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Microsoft’s Windows 8 software appears to be driving buyers away from PC.
They go Toward smartphones and tablets, research firm IDC said Wednesday. That’s leading to the fastest drop in PC sales the firm has ever seen.
Global shipments of PCs fell 14% in the first three months this year, IDC said. That’s the sharpest plunge since the firm started tracking the industry in 1994.
The report comes after a year of bad news for the PC. Consumers, especially in wealthy countries like the U.S., are steering their dollars toward tablets and smartphones rather than upgrading their home PCs. It’s the biggest challenge to the personal computer since the IBM PC was released in 1981.
In an attempt to keep the PC relevant,Microsoft released a radical new version of Windows on Oct 26. Windows 8 has a completely new look and forces users to learn new ways to control their machines.
“Unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only didn't provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market,” IDC Vice President Bob O’Donnell said.
The newest version of Windows is designed to work well with touch-sensitive screens, but the displays add to the cost of a PC. Together, the changes and higher prices “have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices,” O’Donnell said.
Representatives of Microsoft Corp were not immediately available for comment.
Another research firm, Gartner Inc, reported an 11 percent decline in PC shipments in the quarter. That, too, is the sharpest decline it’s seen since it started tracking the market in 2001.
Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s largest maker of PCs, saw a 24% drop in shipments in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago. The industry’s No. 2, China’s Lenovo Group, is benefiting from sales to first-time buyers in China and other developing countries. As a result, it held sales steady, alone among the world’s top 5 PC makers, according to IDC’s figures.
Gartner noted one bright spot: Businesses are buying more PCs, and account for about half of the market.
Both firms track shipments of PCs from the manufacturer rather than retail sales. Shipments correlate closely with sales. The figures include shipments of Apple’s Macs, which account for about 5% of the worldwide market. Referred by click here:
Fujitsu develops touchscreen interface for seamless data transfer between real and virtual worlds
Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a next generation user interface which can accurately detect the users finger and what it is touching, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system, using objects in the real word.
“We think paper and many other objects could be manipulated by touching them, as with a touchscreen. This system doesn't use any special hardware; it consists of just a device like an ordinary webcam, plus a commercial projector. Its capabilities are achieved by image processing technology,” a Fujitsu spokesman said.
Using this technology, information can be imported from a document as data, by selecting the necessary parts with your finger.
This technology measures the shape of real-world objects, and automatically adjusts the coordinate systems for the camera, projector, and real world. In this way, it can coordinate the display with touching, not only for flat surfaces like tables and paper, but also for the curved surfaces of objects such as books.
“Until now, gesturing has often been used to operate PCs and other devices. But with this interface, we’re not operating a PC, but touching actual objects directly, and combining them with ICT equipment,” said the Fujitsu spokesman.
“The system is designed not to react when you make ordinary motions on a table. It can be operated when you point with one finger. What this means is, the system serves as an interface combining analog operations and digital devices.”
To detect touch accurately, the system needs to detect fingertip height accurately. In particular, with the low-resolution camera used here (320 x 180), if fingertip detection is off by a single pixel, the height changes by 1 cm. So, the system requires technology for recognizing fingertips with high precision.
Using a low-res webcam gives a fuzzy picture, but the system calculates 3D positions with high precision, by compensating through image processing.
This system also includes technology for controlling color and brightness, in line with the ambient light, and correcting for individual differences in hand color. In this way, it can identify fingertips consistently, with little influence from the environment or individual differences.
Also, in situations that don’t use touch, the system can be operated by gesturing. In this demo, when you move your fist, you can manipulate the viewpoint for 3D CAD data. So, there could be applications for this touch system by combining it with current gesture systems.
“For example, we think this system could be used to show detailed information at a travel agent’s counter, or when you need to fill in forms at City Hall,” said the Fujitsu spokesman.
“We aim to develop a commercial version of this system by fiscal 2014. It’s still at the demonstration level, so it’s not been used in actual settings. Next, we’d like to get people to use it for actual tasks, see what issues arise, and evaluate usability. We want to reflect such feedback in this system.”
The time approaches for the launch of the Google’s wearable Glass, it has already grabbed attention of three prominent venture capital firms of the Silicon Valley.
