If you’ve been rather hesitant to use the likes of cloud storage – that is, using something like SkyDrive to hold your files online – the folks at Microsoft may have a solution that’ll turn your head. While working with cloud storage often means you’ll have to either have a copy of each of your […]
At the CEATEC show in Japan today, Sharp announced the Mebius Pad, a Windows 8 powered tablet that has a 10.1 inch 2,560×1,600 pixel resolution IGZO panel display. The Mebius Pad is actually the only Windows 8 tablet unveiled as of now that has such a high pixel density, close to 300ppi. Under the hood, there’s an Intel Atom Z3370 Bay Trail quadcore processor. That’s not all, the tablet is also certified for IPX5, IPX7 and IP5X, which means it’s both water and dust proof.
Two models are said to be offered, a Windows 8.1 basic which comes with Microsoft Office bundled for free and a Pro edition with which customers will have to pay extra for Microsoft’s suite of Office applications. No pricing information has been provided as yet. There exists the possibility that the Mebius Pad might never leave the shores of Japan once it is released next year. Sharp has not confirmed as yet if it plans on releasing the tablet in other markets as well. Though in Japan, the Mebius Pad will be sold with LTE radios on board. The tablet seems to be geared towards businesses, since a stylus as well as a keyboard folio is available for it. [Image via Engadget]
Sharp Mebius Pad Waterproof 10.1 Inch Tablet Announced original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Grand Theft Auto has long been known for parodying everything from vehicles, to advertising, to pop culture, to even the technology that dominates the time. So it’s not surprising to see one of the characters in the recently released GTA V using an iPhone parody called the iFruit. And now you can actually get your hands on one—kind of.
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The jets and drones came out to play at Moscow’s Innovation Fair. But where will they go next?
Extreme Reality, an Israeli startup backed by SV Angel, has been at work for eight years on building motion capture technology.
Now they’re opening up the kimono with a platform that can turn any basic webcam or laptop cam into something like a Kinect, with the power to capture a three-dimensional range of movement.
“We’re aiming to give people a console-like experience without the user having to buy additional hardware,” said Asaf Barzilay, who is Extreme Realty’s vice president of products and research and development.
They’ve launched a new developer zone and an SDK for developers to play and test out Extreme Reality’s motion control software. They say it will let developers easily add Kinect-like experiences to web-based games. Without asking consumers to buy hardware, they believe the market for motion-centric games could be orders of magnitude larger.
Their platform lets based laptop and mobile cams capture motion and gestures that are up to 5 meters or 17 feet away from the camera.
The Herzelia, Israel-based company says that other game makers like SEGA have already incorporated their SDK into games like GO DANCE for iOS. Then there are more indie titles like Side-Kick’s Top Smash Tennis for Windows 8, Indie Hero’s BeatBoxer+TM for Windows 7 and VTree Entertainment’s Pro Riders Snowboard for Windows 7 and 8.
The SDK is free at first, but then there’s a revenue sharing arrangement that the company works out on a case-by-case basis. The SDK supports Unity, C++ and C# and operating systems like iOS and Windows 7. But no Android yet.
The company has raised about $19 million in venture funding from SV Angel, Marker LLC, Texas Instruments and Crescent Point Lantern.
Extreme Reality was actually founded eight years ago, but didn’t really start putting out consumer or developer-oriented products into the market until about three years ago. During that time, they picked up about 14 patents.
“We were in a laboratory mode,” Barzilay says.
We’ve already seen official Iron Man hoodies, but if you want something more unique – to the extent that copies can be described as unique – check out this cotton hoodie made by Catherine Kim aka Iamknight. It’s not in Shellhead’s trademark colors, but I think that’s a good thing. It’s a lot easier to find clothes and shoes that match a black hoodie than a red and gold one.
As with Kim’s other armor-themed hoodies, the mask of this hoodie is detachable. Kim said that the hoodie is a mix of different versions of the Iron Man armor. She said that she copied the abdomen and elbows of the Mk. VIII armor and combined that with the chest and shoulders of the Mk. VII armor.
You can order the Iron Man suit hoodie from Kim’s Etsy shop for $450 (USD). That’s Tony Stark pricing right there.
