Saturday, August 29, 2015

Is your iPhone taking Blurry Photos? Apple Launches Scheme To Replace Faulty iSight Cameras For Free


iPhone
Apple is all set to replace the faulty camera on the iPhone 6 Plus free of cost. After the successful launch of the iPhone 6 handsets in 2014, some of the users were left in lurch by finding faulty cameras, which gave just blurry images. This problem is found in only a small number of devices, which were shipped between November to January.

Features of Apple iSight Camera

Apple had used a latest version of iSight rear facing camera with enhanced capabilities. iSight camera comes loaded with Apple designed highly efficient lens with a large aperture of f/2.2 which allows more light than the previous models. iSight has garnered praise for its auto image stabilization tool along with other features like autofocus and auto white balance.

iSight camera also comes with a one of kind Optical Image Stabilization features which exclusively take four shots and merges them together in a single image for much better clarity and fineness. This camera works on an A8 chip alongside M8 motion co processor for measuring the motion data and gyroscope. This design and specification allows iPhone 6 Plus users to take very still pictures without worrying about the shaking hands.

iSight Camera malfunction in Apple Iphone 6 Plus

The malfunctioning and faults in the iPhones 6 cameras were reported way back in November last by the disgruntled users. The affected iPhone 6 users stated that the automatic and manual focus was not working at all but front facing camera was free from any problem. As a result of this fault Iphone cameras were brings unstable and blurry images even when the users is perfectly still to take pictures.

Apple has finally given heed to this problem and it had stated on its official website that affected handsets will be revamped in upcoming days. The numbers of affected handsets are quite limited in serial number range and were sold between the time-span of September 2014 and January 2015.

Check whether your iPhone is eligible for camera replacement

Concerned users can check out their iPhone’s serial number by going to the setting, General and reading the About section. Just copy this serial number and paste in the online tool on the Apple’s website to see whether you are eligible for camera replacement or not. Apple had made it clear that it will entertain only such handsets, which are working order, and all the phones with faulty camera will be first examined before proving any revamp.

Apple had made it clear that its replacement of faulty components is complete free of any cost or charge. iPhone users are just required to visit their Apple Store and get their camera replaced within a short time. Apple had advised its users to make a back up of their data to iTunes before proceeding further with the replacement. Apple warranty coverage program provides three years of cover on the iSight cameras and it applies only to the iPhone 6 Plus.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

5 Common Problems iPhone Users Have and How to Fix Them

iPhone

iPhone is a highly popular Smartphone filled with awe aspiring features and utility but it does have its own shares of problems. Here are top five annoyances, which iPhone users have to deal with on everyday basis.

iPhones are marred with low storage capacity 

Most of the people face a low storage capacity trouble after accumulating a number of photos, documents and other stuff either by downloading or uploading in the iPhone. Deleting contacts or doing away with priceless photos and documents is not an option at all.

Use the Apple’s iCloud storage facility to save your digital files cramming up the iPhone or iPad devices. It is the best way of saving space as well as data in the online cloud storage and you will be able to clear up a considerable amount of space on iPhone.

Predictive text doesn’t aid in texting 

Texting on the iPhone is quite a task in itself. Predictive texting makes it tougher to text with complete freedom and happens to take a considerable time apart from causing occasional embarrassment. You can do away with the Predictive texting by shutting it off by going to the settings, then click on keyboard followed by setting the Predictive option to off. Now you can easily type faster without the need of going back, erasing and retyping the things you wished to say in message.

Below average battery 

Screen brightness is the major factor, which reduces the iPhone battery apart from surfing, chatting and other tasks. Dimming the screen brightness by little bit can extend the battery life to a whole new level. Apps running the background are also major battery reducer and it should be noted that pressing the home button doesn’t actually kills an app rather it remains working in the background. Shut down your devices then boot it up and quickly press the home button twice. Swiping left on the screen will now showcase all apps which are currently suspended on the device.

Delete photos smartly rather than archiving them 

If you open up your Photo gallery then you find a large number of unwanted photos like blurry ones, close shots or other useless pictures. Delete the unwanted pictures and clear your photo gallery in a smart manner. In case you happen to delete some good photos then iPhone OS comes to your rescue with the feature of recovering the deleted photos. Go to the Recently Deleted album and retrieve you accidently deleted photos but don’t forget to empty the album in order to save more space.

