Thursday, December 30, 2010

Gadget Flashback 2010

The year 2010 has many new gadgets are popping and add a row of new gadgets that enliven the world of technology, such as Apple who gave birth to a tablet computer, iPad issued in April 2010.

iPad also trigger the emergence of competitors to launch similar products, Here are some gadgets that emerged in 2010.

Apple Launches iPad

iPad crowned as the most popular computer by gadget site Pocket Lint. IPAD is a tablet computer designed and developed by Apple. He was marketed as a platform for audio and visual media such as books, magazines, movies, music, games, and web content. Weighing about 680 grams, size and weight between smart phones and laptops. Apple iPad released in April 2010.

Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, IPAD is controlled with a multitouch screen - a breakthrough earlier than most tablet computers that use a pen is pressed. IPAD uses Wi-Fi data connection to surf the Internet, run the media, and install the software. Some models also have a 3G wireless data connection.

The second tablet from Apple

IPad Apple so it snaps so that almost every electronics company is rumored to be making their own tablets. Besides Samsung Galaxy Tab, there is no serious competitor to Apple iPad this year. Of course, many companies have announced that they will release tablets in 2011.

iPhone 4

Apple's reputation in maintaining confidentiality when faced with a big splashy iPhone4 leaked in April, two months before the official launch. When I first saw it, the design of the new iPhone makes people crazy. Once released, the designs back in the news, but this time for "Antennagate."

Apple's App Store

With the iPhone and iPod Touch devices that continue to flood the market - and now consumers have the iPad - sales and offerings in the App Store has grown exponentially. Until October 20 this year, more than 300 thousand applications in the store has been downloaded more than seven billion times. In October, Apple announced the development of the Mac App Store for Mac computer applications.

E-Reader

Kindle itself became the most popular device in 2010 according to the gadget site Pocket Lint. Applications Kindle popular because it allows users to synchronize between their virtual book list to various devices like the iPhone or home computer.

Innovation Kinect

Developed over many years by Microsoft, Kinect, webcam based game system, sold out faster than iPad after it was released in early November.

Monday, December 27, 2010

IPod Touch

The iPod Touch is the iPhone without the phone and GPS features--no cellular voice calls, no texting, and no EDGE or 3G wireless service. The remaining features that the two have in common are often the criteria on which the Touch is judged. In the case of the fourth-generation Touch--available in 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities--the two come closer to feature parity than ever before.

The 4G iPod Touch is thinner still--two sandwiched 4G Touches come very close to the thickness of the iPhone 4. It's also a little less wide and lighter than the third-generation iPod Touch that preceded it. Its edges are also more angled. This angling is sharp enough that owners of iPhones and previous iPod Touches will have to train themselves to search for the volume and Sleep/Wake buttons near the back edge of the iPod rather than the side and top, respectively.

The 4G version lacks the small black plastic patch on the back's top-left corner that covered the Wi-Fi antenna. That corner now holds the iPod's built-in omnidirectional microphone and its high-definition rear-facing camera.

Voice Control works only for playing music, however. You can't use it to initiate a FaceTime call.

With the new Touch you can make such calls without a headset. Even though the mic is on the back of the iPod, it's sensitive enough to pick up your voice. And the speaker is audible enough to carry on a conversation.

The iPod's camera is more zoomed in, hinting at a smaller sensor. Also, iPhone 4's camera captures stills at 1936 by 2592 pixels, while the iPod Touch's rear-facing camera shoots at 720 by 960 pixels. That's 5 megapixels on the iPhone 4 versus less than 1 megapixel on the Touch.

Given the lower resolution and lack of a flash, it shouldn't be surprising that the 4G Touch's still pictures don't measure up to the iPhone 4's. The images it produces are far less detailed and the camera's more susceptible to being blown out when capturing bright images--vibrant yellows, pinks, and reds, for example. Inside, in under-lit conditions, the Touch's camera pushes very hard to get the image, but in the process can produce grainy and washed out results.

The iPod Touch is an extremely versatile device--media player; pocket gaming machine; productivity tool; Internet communication device; and, with this latest update, pocket camcorder, still camera, handheld recorder, and FaceTime video phone.

Get your posts right before you publish them to your RSS feed

This article is about the relationship between your RSS feed and the Publish button, and ways of using Blogger to reduce the chances of readers seeing something that you didn't want to publish yet.

Your RSS feed and the Publish button

I've previously described why RSS is important for bloggers who care about building an audience.

But it's also important to realise that:

Some of your RSS subscribers only see the first version of each post that you publish, not the most recently edited one.

Even if you delete a post from your blog shortly after publishing it, the published version is still in your RSS feed and will be seen by people who read it.
(I've heard that some feed-aggregator / reader tools do delete items, however some eg Google Reader, don't.)

