Chicken Powered Steadicam proves poul...

Chicken Powered Steadicam proves poultry has a future in Hollywood (video)

By Tim Stevens  posted Dec 9th 2010 7:11AM

If you've decided to use a full-fledged Steadicam in your next indie blockbuster you'd better make sure you have the budget -- they can run upwards of $45,000. Sure, there are cheaper options out there, some more sophisticated than others, but none are quite as amazing as this. It's the Chicken Powered Steadicam from Pennywhistle Productions and it is, quite simply, a chicken with a camera on its head, making use of the bird's stabilizing vestibulo-ocular reflex. In the video, embedded for your enjoyment below, you can see that version 1.0 didn't go so well. So, our intrepid barnyard cinematographer quickly advances to version 2.0 -- "a much bigger rooster." While the video quality is low the effect is actually quite well done, but it's the ending that really makes it all come together. Just watch the video, we won't ruin the surprise. 

If you've decided to use a full-fledged Steadicam in your next indie blockbuster you'd better make sure you have the budget -- they can run upwards of $45,000. Sure, there are cheaper options out there, some more sophisticated than others, but none are quite as amazing as this. It's the Chicken Powered Steadicam from Pennywhistle Productions and it is, quite simply, a chicken with a camera on its head, making use of the bird's stabilizing vestibulo-ocular reflex. In the video, embedded for your enjoyment below, you can see that version 1.0 didn't go so well. So, our intrepid barnyard cinematographer quickly advances to version 2.0 -- "a much bigger rooster." While the video quality is low the effect is actually quite well done, but it's the ending that really makes it all come together. Just watch the video, we won't ruin the surprise. 

1.3 Billion Mobile Phones Last year

Lets Understand the Mobile Phone Market, installed base and smartphones vs dumbphones

from Communities Dominate Brands by Tomi T Ahonen

The PC industry sells a little over 300 million PCs this year. That includes all desktops, laptops, notebooks, netbooks and the tablet PCs like the iPad and Kindle. A little over 300 million sold per year. Similarly television sets sell in that scale, about 300 million per year. And DVD players sell in the 250 million range annually. These are the global giants in electronics, the others of our favorite gadgets, like videogaming consoles or digital cameras or MP3 players like the iPod, sell in far smaller numbers per year. Except for one gadget. The mobile phone. The world sees sales of 1.37 Billion mobile phones sold in just this past year! You see why I am so excited about this industry? Just smartphones alone will sell very close to 300 million units this year, and yes, next year more smartphones will be sold than all types of personal computers, combined.

While we are on those smartphones, this is a big milestone year for the smartphone. For the first time, in 2010, the total value of the smartphones sold, exceeded the value of dumbphones sold. And the market is tipping very lop-sidedly to the smartphones, due to both the incredible growth in smartphones this year - while the overall handset industry grew by 10% in units sold, the smartphone market sector grew by 71%. So today 60% of all handset sales revenues come from smartphones. yes, you have to sell more than 4 dumbphones to earn about the same as one smartphone.

Most phones in use worldwide today have a full HTML browser - even in the Emerging World, seven out of ten phones in use has an HTML browser. And if the developer can offer the intended service on a basic browsing experience, the more basic WAP browser is on more than nine phones out of ten worldwide.

Memory cards. Two thirds of all phones in use worldwide now have a memory card slot. That is a lot of capability to swap data without worrying about cellular network charges. And yes, while WiFi is spreading (18% of all phones in use have WiFi), the far bigger wireless connectivity is of course Bluetooth - 64% of all phones in use have that ability. If you want to listen to music on a phone, or watch a video, you don't need a smartphone. Six out of ten phones globally has a media player

And on the camera resolutions, VGA cameras still are the biggest category, but 1 megapixel cameras are rapidly catching up, and almost one out of five phones in use has a camera resolution of 3 megapixels or better. How many is that? Try 800 million cameraphones, thats nearly 12% of the planet's population, who have such a good phone in their pocket, that it has a 3 megapixel camera on it, or better

WorldWide Price Range and Market Share by Handset Type
Premium smartphones costing over $450 = 5%
Standard smartphones costing between $250 - $449 = 9%
Low-cost smartphones and premium featurephones costing $100 - $249 = 17%
Low-cost featurephones costing between $50 - $99 = 24%
Ultra low-cost basic phones costing under $50 = 45%

Sony Doubles-Up - Buys more Exmore

The Associated Press | Monday, December 27, 2010

Sony Corp. said Monday that it plans to invest about 100 billion yen ($1.21 billion) to double its production of image sensors used in digital cameras and smart phones, as the popularity of those devices continues to rise worldwide.

