Musings about my first love - Technology !
ISRO's Bhuvan to take on Google Earth
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)'s satellites have been making news all over world for their remote sensing capabilities. Come March 2009, ISRO will launch its own IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) image portal called Bhuvan. This was announced by ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair while delivering a lecture on “Benefits of Space to the Society,” organised at an inaugural function in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
The portal will offer detailed satellite views of our subcontinent to users - akin to those seen on Google Earth and Wikimapia, but with a difference; this one will give sharper and more detailed pictures than provided by Google. Google Earth, which can zoom up to 200m, will have good competition in Bhuvan, which has a sharper zoom level capability of up to 10m.
While Google Earth provides single-layer information, Bhuvan would provide multi-layer information. Additionally, you would be able to view the images date-wise. The entire service makes use of Indian satellites and its focus will be the Indian subcontinent. ISRO plans to use it to enhance urban and forest planning and traffic management. Like Google Earth, a "special" version would be in the offing for professional and corporate users who might need higher resolution data. Of course, this would come at a price, though the base version would remain free. Apart from Bhuvan, ISRO is also readying an information portal called "Bhu Sampada." Both services are expected to be operational by March 2009.
Nair said that upon being integrated with application-specific Spatial Decision Support (SDS) tools, these two unique portals would open up a new era of collaborative mapping in the country. “These are not mere image or information browsers, but are the mechanisms for providing satellite images and thematic maps to the user community for the purpose of development planning,” he said.
Labels: Google, New Launch, Product Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 2:34 AM,
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Google's another attempt to monetize on YouTube
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
In its continuing effort to find a way to make money from its YouTube unit, Google introduced on Tuesday a type of e-commerce ad that YouTube users can click to buy digital goods from Apple’s iTunes or Amazon.com.
Under the new program, viewers of a video with a music track, for example, would be able to click on an icon to download that song from one of the two music stores. "If you like the song, you don’t need to leave Google or leave the site to buy it,” said Bakari Brock, business affairs counsel at YouTube.
The new ad format is the latest that YouTube has introduced in recent months as it tries to turn the site’s large audience into substantial revenue. So far, that effort has met with limited success, according to many analysts.
Google, which paid $1.65 billion for YouTube nearly two years ago, is counting on the video site to help it expand into new forms of advertising at a time when the growth of its core business — small text ads that appear next to search results — is slowing down.
Mr. Brock said the new ads were YouTube’s first step toward building a viable e-commerce platform. For now, the program is limited to buying songs from EMI or the Universal Music Group on iTunes and Amazon. The recently released video game Spore is also available, Mr. Brock said. Over time, YouTube plans to expand the program to include other stores and other merchandise, like concert tickets, he said.
Music labels could choose to place the e-commerce links next to their own videos or on videos uploaded by users, whose images or soundtrack they identified using YouTube’s Content ID system, which allows content owners to find unauthorized material on the site.
Google executives have sent mixed messages about their ability to make money from YouTube. Earlier this year, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said it had taken longer than he expected to find the right advertising models for YouTube. Last month, he said that he was satisfied with YouTube’s progress.
“You Tube is a huge end-user success and we are awaiting the monetization that goes with that, and we believe it will come,” Mr. Schmidt said. “We are where we should be.”
Peekaboo:
On Tuesday, YouTube also introduced a larger viewer that it said was suitable for the growing number of long-format videos available on the site.
On Tuesday, YouTube also introduced a larger viewer that it said was suitable for the growing number of long-format videos available on the site.
Labels: Google, Technology
posted by Jas @ 7:00 AM,
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VISA payWave - next wave in payment mode?
Monday, July 14, 2008
Reacting to the success of RFID as payment mode, VISA has branded its RFID card as VISA payWave. Called so as one just needs to wave his/her card near the accepting POS terminal for transaction to be carried. To ease the faster payment, one doesn't even need to sign for most of the purchases made under $25.
