Author Archives: Thuc Nhan

Feb
27
2013
1
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Lytro-like Camera Could Be In Your Next Smartphone

Posted by at 10:45 am

2013-02-27_025817

The camera is one of the biggest selling points in a smartphone these days. Nokia has their PureView camera, while HTC just announced their “UltraPixel” camera in the HTC One. Now DigitalOptics want its “Mems|Cam” camera technology in your next smartphone.

At Mobile World Congress this year, DigitalOptics revealed its Mems|Cam camera that can capture images and let you change their focus afterward. This sounds like a similar technology that Lytro introduced a couple of years ago. However, the MEM|Cam technology works a bit differently.  (more…)

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Feb
20
2013
4
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Microsoft’s Skype Purchase is Paying Off

Posted by at 11:05 am

skype logo money

The $8.5 billion purchase of Skype is starting to look fairly priced for Microsoft. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft’s Skype unit is reaching $2 billion in annual sales. Skype at the time of acquisition in 2011, had annual sales of $800 million.

However, Microsoft’s own enterprise communication solution–Lync, is lumped into Skype’s department. The Bloomberg report did not mention what percentage of sales Skype and Lync generate separately.

Lync is Microsoft’s homegrown enterprise communication tool and has existed prior to the purchase of Skype. It’s one of the premier internet telecommunications for enterprise competing with Cisco Systems. Out of the Fortune’s 100 companies, 90 rely on Microsoft Lync for their internet telecommunication solution. Lync currently has over 5 million users. (more…)

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Feb
13
2013
4
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Windows 8 Has 750,000 Apps via BlueStacks, But Does It Matter?

Posted by at 10:00 am

BlueStacks-App-Player

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Socketeq’s WindowsAndroid. It basically allows Android OS to run on Windows natively. However, the future is uncertain since the developers of WindowsAndroid have not made their commitment clear.

Luckily WindowsAndroid isn’t the only solution. BlueStacks has been available for Windows for a while now. This week, the guys behind BlueStacks has announced support for Windows 8 and specifically the Surface Pro. Windows 8 users can now download the beta version and get over 750,000 android apps working with multi-touch support.  (more…)

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Feb
13
2013
6
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Microsoft Helps Bring Contre Jour to the Web

Posted by at 7:00 am

contre jour ieInternet Explorer gets a lot of bad reps for its monopoly stagnancy in the Web 1.0 days, and it deserved so. Putting its legacy aside, the IE team gave ways to many of the essential layers that power the modern Web 2.0 and browser technologies today. Such technologies include hardware acceleration and multi-touch standard for browsers. It’s now possible to develop advance web apps and games for the modern web landscape. (more…)

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Feb
12
2013
4
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New Light-Control Glass Can Change Between Reflective and Transparent [Video]

Posted by at 8:00 am

AIST light-control

The Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute (AIST) of Japan has developed a new type of “light-controlling” sheet that can switch between reflective and transparent states. AIST said the method can be applied to any glass panel to give it the ability of changing the opacity level. The trick is done by applying voltage to a microscopic gap filled with hydrogen between the acrylic sheet and the glass panel.

A similar electrochromic glass solution is already commercialized. That method, however, only frosts the glass panel instead of blocking the lights. Thus, light can still pass through and raise the temperature of the panel. (more…)

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Feb
10
2013
13
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Week in Microsoft: Surface vs. Nemo, Why Xbox Was Created, and Windows Blue?

Posted by at 5:31 am

surfacep

Anyone on the east coast mobile? Let’s hope not too many of you are stranded due to Nemo (who comes up with these storm names anyway?). You’re not the only ones Nemo snowed in though. Microsoft cancelled their Surface Pro launch event in New York yesterday due to the blizzard.

However, despite the snowstorm, Microsoft had a rather productive week: early on, an ex-Microsoft executive revealed how Sony’s mistakes helped create the original Xbox. Codename Windows Blue might be more than just updates for Windows 8. And Microsoft Surface Pro is doing well if early sellouts are to be believed. Let’s go through the news in Microsoft for the week of February 4th – 10th.

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Feb
08
2013
10
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Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is Invisible and Flexible

Posted by at 11:02 am

corning gorilla glass 3

In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, Corning CEO Wendell Weeks revealed the next-generation of its famed Gorilla Glass. One of the Gorilla Glass panels shown in the interview is treated with some kind of coating that makes the panel completely non-reflective. It seems as if the treated area is invisible to the human eyes in the images shown above. The second panel demonstrated is a flexible type of glass which can bend to conform to any angle. It looks like it’s made out of plastic if you watch the demo, but Weeks affirms that the panel is made of glass.

Corning Inc. is famous for its Gorilla Glass, but the company has been around for over 160 years and offers different ranges of industrial glasswork. They’ve just had record fourth quarter earnings and are expected to grow by two to three times in the next few years. Weeks attributes the the growth to increased demands for Gorilla Glass. He also believes that Windows 8 notebooks and tablets will drive up demands for larger LCD glass panels.

Jump past the break for the video demo (requires Adobe Flash). (more…)

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Feb
03
2013
2
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Week In Microsoft: Office 365, Mending With Google, and WP 7.8

Posted by at 4:26 am

Microsoft This Week

The Surface Pro inches closer to its release next weekend on February 7 and enthusiasm is high in cyberspace. Many are waiting for the Surface Pro for its “non-compromising” vapor-mag metalwork, but many will also be in for a memory shock. Surface RT didn’t fare too well during the holiday sales and Microsoft is hoping for a better second round.

As important as the Surface Pro is, it wasn’t the only headline. This week, Microsoft released their brand new Office 2013 suite to the public, worked out some problems with Google, and finally delivered on broken promises to early Windows Phone 7 adopters. Lets go through all the news item for the week of January 28 – February 3.

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Jan
31
2013
36
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Surface Pro Storage Space Breakdown

Posted by at 1:00 pm

surface pro storage

On Tuesday, Microsoft lays down the gauntlets for those who might have wanted a Surface Pro with disappointing usable storage space. The blogosphere was set ablaze by the news.

When was the last time a Windows machine came with anything less than 120 GB minimum? I purchased a netbook from years prior that came with a 320 GB hard drive, and that cost me $299. Downgrading to 64 GB is a fairly new phenomenon affected by smaller devices. Why should people be surprised by the botched down available space?

But I bring good news. Lets break down the storage space usage in Windows and see how you might actually get more than what Microsoft conservatively announced. After all, someone sued Microsoft for false advertising with its Surface RT storage. Jump pass the break for the total breakdown.

(more…)

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Jan
30
2013
17
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Android OS Successfully Ported To Windows

Posted by at 11:33 pm

windowsandroid

Earlier this week, a mysterious Chinese company released an early preview of their ambitious project: WindowsAndroid. Socketeq, the Chinese company, claims they’ve ported Android OS to run natively on Windows. Immediately after the news went viral, their website went offline for several days due to traffic overload.

Socketeq’s website is now back online, but instructs visitors to search the web if they want to download the preview program. Luckily, I managed to download a copy and have been testing it out. Initial impression and video after the break. (more…)

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