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News

Bigger flat-panel TVs posing a danger to kids

image1 Recent reports indicate that new flat-screen televisions that balance on narrow, less-stable stands have been falling on children at an alarming rate world over, with very often deadly outcomes.

Nearly 17,000 children were rushed to emergency rooms in 2007, after a heavy or unstable furniture fell on them. Studies reveal that to date, injuries from televisions alone account for almost half of the 17,000 injuries (i.e., 47 %).

Dymounique Wilson, one of Brinkley’s two daughters, died a few days back when the family’s 27-inch television fell over on her.

Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital says:

“Three-quarters of the victims of falling furniture are younger than 6 years old, and children that age simply don’t recognize the danger of climbing on furniture.”

image2 There has been an increase in the popularity of bigger flat-panel TVs along with the entertainment centers that have narrow and unstable stands to hold them. Since 2004, manufacturers have been trying to solve the issue, however, the bulkier products don’t seem to fly well in the market place, where everyone wants to go for the sleek look.

Smith adds:

“Until laws are strengthened to mandate safety straps and anchor mechanisms, parents are largely on their own in making sure their homes are safe. Fortunately, following a few simple prevention steps can reduce the likelihood of an injury.”

Till now you worried about your child’s eyesight while he was watching TV sitting too close. Now you have another reason to worry about… tipping TV sets, that could even cost someone’s life!

(Source: msnbc)

(Image Credits: av-glass-furniture | cnstores)

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Analysis

How Correctly Do Speech Synthesizers Speak?

clip_image002Technology bugs sometimes lead to high-tech embarrassments. We’ve known that Text-to-Speech (TtS) synthesizers are widely used for people with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen to written works on a computer. These days, TtS techniques are used in the entertainment productions such as games as well.

A few days back when the recently launched Amazon’s Kindle couldn’t seem to pronounce the name of the US president correctly, it made news. With Kindle being positioned as a replacement of the daily newspaper and the US President’s coverage almost a daily affair, it indeed was an awkward situation.

When Barack Obama was read by the Kindle’s computerized text-to-speech system, it sounded something like “Brack Alabama.”

Although Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon laughed over it calling the faux pas as “unfortunate,” Amazon nonetheless quickly tried to fix the problem with its text-to-speech partner Nuance.

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This brings us to the question, how correctly do speech synthesizers speak?

TtS systems have moved from robotic-sounding to human-sounding over the last 20 years. But how well are the words being understood? Moreover, the challenge of pronouncing all the words correctly, text normalization, speech melody & rhythm, and problems with grammar & semantics still remain.

For example, one word can be pronounced in two different ways:

  • Lives
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“it lives” vs. “nine lives”

  • Bow

“bow down” vs. “bow and arrow”

Word pronunciation is even more difficult for names.

Speech melody, rhythm, and pauses are very important to any text. Humans tend to break words in order to group words to meaningful chunks, to breathe, and to make words sound more prominent based on the importance of information that it carries.

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For example:

“She gave the money to Lisa.” (Who did she give the money to?)

“She gave the money to Lisa.” (What did she give Lisa?)

She gave the money to Lisa.” (Who gave the money to Lisa?)

The system should know what should be said and how it should be said in order to match human rendering. We just have to wait and watch and see how technology improves with time and makes better Text-to-Voice services for us to use.

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News

Heart-shaped USB Webcam for the Mushy Type

A heart-shaped “love” USB web cam??? Oh my God! 😀 Something like this is even beyond “girlie”!

Keep aside the looks, which some people might find impressive, the USB 2.0 compliant web camera gives a 640×480 resolution at 30 frames per second.

All you have to do is simply clip the camera on your monitor or maybe let it sit on your desk. The left side of the web cam is rotatable. The web cam has a microphone and touch sensitive LED lights, which will let you chat even in the dark, and comes in colors Blue and Pink for the price of US $22.00.

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Features

  • 30 frames/second
  • High quality (640 x 480) resolution
  • Automatic white balance, exposal control and flash control
  • Enabled with the feature of sending video e-mails anywhere
  • Excellent still image capture
  • Video recording and video conferencing
  • Tilt swiveling base
  • Driver free for Windows XP/Vista
  • Dimension: 50 x 75 x 68mm
  • Weight: 120g

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For the mushy types, I think this web cam is a perfect fit. You could even gift it to someone you think might like it.

(Source & Image credits: usb.brando)

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News

Dell laptops go girlie with Della

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Dell recently announced the launch of their new sub-site – Della that markets Dell’s pre-built PCs and laptops explicitly to women. I have to admit, the designs are very stylish, and from a mobility point of view, light and easy to carry. Dell’s Della range seems to be focusing on simplicity of use and multi-functionality.

Della puts a lot of focus on attractive products, at the same time offering techie tips, and a separate section featuring special artists for customized products. The campaigns main aim has been to make women more comfortable with technology. Ironically, some women have been offended by the “gesture” as it is being felt that a segregated site like this that’s trying to educate women about something that they already know, may not be the right approach by Dell.

