Saturday, December 22, 2012

Sony Vaio T series is an affordable Ultrabook option - Business Today

Style, power, value

Sony Vaio T series is an affordable Ultrabook option

Edition: December 2012

TAGS: Sony vaio | sony vaio ultrabooks

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Sony Vaio T Series

11-Inch

Price: Rs 49,990

Specs: Windows 7 Home Premium; 11.6-inch wide TFT colour display; Intel Core i5-3317U; 4 GB RAM; 500 GB HDD + 32 GB SSD; Intel HD Graphics 4000; USBx2, LAN, SD card reader, HDMI; 297.0 x 17.8 x 214.5 mm; 1.46 kg.

In the past couple of months we noticed a trend among the normally extra-slim Ultrabooks to add some weight. Now, they seem to be shedding some of that extra price they had accumulated over the last year. The Sony Vaio T series comes across as a very affordable Ultrabook option, without being a shade fatter than it should be.

To begin with, the T series 11-inch model we tested is an overdose of aluminium, in a very good way. But it is not as sleek as the MacBook Air, and certainly lacks that matte finish. Plus, there is a shiny chrome fender on the hinge, which has a slight lookat-me kind of arrogance. The one place you get the matte feel is the trackpad, and it is one of the best I've used in a while. The keyboard is good too, and not at all cramped for space, considering this is an 11-incher.

The screen size is the same as on the Air, but this one looks smaller because the bezel on the top is a bit too deep. It also adds a retro feel. The display is clear and has better viewing angles than most devices in this price range. But it has a resolution of just 1366x768p, and that is all you have paid for. The sound is good, though we have heard better.

There are the usual Assist, Web and Vaio buttons above the keyboard and very different LED power switch at the right edge. This device too comes with the Vaio desktop dock we have come like over the years. Another good thing is that this Ultrabook comes with the 3rd generation Intel Core processor, and that too an i5-3317U 1.70 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.60 GHz. We recorded a PCMark 7 score of 3285 which is good by budget Ultrabook standards. Most test tasks were performed without any trouble. It also has the quickest wakeup from sleep that we have seen in Ultrabooks so far and that is a combo of the hybrid storage drive and the processor at work. The full start took 18 seconds and that too is a record of sorts. Also, this is another Vaio device to feature camera-based gesture controls, which work well when you are flipping through pictures. The T Series is also among the few Ultrabooks to feature a VGA port. It has USB charging, though there are just two ports to do it on. If you are looking for an Ultrabook, then this is without doubt among the best options out there considering this comes well within Intel's $1,000 standard.

IBM thinks computers will have senses in five years - Business Today

IBM thinks computers will have senses in five years

Nandagopal Rajan Last Updated: December 17, 2012 | 18:35 IST

TAGS: IBM | Intel | IBM Research Lab | Smartphone | Retail

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IBM thinks computers will have senses in five years

Nandagopal Rajan

Will computers have sensory powers in the near future? Well, IBM thinks so.

The "IBM 5 in 5"- a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years - lists touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell as the next big things in computing. The list is based on market and societal trends as well as emerging technologies from IBM's R&D labs.

"We have already witnessed the benefits of cognitive systems for advancing numerous aspects of the human experience - from agriculture and healthcare to utility management and weather forecasting. We envision a day when computers make sense of the world around them just like human brain relies on interacting with the world using multiple senses," said Ramesh Gopinath, Director - India Research Lab and Chief Technology Officer, IBM India/South Asia.

Here are IBM's five predictions:

Touch: IBM thinks within five years we will have mobile device that will allow you to touch and feel products, thus redefining retail business across the world. IBM says its scientists are developing applications for the retail, healthcare and other sectors using haptic, infrared and pressure sensitive technologies to simulate touch, such as the texture and weave of a fabric - as a shopper brushes her finger over the image of the item on a device screen. Utilising the vibration capabilities of the phone, every object will have a unique set of vibration patterns that represents the touch experience, said a release.

