Sony Ericsson C905

The Sony Ericsson C905 has an stunning design specification which makes it a high end mobile camera phone. The C905 slider phone is the successor to the popular 5-megapixel K800i but takes photo imagery to a different level.

It has a TFT display of 256k colours and is 240 x 320 pixels. Internal memory is clocked at 160MB with an additional M2 memory stick supporting up to 8GB. Battery life allows for stand-by up to 380h without re-charging and talk-time up to 9h. The phone is available in night black, copper gold, ice silver and tender rose colours.

The following are the key technical features of the C905:

* 8.1 MP autofocus camera with Xenon flash and active lens cover. Xenon flash – uses white LED for snapping high quality night time photos. Shoot well lit photos indoors or in dark environments.

* BestPic – press camera key fully down for 7 shots at once that range from before to after the key was pressed. Useful for shooting moving objects and helps make you look skilful with a lens.

* Dedicated camera mode switch, two camera/gaming keys over the display
* Face and Smile detection, smart contrast, image stabilizer, red-eye reduction
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA (3.6 Mb) / tri-band HSDPA for US version
* Auto focus – provides sharper pictures by homing in on the subject. The phone features 16x digital zoom.
* Face detection – makes facial features the focus of your shot and includes red-eye reduction.
* Image stabiliser – reduces the chance of blurred images caused by hand movements during picture taking.
* Geo-tagging – applies a label to show where you took your photos.
* HSDPA – delivers broadband like speed of 3.5G for super fast downloads and streaming.
* Wi-Fi enabled – support for fast wireless Internet connectivity in hotspots. Wi-Fi b/g with DLNA and SIP VoIP support, Bluetooth (with A2DP), USB v2.0
* GPS with A-GPS function– built in satellite navigation with trial version of Wayfinder Navigator pre-installed.
* Scratch resistant mineral glass 2.4″ TFT 256K-color display
* Enhanced user interface with basic multi-tasking
* Media Center, Smart search, Manage Messages, extended TrackID
* FM radio with RDS and TrackID
* 160 MB built-in memory, M2 card support, 2GB included

Main disadvantages:

* Display is relatively small for a high-end device
* Video recording limited to QVGA resolution at 30fps
* No front facing video call camera
* No office document viewer
* Sliding lens cover of questionable durability
* Exposed connectivity port
* Fiddly battery cover

Full Specification

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 2100
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - C905a
	Announced	2008, June
	Status	Available. Released 2008, October

Size	Dimensions	104 x 49 x 18-19.5 mm
	Weight	136 g

Display	Type	TFT, 256K colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches
		- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
	Speakerphone	Yes

Memory	Phonebook	1000 x 20 fields, Photo call
	Call records	30 received, dialed and missed calls
	Internal	160 MB
	Card slot	Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 8GB, 2GB card included

Data	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	No
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	3G	HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0

Camera	Primary	8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, xenon flash
	Features	Geo-tagging, face detection, smart contrast, image stabilization, smile detection (with update)
	Video	Yes, QVGA@30fps
	Secondary	Yes

Features	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	WAP 2.0/HTML (NetFront), RSS reader
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes + downloadable
	Colors	Night Black, Ice Silver, Copper Gold, Tender Rose
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support; Wayfinder Navigator 7
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player - TrackID music recognition - Picture editor/blogging - TV-out - Organizer - Voice memo/dial - T9

Battery					Standard battery, Li-Po 930 mAh (BST-38)
	Stand-by				Up to 380 h (2G) / Up to 360 h (3G)
	Talk time				Up to 9 h (2G) / Up to 4 h (3G)

Japan warns of iPod nano fire risk

Japan on Tuesday warned users of Apple iPod nanos of a potential fire risk, after two new instances in which the popular portable music players overheated.

The economy, trade and industry ministry has received two new reports of minor fires in August in Tokyo caused by overheating iPod nanos, said ministry official Hiroyuki Yoshitsune. There were no injuries and the cause is still unclear, he said.

