HTC One smartphone launch by April

HTC One

HTC Corp said its latest smartphone, the HTC One, will roll out in three countries next week, but sales will be delayed in North America and other countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. 

HTC, which originally said it would launch the phone in 80 countries in March, recently said in a statement that sales would not kick off before the end of April across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. 

The smartphone maker has been under pressure from bigger rivals Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. The company said it has seen "unprecedented demand for and interest in" the new smartphone. 

"We appreciate our customers' patience, and believe that once they have the phone in their hands they will agree that it has been worth the wait," HTC said.

Nokia's 41 Megapixel Camera Mobile Phone

Nokia's 41 Megapixel Camera Mobile Phone

Nokia ignited a bit of a controversy on Monday when it unveiled a smartphone with a 41 megapixel camera sensor dubbed the 808 PureView. Yes, you read that right—41 megapixels, not 14, or 4.1. It will soon be possible to buy a smartphone with as many megapixels as some low-end, medium-format digital SLRs.


Has Nokia completely succumbed to the megapixel myth? Well, no. Instead of positioning the PureView as the smartphone equivalent of a professional digital camera, Nokia is turning the conventional thinking that originally drove the increasing pixel counts of digital cameras on its head, and developing novel ways to exploit an overabundance of pixel data.


While we think there is room to criticize Nokia's specific implementation, there are plenty of good ideas wrapped in the "PureView technology" rubric that we think other smartphone makers—or for that matter, digital camera manufacturers—should consider.


Ridiculous megapixel counts


Forty-one megapixels is, on its face, a seemingly ridiculous number. Many current smartphones struggle to produce decent images even at a more common 8MP. Current compact cameras max out at about 16MP, and even top-end digital SLRs rarely reach pixel counts beyond 20 million or so.


The highest megapixel count on a conventional DSLR to date is Nikon's recently announced D800, which tops out at 36MP. And even that camera, which contains a full-frame 35mm sensor (24 x 36mm), has been criticized for having an overabundance of pixels crammed into the sensor.


The reason for the criticism is fairly simple. With all other factors being the same, capturing a higher number of pixels with a given sensor size means the individual photodiodes at each pixel location are smaller. Generally speaking, the smaller the photodiode, the less sensitive it is to light. Smaller sizes also mean that a smaller number of photons can saturate the diode, reducing dynamic range. And smaller sensors also mean decreased sharpness due to diffraction.


So, if the relatively large sensor on the D800 can suffer these effects with full-size professional lenses at 36MP, how can we honestly expect great performance from a much smaller, smartphone-sized sensor, its corresponding tiny lens, and a seemingly astronomical 41MP count?


If the 808 PureView were intended to be a 41MP camera, you would be justified in criticizing Nokia engineers' sanity. However, Nokia made some design decisions, such as utilizing a relatively large 1/1.2" sensor, to improve performance. Also, it's exploiting the high megapixel count to do interesting things such as oversampling to reduce noise, and creating one of the first usable "digital zoom" features to grace a compact camera.


Nokia says that its 808 PureView is merely the first smartphone to launch with its PureView technology, so it stands to reason that the company will exploit the technology in future models. We also think the ideas behind the technology are smart ones—more on that shortly—so don't be utterly surprised to see the megapixel counts of smartphones suddenly skyrocket if other vendors decide to implement similar features.


Bad news first


The 808 PureView runs Nokia's ancient Symbian operating system. Not only does this mean you'll be stuck in the relative smartphone dark ages if you opt for its impressive photography specs, it also means this particular model will probably never officially make it to US shores. 


Though the iPhone 4 and 4S have gained significant popularity among casual shooters for its image quality, the iPhone is still a smartphone first, with camera capability added on—and the same can be said of most Android and Windows Phone 7 handsets. Many serious photographers would still prefer to have something more like a camera first, with smartphone features grafted on.


