Sony Digital Paper targets the professional fraternity

www.gizmeon.com :  Sony Digital Paper targets the professional fraternity

In a profession such as the legal line, you would definitely have to deal with paper. Plenty of paper, so much so that sometimes, you do wish that the entire shebang can be digitized so that all of the documentation required can be carried up and around on a single tablet. Sony might have a hand in that, as they have just announced the Sony Digital Paper, providing professionals with a new way to read, annotate, and share documents electronically.
You might groan, “Oh no! Is it another tablet device?” Well, it is and not at the same time. The Sony Digital Paper was specially designed to increase productivity and streamline collaboration in paper-intensive environments, where it will hopefully appeal to a range of user communities that will include legal, higher education, governmental agencies and corporate board rooms.
Sporting a ‘notepad’ feature that will have universal appeal, these notes can be shared with clients, colleagues, and co-workers. The Sony Digital Paper will boast of a simple, intuitive experience, where professionals will benefit from portability and flexibility alongside the ability to wirelessly access document management solutions as well as other content repositories.
Hardware specifications of the Digital Paper include a 13.3 inch display that shows off full-screen views of letter-sized documents in the PDF format, hence doing away with the need for zooming in or scrolling when reading a page.
There is also a touch panel that enables users to operate the menu, or to help them turn pages by simply touching the screen. Sony has also thrown in a stylus, so that professionals are able to write fluidly and directly on the panel. You will have to wait until this May for the Sony Digital Paper to be available though, as it carries a rather hefty price tag of $1,100.

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Intel India announced Rs 5.7 lakh Ph.D. fellowship programme

Intel India announced Rs 5.7 lakh Ph.D. fellowship programme

Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, today announced a fellowship of Rs 5.7 lakh to enhance Ph.D. programmes and boost quality research in India. The Intel Ph.D. sponsorship programme will provide research opportunities for students in cutting edge technology and a platform for sharing industry knowledge and mentoring from senior technology leaders at the chipmaker, the company said in a release.

Selected candidates will be awarded a fellowship of up to Rs 5.7 lakh for a period of up to four years and includes student stipend, contingency research and a travel grant to attend conferences and research forums.

The programme will provide the best in industry fellowships, research travel grants and contingency grants to selected students, it added.

It is part of Intel’s higher education programme and will be available for eligible students from the academic year starting July 2014.

The higher education programme builds collaboration with engineering and research institutions, universities and the government, reaching more than 235,000 students and 4,500 faculties across 550 institutions to date. It is aimed at bridging the gap between academia and industry standards and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Globally, the fellowship programme was started in the early 1990s by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore to recognise and honour top students pioneering research in all areas that would benefit humankind.

Posted By : Gizmeon

IBM to open a new research lab in Bangalore

IBM to open a new research lab in Bangalore

Global IT major IBM Friday announced investing $100 million to set eight new labs worldwide, including one in India for enabling its clients work with experts in design, mobile and digital marketing. “We will open the new labs in Bangalore, Beijing, Groningen (Netherlands), London, Melbourne, New York, Sao Paulo and Shanghai to provide our clients an opportunity to work with our researchers and consultants on design, data and analytics,” the US-based company said in a statement.

The company also plans to hire about 1,000 employees for the labs to help its clients develop personalized models of engagement through the consulting model fusing strategy, data and design.

“The new interactive labs will make multi-discipline experts available to help companies recreate their customer experience,” IBM global business services vice-president Bridget van Kralingen said in the statement.

Multi-discipline teams in the labs will analyze business challenges and jointly develop solutions that integrate next-generation mobile, social, analytics and cloud technologies. “As our clients redefine how they engage with their customers or employees, they discover that the traditional digital agency model has limits. We are closing these gaps by integrating our world-class design and research with our strength in big data,” Kralingen noted.

The company plans to open additional labs in future to support the global demand for data-driven experiences. As hallmarks of its consulting practice, the new labs will enable companies to engage with their customers in new ways.

“Our researchers are developing capabilities to harness the value of data to help clients create personalized experiences, while designers are working with clients to develop the design that makes a difference in business outcomes,” Kralingen said.

