Could this be the white Samsung Galaxy S II?

Could this be the white Samsung Galaxy S II?: "

We’re more than convinced that this is the white Samsung Galaxy S II. It’s only a leaked photo but it looks very official. It’s most likely the one since a UK retailer even mentioned that the immaculate white baby will be out by August 15.

The Samsung Galaxy S II is already listed in the company’s US website. The model has been successful so far selling 3 million units all over the world in only under two months since its launch. We’re only waiting for the white version to arrive. Finally, a pretty Android phone that I actually like.

[Link] [Link]

"

Next-generation mini-pickup by Suzuki: Love it or Hate it but you can’t Escape It!

Next-generation mini-pickup by Suzuki: Love it or Hate it but you can’t Escape It!: "

If you are an automobile market analyst and thought that a small pickup truck might not be the winner in the near future, you are probably right. Given the fuel efficiency, price, and impractical size, the future of the mini pick-up trucks might look bleak. But apparently, not so much. Atleast, Suzuki does not think so. After watching the US markets closely.

Suzuki has indicated that might have plans of launching a pick-up truck resembling the one above within the next three years. Incredibly stylish looking, I would say. But Suzuki would really need to work with price, fuel efficiency, and target market before it makes a launch into a segment like that. Based on the next-generation Suzuki Jimny, the concept and pictures have received mixed responses and feelers from the public so far.

[Link]

"

Gmail app for Android gets updated to v2.3.5

Gmail app for Android gets updated to v2.3.5: "

Google’s Android team recently updated the Gmail app for Android. The latest Gmail v2.3.5 has got new features sync priority mail only options, label-specific ringtones, “Show Pictures” for specific senders, and more.

The Gmail app for Android is said to be the best among the smartphone apps out there. It’s integrated with other Android apps and Contacts and features sync, conversations, integration, search, and push functions among others.

Here is a list of what’s new in this version:

• Save bandwidth and battery by only syncing priority mail


• Use label notifications to mash up filters, labels, and ringtones


• Remember ‘Show Pictures’ for senders


• Turn off sticky message actions in landscape or all orientations


• Better TalkBalk support for accessibility


• Performance improvements

[Link] [Link]

"

Acer Iconia Tab A100 out next month for $300

Acer Iconia Tab A100 out next month for $300: "

The Acer Iconia Tab A100 is set to arrive next August with a $300 price tag. Acer didn’t make an official announcement to the public but retail partners received an e-mail from the company recently.

Finally, the Android Honeycomb tablet is coming after it was delayed last May. Accompanying the tablet are two new Apire notebooks namely with 5750Z and the 7739Z available for $475 each. Specs of the laptops include Intel Pentium processors, 500GB storage, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch screens, respectively.

[Link]

"

Microsoft Office 2011 to be updated for Lion

Microsoft Office 2011 to be updated for Lion: "

Microsoft is already updating the Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac to have them integrated with the recently released Mac OS X Lion. It’s currently in the works and the software giant promised to add Auto Save, Full Screen mode, and Version as those are some of the basic features of the Lion.

No word though when the updated version will arrive but we’re looking at in a few months.

Mac Lion users need to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2011 because the 2004 version will not work on the new OS.

[Link]

"

[Video] Photo Flash Art: Canon goes disco

[Video] Photo Flash Art: Canon goes disco: "

The Japanese never fail to amaze us when it comes to their brilliant use of technology and the things they use them for after they have been created. One popular group Androp proved this again with their marvellous idea of using 250 Canon Cameras fitted with flashes to create a backdrop for their video titled “Bright Siren”.

It was bright alright. The set up team used a extremely high shelving system to set out the cameras in a symmetrical order. The flashes on the camera were then programmed by a company called Openframeworks to flash patterns and shapes in a splendid form of light display, while the group performed in front of it.

Maybe I should try and replicate this for New Years Eve. After all, it is a light show and it should be legal. Getting all the wiring and programming successfully done will most certainly be a challenge, I’m sure. But, once that is all over it will just be a enviable way to ring in the new year.