Sight: In the next five years, systems will not only be able to look at and recognise the contents of images and visual data, they will turn the pixels into meaning, beginning to make sense out of it similar to the way a human views and interprets a photograph. So if a future computer sees a red light it will understand that this means stop. A precursor to this can be seen in the form of the Google Goggles app that recognizes products from photographs and gives you info on the same. But IBM says that in five years, these capabilities will be put to work in healthcare by making sense out of massive volumes of medical information. For instance computers will be able to differentiate healthy from diseased tissue.

Sound: A distributed system of clever sensors will detect elements of sound such as sound pressure, vibrations and sound waves at different frequencies and interpret to predict when trees will fall in a forest or when a landslide is imminent. Similarly, by learning about emotion and being able to sense mood, systems will pinpoint aspects of a conversation and analyze pitch, tone and hesitancy to help us have more productive dialogues that could improve customer call center interactions, or allow us to seamlessly interact with different cultures.

Taste: IBM researchers are developing a computing system that experiences flavor. It works by breaking down ingredients to their molecular level and blend the chemistry of food compounds with the psychology behind what flavors and smells humans prefer. By comparing this with millions of recipes, the system will be able to create new flavor combinations that pair. The computer will be able to use algorithms to determine the precise chemical structure of food and why people like certain tastes.

Smell: During the next five years, tiny sensors embedded in your computer or cell phone will detect if you're coming down with a cold or other illness. By analyzing odors, biomarkers and thousands of molecules in someone's breath, doctors will have help diagnosing and monitoring the onset of ailments such as liver and kidney disorders, asthma, diabetes and epilepsy by detecting which odors are normal and which are not. IBM scientists are already sensing environmental conditions and gases to preserve works of art.

Meanwhile, Intel says sensors that ad more security to your device as well as facial analysis and gestures will become a part of daily computing by the end of 2013.

Nokia, RIM settle old disputes in new patent pact - Business Today - Business News

Nokia, RIM settle old disputes in new patent pact

Associated Press Helsinki Last Updated: December 22, 2012 | 00:00 IST

TAGS: nokia | nokia corp | research in motion | rim | patent licensing pact

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Nokia Corp. and Canadian smartphone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent licensing pact which will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said on Friday.

The agreement includes a "one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia," Nokia said, but did not disclose "confidential" terms.

Last month, Nokia sued the Blackberry maker for breach of contract in Britain, the United States and Canada over cellular patents they agreed in 2003. RIM claimed the license - which covered patents on "standards-essential" technologies for mobile devices- should also have covered patents for non-essential parts, but the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled against RIM's claims.

Major manufacturers of phones and wireless equipment are increasingly turning to patent litigation as they jockey for an edge to expand their share of the rapidly growing smartphone market.

Nokia is among leading patent holders in the wireless industry. It has already received a $565 million royalty payment from Apple Inc. to settle long-standing patent disputes and filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC Corp. and Viewsonic Corp. infringe a number of its patents.

The company says it has invested (EURO)45 billion ($60 billion) during the last 20 years in research and development and has one of the wireless industry's largest IPR portfolios claiming some 10,000 patent families.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

5 Great Gadget Innovations of 2012

5-Great-Gadget-Innovations-of-2012

These 26 Smartphones Got Price Cut in October

These-26-Smartphones-Got-Price-Cut-in-October

HTC Launches Butterfly, An iPhone Killer

By SiliconIndia | Wednesday, 12 December 2012, 16:41 IST | 1 Comments

Bangalore: At HTC, a Butterfly a day is keeping Apple away. The new Smartphone from HTC is all set to take on the iPhone.Though it’s pricing has been kept under wraps, its features and looks have already got the tech pundits lauding about it. It stands out in its design which is similar to Apple, yet with a bigger 5 inch screen.

And talking about the screen, you can watch and share videos with 1080p full HD display. The screen resolution, as many reviewers agree, is better than iPhone’s.

