Thursday, February 28, 2013
Give us a Break... More in this case is not Better!
Oh great. Just what we need more video that can not be transmitted, decompressed nor readily stored Lets see, if you are recording 1080p-30 at 20Mb/sec makes about 7 MB a minute, well, that may not stream at all. Now take that up to 4K which even with the best compression likely kicks out say 24MB or more a minute? Captain Kirk science fantasy and time warp might get it to stream some time in the future? Oh and lets not forget the size of the sensor versus light bleed and lens quality - Please give us a break! Just because thay can create tiny pixel sensor more all that really means is more noisy video, endless fragmentation over "best codec" that only dives forward memory makers. Read on...
Aptina unleashes 1080p and 4K mobile sensors, entire point-and-shoot segment cringes
Hear that? That's the sound of the entire point-and-shoot camera industry bracing for yet another blow. As smartphone cameras mature, it's becoming ever more difficult to convince consumers to use anything other than their phone outside of special occasions where ILCs or DSLRs are necessary. Aptina has a lot to do with that. Here at Mobile World Congress, the sensor outfit has announced its 12 megapixel and 13 megapixel mobile image sensors, aimed squarely at next-gen flagship phones that ought to be coming out in Q2 or Q3 this year. The smaller 1.1-micron pixel construction is the standout feature, with the AR1230 capable of capturing 4K video at 30fps as well as 1080p video at up to 96fps. The AR1330 throws in electronic image stabilization support at 1080p, while snagging 4K UHD and 4K Cinema formats at 30fps.
Over on the tablet PC / TV front, the AR0261 is a new 1080p-capable sensor that's destined to redefine what a front-facing camera can accomplish. It relies on a 1.4-micron pixel, and should have no issues capturing faces at up to 60fps when using its 720p mode. Furthermore, Aptina promises that this guy can work with applications involving gesture recognition and 3D video capture, but sadly, no OEMs are coming forward just yet with concrete plans to include it.
Aptina unleashes 1080p and 4K mobile sensors, entire point-and-shoot segment cringes
Hear that? That's the sound of the entire point-and-shoot camera industry bracing for yet another blow. As smartphone cameras mature, it's becoming ever more difficult to convince consumers to use anything other than their phone outside of special occasions where ILCs or DSLRs are necessary. Aptina has a lot to do with that. Here at Mobile World Congress, the sensor outfit has announced its 12 megapixel and 13 megapixel mobile image sensors, aimed squarely at next-gen flagship phones that ought to be coming out in Q2 or Q3 this year. The smaller 1.1-micron pixel construction is the standout feature, with the AR1230 capable of capturing 4K video at 30fps as well as 1080p video at up to 96fps. The AR1330 throws in electronic image stabilization support at 1080p, while snagging 4K UHD and 4K Cinema formats at 30fps.
Over on the tablet PC / TV front, the AR0261 is a new 1080p-capable sensor that's destined to redefine what a front-facing camera can accomplish. It relies on a 1.4-micron pixel, and should have no issues capturing faces at up to 60fps when using its 720p mode. Furthermore, Aptina promises that this guy can work with applications involving gesture recognition and 3D video capture, but sadly, no OEMs are coming forward just yet with concrete plans to include it.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
MidNight Picker
Capture the world in 3D — Tablet camera captures geometry, not just stereoscopic images
No longer.
The Lynx A is a simple-to-use device that yields usable 3D models that work in most modeling, rendering, and animation applications. “ Instead of outputting 2D images, it produces 3D models of whatever you point it at,” saysLynx Laboratories. “It’s the world’s first point-and-shoot 3D camera.”
The basic idea is not new — for example, we’ve covered a free app from Autodesk that will make a model when you just move your iPad around a small object — but the implementation here is. The handheld camera, akin to a tablet PC, can be swept across a room… and then it generates 3D geometry, colors, and textures for everything it takes a picture of. It can also capture motion, generating wide-ranging movements that can be mapped onto animated figures.
The tablet measures 11.5x8x1 inches, and weighs six pounds. It has its own Intel Core i5 2.6GHz processor, 500GB drive, and a 14-inch LCD. It has a VGA-res imager and a 3D sensor for capturing depth information.
Austin, Texas-based Lynx is raising funding — on Kickstarter of course — by asking for $1,800 as an advanced payment for the basic model. That might seem like a lot, but it’s a fraction of the cost of most professional products on the market yielding similar results. “If you cobbled together all the hardware and software you would need to accomplish these tasks, you’d end up dishing out a couple hundred grand,” the company says. “That’s not accessible at all. The Lynx device sells for about the same price as a full-framed DSLR, making it a serious value for small outfits and innovators trying to break into these technologies.”
It’s also faster, they add: “Capturing models takes minutes, while today’s methods take hours or even days.”
More information, and a cool video, is here.
2-7-2013
Dell grabs for security...
Dell intros Latitude 10 enhanced security for all your governmental tableting needs
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
And a big maybe sometime soon...
StickNFind Bluetooth tracking stickers to ship next week, get extended range
Totally a distraction...?
Wearable, flyable $50 video cameras
“Life’s best moments don’t wait for you to grab a camera to capture them,” says the developer of a button-sized clip=on camera, with which “people can now capture life as they enjoy it.”
Pinned to your shirt or worn as a necklace, MeCam “catches every instant from a first-person point of view, recording each moment the way you see it,” the eponymous company says.
The $50 wearable video camera is less than two inches in diameter and weighs less than two ounces. It records 720p HD video at 30 frames per second. Its LED infrared lighting operates effectively in low light conditions and captures audio within a 10 foot radius. It can also take 5 megapixel still photos. It’s Lithium-ion battery powers 80 minutes of continuous run time. Only downside: It’s not wireless: You later upload the video via USB cable.
