Ipad

The iPad is a tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple for Internet browsing, media consumption, gaming, and light content creation. Released in April 2010, it established a new class of devices between smartphones and laptops.

              Similar to the older (and smaller) iPod Touch and iPhone, the iPad runs a modified version of the iPhone OS and is controlled by a multi-touch LCD sensitive to fingertips, instead of a stylus as with earlier tablet computers.  It runs iPad-specific applications as well as those written for the iPhone and iPod Touch, including e-book readers.
          The iPad uses Wi-Fi or a 3G data connection to browse the Internet, load and stream media, and install software.  A USB cable is required to sync the iPad with iTunes on a personal computer.

   SOFTWARE

              Like the iPhone, with which it shares a development environment (iPhone SDK, or software development kit, version 3.2 onwards),  the iPad only runs its own software, software downloaded from Apple's App Store, and software written by developers who have paid for a developer's license on registered devices.  The iPad runs almost all third-party iPhone applications, displaying them at iPhone size or enlarging them to fill the iPad's screen.  Developers may also create or modify apps to take advantage of the iPad's features. Application developers use iPhone SDK for developing applications for iPad.

  AUDIO AND OUTPUT

           Dual speakers housed inside the iPad provide mono sound via two small sealed channels in the interior speaker assembly that direct the sound outwards toward the three audio ports carved into the bottom-right of the unit. The microphone is within the device. A volume switch is on the right side of the unit, and a 3.5 mm TRS connector audio-out jack provides stereo sound for headphones on the top-left corner of the device. The iPad supports normal headphones and models with microphones, volume controls, or both. Microphones can be used for voice recording.

The built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR interface supports the HSP, A2DP, and HID profiles, which allow wireless headphones and keyboards to be used with the iPad. However, the iPhone OS does not currently support the OBEX file transfer protocol.

iPad video output over VGA is set to 1024 x 768 using a 720p scan rate.

   SCREEN AND INPUT

The touchscreen is a 25 cm (9.7 in) liquid crystal display (1024 × 768 pixels, 132 ppi, XGA) with fingerprint–resistant and scratch-resistant glass. Like the iPhone, the iPad is designed to be controlled by bare fingers; normal gloves and styli that prevent electrical conductivity may not be used  although there are special gloves and styli designed for this use.
The display responds to two other sensors: an ambient light sensor to adjust screen brightness and a 3-axis accelerometer to sense iPad orientation and switch between portrait and landscape modes. Unlike the iPhone and iPod touch built-in applications, which work in three orientations (portrait, landscape-left and landscape-right), the iPad built-in applications support screen rotation in all four orientations (the three aforementioned ones along with upside-down), ^] meaning that the device has no intrinsic "native" orientation; only the position of the home button changes. Most third-party iPad applications also support these four orientations.
The iPad has a switch to lock out this screen rotation function (reportedly to prevent unintended rotation when the user is lying down).  There are a total of four physical switches, including a home button below the display that returns the user to the main menu, and three plastic physical switches on the along with the screen rotation lock.

   CONNECTIVITY

The iPad can use Wi-Fi network trilateration from Skyhook Wireless to provide location information to applications such as Google Maps.  The 3G model contains A-GPS while both models have a digital compass.
The back of the Wi-Fi model iPad is made of contoured aluminum with black plastic buttons. The Wi-Fi + 3G model also has a black plastic accent on top of the device which helps with 3G radio sensitivity.

   POWER AND BATTERY

The iPad uses an internal rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery. The batteries are made in Taiwan by Simplo Technology, which makes 60% of them, and Dynapack International Technology.  The iPad is designed to be charged with a high current (2 amperes) using the included USB 10 W power adapter. While it can be charged by a standard USB port from a computer, these typically provide lower current (500 milliamperes or 1 ampere). As a result, if the iPad is turned on while being charged with a normal USB computer port, it will charge much more slowly, if at all.

Apple claims that the iPad's battery can provide up to 10 hours of video, 140 hours of audio playback, or one month on standby. The battery loses capacity over time and is not designed to be user-replaceable. As in the battery-replacement program for iPod and the original iPhone, Apple will replace an iPad that does not hold an electrical charge with a refurbished iPad for a fee of US$99.

