A Digital gift in this digital age- Digital photo frame

Kodak photo films are passé and gone are the days when people took effort for developing the photos, storing them in album and taking them out to show them to friends and relatives. With the advent of digital camera, clicking photos in multitude of poses with no additional cost has transformed each individual with the ability to click to a photographer. Conventional cameras were dependent on many mechanical and chemical processes before a photograph is printed, but digital camera is entirely an electronic device and nothing can happen without electricity.

Today, things have also changed as how the photos are displayed. To relive moments digitally and emotionally, digital photo frame has taken the centre stage. It is one of the most wonderful ways to display your cherished moments in life.

With digital photo frame you need not take print out of photos to show them to your near and dear ones. Instead, you can directly transfer the selected photos from your digital camera memory card into the digital photo frame or download them via e-mail. Digital photo frame is another challenging technological innovation, a device that contains a LCD screen with high resolution picture clarity and memory cards besides add on features such as remote control, MP3 player and even light sensors. Some digital photo frames are available with touchscreen option and even built-in speakers.

In simple language, digital photo frame is nothing but a picture frame that helps to display the digital photos without a computer. It’s a portable device and the photographs can be better stored and organized. Digital photo frames are extremely simple to operate and provides with clear images. Photographs are displayed in a slide show and one can enjoy it sitting snugly in the comfort of one’s home.

This product cost anywhere between Rs3000 and Rs15000 and this price range depends on the internal memory and other add-on features.

Though it’s a great gift choice, nonetheless, digital photo frames are not being seen in large numbers at home and office. The reasons are far too many. One factor being its look and feel. Traditional photo frames seem to have a personal touch with its shape, size and color whereas as you go and buy a digital photo frame its just a box. Another thing is that people wants to keep their photos spread out in homes while digital photo frames being expensive, affordability is a major factor.

But with technology growing in leaps and bounds, digital photo frames will soon come in a big way and wider acceptance.

Some of the digital photo frames manufactured by various companies are:

• Kodak EasyShare W1020 Wireless Digital Frame:

The Kodak EasyShare has a 10-inch screen with 800×480 resolution is a perfect gift and it has 512 MB of storage. With Internet connectivity, you can receive latest weather updates and news as well.

• Sony 8-inch digital photo frame (DPF-D80):

The Sony DPF-D80 has an 800×480 screen resolution with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Its bright and vivid screen is a welcome change compared to most other digital photo frames that use the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio.

• HP 8-inch Digital Picture Frame:

The HP DF820 stands out for its matte bezel frame that hides all the controls and looks like actual picture frames. It has an 8-inch LCD screen and comes with additional mattes so you can change the appearance wherever you wish.

• Pandigital Pan Touch:

Pandigital Pan Touch PAN1002W02T 10.4-Inch Digital Picture Frame gives you plenty of options such as changing the brightness, contrast and color of the images, something few others digital picture frames do. It plays AVI video and has a headphone jack for audio as well.

• Viewsonic DPG807 8-inch Digital Photo Frame:

The Viewsonic DPG807 has a black frame that makes the images stand out. It has an 800×600 screen and is both PC and Mac compatible. Relatively small but sleek and gorgeous, it makes a beautiful gift. It supports video and has calendar and date functions.

Just check on the previews and reviews before you make a purchase.

Happy viewing with a digital photo frame.

What a digital age we are now into… interesting ? amazing !  Yes… it is but there are questions and thoughts around it as well which in others words can be put as concerns as well.

Most of us have been growing with the computing evolution in terms of social media way, as we have first learnt about ‘email account’ and what it does and slowly adopted emails as part of our daily life like other daily activities. Email has been working fine to express all our eMotions in the electronic way, official communication became blessed with the emailing stuff and we almost made the retirement of the postal services.

And then … we were still not satisfied maybe with long, boring emails to express our needs. As the mantra today with almost every product or service is ‘Do More with Less’, we started playing with this and Jack Dorsey translated this idea into action by creating ‘Twitter’.

Cool … now we have learnt rephrasing our expressions internally to produce it with a ‘Limited Edition’ of only 140 characters. Wow … they say Life is short and now expressions are shorter and gosh… don’t know what is waiting for us when we become smarter.

We need to think and express ourselves with character limitations when we need to be social in the internet domain. Forget about the character limitation in the text box to enter but also our ears and mind will get tuned to listen and understand the first 140 or shorter characters that you say or write.

Folks, we are lucky that in 2010 we still have 140 words but be prepared to do (express) the same maybe in next few years with 100, 80 or 60 character limitations in gradual way.

With the addiction to get hooked onto the social networking services, a person is now incomplete if he/she is does not maintain a Facebook, twitter or Linkedin profile. I met my neighbor the other day, in line with our social networking bondage, she asked me ‘is everything okay … as I don’t see you tweeting these days ?”

