Apple’s new iPhone 3G S – 2x faster, 32GB, 3MP camera and video.!

Apple finally delivered the new iPhone 3G S today, with more power, speed, battery life, and a 32GB flagship model. Major features include a 3mp camera, video recording and hands free voice control. There’s also the iPhone OS 3.0 operating system with 100+ new features including cut and paste, MMS, “Spotlight Search”, and a landscape keyboard. The entry level price for the existing 8 GB 3G model dropped to USD$99, with the 3G S 16GB model coming in at $200 and the 32GB model at $300 .

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet and we think people will love the incredible new features including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of WorldWide Product Marketing. “And with a breakthrough price of USD$99, we are thrilled to get iPhone 3G into the hands of even more users who want them.”

iPhone 3G S offers incredible speed and performance, on average up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G, so you can render web pages quicker and launch applications faster. iPhone 3G S takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for stunning high-quality 3D graphics, making mobile gaming and other graphic intense applications better than ever. iPhone 3G S is not only faster, but with longer battery life you can watch more videos, listen to more music, browse the Internet or keep using your favorite apps even longer. The new iPhone 3G S also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds.

iPhone 3G S features a new 3 megapixel autofocus camera that takes amazing pictures and video, making it easier than ever to capture, edit and share those moments instantly with family and friends. The new autofocus camera adjusts focus, exposure, color and contrast for the best possible image and includes an automatic macro focus for extra close up shots. With the new “tap to focus” feature, you simply touch the display to select an object or area of interest and the camera automatically re-adjusts focus and exposure. You can record incredible high-quality video clips and edit them right on your iPhone 3G S by simply trimming the start and stop points. With iPhone 3G S you can send photos and video by email or MMS and post them to MobileMe or YouTube with just one tap.

The voice control feature in iPhone 3G S offers hands free operation for both iPhone and iPod functions. Simply speak the appropriate commands into the built-in microphone or headset microphone to dial by name or number. With voice control you can play your favorite music by artist, album or playlist and activate the Genius feature by saying “play more songs like this.” You can also tell iPhone to pause the music, play the next track, turn on shuffle or ask, “What’s playing right now?”

iPhone 3G S features a new built-in digital compass for instant navigation. The Compass app shows you which way you are headed and rotates as you change direction. You can orient yourself to true north or magnetic north, and iPhone’s built-in GPS automatically displays the coordinates of your current location. The new built-in digital compass is also integrated within Maps, so it automatically orients any map to the direction you are facing.

iPhone 3G S provides new accessibility features including VoiceOver, a screen reader that speaks what appears on the iPhone 3G S display, enabling visually impaired users to make calls, read email, browse web pages, play music and run applications. The new universal Zoom function magnifies the entire screen, and the White on Black feature reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with low vision. iPhone 3G S also supports Mono Audio which combines left and right audio channels so that they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear.

iPhone 3G S includes the new iPhone OS 3.0 software with more than 100 new features including: Cut, Copy and Paste; MMS; Spotlight Search to search across iPhone or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod; landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari; expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app. iPhone 3.0 software also includes a new Find My iPhone feature that works together with MobileMe so you can locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent. If you cannot find your iPhone, you can erase all data and content on your iPhone with the new Remote Wipe feature. New iTunes features available with iPhone 3.0 software include wirelessly downloading movies, TV and audio programs as well as iTunes U so students can download learning materials on the go.

iPhone 3G S gives users access to the revolutionary App Store, the largest application store in the world with more than 50,000 applications. The App Store allows developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone and iPod touch users around the world. To date, customers have downloaded more than one billion apps from the App Store. And with more than 1,000 new APIs available with the iPhone SDK, developers can create even more innovative applications using In-App Purchases, a new Maps API and Push Notifications.

iPhone 3G S also features built-in Nike + iPod support making it an incredible workout companion. Users simply place the optional Nike + iPod sensor ($19) in their Nike + shoe to seamlessly connect with iPhone 3G S to track miles run or sync with the latest generation gym equipment.

Pricing & Availability 
iPhone 3G S will be available in the US on June 19 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and just $299 (US) for the new 32GB model in both Apple and AT&T’s retail and online stores, Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores. iPhone 3G S requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available on June 17 as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers. iPod touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for $9.95 (US). Beginning June 8, iPhone 3G will be available for just $99 (US) for the 8GB model. New MobileMe features for iPhone require iPhone OS 3.0. MobileMe is available for an annual subscription price of $99 (US).