Google unveiled their Google Glass last year in June at the Google I/O conference, and investors of Silicon Valley have already started to fund the app makers so that they can develop apps that could run on the Google Glass.
The most prominent investors of the Silicon Valley announced to support developers who are making apps to use on the device.
Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, and John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins declared on Wednesday that they are all together launching The Glass Collective.
The group venture consist of some of the major technology venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers also the investors in Zynga, Groupon, and Twitter, Andreessen Horowitz investors of Instagram, Foursquare, and Facebook, and Google’s own investment division, Google Ventures.
“I saw a first prototype of Glass at a confidential briefing in September 2011, [and the] experience was, well, eye-opening,” said John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “It’s early days, but we believe the potential for Glass exceeds what’s possible on today’s platforms. It goes well beyond the world of websites, documents, and mobile apps.”
In fact, Doerr has been on Google’s board of directors since May 1999.
The capital firms are expected to arrange seed funding varying from $250,000 to $2 million that will support the developers in making software and other gear built for Google Glass.
Marc Andreessen, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz said about the Glass, “Instead of having a phone in your pocket or a tablet in your briefcase, why not have the Internet in your field of vision when you want it — and why not feed the Internet with live video and audio that matches what you see and hear at any time.”
“Every once in a while, one of these things comes along and you go, `Whoa, that looks like it’s the future,’” Andreessen added.
The Glass Collective is expected to extend the anticipation surrounding Google Glass, the device that Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his team of engineers have been making for the past two years.
Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures, had said when he first saw the Glass that, “It was kind of a cellphone duct taped through a pair of sunglasses.”
“Any entrepreneur working with us is going to get triple the feedback, investment and support,” said Bill Maris of Google Ventures. “This is going to be an unprecedented level of cooperation.”
However, the Google Glass is still not expected to be launched to the mass market until next year.
GoPro is a brand privately owned company in San Mateo, California Woodman Labs that features "wearable" camera/camcorders such as helmet cameras that are targeted at adventure video/photography.
Widely used by professionals and hobbyists, the cameras have been used to film inside of the mouths of alligators, sharks and polar bears.
The company was formed by Nick Woodman. Woodman said he was inspired to start the company following a 2002 Australia surfing trip in which he was hoping to capture quality action photos of his surfing, but could not because amateur photographers could not get close enough, or obtain quality equipment at accessible prices. His desire for a camera system that could capture the professional angles inspired the 'GoPro' name
In 2004 the company sold its first camera system—a 35 mm film version.
The cameras evolved, going from 35mm to digital, where it started recording 10 second clips, to 3 Megapixel digital cameras to its current configuration of having fixed lens cameras with a wide 170 degree angle in high definition 1080p cinema quality video. Two cameras can be connected to create 3D video.
The camera spec sheet notes they have a proprietary 1050 mAh lithium-ion battery (HERO3), Aperture: f/2.8, and rated >1.4 V/lux-sec in video mode.
HD HERO2 Professional cameras
On October 24, 2011 GoPro introduced the HD HERO2 Professional. Marketed as "Twice as powerful in every way", the Hero 2 has an improved image sensor to 11 Megapixels, improved low-light capability and records up to 120 frames per second (WVGA only). The HERO2 has an MSRP of $299.99[10] and is available with three different accessory packages: Outdoor Edition, Motorsports Edition, and Surf Edition.[11] Each package includes different camera mounts and accessories.