Personally, I took a long time to understand the consequences of this: When I started blogging, I Published early-and-often while I was writing each post, so I could see what it "felt" like. (The Preview button, because it shows you the "look" but not the latest content, and editing the content was important to me.) This meant that subscribers saw very early, drafty versions of my posts, so many of them decided to unsubscribe pretty quickly.

Even after I understood, I still occasionally hit Publish by accident. And my writing wasn't good, because I find it hard to proof-read properly in the post-editor.

So far I've found two ways of using Blogger that can address this problem.

Option 1: Turn the blog-feed off, except when you publish the final version

Posts are only sent out in your blog's feed if the feed is turned on. So every time you want to work on a post:

Turn the feed off (Settings > Site Feed > Allow Blog Feeds = None)
Work on your post, Publishing it as you like
Save the Post as Draft (so it's status is back to draft again)
Turn the feed on (Settings > Site Feed > Allow Blog Feeds = anything except None)

Or you could keep Allow Blog Feeds = None, turn it on every time you publish a post for the first time, and turn it off again afterwards.

This is particularly good approach if you have a lot of email subscribers via Feedburner - because that tool is currently (Dec 2010) sending out an update every time a post is published or updated, instead of just for every "new" publication (ie one that changes the post-status from Draft to Published).

However it's very manual, and there's always a risk that you might forget to turn the feed on or off at the right moment.

Option 2: Prepare posts in a separate blog

This is my preferred approach, and now there are at least three different "blogs" for each blog I that run:

The blog (what IT professionals call "production")
A documentation blog, where I keep my notes about how it's put together
A pre-publication blog, when I keep posts that are being worked on.

The blog itself is set to public (or restricted to a limited audience if that's appropriate). The others are set to:

Private (Settings > Permissions > Blog readers = Only Blog Authors)
Not listed (Settings > Basic > Add your blog to our listings = No)
Not indexed (Settings > Basic > Let search engines find your blog = No)
Not listed on my Blogger Profile (Dashboard > Edit Blogger Profile > Select blogs to display)

At various times, if I'm preparing for template changes or adding new features, I may also have test-blogs. These are always set to Private too.

When I'm preparing a post, I work on it in the "pre-production" blog, and can Publish it as many times as I like. Then when it's complete, I simply copy the post from the pre-prod blog to the real one, and publish it once.

A big benefit is that if I get an idea about a potential post, I can just go to the pre-publication blog and make a very quick note about it: the writing and research quality doesn't matter, because I'm the only person who sees it.

The one thing I need to do is to always check and re-check the blog I'm about to post in, every time I hit "Publish": the day after I first released this post was the first time in ages that I accidentally published a draft post to this blog (subscribers will have seen it come through the feel) .... very embarrassing indeed!

Have you found other ways to avoid problems like this?

I'd love to hear about what works for you.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 one of the best fixed-lens cameras on the market today. The 10 megapixel Lumix LX5, which offers a large 1/1.63-inch CCD sensor for a point and shoot camera.

The LX5 backs up its F2.0 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens (3.8X optical zoom, 24mm to 95mm) with manual controls for both stills and video, RAW shooting, an unbelievable macro mode that lets you practically touch the lens to your subject, fast and fine-tunable focus controls, and a button layout that offers easy access to in-camera settings. On the back is a 3-inch LCD screen for framing your shots, but no optical viewfinder; instead, a proprietary hot-shoe connection allows you to connect the same eye-level electronic viewfinder (EVF) that's compatible with Panasonic's G-series interchangeable-lens cameras.

It resembles a miniaturized, fixed-lens version of Panasonic's interchangeable-lens Lumix GF1, right down to the boxy, classic-looking frame, pop-up flash, and stand-alone lens cap. Although it's quite a bit smaller than the Micro Four-Thirds GF1, it's bigger than your average point-and-shoot camera.

You can also opt to set the LX5 to a step zoom setting, which lets you jump to six predefined focal lengths (24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 90mm) by tapping the zoom control, and the camera's autofocus reacts immediately.

For more details, please see the specification of Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 below

Type advanced

Image Processor
Effective Megapixels 10 megapixels
Image sensor CCD
Image sensor size 0.613 inches
Image format JPEG, RAW
White balance Auto, Bracketing, Manual
Image stabilization Hardware

Lens Features
Lens Model Leica DC Vario-summicron
Maximum Optical Zoom 3.8 X
Maximum Wide Angle 24 mm
Maximum Telephoto 90 mm
Minimum aperture 18
Maximum aperture 2
Focus features Manual Focus, Spot Focus

Viewfinder and LCD section
LCD screen size 3 inches
Has touchscreen No
Viewfinder Electronic

Exposure Controls
Maximum shutter speed 60
Minimum shutter speed 0.00025
ISO Low 80
ISO High 12800
Exposure settings Aperture Priority, Exposure Bracketing, Manual Exposure, Shutter Priority

Storage
Memory type SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card
Installed memory 40 MB

