Archivi giornalieri: 13/03/2012
PoiseCam Ergonomic iPhone Video Capture Grip (video)
Anyone who has used their iPhone to capture video footage over long periods of time will already know it can get a little awkward and uncomfortable after a few minutes.
This is where the new PoiseCam iPhone 4 camera grip concepts comes in. It’s been developed by Mark Johnson and is currently over on the Kickstarter website looking to make the jump from concept to production. Watch the video after the jump to see it in action.
Using PoiseCam with the iPhone camera will greatly reduce arm and hand fatigue while shooting. Enabling you to shoot for longer creating more stable stable shots and smoother pans, tilts and rolls. Its designer and developer explains:
“The PoiseCam story begins in October of 2010. I was enjoying my new iPhone 4 and its amazing HD video quality while capturing my kids running, playing and enjoying the rides at a local pumpkin patch. I noticed that during long takes my hands started to tire out while squeezing the phone between my thumb and index finger. It seemed to get the job done, but the experience didn’t feel natural, nor was it very comfortable for longer shots. A fellow father next to me was shooting with his handy little camcorder and I thought: it would be nice to attach my phone to that camcorder so I can use the strap.”
So if you think you could benefit from using the PoiseCam iPhone camera grip, jump over to the Kickstater website to make a pledge.
Source: Kickstarter
New iPad gets benchmarked: 1GB RAM confirmed, no boost in CPU speed
Not only did some lucky gents in Vietnam get their hands on the new iPad while most people are still refreshing their delivery status page, they were also kind enough to run some benchmark tests. The results confirm that the RAM has been upped to 1GB, with the Geekbenchscore settling at 756. The processor remains at 1GHz, again, which is what we expected, but puts the kibosh on any speculation that there might have been a slight bump in clock speeds. If you want to see the full breakdown, hit the source for the goods.
Battlefield 3 Close Quarters: Ziba Tower Trailer (video)
Earlier this month EA & DICE announced that their new Close Quarters DLC would be arriving in June 2012. Now they have followed up that announcement by releasing a new trailer for the new DLC. Providing you with a glimpse of what you can expect once its officially launched.
Battlefield 3: Close Quarters DLC will include four new maps together with 10 new weapons for close quarters combat, but no vehicles. Watch the new trailer after the jump.
As well as announcing their new Close Quarters DLC, EA & DICE also unveiled that another two DLC packs would be released later in the year, to compliment their great Battlefield 3 game.
The next DLC after “Close Quarters” will be “Armored Kill,” which will bring with it a few new vehicles and will be focused on larger maps and weapons. After that will arrive “End Game” but apart from its name EA is currently keeping its details under wraps at the present time. But as soon as we learn anything new we will keep you updated.
Source: Attack of The FanBoy
Tag Heuer Racer Android Smartphone Arriving In July (video)
If you are looking for something a little more unique than that of the offerings from Apple and Samsung to name a few. Then the new Tag Heuer Racer Android smartphone might well be worth a look if you have little extra cash to splash.
The Tag Heuer Racer has been inspired by the Formula 1 and GT racing scene, and has been constructed using carbon fibre panels, together with titanium fittings and a rubber shockproof chassis. View the video after the jump to see the Tag Heuer Racer Android smartphone in more detail.
The Tag Heuer Racer Android smartphone will be arriving in July an will be priced at €2,800 around $3680. Tag Heuer explains:
“Engineered without compromise, TAG Heuer Racer achieves an unparalleled torsion and strength to weight ratio. The result is a fusion of luxury and performance inspired by TAG Heuer heritage in GT cars and Formula 1.
TAG Heuer’s strive for excellence is also expressed in the high speed processor and latest Android software. Showcasing for the 1st time is a new customizable 3D user interface to fit the individual needs of each owner.”
Source: Verge
Tools to Share (+Listen) Music Online – Best of
Do you like to listen to music while you’re working on a blog post, doing some web development, or maybe even just browsing the Web? For many, music works as a motivator and actually helps them to get more work done. Music is also a great way to connect with other people online based on similar interests in songs, artists, and genre.
This is where social sharing really comes in handy.
Internet tools that give you the ability to share the music that you’re listening to on your favorite social networks let people see a more personal side of you. Also sometimes you may hear a song that reminds you of a significant other, family member, or friend and you want to share it with them. So, let’s take a look at the best Internet tools for getting the job done.
Here are 20+ web-based tools that will let you share music on the Web.
Source: hongkiat.com
Sony Xperia Sola Android Smartphone Announced
Last month Sony filed a new trademark for the Sony Xperia Sola, and now we have some more details on the device, as Sony has just announced their latest Android smartphone.
The Sony Xperia Sola features a 3.7 inch Reality Display with Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine, and the handset is powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread, although Sony has said it will get Android 4.0 ICS by the summer of 2012.