 STORAGE AND SIM

            The iPad was released with three options for internal storage size: a 16, 32, or 64 GB flash drive. All data are stored on the flash drive and there is no option to expand storage. Apple sells a camera connection kit with an SD card reader, but it can only be used to transfer photos and videos.

The side of the Wi-Fi + 3G model has a micro-SIM slot (not mini-SIM). The 3G model may be used with an AT&T data plan that does not require a contract,  Unlike the iPhone, which is usually sold locked to specific carriers, the 3G iPad is sold unlocked and can be used with any compatible GSM carrier. In the U.S., data network access via T-Mobile's network is limited to slower EDGE cellular speeds because T-Mobile's 3G Network uses different frequencies.

   APPLICATIONS

           Apple developed the iPad with an improved functionality over that of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPad comes with several applications such as Safari, Mail, Photos, Video, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, iBooks, Maps, Notes, Calendar, Contacts, and Spotlight Search.  These applications were borrowed from iPhone’s third generation OS, but improved for the iPad. However, the iPad doesn’t run the iPhone’s 3.1.2 OS and neither the Mac OS X, but an improved version of the third generation iPhone OS, iPhone OS v3.2. Moreover, the iPad will receive the latest iPhone OS, iPhone OS 4 within the fall of 2010.
The iPad syncs with iTunes on a Mac or Windows PC. Apple ported its iWork suite from the Mac to the iPad, deleting several features in the process, and sells the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps in the App Store.  Although the iPad is not designed to replace a cellphone, a user can pair it with a Bluetooth headset and place phone calls over Wi-Fi or 3G using a VoIP application.

Ambiophonics

Ambiophonics (not to be confused with Ambisonics) is a method in the public domain that                     employs digital signal processing (DSP) and two loudspeakers directly in front of the listener in order to improve reproduction of stereophonic and 5.1 surround sound for music, movies, and games in home theaters, gaming PCs, workstations, or studio monitoring applications. First implemented using mechanical means in 1986 [1][2], today a number of hardware and VST plug-in makers offer Ambiophonic DSP [3]. Ambiophonics eliminates crosstalk inherent in the conventional “stereo triangle” speaker placement, and thereby generates a speaker-binaural soundfield that emulates headphone-binaural, and creates for the listener improved perception of “reality” of recorded auditory scenes. A second speaker pair can be added in back in order to enable 360° surround sound reproduction. Additional surround speakers may be used for hall ambience, including height, if desired.

Ambiophonics, stereophonics, and human hearing

In stereophonics, the reproduced sound is distorted by crosstalk, where signals from either speaker reach not only the intended ear, but the opposite ear, causing comb filtering that distorts timbre of central voices, and creating false “early reflections” due to the delay of sound reaching the opposite ear. In addition, auditory images are bounded between left (L) and right (R) speakers, usually positioned at ±30° with respect to the listener, thereby including 60°, only 1/6 of the horizontal circle, with the listener at the center. (It should be noted that human hearing can locate sound from directions not only in a 360° circle, but a full sphere.)

Ambiophonics eliminates speaker crosstalk and its deleterious effects. Using ambiophonics, auditory images can extend in theory all the way to the sides, at ±90° left and right and including the front hemi-circle of 180°, depending on listening acoustics and to what degree the recording has captured the interaural level differences (ILD) and the interaural time differences (ITD) that characterize two-eared human hearing. Most existing two channel discs (LPs as well as CDs) include ILD and ITD data that cannot be reproduced by the stereo loudspeaker “triangle” due to inherent crosstalk. When reproduced using ambiophonics, such existing recordings’ true qualities are revealed, with natural solo voices and wider images, up to 150° in practice.

It is also possible to make new recordings using binaurally-based main microphones, such as an ambiophone,[3] which is optimized for Ambiophonic reproduction (stereo-compatible) since it captures and preserves the same ILD and ITD that one would experience with one’s own ears at the recording session. Along with life-like spatial qualities, more correct timbre (tone color) of sounds is preserved. Use of ORTF, Jecklin Disk, and sphere microphones without pinna (outer ear) can produce similar results. (Note that microphone techniques such as these that are binaural-based but without pinna also produce compatible results using conventional speaker-stereo, 5.1 surround, and mp3 players.)

