How many times have you click photographs and then realized that the picture is blurred or not ? It looked perfect when you looked at it in the tiny camera screen right ?
But what happened when you transfered the pic to the computer ?
Gone are the days where the subject of your photo was not in focus. Thanks to the new cutting edge light field technology from now on you can click a pic and then focus on any object in the pic. How cool is that !!
Lytro is a camera that can take in all the streams of light from all directions and create a raw image which can be edited later to focus on any part of the image necessay …
In layman terms you get to click a image and then decide make sure everything is in focus.
Al though i am not too excited about the camera it self ( Priced about $399) , i am excited that this technology will surely make to the generic photo cameras in about a year.
Also getting a F 2.0 in such a small camera with 8x zoom is amazing , it also consists of a small touch screen display to review , adjust and focus pics …
In lay man terms its a Storage Device conected to a network to provide some hardware / software functionality.
For example : If you have a NAS enabled drive(harddisk) and you are using a home Wifi network. You should able to use the drive (harddisk) from any computer / laptop / device connected to the same network. From my desktop / laptop the NAS will show up as a another Drive which can be used to save files / data. It makes sharing easy and eleminates the need of connecting cables.
Some NAS drives also support DLNA functionality. Instead of watching the movie on the little PC monitor in your office, you want to enjoy it on the large flat-panel TV in your living room. Because your DLNA Certified TV is certified as a digital media player (DMP), you can use the DMP capabilities of your TV to find the movies on your NAS, and then play them on the TV.
So you have a hardisk which has tons of movies / songs / data and how you wish it was a NAS drive right ? Here comes LaCie LaPlug.
LaPlug
LaCie LaPlug converts your old harddisk into a NAS server !!! Theres more you can connect upto 4 hardisks ( has 4 USB ports) making it one super capacity drive !!
You could also use your flash disks to connect to LaPlug.
So thats storage , what about your printer ? Every time you want to print a document you need to transfer the file to the desktop / laptop connected to the printer . Or re-connect the printer to the laptop that you have the file on. But with Lacie LaPlug you can connect the (USB) printer to one of ports on the LaPlug and viola you have a network printer ready. Now you can print from any device on the same network as LaPlug. No more moving files or connecting printers.
Folks who use the Macs / Macbooks can use the hardisk connected to LaPlug for TimeMachine backup. Wirelessly backup your data everyday. You can easily backup everyday without any effort now.
And the icing on the cake !!
Not only does LaPlug make your USB hard drives accessible throughout your home, it even supports remote access. Instead of emailing large files between friends, just give them access to the LaPlug-all they need is Internet access. You can even set up a custom web address, so accessing your LaPlug is as easy as typing in a URL.
In todays digital world could the humble pen be left behind !!!
Welcome to the age of SMART PENS. These new gen pens have been around for a while but havent really caught the main stream acceptance due to their high costs.
With the cost of some of these pens falling to < 100$ these SMART PENS becomes so much more attractive to the average user.
There are many alternatives which one can consider before buying. Let me explain a few and the key differentiators among them.
1. Livescribe provides two smart pens PULSE and ECHO.
Echo is a 2GB cheaper alternative.
So the key USP of livescribe is that itnot only captures the text on the page. It can also capture the audio along with the writing and replay the same back on demand or transfer the same to your desktop when a cable is connected.
This is how livescribe works. Livescribe Pen requires you to use its own book/page. The Page provided has a some buttons printed at the bottom of the page.
You click on the record button and the pen starts recording all the audio and the writings in sync. You can stop / Pause / bookmark all your writings.
All the content is saved on the PEN when you connect the pen to your laptop/desktop the content is then transferred to the PC/MAC. You can play back the entire page on the PC.
You can also save the notes and convert them to text that can be edited on the PC with word processoers.
It can also translate to other languages on the FLY. For example you write a word Hello on the paper. Then select the language on the SMARTPEN and tab the word hello. The Pen then playsback the word in the langugage selected.
Most digital pens out there just capture the writing but this captures the Audio also.
The writing can be converted to a flash movie and played on any flash supporting players.
Good integration into phone and pc apps.
Can translate on the fly to different langugaes , really useful for people who travel.
