Nikkei: ITU near recommending NHK's Super Hi-Vision as official TV standard

NHK Super Hi-Vision at Olympics

We've seen NHK preparing its Super Hi-Vision 8K video since time immemorial. Wouldn't it be nice if the TV broadcast technology was more than just a perpetual research project? If sources for Japan's Nikkei aren't dreaming, the International Telecommunication Union is now "likely" to declare the format an official standard for broadcasters and TV makers. Should it go ahead, the UN telecom body would ask the world to rely on Super Hi-Vision as an eventual successor to HDTV and reduce the balkanization of TV standards that we've seen in the past. Neither the ITU nor NHK is known to have commented on the claim so far, but NHK isn't exactly in a rush to get a seal of approval from anyone -- widescale test broadcasts aren't coming until 2020, and production TVs themselves are only just entering a 4K universe.

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Nikkei: ITU near recommending NHK's Super Hi-Vision as official TV standard originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/22/itu-near-recommending-nhk-super-hi-vision/

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Sainsbury's pairs up with Rovi for video service, stays ahead of the techie curve

SSB

Beloved UK supermarket Sainsbury's is making a big push into digital media, after snapping up e-book retailer Anobii and music company Global Media Vault, it's now partnering with Rovi for a digital video service. Launching later in the year, it'll offer video-on-demand and downloadable copies of "major" film and TV titles, available the same time the discs are available in store. It'll initially be limited to computers, before rolling out to Smart TVs, connected Blu-Ray players, smartphones and consoles. The only question we have is if we'll be able to collect Nectar Points on our purchases -- if so, we're sold.

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Sainsbury's pairs up with Rovi for video service, stays ahead of the techie curve originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/22/sainsburys-rovi-video-service/

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Tech Firms Squeezing Conflict Minerals Out of Supply Chains

The tech industry is making strides in developing supply chains and products that are free of conflict minerals from eastern Congo, although for some companies, progress still needs to be made, according to a report by Enough, the project to end genocide and crimes against humanity. For the second year, it ranked companies according to their performance in this area in a new report. Four electronics companies -- Intel, HP, Motorola Solutions and Apple -- have established conflict minerals programs that should be industry models, the report said.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/228e01d8/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C75940A0Bhtml/story01.htm

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GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X

GNOME 3 desktop manager
GNOME 3, after more than two years of development, has been released into the wild. GNOME 3 is not merely the logical successor of GNOME 2: it is an entirely new project, started from scratch, to create a "completely new, modern desktop designed for today's users and technologies."

The best way to check out GNOME 3's new features -- and it has lots of new features -- is to run a live version of openSUSE or Fedora, or simply head over to the GNOME 3 website and watch the (rather pretty) introductory videos. If you want a synopsis, though, here it is: GNOME 3 looks a lot like Mac OS X, with a healthy dollop of iOSesqueness for good measure, but yet it still somehow retains an underlying feel of Linux.

The overall aesthetic is very simple, very elegant, and despite being slightly out of fashion, there are plenty of rounded corners, too. The main addition, workflow-wise, is the addition of an app-launcher-cum-alt-tab screen, where you can launch apps, or flip through your open windows. For a complete list of the new features and changes, check the GNOME 3 release notes.

Despite GNOME 3 being officially launched, there aren't actually any releases for existing, stable Linux distros -- it's the live CD/USB images, or Ubuntu users will have to wait for the launch of 11.04 for a GNOME 3 PPA, but it will break Unity in the process. Fedora users will have to wait for for the May 24 release of Fedora 15. Of course, if you're feeling crazy, you can always build GNOME 3 from source.

GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/gnome-3-released-ushers-in-an-interesting-amalgam-of-ios-and-os/

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Let TextGenie Tranlate Texts into Plain English for You

If you receive text messages full of words like “ilbl8″ or “wdymbt”,  you probably feel like you need a translator.  (They mean “I’ll be late” and “what do you mean by that”.)  TextGenie is an Android app that can translate messages as you receive them, using the built-in dictionary of 1500 texting terms.  You’ll be able to add new terms to your dictionary, too.  This app will access your SMS and phone services and your contacts.  The app is $1.16 in the Google Play Store.

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Let TextGenie Tranlate Texts into Plain English for You originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 22, 2012 at 10:03 am.

Flickr adds to sharing options, now easier to share photos across the Web

flickr
It sure is nice to see some new developer action over at Flickr. The relatively slow-moving photo-sharing service has just announced a new sharing update, which consists of several new and easy ways to embed or link to your photos:
  • Share from Photo page: There's a new sharing option on each and every photo page. When logged off, the button shows only Facebook and Twitter options. But once you log on, you get Tumblr and Blogger too, and can configure other sharing venues as well.
  • Share non-public content on Facebook: This doesn't sound like a great idea, but you now can share private photos on Facebook if you're so inclined (and if you trust your privacy settings).
That's the gist of the update; it makes it easier to show off your pretty pictures in a plethora of places.

Flickr adds to sharing options, now easier to share photos across the Web originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/flickr-adds-to-sharing-options-now-easier-to-share-photos-acros/

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Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight

tastyplanet
So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by "eating" the dirt; or so he thinks. That's how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you're not really a toilet cleaner after all -- you're a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that's smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow -- and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it's a really cute game, and there's no gore or anything like that.