But wait, there’s more! Another company is also offering a $50 “mecam” — but this one doesn’t clip to your shirt. Instead it hovers about, getting you in the shot. That’s right, it’s on a helicopter.
While the MeCam wearable model in available now, the MeCam helicopter is still being developed by Always Innovating, which says its video nano copter lets you “point-and-shoot yourself.”
The MeCam launches from the palm of a hand and hovers instantly, the company says. And it doesn’t even need a remote control, the developer claims: you just shout out directions, or engage its “follow-me” feature.
The San Francisco company says it does not intend to produce the MeCam but is offering it for licensing and hopes to have it on the shelves by 2014.
The copter has 14 sensors including side object detectors that are “queried for perfect and safe hovering” the company says, and uses 3 stabilization algorithms. It captures 480 SD video.
1-29-2013
CAT Tough - I want one...
CAT Unveils the B15 Smartphone, a Rugged Beast of a Device
The phone is clearly not built to please the eyes of the average consumer, but if your job requires some heavy duty lifting from your device, the B15 is sure to stand up to the test.
Launch is expected in March, for around $450-$500.
Pee Dispsticks
And for Their Next Trick, Smartphones Will Analyze Your Urine
Testing urine can reveal diseases, pregnancy, drug usage, dehydration, diet problems and more. But urine tests are not terrifically accessible — companies like Siemens make proprietary urine dipsticks that are read only by their expensive proprietary machines.
Myshkin Ingawale of Biosense Technologies has developed an iPhone app to make that process much more accessible. The aim of uChek is to make analyzing pee so simple that people around the world can do it at home to test and monitor their own health.
As Ingawale put it, the conclusion was inevitable: “Cellphones, everybody has them. And everybody pees. There has to be something interesting going on here.”
He quipped in a well-received talk at the TED conference on Monday, “The future might not be in your hand; it might well be down the toilet.”
The uChek app works with any urine-test dipstick, with the familiar set of colored boxes that change to indicate levels of things like ketones and pH in the pee.
To use the app, you dip the stick in the pee and put it down next to a washable color mat, then take a picture of the two at certain time intervals. The point of the mat is to provide a reference color palette that can be compared to the stick in any light. Then the app locally analyzes what it sees, and displays the levels and the trends.
After Ingawale demoed this process on stage with a cup of pee, nobody was quite sure whether to shake his hand.
Biosense Technologies employs 10 people in Mumbai, and raised $500,000 from Insitor Fund and GSF India, Ingawale told me in an interview offstage.
He said he expects to launch uChek on March 25. The app will likely cost $0.99, and the mat will cost $20. An Android version is the next priority.
UChek is actually Biosense’s second product, and this was Ingawale’s second TED talk. Last year, he debuted an anemia detector that doesn’t require a needle, called ToucHB. That device has been redesigned over the past year, and is now shipping in limited quantities in India, he said.
Myshkin Ingawale of Biosense Technologies has developed an iPhone app to make that process much more accessible. The aim of uChek is to make analyzing pee so simple that people around the world can do it at home to test and monitor their own health.
As Ingawale put it, the conclusion was inevitable: “Cellphones, everybody has them. And everybody pees. There has to be something interesting going on here.”
He quipped in a well-received talk at the TED conference on Monday, “The future might not be in your hand; it might well be down the toilet.”
The uChek app works with any urine-test dipstick, with the familiar set of colored boxes that change to indicate levels of things like ketones and pH in the pee.
To use the app, you dip the stick in the pee and put it down next to a washable color mat, then take a picture of the two at certain time intervals. The point of the mat is to provide a reference color palette that can be compared to the stick in any light. Then the app locally analyzes what it sees, and displays the levels and the trends.
After Ingawale demoed this process on stage with a cup of pee, nobody was quite sure whether to shake his hand.
Biosense Technologies employs 10 people in Mumbai, and raised $500,000 from Insitor Fund and GSF India, Ingawale told me in an interview offstage.
He said he expects to launch uChek on March 25. The app will likely cost $0.99, and the mat will cost $20. An Android version is the next priority.
UChek is actually Biosense’s second product, and this was Ingawale’s second TED talk. Last year, he debuted an anemia detector that doesn’t require a needle, called ToucHB. That device has been redesigned over the past year, and is now shipping in limited quantities in India, he said.
Smartphoning the DoD without CHINA?
Pentagon Wants a ‘Family of Devices’ as It Makes Big Move Into Mobile Market
- 02.26.13
- 11:35 AM
The next big customer for smartphones and tablets? The U.S. military. Finally.
The military has begun talks with device and mobile operating-system manufacturers, as well as the major carriers, to supply troops with secured mobile devices. The idea is for the manufacturers to offer the Pentagon an already-secure device and OS, rather for the military to laboriously build a bespoke mobile suite that inevitably won’t keep pace with commercial innovation.
And the military has a significant amount of purchasing power on its side: hundreds of thousands of customers for the winning bid.
The architects of the Pentagon’s new Commercial Device Mobile Implementation Plan, unveiled Tuesday, want to be clear they’re not talking about soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines all buying, say, an iPhone 5 — and being stuck with it for years after the companies come out with improved, upgraded mobile products. And they’d prefer to let the troops pick from a selection of secured, approved smartphones and tablets, not issue everyone a mobile device like they issue rifles.
“We’re device-agnostic,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler, the Pentagon’s deputy chief information officer, told reporters. “What we’re looking for is a family of devices that are available depending on the operator. … And we’re going to continue to update as they update.”
That’s going to be a significant change from the top-down way the Pentagon often buys hardware. The Pentagon plan calls for giving security guidelines to the mobile companies, from secure to classified — data-security standards that have been worked out with the National Security Agency — and then shopping around for the best family of products that can meet the standard. It’s going to publish those security guidelines, for both devices and for the mobile applications they’ll run, within 120 days.
