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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Samsung launches Android phone for selfie addicts

The Samsung Galaxy K zoom melds a pro-level camera with a mid-level smartphone—complete with a Selfie Alarm to allow you to take timed selfies with ease—in the hopes of creating a whole new product category.

Anyone who follows Samsung's fortunes or its ever-growing range of handsets may beg to differ. After all, less than a year ago, the company launched the Samsung Galaxy SIV zoom, a pro-level camera that also works as a smartphone.

But, according to Sung Hong Lim, Senior Vice President of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics, the SIV zoom wasn't as good as it could have been in meeting the needs of consumers who are happy to compromise on smartphone specs but won't take second best when it comes to imaging and optics.

All of which makes the Galaxy K zoom not just a totally new product category, but a world-first too.

The K zoom (the K stands for Kamera!) is a pretty serious imaging device. It has a 20.7 megapixel BSI (backside illumination) CMOS sensor and optical image stabilization which, with an optical zoom that can easily unbalance the handset, is a necessity. And that optical zoom offers 10x magnification, auto focus and auto exposure -- which can be set on screen prior to taking a shot -- and sits much more snuggly in the phone's housing than it did on the SIV zoom.

Surprisingly, it only shoots 1080HD video, rather than 4K, but it does have a rather nifty Pro Suggest mode that offers filters based on the composition and the effect the user is trying to capture.
As a phone, it doesn't have the horsepower to outperform the company's latest flagship, the Galaxy S5, but it does have a very nice 4.8-inch full HD super AMOLED screen, uses a hexa-core processor and has 2GB of RAM. And, like all new Android devices landing in 2014, runs KitKat out of the box.
A potentially strange decision is to only offer the handset with 8GB of in-built storage. Yes there's a slot for a microSD card so expansion for storing images won't be a problem, but finding space for apps focused on the phone's performance rather than the camera's performance might be an issue.
Unless of course, Samsung has tweaked the OS so that the phone can access apps stored on removable media.

The company is yet to confirm when the phone will be arriving in different territories, or how much it will cost when it does.

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PLDT Home Bro LTE Ultera Plan up to 10 Mbps

PLDT  launches  Home Bro LTE Ultera Plan   up to 10mbps for Php 2,000. This are applicable  for their  three wireless broadband plans .

You need to pay for  each activation Plan for 6 months ULTERA modem has a built in WiFi ( info on this  image below)

Take Note:  Activation Fee will be amortized over the 1^st-6^th months of your subscription and will be billed on top of your MSF. Speed may drop to 30% of the original speed
once you exceed the recommended usage per month. Minimum speeds of 256 kbps at 85% reliability where wireless broadband is available.

PLDT Home Bro LTE Ultera  Speed per Plan

Here  are the existing  Modem Model For  Each Speed

Applicable to :

• Home Bro Plan 999 (Canopy or Wimax) Up to  2mbps
• Home Bro Plan 799  Up to 5mbps
• Ultera Max Plan Up to 10mbps

 

For existing Canopy or WiMax subscribers, upgrade now and get ultra fast speeds at lower prices.

 Visit : http://pldthome.com/surf/mybro/ultera

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Yahoo Paid a biggest bug bounty $15,000 Flickr vulnerability

Yahoo  owned Flicker one of  the  biggest online photo management and sharing website in the  world was recently impacted by critical web application vulnerabilities , which left the website 's database and server vulnerable for hackers.

The bug  was  found  by  Ibrahim Raafat   a security researcher from Egypt SQL injection vulnerabilities on Flickr Photo Books,  a new feature for  printing  custom photo books trough Flickr launched 5 months ago.

He  found two parameters  (page id , item) that are vulnerable to blind on SQL injection and Remote Code execution.

Video Demo by Ibrahim Raafat:

Ibrahim Raafat  received the highest bounty payout  $15,000 , the report Flickr vulnerabilities  has been patch.

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dSploit Android Hacking Apps

Do you own an Android Device and looking for Hacking Tools ? dSploit is one of the best network analysis and penetration testing suite, allows a Android user to Network Scan, Password Sniffing, Bruteforcing Ports, Packet Forging, Vulnerability Finding , Wi-Fi cracking, Session Hijacking and Spoofing .

Try this at your own risk.  

Link to  download : http://dsploit.net/2014/04/17/new-build-server-and-nightly-releases/

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Bill Clinton Toshiba Satellite Laptop sold for P2.7 Million

The laptop computer that Bill Clinton used in 1998 to send the first-ever US presidential email has sold for $60,667 in an online auction, the Boston auction house that handled the transaction said Thursday.

