SmartEyeglass prototype from Sony at IFA 2014

Sony already announced their mobile devices at IFA 2014 electronic show in Berlin. Its time for them to show other products they have been developing and today they showed their latest SmartEyeglass prototype. Framed inside the thick plastic, there is the clear lenses. Texts appear on the lens in green color giving a very different experience.

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This prototype glass feels little unwieldy due to its large body. It still interacts with the smartphone to provide locations and context aware information. It supports apps like Wikitude for directions, Cookpad for showing recipe information for cooking and Local Life for showing what’ events are happening around in local area. The additional settings menu is also found in a paired smartphone that shows display for gmail updates, facebook posts, calender reminders, tweets and RSS feeds possible on glasses.
The texts appearing on the lens remind of the 1980’s computer monitors. They take over a great portion of lens and the display is nothing but green texts and some graphics and they are a bit higher resolution than that of old computer monitors.

Western Digital’s portable drive: All things in One

Lets talk about the storage capacity here. Nearly every smartphone is capable of 1080p video recording, DSLR cameras of photographers need a lot of space for capturing photos and videos on-the-go and everybody these days want HD movies. All of these criteria needs a lot of storage. There are cloud storage options too but it isn’t conventional always due to lack of internet where ever you go. May be, this is why WD has came up with its awesome idea for its portable drive.

 

This protable drive is part of My Passport from WD. For computer users, it supports USB 3.0 port for faster data transfer. It provides option for photographers to swap their SD cards into it and it automatically downloads the photos and videos from card to drive. If the camera is wifi enabled, then the contents can be transferred wirelessly using FTP protocol. It has in-built wifi for wireless file transfer as well as media streaming to devices that supports DLNA protocol. HD videos can be streamed from up to 4 different devices at the same time. It also offers mobile apps, My cloud that supports other cloud services like dropbox, onedrive and google drive. This app manages various My Passport drives and provide option to choose which one for upload or download. 

This WD drive also doubles as wifi hotspot through which you can connect upto 8 devices at the same time. It charges via USB cable and can provide up to 20 hours stand-by time and 6 hours of continuous HD video streaming.

You can get this small unit in capacities of 500GB ($130), 1TB ($180) and 2TB ($220).

Dell is all ready to launch 34-inch curved display Monitor!

Dell recently announced its Gaming PC Alienware Area-51. Now, Dell has something else for those folks who want the gaming experience to be on-the-par. Alongside Alienware Area-51 which is powered by Intel’s Haswell-E core i7 processor, they announced their first curved display monitor. Desll UltraSharp U3415W is a 34-inch curved display monitor which will be launching in China coming November and rest of the world will get in December.

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This monitor is ultra wide-angle with 21:9 aspect ratio display. Other specs include:

• WQHD 3440*1440 resolution 34-inch curved display
• HDMI 2.0, MHL, DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort connectivity
• 9 Watt integrated dual speakers, 60 Hz performance

When it is setup in multi-monitor configuration, the ultra-thin bezels makes it virtually borderless cockpit view across multiple screens.

Project Wing of Google shown: The Atlantic

Those of Google X labs working on Project Loon, Glass, Driver-less Cars and more have now shown this new project called “Project Wing”. This test was seen taking place in Australia. The general idea of this project is that the hybrid of plane and helicopter called drone hovers and lowers the package to the ground with the help of wire before releasing it. Then the part which drops the package is pulled back to the drone and completes the delivery.

Seeing all these, one can think of Google’s Shopping Express to deliver the goods via air. But this is only the first time such thing happened and it is still in test phase, so we shouldn’t make our hopes high right now and it sure isn’t coming anytime soon. Video Companion here!

 

Gadget Announcement Roundup!

 

• HTC launched One M8 for Windows a week ago. It is almost identical to its android twin except for the software which is latest Windows Phone 8.1.1. It has same Snapdragon 801, 2gb ram with 32gb onboard storage and Verizon exclusive for now.

