Facebook Unveils A Smarter Search Engine

2013 January 15th is gonna another milestone for Facebook as CEO Mark Zuckerberg announce the unveiling of "Graph Search" - A search engine that will allow people using Facebook to more quickly find answers to questions about friends in their Social Graph. The search improvements involve the ability to ask questions in regular English, such as "which of my friends live in Dubai?" etc. 

The search is now intelligent enough to rank your friends based on how much interaction you've had — so that closer friends will appear higher up the results list. 

Introduction to Graph Search

With graph search you can look up anything shared with you on Facebook, and others can find stuff you’ve shared with them. Each person sees unique results. One example demonstrated was a very specific search for "Friends of my friends who are single male San Francisco,Calif." That refined query returned a select group of people who fit the criteria. Apart from personal use cases, Graph Search can be used for dating and recruiting purposes, which could make the product a potential challenger to LinkedIn and various dating sites that incorporate social network profiles.

How Graph search works by Mark Zuckerberg 

 

Go and turn 'Graph Search' on and your Facebook experience will never again be the same. Graph Search is about discovering things you've probably felt entitled to finding on a social network where you go to share memories and milestones. Now Graph search started working in beta, and will appear as a large blue search bar at the top of your Facebook page

The Graph search is being opened to all English (US) speaking users in the coming months. You can get on the waiting list.

Now what do you think about Facebook Graph Search? Is it a big deal or big joke. Know us via comments

Inspiration to write this article: cnet.com, mashable.com

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A Throwable Ball Captures Panoramic Images

Here we mention the next generation image capturing device, that is A Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera which was developed by A German engineering grad Jonas Pfeil, and his Computer Graphics Group at Technische University in Berlin. The prototype is designed to be tossed in the air and automatically take panoramic pictures

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

Panoramic image taken from the Ball Camera

Panoramic photography creates fascinating images. Very wide angle images are closer to the human field of view than conventional pictures. If seen through a panoramic viewer they let us experience a location as if we were there. Panoramic image stitching can create panoramas from pictures taken one after another. Unfortunately, acquiring the images takes a lot of time and moving objects may cause ghosting. It is also difficult to obtain a full spherical panorama, because the downward picture cannot be captured while the camera is mounted on the tripod.

So in this case a throwable panoramic camera can solves these problems. 
That is the camera is thrown into the air and captures an image at the highest point of flight - when it is hardly moving. The camera takes full spherical panoramas, requires no preparation and images are taken instantaneously. 
It can capture scenes with many moving objects without producing ghosting artifacts and creates unique images.

Internal of Ball Camera

The camera uses 36 fixed-focus 2 megapixel mobile phone camera modules. The ball has a diameter of 19.3cm. and a weight of 752gm. The camera modules are mounted in a robust, 3D-printed, ball-shaped enclosure that is padded with foam and handles just like a ball. The camera contains an accelerometer which can use to measure launch acceleration. Integration lets us predict rise time to the highest point, where it trigger the exposure. After catching the ball camera, pictures are downloaded in seconds using USB and automatically shown in the spherical panoramic viewer. This lets users interactively explore a full representation of the captured environment.

See the Vedio for more information
The throwable camera helps to capture full spherical panoramas at scenic spots, in a crowded city square and in the middle of a group of people taking turns in throwing the camera. Above all it is a very enjoyable, playful way to take pictures.

Softwares Used for this project:
C, C++, Qt, OpenCV
 
People Behind Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera
Jonas Pfeil 
Kristian Hildebrand 
Carsten Gremzow 
Bernd Bickel 
Marc Alexa

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Magnetic / Detachable Lenses for iPhone

Magnetic / Detachable Telephoto (2X) Lens for iPhone 5 / iPhone 4/4s / Kodak Zi8 / Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100

USBFever offers magnetic lenses for iPhone and it is also compatible with many others. Three flavors are available, the wide-angle, telephoto and the fish-eye.

The magnetic wide-angle lens for iPhone features a 0.67x wide and super macro. The telephoto lens offers 2X zoom while the fish-eye lens has a 170-degree FishEye 0.28X magnification.

All these three lenses work with iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G. Both wide-angle and telephoto are priced at $16.99 while the fish-eye costs $19.99.

