Samsung to ends Apple's iPad 2 winning streak!

So what's an innovative company like Samsung to do when its Galaxy Tab 10.1 gets outdone by Apple's mighty iPad 2? Sammy just sat down, and totally reworked the chassis of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 to fit it in 0.33" (8.6mm), a tad less than the iPad 2's 0.34" (8.8mm) which causing it to be lighter than iPad 2 indirectly, at 1.31 pounds (595g). The profile slimming doesn't come at the expense of its firepower and battery capacity, as Samsung claims the same 10 hours of video playback as before.

If you are complaining the size 10.1" is too huge for you, how about a 8.9" size tablet? Introducing Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's younger brother, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. Both the tablets by Sammy will have exact same specs except for the display size (10.1" vs. 8.9") and battery capacity (6800mAh vs. 6000mAh) only. Click on the source link for more detailed specs!

Source: PhoneArena

Droid 3 breaks cover!

Still remember Motorola Droid 3 that I posted few days ago? Apparently, the guy from HowardForums has posted a few more eye candy of the Motorola Droid 3. It was spotted with a 5 rows keypad which I love it! Unfortunately, there are no news whether it will comes with a dual-core processor and a front camera.

Source: HowardForums

Self repair multi core processor by CRISP

With the size of the processor getting smaller and thinner day by day, there is no doubt that it will become more fragile than ever. So, to curb this problem, a team of researchers called CRISP (Cutting edge Reconfigurable ICs for Stream Processing) is working to create a self-repairing multi-core processor that allows for 100 percent functionality, even with faulty components. Once one core fails, the on-chip manager assigns its task to another core, continuing on in this fashion until the chip completes its lifetime. If CRISP's chips becomes a reality, we could see virtually indestructible processors that make 14nm look bulky by comparison!

Source: CRISP

Motorola Droid 3, Droid X 2 and Targa

Looks like Motorola still have some new devices in their sleeves. First is the successor to the one year old Droid 2, The Motorola Droid 3 which will have a physical QWERTY keypad. Next, we have the Motorola Droid X 2 which is just a refreshed Droid X with some minor hardware upgrade such as 1.2GHz single-core CPU, and 768MB of RAM. Last but not least, the Motorola Targa which will support 4G LTE and has a huge hump on its back to accommodate the camera sensor (12MP?)

All the phone stated above will be headed to Verizon. It seems that the recent launched Verizon iPhone 4 hasn't really impacted the mighty Droid series that much after all!

Source: Engadget

Backlight bleeding issue in iPad 2

There are a few reported cases where the owner of the new iPad 2 discovered that there are yellow spots beneath the LCD glass and noticeable light bleeding through from the outer edges of the LCD panel when watching a dark/black background. The first problem will resolved itself as the bonding agent used for the LCD glass evaporated which is similar to iPhone 4 cases. The second issue can be minimized by adjusting the brightness in settings. Click on the source link to see the video showing the defects on iPad 2.

Source: I am Phone

iPad 2 review by Engadget!

Engadget has recently reviewed the Apple's latest tablet device, iPad 2. iPad 2 has been given a score of 9/10 which is predictable due to several reasons. Among the reasons are it is amazingly thin, extremely fast and added cameras. If it is so great, why 9 out of 10 only? Well, Engadget has commented that the quality of the picture taken by the camera is poor, the screen resolution should be higher and the OS still has rough edges. Click on the source link to see the detailed review!

Source: Engadget

Unhackable Chrome!

Google has challenged hackers around the world to hack its Google Chrome. A hefty pay of $20,000 will be given to any team or individual who have succeed to hack the Chrome. Two hacker groups have signed up for the challenge but utterly gave up which means that Google Chrome is still the safest web browser to date. What you waiting for? Give Google Chrome a try! I bet that you won't regret it.

