Hamriya Freezone-Technopark launches its first company(Neologix) in UAE

Neologix Software Solutions launched their Middle East operations becoming the first offspring of the ‘Hamriya Freezone, UAE–Technopark, India’ strategic partnership. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two entities was signed recently for ‘the cooperation and collaboration for the advancement of entrepreneurship in IT Sector.’

 

 

 

“The IT sector in the Middle East is going through massive transformations, with professionals seeking fast effective and hassle free technologies while they are on the move.  Neologix, with its wealth of experience and knowledge is offering to cater the needs of clients in one of the most dynamic markets in the world,” said Jenu Joseph, Managing Director and Chief Architect of Neologix.

 

Neologix Software Solutions has been a leading internet solutions provider at the Technopark, India since 2002, developing state-of- art innovative software solutions for leading governmental, educational and multinational organizations in the subcontinent. Neologix had been catering its services to a wide range of domains and has extensive expertise in multiple sectors including healthcare, automotive, finance, e-learning, hospitality, real estate, retail to name a few.

 

 

 

“We are delighted to partner that Hamriya Freezone and Technopark have partnered for effective businesses. It is wonderful that we can easily establish ourselves with limited paperwork and fast processing. We are confident that our launch will be a distinguished start in the integration of both the geographical locations,” said Shan, Co-founder of Neologix.

Neologix will offer its expertise in a range of solutions particularly in the field of mobile-applications, a budding and fast-growing market in the UAE. Neologix also plans to up bring innovative portfolio with built-in secure networking functionality to enhance and attract customers.

Hawking seeks an assistant

Can you help make Stephen Hawking’s voice heard?

APIn this June 2, 2010 photo British physicist Stephen Hawking attends the 2010 World Science Festival opening night gala performance at Alice Tully Hall in New York.

The famed British physicist is seeking an assistant to help develop and maintain the electronic speech system that allows him to communicate his vision of the universe. An informal job ad posted to the famed physicist’swebsite said the assistant should be computer literate, ready to travel, and able to repair electronic devices “with no instruction manual or technical support.”

Mr. Hawking has long struggled against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease which left him almost completely paralysed. He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but a wheelchair-mounted computer helps synthesise speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesiser’s robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Mr. Hawking himself, but the computer powered by batteries fastened to the back of Mr. Hawking’s wheelchair isn’t just for speaking. It can connect to the Internet over cell phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office. It’s a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Mr. Hawking’s wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words “Could you maintain this?”

“If your answer is ‘yes,’ we’d like to hear from you!” the website says.

Mr. Hawking’s website says that the job’s salary is expected to be about 25,000 pounds ($38,500) a year.

Microsoft’s working on a social network for students

Just when you think the social networking scene is saturated enough with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, Microsoft’s getting into the game. But they’re changing it a little. Microsoft is planning to launch its own social network, but it’s planning on going the Facebook route where the network will only be open to students. According to ReadWriteWeb, the company is currently testing their social network, So.cl (pronounced “social”) at three university campuses in the U.S, University of Washington, New York University and Syracuse University. The social network is only being tested on students interested in social media.

Opening up on campuses

 

The social network reportedly is built from Bing’s API and according to Microsoft, “works as a research experiment for students focused on combining web browsing, search, and social networking for the purposes of learning”. The project is designed to help students with collaboration on projects and research. Basically the project is based on taking a search engine, specifically Bing, and adding a social factor to it. Microsoft is choosing to stay niche with their social network as they believe that Facebook, Twitter and Google have already got the grounds covered, as far as general social networking is concerned.

Scholar from Iran builds world’s tiniest microphone

Bahram Azizollah Ganji, a faculty member at Noshirvani University, located in northern City of Babol, Iran may not seem to exude any significance at first, but the man has given to the world the tiniest capacitor microphone ever built, with its dimensions at 0.5 0.5 mm, reportsISNA.

The world’s tiniest microphone

The microphone is tiny, so much that it cannot be viewed with one’s naked eye. Do not let that micro size belittle the microphone’s projected use. If things go as planned then, these microphones will prove to be a blessing to those with hearing impairments, owing to its sheer size. Among other features of this microphone; high sensitivity, low cost, low power consumption and use of low voltage are counted in, too.

Furthermore, the benefits of these tiny microphones will surely reach medical science. Doctors will find these microphones useful in receiving “the exact sound of the heart for diagnosis of heart problems and examination of foetus health.” Broadly speaking, the microphone will also find its use in “fishing, surveillance systems under water to measure sound waves and ultrasound waves to identify different marine animals, pens, telecommunications systems, information collection devices and defense systems..”, among others.

Interestingly, the microphone is also preparing to get itself listed as a record holder.