Now to call some camera companies about being sponsored

[Link]

"

Top 10 Most Creative Clocks

Top 10 Most Creative Clocks: "

Creative is the word that comes to mind when viewing these cool and geeky clocks. They combine stylish designs and out-of-the-box functionality into one unique package. Continue reading to see them all, courtesy of BoredPanda.

"

Apple iPhone Air

Apple iPhone Air: "

Yesterday, an AT&T employee confirmed that stores nationwide will be holding a special event / product launch at the end of September, and that may confirm the iPhone 5 rumors currently making rounds online. For the time being, fans can only marvel at concepts like the iPhone Air to whet their appetite. Continue reading for two more pictures.




[via Concept-Phones]

"

Real Apple Store in China Fixes Man's Fake MacBook Air

Real Apple Store in China Fixes Man's Fake MacBook Air: "

A person in China decided to bring his MacBook Air knockoff into a real Apple Store in China, and surprisingly enough, the staff was nice enough to fix whatever problem he had with it. Continue reading to watch a video review of a fake MacBook Air.

The Apple Genius, being the genius he is, immediately noted the machine was not a real MacBook Air. The Apple Genius reportedly fixed the dude's real technical issue on the fake MacBook.

[via Technabob]

"

JVC's new dock has room for iPad and iPhone at the same time

JVC's new dock has room for iPad and iPhone at the same time: "

Although B&W's Zeppelin is a great way to listen to the audio on your iDevice while charging its battery, it can only dock one at a time. JVC has announced a sleek new speaker dock that can accommodate both an iPad and an iPhone/iPod at the same time...
Continue Reading JVC's new dock has room for iPad and iPhone at the same time

Section: Home Entertainment

Tags: Docking Station,
iPad,
iPhone,
iPod,
JVC



Related Articles:

• i-Station Rotate iPod dock goes both ways


• iBamboo speaker: the Zen of iPhone docks


• Philips unveils Fidelio SoundSphere dock with AirPlay


• Scoshe passPORT solves iPhone / iPod charging needs


• Born to be wired: DashLink iPhone/iPod Touch dock for Harley riders


• sneakPEEK A/V cable connects iPad and iPhone to car AV systems

"

World's first 'printed' aircraft is flown

World's first 'printed' aircraft is flown: "

One of the biggest selling features for 3D printers is the fact that you can just whip up a design using CAD software on your computer, then create a physical copy of it to try out – no special factory tooling required. Well, in order to illustrate the potential of the technology for the aviation industry, engineers from the University of Southampton have just designed and flown the world’s first “printed” aircraft. The entire structure of the unmanned air vehicle (UAV) was created using an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine, which builds up plastic or metal parts through a successive layering technique...
Continue Reading World's first 'printed' aircraft is flown

Section: Aero Gizmo

Tags: 3D Printer,
Electric Aircraft,
UAV,
University of Southampton



Related Articles:

• Layered fabrication now growing solid metal parts


• NASA demonstrates laser-powered aircraft first


• World’s first fully customised football boot


• Airborne Laser starts on-board firing tests


• Solar-Sinter 3D printer creates glass objects from sun and sand


• Brain-to-brain communication over the Internet

"

New X-ray camera to shoot 4.5 million frames per second

New X-ray camera to shoot 4.5 million frames per second: "

In order to capture slow-motion footage in which a bullet can actually be seen traveling through the air, a camera has to film at a speed somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 frames per second. Given that as a benchmark, what would be the purpose of a camera that manages a whopping 4.5 million fps? In the case of the UK-based Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)'s new X-ray camera, it's to obtain three-dimensional images of individual molecules.
..
Continue Reading New X-ray camera to shoot 4.5 million frames per second

Section: Science and Education

Tags: Cameras,
Molecules,
University of Glasgow,
X-ray



Related Articles:

• Casio shows prototype of the world’s fastest digital camera


• The MINOX Leica M3 - a bonsai Digital SLR with 4.0 Megapixels!