“Instead of the government, or defense contractors supporting the government, getting an operating system and then doing all the reviews to lock it down,” said John Hickey, the mobility program manager for the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Pentagon’s “concept now is: Here’s our security requirements to operate within DOD, you bring us the [Security Technical Implementation Guides] and we review it very quickly.”
The sheer volume of customers that the Pentagon represents is supposed to control costs, the plan’s architects figure. Already, 600,000 department employees are using mobile devices, the overwhelming majority of which are RIM’s Blackberry. Hickey said a “mixture” of companies is already interested in getting that big market.
“On the device side, if you’re talking about the operating system on the device, it would be the Samsungs, the Apples, et cetera, the ones that are really running the operating systems,” Hickey said, declining to elaborate much. “And let’s not leave RIM out of that picture, with BB10 coming.”
This is something the Army in particular wants badly. It spent over a decade building a data network to push mapping and other information to dismounted soldiers — a network currently in use, for the first time, in Afghanistan — and recent rolled out a smart device (it doesn’t make calls) called Nett Warrior, running Android, to operate over it. The Army also built an app store, still in beta, so soldiers can access the apps they’ll run on the devices. The new Pentagon-wide plan calls for building a military app store by 2014.
And it’s not just the Army. The Navy and the Marines are sending their first ship-to-ship wireless network to sea this spring, and purchasing hundreds of phones from the local electronics store to use it. The Air Force’s early experiments with smartphones and tablets involves turning heavy, on-paper flight kits into apps.
The plan doesn’t call for signing on with one particular carrier: That’s impractical, since that the military operates globally. The Pentagon has also yet to decide whether all the approved smartphones and tablets will run the same operating system, although it’s worth noting the smartphones and tablets the military has purchased so far have typically been Android devices.
All this represents a potential windfall for mobile companies, even with cuts to the defense budget looming. The military not only wants to automate data and put it in troops’ pockets, it wants to keep pace with the gadgets that troops use in their civilian lives — a big reason why the Pentagon doesn’t want to build a bespoke device.
Buying the devices isn’t going to be the only challenge. Securing them is going to be another. Hickey acknowledged that the Pentagon’s got to make choices about how much sensitive or classified data can live on devices that troops can easily lose and how much needs to live on a secured cloud. Another is just teaching the military the basics about what mobile technology is.
“Everyone thinks of ‘devices,’” Wheeler said. “For someone whose job it is to work this all the time, as an aviator, I’m thinking ‘device.’ I’m not thinking the [data-management requirements], I’m not thinking the actual applications, I’m not thinking the OS and I’m not thinking the device. But all of those are part of the security solution. And that was something difficult for some of the leaders to get their hands around.”
The military has begun talks with device and mobile operating-system manufacturers, as well as the major carriers, to supply troops with secured mobile devices. The idea is for the manufacturers to offer the Pentagon an already-secure device and OS, rather for the military to laboriously build a bespoke mobile suite that inevitably won’t keep pace with commercial innovation.
And the military has a significant amount of purchasing power on its side: hundreds of thousands of customers for the winning bid.
The architects of the Pentagon’s new Commercial Device Mobile Implementation Plan, unveiled Tuesday, want to be clear they’re not talking about soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines all buying, say, an iPhone 5 — and being stuck with it for years after the companies come out with improved, upgraded mobile products. And they’d prefer to let the troops pick from a selection of secured, approved smartphones and tablets, not issue everyone a mobile device like they issue rifles.
“We’re device-agnostic,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler, the Pentagon’s deputy chief information officer, told reporters. “What we’re looking for is a family of devices that are available depending on the operator. … And we’re going to continue to update as they update.”
That’s going to be a significant change from the top-down way the Pentagon often buys hardware. The Pentagon plan calls for giving security guidelines to the mobile companies, from secure to classified — data-security standards that have been worked out with the National Security Agency — and then shopping around for the best family of products that can meet the standard. It’s going to publish those security guidelines, for both devices and for the mobile applications they’ll run, within 120 days.
“Instead of the government, or defense contractors supporting the government, getting an operating system and then doing all the reviews to lock it down,” said John Hickey, the mobility program manager for the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Pentagon’s “concept now is: Here’s our security requirements to operate within DOD, you bring us the [Security Technical Implementation Guides] and we review it very quickly.”
The sheer volume of customers that the Pentagon represents is supposed to control costs, the plan’s architects figure. Already, 600,000 department employees are using mobile devices, the overwhelming majority of which are RIM’s Blackberry. Hickey said a “mixture” of companies is already interested in getting that big market.
“On the device side, if you’re talking about the operating system on the device, it would be the Samsungs, the Apples, et cetera, the ones that are really running the operating systems,” Hickey said, declining to elaborate much. “And let’s not leave RIM out of that picture, with BB10 coming.”
This is something the Army in particular wants badly. It spent over a decade building a data network to push mapping and other information to dismounted soldiers — a network currently in use, for the first time, in Afghanistan — and recent rolled out a smart device (it doesn’t make calls) called Nett Warrior, running Android, to operate over it. The Army also built an app store, still in beta, so soldiers can access the apps they’ll run on the devices. The new Pentagon-wide plan calls for building a military app store by 2014.
And it’s not just the Army. The Navy and the Marines are sending their first ship-to-ship wireless network to sea this spring, and purchasing hundreds of phones from the local electronics store to use it. The Air Force’s early experiments with smartphones and tablets involves turning heavy, on-paper flight kits into apps.
The plan doesn’t call for signing on with one particular carrier: That’s impractical, since that the military operates globally. The Pentagon has also yet to decide whether all the approved smartphones and tablets will run the same operating system, although it’s worth noting the smartphones and tablets the military has purchased so far have typically been Android devices.
