whilst the quality is increasing. If you choose the right digital camera printer you can have your own photo lab, greeting card designing and sign making department with just your digital camera, some software and a printer.

The aim of having a digital camera printer is to produce photographic prints that look as close to real photographic prints as possible. This type of digital camera printer was once very expensive to buy and run, but technological advancements and competitive pricing have made them much more accessible to the average buyer. Ink-jet printers are now available that can produce excellent prints and a near photo-quality printer is much easier to find for people with a small budget. You will probably want to have a digital camera printer with a scanning feature built-in. If you want to produce same-size scans of photos you don’t need scan resolutions higher than 300 samples per inch for the scanner.

Your digital camera printer should also have the same interface that you already have on your computer. So if you have USB, then get a digital camera printer with USB, a Firewire printer if you have Firewire or a SCSI printer if you have SCSI. There should be no need to buy a digital camera printer that requires a different interface to the one you already have on your computer or it will cost you more to upgrade if necessary.

About The Author

Steve Gargin is the administrator of http://digital-camera-reviews.helper-guru.com/camera-digital-photography-wedding/index.html which is a great website dedicated to giving free advice on Digital Cameras.

Features Of Your MP4 Player

2007-11-24T20:51:00.001-08:00

When MP3s came into the market, they were a huge hit. They were small and portable, and owners could listen to all their favorite music while on the move. Now you have the MP4 player, such as iPod, with even more advanced, attractive features!

With the MP4 player (iPod), you can not only listen to your favorite songs, you can also watch your favorite movies, music videos, and TV shows, along with all your MP3 songs. It can do other things as well - you can listen to FM radio stations, you can record voice notes, and on some devices, you can even read your favorite ebooks.

Since 1993, when the MP3 technology was first introduced in to the market, it had been the most important music format. The recent introduction of the MP4 with its more compressed audio format has again changed the way digital sound is perceived. Most people might not be aware of how the MP4 differs from the MP3 and think that MP4s are more compressed and hence smaller than the audio files in the MP3 format; others assume that these two represent different technologies.

There are both common features as well as distinctions between MP3 and MP4 players. The most important point that comes to the mind when you compare the two, is that the MP4 format has properties that make up for all the shortfalls of the MP3, and the quality of perception of the files in the MP4 format is much better when compared to the MP3.

Basically, MP4 is a container. So it has the capability to carry video as well as audio files. So the basic difference is that the MP4 contains the audio and video at the same time while the MP3 format can support only the audio files. The MP4 player (iPod) allows you to realize something bigger and better than anything you can imagine. It is a new concept known as Structured Audio, and it is a mode of describing sound in the most ultra-modern way.

The MP4 technology supports a quality of sound that represents the future standard for a variety of multimedia application , including computer music and gaming audio; hence one can think of the MP4 as the next step in the evolution of the file format that started with the MP3.

There are many types of MP4 players in the market. They are very light and have small screens of 1.2 inch, however some of them may have screens of up to 2 inches. The speakers are built inside the players and there are earphone sockets as well. It is not unusual to find OLED display characteristics. OLED produces brighter and sharper images as compared to LCD images.

A great characteristic of MP4 players (iPod) is that there are not innumerable buttons for the various commands. Only a few buttons are sufficient for the purpose. The memory is quite large at 8 GB for flash based and 100 GB in case of micro based hard drive .

The latest MP4 players (iPod) even support third party, flash memory cards, which are external... they even have USB support. Earphones and other accessories are also available with the MP4, but at times the quality may not be up to the mark.

Because of it capability of delivering both video and audio at the same time, MP4 devices (iPod) can offer an even greater range of features such as email, web browsing, instant messaging , music and video download, digital camera, bluetooth wireless technology and many more. Multiple language options and gaming capability add to its versatility. Features such as voice recording enable MP4 devices to be used not only for entertainment but also for professional purposes.

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author's name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.

This article can be accessed in portuguese language from the Article section of page http://www.polomercantil.com.br/ipod.php , http://www.polomercantil.com.br/mp4-player.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for Polomercantil

Your Guide To A Notebook

2007-11-21T17:04:00.001-08:00

A notebook or laptop is nothing but a small portable computer that weighs 2.2 to 18 pounds (1 to 8 kg), that depends on its brand, style, size, material it is made of, and many other factors. Notebooks generally operate on a single main battery or through an external adapter that can both charge the battery and also supply power to the notebook.

Notebooks are adept at performing the same jobs like a personal desktop; the only difference is that they are generally less powerful for the same cost. They consist of similar components like desktop computers and execute the same functions, except that they are miniature in size and suitable for transportable use and effective power consumption. Notebooks usually have LCD and different memory modules. They have a built-in keyboard; input is done through a touchpad or a pointing stick, though an external mouse can also be attached.

There are different categories of notebooks. UMPCs are Ultra-Mobile PCs and are very portable. Since they are of a small size they can fit in a small touch screen while some other models have a minute physical keyboard along with a mouse interface. The other type is Ultraportables which are notebooks and have screens less than eleven inches and have less than 3.7 pounds (1.7 kg) of weight. They are generally used by business travelers, as they are small and light though very expensive. They have an extended battery life and integrated graphics. The other type of notebook is the Sony VAIO FJ76, and Dell XPS M1330 and XPS M1210. Then we have the mainstream notebooks that are more of budget desktops. And if you want desktop power, then you can opt for desktop replacement which can accommodate many performance components.

As far as the processors are concerned you should go for the fastest that your budget will allow. You can opt for Intel's Centrino that has great speed and also good battery life. Or else you can also go for the economic AMD's mobile processors whose performance still lags behind Intel. If you intend to watch DVDs on your notebook then go for wide screen ones that offer sharper, larger and great images. The only consideration is that they are not meant for carrying around a lot.

For great system performance it is vital to have enough memory (RAM) that will allow you to run many applications together. Adequate RAM is also essential for image and video editing, graphics work, and 3D gaming. Generally notebooks have a terrible sound quality so it is recommended to use speakers or headphones. These are some of the factors that you need to consider before buying a notebook.

Also keep in mind that like any electronic device, your notebook is vulnerable to accidents as well as system failures. It is recommended to get at least a three year warranty and also some additional insurance.

Health hazards related to using a laptop has been a controversial topic for quite some time. Researches have proved that heat generated from notebooks can raise temperature of scrotum, leading to reduced sperm count. A solution can be using it on a table or keeping it apart from the lap that will enable better cooling of the notebook and also prevent your lap from excessive electromagnetic radiation and heat.

Some of the famous brands that have notebook are Acer that have TravelMate, Ferrari and Aspire models; BenQ; Compaq with its Armada, LTE, EVO and Presario models. Other famous brands are Gateway, HCL, Lenovo, LG, Micro-Star International, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba and others.

This article can also be accessed from page Notebook_Guide

SAMSUNG announced 8GB microSD card for Mobile phone

2007-05-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Samsung announced that they have developed 8GB microSD memory card, a size optimal for today’s multimedia mobile phones. This microSD card Featuring the highest capacity announced so far. The new fingernail-sized card is capable of storing 2,000 MP3 music files, 4,000 digital photos, or approximately 5 DVD-quality movies.

SD cards, to date, have been largely used for data storage in digital still cameras and increasingly in televisions. MicroSD cards, which are a quarter the size of an SD card, are backward compatible with SD cards using an extender, to allow multimedia files downloaded by mobile phones to be easily displayed on other media.

I am eagerly waiting for a mobile phone which also I can use to carry my whole database and all my necessery files .

Samsung SGH-i400 : A smartphone

2007-05-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

The Samsung SGH-i400 is idle choice who looking for a mobile phone with all advance features . This mobile phone is slim and and stylish design.

The new smartphone i400 is based on Symbian OS and S60 which offer extensive language supports, enhanced download applications and multitasking features.
With Symbian S60, the Samsung i400 allows its users to install programs on their mobile phones just like PCs.
The stylish slider phone supports full web browsing and Bluetooth connectivity for active business users.
To enhance its multimedia features, the Samsung i400 also includes 2 Megapixel camera, music key and stereo dual speaker.
Wide display, the i400 has a 2.3” wide display for the convenient use of business and multimedia functions.

The i400 will be first launched in Russia from July 2007 .

PRO-HG Duo memory stick to increase your data transfer rate

2007-04-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sony introduced its new Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ media, which offers data transfer up to three times faster than other Memory Stick Duo products. PRO-HG media can help with faster recording times between hardware. These memory sticks using 8-bit parallel interface and the flash memory device. While other traditional memory sticks using 4-bit parallel interface, with the addition of four connector pins you can have experince of data transfer of up to 30MB/s (240 Mbps) megabytes per second.
The new Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo media can also be used with conventional 4-bit parallel interface hardware, ensuring the format’s minimum write speed of 15 megabits per second.

Sony PRO-HG Duo Memory Stick are vailable in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities. The 1GB capacity, MS-EX1G Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ media will be priced around $60; the 2GB capacity, MS-EX2G will be offered for about $90; and the 4GB capacity, MS-EX4G will retail for around $150.

Important feature of Nokia 6120 classic mobile phone

2007-04-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Now a days more and more using their mobile set for downloading music, streaming video, browsing the Internet or receiving emails with attachments, Nokia 6120 phone can help you to perform those tasks faster and easier by utilizing HSDPA.

The new phone have two cameras first, a 2-megapixel camera with 4-times digital zoom, flash and panorama mode for taking high-quality photographs and the second camera is in the front which can take your picture while you are gong to use the video call feature.
Consumers can transfer their email, messages and other personal files from their old Nokia mobile phone to Nokia 6120 very easily. The Data Transfer application allows consumers to transfer contacts, calendars, photos, videos and files from their previous Nokia to their new Nokia 6120 classic, even when the SIM card is removed.
Also you don't have to sit infront of your office computer to check your calendar. You can easily synchronize your calendar from your office computer with the calendar featured in the Nokia 6120 classic phone.
With Nokia 6120 and 3G technology you can experience with faster browsing, streaming, music downloads and email and Internet access. The new Nokia HSDPA technology makes these applications, and many others, more accessible.
The Nokia 6210 classic is based on S60 software that lets users download and use additional applications in addition to the ones already found on the device. Users can personalize the phone with a wide variety of add-on applications, enhancements, content and service. S60 also allows users to run several applications at the same time enabling them to browse the Web while listening to their favourite music.

Important feature of H250 and H20: New SD Video Cameras from panasonic

2007-04-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

30GB HDD
The built-in 30GB HDD of the SDR-H250 or SDR-H20 has a storage capacity that is 22 times as large as that of a single DVD. Unlike tape or DVD recording media, the HDD in LP mode enables continuous video recording for up to 27 hours without additional recording media. The HDD is equipped with Anti-Shock Shields that protects important video recording data from external shock. Furthermore, the video recording data can be copied to PCs or DVD writers over the USB cable. The 30GB HDD ensures both reliability and user-friendliness.

EAnti-Shock Shield
1: Drop Detect Function
Incorporates a 3D sensor that detects falls from a height of approximately 20 cm or over and automatically keeps the head away from the hard disc drive, thus preventing disc data damage resulting from the collision of the head.

2: Floating Structure
The four corners of the hard disc drive are filled up with thick vibration-proof gel, which suppresses external vibration and shock transmitted to the drive.

3: Buffer Memory
When the drop detect function is activated while recording and the head is kept away from the drive, the recording data in progress will be automatically backed up* in the built-in buffer memory. When the hard disc drive returns to normal, the data will be automatically transferred to the drive. Therefore, even if the user should drop the video camera while shooting images, the video recording of the video camera will not break off.
*As long as there is battery power.

3CCD Camera System (H250)
The SDR-H250 is provided with a 3CCD camera system that has been used by most professional broadcast equipment. Panasonic's professional 3CCD video cameras, which have brought breathtaking images to viewers around the world since 1992, when they were first selected as the broadcast equipment for the Olympic Games. Panasonic has downsized its professional 3CCD camera system for use in consumer models. In a 3CCD camera system, the light received through the lens is split into its three primary colour components (red, green and blue), and the signal from each is processed by one of the three CCDs. Compared with conventional 1CCD camera systems, Panasonic's 3CCD system provides more vivid, true-to-life colours, greater detail and richer gradation.