Flash
Flash characteristics Accessory Shoe, Built-in Auto Flash, Flash Slow Sync, Red-Eye Reduction

Video
Maximum video capture resolution 1280 x 720 pixels
Maximum frame rate 30
Video capture format AVCHD, MPEG

Connectivity
Interface connection A/V Output, HDMI, USB
Has Geotagging No

Power
Battery Type Lithium Ion Battery
Rechargeable Yes
Shots per charge (CIPA standard) 400

Dimensions
Width 4.32 inches
Height 2.58 inches
Depth 1.69 inches
Weight 9.76 ounces

Samsung Nexus S

The first phone to ship with Android 2.3 also known as "Gingerbread" as the well as the follow-up to last January's Nexus One, the Nexus S is a joint effort between Samsung and Google with some impressive features. The hardware is gorgeous, and Android 2.3 delivers some useful enhancements.

The Nexus S's design the glossy, all-black Nexus S is a lot more attractive than the Nexus One. In construction a lot flimsier and more plasticky than its HTC counterpart. Measuring 4.9-by-2.5-by-0.43 inches thick, the phone is a bit larger than the Nexus One. Weighing 4.5 ounces, the Nexus S is lighter than its sibling.

The Nexus S a 4-inch Super AMOLED display. The display is also curved so as to fit more comfortably next to your face.

Google apps like Latitude, YouTube, Gmail, Places, Google Maps with Navigation, Search (with voice), Car Home, Google Talk, and Google Voice.

The music player remains the same as the one in Froyo--boring but easy enough to use. Videos downloaded to the phone played back smoothly and looked great on the Super AMOLED display. One of the nice things about Super AMOLED is that it remains pretty visible in bright, outdoor sunlight. If you like catching up on TV shows during your lunch break, this is a useful quality in a phone.

The Nexus S has a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and the same resolution as the rest of the Galaxy S pack.

It has autofocus, macro and infinity modes, four resolutions to choose from, nine scene settings, three color modes, three quality modes, and exposure metering.

Can shoot video as high as 720-by-480-pixels at 30 frames per second. The device has 512MB of RAM and is capped at 16GB of internal memory. And unlike the iPhone, there's no 32GB model available.

Powered by Samsung's 1GHz Hummingbird processor, the Nexus S is quite speedy. Scrolling through Web pages was fluid, applications opened quickly, and navigating around the menus was smooth and fluid. Call quality over T-Mobile was very good. Calls sounded crisp and natural with an ample amount of volume and no static.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Haier HV18A-4G Video MP3 Player

The HV18A-4G measures 3.5 by 1.5 by 0.25 inches and has a 1.8-inch, full-color TFT LCD, as well as a nifty touch-panel keypad. Featuring an audio-playback time of 30 hours, this sleek MP3 player also plays videos, offers an FM transmitter, and provides a voice recorder. The power/lock switch is on the side, while the volume buttons, fast-forward/rewind controls, and OK and Menu buttons are on the touch panel.

Video playback is decent, considering that the screen is just 1.8 inches. The player comes with ArcSoft Media Converter 3 for turning regular video files into the supported .smv format. The ArcSoft program, which took about 25 minutes to convert a 30MB file.

You can add music and pictures to the player by dragging and dropping the files in Windows Explorer or by synchronizing through Windows Media Player. Supported formats include MP3, WMA, and OGG for audio, and JPEG and BMP for pictures. You can't sync playlists from Windows Media Player,

In addition to the earbuds and the ArcSoft Media Converter 3 software, the HV18A-4G comes with a USB 2.0 cable.

The touch panel is just a bit hypersensitive (luckily, the device has a hold button), but otherwise the affordable Haier HV18A-4G is a decent little MP3 player with great battery life. The main thing that holds this device back is its small capacity--it's available only in 4GB and 8GB versions, neither of which is enough space for most people's music and video libraries.

Sony DSC-HX5V Cyber-shot

Sony DSC-HX5V With its in-camera GPS, digital compass, wireless image and video sharing via TransferJet, accelerometer-driven panorama mode, and 1080i high-definition video capture in AVCHD format, the 10-megapixel, 10X optical zoom (25mm to 250mm)

The following specifications Sony DSC-HX5V Cyber-shot

Type point-and-shoot

Image Processor
Effective Megapixels 10 megapixels
Image sensor CMOS
Image sensor size 0.417 inches
Image format JPEG, MPEG
White balance Auto Preset Modes
Image stabilization Optical

Lens Features
Maximum Optical Zoom 10 X
Maximum Wide Angle 25 mm
Maximum Telephoto 250 mm
Minimum aperture 3.5
Maximum aperture 8
Lens mount Fixed
Focus features Auto Focus, Multiple Point Focusing, Spot Focus

Viewfinder and LCD section
LCD screen size 3 inches
Has touchscreen No
Viewfinder None

Exposure Controls
Maximum shutter speed 1600
Minimum shutter speed 30
Exposure settings Auto Exposure, Manual Exposure, Multiple Program Modes