Features:
- Portable and detachable, you can take photo with your device at any time
- High Clarity: Made of high-class glass
- Strong: Made of top-grade Aluminuim
- Applicable to any devices

How to attach the Lens to your device?- Mangetic
- Magnetic thru a ring with self-adhesive tape

How to use?- if you device is Magnetizable, then it will be very simple, just put the lens directly ahead of your built-in lens, then you will get what you want.
- Otherwise, you can use self-adhesive ring (included) to stick a magnetic ring in front of your built-in lens (to make it magnetizable) then put the lens on the add-on ring
- You can change among our Wide Angle Lens, Fish Eye Lens and Marco Lens for your specific purpose

Specifications:
- Magnification: Telephoto 2.0X (just as a 2X zoom lens)
- Lens Construction: 2 elements in 2 groups
- Dimensions (Main body): 27mm (diameter) x 14mm (length)
- Dimensions (magnetic ring): 13.06 (outer), 9.38 (innner)
- Weight: 9.9g

Applications:
- Photo-taking

Compatible with:  (Please have a reference to the dimension of the Lens and Rings) 
- iPhone 1st Gen / iPhone 3G / iPhone 4 / 4S
- iPhone 5
- iPod Nano 5th
- iPod Nano 6th
- HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1
- NDS DS-i
- Notebook / Netbook (eg. Mac / Macbook / eee-pc / laptop)
- Mobilephone / PDA / Smartphone...- Degital Camera (for example: kodak Zi8, kodak Zi6, kodak playsport Zx3)
- Kodak Ze-Series: Playfull
- Kodak Zx-Series: Playsport / Zx3, Playsport / Zx5, ZxD
- Kodak Zi-Series: Playtouch, Zi8, Zi6
- Pocket Video Cam Vado HD
- Pocket Video Cam Vado HD 2nd gen
- Pocket Video Cam Vado HD 3rd gen
- Sony HD Camera - Sony Bloggie MHS-PM5K
- MacBook Pro
- iPad 2
- iPad 3rd generation (The new iPad)
- Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100 SII
- Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.0 Plus P6200
- Samsung GALAXY TAB 7.7 P6800

Package Contents:
- Magnetic / Detachable Telephoto (2X) Lens x 1
- Lens Cover (plastic) x 1
- Detachable Magnetic Ring x 2
- Keychain strap x 1

Packaging:
- Blister

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A Brief History of The iPod

12 years ago Steve Jobs took the stage to introduce the very first iPod.  When released, the iPod wasn’t the first portable digital music player to hit the hands of consumers, but without a clear leader in the space, Apple saw a prime opportunity to dominate market.

You’ll recall the original iPod featured a 5 GB hard drive capable of holding 1,000 songs, a two-inch backlit LCD display with a battery which could last 10 hours on a single charge.

Debuting during the 2001 holiday season, the iPod quickly became THE digital music player everyone wanted.

To commemorate the iPod’s 10th birthday, Cult of Mac created an infograph on “A Brief History of The iPod,”

Do you remember the first iPod you owned?  Which model did you purchase? How many have you owned since then?  Tell your story in the comments!

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Did Apple Steal Technology & Ideas?

Did Apple used Beg, Borrow and Steal method?

Apple is the largest and most successful technology company in the world’s history, but how did it arrive at that lofty perch? Did it create all the ideas folded into its shiny gadgets, or did it beg, borrow and steal them?

So the answer is here in the below infographic from BestMastersPrograms.org, using a variety of sources to arrive at this extensive collection of stats, illustrations and information about Apple and its explosively popular product line.

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World's first 24 karat gold plated iPhone 5

Offering so much more than before, and so much less, too; thin, sleek, faster, very capable, and more vibrant iPhone 5, the world’s most popular and hottest smartphone now just got a whole lot more stylish.

Typically an iPhone 5 isn't sufficient to actually give enough prestige for the owner. In case the problem is attempt to actually look along at the iPhone 5s with 24-karat gold plated.

As, the London-based Gold & Co., the noted manufacturer of the finest gold-plated bespoke products for discerning individuals, has now unveiled the ultra-luxury edition of the sought-after iPhone5, the world’s first 24 karat gold-plated Gold and Rose Gold iPhone 5

 Notably, the demand of the iPhone 5 has been incredible, and it’s been reported that Apple has sold over five million units, just three days after the launch. And, catering to the excitement among the cool-owners, some noted iPhone accessory players already introduced their products, like the world’s most expensive iPhone 5 case for $100,000 and the CalypsoCrystals’ limited edition iPhone 5 cases by Lara Bohinc.

The difficulty value isn't known, a transparent value was so much higher than the reach of most shoppers. Previous gold & co. too provides 64 gb model on your iphone 4s gilded valued usd $ 4300.