Source: Computerworld

Apple iPad 2.... the tablet defending champion.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has made its second-generation iPad official. The iPad 2 is said to be up to twice as fast, with graphics performance up to nine times better than on the original iPad, all thanks to the dual-core A5 SOC inside the 8.8mm thick body (33% thinner than its predecessor)! It comes with a front and rear camera, Facetime, HDMI output capable of 1080p and 64GB of storage. On the other hand, the display and battery life will still remain the same with the original iPad which is 1024x768 resolution and 10 hours of battery life. (a little bit of let down......where is the Retina Display??)

Oh...... and don't forget about the Smart covers! Click on the link for detail specs!

Source: Engadget

Robot that plants seeds?

Meet the Prospero, a five-legged robot that is capable to complete all of the necessary steps required to grow a plant. The robot will start to dig a hole, drop a seed, move the soil back over the hole when it detects there is a need to put a seed. Geez, humans are getting lazy.

Source: Trossen Robotics

Samsung to announce 8.9" tablet!

I told ya that 2011 will be a interesting year. Samsung will announce another new member for its Galaxy tablet series on 22nd of March. This time it is a 8.9" tablet. The rest of the specs are still unknown. So, stay tuned for the announcement on 22nd March!

Source: Fonearena

Eye-controlled laptop!

Welcome to the future! In the on-going CeBIT fair, Lenovo and Tobii (a firm that specialize in eye control) have displayed a prototype Windows 7 laptop with built-in eye control sensors which is located on the bottom of display. To use the eye controlled capabilities of that laptop, you will need to press a key command to activate it because you don't want the computer to do crazy things when you look around. You may skip the first 2 mins (calibration process) to watch the laptop in actions @ the source.

Source: Engadget

Motorola Xoom overclocked to 1.504GHz!

Hey, that fellow over SetCPU has overclocked the Motorola Xoom to a blazing speed of 1.504GHz and has performed a series of tests with Quadrant and Linpack . Guess what are the scores? It is a record-breaking 3105 and 47 MFLOPS! See the beast in action right after the break!

Apple's MacBook Pro refreshed!

Apple has unveiled its refreshed MacBook Pro series which is still in the aluminum unibody casing. It will packed with new Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, AMD Radeon HD 6000M graphics and the new I/O system, Thunderbird developed by Intel. The MacBook Pro series will come in 13", 15.4" and the almighty 17" display. Click on the source for detailed specs.

Source: Apple

It is confirmed! NEC's MEDIAS N-04C is the world's thinnest smartphone!

This 7.7mm thick Froyo handset will packed with NFC, 1seg TV Tuner, infrared port, 5 megapixel camera, 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 chip and 4" display protected by Gorilla Glass. If you are worried about the OS version it comes with, no worry. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade will be available on July. More hands-on photos over at the source.

Source: AkihabaraNews

Thunderbolt, aka Light Peak by Intel

Guys and gals, still remember "Light Peak"? I hope that it is still fresh in your mind. In conjunction with Apple's MacBook Pro launch, Intel has revealed Light Peak's official name, Thunderbird. The MacBook Pro is the first device that comes with the Thunderbird I/O which will be backwards and forwards-compatible with PCI Express 2.0, FireWire or eSATA.

Source: Engadget

First Motorola Xoom's review by Engadget!

Well, well, well. It is pretty fast isn't it? Engadget has completed its Motorola Xoom review and has given it a 7/10 score which is below my expectation. Engadget has explained that Motorola Xoom deserves this score is because the Android Honeycomb 3.0 OS is still buggy, there is a hardware buttons issues and a very little native software available. Lets not to talk about the Cons shall we? Here is the Pros of the Motorola Xoom. It is the first Android tablet with Android 3.0 onboard. It is very fast (1Ghz Tegra 2, 1 GB RAM), and it has front and rear-facing cameras. Lets not to forget about the Barometer!

Source: Engadget

Android activations mapped geographically and chronologically by Google

Google has released a map of the world that shows Android activations over time. You can see the amazing growth rate of the Android after Motorola Droid and Samsung Galaxy S launches.

