Area SmartPhone

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Apple Media Event Drinking Game

Tomorrow, Apple will hold a special media event during which it will likely introduce a slew of new products. From new iPads to OS X Mavericks, there will undoubtedly be a whole lot of new hardware and software to digest.
Per usual, just what exactly Apple has in store remains a mystery. Will the fifth-generation iPad feature Touch ID? Maybe, maybe not. But why busy yourself with such troublesome questions when you can have much more fun playing a drinking game during the media event?

Data source: via TUAW (By Yoni Heisler)

Apple Confirms Acquisition of 3D Body Sensing Firm PrimeSense

Apple has confirmed its acquisition of Israeli 3D body sensing firm PrimeSense, reports AllThingsD. The move comes after months of speculation, as Apple was first reported in July to be looking to acquire the firm behind the original 3D body sensing technology used by Microsoft for its Kinect platform. The negotiations gained notoriety again earlier this month as Apple was said to be on the verge of a deal, agreeing to purchase PrimeSense for approximately $345 million, but was held up due to a final legal issue.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet confirmed the PrimeSense deal with the boilerplate comment the company typically provides when news of one of its acquisitions leaks: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

The report also notes that while PrimeSense became known for developing Microsofts first-generation Kinect sensor, Microsoft has since deployed its own homegrown sensor technology for the current generation Kinect, which currently ships with the Xbox One.

Apple has expressed interest in Kinect-like motion control of such products as appliances and vehicle instrumentation, but the main area where the company has been rumored to be using the technology is in television. Reports have indicated that Apple is looking at Kinect-like motion control for its future television set, although the project is said to be seeing continuing delays due to difficult content negotiations with Apple shifting its near-term focus to wearables such as the "iWatch."

Data source: via MacRumors (By Richard Padilla)

I Charged My iPhone Using The Stove Last Night

The PowerPot is an ingenious device that allows people to charge a mobile phone while theyre cooking — its targeted at campers.

My camping trip this weekend was canceled, so instead of testing the PowerPot over an open fire, I used the kitchen stove in my Brooklyn studio apartment.

Just after hearing the name, you probably have a good idea of what this device all about. It hides a thermoelectric generator inside a mostly normal-looking cooking pot. Fill the pot with water, place it over a heat source, and it begins to generate electricity for charging your USB devices.

The model we tested generates 5 watts of electricity, which means itll charge your iPhone twice as fast as connecting it to your computer over USB. Theres even a 10-watt model for those who want to be extra-prepared.

Thermoelectric generators are able to generate electricity any time theres a big disparity in hot and cold temperatures – a pot of cool water placed over a hot flame, for example. The technology works like a charm, and charging my phone from the stove felt like a delightful magic trick.

The PowerPot is perfect for campers, backpackers, and emergency-preparedness types. It would have been terrific in New York during last years Hurricane Sandy blackout, for instance, when gas stoves still worked even though the electricity was off. But its also great for anyone who simply wants to ensure that he or she can have easy access to electricity no matter the circumstance.

Theres a social enterprise element here as well. Because the PowerPot technology is perfect for developing nations, you can contribute money to help send PowerPots to people around the world who would benefit from having one.

The price of admission here is a bit steep, starting at $149 in the company store. You can also buy various add-ons to help expand its functionality. We were particularly big fans of the USB-powered light.

If youre already sold, click here to go to their store. If you want to learn more, you should browse the rest of the Powerpot site.

Data source: via BI (By Dylan Love)

Origine source: Thepowerpot

Honda Boosts iOS Car Integration with New HondaLink Services for 2014 Civic 2015 Fit

Following last weeks announcement of Siri "Eyes Free" integration for select Honda and Acura vehicles, Honda today held a Google Hangout to announce even deeper integration for the 2014 Honda Civic and 2015 Honda Fit.

The new Civic, which goes on sale tomorrow, and the upcoming Fit, which launches early next year, will offer an all-new Display Audio interface featuring a 7-inch touchscreen that will be familiar to smartphone users, offering easy access to a variety of features.

