Apple hires Nokia camera expert and Dr Dre appears to confirm Apple's Beats acquisition ; expect better iPhone

Reports are saying Apple may acquire Beats Electronics, but in the meantime the Cupertino, Calif., giant has for sure landed another figure in tech: Nokia's former camera expert.
Apple has hired Ari Partinen, who previously was senior engineer on Nokia's Lumia team. Partinen announced move via Twitter.

Dr Dre has apparently confirmed that Apple is on the verge of acquiring his Beats Electronics company in a big money deal.

Reports that the tech giant is planning a $3.2 billion (£1.9 billion) buyout of the audio firm emerged earlier today (May 9 Yesterday)

 Apple has hired former Nokia Lumia photography chief Ari Partinen, sparking rumors that the next iPhone will feature a revamped camera.

Partinen, who has overseen the development of the Nokia 808 PureView and Nokia N8, confirmed the appointment via his Twitter account.

Previous reports suggest that the iPhone 6 will feature a Lytro-style camera capable of capturing layered imagery, as well as electronic optical image stabilisation.

Industry expert Sun Changxu recently claimed that the next iPhone's camera will use larger pixels to draw in more light, resulting in higher image and video quality, particularly in low-lit conditions.

Purported leaked photographs of the iPhone 6 have backed up reports that it will feature a larger display than its predecessors and a more rounded design.

Apple is expected to announce the handset around September.

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FretPen guitar for mobile musicians

 As fans of old delta blues will already know, even two or three strings on a guitar can be too many when belting out soulful music on a guitar-like instrument. Rather than changing the pitch of a long piece of tuned wire with a glass bottle or steel blade though, the FretPen uses technology to offer players three full octaves from just three frets on a real wood neck and a companion iPhone app. Oh, and it's also a pen.

The FretPen one-stringed guitar and pen

The maple fretboard of the FretPen has the same number of steel frets as the travel-friendly PocketStrings chord shape practice aid that caught our eye at 2012's Winter NAMM, but not nearly as many strings. In fact, the guitar-shaped FretPen only has one short string running between its teeny tuning head and base block.

The pre-production prototype of the FretPen

 

The neck detaches from the guitar-shaped body, allowing users to slot a pen tip in its place and write down the score of music they've just been playing 

In addition to a play mode, the iPhone app also has a learning mode to teach pocket pickers a few tricks

Exploded view of the FretPen system

 Behind the wood are electronics to detect finger position and on its gothic black Super Strat body are four directional buttons. The player uses these buttons to select notes on a virtual 12 fret neck with the help of an iOS app and Bluetooth LE. The sound is thrown out of the speaker or headphone jack of the paired iPhone or iPad. The app defaults to play mode, but also includes and learning mode that teaches pocket pickers a few tricks. Users can also add effects, play chords instead of single notes and select either acoustic or electric guitar tones.

The FretPen hardware comprises a pen tip, a guitar-shaped body housing electronics and battery, and a sensor-packing neck with one string over three frets.

 The FretPen is currently at the pre-production prototype stage of development and has launched on Kickstarter to get units into the hands of mobile musicians. The first 50 early bird specials have all been snapped up, so backers will need to pledge at least US$119 to add their names to the shipping list, assuming all goes to plan

 Sources: FretLabs, Kickstarter

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Roku Streaming Stick

There are a burgeoning number of ways to receive content streamed from the internet to your living room TV, and no single provider is proving significantly dominant. One service that is certainly popular, though, is Roku. Here's our hands-on look at the recently-launched Roku Streaming Stick.

Two questions are immediately worth addressing regarding the device: what is it, and how does it compare to Google's Chromecast?
In short, the Streaming Stick (which was announced in March) is a small dongle that plugs into an HDMI port in the back of a TV to provide the user with a host of "channels" streamed from the internet. Netflix, Now TV and BBC iPlayer are some examples of the channels available.
The basic premise is that serving such internet-based content to a living room TV provides a better viewing experience to users, than having to watch content on a laptop. Roku provides a remote control with the Streaming Stick, to make the experience as similar as possible to normal couch-based viewing.

