Nokia 808 PureView with a 41 Mega Pixel camera

What is the greates number that you have heard when talking about a mobile phone's camera resolution (Mega Pixels). Personally I have heard about 5-8 MP cameras on a mobile phone, but what's this. A 41 Mega Pixel camera phone by Nokia has been announced.

In Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, Nokia announced the 808 PureView, a Symbian Belle device with a 41 mega pixel camera. This has been achieved by combining Carl Zeiss optics and pixel over-sampling technology. The 41 mega pixel does not mean that the quality of the photos are going to perfect, but a great resolution for each picture.

The 808 PureView also has something called Rich Recording which means extraordinarily clear audio (i.e, upto a thumping 140 decibels)

The other specs of the phone are as found in any other smart phone, 1.3 GHz CPU, a 4-inch 360 x 640 pixel screen, 512 MB RAM and 16 GB of storage.

The device will hit the market this month and the price will be around INR 30000 (even though it might not be released in India so soon).

Looking forward to such a camera. Wondering what do we actually do with such a resolution??? And hey guys, you will be seeing such crazy numbers on many nokia phones' camera resolution soon, so dont get shocked.

Sources: http://trak.in
               http://mashable.com

iRing, now Apple goes small

The person behind this device is Victor Soto. He has come up with this new concept, what Apple calls iRing. It is basically a bluetooth device with which one can control their i-devices such as iPod, and iPhone's playback and volume. It also sports a bright OLED status display with touch-sensitive function strip and a rechargeable battery that offers a life of up to 2 days. A cradle is provided, with which the iRing is charged up, and a locking feature is present on the back of the ring.

Nokia Luna, The compact Bluetooth headset

This particular compact bluetooth headset, the Nokia Luna, is being offered in five different colors and offers NFC support.

 For the time being Windows Phones lack NFC support but the Luna is still a nice hands free option to consider.

 A close competitor to the Luna is the Jabra Stone, but the latter feels more secure when placed in the ear. Anyhow the Luna feels more comfortable in the ear. There is one feature in the Luna which could have been different, which is the tiny multifunction button.

The battery life is definitely a plus in the Nokia Luna. And the cradle is compact enough to carry in your pocket to help give the Luna a healthy amount of standby time.

Now carry Ubuntu in your Pocket

"In every dual core phone, there's a PC trying to get out"

-ubuntu.com

Here comes seamless Ubuntu integration into Android. That means a full Ubuntu desktop in your docked Android phone. It doesn't mean that its going to be a "Ubuntu Phone". It means that you don't need to carry your ubuntu desktop with you, instead you can carry it in your phone, and all you need is a screen (actually another desktop). Dock your phone to a computer and get your ubuntu desktop on that computer. This is what we call seamless integration.



This new update could make you think of a cutting edge hardware requirement, but its actually quite straight forward. With a broad range of ARM and x86 hardware support, it can realistically be added to phones already in development.
One of the most interesting feature is the Ubuntu TV.
So watch out, your next desktop could be a phone.  This integration will be first shown at the Mobile World Congress next week.
For complete details, please visit http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

Flat surfaces coming to life - Microsoft Surface 2.0

As the name suggests, Surface is the technology from Microsoft which enables users to practically use any surface (large enough) as an interactive computing device. It enables people to use touch and real world objects to share digital content at the same time. The first version was launched in the year 2007 at the D5 Conference, and began shipping to customers in 2008.  It could support multi-touches (up to 50 touches simultaneously) and can sense real world objects. It is from this technology that the concept of multi-touch became the “talk of the town”.
Microsoft partnered with Samsung recently to announce the current version (2.0) of Surface, the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface (“SUR40”), at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2011. The Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK is also available to the developers to create NUI (Natural User Interface) touch applications for Surface and Windows 7 touch PC’s.

The new features in Surface 2.0

• Slim device. The new hardware is 4 inches thin.


• A richer visual experience. With the rich color saturation from a full HD display and a larger screen, Surface offers a compelling, immersive visual experience that draws people in.


• A vision-based touch experience. With PixelSense™, Microsoft Surface sees and responds to touch and real world objects.


• Touch-enabled from start to finish.
  With Windows 7 and Surface, there is no need for a keyboard and mouse for setup and configuration.


• New Quick Controls. Venue staff can adjust basic settings like volume, brightness, and input source. 


• More customization options. An improved configuration utility means you can quickly make changes to background images, configure applications, and modify settings without getting into code.


• Easier remote administration. Windows PowerShell scripts are easy to use and create, so Surface can be deployed in an enterprise setting.


• Streamlined development for touch. The Microsoft Surface platform makes development easier with applications for Windows 7 that run on Windows Touch devices and with enhanced capabilities on the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface

Surface showing interactive ultrasound, and ability to directly stream the same to a Windows Phone.

