Floating cinema sets sail in London for the summer season

Duggan Morris Architects has joined forces with British arts organization, UP Projects to launch this year’s "Floating Cinema," which will be gracing the waterways of East London until the end of September. For the project, Duggan Morris created an award winning design that converted a barge into a floating cinema.

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This year’s Floating Cinema is an upgrade from UP Projects’ original floating movie house that was launched back in 2011 but took a break in 2012 for the Olympics. Powered by a hybrid engine that runs on biofuel, the new floating cinema is currently touring the London urban waterways while hosting a range of summer events, including outdoor screenings, canal tours, talks and workshops.

The above-deck projection suite sits within a semi opaque cubic structure and is illuminated during evening film sessions. In addition to a small onboard movie theater, films are also projected from within the cubic cabin onto an exterior fixed surface, allowing more Londoners to enjoy an open air motion picture experience while taking advantage of the warm summer evenings.

The onboard auditorium is equipped with the projection equipment, audio-visual systems and a small movie theater for intimate floating screenings or events. And if you can’t make it to a specific event, worry not, live broadcasting of certain events and screenings will be streamed live on the Floating Cinema website.

UP Projects’ Floating Cinema is not the only floating movie theater in action at the moment. London based Floating Films is a film club that is located aboard the SB Repertor, a classic 1920’s Thames sailing ship. Currently docked at the St Katherine’s Docks in London, the ship screens a range of films in its intimate 40-seat indoor theater.

Meanwhile, the Archipelago Cinema, located off the coast of Yao Noi, Thailand is a more exotic version of the floating outdoor cinema. The project was launched last year during the Film on the Rocks Yao Noi Festival, combining a large floating projection screen and a floating raft. Lucky patrons are escorted by boat to the romantic floating cinema that could lay claim to being the most picturesque movie theater in the world.

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Skymouse puts mouse control on your fingertips

The humble mouse may have stood the test of time and remains a staple of most desktop setups, but there are an increasing number of devices looking to relegate the mouse to the bottom drawer. The latest is the Skymouse which, like the Mycestro 3D wearable mouse, Genius wireless Ring Mouseand Leap Motion, shifts cursor control from the desk to your fingertips.

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Designed by Los Angeles-based Eliott Ephrati, the Skymouse uses infrared LEDs and an infrared camera to track the movement of "Skymouse Pointers" that are worn on the user's fingers. An algorithm then translates these hand movements into onscreen movements of the cursor.

The Skymouse is plug and play and can recognize basic pre-programmed commands, such as left click, right click, middle click and scroll. However, a developer kit will also be offered that will allow "hackers and tinkerers" to create custom commands and gestures.

We're guessing that wearing the Skymouse Pointers could pose some problems for typing, but Ephrati says he plans to release a second version that will work with naked fingers.

Ephrati is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get the Skymouse into production. A minimum pledge of US$70 will score a Skymouse and four Skymouse pointers if the target goal is reached. Other funding tiers are available, including the hacker pack for $180, which comes with the open model for customization. If all goes well, units should be shipped by April 2014.

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DOCKr offers six iPad accessories in one device

The iPad is a great device, but it's the accessories that maximize its usefulness. Keyboards like Elecom's butterfly keyboard for iPad, and ultra-high capacity batteries are just a couple of examples. Now, a new product called the DOCKr looks to combine six different iPad accessories into one do-it-all device.

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The six accessories DOCKr includes are as follows: a case, battery, speakers, keyboard, viewing dock, and changeable styling. Calling style an accessory might be a stretch for some users, but some would consider changing the color of their iPad to be an important function.

There are two models available, the DOCKr 1 and DOCKr 2. Both models of the DOCKr can support the iPad in landscape and portrait mode for comfortable viewing of all kinds of media. The angle can be adjusted up to 140 degrees. The device also supports sliding forwards and backwards, which is designed to provide ergonomic balance while using the device.

According to inNuevo, the creator of the product, the DOCKr 2's battery will provide 6-8 additional hours of battery life to the iPad. It also comes with USB ports, so it can charge smartphones or other USB-powered devices such as gaming systems.

Bluetooth speakers are also included with the DOCKr 2. The speakers can connect to the iPad or any other device with Bluetooth integration. They're powered by the lithium-ion battery, which means using them is going to decrease the amount of charge your iPad is able to receive. Still, the iPad does have some weak speakers, so getting 82 extra decibels is certainly nothing to scoff at.