Storage
Memory type Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo
Installed memory 45 MB

Flash
Flash characteristics Auto Flash, Flash ON, Flash OFF , Red-eye Reduction

Video
Maximum video capture resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
Maximum frame rate 60
Video capture format MPEG-4

Connectivity
Interface connection, A/V Output, HDMI, USB
Has Geotagging Yes

Dimensions
Width 4.125 inches
Height 2.375 inches
Depth 1 inches
Weight 7.1 ounces

Friday, December 24, 2010

Canon EOS 1000D

Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR or Digital Rebel XS. has been awaited for so long, because before Canon does not have the range digital SLR camera with the same beginner class, Canon Speedlite 430EX also attended II which is a refinement of previous versions.

Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR equipped with APS-C CMOS sensor 10.1-megapixel resolution is the latest generation, the focal point of 7 locations, 2.5 inch LCD screen, RAW image format option, ISO 100 - ISO 1600, and the facility live view with autofocus capability detection phase.

EOS 1000D still inherit some of the latest facilities of the Canon EOS 450D, including the DIGIC III processor, an anti-dust system on the sensor, shooting speed of 3 images per second, the use of SDHC memory card types, and purchase a package that has been equipped lens EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS and Canon software are complete.

Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR is located between the level of Canon EOS 400D and Canon EOS 450D, Canon EOS 400D above and below the Canon EOS 450D. This new camera was launched with a resolution equal to 400D is 10MP.

The features that are different from the EOS 400D is the type that uses SD cards and has a live view features such as the Canon EOS 450D and Canon EOS 40D.

Samsung SF510 Notebook

Samsung SF510 Notebook that is powered by Intel Core i3 / i5 dual-core processors and offers 15.6-inch LED backlit, anti-glare display powered by NVIDIA discrete discrete graphics with 1GB video memory offering stunning 720p HD quality with 1366 x 768 pixel maximum screen resolution with processor providing faster performance.

The Samsung SF510 Notebook features a smooth, contoured clamshell exterior and Titan Silver color highlight the SF210’s sleek appearance, while a roomy island style spill-resistant keyboard with numeric key pad and large touchpad with gesture support make the SF510 conducive.

Samsung has included a premium Lithium Polymer Battery in the SF510 notebook that provides up to 7.5 hours of battery life (61Wh battery).

Under this specification owned by Samsung SF510 Notebook

- Intel Core i3 / i5 Processor

- Genuine Windows 7 Starter

- 4 GB DDR3, 1066 MHz

- 250GB 2.5-inch SATA HDD

- 15.6-inch HD LED backlit display

- Resolution: 1366 x 768

- NVIDIA Discrete Graphics with 1GB dedicated video memory

- Spill-proof Keyboard

- Speakers: 3 W Stereo Speaker (1.5 W x 2)

- Wireless: 802.11b/g/n

- 3 USB 2.0 ports

- HDMI Digital Out Port

- 61Wh Lithium-Polymer Battery, up to 7.5 hours of battery life

Nikon Coolpix P90 24X "Superzoom"

Nikon unveiled the Coolpix P90 superzoom with 24x optical zoom. With 26mm – 624mm (35mm equiv.) zoom range this superzoom camera sports a 12.1 MP sensor, 3.0 inch tilting LCD and includes manual and auto features such as Scene Auto Selector, Smile Mode, Blink warning and P/A/S/M exposure modes. In addition, continuous shooting mode can deliver 45 images at 15 fps, with images being recorded before pressing the shutter button.

Nikon Coolpix P90 24X has an immensely powerful 24x optical zoom that offers the 35mm-equivalent of a 26mm wide-angle to a 624mm telephoto and is capable of shooting pictures as close up as 1cm.

High-speed continuous shooting up to 45 shots at 15 fps means it is an ideal camera for sports photography and can even record images before you’ve pressed the button.

Add to this its 12.1 effective megapixels and sensitivity up to ISO 6400, and it is clear why it excels in almost any shooting situation. Users can set it to full automatic or various manual settings using the camera’s four exposure modes (PSAM) and compose their ideal picture using the electronic viewfinder. The camera offers many other Nikon-quality features such as four Anti-blur technologies, Auto Scene and Face Priority AF, recognising up to twelve faces.

It also includes the latest features, such as Smile Mode and Blink Warning, Nikon’s proprietary D-Lighting for optimising contrast and Quick Retouch. The camera can also record movies, including time-lapse movies and its 3-inch vari-angle LCD screen makes taking pictures easy even in challenging situations.

The P90 comes supplied with a USB cable, audio/video cable, strap and a software suite for COOLPIX CD-ROM. It will be available in Black All Nikon cameras come with 2GB free online image storage at Nikon’s my Picturetown service on mypicturetown.com.