• New technology allows for simultaneous high-speed video and high-res stills


• Researchers develop genuine 3D camera


• Belkin Bluetooth USB Adapter for camera phones


• Digital Picture frame gets bigger and smarter and accepts images straight from a mobile phone

"

Yahoo-Alibaba-SoftBank Settlement Call: At Least It's Not 100 Percent of Zero!

Yahoo-Alibaba-SoftBank Settlement Call: At Least It's Not 100 Percent of Zero!: "

As these companies are wont to do in the middle of the night, Yahoo, SoftBank and the Alibaba Group have reached an agreement in their nasty dispute around the Alipay payments unit, and they are ready to talk about it.

Well, not Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma (pictured here), Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz or SoftBank’s Masa Son, but their functionaries are all set to discuss the deal.

The issue has revolved around the spinning out of Alipay by the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, without the approval of large stakeholders Yahoo and Japan’s SoftBank, which the pair felt was a big no-no.

Much mishegas followed, but the trio has been hard at work on a settlement, which is here now.

Of course, had the three companies cooperated in the first place as joint owners and board members of Alibaba, this all would have been unnecessary.

5:48 am PT: The call starts without all kinds of regulatory info about what can and cannot be said, before being thrown to Yahoo CFO Tim Morse.

One interesting wrinkle is that SoftBank’s Ron Fisher cannot speak at all, due to some Japanese laws, which are unexplained. But, said Morse, he’s there to show his support.

Go, Ron!

Alibaba’s CFO Joe Tsai is up first to talk about the deal over Alipay, which he stresses does not really make much money now. As he says, it is “marginally profitable.”

Tsai walks through the facts that they have already outlined earlier today, including a variety of payments from Alipay to Alibaba, since — let’s be clear — it used to be part of Alibaba.

But Alibaba said it had to spin it out in order to get critical regulatory approvals from the Chinese government, which caused this mess.

Morse now comes on, noting the whole squabble really had “no direct impact” from a financial point of view on Yahoo or SoftBank at this time related to its Alibaba assets.

Well, shareholders of Yahoo might beg to differ, considering the huge hit the stock has taken due to the fight. Wall Street has long considered Yahoo’s Asian assets its most valuable part.

But Morse is pleased the complex agreement has finally been reached — I am guessing it was not easy to negotiate among three different countries with so much pressure.

5:59 am: Time for Q&A!

The first question is about more deets and also about the possibility of a liquidity event for Alibaba or its various units.

Tsai underscores that there might not be one or there might be one. In other words, the Chinese assets of Yahoo may or may not ever pay off.

The next question is about why Yahoo and SoftBank should have a cap on an asset they used to own 100 percent of. Good point!

Neither Morse or Tsai really answers the question, except for Tsai talking about how certain rules over foreign ownership of payment companies in China means it had to be like this.

“If you own 100 percent of the business that cannot operate, you own 100 percent of zero,” said Tsai.

Translation: That’s China, folks, so suck it up!

The next question is a promissory note, which Tsai says has value, even though it actually does not have value right now. China!

The analysts still are stuck on this fact that, under terms of the agreement, Yahoo will only get 37.5 percent of an IPO or other liquidity event, when it used to be owner of 100 percent of Alipay.

Good point: Will this happen to other Alibaba units, such as its Taobao commerce unit?

China is a good place to be, assures Tsai, which is cold comfort right now.

A lot of swirl around preferential terms in the deal for Alipay with Alibaba’s units, which seem to be the same as before. In other words, nothing has changed, except a lot of stock loss for Yahoo and less technical ownership of Alipay.

The Wall Street analysts on the line continue to be riveted to the idea of a liquidity event for Alipay and other Alibaba units, especially Taobao, and keep asking different versions of this question.

The last question is about more deets of the deal and new business ideas for Alibaba.

Tsai talks about a cloud-based system rolling out, for example.

The questioner moves to, you guessed it, a liquidity event.

“I don’t think we want to get into it at this point,” says Tsai.

Well, we do, but apparently Yahoo shareholders are not going to.

That said, the deal is finally settled, which has already given Yahoo shares a small bump today. And that’s not nothing.

