The S3, like its predecessor, the S2 is a genuine landmark in mobile phone technology.  It’s packed with innovation and raw processing power making the phone a near complete multimedia device.  A mobile phone is now much more than just a communications device, reflected in Samsung’s extensive new product range of tablets, ‘phablets’ and phones – the Note, Galaxy Tab, Ace etc.

It seems like screen size is the prevailing argument emerging from the battle to be market leader and most high end Android phones do tend to err towards the 5 inch mark.  The S3 itself is an ample 4.8 inches, making it highly suitable for web browsing, gaming, social networking and generally as an all-round personal assistant.

That said there are now some superb examples of the modern mobile phone at http://www.dialaphone.co.uk that happen to weigh in at around the 4 inch mark.  A mobile phone with a 4 inch screen has an innate navigability, arising from the fact that it fits easily into the palm and can be controlled quickly with one hand.  If you have a tablet at home you may still see the mobile phone as needing a big screen, but not so big as to usurp the duties of the tablet or laptop.

Samsung have doffed their cap to this market with the introduction of the new Samsung Galaxy Mini – a 4 inch mid-range contender with many of the same assets as its big brother – the S3 – but with a slightly lesser spec.

The S3 Mini has a 1GHz dual core processor and 1GB of RAM, meaning it’s certainly no slouch and compared to most of its mid-range rivals it could be one of the hottest phones on the market in coming weeks.  Jelly Bean 4.1 and a decent camera will give it a status of its own outside the shadow of the brilliant Galaxy SIII.

If like us, you use your iPhone for a little gaming at an online casino, then it is also likely that you find the screen just a little on the small size. No doubt we are being spoiled a little by the giant screens that are appearing on the latest generations of Android phones, but when we see someone playing casino games at Belle Rock Entertainment on one of those Android monsters, we iPhone users can feel just a little inadequate. It is true that the iPhone display is brighter and clearer than those Android monsters especially in bright sunlight, but there is little doubt that extra inch could make all the difference, particularly when playing certain casino games, and in particular online poker.

We are not suggesting for one moment that Apple should follow those Android boys in terms of display technology, but that Apple should make the current Retina display just a little larger. The rumours are that Apple is looking at what is being called a Retina plus display which uses IGZO technology. For the technically minded, IGZO stands for indium gallium zinc oxide and electrons can move forty times as fast in it than they can in amorphous silicon which is currently used in iPhone displays. Faster electrons mean smaller pixels and they mean better resolution and faster display refresh speeds; all the better for gaming.

So are the rumours correct? It is likely that Apple is moving in that direction, but it might not appear in the iPhone 6; we may have to wait for the iPhone 7. Then of course, there’s the iPhone 10!

Every time you grab a coffee, wine and dine or jump in a cab, you can snap a photo of the receipt using your iPhone. When it comes to your IRS or HMRC return, you can quickly search for a receipt and find it easily. No more lost receipts that fell down the back of the sofa! MyBizTracker updates your balance in real time and shows you your cash flow so you know if you are in the black or red.

MyBizTracker reminds you about key dates for your business so you don’t have to worry about forgetting an important deadline. It’ll let you know when your Self Assessment tax return is due and warn if you’re approaching the sales tax/VAT registration threshold.

Here is a sighting of a humanoid robot getting out of an elevator:

Here is a clip of a several robots spotted getting out of a US subway train:

You can see more of their videos on their YouTube channel.

• Battery Life – The side of the casing shows a battery indicator to keep you up to date, but after 2 days the camera will need to plugged in to a computer.
• Storage – The camera can store up to the 2 days worth of photos (4,000 pictures) After being plugged in the camera then uploads all of your photos to Memoto’s cloud service (for a fee).
• Organisation – Each of the photos that the Memoto Camera takes are time-stamped and organised into “moments” on a timeline in Memoto’s app. Each “moment” is searchable by date, time and place.
• Privacy – There are moments in life when none of us want there to be any photographic evidence, as far as the Memoto Camera is concerned, if you don’t want to be taking photos, simply take the camera off. However if you do leave it on, feel safe in the knowledge that all of your Memoto photos will be set default to private viewing only. There is the issue of others privacy too. Legally you are allowed to take photos of what you want, as long as you are not violating any laws. However Memoto advices users to remove the camera immediately if asked and to not take any photos anywhere you feel they shouldn’t.

What do you think about Memoto’s camera? Is this a step into the future of wearable technology or an invasion of privacy?

Images: Memoto

Try asking Alice any of the following and be prepared to have your mind blown!

- Do I need Sunglasses?
- How far is it from New York to San Fransisco?
- Director of Inception
- Show me my pictures
- How’s the weather?
- Call John Smith
- Send a message to John i’m coming later
- Wake me up in half an hour
- What is 5 + 7 * 3
- How many contacts do I have?
- How many songs do I have?
- Set Timer for 20 seconds
- What’s the definition of aspirin
- Translate into german hello how are you
- Start WhatsApp
- What is 5 meters in miles
- Do you know Barack Obama
- Navigate me to the next McDonald’s
- Make the light on
- Show me New York on the map
- How many contacts do i have?
- Post on Facebook what’s up?
- Search for pizzeria in New York
- Who is Angela Merkel?
- Mute / Silent
- Navigate to New York
- What is the capital of Germany
- How many people live in Berlin?
- How old is Rihanna?
- When is her birthday?
- Show me a picture of Michael Jackson

Google has released a video explaining the project in more detail (see below):

Image Credits: Extreme Tech, Robocop archive

Earbuds have a lot of advantages over big headphones, they aren’t as bulky, they are easy to carry around and generally more convenient. However one thing earbud headphones are notorious for is just how easily they get tangled.