Samsung Xcover 271 (3G)

Samsung Xcover 271 is equipped with 3G facilities and offers incredible 19 hours of long talk-time battery time. The quad-band GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 network ready Samsung Xcover 271 rugged mobile phone is IP67 rating certified.

The Xcover 271 phone is also equipped with expandable memory card slot supporting microSD memory card of up to 16-GB with hot-swap functionality for external memory.

Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobile handset also features built-in Altimeter, Pedometer, Digital Compass, integrated high quality Speaker and dedicated LED flash light. The rugged Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobilephone offers range of connectivity including Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, GPRS Class 10 – with upto 48 kbps speed, and EDGE Class 10 – with upto 236.8 kbps speed and 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps connection.

EDGE network connection allows ultra fast data transmissions, and faster downloads and file transfers. Bluetooth technology enables communication with other Bluetooth compatible devices and gadgets such as color printers, PDAs and laptops for instant sync-ups, data transfer and print jobs in a flash and Bluetooth+EDR enables handset allows upto 3 times faster data transfer compared to conventional bluetooth connection.

Weighing just 115 grams, the rugged Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobile handset allows connect to several popular social networking sites that includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Google Picassa, Photobucket and Friendster. The Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) mobile phone also features a single integrated 2.0 Megapixels digital camera with maximum still picture resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels and it offers Autofocus, 3.3X digital zoom and built-in LED flash light. Only 17.9 mm thick, the Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) phone also can records up to an hour of video with sound in QVGA resolution at 15fps offers quality images. The handset also allows video playback that supports MPEG4, 3GPP and H.263 Video formats.

Samsung Xcover 271 (B2710) handset also sports integrated FM Radio (stereo) and it allows upto maximum 5-minute duration live recording from FM radio. The Samsung Xcover 271 is armed with mobile tracker feature that helps users track their phone in case they happen to lose it. Other features of the Samsung Xcover 271 includes Google Maps, Organizer, Document View, Voice Memo, SOS Message, applications such as PC Studio, Calendar, Calculator, and Alarm, and Java Games.

Nokia X5 Slider

Nokia X5-01 Mobile Phone which clad a rather unusual squarish shape and features a full slider QWERTY keyboard, 3G network connectivity, 5.0 MP digital camera and dedicated music keys.

Armed with ARM 11 434 MHz Processor the Nokia X5-01 smartphone is powered by Symbian OS 9.3 Series 60 v3.2 operating system and is Quadband GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and triband 3G HSDPA 900/1900/2100 MHz network ready.

The Nokia X5 Smartphone has a large 2.36 inch, 256K colors 320 x 240 pixels TFT display running Symbian Series 60 OS and is equipped with Proximity sensor for auto phone turn off and Accelerometer sensor for auto rotate. The Nokia X5 mobile comes with 200-MB of internal memory and offers microSD memory card slot supporting upto 32-GB expandable memory. The smartphone offers exhaustive data connectivity options under the sun including GPRS class 32, hi-speed EDGE class 32, ultra-fast 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps connection, wireless WiFi 802.11/b/g connectivity option and comes equipped with Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support and microUSB USB port for wired connectivity.

Other features of this Nokia X5 slider QWERTY phone’s other features includes: Stereo FM radio with RDS, TV out port, 3.5 mm audio out port, integrated media player (MP3/WMA/WAV/RA/AAC/M4A) and video player with support for popular video file formats including WMV, RV, MP4 and mobile standard 3GP files.

The powerful battery allows video playing for 4.5 hours and is claimed to provide 24-hrs of continuous music playback.

The Nokia X5 slider phone with weighs 129 gms and it supports JAVA MIDP 2.0, offers organizer, document viewer for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents, has support for Flash Lite v3.0, includes WAP 2.0 with xHTML browser along with full HTML browser capability.

In addition, the Nokia X5 phone also offers integration of popular social networking services including Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, and MySpace, and Email support for multiple email accounts and Push Email support.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Black Berry Torch 9800 Smartphone

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone in market featuring capacitive touch screen, Easy To Use BlackBerry keyboard, full HTML browser with pinch to zoom or fluidly navigate and the optical trackpad.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone is the first BlackBerry smartphone to launch with latest BlackBerry 6 operating system, a new operating system that retains the familiar and trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh, approachable and engaging experience that’s powerful and easy to use.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone also features universal search, that is always accessible from the Home Screen, allowing users to search through email, messages, contacts, music, videos and more on the smartphone, as well as extend search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World. BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone expands on RIM’s popular messaging solutions with the support of AT&T’s advanced messaging features for SMS and MMS.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone is powered by new BlackBerry Desktop Software 6 with integrated media sync for easily syncing music, photos and videos. It also includes Wi-Fi Music Sync, a unique feature that allows users to view their entire iTunes or Windows Media Player music libraries from their BlackBerry smartphone, create and edit playlists as well as select music for download. BlackBerry Torch Smartphone Features.