No fine detail is yet available on availability in non-U.S. markets other than the statement “iPhone 3G S will also be available in more than 80 countries in the coming weeks.”

For further information about US and international pricing and availability can be found on the iPhone section of Apple’s web site.

LG shows off its new Prada phone with matching Bluetooth watch!

Two and a half years after it released its first Prada phone, Korean electronics giant LG has revealed a successor. While it’s a long time in the world of mobile phones, the updated LG-KF900 Prada phone does include a range of features not found on its predecessor, while retaining the same slick minimalist styling and touchscreen. LG has simplified accessorizing the Prada phone with the availability of the Prada Link, a Bluetooth digital watch that can remotely monitor phone calls as well as read SMS text messages.

Definitely not in keeping with its fashion credentials, the LG-KF900 has put on a bit of weight and is a smidge bigger than the former KE850 model. Don’t worry, though, the phone is definitely still no plus-size model and the increases were needed to accommodate the Prada phone’s new slide-out QWERTY keyboard – something to keep text-happy fashionistas smiling, pouting or whatever face fashionistas pull when texting.

Fashion snaps will also be improved with the camera phone’s pixel count increasing from 2-megapixel to 5-megapixel. The phone also features slow-motion video recording and DivX playback. As well, it has 3G capability with HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps and a 3-inch capacitive WQVGA touchscreen. Other features include Wi-Fi, HTML browser and video-calling capabilities.

The Prada Link Bluetooth digital watch has the same minimalist styling of the phone with full metal body, tempered glass exterior and leather strap. It lets you check caller ID or preview text messages – via its 0.9-inch, OLED (120 x 56) display – without you having to rifle through your Prada handbag (naturally) for the phone.

The updated KF900 Prada phone measures 104.5 x 54 x 16.75mm (up from the KE850’s 98.8 x 54 x 12mm), and weighs 130g (up from 85g). The battery should last 400 hours in standby mode or three hours of talk-time. The Prada Link watch weighs 51g and has a battery good for 48 hours in standby.

Both the LG-KF900 Prada phone and LG-LBA-T950 Prada Link are available in parts of Asia and should be available in Europe this month for about €600 (about US$833).

Samsung jet – smartphone or not?

Samsung is touting the new Jet as “smarter than a smartphone”. Not sure how they measure “smartness”, but the claim probably stems from the beefy 800MHz processor powering the phone. However, opting for Samsung’s own TouchWiz 2.0 platform instead of a traditional smartphone operating system means the phone is more likely to fill a niche between feature phones and smartphones.

The Jet is packed with a laundry list of features including 5.0 Megapixel AF camera, A-GPS, D1 video 30fps recording, DNSe and SRS WOW Sound Effect technology, Bluetooth v2.1, microUSB and Wi-Fi. But the first thing you’ll notice when laying eyes on the phone is the beautiful 800×480 Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) 3.1” touch screen display, which boasts a resolution four times higher than a WQVGA screen and allows the Jet to consume 40% less power than a mobile phone equipped with a TFT-LCD display.

Head on over to the-mobiler to get the complete rundown on the new Samsung Jet.

Touch Book: netbook, tablet and high-tech fridge magnet!

While it’s not the first transforming touchscreen netbook we’ve encountered, the Touch Book from Always Innovating is definitely a first: it runs on a power saving 600MHz ARM processor that promises a battery life of up to 15 hours while making it a heat and noise free system, and also features a detachable keyboard that transforms it from a standard looking 8.9-inch netbook to a standalone tablet.

This netbook sports 256MB of RAM, a replaceable 8GB microSD card for storage and two batteries – one for each side – that sum up to five hours of autonomy in tablet mode and up to 15 with the keyboard attached. It has a 1024x600px 8.9″ screen that can display 720p videos and render OpenGL 3D graphics. Standard 802.11b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth connectivity are also included in the offering.

Most striking is the Touch Book’s flexibility: its six USB 2.0 ports – three of which internal and can be used to add permanent features such as HSDPA or GPS capability – allow for countless configuration options. Weighing just under two pounds, the tablet side is magnetic and can act as an hi-tech fridge magnet, or take advantage of the built-in 3-axis accelerometer to play iPhone games. Multi-touch capabilities were however deemed superfluous and are not included.

When the keyboard is attached the Touch Book runs on a standard Linux-based system, but in tablet mode it runs on a custom-made, touch-based interface. Both hardware and software are open source and can therefore be modified at will. This netbook can also run mobile operating systems such as Android or Windows CE.