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If you ask me… I simply loved the idea of something like this.

It’s got all that I’d want for my laptop – from beautiful laptop colors and patterns to stylish accessories. Light, compact, customizable and colorful, I couldn’t ask for more. The products available on Della also include the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook. It can be customized with exclusive artist designs.

Check it out for yourself. You are either going to love it or hate it – again for obvious reasons!

Link: Della

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News

Kindle: A new platform to monetize your blog

clip_image002Would you like to publish your blog on the newly launched Amazon Kindle DX? Amazon Kindle Publishing for Blogs is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets you upload your blog for sale in the Kindle Store.

What is an Amazon Kindle?

For those of you who don’t know, let me briefly explain what an Amazon Kindle is?

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It is a wireless and a portable reading device, with an electronic-paper display with a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads just like real paper. If you wish to learn more, Click here.

More about the newly added feature

This happens to be a pretty interesting feature – all your blogs get auto-published  wirelessly to your readers’ Kindle and get updated throughout the day. Pretty cool!

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  • As per this feature, the blogs will be fully downloaded onto the Kindle so that they can be read even when the user is not connected wirelessly.
  • The blogs displayed on the Kindle will have complete text content and images (most of them), which is unlike RSS readers that often only provide headlines.

Anyone can make their blogs available through this new Kindle Publishing for Blogs Beta program.

How to get started?

  1. Create a new account by following 3 easy steps as follows:
    • Create your login information
    • Set up your security questions
    • Fill out the Vendor Set Up form
  2. In the Vendor Set Up form you will need to do the following:
    • Provide your contact information
    • Provide your payment information
    • Accept the terms and conditions
  3. Once done with the setup, upload your blog using the “Add a Blog” page. Your blog should be up and ready to go in the Kindle Store after about 12 to 48 hours of processing.

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Let’s talk MONEY!

  1. Sadly, you can’t set the subscription price for your blog. Amazon will define the price. Exactly how much Amazon will charge for each blog isn’t clear yet. (Most blogs currently go for $1.99 a month!)
  2. You will get paid 30% of the monthly blog subscription price for every subscriber to your blog.

How useful is it?

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I am not sure how many people would like to make use of it. Unless your reader base has a sufficient Kindle user base, this option might not make much difference. Mainly because to use this privilege, they will have to pay!

This doesn’t seem like a big source of income for bloggers. Moreover, the Kindle market is way too small, and the people who will pay for blogs on it is even less. However, there isn’t any harm to try out a new market to monetize your blog further.

Link: Kindle Publishing

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Reviews

Widgipedia – Your Ultimate Widgets Resource!

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As the name suggests, Widgipedia is a resource center for both users and developers of widgets and gadgets. The lack of collaborative resources to help developers increase their widget making knowledge led to the creation of Widgipedia. This site makes it easy for anyone to find the best widgets and gadgets.

It has a comprehensive catalog of Web widgets and desktop widgets (and gadgets) across all platforms. Developers can use Widgipedia to upload their creations, to collaborate with others, to learn or teach through tutorials, code samples, libraries and more.

What is a widget?

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A widget is a small application that runs either on your desktop or in a Web page. Users typically find widgets easier to use than regular applications and developers usually find them easier to code.

This site is a storehouse of unlimited goodies:

  1. Cool widgets and gadgets
  2. Tutorials
  3. Code samples
  4. Code libraries
  5. Knowledge
  6. A community of both widget users and widget developers

Platforms supported

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Desktop widgets:

  • Yahoo! Widgets (Windows)
  • Yahoo! Widgets (Mac)
  • Dashboard (Mac)
  • Standalone Widgets (Windows)
  • Standalone Widgets (Mac)
  • Vista Sidebar Gadgets (Windows)
  • Opera (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  • Google Gadgets (Windows)
  • Adobe AIR (Windows, Mac)
  • DesktopX (Windows)
  • Kapsules (Windows)
  • Samurize (Windows)
  • KlipFolio (Windows)
  • AveDesk (Windows)

And all web widget platforms:

  • Flash, DHTML and Java

Do you need an Account?

  1. To download widgets or to post feedback about them, you don’t need an account.
  2. To upload and manage your own ones, you will need an account.

How much does it cost?

It’s FREE! Yay!

🙂

Link: Widgipedia

Categories
Reviews

Theme Creator: Get creative with your Sony Ericsson mobile

Sony Ericsson recently launched the latest version of Theme Creator, helping users reflect their mood through their mobile phones. Theme Creator 4.0 lets you personalize your Sony Ericsson mobile as easily as you customize your computer desktop. It is available as a FREE download!

The 3-step wizard to design your mobile desktop:

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  1. Create your own color combinations by choosing your favorite color scheme from the automatic color combinations, the color wheel tool or by importing the saved color palettes.
  2. Decide on the graphic style by importing the background images of your choice, and animation for standby wallpaper, desktop and navigation screens
  3. Select the style using pre-defined shapes and screen areas.