The investment includes the electronics giant's planned repurchase of a factory that it sold to Toshiba Corp. in 2007 for 90 billion yen. Until now, the factory has primarily been used to make processors for Sony's PlayStation 3 game console. But Tokyo-based Sony said it will refurbish the facility so that it can meet growing demand for imaging sensors. The company hopes to double capacity to 50,000 wafers per month by the end of March 2012.

Sony uses its sensors, branded "Exmor" and "Exmor R," in its own cameras and also sells these parts to other camera and cell phone manufacturers. The sensors are designed to make photos taken in dimly lit conditions appear brighter and crisper. Sales of Sony sensors helped lift sales in its semiconductor division by double-digits in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30.

The company leads the market in imaging sensors. In addition, Sony's earnings have been buoyed by success in its personal computer and PlayStation divisions, even as sales of its televisions have slowed.

The company said it will partially fund the investment using government subsidies that reward companies for making their businesses more environmentally friendly.

Shares of Sony fell 6 cents to $35.51 during afternoon trading.

Kodak Pulse email-to-photo-frame syst...

Kodak Pulse email-to-photo-frame system down for days, millions of memories trapped in the cloud

from Engadget by Nilay Patel

We definitely know quite a few people (including this very editor!) who bought their parents Kodak Pulse WiFi photo frames over the holidays, since they seem like a perfect way to share pictures without any fuss -- you can just email the frame directly. Unfortunately, it seems like this cloud service has a dark, dark lining: Kodak's backend email servers have been down since at least Christmas Eve, rendering the Pulse's most interesting feature essentially useless. What's worse, that status display above is more or less buried on the Pulse web site, so it's not even immediately clear that the problem is on Kodak's side -- and when things turn back on we're guessing more than one Pulse owner will find tons of duped photos on their frames from multiple email attempts, since the system doesn't confirm email receipt. We've heard a few anecdotal stories about email photo delivery slowing down / stopping during previous high traffic periods, so you'd think Kodak would have sorted this out by now, but we guess not -- we'll let you know when the company tells us about a fix.

Moms and dads across the Rochester re...

Kodak faces shifting camera market

MATTHEW DANEMAN • STAFF WRITER • DECEMBER 26, 2010

Moms and dads across the Rochester region Saturday were capturing Kodak moments of their frenzied kids tearing through brightly colored paper, looking for Disney Princess & Me dolls or Red Ryder BB guns.

While many of those memories were captured on digital cameras, an increasing number were snapped on smartphones or cell phones, a trend that is putting a key Eastman Kodak Co. product into a tightening squeeze. The digital camera business, particularly for point-and-shoot cameras, faces a challenging future as consumers turn to higher-end digital SLR cameras or camera phones.

For the first 11 months of 2010, U.S. retail sales of point-and-shoot cameras were down 6 percent from the same timeframe in 2009, according to consumer and retail market research company NPD Group. Those 2009 numbers were, in turn, down 10 percent from 2008.

Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales of digital SLR cameras were up 20 percent in the first 11 months of 2010.

And German photo paper distributor Felix Schoeller reportedly has estimated that by 2014, there will be roughly 2 billion camera phones in the market, a 69 percent jump from 2009, but that the 593 million digital cameras in the marketplace then will amount to an 18 percent jump over 2009.

Increasing numbers of snapshots are being taken on smartphones. Denver-based online photo sharing site Photobucket saw a 400 percent increase this year in the number of photos uploaded from smartphones, and expects that growth rate to continue in 2011, President Tom Munro said. Smartphone photos stillaccount for less than 10 percent of the four million photos daily uploaded to the site, he said.

While the point-and-shoot market is going through "compression," said Philip H. Scott, a vice president in Kodak's consumer digital imaging group, "We don't view the U.S. or developed markets as the entire world. There are plenty of geographies where we expect point-and-shoot growth for the next year or two. And we're not a company focused solely on point-and-shoot cameras."

Conclusion : while the Casio EX-H20G ...

GPSPassion Reviewed - Casio EX-H20G Camera with HybridGPS

Introduction

Cameras with built-in GPS have seen some steady improvement, from the first models that could barely get a fix to this year's models like the Sony HX5V with AGPS that I use as my main compact camera, but now comes the Casio EX-H20G with Hybrid-GPS, that merges standard GPS with sensor derived positioning.

Casio first unveiled this concept nearly a year ago at CES 2010 with the EX-H10G prototype and launched the consumer EX-H20G version at Photokina in September. The Hybrid positioning is not the only GPS related breakthrough as the large 3" screen shows a map with 10,000 picturesque sites and with the new v1.01 update it has become a GPS data logger. Below is a review of the EX-H20G running the 1.01 software. If you questions of comments you can use the Casio EX-H20G Hybrid GPS Camera - Reviews topic of the forums.