Crafted in pure gold, this version of iPhone 5 which is certainly an object of desire will be officially unveiled at the Dubai Mall on 27th September at the Collector’s Palace. With the release of 24 karat gold-plated Gold and Rose Gold iPhone 5, Gold & Co. actually wanted to bring the best in luxury and technology to their loyal clients. Also, we have earlier seen the 24-carat gold-plated iPad 2, which Gold & Co. also unveiled in Dubai, last year.

And, to ensure the exclusivity, each of the gold-plated versions will be individually numbered, and will be presented in a fine, custom made wooden box, along with certificate of authenticity.

This company is known in love with adding slightly of luxury on devices that most people search gadget. Alternative merchandise who have been co-coated with gold by gold & co. among others, the blackberry daring 9900, blackberry porsche style p9981, and apples new ipad.

In that gold-plated smartphone, you'll surely be a priority when using it.

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WORLDS CHEAPEST TABLET

The mighty $35 Indian Tablet is finally launched in India on October 5 and its named as 'Aakash'. The tablet being made by Datawind is the brainchild of human resources minister Kapil Sibal and a team of technologists from IIT Rajasthan..In Indian Rupee, the price of the tablet is Rs. 1700. The Indian Government will subsidize the cost of the tablet and offer it to students for about Rs. 1100 Only.

CONFIGURATION :
The new tablet is a touch screen machine.
It has 256 MB RAM
2 GB of internal storage.
External drives add another 32 GB of storage space.
The tablet accepts two pen drives and offers about three hours of battery life.
It has a virtual keyboard, camera, full video capability.
It runs on Google's Android Froyo operating system.
It connects to the internet only through a wi-fi connection.

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All about Reliance 3G Tab

Reliance Communications has introduced a 7-inch Android tablet priced at cost of Indian Rs 12,999 which is approximately USD 280 with discounted 3G data options, making it perhaps the cheapest 3G-enabled tablet in India after Bharti's Beetel Magiq Adroid Tab which costs around 10,000 INR.

It's features include - Android 2.3, 7 inch Multi-touch Screen, 512 MB RAM and a micro SD external storage which can support up to 32 GB data storage. It also have battery Life of upto 9 hrs of talktime & upto 300 hours of standy time, Dual Camera , Phone, Wi Fi Hotspot + Bluetooth, Live TV and Reliance 3G Superior IP Network.

This also comes with preloaded apps like - YouTube, Google Map & Google Search, R World Online, Android Market, Social Networking and Gmail.

TAKE A LOOK ON THE BELOW PICTURES:-

 Look at the detailed technical specification:-

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Spam SMS in India (FACTS)

As published in Hindustan Times (Delhi edition) on Monday August 22, 2011.

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E-Textiles

E-textiles, also known as Electronic textiles or Smart textiles, are fabrics that have electronics and interconnections woven into them, with physical flexibility and size that cannot be achieved with existing electronic manufacturing techniques. Part of the development of wearable technology, they are known as intelligent clothing or smart clothing because they allow for the incorporation of built-in technological elements in everyday textiles and clothes. Electronic textiles do not strictly encompass wearable computing because emphasis is placed on the seamless integration between the fabric and the electronic elements, such as cables, micro controllers, sensors and actuators.

 One of the pioneers in electronic textiles is Rehmi Post, a Visiting Scientist at the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, who earned his a M.Sc. at the MIT Media Lab for the development of e-broidery, a means of fabricating electronic circuitry on wash-and-wear textile substrates. Examples of his pioneering work in this field have appeared widely in museum collections, including a long-term loan to the Wellcome Wing of London's Museum of Science.

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HTC Arrive Windows 7 Phone – Latest

HTC Arrive is the new smartphone manufactured by Taiwanese for U.S. mobile operator Sprint, running on Microsoft Windows 7 operating system and bringing one of the most requested features of copy and paste. HTC Arrive is a model with capacitive touch screen of 3.6-inch diagonal WVGA resolution with multitouch and Qualcomm Snapdragon processor of 1GHz to control everything.

The Arrive HTC also includes a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and sound recording 720p HD, 16GB memory expandable via microSD, stereo Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, a 3.5mm jack, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, access to Xbox Live services and Sprint Zone, Sprint TV and Movies as well as NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile.

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HP ENVY 17 Notebook

Taking about the leading notebook these days, HP envy 17 tops the chart. The variant has outnumbered other brands in its section with some mesmerizing specifications and attributes create another world for this model. Envy 17 is one of newest member to the HP notebook family which offers the Intel core i7 processor. It is a bigger and an enhanced version of the magnesium-alloy of the 14-inch variant. The 14-inch net book from HP was a killer, stirred electricity in my body. So, when I heard about the echelon being raised by HP, it made me enthralled and awaited for this version to pop out on my hands.