Reading on the iPhone device is tough 

iPhone by default uses a standard text size which might seem quite tiny to some of the people. It is not easier to read with a tiny text and same problem persists with the keyboard as well. This can be eliminated by going to the setting, general, accessibility and turning on Bold Text and Larger Text feature in the iPhone. Now you will be read easily through multitude of text and increase the utility and usability of the iPhone.

How to Use YouTube to Promote eCommerce Products


ecommerce
YouTube can do more than simply host cat videos and personal fail compilations. It can be used as a strong platform to host videos regarding the products you sell on eCommerce sites. These videos can then be used on a myriad of other social media profiles as well as your own website or blog.

Demonstrations and How-Tos

Demonstrating how to use a specific product can be greatly beneficial to encourage sales. Informational content regarding the product or service can help consumers understand what the product is and what it can do. Perhaps you could create future pieces based on efficient uses for the product to help enhance you're site's reputation. Demonstration and how-to videos are often some of the most sought after content on the Internet.

Use Social Networking

YouTube incorporates a wide variety of social networking on every video on the system. From Facebook to Twitter, the most popular social media sites are represented allowing viewers to share the video on many different websites with a few clicks of the mouse. This is also beneficial for you as you can share your own videos in this same manner on the social sites you have a presence on.

Embedded Code

Once your video has been uploaded, you can copy and paste the provided HTML code in order to embed the content onto your website. It can be customized for virtually any size dimensions allowing you to perfectly fit the video onto any page. You can also remove player controls and showing suggested videos as well. This means the video on your website can not be used to watch other content or inadvertently show competitor videos.

Descriptions

On every video you create, make sure that you're descriptive regarding its content while providing links back to your website and the page of the product or service you're demonstrating. This makes it easier for YouTube visitors to find your material while giving them backlinks to visit your site.

Monetization

When you develop your own content without the use of copyrighted music or imagery, you can monetize it in order to generate some ad revenue. Although you might not make a lot of money, it's still a worthwhile process - especially if you create a video that goes viral.

Companies such as SecureNetShop can help you develop websites that are ideal for video integration. Not only does it make your site look more attractive, but you could engage YouTube visitors that may not know your company exists. From the overall design of your site to the merchant shopping cart you use, everything involved in the day-to-day processes of your site plays a role in its success. Take advantage of YouTube and it's capabilities to enhance your business platform.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Nanoparticles with Aluminium ‘Yolks’ Could Enhance the Life-Span of Rechargeable Batteries

Aluminium_Yolks

Aluminium `Yolk’ – Rechargeable Batteries With Longer Life-Span

Due to aluminium `yolks’ in the batteries, mobile phone batteries of the future can have immense upgraded capacity as well as lifespans. A team of researchers at MIT and Tsinghua University in China have located a way of developing electrode comprising of nanoparticles having solid shell with internal `yolk’, and have apparently solved an issue with present rechargeable batteries which understands that performance tends to considerably deteriorate after repeated charges.

The invention could improve cycle life according to the team, providing a boost in the battery’s capacity as well as power. According to results, the recently developed lithium-ion battery is more resistant to the damage triggered by frequent charge cycles.

While the present electrodes tend to degrade over a period of time after growing and shrinking in size with multiple charges, the aluminium `yolk’, filling of the latest design nanoparticles tend to permit increased growth causing less damage to their titanium-dioxide shells. This latest technology not only introduces rechargeable batteries with longer life-spans but it could also have an effect on how long future batteries could hold out between each charge.

Impressive Performance

Though the scientists are still on lab experiments on the technology at the moment, they have expressed confidence in the study owing to the relative low cost of the materials as well as the simplicity of the manufacturing system.

According to an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, David Lou, `these yolk shell particles portray very impressive performance in lab-scale testing and the most attractive point of this work is that the process seems simple and scalable’.

 The latest findings, that utilise aluminium as the main material for the lithium-ion battery’s negative electrode, or anode has been reported in the journal Nature Communication, in a paper by MIT professor Ju Li together with six others. The team has reported that the use of nanoparticles with aluminium yolk together with titanium dioxide shell has been recognised as the `high-rate champion among high-capacity anodes.