A. "General" comments: 
1. Pretty tall but thin, should make it easy to carry along
2. Feels "plasticky" compared to the Sony HX5V or Panasonic TZ-7, makes it lighter too...
3. Massive 1950mAh battery, compared to the 900mAh batteries of the HX5V or TZ-7 that can't last a day of day of "intensive" shooting. There shouldn't be any problem here and with the extra battery (OEM for $10) you can likely use it for several days.
4. Powers up quickly, faster than the Sony. Someone had mentioned 10 seconds on Amazon which got me worried but it's more like 2 seconds !
5. The LCD is marvelous, very bright and shows lifelike vibrant colors, much better than the Sony.

B. Photo/Video comments : 
1. The commands are easily accessible thanks to the "BS" (Best scene) button, there is Auto, Premium Auto (nothing to pay, just more processing time!) and many other modes
2. The "Slide Panorama" to make a continuous panorama on the fly works well. Unlike the same mode on the Sony it does a full 360 and you can stop when you want without having black bars. There is a shutter noise (the Sony is like a movie) that could make it conspicuous in a quiet environment. The manual seems to say you can use it in vertical mode but I haven't found the setting for that yet. Unlike the Sony it doesn't "correct" for moving objects.
3. The Sony has a handy HDR mode (takes and mixes two pictures for very contrasted scenes), I haven't found that mode, and the Premium Auto does not seem to use it.
4. There is an SR mode (Super Resolution) that bumps up the zoom to 15x (360mm equivalent) and seems to do a good job. It will help get that extra reach without post-processing with a computer
5. There are two video modes, HD (1280x720) and VGA (640x480) with only one setting for HD and it's high-bandwidth (the Sony and Panasonic have two settings, high and low, I find low is good enough and saves a lot of space)
6. The video output can be toggled between NSTC (North America/Japan) and PAL (Europe)
7. As a side note, the demo pictures for the "Best Mode" scenes look identical to those on the Casio QV-4000 camera I had in...2001 !

C. GPS specific comments : 
1. The first lock took a few minutes indoors (wood frame house)
2. Subsequent locks are very fast, under 30 seconds in my house, maybe 15 seconds outside, the background position update every 10 minutes certainly helps with that.
3. Tracking is excellent on foot in a favorable GPS environment, not sure if they are correcting the raw GPS position with sensor data on the fly, but the brief walk I took in the park was spot on (see below), will do some more testing in a more challenging environment with an MTK logger.



4. The results are not so good in difficult GPS environments as seen in this side by side testing on foot in downtown San Jose with the Visiontac V900 datalogger. I can't say I'm impressed with the resulting log of the Casio EX-H20G. The EX-H20G is in yellow and the Visiontac in red. I have a separate screenshot of the Visiontac to make the patch I followed more visible.

Conclusion : while the Casio EX-H20G is a pleasant camera to use overall it falls short in two crucial areas for a GPS enabled camera : picture quality when using the zoom and GPS tracking. The HybridGPS technology only appears to help stabilize the position in environments prone to multipath, not to track indoors, and the GPS logs are hard to use in challenging GPS environments. Casio might be able to improve picture quality and GPS performance with firmware upgrades but until that happens it's hard to recommend the EX-H20G. The Sony XX5V does not have a built-in GPS logger but it offers much better picture quality and the GPS position tagged in the pictures is generally accurate enough to enhance picture sharing on sites like Picasa.

If you questions of comments you can use the Casio EX-H20G Hybrid GPS Camera - Reviews topic of the forums.

Radios for Every Infantryman: Marine ...

Radios for Every Infantryman: Marine Company Tests Experimental Communications Gear