Supposedly you keep growing and growing until you're able to eat whole planets (hence the name). The challenge factor comes when you realize you can't touch any critter larger than yourself - you'll get "bitten" and become smaller. In the beginning you're so small, that a single touch can kill you. Later on, you're big enough that touching larger animals doesn't kill you on the spot, but it does reduce your size. Each level is timed, so if you're not large enough by the time your clock runs out, you need to start again. As long as you don't touch the larger animals, you should be fine.

All in all, a fun, addictive little game. It's available for iOS, too.

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/08/tasty-planet-is-a-fun-flash-game-where-you-eat-everything-in-sight/

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Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G hits US Cellular this Friday for $180

Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G hits US Cellular this Friday for $180

There are plenty of (terribly named) stars in Samsung's Galaxy, but despite the overcrowding, its stateside constellation's showing no signs of slowing. Joining US Cellular's lineup as early as this Friday, the Metrix 4G packs a mix of yesteryear's specs for a budget LTE alternative to the GS III. The 4-inch handset, outfitted with the OEM's preferred Super AMOLED display tech, runs the incredibly stale Android 2.3 Gingerbread atop a single-core 1GHz processor and packs a dual 1.3-megapixel front facing / 5-megapixel rear camera setup into a slide-out QWERTY form factor. If you happen to live within the operator's 4G footprint, you'll be able to snag this handset for $130 with a mail-in rebate, otherwise outliers will have to chalk up an additional $50. Skip on past the break to check out the company's official PR.

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Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G hits US Cellular this Friday for $180 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/uj0kYWPgHOk/

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Will Apple soon be worth one trillion dollars?

Will Apple soon be worth one trillion dollars?

The value of a company is whatever people are willing to pay for it. And for public companies like Apple, that value equates to an open market stock price times however many shares there are in existence. Street lingo for this is market capitalization, or simply “market cap”.

Apple is the world’s most valuable company. Period. Not just among technology companies, but among all companies in the world. Apple is worth a staggering $624 billion as I write this paragraph. It’s stock price is hovering around $673 and since there are 937 million shares outstanding, multiplying those two numbers together gives us that immense market cap.

To hit a $1 trillion market cap, the stock price needs to climb to $1067, which is 59% higher than today’s price. Of course, one trillion dollars is an arbitrary number. But lots of public companies are worth over $100 billion, and the next zero to be added gets you to a trillion. So it’s psychologically important. Will Apple be the first company to achieve it?

I’ve said before that I think they will. Back in February, when I said, "I’m in the camp that believes Apple will become the world’s first trillion dollar company", the stock price was about to reach a new high of $500. We’re already up 35% since that date. And while the stock price gyrates, and Wall Street gets upset with Apple’s latest financial guidance (yet again), the growth continues.

Apple’s creation of iOS has single handedly transformed the company from a Mac + iPod business into a mobile computing business. In the last year (Street folks call this “trailing twelve months”), Apple generated revenue of $149 billion. iPhone and iPad sales account for the majority of this.

China is one factor fueling Apple’s growth. On the company’s Q2 conference call, held back in April, Tim Cook talked about how sales in China had grown threefold year over year. China had gone from nowhere to 20% of total company revenues in one year.

As much as the iPhone has driven huge sales, I am honestly more excited about the iPad. Compared to a laptop computer, the iPad is infinitely more portable, always on, delivers much better battery life, and costs a lot less. Consuming content on it is much more comfortable. Parents worry less about their kids getting their grimy hands on it, or spilling a bit of apple juice onto its surface. In education, it offers to dramatically reduce the cost of textbooks. In short, the iPad, for many people, is superior to a laptop in many use cases.

Despite Android dominating the smartphone market in China, the iPad has over 72% share of the Chinese tablet market. But this is still a tiny market, with Apple selling less than 3 million iPads last quarter in a country with well over a billion people.

The tablet market, including iPad, is also small on a global basis when you compare it to the PC market. Apple sold only 17 million iPads last quarter (Q3 fiscal 2012). Annualize this and you get 68 million. The PC market is closer to 500 million units. Industry analysts expect units sold in the tablet market to exceed the PC market by 2015. I’m not sure if the date will turn out to be accurate or not, but I have no hesitation in adopting the view that tablets will outsell PCs at some point in the next few years.

This is the revolution that matters, and Apple owns it. Look back to the Mac vs. PC battle of decades past. Apple always held onto about 6% of the market. But today, in mobile, they’re set to hold onto a much larger chunk. Who knows what the percentage share will settle at, but I think we can all agree that it will be a lot more than 6%.

Right now, Apple has held onto its pricing power, to boot. How has it done this? Part of it is sexy hardware and great software, as usual. But the real reason comes down to ecosystem. iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac, iTunes, iOS apps and iCloud all play well together, by design. Apple has a strangle hold on its users, even though we (as users) probably think of it as more of a cuddle, less of a choke.

So how high can Apple’s stock go? That really depends upon the time frame, I suppose. But if Apple can actually own 30-60% of the mobile computing market while hanging onto its fat profit margins, then we’re going to look back at the one trillion dollar market cap goal and laugh. For investors ... laughing all the way to the bank.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/krvI2jMi9Es/story01.htm

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