All this represents a potential windfall for mobile companies, even with cuts to the defense budget looming. The military not only wants to automate data and put it in troops’ pockets, it wants to keep pace with the gadgets that troops use in their civilian lives — a big reason why the Pentagon doesn’t want to build a bespoke device.
Buying the devices isn’t going to be the only challenge. Securing them is going to be another. Hickey acknowledged that the Pentagon’s got to make choices about how much sensitive or classified data can live on devices that troops can easily lose and how much needs to live on a secured cloud. Another is just teaching the military the basics about what mobile technology is.
“Everyone thinks of ‘devices,’” Wheeler said. “For someone whose job it is to work this all the time, as an aviator, I’m thinking ‘device.’ I’m not thinking the [data-management requirements], I’m not thinking the actual applications, I’m not thinking the OS and I’m not thinking the device. But all of those are part of the security solution. And that was something difficult for some of the leaders to get their hands around.”
Smartphones Streaming Everything Everywhere
Deploying an Army of Smartphones to Stream Images of Everything
- 12.13.12
- 6:30 AM
Koozoo’s suction-cup camera mount attaches an old smartphone to your window so you can livestream the world outside.Photo: Koozoo
If you’ve ever wanted to scope out the line at your favorite restaurant before you get there, or enjoy the same view that someone high up in a skyscraper sees, it’s worth checking out Koozoo. The San Francisco-based startup is assembling a network of live video cameras from cast-off smartphones to stream everything from the basketball court in the park across the street to a seascape halfway around the globe.The setup is simple. Using an old smartphone (how about that iPhone 3G you have in the drawer?) with the Koozoo app loaded, and a suction-cup window mount and a power cord, you point the little sucker at something outside your home or office that others might find valuable or interesting. Tap record in Koozoo, and you’re streaming live to the Koozoo website where fellow streamers can choose among the video feeds.
“You can see what’s going on near you or around the world through your phone,” says co-founder Drew Sechrist. “I can see if there is line at the coffee shop around the corner, so I can avoid it or wait for a lull.”
Lines at the coffee shop are just one of the use cases that Sechrist and his co-founder Edward Sullivan have discovered since they launched Koozoo’s private beta earlier this year. The 100 or so people in the beta group have been using Koozoo streams to check the weather at the Marina Green (a notoriously foggy part of San Francisco), share views of their apartments with family, and witness the neighborhood celebrations that followed the San Francisco Giants winning the 2012 World Series.
A Koozoo live stream of the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets in San Francisco.Image: Koozoo
One of those early Koozoo users is Lauren Patti, who streams video of the foot traffic outside her apartment on Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District. “I think it’s neat to see what’s going on in other parts of the city,” says Patti. Patti says she uses Koozoo to check the lines at her favorite restaurants, get an idea of the weather based on people’s outfits she sees in streams, and just keeps tabs on what’s happening outside her apartment.
To join the video network you first have to send a photo of your view to Koozoo to prove it’s worthy (at least according to the Koozoo team) of streaming. Any old iPhone or Android phone can connect to Koozoo, but the phone’s camera quality and your Wi-Fi bandwidth will affect the video stream quality.
When Koozoo launches to the public next year, the community of Koozoo viewers will also act as curators, highlighting a feed or sending it into obscurity by voting on whether the feed is interesting or not, and if the video is high quality. To use the network, you must offer a video stream.
Right now your privacy alarm bells are probably going berserk. It can be off-putting to imagine little smartphone cameras recording you everywhere you go. But as creepy as it sounds, you have a limited expectation of privacy in public and Koozoo says it will only allow shots of public spaces. “Private spaces with inappropriate content will be filtered out by the team,” says Sechrist.
For the time being, Koozoo isn’t recording any video (just live-streaming), so any illegal activity wouldn’t be recorded as evidence. The company has built an advisory team of computer scientists and privacy experts to keep things fair and legal going forward, says Sechrist, something the board comprised of the VCs and angel investors who recently kicked in $2.5 million in funding are especially keen on.
Once you get past the creepiness factor, the idea of Koozoo is kind of cool. Imagine checking the weather outside your distant office before you leave home, or watching the sunset over London from your desk. Though its business model is still in the works, like every network, Koozoo’s value will grow if the network does. With so much relying on the participation of sometimes less than reliable users, that could be a big if. Nonetheless, Sechrist envisions a global system of connected smartphone streams. “We want Koozoo connected devices to stream video from all over the world,” he says. “My ultimate goal is to walk down the street in Tokyo from anywhere in the world.”
Blue2CAN - Health Halos
Insert Coin semifinalist: smARtPULSE is a hackable Bluetooth oximeter
Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
LG goes High Security
General Dynamics locks down Android, demos ultra-secure LG Optimus 3D Max
Sunday, February 24, 2013
HLS may not be able to DASH to the finish-line?
What’s Slowing Down Mobile Video Adoption? Android, Disagreements On HLS And MPEG-DASH Standards
from TechCrunch
Editor’s note: Bismarck Lepe is co-founder and president of products at Ooyala. Follow him on Twitter @bismarcklepe.
Mobile World Congress kicks off next week, and business and technology leaders from around the world will converge in Barcelona to see what’s next in mobile tech. But one thing you won’t find amid the keynotes, networking gardens, and after parties is a frank discussion about why mobile video continues to be a huge pain for viewers and broadcasters alike.
For many, the mobile video landscape is too fragmented and frustrating. The result is that people are missing tremendous opportunities to make money.
Let’s look at the data: new research from Cisco reveals that, for the first time, video accounted for more than half of all mobile traffic in 2012. They also report that “two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2017.”
