Less than one day short of its December 1st deadline, Reddit has topped 200,000 registrants for its 2014 Secret Santa gift exchange. This is well over double the 85,000+ users who signed up last year, and even better, it means Reddit has broken its own Guinness World Record. As Venture Beat points out, Reddit’s real motivation behind trying to get … Continue reading
Perhaps the greatest tragedy in tech are the heaps of gadgets tossed on the metaphorical funeral pyre too early. Maybe it was poor marketing, an unfounded lack of support, or simply bad timing that did them in, but whatever the case, they died much too soon.
We can’t always work alongside a pro to see what makes things tick, and that’s where do-it-yourself projects come in handy. They’re the entertaining alternative to learning a new skill. In this week’s Rewind, we’ve tracked down a series of kits that …
![Lego Mindstorms EV3 Robotics Kit: World's Best Robotics Education Tool? [REISSUE]](https://i0.wp.com/akihabaranews.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/lego_mindstorms_ev3_downloads.plate_.redux_.jpg?resize=580%2C395)
Editor’s Note: Celebrating AkihabaraNews’ most popular robotics article of all time, with better graphics and probably some grammar improvements as well, we present:
Legos, Robots, and Education
We reported last week that Sony Pictures had been hit with a massive cyberattack which left its computer systems compromised and might even have resulted in some data being stolen. The hackers had posted their demands as well one of which was “equality,” which implied that perhaps there was inside help involved. Sony Pictures is now reportedly investigating possible links of that attack with North Korea.
According to Re/code, Sony Pictures is looking into the possibility that the hackers were working on behalf of North Korea, “perhaps operating out of China.”
The reason why North Korea might want to do something like this is because Sony Pictures has a comedy film coming up called The Interview, in which two journalists tapped by the CIA are sent to assassinate Kim Jong-Un, the leader of North Korea. The journalists are played by James Franco and Seth Rogen.
North Korea has already registered a strong reaction against this film, it went so far as to call it an “act of war,” and even threatened a “resolute and merciless response” if Sony Pictures released the film. There were subsequent rumors that the film had been digitally altered during post production to remove military insignia that belonged to the North Korean military, even though the main plot remained the same.
The Interview is on track for release in the U.S. on December 25th.
Sony Pictures Investigating Hack’s Connection With North Korea
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Last summer Nokia launched the Lumia 1020 handset, its defining feature was the 41-megapixel rear camera. It was obviously geared towards customers who like mobile photography. Now it has been over a year and a half since this device was unveiled and so far no successor has been released, even though one was rumored a few months back. Some pictures have surfaced online claiming to show the Lumia 1020 successor.
The images have been taken from a Chinese auction website and they show a silver handset with a very familiar large camera housing, similar to that found on the Lumia 1020. It even appears to be fashioned out of the same aluminum/polycarbonate materials seen in many Lumia handsets.
Obviously one can’t discount the possibility that it might be an elaborate fake, but the fact that this device looks far from complete, gives rise to the possibility that it may really be the rumored McLaren Lumia 1020 successor, which was killed off back in July.
The McLaren was expected to be launched around December with 3D Touch features, which would enable Kinect-like gestures for this Windows Phone device. Camera would definitely have been improved as well if this device had ever seen the light of day, but that didn’t happen.
So far Microsoft, which now owns Nokia’s devices business, has not confirmed if what we see here really is the unreleased Lumia 1020 successor.
Lumia 1020 Successor Apparently Seen In Leaked Photos
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About a week back Jolla was supposed to make an announcement regarding a new product and that’s when we first heard about the Jolla tablet. The device runs Jolla’s Sailfish OS on a larger form factor though there’s a fair bit of waiting involved if you want to get your hands on this tablet. Jolla is conducting a crowdfunding campaign and its adding stretch goals along the way to bring more capabilities to it. The latest stretch goal is cellular capability, provided that the campaign raises $2.5 million.
Jolla received a great response and it was able to smash through its initial goal of $380,000. So it goes without saying that the tablet is going to get made. One of the first stretch goals to be added to this campaign was the addition of more markets in which the tablet will become available once it goes through production, that goal has already been achieved.
The company is now aiming higher. If the campaign receives more than $2.5 million they’ll add cellular capability, 3.5G, to the tablet. Though if the campaign isn’t able to raise that much there are some other goals as well that will bring additional features to the tablet.