For more details on Surface, visit http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/whatissurface.aspx

What is PixelSense?
PixelSense allows a display to recognize fingers, hands, and objects placed on the screen, enabling vision-based interaction without the use of cameras. The individual pixels in the display see what's touching the screen and that information is immediately processed and interpreted.
Think of it like the connection between the eye and the brain. You need both, working together, to see. In this case, the eye is the sensor in the panel, it picks up the image and it feeds that to the brain which is our vision input processor that recognizes the image and does something with it. Taken in whole…this is PixelSense technology.
Visit http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/pixelsense.aspx for more info on PixelSense and how it works.

What is DreamSpark?

We've all been eagerly waiting for DreamSpark Yatra 2012, and finally the wait is over. It is just around the corner, which brings the importance of knowing what actually the DreamSpark program is all about.

 Microsoft DreamSpark™ program launched on Feb 19, 2008 in United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium with the goal of jumpstarting the student developer with an offering of developer tools, at no cost. DreamSpark program has since  expanded with a high school offering and grown to over 100 countries and now offers over 23 software titles, besides training.

In January 2012,   DreamSpark program was combined with MSDNAA  resulting in 3 offerings:

1. Traditional DreamSparkthat is a direct-to-student (B2C) offering
   
   
   
   • Only students are licensed to download and install this software on their personal PCs
   
   
   • Continues to be a no-cost download offering for students and
   
   
   • DreamSpark includes full-featured software  - i.e. these are not evaluation copies and there is no time-bomb.
   
   
   • Currently there are 23 titles including Visual Studio 2010 Professional, Expression Studio 4 Ultimate, Windows Server 2008 R2 Std, SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer,  XNA Game Studio 4, Robotics Developer Studio and Pluralsight OnDemand training access for 90 days.

1. Institution-wide DreamSparksubscription is a through institution offering (B2B), that is open to any educational institution, including high schools
   
   
   
   • This is a new subscription that licenses an educational institution to distribute DreamSpark development and design products across the institution's labs (using lab licenses) and to all students and faculty for installation on their personal PCs.
   
   
   • Includes the same 23 software titles as the direct to student DreamSpark offer
   
   
   • Does not include Windows 7, Project, Visio, OneNote, etc (such titles are only available to STEM departments through the DreamSpark Premium subscription)
   
   
   • Costs $99/- per year to cover the license costs for all Institution PCs.  labs and personal PCs of students & faculty.
   
   
   • License provides perpetual rights to the software – i.e. once eligible students install the software on their personal PCs, they can continue to use the software for non-commercial use even when they are no longer a students
   
   
   • Subscription Agreement restricts software for non-commercial, academic usage for  teaching and research https://www.dreamspark.com/licensing/Basic-EULA.aspx
   
   
   • Institution-wide programs such as the IT Academy may include this Institution-wide DreamSpark subscription as a benefit, at no cost.
   
   
   • The Designer AA and High School AA have been discontinued and replaced with this new institution wide DreamSpark.
   
   

1. DreamSparkPremium – that is a through Institution offer, restricted to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) departments.
   
   
   
   • This is similar to the MSDNAA Developer (Developer AA) offering which has now been rebranded DreamSpark Premium, yet retains all the same software offerings, benefits and rules.
   
   
   • Includes all Microsoft software of over 300 titles but excluding Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Games.
   
   
   • Software is licensed only to eligible STEM department labs, staff, faculty and students enrolled in a course in the member STEM department.
   
   
   • Subscription Agreement restricts software for non-commercial, academic usage for  teaching and research  in STEM departments: https://www.dreamspark.com/licensing/Premium-EULA.aspx
   
   
   • License provides perpetual rights to the software – i.e. once eligible students install the software on their personal PCs, they can continue to use the software for non-commercial use even when they are no longer a students in a STEM course
   
   
   • Only eligible STEM departments may get this offer through programs such as IT Academy, and possible for a cost

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com

The Deep Connection–Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

All the Microsoft “fans” out there are probably anticipating for the beta release of Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft has already unveiled almost all the features of the Windows Phone 8 codenamed Apollo. The most interesting feature of the new update is the close integration with Windows 8.

Windows Phone 8 is part of the "Windows Reimagined" campaign that Microsoft announced for Windows 8. This makes sense as they're companion products in every sense of the word. There will be a deep connection between the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. Applications can be ported from the desktop to the smart phone at ease using the preinstalled interfaces.

“The kernel, multi-core processor support, sensor fusion, security model, network, and video & graphics are all coming to Phone from Windows 8. “ -winsupersite.com

Most of the components used in both the OS’s are the same. This allows developers to “reuse – by far – most of their code” while porting. Also there will be a new syncing client based on ActiveSync, rather than using Zune software to do so.