According to the VISA website, over 32,000 retailers from 20 top brands accept Visa payWave payments, and the list is rapidly growing. Visa payWave is intended to make it simple to save time every day—at quick service restaurants, drugstores, movie theaters, convenience stores and more. The participating issuers are BB&T, Chase, INOVA FCU, SunTrust and Wells Fargo as of now. Some of the major names of merchants who are already accepting the card are Mc Donalds, CVS Pharmacy, 7-Eleven and Jack in the Box. The complete list of eligible merchants is provided at its sitepage -
http://usa.visa.com/paywave-merchants/
http://usa.visa.com/paywave-merchants/
Well there are lot of benefits for users over here, like
- Checkout is faster and easier for cardholder as no swiping needs to be done in RFID cards
- VISA allows no signature for most purchases under $25
- As you remain in control of your card during the transaction, the risk of fraud is greatly reduced
- VISA is giving the Zero Liability this card too, which ensures you are not responsible for fraudulent or unauthorized transactions.
- These cards also have a magnetic stripe so in case RFID reader isnt there, you can pay by normal swiping method.
But then it needs to be seen how much faith do cardmembers show in RFID payment methods. There has been recent reports of people being able to forge the RFID cards as what a legitimate merchant terminal can read from the card, a malicious scanning device can also read without a consumer’s consent or knowledge. Hence the design takes the prime importance over here. The most basic info of the card, the name of the cardholder is abused the maximum with these devices. There has been a good article on the vulnerabilities in First-Generation RFID enabled cards at blog of RFID Cusp, you can access it here -
http://www.rfid-cusp.org/blog/blog-23-10-2006.html
http://www.rfid-cusp.org/blog/blog-23-10-2006.html
Visa has also announced that it is currently migrating to an enhanced global specification, Visa Contactless 2.0, to further support the growth of Visa payWave around the globe. The new global contactless specification is based on the international EMV chip standards, enabling Visa to take advantage of the industry's most advanced cryptographic techniques for Visa payWave transactions, regardless of where the card was issued or where the transaction takes place.
"Visa payWave is an excellent example of Visa's approach to innovation and our ability to extend the value of Visa to new stakeholders and new market segments," said Elizabeth Buse, Global Head of Product at Visa Inc. "As the payments ecosystem expands, so does Visa's opportunity to deliver innovative products and services to a diverse set of stakeholders."
Sources: VISA websites
Labels: New Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 10:58 AM,
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GTalk now provides the invisible model option
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Probably one of the most important features I saw in chatting apart from chatting was the option of ‘invisible mode’. It lets you to have an important chat without everybody bombarding you with pings and hence your screen. It has been a strong feature that was missing in Gtalk and I know about many people who didn’t used to come online on Gtalk, me included, as everybody would be seeing you and hence it ends up a time consuming thing, especially when you have come online for some work on Gtalk.But then voila, Google has now brought this option in its latest version of Gmail chat. For the people using AIM in Gmail (Google allowed AIM clients to be Google chat compatible few months back), invisible mode also makes them appear signed out on the AIM network. Invisible mode is one of the most requested chat features and so it’s a much awaited addition, starting in Gmail Chat, and in the future all Talk clients.
But at the same point Google’s official Gmail blog has mentioned that the chat may not be useful if lot of people go off line. So do give a feedback to them in case you have any opinion on this…
Labels: New Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 8:31 PM,
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HTTP -> Web -> Web 2.0 -> Shift
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Internet has been seen as an invention as significant as discovery of uses of fire. These inventions/discoveries change the entire path on which the future of not only humans but also of the earth. But then with every such discovery/invention is attached the front runners, the laggards and the ones who doesn’t want the new change at all or may desire to be in oblivion of it. Fate of internet has been no different.Web2.0 has brought in as much confusion as the benefits. It is changing the habits of the people without them knowing if that is a health practice or not. Recent studies have shown that more and more number of people have been discarding the newspapers as the source of news/info. People have started going to blogs and social bookmarking sites for the same. Its fast, it’s visually appealing, tangible, customized and interesting. But then there is what I call a ‘baggage attached’. When one decides to search for a news on such platforms, one is actually going to a mega mall of news to pick the things one likes. There will be many brands (read source) of the item (read story) wanted and one gets to choose various brands of same item, or maybe with different flavor – say spicy, Page 3, thriller etc. But what baggage that is contained is that you end up spending more time, looking at the variety, additional flavors. You may never be able to find the actual item you wanted and may end up buying/consuming the one that is flashy and catchy.