The Nokia N8 was a step in this direction with its 12MP sensor, Carl Zeiss lens, and proper xenon flash. The 808 PureView is another step in this direction, with the smartphone's size largely dictated by its internal hardware. To maintain comparable noise response to today's smartphones, Nokia had to use a relatively gargantuan sensor. Most smartphones today use a 1/3.2" sensor, roughly measuring about 4.5 x 3.4mm, and with 8MP that makes each pixel about 1.4 microns apart. To keep the same pixel pitch with 41MP, the 808 PureView has a 1/1.2" sensor that's roughly 10.8 x 7.5mm in size. That's over 5 times larger than typical smartphone sensors, and larger than the sensors used in most compact cameras sold today.


A larger sensor also requires a larger lens relative to smaller sensors. And, the 808's xenon flash tube and its power capacitors likewise require far more physical space than the meager white LEDs that pass for flashes on most smartphones. With such beefy hardware, it's no surprise that the 808 PureView is a bulky 18mm thick where the camera is positioned. That makes other smartphones seem wafer-thin in comparison, with the Samsung Galaxy SII measuring 9.9mm at its thickest point, and the iPhone 4S just 9.3mm.


So, if you want one of the most advanced smartphone cameras on the market, you'll have to settle for a brick in your pocket running yesteryear's operating system.


But boy, what an upside


On the other hand, Nokia has made, judging from specs and early samples alone, one of the best smartphone cameras on the market. For one thing, the 808 PureView is actually, by default, a 5MP camera. If the camera is making images with just 5MP, though, why bother with the huge 41MP sensor?


The answer is oversampling. At its default 5MP setting, every pixel in the finished image corresponds to about eight pixels on the sensor. This oversampling helps reduce noise, increase color accuracy, and increase sharpness.


Digital photo sensors are typically only sensitive to brightness, not color, which would result in a monochromatic, black and white image. To record color, sensors are covered with a patterned array of red, green, and blue filters known as a Bayer filter. By filtering the light that hits each pixel, some pixels record the intensity of red light, some blue, and some green. To determine a red, green, and blue value for each pixel location, the missing values for each pixel are interpolated from surrounding pixels.


Since each pixel in a finished 5MP image on the 808 PureView gets data from eight different pixel locations on the sensor, a value for red, green, and blue can be determined without extra interpolation. Furthermore, noise caused by some pixels returning random or inaccurate values is effectively averaged out by combining data from more than one pixel location. This results in more accurate color and reduced noise overall.


Additionally, oversampling reduces the softening effects of the Bayer filter, the anti-aliasing filter, and diffraction of the tiny lens, resulting in sharper images.


This type of oversampling is actually something you have probably seen quite often without even realizing it. If you have ever viewed an image in Photoshop at less than 100 percent view, you have seen the same effect. It's also the same kind of oversampling that is done when you reduce an image to a smaller size. Anyone with enough experience knows that if an image isn't super sharp or if it looks a little noisy at full resolution, that image will look much better printed at a small size or displayed on a screen at, say, 600-800 pixels wide. (It's also the same reason that images that may be noisy or soft can look sharp on the screen of your camera or smartphone.)

A sample 41MP image captured in bright daylight at ISO 55. Detail is quite sharp.
Nokia

Cropped at 100 percent, detail is still quite sharp. However, even at ISO 55 there is visible noise. Oversampling would make the noise virtually disappear, though, as seen above.


In fact, the 808 PureView isn't even the first camera to implement such oversampling—it's just more commonly called "pixel-binning." Some compact cameras use this technique to offer special "high ISO" modes for low light, as long as you're wi lling to settle for reduced pixel resolution. The difference is that by default the 808 PureView uses pixel binning all the time.


Resource: arstechnica.com

SHAKER FLASHLIGHT

Shaker Flashlight

Most flashlights are battery powered. But this shaker flashlight is not like most flashlights; it does not need batteries. Instead, you – and a little elbow grease – provide the power. You shake it for a minute and voilà it is ready to light the way.

The light passing through a lens for this flashlight comes from an LED (light emitting diode). The advantage of an LED is that it is very efficient and doesn't take much electricity for an LED to make a lot of light.