HTC One X Deluxe Edition Headed For Taiwan
Those in Taiwan are in for a treat from HTC as the HTC One X smartphone will have a deluxe limited edition that comes with a Beats Solo headphones.
It’s been widely known that HTC and Beats are working together to come up with music-centred smartphones and the HTC One X is just one of the many offerings they have in a bid to take your portable listening to another level.
The HTC One X limited edition has a pre-order price tag of around $840. With the regular HTC One X around $780 with taxes and a beats solo around $180, the limited edition seems like a good deal.
Pre-orders for the special edition will start on March 20.
Via: Android Community
Digital Playground Hacked Exposing 40,000 Credit Card Numbers
Hackers were able to gain access to pornography website Digital Playground recently and made off with a very large number of plain text credit card numbers from users of the site. According to reports that hackers were able to steal 40,000 credit card numbers and other data including names, CCV numbers, and expiration dates. With those details, the credit card numbers could be used online.
In addition to the theft of credit card numbers, the hackers also claim that they made off with the personal information of 72,000 other users. This the second large hacking attack on a porn website in the last several months. Previously a site called YouPorn was attacked.
Hackers left a statement that said, “We did not set out to destroy them, but they made it too enticing to resist. So now our humble crew leaves lulz and mayhem in our path.” Apparently, the site is down, and the homepage has a message that says not available.
via SCMagazine
iTunes 10.6 Includes 192, 256kbps Sync Feature
The Apple Insider website has discovered a handy new features which was rolled out by Apple in its last iTunes 10.6 update, which rolled out last week. The new features tables you to down-convert higher bitrate songs to a low-end 128kbps. Allowing you to save space on your mobile devices when away from your main music library.
In previous versions of iTunes Apple only allowed 128kbps as the option to down-convert. But in the latest iTunes 10.6 release Apple has now enabled 192kbps or 256kbps quality levels. Providing you with more scope and higher quality when required if you have the available space.
iTunes music purchased directly from Apple are encoded at 256kbps, and CD’s burnt to your mac or PC iTunes software has a bitrate of 320kbps. So the new options will be handy if you have smaller iOS devices or you just like to pack in as much music as you can.
Source: Apple Insider
New Asus Ultrabooks To Feature 1080p Displays
According to the guys over at The Verge, the next range of ultrabooks from Asus will come with full HD 1080p displays, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
As well as the full HD IPS displays, there will also be versions available with 1600 x 900 pixels and 1366 x 768 pixels, and all models will come with Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors.
There will be versions available with Intel’s Core, i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, and Asus will offer the full HD displays on their 11.6 inch and 13.3 inch ultrabooks.
Other options will include up to 4GB of RAM and up to 512GB of solid state disk storage (SSD), there are no details as yet on when Asus will launch these new ultrabooks.
Source Liliputing
Elgato Thunderbolt SSD Offers 240GB Of Storage For $700
Apple Mac users that are looking for a super fast way to transfer and backup data from their Thunderbolt equipped systems, and have a few extra dollars to burn. Might be interested in the new Elgato Thunderbolt SSD drives that are now available.
The pocket size Elgato Thunderbolt solid state disk drives come in a 120GB model that retails for $430 or a larger 240GB unit for $700, and have been specifically designed for handy Thunderbolt connectivity alone.
The design of the drive has been kept very simple and on the outside no lights or power buttons have been added to ruin the sleeked curved lines of the small Thunderbolt equipped SSD.
Elgato Thunderbolt solid state disk drives are capable of transferring at 270 MB/second for data reads, say Elgato who tested the speeds with a 15in 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro. Unfortunately the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD is only equipped with one Thunderbolt port so it will need to be at the end of your daisy chain.
Source: Mac World
Mozilla Firefox Metro UI Development Begins
Mozilla have this week announced that they have now started development on the new Firefox User Interface for Windows 8. Following on from the launch of the Microsoft’s Windows 8 Consumer Preview last month.
Mozilla is currently re-designing their popular browser to fit within the new Metro style Windows 8 user interface. Which Mozilla say will improve the user and web experience for Windows 8 users.
Brian Bondy from Mozilla explains that a browser can only participate in Metro mode if it is the default browser. So if Firefox is not setup as the default browser on a system, unfortunately you will not be able to use it in Metro mode. The decision for this has been made by Microsoft. Bondy continues by saying:
“Our first major goal is to get an experimental build of Fennec or Firefox running in Metro. This work is mainly being tracked in Bug 732518.
We have several smaller goals that we want to tackle next week:
-Figure out how to make our own PRI files with our own resources.
-Get a C++/XAML application working
-Get our app launching through a delegate DLL instead of an EXE
-Figure out how to interop XAML / DirectX.
