An 8 foot screen for your phone.

Is carrying a DVD player, a television, and all the wires associated with these devices too much to handle? Lucky for you, there is a new craze in mobile devices that is revolutionizing the way we view media.

Featured in Popular Science magazine, Samsung’s Show is one of the first phones to harness the power of portable projectors. The projector displays movies and images up to 100 inches measured diagonally at 480 x 320 pixels.

The projector is not necessary, however, because the phone also features the newly developed class of high definition screens known as OLEDs, standing for Organic Light Emitting Diodes. This allows screens to be ultra thin because each pixel emits its own light; thus, there is no need for an external source. Sony was one of the first companies to implement the technology in their high definition televisions.

The phone also features a 5 mega-pixel camera on the back, higher than most phones, and a 0.3 mega-pixel camera on the front for video calls.

For many phones, battery life takes away the purpose of the phone. The Show uses a lithium-ion battery and ultra-efficient LED lamps in its projector to provide a little over 3 hours of use that includes phone calls and web surfing.

The phone has only been released in Korea, and there have not been public plans to release the phone in the United States. The whopping $490 dollars that it would cost is enough to drive consumers away, and because the technology is new, prices will not be going down any time soon.

Below you will find a video showing the phone. If you would only like to see the projector, please forward to about 5:15 in the video. For best results, after pressing play, press the HQ button next to the sound control. If you are at school, the youtube video is probably blocked, so you will not be able to view it.

New Text Message: Turn left…there is a sale.

As the use of GPS technologies becomes standard for phones, many advertising companies are working to provide businesses with the ability to harness GPS data for a new form of mobile advertising.

Satellites are continuously receiving signals from phones like the iPhone 3G with built in positioning hardware, allowing phone companies to track your movement globally, nationally, statewide, as far down to step wide. With the ability to track minute movements, advertisers are looking into GPS enabled marketing.

In the near future, just by passing a store or a restaurant, you could receive a text message informing you about a deal happening inside, but first you have to provide consent to the shop to send you details about local promotions generated by reviewing your position. The technology has the potential to be so advanced that by simply walking down an aisle, you could receive a text message informing you about a sale three items down.

According to CNN, there are mixed feelings about the line between violation of privacy and healthy advertising.

What do you think?

Earth, blurred

California Assemblyman Joel Anderson wants to pass bill AB-255 that would restrict the view of public buildings and places of religious practice from software like Google Earth.

Anderson is no novice in tackling controversial topics. For example, in 2007 he convinced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a bill that would stop investing in companies that were doing business in Iran.

The main clauses of the bill are as follows:

An operator of a commercial Internet Web site or online service that makes a virtual globe browser available to members of the public shall not provide aerial or satellite photographs or imagery of a building or facility in this state that is identified on the Internet Web site by the operator as a school or place of worship, or a government or medical building or facility, unless those photographs or images have been blurred.

An operator of a commercial Internet Web site or online service that makes a virtual globe browser available to members of the public shall not provide street view photographs or images of the buildings and facilities described in subdivision (a).

Many political figures are agreeing on this topic. The overall concerns of these politicians is the safety of the people. There is always a threat for a terrorist attack, and having these maps readily available is making it easier for targetting purposes. The concerned politicians include the Indian Minister of State for Home in Maharashtra, Naseem Khan.

Anderson’s bill is not finalized yet, and according to CNN, the bill should enter committee in a week.

What Made the News

This is the front page of San Jose's Mercury News. It, on the front page alone, contains many articles involving technology. The image is from: http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=CA_SJMN&ref_pge=lst

E-Cigs

On Saturday, I was at Oakridge Mall in San Jose when I noticed a group of people smoking indoors. My friend said, “Hey, they can’t do that inside.” When we went and looked at the booth, it turned out the “cigarettes” were not cigarettes at all; rather, they were electronic “e-cigs”.

The booth even had a television with a looping video depicting people smoking in restaurants, coffee shops, and the mall.

Now, the FDA is challenging the safety of the product. Because the “e-cig” is a new drug, it needs to be approved by the FDA. The device does contain nicotine and relies on a light emitting diode to simulate lit tobacco.

Stem Cell Research

President Obama, as you can see on this paper, promised to include science in future decisions of his administration. He has already commenced overhauling previous laws of stem cell research.

NASA begins new mission

NASA has announced plans to send the Kepler spacecraft into outer space. The purpose of the mission is to discover more Earths in the Milky Way Galaxy. The technology works by detecting the dimming of stars caused by planetary movement.

So, how does it know if the object is another Earth? For a planet to be considered another Earth, it must be able to produce water and acceptable amounts of oxygen. To determine whether a planet is capable of achieving this, the telescope uses the light to determine how far the planet is from the sun. If it is too close, the temperature is too hot. If it is too far, the temperature is too cold.

The new mission has been an extremely popular story on many blogs, websites, newspapers, and other media. Most recently, the story appeared on the Colbert Report.

Besides for the Kepler space craft, Nasa is launching Node 3 to be added to International Space Station. NASA is asking for help on naming the addition. Stephen Colbert, the comedian, is trying to get his name on the object, and so far he has received many votes on NASA’s website.

You can vote at http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/name_ISS/index.html. I am also hosting a vote on this website. You can vote below.

Welcome!

Welcome to my site at abouteck.wordpress.com. Here you can find technological advances in our society, what technologies made the news, and tutorials for software.