Source: Android Central

Samsung Galaxy S II first with MHL port for USB, MHL and HDMI out!!

Guys and gals, if you think that Samsung Galaxy S II comes without HMDI port turns you off, then you are dead wrong! Samsung Galaxy S II is actually the first smartphone that equipped with a MHL port. In case you may have asked what is MHL, here it is. MHL stands for Mobile High-Definition video Link, is another mobile interconnect standard just like DisplayPort, mini-HDMI, or Light Peak.

The MHL port is capable to recognizes USB or MHL impedance and it will switch the phone into USB mode or MHL modes accordingly. What about HDMI? Well, to connect SGS II to a HDMI-equipped TV, you will need a special 5-wire micro-USB to HDMI cable to send media files to the TV. In short, MHL port is capable to support USB, HDMI and MHL. With the introduction of MHL into SGS II, Samsung manage to save up some precious space to give you a slim SGS II. Video after the break!

Motorola Atrix gets teardown!

Are you curious about the components in the Motorola Atrix but have no guts to tear it down? Well, the guys over ifixit have managed to do it. ifixit gives Motorola Atrix a repairability score of 9/10 because it doesn’t require fancy stuffs to perform teardown and the most important thing they would like to emphasize is that the qHD Pentile LCD display doesn’t affix to the glass front panel. This will make the people who drop their Atrix won't have to spend their money on replacing a fully functional LCD in addition to their broken glass! Good thought Moto! Click on the source link to see the tear down process.

Source: ifixit

Rumors: iPad 2 to be revealed on March 2

I am not sure whether it is true or not but Apple might reveal iPad 2 on March 2 in San Francisco to defends its throne from the Android’s Honeycomb tablet assault especially from the Motorola Xoom. The iPad 2, as suggested by different sources, will have a gyroscope, front facing camera, rear camera, SD card slot, super high resolution display, dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and dual core SGX543 GPU.

Source: All Things Digital via Engadget

Rumors: Intel to showcase “Light Peak” on Thursday, replaces SCSI, SATA, USB, PCI Express and HMDI!

Intel has invited journalists to attend an event on Thursday where it will demo “a new technology that is about to appear on the market” in San Francisco. There is no hard news on what Intel will showcase but rumors are saying that Intel will reveal its proprietary optical cable interface “Light Peak” in 10Gbps copper form, which is being developed in attempt to reduce the proliferation of ports on computers such as SCSI, SATA, USB, PCI Express and even HDMI.

Source: Engadget

Rejoice. Motorola XOOM will have bootloader that can be unlocked and relocked at will.

New devices coming out of Moto these days is loaded with a locked bootloader paired with one tamper-resistant scheme such as the world’s fastest smartphone, Motorola Atrix. Of course, all these have changed at least for the Motorola XOOM since it is a Honeycomb’s launch device that runs a completely bone-stock build of Android. Thanks to Google’s influence, Motorola XOOM’s bootloader can be unlocked and relocked at will. Hooray for the custom kernels’ developers!

Source: @Motorola Twitter

New display technology, the Quantum dot display

Samsung has demonstrated a 4” quantum dots display on a flexible surface recently. “What is Quantum dot?” you may have asked. Well, quantum dots are nanocrystals that emit light when they get excited. The wavelength of light emitted is dictated by the size of the crystal. By laying different sized crystal on precise grids, it creates RGB pixels that can be applied directly to glass or a flexible surface which is a must to make a display. The quantum display will be far more efficient than an LCD while brighter and longer-lasting than OLED theoretically.

Source: Technology Review

Kiss controller lets you play bowling by kissing @@

Kiss controller, a device developed by Hye Yeon Nam which is similar to Nitendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, senses your tounge movement in order for you to play bowling game. Its working concept is quite simple. You will need a user to wear a customized headset that functions as a sensor receiver and affix a magnet on his/her tongue that provides sensor input. As the user moves his/her tongue, this creates varying magnetic fields that are used to control games. Device in actions right after the jump!

Motorola Atrix rooted, but......