The present lithium-ion batteries which are the most widely used form of rechargeable batteries tend to use anodes which are made of graphite, a type of carbon. Graphite has charge storage volume of 0.35 ampere-hours per gram –Ah/g.Researchers have, for many years explored various options of providing greater energy storage for a given weight.

Aluminium – Low Cost Option

Lithium metal for instance have the tendency of storing around 10 times as much energy per gram though could be extremely dangerous and capable of short-circuit or even catching fire. Silicon as well as tin has a high capacity, however, the capacity tends to drop at high charging and discharging rates.

Aluminium seems to be a low cost option with theoretical capacity of 2 Ah/g. However, aluminium and other high capacity materials, according to Li, tend to expand a lot when they get to high capacity and when they absorb lithium; they then shrink while releasing lithium.

The expansion and the contraction of aluminium particles tend to generate excessive mechanical stress causing electrical contacts to disconnect. Moreover, the liquid electrolyte in contact with aluminium also decomposes at the required charge/discharge voltages.

 It forms a skin known as solid-electrolyte interphase- SEI, layer which would have been alright if not for the repeated huge volume expansion as well as shrinking, causing the SEI particles to shed. Owing to this, previous attempts in creating an aluminium electrode for lithium-ion batteries had not been successful.

Monday, August 24, 2015

The First Hydrogen-Powered Battery That Will Charge Your Apple iPhone for A Week

socket

Intelligent Energy- Developed Working iPhone 6 – Built-in Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Intelligent Energy, a British technology company has claimed a main smartphone breakthrough by inventing an iPhone that can remain without recharging and runs instead on a built in hydrogen fuel cell. The company had developed a working iPhone 6 prototype comprising of both a rechargeable battery together with its own patented technology in creating electricity with the combination of hydrogen and oxygen producing small amounts of water and heat as waste.

Scientists have been aware for over 175 years that the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen which can produce water can also create electricity. Intelligent Energy’s advanced version of the chemistry uses layers of steel as well as plastic which are similar to the breathable Gore-tex preferred by hikers in order to multiply the effect. The company is said to be working closely with Apple and what is said to be the first in the world, has incorporated a fuel cell system in the present iPhone 6 without any changes to the size or shape of the device.

The only differences when compared to other handsets are the rear vents for the slight amount of water vapour to escape. Intelligent Energy would be scrapping the diesel backup generators which tend to power mobile masts when India’s grid takes one of its common unscheduled breaks.

Intelligent Energy Considering Cartridges Sale

The company which is based in Loughborough would be replacing around 26,000 internal combustion engines with its own hydrogen fuel cells driving the sub-continent’s mobile setup to the cutting edge of the energy industry. Over the years, the company has built up a portfolio of around 2,000 patents and patents pending, in order to protect its version of a hydrogen fuel cell. Intelligent Energy is said to be considering on the cartridges sale price.
Cell

Executives are of the belief that for the price of a latte, a market valued as much as £300bn a year could be opened up. Chief executive of Intelligent Energy, Henri Winand, who has refrained from commenting on rumours of Apple’s involvement, had said that `to their knowledge, this has never been done before.

 He has informed that they have achieved in making a fuel cell which is so thin and can fit in the existing chassis without the need of any alterations as well as retaining the rechargeable battery. This has been an important step and if one intends moving to a new technology, one will have to give people a path they would be comfortable with.

Refuelled Through Adapted Headphone Socket

Seen by The Telegraph at Intelligent Energy’s Loughborough headquarters, on the prototype fuel cell iPhone, hydrogen gas is refuelled through an adapted headphone socket. The company is creating a disposable cartridge for the commercial launch that would slot in the bottom of upcoming smartphones and comprise adequate hydrogen releasing powder for a week of normal usage without the need for recharging.

