Hasta La Gadget!

Using built-in cameras in PCs or smartphones, a new technology to be presented this week by Fujitsu Laboratories can measure pulse in as little as five seconds using built-in cameras in PCs or smartphones.
It works by measuring variations in the brightness of the person’s face thought to be caused by the flow of blood. It is based on the characteristic of hemoglobin in blood, which absorbs green light. It requires no special hardware and can measure pulse rate simply by pointing a camera …

In what may be considered as a surprise move, popular cloud-storage service Dropbox has acquired recently-launched Mailbox. The new email app that launched around a month ago to hordes of curious users is now in the hands of Dropbox. Both Mailbox and Dropbox announced the acquisition on their respective blogs.

Dropbox says that they fell in love with Mailbox right away, describing the app as “simple, delightful, and beautifully engineered.” Dropbox discovered that Mailbox’s calling was the same as theirs: “to solve life’s hidden problems and reimagine the things we do every day.” That’s when the Dropbox folks realized they would make a team.

Mailbox said that rather than grow the app and the company on its own, they’ve decided to join forces with Dropbox to possibly achieve more than what they could do on their own. The Mailbox app itself will still be sticking around and won’t be changing, save for a few new features coming in the future, including Dropbox integration, according to a hint from Mailbox CEO Gentry Underwood.

Exact plans for the acquisition haven’t been disclosed, but we should definitely be seeing more features coming to Mailbox. We reviewed the app shortly after its release, and its certainly worth a try. The developer says that 60 million emails are going in and out per day, and the company’s service capacity has grown 2,000x since launching last month.

Dropbox acquires recently-launched email app Mailbox is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Dropbox has been making more of an effort at updating its mobile apps lately while leaving its desktop client by the wayside. However, the cloud storage company released a big update to the desktop client for Windows and Mac that comes with a new look, as well as improved notifications and enhanced sharing features.

The desktop client for Dropbox lives in the system tray or the menu bar (depending on whether you have Windows or Mac), so all the updates and new features are happening there. Specifically, Dropbox made it easier to access shared files, and you can also accept or decline invitations to shared folders right from the dropdown menu.

You’ll also get notifications in real-time as people share files with you. Dropbox also made it much easier and quicker to see what files have recently changed in your Dropbox, and they also added a new way to share files with a link. You can easily click “Share” on any recently-changed file and paste the link to the person you want to share it with.

However, the desktop client wasn’t the only thing to get the new features today. The mobile app for both iOS and Android both received an update that will provide notifications for shared folders. It’s not a huge update for the mobile version, but some users will enjoy getting the improved notifications on their smartphones.

Dropbox desktop client updates with redesign, improved notifications is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you remember your college days (or are currently experiencing them now), then you no doubt remember all of those collaboration projects that your professors made you work on. To help out, Microsoft is now offering college students three months of Office 365 University and 20GB of SkyDrive storage for free.

Office 365 University allows access on up to two computers per account, and it costs $79.99 for a four-year subscription. The bundle comes with all the necessary tools to get those assignments done, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. To take advantage of the free trial and get your free SkyDrive storage, all you have to do is enter in your .edu email address.

Plus, if you share the offer on Facebook, you’ll get an additional three months of free access, totaling six months of Office 365 without paying a dime. Of course, that’s only $10 you’re saving, but a penny saved is a penny earned. Of course, if you’re not a student, you can still try out Office 365 Home Premium free for one month as well.

Microsoft released a comical advertisement to promote the offer, which features Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza who plays deadpan character April Ludgate-Dwyer in the show. In the commercial, Plaza informs students about how easy it is to get your collaboration projects done using Office 365 University and SkyDrive in separate locations, officially negating the point of meeting up in the library.

Microsoft offering students 3 months of Office 365, 20GB SkyDrive storage for free is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.