I have a good news and bad news for you regarding the Motorola latest flagship, Motorola Atrix. First, the good news. You can get it for $129.90 from Wal-Mart and the people from xda have managed to root this baby way before its official launched in the US.

The bad news. As it has been predicted, Motorola Atrix comes with the evil locked bootloader. In other words, the files in the root cannot be replaced by custom ones like recovery. So, the device will stay locked to a certain extent even though the process of rooting was successful. Bad Moto......

Source: xda developers

World's thinnest Android smartphone - NEC MEDIAS N-04C!!

If you think that Samsung Galaxy S II is the world's thinnest smartphone, think again. This new N-04C is spotted with a 4” display, a 7.7mm body (S II thickness is 8.49mm), 1Seg TV Tuner, Felica NFC service and Android 2.2. Detailed specs will be available in two days time during DoCoMo press event. In the mean time, you can drool over the picture as it is unlikely you can get it outside of Japan >.<

Source: AkibaharaNews

Single robotic hand hits 20 Words per minute!

Researchers from Virginia Tech have attempted to create a robotic hand that they have optimized to achieve near-human appearance and performance. The robotic hand, known as Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robotic Typing hand or simply DART hand, is capable to type at a rate of 20 words per minute, compared to the average human typing speed of 33 words per minute with two hands. Using a total of 19 servo motors and wires as tendons, the DART hand can be integrated into a humanoid robot to perform tasks such as typing, reaching objects, and opening doors. See the DART hand in actions and full scientific paper at the source below.

Source: PhysOrg

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, a PlayStation certified Android smartphone!

Owning a PSP no longer makes you awesome/cool because Sony Ericsson has officially announced its new PSP smartphone, the Xperia Play. The main attraction for this device is that it has a slide-out PlayStation Certified controller, pre-loaded with PSone legendary games as well as Android's popular games and the ability to support local area multiplayer gaming via WiFi hotspot. Still not enough? Sony Ericsson has promised to add 50 additional titles from 20 publishing partners, all available at launch! Detailed specs and video right after the jump!

Mind-controlled car?

Have you ever thought that you can control your car by simply thinking? An AI professor at the Freie Universität Berlin and his team have demonstrated how a driver can use a brain interface to steer a vehicle. The researchers use Emotiv's mind-reading EPOC headset to record the brain's activity of a driver. After a few rounds of "mental training," the driver is able to move virtual objects by simply thinking. The BrainDriver software then associates the patterns to specific commands -- turn left, turn right, accelerate etc. Check out the vehicle in actions right after the break!

HP Veer, HP Pre 3 and HP TouchPad

Oh boy, 2011 is really an interesting year. If neither one of the current smartphone with OS Blackberry, Android, iOS and WP7 suites your tastes, then here is a good news for you. HP, who acquired Palm on 28 April 2010, has officially announced three devices which operate using webOS namely HP Veer, HP Pre 3 and HP TouchPad to spice up the already intense smartphones and tablets wars. More details right after the jump.

LG Optimus 3D, world's first dual core, dual channel, dual memory smartphone

LG has introduced a new member into its Optimus series, LG Optimus 3D at Mobile World Congress 2011. LG Optimus 3D, like what its name suggests, is a smartphone which is capable to display 3D images and videos without the need of 3D glasses. It is also world's first smartphone with dual core, dual channel, dual memory and dual 5MP camera. Sounds interesting right? More details right after the break.

Motorola Atrix, World's fastest smartphone?

Motorola Atrix, the world's fastest smartphone, self claimed by Motorola, is also a winner for the Best of CES 2011. Motorola Atrix will be shipped with Android OS Froyo 2.2 (upgradeable to Gingerbread 2.3) and Motorola's custom skin, Motoblur. Main features after the break!