The company’s corporate finance chief, Mark Lawson-Statham has stated that `their view is that this is out for a couple of years though it’s’ about how soon their partners would want to press the button and get on with it. Apple has refrained from commenting. Intelligent Energy has been selling fuel cell charger already, known as Upp, solely through Apple Stores.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

How Apple's Force Touch could change the way you use your next iPhone or iPad

iPhone

Apple’s Force Touch – A Pressure Sensitive Display

The next iPhones of Apple would be announced next month which will be an `S’ year which means that if Apple tends to stick to the pattern it observed since 2008, the 2015 iPhones would maintain the same simple designs as the previous year’s model and concentrate instead on `under the hood’ enhancements. The big feature this year seems to be the Force Touch, a pressure sensitive display together with vibrating haptic beneath.

Apple had already released its two products this year which had Force Touch with each showing off their potential successes as well as pitfalls on what seems like Apple’s most prominent new technology of 2015. By definition haptic means any interaction involved with touch though there is a difference between advanced haptic and the vibration one gets on the phone. Rather than a buzz, one would feel a single tap or changing intensities of ripples.

Force Touch is a combination of pressure-sensitive display together with haptic feedback underneath. Game controllers such as the Xbox One tend to utilise the advanced haptic to develop rumble feelings as well as controller feedback. Apple’s Force Touch is appealing due to the introduction of a pressure sensitive touch display and most of the everyday touch screens presently available are not pressure sensitive.

Force Touch Trackpad – Send Variable Levels of Pressure

Apple Watch has Force Touch built in its display. The new Retina MacBooks, the Pro as well as the 12-inch have Force Touch enabled trackpads though they feel totally unlike from each other. The MacBook’s’ trackpad feel same like a regular trackpad though its click is a delusion – it is really using haptic.

A nested double click occurs between the first click and what occurs when one press down further, that extra second click tends to trigger contextual action such as a variation of right click. On a site, it tends to bring up definition of words or phrases one may highlight. At the time of video playback, it could organise change playback speed.

Force Touch trackpad tends to send variable levels of pressure though presently its use is being discoveredsubtly. However, it feels like a real button click. The software keyboard with Force Touch on an iPad will be very interesting.

Bigger Screened iPad Pro – Worked with Haptic Feedback/Force Sensitive Display

A bigger screened iPad Pro that had been rumoured for years worked with haptic feedback, force sensitive display together with a special stylus.

This proposes true pressure sensitive drawing and painting for artists, a feature which has made specialized styluses as well as input pads beneficial for graphic design. Microsoft Surface Pro already measures pressure sensitivity with the stylus as well as the Samsung S-Pen on the Galaxy Note 5.

 However an extra layer of feedback through haptic on the iPad could be utilised in developing sensations of textures or could sense borders or layers. Apple needs to make sure that force Touch does more than stand in for the type of touch and hold actions which exist already to bring up menus, or pull up extra actions such as deleting apps or copying and pasting photos as well as text. It is essential to feel like a useful, extra dimension of control and to be well integrated across apps and iOS 9.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Apple's New Blueprint for Your Next iPad

iPad

Blueprint of Apple’s Rumoured iPad

There was a point when tablets had filled every space in the group with consumer having a wide choice but over a period of time, the markets began splitting. An image had been posted by Twitter account OnLeaks run by Steve Hemmerstoffer, the site editor for Nowhereelse.fr, a French news site which has posted various reliable leaks in the past regarding Apple’s earlier iPads prior to their release.

Should his blueprint tend to be accurate, the upcoming launch of the 12.9 inch screened iPad Pro would measure about 12 x 8.7 x 0.2 inches. It would be larger than the iPad Air 2 with regards to length and width where the iPad Air 2 is 9.4 inches long and 6.6 inches wide though it is just slightly thicker at 0.28 inches thick as against 0.24.

The blueprint of Apple’s rumoured iPad that was leaked online, portrayed the tablet’s full dimension with an idea on what it could look like. He notes that though the blueprint dates back to December 2014, there could be a possibility that it could be out-dated and is not sure till Apple discloses about its next iPad which normally occurs in October.

Second Port/Inclusion of a Stylus/Split Screen Multitasking With iOS

Besides its larger screen and thinner frame, the next iPad is said to have a second port as indicated in a leak from Dutch blog VandaagApple. Rumours regarding the larger iPad has also revealed the inclusion of a stylus and would be probably introducing split screen multitasking within iOS, a feature which according to some was what Apple was striving to debut with iOS 8.

