technology
Nokia teases upcoming Lumia “more than your eyes can see”
Nokia has started teasing the public about its upcoming Nokia device that will be announced tomorrow morning (May 14) at 5am ET. The video shows the device's camera, its "dual" flash and teasing "more than your eyes can see". Most expect Nokia to release the much rumored Lumia "Catwalk". The "Catwalk" is a rumored codename for a device that is expected to have a 1.5GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor, 4.5" octaOLED display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a 8.
Websites can now save directly to your Google Drive
If I want to save a web hosted file on Google drive, I have to download it to my PC then upload it to Google Drive. Google has now released a simple code snippet developers can add to their sites which will allow users to download files directly to their Google Drive (called "Save to Drive"). <script src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script> <div class="g-savetodrive" data-filename="My Statement.pdf" data-sitename="My Company Name" src="/path/to/myfile.pdf"> </div> Read the Google blog post here.
Boston switches from Microsoft to Google services
Google has been on the offensive trying to convince customers to move from Microsoft to it's cloud services. Over the year, we have heard many high profile switches and now the city of Boston is jumping ship (and taking its 20,000 users with it). The city estimates that switching from Exchange to Google Gmail will save it $280,000 per year It’s not just the gee whiz factor: It’s also a matter of money. It will cost Boston around $800,000 to move over to Gmail, Google Docs for word processing, and Google’s cloud service for storing documents.
FocusTwist is a Lytro alternative for the iPhone
FocusTwist from Arqspin on Vimeo. FocusTwist is a fresh app that simulates the Light Field Technology intriduced by Lytro (only it costs $2 instead of $400). The app takes several pictures at different focus settings and then creates a Lytro style interactive picture that can be "re-focused" after the fact. It works best with subjects that don't move in well lit conditions. You can see sample picture taken by existing users and shared on twitter here.
KLYPAPP for iPhone review - take pictures by clapping (free app)
My go to camera app on the iPhone is Camera+ but I thought some of you may find this useful so I am sharing it. Klypapp is a new app by Manfrotto, the kingpin of photo accessories and enables you to take pictures by simply clapping your hands (great for group shots you want to be in). It has a basic settings menu where you can set timer, delay, number of photos per activation, etc. There is a night mode that increases the camera's sensitivity (clearer shot in darker situations but a hige increase in noise).
Best video recording app for the iPhone
For most iPhone owners, the built-in camera and video app is more than enough. For the rest of us, there is FiLMiC Pro. Best App Ever Awards: video nominee 2011, 2012 Best App Ever finalist, Tap! Magazine Gizmodo Essential App 2011, 2012 Best Video App of 2011 - TUAW, Editors Pick 5 Stars, Editors Review, cnet.com App of the Week, Time.com/Techland Editorʼs Choice - Wired, Film Riot, Macworld During the Zacuto "Revenge of the Great Camera Shoot Out"
Samsung pushing OTA update for Canadian Galaxy S4 devices
SamMobile is reporting that Samsung is pushing an update (I337MVLUAMDJ) to its Kies servers. This is typically the first step of the general availability of an Over The Air update. Based on their analysis, it seems to be a bug fix release improving performance and stability. Typically the update should become available in the next week or so.
Facebook may be interested in WAZE GPS
Mark Zuckerberg is clearly taking mobile very seriously and want premium placement on your smartphone. We all heard of the Instagram acquisition last year and the release of Facebook home [for select Android phones]. Israeli newspaper Calcalilst is now reporting that Facebook may be interested in snapping up Waze. Acquiring Waze and mapping users to their Facebook accounts would provider incredibly valuable signals to the social goliath it can use to further target ads. It will be interesting to see if this $1 billion deal actually materializes and if it does, how Waze's existing users will react.
#OPUSA Looks like some Saudi anonymous groups have joined in
Site hacked : http://2flirt.us
#OPUSA 5000 Facebook accounts hacked
http://pastebin.com/NRvmnYFe #OpUSA5000 Facebook Hacked By Mauritania AttackerGreetz To All AnonGhost Memberz Link: pastebin.com/NRvmnYFe — Anon Ghost (@An0nGhost) May 7, 2013
#OPUSA 608 hacked websites
This link shows a list of all hacked websites http://pastebin.com/evHAziX7 When you go to one of the hacked sites in this list, you see
#OPUSA is scheduled today
#OpUSA is an Anonymous attack on targetted USA websites scheduled for today (May 7 2013) So far we have seen the following: Defacement Embassy of Cape Verde in the US http://www.minsaude.gov.cv/x.html DB User Table Leaked - Blood Bank of USA http://bloodbanker.com/ Info sumped here : http://pastebin.com/fUmPjPDt I blurred part of the screenshot Defacement - firstcommunitybank.us Site has been cleaned up and all traces of the defacement are gone.
Microsoft SkyDrive celebrates 250 million users
Since the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft has been under attack about forcing users to a less usable Operating System. That is why its doubly nice to see Microsoft having cause to celebrate. Microsoft is celebrating 250 million SkyDrive users. Microsoft is forcing Windows 8 on consumers buying a new PC and SkyDrive is intimately tied into windows 8 so it is logical that the giant's online cloud storage service got a bump in usage. It is a decent competitor to Google Drive, Box and Sugarsync but falls short of Dropbox.
IOS 7 to debut at WWDC 2013
Many IOS users are anxiously waiting to see how the Jonathan Ive lead IOS 7 will look and perform. Every rumor I have read indicates that the new look will be very flat (like Windows phone 8). The rumor mill is saying Apple is "late" but like Rene Ritchie (from iMore.com) said, they can't be late for a product they haven't announced. Many trusted sources have confirmed that developers have been pulled from other groups to help speed up IOS 7 development.
Apple AppStore almost at 50 billion downloads
As the app download race continues, Apple may be the first to the 50 billionth download. Apple will be awarding a $US10,000 gift certificate to the person that makes that magical download. The next 50 people will be given $US500 gift cards. As I write this, the count is at: Link to countdown timer.
Samsung Galaxy S4 available in Canada
The much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 is now available to all Canadians wanting to use Samsung's "Life Companion". Most carriers are showing limited quantity warnings but delivery is 1-2 weeks (which is very good). We know pre-orders are strong in the US and Canada is usually fairly similar. Here are the provideer pages: Videotron Bell Fido Koodo Rogers Telus Virgin Mobile
Google's self-driving cars see 750MB of data per second
Google's self driving cars are an amazing achievement and likely will herald the future of personal transportation. We now learn that 750MB per second. Google's Self-Driving Car gathers almost 1 GB per SECOND. Here's what it "sees" making a left turn: twitter.com/Bill_Gross/sta… — Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) April 30, 2013 Bill Gross snapped (supposedly) the above image at an XPrize event. He says on his blog : "If it sees a cigarette butt, it knows a person might be creeping out from between cars.
LG designing a new Nexus phone
Putting aside all the supply issues related to the Nexus 4, this device really put LG back on the smartphone map. NowKorea Time is reporting that LG is already hard at work designing the next version of the Google branded uber-phone. Considering when the Nexus 4 was released, I doubt we'll see the Nexus 5 during this month's Google IO but we'll have to wait and see.
Best rechargeable batteries
I often get emails asking me which rechargeable batteries I personally use... The answer is SANYO ENELOOP rechargeable batteries. I wrote a review about them here. Hope this helps