RR Auction did not disclose the name of the buyer of the still-functional Toshiba Satellite that Clinton borrowed to email veteran astronaut John Glenn, who was orbiting Earth aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

The laptop, with accessories and full documentation, originally belonged to White House physician Robert Darling, who lent it to Clinton when NASA informed the president that Glenn wanted to swap emails with him.
"It's a remarkable collection that represents the dawn of a new age, combining America's greatest technological achievements -- space travel and the Internet," said RR Auction vice president Bobby Livingston in a statement.
Glenn, a US senator who in 1962 became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, was completing a nine-day mission on Discovery in November 1998 when he sent word that he wanted to email Clinton, who was at the time was visiting friends in his home state of Arkansas.
"This is certainly a first for me, writing to a president from space, and it may be a first for you in receiving an email direct from an orbiting spacecraft," wrote Glenn, then 77.
Clinton was keen to get the message, but when his staff couldn't readily find him a computer to do so, Darling stepped forward with his trusty Toshiba and his personal AOL email address.
"Hillary and I had a great time at the launch," emailed Clinton, referring to Discovery's liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center a few days earlier.
"We are very proud of you and the entire crew, and a little jealous."
In an interview in 2000, Clinton said he never used email due to security concerns, but acknowledged emailing Glenn in space as well as some US marines and sailors at sea at Christmas.
Prior to selling the laptop in 2000, Darling took care to keep the historic email exchange on its hard drive, and made a copy on its internal floppy drive, while deleting all other data.
He also typed up a memo about the landmark email, saying Clinton "seemed to really enjoy himself particularly when he pressed the 'send' key and realized that at that instant his message was traveling through cyberspace and into real space."
rom/sg

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Chrome Remote Desktop Apps

Google first introduced this service in 2011, which allowed users of Chrome OS or Chrome browser to remotely access their personal computers back home in a free, easy and secure way and now they have released this feature for Android devices to make the same thing possible for Android users.

Securely access your computers from your Android device.
• On each of your computers, set up remote access using the Chrome Remote Desktop app from Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/remotedesktop
• On your Android device, open the app and tap on any of your online computers to connect.
For information about privacy, please see the Google Privacy Policy (http://goo.gl/SyrVzj) and the Chrome Privacy Policy (http://goo.gl/0uXE5d).

HOW TO USE IT

1. Install the Chrome Remote Desktop to your Chrome browser through the Chrome Web Store.
2. Open the app and Enable the remote connection service.

3. Set a minimum 6 digit pin code, as password.
4. Now Install 'Chrome Remote Desktop' Android app from Google Play Store.

5. Then you will see a list of PC’s that you can access. Just enter the respective PIN number to access it.

The new app even provides you to register multiple computers to your Android devices, so that you can control multiple systems on your single Smartphone or tablet AND a number of companies offer this ability like PhoneMyPC or TeamViewer.

For now, if you are using Android Smartphone or Tablet, you can download the free Remote Desktop Android App from the Google play store but for an iOS version it will be coming later this year.

 Previews post  for desktop :  http://blogmytuts.blogspot.com/2014/04/google-chrome-remote-desktop.html

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Google Chrome Remote Desktop

 Access other computers or allow another user to access your computer securely over the Internet.

Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access another computer through Chrome browser or a Chromebook.  Computers can be made available on an short-term basis for scenarios such as ad hoc remote support, or on a more long-term basis for remote access to your applications and files.  All connections are fully secured.

Chrome Remote Desktop is fully cross-platform.  Provide remote assistance to Windows, Mac and Linux users, or access your Windows (XP and above) and Mac (OS X 10.6 and above) desktops at any time, all from the Chrome browser on virtually any device, including Chromebooks.


For information about privacy, please see the Google Privacy Policy and the Chrome Privacy Policy.

Link to Download:   https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp


For help or troubleshooting please click here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=52730a7194bef976&hl=en

Chrome Remote Control  for Smartphone

You must install this Application software on your computer ! and you can use smartphone to control.
PC must be installed HServer
Dropbox Download :http://goo.gl/5F3kYk Or http://ppt.cc/auBH
Install setup :
1.Download HServer and run it.
2.Make sure PC/NB and smartphone is connected to the same Wi-Fi hotspot.
3.Open Chrome Control Remote" App.
4.This APP will automatically search area network devices.
5.Click the device and enjoy it !
6.Make sure that Chrome is running the operation.
Using Android smart phone device and connecting windows PC/NB to control Google Chrome,Using simple button to operate Google Chrome , Controlling Google Chrome is an easy thing !! The function include :
● Scale down
● Scale middle
● Scale up
● Delete tab
● Add tab
Googleplay :  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.holiestar.hchrome

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