Android 2.3.3 brings NFC and Bluetooth together

The Android team has released SDK for Android 2.3.3 recently which supports NFC to pair up with Bluetooth by simply touching 2 devices together. This is how it works:

"To use NFC to kick off a Bluetooth session, first start a running socket server on one device, using a randomly generated service UUID. Then, create an NDEF message encoding the MAC address of the phone’s Bluetooth device and the UUID of the listening service. When this message is received by the joining phone, it will have enough information to connect to the Bluetooth server socket." - quoted from MobiSocial News

Source:  MobiSocial News

HTC goes ChaCha and Salsa

Ever think of your current Facebook app in your phone is not good enough? Well, introduce to you the world's first pair of Facebook phone by HTC - portait QWERTY ChaCha and full touch screen Salsa. More details after the break.

NVIDIA Tegra 3 announced!

As we are just getting warmed up with NVIDIA dual-core processor Tegra 2, NVIDIA has announced its quad-core processor, code name Kal-El (Superman's name). It is said that Tegra 3 will provides double the processing power of Tegra 2 and triple the graphics performance!

Quad-core Kal-El is expected to land on tablets by August 2011!

Source: Engadget

"Rogue" - Imagination Technologies Series 6 PowerVR chips

Imagination Technologies has unveiled its Series 6 PowerVR chips, code name "Rogue" which is 20 to 100 times more powerful than Series 5 PowerVR chips which found in iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S and Droid 2.

By using just a fraction of juice from your battery, these GPUs will deliver mind blowing graphics which rival with today's desktop computers horsepower. Crysis 2 in your handset? Hell Yeah!!

Source: Imagination Technologies

Whiteboard cleaning humanoid, Fujitsu's HOAP-2

Fujitsu's HOAP-2, a humanoid robot attached with force-torque sensor is able to clean a whiteboard via upper-body kinesthetic teaching.

Source: Peter Kormushev

Samsung to offer Tegra 2 Galaxy S II?

It seems that Galaxy S II, i9100 which based on Exynos will have a twin brother i9103 which is based on Tegra 2.

This might turn out to be true when Samsung's own spec sheet for Galaxy S II stated that Exynos might not applicable in some regions. Most likely Samsung will rely on Tegra 2 for its non-critical market as Samsung own processor production might not reached sufficient volumes yet.

Source: Anandtech & Samsung

“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature” – WP7

Apparently, Microsoft rep says that the camera settings return to their defaults every time you load the camera app was actually a decision by the team. The team noting that if you need to pull out your phone for a quick snap, you’d rather not have to fiddle with whatever wacky settings you had set up on the prior use.

WTF!@#$%^&*

Cool down. Microsoft team is looking at that option to see if there is a more optimal option. So, it could be changed!

Source: WMPoweruser.com

XOOM XOOM XOOM

Motorola has just released the full spec sheets for its Android Honeycomb tablets, namely Motorola XOOM CDMA version, GSM version and WiFi only version. Detailed specs after the break!

IBM supercomputer, Watson beats human opponents at Jeopardy!

Like it or not, Watson which is made up of 2880 POWER7 cores, 16 Terabytes of memory, and 4 Terabytes of clustered storage has won $1,000,000 at Jeopardy (a popular US trivia gameshow) with a beautiful score of $77,147. Its human opponents Ken Jennings scored $24,000 and Brad Rutter scored $21,600. Watson will be giving all his $1,000,000 winnings to charity.

Source: ZDNet & Engadget

New year, new resolution, new technologies!

Frankly speaking, creating a tech blog is one of my new year resolution. After one month plus of procrastination, I’ve finally registered myself a blog.

“Why choose e-ketchup as your blog’s name? It is so lameeeeeee” you may have asked. Well, here goes my explanations. “e” stands for electronic which suits my blog which is a tech blog. As for the “ketchup”, I am just borrowing its sound which resembles with “catch up”. Ketchup, Catchup, Ketchup, Catchup, Ketchup, Catchup…..Got it? LOL. So, the meaning of “e-ketchup” is to catch up with the latest technology.

2011 will be a year full of new and interesting gadgets and technologies. So, stay tuned for my latest update.