Next iPad to feature a 14,000mAh battery?

Apple has a tendency of unveiling their iPads in the first quarter of the year. They have done in the past iPad was announced in February 2010, while the iPad 2 was first previewed in March 2011. So, it is about that time of the year when the rumour mills start heating up with talks about what to expect from the next generation iPad. Previously, it was rumoured that Apple is currently working on a 7-inch version of their iconic tablet, named the iPad mini. However, as of now these are just speculations. The latest rumour comes from DigiTimes, who have been informed by sources that Apple is looking to launch a battery, which is double the capacity of the iPad 2.

Apple planning on doubling the battery capacity of the iPad?

The report states that Apple is set to unveil two iPads, next year – one a high-end version that will feature a 14,000mAh battery and the second, a mid-range tablet. The battery on the current generation iPad is 6,500mAh, so it appears that Apple is literally more than doubling the battery capacity. However, not much is known about the mid-range iPad, but it could probably be a smaller version of the iPad, thereby keeping in line with the rumours of the iPad mini.

The report goes on state that the slate would be announced in January 2012, which is also when Apple’s Macworld/iWorld event takes place, usually. However, Apple stated in the past that they would no longer be showcasing products at their Macworld/iWorld event. As of now, like with most Apple rumours, one should not read too much into it and wait and watch as to what the brand has to offer come announcement time.

Intel Atom ‘Cedar Trail’ processors revealed, due early next year

Intel’s Cedar Trail processors, 32nm Intel Atom chips, have finally been released. The firstnetbooks based on them, due from Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba, will be launched in early 2012. Apart from increased performance and improved battery life, the new Intel Atom processors will feature new graphics chipsets, with twice the graphical power.

The Cedar Trail processors will feature Intel GMA 3600/3650 integrated GPUs, which promise twice the graphical performance. The processors are quite power efficient as well, beating any other AMD Fusion APU in the market currently – with the new Intel Atom N2600 (1.6GHz) featuring a 3.5W TDP, the Intel Atom N2800 (1.86GHz) featuring a 6.5W TDP, and the Intel Atom D2700 (2.1GHz) featuring a 10W TDP.

While Intel’s new Atom processors do beat AMD’s Fusion APUs in terms of power consumption, we’ll have to wait a bit till we see them compared in terms of performance.

‘Batting failure led to downfall’

The HinduMS Dhoni

We were able to execute our plans: Michael Clarke

Indian captain M.S. Dhoni said the team’s fifth consecutive defeat abroad — four in England and one here — was a consequence of the batting flopping.

“Our batting flopped in both innings,” said Dhoni. “If you see, we had a partnership going in the first innings, but we couldn’t really capitalise on that. To some extent you can say that the collapse in the first innings was the turning point. The bowlers were getting tired, and if we could have seen off the new ball, it could have been different.”

Dhoni credited Australia’s seamers, who took 19 of the 20 Indian wickets that fell.

“They consistently bowled well. It wasn’t really the short deliveries.

“This wicket had a bit of spongy bounce, and the bouncer wasn’t coming on. It was the line outside the off-stump. Some balls went away and some balls came in. You have to give credit to them.”

Asked if the runs Australia’s lower-order had scored in both innings had deflated India, Dhoni said, “It didn’t deflate us, but we need to keep an eye on it. We have to come up with ways to get them out. If we had got them out for 240-250-odd runs, it was gettable. I think 290 was also pretty gettable, but the batting failed.”

Questionable decisions

There were some questionable decisions in the match, reopening the debate on the Decision Review System (DRS), which the Indian board didn’t want to be used for the series. Dhoni reiterated his point about technology not being 100 per cent accurate, and added that he backed the umpires on the field.

Australian captain Michael Clarke said his side had had to play at its best to defeat a very good Indian side.

“Our tail was outstanding with their batting, and we have to give full credit to the bowlers,” he said.

“You always want to have plans against whatever team you play and we were able to execute the plans. Credit has to go to Ponting and Hussey as well. India is a fantastic team. It is great to have them here in Australia. We know they’ll come hard at us in Sydney.”

Clarke didn’t read too much into India’s poor batting in the match.

“When you get conditions like these where it swings and seams, you are going to nick balls,” he said.

“If you knock over someone as strong as India, it just shows it. These are the reasons we have been having trouble with these conditions as well. These bowling-friendly conditions are not easy to bat on.”

James Pattinson, who was named the Man of the Match for his six wickets and 55 runs (unbeaten), said he was pleased with his success against a “great” Indian batting line-up. “I wasn’t even born when Sachin Tendulkar began playing cricket,” he said.

“I just wanted to attack. That’s the way I have been brought up, that’s the way I bowl.”