The power for the LED comes from a coil of wire and a strong magnet in a tube. When you shake the flashlight, the magnet slides back and forth inside the tube. Each time the magnet slides through the coil, the magnet generates a pulse of electricity in the coil.


Now, you could simply connect the coil directly to an LED and the flashlight would work. However, there would be two problems. First, you would have to shake the flashlight as you are using it, which would make the flashlight tough to use. Second, the LED would be turning on and off with each shake.

To solve this problem, the flashlight also contains a part called a capacitor. A capacitor acts like a battery, but it has one big advantage over a battery. A capacitor charges instantly. With just a few shakes, the capacitor holds enough charge to light the LED. Then an on/off switch lets you connect the capacitor to the LED to light it up. So you shake the flashlight for a minute to charge up the capacitor. Then you flip the switch to let the energy stored in the capacitor light the LED.


There's one other necessary part - the bridge rectifier. It takes the electricity coming from the coil and flips it so it's always going in the right direction. Consider this - when the magnet slides through the coil one way, it creates a pulse of positive electricity. When the magnet slides the other way, it makes a negative pulse. The rectifier converts the negative pulse to a positive pulse, so the capacitor can store all the positive pulses.

Best eco friendly and greener concept music players

1. Skin Attachable Music Player that can be Powered by Body Heat:

Industrial designers Chih-Wei Wang and Shou-His Fu have come up with a perfectly pertinent concept - a music playback device that can be attached onto the user’s skin whenever they are exercising or taking a walk. Once attached, the user can switch on the power control and enjoy music without connecting any earphones to the device.

2. Sony Eclipse concept MP3 player that beats to Sustainable Music:

Industrial designer Hoang Nguyen has taken inspiration from the solar eclipse to create an environmentally friendly concept MP3 player that runs on renewable solar energy. Christened appropriately as the Sony Eclipse, the concept uses and integrates photovoltaic cells for its inherent power generation.

3. MP3 Player that is Powered by Kinetic Energy:

 

With a righteous green aim of reducing our dependence on non-renewable energy sources, industrial designer Matthew Smith has designed this gadget that can be powered by Kinetic Energy. The player features a built-in kinetic energy generator that completely disregards the need to charge the device or change batteries. Moreover, the built-in metal pads on the handgrip allow the user to read their heart rate while exercising!

4. Spin and Play MP3 player Powered by Pull of a String:

The S.MP3 designed by French designer Nicolas Cinguion, is a music player that plays green music. Though looking like a regular yo-yo toy, the radical technology imbibed in this gadget is truly innovative. When the string of the player is stretched, the resultant energy is converted into useful electricity, which then charges the built-in batteries.

5. The Chukka Kinetic Music Player - Powered by Electromagnetic Induction:

Contrived by UK designer Tom Mascall, this MP3 Player combines the usage of power supplied by electromagnetic induction with an exclusive design that interestingly encourages the user to literally play with it. Inside one of the main sections of this device, there is an electromagnetic inducer which converts any motion or vibration into an electric charge. So the more the device is twirled, twisted and played with, the more the charge is produced!

6. Regen - Music Player in the guise of a Yo-Yo Toy:

Conceived by designers Chris Aimone and Tomek Bartczak, Regen is another such music player that ingeniously utilizes the power drawn from the resultant kinetic energy, when a pull is given to its yo-yo string. Also equipped with an USB port, the surface of the yo-yo displays touchscreen functions like play, skip and stop. The jog wheel takes care of the forward and volume.

7. Shake MP3 Player - Charged by the Motion of Your Body:

Designed by Kenneth Tay, this prolific music player charges itself, by exploiting the kinetic energy produced by the motion, that is "shaking" of the body. An electromagnetic coil is connected to the battery, converting kinetic energy into electrical energy that charges the battery. The player connects to the computer via a USB cable through the headphone jack, making it easy to transfer songs as well as supporting conventional method of charging.

8. Self Powering MP3 Player Utilizing Green Technology:

Devised by Zhiliang Chen from Hong Kong, this music player is based upon the key dictum of espousing low energy consuming technology. Basically the gadget can power itself up using clean green energy, and in effect causing nil pollution.

