Source engadget
Nexus 4 boasts SlimPort support for tethered display sharing
Source engadget
Mobiado Grand Touch Executive Phone Is Crafted From a Stone Hybrid Material
Mobiado has announced their latest phone design after long development: Mobiado Grand Touch Executive phone. As usually, this product boasts Mobiado’s uniqueness and creativity, it’s the first phone crafted from a stone hybrid material along with SIM Card mechanism. Mobiado has been known for its skill to design and develop luxury mobile phones that combine art with technology, it’s in Mobiado’s DNA.
If you still remember Mobiado CPT001-CPT003, you’ll know that this project is a realization of their first concept phone that utilizes a hybrid stone material. Mobiado Grand Touch Executive phone is available in 5 different models: granite, marble, burl, cocobolo, and ebony.
The SIM card key mechanism allows user to experience mechanical system of this phone. The SIM card movement is precision assembled from complicated stainless steel components and can be accessed only with customized Mobiado key.
Specification details:
5 megapixel camera with LED flash.
4.65″ display, 720 x 1280 pixels, S-AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, with 16M colours.
16GB storage, 1GB RAM
3.5mm audio jack, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3 player, and MP4/H.264/H.263 player.
GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, and microUSB v2.0 port.
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, and barometer.
Source tuvie
Surface tablet buzz starts, but Windows 8 excitement muted
The global debut of the Windows 8 operating system was greeted with pockets of enthusiasm, but not the mania reserved for some previous Apple Inc launches.
Microsoft is positioning the slick new computing device, which runs a limited version of Windows and Office with a thin, click-on keyboard cover, as a perfect combination of PC and tablet that is good for work as well as entertainment.
"I like the flexibility of having the keyboard and the touch capability," said Mike Gipe, 50, who works in sales for bank Barclays, and was planning to buy a Surface tablet at Microsoft's pop-up store in Times Square in New York.
"It's the combination of having the consumer stuff and the work stuff," he said, looking forward to using Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations on the new device.
The Times Square store was the first to sell the Surface -- Microsoft's first ever own-brand computer -- and other Windows 8 devices late on Thursday and will be open through the holiday shopping season. On Friday morning it was crowded with a mix of tourists and local office workers, but the cash tills were not jammed.
"With the other tablets you're a consumer. With this you can have input," said Peter Townsend, on vacation in New York from Australia with his wife, who bought a Surface tablet because he liked the keyboard.
Mark Pauluch, 28, who works for a New York private equity firm, said he would like a Surface because he does not want to take a laptop on a plane, but was disappointed when the sales representative told him the wifi-only Surface would not work with Cisco VPN networking.
"I can't use this to replace my work laptop unless it supports VPN," he said.
MIDWEST, WEST COAST
Elsewhere in the United States, there was solid but not overwhelming interest for the Surface.
"It's a good tablet. I am not a huge i-anything fan, I like Windows," said Matt Shanahan, a software developer who drove four hours to the tiny Michigan Avenue pop-up store in Chicago from Grand Rapids, Michigan to buy a Surface. "My friend and I are software developers and this gives us an opportunity to develop new apps," he said.
In a pop-up store at the San Francisco Centre mall about 50 people lined up to buy the new Surface.
"On an iPad you have to use half the screen for a keyboard, or buy an accessory. I love that the Surface is so integrated, that you can type and use Word and all my other programs," said Malte von Sehested, a textbook creator who bought a Surface.
"With the Surface you get a steeper learning curve -- I had to get someone to show me how to side-swipe, swipe out to get the menus for instance," he said. "It may take a week, before it all becomes natural. That could be a problem for Microsoft. My old dad, he would get hit by that steeper learning curve."
ANALYSTS PATIENT
Wall Street and tech industry experts failed to show great enthusiasm for Windows 8, but were prepared to give Microsoft time to succeed.
"Microsoft did not come out with Windows 8 thinking it will be an overnight success," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "But there's hope that this could be the silver bullet of growth (for Microsoft) as well as giving the PC industry some optimism that there's better days ahead."
The next six to 12 months is a "crucial period" for Microsoft to get traction with consumers, added Ives.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester, said consumers may be best served waiting for tablets running the full Windows 8 Pro and Intel Corp chips, which are due out early next year.
"Windows 8 has a lot of great features, but RT has a long way to go," she said, citing a lack of apps and poor video performance on the Surface.
"It's not really a PC. RT is too restricted. Some people will be happier with the full Windows 8," she said.
Microsoft shares were up 33 cents at $28.21 on Nasdaq on Friday. Apple shares were down slightly after disappointing earnings on Thursday.
