Rajinikanth website really runs without Internet!

Kolkata: It may sound like another Rajinikanth joke, but a new website dedicated to the superstar runs `without an Internet connection`! Visitors to www.allaboutrajni.com are greeted with a warning that "He is no ordinary man, this is no ordinary website. It runs on Rajini Power" and are advised to switch off their Internet connection to enter the website.

Only when the web is disconnected, one is allowed to explore the site.

Netizens can trace the story of the legend from the beginning, read inside scoops from his films and get a glimpse of behind-the-scenes action, while browsing through famous Rajini jokes about impossible feats only he can achieve. 

"The unbelievable spectacle of running a website without the Internet is a tribute to Rajinikant`s larger than life image," claimed Webchutney`s creative director Gurbaksh Singh, who developed the site.

With a heady mix of foot-tapping music, vibrant splash of colours, quirky quotes and illustrations, and icons in true Rajni style and lingo, the unique website reflects Rajini`s signature style. 

Singh said that the website is based on a complex algorithm running in the back-end that keeps an eye on the propagation of data packets between two terminals. 

Magic kicks in soon as the Internet speed is down to zero, which is the basic premise on which the site and the concept have been constructed. 

The humour element on the website is accentuated by the error message in typical Rajini style that appears if a visitor attempts to re-connect the Internet. 

"Aiyyo! That was unexpected. To keep browsing, switch off your Internet," reads the message. 

"The website has received a phenomenal response and has gone viral with several thousand hits and counting, along with innumerable shares and mentions across the web, especially on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter," Singh said. 

"After a few iterations and testing, we cracked the code required to build the world`s first website that runs without the Internet - a website that runs offline - which is as awesome and unbelievable as miracles and stunts associated or performed by Rajni himself," he said. 

PTI

Lytro: The Biggest Thing to Happen to Photography Since Digital

The Lytro camera may be the most diminutive object to start a revolution. With its simple, rectangular form factor, the Lytro looks more ready to bestow the user with a half-dozen Oreo cookies than a totally new kind of photography. But that’s exactly what it promises (and without any trans fat).

The Lytro is the world’s first consumer light-field camera. Unlike conventional models, a light-field camera captures all the light information from all the rays in its field of view — not just color and intensity, but direction as well. The method has a number of novel applications, the most publicized being photos that the viewer can focus after the fact. Here’s an example of one of Lytro’s so-called “living pictures:”

The idea of using a camera to “shoot now, focus later” is what captured the world’s attention when creator Ren Ng revealed his new company and its ambitions to the world earlier this year. Lytro said it hoped to have a camera for sale by the end of 2011, and although it’s missed that deadline, the company unveiled the camera in October and customers can preorder it now. (One big caveat: it’s only Mac-compatible.) It’ll be in consumers’ hands before spring 2012, according to the company.

How It Works

The Lytro requires a completely different approach to photography, but the device still needs to be fundamentally a camera — small and portable, not to mention easy to use. Lytro’s engineers needed to achieve in a compact gadget what had previously been done with a room full of cameras and a supercomputer.

“We’re capturing a different kind of image,” says Charles Chi, executive chairman of Lytro. “Basic cameras capture a 2D slice of a scene. For us, we’re capturing rays of light. It’s important to capture the ray, but also the direction.”

They started with the lens, which is an 8x optical-zoom lens with an constant f/2 aperture — and extremely large spec even by the standards of high-end DSLR cameras. A big aperture is necessary to capture as much light information as possible, and it gives the camera very good performance in low light, Chi says. The lens array is specially packaged with the sensor, and doing that properly with a mass-market product was a challenge.

“The lens array needs to be packaged with the sensor at a very precise distance,” says Chi. “No one had ever done this before. Internally we had done it, but we had to refine it to ensure high quality and high yield. Perfection of the product took several months.”

Once all the light-ray information is gathered and captured by the sensor, it’s up to some sophisticated technology to process it. Enter the light-field engine. Proprietary software can take that data and, with a click of the mouse, repurpose the photo to change the focus or even create a 3D image.