[via DudeIWantThat]
While there are plenty of enterprise mobility and device management companies, they may not go deeply enough in controlling the end-user experience for an employee or a customer.
Many of these enterprise mobility startups use standalone apps that a tablet user can switch in and out of to the browser. That might be a security risk for restaurants that, for example, want to let their customers order from an iPad or a distraction for teachers that want to manage attention in the classroom.
Anfacto, a startup with talent from Google and an earlier company called 3LM that Motorola acquired, is building custom versions of the Android OS that let enterprises offer single-purpose devices for the workplace, conferences or the classroom.
“This is a level of control you can’t have with an application,” said CEO Hristo Bojinov.
Anfacto’s Android variant called FleetOS could let customers like UPS give their drivers Android tablets that they can use exclusively for tasks like scanning packages.
“The idea is that we can lock down the experience from a user standpoint,” Bojinov said. “The customer can go in and decide what applications and features can be run.”
He said a conference could give away tablets to attendees and push applications to them while they’re roaming around the event. Or a company like TaskRabbit or Uber could give their contractors phones specifically for managing errands or drives. Or they could partner with a hardware maker that wants to make tablets exclusively for kids with only specific, child-friendly apps.
The company is already profitable through a few early contracts, and took some strategic funding from DoCoMo Capital. They say FleetOS competes against expensive legacy solutions in the older Windows PC market.
Bojinov said he got the idea for the company because so many hardware makers were asking for it. Their solution has a policy server where an IT administrator can set the rules for what’s allowed or disallowed on their devices. They can also manage graphical resources like wall papers to offer a more customized or personal experience.
The company has 12 people on its team, with most of them in Palo Alto. They’re also opening an office in Bulgaria, where Bojinov grew up.
With an average global broadband connection speed of just 3.1 Mbps, the internet has become one enormous bottleneck for those that send large amounts of data across it. At that speed, a 100 GB file would take around three days to transfer completely, eons too long in a digital era measured by millisecond pings. But a new double-duty satellite launched yesterday could cut that transfer time to just 90 minutes.
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Only recently Nokia revealed that it is going to conduct an event on October 22nd. The company is expected to unveil as many as six new devices at that event, one of those devices is said to be a Windows Phone 8 powered phablet called Nokia Lumia 1520. Both AT&T and Verizon are rumored to carry it when it launches. An alleged press rendering of the Verizon Nokia Lumia 929, that’s what the phablet is believed to be called on the Big Red, has already been leaked. According to a new rumor, it is possible that the Verizon variant might launch on November 6th.
It is also said that Verizon will only offer the Lumia 929 in black and white, when the device becomes available in its retail stores on November 6th. This is a move away from tradition for Nokia which has offered its Lumia devices in a wide variety of colors. A major difference between the Lumia 929 and Lumia 1520 is said to be the display size, Verizon’s variant is said to have a 5 inch full HD 1080p display as opposed to the 6 inch display the AT&T and international/unbranded version will have. Other specifications are said to remain the same, such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. Verizon will reportedly sell the Lumia 929 for $499.99 up front, without a two year contract.
Verizon Nokia Lumia 929 Reportedly Launching On November 6th original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Most TVs are perfectly fine for rooms with normal lighting situations, where a brighter TV isn’t necessarily better. But if you plan to place the set where its screen can’t avoid reflecting a window or other bright light source, you might want to consider one of the TVs below.
Not sure if your room is “normal” or not? Then chances are, you’re fine with any TV. If you find your current TV bright enough, or reflections are only an issue during certain times of the day, then one of these TVs probably won’t help much. But if you’re constantly confounded by reflections or washout regardless of adjustments you make, a different TV might help.
Bright lights and windows can overwhelm any TV, washing out the picture and creating distracting reflections that can make certain programs, especially those with dark scenes, downright unwatchable. If possible, we recommend controlling room lighting and reflections somehow — by either moving the TV or your seat, using blinds, or turning off the lights. But sometimes you can’t do that.
I’ve listed five TVs here. Four are LED-based LCD TVs with … [Read more]
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