Japan had already launched an investigation in March after another Apple iPod nano sent out sparks. According to the ministry, Apple Computer has been notified of a total of 14 similar cases in Japan. Out of those, two users suffered minor burning.

The ministry said the incidents were caused by four models - MA004J/A, MA005J/A, MA099J/A and MA107J/A - of which 1.81 million units were sold between September 2005 and September 2006 in Japan.

"Users need to be careful about overheating of the machines," the ministry said in a statement, warning that particular care is needed when recharging the iPods.

"Our ministry told Apple to improve its technological development and probe the cause of the incidents so that similar incidents do not happen again," the official said.

There was no immediate comment from Apple. Public broadcaster NHK said the company has no plan to recall any iPods but is ready to exchange defective parts.

The US computer giant has already warned that iPod, iPod nano or iPod shuffle may generate excess heat while being charged in certain carry cases.

Lithium ion batteries, which Apple uses for iPods, are common in consumer electronics, such as mobile telephones and personal computers.

However, major battery makers, including electronics giant Sony Corp., have occasionally been forced to recall their lithium ion battery packs after reports of overheating and fire.

India developing $100 laptop

Students across the country will be able to buy specially designed laptops at affordable prices with the Government planning to provide them the gadget at around Rs 4,000.

Research in this direction is being already carried out at the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore and IIT-Madras to develop a special laptop at a cost of $100 for students to help them excel in studies.

"The government aims to provide 100-dollar laptops to students and research in this direction is on," said D Purandeshwari, Minister of State for Human Resources Development.

The initiative has been taken by government to enable students to make the most out of Information Technology, which is emerging as a catalyst for the country's socio-economic development, she said.

Her announcement came at the inaugural session of 'e-India 2008,' an international conference of IT solution providers and government agencies to facilitate practices of e-governance and digital learning in the country.

Holding that the Information and Communication Technology will play a key role in the country's education system, the minister said: "in the coming years, thrust will be on using ICT to strengthen various mode of learning both in school and at higher education levels.

"To deliver the benefits of ICT in the learning process, a new scheme namely 'National Mission in Education through ICT' will be launched, with the objective of providing connectivity to the learners to the 'Knowledge World' in cyberspace," she said.

Digital camera resolution reaches a new high

The Swedish company Hasselblad's announcement of the launch of Hasselblad H3DII-50, featuring a new Kodak 50-megapixel sensor, has pushed the available resolution in digital cameras to a new high.

Such high resolution goes beyond the needs of most consumers but professional photographers would appreciate the unprecedented level of detail provided by it.

"The H3DII-50 has been designed to meet the challenging demands of high-end photographers who require the best in image quality, performance and creative freedom," said Hasselblad CEO Christian Poulsen in a press release.

The camera, which would be available from October 2008, would also prove useful for applications such as aerial photography as the availability of higher resolution allows the plane to fly higher and the number of pictures necessary for covering a given area is also reduced.

The new Kodak image sensor, which produces an array of 8,176-by-6,132 pixels, would be implemented in the same size housing as Hasselblad's existing 39-megapixel H3DII-39 camera.

Kodak has also added a set of new features on the sensor, such as new dyes, that would result in richer colours. It also includes quick flush technology that enables faster image capture and lower power consumption, resulting in longer battery life.

New navigation system to help motorists avoid jams

A new car navigation system is being developed to help motorists negotiate rush hour jams by advising them about the best possible routes.

The 'Congestion Avoidance Dynamic Routing Engine' (CADRE) uses “artificial intelligence”, or AI, to interpret live traffic information shared among vehicles fitted with a special GPS, or Global Positioning System.

CADRE can sense traffic slowing down and building up into jams and works by “monitoring” other vehicles, informing motorists eight to 16 kilometres ahead of a situation as it is happening and recommends steps to avoid it while they can.

The software is built around “fuzzy logic” that mimics human reasoning.

The capability comes from the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) that specialises in using AI techniques for industrial applications.