 

• HTC Desire 510 is a mid-range smartphone with 64-bit 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor inside, android 4.4 KitKat with HTC’s blinkfeed on top of latest HTC Sense. It is packed will all connectivity and sensors all backed up by 2100 mAh removable battery. It will launch in two colors Terra White and Meridian Grey with Dot-View case support.

 

• Huawei Ascend P7 was launched already but the company is planning for its sapphire glass version announcement. It will be limited in quantity but you can expect higher price tag. Sapphire glass is making all hive recently with its strong and almost virtually unbreakable news, which you can see for yourself on Marquees Brownlee Video. Big companies like Apple are showing interest to implement it in their future smartphone.

• LG G Watch R is the latest announcement from LG smartwatch family. The face of watch is of course round like that of Moto 360 which is yet to be announced officially. The looks of G Watch R is more of classic Casio Watches and materials used are also premium with leather straps which holds durable stainless steel frame. Other features include:
  • 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400, 
  • 512 MB RAM, 
  • 4 GB internal storage, 
  • 410 mAh battery and
  • Dust and Water resistant.

 

• Samsung Gear S is Samsung’s new curved display smartwatch with their Tizen OS. This watch is unique to others in a way that it can accept sim cards to make phone calls too, ya you heard it right. Other features include:
  • 1 GHz dual core processor,
  • 512 MB RAM,
  • 4 GB internal storage,
  • 300 mAh battery,
  • Quad band 2G/3G, bluetooth 4.1, wifi a/b/g/n, GPS/GLONASS and USB 2.0,
  • Sim card slot and 
  • IP67 certified for water and dust resistant.

 

How big is Google?

 

On 1995, Larry page and Sergey Brin met for the first time at Stanford University. They soon became good friends and start collaborating on search engine called “Back Rub”. At that time, only 13 search engines were existed and all of them were terrible. On Sept 15th 1997, Back Rub was changed to Google.com and the rest, as they say, is history. Many of us now-a-days use Google’s online services like google search, Gmail, YouTube as well as its popular mobile operating system, Android. Google’s self-driving cars and augmented reality are awesome but how many of we ask ourselves “How big is Google?” Let’s get to it by running down the acquisitions  Google made so far.

 

• Android: Acquired by Google on 17th of August, 2005 at a cost of 50 million dollars. Its open source nature made it possible to be implemented to any  devices from Phones to Refrigerators to cars. Out of 261.1 million smartphone sold in 2013, 211 million were running on android, being over 80%.
• YouTube: Acquired by Google on 10th of December, 2006 at a cost of 1.65 billion dollars. Looking purely just as search engine, it is bigger than Bing, yahoo & ask; all combined. Saying so, it is the largest search engine on planet only behind Google itself. Since it is a video site, over a decade worth of video is uploaded in just one day. In watching perspective, over 4 billion hours’ worth of videos are watched each month. 
• Motorola Mobility: Acquired by Google on 15th of August, 2011 at a cost of  12.5 billion dollars. Motorola was really facing difficulty face and so Google used its chance. But, later on Feb, 2014 Google sold it to Lenovo for 2.9 billion dollars. But some of the patents are still held by Google.
• Boston Dynamics: Acquired by Google on 10th of December, 2013 at unknown cost. By this acquisition, we can predict that Google is into some advanced robotic technologies in the world. 
• Nest: Acquired by Google on 13th of January, 2014 at a cost of 3.2 billion dollars. Nest Labs created very appreciable smart thermostats as part of creating conscious home. So, in very near future, we may see Home powered by Google implementing its Android software and Google Now features.

 

Other projects that are ongoing with Google are:

 

•  Project Loon: Aim to provide Internet Service to 4 Billion people that don’t yet have access. It plans to do this via balloons in stratosphere. The balloons will flow in Stratosphere extending to about 20 miles (32 km) above the earth’s surface. Its created by wireless network with 3G speeds. Let’s hope it will make an easy way for people to be online all over the world.
• Google is also teaming up with NASA with the help of D-wave company to get involved in World’s first commercially available Quantum Computers.
• Lastly, with very recent announcement, on 16th January, 2014 of their specialized contact lens,  will provide the glucose monitoring system for diabetics using non-intrusive method.