October 2010 

By Grace V. Jean 

MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA-BELLOWS, HAWAII — A marine rifle company recently experienced something that few of its peers have — operating in a combat scenario with a radio in the hands of every member of the unit.  
Infantry units today consider themselves lucky if they have more than one radio per squad. They have grown accustomed to relaying messages verbally and they have learned to stay within communications range while on patrol — sometimes to the detriment of the mission. 
Marine leaders aspire to connect these ground units to a vast communication network into which each marine will be plugged in. 
The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory recently put that concept to the test during the Rim of the Pacific naval exercise in Hawaii. It distributed a tactical communication suite to Golf Company of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. The equipment included satellite radios, handheld computers and software. 
“That they have today is 1960s technology,” said Vince Goulding, director of the lab’s experiments division. “We’re giving them 21st century technology.” 
All marines were given a radio called TrellisWare TW-220, a tactical handheld system that forms ad hoc, self-healing mesh networks. It is packaged into the body of the familiar AN/PRC-148 radio. “We’re giving them a satellite-like capability without the vulnerabilities of satellite,” said Goulding. The line-of-sight terrestrial network extends its range as long as one marine can electronically “see” the next marine. 
Squad leaders were given an additional radio called the distributed tactical communications system. The push-to-talk radio transmits voice and pre-formatted messages over the commercial Iridium satellite network, which yields a range of more than 150 miles. 
Both radios were tied into a software program called TIGR, a tactical ground reporting system developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. 
“It’s like a blue force tracker for every individual,” said Sgt. Luke Maxon, a squad leader from 1st Platoon who used the software on a small handheld computer. The TIGR tool places blue icons on a map depicting the locations of the radios. The DTCS radios transmitted position location information every time a marine pushed the button to talk. TrellisWare radios automatically sent updated position location information every minute. 
The Army has fielded TIGR as a staff communication tool above the battalion level. It records data of what is happening on the battlefield, such as firefights, roadside bombs and ambushes, and depicts the events on a map. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory is extending TIGR down to the company level and below with the hope that it will give platoons and squad leaders a real-time collaborative picture of the battlefield, Goulding said. 
“We’re looking at it as a better mousetrap than what marines have today,” he said. They currently use a program called MarineLink, which takes too long to train on, several marines said. 
In the exercise, the company landing team covered two areas of operations on the island of Oahu. An infantry platoon and an artillery platoon attachment landed on the beach here in air-cushion landing craft. They established a forward operating base and patrolled a nearby village where Afghan role players provided intelligence to the teams. The two other rifle platoons and the company headquarters element came ashore in helicopters and landed about 30 miles north in the mountainous Kahukus Training Area. Their objective was to eliminate a terrorist training camp there. 
Squad leaders gave mixed reviews of the technology. On the one hand, they valued the unprecedented level of connectivity and visibility of the battlefield. But on the other hand, they complained about the system’s weight, the awkwardness of contending with two handsets, power issues and utility.
Overall, they liked the concept of having radios for every marine. They appreciated the ability not only to talk with everyone but also to see where they were located. 
“It’s nice to have anyone on patrol in sight at any time,” said Maxon. “You could see what was going on. And then you could walk into another web and instantly know what was going on without having to get the information verbally over a radio.” 
Sgt. Benjamin Johns, a squad leader in 3rd platoon, recalled conducting a raid on a house and the ease of directing his team to surround the building in relative silence because of the radios. “We were able to conduct the raid without anyone around knowing it was going on,” he said. “We could talk to higher [headquarters] to let them know what was going on. And we didn’t have people yelling because everyone had a radio.” 
Marines said the technology was simple to use and required little training. 
The radios were connected to cell phone-sized headsets. A number of the marines tucked them underneath their helmets so they could listen in on communications while keeping both hands on their weapons. Squad leaders had to contend with two handsets, one for each radio, and those turned out to be cumbersome to juggle. A few suggested incorporating Bluetooth wireless earpieces into future versions. 
The push-to-talk buttons for the radios rested on their chests for easier access, but they became problematic whenever units had to hunker down for cover. Many marines accidentally keyed the radios and disrupted communications.
“Marines lay down on the ground. They don’t have time to think, ‘Am I laying down properly on this handset or not?’ They’re getting ready to shoot at someone and they don’t need to be worried about lying down. They need to be worried about their job at hand,” said Maxon.
Another problem was marines talking over one another. The network allocated each platoon its own frequency. But that meant whenever there was a platoon-sized operation, the three squads would inevitably step on each other when they tried to speak to their own units. 
Those are small problems that can be solved over time, said Goulding. 
But squad leaders could use some sort of override capability so they could break into the chatter when necessary to convey important information instead of waiting for a pause in the conversation, Johns suggested. 
Being able to see the battlefield using the TIGR software was “really awesome,” said Maxon. “It’s great for planning operations or patrols.” But squad leaders cautioned that the handheld computer, called the U-1, would be useful during certain operations. On patrol, and especially under fire, it is not going to be practical. “I’m not going to take the time to fire up my little computer and do all this stuff, especially at night time, because the screen is real bright,” Maxon said. 
Johns said that he didn’t like the small size of the computer because it was tough typing on the system using only his thumbs. He would have preferred a Toughbook laptop with a regular keyboard. 
“As far as being able to see other radios and being able to update the information, that was all really, really useful,” Johns said. But he added that distributing the system to every squad leader might not be necessary.
In Afghanistan, the computer would be utilized frequently because small units often operate in outposts for days at a time, the marines said. “It would be great to have the ability to get on that computer, pull information, pull pictures, send pictures, send data back and forth, plan patrol routes and see where squads were hit by an [improvised explosive device],” said Maxon. 
Power — a perennial problem for troops — was also an issue. “There were boxes and boxes of batteries,” said Maxon, whose squad operated in the mountainous terrain where it was especially taxing to lug around so many batteries. 
The new communication concept is spot-on, squad leaders said. “Make it smaller, make it lighter and make it more ergonomic,” suggested Maxon. 
The DTCS radio is about the size of a credit card, said John Schultz, project officer at Marine Corps lab. The next iteration of the system will drop half the weight and shrink the device down to the size of an AN/PRC-153 intra-squad radio. The TrellisWare technology can be packaged into something the size of a BlackBerry, Goulding added. 
The Marine Corps has yet to set requirements for new communication gear, but lab officials hope to influence service leaders’ planning process with a report from the experiment. 
The communication suite holds much promise for troops, Goulding said. “We think it’s going to be a game changer.”

