Rookie group A-PRINCE treated their fans to a special karaoke version of “Oh Girl” for White Day.
On March 15, A-PRINCE TV released a karaoke version of “Oh Girl” which includes behind-the-scenes footage from recording, backstage and more. It seems that the video was released in exchange for the usual White Day candy & chocolates.
BURBANK, Calif. -- Caption“Star Trek” star Chris Pine is set to be honored at CinemaCon next month.
Chris will receive the CinemaCon Male Star of the Year award at the event’s convention this April.
CinemaCon, which takes place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, hosts more than 5,000 industry motion picture professionals each year, celebrating the moviegoing experience and the cinema industry.
Samsung just released its latest flagship - the Galaxy S 4. It packs a new 4.99" Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which adds up to a pixel density of 441ppi. The screen still a new PenTile matrix, though it probably won't matter much at this kind of density. Samsung Galaxy S 4 in White Frost
The international version of the Samsung Galaxy S IV is going to be powered by the Exynos 5 Octa chipset, which features four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.6GHz, four Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.2GHz and the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU. There will be a second version for some markets, which will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset with its 4 Krait 300 cores and Adreno 320 GPU. Both versions will offer LTE connectivity and 2GB of RAM.
Samsung talked up the Galaxy S 4′s features with a bit of Broadway flair here at Radio City Music Hall, but there still are some neat additions to the device that didn’t get a moment in the spotlight. The Korean electronics giant, for instance, tapped a San Francisco company called Mobeam to bring its novel approach to displaying barcodes to the Galaxy S 4.
Mobeam–a tiny startup with as many employees as it has patents–will have its barcode-scanning technology embedded in sensors on all Samsung 005930.SE-2.30% Galaxy S IV devices, the company announced Thursday at the Samsung launch event in New York. Because Mobeam’s technology uses a light source to mimic the black-and-white sequencing of a barcode, standard laser scanners already in use now at most retail locations will be able to read digital coupons straight from the Galaxy S IV device.
China Mobile's profit for the financial year of 2012 increases 2.7 percent to reach 129.3 billion yuan (US$20.6 billion) as revenue from its wireless data business grows 53.6 percent.
The bad news just keeps coming for Microsoft's vaunted line of Surface fondleslabs, with sources reporting that sales of the devices continue to disappoint. Redmond has sold just around 1.5 million of the devices to date, Bloomberg reports, citing sources who claim knowledge of the company's sales figures.
That's a little more than double than the last estimate we heard, when analyst firm Canalys reckoned that Microsoft had moved about 722,000 Surface RT slabs during Q4 of 2012.
Double isn't good, though. It's true that we haven't finished the first quarter of 2013 yet, so Microsoft has managed to sell 778,000 Surface units in less than three months. But Surface RT launched on October 26, 2012, so that initial 722,000 was only really two months' worth of sales to begin with. So sales have been essentially flat, then? Well, sort of – if you're just counting total sales for the entire Surface product line.
Consider, though, that Microsoft launched the Intel-powered Surface Pro model running Windows 8 in February. That version was widely expected to broaden the appeal of the line to include power users who were put off by Windows RT on the ARM-based model, but it looks like that hasn't happened. Bloomberg's sources claim that Redmond has shifted 400,000 Surface Pros so far – that's fair enough. But if total sales of the entire Surface line are more or less the same as they were during the previous quarter, that means nearly all of the Surface Pro sales came at the expense of Surface RT sales.
As anticipation for today's unveiling finally reached (if not surpassed) a boiling point, Samsung has officially introduced the Galaxy S4 smartphone. Announced at a massive media event held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Thursday evening, the latest generation of the Galaxy smartphone series already has a lot to live up to. The pressure is on for the S4 to compete head-to-head especially with Apple's iPhone 5 (and that device's successor). Samsung reveals the Galaxy S4 (photos) Looking at it another way, the expected battle between these two handsets might parallel the release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, which debuted at Mobile World Congress in February. That 8-inch tablet is seen as a direct competitor to Apple's iPad mini.
Leading up to today's announcement, Roger Entner, lead analyst and founder of telecom consulting firm Recon Analytics, described in prepared remarks that "the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the next iteration in the most successful series of smartphones next to the iPhone." He added that it is software that will differentiate the S4 against both the iPhone and the rest of the Android ecosystem.