Cons :
Needs special paper ( can be printed on a laser printer but cost still remains a high)
Many applitions are add on which increases the cost of the overall solution.
There are other pens which work in a little different way like the IRIS Notes.
The IRIS Notes comes with a Pen and a clip on USB Receiver. The USB receiver can be clipped onto any book or paper and anything writted on the sheet is saved on the USB receiver. Upto 100 pages are saved at a time. Once connected to the PC the content can be transferred and viewed. The newer bluetooth version can directly send the data written to a Android / Blackberry device.
Pros :
Can write on any paper ; no need of special paper as in the case of livescribe.
When the USB receiver is connected to PC the writing on the paper is instantly seen on the screen and can be edited. The same pen can be used as mouse also.
Can write directly on images/pics when USB receiver connected to PC.
Cons :
Cannot capture Audio along with the writing.
No translate or playback feature
Both digital pens claim that the writings can be converted to editable text. Having used the scanners and OCR ( Optical character recognition softwares ) I am pretty sure that this feature is far from usable for now. So if you are looking to covert your hand written notes to text , you are better of typing them 🙂
Having considered all things I will probably go for a livescribe and try it out. Waiting to get man hands on one of them soon 😉 wait for the reviews !!!
There is a lot of buzz about CLOUD computing and CLOUDS.
So here is your chance to build your own cloud.
Netgear recently introduced their Netgears WNDR 3800 with ReadySHARE. So whats this ReadySHARE all about ? The netgear router has a USB port which can be used to connect a harddisk with what ever content you want and accessed from anywhere in the world over internet.
So once you connect the harddisk or flash drive to the usb port of the router you need to do a small installation using the netgear genie the process is pretty simple and easy to setup.
After that you can login to readyshare.netgear.com from any PC , Tablet , Iphone or Android phone enter your username and password and you have access to all your files on the harddisk / flash drive. You can also save files from your devices to your cloud.
Whats the use ? Lets say you have a hard-disk with tones of songs and movies. Connect it to the Netgear 3800 router and enable readyshare. So even when you are traveling and you have full access to all your song library from any internet connected device. The readyshare allows you to access your content in a secure way.
Or lets say you are on a vacation and are running out of space on your camera SD card. All you need to do is find a computer and you can transfer all the pictures from your camera to your own hardisk at home in a secure way.
Tablets like IPad have limited memory so if you keep taking a lot of pictures /videos you will run out of space soon. With readyshare you can save all your pics/videos directly from the IPad to your hardisk.
Readyshare is available for android / iphone /ipod as well but there is a service fee for accessing readyshare from the phone. I am pretty sure more such services will start cropping up for free.
What else can you do with this router ??
Setup a network printer. Connect your printer to the USB port of the router. And you have a network printer which you can access from any device on your network.
Similarly you can connect a hard-disk to the USB port and it becomes a network drive, you can access the drive from any device on your network. ( Note without readyshare you can access the harddisk only if you are connected to your LAN ).
DLNA : Connect a hard-disk with videos / pics / music and then stream the content to a DLNA supported device. So if you have a TV ( most high end TVs today support DLNA) which supports DLNA you can watch all your movies from your hard-disk directly onto your TV over Wifi without any cables.
This router also has a clear channel selector. So what does this do ? Lets say you have a lot of devices which compete for the same frequency. ( Some of such devices are Cordless Phones , Microwaves devices , your neighbours Wifi connection. ) This router automatically detects such interference and selects a channel with least noise.
I am waiting to get my hands on this device. Hope netgear launches it in India soon.
Let me start with the most basic of questions first “Why should I buy a tablet , when i can get a decent configuration laptop at the same price ?”
Bang this is one of the questions that many folks are trying to answer today and till recently I myself did not have the answer.
Here are my top 10 reasons to buy a Tablet :
1. Its always on unlike a PC or Laptop there is no startup time / shutdown time. I just pull it out and start browsing. For the instant search results it cant get any better. The other side effect of being always on is that your always online on Skype / FaceTime / any other app. ( no need to call a person ask them to come over to the desktop , power it on and then call them on skype / gtalk )
2. Its always near you … just by your bedside / desk / couch .. The effort effect of reaching out to a PC or Laptop is not there with tab … its always reachable without any effort.