The picture here is of a game AlphaDrop which was originally written for the Windows 8, and was ported to the Windows Phone 7 using 90% of the original code, but with considerate amount of effort. This effort will be reduced in the coming update of Windows Phone i.e, Apollo.

Check out these sites for more details.

http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/exclusive-windows-phone-8-detailed

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-phone-8-preview-142154

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/02/15/windows-phone-7-5-to-windows-8-app-porting-possible-with-90-code-reuse

.NET Training Camp 2012 (started well, ended as a disaster)

.NET is one of those technologies of Microsoft which promoted itself very well. CNUG conducts camps to enlighten people with such technologies (mainly technologies from Microsoft, as every CNUG member is a Microsoft Student Partner) whenever its the right time. Such a camp was conducted today by us (CNUG students) and the topics were the following
i) Introduction to .NET
ii) Microsoft Robotics Studio
The camp started off well with Shaul's (our lead MSP) session of Intro to .NET, which went on for more than the time allotted. And not to mention, it was worth the extra time. The attendees loved it, I could see it in their faces.
After Shaul's session, Prem was on. He handled the Microsoft Robotics Studio session. It went on pretty well, but it was too much of technical stuff. Too much that the attendees didn't expect. Then it was called off for lunch. Me, Saranya, and Prashanth were to handle the HOL (Hands On Lab) session after lunch. This was truly a disaster. The machines in the lab were not ready. First of all it took hell amount of time to copy the VHD to all the computers manually, and after that when we mounted the VHD's the cursor's were not working. Then we turned ourselves to our own laptops. We provided our laptops to the attendees, and made them to share it. Most of us had the Express versions of Visual Studio which again was a problem because the demo needed the complete version to demonstrate interoperability of .NET. But we somehow managed, as Shaul promised them with an online session for whoever could not follow up with the HOL session.
At the end of the day, we all learn from our mistakes. The lag with the lab session had to happen, so that we could make it better for the next time..

Amazing battery life in Windows Phone 7

"Windows Phone just loves batteries and batteries love it back!"  -pocketnow.com

The LG Optimus 7  can go upto two to four days on moderate to heavy usage.. This picture says it all.

This is because Windows Phone doesn't require much power to get things done. And the most interesting thing is the concept of Live Tiles which lets you update your Facebook status, your twitter, or LinkedIn .
Have a look at this site.

Windows Phone Marketplace crosses 60000 apps..

Windows Phone Marketplace crosses 60,000 applications. It has been growing at an extraordinary rate. I believe this stupendous increase in the apps is mainly due to the i unlock joy program. More than 15,500 publishers have contributed to the marketplace..These figures come from AAWP.
I feel quite proud that out of 62000(roughly) apps, i've contributed 5 of them. A great competition is going to put forward to the Android Market or the iApp Store. 

Came across Google SketchUp

I was looking for a lightweight tool that would allow me to draw geometrical shapes and easily show dimensions on them. Since my network speed is kinda low, I possibly can't download softwares like CorelDraw.  That's why I was looking for an online tool, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything of that sort. After searching a while, I came across Google SketchUp which was only 36MB in size. Till today, I wasn't even aware that Google had such a tool.

A really light weight application, that is easily downloadable. Great for building 3D models, and easily sharing them online. You can also build 3D models of buildings and share them on Google Earth. How cool is that!!!
I wasn't actually looking for a 3D modelling software but perhaps it satisfied my needs. The only thing I didnt like about SketchUp is that the circle never looked like a circle. They always look like a polygon with many sides.

My first post

Hi.. This is the first post in my blog. I am currently converting caffeine to code. This is one of those times, when I stay up late to finish up some work (atleast till my head drops on the keyboard). It is already 3 in the morning, and the caffeine is still doing its job. I don't know why, but I have noticed that I can stay up late only when I am alone at home.

Dont assume that I am a hardcore programmer or something of that sort, because only I know what kind of stupid and simple code I write. Well, I have already submitted two applications to the Windows Phone 7 MarketPlace, and they have been certified. :)... I have also sumbitted my claim form for the "i unlock joy" program. So, I would probably get a Microsoft T, and 2GB pen drive. Not at all exciting as compared to a Windows Phone 7 itself.. For that I have two more apps to go, which is almost impossible before the deadline.

But now, I am more concerned with my current app.. I was confused whether to use a pivot or panorama page for my current application, so I decided to take a peek at this video . The connection is surprisingly slow at this time of the night. Maybe my neighbors are also awake. .......dfadf adsfkadjf;lkajdlkerqw.erqe(head on keyboard) ......zz.........zzzzzzz...zzzzz....zzzzzzzzzzz....