This week, Sony unleashed a battery of expensive audio gear that claims to support “high-resolution audio” which, like “ultra high-definition” in the video world, sounds pretty snazzy. But what does high-resolution audio mean? And will HRA really make the music sound better? Read more…
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What Is High-Resolution Audio?
Sony has named a new flagship in its Android-powered Xperia smartphone line up which focuses on beefing up camera capabilities. The 4G Xperia Z1, roundly leaked under the moniker ‘Honami’ but officially confirmed today at Sony’s IFA press conference in Berlin, is a follow up to the 5-inch, quad-core Xperia Z unboxed at the start of the year at CES. The Xperia Z1 has a 20.7MP camera on its rump (vs the 13.1MP on the Xperia Z) coupled with a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS CMOS image sensor, Sony’s G Lens (27mm wide angle, f2.0 aperture) and Bionz image processing engine which Sony users in its standalone cameras. There’s also 3x “clear image zoom” — with Sony claiming its optical zoom delivers “zero distortion”. Sony is making big boasts for this lens combo — claiming it offers “best in class imaging” and is the “ world’s leading camera in a smartphone ” (Nokia may however disagree; its Lumia 1020 smartphone has a 41MP lens ). NB: Sony’s odd wording here — “camera in a smartphone” — can be explained by its simultaneous attempts to extend phone camera smarts via a hardware add-on lens system that clips onto any phone , including the Xperia Z1. Sony is preloading a series of camera apps onto the Z1 to extend its camera capabilities on the software side — including Social Life, a camera streaming app to broadcast what’s going on around you to Facebook; a Timeshift burst mode to take multiple images so you can choose the best shot from several; a visual search app called Info-Eye to get more info on snapped products/landmarks; and an augmented reality app called AR Effect to overlay customised animations onto images. Sony is clearly following in the footsteps of rivals’ strategy here, including Nokia (with its PureView imaging push) and Samsung , which has also focused on making its own suite of imaging apps for flagship devices such as the Galaxy S4. But as well as making its own apps, Sony’s hoping to get developers working for it on the camera front too. “It’s built with an open SDK and we’re already working with a talented group of app developers that will extend its capabilities, ” it said today. Elsewhere, the Xperia Z1 looks to be a slightly beefed up version of its earlier sibling, with the same size 5-inch 1080p display — albeit this time including newer Sony screen tech that it has also brought to the Xperia Z Ultra phablet. Sony’s Triluminos screen tech apparently supports a greater range of colours with natural shades. The Z1 also features Sony’s X-Reality technology for improving the viewing experience of low res video. The Xperia Z1 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean at launch. Under the hood it has a 2.2Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset. There’s also 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage –expandable via a microSD card slot — and a 3, 000mAh battery. Design wise, the Xperia Z1 shares the look and feel of the rest of Sony’s Xperia range — with clean lines and blunt edges, although Sony says it’s evolved the design, most notably by adding a one piece aluminium casing to all the plastic. Oh and the Z1 is also waterproof, as is its predecessor. To ram that point home, Sony apparently thought it was a good idea to entertain IFA attendees by getting some ladies to cavort with some phones in some water . As sexist displays go, it’s pretty impressive — even by tech industry ‘booth babe’ standards — so well done Sony for alienating ~50% of potential buyers. It better hope the other 50% gets so distracted they end up buying two phones apiece. On the size front, neither the Xperia Z1 or its numeral-less sibling is the largest handset Sony makes, although their five inch displays sits on the cusp of phablet territory. The Sony enormo-phone award goes to its palm-stretching Xperia Z Ultra : a 6.4 inch phablet that’s so large Sony sells a Bluetooth handset accessory for it so you can comfortably take calls. Sony said the Xperia Z1 is due to hit shelves “starting this month”.