+ Tri-band 3G UMTS networks: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz
+ Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
+ Touch screen with on-screen keyboard: portrait SureType, QWERTY and multi-tap, landscape QWERTY
+ 4 GB built-in memory storage plus a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards; a 4 GB card is included giving users 8 GB of storage out-of-the-box
+ Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
+ Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP)
+ Windows Media DRM 10 for music & video
+ Video format support: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV3
+ Audio format support: MP3, AMR-NB, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMV, Flac, Ogg Vorbis
+ 3.5mm stereo headset jack
+ Hands-free headset capable
+ Bluetooth headset capable
+ Integrated hands-free speakerphone

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Telling Google, and visually-impaired people, about the pictures in your blog

This article is about why and how to attach keywords and related text to the pictures in your blog posts. This is helpful for both search engine optimisation (SEO), and for making your blog accessible to people who use screen-reader software.

Pictures and your blog

Blogger has a set of tools for putting pictures into your blog, including several options for putting images into posts or gadgets.

In most cases, the other content in each post provides enough information for Google's indexing tools to know what the post is aobut.

But if your blog mainly has photos, your posts may not have enough key words to get properly indexed. And even if the image-indexing tools do some auto recognition, a description of a picture written by a human being will almost always be better.

Also, if your blog-viewers may include visually impaired people or others who use screen-reader software, you need to think about how well your content will work for them: if you put key information inside images but not in the text, then they won't be able to get this information in any way.

These two good reasons for adding "alternate text" to your pictures - and there may be more.

What's even better is that Blogger now has a tool for to make it easy to fix this.

How to add captions and alt-text to your pictures

Add the picture to your Post.

In Compose mode, float your most over the picture. This will show the picture-editing-toolbar, like this:

Choose the Properties option.

This opens a dialog box where you can enter

A title - this is shown when a visitor hovers their mouse over the picture
Alt text - this is kept in the background, and only displayed to people who (for whatever reason) cannot see the picture.

What your readers will see

People who read your blog on line, either with a standard browser or an RSS feed reader, won't see anything different, until they hover over the photo. When they hover, they will see the text you put into the Title field.

People who read your blog in their email (because you've offered a subscribe-by-email option) may see the alt text instead of the picture, depending on what setting they have in their email system.

People who use screen reader software will have the text that you added read out to them in the usual way that their software works.

And most importantly, search engines will see the text you added, and hopefully the will use it in indexing your post.

Other Alternatives:

Picasa and Picasa-web-albums captions can be included in slideshows (provided you don't use the Blogger gadget), but aren't included with individual pictures.

And the Post and Pages editor also has an Add Caption option on the photo toolbar, although I only recommend using if you're comfortable editing HTML, because it puts the picture into a table, and so to move it inside the post you need to edit the code, not just drag-and-drop it.

Tools for putting pictures into your blog

Addingng a Picasa slideshow to your blog

Tools for applying copyright protection to your blog

Why RSS/Subscribe to Posts is important for your blog.

Adding a subscribe-by-email option to your blog

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Fiat Strada Sporting

Mais uma vez a Fiat defende sua fama de inovadora, trazendo outra criação com altas chances de sucesso. Depois de ter criado todo um segmento com a Palio Adventure e trazido as cabines estendida e dupla para a Strada pela primeira vez numa picape derivada de automóvel, ela agora recebe uma variante esportiva. Em 2009 ela quase veio com o 1.8 fabricado pela GM, mas o atraso serviu para trocá-lo pelo novo 1.8 16v e.TorQ, muito mais eficiente que o anterior.

Ressaltando a veia esportiva da marca, a Strada tomou como inspiração o extinto Palio 1.8R para o kit de acessórios. Com isso a picapinha ganhou um visual muito interessante, digno da crescente família Sporting, que já contava com Punto, Stilo e Siena no Brasil. Os bons resultados já aparecem no exterior, com itens como faróis com máscara negra, spoilers por toda a parte inferior do veículo, rodas de liga leve de 16 polegadas e as cores exclusivas da versão, Amarelo Indianápolis e Vermelho Modena, entre outros.

No interior ela oferece volante em couro, quadro de instrumentos com novo grafismo, soleiras de portas com o nome da versão e bancos com tecido exclusivo e cintos vermelhos, além do console com novo revestimento, em preto. Tudo isso correspondido pelo atraente pacote de equipamentos de série, que traz ar-condicionado, computador de bordo, direção hidráulica, travas e vidros elétricos, coluna de direção com regulagem de altura, e protetor de caçamba.