"

It's Official: Apple Ousts Nokia as the World's Largest Smartphone Vendor

It's Official: Apple Ousts Nokia as the World's Largest Smartphone Vendor: "

IDC and Strategy Analytics today officially confirmed what was unofficially revealed last week: Apple has ousted Nokia as the largest smartphone maker in the world. The company sold 20.3 million iPhones last quarter, up 142 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, and according to Strategy Analytics that gives it an 18.5 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market — greater than Nokia’s 15.2 percent share, which has fallen by more than half since last year.

Meanwhile, in a separate report, IDC noted that Apple’s share of the overall handset market more than doubled in the second quarter, rising to 5.6 percent from 2.6 percent a year earlier. That makes it the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of all mobile phones after Nokia, Samsung and LG. “[Apple] easily posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders despite the fact that its flagship iPhone 4 is now more than a year old,” IDC noted. “[The company's] ability to bring its smartphone momentum to developing economies, where it’s less successful, will help dictate the company’s smartphone fortunes in future.”

And those fortunes look quite promising, given Apple’s achievements to date. After all, the company has managed to become the fourth-largest handset vendor in the world and its largest seller of smartphones in just four years, with essentially one phone.

"

The Long Reach of Oracle's Larry Ellison

The Long Reach of Oracle's Larry Ellison: "

If it ever seems like Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is everywhere, it’s not entirely your imagination. He’s a busy man. Aside from running Oracle, winning the Amerca’s Cup and having fun with being compared to the fictitious billionaire Tony Stark from the Iron Man movies, he’s had an indelible effect on the software industry, not just with Oracle the $36 billion software giant, but with other companies he’s had both direct and indirect hands in.

The two most obvious examples are NetSuite, where Ellison was a founding investor, and Salesforce.com where CEO Marc Benioff is an Oracle alum, and where, come to think of it, Ellison was a founding investor too. But when you start considering the numerous Oracle alumni who have gone on to other things, Ellison’s reach becomes longer still.

The graphic below comes from the folks at Software Advice and aims to illustrate through via these numerous connections, the impact that Ellison and Oracle have had throughout the tech and software industry.

The top half represents independent companies where former Oracle execs either run the show or are in senior roles while the bottom half shows companies that Oracle has acquired — and let’s admit there have been a lot of them — where Oracle alumni in senior roles have found themselves re-integrated back into the mother ship.

While I can’t help but think the graphic is incomplete — it sure seems like there must be other companies that could be on it — it sure is interesting to look at.

"

End Of The Universe

End Of The Universe: "

Wonder how the universe will end? WONDER NO MORE!!! We have the exclusive scoop.

Click here for show credits: http://bit.ly/r7FLho

Tweets: @rocketboom

Facebook: facebook.com/rocketboom

"

The BBC Checks Out Robot Research at the ISRC University of Ulster (Video)

The BBC Checks Out Robot Research at the ISRC University of Ulster (Video): "

The BBC recently visited the Cognitive Robotics lab at the University of Ulster, Intelligent Systems Research Center and broadcast a short news segment (see below) covering the advanced robotics research work underway in the lab. While it doesn't disclose anything dramatically new or exciting, the video does provide an additional views of the Willow Garage PR2 preparing coffee and solving a Rubik's cube along with a researching shaking hands with the one of the famous Shadow robotic hands.

That being said, the vintage footage that starts off the video makes it all worthwhile - classic robot camp stuff.

(Via ‪BBC coverage of the ISRC - Cognitive Robotics Group‬‏ - YouTube. and Lorenzo Riano)

"

Teaching The NAO Robot Japanese Calligraphy (Video)

Teaching The NAO Robot Japanese Calligraphy (Video): "

A little over a week ago we had the opportunity to sit in as a member of the Robot Japan team preparing for the August robot performance competition. One of the centerpiece exhibits will be the NAO robot drawing traditional Japanese kanji calligraphy - known as 'Shado'. This was the first attempt, so there were a few false steps and mistakes, but those are to be expected.

