Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo‘s latest annual shareholders meeting has proved to hold more than a couple interesting bits of information, such as confirmation that the company won’t be launching the Wii Vitality Sensor any time in the near future. Also talked about was E3 game announcements, and the revelation that the company intentionally failed to announcement certain games.

The information was stated by Nintendo boss Iwata, who stated during the meeting that the games left unannounced encompass “brand-new types of games,” rather than the expected Mario Kart 8 and Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze, among others, that were announced. This will come as a relief to those who found their expectations initially dashed by the announcements.

The reasons for such a decision? Nintendo wished to “satisfy existing video game fans first and provide new surprises later,” intending to make their impact more profound when they were announced while giving little means for competitors to rip them off. As such, the company elected to wait until it was closer to the games’ launch dates before making their existence known.

For this reason, we’re going to have to wait a considerable bit longer before finding out what Nintendo has up its sleeves – something to the tune of about 12 months. While this is a frustratingly long time for those who were expecting to get excited with Nintendo’s E3 Direct stream, the company assures fans that there’s a method to its madness, so to speak.

In case you missed it, Nintendo’s E3 presentation was a mere 41 minutes, far shorter than what we saw from Sony, for example. You can watch it for yourself to see what Nintendo did announce, then head over to the company’s website and read the long notes from its shareholders meeting, filling in the gaps with information straight from Nintendo’s President and CEO.

SOURCE: Gameranx

Nintendo intentionally left games unannounced at E3 is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If the Wii Vitality Sensor escapes your memory, you’re not the only one – it was announced back at E3 in 2009, and has since then seen very little in terms of development, raising speculation that Nintendo had given it the kibosh. Such was confirmed at the company’s 73rd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, where the company said that due to inconsistent accuracy among different users it won’t be launched.

The idea behind the Wii Vitality Sensor was intriguing – gamers would place their index finger in the device, allowing for measurement of the player’s heart rate. Further expounding on that, Nintendo’s Iwata stated this would help develop an understanding of “human autonomic nerve functions,” thereby showing the state of tension or relaxation the player was experiencing.

Aspects of this functionality were demonstrated to the viewing public, and the company made it known that it was excited about the possibilities of the device. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the problems for it started with mass testing of Vitality that took place within the company. For whatever reason, it was reported, some individuals did not get “expected” readings from the sensor.

Though specifics weren’t given on the inconsistent results that happened with the device, Mr. Iwata said: “We wondered if we should commercialize a product which works as expected for 90 people out of 100, but not so for the other 10 people. Though I am sorry that we did not give any specific updates after this product’s initial announcement, I would say that knowing that a product has a problem we should not launch it for the sole reason that we have already announced it.”

In addition, the Nintendo boss says that upon further work with the Vitality, it became apparent that the device’s various possible applications were smaller than the company had first estimated. For these reasons, the launch has been slated as “pending,” with Nintendo saying that it could see the light of day in the furture if technology advances to such a degree that its results are accurate for a higher percentage of users.

SOURCE: Nintendo

Nintendo confirms Wii Vitality Sensor was nixed due to consistency issues is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung predicts 9.5 trillion won ($8.3bn) in operating profit for Q2 2013, a rise of 47-percent year-on-year, but still not enough to placate antsy investors concerned the South Korean company has peaked. Released ahead of full financial results due July 26, Reuters reports, the profit guidance comes alongside word that Samsung’s marketing spend has increased in 2013 significantly. In fact, the company spent more on marketing than it did on R&D, for the first time in at least three years.

That focus on promotion rather than product development is what has some investors and analysts cautious. In fact, Samsung shares already dropped by more than 3-percent today based on the guidance, which fell short of predictions of profits more in the region of 10.16 trillion won.

Samsung’s mobile business, buoyed by the Galaxy S 4 and its various variants, continues to grow, though shipments for the quarter are expected to rise just 4-percent – to 8-percent – versus Q1 2013. That slowing in demand has led to suggestions that Samsung might be losing its edge in mobile, and it’s unclear to investors whether the division – and the also profitable flash memory arm – will be able to continue to prop up profits overall.

Wearables, along with more low-cost devices to further attack developing markets where Huawei and ZTE are focusing, are seen as being Samsung’s next step. Samsung is believed to be working on a smartwatch potentially called the Samsung GEAR, alongside companion rumors that have arch-rival working on an “iWatch” wearable of its own.

