The Amazing Science Behind the Nokia 808′s Mammoth Camera Sensor Explained

In terms of mobile imaging, the Nokia 808 is a revolutionary device. Not only is it capable of taking images of up to 38MP, but it can also make use of a technology called oversampling, which means that out of several pixels of information it captures, it outputs to memory a single resulting pixel, which hopefully, is picture perfect.

There are three direct advantages to this oversampling technology: amazing image quality, lossless zoom, and superior low light performance. 

Making of Rango: Some Facts & Chit Cat

First for some vital statistics…

Total shots in film: 1,547

Total shots featuring Rango: 1,068

Total animation shots: 1,528

Animation man-hours: 79,724

Rate of animation: Two weeks for five seconds

Longest shot: 1,505 frames

Shots per night: 350 at peak

Render time: 120 million hours (13,670 years)

Opera Mini Next and Opera Mobile 12 released

Opera has released a new beta of the world’s most popular mobile browser, called the Opera Mini Next. This will give you a taste of some of the new features added in Opera Mini, which will arrive in the stable version later this year.

Nokia Launches 808 PureView with 41MP Camera: ZERO NOISE

The headline spec is that the brand new camera sensor inside it is composed of 41 million pixels, however as you might have surmised, this handset doesn't take full 41-megapixel stills. Instead, it oversamples — taking the image data from seven neighboring pixels and consolidating it into one pixel's worth — and generates pictures roughly 5 megapixels in size. That's still plenty of dots for most uses, and the image quality you can obtain from such a system is frankly ridiculous. Nokia showed me poster-sized samples captured with the 808 PureView (printed entirely unprocessed) that basically had zero noise in them.

Nokia Announces Asha 302, 203 and 202

 

The Asha 302 is a QWERTY-packing messenger, while the Asha 203 is identical to the Asha 202, but with an second SIM slot. The Nokia Asha 302 features extensive communication skills. It features Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp integration, but also - get this! - Microsoft Exchange email. That's a first for a Nokia feature phone.

The 302 runs on a 1GHz processor and has 14.4Mbps HSDPA, which McDowell points out is faster than a lot of low-end Androids. The Nokia Asha 302 is shipping now for €95 ($130).

Bajaj Pulsar 200NS First Ride

The new Pulsar really does look quite smashing – a bit too busy in places but as a whole, quite good-looking. The design is bold and bang up to date, fusing together streetfighter cues with typically Pulsar-family design elements. The motorcycle has got some amount of bulk to it and that makes it all the better. There are hints of Honda’s CB1000 at the front and a bit of Pulsar 135LS at the rear but together, the 200 NS looks quite good and importantly, it grabs eyeballs. It will definitely turn heads on the streets.

Hero Impulse review - Little Red Sliding Hood

Dirtying linen in public

Complete disconnection. Paradox, that. There is an association with the world. The elements are few – you, the motorcycle, and big air. In fact, the connection is at its unpolluted best. Time is running out. Unfortunately, such liberties don’t last long. A second, perhaps two, but that’s about it. The silent dramatics of getting airborne, just a couple of feet high, on a motorcycle. ‘Perfect landing’ says Malcolm. That’s more reassuring than the silent thunk of the motorcycle touching base. 

Watch a pair of TI OMAP 5′s A15 Cores Thrash the Tegra 3 in a Lenghty Browser Test

Both NVidia and Samsung have been hyping their quad-core system-on-a-chip monsters but the smug on their face is about to get wiped. NVidia’s, at least.

That’s because Texas Instruments, not to be left out of the whole quad-core SoC mash-up, has released a video showcasing its OMAP 5 brute power. More specifically, it’s the OMAP 5430 with two A15 cores helped by two companion M4 cores alongisde a SGX544 MP2 graphics chip. It takes on the ASUS Transformer Prime with its 1.3GHz quad-core Cortex A9 (Tegra 3, or 4-PLUS-1) beating in its shell.

Intel’s Rosepoint chip: WiFi and CPU Squeezed Onto 1 Piece of Silicone

Intel’s research teams have been hard at work bringing their latest project to fruition and what you see here is the fruits of their labour. CPU and a more power efficient and faster WiFi radio, both squeezed onto a single chip.