The sheer amount of data and different way it’s stored meant the designers needed to create an entirely new file format, called .lfp (light-field picture). Although that means light-field pics aren’t compatible with services like Snapfish of Flickr, anyone who buys the camera will get unlimited storage on the Lytro site, and those pictures can be embedded on other sites with their full refocusing powers intact.

The Camera That’s Not a Camera

All that novel technology needs a novel design, and Lytro didn’t disappoint. The camera looks nothing like today’s point-and-shoots and DSLRs, with an austere anodized aluminum exterior, a rubberized grip and just two buttons: a shutter button and on/off. A simple finger swipe along the casing controls the zoom.

Although Chi admits they company was definitely trying to stand out with a signature form factor, there were many practical considerations in the design. “It’s very much about form following function,” he says. “We put a lot of effort into minimizing the size of the electronics and creating a great user experience.”

Chi explains that the shutter button is right on the camera’s center of gravity. The designers made sure to ensure the two lined up so hand movement would be minimized, cutting down on any motion blur.

“We did a lot of ergonomic testing. When we were going through industrial design choices, we were looking at early adopters,” he says. “We wanted to appeal to that kind of buyer, give them something they’d be proud to own.”

The Future

The forthcoming camera only takes stills, but could we soon see a Lytro for video? Chi says that the company’s looking into it.

“Video is possible with light fields. The issue isn’t multiple exposures — video is typically 60 exposures per second. We can absolutely do that. The difference is the amount of data coming off of the image sensor. We capture images in full raw. If we have to do that 60 fps, that’s a lot of data to process.”

Besides video, light field photography could also lead to an inexpensive way to shoot in 3D, or further down the road, even holograms. In the here and now, though, Lytro is concentrating on bringing its first camera to market. The first Lytro camera should be here by April, and it’ll be available in three colors and two capacities: The 8GB version comes in electric blue and graphite for $399, and the 16GB version only comes in “red hot” for $499.

Will you buy a Lytro? What’s your favorite part of its design? Let us know in the comments.

This phone has 15 years of battery life!

(SpareOne mobile phone comes with a battery life of 15 years.)

LONDON: SpareOne mobile phone comes with a battery life of 15 years, whether you charge it or not and is designed for emergencies.

It runs on one AA battery, and claims to keep its charge for up to 15 years, something unthinkable for feature-laden phones with batteries that last only a few days.

The SpareOne can be programmed for instant access to phone numbers of key contacts, including emergency services in any location.

As the phone's developer, XPAL Power, says: "It's essentially designed to make and receive the most important calls, no matter what."

The SpareOne is also able to automatically transmit its location via its mobile ID, plus has a built-in torch -- and unlike so many of today's gadgets, it even comes with the AA battery included.

The new phone, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is designed as a 'backup' phone you can keep in the glove compartment for emergencies.

-IANS

E-mail after work hours? That's overtime, says law

Companies take liberties.

The liberty some seem to enjoy most is yours. As recessions hit and profit pressures become the sole reason for existence, bosses seem to believe that they own workers--until they discard them for younger, fresher models.

Now a curiously human law has reared its head in Brazil. According to the Associated Press, this law says that if a company e-mails you after your allotted working hours, then this is the same as if one's supervisor is giving one an instruction to perform a certain work task.

Ergo, argue Brazilian labor lawyers, if a worker receives such an e-mail and has to act on it, he or she qualifies for overtime pay.

I can already hear the howling of corporate management in, say, America. I can hear sniggers suggesting that every corporate employee should be on call 24 hours a day.

That is today's connected world.

Some might offer, though, that today's connected world has become peculiarly inhuman-- one in which employees are numbers, rather than human beings to whom the company has made a longer-term commitment.

If, as Mitt Romney tells us, corporations are people, perhaps people should now be corporations.

"You want me to answer an e-mail at 9 p.m.? That will be $900. Night-rates, you understand."

