But that's set to change come mid-2010, when a tech upgrade will make it easier for users of consumer electronics to exchange files between electronic gadgets.
The new technology, called Wi-Fi Direct, will be built directly into consumer electronics and automatically scan the vicinity for existing hotspots and the gamut of Wi-Fi equipped devices, including phones, computers, TVs, and gaming consoles. Owners of most existing Wi-Fi-enabled devices will be able to upgrade to Wi-Fi Direct with a simple software download.
This technology will effectively turn gadgets into mini access points, able to create wireless connections with other Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets or broadband modems within a radius of about 300 feet. The alliance includes Intel (INTC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Apple (AAPL), and more than 300 other makers of the equipment that runs Wi-Fi networks, often used to provide wireless Web connections in homes, cafés, hotels, and airports.
Reference: Business Week
Adobe, which makes Photoshop, introduced Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone, a Photoshop Lite program to tweak and add effects to camera phone shots on the iPhone. It's not to be confused with its big brother Photoshop desktop application, which sells for $599.
Technology is a fast moving and growing industry and marketers are now starting to utilizes the potential of some of these mediums of technology to there advantage. One that I will be talking about is video's in print.After that, the reader/viewer can push a spot on the cardboard insert that holds the screen and watch a clip of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men." Push another to see a preview of the new crime-investigation spinoff "NCIS: Los Angeles." Another delivers an ad for PepsiCo Inc., which is helping fund the promotion.
The player, developed and made by Americhip Inc. of Los Angeles, is much like the chips that play music in some greeting cards and magazine ads and is rechargeable.
The audio quality is good, but beware: There are no volume controls, and in a quiet environment, it’s prettyloud. This is surely a intentional design feature, aimed at getting the attention of people nearby.
Upon getting to the ad, there is a 5-second delay before anything happens — there is enough on the page to probably hold the unassuming reader’s attention for that long, if nothing else the eerie stare from Neil Patrick Harris — and then a 5-second still promo before the promo for the player’s developer, Americhip.
As impressive as this step is, the true marriage of print and digital multimedia still seems quite far off, and eons away from the streaming updates in the newspapers of Minority Report fame.
Sony's new "bendable" and transparent organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology is being shown in prototypes featuring an OLED a mere 0.2 mm thick. The prototype devices are a Vaio notebook, a flexible e-book, and a Walkman bracelet.Sony demonstrated an OLED television in 2008 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a flexible 0.2 mm thick OLED audio player at this year's show. Several other companies, such as Samsung and LG, are also working on flexible OLED displays.
The devices on show at CEATEC JAPAN are all at the concept stage and there is no indication of when, or even if, they will ever be marketed.
So I am sure that you have all noticed the bar code doodle logo that Google is using today. They are using it for the celebration of the 57th anniversary of the invention of the bar code.Mr Silver and Mr Woodland, a fellow graduate student and teacher at Drexel, first tried using patterns of ink that glowed under ultraviolet light, but it proved too expensive and unreliable.
Mr Woodland then came up with the linear bar code, and later replaced the lines with circles so that they could be scanned from any angle. The pair patented their “bull’s eye” design the next year.
The bar code was first trialled in 1966, and in 1970, the familiar Universal Product Code (UPC) design, still used around the world, was agreed on as an industry standard.
The first item to be scanned using UPC was a packet of Wrigley’s chewing gum at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, in June 1974.
Neither inventor made a fortune on the idea because they sold the patent in 1952 for a moderate sum before it was commercialized.
Mr Silver never even witnessed the bar code’s success, having died in a car crash in 1962.
Reference: Telegraph.co.uk
The new Sony PSP Go was launched this week, it has gotten some various opinions and reviews. The PSP Go has a slick new look with a crisp clear screen to the new gaming format. The PSP Go is a sleek-looking device, which is 16 percent lighter and 35 percent smaller than its predecessor, the PSP 3000. The screen has shrunk to 3.8 inches from 4.3 inches. The Go supports Bluetooth but, most importantly, the UMD drive is gone. That means all content, including games, must be saved to the device's 16GB internal memory or a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card. The Go retails for $250, and it looks like a 16GB Memory Stick Micro card will set you back somewhere between $60 and $80.Sony will be releasing software called Media Go to help users manage the PSP's content on their PC (this replaces the older, and not terribly useful, Sony Media Manager software). The company is also promising a feature called "Sense Me" that will analyze your music library to play music based on a mood you choose.
Again, it appears the existing interoperability between the PS3 and the PSP line will be carried over to the PSP Go. That includes the ability to cross-load some games and media, as well as the Remote Play option (access PS3-based content from the PSP over the Internet).
References: PCWorld.com and CNET.com
How would you like to print out your photos on the go. Now you can with the Polaroid PoGo - short for Polaroid-on-the-go - is a pocket-sized, ink-free digital photo printer that produces full-color photos wirelessly from Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and via PictBridge from digital cameras. Weighing only eight ounces, Polaroid PoGo™ provides consumers with a convenient solution for sharing digital images trapped on cell phones and digital cameras. Connecting via Bluetooth or PictBridge, Polaroid PoGo uses a revolutionary ZINK Zero Ink Zero Hassles Printing Technology to produce borderless, full-color, 2-inch by 3-inch prints in less than 60 seconds.
The days of standing in front of the mirror or asking some stranger to take a picture of you and girlfriend are over with the new Samsung ST550. The ST550's breakthrough 1.5" Front LCDSelf Portrait of you and your friends without leaving anyone left out to hold the camera. It also features Children Mode for fun, engaging, and simple animation that captures those special expressions only kids can make. This camera also has a brilliant 1,152K High Resolution before you take your first shot? How about the ST550's vibration and audio feedback technology that reacts to your touch? After all, you don't want any of life's special moments to pass you by. And with the ST550's super clear 800 X 480 display and innovative Haptic sensor technology, your camera will let you know what you're doing with every click, swish and hum of the controls.
