Sony Ericsson launches Communication Entertainment Unlimited

How many megapixels can you squeeze into a cell phone ? On the even of the big Mobile World Congress wireless telecom trade show here in Barcelona, Spain, the race is on. At pre-show press conferences, Sony Ericsson launches (February 15, 2009) new prototype handsets Idou.

Sony Ericsson today unveiled the next step in its evolution. The Entertainment Unlimited consumer proposition is the pinnacle of what the company has been working towards since the start of the joint venture in 2001 – the true fusion of communication and entertainment.

Bringing together rich content, unique applications and best in class entertainment experiences, the new consumer proposition is based around three key promises:

• Uniting best in class entertainment experiences into one offering such as the Walkman™ music experience, the Cyber-shot imaging experience, Java gaming and messaging integrated with services and applications.
• Broadening entertainment experiences by seamlessly integrating the mobile phone into other devices in the home letting consumers share and enjoy top quality entertainment content through a variety of channels including TV, PC and Hifi systems.
• Fusing communication with entertainment by removing barriers and offering unlimited sharing opportunities, multiplying the value of people’s entertainment experiences through a host of innovative web applications and Sony Ericsson’s unique Play Now offering.

“Idou” is a concept name for this phone and not the final name under which the product will be marketed to the public. Idou encapsulates the future of mobile entertainment in the palm of your hand delivering visual communication like never before.

Capture moments, talk through pictures and share all your experiences like never before with the 12.1 megapixel camera, intuitive touch features and Xenon flash. Tap directly into your favourite videos and tracks with the full-touch media menu and feast your eyes on movies, TV-series and video clips in true 16:9 widescreen format. Based on what will become the Symbian Foundation operating system, thousands of applications are available online letting you install new applications and download exciting content from PlayNow™ to make the Idou truly yours.

Idou will be based on the upcoming Symbian Foundation operating system (the open, royalty-free mobile platform based on the Symbian and S60 platforms) and will be available 2nd Half of 2009.

Several Considerations

Idou will be good communication entertainment concept for the future, but handhone TV and other entertainment handsets have launches on the market. What Idou special have ? We can wait and try it after available on the public markets.

Megapixels are too often equated to image quality. As increased amounts of data are recorded on sensors that are half the size of a postage stamp, graininess and degraded image quality often are the result.

Sensor size, image processing hardware and software, image format (compressed or RAW), lens quality, and numerous other components are all just as, or more important than megapixel count.

Gesture-Controlled TV : The New Future Remote Controll

We're all used to hitting the power button to switch on our television but could a wave do it in the future? Both Hitachi and Toshiba are demonstrating motion sensing televisions at this week's Consumer Electronics Show and say they could be on the market in as soon as two years.

The remote control has relieved generations of couch potatoes from the hassle of getting up to change channels, but is there an even easier way? Toshiba and Hitachi both showed prototype gesture-controlled TVs at CES. A small infrared camera watches the viewer's hand movements and translates them into action. Wave at your TV to switch it on, control the volume with circular motions or navigate a large number of video files in three dimensions with your hands.

The Toshiba TV employs three-dimensional hand gestures to allow users to navigate recorded video content. You can zoom in or out from a screen full of video clips by bring your hands closer together or further apart, start it with a gesture and then fast forward or reverse through the clip with side-to-side movements.

Toshiba said it was looking into the technology for possible use on its Cell TV, a TV set based on the powerful Cell processor. The TV is due on the market in Japan this year but the technology won't necessarily be in the first model.

The prototype, which uses a tiny Canesta 3D sensor for gesture recognition and a Hitachi TV can be controlled at distances up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) by simple hand gestures. For example, a rapid wave will power up the set, and a circular motion will change either the video source or the channel. The technology can also discriminate between single- and two-hand gestures, providing additional command options. Because of the underlying Canesta 3D sensor's immunity to extremes in room lighting or decor, the interface can work both in and out doors.

Look for it in TVs in the next two to three years . Now, we’ll all just have to wait and see what this new concept entails. It would be fun to watch the whole family waving and throwing their hands up in the air trying to change the channel, especially if each member want to watch different shows.

Enhancing Video for the Visually Impaired

Researchers are using algorithms that can better the picture quality for people with macular degeneration.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/22460/
Thursday, December 11, 2008

By Brittany Sauser

Eli Peli, a researcher at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, is developing software that can enhance the quality of a TV image for people with visual impairments such as macular degeneration--a disease that makes images on the screen seem blurred and distorted.

Peli's algorithms increase the contrast of a picture over spatial frequencies that are easier for a visually impaired person to see. In his lab a remote control can be used to adjust the contrast on a 32 inch television screen connected to a PC, creating a specially-enhanced picture.

"It's simple," Peli says, showing me CNN, the movie Shrek and a basketball game all in split-screen mode. In each clip he points out the difference in resolution, even for a person with normal eyesight. In the image on the right, details like grass, flowers and a person's facial features are much clearer than in the one on the left. Peli, who is also a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, expects a grant from Analog Devices in the new year. This company has been testing his software and Peli says it is eager to build it into its hardware. He explains his work and demonstrates the system in the video below.

Video by Brittany Sauser