Source reuters
Ubuntu lands on Nexus 7 slates with Canonical's one-click installer
Apple nearing deal with labels for internet radio service, says Bloomberg
Aero Mobile Oxygen Features Practical Backpack with Integrated Remote Control
The oxygen concentrator Aero is designed primarily for mobile use. Aero Mobile Oxygen helps people with lung defects to supply their body with oxygen. Aero has the advantage that no logistical effort for refilling is necessary. The concentrator has a comfortable handle, a flat design and can easily be integrated into everyday life.
In many cases, patients live 24 hours a day with an oxygen machine but for many people, a big problem is the exposure to the general public. For any outsider it is clear that there must be a very sick person because of the loud, big, heavy equipment. The Aero Mobile Oxygen comes with a practical backpack with which you can control the oxygen concentrator through an integrated remote control. The backpack doesn’t look like a medical device to achieve that the patient feels comfortable in public. To personalize Aero every patient has the possibility to change the cover in different styles.
Nokia launches budget Lumia 510: Windows Phone 7.5, 4-inch display and 5-megapixel camera (video)
Source engadget
New Apple TV Events channel will stream the special event later today
Source engadget
Xbox SmartGlass goes live alongside first Windows 8 tablets on October 26 with several supported apps
The date isn't certain, but functionality will arrive on other platforms "soon" after the October 26 launch of Surface, Microsoft reps tell us. When it does, it'll come in the form of an update to your existing, "My Xbox Live" mobile app (which also renames the app to, "Xbox SmartGlass") or Games tab (per WP7.5), and it'll be more or less identical with the Windows Phone version. The only missing functionality, we're told, are two somewhat basic bulletpoints. "We have deeper integration in the Windows Phone," Microsoft tells us. "That's something we don't have on iOS or Android, it's just within our application. Same on Windows -- the integration in Windows is 'last playing' or 'now playing,' being able to present that information." The other, more interesting item, is the lacking ability to "send" whatever website you're using up to the Xbox 360's Internet Explorer browser. Regardless of which mobile device you're on, SmartGlass can "send" websites from the 360 to said device -- it won't work the other way around, however, if you're using a non-Windows 8 device. Not what we'd call a huge deal, exactly, but a bummer no less. Regardless, you'll soon have the opportunity to put SmartGlass through its paces from the comfort of home when support devices launch on October 26. For a full list of applications available at launch and partners beyond that plus a quick walkthrough video, head past the break.
Source engadget
The World’s First Bike Helmet with Built-in Retractable Lens
Source tuvie
Toshiba kicks off pre-orders for Windows 8 PCs, all due to ship October 26th
Tokyoflash Kisai Maze LCD Watch Reminds You of The Old School Maze Game
A maze is always fascinating puzzle to me, now, I can have it on my wrist, thank you to Tokyoflash Kisai Maze LCD Watch. It features a cool labyrinth of LCD pathways which also display digital numbers to inform you about the time. As always, this watch also displays alarm, date, animation and EL backlighting for better view during low light environment. There are 8 limited edition color variations you can choose from, you might want to reserve yours now before Tokyoflash running out of stock. You can choose silver or black stainless steel strap with one of 4 display colors, the display is framed under a custom cut mineral crystal lens.
The always-on LCD display has been designed to display two time modes, in maze mode, the digital time is hidden within the maze of LCD blocks, easy to read at a glance if you are used to. However, if you are a beginner, you can simply press a button to change the display to regular digital mode.
Kisai Maze is being offered at a 48 hour limited time release price of $99 (€77, £61) until Thursday October 18th at 4pm Japan time. The regular price will be $139 (€108, £86).
Source tuvieFacebook users raise privacy concerns as company tweaks security settings
Technology
Facebook users raise privacy concerns as company tweaks security settings
Reports – and myths – about user privacy abound on Facebook. Is it time for the social network to be more open with users?
Share 215
Katie Rogers
guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 October 2012 21.29 BST
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg recently announced Facebook's 1 bn user landmark even as users are reporting unease about what's being done with their information. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
In the weeks since Mark Zuckerberg trumpeted Facebook's growth to 1bn monthly users, there has been a lot of focus on the social network's struggle to convince investors of its worth.
But if almost daily reports on user privacy are any indication, Facebook should be just as concerned about its relationship with users, who are increasingly miffed about what the site does or doesn't do with their data.
On Monday, for example, came a dispatch on Facebook's labyrinthian suite of privacy controls, and how they still display private information.
