IBLOG SPACE

There are more and more 3D screens that have been surfacing that need no glasses to let you see the 3D graphics. The Nintendo 3DS was one of the first commercial examples of this tech, but more is coming. A new 3D screen that needs no glasses has surfaced in Japan and it comes from the Keio University. The display lets you see 3D and touch the virtual 3D characters on the screen. This isn’t a touch screen like the iPhone or iPad uses. The screen has a tactile interface that allows the user to touch the objects on the screen and interface with them. This sounds like an awesome display for the engineers out there working in a 3D drafting and design environment. The system is complicated and looks to clearly be in the development stage still at this point. The viewer looks through a system that shows the real scene with the 3D objects over the top. It appears that the system lets the user touch the 3D objects while wearing a little finger mouse looking device and move them around. Check o

Apple may have been over-ambitious with its iPhone 5 plans, it’s suggested, with reports that the more impressive of a two device line-up originally intended for a simultaneous launch will in fact be delayed. Although Apple is on track with a low-end iPhone, based on the current iPhone 4, for an aggressively priced holiday push, 9 to 5 Mac‘s sources say, the true fifth-gen iPhone is experiencing significant production issues and may well be delayed and/or initially in short supply. According to the tipsters, Apple is driving full steam ahead with the entry-level model. The company apparently plans to have over 10m of the handsets ready at launch, expecting strong demand for a cheaper model that will appear on prepay and postpay plans. That could well be the model tipped to be rolling off production lines at a rate of 150,000 units per day. However, the more interesting device – and the one which departs significantly from the current smartphone – isn’t going quite to plan. Expected to

Aperion Audio makes all sorts of home audio gear. We have talked a bit about their offerings in the past like the Zona Wireless Surround Speakers late last year. The company is back with an interesting new product for the user that wants to get music into any room of the house without having to run wires or add stereo components. The new offering is the Zona HAL and it has a sender and a receiver unit. The sender can shoot music from your computer, MP3 player, or other audio to audio systems where the receiver is attached. The set up on the transmitter end is simply with a USB cable to the computer and a port on the transmitter to connect your audio source. The receiver needs to be connected to a speaker or other audio gear. The system can be paired with up to two more receivers as well for multiple zones of audio. The digital audio signal is 16-bit/48KHz. Each kit with a sender and receiver is $149 and it is available right now.

iPad production in Foxconn’s Brazilian production facility will see shipments beginning in December, according to science and technology minister Aolizio Mercadante, with the extra supplies expected to see the Apple slate come down in price. “At first many doubted, but it will be the first time that the company will produce iPads outside Chinese territory” Mercadante told press this week, Computerworld Brazil reports, going on to suggest that “we are taking a big step towards digital inclusion in the country.” However, it’s unclear exactly which model of iPad the new facility will focus on. Brazilian reports would suggest that it’s the iPad 2, with Apple looking to reduce the cost of the current model in the country – where it retails from the equivalent of around $1,000 – by around 40-percent. However, DigiTimes claims that it’s more likely to be the iPad 3, with Foxconn boosting its production capabilities by opening the new plant. The third-gen iPad is expected to use Apple’s new A6

I think it is safe to say if there are a million apps that have been released for the Android and iOS platforms so far, the vast majority of them are crap apps and duplicates. Still there are some really cool apps out there like Angry Birds and others that make up for some of the junk that we have to wade through looking for a new app. Appsfire has released some new figures and those figures show that there are over a million apps that have been released for the Android and iOS platform. The split of the number of apps launched is very close between the two platforms. Android has 48% of the apps launched and iOS has 52% of the apps. Appsfire CEO Ouriel Ohayon points out that only 80% of the apps that were released for the platform are still active. That means there are less than a million apps in the stores for each OS. Weed out the junk apps and we still have a number of good apps available. Apps that are available on both iOS and Android were apparently counted twice.

Windows 8 paves the way for Full HD tablets, Microsoft has ensured, with execs hinting that high DPI (dots per inch) models are already being readied behind the scenes. Microsoft’s BUILD conference may have started with a bang, in the shape of the big Windows 8 reveal , but there are tidbits aplenty from the sessions afterwards. The company has added native scaling support for Metro apps, istartedsomething reports, which Jensen Harris of the Windows User Experience team suggests is in preparation for 208 DPI slates and above. Whereas current 10.6-inch, 1366 x 768 tablets run at around 148 DPI, the trend is toward higher-resolution panels. Apple is expected to introduce a so-called Retina Display for the iPad 3 , for instance, following the iPhone 4 in boosting pixels so as to produce more detailed, smoother on-screen graphics. A Full HD 10.6-inch 1920 x 1080 tablet runs at 208 DPI, Microsoft points out, and so there’s support for vector graphics along with automatic selection from d