Knotted earbuds are an absolute pain for impatient music listeners like myself and can also damage the wires in your headphones. There are a multitude of solutions for this problem; you can buy wrap arounds, zip-up headphones and wind-up headphones, but nothing has solved the problem quite as ingeniously and fashionably as the CordCruncher Headphones.

CordCruncher Headphones have an elastic sleeve around the wires of the headphones that simply stretch around the cables to prevent them from wrapping up, just pull the earbuds out of the sleeve to use.

When covered, the sleeved-headphones can be joined to loop into a necklace or bracelet for wearable convenience. They are currently available at $24.99 in Pearl Blue, “iGizmo” White, Rocket Red and Matte Black.

For more info including FAQs go to CordCruncher’s Kickstarter site here.
If you want to buy one head over to the official website here.
Images: Kickstarter

That’s right, I hate technology. I’m not good with technology. I find a lot of it to be pointless. I struggle to find messages in my Facebook inbox. I rarely check my emails. I just swipe my finger around on my iPhone and hope for the best. I don’t even like digital watches. This post was written in pen before I (begrudgingly) typed it up on my laptop… but this nifty little invention by Hoyoung Lee might just win me over yet.

The Printer Pencil, in short, does basically just what the name suggests – prints your documents using pencils. By using the ground-up particles of old pencil stubs, this gadget will ensure that you need never buy another ink cartridge! As a bonus, the ability to remove text from a page by use of a simple eraser will save both your pennies and the trees. Win.

Designed by Hoyoung Lee, two models have been produced:

Model #1

Model #2

Images: Yanko Design

These robots have been miniaturized and can do what most people can do; walk, talk, sit, dance, pick up objects, avoid obstacles, jump and kick. Here are a selection with their jaw dropping price tags and a few features:

Hanson Robokind Humanoid With Einstein Head – $42,500

The Einstein model (part of Hanson Robokind) is built stronger and faster than any robot on the market.

Aldebaran Robotics Nao H25 Humanoid Robot Academic Edition – $15,999

This is a programmable, 57-cm tall humanoid robot. The 6-watt-hour battery provides the NAO with 1.5 or more hours of “life”.

Kumotek VisiON 4G Advanced Humanoid Robot – $44,000

KumoTek Robotics and Vstone of Japan have collaborated and decided to offer this robot to research institutes around the world. The VisiON 4G body was designed by robotics legend Tomotaka Takahashi of Robo-Garage in Japan.

Kumotek KT-X PC Advanced Humanoid Robot – $14,500

This robot incorporates 2 high end metal gear servos for enhanced stability. The blue pads provide effective shock absorption in case of falls.

Kumotek KT-X Gladiator PRO Advanced Humanoid Robot – $5,500

This top-of-the-line hobby/entertainment robot can lift objects and even carry other robots on its back. You can find this robot currently on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Genibo Robot Dog – $165

The Dongbu ROBOT Genibo Robot Dog is a Bull Terrier type dog. It was designed in Korea. It loses energy and falls asleep when its owner does not pay attention to it for at least five minutes.

Source: Robotshop.com
Thanks to Will Clayton for the link

It does look entirely too good to be true but remember this technology isn’t that far away from Nintendo’s Wii Remote or Microsoft’s Kinect. The technology has just been miniaturised, stylised and improved to form The Leap, which according to their makers “is 100x more accurate than any other motion sensing/natural user interface on Earth.”

The company behind The Leap intends for it to replace our standard peripherals of a mouse as well as keyboard, as the motion capturing of the Leap is sensitive enough (1/100th of a millimetre sensitive) to capture natural-sized handwriting as well as general mouse-like gestures. They also hope to develop The Leap even further so that it can be implemented into other areas like cars and even medical equipment.

Currently The Leap is wired via USB and working on Windows 7/8 and Mac OSX, (Linux support is in the pipeline) and is available for pre-order at $70, which is insanely well-priced and less than half the price of a brand new Kinect at today’s prices. If you pre-order now and are lucky enough to get your order through (there are a limited number available for the first shipment) you can expect your Leap to be here, ready to de-peripheralise you by Winter.

Image Credits: www.facebook.com/LeapMotion

The Tweel not only looks futuristic, NASA is currently adopting it for the next generation Lunar Rover. It is airless, so you will never have to worry about driving over glass or filling your tires. Tweels are designed to last 2-3 times as long as conventional rubber tires and are easily replaceable.

Currently, the Tweel is optimized for lower speed and lighter vehicles, so its more likely you’ll see these bad boys on scooters, wheelchairs, and military vehicles; not quite ideal for high speed pursuit. But you probably should have thought of that before stealing the car, airless tires or not.

Chris Fraser used this antique technology to create a contemporary art installation in a soon to be demolished house in San Francisco. He not only used the traditional single hole technique. He also created a second hole, a third, fourth and so on. This results in a clean, sharp, dynamic, layered and geometrical world of light. “I want the viewer to go home and see his or her own space anew,” said Fraser.

via: Triangulation Blog
images: Triangulation Blog

The Eco Cycle, made by Giken is an underground structure going 1400-1900mm (that’s about 5-6 ft) down. It can hold up to 144 bikes in storage. The Eco Cycle allows cyclists to trade a bike lock for a monthly pass which not only lightens your load but also solves a major overcrowding issue on the streets of Japan.

Watch it in action!

via: Danny Choo, Giken
image credit: Danny Choo