Sean Lahman: Evolution preceded revolution in digital cameras

Sean Lahman: Evolution preceded revolution in digital cameras

   May 07, 2012       Unknown

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Steve Jobs didn’t invent the MP3 player. The Wright Brothers weren’t the first to fly. And the incandescent light bulb had been around in one form or another for 50 years before Thomas Edison came up with his version.

We tend to think of inventors as people who create things that are entirely new, but that’s rarely the case. More often, innovation comes from a series of smaller, incremental improvements.

“That was certainly true in my case,” said James McGarvey, who was honored last week as the Distinguished Inventor of the Year, an award given annually by the Rochester Intellectual Property Lawyers Association.

McGarvey was recognized for his work to invent and commercialize digital single lens reflex cameras (D-SLRs) at Eastman Kodak Co. “The first D-SLR was not a big invention,” he said. “It was a series of small inventions.”

The challenge began when a government client approached McGarvey, asking if he could put Kodak’s one megapixel sensor — used in high-end video cameras — in a 35mm camera body for some sort of covert operation.

“Because I was an avid photographer and a SLR user, I knew how a film camera worked,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘What do I need to make something that works the same way?’ ”

In 1988, McGarvey hand-delivered the top-secret camera (I’m imagining it in a case handcuffed to his wrist) and never saw it again.

He ended up building three more prototypes the next two years and by 1990 began showing those cameras to news photographers at trade shows for feedback. “The reaction was intense,” McGarvey said.

McGarvey was granted patent No. 4,916,476 for that first design, the first of many he received.

The first digital SLR — the Kodak Professional Digital Camera System (DCS) — hit the market in 1991, and was an instant hit.

“The impact of Jim’s work cannot be overstated,” said Kenneth Parulski, chief scientist at Kodak. “Some of the world’s most famous photos, from Super Bowl touchdowns to the 9/11 tragedy, were captured by sports and press photographers using D-SLR cameras that Jim designed.”

McGarvey made tremendous strides in a short period of time, and by the mid-1990s had implemented almost all of the features present in current-day digital cameras. “The only significant addition in the last 15 years has been the ability to shoot movies,” he said.

Sean Lahman: Evolution preceded revolution in digital cameras 

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Gadgets drive online ad spend

Gadgets drive online ad spend

   May 07, 2012       Unknown

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The proliferation of digital devices has helped boost online advertising revenue by 19 per cent to $713 million in the March quarter.  Online advertising would make up about 22 per cent of total ad revenue by year’s end, Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia chief Paul Fisher predicted.

“We’ve always said the largest single driver is consumer behaviour,” Mr Fisher said.

Advertisers were shifting more of their marketing budgets towards digital platforms as consumers took to online video, social media and “concurrent usage” (using two or more screens from TVs, PCs, smart phones and tablets), he said.

Mr Fisher said online advertising was on track to exceed $3 billion this year. Search and directories remains the dominant category, generating $395.7 million in the March quarter, up 21.4 per cent year-on-year, and representing 55.5 per cent of total online advertising.

Directories, which consists of a minority of the category, grew at a faster rate than search. Industry sources say Google accounts for more than 95 per cent of search revenue. General display advertising was the second-fastest growing category, recording 18 per cent growth to $153.7 million in the quarter and representing 21.6 per cent of total online advertising.

Within the display category, video posted $11.6 million in ad revenue for the quarter, up $0.6 million from the December quarter. However, email-based advertising dropped by $2.6 million to $7 million over the same period.

Motor vehicles continued to be the highest-spending industry sector, generating 20.4 per cent of total online display ad revenue. This was up from 17.4 per cent in the December quarter.

Finance was the second-highest sector, posting 13.3 per cent of total online display, up from 12.9 per cent in the December quarter.  Real estate rose from a 7.9 per cent to an 8.4 per cent share, while fast moving consumer goods rose from a 6.8 per cent share to 8 per cent.

Computers and communications was edged out of the top five industry categories, generating 7.2 per cent of general display revenue in the March quarter, down from 9.7 per cent in the previous quarter.  