But the biggest splashes in recent weeks came in the form of alleged privacy breaches within the site: one rumor that Facebook was scanning private user messages to equate conversation with page "likes", and another that claimed private messages were being posted to public-facing user timelines.
Facebook reps will tell you that such rumors come with the territory of being a hugely popular site; however, the site's historically clunky evolution has meant that the deployment of new features – the timeline – and refreshed scrutiny around old mechanisms – a long-standing technology that analyzes the links sent in private messaging – has resulted in confusion and, in turn, suspicion. Maybe that's why when more than 625,000 people in Zuckerberg's subscriber base replied to his October 4 1-billion-followers announcement, one theme stuck out among the well-wishes, as illustrated by this message from a user named Neville Unvalla:
Mark, while Facebook has transformed our lives over the last few years, the only thing I would ask is to not constantly change your privacy policies and to give users COMPLETE control of their private information!
When French media reported in late September that a glitch had made private messages visible on user timelines, the story was quickly picked up in the US. The rumors went global, and though since disproved they persist, almost in the manner of conspiracy theory.
Among several users who wrote the Guardian with such allegations (and screenshots) in response to this story was Caroline Ardrey, 25, a doctoral student at Oxford.
"There are lots of people who are really angry about having their privacy abused, not least me," wrote Ardrey. She remains convinced that Facebook invaded her privacy and that of her friends.
In a phone interview with the Guardian on October 10, Facebook's Pan-Euro communications manager Iain Mackenzie said a rash of similar allegations arose last year but that they "didn't gain the same traction" as recent reports.
"We did a really high priority investigation of it," which included a review with the site's engineers, Mackenzie said. "To have [private messages] publish to [private walls], somebody would've had to make a technological mechanism that was never created."
Simply put, here's the explanation: people spoke differently on Facebook when Zuckerberg first built it; it was college-kids-only, after all. But when the company cast a wider social net – employers, parents, distant relatives, far-flung friends – the tone changed. And not knowing exactly how those old public messages were going to be displayed on public-facing timelines years later resulted in confusion and, later, suspicion that borders on conspiracy theory.
"Facebook doesn't exist in isolation," Mackenzie said. "There are bad things and many good things going on in the online world. It's not surprising that people look at the service that's closest to them and are at least receptive to these myths."
'I've got nothing to hide, so it doesn't worry me'
Another topic of scrutiny Mackenzie acknowledges was a recent story that reported that the content of private Facebook messages is analyzed by the network in order to compute a number score on shares, likes and interactions around a news story, public figure or topic. This is different from liking a Facebook page, which still takes direct user interaction. But a video posted by Polish programmers showing them gaming the system resulted in Facebook's quick acknowledgment that a bug did in fact exist.
Still, analyzing public and private conversations to put a number score on shares and likes around a topic "has been a part of the platform possibly as long as Facebook has existed," Mackenzie added.
The problem, it seems, is that the rumors attempting to deconstruct how Facebook uses data haven't historically been met with clarity from the social network itself. The site has long been able analyze, display and, essentially, put a number score on what users say and do, but it takes programmers publicly manipulating the system to address it. And Facebook doesn't actually post users' private messages to public timelines, but whatever reassurance the network has presented on the issue hasn't been enough to completely quell the conversation that continues on about it.
More transparency on the network side is needed, but it also must be said that millions of users have overlooked and adapted to the site's many changes without asking the important questions they're asking now. And more importantly, despite their vocal protests, they're not leaving Facebook. In the end, the benefits of human connection outweigh the data users give up.
Indeed, users like Ardrey will continue to use Facebook as the site processes even more changes to the platform – most recently, a fresh attempt at e-commerce with the "gifts" platform. The goal here is that the act of buying gifts will become quietly ingrained in Ardrey's user experience, just as messaging and posting and liking things that are important to her have become.
For her part, Adrey is still convinced private messages were displayed publicly, but she feels safe using Facebook for now.
"I don't consider it a risk at the moment," she said. "At the moment, I've got nothing to hide, so it doesn't worry me."
Source guardian
Amazon to hire more than 50,000 for holiday season
Retailers typically add seasonal staff in the weeks leading up to the holiday shopping season to work in stores and help in other areas, such as in distribution and fulfilling online orders.
"Temporary associates play a critical role in meeting increased customer demand during the holiday season, and we expect thousands of temporary associates will stay on in full-time positions," Dave Clark, vice president of Global Customer Fulfillment, said in a statement.
Amazon did not say how many seasonal workers it hired for the 2011 holiday season, but said the plan to hire more than 50,000 is up slightly from last year.
In September, Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it plans to hire more than 50,000 seasonal employees to work at its Walmart stores in the United States, slightly more than it did last year.