Posted By : Gizmeon

BlackBerry to launch 3 new high-end devices

BlackBerry to launch 3 new high-end devices with keyboards and BBM on desktops as part of “keyboard centric” strategy

BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen has revealed that the company is planning on launching three new high-end devices boasting a keyboard in the coming 18 months. Going against the norms of launching an all-touch device, Chen says this move is a way to win back the company’s keyboard aficionados, Reuters reports.

Speaking to the publication on the sidelines of the earnings call on Friday, Chen revealed how the company’s focus is going to be “very keyboard centric.” In addition to launching smartphones with keyboards, BlackBerry is also looking at bringing the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to desktops.

BlackBerry’s BB10 devices haven’t had the best of times though and Chen further revealed that they had only managed to sell 1.1 million handsets in the last quarter. In the past few weeks, BlackBerry has slashed prices of BB10 devices in India like the Z10 and the Z30 in a bid to boost sales. The move seems to have worked as the Z10 sold out and had to be restocked.

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Learn How to use Whatsapp On PC as well

Guys as you know Whatsapp is the most Popular Messanger available in the Market for Mobile Phones.Unfortunately if you dont own a Smart phone then you might not be able to use whatsapp. But don’t worry today we Will learn How to use Whatsapp On PC as well.

You can Use it On both Windows and Mac.

Let us see how to use Whatsapp on window and Mac PC.

To Run Whatsapp on Pc, We will Require Android Emulator, Android Emulator Helps us to Run Whatsapp on PC.

Step 1: Youwave And Bluestack Are the Two Android Emulator which enable us to Run Whatsapp or any other Android

App on PC.

Step 2: If you Go for Bluestack then Download and install it, then run the Bluestack and Click on ” Apps “

Then Click on the Tab ” Social ” and select ” Whatsapp ” and Install it.

Step 3: If you Go for Youwave which I am Using On My PC then just download  and install.

Now download Whatsapp.apk and move the downloaded file to PC directory.

To Check PC’s Directory, Open Youwave click on help > Instruction. Now move your whatsapp.apk file in to that directory . Then Click on View then Redraw Icons. Now You will see Whatsapp icon .

After Installing Whatsapp on Youwave or Bluestack you have to enter Mobile number which is not used earlier For Whatsapp account.  Then they will take 5 Minutes to verify and will send you Code. Enter that code and thats all.

Posted By : Gizmeon

HTC launches flagship smartphone One M8

HTC has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone HTC One (M8) at an event in New York and London on March 25, 2014. Though we could not make it to the launch event we did get the device for an hour or so before the official launch. HTC One (M8) will be launched in India in second week of April and around that time its price will also be unveiled. Here is our first impression about the device.

What do the specs say?
The all new HTC One (HTC M8) that will be made available in India will be a TDD LTE ready smartphone. That means it will support LTE services from Airtel and Reliance Jio. It runs on Google Android KitKat operating system and on the processor front it has a quad-core Snapdragon 801 system chip which is same as that found in Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Sony Xperia Z2. As far as the memory department is concerned it has 2GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory and a micro SD card slot which can accommodate whooping 128 GB card.

In the camera department there are lots of thing that HTC is doing for the first time. HTC One (M8) is the first device from HTC that will have a 4 megapixel UltraPixel resolution rear camera paired with a secondary rear sensor to improve depth and add the ability to refocus your shots after they've been taken. HTC calls this complete setup as dual camera and it will also be accompanied with a dual colour LED flash. If you love taking selfies HTC will not disappoint you. M8 has 5 megapixel front camera as well.
HTC one (M8) will also have IR (infrared) blaster which will help in doubling up your smartphone as an remote control for television, air conditioners, music systems and so on.

The all new One (M8) features a big 5-inch display with a resolution of 1080p HD with protection of Gorilla Glass 3. This flagship device will also get the latest Sense 6 user interface.

How does it look and feel?
In the first look HTC One (M8) will look just like HTC One with better metal finishing but once you hold the device and closely observe it you find the difference.

At the rear it has more curved that HTC One that makes it comfortable to hold and fits in the palm quite well. Also, Aluminium unibody with a smooth metal finish gives the device a premium look which it is meant to be.

