The Technology LairAll your technology needs in one place…

I know all of you were waiting for Project Natal to launch and Microsoft knew about this as well. On Sunday, they unveiled their take on wireless, movement/gesture-based gaming and they did it in style, so that nobody forgets this event. There were celebrities present there (probably thanks to the partnership with MTV Networks) and the whole show was based on performances from Cirque du Soleil artists. But why am I saying Project Natal? This event revealed the true name of the gaming device you can see pictured here and that is Kinect. Thanks to Joystiq, we now know this for sure.

At Microsoft’s booth at E3 Expo 2010 (June 15-17), motion controller Kinetic will be presented to all the visitors. For now, all the information we have is based on what others saw at the official launch. It was there that Microsoft demoed the first few titles, which rely entirely on the Kinect, the piece of equipment they hope will beat the PlayStation Move. Unlike the Sony wireless solution to motion controlled gaming, the Kinect does everything without the need for extra controllers.

All you get is the gadget pictured here, which currently has no specs list. The few details we have are the fact that it will also integrate a microphone and there will be even a video chat function supported. According to engadget, up to four people can simultaneously talk and share photos (most likely over Xbox Live).

USA Today compiled a list of all the games demoed by Microsoft at the pompous launch event of the Kinect and this includes Kinectimals, a pet-training experience, which lets you pet and play with 20-different cats, Kinect Sports, a Wii-like suite that includes six games, from which volleyball and soccer would be the original additions on behalf of Microsoft. The rest you already know from Nintendo (boxing, bowling, table tennis). Other games include a racing one called Joyride, users holding an imaginary steering wheel they can move forward and backwards for accelerating purposes, while the rest of the body is the controller for jumps and tricks.

Source

This is the changelog for the new Nokia 5800 firmware version, v50.0.005

1.Music player is cool… it has been completely changed with albumart mini view in all songs and album sections … it is now like nokia n97 music player
2. Menu has kinetic scrolling
3. Quick office integrated
4. Hide option in music player in place of exit
5. Music player refreshes fast
6. New 1 touch dialling and call settings options in dialler
7. Camera quality is little improved
8. There is an option to uninstall quick office from phone too
9. Ovi sinc application added
10. Option for history list (on off) in web browser
11. Option to send webpage via message blutooth in webbrowser
12. Get rihanna link in webbrowser
13. Kinetic scrolling in webbrowser
14. Browser 7.2
15. Lifecasting (with Maps 3.0T SR3.0)
16. Flash Video Phase-3-Flashlite 3.1.7.x
17. Gimlet Touch 2.2
18. Enable Side lock Key functionality during Swipe UI (Calendar/Clock)
19. Windows 7 Device Stage Support
20. OVI store 1.5.6
21. Cherry v2.1
22. OVI contacts 1.50.8
23. Workaround for Niagara (SMD) display module for DFS52.50 based products.

I must say that at first look it seems to be ok… but as probably you know.. the bugs will never come out at first test .

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) set a new energy record this morning, tripling its former peak performance. In doing so, the “big bang machine” took an important step toward full-power operation.

At 5:20 a.m., local time, in Geneva, Switzerland, physicists sent two proton beams racing around the Large Hadron Collider’s oval-shaped, 17-mile-long (27-kilometer-long) underground tunnel.

Each beam packed a powerful 3.5-trillion-electron-volt (TeV) punch—the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, or atom smasher.

The Large Hadron Collider had also set the previous record. Last December the LHC smashed two 1.18-TeV beams to create a 2.36-TeV collision.

The two 3.5-TeV beams will eventually be smashed together to create a whopping 7-TeV energy collision—half the collider’s maximum energy level.

“We’re all hoping [the collision] will happen in the next couple of weeks,” said James Gillies, a spokesperson for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which operates the machine.

“If things continue carrying on the way they’ve been, that’s a pretty safe estimate.”

via

Silverlight, a cross-browser, cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework for building media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web on desktop computers, is also available for Nokia S60 5th Edition devices. Silverlight includes a runtime that is optimized to display content on memory-constrained devices.

You can Download it from HERE

After the Nokia 5800, Nokia has decided to put on market these two devices, the Nokia 5230 and Nokia 5530 which are very similar.

Touchscreen and Display

Both devices are remarkably similar in this respect, as both feature TFT resistive touchscreen, 640 x 360 pixels, 16M colors, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and handwriting recognition. In terms of the devices displays, the only thing that separates them is size, where the 5530 is 2.9-inches and the 5230 is  3.2-inches.