 

For video feature, check out the ColdFustion’s YouTube page.

PC News Rundown!

 

• Segate announced its 3.5inch body packed 8TB Hard Drive and as per their mention, 10TB models are in the not-too-distant future. 8TB drive is shipping now to select customers and will be more widely available next quarter.
• With the increase in 1.3 percent in desktop PC shipments, interesting news is that Graphics Card shipment in second quarter of 2014 declined by 17.5 percent compared to previous quarter. Reports say that tablets and embedded graphics caused part of such decline. Nvidia is on top with 62 percent slipping from 64.9 percent and AMD has 37.9 percent share, up from 35 percent.
• Gaming PC Razer has announced Razer Cortex which helps to compare prices for video games from digital platforms allowing users to create wish lists. Notification will be sent to such wish wists if price drops or such games are available in the stores.
• Microsoft has dropped the price of Microsft Surface 2 RTby $100 on all the models available meaning you could get one as low as $350 for 32gb model. This almost a year old product has seen such price change may be for stock clearence or for more focus to Surface Pro 3.

 

Another owesome 3D-product, a Castle to live in!

Not many of us have thought that 3D-printer could really make such a huge sake in people’s life. It produced edible foods, human parts, weapons and like everything if proper raw materials are provided. The same has been the case here. After few months work, Minnesota architect has now finished building a castle out of 3D-printing materials.

Andrey Rudenko, who started constructing this fancy home in April, wanted to set a new bar for 3D-printed homes. The real question was the quality of the construction. When started, people were in question to whether this project would further progress or not. Now, everyone who has seen this in real feels dazzled how it really looks.

New Solid-state Cells

sakti3 is a startup that came up with new type of solid-state battery that is produced with the same thin-film deposition process used to make flat panel displays & photovoltaic solar cells. This Michigan startup Sakti3 says that its solid-state cells are double the energy density of best li-ion batteries or even more.
It is under development process and will commercialize its technology within couple of years. It even says it will start with consumer electronics followed by electric-vehicle batteries.
The company also says that the chemical reactions in these cells are much simpler than those in conventional lithium-ion batteries. This reason should suggest that these batteries should last longer. Also the riskiest part and safety measures are also explained. One can snap the batteries into two pieces, drop hot solder and connect it and it continues to operate again.

Youtube’s most subscribed: PewDiePie!

Growing media and growing technology is all people love these days. Youtube is one of the most popular website where people all around the world upload their videos for any reason they feel fit. It has also became the media for news, technology and entertainment. Youtube also have subscription service and those who have google account can simply login and subscribe the channels they love. On the other end, there are alot of companies as well as individuals who gain maximum subscriptions. 

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, a swedish guy born on 24 October 1989, known by his online alias PewDiePie is the most subscribed youtuber with over 29 million subscribers. He started as a video game commentator basically on horror and action video game genres. On 19 July 2014, his channel surpassed RihannaVEVO to become the most viewed channel of all time. He started various charity works. “Water campaign” was one of the charity which he began in celebration of reaching 10 million subscribers where his fans could donate money. He raised $446,462; more than his goal of raising $250,000. Another “Save the Children” charity raised over $630,000, surpassing a $250,000 goal. Over $1 million money has already been raised by his fan base charity in total.

Although he is from Sweden, he later moved to live with his girlfriend, Marzia Bisognin whose is also a youtuber and her online alias is CutiePieMarzia, in her native country, Italy. She has also over 4 million subscribers. He moved to the United Kingdom in July 2013 for better Internet connectivity.

At the time of writing this post, PewDiePie has 29,967,018 subscribers whereas his girlfriend CutiePieMarzia has 4,159,526 subscribers. In June 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported PewDiePie earning $4 million a year.