Generation after generation the gap between the Galaxy S and the iPhone has become smaller and smaller. This time we may see Samsung leap frogging Apple and have the best smartphone on the planet for six months until the new iPhone comes out. This would be a pivotal moment as Apple has been able to play offense and enjoy a lead in device capabilities (both software and hardware) and now they might be forced to play catch up.
One in three Internet users suffers from restricted access to the web due to government censorship, filtering or online surveillance, according to the free expression advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. Around the world, bloggers and cyber-dissidents are jailed for expressing their views. Reporters Without Borders makes sure their struggles are not forgotten.
We believe in a free and open Internet where everyone can express their opinions and learn from others. For this reason, for the past several years we’ve partnered with Reporters Without Borders to organize their annual Netizen of the Year Award, which honors an Internet user, blogger or cyber-dissident who has made a notable contribution in defense of online freedom of expression.
This year for the first time, Reporters Without Borders is asking you to help decide who will win the award. Nine “netizens”—from Bulgaria, Egypt, Honduras, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mali, Russia, Senegal and Vietnam—have been nominated for consideration. Watch the videos showing their stories and then vote at youtube.com/netizen2013.
Last year, we started a program to partner with advertisers and agencies to re-imagine how brands tell stories in a connected world. Project Re: Brief set out to recreate some of the advertising industry’s most iconic, classic campaigns using the latest technology tools. This year we’re expanding that program to work with some of today’s most iconic brands and innovative marketers, in our new project: Art, Copy & Code.
Art, Copy & Code is a series of projects and experiments to show how creativity and technology can work hand in hand. Some of these will include familiar brands like Volkswagen, Burberry and adidas—projects developed in partnership with their creative teams and agencies. Others will be creative experiments with innovative filmmakers, creative directors and technologists to explore how brands can connect with consumers through a whole range of digital tools—including ads, mobile apps and social experiences. Our first partner project is a new social driving experience—Volkswagen Smileage.
Building off their 2012 campaign, “It’s not the miles, it’s how you live them,” Volkswagen Smileage is a mobile app and web service that aims to add a little bit of fun to every drive, from your daily commutes to holiday road trips. The app measures the fun factor of each trip using a metric called “smileage,” based on signals like weather, traffic, location, time and social interactions (e.g., a long drive on a sunny Saturday afternoon might accumulate more smileage than a morning commute in the snow). You can use it with any car, not just Volkswagens.
Powered by the new Google+ sign-in, you can choose to share Smileage experience with friends and family. For example, during a road trip, photos and videos taken by you and your co-passengers can be automatically added to a live interactive map. The inspiration for the service came from a recent study showing that every day, 144 million Americans on average spend 52 minutes in a car—76 percent of them alone. We wanted to make that time a more shareable experience. Volkswagen Smileage will be available soon in beta—you can sign up on this webpage for early access.
I'm not a Google fangirl. I have Gmail accounts for personal and work use, and I spend some time in Google Docs and Calendar, but that’s about it. And until a few weeks ago, I had never even more than glanced at the Chrome OS or browser, let alone touched a Chromebook. I have, however, read the vitriol aimed at Chromebooks by my tech press colleagues. The low-cost laptops that make up the majority of the Chromebook market have been dismissed as disposable toys. The new Chromebook Pixel, meanwhile, has attracted much greater interest—and even greater disdain, because it’s seen as an outrageously expensive disposable toy. But is the Chromebook platform really such a bad idea? With a basic Samsung Chromebook 3 in one hand and Google’s new Chromebook Pixel in the other, I spent a week finding out. I lived off of the two Chromebooks as much as I could—at work, at home, and out and about. My goal: to determine whether a Chromebook could substitute for a full-fledged Windows laptop, all without performance issues and compatibility headaches. After that week, I can testify that many of my cohorts have it wrong. They’re dismissing the Chromebook because it’s not for them, but ignoring how useful it might be for broad swaths of users.
Power users don’t get the Chromebook
Most tech journalists are power users: tinkerers and early adopters. They want full laptop flexibility. They want to play games and run processor-intense applications like Photoshop and video editors. The Chromebook is not for them. Yet many of them have compared the Chromebook to the full desktop experience, where Google's hardware platform not surprisingly falls short.
Hey, Lamborghini execs... why the long face? Is it because your double-top-secret Veneno hypercar has leaked ahead of its Geneva Motor Show debut?