Camera Optics: Lens Type: Fixed Focus (2ft/0.6m - ∞), glass
Aperture: f/2.8 (high performance in low-light situations)
Angle of View: 170° wide angle available in all modes
Angle of View: 127° medium angle in 1080p, 720P, or WVGA mode
Angle of View: 90° narrow angle in 1080p or 720P mode
Video HD Video Resolution Modes:
1080p = 1920x1080 pixels (16:9), 30 fps
960p = 1280x960 pixels (4:3), 30 fps or 48 fps
720p = 1280x720 pixels (16:9), 30 fps or 60 fps
WVGA = 848x480 pixels (16:9), 60 fps or 120 fps
Sensor Type: 1/2.3" HD CMOS
Light Sensitivity: Professional low-light sensitivity (>0.84 V/lux-sec)
Video Format: H.264 compression, saved as Windows- and Mac-compatible MPEG4 (.mp4) file
Exposure Control: Auto with user-selectable center-weighted average and spot-metering settings
White Balance: Auto
Audio
Microphone: Built-in, mono with AGC (Automatic Gain Control)
External Input: Stereo 3.5mm jack
Audio Format: 48 kHz, AAC audio compression
Still Photo
Resolution: 11 megapixel, 8MP, or 5MP
Capture Modes: Single shot; photo every 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds; 10 photo burst; self-timer
Storage
Memory: SD card (SDHC), up to 32GB capacity (not included)
Average Recording Times (using 32GB SD card):
1080p (30 fps): 4h
960p (30 fps): 5.5h
720p (60 fps): 4h
720p (30 fps): 6h
WVGA (120 fps): 4.5h
Camera Connectors & Cables
PC Connection: USB 2.0 (data connection and battery charging)
HDTV Out: Mini-HDMI
TV Out: NTSC and PAL composite port
PC Compatibility: Windows® Vista or Windows® 7; Mac OS® X 10.5 and later
Power & Battery
Battery Type: Rechargeable 1100 mAh lithium-ion
Battery Life: Approximately 2.5 hours
Charging: via USB to computer or to power adapter (adapter not included)
Charge Time: 80% capacity after 1 hour from AC or DC source (requires adapter, not included) or 2 hours from USB port
Make 3D Like This
Waterproof Camera Housing
Depth Rating: Up to 180 feet / 60 meters
Construction: Polycarbonate with stainless steel hardware
Size and Weight
Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.6" x 2.4" x 1.2" (42mm x 60mm x 30mm)
Weight: 3.3 oz (94g) including battery / 5.9 oz (167g) including housing
This
is the expandable Capstan Table from the UK furniture maker Fletcher
and it will make you question if magic is real. The round tables come in
four standard sizes, and expand by simply rotating the top 180 degrees
manually or electronically by remote.
Why We Love It: This is one
of the most innovative tables we’ve ever seen. The Fletcher Capstan
Table expands from a standard 6.5- or 10-foot table to one that measures
anywhere between 20 to 30 feet across.
UK furniture brand
Fletcher was inspired by a similar patent dating back to 1835, and the
design features a star shaped leaf at the center with six pie-shaped
leaves that expand and fit together seamlessly.
This
unique and amazing table is capable of automatically doubling its
seating capacity whilst remaining truly circular in the process.
Expansion leaves are stored within the table and are self positioning as
the table changes from one mode and appearance to an entirely different
one. Operation, which can either be manual or electronic, is a sight to
behold and extremely quick.
Every component used is of the
highest quality and designed to last for generations. Tables are made
for domestic or harsh marine situations, the quality and method of
construction allowing for external positioning on the deck of a yacht.
Where To Buy: Through the Fletcher website, or email info@dbfletcher.com to order.
Further Contact Details
Fletchermouse House Penny Street Sturminster Newton Dorset DT10 1DE United Kingdom
Photon 3D Scanner Unleashes the Power of 3D Printing
A number of projects have revolved around producing 3D printers that are affordable and portable so that anyone who wants one can own one.
This is in addition to the printers that are already available on the market. Let’s see. There’s the MakerBot, the Gigabot, the RigitBot, the Form 1, the Cube… I think it’s safe to say we now have a rich selection to choose from when it comes to 3D printers. The problem now is getting templates for the stuff you want to print.
Not everyone has the technical skill or know-how to create CAD drawings or 3D models, and there’s only so much that you can download off the Internet. It’s precisely for these reasons why the Photon 3D Scanner is a godsend.
The Photon is basically a 3D scanner for the masses. It’s affordable (it’s cheaper than some tablets!) and it’s easy to use. All you have to do is unfold it, plug it in, and place the object that you want to scan on the scan bed. Press ‘go’, wait until it finishes scanning, and you’re all set. You don’t even have to own your own 3D printer because you can just take your models to Shapeways or Ponoko to print your stuff.
The Photon was invented by Adam Brandejs and Drew Cox, who have been working on the prototype for the past year. Presumably satisfied with the results they got, they are now releasing it on Indiegogo. All early backers discounts have been snatched up, but you can still make a pledge of C$399 (that’s about US$295) to get your very own Photon by August 2013.