So, if you find a friend of yours who is not doing the tweets, posts, commenting on the wall, scraps etc for some days spare some minutes out of your hectic life to give him/her a buzz (not again restricting to your mobile plan of pulse/minute etc) or visit him/her to say ‘hey! How are you?” and carry on with the conversation beyond any expressive limitation.

Blackberry Bold 9700 is here !

The buzz in the world of communication today is smart phones. Every company is vying the market potential of smart phone with their innovative product launches. From Apple to Google, iPhone to Android-based phones and with the latest iPad, options have more than doubled for high-end consumers. Indians get another option in the smart phone category as Canadian mobile phone manufacturer Research in Motion, the world leader in wireless technology, launched Blackberry Bold 9700 for the Indian market. The Smartphone arena is getting hotter!

Here are some specifications of a sleek and elegant Blackberry Bold 9700 that is packed with multimedia and mélange of communication features:

• Blackberry Bold 9700 has 2.44 inch TFT- LCD (Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display) with 480 x 360 pixel bright and high resolution.

• Similar to Blackberry Curve, Bold 9700 is equipped with track pad navigation system. It consists of Full QWERTY keyboard.

• It supports 3G HSDPA network and is powered by 256 MB on-board flash memory and 624 MHz processor. It is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology enabled. If you wish to expand memory you can insert micro SD card.

• One can click photos with 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and 2X digital zoom, multimedia player and video camera.

• Blackberry Bold 9700 comes with new operating system and that is Blackberry Messenger 5. However users need couple of upgrades to make it stable.

• Blackberry Bold 9700 measures 4.29 inches in height, 2.36 inches in width and 122 Gms in weight.

• Battery has standby time of 21 days and has talk time of up to six hours.

• Security feature in Blackberry Bold 9700 includes screen lock, password protection and sleep mode.

Blackberry bold 9700 is available in India through Blackberry, Airtel and Vodafone retailers.

However, to woo customers, I personally felt that it lacked exciting features. Let’s see how Blackberry penetrates Indian Smartphone market with Bold 9700. It is priced just around Rs 32000 in Indian market.

Apple iPad tablet launched to change the world of gadgets

Steve Jobs is in news and so is Apple Inc… Yes, you guessed it right, we are talking about Apple’s much awaited and much hyped iPad tablet that has been launched with an amazing price range. Apple iPad is expected to revolutionize how people read newspapers, magazines, books and even how they watch television.

Besides creating an upheaval in the gadget market, Apple’s share prices showed an upward trend. So, after iPhone and the Macbook, it is iPad tablet that is the buzzing phrase and is being considered as the third category gadget. The aim of Apple Inc is to put iPad tablet into the hands of the masses.

Let me make one thing clear and that is iPad is not a mere replacement of iPod Touch or iPhone and it is also not a device away from laptop. This iPad sits right in the middle and is not for making phone calls and it has no mouse or keyboard, but it provides with excellent web browsing experience. The iPad users will be able to send email, read e-books, create albums and enjoy videos and all that at an affordable price.

The iPad is definitely lighter and thinner than any netbook or laptop as it is just half-inch thick and weighing not more than 1.5 pounds. One can work with this device both in landscape and portrait mode. The users of iPad can definitely download to read the latest novel and book e-ticket for the forthcoming movies, but it cannot make a phone call or click a photo at least for some time now.

The first generation of Apple iPad will be available in the market by the end of March 2010. The 16 GB model is priced at $499 while 32 GB and 64 GB will be available at $599 and $699 respectively.

There are two versions of iPad. One that is available with Wi-Fi and the other supports both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Wall Street Journal says, “Apple focused on the role the gadget could play in homes and in classrooms,” the WSJ reported, envisioning “that the tablet can be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email in homes.”.

Experts put their comments about the gadget in their own way:

• TechCrunch — MG Siegler provides pictures of the tablet that are so realistic-looking that they might even be pictures of the tablet.  There’s also a commercial floating around this morning created by someone looking for a job. Eyeballs beware today.

• Circuit Breaker (CNET) — Erica Ogg collates rumors about iPod-like docking connections, 3G connections, and publisher connections.  (Yes, yes, and yes, in case you’re in a rush.)

• Gizmodo — Dan Nosowitz adds that iPhone apps will likely port to the tablet easily.

• TechCrunch — Like a Barnes & Noble bookstore app, maybe?  Maybe.

• Boy Genius Report — Speaking of 3G rumors, Verizon apparently has told its employees to expect big news Wednesday.  Of course, that could merely be an ancillary rumor about iPhones appearing on other networks soon.  Silly, forgotten iPhones… don’t confuse matters!

• TUAW — The tablet has already been tasked with saving the entertainment industry as well as publishing, but did you know it’ll also resuscitate education in America?  There’s an app for that, apparently.  Michael Grothaus wonders if we’ll see a tablet on every desk soon.

• ReadWriteWeb — Of course, that will come after it’s done reducing health care costs and improving quality, according to Mike Kirkwood.  Don’t get pushy, kids… the tablet will heal all!