This unidentified magazine scan has dribbled its way onto the internet, and the single image shows a radically designed coupe – even by Lamborghini standards – powered by the 6.5-liter V12 from the Aventador tuned to produce 750 horsepower, routed through the company's seven-speed single-clutch gearbox. The bodywork features exposed carbon fiber canards, asymmetric wheel wells, a massive rear wing, and all manner of vents and scoops, all combining for an outlandishly brutal look.
Above, the Giugiaro Brivido hybrid car on Tuesday. Auto executives see more weak sales in Europe this year.
GENEVA—On the show floor, there were ultra-lux sports coupes, gull-winged Ferraris, a smattering of convertibles and boasts of much more to come. But the talk in the Geneva International Motor Show's backrooms was another story. "The economic environment is still grim," General Motors Co. Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky said during a news conference here on the eve of the show's formal opening. "We thought there would be a little bit of an improvement at the start of the year but we haven't seen that. I do think we will hit bottom this year but not in the first quarter."
HTC showed off its new One smartphone to select journalists, and we were among the lucky ones to be invited. We used the device for a while, and here are our observations about the next flagship smartphone from HTC.
We were a tad surprised when our phone rang, and the good people from HTC on the other side of the line, said they wanted us to experience the HTC One. This seemed a little too early for the phone to be launched in India. What this was, it turns out, was a chance for select journalists to get to experience the HTC One, and to hear directly from the top bosses based otherwise in Taiwan, about the mindset and the design philosophy behind the phone.
After having had the chance to use the HTC One for a while, till it was weaned away from our almost death-grip (not strong enough apparently, because the phone is not with us anymore), we came up with some observations about the device. And we decided to share them with you.
- The build and design of the HTC One is absolutely fabulous. This is an all metal chassis, and the plastic parts have been done away with. Design lines along the front and the back give it a distinct visual appeal, and nicely hides away any fear that will be a boring unibody design.
- Absolutely no rough edges anywhere on the HTC One’s chassis, and side by side with the iPhone, this is as good as the phone from Apple, if not better. And that is a huge compliment.
- While the HTC One’s spines themselves are flat, the curve on the back means the phone sits comfortably in the hand and there really is no risk of it sliding around as you type out an SMS.
- The HTC One’s earpiece grille is beautifully chiseled out on the metal panel. To keep the similarity below the display as well, the microphone also sits in a similarly chiseled out pattern design. The sides host the volume rocker, while the power key is on the top, slightly on the left as you look at the phone’s screen. The power key has an IR transmitter, but we are not sure if the India bound version will get that.
- We had loved the 1080p HD display on the HTC Butterfly, and the 4.7-inch display on the One is even better than that. More pixel density – actually, the highest among all smartphones at the moment @ 468ppi – means it is even crisper, with text being fairly sharp.
- HTC is fairly confident that the HTC One’s custom developed imaging sensor and the bigger pixels – UltraPixels - that can absorb three times more light than a typical 8MP camera, is miles ahead than the competition. Yes, at 4MP, it does read rather dated, but from the images that were demo-ed, the performance seemed impressive. And that included low light performance. We will reserve our judgment on the performance of the camera till we test it in detail, and compare it to some of the good smartphone cameras available in the stores.
- The camera features are fairly detailed. The HTC One has Optical Image Stabilization, working with the gyroscope. This is a similar feature to the Lumia 920. Videos have the option of on-the-fly HDR, and the front-facing camera is a wide-shot one.
- HTC Zoe camera setting option is very interesting. The drive for the “perfect shot” is the motive behind this feature. It captures five frames before you press the shutter, another 15 after that – indicated by the red slider as it moves forward on the trigger. The phone also records a 3 second clip at the same time.
- The built-in photo editing features on the HTC One are very detailed. Unlike the Lumia 920 where the clunky UI begs the need for separate apps to do this task, the editing features are available on tap for each picture within the photo gallery.
- The HTC One’s BlinkFeed UI is an evolution of the widgets, by adding social networks, news and customized feeds into one UI. If you need to open a link to read an article, that opens within the BlinkFeed app, rather than opening a separate app. You can post Facebook status updates from here, and also like and comment on your friends’ updates. Speaking of close social networking integration, you can also upload pictures to Facebook from within the Gallery, and also see and comment on friends’ photos from there. All this comes with the HTC Sense 5 user Interface, first introduced on the HTC One. Apparently, the new version will also make its way to the HTC One X and some of the slightly recent launches in the One series of smartphones.
- HTC is also touting the BoomSound as the next big step in making the phone your entertainment hub. There are dual speakers on the front of the HTC One, along with the Beats Audio option and dual-mic HD recording.