O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
The shaking and blurring that can occur when shooting with unsteady hands may be often annoying when the images are viewed on TV screens that have been rapidly increasing in size in recent years. Moreover, the development of telescopic functions has involved an adverse influence of the shaking and blurring on the recording screen more remarkably than ever before. The SDR-H250 and SDR-H20 are equipped with Panasonic's O.I.S., which makes it possible to minimize the influence of the shaking and blurring without loss of image quality. Furthermore, the MEGA O.I.S. will start automatically at the time of still-picture shooting, thus performing further image stabilization that is twice as effective. Therefore, digital video cameras incorporating the O.I.S. and MEGA O.I.S. make it possible to record beautiful still images as well as animated images. The O.I.S. and MEGA O.I.S. are truly necessary in an age of large-screen, high-resolution TVs, when every image imperfection is easily visible.

Leica Dicomar Lens (H250)
Photographers around the world know Leica Camera AG as a maker of superb cameras and lenses. This company's advanced optical technology has been fused with Panasonic's leading-edge digital technology to create the Leica Dicomar lens. The Leica Dicomar lens provided in the SDR-H250 features 12 lens elements in eight groups and uses low-dispersion optical glass to reduce the blurring of colour. A special multi-coating process is applied to the 14 lens element surfaces to minimize chromatic aberration, so images are crisp, clear, and free of flare and ghosting.
*Leica is a registered trademark of Leica Microsystems IR GmbH, and Dicomar is a registered trademark of Leica Camera AG.

32x Optical Zoom (H20)
Enjoy remarkable 32x zoom magnification in a camera that fits comfortably and securely in one hand. Since the zoom is optical, it captures both moving and still pictures with exquisite beauty.

Crystal Engine & Pure Colour Engine
The Crystal Engine is a special image processing circuit for 3CCD camera systems that process the R, G, and B signals from three CCDs individually to remove the noise and improve colour processing accuracy. Pure Colour Engine is the same one for high-zooming cameras. Each engine achieves truly superb colour reproduction for high-quality pictures.

Source : http://www.panasonic-europe.com

Important features of TH-42PZ700 and TH-50PZ700, Full HD Plasma TV released by Panasonic

2007-04-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

V-real Pro II Technology : Panasonic came out with improved version of V-real collection of technologies into V-real Pro II systems exclusively and incorporated in both TH-42PZ700 and TH-50PZ700.

1080p Digital Processing Chip-Set : The 1080p signal format used by Blu-ray Discs offers the highest image quality among high-definition video sources. The VIERA processor which are used in TH-42PZ700 and TH-50PZ700 receives 1080p video signals in their original format and displaying the same image quality without any down-convertion .

1080p Digital Re-mastering Processor: The processor is used to convert signals of present TV broadcasts and DVD software to high-definition video quality. This up-converts of video quality without causing any loss of image detail. More over it applies progressive conversion to upgrade 1080i high-definition video signals to 1080p signals. This makes VIERA to render pictures that are more beautiful and sharp than the original.

Digital Optimizer : Digital Optimizer used to detect noise in digital video signals and remove them.

Motion Pattern Noise Reduction : This mechanism first detects the false contour noise that sometimes occurs in motion images on a plasma display panel to reproduce smooth, noiseless motion images then makes the necessary adjustments to maximize image quality. This results in sharp, clear reproduction of even high-speed motion images by maximizing the superb gradation capability of the plasma display panel.

Gradation: 4,096 Equivalent Steps of Gradation : To take maximum advantage of the full-HD panel's high resolution, VIERA uses up to 16-bit signal processing. This increases gradation to the equivalent of 4,096 steps, which minimizes noise and blackout. Both light and dark parts of an image are expressed clearly and beautifully.

HD Signal Quality Directly Reflected in Picture Quality : Full-HD Panel. With its 1920 x 1080 resolution, VIERA's full-HD panel displays beautiful images without needing to perform pixel conversion for the 1080p video signals processed by the video circuitry. Because the super-high resolution of the full-HD panel is best appreciated on a large screen, Panasonic offers the full-HD panel in 50-inch and larger models. You can enjoy images with stunning detail and beauty not only from HD broadcasts, but from Blu-ray sources as well.

Beautiful Images from Any Angle:When you view an LCD from an angle, you'll notice that the skin tones appear whitish. But with VIERA plasma display panel, colours look virtually just as good from a sharp angle as they do from directly in front.

Superb Motion Image Display:Each pixel in a plasma display panel emits light. Compared to an LCD, which displays images by adjusting the backlighting, the plasma display panel maintains higher resolution in scenes with fast motion. You'll love the clear, super-sharp images you get from VIERA when viewing action movies or watching football or baseball games, tennis matches, and other sports events.

Faithful Colour Reproduction: VIERA reproduces 100% of the colour range specified in HDTV standard. This standard are based on a set of specifications which measures image quality it produces. VIERA reproduces images from digital HD broadcasts in their true original colour, with minimal colour shift.

Advanced 3D Colour Management :This feature controls multiple colours at the same time . It brings out the best quality of image by independently adjusting the colour hue, density and brightness.

Sub-Pixel Controller : This system helps to improve image quality by adjusting each R, G and B dot, so it delivers smooth contour lines even at diagonal sections.

BD-UP5000 : Duo Hd Player from Samsung that Supports Both HD and Blu-ray

2007-04-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Samsung Electronics going to introduce dual format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player in time for the holidays. This is always a vital decision whether to buy HD-DVD player or Blu-ray Disc player. This new device can help to have both facility in a single box.

Samsung’s Duo HD player (BD-UP5000) will fully support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. With the Duo HD consumers can enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage. The new Duo HD joins Samsung’s next generation DVD line-up which includes Samsung’s second generation Blu-ray player available at retail this month. Together, these two models offer the consumer a strong line of High-Definition players to match Samsung’s award winning, and best selling, line of HDTVs.

"We welcome Samsung's Duo HD player as another solution in the marketplace that will help reduce consumer confusion and buyer hesitancy towards HD media," said Ron Sanders, President of Warner Home Video. "This is an innovative product that can move us closer to mainstream consumer adoption of HD technologies."

“We are very pleased to announce the upcoming release of our Duo HD player. Consumers are hungry for more HD content but are currently confused about competing formats. Samsung’s Duo HD player will allow consumers access to every HD movie title available regardless of the authoring format. Samsung is committed to making life simpler through technology and will market next generation DVD products which will satisfy the consumer and market requirement. This is a big win for the consumer.

As a member of the DVD Forum and contributor to the DVD Industry, we recognize that both HD-DVD and BD formats have merits. As such, we have decided to market a dual format player. Samsung is flexible to market a stand-alone HD-DVD player whenever consumers demand it. Our main concern is not technology but consumer choice” said Dongsoo Jun, Executive Vice President of the Digital AV Division at Samsung Electronics.

New feature in Samsung SpinPoint S166 Hard Disk

2007-04-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

Samsung announced SpinPoint S166, ultra silent and high-speed hard disk drive. The 3.5” SpinPoint S166 hard drives will come with 80GB and 160GB capacities. These hard drives will be available in April.

New features available in this hard drive are :

SpinPoint S Series of hard drives contains upgraded versions of Samsung’s proprietary SilentSeekTM and NoiseGuardTM technologies. This new technologies will ensure accelerated operational speed with reducing noise. Tests conducted by Samsung on sound power have shown that competing hard drives generate on average 2.8 bel (1 bel = 10 decibels) in idle mode and 3.2 bel in seek mode, while S166 series generate just 2.4 bel and 2.75 bel respectively.
Samsung added an improved fly-height control technology, this ensures better read and write sensitivity by dynamically lowering the fly height in read or write mode while maintaining a consistent and high fly-height across the disc in standard mode.
This hard disk have an optimized actuator assembly for single-disk mechanism which reinforces the reliability of the disk’s mechanical functions and improves the non operating and operating shock characteristics of the drive.
S166 hard drive also added an upgraded system-on-chip (SoC) controller which provides significant thermal, disk data transfer speed, and power consumption enhancements.

For more information visit : http://www.samsung.com/

Panasonic DMC-FZ8 with intelligent Image Stabilization and ISO control

2007-04-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Panasonic incorporated intelligence Imeage stabilization (O.I.S.) that prevents blurring from shaky hands – the leading cause of blurry images. Featured in the entire Lumix line-up since 2005. In Panasonic's Mega O.I.S., sensors act at a frequency of 4,000 times per second to accurately detect even slight camera movement by hand shaking . With Mega O.I.S., it is easier to capture clear, sharp, beautiful images when shooting telephoto shots, indoor portraits. It is so advanced that you can take a perfect snap of illuminated night scenes or even the scenery you see from a train window.
While hand-shake is the most common reason of blurry images, another major reason of blur image is the movement of the subject as the shot is being snapped. By incorporating Panasonic's new Intelligent ISO Control, camera can detect whether or not the subject is moving. If it is, the system automatically raises the ISO setting accordingly, allowing the camera to shoot at a higher shutter speed. If the subject is not moving, the camera shoots at a low ISO setting and captures beautiful, natural-looking images.This intelligent ISO Control feature can help you to shoot subjects that are often moving, such as Sports, or moving car or waterfall . Simply select the mode that best suits the subject, and Intelligent ISO Control provides the optimal corrections, making it easy to capture perfect photo.

Security features of Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0

2007-04-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0 will provide several integrated security technologies for mobile devices, including:

Antivirus – Whenever mobile user trying to access any file, Mobile Security Suite 5.0 checks any possible threats and prevents users from accessing an infected file. Also administrators can schedule regular virus scans and download any updates of Antivirus via Symantec LiveUpdate;
Firewall – Just like computer firewall, this controls both inbound and outbound network traffic on the mobile device;
Anti-SMS Spam – Anti-SMS spam is to detect spam message. After detecting spam message, it automatically filters and deletes spam messages, or places them in a separate spam folder;
Loss mitigation technologies – This is to protect your confidential data on the device and memory cards in case it is lost or stolen. In case some unauthorized user attempts to access confidential data and enter wrong password, after certain number of unsuccessfull attempt data wipe tool erases all data .
Phone Feature Control –Using this feature administrators can enable and disable certain device features like Bluetooth, WiFi, and device synching. This limits security vulnerabilities and potential attack by only providing access to those features which are required for business;
Symantec Mobile VPN – This optional can help you to corporate networks through secure IPSec VPN tunnels.
Network Access Control – When used with the Symantec Mobile VPN, this technology enables IT administrators to ensure only secure, policy-compliant devices can access the corporate network;
Tamper Protection – Verifies that the device’s image and security applications have not been tampered with or altered prior to allowing network access;
Enterprise Management – This provides a management console . With this IT administrator can customize the security policies.

Nokia 5070 : All-in-one phone in low budget.

2007-04-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

Newly announced Nokia 5070 mobile set is low budget mobile set but have almost all necessery features in it. The Nokia 5070 will be available in the market in the second quarter of 2007.

This is tri band phone which can operate with EGSM 850/1800/1900. Automatically switching between bands.
Large display supports upto 65,536 colors (128 X 160 pixels).
Nokia 5070 comes with VGA camera. You can use this camera with self timer. Also have video camera in it.
A full set of messaging features is sure to satisfy the need to connect via text, voice and images. Nokia 5070 offers the option to send off quick voice messages via Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging.
With an integrated FM radio, tuning into the hottest radio channels in town is quick and easy, especially since a stereo headset comes included in the sales package.
Comes with 16 MB memory.
Nokia 5070 comes with pre-installed java games such as the widely popular Sudoku, Space Mahjong, Canal Control (depends on regional and country variant) can be found on the Nokia 5070. Other then those you can download other java based games and play in your mobile.
With a built in xHTML web browser, surfing the web and checking sports results or movie timetables is also possible with the multi-talented Nokia 5070.
You can give more personalized touch using variety of wallpapers and themes, themes can also be downloaded. MP3 ringtones are at hand to ensure that each time it rings, the Nokia 5070 can reflect its owner's style, mood or music taste.

Plasma TV and LCD, which is better?

2007-04-06T20:53:00.001-07:00

If you are planning to buy new TV, It is not easy to decide whether to buy a plasma TV or LCD. Here is a very short comparison of these two. Hope this can help you to decide which one you should go for.