Target Corp has said it plans to hire about 80,000 to 90,000 seasonal employees for its stores and distribution centers. While Target plans to hire fewer than the 92,000 seasonal staff it brought on in 2011, it said that 30 percent of those who were hired to work during last year's holiday season were then given year-round positions.
Source reuters
Google’s new Nexus flagships coming from Sony and LG
Nexus is the brand that Google has used to produce the next generation of Android hardware, although it is not yet known whether the new plans include another tablet as well as phones.
The current flagships are the Nexus 7 tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus mobile phone. However, the latter is no longer Samsung’s top device, having been usurped by the SIII.
Google is also expected to debut a new version of Android, 4.2, which will feature a new Gmail app that will add minor additions such as swipe to delete and pinch to zoom.
Details of the new devices themselves, however, remain vague. Many analysts assume that Google will use them to promote Android partners who are currently struggling to challenge the dominance of Samsung. Some rumours, however, suggest Google is itself working on a tablet with Samsung, after the sell-out success of the Asus Nexus 7.
The move will also assuage industry concerns that Google’s purchase of Motorola will lead to the American company giving the firm preferential access to Android. Google maintains that there will be a ‘firewall’ between the two businesses.
Although images have appeared online claiming to show the new devices, the most plausible evidence of the existence of at least one new device appears to come from a Google software engineer posting pictures to his Google+ page that purport to come from an LG Nexus 4 device.
Source telegraph
Apollo E-Bike : Folding Bike Designed for Daily Urban Use
Earning its name from the roman god of the sun, the Apollo E-Bike
expresses the identity of the Solsonica brand trough the chromatic
composition and the logotype featured on its main frame. The “Italian
Flag Badge” reinforces the national origin, assuming the Apollo as an
unmistakable Italian Design product. Designed for a daily urban use,
Apollo E-Bike introduces an innovative folding system, easily adapting
it to any situation where space economy matters.Equipped with a detachable 260Wh LiFePO4 battery, a 250W In-wheel Motor and a Dynamo (for energy recovery), Apollo E-bike is able to reach a top speed of 25km/h with a maximum range of 60km in full-electric mode. One button click away and its user can choose between two other modes (Hybrid and Pedal) extending the overall range.
Engaged with the latest technology, the Apollo Iphone connectivity was not forgotten. The integrated User Interface Application keeps the User informed of the instant consumption, battery charge and instant speed, as well as different other features like Trip and ODO distances.
As security is always in first place, the integrated head and tail LED lamps, combined with the high-reflective orange stripes on the rims and battery pack, makes the Apollo E-Bike visible for any other road user in all weather conditions.
Photovoltaic Shelter
The photovoltaic shelter were designed under the premises that it should be installed on a site for private use as well as being suitable for housing other electric vehicles, because in the world where solar energy is used more and more as a main alternative to fossil fuel, the increasing market of electric automobile is seen as a opportunity for the photovoltaic shelter design to be a center of electric mobility.
The metrics used for designing e-mobility center where defined by the architecture references in “Neufert architects data, third edition” that defines an area with at least 2.75m wide and 2.13m high and an area of 2.00 m wide and 2.00 m deep for bike storage in car parking access. The concept of the e-mobility center was designed in harmony with the modern design of the bike and with the identity of Solsonica and embodies the values of sustainable mobility, ecology, and responsible choices.
The design of e-mobility center took in consideration the whole life cycle of the design with recycling materials, production, transportation, maximizing the solar energy collection, location, house orientation, profile of available space to locate so it adapts to the most of the intended public.
The volumetric shape of the Cube makes it easy to transport to make the most of the space available. It fits dimensions described for car parking access of 2.00m x 2.00m x 2.00m. The hub allows you to distribute the multiplicity of functions.
Source tuvie
NTT DoCoMo opens Japanese pre-orders for the LG Optimus G L-01E tomorrow, sales start October 19th
LG revealed Japan's NTT DoCoMo would be the first carrier to offer its Optimus G (which it's been proud enough to announce more than once) and now we have an exact date. Pre-orders for the L-01E start tomorrow ahead of it going on sale October 19th, bringing its quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU, 4.7-inch True HD IPS LCD, 13MP camera, Android 4.0 packaged with the waterproofing, DMB tuning and FeLiCa wallet support local buyers will expect. It's available in black and red, while we wait for release details in the US on AT&T and Sprint (or another leak of that supposed LG Nexus phone) you can check out the red and black variants rolling out across the Pacific.