3. It can be used anywhere , anytime and anyhow : Anywhere – being 3G enabled if you insert a sim card with 3G services you can use it anywhere you want to. A less known fact is that put in a 2G Edge enabled sim card and you can still do your browsing on the tablet but at a slower connection. Agreed this is not the best way to browse but if you need connectivity for things like email , facebook then a GPRS pack of Rs.99/150 will suffice for you; while at home /office you can always use the Wifi.
4. Longer Battery Life : Tabs by Samsung and Apple provide upto 10 hours of video playback which is by far the double back up of any top of the line laptops in the market. Tabs can be used for a lot longer on the move.
5 Use it the way you want to : you can lie down , sleep , sit , stand and pretty much do everything you want to without having the learning curve of a desktop OS. The tablet OS are very simple and anyone who has used a touch phone will be easily able to adapt to the Tablet ; unlike the desktop / laptop OS which has a significant learning curve.
6. No virus or slowing down !!! Unlike a PC where I am always worried about virus and malware the Tablets are so far insulated to such slowing down and adware / malwares.
7. The perfect size 10″ … the mobile phones 4″ are a little too small to do serious browsing. The 10″ Tabs are perfect for browsing / watching movies / youtube / video chat.
8. Better performance than the Intel Atom based netbooks. There are a zillion netbooks in the market running on a Intel atom processor. When compared to these tablets offer much superior performance in all aspects including graphics.
9. Google : Yes Google is another important reason why you should buy a tablet. Google docs its a online version of your MS WORD / EXCEL / PPT on the FLY , on the CLOUD , always on , realtime sharing of the file and real time editing … Currently editing in google docs is only supported in Android based tablets like Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom. I would not expect this support for IPads anytime soon. So if you are looking to for such Office like applications and are not willing to pay more for it stick to Android. ( Note : Ipad had MS OFFICE APP to do all these but these are paid apps. Apple has Page (Word processor) , Numbers ( Your excel ) , KeyNote ( For your Presentaions) each priced at $9.99.
10. Entertainment Quotient : A tablet is a lot of fun , millions of games from single player to multiple player games like UNO , Scrabble , Sand-storm . Streaming Videos to watch movies like Netflix , google movies , ( Netflix and Google Movies are not in India Yet!! ) , ofcourse there is youtube . Apps like Flipboard are so amazing that they give the feel of a magzine to the tab but with your customized content.
In short you can do almost everything you do on a traditional laptop/pc on a tablet in a fun filled way.
So if you are in market for a netbook , laptop or pc for basic browsing , videos , mail and sns my suggestion would be to consider a tab instead.
After having used the iPAD-2 for 2 months now here is why i believe I should have bought the Samsung Galaxy Tab and here is why i am going to buy one shortly exchanging my ipad2 :
Samsung Galaxy Tab 750
1. HD Videos and photos + movies means a lot of memory 64 gigs is just not enough. This is where the samsung galaxy tab wins over Ipad with a galaxy tab USB adapter you could connect a thumb drive or a external hardisk and offload all content to the external device http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-tab-accessories/EPL-1PL0BEGSTA.
2. Connect generic mouse / keyboard to the tabet using the USB adapter this is a big win for Android and Galaxy Tab again. I dont need to spend $$ on all the iPAD2 specific accessories can use my old keyboards and mice.
3. On a tablet like Samsung Galaxy Tab you could also voice/video call people once you have the sim-card installed. This is not a feature available on the iPAD.
4. Flash support !!! Apple still does not support flash on iPAD or iPhone while android has full flash support. There are many website which rely heavily on flash all these are unusable on iPad.
5. Better Camera on both sides front and rear on the galaxy tab get better videos and pics. Galaxy also supports Full HD 1080p video recording which is much superior than the iPads 720p.
I was in NYC last sunday ( 10 july 2011) … and went around the United Nations office .. there was a small protest in front of the building with about 100 people holding banners and shouting slogans “Down with Aladeen , free Wadiyan… ”
I tried getting past the street to talk to them but the police would not allow anyone else to go near them.. they were all around. I saw one person wearing a wired kind of dress exit the UNO ( pic attached) ( looked like Gadafi ) .. thought he must be a really important man as his arrival led the convoy inside the UN building. Was really pressed for time so had to take a few pics and leave the place could not get more info on the issues there.