Integrating information with the real world…Sixth Sense!!!!

‘SixthSense’ is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.

We’ve evolved over millions of years to sense the world around us. When we encounter something, someone or some place, we use our five natural senses to perceive information about it; that information helps us make decisions and chose the right actions to take. But arguably the most useful information that can help us make the right decision is not naturally perceivable with our five senses, namely the data, information and knowledge that mankind has accumulated about everything and which is increasingly all available online. Although the miniaturization of computing devices allows us to carry computers in our pockets, keeping us continually connected to the digital world, there is no link between our digital devices and our interactions with the physical world. Information is confined traditionally on paper or digitally on a screen. SixthSense bridges this gap, bringing intangible, digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand gestures. ‘SixthSense’ frees information from its confines by seamlessly integrating it with reality, and thus making the entire world your computer.

The SixthSense prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera. The hardware components are coupled in a pendant like mobile wearable device. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around us to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks user’s hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques. The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tip of the user’s fingers using simple computer-vision techniques. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. The maximum number of tracked fingers is only constrained by the number of unique fiducials, thus SixthSense also supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.

The SixthSense prototype implements several applications that demonstrate the usefulness, viability and flexibility of the system. The map application lets the user navigate a map displayed on a nearby surface using hand gestures, similar to gestures supported by Multi-Touch based systems, letting the user zoom in, zoom out or pan using intuitive hand movements. The drawing application lets the user draw on any surface by tracking the fingertip movements of the user’s index finger. SixthSense also recognizes user’s freehand gestures (postures). For example, the SixthSense system implements a gestural camera that takes photos of the scene the user is looking at by detecting the ‘framing’ gesture. The user can stop by any surface or wall and flick through the photos he/she has taken. SixthSense also lets the user draw icons or symbols in the air using the movement of the index finger and recognizes those symbols as interaction instructions. For example, drawing a magnifying glass symbol takes the user to the map application or drawing an ‘@’ symbol lets the user check his mail. The SixthSense system also augments physical objects the user is interacting with by projecting more information about these objects projected on them. For example, a newspaper can show live video news or dynamic information can be provided on a regular piece of paper. The gesture of drawing a circle on the user’s wrist projects an analog watch.

The current prototype system costs approximate $350 to build. Instructions on how to make your own prototype device can be found here (coming soon).

PICTURES

          

          

          

Apple’s redesigned iPhone rumoured to be launched in fall 2012

As Apple’s 2012 product launch cycle draws closer, rumours about what new we can expect from the company are beginning to pick up steam. The latest rumour is a redesigned iPhone, which is likely to be launched in fall in 2012.

According to BGR, the redesigned iPhone will have an aluminium back panel, like we have for the iPad. Moreover, the redesigned iPhone will probably have a complete new antenna system. Also, the phone is likely to have a bezel, composed of either rubber or plastic, very much like theiPhone 3GS. The rumoured device is also likely to have a larger display around 4-inches.

It’s notable that the current generation iPhone 4S was launched later than the normal Apple product launch cycle, instead of the company’s traditional June/July launch, the 4S arrived in September this year. However, if the report is to believed, the rumoured device is likely to maintain Apple’s traditional one-year gap between device launches.

The BGR report however does not refer to the new Apple device as the iPhone 5, though several other media reports have dubbed it so. The rumours of a redesigned iPhone comes in the backdrop of reports of iPad 3, which is speculated to be launched on February 24, 2012 in honour of Steve Jobs’s birthday. Another set of rumours had suggested that Apple is prepping a mini-iPad in view of competition from 7-inch tablets like the Kindle Fire, and smartphone-tablet hybrids, like the Samsung Galaxy Note and Acer Iconia Smart S300. Read our previous coverage here.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3W Review

Micro Four Thirds cameras have been around for some time now. This segment of cameras have been dominated mainly by the likes of Olympus and Panasonic. With the launch of a newer generation, these cameras have begun getting smaller in size and are loaded with various features. Brands such as these launch mirrorless Micro Four Thirds cameras, as such for those who’re looking to step up from compact cameras and want features found on DSLR cameras. Though this segment is mainly dominated by Olympus and Panasonic, other well known camera manufacturers such as Canon and Nikon are seeking to put their stamp on this breed of cameras, too. By 2012, we may probably see more manufacturers gaining entry into this range of cameras.

The 14-42mm lens that is bundled in the kit

Panasonic as a brand has successfully launched Micro Four Thirds cameras and building up from their existing range, they have released the DMC-GF3W. This is one of the world’s smallest and probably the lightest interchangeable lens system camera. It boasts of interesting attributes such as a pancake lens, an additional 14 – 42mm lens, full HD 1080p video recording, a touchscreen and other interesting features. Read on to know more about this offering from Panasonic.