Source engadget
BBC introduces new Radio iPlayer app for iPhone
The app, available in Apple's UK App Store from this afternoon, also makes it easier to share programmes via email or Twitter, and will be developed with features to help listeners interact with presenters. A version of iPlayer Radio for smartphones and tablets based on Google’s Android operating system is also being developed, but has been delayed by technical complications surrounding Flash, a way of delivering audio and video online. Apple’s mobile software does not use the technology.
Versions of the app are not being developed for Windows Mobile or BlackBerry, which are used by relatively few people.
BBC iPlayer Radio is the platform on which we will develop radio stations as fully multimedia brands so that as well as listen, audiences will be able to watch, share and engage with BBC radio,” said BBC radio executive Mark Friend.
Alongside the new mobile app, the BBC has built a new radio section of its website along the same principles.
Both the app and the new website are designed to strengthen the brand of BBC Radio online and give it greater prominence.
Online listening is growing rapidly, the BBC said, with monthly requests for programmes via iPlayer up 56 per cent on the year via smartphones, to 2.8 million. Tablet-based listening is up 300 per cent over the same period, to 1.2 million per month.
Over time, radio programmes will be removed from the existing iPlayer mobile app and the all-in-one iPlayer website. It means licence fee payers will eventually need separate apps to listen and watch via a mobile device, and visitors to the BBC website will use different sections depending on whether they want to watch television or listen to the radio.
A BBC spokesman said it has not been decided yet when the split will be imposed and that developers would be watching reaction to the new services closely before taking action.
Radioplayer, an online service that offers BBC content alongside commerical radio, will remain available.
Source telegraph
Google Play Music and Movies purchasing reaches Google TV, patches a media strategy hole
Source engadget
Moto pulls phones and tablets from German site pending software update
Source engadget
Motorola wins German patent case against Microsoft
The regional court in Mannheim ruled that Motorola Mobility, part of Google, did not infringe a Microsoft patent which enables applications to work on different handsets.
This allows application developers to avoid writing separate codes for each handset saving time and development costs.
Germany has become a major battleground in the global patent war between makers of mobile phones, tablet computer devices and their operating software because court actions there have proved relatively cheap and quicker than in other jurisdictions.
Microsoft has won three patent cases against Motorola in Germany. As a result of these rulings, smartphones with the disputed technology are no longer available on the German market.
"This decision does not impact multiple injunctions Microsoft has already been awarded and has enforced against Motorola products in Germany," said David Howard, associate general counsel at Microsoft.
Google bought lossmaking Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion last year, in its largest acquisition ever, aiming to use the company's patents to fend off legal challenges against its Android mobile platform and expand beyond its software business.
Other technology companies have also invested billions of dollars in buying up patent portfolios that they can use against rivals.
Motorola could not immediately be reached for comment
Source telegraph
ARIS 100-watt wireless speaker shipping for $499 with DLNA and Windows 8 certification
Source engadget
iPhone 5 chemical study shows a green Apple, leaves room for improvement
Eventually, that shiny new iPhone 5 will have to meet its untimely end, whether it's in a landfill or (preferably) a recycling company's machinery. When it does, you'll at least be glad to know that Apple has kept the toxin levels down. HealthyStuff and iFixit have dissected the extra skinny smartphone and put it in the same "low concern" category for potential harm that's normally occupied by phones wearing their green credentials on their sleeves. Lest anyone rush to tell Greenpeace about the feat, just remember that there's a difference between proficiency at excising dangerous chemicals and getting rid of them completely: HealthyStuff still found small traces of bromine, chlorine, lead and mercury in the iPhone 5's construction, which could pose risks if the handset is ever broken apart or melted for scrap. Some concern also exists that the x-ray fluorescence spectrometer doesn't reveal the full extent of any toxic materials. Whether or not these remain sore points for you, the new iPhone is at least easier on the eco-friendly conscience than most of its peers.Source engadget
Google denied summary judgment in patent dispute with Vringo
Google was sued by Innovate/Protect Inc, which was acquired by Vringo. Vringo is seeking an award of at least $696 million from Google, financial website iStockAnalyst reported.
"Having carefully reviewed the parties' pleadings, the court finds that summary judgment is inappropriate at this time as there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute," U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson said in his order.
Google could not be immediately reached for comment.
In July, Vringo completed its merger with Innovate/Protect Inc - who had sued Google and AOL Inc, among others, for patent infringement.
AOL settled a part of the dispute in August, according to media reports.
Shares of the company, which has a market value of about $180 million, were up 35 percent at $4.19 on Wednesday afternoon on the American Stock Exchange. The stock has more than doubled in the last year.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)
Source reuters