Screen size: Screen size is the most important factor whether to choose Plasma or LCD. LCD can give you the best performance for small size screen. Normally LCD televisions are available with screen size in between 13 inch to 45 inches. If you are looking for bigger screen you can have more choice with Plasma TVs. Most of the plasma TV screen size in between 32 to 63 inches.

Power consumption:In normal operating condition there is not much difference in power consumption. However in plasma TV power consumption varies based on the brightness of a scene. If you like to view with bright screen in plasma TV power consumption will be more then the darker screen. But this is not the same for LCD. There power consumption not depending on brightness.

Life span:ife span of both plasma TV and LCD are almost same. Ideally their life span is around 60000 hours. Some LCD manufacturer claims their LCD TVs can last upto 80000 hours.

Refresh Rate: Plasma displays refresh and handle rapid movements in video, here the refresh rate is as good as CRT televisions. LCD TVs were originally designed for data display. Therefore refresh rates are not as good as Plasma TV. LCD TVs available with refresh rates below 16ms. Now-days they are available with refresh rates as low as 5ms.

Price : Perhaps the biggest advantage plasmas have now over their LCD cousins is price, particularly in the large screen end of the market. Plasmas typically come in larger sizes than LCDs at a cheaper price.

64 GB SSD from Samsung

2007-04-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

I hope in near future only flash solid state drive(SSD) will be available instead of current hard drive. This SSD should be faster the current drive, shock proof as well as consume less power.
Recently Samsung introduced 64GB Flash-based Solid State Drive.

SAMSUNG Introduces 1.8” - Type 64GB Flash-based Solid State Drive

Taipei, Taiwan - March 27, 2007: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced at its annual Mobile Solution Forum in Taipei that it has developed a 1.8"-type 64 Gigabyte (GB) flash-solid state drive (SSD). The new flash-SSD is based on an eight gigabit (Gb) single-level-cell (SLC) NAND, which provides significantly higher performance over conventional SSDs.

The read and write performance of the new SLC flash-SSD have been increased by 20 percent and 60 percent respectively over the 32GB flash-SSD Samsung introduced last year, meaning that the new SSD's ability to outperform conventional rotating-media hard drives is even greater than had been anticipated.

Samsung's continued nano-technology migration is a key enabling factor in the continued market segmentation for storage media. Besides the use of the 64 GB flash-SSD for notebook PCs, 8~16GB flash-SSDs will become viable solutions for use in personal navigation systems and digital camcorders, as will and hundred GB-level flash-SSDs for use in the server market.

The flash-SSD, a drop-in replacement for a hard disk drive, is a secure and reliable means of storing personal or work-related data. It uses instantly-accessible, non-moving NAND flash memory instead of the noisier, power-hungry, jarring-sensitive rotating disc found in conventional hard drives, allowing it to upload and download data quickly and quietly with minimal power consumption.

Samsung plans to start mass production of the 1.8"-type 64GB flash-SSD in the second quarter of this year.

The SSD market is expected to reach US$200 million in 2007 and increases to US$6.8 billion by 2010 - an impressive compound annual growth rate of over 200 percent.

3CCD camera advantage.

2007-04-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

CCD is a important feature in digital camera or camcorder. Now-a-days high-end camera comes with 3CCD. With a 3-CCD camera, each CCD is devoted to red, green and blue colour. In 3CCD camera, light coming into the lens is split by trichoric prism assembly, which directs the appropriate wavelength ranges of light to their respective CCDs. 3-CCD camera can manage separate reading of red, green, and blue values for each pixel, that can make better precision than single-CCD cameras.

When comparing the 3 digital original-images of the 3CCD camera to the single CCD camera they seem identical in plain eyes. In practice single CCD cameras yield images which are more blurred than those of 3CCD cameras.

In terms of price, 3CCD cameras are more expensive than single-CCD cameras. Because 3CCD cameras have more elements to form the image detector, and they also have a precision color-separation beam-splitter optical assembly.

Deepfish : New Mobile Web Browser introduced by Microsoft

2007-04-03T04:50:00.001-07:00

Microsoft introduced a new mobile technology, called Deepfish, designed to offer mobile users quick and convenient Web browsing that more closely resembles the experience of browsing the Web on desktop computers.

It is claimed that Deepfish provides users with a full "as-designed" view of virtually any Web site on their mobile device and looks as you would expect it to on your desktop, allowing much more of the Web to be easily viewed on a mobile device than is possible today. The interface lets users zoom in and out on the parts of a Web page that interest them in an intuitive way, making it easy to use these large-screen formatted pages on a mobile device. On current mobile browsers, it can typically take up to a minute or more for a Web page to render, however the Deepfish architecture only loads the user-specified portion of the page, providing much quicker page-load times, as detailed information is only retrieved as needed or in the background.

To download the Deepfish technology preview and get updates from the Deepfish team blog go to, http://labs.live.com/deepfish/. Microsoft is providing limited access to the preview on a first-come, first-serve basis.

SDR-S10: Video camera with SDHC Memory Card

2007-04-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

Panasonic introduced compact digital video camera SDR-S10. This camera uses SD / SDHC Memory Cards as its recording media. There are many advantages of using SD / SDHC Memory card. The new SDR-S10, with its ability to record on SD / SDHC Memory Cards, breaks the boundaries of conventional video cameras and offers a new style of shooting. It lets users shoot with the same casual ease they enjoy with digital still cameras.
1. Impact resistance - withstands the impact of being dropped from up to 1.2 meters
Unlike recording media such as hard disk drives or DVD discs, SD / SDHC Memory Cards require no drive mechanism. This gives the SDR-S10 sufficient impact resistance to prevent malfunction when dropped from up to 1.2 meters. It is the ideal camera for anytime use outdoors, in active situations, and for casual everyday video shooting.

2. Water-resistance construction
The SDR-S10 boasts a water-resistance design that takes advantage of the water resistance of SD / SDHC Memory Cards. Eliminating the worries about a little water, the SDR-S10 can be used at the poolside, around a ski lodge, and in other outdoor settings.

3. Quick Start function for capturing sudden photo opportunities
Unlike with hard drives and DVD discs, a camera can read an SD / SDHC Memory Card instantly. This made it possible for Panasonic to develop a Quick Start function that allows the SDR-S10 to begin recording just 1.7 seconds after the power is switched on - less than half the time required by video cameras with hard drives. With the SDR-S10, it is easier to catch those special moments that come with no warning.

5. A long recording capability – SD / SDHC Memory Cards
Memory Cards provide an ideal combination of compactness, impact resistance, and extended recording capability, making them one of the best-balanced media for the future. The 4GB SDHC Memory Card allows up to 100 minutes of recording, and the 2GB SD Memory Card that comes with the SDR-S10 allows up to 50 minutes.

3G connection with Nokia 5700 : A perfect combination

2007-04-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

More than a music-only device, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic brings videos to life on a vibrant color screen supporting up to 16 million colors for exceptional video playback. With 3G high-speed data connectivity, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic makes browsing, downloading and streaming multimedia content much more convenient and faster than before. A video call feature and the built-in 2 Megapixel camera make it easy to share moments with friends and family.

The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is based on the world's leading S60 software running on Symbian OS. S60 enables consumers to personalize their device with a wide choice of compatible applications that can be downloaded to the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, including games, navigation, entertainment, productivity and creativity.

Seagate introduced 160GB HDD for laptop with performance improvment feature

2007-04-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Segate introduced second generation of the company's 2.5-inch hard drives. While the first Generation disks are available with capacities of 80GB, 100GB and 120GB, Second generation comes with 160GB capacity. This is world's first 7,200rpm 160GB laptop hard drive using perpendicular recording technology.

Seagate claims, it introduces several new features to make it more reliable and better performance.

Among them most significant is the Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s interface with 7,200rpm spin speed to enable the highest- performance laptops ever.
Also the drive is available with a free-fall sensor to help prevent damage and data loss in case you drop your laptop.
This drives to be virtually inaudible when in use and that the drives.
Another advantage is this HDD also requires low power consumption compare to others.

Compare Panasonic plasma TVs of 2007

2007-03-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Source : http://www2.panasonic.com

Penryn processor Technical Features to Improve Performance

2007-03-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

New Penryn processor from Intel Going to introduce several feature which will help to improve performace.

Microarchitecture Optimizations -- Increases the overall performance and energy efficiency of the already leading Intel Core microarchitecture to deliver more instruction executions per clock cycle, which results in more performance and quicker PC responsiveness.

Enhanced Intel® Virtualization Technology -- Penryn speeds up virtual machine transition (entry/exit) times by an average of 25 to 75 percent. This is all done through microarchitecture improvements and requires no virtual machine software changes. Virtualization partitions or compartmentalizes a single computer so that it can run separate operating systems and software, which can better leverage multicore processing power, increase efficiency and cut costs by letting a single machine act as many virtual "mini" computers.

Higher Frequencies -- Penryn family of products will deliver higher overall clock frequencies within existing power and thermal envelopes to further increase performance. Desktop and server products will introduce speeds at greater than 3GHz.

Fast Division of Numbers – Penryn-based processors provide fast divider performance, roughly doubling the divider speed over previous generations for computations used in nearly all applications through the inclusion of a new, faster divide technique called Radix 16. The ability to divide instructions and commands faster increases a computer's performance.

Larger Caches -- Penryn processors include up to a 50 percent larger L2 cache with a higher degree of associativity to further improve the hit rate and maximize its utilization. Dual-core Penryn processors will feature up to a 6MB L2 cache and quad-core processors up to a 12MB L2 cache. Cache is a memory reservoir where frequently accessed data can be stored for more rapid access. Larger and faster cache sizes speed a computer's performance and response time.

Unique Super Shuffle Engine -- By implementing a full-width, single-pass shuffle unit that is 128-bits wide, Penryn processors can perform full-width shuffles in a single cycle. This significantly improves performance for SSE2, SSE3 and SSE4 instructions that have shuffle-like operations such as pack, unpack and wider packed shifts. This feature will increase performance for content creation, imaging, video and high-performance computing.

Source:Intel Press release.

Nikon D40X SLR In-Camera image Editing

2007-03-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Nikon D40X provides several Image editing function with in the camera

D-Lighting : Automatically balances light and brings out detail to enhance result and add creative touch to your image, all while achieving overall exposure balance.

Image Trim: This feature allows photographer to trim images with in the camera. In this way if you don't need the whole image, trim it with in the camera and save the image with smaller file size.

Red-eye Correction : This is common feteare in all high end cameras. With this, camera can detect annoying red-eyes caused by flash.

Image Overlay: You can merge pair of JPG file and can make a composite image. This feature is really good and with your imagination you can give a new look to your photos.

Monochrome setting : Give any in-camera image monochrome effects such as black and white or sephia tone(like antique look).

Filter Effect: You can add effect like skylight, warmtone or Color balance in your image.

Source : http://www.nikonusa.com/

SAMSUNG Develops High-resolution LCD Mobile Display

2007-03-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Samsung Electronics Co. has developed a 2.1” LCD panel for high-end mobile devices that will provide qVGA resolution and comes equipped with sensors designed to adjust brightness to optimize ambient lighting. Screen brightness is automatically adjusted to enhance readability under any lighting condition.

Designed for use in high-end mobile phones, PDAs and portable media players, the new panel also has a temperature compensation sensor embedded in its LCD driver IC that maintains a steady operational mode regardless of any temperature change in the surrounding environment.

The Samsung panel consumes 20-30 percent less electric power than other displays with the same size and resolution.

To enable extremely slim mobile designs, the new LCD mobile display makes use of a proprietary technology called Adaptive Brightness Control (ABC) that is designed with an ultra-slim black matrix embedded within the display’s structure that measures no more than a single millimeter. The ABC is part of a unique, cost-saving architecture that consists of tiny, highly responsive circuit sensors built into the display panel, which eliminates the need for photo-sensors and complex signal processing circuits.

The signal processing function within the display driver IC converts ambient light measurements from the sensors into pulse-width modulation signals.

Those PWM signals then automatically signal the LED controller in the LCD backlight unit to adjust the screen brightness to provide optimal readability as outside lighting conditions change.