-Start to figure out how we will paint content to our DirectX surface with the graphics layer
-Figure out how to implement other contracts
-Look into native theme rendering”
Its still early days for the Mozilla Firefox Metro development team, but as more information becomes available we will keep you updated.
Source: Windws 8 Beta : Ubergizmo
Samsung Galaxy S II To Get Android 4.0 ICS On SK Telecom Tomorrow
There have been a number of rumors over the last week that Samsung would release Android 4.0 ICS for the Galaxy S II on the 10th of March, that didn’t happen, and Samsung announced last week that the date was a mistake posted by them.
Now it looks like the first Android 4.0 ICS updates will start rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S II on mobile carrier SK Telecom in South Korea, which should mean that we could see the update arriving in the US and Europe very soon.
We previously heard a rumor that Samsung would release Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to the Galaxy S II on the 15th of March, and we suspect this date or shortly after is when they will roll it out.
We can expect some sort of official announcement from Samsung over the next couple of days, as soon as we get some more details we will let you guys know.
Source The Verge
New iPad spotted in the wild, unboxing photos and video in tow
Did Apple actually release a new iPad with LTE and a Retina Display last week? Or did it waft hallucinogens at us while we liveblogged, making us see only what we wanted to see? These doubts should be quashed when the third-gen tablet starts reaching consumers who are too populous to drug effectively. Fortunately, that process has already started, with some folks over in Vietnam claiming they’ve got hold of the retail version of the new iPad and posting evidence to prove it. Take a look at the video after the break and the images at the source link to catch a glimpse of what your pre-order might look like when it solidifies into reality.
Acer brings five monitors to the US, prices range from $139 to $329
Moving on, Acer also has two other 23-inch, 1080p monitors — the S230HL Abd and Abii — with the former packing VGA and DVI ports, and the latter trading DVI for two HDMI sockets. Look for those in April for $169 and $189, respectively. Of the lot, the most expensive is the 27-inch S271HL, a 27-inch, 1080p monitor with DVI, HDMI and a VESA mount. You can snag one now for a cool $329. Last but not least, if you’re on a tighter budget there’s the 20-inch S200HL, which has a more modest 1600 x 900 resolution, along with VGA and DVI ports. That’s on sale now for $139. More info on all of these in the PR after the break, though we’re pretty sure we passed on all the pertinent details already.
Sony outs Alpha A57 translucent mirror camera with 12fps shooting, improved autofocus system
DSLRs tend to have longer refresh cycles than oh, we don’t know, phones with RAZR in the name, but every shooter must eventually go to heaven nonetheless. About a year and a half after introducing the Alpha A55 translucent mirror camera, Sony’s putting that model out to pasture to make way for its replacement, the Alpha A57. This time around, Sony’s bumped the ISO to 16000 and boosted the continuous shooting rate from 10 frames per second to 12. It’s also rolling out some improvements to the 15-point autofocus system, including enhanced object-tracking and quick AF in Full HD movie mode. Like the A55 before it, the A57 packs a 16-megapixel APS HD CMOS sensor, though this guy records 1920 x 1080 video at 60p, 60i and 24p/25p. It also packs the relatively new Bionz imaging engine introduced with Sony’s fall 2011 models. Also on board: effects like Auto Portrait Framing (it is what it sounds like) and Clear Image Zoom, which promises an effective two-fold increase in focal length. Design-wise, the A57 takes some cues from the A65, and sports a tilting, 921,600-dot LCD. It’ll start at $699 for the body only when it goes on sale next month, though it will also be offered as a $799 kit with an 18-55mm lens. Until then, we’ve got official press shots below and the PR just past the break.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III high-ISO sample images (hands-on)
Canon unveiled its highly-anticipated EOS 5D Mark III just 10 days ago, but we already have a pre-production sample in-hand, and will be putting it through its paces over the next week. Today’s installment focuses on high-sensitivity still image shooting, which we conducted at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea. We chose a dimly lit temple as our test subject, shooting a handful of images at ISO settings ranging from 800 to the camera’s top native sensitivity of 25,600, and extended modes of ISO 51,200 and ISO 102,400. All images were captured at f/8 with a 24-105mm L lens.
As expected, the camera offered excellent performance at all of the native settings — as you can see from the image above, there’s some noise noticeable when viewing an image at full size, though considering the camera’s top resolution of 22.3 megapixels, we hardly see ISO 25,600 being an issue. Jumping beyond the top native range did yield significant noise, but assuming you’re shooting for the web, even these settings are usable. Chances are, you won’t often be examining images at a 1:1 pixel view, so jump past the break to see how each of the four frames represented above will look when scaled to a web-friendly 600-pixels-wide resolution, then hit up our source link to grab full-res JPEGs of each image captured during the shoot.