The DOCKr 1 does not come with the electronics, so it's missing the battery, Bluetooth speakers, and USB ports found on the DOCKr 2.

Each of the two models is designed to fit Apple and inNuevo's wireless keyboards. These are sold separately, but there are options on Kickstarter to grab the DOCKr 1 for US$85 or the DOCKr 2 for $135 with inNuevo's keyboard. Without the keyboard, a pledge of $50 is required for the DOCKr 1 and $105 is needed for the DOCKr 2.

inNuevo just launched the product on Kickstarter with the goal of $15,000. The funds from Kickstarter will go towards the company's first bulk order and its first round of production. Besides the aforementioned purchase options, the company is also offering plenty of custom options with higher price tags.

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Kogan Agora smartphone combines mid-range specs

When discussing new and emerging technology, it's natural to emphasize high-end products. After all, the low-end devices often sport components that were high-end several years before. But highly affordable technology can be significant in its own right. Like, for example, a 5-inch, dual-core smartphone that costs US$150 off-contract.

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Mid-range in the bargain bin

The phone is the Agora, and it's the creation of Australian electronics manufacturer and online retailer Kogan (who previously brought us budgettablets and laptops). It sports a 5-inch display, with a dual core 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and dual-SIM support. It even has a 5 MP rear camera and a front-facing shooter. Those aren't cutting edge specs, but for the bargain bin, you can do much worse.

The Kogan Agora has obvious limitations. 800 x 480 resolution on a 5-inch display is far from "Retina." It's running a year-old version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich). It only has 4 GB of internal storage (though it's expandable with a microSD card), and there's no 4G of any kind.

Bang for your buck

But what do you expect? High-end phones typically cost more on-contract than the Agora does off. As Kogan's PR team spins it: $149 gets you 23 percent of a Galaxy Note, 22 percent of an iPhone 4S, or 100 percent of the Agora. Its quality isn't on par with those devices, but its price-to-quality ratio might be.

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Review: iPad mini

When iPad mini rumors started, the focus was more on Apple's market opportunity and less on any dire need for a smaller iPad. After all, we have small iPhones, and we have big iPads. Is something in between going to change anything?

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After testing and playing with the iPad mini, though, I found myself enjoying this new product more than I expected. Apart from one big exception, it may epitomize the purpose of the tablet more than its larger sibling.
It's nice to hold the title of (Almost) Ultimate iPad, but the big question is whether it's worth an extra US$130 over its rivals, the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. Let's see if we can help you to answer that.

Design

The iPad mini is considerably smaller than the full-sized iPad

Design is the iPad mini's forte. It's incredibly easy to hold with one hand. It'slight. It makes a full-sized iPad feel like a heavy brick.

At just 308 g (0.68 lb.), it's much lighter than any rival seven-inch tablet: 32 g lighter than the Nexus 7, and a whopping 86 g lighter than the Kindle Fire HD. Considering that the iPad mini sports nearly an extra (diagonal) inch of screen real estate over its rivals, it represents a big step forward in budget tablet design.

The iPad mini is also incredibly thin, measuring at 7.2mm (0.28"). Its competitors don't come close: the Kindle Fire HD is 3 mm thicker, and the Nexus 7 is 3.25 mm thicker.

The iPad mini's side bezels are narrower than those on other tablets (including the full-sized iPad). Though your thumb will rest near the display's edge, Apple added touch correction technology to iOS 6. I didn't experience any accidental touches, and every touch I did intend registered immediately.

There are reasons to hesitate about buying the iPad mini, but design is not one of them. From this perspective, Apple hit a home run.

Display

The iPad mini's display resolution is far from cutting-edge

If design is the iPad mini's monumental achievement, display resolution is its Achilles heel. It has the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the first two iPads. To keep things simple for developers, Apple likes to increase resolution in even multiples. 2048 x 1536 resolution on a 7.9-inch screen isn't yet cost-effective, so half of that is what we get.
The result? That 1024 x 768 resolution looks a bit sharper on this shrunken-down display than it does on the iPad 2, but it's a far cry from its big brother's Retina Display. It looks a lot like the screen of an iPhone 3GS ... you know, Apple's flagship phone from 2009.
The iPad mini's display is also a far cry from its rivals' displays. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD each have 1280 x 800 resolution. Their 216 pixels per inch (PPI) are much sharper than the iPad mini's 164 PPI. The Nook HD's 1440 x 900, 243 PPI display obliterates it.