[edit]Roots & research

Ambiophonics is an amalgam of new research and previously known psychoacoustic principles and binaural technologies. This knowledge has enabled audio recording and reproduction that approaches the realistic soundfield at the ears of the listener that is comparable to what one would perceive in a concert hall, movie scene, or game environment. This level of high-fidelity was not realizable until human hearing and acoustics principles were thoroughly researched, and affordable PCs with sufficient processing speed became available. At the Casa Della Musica at the University of Parma, Italy, or at the listening lab at Filmaker Technology, Pennsylvania USA, ambiophonics, ambisonics, stereophonics, 5.1 2D surround, and hybrid full-sphere 3D systems can be compared for the abilities of these methods to convey the spatiality and tone color of real perception. Developers have provided many scientific papers and downloadable tools for implementing ambiophonics free of charge for personal use.[4]

[edit]Results & limitations

By repositioning speakers closer together, and using digital signal processing (DSP) such as free RACE (Recursive Ambiophonic Crosstalk Elimination) or similar software,[5] ambiophonic reproduction is able to generate wide auditory images from most ordinary CDs/LPs/DVDs or MP3s of music, movies, or games and, depending upon the recording, restore the life-like localization, spatiality, and tone color they have captured. For most test subjects, results are dramatic, suggesting that Ambiophonics has the potential to revitalize interest in high-fidelity sound reproduction, both in stereo and surround.

Additionally, ambiophonics provides for the optional use of concert-hall or other ambience impulse response convolution to generate hall ambience signals for virtually any number and any placement of surround speakers.[6][7] But ambiophonics is not for theaters, auditoriums, or any large groups. Ambiophonics can usually accommodate more than one listener since one can move back and forth along the line bisecting the speakers. Precisely because of the higher level of envelopment along this line, the loss of realism when one moves away from the center line is more dramatic in the case of Ambiophonics than stereo. The listening area can be enlarged with ambience convolution, whereby surround speakers mimic the contributions of concert-hall walls.

Ambiophonics methods can be implemented in ordinary laptops, PCs, soundcards, hi-fi amplifiers, and even modest loudspeakers with consistent phase response, especially in any crossover regions. Neither true-binaural (dummy head with pinna) recordings nor head tracking are required, as with headphone-binaural listening. Commercial products now implement ambiophonics DSP, although tools for use on PCs are also available online.[4]

[edit]Surround sound

In practice in its simplest two-speaker implementation, ambiophonic reproduction unlocks auditory cues for images of up to 150° horizontally (azimuth), depending on the binaural cues captured in existing stereo recordings. Multi-channel recordings made with ambiophone-like microphone arrays to make 5.1-compatible DVD/SACD recordings can be reproduced using just four speakers (a center speaker is obviated in ambiophonic layouts). Allowing for the human hearing “cone of confusion” at each side, a full 360° degree circle of perceived sound localization has been measured within ±5° of actual source azimuth, reproducing life-like spatial envelopment and timbre (contributed by accurate directional provenance of early reflections) of multi-channel music, movies, and game content.[3][8][9]

Especially in the case of stereo content where ambience has been purposely reduced (because a natural level coming from front 60°-only is perceived as too much), additional signals for surround speakers can be produced using a measured hall impulse response, convolved in a PC with the two front channel signals. For full ambiophonic replay, one PC can provide the DSP for 4-channel crosstalk-cancellation and four or more (up to 16 depending on the PC) surround speakers.[10]

The development of ambiophonics is the work of several researchers and companies including Ralph Glasgal, founder of the Ambiophonic Institute; Dr. Angelo Farina, University of Parma; Robin Miller, Filmaker Technology; Waves Audio; Dr. Roger West, Soundlab; Dr. Radomir Bozovic, TacT Audio; and Prof. Edgar Choueiri, Princeton University.

ASIMO makes its debut at the 2011 FIRST Championship

The world’s most advanced humanoid robot, ASIMO, will be making its first appearance at the FIRST Championship tomorrow. In case you didn’t know, the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship is an event where over 11,000 students from 29 different countries will take part in 3 simultaneous robotics competitions. The FIRST Championship encourages students to pursue a career in science, technology and engineering through the use of robotics.