Windows 8 Designing Explained by Sam Moreau

We have said that Windows 8 is a complete reimagination of the Windows operating system. Nothing has been left unexplored, including the Windows logo, to evaluate how it held up to modern PC sensibilities. The Windows logo is a strong and widely recognized mark but when we stepped back and analyzed it, we realized an evolution of our logo would better reflect our Metro style design principles and we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations.

See Mozilla’s Boot2Gecko mobile OS in action, partners to be revealed at MWC

A year ago Mozilla announced its plans for a mobile OS based on web standards called Boot2Gecko (B2G). Then, in November last year the company showed us simple drawings of its prototype mobile OS and now it has come to this – Boot2Gecko is out for everyone to taste.

How The Pirate Bay was reduced to just 90MB of data

Famed for its vast array of torrents and infamous within the film, television and music industries, The Pirate Bay has become one of the most well known and infamous torrent sites on the web.

Microsoft to release Windows 8 Consumer Preview on February 29 during Mobile World Congress

Microsoft has announced that they will be launching the beta version of Windows 8, called the Consumer Preview on Wednesday, February 29 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The fact that Windows 8 has been designed from the grounds up for tablets suggests why Microsoft would want to announce its next operating system at a mobile event.

Kodak bBows Out of Camera Business

The Eastman Kodak Company, better known simply as Kodak, has announced that they will not be making cameras anymore, bringing an era that lasted a 124 years to an end. The company responsible for the invention for the roll film, which played an instrumental role in movie making, is having a hard time financially and this latest decision is the result of that.

Olympus announces new OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera, along with two point-and-shooters

Olympus has announced the first model in its new OM-D series of Micro Four Thirds camera, the Olympus OM-D E-M5. It features a delightfully retro design, similar to the other Micro Four Third cameras from Olympus. Olympus claims that the E-M5 is the world’s first camera to feature 5-axis image stabilization and has the world’s fastest autofocusing system.

Nikon announces 36 megapixel D800 and D800E full-frame DSLR cameras

Nikon has officially announced the new D800 full-frame DSLR camera, something that was first leaked back in November. The new camera has a 36.3 megapixel (7360 x 4912) FX-format, CMOS sensor, the highest resolution sensor on any Nikon camera so far. The sensor’s size is 35.9 x 24mm, which is almost the same as the one on the D4, which is 36.0 x 23.9mm. But then the D800 has more than twice the resolution of the D4′s sensor (16.6 megapixel) so the actual pixels are going to be half the size, which does worry me a bit about the low-light performance of the camera. However, I’ll reserve my judgement till I see some high-resolution sample images.

Microsoft to remove Start button from Windows 8

A screenshot from the upcoming build of Windows 8 has been leaked and although it seems similar to the developer preview available right now, conspicuous by its absence is our long time friend, the Windows Start button.

Cut the Rope comes to Internet Explorer 9

The hit mobile game Cut the Rope has now landed on your desktop browser. The game developers have partnered with Microsoft to release the game for their Internet Explorer 9 browser. Having said that, the game works just fine on other browsers too.

Sony Launches NewPoint-and-Shoot Cameras

Sony has just launched three new point-and-shoot cameras, the Cyber-shot WX50, WX70 and the TX200V. The former two are visually similar and come with identical 16.2 megapixel, 1/2.3 type (7.77mm) Exmor R CMOS sensors. The other similarities include a 5x optical zoom, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optics, Sony’s BIONZ processor, ISO 3200 (or up to ISO 12800 using software tricks) and 1080i video at 60fps. Only difference between the two is that the WX50 comes with a smaller 2.7-inch, 460k dot display and the WX70 has a larger 3-inch, 921k dot touchscreen display.

Researchers Figure out How to Extract Power from Cockroaches

I would bet we can all agree that we really don’t want cockroaches in our homes. They are disgusting little creatures after all, and any time I see one I’m convinced that I’m now eating roach poo. Scientists have found a good use for roaches though; they are actually using some straight up Matrix tech to turn roaches into copper-tops.

Engineers Develop Self-Steering Bullets: Ready, Fire, Aim

Engineers from weapons and defense research outfit Sandia National Laboratories are working on a bullet that can steer itself after it is fired, homing in on laser-designated targets with the help of embedded electronics. The other geniuses working on invisibility need to go on overdrive.

