Microsoft’s hi-tech ‘Kinectacles’ to help the blind navigate better

HYDERABAD: A pair of hi-tech spectacles called Kinectacles that will help the visually challenged navigate their way and Kinect Bridge – an innovative product that will enable the speech impaired to communicate with others seamlessly using Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor that is used in its Xbox gaming device.

A Windows 7 phone software – My Obstetrics — that will serve as a ‘personal doctor on the move’ helping pregnant women keep track of their journey into motherhood and constantly monitor vitals like BP and weight through the nine months while keeping them abreast of the various stages in their pregnancy.

Facebook sets IPO price at $38 per share, to begin trading on Nasdaq today

Facebook on Thursday set the price of $38 per share for its initial public offering that would give the social network a market value of $104 billion .FULL COVERAGE

The price came one day before Facebook begins to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange Friday under the symbol “FB”. The announcement comes amid keen anticipation among investors for a piece of the world’s biggest social network

At $38 dollars a share, the world’s No.1 social network company will sell 421 million shares, raising about $16 billion, the largest ever among all internet companies.

Facebook said that it raised $16 billion for itself and its early investors in an initial public stock offering that values Facebook at $104 billion. That’s more than Amazon.com and other well-known companies such as Kraft, Walt Disney and McDonald’s. It’s a big windfall for a company that began eight years ago with no way to make money.

Asus launches new notebooks

TAIWANESE computer manufacturer Asus launched new notebooks — Multimedia N56VM and Gaming notebook G75VW on Wednesday.

While N56VM prices at Rs 89,999 is the latest addition to Asus’s N Series of multimedia notebook, G75VW is gaming notebook equipped with full HD Non-Glare 3D Panel and costs Rs 1,39,999.

“Crafted through innovative Asus DNA, new N Series multimedia showcase pro-grade sound and third generation Intel Core processors under latest Ivy Bridge microarchitecture. Gaming Notebook Asus G75VW further redefines portable gaming,” said Alex Huang, Managing Director-Systems Business Group, Asus India Pvt Ltd at the launch.

Apple Moves Toward Larger iPhone Screens

HONG KONG—The new iPhone that Apple Inc. is expected to unveil this year is likely to have a larger display than its current models have, with the company ordering bigger screens from its Asian suppliers, people familiar with the matter said.

The new screens measure at least 4 inches diagonally, the people said, compared with 3.5 inches on Apple’s latest model, the iPhone 4S. Production is set to begin next month, the people said. Analysts have predicted that the next iPhone will come out in the fall.

Google revamps search engine to think like a person

Google announced a major revamp of its web domineering search engine on Wednesday, just days after Microsoft’s rival Bing service announced upgrades of its own.

Google’s new search powers are encapsulated in what the company calls a Knowledge Graph, in which the new algorithms attempt to understand exactly what people are looking for and present basic answers on the results page, without users needing to click on any secondary links.

“We’ve always believed that the perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want,” blogged Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice-president of engineering. “And we can now sometimes help answer your next question before you’ve asked it, because the facts we show are informed by what other people have searched for.”

Using what Mr. Singhal called the “collective intelligence of the web,” the Knowledge Graph shows results for Tom Cruise, for example, that manage to answer 37 per cent of the next questions that people usually ask.

Samsung Galaxy S III LTE to use dual-core S4 Qualcomm chip

If you’re wondering which processor the LTE compatible Samsung Galaxy S III will use–it’s likely the Qualcomm S4 MSM8960 dual-core 1.5GHz. NTT Docomo has just announced 19 new devices for the summer, and most of them are compatible with its new LTE network.

Included in its lineup is the Samsung Galaxy S III–and the provided spec sheets may have accidentally tipped Samsung’s hand for the US market. There have already been rumors of a Verizon-based S III that uses the Qualcomm chipset and this latest developments lends them weight.

Nokia SDK for Java with dual-SIM Asha phones; Design Windows Phone Apps with Expression Blend

Using Nokia SDK 1.1 for Java with dual-SIM Series 40 Asha phones

During this webinar we will walk through Nokia SDK 1.1 for Java and explain how to use it together with NetBeans 7.1. We will cover the entire process of making mobile Java apps for Nokia Series 40 Asha phones: how to properly use visual tools to make form-based application and significantly shorten development time; how to effectively use the Series 40 emulator and experiment with different device themes and input methods; and finally, we will take a look at new system properties that allow you to query information related to different SIM cards on dual-SIM devices from the Nokia Series 40 Asha family. Michael Samarin from Futurice will present this webinar twice in English and once in Russian. Register now for the session most convenient to you:

22 May 10 am Moscow (Russian)
23 May 8 am London, 12:30 pm Bangalore, 3 pm Singapore (English)
24 May 8 am San Francisco, 10 am Mexico City, 6 pm Helsinki (English)