If the reports, rumours and leaks that have been circulating seem to be true, then this would be Apple’s largest iPad so far. It would probably be more appealing for enterprise use cases, a motivation which Tim Cook; Apple CEO had been speaking in the past. The iPad Pro’s bigger screen would be in an improved position in competing with the other tables which have been optimized for productivity such as Samsung’s Galaxy Note Pro as well as Microsoft’s new Surface.

Apple’s next tablet will be having a number of changes over its earlier models. Beside the larger screen size, the addition of Force Touch to the UI will enable easy access to extra options as well as settings while using application. The rumoured use of a digital stylus will support the creative process on the large screen.

Success – Low Margin Devices

When the tablets had first been introduced, computing landscape was very much different from what it seems currently. The main factors of mobility were reliance on laptops in doing significant portable computing jobs and smartphones with a four inch display was used for communication and connectivity.

From these it went to a nine or ten inch screen the first generation tablets were shipped with, inclusive of the original iPad and the distinctive advantages in portability as well as screen size which a tablet could offer became clear. While Android smartphones hold the majority of the market share – 82%, most of the success is around low margin devices.

Though Apple’s iPhone may not have the overall numbers, it tends to commands more profit per handset setting up Apple in gaining much of the profit from the smartphone ecosystem. If Tom Cook together with his team could perform an identical strategy in the tablet field in creating a high end device like the iPad Pro, it could draw the bulk of the profit from it and leave the low margin/high volume commodity game to other manufacturer.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

A Deeper Look at the New Google


Google’s Holding Company – Alphabet

Prior to the death of Apple’s Steve Jobs, he had informed Google co-founder and CEO, Larry Page that his company had been trying to do too many things and as Page later told the Financial Times in his reply that `if they did just the same things they had done before and did not do something new, it would seem like a crime to him’. Yet Page acknowledges that Jobs could have been right to a certain extent – he would manage only so many things before too many of it would get lost in the shuffle.

These two desires , one to do new things irrespective of how weird and unrelated it could seem to Google’s core search and advertising business and still find a way in managing them to completion, explains the surprise announcement of Page’s that he intend creating a holding company by the name Alphabet. 

This would separate Google’s profitable ad-related businesses, which include mobile software as well as the video site YouTube from the company’s range of efforts on human longevity, internet access balloon, self-driving cars; the Nest connected home devices etc. where each of them will probably be a separate holdings

First Step in Fulfilling the Company’s Long-Standing Goal

However, the move, though applauded by investors, is just the first step in fulfilling the company’s long-standing goal in making Google a long term success as well as the world a better place’.According to several management experts, Alphabet would be successful if the individual project and companies would be successful enough on their own to become freestanding companies, ultimately and the new corporate organization qualifies that to occur though it does not guarantee it. 

At first, it is essential to dismiss the notion which Page together with co-founder Sergey Brin had developed such as the Berkshire Hathaway of the Internet, an updated version of Warren Buffett’s company. A professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Michael A. Cusumano commented that `the comparison seemed to be silly and Buffett invests in existing, undervalued companies something like mutual fund is the opposite of Alphabet’s VC-style focus on risky new ventures like Calico.

New Businesses Tend to Get Short Shrift in Resources

According to David B. Yoffie, professor of international business administration at Harvard Business School, states that if Page and Brin attempt to run alphabet similar to an updated Berkshire Hathaway or General Electric, which is a more tech focused company, they would run into trouble. 

They have been running differently from successful tech companies and that he is doubtful since it is difficult to have a company structure in the tech world’. Regardless of closely related businesses, companies like Microsoft, Samsung, and IBM together with Hewlett-Packard have found it difficult to succeed. 

Moreover, they have also found it difficult to capitalize on updated products and services. According to Yoffie, new businesses have a tendency of getting short shrift in resources as well as management consideration. 

This is specifically what Page as well as Brin intends to avoid with Alphabet. Page had written in a blog post which means `alpha-bet’ or an attempt to get returns above `alpha’ – a normal target. In any circumstance, the reorganization sets Google/Alphabet on the track which may not be easy to change in the future if it does not tend to work since it will be more than a just a promise of reporting Google’s financial result and the alpha-bets separately.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Apple May Enlist Siri to Answer Your Phone Calls

Siri

Apple’s Voicemail & Transcription Service – Siri

Apple is said to be planning a voice mail and transcription service which would utilise Siri as a personalized answering machine. According to Business Insider, the tech giant company will be testing a voice mail service wherein Apple’s digital assistant on the iPhone and iPad, Siri, would be responding to incoming phone calls with a personal message, if the recipient is not available or does not prefer chatting.