The front panel of HTC One (M8) has a 5 inch display along with a 5 megapixel camera on the top and three capacitive on-screen buttons at the bottom rather than just below the display. In the front panel you will also find HTC BoomSound dual front-facing speakers on either side of the screen.

On the back panel you will find the dual camera along with dual flash which looks quite elegant. In HTC One (M8) the physical keys power on/off and volume rocker that are placed in the top panel and side panel respectively. They are not raised and gel with the design of the phone. This also protects the keys from getting damaged during day to day usage. In the side panel you will also find micro SIM Slot and micro SSD card slot. Since M8 has a unibody design 2600mAh battery is not removable. The 3.5 mm jack and micro USB port are placed in the bottom panel. In a nutshell, HTC One (M8) has a trendy design and one can flaunt his device.

Does it have a good display screen?
The HTC One comes with a 5 inch display with full HD resolution like most of the high-end devices available. We did check the visibility in bright sunlight and were happy with the output. We easily manage to operate it under bright sun light and response to touch was never an issue.

Dot View case
Most of the times flip covers just don't match the smarthones in design, look and feel. I guess HTC knew this quite well because for M8 they have come up with a unique dot view case.

This case can be accessed by just double tapping and one can check the time, weather, new texts, emails and calls - without opening the flip cover. HTC Dot View phone case protects the screen,along with displaying notifications and interactions in a retro, dot-matrix style.

Is the camera of HTC One (M8) its USP?
HTC One (M8) is the first device from HTC's stable to have a dual rear camera and dual coloured flash to help in better colour reproduction. It has a 4 megapixel UltraPixel resolution rear camera which comes along with a secondary rear sensor just above the primary camera to improve depth and add the ability to refocus your shots after they've been taken. It also has a 5 megapixel front camera for video chatting and taking selfies.

To use the dual camera one doesn't have to do anything everything is done automatically. One just needs to click the picture and after that one needs to open gallery to apply effects like post-capture focusing, a depth map, insert someone in the picture, gives themes to clicked pictures and so on. The camera interface comes with six shooting modes - regular, video, Zoe, front camera, Dual capture and a 360-degree panorama mode.

We clicked few pictures from the rear camera in different light conditions and modes. The shots that were taken in bright light were just amazing with sharp detailing and good colour reproduction. In the dim lit conditions pictures were decent but not great.

What is their in new interface: Sense 6.0?
The major attraction of new Sense UI 6 in HTC One (M8) is that it will allow you to power device using two different methods - double tap and swipe. The new navigation will sport a colour coded navigation e.g. blue can be for messages and red can be for calls. When one is unlocking the phone using swipe one can either open blink feed or menu section depending upon the right or left swipe used to initiate the action.

Over all the Sense 6 looks good but require in depth review before we can a pass a judgement on it. Nonetheless fonts, size of the icons and camera button look good in the new UI.

First impression
HTC One (M8) is a beautifully crafted smartphone and can be a head turner. The camera takes amazing pictures in bright lighting but in low lighting conditions it was found wanting.

We were not able to test the performance of the device but we are sure with the kind of hardware it has it will be glitch free. The only thing that needs to be watched out is what will be its price of HTC One (M8) in India when it is launched in second week of April. We are of the opinion that if it is priced lesser than Rs 40,000 it will be a great buy.

What's your take, is it cool or not?  Leave your comments below.

Posted by : Gizmeon

Facebook in $2 Billion Deal for Virtual Reality Company

Facebook sees the future — a 3-D virtual world where you feel as if you are hanging out with your friends rather than staring at their pictures.

To fulfill that vision, the company announced on Tuesday that it had reached a $2 billion agreement to buy Oculus VR, the maker of a virtual reality headset. It’s a bet that a technology commonly associated with science fiction can help eventually turn social networking into an immersive, 3-D experience.

Virtual reality technologies give people the illusion that they are physically present in a digital world.

Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and the chief executive of Facebook, said the deal reflected his belief that virtual reality could be the next big computing platform after mobile, a technology the company has spent most of the last several years adapting to, for the most part successfully. Facebook’s deal came as a surprise, because Oculus, a small start-up that has not yet shipped a product to the broader public, is working on what some view as a niche technology aimed at hard-core video game players.

Mr. Zuckerberg, though, said Facebook had much bigger plans for its acquisition. “Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face to face — just by putting on goggles in your home,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Facebook.

With the deal, Facebook is the latest Silicon Valley company to invest in wearable hardware that reimagines how people will one day interact with information and other forms of content. Google has taken a different approach with Glass, its high-tech eyewear that overlays maps, messages and other data on a transparent lens in front of people’s eyes, through which they can still view their surroundings.

The acquisition is one of several bets that Facebook, with about 1.2 billion users worldwide, is making in its effort to anticipate the future and secure its dominance of social communication.

For example, last month, the company announced it would buy WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app, for $16 billion plus as much as $3 billion in future payouts. That purchase was a bet on the fast growth in mobile messages, a type of one-to-one communication that largely bypasses Facebook.

More recently, the company has tried to leverage its strong position in mobile applications into new mobile markets, and Mr. Zuckerberg seemed to suggest that Oculus, which now requires the horsepower of a personal computer, could one day work on mobile devices.

James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research, questioned Facebook’s strategy in buying Oculus, because he does not believe virtual reality has compelling applications beyond gaming.

“The fit is so poor,” he said. “You could easily have done some kind of partnership.”

And Brian Blau, an analyst with the research firm Gartner who worked in virtual reality over two decades ago, said that back then, “Virtual reality had hip, hype and hope.” He added, “Unfortunately the story is still the same today.”

Oculus Rift, the headset Oculus VR is developing, is a boxy set of goggles that envelops the eyes of its wearers, completely surrounding their field of view with high-resolution screens that create 3-D images. Motion sensors in the headset track the movement of a person’s head, shifting their view on the screen and creating the feeling that the wearer has an active presence in a virtual world.

Brendan Iribe, a co-founder and the chief executive of Oculus VR, said Facebook would be able to use the technology to allow avatars representing its members to interact with one another — perhaps by socializing at online parties.

“If you can see somebody else, and your brain believes they’re right in front of you, you get goosebumps,” he said. “You start to realize how big this could be.”

For tech fanatics, virtual reality is a long-running dream that has never quite made the leap from Star Trek and other science fiction fantasies into a product that ordinary people would buy. It has made modest inroads in some industrial and medical applications — for treating post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, for example.

There is hope among virtual reality aficionados that now may finally be the technology’s moment. Essential components for virtual reality headsets, like high-resolution screens and motion sensors, are now relatively cheap and plentiful because of the boom in mobile devices, allowing companies like Oculus VR to make higher-quality, better-priced products than those in the past.

Oculus has sold more than 75,000 of its headsets to game developers, but has not announced when it will release a version to the public.

Sony recently said that it, too, would create a virtual reality headset for its PlayStation 4 game console.

Facebook is paying $400 million in cash and about $1.6 billion in stock for Oculus, with up to $300 million more depending on Oculus’s performance.

Antonio Rodriguez, an Oculus board member and general partner at Matrix Partners, one of the two largest institutional investors in the company, said in an interview that Facebook had promised that Oculus could operate largely autonomously within the larger company, much as do WhatsApp and the photo-sharing service Instagram, which Facebook acquired in 2012.

Although Facebook plans to continue the development of Oculus’s gaming hardware, there are many other applications longer term. “People will build a model of a place far away and you’ll go see it,” Mr. Zuckerberg said during a conference call. “It’s like teleporting.”

About 40 percent of the time that people spend online on computers is on gaming, Mr. Zuckerberg said, and 40 percent is on social communication.

“You need to fuse both of those together,” he said.

According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.

Some developers were not happy about the deal. “We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus,” said Markus Persson, creator of the popular game, on Twitter. “I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.”

Palmer Luckey, the 21-year-old co-founder of Oculus VR, said Facebook’s huge audience and resources would help give the technology backing that it has never had before. “This is the best shot virtual reality has ever had and probably will ever have,” he said.

Posted : Gizmeon