Resolution is hard to capture in a picture, but you'll definitely notice some pixels on the iPad mini

If you've never used a Retina Display, you won't complain. But, for those who have spent the last seven months enjoying 264 PPI, 164 PPI is a huge step back.

The display's bright spot, though, is its size. At 7.9 inches, it's significantly more spacious than its 7-inch rivals' screens, and it lends itself well to the App Store's library of tablet apps. Typing is great in portrait mode, and tolerable in landscape. Icons and buttons are all a bit smaller, but nothing felt too small.

The question, then, is whether the nice size outweighs the dearth of pixels. For those accustomed to near print-quality text and images, it's a tough tradeoff.

Performance

The iPad mini handled GTA 3 just fine

I was prepared for mediocre performance, as the iPad mini's A5 chip is growing a bit long in the tooth. It surprised me, though, with sufficient processing.
It isn't blazing fast like the iPhone 5 or 4th-generation iPad, but the iPad mini performs on par with the iPad 3. Geekbench tests yielded a 757 score for the iPad mini, identical to the early 2012 iPad. The iPad 4, meanwhile, scored 1766.

It's far from mind-blowing, but I didn't experience any performance problems. Most app developers tailor their software to run on several generations of iOS devices, so there aren't many applications that will push the A5 chip to its limits. Basic iOS tasks like opening apps, panning, and scrolling all have ample zip.

Summing up

iPad mini (left), and 4th generation iPad (right)

The iPad mini feels more like a new device than a shrunken-down iPad 2. Even if its display is a generation behind, Apple probably has another hit on its hands. I often find myself reaching for it in place of the iPad 4 – just because it's a pleasure to hold.
Miniature tablet shoppers have a decision to make. Pay more for the best software selection and design, or pay less for a sharper display and a faster processor. This holiday shopping season, it will be fascinating to see where those cards fall.

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Glass Mobile Phone

Some latest mobile phones are concentrating on camera than some concentrate on other multimedia option but this new mobile phone asGlass Mobile phone is concentrating on weather conditions. If you want to know the weather of your city than this new mobile phone have unique feature to display the weather on it own screen.If this will be sunny day than this glass mobile phone will display as clear screen, if its rainy than screen will change into drops format and if its snow that this phone will have fog kind of look.

If this will be sunny day than this glass mobile phone will display as clear screen, if its rainy than screen will change into drops format and if its snow that this phone will have fog kind of look.

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Australia's first LTE mobile broadband network launched

Australians are getting their first taste of LTE (long-term evolution) mobile network speed. Telecommunications provider Telstra launched its USB 4G mobile broadband modem today with the promise of coverage in capital city CBDs and 30 regional and metropolitan centers with download speeds ranging from 2 Mbps to 40 Mbps and upload speeds of 1 Mbps to 10 Mbps.

Telstra flipped the switch on its first LTE base stations in May and began piloting services for business customers last month.

As well as significantly increasing speed compared to currently available networks, the company says its LTE service will provide an added boost for real-time applications like video conferencing and internet gaming by reducing network latency.

The LTE coverage is currently limited to a radius of 5 km (3.1 miles) from the center of capital cities and 3 km (1.9 miles) in regional areas where the network is available.

There are plans to add 50 more locations to the 4G coverage list by the end of 2011 and Telstra says it's working with manufacturers to bring 4G-powered smartphones online in 2012.

The 4G USB modem runs dual mode 4G/3G HSPA technology so it can switch to 3G networks when the faster option isn't available.

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iRoom iDock is the world’s first motorized, in-wall iPad dock

We've seen iPad docks that mount an iPad on a wall, on a car dashboard and on afridge, but the iRoom iDock is the first we've come across that mounts an iPad in the wall. Featuring a motorized docking system that automatically opens and closes thanks to a proximity sensor, the iRoom iDock is flush-mounted to the wall, which means you'll need the services of an electrician to connect the unit to your home's electrical system.

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The motorized dock can be triggered by a proximity sensor that detects when you're nearby so it automatically opens up ready for iPad insertion or removal. The door will close automatically after ten seconds and if you don't like the idea of the unit constantly opening and closing as you pass the proximity sensor can be disabled. Once your iPad is snugly inside, the iDock will charge its battery, while integrated composite audio inputs allow it to be hooked up to a sound system and the iPad used as an audio source. In the event of a power failure, the iDock will automatically open so the iPad isn't trapped inside.