Offering one of the largest touchscreens in its class, Display Audio uses the familiar pinch, swipe and tap functionality of a smartphone to access audio, phonebook, media, vehicle information and available navigation features.

Icons resembling smartphone apps are displayed on a 7-inch, high-definition, capacitive touchscreen, making the interface intuitive and easy to use.

Leveraging the large touchscreen display, new HondaLink apps for iOS will allow users to seamlessly connect their iPhone 5, 5s, or 5c to vehicle systems for accessing online content. The suite consists of four iOS apps now available:

- Connect App – Provides convenient access for many services including location searches, local weather, messaging, Maintenance Minder alerts, service scheduling by phone, and access to the Owners Guide. Users can tap for weather updates and store favorite destinations for quick routing with the Navigation app.

- Navigation App – For the first time Honda is offering a comprehensive cloud-based navigation app for purchase that includes 3D mapping and continuously updated traffic information. As the first navigation app developed by an automaker with mapping data provided by HERE, a Nokia business, this app offers a variety of location search options including search by point of interest, text search, or previous locations. Routes can be pre-planned on a smartphone and will display on the vehicle’s touchscreen. Turn-by-turn routing guidance is available through the vehicle’s audio system as well.

- Aha App – provides access to an extensive and diverse selection of audio content across multiple genres and demographics, plus featured new stations, Internet radio, podcasts, audiobooks, news, Twitter and Facebook updates and nearby location listings for restaurants, coffee houses, hotels, weather, parks, and gas stations. Users can tap to personalize stations or add favorites via smartphone or directly through the Display Audio interface.

- Launcher App – Finds and organizes Honda-approved 3rd party apps so they can be quickly integrated into the Display Audio system. Approved apps can be found through the Launcher and shown on the Display Audio screen for easy access.

Beyond the new HondaLink features, the Civic and Fit with Display Audio will also be the first Honda vehicles to have factory installed support for Siri Eyes Free, with the compatibility for 2013-2014 Honda Accord and 2013 Acura RDX and ILX modelsannounced last week arriving as a dealer installed accessory.

Hondas Google Hangout offering more information on iOS integration with the new Civic and Fit is archived here.

Data source: via MacRumors (By Eric Slivka)

Xperia Z3 Compact Release Date 2015

Xperia Z3 Compact Review: A new skinny, waterproof product that plays the PS4 games

Xperia Z3 Compact Release Date 2015-The favorable The Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact stuffs the heap of power along with a good display into a remarkably slim, waterproof body. While its chance to act as a screen for the PlayStation 4 can be shaky at situations, its a book feature not available on other Android pills. The Bad Sony possesses filled the interface up with so much pre-loaded software which it looks cluttered previous to youve even delivered electronically your first app. Opting for an increased resolution display would help it to compete against a lot of its rivals. The bottom Line The Sony Xperia Z3 Supplement Compacts wealth regarding power, its skeletal, waterproof body along with decent screen allow it to be a good choice to consider if youre after a portable tablet. Although its screen resolution doesnt place it over its competition, its ability to be able to play games from your PS4 -- however is not perfect yet -- gives it an original selling point.

Xperia Z3 Compact

Sony incorporates a whole raft regarding devices to excite you that sit under the Xperia Z3 series banner. Theres the flagship 5. 2-inch Z3 smart dataphone, the 4. 6-inch Z3 Compact and now the 8-inch Z3 Supplement Compact. An 8-inch device is really a first for Sony and will come as the welcome addition in the event you loved the modern, waterproof 10-inch Xperia Z2 Supplement, but want something somewhat more portable for the commute.

The Z3 Tablet Compact, mouthful of the name aside, has a razor-thin layout like its bigger brother and is also completely waterproof. Its display incorporates a full HD resolution, it runs the latest Android 4. several. 4 KitKat computer software, it has the 2. 5GHz quad-core processor chip and an 8-megapixel digicam.