Samsung’s LCD Business is planning to produce the new 2.1” qVGA LCD with ABC capability in the second half of this year.
Source : http://www.samsung.com

Premier Line Of microSD Mobile Cards launched by Sandisk

2007-03-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

SanDisk Corporation today introduced a new line of performance-oriented microSD^™ memory cards specifically for mobile phones. The cards will give you the option to quickly transfer content to and from your mobile phones, also you can have more space to store videos, music, ring tones, digital images and other files. Also, SanDisk Mobile Premier cards have additional feature TrustedFlash^™ technology, using this network operators can give option to share premium content that can be downloaded directly to mobile phones, stored on the cards and played on other TrustedFlash-enabled devices authorized by the network provider.

SanDisk going to produce two version of Mobile Premier microSD card with 1- and 2-gigabyte capacities, suggested retail price will be $44.99 and $69.99, respectively. This fingernail-size cards comes with an adapter to fit standard SD^™ card slots.

Key advantages of SanDisk Mobile Premier cards:

Using a card reader or cable attached to a PC, consumers can side-load music tracks, images and videos to/from a SanDisk Mobile Premier card more rapidly than with a standard card. Read/write speeds are 10 and 9 megabytes (MB) per second, respectively².
Since most mobile phones have limited on-board memory, the SanDisk Mobile Premier card will allow users to store more songs, still images, videos and other content on their handsets. For example, a 2GB Mobile Premier card can store 500 MP3 songs for about 32 hours of playback time³.

For more info visit http://www.sandisk.com

Hitachi going to bring HDTVs With Removable Drives

2007-03-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hitachi announced they are going to bring in the market High-Definition TVs that come with removable hard drives that can record and store high-def programming. According to a news from Reuters, Users can expand high-definition recording capacity with the new hard drives . According to them Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate will equip plasma TVs and liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs with 250-gigabyte internal hard drives and removable 80-GB or 160-GB drives starting on April 20 in Japan. Hitachi is pricing the larger 160-GB removable drive at around 35,000 yen ($300) and the 80-GB hard drive at around 20,000 yen. The 160-GB drive can record 32 hours of programmes.

Pen-enabled P1610 Lifebbok

2007-03-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Fujitsu introduced pen - enabled notebook p1610 and B6210. The feature I like most in this note book is the option to take hand written notes. This notebook comes with EverNote^® Plus 1.1. which can help you to take handwritten notes and draw directly on the screen just like you did using pen and paper. Back at the office, simply flip the screen, to transform the system into a traditional notebook to compose emails, reports, and presentations. The ultra-portable LifeBook P1610 notebook combines the familiarity of a notebook with the versatility of a tablet.

Source : http://www.fpc.fujitsu.com

Some Information About GSM mobile bands

2007-03-15T06:23:00.001-07:00

GSM is the most popular standard for mobile phone service in the world. In more then 200 countries in the world people using GSM mobile service. However, different countries use different GSM Radio frequency for their mobile networks. Worldwide four frequencies are widely used for GSM mobile services. They are 850MHz, 900 MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz

Although 850, 900 and 1800, 1900 frequency are very close, normally mobile phones can’t receive more then one frequency at-a-time, a phone that works with one band, can not receive signals of other bands. So if you want your mobile to work with multiple bands, you need to have multi band mobiles. Based on your need, you can go for dual, tri or quad band mobile set.

As a whole, both high and low frequency bands have some advantage and disadvantages. For high frequency service, the network is less effected by the influences of the weather. And you can have more clear and un-interrupted connection. Another advantage of a high frequency is that you only need small antenna. Main disadvantage of higher frequency band is its lower reach. These bands are good for cities where density of mobile users is more. Where as, lower frequency bands are good for rural areas because of their large area reach.

850 MHz is the lowest frequency used for GSM mobile service. As a result of this, 850 MHz network has a bigger and more penetrating reach then the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz network. Apart from that, the difference between the 850 MHz and the 900 MHz network hardly noticeable. Lower frequency services are good in big building because of their more penetrating reach. A disadvantage of a low frequency network is its low capacity.

900 MHz networks are quite old networks. Like 850 MHz, 900MHz also has a bigger and more penetrating reach then the 1800 and 1900 MHz network.

1800 MHz is a relatively high frequency for cellular phones. Because of this, 1800 MHz networks have a smaller and less penetrating reach compare to 900 and 850 MHz networks. By this the reach in big buildings is low. An advantage of 1800 MHz networks is that the capacity is bigger. This band is idle for cities where density of mobile users high.

1900 MHz available only in North America, some networks in Canada and South Africa. This band is not available in Europe or Asia. 1900 MHz quite similar to 1800MHz. Because of high frequency 1900 MHz band network isn’t interrupted by the influences of the weather and you can have a crystal clear connection most of the times. For this network, GSM provider needs to use more mini antennas. An advantage of 1900 MHz networks is that the capacity is bigger.

Windows Vista feature to avoid power misuse

2007-03-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

One of the significant features Microsoft introduced in Vista is new power saving mode. Windows XP has two power saving mode, Standby and Hibernate. Windows Vista replaced them by Sleep mode. Hibernate is still available as an advanced power setting, but the Sleep mode is the default one and has more advanced features.

While in sleep, computer uses very less power for internal use. In notebooks, with the minimum power used during sleep mode, system goes to stand by mode and the state of the system is saved in the memory. If battery power goes down to critically low level, the system wakes for a very short time to save the needed information onto the hard drive, and immediately goes to hibernate state.

In Desktop systems, the process is little different. Here Microsoft Vista uses "hybrid sleep". In hybrid sleep, the state of the system is stored both in RAM and on disk, so that system can recover it’s state in case the power is lost. After saving the state of the system, it goes to sleep mode from where computer can easily bring back to working state.

Top goal of introducing this mode is enabling easy and first ‘on’ and ‘off’ of the computer. While making sure computer can save all data when the system is turned off, and brings in same state while you turn back on. In order to ensure that "off" worked effectively with this new model, instead of waiting for green signal from each application in the computer, Windows Vista sending notice to each application, services and devices about the power saving state and wait for maximum 2 seconds for them to finish up their current job and put themselves into a state from where they can continue when the system wakes up. Similarly Windows vista is very fast to come back from the sleep state. When you open the lid of your laptop, you will find your system becomes instantly on, sometime you may wonder if it was on whole time.

Another goal is to reduce the power consumption when the system is idle. Normally we want to avoid long boot process of the computer, so we prefer to keep the system up 24X7. This may be nice to keep your system always ready to work but in this way we are wasting huge amount of power. Windows Vista’s sleep mode made dramatic change to reduce computer’s idle power consumption. While a typical Pentium 4 system uses 102.6 watts of power, same PC while in sleep consumes only 5.6 watts. Vista provides API for the application developers so that application can get notifications about the power scheme being used on the system and then adapt their behavior for the power scheme.

Using Microsoft group policy IT administrator of a Business organization can decide that all machines will go to sleep after specified time of inactivity. Normally in large organization tons of computers sitting idle and because of that huge power gets wasted. This feature must help them to reduce power wastage.

Sony Cybershot capable to generate HD image

2007-02-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

Sony Sybershot capable to generate HD image quality.
Most current digital cameras support the ability to view pictures on a television set, but this is almost always at standard definition, which is close to VGA resolution of 640 pixels by 480 pixels. More often than not, the original image is much higher quality, so a better image could be displayed on an HDTV if the camera were capable of generating such a video image. That's what Sony has enabled its new Cybershot cameras to do.
An additional cable will be required for the high-definition connection. The VMC-MHC1 cable will go on sale on March 9 in Japan for ¥4,935 ($41) and will connect a Cybershot to a component level input on a television. It can also connect the CSS-HD1 docking unit to a television set. While in the dock the battery in the camera can also be recharged.
The HDTV output is available on the DSC-T100, T20, W200, W90, W80, H7 and H9 models.
Source: www.itworld.com

Artistic effect in your photo with HP photosmart R727

2007-02-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

With HP photosmart R727 you can give beautiful artistic touch to your photos. There are various effects aavailable with which you can give your photos a new meaning.

Ink Dots: Simulates monocolor pointillism. Options are there to select ink color and paper color separately.
Cartoon: You can Simulate a highly-graphical comic book image.
WaterColor: This option to simulate a watercolor painting.
Center Focus: This option to create feathered blur radiation from a sharp center to a blurred image.
Posterize: Createa high-contrast, flat toned effect.
Retro: If you want to take a photo with two-color, high- contrast look look from the 70s, this is the option to choose.
Soft Glow: Select this option to create a diffuse, bright ethereal glow picture.
Vintage : Nothing to explain more about, this option is to take a photo with aged, scratched look.
Slimming: Compresses centered subjects for a slimmer look.
Sky Color: Enhances sky with a feathered color that fades from the top down.
Ground Color: Enhances landscapes with a feathered color that fades from the bottom up.
Kaleidoscope: Mirrors an image is four direction.
Solarize: Creates a partial reversalof tones and emphasizes outlines.

USB 2.0 Pocket hard drive from Seagate

2007-02-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

USB 2.0 pocket hard drive is perfect product if you want to carry substantially large amount of data while you are traveling. The feature I love most in this hard drive is the password protection.

This pocket drive comes 6-GB and 8-GB capacity. So, I guess we can carry whole lot of data or music along with us. Wherever you go, the compact, stylishly designed Pocket Drive is perfect for taking everything from essential business documents to your favorite MP3s on the road.
USB 2.0 pocket drive has utility software that can make your data password protected. So even you loose your pocket drive, just be sad only for the pocket hard drive not for any data theft. Other then that you can also manage partitions, set write protection, and view and manage drive content.
Among other advantages, this Hot-pluggable USB 2.0 interface enables data transfer up to 480 Mbps. So data transfer from this USB 2.0 hard drive to your computer hard drive is so fast that you won't feel that you are receiving data from any external device.

USB 2.0 Pocket hard drive is compatible with Macintosh and Windows and this comes with 1 Year full guarantee covers all parts and labor.

Finger print reader of Fujitsu LifeBook P7120 Notebook

2007-02-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

In Fujitsu LifeBook P7120 Notebook Fingerprint authentication can be used in the following case.

Logging on to Windows: Most common use of finger print authentication is authenticating while logging on to Windows. Traditionally user need to type in their user id and password to log in to the system, but with use of fingerprint authentication you can avoid this typing work. Once you need to register your fingerprints, Next time onwards windows can read your fingerprint and let you log in the System.

Recovery from the power-saving status: If your computer is password protected to recover from power saving status, generally you need to type in password to recover from power saving status. Here also you can recover from the power-saving status by authenticating fingerprints that have previously been registered, thus omitting entering a password.
Canceling password-protected screen saver: Normally to protect your laptop from any misuse, we can make the screen saver password protected. If it is enabled, we need to enter our password our use fingerprint authentication to unlock. If you want to change the setting and cancel the lock for the screen saver, you need to authenticate fingerprints that have previously been registered.

Logging in to the homepage: You can set you finger print information to log in your specific home pages. So, next time when you want to login just use the finger print reader and you can get in to your site with out typing the password.

image copied from www.trustedreviews.com

Manage your office document in Palm Treo 750

2007-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

If you want to be well connected to your office activities while you are away from office, palm Treo 750 should be the ultimate choice. Important features which can help you are :

Microsoft Office Word Mobile: Its possible to create or edit Microsoft Word document in Treo 750. You can receive MS Word document via mail. Open document in your mobile, edit them and mail them back. In the improved version of MS word, you can view tables or images in the document. New document can be saved as DOC, RTF, TXT and DOT files.

Microsoft Office Excel: Same as MS word document, you can create or edit MS Excel document . With this mobile your can be synchronized with your desktop and carry your Excel file any where.

Microsoft Power Point: Transfer your native power point document to your mobile and you can modify them whenever you want even if are not close to your desktop. Take advantage of built-in support for presentation elements such as slide transitions, animations, and URL links. Zoom in for a closer look.

Picsel PDF Viewer: Not only MS Office document, you can carry PDF files also in your Treo 750 mobile phone.

Protect your Computer with Windows Vista

2007-02-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

There are number of security features in Windows Vista. Most of which are newly introduced in this version. Along with them old security features also available with some advanced protection mechanism.