9. Walnut MP3 Player concept offers melodious tunes when rolled!:

The Walnut Player, conceived by industrial designer YuKwang Kang, works on the principle to gather enough of renewable electricity when rolled (in the process converting the kinetic energy) to produce the sweetest tunes for visually impaired audiophiles. While making its user to comprehend Braille writing, the Walnut Player produces energy when he or she presses the sole button or the entire device with finger. Same actions are to be applied, to change tracks and adjust speaker volume.

10. Dancepants Media Player Powered by Kinetic Energy Source:

Designed by Inesa Malafej and Arunas Sukarevicius from Lithuania, this is another one of the innovative music players that utilizes motion - kinetic energy. The state of the art inverse dynamism of "Dancepants" fuels you to exercise in order to hear your beloved music. So as long as one keeps running or dancing he or she can be sure of not running out of battery.

Pollution Sensitive EPA Dress

Pollution Sensitive EPA Dress by 2nd Skin

EPA Dress

It is one thing to be concerned about a ‘bad hair day’, but imagine wearing smart fashion that alerts you to the threat of a stinky ‘bad air day’. Stephanie Sandstrom’s EPA Dress, currently on view in the San Francisco Exploratorium’s 2nd Skin Exhibition responds to bad air – and that’s not all, it cleverly creates the wrinkles to prove it! Looking crumpled and tired may no longer be an indicator of a late night out, but rather an intelligent way of interpreting your surroundings as well as detecting lurking health hazards. And if that’s not enough to get you totally charged up, consider the Piezing motion-powered dress that redefines future-forward fashion with femme-bot sex appeal.

Designer Sandstrom has embedded her EPA dress with sensors that are able to intelligently read the surrounding atmosphere and in turn create telling kinks in the fabric’s surface. On days when the air quality is particularly poor, the EPA dress looks as if it has been pulled out of the laundry bin or from the back of one’s closet. It’s a scary prospect to think that our clothes might take on a texture of their own, but if this is a viable way for us to see our true selves or rather the state of our environment, well then, we are all for it!.


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Sacred Ganga

5 Green Earbuds For Your Green Cell Phones

Everyone definitely would like listen to their favorite music clearly and naturally, using personal and portable gadget. Were the gadgets would be portable MP3 player, cell phone or even smartphone with headphones or ear buds. But between headphone and ear bud, it looks like that ear buds are considerably greener than the headphones. It is because the ear buds require fewer materials, although their sound quality could not match headphones.

But the less materials usage doesn’t automatically change ear buds as a green gadget. These gadgets can be recycled or decomposed naturally when they reach their lifespan so that these are categorized as green gadgets. To achieve that, many manufacturers now produce ear buds from wood which is more environmentally friendly. Wood also provides natural sound, a quality that can not be offered by plastic or metal.

Although the ear buds are more environmentally friendly, they’re not optimal yet in delivering sounds that have been treated with surround technology like DTS, which has now also been found on the LG Optimus 3D smartphone or Sony’s wireless headphones which are also already equipped with Dolby Prologic II.

But who cares if environmental friendliness is a priority compared to the pragmatic satisfaction. So here are some great green ear buds you can count into consideration. Their price varies based on the comfortability and quality requirement.

Mint Battery – Shake to Charge

Mint Battery – Shake to Charge

The Mint Battery is a concept gadget that explores the use of kinetic energy to keep an AA battery charged. Rather than using energy from a wall socket or solar panel the Mint Battery looks in to the idea of being able to shake the battery to create charge.

To fit everything needed to make it work the Shakenergy Mint Battery is about half the capacity of a regular rechargeable battery (maybe 750mAh - 1000mAh). What the concept shows is the charging unit being placed at the bottom of the cylinder and the half sized battery sitting just above that.

As it's only a concept it is unknown if the Shakenergy will ever be made. Various factors such as charge time also need to be taken in to consideration. Still, a quite cool idea though regardless of it being practical or not.

