Apple’s iWatch may come in three models

Apple’s hotly anticipated iWatch will be up for grabs in three distinct models, according to a report fromEconomic Daily.

If the rumors are to be trusted, there will be one iWatch model sporting 1.6-inch display and two other models with 1.8-inch panels. And, one of the 1.8-inch versions will feature a front panel made out of sapphire glass.

Such a range of new Apple product launch seems highly unlikely, but analysts speculate that it may be necessary to promote the wearable. The report predicts a third quarter announcement, which falls in line with Ming-Cho Kuo’s analysis.

The publication, which has better reliability than most of the Chinese news sites, is suggesting that the iWatch will carry a price tag of $349. Considering the fact that the wearable is still months away from being official, it might see a lot of changes through its development cycle. So, take it all with a pinch of salt.

The Nvidia Shield 8-inch tablet and game controller to launch in 10 days, tablet starts at $300

Leaked slides of what looks to be internal presentation material about the rumored Nvidia Shield tablet and game controller have made it online. Now we know that Nvidia will announce the devices on July 22 and will release them on July 29 in the US and on August 14 in Europe.

Recently, a leaked product image showed us how the Nvidia Shield tablet would look like. Today, we get tons of further details about the long rumored tablet and gaming controller by the company.

At the heart of the Shield tablet is Nvidia Tegra K1 mobile chipset, which supposedly brings an at leasttwice as high GPU performance as leading mobile platforms such as the Snapdragon 800 and Apple A7. With a screen diagonal of 8 inches and a resolution of 1920x1080px, the IPS display on the tablet should be enough to enjoy gaming on the go wherever you are. There is also a set of front facing stereo speakers, two 5MP cameras – one on the front and another one on the back – GPS and Wi-Fi MIMO connectivity. The Nvidia Shield tablet also comes with a built-in advanced stylus system called Direct Stylus 2 with 3D Paint.

The Nvidia Shield game controller is meant as a companion device for the Shield tablet and for other Shield hardware and will be compatible only with them. The controller is wireless and uses Wi-Fi Direct to communicate to the tablet. It has a rechargeable Li-Ion battery inside.

As for pricing, the Nvidia Shield game controller will cost $60, while the tablet will start at $300 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version and will go as high as $400 for the 32GB Wi-Fi+LTE version. A microSD slot is available on both versions. The 3G/LTE version will be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile bands in the US.

Check out even more leaked info slides at the Source link below.

Source

Facebook intros Save, its own read-it-later feature

Just a few days after outing another new feature, Facebook today has announced the Save functionality. This basically allows you to save anything you see on the social network – to read later.

So yes, it’s clearly a competitor to standalone services such as Pocket, Instapaper, or Readability. There are certain differences, though, chief among which is the fact that Facebook’s Save lets you store any content you come across on the social network – including links, places, movies, TV and music.

Everything you save is stored in a special section, which is private. So you’re the only one who knows and can access the things you’ve saved. The Save section is due to appear on the Web as well as in the company’s iOS and Android apps over the next few days. On mobile, you’ll find it in the More tab, while on the desktop website it will be part of the left hand side navigation. You may even sometimes get reminders in the News Feed about stuff you saved.

To save something you come across on Facebook, you have to tap or click on the little arrow in the corner of the content, and pick Save. Obviously your saves are kept in sync across the Web and the mobile apps. However, offline functionality hasn’t been announced at this point, which is where the aforementioned competitors still have an advantage.

Google Now is more accurate than Siri, study finds

In the battle of the mobile personal assistants, Google Now seems to have the edge compared to Apple’s Siri. At least that’s what a study conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has found.

Google’s service has become slightly more accurate than Apple’s, despite the situation being the opposite last December.

Munster used 800 questions about local information, commerce, navigation, general information, and OS commands. Half of those were asked indoors, and half outdoors. Google Now and Siri were tested in both how well they understood what was asked of them, as well as the accuracy of their answers. Google Now managed to give accurate answers to 86% of the questions it heard correctly, compared to 84% for Siri. Back in December, when a similar test was conducted, Apple’s assistant had the lead with 83% to 81%.

This time around, Google Now was best at finding navigation data and local and general information. It fared worse than Siri at OS commands, though it has improved in this area lately. Siri was able to answer 4% of queries on its own, without directing the user to a search engine or website. That’s a marked improvement from December’s study, when it managed to do that in less than 1% of the cases.

In the end, Google Now went home with a grade of B (up from C+ last year), and Siri had to make do with a B- (also an improvement compared to its C+ from 2013).

Video details Panasonic’s color splitter tech that promises big improvements to digital camera sensors

A couple of months ago Panasonic unveiled its plan to improve digital cameras by replacing the ubiquitous Bayer filter. The company claims a Bayer filter blocks 50%-70% of the light entering the camera, while its new color splitter design uses all the available light. A new video goes into more detail on the tech.

