Techno Babble

Recently announced, at the Mobile World Congress 2008, the APX 2500 is the first processor from NVIDIA aimed at the next generation of smartphones. Based on an ARM chip (the ARM11 MP core running at up to 750Mhz) and combining GeForce graphics (a new ultra-low power (ULP) GeForce core) with nPower Technology, the APX 2500 provides support for Windows CE and Windows Mobile.

Software developers can exploit the power of the device through a set of software drivers that enable the development of rich media applications with compelling user interfaces. An implementation of OpenKODE is provided that allows applications to be developed to take full advantage of the graphics and video acceleration available and provide sophisticated 3D user interfaces. Other supported graphics standards include Open GL ES 2.0 and Microsoft Direct 3D Mobile.

More details at

http://www.nvidia.com/object/apx_2500.html

noBounds is reportedly a research project from the Nokia Research Center in Germany that is looking to provide access from Nokia Smartphones and Internet Tablet devices to higher resolution external displays such as High Definition (HD) LCD panels, projectors and near-to-eye-displays using WiFi or USB connections.

noBounds is a Python-based application and can also be used to interface with available input devices such as a keyboard or a USB mouse.

A video of the noBounds project can be seen at

http://www.vimeo.com/784138

(Details of other Research work at Nokia can be found at http://research.nokia.com/)

Following on from the recent announcement of a deal between Nokia and Microsoft to run Silverlight on its handsets. There are rumours that Microsoft will build a version of Silverlight to work on the iPhone.

Microsoft is aiming to take a share of the RIA market from Adobe Flash and this approach would certainly provide another push. Their aim is to provide Silverlight across all available mobile platforms, not only for Windows based devices.

It is unclear exactly how the proposed pricing plan from Apple would affect downloads of Silverlight to the iPhone would Apple charge for each download of Silverlight from iTunes?

However, this is unlikely to be much of a problem considering they do work together occasionally. This was demonstrated by the recent collaboration between Apple and Microsoft in providing ActiveSync technology for the iPhone that allows e-mail to be pushed directly to Mobile devices from Microsoft’s Exchange Server.

Microsoft have provided the first Beta version of their toolkit for developing Silverlight applications with Visual Studio 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E0BAE58E-9C0B-4090-A1DB-F134D9F095FD&displaylang=en

This package is an add-on to the RTM release of Visual Studio 2008 to provide tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 2 Beta 1. It provides a Silverlight project system for developing Silverlight applications using C# or Visual Basic.

This download will install the following:

• Silverlight 2 Beta 1
• Silverlight 2 SDK Beta 1
• KB949325 for Visual Studio 2008
• Silverlight Tools Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2008

Silverlight Tools Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2008 includes:

• Visual Basic and C# Project templates
• Intellisense and code generators for XAML
• Debugging of Silverlight applications
• Web reference support
• Integration with Expression Blend

Just announced … Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is a developer preview and is intended for web designers and developers to help prepare their websites for the launch of the next version of Internet Explorer.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/…/ie/ie8/default.mspx

CAUTION This is version 1, BETA software and you should treat it accordingly. You may want to consider carefully before actually installing it on your machine. You may also wish to read the disclaimer available from Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/…/ie8/readiness/Disclaimer.htm 

The beta version is available for both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Some of the new features include:

Activities are contextual services that provide ready access to external services from any web-page. They provide the ability to

• Look Up information related to data in the current webpage
• Send content from the current webpage to another application

Learn more about Activities here

WebSlices are portions of a webpage that users can subscribe to and bring that content with them on their links toolbar wherever they are on the web. Users receive update notifications when the content changes.

Learn more about WebSlices 

Choice of layout engine

3 modes will be available (determined using X-UA-Compatible headers)

• Quirks mode – to support IE 5 and legacy browsers
• Strict mode – which supports IE7 and can also be accessed through the "emulate IE7" button
• IE 8 standards mode (the default)

Cascading style sheets 2.1 compliance

HTML improvements

resolving many cross-browser inconsistencies including

• separate URL handling for attributes
• get/set/remove attribute now compatible with other browsers
• support for default HTML attributes

Improved namespace support

Platform performance improvements

Built-in Developer tools

Improved Security

Additional features will be provided in subsequent versions but Beta 1 includes:

• Enhanced protection from deceptive web-sites, by analysing the full URL string
• Domain Highlighting, which highlights the top level domain in the address bar enabling a user to quickly confirm that they are indeed visiting their intended web-site

Have you always wanted the ability to upload your photos directly from your camera to your PC, or online photo-album, without having to go through the hassle of connecting the camera to your PC with the supplied USB cable or removing the memory card from the camera and inserting it into a media-card reader attached to the PC?

Now you can using the Eye-Fi Card. This is a wireless SD memory card which stores images like a standard SD card but can also use your home wi-fi network to upload the images directly from inside the camera to your PC or Mac.

Once you install the Eye-Fi Manager on your PC and set up an account, images will upload to your hard drive and optionally to a specified photo-sharing website like Flickr or Picasa.

So just go out, take your pictures and switch the camera on when you’ve returned home, the Eye-Fi card will automatically start uploading the images to your computer and/or your web based photo album.

All the details are available at:

http://www.eye.fi/

The FogScreen™ projection screen, produces a thin curtain of “dry” fog that serves as a translucent projection screen, displaying images that literally float in the air.

http://www.fogscreen.com/en/company/

Using nothing more than tap water and ultrasonic waves, FogScreen projection screen machines employ a patented technology (U.S. Patent 6,819,487) to create a smooth foggy airflow that captures images just like a screen. You can walk right through a FogScreen projection screen without getting wet. The microscopic fog droplets actually feel dry to the touch, just like air.

The beauty of the FogScreen projection screen is that anything you can see on a computer screen can now float in the air. Otherwise it’s like any ordinary projection screen. It works with still pictures, moving images and lasers. With two projectors, different images can be shown on both sides of the screen.

Here’s a video presentation in English:

http://www.fogscreen.com/client-data/file/What_is_FogScreen_eng.wmv

Other language versions of this presentation are available directly from:

http://www.fogscreen.com/en/Downloads/

The FogScreen projection screen is available in two models, Inia and One. The Inia has a fixed screen size of 2 meters (79″) wide and 1.5 meters (59″) high. The One is 1 meter (39″) wide, but multiple Ones can be linked to form a seamless projection screen of any width, almost without limit.

Also available is an interactivity add-on that makes it possible to write and draw in the air with your hand by using your finger as a pointer. The interactive FogScreen uses a laser tracker to track hand movements! This turns the passive projection screen into a touch screen, which greatly extends the range of potential applications.

As with the previous article, I also noted this device recently – Mobile NoteTaker is a portable handwriting capture device that enables you to write in comfort on ordinary paper and then upload your handwritten notes and diagrams to a PC.

Developed by Pegasus, a leader in Digital Pen Technology more details can be found at

https://www.pegatech.com/

who also provide a Software Development Kit (SDK) which enables any software developer to use the Pegasus digital Pen as an input device to his own application.

Available in the UK as Digiscribble – The mobile digital note taker, it’s distributed via Apcom Ltd, UK

http://www.apcom.ltd.uk/