UAC (User Account Control) is the most significant security update in Vista. With this feature, all users, including users with administrative privileges, run in a standard user mode by default. When any action require Administration privilege such as software installation or changing system setting, Windows prompts for Administrator authentication. This security implemented in Vista to protect your computer from malware software. If any of those malware softwares tries to change any setting or install any software in your system, they will be prompted for consent first. System administrators also have the option to configure the system to require an administrator password for such elevations.

Microsoft added another layer of security ‘Windows Defender’. Windows defender going to scan the system periodically to detect spyware, addition to that it includes Real Time Security Agents which is going to monitor the important settings of the systems if there any system configuration changes caused by spyware.

Windows vista introduced several parental controls. As an administrator it is possible to locking web content and limit web browsing to only Kids website. As well as controlling based on categories such as “Pornography” or “Chatting” and so on. Administrator can restrict other users from executing certain programs. Also there is option to restrict certain hours of the day when gaming or other activities are permitted.

It also introduced BitLocker Drive Encryption to protect data from a lost or stolen computer. There is a big threat of data theft or exposure from lost or stolen computer. Data on lost or stolen machines can often be viewed by installing a different operating system. BitLocker Drive Encryption is a hardware-enabled data protection feature that helps protect data on a PC when the machine is in unauthorized hands. By encrypting the entire Windows volume, it prevents unauthorized users from accessing Windows file and attempting the offline viewing of information on the secured drive.

The Encryption File System (EFS) is a powerful tool for encrypting information on client computers and remote file server to protect them from unauthorized users. EFS support storing user keys as well as administrative recovery keys on smart cards. If smart cards are used for logon, EFS operates in a Single Sign On mode, where it uses the logon smart card for file encryption without further prompting for the PIN. The Client Side Cache, which stores offline copies of files from remote servers, can also be encrypted with EFS.

Another way that malicious software makes its way onto a user’s machine is by taking advantage of buffer overruns. Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) is a defense capability in Windows Vista that makes it harder for malicious code to exploit a system function. Whenever a Windows Vista computer is rebooted, ASLR randomly assigns executable images such as DLLs and EXEs to one of 256 possible locations in memory. This makes it harder for exploit code to locate and therefore take advantage of functionality inside the executables.

It is very common in office environment that somehow malware got into one of the systems and from there malware spread into other systems in the local network. To avoid those circumstances vista introduced Network Access Protection(NAP) that performs computer health policy validation. Independent hardware and software vendors can plug their security solutions into NAP, so IT administrators can choose the security solutions that meet their unique needs — and NAP helps ensure that every machine on the network makes full use of those solutions.

Vista also includes the much improved Internet Explorer 7, which includes more than a dozen new security enhancements.

HDTV Photo Player DMW-SDP1 from panasonic

2007-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

When I was looking for the accessories of DMC-FX30, digital camera from Panasonic. I got to know about DMW-SDP1 HDTV photo player. With this photo player we can see the captured photos in 1080i high definition quality screen.

This photo player not only works with DMC-FX30. but any SD-enabled digital camera, addition to that the DMC-FX30 photo player also can read from MMC media cards and new SDHC high capacity cards. This device comes with a remote control, also have control buttons on top of the device. Other then viewing the photos, DMW-SDP1 can also be connected to PictBridge compatible printers to allow for printing without using PC while you can enjoy the slideshow at the same time.

DMW-SDP1 supports motion JPEG playback, regardless of TV system. It can play normal VGA (640 x 480), wide aspect VGA (848 x 480) motion images, which can be recorded with LUMIX, the SDP1 offers dynamic motion image playback which especially benefits viewing on wide aspect HDTVs. The player also capable to play high definition motion image (1280 x 720, at 15 fps). Among the other features offered on the DMW-SDP1 are a wide variety of playback options including three special transition effects to lend greater creativity to on-screen slideshows. Furthermore, in preview mode, the DMW-SDP1 provides for rapid image search, displaying up to 25 thumbnails on an index screen or calendar time-series screen. Images taken vertically are automatically rotated.

It is really cool, right? Connection is also very easy. First of all take out the SD card from your camera and insert it in the SD card slot of DMW-SDP1. Connect your photo player with the HDTV using the component table. That’s it, you are done. Enjoy your photos.

Want laptop in cheap price? Try Refurbish one.

2007-02-16T23:55:00.001-08:00

We all love to have brand new laptops. But always it may not be possible to go for new Laptops because of high price. There is a good alternative available. Instead of new laptop you can go for a refurbish one. If you can choose the right one, it is possible to buy a Laptop with good configuration and almost as good as new. But that can be more then thirty percent dearer compare to new one.

What is refurbish Laptop? When laptops are returned, they are shipped back to factory where they are inspected thoroughly, rectified what ever needed, and again packed for second sale. But those laptops can’t be declared as new. They are refurbished. One disadvantage in buying refurbish laptop is you may not find latest technologies in them.

Though these laptops are available in cheap price, they are reliable, plus you will get full warranty like new laptops. So, if you can get a good laptop in cheaper rate, why not take this chance .

Nokia Music manager in Nokia 5300

2007-02-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

Music Manger in Nokia 5300 is very good application to manage music.

You can import music from your CDs to computer, and then transfer all your best songs from your computer straight to your Nokia phone. Nokia music manager can help you to copy music from CDs to Computer. It can also act as your desktop music player so you can sample and play your music files on your PC.

Once you copied your music to your PC, next step is to copy music to your mobile. To transfer music you need to connect the mobile phone with Computer. Connection can be done using USB cable or blue tooth. But USB connection is preferable since it is faster. Once it is connected, you can see your phone name on the Nokia Music manager Display.

Next step is to select the songs in the Music manager, which you want to transfer to your mobile. Select your phone name that will start transferring songs. After transfer, select your mobile in the Music manager to see the files available in the mobile. There it is possible to organize the files based on title, artist or Album. Also you can create new playlists, add or remove files from existing play list.

Advantages of Wi-Fi camera

2007-02-10T21:05:00.001-08:00

Planning to buy a new digital camera? There are so many cameras in the market with so many different features. It is not always easy to decide what are the features really needed. I would say Wi-Fi connection is one of the important features that your new digital camera should have.

In traditional Digital cameras we are using USB cables to connect with computer or printer. But in Wi-Fi enabled cameras you can connect them with out any physical connection. While sitting at the airport, take photos and mail them to your friend or save them to your online album. Regardless how much storage left in the camera, you can keep on taking photos and save them in your album. If having party at home, keep on shooting and transfer the photos directly to your computer or send them to your printer for printing. Also you can view photos that are stored in your online album.

To connect your camera with computer, both your camera and Computer should be connected to wireless network. Ideally you can setup your home wireless network. When your Wi-Fi camera is within the reach of your home wireless network, it can be connected with the network using its Wi-Fi card. In similar way your computer also can be connected with the wireless network using the PCI card in it. So, when both camera and computer are connected with the wireless network, they can talk to each other wirelessly and ready to transfer photos from camera to Computer.

If you want to print photos, connection needed is almost same as it is with your Computer. In this case your printer should be connected wirelessly. To do so, either you should have printer which having in-build wireless adapter or else you can use an external wireless USB adapter for your printer, That will help to connect your printer with wireless router. And you can send your photos to printer from your camera which is already connected with the wireless router.

Another advantage of having wireless connection is you can directly mail photos or send photos to your online album. Here also camera should be in the range of some wireless Internet connection. That can be wireless connection in public place like airport or some coffee shop, or that can be Internet connection available from your Home wireless network.

Again when your camera is connected to Internet by Wi-Fi, you can view photos from your online photo album.

So, I guess now you will agree that Wi-Fi connection should be one of the major criteria when you are planning to buy your next digital camera.

Casio releasing EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1050 improved version of EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1000

2007-02-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

Casio, Inc. announced the release of the EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1050, next generation of EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1000. EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1000 when released was first 10.1 Megapixel Camera in the market. The newly developed EX-Z1050 is as stylish and slim as any EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1000 and was designed to allow a wider variety of people to enjoy photography at the super high resolution of 10.1 megapixels. Casio claiming this EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1050 can take upto 7 snaps per second. This camera will have a suggested retail price of $299.99 and will be available in four colors – pink, blue, black and silver.

Main features of EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z1050 :

Stylish, slim, compact model featuring 10.1 million effective pixels and 3X optical zoom.
Maximum 7 shots/second high-speed continuous shooting (Limited to 2.0 megapixels and normal image quality. Requires use of a High Speed SD Memory Card.*)
EXILIM Engine 2.0 image processing module featuring new motion analysis technology.
- Blur-reduction technologies
- Automatically analyzes the velocity and vector of a moving subject and sets the most appropriate ISO sensitivity and shutter speed.
- Anti Shake DSP reduces blur due to shaky hands and subject movement, using high shutter speeds and high sensitivity settings.
- Movie mode with electronic camera shake compensation function.
- “Auto Tracking AF” function follows moving subjects, keeping them continuously in focus until the photo is taken.
Newly developed 2.6-inch Wide and Bright LCD display (maximum brightness of 1,000 cd/m2 at center of screen).
Control panel that displays shooting information on the right side of the monitor and enables direct camera control.
Super Life Battery allows up to 370 shots to be taken when fully charged.

HV20 HD : Canon released new HD CAMCORDER

2007-01-31T18:51:00.000-08:00

Canon is going to release HV20 HD Camcorder a feature rich, high-quality, High Definition (HD) camcorder.
HV20 includes 10x HD video zoom lens.
Super Range Optical Image Stabilization to protect your video from shaking.
Most noticable feature is True HD 1920 x 1080 CMOS Image Sensor, the HV20 HD Camcorder records true 1080 high definition video, making it an ideal companion to today's HD televisions.
Both aspiring filmmakers and home movie shooters can give their video a truly cinematic look and feel with the addition of a 24p Cinema Mode.
This HV20 HD Camcorder dramatically raises the bar for consumer camcorder capabilities, and will no doubt be the model of choice for discerning video enthusiasts who accept nothing less than premium quality equipment to capture and preserve their memories.
Among the new features within the Canon HV20 HD Camcorder is an Advanced Accessory Shoe capable of accommodating such additional components as select external video lights or directional microphones.
The HV20 HD Camcorder also features microphone and headphone input terminals with manual level control for professional quality audio recording and a 24p Cinema Mode - found previously only on professional video equipment.
The HV20 HD Camcorder also features an HDMI terminal for quick and easy one-cable transport of the High Definition video signal to a HDTV.

FE-250 : ISO 10000 camera from Olympus

2007-01-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

Introduction : Olympus going to introduce in the market a new 8 Mega pixel camera with ISO 10,000. That means this is going to be very efficient to shoot picture in low light condition. This is going to be available in market by February 2007.

Sensor: 1/1.8" Type CCD

8.3 million pixels total
8.0 million effective pixels

Image sizes: 3264 x 2448
2048 x 1536
640 x 480
Movie clips: 640 x 480 30 fps
320 x 240 30fps
File formats : Still: JPEG (EXIF 2.21)
Movie: AVI motion JPEG
Sound: Wave format
Lens : 3x optical zoom
Digital zoom: Up to 4x
Image stabilization: Not Available
Focus : TTL iESP auto focus with contrast detection
ISO sensitivity: Auto ISO (64-3200)
ISO 50-3200 (full res)
ISO 6400, 10,000 (3MP)
Exposure compensation: +/- 2 EV
1/3 EV steps
Shutter speed: 1/2-1/2000 sec

Self timer : Yes

Viewfinder : No

LCD monitor: 2.5" TFT LCD, 230,000 pixels

Connectivity : USB and AV output

Storage : xD Picture Card (optional)

20 MB internal memory

Power : LI-42B Lithium-Ion cell

Dimensions: 94 x 56.5 x 22.3 mm (3.6 x 2.2 x 0.6 in)

Playing MP3 with Motorola ROKR E6

2007-01-29T11:22:00.000-08:00

ROKR E6 provides a very good balance of entertainment and business needs. This phone is very good for music. I guess after getting this mobile in your hand, you never feel to carry one extra device only to listen music.