So why, then, is mobile video still an unsolved problem? The short answer is Android. The longer answer is that a number of power players refuse to work together and adopt universal standards for mobile video and instead battle for digital turf, confusing the rest of us in the process.
iOS and Android made up 91 percent of the smartphones shipped in Q4, 2012, according to IDC. While Apple got an early lead in the phone wars, Android shipped more than three times as many handsets last quarter.
But the problem goes deeper than mobile operating systems.
While most modern mobile devices support basic capabilities like H.264 decoding and progressive download and playback of MP4 files, more advanced functionalities like adaptive bitrate and live streaming, which are both fundamental to an enjoyable experience, vary greatly from one handset to another.
iOS devices have supported advanced use cases, including ABR and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) since 2009. Apple has continued to push the mobile video envelope and now enables state-of-the-art features such as mid-roll ad insertion. Android, on the other hand, remains a very fragmented platform. When it comes to video, the Android ecosystem can best be described as a work in progress.
Why is that the case? Fragmentation is by and large the biggest issue. Multiple hardware companies manufacture Android phones and tablets, and no two are the same under the hood. Android has also cycled through various video delivery protocols with each new dessert-themed iteration (what are they on now? Jelly Donut?).
Initially, Android supported RTSP as a streaming protocol, but the quality varied greatly. HLS support was first introduced in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) but had a very limited implementation.
Now, almost two years later, Android 4.2 still has very limited support for HLS. For example, Chrome, Android’s default browser, does not currently support HLS. In the past, it was possible to work around this shortcoming through the use of Flash. But since that support has gone away (thanks, Android 4.1!), it has left a big hole in Android’s video playback capabilities, and made the entire mobile video delivery picture more complicated.
So how can media companies, broadcasters and brands maximize the opportunity to connect with audiences through video on mobile screens? Simple: consolidation and unification of mobile video standards. There are currently a few initiatives in the industry that may simplify mobile video in the future.
MPEG-DASH is promising, as a single standard that could resolve the fragmentation in streaming protocols. However, it may take some time before MPEG-DASH is supported consistently across the entire ecosystem. Also, it’s worth noting here that even when Google adds a feature to Android, it takes a long time for the new version to achieve significant market share because updates are not uniform across all vendors.Today, the de facto standard for live/ABR is HLS, and adoption of HLS across the board will eliminate much of the current mobile video fragmentation.
But companies like Google and Microsoft are leery of adopting a standard that, for all intents and purposes, is controlled by Apple. While HLS has been submitted as a draft to a standards body, it hasn’t been ratified as a proper standard. And Google is a prime culprit for the lack of unification.The longer Google and Android handset makers refuse to adopt the HLS standard, the longer mobile video will be a pain in the ass.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
SpaceNavigator
SpaceNavigator
3DX-700028
SpaceNavigator is the 3D mouse that lets everyone explore the freedom of intuitive, precise 3D navigation in over 100 3D applications. Simply push, pull, twist or tilt the 3Dconnexion Cap to simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate. It’s like holding the 3D model or camera in your hand.
H.265 to Save the Internet from Itself..
Improved video compression approved
If you’ve played a video on your iPad, you’ve enjoyed the benefit of the H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC video coding standard. It was once the underdog to Flash and other omnipresent formats, but has now become the most-used codec, currently accounting for more than 80 percent of all web video — and even winning a PrimeTime Emmy award.
And now it’s about to be replaced as well, by a new codec [compressor-decompressor] that promises even greater efficiency, enough so that higher-than-HD resolution video can stream over the Internet and to mobile devices. H.265 “will considerably ease the burden on global networks where, by some estimates, video accounts for more than half of bandwidth use,” says the ITU, the United Nations agency for information and communication technology.
The new standard, known informally as ‘High Efficiency Video Coding’ (HEVC) will need only half the bit rate of its predecessor. “HEVC will unleash a new phase of innovation in video production spanning the whole ICT spectrum, from mobile devices through to Ultra-High Definition TV,” ITU says.
Of course, we’re a long ways from seeing hardware built specifically to work with the new format on the shelves, but software-based encoders and players may debut later this year.
1-28-2013
Nikon Android Micorsoft Patent Licenses
Nikon signs patent deal with Microsoft for Android-based cameras
Summary: Microsoft has convinced another device maker using Android as an embedded OS to pay it patent royalties.
Microsoft announced on February 21 that it has signed a patent-licensing agreement with Nikon. The agreement "provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for certain Nikon cameras running the Android platform," according to Microsoft's press release.
Microsoft and Nikon have agreed not to disclose specifics, but Microsoft is acknowledging that it will receive undisclosed royalties from Nikon as part of the deal. Like Microsoft's other Android, Linux and Chrome OS patent deals, exactly which Microsoft-patented technologies the vendors are licensing is unknown.
At least some, if not all, of Nikon's Coolpix cameras are using Android inside.
This isn't the first embedded vendor with which Microsoft has signed an Android patent deal. In December 2012, Microsoft announced an Android patent deal with Hoeft & Wessel AG, a German manufacturer of devices and terminals for the public transportation, logistics and retail industries that use Android as their embedded operating system. It also signed a patent-licensing agreement with TomTom, a GPS maker, as part of a patent-infringement settlement.
Previously, Microsoft signed patent-licensing deals with a number of key OEMs and ODMs (original design manufacturers) using Linux, Android and Chrome OS, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Buffalo, Compal, General Dynamics, HTC, LG Electronics, Pegatron, Samsung, and Velocity Micro, among others.
News of Microsoft's latest Android patent deal comes the same day that Microsoft and Oracle met with lawmakers in Washington to defend software patents. The pair are proposing losers in software patent suits pay the winners' legal costs as a way to try to discourage dubious patent suits.
Microsoft also is promising the company will publish on the web as of April 1 information that enables anyone to determine which patents Microsoft owns.
