It’s not often that a revolutionary new concept in digital photography comes so far out of left field that it changes the way people may take photos in the future. Yesterday, the world saw the introduction of the Lytro camera and aside from looking like a kids kaleidoscope its a pretty incredible piece of hardware (and probably software too).
What makes the Lytro camera different is that it is a “light field” camera which captures every ray of light travelling through every point in space. Coupled with a constant aperture f/2 lens and 8x zoom, the 11 mega-ray light camera captures “living pictures” enabling you to take a picture instantly without autofocus, letting you choose your focal point AFTER the fact. You heard me right, you can just snap and focus later. Using the rear touch screen, you can zoom and focus on any point in the picture, eliminating many a problem photographers face with bad AF modules (or just bad eyes).
The Lytro comes in a US$399 8GB version which holds 350 pictures (Roughly 23MB per photo) and a US$499 18GB model. Pre orders are live at Lytro’s website and will ship in early 2012. Bear in mind though that the Lytro only supports Mac OS X 10.6 and above with a Windows app in development.
Tuesday Logitech unveiled the Logitech Gaming Keyboard G105 and the Logitech Laser Mouse G9X, two peripherals “officially” decked out for the upcoming game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Both offer enhanced precision and customization to give users “a leg up on the competition.”
According to the company, the keyboard is designed with military-style, night-vision green LED backlighting and six programmable G-keys, each with three mode states, providing up to 18 possible macro combinations per game. The mouse reportedly provides “game-changing precision” at hand speeds up to 165 inches per second on the most popular gaming mouse pad surfaces.
“The Logitech Gaming Keyboard G105 and the Logitech Laser Mouse G9X are perfect for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 enthusiasts who want the best in precision and customization for their gaming experience,” said Chris Pate, senior product marketing manager for gaming at Logitech.
The Logitech Gaming Keyboard G105 is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in October for $79.99, and will feature multi-key input support for up to five simultaneous keys. It will also sport media keys for volume control and muting, as well as start, stop, pause, forward and back functions. It will also have a game/desktop mode switch that disables the Windows and Context Menu keys so that players aren’t accidentally jumping to the desktop during heated battles.
As for the Logitech Laser Mouse G9X, it will arrive in the U.S. and Europe beginning in November for $99.99, and will feature on-the-fly adjustable dpi ranging from 200 dpi up to 5700 dpi without forcing gamers to pause the action. It will also come packed with a weight-tuning system that allows users to customize the mouse with up to 28 grams of extra weights, and a custom color display for changing the color of the peripheral’s LEDs from a wide color spectrum “so you can match your mouse to your PC, your game, or your style.”
“Both devices let you jump right into the action with the power to perform complex maneuvers with confidence,” Pate added.
Invented in 2006, the Razer Synapse technology allow owners of Razer gaming peripherals to store their game settings such as macro keys, game profiles and bind keys right into their peripherals via on-board memory. Soon, the technology will move up to the cloud to give users the capability to access their settings virtually anywhere via Internet.
“Razer Synapse 2.0 is a testament to our drive to continually innovate for the benefit of the gamer and end-user. Razer Synapse 2.0 gives gamers a convenient, single cloud-based platform to access, maintain, and store settings for all of their Razer devices. On-board memory, with its limited storage for user profiles, becomes obsolete when Razer Synapse 2.0 offers essentially unlimited space for all of your hardware settings,”- Robert “RazerGuy” Krakoff, President, Razer USA.
The Razer Synapse 2.0 is currently in beta phase and the outfit is looking for 500 Razer Naga MMO Gaming Mouse owners to participate in the test. If you own one and interested to check out the new cloud-based capability, head on to www.razerzone.com/synapse2 to sign up.
This morning while we tried to access Maybank2U site, we come across the above page, which is the legit and original Maybank2U site, and was shock to see it defaced. There’s still not much information about the deface activity, and it only happened momentarily, as the site was restored back to its original form minutes later, as we tried to hard-refresh the page. So, did you come across the same issue this morning?
As China increasingly develops into a burgeoning economic superpower, many of the Chinese government’s idiosyncrasies, like political restrictions, artificially devalued currency and abysmal working conditions, have been politely ignored. Which is why it’s newsworthy when America finds a reason to be mad at China. It seems the U.S. Government wants China to relax their so-called ‘Great Firewall’, the notoriously restrictive system of surveillance and censorship officially known as The Golden Shield Project that strictly limits Chinese citizens’ activity online. But if you’re hoping the U.S. is striking a blow for free speech in Asia, think again – the issue at hand is how the Golden Shield appears to block U.S. companies from doing business with Chinese customers.
