Sony's virtual reality headset 'Project Morpheus' for the PlayStation 4

The rumors now became true: Sony's working on virtual reality. The hardware is called "Project Morpheus" and it's headed to the PlayStation 4. The headset is two pieced, a closed display and what looks like a PlayStation Move sensor built in. SCE Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida unveiled it on-stage today about an hour ago at GDC 2014; he said the "prototype" is "by no means final." It's the culmination of over three years of work, As seen above, a subtle PlayStation-themed blue light is emitted by Morpheus. A single wire can be seen exiting the unit on-stage; it's unclear how the device will work with consoles. Sony's clearly drinking the VR Kool-Aid. The headset got a 1080p display and just over a 90 degree field of view. There's positional head tracking, 1000HZ refresh rate, a 3-meter working volume with full 360 degree tracking -- it looks like anyone who wants to use Morpheus needs the PS4 camera. In terms of sound, the device has "true spatial sound" using binaural audio -(A Good One). It's also apparently "highly adjustable" and support custom headphones if you'd prefer your own audio choice .
PlayStation R&D engineer Richard Marks dug into the nitty gritty a bit: he said Morpheus needs a high-resolution, high-quality screen ("no problem," he quipped), great sound (SCE is developing binaural tech to produce sound, incorporating that into the experience), tracking (he pointed out that the PS4 camera is "almost custom-built for VR"), and control (Sony's sticking with DualShocks, cameras and Move, apparently).
Marks  finished with a plea to devs to create content for Project Morpheus, "which is why we're announcing this at GDC." Sony's already working with a handful of devs, including Epic Games and Crytek. We expect it won't be too long before the large world of game devs jumps in.
Stay Tuned for more...

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Former Apple CEO John Sculley To Launch Smartphone Brand in India

John Sculley, the man who fired Steve Jobs, is targeting India's growing smartphone market by selling handsets at Rs 12,000 and less, starting next month. InflexionPoint, an investment and acquisitions company promoted by Sculley, has hired Ajay Sharma, former head of smartphones at Micromax, to head the Indian operations. Sharma had earlier worked with HTC India.

Sculley, who was the CEO at Apple between 1983 and 1993, will fund the venture, Sharma told ET. The investments will flow into Dragon Technology, a distribution company owned by InflexionPoint in China. It will oversee production and supply chain of smart devices coming into India.

"Both of us were exploring opportunities and he (Sculley) thought that India is a good market for smartphones," Sharma said. "The name of the brand will be decided next week and the first of the Android smartphones will be launched by mid-April." An email sent to InflexionPoint seeking confirmation on Sculley's level of participation in the venture remained unanswered. Apple and Sculley's ventures may compete in different price bands and it will be interesting to see who wins a chunk of market share in the country.

Sculley's former employer, Cupertino, San Francisco-based Apple, which has handsets mostly in the higher price bands, is also trying to grow its share in India.

Smartphone sales grew more than two-and-half times to 44 million devices in 2013 from 16.2 million in 2012, according to research firm IDC India.

Apple has launched attractive installment and buyback schemes to boost its currently negligible share in the market dominated by Samsung and closely followed by home-bred handset makers Micromax and Karbonn.

Surging smartphone sales in India have been propelled by the introduction of low-end devices by international and local vendors.

Mobile company to stress on quality control
The introduction of low-end devices has narrowed the price gap between smartphones and feature phones, which offer basic Internet capabilities and are a notch above basic phones. Sculley and his team are targeting the affordable smartphones segment in India with devices that cost less than Rs 12,000.

Being based out of China, Dragon Technology will work with device makers in China on a daily basis ensuring quality control and production checks while working with suppliers to get the handsets into India. This will give the brand an advantage over others in India where most local smartphone makers only import completely built units for sale here without adding much value to the final product.

The smartphone brand won't be just another addition to the cluttered market as it will create a differentiation based on price, product, software and built-in services, Sharma said. "The smartphone share of the handset market in India will keep on rising. So everyone has scope to grow. We feel that it is the right time to launch a new brand as the market is set to explode," Sharma added.

Indians bought around 15 million smartphones in the October-December period, registering year-on-year growth of 181%, according to IDC. Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn cornered 64% of the sales in the three months through December.

"There definitely is room, especially for a non-Indian brand. It helps if the company is the kind that invests in in-house product development and keeps its ODM (original device maker) dependency to a minimum," said Jayanth Kolla, co-founder and partner at telecom research firm Convergence Catalyst. Sharma said 15 people had already been hired to man sales and support distribution in India.

Within six months, about 100 people will be taking care of the backend and front-end sales of the devices as the Indian unit will leverage all available retail channels, including large format stores and online shopping portals.

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Apple iLens concept released by an Indian

The Apple’s iPhone are one of the most dominant phones in the market around us, so what if the Apple makes a camera?  Yes this is true the Apple’s iPicture with the concept of i Lens is the solution to it. If you are an enthusiastic photographer then this device is the best one for you. The Apple’s iPicture with the concept of i Lens is a revolutionary concept which would entirely change the world of photography and bring it to a new level.