This phone supports all popular format of sound file such as AAC, AAC+, DRM, MIDI, MP3, RA, WAV, WMA etc. You can also set any of these sound files as ringtones.
This is available with built-in FM- radio. You can save your favorite stations, but radio programs cannot be recorded.
The MOTOROKR E6 has an internal memory of 8MB and supports SD cards up to 2GB. This mobile also support the most inexpensive flash media, after CompactFlash. Keep in mind that all your microSD and miniSD cards will still work on the E6 with an adaptor. So, You can save fairly large collection of musics.
The E6 houses a larger than average 1000mAh battery.
You can enjoy the music through any headset - even wireless Bluetooth stereo headphones.
You have option to connect to www.motomusic.com.cn, where you can discover, buy, download, enjoy, and share the very latest in music.

Toshiba to Launch 56-Nm, 16-GB NAND Flash Memory

2007-01-29T09:55:00.000-08:00

Toshiba Corporation announced the introduction of 16Gb (2 gigabyte) and 8Gb (1 gigabyte) NAND flash memory, fabricated with cutting-edge 56-nanometer process technology co-developed with SanDisk Corporation.
The 16Gb is the highest density single-chip NAND flash memory yet achieved.
Toshiba is now increasing shipments of commercial samples of new 8Gb (1 gigabyte) single-chip, multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memories
Toshiba intends to start shipping commercial samples of 16Gb (2 gigabyte) NAND flash memories in the late first quarter of this year.
The adoption of MLC technology and improved programming efficiency allows the new chips to offer high density and write performance. Application of 56nm process technology realizes 16Gb, twice the memory density per chip achieved with 8Gb 70nm technology, achieving the largest single-chip density in NAND flash memory.
A write performance of 10-megabytes a second, twice that of Toshiba's present MLC products, reflects the efficiency obtained with advanced process technology and doubling page size, the amount of data that can be written at one time, from 2,112 bytes to 4,314 bytes.

45nm Chip High-K Gate Process from IBM, AMD

2007-01-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

Alongside Intel’s news of 45nm process technology, IBM today announced its own 45nm technological advancements that apply to products manufactured in its East Fishkill, NY plant starting in 2008.
Working with AMD and its other development partners including Sony and Toshiba, IBM has found a way to construct a critical part of the transistor with high-k metal gates, that substitutes a new material into a critical portion of the transistor that controls its primary on/off switching function.
The material provides superior electrical properties compared to its predecessor, silicon dioxide, enhancing the transistor's function while also reducing leakage.

Source : http://www.dailytech.com

World's Densest Memory Chip

2007-01-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

In a breakthrough that suggests the continuing validity of Moore's Law, researchers have developed a memory chip as small as a human blood cell that sets a record for integration density in a man-made object. The memory circuit is a "milestone in manufacturing," the scientists
Researchers say they've created the world's densest memory circuit, about 100 times denser than today's standard memory unit and as small as a human white blood cell.
Although mass production could still be a decade away and the chip contains only a modest capacity of 160,000 bits of information, the achievement points to the possible exponential growth of computing power.
The memory circuit is a "milestone in manufacturing," said the team led by chemistry professor James Heath of the California Institute of Technology and J. Fraser Stoddart, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in announcing their achievement in the journal Nature.
"It's the sort of device that Intel would contemplate making in the year 2020," said Heath, who is the Gilloon Professor at Caltech. "But at the moment it furthers our goal of learning how to manufacture functional electronic circuitry at molecular dimensions."

Source : http://www.technewsworld.com

Sumsung released 1.8-inch Drives with 60 GB capacity

2007-01-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

Samsung announced its first 1.8-inch drive with a 60GB capacity on Thursday as a part of the company's new line of N-series of HDDs.
Measuring 5-millimeters tall and with a super-slim form factor, Samsung's N-series will come in 20-, 30-, 40-, and 60 GB capacities and are available in both internal and external HDD types.
According to Samsung the new N-series drives will be ideal for use in small portable media centers and mobile devices.

Source : http://www.extremetech.com

56nm flash memory chips from Sandisk, Toshiba

2007-01-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

SanDisk Corp. said today that it expects to launch 56nm multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory chips this month with Toshiba Corp.
After qualifying limited engineering samples, SanDisk said itplans to introduce the new 8Gbit (1GByte) single-chip, MLC NAND flash memory on 56nm process technology in the coming weeks, with commercial shipments slated for later in Q1.
In Q2, the company said it expects to introduce monolithic 16Gbit (2GB) NAND, which, it said, will be the highest density single-chip MLC NAND flash memory in the industry.

Source : http://www.edn.com

Quickoffice v4: Download for your mobile

2007-01-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

Quickoffice, the world leader in providing office document software for mobile devices, today launched Quickoffice v4 for S60, a major upgrade to its award-winning solution.
This latest version delivers many features that redefine the standard in mobile office software, and is available immediately at www.quickoffice.com.
Quickoffice v4 builds on highly successful previous releases and was chosen by Nokia as the exclusive mobile office suite deployed on S60 3rd Edition smartphones.
Quickoffice software provides smartphone users with mobile access to Microsoft Office documents, allowing them to open, edit and save files in their native format. This latest release offers new, unique and powerful features for mobile phones, greatly enhancing both user-experience and productivity . The software provides comprehensive editing capabilities in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel with complete integrity of a document's original formatting.

Source : http://www.mobileburn.com

Video calling is on the way, are you ready for it?

2007-01-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

Video calling is on the way in USA. Cingular is planning to launch video calling service this year. I am sure other providers will not be far behind. But are you well equipped for that? Is your mobile phone has all minimum requirement what video calling need?

First of all let us take a quick look at what video calling is? In short it can be describe as “ a service that allows wireless phone users to see each other in the mobile phone screen while talking ”. The service allows users to send a live video stream to a recipient during a standard voice call. Beginning with a normal phone call, customers can hit one button to add a live video stream, allowing the called party to see caller while they're talking. The service also allows customers to switch the direction of the video stream during the same phone call.

Currently mobile service providers in USA mostly using 2G network. The 2G (second-generation) networks of the 1990s handle voice, caller ID, and text messaging, but the data transfer rate is not capable of transmitting video. The more recent 2.5G networks are faster, but their speeds of 30 to 90Kbps aren’t quick enough to support full-motion, real-time video. For video calling 3G network is the solution, with transmission speeds ranging from 144Kbps to 2.4Mbps, 3G is nearly as fast as high-speed cable modems.

While service provider going to use 3G network to transfer data, your mobile also should be compatible with 3G. You should have 3G mobile phone which is HSDPA(High-speed Downlink packet access) enabled.

Also your phone should have a front and back camera. The back camera shoots photos and videos, and the front camera focuses on the user to transmit the user’s image to the recipient.

Pretty interesting huh!!!! But if you don’t have 3G mobile now, don’t worry, your current mobile is good enough until video calling is supported by service provider. But if you are planning to change your current mobile phone, may be you should think about buying a 3G one.

Toshiba to bring HD DVD-R laptop

2007-01-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

Toshiba will put on sale in Japan in late February the first laptop PC in the world with support for the write-once HD DVD-R optical disc format.
The G30/97A will be an upgrade of existing models of Toshiba's hefty Qosmio G30 entertainment laptop.
The computer is based on an Intel 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor and has a 17-inch widescreen display with 1,920 pixel by 1,280 pixel resolution, which means it can show high-definition images from HD DVD movie discs.
Toshiba hasn't announced a price for the computer, which will run the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system.

Source : http://www.arnnet.com.au

iPhone features

2007-01-14T12:31:00.000-08:00

Apple iPhone is the most talked device now-a-days. This is going to be availble in the market in 2007 June. So far Apple released very little about features of iPhone. I was going through one news in Apples website. It has given an overview of the features :

iPhone Features

Apple introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”

iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone
iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac® or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.

iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.

iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.

iPhone is a Widescreen iPod
iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.

iPhone’s stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV™. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos.

iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.

iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device
iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.

Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free “push” IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.

iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari™ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. iPhone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.

iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface.

iPhone’s Advanced Sensors
iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies.

iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June.

True wireless media player from Haier

2007-01-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

China's largest appliance maker, Haier Group, is teaming up with a subsidiary of AOL to make a wireless media player that can stream or download content without hooking it up to a PC..
The product, which has yet to be named, was unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show and is set to be sold in the United States by the end of the second quarter.
It looks like a regular iPod but does what even the new iPhone doesn't — access online music and video stores over Wi-Fi networks to stream, download and play content without having to sync up with a computer.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

Wireless Solutions from Gefen

2007-01-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

Gefen Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will be debuting a series of new wireless solutions at this year's CES.
They are coming with four different wireless extenders—one for USB devices, one for component audio, one for HDMI, and one for VGA devices—that will allow for cable-free connectivity between computers, cameras, televisions, displays and other peripheral.
While each model will have different features and applications, all of the wireless extensions will use a sender device that connects to the signal's source and a receiver that connects to the signal's extended destination.
The Wireless USB extender model will allow any four USB devices to operate with a computer at up to 100 feet in distance. The sender in this case will be a small, plug-in dongle that users connect to their computer's USB port.

Source : http://www.pcmag.com

Premium Sound System from delphi

2007-01-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

Delphi Corp. announced today theintroduction of a premium sound system designed to work with multiplesatellite radio receivers.
With the Premium Sound System, consumers can enjoy crystal clear XM(R)
Satellite Radio sound transmitted seamlessly through the Delphi SKYFi3(R),
Roady XT(R), MyFi(TM) and Audiovox(R) Xpress(TM) XM receivers. The Delphi
Premium Sound System is the easiest, most elegant way to listen to XM
Satellite Radio at home, at the office, or even outdoors with its battery
feature.
In addition to its multi-receiver functionality, the Delphi Premium
Sound System features an advanced acoustic and integrated systems design
where every element is designed to work in harmony with the others,
efficiently and simply.

Source : http://www.prnewswire.com

SDHC cards from Lexar

2007-01-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

Lexar announced today that new Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC™) flash memory cards will be available as part of the company’s Platinum II and Standard lines of products.
Lexar SDHC cards satisfy market demand for reliable SDHC cards that are ideal for storing and sharing digital images, video, and music and are offered at varying price and performance levels. SDHC cards from both Lexar product lines will be available next month in 4GB capacity, and later this year in 8GB capacity.

Source : http://www.dpreview.com

108-inch LCD TV from Sharp

2007-01-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, a major attraction was the world's largest LCD TV by Sharp Electronics Corp., a behemoth 108-inch liquid-crystal display .
Sharp's monster TV, which will be available in the summer, has not yet been priced.

Source : http://news.yahoo.com

Dual-Format High-Definition Disc Player from LG

2007-01-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

LG Electronics (LG), a leader in consumer electronics and mobile communications, today launched the groundbreaking "Super Multi Blue" Player at the 2007 International CES(R).
This advanced dual-format high-definition disc player, LG model BH100, will be the first player on the market with the capability to play both next-generation disc formats Blu-ray Discs and HD DVD.
The new player is ideally suited to LG's expanded lineup of Full HD 1080p plasma and LCD HDTVs.
LG Electronics also offers flexibility to consumers in next generation optical disc drives for personal computers.
The GGW-H10N, also available in the first quarter of 2007, is compatible with both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats.
The Super Multi Blue 50GB drive is compatible with Blu-ray Disc, DVD, CD read/write and HD-DVD-ROM (read), offering the most universal unit available.

You may want to visit : http://www.prnewswire.com

Basics of HD DVD Format

2007-01-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

HD DVD, High Density DVD, or High-Definition DVD is a high-density optical disc format designed for the storage of data and high definition video.
The HD DVD disc is designed to be the successor to the DVD format and can store roughly 3-4 times the amount of data as its predecessor.
Although it uses the same blue-violet 405 nm laser as Blu-ray Disc uses, technical differences make the two formats incompatible.
In comparison to its main competitor, Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD has less information capacity per layer (15 gigabytes instead of Blu-ray Disc's 25).
HD DVD has a single-layer capacity of 15 GB and a dual-layer capacity of 30 GB. There is also a double-sided hybrid format which contains standard DVD-Video format video on one side, playable in regular DVD players, and HD DVD video on the other side for playback in high definition on HD DVD players.
Like previous optical disc formats, HD DVD supports several file systems, like ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF). Currently, all HD DVD titles use UDF version 2.5 as the file system, the same one used for Blu-ray releases.
HD DVD can be mastered with up to 7.1 channel surround sound using linear(uncompressed) PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS and DTS ES formats also used on DVDs. In addition, it also supports Dolby Digital Plus and the lossless formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD.
The HD DVD format supports a wide variety of resolutions, from low-resolution CIF and SDTV, all video resolutions supported by the DVD-Video standard, and up to HDTV formats such as 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

You may want to visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD for more information about HD DVD formt.