Nonetheless, despite the market pessimism, Samsung’s overall numbers are strong. Based on the estimates for Q2, Samsung should have comfortably exceeded the $6.4bn it made in Q1.

That will have been helped by a supposed 20m shipments of the Galaxy S 4, which Samsung execs in Korea confirmed earlier this week. However, on the flip side, there are suggestions that the company is not doing enough to ensure existing owners of Samsung devices choose the brand again when they upgrade.

Recent research indicated that Sony’s Xperia Z had been the surprise beneficiary of subscribers upgrading from the Galaxy S II, picking another Android device but feeling no great loyalty to Samsung as a brand.

Samsung $8.3bn Q2 2013 profit tipped (but investors still not satisfied) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

On this Independence Day, Samsung has unveiled a new long zoom camera, the WB110. In addition to its super optical zoom, this digital camera also offers an ultra-wide angle lens for taking expansive images in settings that benefit from it. There’s no word yet on how much this super-zoom shooter will cost or when we’ll see it hit shelves, but we’ve got a gallery for you after the jump.

The Samsung WB110 features a 20.2-megapixel CCD sensor alongside Dual IS, which encompasses both digital and optical image stabilization. As we mentioned, the WB110 is a long zoom digital camera, offering 26x optical zoom, as well as a 22.3 millimeter ultra wide-angle lens. The device runs off 4 AA batteries, and storage support is for SDHC, SDSC, and SDXC cards.

The LCD measures in at 3-inches with an hVGA resolution and auto live-level adjustment so it can be viewed ideally in various lighting situations. Video outputs are AV and HDMI 1.4, and ISO (in addition to auto mode) ranges from 100 to 3200. The camera is shipped with the i-Launcher software, which only mentions PC support.

Images are saved in JPEG format, with the highest resolution being 5152 x 3864, while the minimum resolution for images is 1024 x 768. Videos can be recorded in up to 720p in MPEG4, AVC/H.264 with AAC audio at 30fps. Other recording options include 640 x 480 and 320 x 240.

And finally there’s the on-board software, which gives users, not surprisingly, a Live Panorama mode that will nicely accompany the ultra wide-angle lens. There’s also Smart Auto, which aims to identify the “key elements” of scenes automatically, making the adjustments the camera determines is necessary. And finally, there’s Split Shot imaging mode.

SOURCE: Samsung

Samsung WB110 unveiled with 26x optical zoom and ultra wide angle lens is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve ever found yourself wishing for the ability to zoom your vision whilst squinting at a sign or object in the distance, you can rejoice – the first telescopic contact lens has been created, and with it the wearer’s sight can be boosted 2.8x. What’s more, the lens is small enough that it can be worn without discomfort.

The work was done by researchers led by Eric Tremblay of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Joseph Ford of University of California, San Diego. With this latest technology, all previous versions of telescopic vision have been torn asunder: implants, glasses, and thick contact lenses that were too big for someone to reasonably wear.

The lens measures in at 1.17mm in thickness, and works through a series of light bouncing. Light enters via the contact lens’ edges and bounces four times on very small mirrors made of aluminum, which function to both remove chromatic aberration and boost the image nearly three times. The light then reaches the outer portion of the retina with the magnified image.

The lenses were developed specifically for individuals affected by macular degeneration, which causes damage to the central part of the retina while usually leaving the edge of the retina in working condition. This portion of the eye can’t make out most details, however, reducing vision quality. Because the lenses pushes the light to this outer portion of the retina, individuals with this condition will be able to zoom in on an image, seeing the details the disease rids them of.

The contact lens is made from the same material that older versions of contact lenses were made from, a polymer called PMMA. The final product, which would be made available to the average consumer, will have to be made from the modern contact lens material known as RGP polymer. When in use, the wearer can switch back and forth between regular and zoomed vision.

This is achieved using 3D TV glasses (not to be confused with the red-and-blue 3D glasses used with older 3D technology). The glasses work with a polarizing filter that is on the front of the center portion of the lenses. The glasses reverses the polarization, causing the light bouncing and zoom effect.

SOURCE: Extreme Tech

Researchers make telescopic contact lens capable of 2.8x zoom is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.