Design and Build Quality
The Panasonic DMC-GF3W is one of the most compact Micro Four Thirds compacts we have seen. It is quite lightweight as well weighing at approximately 264g with the battery and memory card. Carrying it around is not a problem at all, due to these compact features. It can easily fit in a jeans pocket, a shirt pocket or a purse. The size of it being this compact is something that appealed to us a lot.

The DMC-GF3 is available in a range of colours, allowing one to purchase the colour option they desire. The available colour options are black, red, white, pink, brown and white. The colour variant we received in our labs was the pink one. The camera has a matte pink finish all over and the only other colour found on it is in the form of a strip found along the sides of the body. Besides the 14mm lens that came bundled with the body that can be attached to the front, the face features just the AF assist and the Lumix branding.

iAuto mode found at the top

Panasonic has gone with the minimalistic approach, while designing this camera and have added very few buttons at the back besides the 3-inch resistive touchscreen. There is a scroll wheel that is located around the four way jog dial. Other buttons at the back are a playback button and a function button. The buttons located on the top, include a power switch, a shutter release button, a video recording button and an iAuto button. All the buttons are greyish and they feel plasticy. The rest of the body feels really sturdy and we had no qualms with the rest of the build quality and this includes the pop up flash as well.

The DMC-GF3W comes bundled with two lenses, a 14mm pancake lens and a 14-42mm lens.These lens fit well on the lens mount and like interchangeable lens cameras, a button is required to remove them from the body. Removing the lens is a fairly simple task and we did not face any resistance. The build quality of the pancake lens is good. The zoom ring on the 14-42mm lens feels a bit cheap and plasticy. This was a bit disappointing. Connectivity options lie on the side of the camera in a bay and these include a proprietary USB port and a mini HDMI port.

Handling of the camera is not that easy with a right hand as there is no real hand grip as compared with the Olympus PEN E-P3. Bundled along with the camera is a neck strap that does help to an extent  if the camera accidentally slips. Rounding up the design of the camera, the Lumix DMC-GF3W looks quite attractive and with the colour options available it can appeal to both genders.

Features
The main feature of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3W is its extremely compact form factor. Many Micro Four Thirds have been released over the years, but hardly any can compete with the size of this one. Being a Micro Four Thirds camera, it doesn’t use a foldable mirror mechanism, as seen on DSLRs. This is one of the biggest differences between the two segments of cameras. It features a 12.1 Megapixel Live MOS sensor, which helps in reducing the noise in images. The camera has the ability to capture images quickly and the speed with which it can focus is really fast, too. The camera comes with two lenses, one a 14mm G 14mm F2.5 ASPH pancake lens and two, a 14-42mm lens. The 14-42mm lens is an equivalent to an 18-5mm equivalent.

 

A capacitive screen would have been better

 
Although the interface of the camera is not that great, it is fairly easy to navigate through. One may take time to understand it better, though. Camera manufacturers like Canon, Nikon or Olympus have consistent looking interfaces and navigating through them becomes a breeze, once you’ve played with them for a few minutes. This, on the other hand takes a while to get used to. There are several semi-manual and manual settings like Program auto, Aperture priority, Shutter priority and Manual mode, which take care of tweaking the settings. This is expected from a camera with these capabilities and it can be a solution, while making a step up from a standard compact camera to a one like this, which has a compact form factor.

Moving on to the display of the camera, the GF3W features a 3-inch touchscreen with an approximately 460,000-dot resolution. While it may be a neat feature to add a touchscreen, it loses out to the Olympus as they use capacitive screens with their PEN range of cameras. One can also tap the screen to capture a photograph.

The ISO sensitivity ranges from 160 – 6400, which takes care of shooting in most light settings. Apart from this, one thing that we liked about the ISO settings are that there are many other ISO levels, which help in choosing the exact ISO sensitivity desired. If a person is new to photography then they can use the iAuto mode, which is very useful and can appeal to beginners, while capturing both pictures as well as videos. Videos recorded through this camera can be played back on a HDTV in full HD 1080p in the AVCHD format.

Pop up flash is sturdy

Images can be captured in RAW, RAW+Fine, RAW+Standard, Fine and Standard. This becomes useful for photographers as RAW images contain a lot of colours, as opposed to standard images. Another advantage of capturing images in RAW is that during post processing on a computer many refinements to the white balance, noise, among other settings can be made. Apart from this, the DMC-GF3W is loaded with various scene settings and creative filters, which allow one the luxury of capturing artistic photographs. Images and videos captured can be stored on memory cards, such as SD, SDHC and SDXC.