HTC says that the One is “currently in production” and will arrive in India in April 2013. No price has been mentioned for the One, but we expect it to come with a price tag of around Rs. 49,000. The HTC One is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor clocking at 1.7GHz and has 2GB of RAM. HTC says there will be two storage versions – 32GB and 64GB, and the 2300mAh battery will provide the juice!
Do check out some photographs of the HTC One in all its glory, below, while we wait impatiently to get it for testing. Do stay tuned for our comprehensive review.
Toyota has appointed Mark Hogan, a former executive at rival General Motors, to its board.
He is the first outsider in the company's 76-year history to be named to the board. Mr Hogan, a US national, is being brought in to help Toyota become more responsive to regional markets, Toyota, once the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, is now trying to regain the top spot from GM after suffering a number of setbacks. These included a series of recalls that began in 2009 and involved 14 million models. Other problems affecting the company in recent years include the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand, which stymied the company's supply chain and production. Mr Hogan is only the second non-Japanese person to make the company's board. In 2007, another US citizen, Jim Press, became head of Toyota's North American operations, although he left soon afterwards to work at Chrysler. The move comes as part of a number of changes announced by the company's president, Akio Toyoda. He is setting up two new divisions - No 1, which will look after its North American, European and Japanese markets, and No 2 for emerging markets. Toyota, in common with other established Japanese companies, tends to be less diverse in the make up of its employees than its competitors in the West. The appointments will need to be approved by shareholders at their June meeting. Last month, Toyota raised it full-year profit forecast amid a weakening yen and a sharp recovery in sales in the US. It forecasts a net profit of 860bn yen ($9.3bn; £5.9bn) for the financial year to 31 March 2013, up from 780bn yen.
Roku is plugging headphones and several other new features into its latest set-top box for streaming Internet video to TVs, a move that amplifies its effort to upstage Apple's better-selling player.The Roku 3 box going on sale Wednesday also includes a more powerful search engine to find movies, TV shows and music more quickly and new menu for perusing the more than 750 online services available through the device. The new model will be sold for $100, initially only at Roku's website and Amazon.com. Next month, it will expand into other retail outlets, including Costco and Best Buy stores. Prices for older Roku models with less horsepower start at $50. The new player is the first update to Roku's line of set-top boxes since July 2011. In the interim, Roku last year introduced a finger-shaped device that plugs directly into high-definition ports, much like a flash drive fits into a personal computer's USB drive. The ability to listen to video and music on headphones will probably be the Roku 3's biggest attraction, especially for households that already own one of the company's earlier boxes. Ear buds are included with the Roku 3, although any pair of headphones can be plugged into a jack on the side of the device's remote control. Just as with the set-top box itself, a Wi-Fi connection is required for the headphones to work. It's a feature unavailable on the Apple TV player that poses the main competition to Roku's streaming devices. The Roku 3 introduces new navigation tools that will be automatically sent to previous versions of the box in a software update later this year. The redesign displays more information by stacking the channels vertically in rows of three instead of in single, horizontal row in the middle of the screen. The makeover means nine channel choices can be seen at a time instead of just five under the old format. The new box also boasts a faster processor than previous models, an upgrade likely to appeal to people who want to use the device to play online video games on their TVs. Although it's still a small company, Roku Inc. has emerged as a significant player in the steadily growing market for Internet video since it introduced its first set-top box nearly five years ago. Originally conceived within Netflix Inc. as a cheap and easy way to get Internet video on to flat-panel TVs, Roku now offers a wide array of entertainment options. Besides Netflix's Internet video subscription service, Roku boxes also connect to alternatives from Amazon.com and Hulu.com, as well as a variety of online music stations.
BURBANK, Calif. -- Caption “Star Trek” star Chris Pine is set to be honored at CinemaCon next month.
![[SB10001424127887323628804578343542910675044]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_udsRbXN29RQMCotm1t8uunDtzlULo8nxyUelMaOX-cs57e8Q51g-qaZ6uALU9n6o_TLhveXpmNtQrtpKNad2qJtU8iw6i2l8FCJHQgtAjcjdnXn1glYexRi2l3xz0Ge0LVdXfkBCs552sfR537o-c=s0-d)
HTC showed off its new One smartphone to select journalists, and we were among the lucky ones to be invited. We used the device for a while, and here are our observations about the next flagship smartphone from HTC.