Storage Capacity

Obviously on a music-oriented device storage is important. How else are you expected to transport your music and videos around? And thankfully both devices feature ample storage, which means whether to go with the 5530 or the 5230, you can rest-assured that you’ll always have ample space for quite an extensive media collection.
The Nokia 5530, has 100MB of internal storage and 128MB SDRAM, as well as a card slot which can handle up to 16GB, with 4GB included. Compare this to the 70MB of internal storage on the 5230 and 16GB card slot (and the memory isn’t included)

Connectivity

Both devices are capable of operating worldwide at GSM 850/900/1800/1900 bands with the difference that the Nokia 5230 uses WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100, but hasn’t Wi-Fi which you should have in our days

Camera

When it comes to cameras, unfortunately there’s only ever one device in it, and that device is the Nokia 5530, which boasts a 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, as well as LED flash. Compare this to the Nokia 5230 and its 2-Megapixel camera (1600 x 1200 pixels) and there really is no competition.

Battery

If your using your phone quite a lot, you’ll want it to have a good battery life as there’s nothing worse than your battery dying and it always seems to happen just when you need it the most! However, both the Nokia 5230 and the Nokia 5530 feature very impressive battery life meaning you’ll never be caught short with either device. However, overall the Nokia 5230 does have significantly longer talk-time of 7 hours compared to the 5530’s 4 hours, as well as longer music play back of up to 33 hours, compared to 27 hours on the 5530

Features

Both devices are absolutely loaded with features, such as Document Viewer (Word/Excel/PowerPoint), T9, Photo editor, Radio FM stereo. However, the Nokia 5530 does have the option for a TV out-mode, which means you can hook it up to your television set, but hasn’t A-GPS which means you cannot use the phone as GPS device (the Nokia 5230 has A-GPS and FREE navigation). Both devices run on Symbian s60 series.

Price

The Nokia 5530 costs 219 EUR compared to the Nokia 5230 which cost is 159 EUR (both prices are from Nokia.it)

Personal conclusion

Overall, the Nokia 5530 is the better phone, in terms of stats, as it has more memory, a better camera, and better features. However, both devices are essentially very similar, so which ever one you decide to go for, there won’t be much difference between the experience one affords you over the other.

After my last post where I’ve compared the Nokia 5800 XM to the HTC touch 2, I saw in my statistics page that a lot of people searches that comparison on google and even on my blog. Is the most viewed article till now .

I thought today to post another similar post, but now comparing the Nokia N97 to the latest iPhone version, 3GS. This comparison will be just informative, this because I don’t own any of those phones, but I’ve read a lot about them on other websites/blogs.

Touchscreen and Display

I’ll start with the Nokia N97, which has a good looking, don’t you agree? It has 3.5 inch display with a higher resolution than the iPhone has (640×360 against 320×480 px), full touchscreen and full QWERTY hardware keyboard, which is much more fast, accurate and easy than the virtual keyboard (as on iPhone). The touchscreen technology used by the two devices are vastly different. The iPhone’s capacitive touchscreen has very good sensitivity than Nokia N97’s pressure sensitive resistive touchscreen which needs a little more pressure to ensure the touch action.

Storage Capacity

About the internal memory, well.. here the iPhone is defeated as the Nokia N97 has 32 GB which is expandable by 16 GB more with additional micro SDHC card making a total of 48 GB, while the iPhone 3GS is available in two varieties of 16GB and 32 GB internal memory.

Processor, RAM

The GPU used in both the devices are the same PowerVR SGX graphics supporting OPENGL ES 2.0.  Here i must say that the iPhone is powerful than the N97 because  N97 uses ARM 11 CPU which clocks at 434 MHz and 128 MB RAM compared to iPhone 3G S has ARM Cortex A8 processor clocking at 600 MHz and 256 MB RAM. This clearly states that iPhone 3G S packs more speed than N97.

Operating System

Nokia N97 runs the Symbian v9.4 Series 60 rel 5 OS whereas iPhone OS 3.0 is available for iPhone 3GS. The iPhone OS apart from being a stable multitasking platform with ease of software development, is more internet ready than the N97 which hasn’t even got a decent browser. Every aspect of the iPhone OS is designed keeping in mind that today people live on internet. The N97 is also claimed to be internet ready but doing things is not that pleasurable experience as the iPhone. To defend for Nokia I would only say that N97 supports Java but the Apple iPhone 3G S does not. Also iPhone 3G S still lacks the support of Flash.