So far, therefore standard Android product. But the Z3 Tablet Compact incorporates a nifty trick up its sleeve in its chance to act as a display to your PS4 console. Your console still does all of the processing of the sport, but it channels the feed in your tablet, letting a person play games similar to Destiny, Last folks and Titanfall on your own tablet while in bed or on the toilet.

The tablet is on sale in the uk now for £319 to the 16GB Wi-Fi just model. £379 will net a 32GB Wi-Fi just model, while £429 will snag a tablet with 16GB regarding storage and 4G LTE online connectivity. Theres no established word yet on whether or not the tablet will go to the wider release, although considering the fact that the US has only recently been treated to the older Xperia Z2 product, my hopes arent high on an imminent release.

Pattern

The Z3 Tablet Compact is not a bad looking part of kit at almost all. Its crisp light design is nice and clean and very, very skeletal -- 6. 4mm thicker, to be specific. While its slender size means it looks good along with feels comfortable to hold (also helped by the soft-touch matte coating for the back), it does feel an affect fragile. Make sure it is not beneath your rump after you sit down for the sofa.

It incorporates a 16: 9 feature ratio, meaning its a lot longer than it really is wide. By comparability, the iPad Mini incorporates a 4: 3 rate, making it somewhat more square. Sonys size causes it to become a little much better for watching films in landscape inclination, as you wont see those awful black bars. Its narrower shape causes it to become easier to slide in a pocket, although theres lots of wasted space at the top and bottom, which make it a tad too long to comfortably house as part of your jeans.

Like all of those other Z3 range -- and even the Z2 Supplement -- the Z3 tablet is completely waterproof. Crucially, that keeps the tablet safe from spilled glasses of coffee in your lounge room. It also means that you could lay back in the hot bubble bath tub, casually browsing Netflixs cabinets, safe in the data that it wont conk out in the event you drop it inside water.

Tucked to the skinny edges you will discover the 3. 5mm headphone jack port, the charging port (hidden beneath the waterproof flap for the bottom) and the microSD card position (hidden under a flap for the side). Theres space close to the microSD card for the SIM card likewise, but only in the event you plump for the 4G-enabled version.

Display

The particular 8-inch display is full HD (1, 920x1, 080 pixels) and that is less than youd probably find on both iPad Minis Retina display or for the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S. It is a resolution more commonly available on smartphones -- despite the fact that even LGs 5. 5-inch G3 incorporates a higher 2, 560x1, 440-pixel resolution. Although on paper that could be a little unsatisfying, in reality, the Z3 tablets screen can be quite crisp and its tough to see much difference between this and the iPad Minis Retina exhibit.

Icons and text look sharp along with crisp and the arsenal of high resolution test images almost all looked great. Its helped by the screens brightness, and that is bordering on supernova degrees of luminosity, as well because vivid colours. Viewing angles are good, so should you have a few people crowding round the screen watching Shia LaBeouf Live on YouTube, youll all get a good view with the screen.

Its a very good screen overall and its particular strong colours make it well suited for watching videos along with movies. No, I do not think its lacking in pixels as a result, but it would likely have put the tablet in the stronger position to complete battle against the other tablet big children if Sony had chucked in a few more pixels.

Android computer software

The latest Android 4. 4. several KitKat runs the show, over which Sony has pasted the same user interface you will discover on most regarding its phones. Its obvious to use and contains some handy tweaks such as a menu next for the app tray that lets you reorganise the apps which has a tap.

Sony has packed the interface which has a whole host regarding extras too, not that are welcome. There are one or two good additions -- the PS4 link for example is pretty cool, which Ill come to next and it guide app is going to be welcome to telly addicts -- but nearly all of it is litter. Youll find applications from Garmin, AVG along with Kobo already mounted, not to mention quite a lot of Sony applications, few of which in turn Id ever be inclined to stir up.