Meet Microsoft's new multitouch mouse

Microsoft's new multitouch Touch Mouse arrives on store
shelves in May.(Credit: Microsoft)

LAS VEGAS--Not mentioned at today's CES keynote address from Microsoft was something new--a multitouch mouse that's been designed to bring special gesture features to Windows 7 users.

Readers with a good memory might take one look at what Microsoft is calling Touch Mouse, and recognize it as the "Cap Mouse" from October of 2009, which the company unveiled as one of five mousing prototypes. Since then the mouse has cut the cord, tapered out in front, been given a completely different finish (black and red instead of gray and dark gray), and a $79.95 price tag.

The Touch Mouse makes use of multitouch gestures to put nine different system shortcuts up at the top of the mouse instead of using buttons. By the number of fingers, Microsoft breaks them down like so:

One finger lets you manage the content of a document or Web page. Moving one finger lets you precisely scroll in any direction and hyperscroll through long documents with a quick flick of your finger, while using your thumb lets you move back/forward easily through your internet browser.

Two fingers lets you manage multiple windows by maximizing, minimizing, restoring, and snapping them side-by-side.

Three fingers lets you navigate the whole desktop--three fingers up to display all of your open windows for easy task switching or three fingers down for clearing the desktop entirely.

It's worth noting these gestures are only available to Windows 7 users--no word yet on whether the mouse reverts to something more standard on older hardware. Microsoft has a video of these gestures in action, which you can watch below:

The mouse joins Microsoft's Arc Touch as another touch-friendly mouse in the company's hardware lineup. Microsoft says it will hit store shelves in May, though places like Amazon are already taking preorders.

-CNET

USB key to open home files from anywhere

LAS VEGAS: A USB-style key that splits in two lets people open their home or work computer files from any internet-linked computer.

Singapore-based iTwin was at the Consumer Electronics Show this week to entice technology fans with a way to avoid being out of touch with data on work or home machines no matter how far they roam.

"The iTwin acts like a cableless cable connecting you to your files," said company spokeswoman Kara Rosenthal.

"If you are on a business trip and don't know what files you need you can just access your hard drive from any other computer and have whatever files you want."

An iTwin user simply plugs the device, which is the size and shape of standard thumb drive, into their computer USB port and drags into it any data they wish even if it is an entire hard drive.

Half the gadget is left plugged into a home or work computer, while a user takes the other half with him or her to serve as a key.

Plugging the key into another internet-connected computer automatically accesses files. Data is encrypted and password protected. Keys can be remotely disabled if lost or stolen.

At CES iTwin demonstrated a newly added "multi" feature that lets as many as 20 keys be synched to the part left in a home or work machine. ITwin devices were priced at $99.

-AFP

Best Ultrabook of CES 2012: Samsung Series 9

Summary: While technically too expensive for an Ultrabook, the Samsung Series 9 is a thin notebook without equal.

Ultrabooks may be thin and light, but there must have been several tons of them on display at the CES in Vegas. Every company seemed to be showing off at least one Ultrabook model, and you couldn’t turn a corner without bumping into several. Of all the Ultrabooks on display this week, the Samsung Series 9 gets my vote as the best in show.

See also: Samsung raises design bar with Series 9 laptop

The whole point of Ultrabooks is to get thin and light enough to compete with the MacBook Air, and the Series 9 does that easily. At only 0.4 inches at its thickest point and just 2.6 pounds, the Series 9 is easy to throw in the bag and head out the door. The 7 hours of battery life is decent given the quad-core Core i7 processor and 128GB solid-state disk onboard.

The 13.3-inch SuperBright Plus display delivers good resolution (1600×900) and a bright display to handle every lighting situation. Samsung was able to cram lots of ports in spite of the thin duralumin case, including two USB, HDMI, RJ-45 and even an SD slot.

At $1,499 it is expensive for an Ultrabook, but that’t the price to get a thin and light with no compromises.

Image credit: CNET Sarah Tew

Wi-Fi has become 'must-have' feature on entertainment devices

Summary: Wi-Fi has now evolved from an extra, nice-to-have feature on entertainment devices to being an obligatory function that consumers expect.

