LG Optimus Vu Officially Launched

We already came to know of a few ideas which are part of LG’s plan for this year. LG has a few tricks up its sleeve to gain an upper hand in the competition. Most of the product LG plans to release this year, had been on display at the Consumer Electronics Event this year. Gadget buffs await one other event every year in addition to CES, called the Mobile World Congress. LG was expected to make a few launches at the MWC which is due to be held before mid 2012.

LG doesn't want to wait that long apparently, as they already launched a seemingly powerful rival for Samsung Galaxy Note. Christened as the LG Optimus Vu, the handset’s most important feature is the aspect ratio of its huge display.

Features of LG Optimus Vu:

• Slim 8.5 mm frame
• 5 inch Stylus friendly LCD display screen with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution
• 1.5 GHz Snapdragon Dual core processor
• 8 Megapixel Camera
• 1.3 Megapixel secondary camera
• LTE technology integrated
• 32 GB built-in storage capacity
• Android v2.3 Gingerbread Operating system
• 2080 mAh efficient Li ion battery

The powerful Ultra sized Optimus Vu is sure to give Samsung Galaxy Note, a run for its money. Reportedly LG intends to launch the Optimus Vu in Korea first but hasn’t made any announcements as to when the phone would be available in other countries. However LG did confirm that there will be an Android Operating system upgrade for Optimus Vu after 3 months of its launch date, which would update the current Gingerbread version to v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The storage memory of the Optimus Vu handset hasn’t been confirmed to be extensible by LG officially. But the handset comes with 32 GB memory for storage. LG’s Rubberdiem pen stylus will accompany the handset. For words on the pricing of Optimus Vu, we have to wait till March.  

Gresso Launches Pure Black Phone

Gresso Company considered being an emerging player in the manufacture of high quality smartphones are all set to launch its Grand Monaco collection model that has been designed specifically in a wonderful overgenerous black color. The sophisticated style of the device seems to be the result of a clear inspiration of leading edge super cars.

The implementation of more luxury as well as elegance combined with the black color provides more nobleness to the sports image that has been given to the Grand Monaco collection model.

One of the major attractions of this model is that each and every feature of this handset has been handcrafted and assembled by a single craftsman that makes the phone quite unique compared to others.

The model has been released in mainly two editions namely;

• Pure Black Cayman with crocodile leather
• Pure Black Carbon with Italian carbon leather

The phone has been manufactured from light and highly resistant titanium alloy. The surface of the device is mate and velvet due to the presence of high-tech ceramic layers that has been used for covering the case.

Key Features

• 120 Grams approximate weight
• Symbian S40 operating system
• 116 x 46.5 x 16 mm size specification

The numeral keyboard is placed comfortably on the plate of the black toned glass. The keyboard is made of surgical steel. The keyboard is covered with titanium PVD-surface that prevents the device from any mechanical damages.

The screen of the phone is protected with 42-carat sapphire glass that has been polished by hand by making use of a diamond tool.

The pure black Gresso Grand Monaco collection model arrives as a limited collection of 100 copies. The pure black phone is sure to be a masterpiece of the Grand Monaco collection that signifies luxury.

The pure black Grand Monaco collection model handset is expected to arrive with a price tag of $2, 700.

Spray on and use it as an Antenna

When it comes to the biggest event with the largest display of technology and cool electronics devices, CES comes first. This doesn’t mean that everything cool will be just at the CES alone. A lot of companies with great ideas and the potential to implement them in electronics devices are set up every year in a global scale. Google’s Solve for X event which was held recently, gave a great example for such a company.

The company named Chamtech Enterprises demonstrated something very reliable and useful at an event and the idea might sound okay, but its scope is huge. One thing people with cell phones commonly experience is the poor reception. It gets quite annoying especially when you are in a state of emergency and want to make some important calls. It is quite obvious that this is due to the flaws in the traditional antenna. Chamtech Enterprises made it big in the Google Solve for X event, with a great solution to this problem.