And not only habits it is also the understanding that is yet to mature. The older websites were ranked on the parameter of page views. You may see huge amount of money being pumped in various web2.0 startups. But in middle of this Web2.0 craze people are forgetting to check the feasibility of revenue. Page views won’t give a real picture of the success/ following of the website. Technologies like Ajax, Rich Media and widgets are making this parameter a loser.
The technologies today are trying to make the communication between server and communication low while making the change /page load on customer end minimal. All info requested is loaded on the page asynchronously and without letting user have to reload the entire page. So effectively there was a zero page load over here when user looks for additional information. Hence companies like AC Nielson have already started looking at other indicators like unique visitors, time spent on site per visit, no of clicks per visit etc as better metrics to drive the business goals.
As they say, shift happens!
Labels: Technology
posted by Jas @ 7:55 PM,
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Yahoo all set to GLUE you to its new search
Monday, May 12, 2008
Yahoo has released a new type of search result for India called “Glue Page.” Instead of the usual text listing, some queries – like blog, Taj Mahal or asthma – will now trigger a comprehensive and very visual result page. This page contains different elements laid out in boxes; there’s “normal” search results, encyclopedic information from health sites or Wikipedia, news results, YouTube videos or Google blog search results (yes, they’re integrating results from competitors, though Google is also a partner of Yahoo in some areas) and more.
This is a very interesting prototypical service; part meta search engine and part original results from Yahoo, and a bit like Google’s universal search approach that brings in results from images, videos, maps, news, or other sources as appropriate. It is also similar in appearance to Ask since its redesign last summer.
What is interesting is that the option is available only in India, maybe because its result of Indian development center. Also its not available for all results but is only triggered in the “glue” approach when the topic is broad enough to yield lots of results from diverse services.
Yahoo Glue only works for certain categories of searches (sports, travel, entertainment, health, stocks, and tech), but it does produce a more satisfying experience than the traditional list of blue links. The only issue is that the results take a little bit longer to load. But humans are visual creatures and we respond better to the visual display of information. Yahoo Glue brings in results in three different panes, both from Yahoo and elsewhere. They can be images, videos, Wikipedia entries, HowStuffWorks entries, sports stats, and news, and results from other sources.
And the dynamism is the beauty of it. Search for the “Taj Mahal” and you get pictures and videos of the Taj Mahal, and a link to the Wikipedia entry. Search for Angelina Jolie and you get a bio, pics, YouTube videos, music charts, news, and results from Yahoo Answers. Search for “soccer” and you get league tables. The traditional link results are still available in the narrow left-hand column, but you almost ignore them.
Labels: New Launch, Product Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 11:48 AM,
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Yahoo to Buzz
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A new Yahoo service called "Buzz" that's set to launch later this month. Widely understood as the competitor to Digg, the popular user rating site; it is a buzz tracker for news items picked not only by user voting (like Digg, Propeller, Reddit, et al), but also for items people are searching for both on Yahoo and on the company's publisher network.A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. The data is collected from Yahoo! search log files. The Yahoo! Buzz Index counts the total number of people searching for specific subjects.Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
By combining with the search results, Yahoo surely would have a great upper hand on other rating services. But then all other players are already established; so going should be tough. According to Valleywag, the release date is set for February 26th, which falls on a Tuesday.Buzz, built under the direction of VP Tapan Bhat, will begin with a limited number of publishers -- about 100 -- and will rank stories based on popular search results and user voting. By summer, Buzz will open to the entire Yahoo Publisher Network. In other words, if you let Yahoo sell ads on your site, it will allow your stories to appear on Buzz. Word is Yahoo plans to launch the site on buzz.yahoo.com, which currently tracks popular search results.
Labels: New Launch, Product Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 11:21 AM,
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Nokia releases Maps 2.0 beta
Friday, February 15, 2008
Previously available only to a select group, Nokia is turning the beta version of its Maps 2.0 navigation app onto the masses. In addition to the car mode existing users will be familiar with, 2.0 adds "Walk," a new mode tailored to pedestrian use. Another new feature is the ability to purchase "multimedia guides" for destinations that hook you up with photo, video, and audio streams that detail places to go and things to see on your magical journey.Version 2.0 also adds real-time traffic information and hybrid satellite views, both features that help to bring Maps in line with Google Maps for Mobile. The beta is available immediately, while a final cut is expected to be available in the second quarter of the year.