I took a few pics of the protests which are below :
After going back to the hotel room i was really intrigued and wanted to find out more about this place Wadiyan and its ruler Aladeen ( never heard of him before ) … I had seen a similar protest in Boston by the Libyans so was wondering if this is the latest addition to the list of countries in turmoil Libya , Syria , Egypt … now Wadiyan ..
I came back and started searching and could not find any info about this country or the ruler.. was wondering if google was letting me down .. every time i searched for aladeen it ended up showing the disney Aladin and his magic lamp … just when i decided to use another search engine I found this link on google ..
The protest was really a film crew shooting a new movie the place wadiyan and its ruler aladeen are both ficticious .. he he he never know what is real ..
The reality is that nothing is real , only what the mind perceives real is real .. 🙂
Yes I picked up a new Samsung Galaxy S after debating for quite some time between HTC Desire and Galaxy S i finally went for Samsung as it had a front facing camera for Video calls. With 3G launching in India this is the first thing I want to try out Video calling .. And the only Android Phone with a decent spec is samsung galaxy S … surprise surprise …
I did consider Sony Ericsson X10 , HTC Desire , Motorola XT720p.
X10 was eliminated for multiple reasons .. a) the display resolution is 65k colors b) its just getting a update for android 2.1 so froyo can be forgotten c) It doesnt have a front facing camera so no video calls.
HTC Desire very few reasons to not consider this one .. 1) does not record video at 720p b) the most important one is the front facing camera. Apart from that the specs are very close to Galaxy S.
Motorola XT720 : Bad build quality , crappy looks , sluggish UI .. just doest feel right . Again no front facing camera …
So all in all I was left with only 1 choice that was Samsung Galaxy S … havent been disappointed with the phone.
A few minor improvements and this phone can take on Iphone 4 any day ..
Hoping Froyo will fix the issues else will root can load a custom rom 😛
The latest phone in town is the Nokia N8 let me add my views about the phone ..
Nokia N8 comes with a cool 12 MP camera which supports 720p HD video recording, Superb looking body and design .. and amazing screen which supports 16M colors. HDMI output .. USB port to connect and transfer files from PEN DRIVE or Harddisk directly to phone and eliminating the need for a computer to transfer files. Multitouch , pinch to zoom , capacitive display.
Yes these are some really cool features and innovations like USB port and the HDMI port, but there are some basic things that were missed out like the android market place .. yes yes i know about the OVI store but there is hardly any worthwhile apps being built for that .. The biggest let down for me is the price at 28k this is super expensive when compared to the hot smart phones out there which can a lot more .. HTC Desire is priced at 26k apart from the USB port I dont seem to miss anything that nokia offers. HTC Desire supports DLNA so I am not really gonna miss the HDMI output.
It would have been a great buy if it were priced at around 16-18k as the Samsung Wave which offers are lot of thing similar to N8 expect for the USB and the HDMI outputs and the 12MP camera.
If Nokia really pull it off they can make the phone a media hub with it being the center of your drawing room with Streaming videos from Youtube , playing games , music from OVI store direclty onto your music system , Flickr , Mails , Facebook everything on your TV screen via your HDMI output ..
PS : All this if the GUI is as good as the claim the Series ^3 is and as smooth as the iphone or droids out there…
But is it time to celebrate ??? The iphone 3GS has been launched in since more than 200 days ago and now its coming to India .. Any idea why ???
Lets see apple launched the Iphone 3G in India just before they launched the iphone 3GS in US. Now they are launching the iphone 3GS in India when they are expected to launch a new iphone in the US… Rings a bell some where ?
So is apple looking at india as a dumping ground for its unsold old version of Iphones at a high price tag ?
Do you need to buy a iphone 3GS now ??? With competitors offering a 5 Mega Pixel Camera more CPU and RAM with capacitive touch do you need a iphone which is a already a year old in terms of technology !!!
PraveenGanjam's Blog 