Concept explanation:
Dual lens system on the iLens provides you with an option to click with the 50mm prime lens on the main device. Magnetically attachable zoom and telephoto lens give you more dynamic photography options. The magnetically attachable lens sits on top of the primary device lens, which is the 50mm prime lens. The lens and the device communicate to each other via NFC Standard. Gesture sensitive lens casing provide with lens zoom and focus manipulation. Also, an integrated ring type flash unit around the lens casing avoids any shadow cast by the lens. This makes the iLens a powerful camera with a full size image sensor that is genuinely pocket-able. The cubical design for the lens casing, instead of the traditional and a much familiar cylindrical design, was taken into consideration for ease of storage. As DSLR lens do roll away, if handled carelessly. Unlike a DSLR, the image sensor is sealed behind the 50mm prime lens, so there is no chance of sensor dust damage during lens changes. A scratch resistant UV filter tops the lens, so there is no need for a lens cap.
Designer: Rishi Soman

iLens and iPicture provides:

Gesture sensitive lens casing provides lens zoom and focus manipulation. Also an integrated ring type flash unit around the lens casing avoids any shadow cast by the lens. This makes the i Lens a powerful camera with a full size image sensor that is genuinely pocketable.

Design for the iLens and iPicture:

The cubical design of the i Lens casing, instead of the traditional and the much familiar cylindrical design. The cubical design for the i Lens casing was taken into consideration for ease of storage.

Additional feature of the iLens and iPicture:

A scratch resistant UV filter tops the lens, so there is no need of the lens cap as DSLR lens roll away if handled carelessly. The image sensor is sealed behind the 50mm lens so there is no chance of sensor dust damage during lens changes.

This would also prove to be a boon for Apple's Indian target
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How to Speed up a Slow Laptop

If you are asking yourself how to make that old laptop run faster and give it a breath of life, then you found your solution. The process is almost the same as in computers, the same laws apply to laptops. If you use your laptop as a paper holder now, because it runs so slow, you cannot use it for anything anymore, then try these tips and they could prove useful and once again make your laptop usable. Keep in mind, there are no miracles, so if you have a laptop that is older than you, chances are you should skip directly to the Laptop Buying Guide, but for laptops that can still handle a few upgrades, there is still a chance. I’ll start with a few, free solutions that can improve your laptop’s performance.

1. Keep it clean

Dust and other particles make their way into your laptop, and because of this, it makes it overheat. This is a definite NO. Take it apart and clean all the components inside. This will help keeping overheating under control, which is the biggest problem laptops face. Also, when doing this, change the thermal compound from the CPU and the chipset. Maintaining it cooler helps your laptop from shutting down because of overheating and it helps the components have a longer life.

2. Keep it cool

If you didn’t understand before, then I will say it again: all computers like cool air flowing through them. A clean computer works better then a hot one. Also, think of buying a cooling pad or just keep it on a hard surface, where it can intake air and push it over the heatsinks.

3. Install a new OS

A fresh install of the OS (especially Windows) can have a huge improvement in how your laptop works. Viruses, malware and other harmful stuff gets in your computer and it causes it to work hard. Of course, a cure for this would be a good antivirus, but fi they get in, it’s really hard to get them out and even after that, your computer will not work as well as it did. Old files and registry entries also pile up and make it harder for your OS to work, so a fresh install can do miracles. Also, if you are running Windows Vista, upgrade to Windows 7 (or even Windows 8), it will give you better performance.

4. Defragment your HDD

Defragmentation keeps your HDD in good shape. The data has a habit of clustering together and it makes it harder for the HDD pin to find it and access it. So try defragmentation on a regular basis.

5. Use utilities for speed up

There are tons of utilities out there that claim to make your computer run faster. I used some, and the majority are just reg cleaners and task managers. They do work in some capacity, but don’t let yourself fooled by what the developers say they do. Also, when searching for such programs, find one that lets you modify the startup programs. As you might know, lots of programs start automatically with Windows, making the boot time longer. The unnecessary ones can be removed, saving precious time when booting up (Note: you can also do this from the MSConfing in Windows. Start -> Run-> type “msconfig” -> startup).

6. Keep your HDD “clean”

By this, I refer to the numbers of programs you have installed on your computer. Try to keep it to a minimum. Install only the programs you usually use, and not tons of other apps that you only use once. They make it easier for fragmentation to creep in and it also creates registry files that keep on piling up.

7. Do not use Animations

Animations make your desktop look nice, but they also slow up your computer. Windows Aero and other aftermarket themes are such an example. If you are using XP, then try using the old style theme and no background picture (solid color). Fewer desktop icons also help. By using these tips, you will see some improvement in the way your computer works.

8. Get more RAM

Now, moving out the “free” zone into the place where you have to invest some money for your laptop to work better. The first step it to upgrade the amount of RAM memory your laptop has. 1-2 gigs of RAM will be definitely make a difference and you will notice the change immediately.

9. Install a new CPU

If you have a suitable socket on your laptop, then a new CPU can make a great difference. Because of the heating problems, overclocking is not a very good solution for laptops. Because of this limitation, the way to go is a new processor, but keep an eye out for how much heat it dissipates, because it can overheat and it won’t run.

9. Install a SSD

Solid State Drives are by far the best idea if you want your laptop to work lightning fast. Although they are expensive, they work great and offer lots of speed. If your budget permits, then this is the way to go. Keep in mind that SSDs connect via SATA cables, so before you go and buy one, check to see if your laptop supports SATA drives.

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