Já os opcionais podem ser retrovisor anti-ofuscante, sensores de chuva e crepuscular, capota marítima, sistema de som multimídia, airbag e freios ABS (estes unidos pelo pacote HSD), e controle elétrico dos retrovisores externos. O motor é o mesmo e.TorQ que equipa outros modelos da marca, com 130/132 cv e 18,4/18,9 kgfm de torque (gasolina/álcool). O preço do modelo começa em R$ 46.270, apenas com cabine estendida.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Ford Edge 2011

E o estilosíssimo SUV da Ford finalmente desembarca no Brasil como importado oficial. O modelo já havia sido apresentado no último Salão do Automóvel, ostentando um raro caso de face-lift de meia-vida que não só deixou o modelo mais bonito que o original, como ainda preservou a harmonia do projeto. Agora ele pode ser comprado em duas versões, SEL e Limited, e em preços que partem de R$ 122.100. Tudo com o motor 3.5 V6 de 289 cv, aliado ao câmbio automático de seis marchas com opção de trocas sequenciais.

Pode-se dizer que seu desenho sofreu toda uma evolução, porque o novo Edge ficou muito mais bonito e moderno, mas preservando alguns dos elementos que viraram sua identidade; o exemplo mais emblemático é a grade dianteira, que segue o estilo do Fusion como antes, mas agora ganhou um tamanho bem maior e ainda mais imponência. Sua cabine foi totalmente reprojetada e ganhou mais requinte, mantendo uma atmosfera futurista com os apliques prateados contrastando com a cor preta, e por itens como a vistosa tela do computador de bordo.

Desde a versão básica ele já vem bem equipado, pois o Edge SEL traz seis airbags, rodas de 18 polegadas, bancos de couro e sistema de som com MP3. Mas a estrela da gama é a topo Limited, que parte de R$ 133.910 para entregar luxos como partida sem chave, ar-condicionado bizona, sistema multimídia Sync para controlar as diversas funções de vida a bordo e as belíssimas rodas de 20 polegadas. Seu único opcional é o teto solar panorâmico.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Chevrolet Omega Fittipaldi

Lançado em 1986 na Europa pela Opel, o Omega era um dos carros “futuristas” da época. Seguia a tendência das linhas limpas, sem calhas ou quebra-ventos para chegar a um Cx de 0,3. Seu projeto era tão bem-feito que o desenho inspirou a (polêmica) reforma do Monza brasileiro em 1991, e no ano seguinte o próprio carro chegou aqui para o lugar do lendário Opala. Era um salto tão grande em tecnologia e estilo que não demorou a fazer um sucesso estrondoso no país.

Mas como até pra ele o tempo passa, em 1998 a Chevrolet promoveu mudanças, tirou o nacional de linha e passou a importá-lo da Austrália. Mas seja pelo preço alto, pelo estilo “sedã americano” ou talvez pelo simples fato de não ser mais produzido no país, o modelo viu seu carisma despencar, assim como as vendas. É para tentar voltar aos tempos áureos que a marca agora até aposta de novo no famoso sobrenome da nova versão (que, por sua vez, já foi usado no extinto Monza 500 EF). Seu visual sofreu leves mudanças, como o spoiler traseiro e a frente remodelada.

A cabine também mudou, trazendo revestimentos em duas cores e console central com touchscreen de 6,5”. Esta gerencia o sistema multimídia do carro, que por sua vez inclui Bluetooth e câmera de ré. Mas a estrela do novo Omega é a parte técnica. Seu motor 3.6 V6 foi retrabalhado e agora conta com impressionantes 292 cv e torque de 36,7 kgfm, trazendo marcas de 6,8 segundos no 0 a 100 km/h e 235 km/h de máxima. Toda essa cavalaria é controlada pelo câmbio automático de seis marchas, com função esportiva e opção de trocas manuais. Tudo partindo de R$ 128.600,00.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Mitsubishi ASX

A identidade dos novos Mitsubishi agrada muito. O crossover médio ASX chega ao país de início como importado, mas com fortes chances de ganhar produção nacional em Catalão (GO) para 2012. E ele já chega ostentando um visual matador para fazer frente a rivais como Chevrolet Captiva, Honda CR-V e até mesmo servir de tentação para quem antes levaria um Ford EcoSport na versão completa, e que com isso faria uma economia não tão grande assim. Ele vem em três versões, partindo de interessantes R$ 81.890.

A agressiva frente no estilo Jetfighter dispensa apresentações, mas sempre merece um olhar bem atento. Mas no ASX ela serve de cartão de visitas para um crossover muito bonito, que segue um estilo notavelmente urbano mas sem deixar de lado o estilão lameiro que faz a fama dos Mitsubishi. Traz soluções contemporâneas como a linha de cintura alta e bem demarcada mas sem que as janelas fiquem baixas demais, e termina numa traseira cuja profusão de recortes e relevos apresenta lanternas com formato dedicado a formar identidade visual com os farois, num conjunto que dificilmente vai desagradar, pelo menos neste quesito.