Connectivity

Both devices are Quad Band units capable of operating worldwide at GSM 850/900/1800/1900 bands. The 3G Bands are slightly different. iPhone uses HSDPA 850/1900/2100 bands whreas N97 uses 900/1900/2100 bands although there is an American version available which has 850/1900/2100 bands. The iPhone 3 G S also supports 7.2 Mbps whereas N97 supports 3.6 Mbps speed. Both devices support Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP but not infrared. EDGE, 3G and GPRS is supported and both devices are compatible with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g networks.

Camera

Apple have improved the camera from the previous iPhone version from 2.0 mp to 3.0 mp resolution, but definitely the Nokia N97 has the better option with 5.0 MP resolution and Carl Zeiss optics. N97 can also shoot at low light using its LED flash but there is none for the iPhone. The DVD quality video captured by N97 looks far better than iPhone 3GS. Also the video and the photo editor is already available in N97.

GPS

Both devices have built-in GPS receivers but the Apple iPhone 3GS uses a Google Map application while the Nokia N97 uses its own Nokia Maps 2.0 application with satnav turn-by-turn ready to go out of the box (now for FREE)

Size and Weight

The devices are similar by volume, though N97 is thicker by a few mm than the iPhone 3GS and slides open to look a bit more thicker. The N97 is slightly heavier at 150g whereas iPhone 3GS weighs only 135g.

Other Features

Both devices have the digital compass and TV Out port as well as a 3.5 mm headphone jack. But Nokia N97 has Stereo FM radio with RDS, Visual radio; FM transmitter which the iPhone 3GS lacks.

Personal conclusion

What I don’t like at the iPhone is that you cannot install any other application/game if it’s not on AppleStore, while on Nokia yes, you have a similar store, OVI Store, but you’re allowed to install what application you want from any website. Anyway, if you want to use your phone to browse the web, chat with friends and many other things, then you should buy the Nokia N97, but if you want to do that and play cool games with good video graphics .. then you should buy the new iPhone. Anyway, there is a big difference at the price, about 200 EUR (maybe some more)

Finding the keypad on your cellphone or music player a bit cramped? Maybe your forearm could be more accommodating. It could become part of a skin-based interface that effectively turns your body into a touchscreen.

Called Skinput, the system is a marriage of two technologies: the ability to detect the ultralow-frequency sound produced by tapping the skin with a finger, and the microchip-sized “pico” projectors now found in some cellphones.

The system beams a keyboard or menu onto the user’s forearm and hand from a projector housed in an armband. An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display you want to activate.

But how does the system know which icon, button or finger you tapped? Chris Harrison at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working with Dan Morris and Desney Tan at Microsoft’s research lab in Redmond, Washington, exploit the way our skin, musculature and skeleton combine to make distinctive sounds when we tap on different parts of the arm, palm, fingers and thumb.

Well, I think this will be the future of mobile phones, iPods and any mobile device . I like it, but I hope they will make a smaller device to attach to your arm, otherwise it will be annoying to keep that device around your arm, or not?

Here is a video that shows you how to improve you signal strength. I haven’t test it because I have no wifi USB stick but as you can see in this video is working.

Today I’ve decided to post something on this blog, after a long time since the last post, I’ve decided to post something, to keep this blog alive .

Today I watched some videos on YouTube and I sow this interesting way to make a multitouch device. It’s very easy to make it and very cheap. Enjoy this video

Last night, at work, I read a magazine and I saw an article about Chrome OS from Google (R) and I thought to write a post about it.

Well, I must to say that it’s pretty nice and I like it (just saw some videos and some blogs reviews) but as it is and how its working .. it’s OK. Here is a video demoing the Google Chrome OS which is very good made and I’d like to share with my readers .

This OS is based on Linux (which make it an open source) and will run on limited hardware and probably will work on small notebooks as it is based on the Chrome browser and designed for all the people who live on the web.

I don’t know if I’m gonna buy any small notebook as I hate normal notebooks (15-17”) because for me are useless as I’m not a business men to travel or something else. I prefer to have a powerful desktop PC.. cause I love playing games and on a notebook you’re limited (is also true that in our days you can do almost the same thing on desktop as well as on a notebook but playing games on a laptop as Quake, Counter-strike, Call of Duty, etc.. is not a very good option)

As I said before, I like  the Chrome OS but to be honest, I’ll never use it on my desktop or future notebook (never say never) because is limited as OS. There will be a limited programs working on the OS and maybe games as Chess, solitair but probably no games like NFS, Counter-Strike ..  and I’m not gonna bite it again.. like when I bought my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. I told that in the near future will come out some pretty games & applications but.. I was wrong

Windows will remain my favorite OS, even if sometime it make me go crazy with bugs, crashes, etc. It’s easy to compete with Microsoft, but it’s hard to stay alive