Nikon-CAN - Camera Area Network
Camera Area Networking
Wired and wireless for faster, easier and more efficient, workflow
Wired and wireless for faster, easier and more efficient, workflow
Camera Area Network (CAN) represents the digital networking between cameras, camera accessories and computers. CAN enables allows the remote control and automated access to internal settings of a camera or a set of cameras. CAN may be simplex, half-duplex or full-duplex in the communication and its protocols. Connection can be wired or wireless using various serial, Bluetooth, WiFi, or other methods. Cameras can have linked control over cameras in the camera area network or are slaved to a networking server.
NIKON-CANs
Others have attempted to duplicate this simple and reliably elegant solution first presented to the market and Nikon users in 2006. In ther earily years this design required the adjacency of a Bluetooth GPS device for wireless geotagging. More recently both Android and iPhones can supply their GPS to the Blue2CAN. Importantly, smartphones and their capacity to connect to WiFi wireless has enabled an even higher bandwidth camera networking.
Nikon D4 The Emerging Sophisticated Camera Area Network
For some professionals, there are assignments that the whole world is waiting to see. Being the first to publish can make a huge difference in reputation and career development. When workflow speed makes all the difference, the D4 provides a clear advantage. The D4 employs a built-in wired LAN function of IEEE802.3u standard (100BASE-TX). What's more, the D4 is compatible with the compact, easy-to-connect, newly developed WT-5A/B/C/D* (optional) that realizes high-speed wireless transmission. Also, IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) data can be automatically added to the images within the camera. In addition to input with a camera, it is possible to add information to a series of images at high speed to realize an even more efficient workflow by creating an IPTC file with IPTC Preset Manager, a software for IPTC preset registration (can be downloaded from Nikon's website), and registering the file to a camera. Furthermore, the D4 incorporates a variety of communication functions to enhance the workflow speed.
For Nikon's Lesser SLRs they have created several 10-pin-like connection methods. Kikon classifies these mid-CAN parts and pieces ad WiFi Shooting.
Wi-Fi Shooting: WU-1a WU-1b Wireless Mobile Adapters
Wi-Fi connectivity—now you can get GREAT pictures on your smartphone. Using the WU-1a/b optional wireless mobile adapter you can now automatically send great images to your smartphone and even use your smartphone to remotely capture images from your D3200/D5200 (WU-1a) or D600 D-SLR/Nikon 1 V2/Nikon 1 J3/Nikon 1 S1 (WU-1b) . With an easy to use app, now when you can't wait to share that great shot you don't have to. Share it to your smartphone in a instant.*Wireless Transmitter WT-4A/B/C/D/E is also compatible.
Images can be taken remotely using a compatible smart device using the camera's Live View preview on the smart device to frame and compose the subject. A smart device (Android) is used to remotely fire the camera, maximum distance is up to 49 feet and the smart device can not be used to adjust settings on the camera
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On February 2013 Nikon announced the WR-1 Transceiver for Nikon D-SLR cameras. This is yet another evolution in the Nikon-CAN design. The WR-1 Wireless Remote Controller is part of the Nikon Wireless Remote Control system, which uses radio frequencies to communicate instead of infrared signal which requires direct line of sight, extending the capabilities and reach possible when photographers need the ability to control cameras remotely. The WR-1 Wireless Remote Controller can act as either a transmitter or receiver unit; and is compatible with the WR-T10 transmitters and WR-R10 transceivers. The WR-1 is compatible with the WR-T10 & R10 as long as the WR-1 is set to Group A, as the WR-R10/WR-T10 system is fixed on Group A.
Utilizing radio waves, the WR-1 and WR-R10/WR-T10 Wireless Remote Controllers widely expand the flexibility of remote control. They enable remote shooting even if trees or other obstacles stand in the way. Besides driving AF by half-pressing the shutter-release button of the controller and continuous shooting by pressing the shutter-release button longer, you can employ the controllers to use various functions of the camera, including movie recording and quiet shutter release.
This device uses 2.4 GHz radio frequency for maximum range when communicating with the camera, extending the range and functionality for remote shooting applications. The communication range between WR-1 units is approximately 394 feet, and 15 channels are available. Users also have the ability to remotely control a camera (with a WR-1 used as a receiver) attached by operation of another WR-1 (used as a transmitter), and also perform simultaneous or synchronized release of shutters on several cameras using the WR-1. Furthermore, there are a wide variety of options for remote shooting, which include dividing remote cameras into groups and controlling each group separately and interval timer photography. Remote shooting by combining the WR-1 with WR-R10/WRT10 wireless remotes is also possible.
On February 2013 Nikon announced the WR-1 Transceiver for Nikon D-SLR cameras. This is yet another evolution in the Nikon-CAN design. The WR-1 Wireless Remote Controller is part of the Nikon Wireless Remote Control system, which uses radio frequencies to communicate instead of infrared signal which requires direct line of sight, extending the capabilities and reach possible when photographers need the ability to control cameras remotely. The WR-1 Wireless Remote Controller can act as either a transmitter or receiver unit; and is compatible with the WR-T10 transmitters and WR-R10 transceivers. The WR-1 is compatible with the WR-T10 & R10 as long as the WR-1 is set to Group A, as the WR-R10/WR-T10 system is fixed on Group A.
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Utilizing radio waves, the WR-1 and WR-R10/WR-T10 Wireless Remote Controllers widely expand the flexibility of remote control. They enable remote shooting even if trees or other obstacles stand in the way. Besides driving AF by half-pressing the shutter-release button of the controller and continuous shooting by pressing the shutter-release button longer, you can employ the controllers to use various functions of the camera, including movie recording and quiet shutter release.
Product Highlights
- Wireless Remote Control
- Works as Transmitter and Receiver
- Communication Range of 394' (120 m) Approximate range at height of about 1.2 m/4 ft; varies with weather conditions and presence or absence of obstacles.