Over the course of the afternoon, and with everyone's help and support, NAO was able to draw the correct kanji with quite a bit of style and enthusiasum. The high points of the afternoon are in the video below.

Robot writing takes lots of trial, error, and practice-

Some of the things the team discovered during the attempt included:

• The robot's torso needs to be held in place somehow. If it tilts in any direction during the learning process it is difficult to reproduce the same brush tip position while writing.


• The teachers hand guiding NAO to learn the character tends to support the robots arm. When the robot writes on its own the same support isn't available, so the resulting brush tip position is lower.


• Long brush strokes work better when executed fairly quickly and as point-to-point as possible. Moving the brush slowly during a long brush stroke tends to result in a more erratic and less beautiful robot writing stroke.


• After hours of constant operation, the robots motors tend to heat up. This caused some variation in the brush positioning.

Here are the best moments of the afternoon session:

The next Robot Japan event is scheduled for August 21st. We're really looking forward to enjoying it.

(Via Teaching The NAO Robot Japanese Calligraphy | Robots Dreams.)

"

Pool-Playing Robot

Pool-Playing Robot: "



New Scientist reveals a Pool-Playing Robot made at the Technical University in Munich, Germany. A camera above the pool table looks down at the table and evaluates the best shot. Then, two robotic arms control a cue stick to sink a ball. The robot has an 80% success rate in getting the ball to the pocket. The device also can help a human learn to sink a ball by projecting suggested direction lines directly onto the table. All it needs now is a voice box to garbage talk and do the hustle.
"

Eagle Dash Cam - 1080p Full HD Car DVR (HDMI, SD, Motion Detection) - CVMV-DV65

Eagle Dash Cam - 1080p Full HD Car DVR (HDMI, SD, Motion Detection) - CVMV-DV65: "
CVMV-DV65: Conveniently record hassle-free Full HD 1080p video in your car with this amazing new powerful mini Car DVR...."

The #N8 Experience! Part 1

The #N8 Experience! Part 1: "

Tweeting is what Amol from Everything about everything lives on. Recently, a tweet from @WOMWorldNokia to another Twitter user caught his attention.

Here is what happened – this user mentioned something about the Nokia N8 and we simply asked him if he’d like to try the mobile phone for 2 weeks, free of charge.

As a result, Amol thought of asking us for the same and Mr. ^PC, one of my fellow coworkers, responded to his tweet asking him to send us an email with a few details. 6 days later, Amol received the Nokia N8 at his place.

He decided to write about his experience with the phone and published a quick overview of it, in which he shares his thoughts on what’s in the box, the OS, the shape, the battery and the screen. You can read his full post and find out more about what he thinks of the Nokia N8 – and of course you can share your thoughts with us @WOMWorldNokia.

"

Google Hotel Finder

Google Hotel Finder: "Google launched an experimental service that would've been perfect for Google Labs: Hotel Finder. The service lets you find a hotel in US and it has a few clever features that make it stand out.

You can add shapes to the map to restrict the list of results to your favorite areas. Google highlights the most popular areas to help you. By default, Google creates a shape based on the most popular places.

Using shapes to filter results is not an original feature, but it's useful and it's surprising to see that Google Maps didn't add it.


After selecting the location, Google lets you pick the check in and check out dates, choose a price range, a hotel class and restrict the results to hotels that have great user ratings.


Another cool feature is that the results can be expanded inline so you don't have to open a new page to see some photos and read the reviews. Add the hotels you like to a 'shortlist' to quickly compare them.


Google Hotel Finder is also useful to find great deals. The 'compared to typical' section offers some information that's not easy to find by comparing the current prices with the historical averages.

Unfortunately, you can't book hotels using Google's service, at least not directly. Google Hotel Finder sends you to sites like Booking.com, Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity.

For now, Google Hotel Finder only works for US hotels, but it's a surprisingly strong offering. While there are many features that need to be added to compete with Bing Travel, Google's service is really promising. It's fast, easy to enough and offers helpful information that's not available elsewhere.

"