“The retail and government sector online spend continues to flatline, which is surprising given both are facing tough marketing and communications conditions,” Mr Fisher said. “There is a real opportunity for these sectors to invest their advertising budgets online.”

Online classified advertising was the slowest growing of the three main categories, posting revenue growth of 13 per cent for the March quarter year-on-year. Classifieds generated $163.5 million, representing 22.9 per cent of total online ad revenue.

CPM-based pricing (cost per thousand) remained the dominant expenditure type, representing 74 per cent of the total online ad spend, compared to 26 per cent for direct response.

Online advertising seems to be maintaining its growth trajectory. The 19 per cent growth for the 2012 March quarter compares to 17 per cent growth for the first quarters in each of 2011 and 2010.

IAB Australia announced it would release online video measurement data later this year.

Gadgets drive online ad spend

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28,000 phones disconnected for making pesky calls

28,000 phones disconnected for making pesky calls

   May 07, 2012       Unknown

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Almost 28,000 telephones have been disconnected and over 44,000 notices issued to unregistered telemarketers till April 24 for sending pesky calls and messages, according to the government.

"Government is aware that several calls and SMSs are being sent from private numbers i.e. by subscribers not registered as a telemarketer. 44,810 notices have been issued to unregistered telemarketers and 27,984 telephones have been disconnected till April 24, 2012 since inception of the regulation i.e. Sep 27, 2011," Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In order to provide relief to millions of mobile subscribers nagged by telemarketing companies, the government last year brought into force a regulation -- The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010 -- barring such communications.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), if pesky calls or messages are sent through individual numbers then notice will be served to the customers while the number will be disconnected on second violation.

The guidelines regulating commercial calls levy hefty penalties on offenders including fines ranging from Rs.25,000 to Rs.250,000 depending on the number of times the violation is detected. On sixth violation, the telemarketer's connection is to be terminated and get blacklisted for two years.

All telemarketing firms are now easily identifiable as their phone numbers will hence forth begin with '140'.

To avail the service, customers have to get registered with the National Customer Preference Registry, earlier known as the National Do Not Call registry, by dialling toll free number 1909. They can also send a SMS -- 'start 0' -- to the same number to get registered.

28,000 phones disconnected

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Star Walk - ipad calls interactive astronomy

Star Walk - ipad calls interactive astronomy

   May 07, 2012       Unknown

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Internet Giant Social Media

A new ipad calls for a brand new batch of apps that show off the gadget’s new powers –a  screen that allows ebooks to be sharper than the printed word. To show off that high-density Ratina display and a fancy new A5X processor, these are the apps you need on your new iPad .......

[[[ Category: Education
Updated: 20 April 2012
Version: 5.7.2
Size: 151 MB
Languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish
Developer: Vito Technology Inc.]]]
Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Star Walk  for  $4.99

The astronomy app Star Walk is not a new app but when used on the new iPad it is nothing short of stunning. Star Walk can identify up to 300,000 stars on the iPad’s screen and is ideal for youngsters and adults alike. By simply holding your iPad into the sky, the app labels out the constellations, the solar system, stars, and satellites.

The app also includes a celestial calendar that informs how to plan star gazing by listing events such as full moons, meteor showers and upcoming partial eclipses.

The most interesting feature of the app is the Augmented Reality technique where it overlays data from the app on top of the image (of the sky) as captured by the iPad camera. Using this, user can align the image of the sky with that of the sky in the app.

This helps in pinpointing the position of satellites, finding stars or constellations.

You get the social bragging rights to show off your iPad and how a photo of your current location is overlaid with the app-generated sky, giving you real time results of what is right above you. There are some stunning pictures of the day (sun, etc) that makes for a super high resolution view of a celestial scene.

note :

Winner of Apple Design Award 2010, featured by Apple as Best Apps of 2009, 2010 and in iPad TV commercials***

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Mobile fun - Talking comics are here

Mobile fun - Talking comics are here

   April 26, 2012       Unknown

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             Little Eric does not have to peer into comic books to read the adventures of his hero-Nagraj. He can now lean back and let the comic play itself with sounds and dialogues-on his mobile phone.