An updated service known as iCloud Voicemail would record your voice mail into text which can be read in leisure. Besides Siri there is other voice assistant in town which faces competition from two other main rivals. Google Now is a feature running Google’s Android software though it is also available for iPhone and iPads.

Microsoft’s Cortana has gone beyond Windows mobile phone on Windows 10 computers as well as tablets. Moreover, Cortana would also be available as an iOS app somewhere later this year. Hence Apple needs to continue innovating Siri to portray that it could do more than just answering queries put across to it. Voice mail could be a good niche for Siri, provided the transcription is reliable and accurate.

iCloud Service & Siri Integration

According to Business Insider, Siri would answer the incoming calls though not with standard messages. The iCloud Voice mail would share information with certain people like where you are and why you can’t answer the call right away.

The voice mail in turn sends it to Apple server where Siri thereafter converts the voice message into text, displaying them on the iPhone to be read just the way one would read a text message or email. As per reports from Business Insider, the new iCloud service and Siri integration is presently being tested by the employees of Apple, intending to launch it somewhere in 2016.

They further added that they heard about Apple employees using the service some weeks ago and presuming this information to be right, it would mean that we would be able to tap into the service when the next mobile operating system, iOS 10 of Apple will be launched later next year.

Viewing Voice Mail as Text – Easy

Presently one can prompt Siri to play the voice messages so that the user does not have to manually activate them. Viewing the voice mail as text would tend to be much easier than having to play and replay the message in its initial audio format. Voice mail transcription service has already been offered by Google through it Google voice service.

 In this regards, no comments have been provided by Apple.Enabling voice-to-text, a main option on smartphones would help businesses to overcome the increased interest in messaging and the declining interest in actual voice calls. A Pew survey from 2012 had indicated a decreasing interest in voice calling with 26% of teens stating that they talked daily with friends on their cell phones, down from 38% of teens surveyed in 2009.

Achieving voice transcription and enabling it to work as promised is a vast undertaking. Hence  most of them expects that iCloud Voicemail is included with iOS 10 and not as a part of incremental upgrades in iOS 9. Lead Apple analyst at technology research firm Gartner, Van Baker, states that `if Siri were to add a voice-to-text feature, its counterparts Google Now and Microsoft Cortana would be likely to add similar options’.

Computer Scientists Introduce New Graphics Software


Graphics_Software
New graphic software has been unveiled by the computer scientist from the University of Massachusetts Amrest, which promises to deliver exciting results and a great number of application. This new software-modeling program uses a sophisticated geometric matching and machine learning which provides it the ability to mimic the human perception of style. This advanced graphics software will offer a range of powerful new tools to the users for comparing the similarity of the three dimensional (3D) objects.

Lead scientist develops smart computational techniques

The team of researchers was led by Evangelos Kalogerakis who is an expert in developing computational techniques. These techniques are used to analyze and synthesize the visual content along with focusing on the machine learning algorithms, which allow users in creating 3D models. In order to develop this new exciting software researcher drew observation about the style similarity in the art history and appraisal literature. This observation was vital in finding the geometrical elements, which include the shapes, lines, proportion, as well as visual motifs, which helped the software in understanding the stylistic similarity.

To improve the functionality and effectiveness of this software crowd-sourcing was utilized wherein more than 2500 people participated which include the ordinary people to artists. The aim of this crowd-sourcing was to present object’s style comparisons by studying the responses which happened to be more than 50,000 on seven structurally diverse categories.

These categories included buildings, lamps, cutlery, furniture, dishes, lamps, architectural pillars and coffee sets. This test was a complete success with human correspondents agreeing on its style similarity on an average of 85% of the time.

New graphics software brings more favorable design within short time

Being a software tool, the responses generated by the human evaluations were excellent with 90% of agreement rate. Which means this software was able to process the design of different structures and offer an end result which was excessively favorable as per the human perception. Kalogerakis was upbeat by this result and even stated that this software can become the next alternative style expert on providing suggestions of objects to populate the home, dining or even the virtual reality environment.