With lots of promises and expectations, we will have to wait and watch to what level the Apple iPad can meet this. I will keep you posted on this !

pics credit: AP

Some Hot Technology trends of 2010

As the economy is recovering, technology holds the key for business expansion. In these days it is difficult to predict future as market economy is volatile, consumer demand is erratic and unpredictable while innovation is reaching new heights.

Technology today will touch your lives digitally some way or the other tomorrow.

Here is just a sneak peek into some tech trends that is expected to create an upheaval in the last year of the first decade of the 21^st century.

Semantic Web

In no time you will find an extension of WWW in the form of Semantic Web. The obvious question that is making rounds is what is semantic web? Internet with a mind of its own is Semantic web. For example if you wish to buy a smart phone, all you do now is Google  your search and you are given top 10 or 20 products with the reviews, price comparisons and flipsides. It is only after reading them that you reach a decision. But with semantic web, the best deal will be presented in front of you by finding and combining data. To achieve this, Metadata will be used and soon tools will be available that will transform the Web into indexed database. The latest buzzwords in the world of semantic web today is Resource Description Format (RDF), data interchange formats such as XML, RDF, Turtle and RDF schema coupled with Web Ontology language. So, World Wide Web will soon take over your life completely.

Cloud Computing

Soon there will be a paradigm shift for business houses as Cloud Computing will rule as the most efficient IT model in the business sector. Computing resources will no longer be in-house; instead it will be used on demand enabling businesses to be more agile and flexible. Businesses will be benefitted as the cost will be greatly reduced. Comanies like Amazon, Microsoft, IBM are all putting their strenths to encash this emerging area. Check out for Microsoft’s Azure Cloud computing services to taste this concept.

4G phone

There is writing on the wall that mobile technology is geared up for many innovations in the coming days. The word G holds special significance in the world of communication.  From 2G in the 90’s where a switch to text messaging and digital format is made to 3G ushering a new wave of faster communication and transmission of data, innovation will not get stopped here. People today are at the threshold of 4G and 2010 will see lot many launches of 4G phones worldwide and you can expect much enhanced versions from current say Apple 3GS.

3D television

Interesting changes will soon catch your attention even when you sit in front of the idiot box. The paramount question is how? Well, did you watch James Cameron’s latest magnanimous $300 billion budget movie Avatar? Yes, I am talking about wearing goggles and feeling the depth of the movie in the Cineplex. Whether Yes or No, don’t get surprised if you soon find that television landscape is walking towards a path of change and soon there will be launch of 3D televisions and you get option of depth as well to choose.

Mobile Banking

The entire financial gamut is looking forward for a change in the coming year. The reason is simple. With advancement in mobile technology, banking is expected to reach out to the masses from depositing funds in the account to creating a fixed deposit through just few text messages.

Augmented Reality

It is the new age reality and tomorrow will be better viewed, seen and heard with Augmented Reality. Soon you will have a device powered by AR that will take a snapshot of the person you are talking to, will process the image and present you with all information by checking out profiles at LinkedIn or Facebook. A huge potential is just waiting to herald a new change.

Enterprise social networking

Tomorrow’s business models will be largely dominated by collaboration. The way business is conducted will undergo a dramatic change soon. Earlier e-mail paved a new era and tomorrow enterprise version of Facebook, Wikis and Twitter will be the competitive method of communication. Business deals will get closed faster, decision making process will be accelerated, consumers will receive quicker resolution and employees will get more empowered.

Social gaming

Don’t you hear too often these days that your friend, colleague or brother has recently bought half a dozen chickens, two tractors and some cows? Yes, am speaking of Farmville by Zynga that has driven a large crowd to Facebook. Its not only Farmville, large section is also hooked on Mafia Wars. You will be also be amazed to know that by the last quarter of 2009, Second Life, another popular social gaming has almost 16 million users. Whether you a mingler or loner, social gaming is the best way to stay connected and social gaming is here to stay and more changes are on its way.

So, overall it will be an exciting year ahead in 2010 and we will revisit the Hot Technology Trends of 2010 to validate how much and how many of such trends can really create an impact to the technology domain.

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Mashups in Action

We have heard enough of Web 2.0 and with it the various sorts of terminologies like Blogs, Wikis, RIA and obviously Mashups.

Though I covered Mashups in detail is one of my earlier posts, but I cant resist to share with you all the power and level where we can now see the Live Mashups in action.

We have shown Real estate to Shops to office building to landmarks etc through the Mashups using the powerful Ajax technology under RIA.

Now, something more interesting…. guess what ! tracking live aircraft movements in the sky using Mashups. There are couple of sites offer this, but like to refer here 2 good ones.

pic credit: Gmaps

and another, which tracks the flights in Netherlands area.

pic credit: casper.frontier.nl

Check out these and let there be no boundaries on what is possible now, maybe we soon we all will be tracked similarly though some technology areas. Keep reading and commenting !

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