Chamtech’s solution is a spray-on antenna which they developed. Compared to the old version, the Chamtech spray-on antenna is              

• More energy efficient
• Lightweight
• Portable
• Very much efficient

The spray-on antenna is reported to be known by the name Sandy. This technology can be painted on walls, a ground or almost any solid surface so as to receive signals for various uses. When it comes to cell phones, the spray-on antenna technology can be easily applied on them, enabling the cell phones to operate at an efficiency which is computed to be about 10 percent better than that in cell phones using traditional antennas.

Chamtech claims that their spray-on technology can solve the following problems which are setbacks of traditional antennas:

• The handset getting hot after long calls
• Great battery drain
• Poor reception under water
• Takes more energy

Chamtech hasn’t disclosed any details about their technology except that it uses organic materials which after appropriate manipulation, create various kinds of radio-frequency and magnetic fields. The two year old company has apparently brought in a revolutionary technology which would even be helpful in underwater exploration to seamless reception during times of crises. 

Motorola Motoluxe Launched in UK

Motorola only has a few smartphones compared to other competing companies, yet they have a big following. Motoluxe is the new member of Motorola’s mid-range smartphone family. Considering what most smartphones from different manufacturers, have in common, it doesn’t take much grey matter to guess that Motorola Motoluxe runs in Google’s Android v2.3 Gingerbread operating system.

Motorola Motoluxe is definitely a good looking handset with great style. It’s the big 4 inch touchscreen which adds to the sleekness of Motoluxe. The handset looks elegant with a brilliant design and superb build quality. You will feel the quality with just one touch to the smooth, rubberized finish of the handset. The handset features a notification beacon which turns blue when paired with a Bluetooth device, red when the phone is out of service and green indicating that a mail or a message has been received.

Features of Motoluxe:

• 9.8mm thick with 117.7 x 60.5mm dimensions
• 4 inch capacitive touchscreen
• Android v2.3 Gingerbread OS
• 800 MHz CPU with 300 MB built in memory
• Expandability to upto 32 GB
• Notification beacon in Lanyard slot
• 3G and Bluetooth connectivity
• 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connectivity
• GPS module
• DLNA
• 8 Megapixel rear camera with LED flash
• Social Graph and Motoswitch functions from Motorola
• 1400 mAh Li ion battery

The Motorola Social Graph keeps track of the people that you send text messages to and call the most and displays them in a cool way in the screen so that you don’t have to go to Contacts to call or text them. The Motoswitch function is similar but keeps track of the most used apps instead of most contacted people. The 1400 mAh Li battery offers 4.5 hours battery life in 3G networks, and for 2G, it’s 6.5 hours. The Motorola Motoluxe is powered by a 800 MHz processor with an internal memory of 300 MB, and the handset didn’t show any signs of lagging while navigation and running apps, reportedly. Motorola Motoluxe will be out for sale by the end of this month. 

Olympus 16 MP Camera, SZ-31MR Launched

The announcement of a powerhouse of a digital camera from Olympus is one of the biggest news in the Digital camera sector this week. Olympus made it public this week and the camera is said to feature some powerful specifications. Reportedly, the powerful Olympus camera will also have a sturdy yet compact build, and a nice design.

Named as Olympus SZ-31MR iHS, this camera sports a 16 Megapixel sensor and 24x zoom capabilities. The coolest and most important feature in the camera is a revolutionary and innovative technology it integrates. Obviously, SZ-31MR iHS, with all its power would have a 1080p HD video recording capability. This camera however also sports the multi recording technology, which allows the users to record full HD 1080p videos and 16 Megapixel still images simultaneously and surprisingly without even missing one frame.

The iHS in the name actually stands for Intelligent, High sensitivity and High speed technologies. This is the main reason why this camera packs so much power. With the Wide angle 24x Optical zoom lens and the iHS technology, Olympus SZ-31MR can record high quality videos and snap images with outstanding quality in environments which are backlit as well as where there is not much light.

The Olympus SZ-31’s performance in low-light conditions is actually because of the combined work of the 16 MP Backlit CMOS sensor and the two TruePic V image processors. This is also said to make the response time of the camera quicker. Even the trickiest and the toughest shots will have great resolution and low noise, as the camera features high speed auto focus and high speed shooting functionalities in addition to the iHS working to improve the captures.