Infinit Solar Charger Bag

Where our world has been highly affected with pollution and external hazards, scientists are researching continuously about eco-friendly products which might be helpful for our next generations. As the human beings are approaching toward an unknown destination by use of modern science and technology and making of destructive weapons and environmental hazards, time has come to think about positive changes to save our next generations, otherwise we may watch the explosions form our planet very soon.

Every hour, sun is omitting as much light which is enough to use for humanity for their all year requirements and a large amount of wastage. This energy is much to charge our all the gadgets around the world and utilize this solar power for the benefits of our environment. The infinite solar charging bag has introduced a new era of gadgets batteries charging with no harmful effects for them. Solar energy has been found much beneficial and cheap available resource to fulfill our current requirements while petroleum products are getting worthier day by day. A solar energy charging bag has been recently introduced, which convert the solar energy and get ready it for charging your gadgets.

This Infinit solar charging bag for new generation is stylish, affordable and not only convenient to use but a right choice to reduce carbon every day. Thanks to the inventors and thanks to those who use inventions for the benefits of human beings. There is no need to juice up our daily use gadgets when this solar energy charging bag is going to do this for us. As the summer sun rays have started to get out of Britain clouds, everyone is heading with legs in shorts and beer in hand to catch shinning sun. You will definitely like an MP3 player to take with yourself for some recreation and adding of music with sun rays.  You will also need your cell phone to carry with yourself for a great gathering of friends or fellows in this summer sunshine, but what if a worst situation comes around there and you find your gadgets out of battery while there is great need of them. You cannot go to home or find a switch to charge them; probably a portable media is required to charge them while you are away towards the beach.

Best features of solar charger bag

When you are visiting a park evening time or some open place where you can view the lights, you will find solar charging batteries with them. This is one of the cheapest energy sources which scientists have found for us. This solar charger bag features a 2.4 watt solar photovoltaic plat outside to gather and convert the solar rays and make them ready for charging in electrical voltage format. It is stored under high capacity of 2000 mAH Lithium ions battery which has been stored in a pouch of this bag inside. Once this has been charged fully, simply detach the battery from solar panel and you are free to charge thousands of devices using its latest designed connection outside.  A list of compatible devices which you can charge including;

• All generations of iPod Shuffle
• All generations of standard iPod
• All generations of iPod Nano
• iPod touch devices
• All the mobile phones from Blackberry, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, iPAQ, Palm, T-Mobile with mini USB adopter and Micro USB adopter to charge Nokia, Samsung, iPhone, Palm, Blackberry and many other mobile gadgets from companies around the world.
• Nokia adopter charges all the available slide, touch phones and new as well as old models of Nokia.
• You can plug your gadget and solar panel at the same time to charge them both.

Anything from GPS devices to iPhone and Nintendo DS can be charged with this newly launched Infinit solar energy charger bag. This will facilitate the users to charge the gadgets with storing energy in solar energy bag. Its batter can also be charged from main electricity line if you want your bag to be ready with charging before going out of home for a long journey.

This is a great green way to charge your gadgets when you are far away from your home. Its battery is quite strong and can charge three times an iPad after fully charged with solar energy. This go green gadget requires a little fuss to attach many compatible devices to charge with its stored solar energy. Infinite solar charger bag is best go green product and not takes your much time to charge a gadget of your choice. However, complete charging of a gadget directly depends upon the time and intensity with which this solar energy has been exposed to the light.

When there is a bright day, it will hardly take 8 hours to fully charge with solar rays, while in case of bad weather and low sun rays, it may take up to 12 hours to fully charge. Although, this Infinit solar charging bag is not currently supporting the laptops and notebook computers to charge, we have been waiting impatiently for new additions in this invention very soon. The weight of solar charger bag is total 1.4 kg and it cannot be knocked. However, there are different pouches and panels offered with Infinit solar charger bag to charge the laptop batteries. As the inventions are going at high proportion in current competitive environment, it is expected to view many such other additions in the upcoming days. Its straps are padded heavily and easy to adjust. All in one, this bag is worthy for all the gadgets users to charge their gadgets while going out for distant traveling.