Home entertainment devices with integrated Wi-Fi support are expected to reach 600 million units shipped by 2015, according to new research from NPD In-Stat.

In-Stat’s vice president of research, Frank Dickson, asserts in the report that this is because Wi-Fi has evolved from an extra feature to a “must-have” function on entertainment devices:

It is important to note though that Wi-Fi is growing from being simply about getting content from a network to devices, to sharing content between devices, as Wi-Fi evolves from being a network-centric connectivity standard to one that enables peer-to-peer connectivity. New innovations such as Wi-Fi Display and Wi-Fi Direct will fundamentally change the way that content is moved and shared in the home.

The report asserts this covers everything from computers (which have had built-in Wi-Fi support for some time now) to Blu-ray players, digital picture frames, and even speaker systems.

Although the report also includes televisions in this regard (and this might definitely be the case in 2015), there are still many consumers out there that are willing to forgo Wi-Fi on televisions — mainly because HDTVs without Internet connectivity are pretty darn cheap these days.

However, as Internet-connected TVs become cheaper to produce and infiltrate the consumer world a bit more, these higher-end screens will likely come down in price as well. Not to mention that content providers (especially ones like Netflix and Hulu along with many TV app developers) will be pushing for and depending upon the sale of as many Wi-Fi-enabled TVs and other home entertainment products as possible.

-ZDNET

Facebook use, less socialising could make people sadder

The more the people use Facebook, the more they will believe that others are much happier, suggests study.

LONDON: While logging into Facebook account many times a day in office or at home may have turned an irresistible habit for a lot of people, particularly the young, a study has said being glued to it could actually be making people sadder.

According to the study by Utah Valley University, the more the people use the hugely popular social networking website, the more they will believe that others are much happier, the Daily Mail reported.

The study found the carefully-chosen pictures of smiling, cheerful faces which Facebook users tend to plaster over their pages cumulatively convey a debilitating message to others.

It says those who had used Facebook for longer were also ‘significantly’ likely to agree with the statement that ‘life is unfair’.

Researchers thus suggest that a quick way to cheer oneself up could be deleting one’s account from the site.

Conversely, the study – published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking – found that people who spent more time actually socialising with friends in real life were less likely to feel they had been handed life’s short straw.

An Invisible Keyboard Aims to Improve Touch-Screen Typing

LAS VEGAS — A Jerusalem-based start-up is trying to eliminate a problem that you didn’t know existed: the visibility of a keyboard.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, the company, Snapkeys, demonstrated its invisible keyboard, which it is hoping will become the default typing method on smartphones and tablets, replacing the traditional qwerty layout.

“We wanted to get rid of the qwerty keyboard, because all these technologies have changed, and qwerty is the only thing that hasn’t changed,” said Ryan Ghassabian, a business development manager at Snapkeys. He added that typing on a touch-screen device, especially a tablet, is too cumbersome, and an invisible keyboard would increase speed and comfort.

The Snapkeys keyboard consists of four typing areas, each denoted by a different symbol: a single dot, two dots, a solid line and a circle.

When typing a letter, you imagine it being upper-cased to determine which of the four areas you type inside. The letter A, for example, stands on two points, and therefore you would tap on the area with two dots to type it. The letter I stands on one point, so you’d tap the single dot. The letter E stands on a wide base, so you’d tap the solid line symbol. The letter R has a complete circle inside its shape, so you’d tap the circle symbol.

The software then uses automatic prediction to guess what exactly you’re trying to type. If it guesses the wrong word, you can tap an arrow to have it try again.

Once you memorize the input method, you can make the keyboard invisible. Snapkeys plans to integrate the keyboard into social apps — say, an app where you’re watching a video with friends in a chat room. The invisible keyboard would allow you to type in the video area and send messages, so the image would no longer be obstructed.

Mr. Ghassabian says that Snapkeys is in negotiations with several carriers to make the invisible keyboard the default typing tool on Android smartphones.