Sua cabine segue o jeitão moderno, com parte da esportividade que o exterior parece exalar. Mistura a cor preta com detalhes em alumínio para formar um ambiente jovial e agradável de ver. Ele chega ao país em três versões: 4x2 manual ou automática e 4x4 com câmbio CVT, sempre com um moderno 2.0 16v que abusa de tecnologias como comando de válvulas variável e injeção direta para render 160 cv. No pacote mais equipado ele traz ar-condicionado, piloto automático, nove airbags, rodas de liga leve de 17”, e o Comfort Pack, com itens como os sensores de chuva e crepuscular.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Encourage new subscribers by enabling Feedburner's FeedCount button

This article is about how to add the FeedCount icon, which shows viewers how many subscribers your FeedBurner feed has, and lets them subscribe themselves. The information is targeted at Blogger users, but most of it applies to anyone who uses Feedburner.

What is a FeedCount icon:

Previously I've explained how to create a Feedburner feed for your blog and how to add a Subscribe to my feed icon, and how to use Feedburner to provide an email subscription option.

Feedburner also provides another tool that you can use to let people sign up for your blog. This is the FeedCount icon, which shows the number of people who are currently subscribed to your RSS feed.

This is useful because of the "social proof" that it provides: people are more likely to sign up for something once they see that other people have also signed up.

How to add a FeedCount icon to you blog:

Log in to Feedburner, using the Google account that owns the feed.

Click on the name of the feed you want to provide a subscription tool for.

Choose the Publicize tab.

Choose the FeedCount option, from the left navigation bar.

Set the options for your button:

Static or animated (I recommend static, because things that flick unnecessarily are annoying)
Font colour for the background
Font color for the text

At the bottom of the screen, click the Activate button.

Either

Copy the HTML that is shown, and add it to your blog in the same way that you would add any other 3rd party HTML,

Choose Blogger from the drop down list beside "use as a widget in", and click Go.

This takes you to a Blogger screen where you can choose which blog you want to add the gadget to (if your current login has more than one), and what title to use for it.

When this is done, click Add Widget.

This takes you to the Design > Layout tab, where you can drag-and-drop the widget to wherever you want it.

Note: if you want to re-generate the button at a later time with different colour or style options, just choose the options and click Save (which is at the bottom of the screen where Activate was originally).

What your readers see:

Your readers will see an item, wherever you put it, that looks like this:

It shows a count of the current number of subscribers to your Feedburner feed.

When someone clicks on it, they are taken to a screen where they choose which feed-reader software they want to use to subscribe to your site.

How to create a Feedburner feed for your blog

Using Feedburner to give your blog a Subscribe by Email option

Adding 3rd party HTML to your blog

Why RSS / Subscribe to Posts is important to your blog

Displaying a gadget only on the home page

FeedFlare lets you add social tools to your Feedburner feeds

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Renault Fluence

O mercado brasileiro é uma terra de oportunidades de ouro, mas às vezes também sabe ser cruel. Existem os ótimos produtos que fizeram estrondoso sucesso, como o novo Fiat Uno, os modelos que não “deveriam” prosperar, como o Chevrolet Agile e suas linhas de gosto duvidoso, mas também há os injustiçados. Em geral são ótimos em custo/benefício e mecânica, mas até hoje ninguém sabe ao certo o motivo do fracasso de vendas. Era o caso do Renault Mégane II.

É uma pena que ele não tenha feito parte do grupo dos “sortudos”, como os médios Ford Focus e Fiat Linea, que por pouco (leia-se adoção do motor flexível e redução de preço, na ordem) conseguiram se livrar do carma, mas o que falar de um modelo de desenho bem-resolvido, ótimos motores, cabine excelente e preço aceitável? Sim, o discurso também serviria para os Nissan Tiida e Sentra, mas fato é que o Renault Mégane ainda conta com uma grande rede da marca no país, mas não teve “milagre” que levantasse suas vendas.

Talvez por isso a Renault deixou de unificar seus modelos: o Mégane III é o sucessor europeu do modelo que tínhamos aqui, enquanto os países menos favorecidos recebem o Fluence. O desenho externo já começa a deixar claro que nós não saímos perdendo, já que o Fluence aposta em linhas modernas mas quem trazem a sobriedade que seu segmento tanto cultua, sem trazer revoluções estilísticas.

E no interior ele mantém o aspecto, oferecendo um bom espaço envolto por uma atmosfera requintada e conservadora, e com capricho nos detalhes, como o cartão que faz as vezes de chave. Herdado do antecessor, este item preserva também a partida feita por um botão, mas agora basta ter o cartão em algum lugar dentro do carro, sem a necessidade de inseri-lo no console.

O modelo vem em duas versões, ambas usando o 2.0 16v flex, de 140/143 cv. A de entrada é a Dynamique, que parte de R$ 59.990 e traz de série ar-condicionado digital bizona, direção hidráulica, computador de bordo, freios ABS, rodas aro 16’’ e sistema de som com MP3, entre outros. A versão de topo é a Privilège, e adiciona bancos de couro, controle de estabilidade, rodas aro 17’’ e GPS. Entre os opcionais, as versões podem ter teto solar e faróis de xenônio.