$25 Raspberry Pi computer beats iPhone 4S, Tegra 2 in GPU Performace, Gets XMBC Port

Raspberry Pi is an extra cheap ($25-$35) bare-bones computer that is nevertheless very capable – it runs Quake III, for example. One of the Raspberry Pi project leaders claims the little computer has quite a bit of graphical processing oomph under the bonnet too.

Nikon Announces New Coolpix P510 with 46x Optical Zoom

After Sony and Panasonic launched their new point-and-shoot cameras, Nikon was probably feeling left out of all the fun, so they too launched a whole bunch of new cameras, nine to be precise.

Intel announces 7 new Sandy Bridge CPUs

Intel has just unveiled seven new members of its Sandy Bridge family of CPUs. We got three quad-core desktop processors of the Core i5 variety and four Celeron CPUs meant for use in mobile devices.

The first and most powerful of the new processors is Core i5-2550K, which is an unlocked-multiplier CPU with a stock clock speed of 100MHz higher than the i5-2500K. The i5-2550K runs at 3.4GHz, with frequencies of up to 3.8GHz possible with the Turbo boost.

The other two new i5 processors are 2450P and 2380P and they run at 3.2 GHz and 3.1 GHz, respectively. The P here stands for GPU-less, as those come without the built-in Intel HD 3000 graphics. 

All new Intel i5 processors have 6MB of L3 cache and a TDP of 95W. They will retail for $225 (i5-2550K), $195 (i5-2450P) and $177 (i5-2380P).

The Celeron family got two 35W additions (B815 and B720) and a couple of 17W new members (867 and 797). The B815 and 867 have dual-core architecture, 2MB of L3 cache and a nominal clock speed of 1.6GHz and 1.3GHz, respectively.

The single-core Celeron B720 and 797 are the most affordable of the new processors, featuring 1MB of L3 cache and clock speeds of 1.7GHz and 1.4GHz, respectively. 

SKU	Core/Thread Count	Frequency	Max Turbo Frequency	L3 Cache	TDP	Price
Core i5-2550K	4/4	3.4GHz	3.8GHz	6MB	95W	$225
Core i5-2450P	4/4	3.2GHz	3.5GHz	6MB	95W	$195
Core i5-2380P	4/4	3.1GHz	3.4GHz	6MB	95W	$177
Celeron B815	2/2	1.6GHz	N/A	2MB	35W	$86
Celeron B720	1/1	1.7GHz	N/A	1MB	35W	$70
Celeron 867	2/2	1.3GHz	N/A	2MB	17W	$134
Celeron 797	1/1	1.4GHz	N/A	1MB	17W	$107

The newly introduced processors will hardly lead to dramatic changes in the CPU market, but then again, that’s a task for the Ivy Bridge family, which should be unveiled in a few months’ time.

7 iPad Apps That Make Note Taking Easy

With a fabulous gadget like iPad available, it will be a shame if you haven’t made the most of its maneuverability. Are you sure you have the right applications to utilize the compact size, quick responses and multi-touch screen of iPad?If you haven’t given a good notice yet, Apple’s super smooth tablet iPad is a best tool for all kinds of note taking, brainstorming and scribbling. May be you can use a chic stylus for taking notes from a lecture or draw diagrams with you fingers in a board meeting, iPad comes handy. You only have to make sure that you are having the right apps and accessories to make this done.

Sony Walkman B170 MP3 Player Announced

Sony has added another MP3 player to its Walkman range with the launch of the Sony Walkman B170, which as you can see from the photos is designed to be small and portable.

The Sony Walkman B170 measures 88.8 mm by 22.5 mm by 15.0mm and it weighs in at just 28g, it comes with a choice of 2GB or 4GB of built in storage which is enough to store around 970 songs on the 4GB model.

Botnet Similar to Kelihos is Active, but Kelihos itself Still Dead

 

Earlier today we (and may others on the web) reported that the 41,000 computers infected with the Kelihos botnet were still under control of the malware's creator despite Microsoft and Kaspersky's September attempt to "sinkhole" the botnet and render it ineffective. It turns out that the new botnet is actually a variant of Kelihos, possibly controlled by the same masters, but it is not identical to Kelihos — which still remains neutralized. The news comes from a blog post at Microsoft and a clarifying statement Kaspersky sent to Ars Technica.