Says Christopher David, head, developer and partner engagement, Sony Ericsson:

“With Themes Creator 4.0, you can use your phone as an extension of your personal style… It’s designed to enable you to make eye-catching themes that you can show off to your friends. You can now treat your ‘mobile desktop’ as a place to experiment and show your creative flair!”

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It’s easy to use and suits everyone – from a novice to a professional designer. You could choose from dynamic to intuitive animations based on Adobe Flash technology that vary according to the time of the day. You could also change the look according to the seasons. Not just that, you could also change the color to signal when you’re phone is running out of battery.

Just download it to your desktop and create your new theme on your computer.

For more information, click here

Link: Sony Ericsson

Categories
News

New TV sets to be optimized for a complete browsing experience

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Isn’t it more comfortable to be sitting back all relaxed in your cozy sofa or that reclining chair and use your big TV screen as your monitor, instead of trying hard to manage your laptop on your laps or hunch over a computer? Well, if you ask me… I’d go for that cozy sofa.

But how?

Some TV manufacturers are now enabling web functionalities into some of their new television sets using Ethernet cables or Wi-Fi dongles, which replaces the conventional set-up that we’ve known so far.

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This process had already started a while back that allowed the internet to reach out to our TV screens by a range of devices like handheld game consoles using Wi-fi to mobile phones. For instance, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii… they have browsers and Wi-fi, which means going online on TV is simple.

But all these things provide only limited access.

The current scenario

  1. Samsung (in partnership with Yahoo) offers widgets which guide users to specially constructed mini sites for
    • Weather updates
    • Headline news feeds
    • Flickr
  2. Sony with its AppliCast feature has come up with similar stuff. Once an Ethernet cable connects a TV to a phone line, data from the web can also be accessed via the remote control.

What the future beholds

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Till now, these TV sets are not equipped with full web browsers. Some sites involve lots of small writing that would be difficult to read from a distance. Many more widgets are on their way that can handle things like video streaming.

The content will be optimized for viewing on television and selected via a simple scrolling interface that you could access using a remote control.

(Source: bbc)

Categories
Reviews

Squirrel: A new startup by the Twitter co-founder

clip_image002[4]Well, it has not been announced yet but the news flying by is that the Twitter inventor and Chairman – Jack Dorsey – is working on a new project, code-named “Squirrel”.

If we have to believe the TechCrunch report, Squirrel will allow anyone to accept credit card payments on their iPhone.

M.G. Siegler on TechCrunch quotes:

“Here’s what else we know so far: It’s a service that allows anyone with an iPhone to become a merchant. Just like the wireless credit card swipers you see at certain shops and restaurants, you can carry around your iPhone and take payments. Apparently, the idea is that this will allow any individual to take credit card payments on a mobile device, kind of like what PayPal does for the web.

clip_image004[4]The rumors (rather, reports from trusted sources) are that “Squirrel” will be a hardware dongle that needs to be attached to the iPhone to accept credit card payments.

Wonder what purpose this would solve?

Hmmm… A pizza delivery boy coming to your doorstep with “Squirrel” and an iPhone to help you make a payment through your credit card could be one option!!! Well, whatever! But even in this (absurd!) case, won’t wireless (GSM/CDMA based) credit card swiper be a cheaper option?

Anyways, let us wait to hear directly from Jack Dorsey. Hopefully, he is up to some brilliant business idea we are not yet aware of.

Till then, here is some food for thought for all of us here… hmmm…

iPhone + Credit Card + Squirrel + a pinch of Twitter + that pizza boy = ? ? ?

Well keep thinking, and keep posting your thoughts and comments!

(Source: TechCrunch)

(Image Credits: CrunchBase)

Categories
News

Get Google Mobile Apps on Blackberry through Blackberry Enterprise Server

clip_image002 A few days back, Google had announced the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). A day later they announced the availability of new enterprise installation packages for Google Mobile App and Google Maps for mobile.

This means that now corporate BlackBerrys will be able to host Google’s favorite applications.

How does this work?

  1. Employees can now ask their IT guys to deploy Google Mobile applications to their corporate BlackBerry phones.

  2. The IT guys will be able to push applications to BlackBerry phones through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server or post the apps on an intranet where they can be downloaded securely by the employees.

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User Benefits

Employees will be able to quickly search for information outside of the office. They can:

  1. Search by voice using Google Mobile App
  2. Quickly type queries by selecting query suggestions or look for past queries in their search history
  3. Search for anything they can find on Google, such as stock quotes, product information, or weather
  4. Enable local search with ‘My Location’
  5. Easily launch Google Maps for easy directions

I think this is good news for the users.

If you have more questions in mind, click here.

(Source: Google Mobile Blog)

(Image Credits: Google Mobile Blog)