David Brown, who heads IIR, said: “The system interprets live data from current traffic conditions so the motorist receives up-to-the-minute advice and can make an informed choice.”

The system takes into account of how traffic speeds vary by day of the week and time of day and even on individual roads.

It means that journey times are predicted more accurately and better routes are calculated that take into account typical traffic conditions for the time of travel.

“At present, routing can be carried out for minimum time or distance, but this can easily be extended to other criteria such as minimum cost or minimum carbon dioxide emissions,” said Brown.

Future plans for the system would extend it to ferries, trains and even planes allowing travellers to examine different departure times to estimate the best time and route to travel. CADRE could be in the shops in as little as 18 months.

Midas touch: Scientists discover gold nanoparticles

Scientists have for the first time discovered gold nanoparticles, setting to rest speculation about whether they existed at all.

Scientists of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said that they discovered these particles in western Australia.

“In the southern areas of the state, groundwater is very salty and acidic. This water dissolves primary gold and re-deposits it as pure gold crystals on fracture surfaces and in open pore spaces,” said Rob Hough, who led the search for the nanoparticles.

“On investigation of these crystals, there appeared to be a dark band across them. However, high magnification imaging showed the band was in fact, a mass of gold nanoparticles and nanoplates," he added.

These gold nanoparticles are in fact identical to those being manufactured in laboratories around the world for their unique properties.

The research team concluded that gold nanoparticles imaged represented the 'invisible' gold in the clay, and that this nanosized gold was common in similar environments.

“The gold nanoparticles have not been identified earlier because they are transparent to electron beams and effectively invisible,” Hough said.

“However, they are probably a common form of gold in this type of natural environment worldwide, where saline water interacts with gold deposits. They also provide the first direct observation of the nanoscale mobility of gold during weathering," said the researcher.

With gold fetching around Australian $950 an ounce and expected to rise, this study is good news for Australia's gold explorers.

The findings of the study have been presented in a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Geology.

The Brightest X-Ray source

The x-ray has just got 100 million times brighter, thanks to next-generation light sources like free electron laser oscillator - or the X-FELO.

X-FELO will open up breakthrough scientific opportunities in various research fields. Its characteristics are ideally suited for bulk-sensitive, hard x-ray photo-emission spectroscopy.

Existing technology uses undulators to create bright x-ray beams of spontaneous emission at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne.

Much of the research for x-ray free electron lasers has been concentrated on self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), which would amplify them by a factor of a million or more in a single pass.

A user of SASE will see x-ray brightness that is about 10,000 times brighter than what the APS is delivering, Argonne's Kwang-Je Kim said.

X-FELO, devised by US Department of Energy scientists, the electron pulse enters an undulator and generates an x-ray that is reflected back into the undulator entrance by crystals and connects with the next electron bunch and again travels back along the undulator. This pattern is repeated indefinitely with the x-ray intensity growing each time until equilibrium is reached.

An X-FELO will enhance the flux by six to eight orders of magnitude, shortening the data collection times by the same factor.

The intensity of individual x-ray pulse from an X-FELO is lower by about three orders of magnitude. However the X-FELO pulse has extremely narrow bandwidth, three to four orders of magnitude narrower than the SASE.

Accordingly an X-FELO user will see a brightness which is about six to eight orders of magnitude brighter than any previously created and three to four orders of magnitude brighter than proposed SASE technology.

The World's smallest copter

ONE MAN COPTER: Yasutoshi Yokoyama, employee of Japanese Gen Corporation takes a demonstration flight on the GEN H-4 helicopter, the world’s smallest one-man helicopter, in Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, near Florence, Italy on Sunday 25 may 2008.

Digital Camera resolution

The amount of detail that the camera can capture is called the resolution, and it is measured in pixels. The more pixels a camera has, the more detail it can capture and the larger pictures can be without becoming blurry or “grainy.”