             Mobile content provider Planet 41 Mobiventures says that it sells as many as 10,000 ‘motion comic’ books per day. It has the rights for mobile versions of titles offered by Raj Comics – like Super Commander, Doga, Hitchiker and others. These comics are available in Hindi and English.

            Somil Gupta, co-founder of planet 41 Mobiventures said that they were hitting notes of new-age consumers who prefer digital content over print editions. The price difference too helps.

            The print editions of these comics range from 50-100, whereas the digital versions
are sold at 10 per book.

             In the animated version, it takes away the text bubble, and re-draw the vacuum that it creates. It also lip movements and hand movements to these comics, and use voice artists to spell the dialogue. The company also adds sound effects like lighting, explosion effects.

            “This is done in the US by Marvel Comics, in India,” said Gupta. Currently, the books are available for Tata Docomo and Idea Cellular customers. The company is planning on expanding it across operators, soon.

            The comic book will be delivered in the form of a URL via an SMS. The comic opens on a WAP browser, and works only on the mobile. Since the company has no means on charging the consumer online, the URL cannot be used on the computer.

           “People would not want to use their credit cards for such small amounts. On the mobile, it will get deducted from the pre-paid balance or add to the bill,” said Gupta.

 

            Gupta feels that URL is a better form of delivery than creating an application. He feels that charging and selling is tougher as many forms of the applications across platforms like Android, iOS have to be created, and also duly promoted. “Now we can go directly promote the content,” he said.

 

           The comics sell quite well in the North like UP, Punjab, Delhi and Uttaranchal where Raj Comics are popular. Planet 41 wants to expand it to the South by translating them in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Also, these comics are directed towards children who are older than ten years.

           The company want to gain consumers across age groups with more titles. It is in talks with amond Comics which has famous characters like Chacha Chaudhary, Pinki, Shaktimaan and Captain Vyom. They want to bring in Lotpot comics on mobile as well, and cater to children who are as young as six or seven.

The company has two versions of comics on mobile. The non-animated version is simpler where they expand the text bubble of the comic to make it easier to read.

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FCC Seeks fine from Google in wireless data privacy case

FCC Seeks fine from Google in wireless data privacy case

   April 22, 2012       Unknown

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Image via CrunchBase

FCC Seeks $25,000 fine from Google in wireless data privacy case

The Us Federal Communications Commission is seeking a $25,000 fine from Google Inc for not cooperating with an investigation of the company’s collection of personal data from wireless networks.

   For months, Google “impeded” and “delayed” the probe, which concerned e-mail, text messages and other private material gathered in connection with the company’s Street View location service, according to an FCC filing dated April 13.

    “We find that Google apparently and willfully and repeatedly violated. Commission orders to produce certain information and documents,” the FCC said in the filing.

    Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, has come under rising scrutiny from regulators over how it handles data. Last year, the company agreed to settle claims with the Federal Trade Commission that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy policies with the Buzz social network introduced in 2010. The FTC settlement requires Google to undergo independent privacy audits for 20 years.

     For three years starting in May 2007, Google collected content from wireless networks that wasn’t needed for its location-based services, the FCC said. Google gathered so-called “payload” data including e-mail and text messages, passwords, Internet-usage history, and “other highly sensitive personal information,” the FCC said.

     In May 2010, Google, which had revenue of $37.9 billion last year, said it would stop using Wi-Fi information for Street View, which displays pictures of streets on Google Maps. At the time, the company acknowledged that it had collected the information by mistake.

    Mistique Cano, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, California-based Google, didn’t immediately have a comment.

    A security personnel answers a call at the reception counter of the Google office in Hyderabad.

                                                                                                            BLOOMBERG

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Where does Google see its future

Where does Google see its future

   April 22, 2012       Unknown

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Google’s Page ‘quite focused’ on lower ends of tablet market

Where does Google see its future in the tablet market? Try the bargain bin.

 Responding to a question about tablets during the company’s earnings call today, Google chief executive Larry Page said: “We definitely believe that there is going to be a lot of success with the lower ends of the market, as well with lower-price products; that will be very significant, and definitely an area we think is important, and we’re quite focused on.”

Tablets running on Google’s Android operating system have struggled to compete with the iPad, which dominates the market.