CHENNAI: Direct to Home ( DTH) operators in Tamil Nadu will feel the heat because of the state government’s decision to impose a 30% entertainment tax on DTH connections. Industry sources said the move would hurt Sun Direct maximum as it is the largest DTH operator in the state. The tax has been imposed to preempt people from migrating from Arasu Cable TV to DTH, they said. Sun Direct, with 17.5 lakh connections, controls 80% to 85 % of the DTH subscriber base in Tamil Nadu. The balance is shared by other operators like Airtel, Videocon, Tata Sky and Dish TV. “The state government is targeting us by imposing 30% tax on DTH operators. It will also hit the DTH consumers badly because we have to collect at least a part of the tax from our subscribers. We have no other alternative,” a senior executive with a DTH operator said. He also said that they planned to go to court against the heavy tax imposition. There are reports that DTH subscriber base had been fast picking up in the state in

Reliance Digital TV, the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider in the country has introduced three exciting offers for both existing and new subscribers throughout the country. For the first time in the Indian DTH space, RDTV has come up with an array of innovative offerings for its subscribers. New subscribers will now be able to enjoy all television channels for free for a period of one month from the date of activation irrespective of the packs they choose. Reliance Digital TV has also launched a unique “Loyalty Reward Program” for its subscribers making it a first of its kind in this category. This exclusive offer will enable RDTV customers to earn loyalty reward points for every rupee spent and these points can be redeemed towards the various add-on packs available on the platform. Announcing the launch, Mr. Sanjay Behl, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Digital TV said, “In our efforts to lead category adoption and elevate a larger customer base to a better viewing platf

Tata Sky is attempting to calibrate its offerings based on feedback, while telling the audience it is ‘premium’ only on offering, not price. Creating a certain perception about a category or brand is, arguably, easier than changing entrenched perceptions. The latter challenge for the DTH category, and itself in particular, is what Tata Sky has taken up — starting with the perception that it is ‘expensive’ and ‘inflexible’. And, like any services category, DTH is replete with challenges of customer dissatisfaction — proof of which is available in abundance on the Internet. The dissonance between consumer perception on parameters such as pricing and service quality, and what is actually on offer, was accentuated by lack of consumer awareness, thanks in large part to lack of communication, argues Vikram Mehra, Tata Sky’s Chief Marketing Officer, in conversation with BrandLine. The brand says it has brought down pricing, introduced new packages, tightened the back-end on service, and intr

The Tamilnadu government today decided to slap entertainment tax on Direct- to- Home (DTH) service providers and Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tourney being played in Chennai. DTH services will be charged 30 per cent while IPL cricket will be slapped with 25 per cent entertainment tax. A Bill in this regard was introduced in the State Assembly today by State Commercial Tax and Registration Agri Krishnamurthy. According to the Bill, the DTH service providers, who transmit private satellite channels directly to consumers’ house in the State, will be imposed 30 per cent as entertainment tax on overall price, excluding the service tax. Similarly, for the IPL matches, 25 per cent will be levied as entertainment tax on the total sum of cash including the tax amount paid, for getting permission to hold the T20 matches (as part of the IPL) in Chennai. There are no specifications on imposing such taxes on DTH and IPL under the current Tamilnadu Entertainment Tax Act. However in many Stat

Consolidation in the Indian DTH market is inevitable, perhaps within months, according to Tata Sky Managing Director, Harit Nagpal. Speaking to an audience at NDS’ Perspectives series at IBC 2011, Mr Nagpal lamented what he called the high taxes levied against commercial DTH operators and the bandwidth restrictions he claims are strangling their ability to add channels and HD. With six commercial DTH platforms and the publicly funded Dordashan service, operators are competing in a market where 120 million homes are signed up to Pay TV, with nearly a million new subscribers per month. It’s a market with a huge middle class. “A number like a million would surprise you in Europe, it doesn’t surprise us in India,” says Mr Nagpal. He compares DTH to the telecoms industry, which he left to head up Tata Sky about a year ago. “Its a technology based service in a fragmented market with small bits of ARPU around the country.” And that ARPU is getting even smaller. “We have the lowest prices in

The recently launched ‘UTV STARS – the official channel of Bollywood’ which went on air on 19th August, 2011, has garnered a phenomenal response from audiences nationwide in a very short span of time. It is, in fact, the first Indian Channel to have been launched simultaneously in both, India and the Middle East on the Etisalat Network. With a view to further expand its horizons; the brand now announces the launch of the channel on two of India’s most reputed DTH platforms in the nation, Tata Sky, Channel No.707 and DISH TV, Channel no. 48. UTV STARS is an invitation to the audiences to be part of the dream world of Bollywood. It is both glamorous and approachable and promises to satiate the viewer’s appetite for exceptional Bollywood Centric Content. Commenting on the launch of the channel across the TATA SKY network, Nikhil Gandhi, Business Head, UTV STARS, said, “We are happy to announce that UTV STARS is now available on TATA SY and DISH TV from today. DTH has become a significant