Smartphone Army

Smartphone Army... Made in China?

Realizing the importance of digital information exchange,  the First Army Brigade of US is going to carry Digital Applications (Connecting Soldier’s to Digital Applications – CSDA), network equipments, tablets, e-readers and pico projectors with them by this February. DARPA had put out RFIs earlier this year aiming to develop military applications and application store for iOS and Android.

The Army has plans to issue Common Access Card (ID cards to log on to DoD computers and networks) readers for iPhone in Januray and for Android in April, Rickey Smith of the Army Capabilities Integration Center stated that they hadn’t fixed any hardware brand yet and  they are open to use Palm Trios, the Android, iPhone or whatever else befitting and reliable for the purpose.

Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) said the Army would distribute these smartphones like any other gadget a soldier receives and optionally if the solder is willing ,   he can make it a piece of equipment in his clothing bag. Development efforts are going on to harness  smart phones to  revolutionize the way of using it at all kind of critical occasions that a solder is supposed to  face

Author: Best Android Apps Review

Version: 1.2

U.S. Army Survival Guide is a complete reference Android app for any unknown or life-threatening situation.

• Size: 6.75MB
• Category: Reference
• Price: Free

The U.S Army Survival Guide app includes all chapters and appendices, including topics like survival medicine, shelters, and signaling techniques. The reference material is exactly what you’d want to have in your pocket when you’re out hiking, camping, or anywhere else away from civilization. All of the content is included in the app once it is downloaded, so there is no dependence on an internet connection. The guide, like any survival kit or drill, is one of those things you hope you’ll never need, but should have knowledge of just in case.

The guide is broken down into specific chapters which have their own subsections. The outline format of the guide makes the content surprisingly easy to read and understand. Even so, there is a ton of information supplied in the guide which could make finding exactly what you need difficult.

5 Reasons the Army is issuing iPhone and Android Smartphones to Troops

December 19, 2010

By Mike Vallez

The Army budget morphs that of individual law enforcement agencies, but thinking outside the box seems to be consistent on the battle field. The US Army is going to equip their field soldiers on the front lines with iPhones and or Android mobile device as soon as the Spring of 2011. I originally saw an article on www.digitaltrends.com and tracked the original information to the www.armytimes.com website. As a mobile device evangelist, enthusiast, I find the Army’s action to be an obvious technology progression of both physical mobile devices and web 2.0 technologies. Below are 5 reasons why the Army is issuing mobile devices to troops.

1)Portability- Mobile devices are small enough to slip into a pants pocket, jacket pocket, ruck sack, duffle bag, etc.

2) Powerful- Smartphone’s have become mini laptops in the last year or so and upcoming generations of these devices will boast duo core processors, increased graphics, more HD video capture models and overall more power.

3) Real Time Intelligence- At war smart phones would let soldiers view real-time intelligence and video from unmanned systems overhead. Drones would be able to provide intelligence to field personnel via smartphone. While this certainly already occurs with laptops, laptops are unreasonable to carry individually.

4) Real Time Maps- Track friends and enemies on dynamic maps, this could certainly be life saving.

5) Real Time Information- Soldiers will have the opportunity to use network searches, email, MMS, and get information real time while in critical situations, through individual mobile devices.

My first thought was how are the soldiers going to access a network? Not to worry, the Army has already been working on this with basically a portable or mobile cell tower that would provide soldiers a mobile network in battlefield situations. There really is no argument why this is not a brilliant move by the Army to equip their troops with more information. Does law enforcement see the same benefit as the Army does from mobile devices? I think issuing police officers iPhone and or Android smartphone’s is also a no brainer, what do you think?

This blog post original appeared on 12/19/10 Social Media Five-O by Michael F. Vallez

The new Techberry GD300 is another ba...

Techberry GD300 - Nexus Look-alike?

The new Techberry GD300 is another bar design dual SIM phone like the Techberry AK100. The new Techberry GD300 is a full touchscreen mobile phone which includes a track-ball alike BlackBerry phones. This new full-touch dual SIM mobile phone is bundled with some hi-end features. It’s featuring a dual camera with flash light, Bluetooth 2.0V A2DP, AVRCP, FTP enabled, PC Sync, mass storage, and webcam facility, etc. Just take a look on the below features list of the new Techberry GD300 to grab more information.