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Apple to launch low-priced iPhone in Asia

Apple to introduce low-budget iPhone in Asia

 Asian suppliers to Apple have supposedly begun manufacturing a lower-priced edition of the iPhone 4 with a smaller 8 gigabyte flash drive.

The flash drive for the 8GB iPhone 4 is being contrived by a “Korean corporation”, that could mean South Korea’s Samsung which is Apple’s supplier when it is not being sued. The iPhone 4 was first released in June 2010 with 16 GB and 32 GB versions, with a white version added to the schedule in April. The 8GB version is probable to release within weeks.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs resigns, Cook to take over

Steve Jobs resigned as Apple Inc Chief Executive on Wednesday, without specifying a reason.

Tim Cook, the company's Chief Operating Officer, who has been standing in for Jobs during his medical leave, has been named the new CEO. Jobs becomes Chairman.

Apple's shares fell 5% in after-hours trading.

TAKE A LOOK OF APPLE PRESS INFO.

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board 

CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2011—Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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A Day Made of Glass

Watch "A Day Made of Glass" and take a look at Corning's vision for the future with specialty glass at the heart of it.

About Corning

Corning Incorporated is the world leader in specialty glass and ceramics. Drawing on more than 160 years of materials science and process engineering knowledge, Corning creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications and life sciences. Learn more about how Corning collaborates closely with customers across these industries to turn what were once only possibilities into breakthrough realities.

Please view the video and tell your comments on this innovation.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750

On January 27, 2010 Apple boss Steve Jobs introduced the world to a little something called the iPad, and suddenly tablet became something other than what you take when ill. A flotilla of other tablets, mostly Android, followed but failed to crash Apple's party. Samsung, with its original Galaxy Tab starring a 7- inch display and Android Froyo, led the charge but to no avail. A year later, here are the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9, both are running Google's tablet OS, Honeycomb. But are they any different from the slew of Honeycomb tablets already flooding the market?

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Solar powered $72 tablet from Bharat Electronics

Defence focused electronics company Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is expanding its non-defence or civilian businesses. The PSU major, which is the leading supplier of radar, communication and electronic warfare equipments to the armed forces, is foraying into areas like tablet PCs and solar energy.

Over the last four-five months BEL's central research lab designed a basic tablet PC costing $72 that will be used by the rural development ministry to conduct a census study on people below the poverty line. A consortium consisting of BEL, Electronics Corporation of India and Industrial Training Institute will conduct the study.

The tablet is powered by Android version 2.2, and runs on a solar battery. Data can be stored and uploaded to a central server in real time. It can also be used as an e- reader. BEL has received orders for 6 lakh of these tablet PC units valued at Rs 250 crore, which it will deliver by November. BEL CMD Ashwani Kumar Datt said that the human resources ministry has also expressed interest in the tablet; the ministry's idea is to make available low-cost PCs to boost education in lower-income areas.

The Rs 5,635-crore company has identified homeland security as another area of opportunity. Datt said BEL would focus on large significant contracts such as securing big cities and states. BEL expects an order from the government in the next 4-5 weeks for setting up radar stations for coastal surveillance across 46 locations. "The contract has gone to the finance ministry for final clearance. The order is estimated to be about Rs 600 crore," Datt said.

BEL's entry into newer civilian areas are driven by two factors. First, to reduce over-dependence on the traditional defence business in the wake of increasing competition from global companies that are now allowed to participate in domestic contracts . Second, the company wants to enhance utilization of certain business units and plant locations such as those in Kotdwara and Panchkula.

"About a year back we undertook a study with KPMG to identify some of the newer business areas to enter into that are aligned with our competence," said Datt.

Civilian businesses currently contribute about 17% of the company's revenues.

This includes providing civilian radars to airports, weather related radars to ISRO , electronic voting machines to the Election Commission and transmitters to television channels.

In the first quarter of this fiscal BEL received an order book of Rs 1,058 crore, almost all of it in civilian businesses . The defence orders typically come in the subsequent quarters.

The company is bidding to supply nuclear power instrumentation for eight nuclear power stations being indigenously built by the Nuclear Power Council of India.

The contract is estimated to be around Rs 600-800 crore and BEL would be competing against other PSU and private firms.BEL also recently tied up with another PSU, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd ( BHEL), for a foray into the solar energy business.

The joint venture plans to manufacture silicon wafer, and solar cells and modules. 

COURTESY: THE TIMES OF INDIA

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