Separately, Nokia has announced that it'll be bringing its Maps franchise to Series 40, swinging open the door to high-function navigation on the company's mass-market, non-smartphone handsets. It'll be ready in the first half of 2008, though no plans have yet been outed regarding availability on specific Series 40 devices.
Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta comes with compatible Nokia Map Loader, also available for download from its website. Nokia is offering the navigation service on the 6210 for free. While Nokia offers all its maps for free, the company charges users of other navigation-ready devices weekly, monthly or yearly subscriptions for the navigation service.
But a caution, Maps 2.0 is still in Beta and therefore not supported by Nokia care.
via ZDNet
Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta comes with compatible Nokia Map Loader, also available for download from its website. Nokia is offering the navigation service on the 6210 for free. While Nokia offers all its maps for free, the company charges users of other navigation-ready devices weekly, monthly or yearly subscriptions for the navigation service.
But a caution, Maps 2.0 is still in Beta and therefore not supported by Nokia care.
via ZDNet
Labels: gadget, New Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 1:29 AM,
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Now a mouldable mouse
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The market has been filled with mouses of all shapes and sizes, but some of you must be feeling that still something is missing. Well, thanks to the folks at Lite-On, you'll never have to suffer the debilitating discomfort of an unshapely mouse ever again. The Mouldable Mouse will make all your bad memories of ill-fitting input devices float away, using a lightweight modeling clay combined with a nylon and polyurethane fabric to make up its surface. Once you're palming your new best friend, you can shape its contours to whatever form you desire, though we're pretty sure making a perfect cube will present a challenge. The "stick-on" buttons and scroll-wheel can be added to any location you like, and communicate via RFID (wow!).
It has also won a Red Dot design award. But a big question is on its feasibility. It may get hardened on some initial design which may not be very right as it may require creative skills, or else on other hand it may be too soft and soggy kind. So whatever, the real test will come when it comes to actual users out of lab.
Labels: gadget, Product Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 4:21 AM,
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The next age digicams
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Our mobiles have gone from just a mobile version of landline phones to that of a small computer or hand held, the desktops have given way to the quad core functionality specific laptops or tablets, GPS has simplified the life for some and complicated for others and all the while we know that the digital cameras have just fought a linear fight of more Megapixels, more optical zoom and larger screen. Isn't it? Though some vendors have been giving small features but nothing has changed the mainstream usage of digital cameras.
Well things may be in for a change now in next few years as many advanced features have already been integrated into these digicams and poise for a mainstream usage in next few years.
These advanced pieces of technology can now not only identify which one of your friends are you clicking a snap of, but also if the person being photographed is happy, sad, angry etc. You would have already seen the adverts of Sony having launched the camera that can identify the faces from background and focus on these faces for better clarity, it can identify eight faces in one single shot! Take the case of Fujifilm’s new FinePix S6000fd, once Face Detection is activated, it automatically identifies faces in the scene and prioritizes them in as little as 0.05 seconds. It simultaneously displays a green rectangle around the top-priority face, and a white one around other faces before the picture is taken (see pic)
In another feature called auto tagging, the camera attaches tags as the pictures are taken. The tags can be of time, people names or geography etc. Like the cameras embed timestamps in photos, which makes it possible to sift through pictures by date. able to screen for photos only of a particular person could dramatically speed up the search process. Fotonation is one company which supplies face-detection software for dozens of camera models from vendors like Samsung, Pentax, and others.
Location, too, is another useful attribute that can be attached to photos through a process called geotagging. Geotagging can be used both to look for photos whose location you know and to figure out what exactly is in a photo you already have at hand. Flickr launched a module in 2006 that lets people geotag their photos by dragging them onto maps. Photos tagged with location data before upload also can be shown on maps if a Flickr member chooses to enable the feature. The map can be set up to show photos from a particular time, uploaded by a particular Flickr member or tagged with particular text labels--"cable car" in this case. Flickr, which now houses 36 million geotagged photos--roughly 3 percent of its total archive.