- 2.4 GHz Radio Frequency
- 15 Available Channels
- Group Camera Control - Only a camera with a ten-pin remote terminal can be employed as a master camera.
- Pairs with Up to 20 WR-1 Transceivers - This requires pairing of the WR-1, WR-R10 and WR-T10 units in use. Maximum number of controllers that can be paired: 20 (WR-1) or 64 (WR-R10)
- Synchronized Release; Interval Shooting
- Controls and Verifies Cameras Settings
- Compatible with Nikon WR-R10 and WR-T102 Functions limited.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Underwater Equipement
BowTech - British Deep Under Water
Bowtech designs, manufactures and supplies market leading products to the subsea ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), Oil and Gas, Defence, Nuclear and Oceanographic and Leisure markets.
Bowtech designs, manufactures and supplies market leading products to the subsea ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), Oil and Gas, Defence, Nuclear and Oceanographic and Leisure markets.
They specialise in the design, manufacture and supply of visual inspection systems, electrical and fibre optic connectors, fiber optic multiplexers and slip rings for use in hazardous areas or underwater, to any ocean depth.
720 High Defintion MP4 Video Recorder
Gates Housings - Poway, California
Camera Pousing - $1,500
Panasonic HMR-10 Housing $2,400
Underwater Cables - $650 to $1,700
Does not include the Panasonic HMR-10 nor its camera - add $2400 to $3000
Rated to 400 ft deep
720 High Defintion MP4 Video Recorder
Gates Housings - Poway, California
Camera Pousing - $1,500
Panasonic HMR-10 Housing $2,400
Underwater Cables - $650 to $1,700
Does not include the Panasonic HMR-10 nor its camera - add $2400 to $3000
Rated to 400 ft deep
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Android Cam - Samsung
- Lens: 21x Optical Zoom Lens, 23 mm Wide Angle, F2.8 (W) ~ 5.9(T)
Image Sensor: 16.3 effective megapixel 1/2.3" BSI CMOS
IS: OIS
Display: 121.2 mm (4.8"), 308 ppi, HD Super Clear Touch Display
ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Processor: 1.4GHz quad-core processor
OS: Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Memory: 8GB (including read-only sections such as Android operating system) ＋ memory slot : micro SDSC, micro SDHC, micro SDXC)
Image: JPEG format 16M, 14M, 12M Wide, 10M, 5M, 3M, 2M Wide, 1M
Video: MP4 (Video: MPEG4, AVC/H.264, Audio: AAC); Full HD 1920x1080 30fps; Slow motion Movie 768x512 120fps
GPS: GPS, GLONASS
9df Orientation: Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic, Gyro-sensor, Gyro-sensor (for OIS)
Connectivity: WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40; GPS, GLONASS; Bluetooth 4.0
Battery: 1,650 mAh
Dimensions: 128.7 x 70.8 x 19.1 mm
Weight: 300g
Who Wins Post PC
The Post Post-PC Era: Will Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon Or Microsoft Win?
from TechCrunch by Peter Relan
Editor’s note: Peter Relan is a former developer and Oracle’s former VP of Internet Division, a serial entrepreneur since 1998, and a Silicon Valley angel investor. Relan founded YouWeb Incubator in 2007, spinning out a string of successful mobile and gaming companies. Follow him on Twitter @prelan.
Even before Apple’s 10 percent stock dip, it was clear that one battle was already over. Put down your arms – Android has won the smartphone OS marketshare war. The competitive drama of the smartphone battle has already unfolded to a large extent and is well understood: Android dominates unit shipment volumes, while iPhone dominates profits associated with smartphones. It may seem like too early a claim, but history tells us Google’s Android distribution model puts the large part of the smartphone market in its corner. No other OS has seen a reversal of fortune this late in the game (think Windows in the early ’90s and Nokia with feature phones in the early aughts).
And yet, many unknowns remain in the larger post-PC-era war, which has only just begun and has already seen an explosion of devices and form factors, all competing to fill the void of the now-ancient desktop computer: tablets, smartphones, minis, phablets, ultrabooks, hybrid laptops. As the market evolves, these devices will be competing to fulfill niche needs, with certain devices bound to flourish and others bound to fail. A number of factors will influence which device types will survive through 2015:
Consumer and worker choice
Device distribution channels
Platform ecosystems
Technology advances
Economic development in BRIC
1. Consumer And Worker Choice
So what happens to PCs and laptops? The obvious answer is that the tablet will take over, but there are multiple form factors. Current designations include the large tablet, the mini tablet, and the hybrid tablet (think the Microsoft Surface — a tablet with a removable keyboard and OS designed for both leisure and productivity).
Consumers will be sticking to their large and small tablets for email, Facebook and watching movies; let’s call them leisure activities requiring a light and easy-to-use second screen. These home consumers don’t need a physical keyboard nor do they want it, and at a $250-$600 price point, tablets are hard to beat. Hence the success of the iPad. And the iPad mini with a Retina display could even be the “next big thing.” The Nexus 7 is already in the 7.X-inch form factor, so the mini tablet wars are just getting started.
Prosumers on the other hand, use laptops across different use cases: leisure combined with light productivity work, such as creating documents and presentations. Some prosumers might opt for the ultrabook and mini-tablet combo, but for most, the hybrid tablet will play a crucial role in the coming years. The hybrid tablet is where portability meets leisure meets work-related tasks. However, a consumer tablet in the home will still exist for these families.
Professionals tend to follow the same patterns as the prosumer, although they wait for more proven solutions to emerge. With BYOD allowing professionals to make their own choices for leisure, some might opt for the simplicity and ease of the hybrid, allowing them to use their devices for both work and play. On the other hand, there are a large number of professionals who use high-power software and will continue to use laptops or ultrabooks. In this case, power matters, and hybrid tablets won’t reach the necessary threshold before 2014.