The photo slideshow in SZ-31 iHS also features transition effects and music. It looks quite awesome in the LCD touch panel. The Olympus SZ-31 iHS camera will be out for sale this April, in silver and black colours. 

Apple to Bring in ARM Port for Mac OS X

Apparently Apple is planning something big and it’s pretty clear from a report by a Dutch intern. The report sheds some light on the fact that Apple just took about 12 weeks to shift or port the operating system kernel of Mac OS X from Intel to ARM. The significance of ARM will be clearer if you can consider the news that Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system will be featuring in a few ARM based tablet devices, due to be released soon.

What’s behind the idea?

Taking into account Apple’s new idea which ported Mac OS X kernel to ARM, we can safely assume that certain Apple computers is going to have some major updates, in the Operating system of course. We can expect upcoming Apple laptops to have a change in the operating system. Instead of running in iOS, which the iPad and iPhones use, ARM based Apple laptops might come featuring the Mac OS X operating system – the Apple desktop operating system.

One other fact about ARM is that they don’t require too much power, unlike Intel. This means, if the ARM based Mac OS X powered Apple laptops really comes into life, they will be having a great battery life. With the build of a MacBook and low power requirements of the ARM, the new Apple Mac OS X Laptop concept can be given a smaller, slimmer battery, which would considerably reduce the weight of the device as well.

Mac OS X in ARM – The beginning:

It was in 2010 that Apple’s Platform Technologies group started working on the Mac OS X kernel – Darwin, so as to make it run in ARM architecture. Reportedly, within 12 weeks they managed to port Darwin to an ARMv5 compatible processor and made the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system run in it. But this idea does have competition obviously as Intel is working on increasing the demands for its architecture by improving the horsepower to impress users. However, ARM architecture will also be getting improvements in the horsepower with its low power consumption feature in tact.

Microsoft’s change of plans by making Windows 8 compatible with Intel and ARM platforms is basically intended to stabilize the shrinking market of Microsoft desktop PCs in the West and the East. But Apple doesn't face such problems as Apple computers are apparently the best there is in the business, selling millions of units. Yet they are porting to ARM and considering the use of Mac OS X in their laptops. Apple has always been two steps ahead of the other competing firms and this is exactly why Apple is still at the top. Hopefully, more details on Apple’s plan to run Mac OS X in laptops would be unveiled soon. 

inPulse and WIMM One Smartwatches

A long time back, Smartphones – small, mobile computers cum handsets, were just a concept. Now, smartphones are everywhere. What would go through your mind after knowing the fact that there are a few new concepts implemented in watches as well? Yes. Ordinary watches are household names. But what if your watch featured a miniaturized computer that can run applications? That kind of watches is termed as smartwatches.

Smartwatches aren't yet common but they do get a lot of hype, thanks to gizmo buffs. Cool new smartwatches which are pretty popular are Allerta’s inPulse and WIMM Labs’ WIMM One are just two of them. Smartwatches, as mentioned above, basically runs applications. So it’s obvious that inPulse and WIMM One will share similarities. But the way WIMM One and inPulse run apps is different. The two smartwatches are not yet in their prime and ready to be used, as there are reports claiming that there is still more work to be done in them.

inPulse smartwatch isn’t something new. It has been out for sale for a couple of years now, actually launched as an accessory to Blackberry handsets. But now inPulse is compatible with a few Android devices as well. Run the free inPulse app and pair the inPulse with your handset and you will start receiving notifications via Bluetooth, of any and all items sent from your phone including call, text messages and emails. Allerta recently integrated Twitter with the inPulse to work in Android handsets.

inPulse specs and features:

·         50x 36 x 12mm dimension

·         Water resistant

·         Single physical input button

·         Bluetooth

·         BlueCore4-ROM radio

·         52MHz ARM7 processor

·         8 KB RAM

·         Aluminum chassis

·         Li ion battery power for a day and a half

·         1 MB SPI Flash memory

·         Micro USB for charging

·         1.26 inch passive OLED display (96 x 128 pixels)

WIMM One is available for registered developers only as of yet. It runs a miniature Android version and has a cool interface. In addition to call notifications, it can support text messages as well once you install the free WIMM Companion app and pair it with any Android or Blackberry handsets. 