 Unpacking the box reveals the Streaming Stick itself, the remote control and a cable to power the device via a USB port on the TV or a plug socket. A plug adapter is also provided. A short set of instructions explains how to get going, but it will be pretty straightforward stuff for anyone who's ever set up a new TV or similar. Language, network and timezone settings are requested, before the device is activated by inputting a code that is sent to the user's email address. The Streaming Stick connects to the user's home Wi-Fi network and is dual-band wireless N. compatible, so it will work with most home routers.

 

A remote control, power lead and instructions are included in the box underneath the Streaming Stick itself 

 Users need to set up a Roku account if they don't already have one, and input payment card or PayPal details for any purchases. Restrictions are set at this point to determine when a PIN should be used for authorizing payments, if at all. Users are then taken through a process of choosing what initial channels to install. The usual suspects are there, such as Netflix and YouTube, as well as regional options. Being based in the UK, I was offered UK-based TV channel catch-up services like 4OD and Demand 5.

The UK version of the streaming stick that I tested offers over 500 channels, with more offered in other countries. There are over 1,000 in the US, for example. The device is compatible with HDTVs only and plays up to 1080p HD video. Users can also play games and view their own photos and videos via a number of different apps.

 

Verdict

The Streaming Stick is great for watching films via Netflix or the Sky Store (depending on regional availability), catching up on TV shows and grazing on niche content. It will, as the packaging proclaims, "be fun," but it will not blow your socks off. If you're a discerning consumer of content, then consider what Roku is offering carefully in relation to what you like watching before making a decision.
The device retails for US$49.99 (or £49.99 in the UK).

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Sony develops a new tech 185TB magnetic tapes 3,700 times more storage than a Blu-ray disc.

Sony develops a new tech 185TB magnetic tapes with  3,700 times more storage than a Blu-ray disc. 

Back in 2010, the standing record for how much data magnetic tape could store was 29.5GB per square inch. To compare, a standard dual-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25GB per layer — this is why big budget, current-gen video games can clock in at around 40 or 50GB. That, however, is an entire disc, whereas magnetic tape could store more than half of that capacity in one little square inch. Sony has announced that it has developed a new magnetic tape material that demolishes the previous 29.5GB record, and can hold a whopping 148GB per square inch, making it the new record holder of storage density for the medium. If spooled into a cartridge, each tape could have a mind-boggling 185TB of storage. Again, to compare, that’s 3,700 dual-layer 50GB Blu-rays (a stack that would be 14.3 feet or 4.4 meters high, incidentally). In fact, one of these tapes would hold five more terabytes than a $9,305 hard drive storage array.

In order to create the new tape, Sony employed the use of sputter deposition, which creates layers of magnetic crystals by firing argon ions at a polymer film substrate. Combined with a soft magnetic under-layer, the magnetic particles measured in at just 7.7 nanometers on average, able to be closely packed together.

Perhaps surprisingly, storage tape shipments grew 13% two years ago, and were headed for a 26% growth just last year. Sony also stated that it would like to commercialize the new material — as well as continue developing its sputter deposition methods — but did not say if or when it will ever happen. While 185TB of storage sitting on a single cartridge is extremely appealing for people with large digital collections — music, games, or really any kind of media — it’s best to remember that the storage medium of tape has never been easy access. Read and write times feel like (and often are) an oblivion, and tape is used mainly for safe-keeping backup, rather than because you have too much music on your SSD and want to free up space for a new game. Still, when it comes to massive, non-time-sensitive storage, tape storage libraries are still one of the most common methods used by big corporations.

 Sony will present the new material to an audience at the international magnetics conference, Intermag Europe 2014.

 soucre:www.extremetech.com

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