Techberry GD300 Features

• Full touchscreen display with track ball
• Dual camera with flash and digital zoom
• 2 megapixel main camera (1600 x 1200 pixels) and 0.3MP front facing camera (640 x 480 pixels)
• PC Sync, Mass Storage, & WebCam
• Bluetooth 2.0V A2DP, AVRCP, FTP enabled
• GPRS/WAP, MMS, Email, Wi-Fi and shaking control
• Multi-languages, & 1000 phone book entries
• Ebook reader, encrypted for phone book and SMS
• Up to 4GB expandable memory via T-Flash card
• Internal memory: 92MB
• Dual SIM (GSM 900 / 1800 Mhz | GSM 900 / 1800 Mhz)
• Java, Google Map, Opera, NimBuzz, FaceBook, eBuddy enabled
• Li-on, 1200 mAh battery

The new Techberry GD300 dual SIM mobile phone comes in only one color i.e Silver. Unfortunately there is no information on price of the new Techberry GD300 full touch dual SIM phone. Consumers will get the Techberry GD300 handset, a battery, charger, earphone, USB cable, user manual, warranty card, etc inside the box while purchasing this phone.

Within the next year, Northern Colora...

NASA could bring 10,000 jobs to Northern Colorado

Within the next year, Northern Colorado could see 10,000 jobs created by NASA. On December 13, 2010, NASA signed an agreement with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology (CAMT) to create a technology park along the Front Range. This center would house 60 to 80 businesses specializing in aerospace and clean energy technologies. Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator, said 'this park will use Colorado's existing competitive strengths to boost economic growth while creating new jobs and products for aerospace and energy industries.' 

In yesterday's (Dec. 23) Fort Collins Coloradoan, Maria Servold mentioned NASA is considering the old Hewlett-Packard/Agilent campus as a potential site for the technology park. NASA representatives were in Loveland this past Wednesday assessing the site. The staff at Colorado's Office of Economic Development and International Trade has been negotiating with NASA over the past several months and they have viewed different sites along the Colorado Front Range from North Denver, Boulder to Loveland.

NASA choosing Northern Colorado for their new technology park would be a huge boost for our economy and ultimately our housing market as jobs create stability and positive growth. NASA should be making their decision in early 2011. Go NOCO!

Unistrong Odin

Unistrong Odin

from geo2web.com by geo2web

Chinese Unistrong is getting ready to bring their latest GPS receiver into the country called Odin which just made it through FCC requirements. Unistrong Odin is a handheld mobile GIS solution that integrates a high sensitivity GPS antenna (plus support for an external antenna), 3MP digital camera, SIM card module for cellular connectivity, built-in bluetooth and WiFi, and an e-compass.

And all of this is packed into an IP66 casing which provides waterproof and dustproof for the most demanding field work.

A few of the other features include a gravity sensor, 2800mAh Li-Ion battery, barometric altimeter, and a microSD card slot.

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

The Secret Dead-Drops on Google Maps

The Secret Dead-Drops on Google Maps

from geo2web.com by geo2web

Dead Drops

Dead Drops is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network involving the use of USB flash drives planted in public spaces. The USB drives are embedded into walls, buildings and curbs and anyone can plug in their laptop to download or upload files.

If you are curious about the project and want to participate you can find the nearest USB drive by checking the Dead Drop Google Map. The map shows the location of all the public drives in the Dead Drop database.

________________

Kodak's patent spat threatens photo w...

Kodak's patent spat threatens photo web sites

photo services

The fallout from a patent dispute between Kodak and web photo site Shutterfly could embroil many online image sites, says patent experts.

Kodak claimed it owns patents regarding the display of online images that is being infringed by Shutterfly.

The photo-sharing site disputes these claims and has launched a counter suit.

But the landmark case could have ramifications for other popular online photo sites such as Yahoo's Flickr and Google's Picasa.

The past two years have seen a number of cases launched that claim online photo sites have breached patents.

But this is the first time such a large, established technology company has sought to assert its rights over online images, said Deborah Bould, a specialist in intellectual property at law firm Pinsent Masons.

Genuine innovation

Kodak's decision to start legal proceedings against Shutterfly will have put scores of web-based photo companies such as Flickr and Google, on high alert, she told BBC News.

"The patents Kodak holds are incredibly broad, effectively covering images that are stored centrally and can be ordered online," she said.

That's likely to mean Kodak will go after other online image sites it believes also infringe its patents, she added.

Kodak said it has over 400 similar patents.

"We are committed to protecting these assets from unauthorised use," it said in a statement.

Given the expense of patent cases, many smaller firms may choose to licence Kodak's technology rather than fight claims, said Theo Savvides, head of intellectual property at Osborne Clarke.

But firms such as Google and Yahoo "have deep pockets" that would allow them to challenge Kodak's claims, he added.