2. Device Distribution Channels
Smartphones. The reason Android phones dominate unit shipments in smartphones is simple: Telecom carriers such as AT&T and Verizon love to give away phones and make money on data plans. Android makes this possible because the OS is free and because hardware manufacturers can commoditize the hardware. Even with the carriers giving away the iPhone 4 now with two-year contracts, the power of distribution channels to carry 50 different Android phone varieties with all kinds of (possibly meaningless) features still wins. More open-sourcechallengers will arrive but are unlikely to take off. But carriers are not the best managers of app stores and ecosystems, which are a critical element of the power for distribution leverage. And Apple remains king here from its curated App Store to its high-traffic Apple Store.
Tablets. Tablets are a different story. The distribution channel is obviously not your phone company, but rather the Apple Store, or your electronics store, or online store. Eighty percent of tablets are Wi-Fi-connected, so the carrier has far weaker distribution power. With the competition playing out in stores rather than through carriers, and with Android again offering a larger spectrum of choices over Apple, this will be a close one. Android has the cheapest, most flexible platform, but being three years behind will be hard to overcome in 2013. Look at schools and enterprises today: the iPad dominates.
Laptops. Although Chrome seems to be at the forefront of Google’s enterprise strategy, when it comes to laptops, the Chromebook doesn’t have the enterprise design chops to dethrone Windows 8 yet. Not to mention Windows is already working on bringing its productivity software to the cloud, which was Google’s Trojan horse. Similar to Android and the carriers, Microsoft has an even longer established presence among laptop manufacturers. The “laptop” channel will be fought out between three operating systems: OS X, Win8 and Chrome. OS X gets a great shot in the enterprise because BYOD brings with it iPhones and iPads.
3. Platform Ecosystems
Apple will continue to dominate the app ecosystem to win the minds of consumers for the “premium” smartphone and tablet market, especially if the iPad mini gets a Retina display. A hybrid tablet is unlikely from Apple, given their distaste for the hybrids produced by the Microsoft camp (although they did say the same about the 7-inch tablet).
Amazon will be the commoditizer of the tablet market with the hope of selling services and content at cheap hardware price points, but 2013 will be a tough year for Kindle as the iPad mini and Android cannibalize the e-Reader, and with Amazon failing to attract a large number of apps to its app store. Music and video will be important, but having software choice is becoming a baseline necessity for consumers. Amazon will find itself in even more trouble when hybrid LCD and e-ink devices hit the market in the coming two years.
Samsung is the one supplier that will drive Android tablet sales and become a strong competitor to the Apple tablets. They have demonstrated the ability to produce a great device with the Galaxy series, and they have both the big tablet and the “phablet” form factor in the market. Plus Samsung is HUGE in Asia, and it owns the entire vertically integrated stack except for the application software ecosystem. Borrowing that from the Android ecosystem works for now. So the real winner of the platform ecosystem remains Google. Samsung only helps to drive volume, and volume attracts developers to Google’s platform since Samsung doesn’t have a developer ecosystem yet.
Microsoft, with the introduction of the Surface this year, has really stumbled onto something. Microsoft will continue working on this hybrid tablet, but inevitably its manufacturing partners will out-innovate the company andMicrosoft will do what it does best: sit back and watch someone build their product — just faster and more efficiently.
The “others” are not to be underestimated. Mobile web OSes are the new, new thing. Mozilla and possibly Facebook are trying to figure out how to get the mobile web jump-started. They don’t have app stores and frankly they don’t like app stores. They would love to go back to the future of the web. But HTML5 continues to disappoint them in user experience, so it will be hard to get developers behind the mobile web, at least for another couple of years. In the longer term, the mobile web OSes may well rise to fight the app stores.
4. Technology Advances
There will obviously be advances in both hardware and software over the next two years, but there are three advances that are in development now that will completely change the world of personal devices and technology in general forever: augmented-reality products, smart-home devices and gesture interfaces.
Augmented reality products like Google Glass are the direction in which this kind of innovation is heading. Google Glass has not yet been released and the competition is already gearing up, with Microsoft filing patents foraugmented reality glasses set to display real-time information during events. Wearable form factors will change the way business is done and meetings are held; the way we communicate with our loved ones and book plane tickets; the way we see the Internet.
Smart-home devices, such as televisions, are another massive opportunity that have yet to be tackled. With the rumored Apple TV never showing up, this might take longer than expected. Still, we’re seeing early signs of innovation wars coming to the living room.
The gesture interface, kicked off by Xbox Kinect, is picking up steam and should soon be coming to a smart TV near you.
But, none of the above will be the x-factor in the next couple of years.
5. Economic Development In BRIC
Last but certainly not least, the economic development around the world will play an absolutely crucial role to the development and distribution of devices in the post-PC era. The biggest emerging markets – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are exploding as millions move into the middle class. In areas where cost is a major issue, there is incredible opportunity. In India, the feature phone is still by far the most dominant form of phone. And not only phone – it is the most dominant form of Internet access used by consumers. Major suppliers, including Nokia, Apple and Android OEMs are aggressively duking it out.
All of these markets are expanding, with a massive wealth shift creating millions of newly minted consumers. Apple has its sights set on China, and it is entering India with local (meaning lower) pricing for digital content. But the developing world likely belongs to Android, the most versatile platform in the world working on almost any device in the world (other than Apple, of course).
Conclusion
With the compatibility and accessibility of the Android platform and the move toward mobile-focused UIs, I predict that in 2015 an Android OS will power nearly 70 percent of all computing devices.
Based on the above, it seems as if Google will continue to reign supreme and snatch markets from Apple, Microsoft and Amazon with the help of its partner Samsung.
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