ASIMO, a robot that took  over twenty years of research and development to create will be shown off at the event, demonstrating its abilities and functions to the public. ASIMO has never been shown off at a FIRST Championship before, so tomorrow will mark its first day at the event. If you’d like to catch ASIMO in action, head to the second level atrium of the America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The robot will be shown off on Friday, April 29 from 10am to 5pm and Saturday April 30 from 9am to 12pm.

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

From TEDIndia: Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.”
More amazingly, at the end of the video during the Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to allow others to work on the technology and realize its full potential. Verily, bring it to the masses! How very bold! MIT intellectual property personnel are groaning.

Several questions come to mind:

• What are the challenges to bringing this to the masses?
• Where do you think such a technology is most likely to be deployed first?
• Will Mr Mistry himself benefit from this, or will it be the next tier of technology companies that will profit most?
• Why did it take a kid from India, doing graduate work at MIT, to develop this?
• Why didn’t a company like Microsoft, with billions of dollars of R&D funding, not come up with this?
• And finally, how do we leverage this to help bring clean water to kids, or provide a decent education to girls in rural India?
• What questions do you have?

In the video, Mr Mistry talks about kicking around a virtual ball on the floor of the Boston Red-line! One of these days, I hope to see him on the Red-Line! Yaay!

The Amazing Future Technology - "Mactini"

 A Peter Serafinowicz Show Christmas Special is featuring a short clip dedicated to a new, fictional Apple product – the Mactini. The clip is a parody of Apple's guided tour of the MacBook Air, emphasizing the company's habit of reducing the number of controls (buttons) on its products.

The Peter Serafinowicz Show is a BBC Two comedy sketch show, written by and starring Peter Serafinowicz, a British comic actor, writer, voice artist, and composer. His latest bit features the actor dressed up like an Apple employee and doing a guided tour of the Mactini, an ultra-portable computer that doesn't compromise functionality, while reducing all its controls to a single button.

Serafinowicz assures Mac fans that the single key found on the Mactini “performs all the functions of a regular keyboard,” complementing Apple's style of touting its products.

“For instance, if I want to type the letter A, I press it once [audience laughs]. For the letter Z, I press it - you guessed it - 26 times,” and even more laughter bursts among the members of the audience. And yes, you guessed it, the guy actually starts the button-mashing, and eventually the letter Z appears on the small screen of the Mactini. We reckon it's using Apple's standard backlit display, with just one LED providing the light.

The real kicker comes when Serafinowicz decides to go deeper into the functionality of the Mactini and starts showcasing its punctuation abilities. For a simple comma, users must “hold [the button] down for four seconds, release it for two, and then... ra ta ta tat [presses the key repeatedly in a timely, rhythmic manner].”

The user guide, as you would imagine, is a several thousand-page long bible. You might need a crane to move that thing about. “The Mactini is also a fully integrated entertainment system. It's perfect for listening to music, watching movies, or even giving a business presentation,” Serafinowicz says during his guided tour, showing off the respective capabilities.

Moreover, while the Mactini already looks like it doesn't have any competition, the device becomes obsolete before the commercial is even over, because of a smaller, more compact device called, you guessed it...

Ovonic Unified Memory

The use of phase-change chalcogenide alloy films to store data electrically and optically was first reported in 1968 and in 1972, respectively. Early phase-change memory devices used tellurium-rich, multi-component chalcogenide alloys with a typical composition of Te81Ge15Sb2S2. Both the optical and electrical memory devices were programmed by application of an energy pulse of appropriate magnitude and duration. A short pulse of energy was used to melt the material, which was then allowed to cool quickly enough to “freeze in” the glassy, structurally disordered state. To reverse the process, somewhat lower amplitude, longer-duration pulse was used to heat a previously vitrified region of the alloy to a temperature below the melting point, at which crystallization could occur rapidly. Differences in electrical resistivity and the optical constants between the amorphous and polycrystalline phases were used to store data.

During the 1970s and 1980s, significant research efforts by many industrial and academic groups were focused on understanding the fundamental properties of chalcogenide alloy amorphous semiconductors. Prototype optical memory disks and electronic memory device arrays also were announced, beginning in the early 1970s. Rapidly crystallizing chalcogenide alloys were later reported by several optical memory research groups. These new material compositions, derived from the Ge-Te-Sb ternary system, did not phase segregate upon crystallization like the earlier Te-rich alloys, but instead exhibited congruent crystallization with no large-scale atomic motion.

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