Always Innovating will launch the Touch Book in the US in a just few weeks and start shipping it internationally shortly thereafter. Available in gray and red, it will be priced at USD$299 for the tablet alone, and at USD$399 with the keyboard included.

Samsung watch phone calls in early

Looks like Samsung is going to beat LG to the punch with the release of its S9110 watch phone due to hit stores before the rival LG GD910 – in France anyway. Aimed at Dick Tracy fans and gadget lovers alike the S9110 even manages to squeeze a few more features into its diminutive body, including a larger 1.76-inch touchscreen (to the GD910’s 1.43-inch), Bluetooth 2.1 and Outlook email sync.

Like the LG GD910, the Samsung offering also packs an MP3 player, speakerphone, and voice recognition. The watch phone also supports 900/1800MHz, is powered by a 630mAh battery, and has 40MB of internal memory – so you probably won’t have enough room for your entire music library. The 176 x 220 pixel, 262k color TFT TSP display is protected behind scratch-proof glass and the stainless steel body measures just 57.5 x 41.1 x 11.98mm and weighs 91g.

The Samsung S9110 is set to hit shelves in France this month for around EUR€450 (approx. USD$639 at time of publication), a month ahead of the LG GD910. No word on wider availability as yet.

Roadrunner: supercomputer breaks petaflop barrier!!!!

A collaboration between IBM and the Los Alamos National Laboratory has resulted in the world’s fastest supercomputer. Roadrunner can run at speeds above the “petaflop barrier” of 1,000 trillion operations per second, making it twice as fast as IBM’s Blue Gene/L™ and opening up an era of science at a previously unseen scale.

Roadrunner began operating earlier this month at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico where around 80% of its capacity will be used to ensure the safety and reliability of the US nuclear weapons stockpile. In addition, the supercomputer will also be used for research into astronomy, human genome science and climate change, with researchers already using the machine to mimic complex neurological processes of the human brain that were previously beyond the reach of artificial replication.

The machine uses “hybrid” computing architecture, combining conventional AMD microprocessors (like those found in consumer laptops) with cell broadband engines (like those used in the Sony PS3), but on a massive scale. In all, Roadrunner connects 6,948 dual-core AMD Opteron™ chips and 12,960 PowerXCell 8i processors, with the Opteron processors used for standard processing and the PowerXCell 8i engines accelerating mathematical and CPU-intensive processing.

The numbers are mind-boggling – occupying 6,000 square feet, the Roadrunner has 10,000 connections require that 57 miles of fiber optic cable and its 80 terabytes of memory weighs 500,000 pounds.

Apart from the incredible scaleability of the system, the hybrid computing approach also delivers a relatively affordable and energy efficient system, one which IBM believes will find its way into general commercial use where, for example, it could be used to simulate the inner workings of an entire aircraft in one setting, model the effect of pharmaceutical drugs on the human body or applied to extremely complex financial modeling.

NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 – the first graphics card with 4GB memory!

Launched under the by-line of “the most powerful professional graphics card in graphics history”, NVIDIA ‘s new flagship Quadro FX 5800 graphics card features up to 240 CUDA programmable parallel cores and world first 4GB GDDR3 GPU Memory offering bandwidth up to 102GB/sec.

The Quadro FX 5800 GPU is designed for complex visual computing and prototyping scenarios such as interactive 4D modeling used in oil and gas exploration, medical imaging and automotive, aerospace and industrial design.

Key features of the card include interactive 4D modeling with time lapse capabilities, true 10-bit color enabling billions color variations, support for next-generation OpenGL and Microsoft DirectX 10 applications and super-fast fill rates of more than 52 billion texels per second and geometry performance of 300 million triangles per second.

The NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 graphics board has an MSRP of USD$3499

iPoint system promises touchless gesture control of 3D displays!

For all the advances in computing and display technology over the years it’s a little disappointing that the main way we interact with them is still largely keyboard and mouse based, or for gaming consoles controller based. The Wii’s motion controller has shown that the traditional ways of interaction serve as a barrier to many people and that new ways of interaction offer up a whole new range of possibilities. We also know that there are people hard at work on delivering whiz-bang new Minority Report style glove-controlled interfaces, but researchers at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut have gone one step further with the iPoint 3D – a system that allows people to communicate with a 3D display through simple hand gestures – without touching it and without 3D glasses or a data glove.

The iPoint 3D uses a recognition device called the HHI Handtracker, which can be suspended from the ceiling above the user or integrated in a coffee table. The Handtracker contains two built-in cameras to track the user’s gestures in real time and transmits the information to a computer running software that interprets the gestures. The system is completely contactless and requires no special markers – it responds as soon as someone steps in front of the display and moves their hands.