Face recognition is another feature which is gaining commercial attention among the digicam software developers, these software can detect the images of people among a big set of images.
Along with it a research into expression recognition is taking up pace, it understands what mood the person is - smiling, angry, anguish , sad etc. Marian Stewart Bartlett has showed results of her research of work at the Machine Perception Lab at the University of California wherein it lets a computer monitor 30 of the 46 codified components of facial expressions. That includes movements such as raised eyebrows and wrinkled noses.
Here as shown in the picture on the right, researchers have turned expression-recognition technology into an art exhibit showing the increasingly strained efforts by models to maintain a chipper smile for more than an hour. The top picture is when the model starts the show, but she wont be able to keep that smile for very long, which is acceptable, the software displays a green bar to show its acceptable. What wont be acceptable for channel's marketer is a worn out smile, so the software observes the expressions and a buzzer goes off when a waning smile sends a monitor into the red zone. This sends a signal to the model to get the smile all backed up or to indulge.
In the demonstration, software tracked Stewart's face from a video camera and recorded expression parameters. Analyzing the data, the computer can draw conclusions about people. For example, when comparing a video of a man's face as he experienced actual pain from immersing his hand in cold water to another in which he faked the pain, people had about an even chance guessing which showed the authentic pain. The computer, though, had 72 percent accuracy, she said.
All in all you can say that the digicam R&D market is far from dead, rather than working on age old problems only say red eye reduction etc, the companies are pushing in the moolah to get the latest technological edge over each other and ask for premium from customer.
Well things may be in for a change now in next few years as many advanced features have already been integrated into these digicams and poise for a mainstream usage in next few years.
These advanced pieces of technology can now not only identify which one of your friends are you clicking a snap of, but also if the person being photographed is happy, sad, angry etc. You would have already seen the adverts of Sony having launched the camera that can identify the faces from background and focus on these faces for better clarity, it can identify eight faces in one single shot! Take the case of Fujifilm’s new FinePix S6000fd, once Face Detection is activated, it automatically identifies faces in the scene and prioritizes them in as little as 0.05 seconds. It simultaneously displays a green rectangle around the top-priority face, and a white one around other faces before the picture is taken (see pic)In another feature called auto tagging, the camera attaches tags as the pictures are taken. The tags can be of time, people names or geography etc. Like the cameras embed timestamps in photos, which makes it possible to sift through pictures by date. able to screen for photos only of a particular person could dramatically speed up the search process. Fotonation is one company which supplies face-detection software for dozens of camera models from vendors like Samsung, Pentax, and others.
Location, too, is another useful attribute that can be attached to photos through a process called geotagging. Geotagging can be used both to look for photos whose location you know and to figure out what exactly is in a photo you already have at hand. Flickr launched a module in 2006 that lets people geotag their photos by dragging them onto maps. Photos tagged with location data before upload also can be shown on maps if a Flickr member chooses to enable the feature. The map can be set up to show photos from a particular time, uploaded by a particular Flickr member or tagged with particular text labels--"cable car" in this case. Flickr, which now houses 36 million geotagged photos--roughly 3 percent of its total archive.Face recognition is another feature which is gaining commercial attention among the digicam software developers, these software can detect the images of people among a big set of images.
Along with it a research into expression recognition is taking up pace, it understands what mood the person is - smiling, angry, anguish , sad etc. Marian Stewart Bartlett has showed results of her research of work at the Machine Perception Lab at the University of California wherein it lets a computer monitor 30 of the 46 codified components of facial expressions. That includes movements such as raised eyebrows and wrinkled noses.