Deskstar 7K1000 - 1 Terabyte Hard Drive from Hitachi.

2007-01-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies going to release 1-tera byte hard disk Deskstar 7K1000.
Expected to release in the first quarter of 2007.
Market price of Deskstar 7K1000 is going to be $399. That works out to $0.40 per GB. A competitive per-gigabyte cost for a hard drive today.
The company also plans to offer a CinemaStar version of the drive, for use in DVR and set-top boxes
In 2007 first quarter Seagate also going to release 1-TB hard drive.
7K1000 is Hitachi's first 3.5-inch hard drive to use PMR technology; last year, the company released 2.5-inch PMR-based hard drives.
The Deskstar 7K1000 will be a five-platter drive, each platter capable of storing 200GB apiece.
In addition to the 1TB model, Hitachi is introducing and shipping a 750GB version of the drive as well. But the company focused its energies on achieving 1TB before its competitors.

For more information you can visit : http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128400-page,1/article.html#

Truly Double sided LCD from Sumsung

2007-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd announced that it has created the first LCD panel that can produce independent images on each side of a mobile LCD display.
Samsung's new double-sided LCD can show two entirely different pictures or sets of visual data simultaneously on the front and back of the same screen unlike other conventional double-sided LCDs those can only show a reverse image of the same video data.
This new development will replace two display panels with one, thereby reducing overall thickness of mobile products by at least 1mm.
The new Samsung mobile display requires only one backlight, while competitive double-screen LCDs require two.
One side of the panel operates in a transmissive mode, while the other operates in a reflective mode.
The double-sided, dual image LCD's efficient use of light to display images in both transmissive and reflective modes promotes slimmer, more cost-effective products.
The new double-sided LCD is 2.6mm thick and 2.22" wide, with QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution, and has brightness values of 250 nits for the front and 100 nits for the rear display.

Basic comparison: AnalogTV, SDTV. EDTV and HDTV

2007-01-03T22:21:00.000-08:00

There was a time when we had only one choices while buying a TV i.e conventional Analog TV or CRT TV. But today we have so many choices. First of all we have our conventional CRT(cathode ray tube) TV. Along with this we have new choices like HDTV, EDTV and SDTV. But what is right for you? What are the main differences in them? Let’s try to understand the very basic about each of them.

Conventional Analog TV:
First of all let’s talk about our conventional CRT TV. Video screen of CRT TV contains 525 lines of resolution, although only 480 lines are displayed. These lines getting painted with “interlacing” technique. In this technique first it paints all the odd numbered lines from 1 to 479. Immediately after that it paints all even numbered lines from 2 to 480. This standard analog TV format represents as 525 interlaced or 525i, this also represent with term “480i”. The aspect ratio of the screen is 4:3. This TV has inbuilt NTSC tuner, so by default they can’t tune Digital TV broadcast.

Analog TV:
with NTSC broadcasting was dominating since last 50 years. But it is time when DTV (Digital TV) gradually replacing the Analog one. Digital television is a new type of broadcasting technology that offers television with movie-quality pictures and Dolby digital surround sound, along with a variety of other enhancements. This Digital TV works with ATSC broadcasting instead of NTSC. Currently there are three types of digital broadcast signal: SDTV, EDTV and HDTV. Aspect ratio for DTV is 16:9.

SDTV:
Like Analog TV, SDTV also 480i. Here the advantage compare to Analog one is SDTV can receive digital broadcast signal.

EDTV:
So far 480i resolution TVs worked fine. That is because TVs sizes are limited to 19 inch or 20 inch. But limitation of 480i resolution surfaced when same technology applies in large screen. Interlacing techniques does not work for larger screen. The visible scan lines and jaggies are annoying. The best solution is to avoid interlacing. Initially Interlacing was invented to save transmission bandwidth. But in current technology transmission in much higher rate is possible. So, there is no need of interlacing. It is possible to paint the lines sequentially from 1,2,3….up to 480, this is called “"progressive scanning". With this technology using same 480 resolution lines we can get better video quality, jaggies can be totally eliminated. This 480 lines progressive scan technique is commonly known as 480p. This concept in the consumer market known as Enhanced Definition Television, or EDTV.

Both SDTV and EDTV also receive the 16-by-9 broadcasts along with the 4-by-3 aspect ratio.

HDTV:

Even though we have digital broadcasting system SDTV and EDTV, maximum attention attracted towards HDTV. Main advantage here is increased number of scan lines on the screen. HDTV comes with three flavors 720p, 1080i and most recent one 1080p. As the name says first resolution displays 720 lines progressively and in the second one displays 1,080 lines interlaced. If we compare this two, we can say both of them are good. In general 720p is more appropriate for fast action as it uses progressive frames; alternatively 1080i is very good for slow moving picture (probably this is the reason in most of the HDTV show room you can see slow moving movies) . 1080p on the other hand providing an image resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. This one provides best display compare to other ones. This is because 1080p contains maximum number of pixels compare to other varieties, plus 1080 lines progressively scanned line which considers better then interlaced one.

Basic technology of satellite phone.

2007-01-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

A satellite phone or satphone is a mobile phone that sends and receives calls using satellites rather than landlines or cellular broadcasting towers.
A satellite phone only requires a clear line of sight to the sky.
The advantage of a satellite phone is that it can be communicated from from anywhere.
A disadvantage of a satellite phone is a noticeable delay in conversations.
The signal must first travel to the satellite, then to an earthbound gateway before being routed to the receiver. The receiver's response will follow the same path in reverse, taking equally long to reach the caller.
The three main satellite networks at present are Iridium, Glodstar and Thuraya.
Some satellite networks have partnered with cellular GSM networks to provide Internet service and email through satellite phones in addition to offering GSM roaming.
Some satellite phones use satellites in geostationary orbit. These systems can maintain near-continuous global coverage with only three or four satellites, reducing the launch costs. The disadvantage of geostationary satellite systems is that because the satellite is so far away (approx. 22,000 miles), a comparatively large antenna system is required for signal transmission and reception.

You may want to visit the following link to know more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_phone

Fujifilm FinePix S5200 : A quick look

2007-01-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Main feature I like:

10x optical and 5.7x digital zoom and optional wide and telephoto lens adapters.
The Fujifilm S5200 is fast. Startup is about 1 sec. and there is no practical shutter lag.
The S5200 lets you shoot video as motion JPEG and save it as AVI files at 640-by-480 and 30 frames per second. Color, sound, and image quality of the clips are good, and they can be any length up to the capacity of the memory card.
When shooting video, the S5200 adjusts well to varying light conditions, such as when you move from indoors to outdoors.
Low-light images at sensitivities up to ISO 1,600. ISO speeds: Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600.
The camera stores pictures on xD-Picture memory cards (16 MB xD card is supplied) and features fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to PC and Mac computers.
The camera stores pictures on xD-Picture memory cards (16 MB xD card is supplied) and features fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to PC and Mac computers.
Single or Continuous AF and Manual focus.
Electronic color viewfinder w/115K pixels.
15 - 1/2000 sec Shutter Speeds.
Manual Mode provides full control over both aperture and shutter speed.

Drawbacks:

It lacks optical image stabilization.
1.8 inch LCD is not impressive. It could have been bigger.

Very Basic of Plasma TV

2006-12-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

The plasma display panel was invented at the University of Illinoise at Urbana-Champaign by Donald L Bitzer and H. Gene Slottow in 1964.
Plasma displays are bright (1000 lx or higher for the module), have a wide color gamut, and can be produced in fairly large sizes, up to 262 cm (103 inches) diagonally.
Plasma television is a flat surface made with millions of tiny glass bubbles.
Each bubbles contains plasma with phosphor coating. You can assume each bubble as pixel.
Each pixel-bubble as having three sub-pixels - one red, one green, one blue. When it is time to display an image signal (RGB or video)
A digitally controlled electric current flows through the flat screen, causing the plasma inside designated bubbles to give off ultraviolet rays. This light in turn causes the phosphor coatings to glow the appropriate color making your Plasma TV provide the best video image anywhere.
This technology known as "plasmavision".
Each subpixel is individually controlled by advanced electronics to produce over 16 million different colors. You get perfect images that are easily viewable in a display that is less than 4 inches thick.
A Plasma Display is a television monitor, capable of displaying high definition TV, regular TV, and home video. AND it's a computer monitor, capable of doing everything a regular computer monitor can do. Just bigger and better.
The lifetime of the latest generation of plasma displays is estimated at 60,000 hours of actual display time. More precisely, this is the estimated half life of the display, the point where the picture has degraded to half of its original brightness, which is considered the end of the functional life of the display.
The main advantage of plasma display technology is that a very wide screen can be produced using extremely thin materials. Since each pixel is lit individually, the image is very bright and has a wide viewing angle.

You may want to know some more about plasma TV. I would suggest you to visit following links
http://www.plasma.com/classroom/about-plasma.htm#index1
http://www.plasmatvscience.org/

10 Important feature of Fujitsu Lifebook N6420

2006-12-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

The main feature which I really like in this note book is Core 2 Duo CPU and 200GB hard drive.
comfortable keyboard with a full numeric keypad.
Includes HD-DVD Drive.
The N6420's physical measurements are 16.3 inches wide by 12.0 inches deep by 1.9 inches thick.
Weight 9.7 pounds (11.6 with the massive A/C adapter).
Comes with USB 2.0 jacks, a mini FireWire jack, PC Card and ExpressCard slots, a media card reader, and a VGA output.
Approximate battery life 1 hour.
Resolution is 1,440 x 900 pixels.
Included Windows Media Center remote and receiver.
Comes with one-year warranty.

You want to visit following links for more information
http://reviews.cnet.com/Fujitsu_LifeBook_N6420_Notebook/4507-3121_7-32119005.html

Blu Ray Disc : Important feature

2006-12-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format. This was jointly developed by Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson).
The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.
Blu-ray Disc. Blu-ray Disc is supported by leading hardware manufacturers across the CE and IT fields from the U.S., Europe, Japan and Korea, including Dell, HP, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita (Panasonic), Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson/RCA.
The Blu-ray Disc format is designed to stay relevant for at least 10 to 15 years. Its high storage capacity of 25 to 50 GB allows for the best-possible High Definition video quality and satisfies even the most demanding data storage needs.
Blu-ray Disc provides some of the strongest copy protection methods ever developed for any consumer format. It makes Blu-ray Disc the best choice for any content publisher wanting assurance that their valuable assets are protected from piracy.
At comparable volumes, Blu-ray Disc production costs are within 10% of DVD production costs, although a Blu-ray Disc offers 5-10 x the capacity. It is by far the cheapest format measured in cost per GB. Since Blu-ray Disc requires fewer slots in a replication line compared to other formats, it will bring costs on par with DVD, or even cheaper, much sooner.
The Blu-ray Disc format offers the highest capacity of any consumer media format to date, also greatly surpassing the capacity of other format proposals.
As the result of recent breakthroughs in the development of hard coating for Blu-ray Disc, the discs offer much stronger resistance to scratches and fingerprints than other existing and proposed formats. Hard-coated Blu-ray Discs do not require a cartridge and can be used as a bare disc, similar to DVD and CD.