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Sony Confirms Xperia Z1 Flagship Phone: 5-Inch 1080p Display, 21MP Camera & A Photo Apps Focus
Armies face off during a bridge battle at Bellus Aeternum II in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Jonah Gallagher PATUXENT RIVER STATE PARK, Maryland—For four days, the Darkon Wargaming Club took over a section of a park outside Upper Marlboro that once served as a grass airfield. Temporarily, it became a combination of festival encampment and battleground. The event was the second edition of Bellum Aeternuthe club’s invitational event for live-action role-play (LARP) and combat, open to participants from across the medieval-themed LARP community. As I described in my feature on the first Bellum Aeternus last November , Darkon is a live-action combination of fantasy tabletop role-play (like Dungeons and Dragons ) and wargaming (like Warhammer ), combining a full-contact battle sport with a strategic land warfare game and scenario-driven adventures. Darkon is an offshoot of the “boffer” combat gaming community that originally sprung up in Maryland, Washington DC, and Northern Virginia. Unlike the Society for Creative Anachronism’s armored combat , Darkon and similar combat games use padded weapons for safety and to allow unarmored (and occasionally barely dressed) participants. Unlike Dagorhir , from which Darkon and most of the other US fantasy combat LARP games evolved, Darkon incorporates a magic system that has spellcasters throwing beanbag “fireballs” and “lightning bolts” in combat. Participants also use other magic to avoid taking hits in battle or rendering opponents’ defenses useless. And unlike Amtgard, another fantasy LARP, Darkon allows for some serious full-contact combat—using tactics such as “shield bashing” to knock opponents over and allowing the use of bows with pad-tipped arrows. The combination of archers and spellcasters drives some of those from other, larger game communities to distraction. It changes the balance of the combat game from pure martial beatdown to one where players with a wide range of physical abilities can take part. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Cry (foam-padded) havoc! A day at Darkon’s Bellum Aeternus II
Here’s some more bad news to add to the pile of concern over email vulnerability , a brief filed by Google’s attorneys has just surfaced and revealed that Gmail users should have “no legitimate expectation of privacy”—ever. Read more…
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Google: Gmail Users Have No Reason to Expect Privacy
We can’t know for sure exactly how we’re going to die, but some ways of going are more common than others. The National Safety Council has calculated the probability of dying from a variety of causes in this interesting graphic. Read more…
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Here Are Your Odds of Dying from the Most Common Causes of Death
An anonymous reader writes “New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly thinks that now is a great time to install even more surveillance cameras hither and yon around the Big Apple. After the Boston Marathon bombing, the Tsarnaev brothers were famously captured on security camera footage and thereby identified. That just may soften up Americans to the idea of the all-seeing glass eye. ‘I think the privacy issue has really been taken off the table,’ Kelly gloats.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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NYC Police Comm’r: Privacy Is ‘Off the Table’ After Boston Bombs
Reacting to user feedback, Microsoft will now allow Office 2013 owners to transfer their license from one PC to another up to once every 90 days. [Read more]
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Office 2013 licenses can now be transferred to another PC
Online and offline sharing of copyrighted music took a nosedive last year, according to NPD. [Read more]
The Chromebooks we usually see around these parts can be summed up in two words: competent and cheap. This nicely sums up our reviews of both Samsung’s $249 ARM Chromebook and Acer’s $199 C7 . Google’s recently announced Chromebook Pixel goes against that grain: it’s a high-quality machine with a gorgeous 2560×1700 display, but you’ll pay a hefty $1,299 (or $1,449, for the LTE version) for the privilege of owning one. Our full review of the computer—and, with it, our continuing thoughts on whether this machine makes any sense —is in the works, but in the meantime we took the Pixel out of its box to give it a good once-over. “Understated” is an understatement The Chromebook Pixel’s box is simple to the point of being nondescript. Andrew Cunningham 15 more images in gallery Read on Ars Technica | Comments
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Unpacking the Pixel: A first look at Google’s expensive new Chromebook
Orome1 writes “A new discovered malware is potentially one of the most costly viruses yet discovered. Uncovered by NQ Mobile, the ‘Bill Shocker’ (a.expense.Extension.a) virus has already impacted 620,000 users in China and poses a threat to unprotected Android devices worldwide. Bill Shocker downloads in the background, without arousing the mobile device owner’s suspicion. The infection can then take remote control of the device, including the contact list, Internet connections and dialing and texting functions. Once the malware has turned the phone into a “zombie,” the infection uses the device to send text message to the profit of advertisers. In many cases, the threat will overrun the user’s bundling quota, which subjects the user to additional charges.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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“Bill Shocker” Malware Controls 620,000 Android Phones In China