Throw inside various widgets already present for the homescreens as well and the tablet really starts off to feel rather cluttered before you might have even downloaded the first app. Mercifully, the widgets can be removed and much of the preinstalled software can be uninstalled. I suggest you do away with everything you tend not to need before doing anything so as to quite literally remove the slate clean.

PlayStation 4 screen sharing

A cool feature generally speaking Z3 range is the ability to use the tablet to be a display for the PlayStation 4. The PS4 gaming console does the processing with the games, but it streams this article to your product, letting you engage in the games on your own tablets screen, while your TELEVISION is off or being utilized for something else. The idea is that you could carry on participating in your game when you attend bed, when your second half demands the TELEVISION or, of training course, when youre for the toilet. Brilliant.

I took the feature for the test drive along with found it amazing, although a very little hit and pass up. Its easy to set up -- fire the PS4 Link app and itll search for your console on a single network. Hook up the PS4 controller in your tablet over Bluetooth and there after, you operate it exactly as you would in the event you were playing for the TV.

Actual gameplay isnt brilliant however. The frame fee when playing Last People: Remastered dropped at times, and the gameplay could freeze up for the second. In slow-paced elements of the game its easy to ignore the falls in quality along with play on. Inside heat of challenge however -- or perhaps in active online games like Trials Development, where every split-second move with the joysticks is vital -- these falls can ruin the game.

Worse still were the connection drop-outs, where Id be unceremoniously thrown time for the PS4 Hyperlink app start screen. I could get five minutes possibly even of mostly uninterrupted gameplay, so its not terrible at all, but its most certainly not a polished, finished product. Its early times though and in fact has just grow to be available so theres likely to end up a few bugs to work on.

Its fair to mention though that if youre a keen game lover and want the top performance and clean gameplay to dominate the ranks in the online Call Associated with Duty battle, PS4 Hyperlink wont keep a person happy. For casual levelling high on slower-paced games because you sit on the porcelain throne, it has a lot more promise. I dont suggest you purchase the tablet solely for this specific purpose, but if youre a PS4 user already and buying a tablet, its certainly grounds to consider the Z3 Tablet over every other Android slate. Ill be examining this further on the coming days along with weeks so check more of the impressions.

Processor, battery pack and camera efficiency

Inside is the 2. 5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor chip, teamed up which has a hearty 3GB regarding RAM, which had been very capable through my testing. Even with the wide range of unnecessary software improvements, its still swift and trouble-free to be able to navigate. Web browsing had been nippy and all of the essential everyday applications were tackled with no hesitation.

High definition online video media streaming on Netflix had been easily handled too and it turned its hands well to strenuous games like Asphalt 8 and Lavish Theft Auto: San Andreas -- which has been best played using a PS4 controller connected over Bluetooth. The idea scored 19, 887 for the Quadrant benchmark test out, putting it inside same ballpark because supercharged Xperia Z3 smart dataphone (20, 425). In short, the tablet has adequate power for anything you likely will throw at it.

Sony possesses stuffed a several, 500mAh battery to the wafer-thin body, which is a decent size. It managed to keep going for almost 13 hours in our video-looping test out, which isnt in any respect bad -- although the iPad Mini only two achieved almost 14 hours on a single test. How you will find the battery lifestyle will really be based upon how you are likely to use tablets.

In case you keep it to you all day, getting referrals on your commute and with it as a laptop replacement, you will without doubt need to give it the full charge at nights. If, however, a tablet available for you is more to the home -- sofa-surfing later in the day and watching many Netflix while cooking -- then the charge every other day is likely to suffice.

The 8-megapixel camera for the back is a huge step down through the 20. 7-megapixel camera you will discover on the Z3 mobile phones, but having the phenomenal camera over a tablet is a smaller amount important. The camera isnt brilliant at all -- theres absolutely no LED flash, to help you discount dim pictures of ones food -- although its sufficient intended for quick snaps of ones dog being adorable inside back garden. The 2-megapixel front-facing camera is okay for video dialling or awful selfies -- providing that youre in reasonable light.