On Monday, Michael Punke, U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization sent a letter, obtained by Reuters, to China’s WTO representative severely criticizing the firewall. Stating that, thanks to the ‘Great Firewall’, American and other non-Chinese businesses faced “challenges offering their services to Chinese customers”, he suggested that China may possibly be in violation of WTO rules regarding transparency. Among the questions posed in his letter, he asked What are the guidelines and criteria for blocking access to foreign websites? How often are these guidelines and criteria changed or published? Where are these guidelines published? Are they made public in advance of their implementation?” In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said “We are willing to work with countries and communicate with them on the development of the Internet and to work together to promote the sound development of the Internet, but we do not accept using the excuse of ‘Internet freedom’ to interfere in other countries’ internal practices.”
The interesting thing is that The Golden Shield, using a combination of IP blocking, packet and URL filtering, DNS redirection and connection resetting, strictly limits access to controversial information the government doesn’t want publicized. This includes anything mentioning free speech, the Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibetan freedom and other sensitive topics and prevents, among other things, the Chinese language versions of the BBC and Voice of America as well as Twitter and Facebook. While the American complaint doesn’t mention specific companies, it’s unlikely that a lack of social media penetration is at issue. However, China also has extremely strong protectionist regulations designed to favor Chinese companies over foreign ones. For instance, while most modern video game consoles are manufactured in China, the iQue console, a joint venture between Chinese investors and Nintendo, is the only foreign console allowed to be sold to Chinese customers.
The real issue at hand isn’t Chinese restrictions on net freedom, but their tariffs. Punke’s even took pains to emphasize that the U.S. was not going after China’s restrictions on Free Speech. But the issue of free speech plays better in the media than denied profits, and a challenge to the Great Firewall rather than to China’s protectionist policies nicely conflates the two issues.
Google and Samsung used the AsiaD: All Things Digital conference to launch the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. As a result, there’s been an awful lot of Android talk, along with plenty of discussions on the smartphone market and the tablet industry. Keeping things on track, Asus boss Jonney Shih did some Android talk of his own, unveiling the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, a next generation model of the company’s Eee Pad Transformer running Google’s Android OS.
Set to launch next month, the Eee Pad Transformer Prime will pack a quad-core Nvidia Kal-El processor, as well as a 10-inch display and support for mini HDMI and USB. Of course, just like its older brother, the original Transformer, the Transformer Prime will have an optional keyboard dock that will turn this tablet into a full notebook. Asus claims that when docked, this baby will have an incredibly 16.5-hour battery life.
It’s not yet clear if the tablet will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich or Honeycomb when it launches on November 9. Either way, we imagine the Transformer Prime and ICS would be a killer combination. Check out the teaser video Asus recently shared via Facebook:
What does a Russian satellite system have to do with the iPhone 4S’ GPS capabilities? Allow us to explain. Russian site iPhones.ru recently noticed that the 4S’ spec page lists support for both assisted GPS and GLONASS — the Kremlin’s global navigation satellite system and acronym for GLObalnaya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema.
The country launched GLONASS 35 years ago in the hopes that it would eventually provide an alternative to GPS and the EU’s forthcoming Galileo, thereby reducing Russia’s dependence upon US- or Europe-operated systems. The global system has since been beset by delays and budgetary setbacks, but last week, a Russian rocket successfully launched the 24th and final GLONASS satellite, completing the constellation and inching the infrastructure closer to full activation.
News of the iPhone 4S’ support has already elicited a delightfully surprised response from the Russian media, with daily Vedomosti writing: “If the iPhone 4S really does have Glonass navigation, this would be the first time the Russian system reached the world market.” (Nokia, it’s worth noting, announced in August that it would manufacture GLONASS-compliant handsets, while Samsung’s High Fidelity Position app offers similar compatibility.) In light of Russia’s economic and regulatory climate, however, the move may not seem so shocking.
The Kremlin already imposes import taxes on handsets that don’t support GLONASS and, as Russia’s iGuides.ru points out, has even threatened non-compliant devices with an outright ban. Apple, meanwhile, has made no secret of its interest in expanding its influence within the country, with CEO Tim Cook recently referring to the Russian market as “more promising.” It remains to be seen whether this added support results in sharper navigation capabilities, or if it enhances Apple’s presence within Russia, but it’s certainly a compelling development, nonetheless.
As China increasingly develops into a burgeoning economic superpower, many of the Chinese government’s idiosyncrasies, like political restrictions, artificially devalued currency and abysmal working conditions, have been politely ignored. Which is why it’s newsworthy when America finds a reason to be mad at China. It seems the U.S. Government wants China to relax their so-called ‘Great Firewall’, the notoriously restrictive system of surveillance and censorship officially known as The Golden Shield Project that strictly limits Chinese citizens’ activity online. But if you’re hoping the U.S. is striking a blow for free speech in Asia, think again – the issue at hand is how the Golden Shield appears to block U.S. companies from doing 
Google and Samsung used the AsiaD: All Things Digital conference to launch the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. As a result, there’s been an awful lot of Android talk, along with plenty of discussions on the smartphone market and the tablet industry. Keeping things on track, Asus boss Jonney Shih did some Android talk of his own, unveiling the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, a next generation model of the company’s Eee Pad Transformer running Google’s Android OS.
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