Such challenges would likely focus on the validity of Kodak's patents, said Ms Bould.

The case may hinge on Kodak's ability to show that when it filed the patents they covered technology that was genuinely innovative, she added.

Kodak has been hit hard by the shift towards digital photography, but has recently shown a greater willingness to assert its rights for technology it believes impinge on its patents.

Earlier this year Kodak said it would sue Apple and BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion, over technology used in their handsets.

Create Garmin Custom Map Overlays In ...

Create Garmin Custom Map Overlays In ArcGIS Explorer With Garmin Tool

from Free Geography Tools by Leszek Pawlowicz

Recent Garmin GPS models (the Colorado, Oregon, Dakota, 62 and 78 series) have the ability to display user-created raster imagery, which Garmin calls “custom map overlays”. These require creating Google Earth KMZ overlay files, which you can do manually; see this Garmin website for basic details. There are also some programs out there, like G-Raster, [...] Related posts:

1. Create Garmin-Compatible Raster KMZ Files From Georeferenced Imagery With G-Raster
2. Free Tools For ArcGIS Server (And A Request For Ideas For More Free Tools)
3. Identify Garmin Map Tiles And The Area They Cover

Google Sends The Nexus S On A Mission...

Google Sends The Nexus S On A Mission To Space

from TechCrunch by Jason Kincaid

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Google obviously has some grand ambitions for Android, its mobile OS that is now being activated on 300,000 devices per day and has a forthcoming release called Honeycomb that will take on the iPad. But even that isn’t enough — now Google wants to bring the green robot to an entirely new market: the final frontier.

Alright, so maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself — Google hasn’t stuck a Droid flag on the moon just yet. But it did just use weather balloons to send seven Nexus S devices over 100,000 feet above Earth, each equipped with a variety of sensors to see how the device performs at some very extreme conditions. Google also strapped the phones with some cameras, so we get to watch them rise into the sky (and then full back down).

Google ran different apps on each phone, like Google Maps to plot the phone’s current position on the map (or at least, what they were above) and Sky Map to see if the phones could actually recognize stars while the phones were headed to space.

Here’s how Google describes the rig used to carry the devices:

Well, first the Android platform provides a robust development environment and Nexus S has a great set of embedded sensors, both of which made it easy for us to write the apps we needed for this project. Going forward with other similar projects we have an open environment that we can modify at any level necessary. We then worked with UCSC student Greg Klein to prepare each of the payloads, which were housed in foam coolers. We secured a nylon load line to the cooler and attached to it a radar reflector, a parachute, and finally, a weather balloon. Every payload had an APRS transmitter attached to a GPS that was known to work at high altitudes, as well as batteries for power. The remainder of each payload was different for each balloon: some had digital cameras taking pictures and some had video cameras mounted at various angles (up, down, and at the horizon).

The resulting data is interesting: turns out, the GPS unit works up to 60,000 feet and the phone can function at temperatures as low as -50C. I’m sure this information will come in handy some day.

Some other stats:

Maximum Speed: 139 mph
Maximum Altitude: 107,375 ft (over 20 miles, over 30 km)
Maximum Ascent Rate: 5.44 m/s
Average Flight Duration: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Average Descent Time: 34 minutes

And yes, I know the definition of space is actually 100km above Earth (these phones got to around 33km). But when you can see the curvature of the Earth, you’re still pretty damn high.

It’s worth noting that Google is hardly the first company to send weather balloons into the sky. In fact, a father-and-son team recently did something very similar with an iPhone 4, though weren’t tracking quite as many tests.

Android in Space?

Motorola Tablet Teaser Site and Count...

Motorola Tablet Teaser Site and Countdown Go Live

from Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog by Kellex

Yesterday, Motorola teased the world with their tablet evolution video, and today they’ve started the official countdown to its unveiling.  We are fully expecting this tablet to be “DROID” branded, has been hiding under the codename Everest, and will run Honeycomb, but the official name has been locked up behind the tightest NDAs ever.  You can see it in action at this video, high-res pictures of it here, and some unofficial specs here.  It’s going to be amazing.  

And how about another look at that teaser video?

FCC Takes First Steps Towards Next-Ge...

FCC Takes First Steps Towards Next-Gen 911

from Phone Scoop - Latest News by Eric M. Zeman

The Federal Communications Commission has filed an official Notice of Inquiry regarding the next-generation of 911 emergency systems for the U.S. The FCC wants to enable the next-generation 911 system to make use of today's mobile technology. The FCC wants the public to be able to send text messages to 911 in times when they need help and texting is the only viable form of communication. The FCC also wants to be able to receive and use picture and video messages, and suggests this type of information could be key to first responders. Last, the FCC wants devices to be able to send messages to 911 automatically. Alerts could come from devices such as security cameras, air sensors, automobiles, and personal medical devices. The FCC is asking for comment on these initiatives. It has not announced if or when these measures might be approved, nor when they might potentially be deployed. (Please call 911 in a real emergency. Do not send a text message.)

