Playstation Phone

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Engadget has published the first unofficial pics of what appears to be the much-rumored PlayStation phone, which looks like the result of mating a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 with a PSP Go.

According to the report, the (obviously) prototype device – codenamed “Zeus” – sports a touchscreen display in the 3.7 to 4.1-inch size range with a minimum WVGA resolution. On the front are four basic face buttons with a slider sporting the familiar PlayStation face buttons, shoulder buttons and a long multitouch touchpad in place of the analogue joysticks.

The phone also reportedly features a 5-megapixel camera and will be powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor with 512MB of RAM and 1GB of ROM. Although there’s no Memory Stick slot, there is support for microSD cards. The prototype is apparently running Android 2.X but engadget predicts it will ship with Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) when released... probably in 2011.

Responding to calls that the images and details are fake, engadget is adamant its claims are true, saying the information comes from multiple, trusted sources including some people closely connected to the project.

There has been no official announcement from Sony – "Sony Ericsson does not comment on rumors, speculation or unannounced products."

Article Source:
[1] http://www.gizmag.com/playstation-phone/16758/

New Mozilla Customizeable Interface

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In the not-too-distant past most of those who wanted to get online would do so using Internet Explorer. These days though, we are somewhat spoilt by the number of different browsers on offer. But for some that's still not enough - we need to personalize our browser experience. Instead of just skinning a browser to fit in with a particular style or mood, Mozilla Labs is proposing stripping away the user interface (UI) layer altogether and replacing it with a flexible platform where a user can create a new UI using a little web technology savvy.

Seasoned developers can of course modify the UI on many browsers now. Much of what you see in Firefox for instance - the browser chrome - is implemented using a technology called XUL (XML User Interface Language). XUL can be tweaked and twisted to great effect by coding veterans but other potential creative talents might find it hard work. Mozilla Labs has therefore launched a new experiment codenamed "Chromeless" that looks to open up certain sections of a browser to anyone familiar with standard web technologies like HTML, CSS or JavaScript.

The current implementation of the experimental platform brings together a number of Mozilla developments to present the would-be UI developer with a blank canvas running on an XULRunner application. But instead of loading XUL, the main part of the application is an HTML file with extra privileges, such as the ability to access JavaScript modules. This is intended to give the user the opportunity to create a custom browser UI in about the same time as it takes to write a web page.

Mozilla Labs is currently at the pre-alpha prototype phase where the application is capable of loading an HTML page and rendering a browser UI. Anyone wanting to get involved in the experiment is invited to download the source code and instructions from the Chromeless website and start tweaking. Feedback can then be given to the team through the Mozilla Labs Group or by using the #labs tag on irc.mozilla.org.

Specific application programming interfaces (API) that cater for more meaningful UI construction, and the integration of security features to keep Internet content contained within a restricted zone have been penciled in for the next stages of development. The final part of the experiment will be to wrap it all up in a set of development tools "to make it easy to get started with remixing the browser."

Article Source:
Paul Ridden, http://www.gizmag.com/mozilla-chromeless-custom-user-interface-experiment/16717/

virtual tour guide in a pair of glasses

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At this year's CEATEC conference in Chiba, Japan, Docomo previewed the AR Walker augmented reality application that uses a tiny display screen mounted on a pair of glasses, rather than on a mobile phone screen like Layar or other AR apps. While the AR Walker application is not by itself anything new, being able to see annotations of the world around you without having to view it through a mobile phone's camera display is. Docomo has come one step closer to the fictional augmented reality glasses that anime fans might remember from the TV series Dennou Coil, where children wore glasses to view virtual objects superimposed over the real world.

The glasses don't come without some inconvenience however, because they must be connected to your mobile phone upon which the AR application in running. The result is a cumbersome mess of wires, though I should clarify the project is still in the experimental stages.

For the company's walking tour demonstration at CEATEC, the application was operating on Docomo's Windows Mobile based HTC phone, which was then connected to a pair of glasses. I had to stand in a sort of "mock Kyoto" for the demo, comprised of three big screens displaying the street view: one to the front, and one on each side of me.

Through your right eye on the glasses' QVGA display (320x240) you can see an animated mushroom, Docomo's mascot Docomo-Dake, who guides you on your way. Our demo took us through the streets of Kyoto, and the AR annotations explaining the environment were prompted according to which direction you faced. When you look up in the sky, the eye display shows you weather information. Look to the right and you see details of the restaurant on the right-hand side. Off to the left you'll see an annotated view of the inn on the left.