Here as shown in the picture on the right, researchers have turned expression-recognition technology into an art exhibit showing the increasingly strained efforts by models to maintain a chipper smile for more than an hour. The top picture is when the model starts the show, but she wont be able to keep that smile for very long, which is acceptable, the software displays a green bar to show its acceptable. What wont be acceptable for channel's marketer is a worn out smile, so the software observes the expressions and a buzzer goes off when a waning smile sends a monitor into the red zone. This sends a signal to the model to get the smile all backed up or to indulge. In the demonstration, software tracked Stewart's face from a video camera and recorded expression parameters. Analyzing the data, the computer can draw conclusions about people. For example, when comparing a video of a man's face as he experienced actual pain from immersing his hand in cold water to another in which he faked the pain, people had about an even chance guessing which showed the authentic pain. The computer, though, had 72 percent accuracy, she said.
All in all you can say that the digicam R&D market is far from dead, rather than working on age old problems only say red eye reduction etc, the companies are pushing in the moolah to get the latest technological edge over each other and ask for premium from customer.
Photo Credits:
GeoTagging
Expression Recog
Labels: gadget, Product Launch, Technology
posted by Jas @ 10:53 AM,
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World's fastest train -TGV
Monday, November 05, 2007
If you have been to Europe then its imperitive to ride TGV. TGV (train à grande vitesse, French for "high-speed train") is France's high-speed rail service developed by private major Alstom (also developed Delhi Metro) and SNCF, the French national rail operator. First established between Paris and Lyon in 1981, the TGV network runs across France and adjacent countries. TGVs link with Switzerland through the French network, with Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands through the Thalys network, and the Eurostar network links France and Belgium with the United Kingdom; where Thalys and Eurostar are fast speed trains developed by other countries.
Lets talk about speed now, how fast have you traveled in trains? Indian trains run at maximum speed of 160Kmph. On 3 April 2007 a modified TGV train reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) under test conditions. The voltage on the test track between Paris and Strasbourg was boosted to 31,000 volts and extra ballast was tamped onto the right-of-way. By doing so, it beat the 1990 world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph), set by a similarly shortened train (two power cars and three passenger cars).
TGV already runs at 320 kmph, and in case you have traveled by it, you would have already realised the effect its acceleration has on your ears as soon as it passes through the tunnels. See the video here -
Lets talk about speed now, how fast have you traveled in trains? Indian trains run at maximum speed of 160Kmph. On 3 April 2007 a modified TGV train reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) under test conditions. The voltage on the test track between Paris and Strasbourg was boosted to 31,000 volts and extra ballast was tamped onto the right-of-way. By doing so, it beat the 1990 world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph), set by a similarly shortened train (two power cars and three passenger cars).
TGV already runs at 320 kmph, and in case you have traveled by it, you would have already realised the effect its acceleration has on your ears as soon as it passes through the tunnels. See the video here -
Labels: Technology
posted by Jas @ 11:48 AM,
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Tshirts with electronic flashing print, that responds to music
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
You would have worn plain shirts, styled shirts, funky shirts or at best patched shirts; here Urban Junkie brings to you the lifestyle eye catcher - Flashing T-Shirt. Yes, you read it right, a shirt that flashes according to the kind of music being played in ambiance. Named T-Groove, the shirt dances to the beat of the music showing off different dance moves with a new funky psychedelic design.
The T-Groove™ shirt is made from 100% cotton. It has a fully functional light up panel that reacts to the sound of the music. But then the thump at a pub will be different from the one at your friend's party, so the new designed battery pack has a sound sensitivity dial to adjust the sensitivity of the T-Groove to make it more diverse for different environments. The end result is an awesome sound sensitive music T-Shirt that commands attention. The logo is powered by 4 x AAA batteries. Manufacturer claims, flashes to the Beat products are all robust and tested to certain extremes.
As the music beats the circular bars light up, the girl dances and the party begins!
Details -
Price £19.99 - £24.99
Order Website: Link
Designs Option: Various options of design available
The T-Groove™ shirt is made from 100% cotton. It has a fully functional light up panel that reacts to the sound of the music. But then the thump at a pub will be different from the one at your friend's party, so the new designed battery pack has a sound sensitivity dial to adjust the sensitivity of the T-Groove to make it more diverse for different environments. The end result is an awesome sound sensitive music T-Shirt that commands attention. The logo is powered by 4 x AAA batteries. Manufacturer claims, flashes to the Beat products are all robust and tested to certain extremes. As the music beats the circular bars light up, the girl dances and the party begins!