Specs and features of WIMM One:

·         32 x 36 x 12.5mm dimensions

·         Water resistant

·         ARM11 CPU 

·         256 MB RAM

·         1.41 inch capacitive touchscreen

·         Vibrating motor

·         Recessed power button

·         2 GB Flash storage

·         Piezo speaker

·        Accelerometer and compass

·       GPS receiver (currently disabled and under development to resolve some issues)

·        Li ion battery pack offers a battery life for a day and a half

It’s expected that a few apps will be out soon from the WIMM Micro App store but until then you will have to use the microUSB to install apps in WIMM One. You can remotely change settings of the app from WIMM Labs’ website thanks to the WIMM Companion app. It lacks email and Twitter alerts though which is a drawback expected to be resolved soon.

WIMM One and Allerta inPulse sport an SDK and offers access to app store as well. Hopefully, there will be cool updates for each device soon.

Apple Plans for iPad and Macbook Air

Apple is a company that has always hesitated to undergo more research and innovations in the technological sectors especially the computers and tablet industry. One of the latest developments that are circling across the industry includes Apple working keenly in developing an iPad and Macbook Air model hybrid device.

As per sources, it seems to be absolutely clear that the company is actively working on a hybrid of the successful iPad and Macbook Air laptop. It is in line with the fact that Apple feels that their most successful product iPad has all it takes to satisfy the needs of all those users who might have been interested in such a hybrid combination.

                          

Apple has been closely observing the success of Asus Transformer Prime which is an android tablet that arrived with a detachable keyboard.

Apple observed that even though the hybrid combination of the android tablet lacked certain qualities such as the support for laptop functionalities such as Word Processing as well as spread sheet suite that is present outside of the Google Docs, the device still made respectable sales in the international market. This increases the company’s confidence on the potential and demand that may be existing in the market for such a device.

There are rumors surrounding the industry that iPad3 will have the same form factor as that of iPad2. There are often accusations against Apple that they are not living up to the expectations of the users as far as the design point of view is concerned.

Apple feels that users are looking out for a dramatic change in the design of their products and the introduction of the hybrid combination can very well conceal the accusations regarding Apple not doing anything new as well as interesting. And the hybrid combination of iPad and Macbook Air is expected to create waves in the industry.

Rumors are also surrounding about the possible budget ‘iDevices’ in the future with Apple being pretty sure that the customers will not hesitate paying for premium devices if the users are sure that they will be getting a superior product in return. The company still claims that they are always on the lookout for creating great products having a belief that customers will continue to pay more for them.

The company believes that instead of focusing more on the smartphones market, the company believes that the consumer preference will keep on increasing towards the highly capable devices that the company currently produces.

Rage New Edition for Mac Unveiled

Apple Mac operating systems have been dominating Windows operating system in many sectors, all save one – Gaming. Video games are one of the favorite past times of kids, youth and even many adults. Nowadays, video games are mostly developed for video game consoles. That is, Console exclusive video games are released more now. Although Windows doesn’t get many video games compatible with, they still remain much more dominant in the field than Mac Operating system.

One of the coolest new game releases, popular by the name of Rage, had a Windows version which was quite well received. Bethesda Softworks recently announced the launch of Rage for Mac systems, which was a surprise for Mac users. Reportedly the game will be a campaign edition in the Mac version. Bethesda Softworks teams up with Aspyr Media, to launch Rage: Campaign Edition for Mac systems and as per the reports the Mac version game offers support for English, German and French.

Rage is a First person shooter game of the RPG (Role playing game) category. The action RPG game is set in a post apocalyptic Earth, with an impressive storyline, an array of futuristic weapons and vehicles with weapons, which is the coolest thing about the game. Rage was launched in multiple platforms last October, namely for PS3, PC, and Xbox 360. The Mac version Rage: Campaign edition video game will include all the exclusive contents of the original Anarchy edition Rage.