“There is a number of Android tablets out there, and obviously we have strong competition there,” Page said. 

One of the most popular budget tablets is the Kindle Fire, as Page suggested on the call.

“There’s also obviously been a  lot of success on some lower-price tablets that run Android, maybe not the full Google version of Android,”  Page said, referring to Amazon’s tablet. 

The Kindle Fire is based on Android, but Amazon has reconstructed the software so significantly that it doesn’t help the search giant much. Amazon doesn’t bundle Google’s services, like its search engine, e-mail and social network, with the tablet.

Google has been rumored to be working on a so-called Nexus tablet that will introduce a new version of the Android operating system and sell for a low price. The Verge reported last week, citing unnamed sources, that the tablet’s release date had been pushed back to July in order to reduce production costs.

As part of Google’s harder push into tablets, Page’s ambitions include making Android phones and tablets play better together, probably relying more heavily on cloud synchronization. Google Play, the media hub that the company released last month, will help with that unification, Page said.

“You won’t have to manage all these devices,” Page said. “You want to think about all these screens around you working seamlessly.”

 That goal will be especially important when Google puts a screen directly in front of your eyeball.

                                                                                                              MARK MILIAN

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Internet giants scramble for social media pie

Internet giants scramble for social media pie

   April 22, 2012       Unknown

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Internet giants scramble for social media pie

In India, mobile advertising set to touch $144 crore by 2013. In March 2012, the market was pegged at $105 crore , according to the findings of the Internet and Mobile Association of India

   Last week, when news about Facebook acquiring the startup photo-sharing app Instagram for a whopping $1 billion surfaced, the digital world was abuzz with frantic activity and comments. While the investors and market watchers got busy analysing  the valuation of Instagram  in the wake of the deal, others talked about how Facebook’s appetite to gobble up players had increased over the years.

    Scratch the surface a little a bit and one can see that Facebook was not just trying to net the 30-million strong user base of Instagram, but was rather making a strategic move to  keep competitors (read Google) at bay. As Gartner’s principal research analyst (India)  Asheesh Raina puts it, “Facebook paid a premium, as it wanted to keep Instagram out of the hands of the competitors.”

    Though an eye-popping $1 billion may sound too much a price for protecting its turf from a potential threat, it is nowhere close to what Google paid ($12 billion) last year to Motorola  Mobility to protect its mobile franchise. Or, when Microsoft shelled out $8.5 billion to acquire Skype. Google acquired Motorola Mobility to protect its popular Android mobile operating system from Apple and Microsoft’s anti-competitive threats to its patent portfolio.

     Analysts however believe there’s another compelling reason why Facebook spent big on the acquisition. As research firm Forrester’s CEO George Colony wrote, Facebook is too web-centric:” App internet poses mortal danger for any player that remains too web-centric. It will enable companies to directly link with their customers.”

    The acquisition of Instagram puts Facebook in a better position in the app internet market and perhaps becomes a template for how Facebook will expand its model into the new high engagement architecture, Colony added. Without Facebook’s own app presence, “Apple, Google, Amazon, (and potentially Microsoft) ecosystems can become too powerful, blocking the Facebook’s growth and presence,” he wrote.

     Instagram, a free photo sharing programme, was launched in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom. It allows users to take photos and apply digital filters and effects, before sharing them on social networking sites.

     An article in Fortune magazine in November suggested how the mobile is going to be the next battlefront for Silicon Valley’s web giants. Facebook, Google, and Apple are all competing to attract mobile users and make money off their actions. “Google may also find ways to build many Google+ features right into Android phones and tablets, making it harder for rivals to compete. That last point is not lost on (Mark) Zuckerberg.  It prompted him to seek closer ties with Google’s biggest rival in mobile  ¬¬¬¬¬--- Apple,” the Fortune article said.

      In India, mobile advertising is all set to touch $144 crore by 2013. In March, the market was pegged at $105 crore, according to the findings of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Raina feels Facebook is aware that its strength lies in easy interface, photo-tagging and sharing capabilities. Instagram strengthens  its presence in the space. “More, it gives them access to mobile devices and helps users instantly edit, upload and share photos through their devices,” he says.


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