Some typical resolutions include:
256×256 - Found on very cheap cameras, this resolution is so low that the picture quality is almost always unacceptable. This is 65,000 total pixels.
640×480 - This is the low end on most “real” cameras. This resolution is ideal for e-mailing pictures or posting pictures on a Web site.
1216×912 - This is a “megapixel” image size — 1,109,000 total pixels — good for printing pictures.
1600×1200 - With almost 2 million total pixels, this is “high resolution.” You can print a 4×5 inch print taken at this resolution with the same quality that you would get from a photo lab.
2240×1680 - Found on 4 megapixel cameras — the current standard — this allows even larger printed photos, with good quality for prints up to 16×20 inches.
4064×2704 - A top-of-the-line digital camera with 11.1 megapixels takes pictures at this resolution. At this setting, you can create 13.5×9 inch prints with no loss of picture quality.

Photo courtesy Morguefile
The size of an image taken at different resolutions
High-end consumer cameras can capture over 12 million pixels. Some professional cameras support over 16 million pixels, or 20 million pixels for large-format cameras. For comparison, Hewlett Packard estimates that the quality of 35mm film is about 20 million pixels [ref].

Next, we’ll look at how the camera adds color to these images.
How Many Pixels?
You may have noticed that the number of pixels and the maximum resolution don’t quite compute. For example, a 2.1-megapixel camera can produce images with a resolution of 1600×1200, or 1,920,000 pixels. But “2.1 megapixel” means there should be at least 2,100,000 pixels.

This isn’t an error from rounding off or binary mathematical trickery. There is a real discrepancy between these numbers because the CCD has to include circuitry for the ADC to measure the charge. This circuitry is dyed black so that it doesn’t absorb light and distort the image.

How Digital camera works

In the past twenty years, most of the major technological breakthroughs in consumer electronics have really been part of one larger breakthrough. When you get down to it, CDs, DVDs, HDTV, MP3s and DVRs are all built around the same basic process: converting conventional analog information (represented by a fluctuating wave) into digital information (represented by ones and zeros, or bits). This fundamental shift in technology totally changed how we handle visual and audio information — it completely redefined what is possible.

The digital camera is one of the most remarkable instances of this shift because it is so truly different from its predecessor. Conventional cameras depend entirely on chemical and mechanical processes — you don’t even need electricity to operate them. On the other hand, all digital cameras have a built-in computer, and all of them record images electronically.

The new approach has been enormously successful. Since film still provides better picture quality, digital cameras have not completely replaced conventional cameras. But, as digital imaging technology has improved, digital cameras have rapidly become more popular.

In this article, we’ll find out exactly what’s going on inside these amazing digital-age devices.

Understanding the Basics
Let’s say you want to take a picture and e-mail it to a friend. To do this, you need the image to be represented in the language that computers recognize — bits and bytes. Essentially, a digital image is just a long string of 1s and 0s that represent all the tiny colored dots — or pixels — that collectively make up the image. (For information on sampling and digital representations of data, see this explanation of the digitization of sound waves. Digitizing light waves works in a similar way.)

If you want to get a picture into this form, you have two options:
You can take a photograph using a conventional film camera, process the film chemically, print it onto photographic paper and then use a digital scanner to sample the print (record the pattern of light as a series of pixel values).

You can directly sample the original light that bounces off your subject, immediately breaking that light pattern down into a series of pixel values — in other words, you can use a digital camera.

At its most basic level, this is all there is to a digital camera. Just like a conventional camera, it has a series of lenses that focus light to create an image of a scene. But instead of focusing this light onto a piece of film, it focuses it onto a semiconductor device that records light electronically. A computer then breaks this electronic information down into digital data. All the fun and interesting features of digital cameras come as a direct result of this process.

In the next few sections, we’ll find out exactly how the camera does all this.

Cool Facts

With a 3-megapixel camera, you can take a higher-resolution picture than most computer monitors can display.

You can use your Web browser to view digital pictures taken using the JPEG format.

The first consumer-oriented digital cameras were sold by Kodak and Apple in 1994.

