AH - New ELECTRONIC and GADGETS

Apple will reportedly launch two new iPad versions, both with 9.7 inch displays, at the iWorld on January 26, 2012. According to Digitime sources, apple will continue to market its iPad 2 at a reduced price, as a competitor to Amazon's Kindle Fire at the low end of the market. The two new iPad models will feature quad core processors and QXGA resolution (1,536x2,048 pixels) displays. They will target the medium and high ends of the market. Sharp, LG Display and Samsung are all three in the display supply chain. Despite its raging patent war against Samsung, Apple has also contracted with the Korean giant for supply of A6 quad-core processors and 5 MP CMOS image sensor (CIS) for the iPads. The 5 MP CIS will go into the medium end device, while Apple's flagship iPad will feature a 8 MP CIS from Sony, sources tell Digitimes. The standout feature of the new iPads will be long battery life, based on an astounding 14,000 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery to be supplied...

The Indian government is soliciting participation from Taiwanese Tablet PC makers in a bid to push down the price of its second Aakash tablet PC to $35, according to Digitimes . The Aakash currently costs $50 to build. The Android 2.2 device is powered by 366 MHz Processor and 256 MB RAM. It features a 7-in, 800x 480 resistive touch screen. The device is being assembled by UK-based Datawind, with 10 to 20% components sourced from Taiwan; 8,000 units having been shipped so far to students for trial. The Aakash tablet is currently being offered only to post-secondary students. Datawind launched a commercial version of the product, called the UbiSlate, with a cellular modem, in November. The UbiSlate, which is now completely sold out, was priced around $60 including 12 months of warranty, with internet access across mobile networks priced at $2 for 2GB. A follow-up version of the device is planned, with international bidding, earlier scheduled in December, but now postpone...

Asus will sell 3-6 million tablet PCs in 2012, against 1.8 million in 2011, company chairman Jonney Shih said recently. [via CENS.com] Shih is optimistic about the long term prospects of tablet computers in general, and Asus' Transformer Prime in particular, which is currently the only tablet with an optional keyboard and battery dock, facilitating the use of a physical keyboard. Asus is pursuing a patent for the detachable keyboard dock, as well as working on a new tablet with an attached physical keyboard. Shih's optimism is also driven by the expected launch of Windows 8 in the second half of 2012. Windows 8 will allows tablets to be used for data creation, not just media consumption as is the case now. According to Shih, Asus will launch a Windows 8 version of Transformer Prime in 2012. Shih acknowledged that some Transformer Primes were facing Wi-Fi signal problems. The company has posted a product exchange for those facing the issue on its website.

Amica Kitchen Appliances commissioned a research into the jungle of machinery through which we have to struggle in the course of life – and found that men are practically helpless with kitchen gadgets whereas women get lost in the functions of a cell phone or an MP3 player. Of 2,000 adults polled men proved to be fairly efficient about household devices , yet now and then they run into a gadget that is stubbornly recalcitrant. 25% confessed that they wouldn’t know how to operate the washing machine and about the same number admitted they were baffled by the grill. Women said they occasionally have trouble making their computer do what they want or find many of the high-tech devices unmanageable – down to their kids’ games console or a digital camera. The comment from the Amica Kitchen Appliances’ spokesperson rounded off the conclusion that women are handy with the kitchen appliances while men have their hearts set on gadgets that they can carry about “and as a result ma...

Fujifilm was recently granted a patent for a sensor that uses a photo sensitive organic (carbon based) film on top of silicon substrate with circuitry for electron readout. The organic coating converts photons impacting the sensor directly to electrons, unlike CCD and CMOS sensor that use silicon photodiodes to convert photons to electrons. The electrons produced are read by circuitry embedded in the silicon substrate, just as in the case with traditional CCD and CMOS sensors. The organic film allows practically the entire surface area of sensor to be used for sensing light (100% aperture), which is not the case with traditional sensors. The extremely thin organic layer is able to absorb enough light making the sensor free from spectral cross-talk between tiny pixels when capturing slanting rays of light. As a result, there is no need for microlenses to gather incident light as in traditional sensors, which dramatically reduces manufacturing cost. The organic film ...

In an interview with Japan's Digital Camera Magazine the marketing manager for Olympus, Haruo Ogawa, has revealed that the company will launch a new series of mirrorless cameras featuring new, breathtaking viewfinder technology. Olympus will continue with its PEN series mirrorless cameras which come with an optional electronic viewfinder (EVF). The new series cameras will be compatible with PEN cameras. Ogawa hinted that the new technology should help mirrorless cameras become mainstream, instead of remaining confined to the domain of hobbyists. Olympus developed the new viewfinder technology in response to user feedback that EVFs don't deliver the joy of optical viewfinders (OVFs) despite supporting features that OVFs lack. (EVFs allow you to preview the effect of the art filter or WB selected. They also make framing, zooming in and focusing easier.) In September 2010, Fujifilm announced its Super Compact FinePix X100 with a hybrid viewfinder that allows you to...

Solar Power generation costs have dropped to an extent where a unit of solar power is cheaper than what you pay to the utilities in some regions. According to an analysis at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, solar photovoltaic systems are very close to achieving the tipping point and becoming mainstream. According to Joshua Pearce, an associate professor of electrical engineering and materials science at Michigan Technological University and a member of the team that conducted the analysis, the price of solar panels has dropped 70% since 2009. Equally important, it is now evident that assumptions used in previous studies to compute the cost of solar power generation were flawed. "Historically, when comparing the economics of solar and conventional energy, people have been very conservative," says Pearce. When computing the cost of photovoltaic energy, analysts need to factor in variables like cost to install and maintain the system, finance charges, how ...

Apple supply chain manufacturers are switching focus to next generation iPad components, winding down production for iPad 2 components, reports Digitimes . Supply of next generation iPad components has already started even as production of iPad 2 components is winding down with iPad 2 production volumes expected to drop from 14-15 million units in the last quarter of 2011 to just 4-5 million units in first quarter of 2012. Chinese-language Commercial Times, quoting Kevin Chang, an analyst of Citigroup Global Markets, reports that Foxconn Electronics will start rolling out next gen iPads from January, increasing monthly production volumes from February onwards. Between 9.5 – 9.8 million next gen iPads are expected to be produced in the first quarter of 2012. Apple is expected to end 2011 triumphantly with total iPad sales of 40 million units, having sold 25.06 million units in the first three quarters. It is rumored that next gen iPads will comprise two products – a low e...

While long accustomed to Japan’s technical ingenuity, the world will certainly gape at this one – so much lifelike the woman – sorry, the female robot – looks. It has been given out that it, or maybe she, is capable of the simplest facial functions like moving its head and lips, blinking, and even responding to questions. There is no further information, but it’s reasonably doubtful that Japanese boffins will stop at that. Probably they will make her a thoroughly marvelous creature that will mark a new epoch of human relationship? Were all these fantastic books actually more realistic than we could have guessed at the time? It seems that we will know the answer to this question very soon.

Acer reportedly plans to launch a quad-core Android 4.0 tablet early next year that will compete against Eee Pad Transformer Prime from Asus and an upcoming quad-core device from Samsung, sources tell Digitimes. By Vijainder K Thakur Tablet computers powered by dual core processors from Acer (Iconia Tab A500), Asus (Eee Pad Transformer) and Samsung (Galaxy Tab) did not capture the market to the extent they were expected to, but all three vendors have decided to remain in the field. Android tablets have failed to significantly dent Apple's market share in tablet computers, despite fielding performance similar to the iPad. Users appear to be more enamored by Apple's sharper focus on the tablet as an entertainment device, as compared to Android offerings. It's moot if improved performance from quad core processors and Android 4.0 will help Android tablet gain better market traction. Lenovo too is expected to launch a quad core processor tablet early next year cr...

There are people who can rig themselves up for an occasion fast as lightning and those who take infinite pains putting together a needful outfit. There are a lot of people in-between – and all of them stand a good chance of appreciating the latest greatest clothing gadget called the Snappy Dresser . What it can do besides storing your clothes is offer you suggestions as to which of them will do – and come together – for a particular occasion. After you have agreed (or disagreed and put in corrections) it remembers what is actually your feedback and the next time you’re around requiring a combination for a similar occasion, it will be shown first. The Snappy advisor is also great at Virtual Rehearsing, Laundry selection, and Remote Management. As a side service it will hold your shoes or other smaller accessories. Then, you can customize it choosing between five frame colors and arranging the frames as two wardrobes with two interfaces. It’s a cinch this sort of wardrob...

We really need more of those health-monitoring devices that are handy and usable allowing us to get the necessary info without driving over to a hospital, and here’s a gadget that seems to be of a primary importance for early detection of breast cancer from Nihon University. It’s portable and easy to use. Based on the phase shift technology, the new detector doesn’t involve any pressure on the breasts. You just place the gadget against the skin and get the picture on the LCD at once. The detector gives off light at the wavelength of 850nm and measures it as it is reflected back. If there’s a cancerous area its thicker concentration of blood cells will absorb more light compared to intact areas and consequently will appear on the screen colored noticeably darker. The sad news is that the helpful gadget is still being tested, and human tests haven’t even begun. So the university people cannot yet commit themselves to tell us when the detector is ready to go on sale, while ...