If $1.5 million is raised the Jolla tablet will get support for microSDHC cards up to 128GB and for $1.75 million split-screen multitasking features will be added. With more than ten days still to go in the campaign its likely that at least these goals will be achieved, even if they’re not able to raise $2.5 million.
Jolla Tablet To Receive Cellular Capability If Campaign Raises $2.5 Million
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We are merely a month away from the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 which means that its high time we started hearing rumors about the products that are expected to make an appearance at the show. Rumor has it that LG is going to show off the successor to its flexible smartphone in Las Vegas. Word on the street is that the LG G Flex 2 is all set for an announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show 2015, taking place during the first week of January at Sin City.
Initially it was believed that LG is going to reveal this device before the end of 2014 but apparently that’s not happening anymore. LG would rather do it under the CES banner.
The report suggests that there won’t be many differences between the G Flex 2 and its predecessor. Its going to be flexible and tout a curved P-OLED display. The size of this display is expected to be smaller than the G Flex though, with a bump expected in pixel resolution.
The self-healing back cover that made its first appearance with LG G Flex is also expected to stick around for the G Flex 2. That’s all there is to know about this handset right now hopefully we’ll get to hear more as the announcement comes near.
There are no reports about pricing and availability but one can assume that this smartphone will run Android 5.0 Lollipop straight out of the box. LG is tightlipped on the matter and isn’t confirming or denying the presence of LG G Flex 2 at CES 2015.
LG G Flex 2 Announcement Rumored For CES 2015
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If you look at how Android updates are pushed out it is pretty easy to chart out the course. The first in line are Nexus smartphones and tablets followed by Google Play Edition units of different devices. Android 5.0 Lollipop has already been released for Nexus devices, it has even landed on LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition, and now it appears that the update may soon make its way to HTC One (M7) and HTC One (M8) Google Play Edition. Technical approval of Android 5.0 Lollipop for these devices is expected tomorrow.
The update was actually expected to be released early last week but it was delayed. The official timeframe provided by the company was that of Friday but that also came and went without the update being released.
According to Mo Versi, HTC’s VP of Product Management, the software for HTC One (M7) and HTC One (M8) with fixes is in Google’ QA lab. The lab’s target is to provide technical approval for this update by tomorrow, Monday.
Once technical approval is granted it may only be a matter of time before the company starts pushing out this update to Google Play Edition units of the aforementioned devices. So it wouldn’t be too risky to assume that this update is going to arrive at some point in the coming week.
HTC One (M7) And (M8) GPE Lollipop Technical Approval Expected Tomorrow
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When it comes to digital cameras, there are dime a dozen different models to choose from. However, if you are in the market for a full frame camera and have not quite yet made up your mind on which particular model to choose from, perhaps the latest Sony α7II might be able to help you cement your mind? The Sony α7II is a new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that is also the world’s first full-frame camera which will boast of 5-axis image stabilization, enabling it to compensate for camera movement in five different directions so that it can produce extremely sharp handheld images.
What else does the Sony α7II pack underneath the hood? For starters, it will boast of a 24.3 effective megapixel 35mm full-frame sensor and will add 30% faster AF responsiveness, enriched video shooting capabilities, and redesigned ergonomics, among others. The innovative 5-axis image stabilization is capable of detecting and correcting camera shake along five axes during shooting, including angular shake (pitch and yaw) which more often than not, rears its ugly head with a telephoto lens, shift shake (X and Y axes) that ends up as noticeable as magnification increases, while rotational shake (roll) often affects shots at night or when recording video.
This 5-axis stabilization will play nice with Sony α lenses with optical steady shot (OSS) so that it can provide maximum stabilization and clarity, while it also works admirably with Sony α A-mount lenses and third party lenses without on-board stabilization.
There will also be a 117-point focal plane phase detection AF sensor with 25 contrast detection AF points, and AF and now automatic exposure (AE) will be part of the deal as it tracks subjects during high-speed continuous shooting at up to 5 fps. Definitely a far cry from the earlier models like the Sony a850, right?
The Sony α7II full-frame mirrorless interchangeable lens camera will be out from December 9th onward, where the body-only package will retail for $1,700, and the kit with the FE 28-70mm F3.5 – F5.6 OSS zoom lens (model SEL2870) is a wee bit more expensive at $2,000.
Press Release
[ Sony α7II DSLR hits the market copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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