Sony entering tablet wars with VAIO t...

Sony entering tablet wars with VAIO tablet spotted at FCC

from Electronista | The Macintosh News Network

1 person liked this

Sony's hints of tablet plans were validated today with an FCC filing. The slates would all fall into the business-focused VAIO PC group and would include multiple models, all with some variant of the PCG-31xxxL model number. Most of their details aren't 

The Tablet OS Wars: There Will Be Blood

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By Richard Adhikari
LinuxInsider 
12/21/10 5:00 AM PT

Apple may have had a head start in smartphones, but the Android OS has proven it can quickly catch up in market share. Will the same be true in tablets? Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster says Android will claim 39 percent of the tablet market in 2012. Vendors large and small are indeed primed to jump into the market with Android tablets, but critics say the figure devalues platforms like webOS, BlackBerry and Windows.

In terms of tablet market share, Android tablets will be running a close second to the iPad within two years, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

While the iPad will have 44 percent of the market, Android tablets will have 39 percent, Munster reportedly predicted.

More Android tablets will be launched in 2011, including one from Motorola (NYSE: MOT) that will possibly run an upcoming version of the Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) operating system -- Android 3.0.

Tablets running other operating systems will also hit the market, and perhaps the only thing anyone's really sure of is that change will remain the hallmark of this segment.

It's All in the Numbers

Though tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab already run the mobile OS, Android tablets will really take off in 2011, when they will begin running Android 3.0, code-named "Honeycomb," according to Munster.

A Motorola tablet prototype running Android 3.0 received a great deal of attention when it was demonstrated by Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google, earlier this month. That was one of several factors that Munster considers a good omen for Android's future next year. Other factors include Motorola's promise to deliver 7- and 10-inch tablets, and Samsung's promise to offer a 10-inch Galaxy Tab tablet, all next year.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) will end up 2011 with 53 percent of the market and Android with nearly 33 percent, Munster forecast.

Tablets running Windows 7 and HP's (NYSE: HPQ) webOS operating systems as well as Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) PlayBooks will make up the bulk of the remaining market, Munster said.

However Jeff Orr, a principal analyst at ABI Research, disputes Munster's figures. "That statement that 39 percent of tablets will run Android is a little aggressive," Orr told LinuxInsider. "I think it's going to be more like 25 percent."

Other players will include tablets running HP's webOS, Google's Chrome OS, Windows and Meego, which is being jointly offered byNokia (NYSE: NOK) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Orr said.

"We can't forget Windows 7, and I don't think Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is just going to abandon this potentially huge market," Orr pointed out. "And there's still a chance that Windows CE may come back in."

Swimming With the Tablet Sharks

Scads of tablets are expected to come down the pipeline in 2011.

"It's the making of a market," Orr said. "Think of it as a wave building on the ocean. The risk is, does that wave become so massive that it comes crashing down on you?"

December alone saw at least seven Android tablets released in the United States, according to Andro Tablets. More than 50 tablet devices will hit the streets before the end of this year, ABI Research's Orr said.

Apple is not likely to be crushed by the wave because "it has a heritage of staying ahead of the curve" and there are rumors that the next-generation iPad may be unveiled as early as January, Orr stated.

NEC (Nasdaq: NIPNY) will reportedly unveil a dual-screen Android tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 in January.

Meanwhile, Motorola has placed a teaser ad on YouTube about a tablet it will apparently debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011.

"We are working on both a 7- and a 10-inch Android tablet and intend to introduce a tablet in the first half of 2011," Motorola spokesperson Danielle McNally told LinuxInsider. "We want to make sure that any tablet we deliver is compelling and competitive in the marketplace, and we will only deliver a tablet when that occurs," she added.

Acer, HTC and Asus have all announced they'll offer Android tablets in 2011. Acer has already announced a 7-inch and a 10.1-inch tablets. However, Asus says it will first bring out Windows 7 tablets before proceeding to Android devices.

Jumping the Gun, or On the Hop?

Although it's clear many device makers are eager to put Android on their tablets, the version of Android currently in consumers' hands is optimized for a different type of device: smartphones.

"I definitely see media tablets being in more of a computing function than a communication function, gaining graphics and processing higher-definition video content," ABI Research's Orr remarked.

"There have been many tablets on non-tablet versions of Android," Al Hilwa, a program director at IDC, told LinuxInsider. "The fact that Samsung, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) and others are willing to jump the gun before the code properly supports tablets is clearly a sign of the eagerness to cash in on the tablet phenomenon."

The most successful Android tablets "will probably not come until Gingerbread [Android 2.3] and beyond," Hilwa said.