Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, March 31, 2014

drag2share: Ultrakam lets your iPhone capture higher resolution film-like video clips

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/31/ultrakam-app-2k-film-video-iphone-ipad/

While Sony and Samsung are busy making phones with 4K recording capabilities, one developer has worked its pixel magic to get more from iPhone cameras. Ultrakam is the first iOS app capable of recording "2K" resolution with a film-like 24p frame rate, letting iPhone 5s owners shoot 2240 x 1672 pixel video (around 75 percent more pixels than regular HD) to output higher-quality footage than the default camera app. There's support for the iPhone 5 and 5c, as well as the the iPad mini and iPad with Retina display, but the app is limited to high-definition and "2K" at 20fps on less-equipped devices.

Including an array of settings and various shooting modes that allow you to record higher bit-rate video and audio, with a minute of footage consuming up to 3GB of storage on max settings (expect that 64GB iPhone 5s to fill up fast), Ultrakam is primarily aimed at filmmakers. However, there's plenty of neat features for regular users to show off their talent. It offers slow motion video, but again the iPhone 5s has all the fun, as it supports slow motion capture at 120fps over the iPhone 5's 60fps. You can slow down your recordings by up to 10x if you choose the lowest preset. The app also supports timelapse shooting, offering custom configurations that will snap high resolution photos at set intervals, combining them to output a high-quality landscape. Once you've shot your footage, Ultrakam's built-in player and editing tools let you play video, generate stills, color correct and share them with ease. Ultrakam is available on the App Store for $6.99 -- a little more costly than your regular camera app, but the extra quality and advanced features may justify the price.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

Comments

Via: The Next Web

Source: Ultrakam, (App Store)

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drag2share: Intel's SD card-sized computer may not be so tiny after all

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/31/intel-sd-card-sized-edison-change/

Back at CES, Intel made a big deal of the fact that it could squeeze a Linux-based PC with Bluetooth and WiFi into the size and shape of an SD card. However, with just a few months to go before the launch of these miniscule Edison development boards, it looks like the chip-maker has changed tack. Instead of being based on the Quark SoC, which was specifically designed for wearables and the Internet of Things, the first Edison products will actually rely on a more traditional Atom chip -- in other words, the same sort used in many current Windows tablets and hybrids. An Edison PC based on Atom should deliver more grunt and connectivity options compared to Quark, and for less money, but it'd be too chubby to ever get accidentally jammed in an SD slot. That's why Intel has been forced to admit that, while it continues to work on Quark, the Edison devices coming this summer will be "slightly larger" than was first claimed.

Filed under: Intel

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Via: Bit-tech

Source: Intel

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drag2share: Samsung's new monitors include one with a billion-color, 3,840 x 2,160 screen

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/31/samsung-ud590-sd390-sd590/

Now that Samsung's shown us the GS5, Gear 2 smartwatch and its latest Chromebook, it's time for the company's lesser-known product teams to come out of the woodwork. Next up: the display division, which today introduced three new models for 2014, including one with a billion-color, 3,840 x 2,160 screen. That would be the beaut you see above, the 28-inch UD590, which is up for pre-order for $700. In addition to that stunner of a display, it does Picture-in-Picture, with no downgrading in resolution as you move to a smaller frame. There's also a dual-screen feature called Picture-by-Picture, which you could theoretically use for split-screen gaming, even though this was really designed with creative pros in mind. Design-wise, it's fashioned out of metal, with thin bezels and a T-shaped stand that leaves room for speakers and other items you might have on your desk. Around back, you'll find a single DisplayPort, along with two HDMI 1.4 sockets for outputting 4K.

In addition, Samsung announced two other monitors: the SD390 and SD590, each of which comes in 23.6- and 27-inch screen sizes. Throughout, all the monitors have 1080p resolution; the main difference is that the UD390 uses the same "Touch of Color" accents that Samsung first introduced on its TV line on a few years back. In this case, that means an emerald-colored accent and a see-through neck, in case those other black boxes are just too plain for your tastes. Those SD390 models have one HDMI and one VGA port apiece, and will start at $250 and $310 when they arrive in April. Meanwhile, the SD590 adds an extra HDMI port, and features that same space-saving T-stand used on the flagship model. That'll cost you either $270 or $330, depending on whether you get the 23.6- or 27-inch version. And yes, that too will go on sale sometime in the coming weeks.

Filed under: Displays, Samsung

Comments

Source: Samsung UD590 (Amazon)

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drag2share: Vudu's 1080p movies and TV shows are now streaming on Chromecast

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/31/vudu-chromecast/

After a short test period, Walmart's movie streaming service Vudu has launched Chromecast support across its website and mobile apps, adding to the long list of devices it's already available on. A far cry from Vudu's $399 set-top box that launched in 2007, owners of Google's $35 HDMI dongle can now stream their entire collection of movies and TV shows in 1080p with just a press of the Cast button. That includes Ultraviolet digital copies, and while the code redemption process has been a source of frustration for many, Chromecast support means easy and cheap access without needing to log in, activate another device or set up an account again. In updated apps on Android or iOS the feature should already be live, and on Vudu.com if you have the Google Cast browser extension installed.

Filed under: HD, Mobile, Google

Comments

Source: iTunes, Google Play

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drag2share: BlackBerry Will Increase Revenue From Services, As Its Hardware Business Is Effectively Over

Source: https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome

BlackBerry shipments sunk to a new historical quarterly low of 1.3 million units in the first quarter of this year, according to its earnings report for the fiscal fourth quarter, which ends March 1.

That's down almost 80% compared to the 6.2 million units BlackBerry shipped in the same period a year ago. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, when shipments hit a previous record low of 1.9 million units, shipments in the first quarter declined 32% sequentially.
About 3.4 million BlackBerry devices were sold to end users during first quarter of 2013. And almost 68% of those devices ran on the superseded BlackBerry 7 OS instead of the newer BlackBerry 10 operating system.
In fact, sales of new BlackBerry 10 devices have been so bad that BlackBerry is going to re-release the 2011 version of the BlackBerry Bold in order to spur consumer interest.
BlackBerry's total revenue for the quarter sunk below $1 billion, coming in at $976 million, a 64% year-over-year decline.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that BlackBerry's hardware manufacturing business is only going to continue sinking.

While for the full year, a majority of BlackBerry's revenue still came from hardware, at 55%, the plunge in shipments over the course of the fiscal year meant that in the past quarter, hardware fell to just 37% of revenue. Just three quarters prior, hardware made up 71% of total revenue at the company.

Last quarter, BlackBerry agreed to offload some of its manufacturing operations to Foxconn. Now, alleviated of some expensive manufacturing costs, BlackBerry is also attempting to diversify and improve its software and services revenue stream.

Beyond its well-known enterprise mobility management services, BlackBerry's BBM messenger is proving a crucial avenue toward growth. The cross-platform messaging service has 85 million monthly active users, up from around 60 million back in October prior to the release of iOS and Android apps. Like other messaging services, BlackBerry can leverage BBM as a platform to sell other services like payments.

"... A lot of our growth, I believe will come -- at least in the immediate future ... from software and services, messaging like BBM and embedded software like QNX. We're building new features and value-added services into BES 12, and we have a very solid BBM monetization plan," said CEO John Chen in the company's ear! nings ca ll.

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BlackBerryShipments