The future prospects of this new graphics software
 
For a long time computer graphics algorithms are being used to create movies, games, visual effects and augmented reality environments. It is even used in manufacturing real objects or designing architectural scenery. But with the advent of this new algorithm far greater things can be done with much more precision and effect than we can do now.

This software graphics tool can be used for exploring the databases of digital representation of buildings, pillar and other surrounding objects as per the style attributes. Creating content for the computer games will becomes much easier and advanced while the augmented reality can be simply populated with more advanced virtual objects as per the style taste. Robots running on this computer algorithm can easily recognize their environment and can maneuver new ways to move around and pick objects.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Apple invents stylus capable of simulating onscreen textures through haptic feedback

stylus

Apple’s Patent Application – Touch Implement with Haptic Feedback

A new patent application of Apple submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office plans an intelligent news stylus which would bring about onscreen textures on devices such as the iPad. The patent application for `Touch implement with haptic feedback for simulating surface texture’ specifies a stylus input device with on-board electronics which tend to enable it to sense contact with a touchscreen, collect information with regards to displayed texture and output vibratory feed related to said texture.

The stylus employing haptic technology could also connect to devices through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The stylus tends to contain contact sensors, to control when the device touches down on a target surface, while other implementations depend on capacitive sensors, pressure sensors as well as cameras in determining when it touches a target surface like the iPad’s touchscreen.

The sensors like photodiodes could be used to determine textures such as wood, glass, cotton, paper, silk and much more. When a texture is determined, the touch implement tends to activate a haptic feedback mechanism to communicate corresponding vibrations, auditory signals to the user. Feedback profiles could differ based on textures, which means rougher depicted textures could activate more dramatic vibrations while surfaces such as glass could raise little to no feedback.

Granular Experience – Feedback Profiles Changes Dramatically

Apple has recommended an equally granular experience wherein the feedback profiles could change dramatically as a stylus moves over varied portions on the surface of the screen. For instance, user would observe differing levels of feedback as they wrote on a scene showing wood, glass and parchment.

Moreover, the system is capable of adjusting haptic output created as it senses changes while writing pressure, angle or orientation. Patent application of Apple was first filed for, in January 2014, for a stylus with haptic feedback and credits go to Jason Lor, Patrick A. Carroll and Dustin J. Verhoeve as its inventors. The company’s texture-reading patent application quotes the same inventors together with Glen A. Rhodes.

In a related patent which was also published recently, Apple summaries a stylus input which works in the reverse to the method mentioned earlier, wherein instead of simulating sensed texture via vibratory feedback, it uses a camera module in its tip to interpret and record physical characteristic of virtually any object or surface, reproducing those properties that is visually on a computing device.

Apple to Debut Branded Stylus

In some embodiments the light tends to bounce off an object and passes through the clear tip or lens gathered by an embedded photo sensor and the image data is passed to a connected device to be processed in order to reproduce a three dimensional versions.

This includes image textures, colours and shape. Besides the exact object reproduction, the system is ideal in capturing textures as well as mapping them to graphical tool for illustration, photo editing or CAD software. Reports have indicated that Apple is gearing to debut a branded stylus when it reveals a larger 12.9 inch iPad model which is expected to be launched sometime this year.

Ming-Chi Kuo noted KGI analyst is of the belief that the initial release would be a simple model without communication potentials or on-board sensors with much advanced structures coming up in the succeeding generations.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

First Look: The ONE Smart Piano

Piano

The One – Unique Digital Piano

Ambitious musicians intending to learn playing the piano can now check out `The One, which is a unique digital piano using iPad to compensation the learning curve connected in being proficient with the instrument. Usually to learn to play the piano one would need tutorials from a professional person. Digital lessons are now on the rise and this is a good means of learning to play the tune.

Earlier, several tried innovations were utilised in teaching tools such as Ion’s Piano Apprentice which was a system wherein LEDs were used on a 25-key, keyboard to guide the student in learning the skill. However the system was unrefined and the app it functioned with were not good at instructions. The new entry – The ONE Smart Piano’s new keyboard together with the accompanying lessons are an improvement to its predecessorsboth in terms of hardware as well as software.

`The ONE’ tends to ship in two versions, one a full size 88-key version with weighted keys which are velocity sensitive while The ONE Light is a 61-key, keyboard with non-weighted keys. The ONE Smart Piano models unlike the old Piano Apprentice which was sold at $69 are well made serious instruments, where lessons can be downloaded in a dedicated iOS app.

Classic Lesson – Video/Instructor

A classic lesson comprises of a video together with an instructor playing and showing the structure of it while teaching fingering with the LEDs on The ONE’ lighting up to guide the learner. Then turning off the LEDs enables the student to play unassisted which is similar to live teacher training the student. The iPad can get connected through a lightning cable though MicroUSB cables which are also included for Android usage.

The USB cable, a rather unusual choice, is a 3.0 desktop connector which is not seen before at the host end and lightning at the other and it is not clear on the option of using the on-the-go – OTG cable arrangement instead of the USB A connector that would have been available from all manufacturers. The app provided in The ONE Smart Piano with the ONE application enables the user to make a choice between Video tutorials, LED guided practice and KARA Game.

LED Guided Training

The LED guided training is a more traditional type of piano practice. The app tends to display sheet music, emphasizing the note on the staff display portraying the LEDs on the keyboard wherein the left hand notes turns to blue LED while the right hand notes indicated are in red LED and a female voice calls out numbers to support with fingering. Staff note exhibiting together with LED on the keyboard do not tend to change till the student plays them.

The staff music can be availed for in-app purchase at a cost of 99 cents. KARA Game is somewhat similar to Guitar Hero or Rock band for keyboard and the game seems to handle single player or two, playing sitting on the bench. The ONE, inspite of some very minor shortcomings, seems to be a very good learning tool for those interested in mastering the skills in playing the piano.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Apple Release Beta Version of iOS 9 to the Public for the First Time

iOS-9

After a lot of speculation over the last few months Apple has finally released its latest iteration of iOS version 9 in Beta version. Apple releasing of new iOS update signifies two important things,- one it is way ahead of its scheduled release and second it is open even for the general public to try out which is never heard before. Apple has released updates in the past strictly for the developers to find the bugs and glitches and perfect it before making it available to the public.

Users can easily gain access to the iOS 9 Beta by visiting the Apple’s website and get an extraordinary experience.

The New Advancement In iOS 9

Apple has given all its focus towards improving the intelligence and productivity of the Apple devices with iOS 9 update. Now its operating system will have better ability of analyzing the user’s habits and making recommendation based on this information. Apple’s popular and commendable AI for mobile phones named Siri will also be getting huge advancements in features with this new update.

Siri is getting a wholesome makeover giving it some refreshing new capabilities of creating reminders and browsing through the photos and videos. Furthermore Siri will also feature a suggestion window for collating all the user’s favorite apps and contacts.

More Features Integrated In iOS 9

Improvements are also made in search capabilities of the OS in this update which will allow a seamless easier access to the information such as sports, videos, scores and more content coming from a extremely wide variety of third party apps. Notes will have further improvement with users having access to new checklists and sketching features. A new app will also be present to study the user’s reading habits and collate content as per their interests.

Apple Is Counting On User’s Feedback

Since its being Apple Beta Software Program, users will be asked to provide subsequent feedback to the company for making further improvements and removing the glitches. Apple has already stated its each public beta OS will come with a built-in Feedback Assistant app appearing on the Sock of the Mac device and on second page of the Home Screen in iOS device. This will allow users to provide feedback with ease and perfection.

Apple iOS 9 Gets A Warm Reception From Users

Users can provide timely feedback to the Apple using Feedback Assistant app. Most of the users are really excited at the opportunity of laying their hands at the new OS before its official release in September but Apple had asked its users to remain cautious. It should be noted that this being a public beta software, it may contain a number of errors or inaccuracies which might result in bad user experience.

Apple asked its users to back up their Mac using Time Machine as well as iOS device with iTunes before even installing the beta software. In the enterprise sector Apple has asked to instantly only on the non-production devices which are not business critical. Business can install this OS on secondary devices to access its features and report its feedback to make it more worthy.