The system is seen as appealing to gamers – and a 3D two player version of Pong is included with the device – while in the office an architect can peruse the latest set of construction drawings and view them from all angles by gesture control. But the real advantage of the system is in areas where contact between the user and the device is not desirable, such as in an operating theater, where a surgeon can manipulate scans of the operating subject without compromising sterility – or getting blood all over everything. The system could also be used not only to control a display, but also as a means of controlling other devices or appliances. Someone kneading pastry in the kitchen, whose hands are covered in dough, can turn down the boiling potatoes by waving a finger without leaving sticky marks on the stove.

Hopefully it won’t be long before the days of searching high and low for that lost remote control are a thing of the past – assuming you don’t go leaving your fingers down the back of the couch.

The iPoint 3D system comprises the HHI Handtracker, HHI Workbench 3D software, 3D Pong and a 42-inch 3D display from Philips. It will be presented at CeBIT in Hanover from March 3-8.

More than meets the eye: Xonix 5-in-1 video sunglasses

OK it’s not on the Inspector Gadget scale of ingenuity, but five cool functions in one pair of sunnnies from the Xonix Watch Company still gets the gadget gene in us twitching. When you’re not simply wearing them to shield your eyes from the sun – which is one of its functions – the sports-designed sunglasses also serve as a video recorder, camera, music player and memory storage.

The glasses can shoot up to eight hours of footage (or hold 16GB) in AVI format – more than enough to record a day out at the beach or a holiday. The camera can hold up to 160,000 images, depending on the resolution. Three resolutions – at 0.3, 1.3 and 2.0 megapixels – are available.

The camera has a focus range of 0.3m–infinity and can be operated by remote control. The glasses also offer a “real time clock” function to track the time videos and photos are captured. A macromolecule polymer li-ion rechargeable battery provides up to 1.5 hours for video recording, four hours for shooting photos and three hours for listening to music.

It has a standard mini USB port for upload, download and recharge, built-in USB memory storage –1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sizes are available – and a USB 2.0 interface.

Of course if you want to just use them as sunglasses, they offer UV400 anti-scratch Polarized flip-up lenses, which can be replaced.

The other thing the Xonix sunglasses offer is freedom from juggling your camera, video recorder and MP3 player, which is ideal if you’re on a break and don’t fancy keeping track of all your digital accessories. By the same token, if you lose your sunglasses, you also lose five items, plus your memories – and let’s face it, losing sunnies has been known to happen.

The company also produces camera sunglasses, MP3 watches and USB watches.

JVC launches flicker-free 3D TV.

It certainly looks like those who enjoy a third dimension in their onscreen entertainment will be spoilt for choice in the not-too-distant future. Following the establishment of several full-scale 3D movie production and distribution companies in 2008, Hollywood has more than 20 3D movies in the pipeline this year. In the meantime, JVC has launched a 46-inch Full HD 3D LCD monitor – initially for professional use – that will deliver “a natural, flicker-free visual experience” in 3D.

According to JVC, there is high demand for 3D monitors used in movie production, promotion and broadcasting test events. The GD-463D10 has been designed with this mind.

The GD-463D10 adopts the Xpol polarizing filter method. The Xpol method allocates images for the right and left eye to the odd and even-numbered horizontal lines of the screen. When viewed through a pair of dedicated circular polarization glasses, the image displayed on the odd numbered lines are visible to the right eye, but invisible to the left and vice versa for the even numbered lines.

JVC says that there is no flicker, which can be visible in systems using LCD shutter glasses, since both right and left images are displayed on the screen at the same time. Also, since the system relies on polarizing lens, there is also no need to power the glasses. Besides the line-by-line method, the GD-463D10 also supports the side-by-side method, which arranges the left and right images on the both sides of the screen.

The GD-463D10’s three HDMI input terminals are compatible with standard HD video signals, including 1080/24p, 50p, 60p, 50i and 60i. Input signals in line-by-line, or side-by-side, format can be displayed as 3D images with the 50i and 60i signals limited to the side-by-side method only.

JVC is planning to manufacture 2,000 units a year worldwide. While they will initially be targeted at those involved in the production and promotion of 3D movies, JVC sees future applications for the 3D monitor in fields that rely heavily on simulation, such as science, medicine and education.

The GD-463D10 comes with two pairs of battery-free, light-polarizing glasses and is due for release in July. The price is yet to be announced.