In 1998, Sony inadvertently sold more than 700,000 camcorders with a limited ability to see through clothes.

Top 5 Digital Slr Cameras

Ready to move up from the point-and-shoot minor leagues? Here are our top five digital SLR cameras.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
A great camera for amateur digital SLR photographers, the EOS Digital Rebel XT offers the easiest operation in its class. It features an 8.0-megapixel CMOS sensor, Canon’s own DIGIC II Image Processor and compatibility with more than 50 EF Lenses. Improving on its predecessor, the Digital Rebel, the Digital Rebel XT has an all new lightweight and compact body, nearly as small as digital SLRs get, with the responsiveness of a bigger semi-pro model.

Canon EOS-5D
The new Canon EOS 5D boasts a full-frame 12.8-megapixel CMOS sensor in a relatively compact magnesium-alloy body. Canon’s DIGIC II Image Processor provides outstanding image quality, and “Picture Style” color control gives you superior command of color balance, contrast and sharpness. Pictures look great from almost any angle on the large 2.5-inch LCD, and easy-to-use menus simplify shooting operations so you can focus on your vision.

Olympus EVOLT E-500
Never worry about dust on the image sensor interfering with your pictures with the Olympus EVOLT E-500. This easy-to-handle digital SLR camera uses an exclusive vibrating filter to eliminate dust and produce spotless pictures no matter where you change lenses. It has an 8-megapixel CCD and 25 shooting modes so you can take great pictures with a minimum of effort. A high-resolution, 2.5-inch LCD lets you view and share your shots from a wide viewing angle. And it’s all housed in a lightweight, portable chassis.

Konica Minolta Dynax 5D
It’s called the Maxxum 5D in North America, the Dynax 5D elsewhere, but no matter which name it goes by, this is a great little digital SLR camera from Konica Minolta. It employs an exclusive built-in anti-shake technology, enabling blur-free shooting in just about any situation, even at slower shutter speeds. Its 2.5-inch LCD displays detailed, easy-to-read information about settings and exposure values. And it has a wide variety of customizable settings so you can control color balance, contrast, saturation and sharpness in every shot.

Nikon D50
Compact and lightweight, the Nikon D50 can go anywhere you do, and its lithium-ion battery lets you shoot about 2,000 images before needing to be recharged. It has a high-performance 6.1-megapixel CCD and is compatible with Nikon’s wide variety of high-quality Nikkor lenses. High-speed continuous shooting allows you to shoot for up to 137 uninterrupted frames, depending on the type of SD card used, and a new small-picture function lets you choose the resolution you want when saving each shot, maximizing your storage capability.

Acer Aspire Gemstone blue

Acer has launched two series of notebooks under its ‘Gemstone Blue’ brand: the 18.4-inches Aspire 8920 and the 16-inches Aspire 6920 series. Both series are characterized by a dominant feature — the color Blue; hence the brand name “Aspire Gemstone Blue”.

Notebooks under both series are powered by Intel Centrino Processor technology, featuring the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, mobile Intel PM965 Express Chipset, and integrated module for wireless connection.

Aspire 8920 notebooks can be equipped with either Nvidia’s GeForce 9650M GS graphics engine with up to 1280 MB of TurboCache (512 MB of dedicated GDDR3 VRAM, up to 768 MB of shared system memory) or GeForce 9500M GS with up to 1280 MB of TurboCache (512 MB of dedicated GDDR2 VRAM, up to 768 MB of shared system memory). In either case, these notebooks support Nvidia PureVideo HD technology, Shader Model 4.0, and Microsoft DirectX 10.

According to Spooner , “Acer faces a particularly difficult task in doing so in the United States, where the Acer brand name has largely stood for low-cost brand. The company also faces stiff competition from HP and Dell, which have also been working to improve the cache of their respective PC product lines.” Acer hopes to break through this mental barrier with the Aspire Gemstone Blue which will ship from this month onwards, with prices starting from $900 and stopping at $1,700, depending on what you want to have inside.