You may want to visit following links for more informations:
http://www.blu-ray.com/info/
http://www.blu-raydisc.com/

10 points to know about Pentium M processor

2006-12-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

Introduced in March 2003. This is a modified version of Pentium III Tualatin design.
The processor was originally designed for use with laptop Personal computer, thus the "M" stands for mobile.
The first Pentium M was identified by the codename Banias, it initially had no model number suffix, but was later identified as the Pentium M 705. This was released at frequencies from 1.3 GHz to 1.7 GHz.
Later Intel launched its improved 80536 Pentium M, formerly known as Dothan on May 10, 2004.
Revisions of the Dothan core were released in the first quarter of 2005 with the Sonoma chipsets and supported a 533 MT/s FSB and XD (Intel's name for the NX bit). These processors include the 730 (1.6 GHz), 740 (1.73 GHz), 750 (1.86 GHz), 760 (2.0 GHz) and 770 (2.13 GHz). These models all have a TDP of 27 W and a 2 MiB L2 cache.
It is optimized for power efficiency, a vital characteristic for extending notebook computer battery life. Running with very low average power consumption and much lower heat output than desktop processors.
If we compare with Pentium 4, 1.6 GHz Pentium M can typically attain the performance of a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4-M (laptop version of the Pentium4).
Another major area of the architecture change was done to lower the amount of voltage the processor needs to run. The current batch of Pentium M processors uses only 1.5 volts of power to run. Future Low and Ultra-Low versions will only require 1.18 and 1.1 volts respectively.
Although Intel has marketed the Pentium M exclusively as a mobile product, motherboard manufacturers such as AOpen, DFI and MSI have been shipping Pentium M compatible boards designed for enthusiast, HTPC, workstation and server applications.
Pentium M processors are also of interest to embedded systems manufacturers because the low power consumption of the Pentium M allows the design of fanless and miniaturized embedded PCs.

You may want visit the following links for more information...
http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/pentiumm/pentiumm.htm
http://www.intel.com/support/processors/mobile/pm/sb/CS-007967.htm

IPOD buying tips

2006-12-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

There are so many types of iPods available in the market. And it is hard to choose which one is best for me. Here are the main factors which I would consider while buying an iPod. But it may differ to others depending upon their preferences.

There are three main types of iPods available in the market.

iPod Shuffle
iPod Nano
iPod

iPod Shuffle:This is the simplest iPod. It has 1 gigabyte of storage (1gb). This equals about 240 songs. Its builtin battery is rechargable and can play music for about 12 hours. The iPod Shuffle does not have a screen so you can not visually browse your titles.

iPod Nano : All new iPod Nanos come with a bright color screen. Don't buy a Nano if it doesn't have this as it is an older one. The color screen lets you find your music selection more easily than the Shuffle. Depending on the version of the Nano it can hold anywhere from 500 to 2,000 songs.

iPod (Video) : This is very similar to Nano. The regular iPod is wider and longer than the Nano giving you the largest iPod screen availble. The functionality is exactly the same except that you can also store and play video. Available in 30gb and 60gb and 80gb sizes. The battery on the Ipod will last up to 20 hours before giving out making it a great music and video player for long trips.

Storage : Its better to have fairly large storage, I would prefer one with more then 20 gig. This will help me to store enough song/video for long trip.

Size : Here one big question is how big that iPod could be. If you are really concern with size. You can go for Nano. But this option may take some extra from your pocket. For example The 8GB iPod Nano lists for $249.00 US, the same price as the 30GB iPod. So, need to decide here among capacity and size.

You can visit following pages for more info :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod

10 points to consider while buying Notebook

2006-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Processor : Pantium M performs better then other processors, it has all fetures of pantium4 additionally this gives longer battery life. AMD's Athlon Turion 64 is another process which is worth to consider.
Memory : I would prefer at least 512MB RAM. Many notebooks are now available with 1GB of RAM. Buying up to 1GB of RAM at the same time you purchase your notebook will help extend its useful lifetime.
Graphics memory: I preffer 64 MB or 128 MB of VRAM.
Screen: Notebook screens continue to get bigger. Now-a-days wide screens are more popular.
BaterryLife: In my opinion, this very important factor. Notebook battery life took a step forward with the introduction of the Pentium M. With that processor average battery time of different models is 3.5 hours. Some of them can run upto 7 hrs.
Keyboard and pointing device: It is better to try the keyboards before buying. Thin-and-light notebooks usually have smaller-than-average keys spaced more closely than on a desktop-replacement model. if you have a preference, look for manufacturers that use your preferred pointing device on the majority of their products.
Optical and other drives: Most manufacturers offer notebooks with rewritable DVD drives. If you really need floppy drive, better to buy external one.

Many laptops offer the optical drive as a modular device, so you can swap it out for a second hard drive or a second battery.

Hard Drive: Now days most of the software taking lots of hard disk. S, its better to take bigger hard disk. I would go for 120GB.
Weight and bay design: Generally range of weight is 8 to 10 pounds. Also check the weight of the AC adapter. And if there any other external module.
Communications: Few notebooks come with a full set of legacy ports anymore. Serial ports are rare, and PS/2 ports (for a mouse or keyboard) and infrared ports are going the way of the dodo, as well. Most notebooks still have a parallel port and one PC Card slot. Two USB 2.0 is default. A majority of notebooks include a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port for connecting an external drive, an MP3 player, or a digital-video camcorder. A smattering of notebooks now include built in wireless broadband wide-area networking.

Digital Camera: ISO Sensitivity

2006-12-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations.

ISO speed affects the shutter speed / aperture combinations you can use to obtain correct exposure.
ISO settings are often rated at 100, 200, or 400 but go as high as 800, 1600, and even 3200 on some advanced models.
A lower ISO setting is used when capturing overly bright scenes, since it reduces the light sensitivity of the image sensor.
A higher ISO settings is often used when shooting under dimmer conditions (cloudy days, indoors, etc.) since it increases the light sensitivity of the image sensor. As brightness in a scene is decreased the camera tries to compensate by slowing the shutter speed which in turn lets in more light but increases the risk of motion blur. To prevent this, you can increase the ISO or sensitivity of the camera, which allows the camera to select a higher shutter speed, thus reducing motion blur.
While using a higher ISO setting is often needed to capture images with reduced blur in lower light, it also increases the noise level of the image. A lower ISO setting is preferred whenever possible since it helps to reduce this noise or grain.
ISO settings can also be used to help control the shutter speed of a camera while in automatic mode. In order to "freeze" motion in a scene, a camera needs to be able to use a higher shutter speed. By selecting a higher ISO you are allowing the camera to gather more light, this automatically forces the camera to select a faster shutter speed, which helps to reduce motion blur.
ISO Settings:

Auto ISO: digital camera automatically sets the ISO speed according the the brightness of the scene, increasing or decreasing the sensitivity. User has no control over which ISO number is used.

ISO 50 – 80: For taking photos in bright light; excellent for close-ups, landscape, and portraits. Produces fine detail and image quality.

ISO 100: For extra sensitivity with little, if any, reduced image quality.

ISO 200: Cloudy and overcast days. Acceptable image quality, with some visible noise.

ISO 400 and above: suitable for indoor photography whether or not a flash is used. Useful for "stop-action" and sports photographs. Most compact digital cameras produce high to very high image noise.

An image sensor is usually calibrated so that it gives the best image quality (greatest S/N ratio) at its lowest possible ISO speed. For most consumer digital cameras, this value will be expressed as ISO 50, ISO 64 or ISO 100.
The size of the image sensor determines the ISO speed range that a digital camera can use without suffering from undue noise. One reason for this is because the pixels on the larger image sensor can be larger and therefore receive more light, and thus have a greater signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio.
If we take two image sensors, each with 4 megapixels resolution, but of different sizes, the 4 megapixels image sensor that is smaller will exhibit more noise at higher ISOs than the larger one.

Most consumer digital cameras use 1/1.8 in. (and smaller) image sensors, so noise at high ISO is a problem. Though they will allow you to use a high ISO (such as ISO 400), the resultant image will usually be very noisy.
A digital SLR (dSLR), on the other hand, uses a large image sensor, usually full frame (24x36 mm) or APS-sized (half-frame). Noise is rarely a problem and the use of a high ISO 400 results in images with barely noticeable noise.
There are some noise reduction software available. So, you can take photos with high ISOand later remove noises using those software.

I think you can get more information in the following site :
http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-features/advanced-settings/iso.php

Digital Camera : Canon Power shot SD900

2006-12-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

Canon Power shot SD900 is one of the hot picks in this holiday shopping season. Here is a short note about the main features available in this camera.

Compact, stylish case with rounded horizontal edges and a retracting lens to make it pocket-friendly.
10-megapixel resolution.
3x optical zoom / 4x digital zoom
Auto focus, auto and manual exposure
JPEG file format
Movie mode with sound
It offers 30fps VGA movie capture or XGA (1,024x768) movies at 15fps.
Can record up to 3 minutes of 1024 x 768 (15 fps) video; can also record at 640 x 480 (30 fps) until 4GB file size or 1 hour time limit is reached
2.5-inch LCD, with 230,000 pixels.
Secure Digital card storage (32MB card included)
Lithium-ion battery, 230 shots per charge.
6.7 ounces and 1.1 inches thick.
Moderately fast shooter. After waiting 1.3 seconds from power-on to first shot, we managed to snap one photo every 2.3 seconds.
Low light performance with a high ISO of 1,600 plus a scene mode that shoots a small image size at ISO 3,200, too. It's a wonder they put a flash on this thing..
They included Face Detection ability. Half press the shutter and the SD900 will show a focus target on the nearest face it finds.
USB 2.0 High speed support

Digital camera : Image sensor

2006-12-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

An image sensor a device that converts visual image to an electric signal. It is used chiefly in digital camera and other imaging devices.Its a solid state device fingernail-sized silicon chips which contains millions of photosensitive diodes called photosites.

In the brief flickering instant that the shutter is open, each photosite records the intensity or brightness of the light that falls on it by accumulating a charge; the more light, the higher the charge. The brightness recorded by each photosite is then stored as a set of numbers that can then be used to set the color and brightness of dots on the screen or ink on the printed page to reconstruct the image.

CCD

Until recently, charge-coupled devices (CCDs) were the only image sensors used in digital cameras.
They have been well developed through their use in astronomical telescopes, scanners, and video camcorders.
A charge-coupled device (CCD) gets its name from the way the charges on its pixels are read after an exposure. After the exposure the charges on the first row are transferred to a place on the sensor called the read out register. From there, the signals are fed to an amplifier and then on to an analog-to-digital converter. Once the row has been read, its charges on the readout register row are deleted, the next row enters, and all of the rows above march down one row. The charges on each row are "coupled" to those on the row above so when one moves down, the next moves down to fill its old space. In this way, each row can be read-one row at a time.

CMOS

Image sensors are manufactured in wafer foundries or fabs. Here the tiny circuits and devices are etched onto silicon chips. The biggest problem with CCDs is that there isn't enough economy of scale. They are created in foundries using specialized and expensive processes that can only be used to make CCDs. Meanwhile, more and larger foundries across the street are using a different process called Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) to make millions of chips for computer processors and memory. This is by far the most common and highest yielding process in the world. The latest CMOS processors, such as the Pentium III, contain almost 10 million active elements. Using this same process and the same equipment to manufacturer CMOS image sensors cuts costs dramatically because the fixed costs of the plant are spread over a much larger number of devices.

CMOS image quality is now matching CCD quality in the low- and mid-range, leaving only the high-end image sensors still unchallenged.
CMOS image sensors can incorporate other circuits on the same chip, eliminating the many separate chips required for a CCD. This also allows additional on-chip features to be added at little extra cost. These features include anti-jitter (image stabilization) and image compression. Not only does this make the camera smaller, lighter, and cheaper; it also requires less power so batteries last longer.
CMOS image sensors can switch modes on the fly between still photography and video. However, video generates huge files so initially these cameras will have to be tethered to the mothership (the PC) when used in this mode for all but a few seconds of video. However, this mode works well for video conferencing although the cameras can't capture the 20 frames a second needed for full-motion video.
While CMOS sensors excel in the capture of outdoor pictures on sunny days, they suffer in low light conditions. Their sensitivity to light is decreased because part of each photosite is covered with circuitry that filters out noise and performs other functions. The percentage of a pixel devoted to collecting light is called the pixel’s fill factor. CCDs have a 100% fill factor but CMOS cameras have much less. The lower the fill factor, the less sensitive the sensor is and the longer exposure times must be. Too low a fill factor makes indoor photography without a flash virtually impossible. To compensate for lower fill-factors, micro-lenses can be added to each pixel to gather light from the insensitive portions of the pixel and "focus" it down to the photosite. In addition, the circuitry can be reduced so it doesn't cover as large an area.

http://www.shortcourses.com/choosing/sensors/05.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor