A round-up of other technology news in brief
Microsoft unveils phones aimed at young people
Microsoft has launched two new phones aimed at young people, marking a fresh assault on the low end of the growing smartphone market, where BlackBerry and Apple dominate.
The software company’s first foray into designing its own phones comes six months before it rolls out its new Windows software for phones made by other handset makers.
The Kin One and Kin Two, as they are being branded, are made by Japan’s Sharp and will be sold by Verizon Wireless.
The new phones – available in the US in May and Europe in the autumn – focus on combining feeds from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter on to the homescreen, and allow users to set up networks of friends to share photographs, weblinks and so on. – (Reuters)
Plink founders to move to Los Angeles to join Google team
The founders of Plink, the visual search tool acquired by Google this week, have confirmed that they will be moving to Los Angeles to join the Google Goggles team.
Goggles is Google software that identifies pictures taken with cameraphones.
Plink, which was registered in Ireland but operated from offices in Oxford, was acquired for an undisclosed sum. It was the first time Google acquired an Irish or British firm. “We certainly started the company expecting to grow it for many years,” said Dubliner Mark Cummins, one of the two Oxford University computer science doctoral students who founded the company. “But when the opportunity came along to join Google, it was hard to turn down.”
Plink had developed an app that identifies paintings based on pictures taken with a phone.
3D versions of 'Shrek' films
As Dreamworks Animation prepares for the May 21st release of Shrek Forever After, the studio is converting the first three films in the hit franchise to stereo format for a 3D Blu-ray Disc release.
“Our movies exist in digital files to begin with. To go back and rebuild to a quality 3D experience is not inexpensive, but we are about to achieve a pretty high- quality result,” chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said at the annual US National Association of Broadcasters convention.
He expressed optimism about the rate of technical innovation in 3D film-making, spending some time discussing live-action conversion – the subject of much scrutiny since the poorly received 3D conversion of Clash of the Titans opened in cinemas. – (Reuters)
Student science festival kicks off
SciFest, the month-long festival of science for second-level students, kicked off yesterday with an event at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Kevin Street.
Some 2,000 second-level students are expected to compete in the events taking place in 14 institutes of technology across Ireland over the coming weeks. Projects on display at DIT Kevin Street included a study on whether gaming affects your personality by students from Loreto College, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
Toshiba to roll out tablet devices to compete with iPad
Toshiba’s PC sales in the US jumped 50 per cent in the first quarter, and the company said it was preparing to roll out tablet- style computing devices later this year to compete with Apple’s iPad.
Jeff Barney, general manager of digital products for Toshiba America, said Toshiba planned to launch so-called “slate” PCs this year, running on both Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Google’s mobile Android operating systems. Toshiba is looking at a variety of form factors for its slate PCs, including a dual-screen model running Windows, and one with a roughly 10-inch screen, he said. – (Reuters)