The bonuses and extras in the Mac version Rage are: 

• A shotgun, double barrel
• Elite Armor
• Rat Rod buggy and
• Fists of Rage

The game requires you to go through missions and many activities set in a post apocalyptic Earth. Loot, steal, drive, shoot and fight your way through mutants and bandits and interact with human survivors. For those people who wish to download the Mac version Rage action game, another bonus awaits. Downloaded version of the game will allow the users to access cool missions in the Wasteland Sewers, and offer looting and scavenging opportunities.

Rage is most known for its incredible graphics, brilliant environments and gripping gameplay. Aspyr Media has always seen to it that iD Software’s games, including Rage, is made available to the Mac platform as well. The game owes the graphics to the iD tech 5 Engine and anyone who experiences the game would love the high-graphics open world environments and gameplay as well as the vehicle action with the popular Buggy vehicle. 

Rage: Campaign edition for the Mac can be purchased from the Mac App store, GameAgent.com and from authorized Mac digital retailers for a price of approximately $40 USD.

Apple Releases Security Update for Mac OS X

Competing and dominating Microsoft Windows Operating system is no easy task. But it seemed pretty easy for Apple, as their Mac OS X operating systems are supposedly immaculate in performance; although a few annoying issues are there. But still, the big deal is that Mac OS X operating systems have crossed boundaries and dominated in markets worldwide, even going head to head with Windows and its reputation.

The reason for the success of Apple Mac OS X is significantly because of Apple’s dedication to constantly impress and satisfy Apple users with constant reliable updates for apps and OS, and the technical support they offer. Most Mac OS X operating system users would agree that there are a few issues in the OS, mainly security issues, which should be fixed. Apple apparently answered the call and has released a security update recently.

Supposedly, this security update is going to make major modifications in the OS by optimizing the security and fixing all the issues at the same time. The security fix updates are not just for the Mac OS X but also for certain other products, and hence the update comes in batches. The Mac OS X10.7 Lion operating system security update is the highlight in Apple’s releases as the OS reportedly has a huge number of users worldwide. So obviously, there will be a proportional number of reports mentioning the issues in the OS X Lion as well.

Apple was quick with their response and made it clear that they have analyzed the problem enough to detect a few bugs which can be exploited by users with malicious intent so as to remotely access the personal data of the OS X Lion users whose computers have been infected. Apple, then stated that the new Mac OS X 10.7.3 Lion update will include all the patches necessary to resolve this issue and make your computer secure from unauthorized remote accesses.

Issues in products such as QuickTime will also be fixed if you use the patch. There are vulnerabilities even in a few versions of Apache which haven’t been updated. Hackers can decrypt Secure Sockets Layer encrypted information and access other private data. This has been brought to the public by Kaspersky Labs recently. The security certificates will also be revoked to be trustworthy again by the new Apple update, so that hackers won’t be able to spoof them. 

These are all that has been known about Apple’s security updates. More details will be posted soon. 

DirecTiVo Now Available Nationwide

One of the most memorable electronic devices which appeared before the year 2000 was the popular digital video recorder TiVo, which sported a lot of reliable and never-before-seen features. By making use of a simple interface, users of TiVo were able to record TV shows, even entire seasons of multiple TV shows to the hard drive of TiVo and watch the videos whenever they want to. TiVo even came with parental control protocols after a few years. This multipurpose device sold millions of units worldwide.

TiVo Digital video recorder was actually available only in a few select countries at first. But because of its increasing popularity and great demand, TiVo soon made its way to other countries as well, the most recent being New Zealand in 2009. TiVo was later redesigned to function perfectly, after integrating its DVR functions into set-top boxes of satellite and cable providers. Even TiVo’s remote control got a place in the hearts of its fans, as it had the shape which resembled that of a peanut.

Apparently, now is the time of DirecTiVo or TiVo HD DVR from DirecTV, which appeared after a long time of waiting. Disappointingly, DirecTiVo was available only in certain markets. But new reports confirm the fact that DirecTivo has been made available nationwide.