The Apple iPhone 5 does weigh a little less. Infact, in terms of apps, memory storage and well, because it’s an iPhone, it does offer some tough competition. But then, the operating system and RAM also matter. HTC runs on Google’s reliable Android platform with 1.5 GHz RAM, with Quadcore. Simply put, you can simultaneously run multiple apps at the same time and easily multitask.

Google maps are much more reliable with features such as transport facility shown, while Apple maps lack this feature. Moreover, accuracy is much higher in Google maps.

The Butterfly can flutter even in rain, shine or sand. The makers claim that the phone is waterproof, which is definitely a welcome feature. Cameras are provided both in front and back, including the 88 degree ultra wide angle lens. Let us not forget that Apple’s scan and click feature, as shown in the ad with cutely dressed children, doesn’t work horizontally. This gives HTC an edge.

HTC also has included a built-in amplifier with BeatsAudio. This essentially means you’ll be blown away by the audio quality. But the real icing on this cake is the way it is built on the inside. The makers of the Smartphone have placed the battery first and the components on top on it, making it unique and compact in design.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Five must have photography apps for the iPhone

Swapnil Mathur

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Posted on28-11-2012

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Five must have photography apps for the iPhone

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The iPhone has a long standing reputation of packing in very good camera technology into a cellphone. It may not have the highest pixel count, but it definitely ranks very high in the quality department.

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However, the stock iPhone camera app and built-in features aren’t enough to squeeze out that every last bit of performance your hardware is capable of. Here are 5 iPhone apps that will give you some great results, pushing the camera to the max.

You don’t have to be a photographer to have these apps on your iPhone. Regardless of your proficiency, each one of these apps is extremely easy to use, thanks to their intuitive user-interface. We strongly recommend that you get these apps onto your phone to make the best of it.

Camera+ (Rs. 55)

The first place you’re going to have to start in the process of having a great image to show off, is to well, be able to shoot a good image to start with in the first place. The stock camera app on the iOS devices are fairly good when the lighting is good, but that quickly changes when, for example, your subject is backlit. The stock app will only focus on what it meters for (and vice versa), causing everything to be either severely under-exposed or grossly over-exposed. This is where Camera+ comes in. The key feature of this most popular camera app is that allows the user to set individual focus and metering points, ensuring your images are properly exposed and focused. The app also does offer a host of other features like a timer mode, image stabilization and a host of editing capabilities, but these are all just sweet benefits.

Download Camera+ from here.

Instagram (Free)

Instagram’s fame is unrivaled. It’s an app that should be on your phone as long as it’s available for your device. Shooting with Instagram is an absolute breeze and the assortment of filters available allow the app to add an ethereal feel to your images. Of course, Instagram also has the social angle on it, allowing you to add friends who will see your work as its uploaded and vice versa.

Download Instagram from here.

Snapseed (Rs. 270)

If you’re someone who has a creative vision every time they take a shot, Snapseed is going to be the perfect app for you. While it does access the default camera app, we prefer pairing it with images we have shot using Camera+. We can open the image in Snapseed and edit it using a plethora of filters already built into the app. However, it’s not just filters, but also adjustment options along with the ability choose just how much of each is applied that makes this app the our absolute favorite when it comes to editing images on the go.

Download Snapseed from here.

Photosynth (Free)

Are you a panorama junky? Well, then Photosynth is for you. It’s ironic that a Microsoft app would be in this list, but well, the simplicity coupled up with the powerful results the app delivers has us completely impressed.

Download Photosynth from here.

Pro HDR (Rs. 110)

This one is definitely a tried and tested one. We’ve used the built-in HDR mode on the camera app and it just doesn’t cut it. We’ve used other apps in the App Store as well, but none gave us the kind of functionality that HDR Pro does. You can select your highlight and shadow spots manually along with even adjusting the individual HDR settings (Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, White Balance and Tint).