Article Source:
http://www.gizmag.com/docomos-ar-walker-is-a-virtual-tour-guide-in-a-pair-of-glasses/16579/

world's first general purpose computer to life

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Charles Babbage was the quintessential "man ahead of his time". In the mid 19th century the English mathematician and inventor developed the concept of a programmable computer and designed complex, steam-powered calculating engines that were never completed during his lifetime. One of these machines – the Difference Engine – was successfully constructed using Babbage's original plans in 1991 and now programmer John Graham-Cumming is on a mission to build a working replica of a second, more complex computing machine known as the Analytical Engine.

Babbage invented the first Difference Engine in 1821. Designed to perform mathematical calculations, the machine would have been made up of 25,000 parts, weighed 15 tons and stretched to 8 ft in height – so portable isn't a word that would apply. Babbage worked on a prototype which was never completed, but some parts of his early attempts to construct the machine survived and are on display at the Museum of Science in London.

Reference and Further Reading:
[1] Noel McKeegan, http://www.gizmag.com/babbage-analytical-engine-replica/16669/

next gen graphing Casio calculator

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A quarter of a century after introducing the world's first graphing calculator, Casio has announced its next generation model that's been designed to deliver graphs and statistical data as they appear in color textbooks. The PRIZM gets a new, modern body design, offers high resolution color graphics and gives students the opportunity to plot graphs over background image curves and then discover the math functions used to create them.

Casio's new PRIZM (fx-CG10) graphing calculator's outer shell now benefits from a more modern, mobile phone-like appearance. Above the rows of input buttons is a high resolution 82,944 dot, 3.7-inch color LCD screen that's said to offer a textbook-like display. There's 61,440 byte program and 16MB storage capacity and the power consumption of 0.6W is claimed to translate to 140 hours of use on four AAA-sized alkaline batteries.

Casio has included something called the Picture Plot function which enables "students to experiment by creating their own graphs over pictures of real-life scenes, and then understand the functions from the graphs that they created on their own." Once the graph has been plotted over any one of 55 types of color images of real-life curved shapes such as the parabola of jets from a water fountain, the student can then perform regression calculations to help them understand what math functions were used to generate the graph overlay.

The PRIZM comes pre-loaded with 40 images which can be used in eight of the calculator's 15 applications and also features a Color Link function that matches spreadsheet values to colors used in graphs to help students better understand changes in trends and values.

The 0.81 x 3.52 x 7.42-inch (20.57 x 89.4 x 188.46mm) graphing calculator has a USB 2.0 port for hooking up to Casio's GREEN SLIM data projectors for display to the whole class or direct connection to a computer to allow students to share calculations using Casio's manager software.

Casio says that the PRIZM will be available from January 2011 for a suggested retail price of US$129.

Reference:
[1] Paul Riden, http://www.gizmag.com/casio-prizm-color-display-graphing-calculator/16625/

high performance, low power usage e-display

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According to University of Cincinnati electrical and computer engineer Jason Heikenfeld, there are two types of electronic devices: things such as e-readers, that require little power but have displays with limited performance, and devices such as smartphones and laptops, that display bright, full-color moving video, but that guzzle batteries. After seven years of development, however, Heikenfeld and collaborators from Gamma Dynamics are now presenting a new type of electronic display. They claim that their “zero-power” electrofluidic system combines the energy efficiency of the one type of device, with the high performance of the other.

Article Source:
http://www.gizmag.com/zero-power-electronic-display/16589/

Open Web Concept Phone with Vrtual Keyboard

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As laptop computers continue to shrink in size and mobile phones become more and more powerful, can it be that long before the two merge into a device with the portability of a mobile phone and the functionality of a laptop? While it is just a matter of time before the power of a fully-fledged PC can be crammed inside a device the size of a mobile phone, our fingers aren't getting any smaller so overcoming the problems of interacting with such a small device will require some creative thinking. Creative thinking like that of designer Billy May who has come up with a mobile phone concept called the “Seabird” that is designed to address some of the frustrations people face when using such physically small devices.

May developed the concept phone as part of Mozilla Labs’ Concept Series, which asked people to share ideas and develop concepts around Firefox, the Mozilla projects and the Open Web as a whole. In early 2009, May, who also came up with the Hindsight concept glasses, developed a throwaway concept for an “Open Web Concept Phone”. In response to community feedback on that concept he developed the Seabird that explores what an Open Web phone might look like and how one would interact with it.
Virtual keyboard

The popularity of standard 3 x 4 keypads has declined as the popularity of smartphones has increased and the capabilities of mobile phones have expanded, to the point where QWERTY keypads – be they physical, such as those found on a BlackBerry, or onscreen, such as those found on the iPhone – are now the norm. Still, the size of these miniaturized keyboards is less than ideal, which is why May has opted for a full-sized QWERTY keyboard using a couple of in-built pico projectors.

Article Source, and Further Reading :
http://www.gizmag.com/seabird-open-web-mobile-phone-concept/16475/