According to Panasonic, the color splitters are a pop-in replacement for Bayer filters, so the same sensor tech can be used. Also, the splitters can be made by current manufacturing processes, the big problem was that getting the design right took a lot of computing power to run simulations.
Faster computers and new algorithms finally allowed Panasonic to get the job done. Here’s the gist of how it works – pixels are arranged into groups of four and color splitters is put over two of them, a red and a blue splitter (check the image above). So, instead of filtering out light, the new tech refracts in the pattern below. Traditional RGB colors are calculated with simple formulas.

So, while sensors themselves don’t change, getting extra light compared to a Bayer filter setup leads to improved camera performance, particularly in low-light situations. Here are demo photos taken by Panasonic at F/4.0, the company’s color splitter photo is on the left, the old Bayer tech photo on the right.

If the manufacturing is as simple as Panasonic says it is, we hope to see color splitters hit mobile phone cameras as soon as possible. Those tiny sensors certainly need all the light they can get.

Gloves that change colour on getting near toxins in Air

Researchers in Germany have developed new color-changing gloves designed to alert lab workers to the presence of invisible toxic chemicals. Created by scientists at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT in Regensburg, the protective gloves are embedded with a special dye that turns blue whenever toxic substances are in the air.

The idea, researchers say, is to provide scientists or factory workers with a simple and straightforward alert system. The gloves could also provide a more energy efficient alternative to the heat imaging systems or electronic sensors currently used to detect airborne toxins. Dr. Sabine Trupp, head of the Fraunhofer EMFT Sensor Materials group, says the dye's composition could be tweaked to detect different substances, noting that the technology has a potentially vast array of applications.

"By synthesizing the adapted color sensor materials, we can detect gases like carbon monoxide, for example, or hydrogen sulfide," Trupp said in a press release published this week. "Still, this protective gear represents only one potential area of application. Sensor materials could also be deployed for the quick detection of leaks in gas lines."

The primary challenge researchers faced was figuring out a way to integrate the dye such that it wouldn't disintegrate or dilute when washed. It's not clear if the gloves will see a wide deployment anytime soon, but Trupp and her colleagues are already envisioning new ways they could be used. An integrated sensor module, for example, could keep track of chemical exposure over extended periods, while similar systems could be used in food packaging materials, providing a clearer way to identify spoiled or rotten groceries.

Casetop Turns YOur Phone into a Laptop

If you want to turn your phone into a laptop, this Kickstarter project just might make your dream come true,provided it gets funded, of course.
Livi Design has the ambitious goal of turning almost every phone into a laptop, as the only requirements are that said smartphone has a video out option and Bluetooth. There is a list of supported devices on the project’s site, and it must be said that it’s a pretty large one (the developers claim that they’re supporting over 200 Android phones).

Casetop is a device that fits your phone and includes an 11.1-inch screen with a 720p resolution (but planning to get to 1080p), with a full-size keyboard, two speakers and, very importantly, a 56Wh battery pack.The developers claim you’ll get 10 hours of battery use from it.

Once your phone is in the Casetop, you can use the combination just like you would use a laptop or a Padfone, and you can remove the phone at all times. The Casetop is compatible with a Bluetooth mouse, for easier control. The design is one that looks pretty good, and the case itself is quite thin (0.8 inches thick). A more thorough introduction to the Caseto is available in the video below.

The full list of specs looks as follows: 

• 11.1-inch 720p HD LED Backlit LCD Screen (Stretch Goal for 1080p)
• 56 Watt Hour Battery Pack (Est. Equivalent of a 6 Cell Laptop pack)
• Full size 78-key keyboard (Island-style, think Sony, Apple, IBM)
• 2x 1 Watt High Fidelity Speakers
• 1x Standard HDMI Input
• 1x MHL Video Input, Power Output. Dual mode Micro USB.
• 1x 3.5mm Audio Output
• 1x Full-size ‘Always Powered’ USB for charging other products

The case fits the screen, and also a board from a Chinese factory, from which only the HDMI and 3.5 mm ports are being used (according to the developers). The plan is to design another board, together with a Taiwan designer. The developers are doing their best to make the product as easy to repair and mod as it will be to use (we’ll have to see if they actually succeed in doing that).
As far as delivery dates go, the Kickstarter page, which plans to achieve its $300,000 goal by June 2nd, lists an estimated delivery date of December 2013. Said amount will ensure a production run of 1000 units, according to the developer.
There are seven levels of backing, from $3 or more $900 or more, but only pledging at least $220 will actually get you one white Casetop and two front bars. The different levels bring added benefits, culminating with the $900 or more one, which will get you, apart from an engraved Casetop model exclusively in black, a personal video thanks from the team, as well as credits on the website.