The iRoom iDock comes in landscape and portrait models and, in addition to the standard black, white and brushed aluminum options, the color of the bezel can be customized to match your décor. The portrait iDock is compatible with iPad 1 and, with the use of a tailored insert, iPad 2, while the landscape iDock is designed for iPad 2 but will accommodate an iPad 1 through the use of guide rails.

iRoom doesn't list a recommended retail price for the iDock on its website, nor does the North American distributor Bracketron. But we found the unit selling in the U.Kfor GBP714 (approx. US$1,116), which doesn't include the cost of installation. Probably a bit on the steep side if you're just looking to charge your iPad, but possibly not beyond the realms of possibility if the iPad is acting as the control interface for a home control system - possibly.

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Motorola Droid Bionic arrives on Verizon tomorrow

First unveiled this January at CES, Motorola's flagship Droid Bionic smartphone will finally be available to consumers as of tomorrow. Featuring a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and a 4.3-inch qHD display, the Android phone utilizes Verizon's new LTE 4G network, which is claimed to be the fastest in the U.S. Its other specs aren't too shabby, either.

Owners of the Droid Bionic will be among the first people to use Motorola's new Zumocast app, that lets users remotely access videos, music, pictures and documents stored on their computers. The Webtop app, in turn, will let them transmit a Firefox web browser, emails or documents to an external monitor. Photos, videos and other content from the phone can also be viewed on a separate HDTV, via an optional HDMI cable. The phone can additionally serve as a wireless mobile hotspot, allowing up to five other Wi-Fi-enabled devices to share its 4G LTE signal.

The complete specs are as follows:
Powered by Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
Dual-core 1 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM
4.3-inch qHD screen using scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass with dual-layer anti-reflective coating
8-megapixel autofocus camera with flash and 1080p HD video capture
Front-facing camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi
MOTOPRINT app to print via Wi-Fi-enabled printers
Mirror Mode with HDMI out (HDMI cable required) supporting 1080p HD video playback
Multi-window options for multitasking with ease when using the Webtop application
Business Ready with advanced security policies; resizable and scrollable email, calendar and task widgets; device and SD card encryption; and Citrix GotoMeeting and Citrix Receiver for Android
Adobe Flash pre-loaded
HTML 5 capable
32 GB memory: 16 GB on board and 16 GB microSD card pre-installed (actual formatted capacity is less)
Support for up to 32 GB microSD cards
Supports wireless charger

Motorola's Droid Bionic will be available online and in Verizon stores as of Sept. 8, for US$299.99, which includes a two-year customer agreement.

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AR-4i interface gives iPhone 4 an audio boost

People seem to just love accessorizing iPhones, in order to bring them closer to becoming prosumer-level camcorders that just happen to also be able to make phone calls. We've already seen aftermarket zoom, wide angle/macro, panoramicand microscope lenses for the iPhone camera, along with an adapter that lets people use their existing DSLR lenses. There are also handheld condenser microphones that can be run into the phone. Now, Fostex has taken things a step farther, with its triple-input AR-4i audio interface for the iPhone 4.

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The device comes with two swiveling cardioid condenser mics, which can be mounted in two of the three 3.5 mm stereo inputs - the idea is that both mics can be mounted on top if the phone is being held horizontally, or on either side if it's vertical. In most situations, the mics would be pointed out towards the subject, to capture a wide stereo soundtrack. Should users be conducting interviews, however, one mic can be pointed towards the interviewee, with the other one pointed back towards themselves. Third party mics can also be used.

A combined input level for both mics is indicated by a row of LEDs, and can be adjusted using a thumb wheel control. A free app (available soon, we're told) also allows users to do things like audio-panning between the mics, if they wish to emphasize one more than the other. A headphone jack lets users monitor the sound.

The phone itself just slides in and docks with the interface. Screw holes on the side and bottom allow the AR-4i to be mounted on a tripod, or to be attached to its included aluminum hand grip.
Giving the phone's battery a break, the interface runs on two AAA batteries, which are said to provide up to 10 hours of operating time. It can also run off an external power source, via a USB connection.
The Fostex AR-4i audio interface for iPhone 4 is available now, for around US$150. People interested in it might also want to check out the OWLE Bubo, a heavy-duty aluminum iPhone housing that features a shotgun-style mic, a wide angle/macro lens, hand grips and tripod mounting points.

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