The satellite TV set and the peanut remote will feature:

• Premiere User interface
• Live streaming iPad apps
• Multiroom support
• 3D

TiVo HD DVR from DirecTV features:

• Automatically record each weekly episodes of TV series’ of your choice using Season Pass Recording
• Automatically record TV series episodes by just giving a keyword, for example the name of the actor, using WishList searches
• Find your favourite shows in HD effortlessly across Television and on DirecTV cinema
• Record up to 400 hours of SD shows and 100 hours of HD programming
• Record two shows at once
• Access about more than 7000 movies and shows of great demands for free

Mac Store Brings Templates for iBooks - Jumsoft Book Palette

Mac OS X Operating system is undoubtedly the only operating system for a computer which is compatible with a huge array of brilliantly designed applications that are user friendly as well as reliable. Although the Windows Operating system also supports a lot of applications, the Mac operating systems are comparatively higher in ranks, when it comes to applications and their functionalities.

For people who are passionate in writing books and publishing them, Apple’s Mac and iOS operating systems offered great support with the recent launch of an application which allows users to create e-books. The app named iBooks gained instant popularity and a big following among Mac users. The iBooks Author application has a lot of users now and Apple apparently knew the app would be well received. It seems Jumsoft, popular application developers for Mac and iOS also sees an opportunity with the success of iBooks.

The fact that Jumsoft released a set of templates just after two weeks of the launch of iBooks Author application by Apple proves the theory. The app called Book Palette which is now out for sale in Mac app store features 10 perfectly functional templates. The templates are pretty cool and will definitely improve the looks of the e-Books created with the iBooks author app as they offer a number of creative options and useful tools.

General Manager of Jumsoft, Algirdas Unguvaitis said that they were quite excited when they heard the news of the launch of Apple’s iBooks author and by the next day, came up with the idea of Book Palette. Algirdas also commented that Jumsoft expects positive feedbacks from iBooks users, and that they would soon start working on expanding the template range.

iBooks users would be able to use the Book Palette templates to create e-Books ranging from normal cookbooks to big time business publications. In addition to the page layouts, the templates will have page covers as well. There will also be a number of different text styles and other options for making the e-Books more vivid and attractive. Book Palette also offers the users, the option to remove, recolor or move the elements in the app.

The Book Palette also matches the Gallery and other widgets that come with the iBooks application and also allows the users to make necessary modifications in them.

System Requirements for Jumsoft Book Palette

·         iBooks Author application

·         Mac OS X 10.7.2 or higher version

·         22 MB space

The Book Palette will be available in the Graphics and Design category of the Mac App store for a price of $3 US dollars approximately.

Nikon L810 Camera with Zoom Capability

It is quite obvious that Nikon, popular camera manufacturing company, have made a few plans for this year. Most likely as the first phase of the plan, Nikon discontinued the production of two of its camera models. It still hasn't been confirmed that Nikon will be coming with replacements for the stopped camera models, or start a whole new line-up of high end cameras. However, Nikon cameras are still a favourite for many and the new digital camera that Nikon just launched would definitely impress more people and increase the company’s fan base.

The new Nikon digital camera, Coolpix L810 reportedly offers improved perfmance compared to its predecessors, which weren’t pretty bad as well. Known features and specifications of Nikon Coolpix L810 include

·         76.3 mm x 111.1mm x 83.1 mm

·         430 gm weight

·         CCD image sensor

·         26x NIKKOR Optical zoom lens

·         SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card support

·         Continuous shooting mode

·         720p HD video recording

·         50 MB internal memory

·         1/1500-1 shutter speed

·         3 inch TFT LCD display

·         Available in Red, Black, bronze and blue colours

·         Lens shift vibration reduction feature

The NIKKOR ED Glass lens in the Coolpix L810 offers 26x Optical zoom capability allowing users to view wide angles. The lens shift vibration reduction feature is one other cool thing about the L810. This feature delivers great precision and quality in the images even if the camera shakes while taking snaps. The steady grip and comfortable handling of the camera are also worth mentioning.

The camera gets the juice from 4 AA batteries, very efficient of course and sports a 3 inch TFT LCD screen. The looks are pretty awesome too, when you also take into account, the various colours the camera comes in.