Details -
Price £19.99 - £24.99
Order Website: Link
Designs Option: Various options of design available
Labels: Product LookUp, Technology
posted by Jas @ 10:13 AM,
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Now go GPS by P2P positioning software
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
In Adobe we used to feel that almost every hardware job can be done in 'soft' way i.e. a software can replace almost any hardware. And I must point it out that if you start thinking, it'd be very hard to justify 'almost' here.
And today I struck upon this gold, Navizon, while browsing through the internet wormholes. Frustrated by low performance of GPS in congested cities, Houri and his fa wireless positioning system that works on Pocket PC PDAs by triangulating signals from Wi-Fi access points and GSM cellular towers which means in lay man term that it finds out the current position of gadget holder by location information sent by three different WiFi or GSM signals.
All the user needs to do is to load the software on a Pocket PC with built-in GPS and, ideally, both Wi-Fi and cellular phone functionality. wi-fiplanet.com explains the functionality as.
"As you walk around your city, the device receives broadcast signals from Wi-Fi access points – hotspots, home Wi-Fi networks, company WLANs, Navizon adds cell towers to the mix. The Navizon software takes signal strength measurements from the built-in Wi-Fi and/or cellular radios – at three different locations for each AP or tower detected. Since Navizon knows its own location from the Pocket PC’s GPS, the readings of signal strength are enough, using sophisticated algorithms, to triangulate the position of each AP or tower. The software then records those locations. The Navizon software does all of this automatically. Once the software has built a database of local AP and tower locations, it can accurately calculate its position by triangulating from three or more of them – again by measuring signal strength and applying proprietary algorithms. It works even when GPS doesn’t"
Registering as a user at the Navizon site, which one can do for free and without downloading any software, gives access to the Google Maps the Navizon software uses. One can now define a region by clicking at opposite corners of an imaginary rectangle and see a display of all the known APs and towers in that area. Their locations show up as map pins – red for GSM, green for Wi-Fi.
MSNBC has already said that Microsoft is also planning a similar system of positioning, by recording the position of every address on a giant map, it had created a positioning system that would make it possible for anyone with a WiFi-enabled laptop computer to identify their location to within 30.5 meters.
With GPS systems giving low performance, this methodology for positioning may soon be in vogue.
And today I struck upon this gold, Navizon, while browsing through the internet wormholes. Frustrated by low performance of GPS in congested cities, Houri and his fa wireless positioning system that works on Pocket PC PDAs by triangulating signals from Wi-Fi access points and GSM cellular towers which means in lay man term that it finds out the current position of gadget holder by location information sent by three different WiFi or GSM signals.
All the user needs to do is to load the software on a Pocket PC with built-in GPS and, ideally, both Wi-Fi and cellular phone functionality. wi-fiplanet.com explains the functionality as.
"As you walk around your city, the device receives broadcast signals from Wi-Fi access points – hotspots, home Wi-Fi networks, company WLANs, Navizon adds cell towers to the mix. The Navizon software takes signal strength measurements from the built-in Wi-Fi and/or cellular radios – at three different locations for each AP or tower detected. Since Navizon knows its own location from the Pocket PC’s GPS, the readings of signal strength are enough, using sophisticated algorithms, to triangulate the position of each AP or tower. The software then records those locations. The Navizon software does all of this automatically. Once the software has built a database of local AP and tower locations, it can accurately calculate its position by triangulating from three or more of them – again by measuring signal strength and applying proprietary algorithms. It works even when GPS doesn’t"
Registering as a user at the Navizon site, which one can do for free and without downloading any software, gives access to the Google Maps the Navizon software uses. One can now define a region by clicking at opposite corners of an imaginary rectangle and see a display of all the known APs and towers in that area. Their locations show up as map pins – red for GSM, green for Wi-Fi.
MSNBC has already said that Microsoft is also planning a similar system of positioning, by recording the position of every address on a giant map, it had created a positioning system that would make it possible for anyone with a WiFi-enabled laptop computer to identify their location to within 30.5 meters.
With GPS systems giving low performance, this methodology for positioning may soon be in vogue.
Labels: gadget, Technology
posted by Jas @ 4:00 AM,
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