How to design Windows Phone applications with Expression Blend

In this webinar you will learn how to create Windows Phone applications using Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone. Blend is an essential tool for rapid application design that enables you to create a large part of your application without writing code. You and your team can evolve your ideas quickly from initial prototype through to completed project. Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone provides the same streamlined development workflow for Windows Phone 7 that was previously only available for Silverlight and .NET applications. The ability to take your ideas all the way from concept to completion helps accelerate the delivery of innovative applications on Windows Phone. It has never been easier to create the user interface of your application; simply drag UI elements to the design surface where they can be quickly customized and styled, import assets from tools such as Adobe Photoshop and turn them into data driven UI elements before finalizing your UI with transitions and animation that bring your application to life as users navigate from screen to screen. Key components of Expression Blend, including Behaviors, Visual State Manager, transition effects, and SketchFlow, coupled with the speed and flexibility of this modern workflow challenge you to push boundaries and work beyond the limits of what you thought possible. This topic will be presented in English and Spanish. Register now for the session best for you:

Introducing samsung AdHub

Samsung AdHub is the answer to developers who are searching for a new monetization method for their applications.

* Launch date: May 15th, 2012.

* Key features of the updated Samsung AdHub

1. The addition of richer ads types
- In addition to supporting text/image ads we will also be supporting rich media ad types
including expandable, interstitial, carousel and TV-in-app ads. The additional ad types
are more interactive and should perform better.

2. RTB – Real-Time bidding
- Publishers can now enjoy all the advantages that come with RTB. RTB enables publishers
to maximize the value of each and every impression passed through our system, by
comparing bids we ensure the publisher attains the best price for their inventory.

3. Ad creatives directly from advertisers and agencies
- We are thrilled to announce that with the update, advertisers and agencies can directly
publish their ads through Samsung AdHub.

4. Increase fill rate with a large advertiser pool
- Samsung AdHub has a large advertising pool composed of direct advertisers as well as
AdHub’s portfolio of ad networks.

Promotion: The advantages of using AdHub for Samsung Smart App Challenge.

Developers that use Samsung AdHub SDK in their apps are given an additional incentive at SSAC (Samsung Smart App Challenge). Entering SSAC, the developer has the chance to win cash prizes and mega marketing support for app promotion.

How to Join Samsung AdHub

Register at http://www.samsungadhub.com or if you are a bada application seller, access our service from the bada Developer Site (developer.bada.com > My applications > Component Setup)
If you have additional questions, please contact us through our website.
(http://www.samsungadhub.com > Support > Contact Us).

Tips to configure Android Emulator to mimic Kindle Fire Device

It is possible to configure a standard Android emulator to simulate the Kindle Fire device platform. You should configure your emulator with the following characteristics:
• Width: 600px
• Height: 1024px (note that the device will reserve 20px of the height to display a soft key menu, yielding a height of 1004px when in full-screen mode
• Abstracted LCD Density: 169
• Target: Android 2.3.4 – API Level 10
• RAM: 512 MB

Kindle Fire supports the features in the following list. To ensure your app is compatible with Kindle Fire, it should only use features and specifications found in this list.

* Sensors: android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer (Your app requires an accelerometer.)
* Screen: android.hardware.screen.landscape (Your app requires supporting landscape mode.)
* Screen: android.hardware.screen.portrait (Your app requires supporting portrait mode.)
* Touchscreen: android.hardware.touchscreen (Your app requires touchscreen capabilities that are more interactive than basic touch events.)
* Touchscreen: android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch (Your app requires basic two-point multi-touch capabilities.)
* Touchscreen: android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct (Your app requires the ability to track two points fully independently.)
* USB: android.hardware.usb.accessory (Your app requires that the device or the app itself behave as a USB device–and connects to USB hosts.)
* Wi-Fi: android.hardware.wifi (Your app requires 802.11b/g networking.)

MacBook Pro 2012: 15″ Retina Display, USB 3.0 and ultra-thin

More and more information has emerged regarding the next MacBook Pros featuring Ivy Bridge chips, and now 9to5Mac has detailed exactly what to expect from the new 15-inch model. They say that Apple is currently finalizing the new laptop, and that it will feature a slimmed down design, drop the optical drive, include a high-resolution Retina display, and most interestingly, have several USB 3.0 ports.

First, 9to5Mac say that the new 15-inch model will be slimmer than current offerings due to the removal of the optical drive. It won’t be as thin as the MacBook Airs, nor will it have a tapered design in order to avoid hinge issues at the larger size. The power button will be removed, instead located on the keyboard as is the case with the current MacBook Airs. The design will otherwise remain the same, and feature the typical MagSafe port, ThunderBolt ports, and SD card reader.

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