The "Floating Touch" for the Samsung Galaxy S4?

If the latest gossip are true, then the Samsung Galaxy S4 could be formally submitted by the manufacturer as soon as March, for marketing in early April. This leaves only a few weeks to wait before know all the new flagship of the fleet of the South Korean firm, but we should still see a few rumors before the finale. Proof of this is the DDaily the Galaxy S4 could share the beautiful ... "Floating Touch" ! What is it? Good question, and everything is explained just a little lower.

If my memory is correct, the "Floating Touch" is a technology invented by Sony and it seems to me that it made ​​its first arms with the Xperia Sola. You do not know maybe not but it was pointed out at the beginning of last year by offering a whole new way to interact with the platform without our fingers are in contact with the terminal screen.

How? Simply through a special film which is positioned above the touch screen and which is capable of determining the position and distance of the finger. It suffices to place twenty millimeter terminal to perform some actions like scrolling the contents of a page or select options. You will find at the end of this article is a video that will help you better visualize the concept, and thus better understand his interest.

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Jelly Bean: 13.6% of the terminal market benefit

Android is an interesting platform, it is a fact, but it is not perfect, however. And not its biggest flaw affects obviously the fragmentation of its ecosystem. Rather than centralize updates internally, Google has actually left his partners in care and thus we find ourselves faced with a patchwork of versions. This is apparently not ready to settle if one believes the figures published by Big G ​​himself. According to the latter, Jelly Bean would actually installed on 13.6% of devices on the market ...

The thing that should not be forgotten is that Jelly Bean is not a newer version. In reality, it was presented by the search giant June 27, 2012, during the Google I / O last year. 13.6% penetration rate at the end of eight months, it is still not huge. Not huge at all even, especially when we know that Key Lime Pie - Android 5.0 - is expected for the next Google I / O and therefore in a few months.

But the question you probably ask yourself, is to know where Ice Cream Sandwich compared with Jelly Bean. In reality, it is only installed on 29% of devices on the market. The big winner in history, it is Gingerbread, which alone accounts for 45.6% of smartphones and touchscreen tablet running Android. Huge and Froyo do not come out so bad either, since more than 8%.

Is that it is the fault of Google? No, not at all. The only mistake of the firm, it may be wanting to overplay the opening leaving a lot of power to its partners. The real culprits, so these are the latter. A force to launch new terminals, they forget to actually deal with updates of their models a little older and it is precisely for this reason that we are seeing such a fragmentation.

However, note that these results must be tempered. Do not forget that Android does not necessarily only upscale. In reality, there are many low-end devices running the platform, terminals which are not necessarily capable of running anything other than Gingerbread . And if we add to this all terminals "low cost" found in the Asian market, we can understand why Jelly Bean's hard to win in the marketplace.

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Xbox 720 "Durango" a true voice recognition system?

It does not go a day without hearing about one of the PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720 . Again, it is the latter which is honored as The Verge would be able to get their hands on new information directly from a source close to the matter. According to her, therefore, the Xbox 720 "Durango" would incorporate a true voice recognition system similar to what Siri offers and so that we can fully control the console using our voice. And this is still a very exciting idea and should ultimately much delight gamers as geeks.

The interesting thing with this voice recognition system is that it would be able to recognize natural language. It would not matter to learn phrases and formulations made ​​all the console could understand our orders in many ways and without any special effort on our part. You come into the room, and you speak your console runs your orders. Simple.

The instructions cover a wide range of course. The user could "wake up" the Xbox 720 with a single call and it would also have the opportunity to interact with the embedded platform and therefore access to all features of the latter without having to lay hands on his stick. In a few seconds, and could list the parts of our friends, start a game, do a search on the internet, play a movie, pause, resume playback and more.

On paper, this is obviously very promising. After that, he will obviously expect the official presentation - presentation expected in a few weeks - to get an accurate idea of the console features for speech recognition. What is certain, in any case, is that Microsoft will have an incentive to put the package to make us want to leave our credit card, especially if the firm implements the famous DRM.

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Microsoft Office on Linux could happen in 2014

Linux has long been regarded as the fourth wheel of the coach but things have changed since then. Over the years, it is actually able to attract millions of people around the world and even video game publishers begin, finally, to take an interest in this segment. Microsoft itself could decided to make a step towards adapting its famous penguin suite in this environment. Office on Linux, this may be a reality soon and c ' even next year we could enjoy.

This information come from a source close to the case and who was present, the past weekend, the Free Open Source Developer's European Meeting . FOSDEM or, if you prefer, because it is still much shorter way. Anyway, according to this informant mysterious, Microsoft is currently considering porting Office on Linux.

But be careful, because nothing would be done. Indeed, the firm would consider now the benefits of this port and try therefore to determine whether the project is economically viable. It must also be said that Linux users do not wait for Microsoft to make Office. And against projects like OpenOffice / LibreOffice , the Redmond company could ultimately be very difficult to impose. Really hard, even.

At the same time, when we know that Linux is increasingly used in business or even in government, we say that Microsoft will not necessarily have the choice if they want to keep a stranglehold on the industry. Speaking of which, can also be added that the company would soon launch a variation of Office for smartphones and tablets , a version will be available on iOS but also Android.

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Asus Fonepad: one photo and some specifications bonus

If we are to believe the rumor, so Asus could benefit from MWC 2013 to lift the veil on a new 7-inch touch tablet, a tablet that would more pride to Intel. Yes, Intel, this is not a typo. His name? Asus Fonepad. And if we talk about today is not for nothing since the first photo of the beast has just been published by Tablet.bg , a picture is accompanied some technical features that allow you to learn a little more about this new terminal. Cool, huh?

The Fonepad obviously would not be the first tablet to opt for an Intel chip. It is actually on the market several manufacturers have already considered this track, manufacturers such as Motorola and its Razr i. Some like it, others months, but the fact remains Fonepad least one terminal interesting, at least on paper.

This first picture to begin with, allows us to see that the tablet should be pride to aluminum . On its back cover, you will find various logos that go - including that of Intel - but also a grid protecting the built-in speaker. A plug and jack, meanwhile, will be directly integrated into the lower edge of the tablet, somewhat like an iPhone 5 or an iPad Mini, then.

And specifications, then? They are to be taken lightly but Asus Fonepad should enjoy a IPS screen 7-inch LCD with a 1280 x 800 resolution , an Intel Atom Z2420 running at 1.2 Ghz , a PowerVR SGX540 GPU , of 1 GB of RAM , a 3.2 megapixel sensor and a second sensor 1.2 Megapixel front. The battery, meanwhile, should type in 4270 mAh and offer a little more than 9 hours of battery life.

Is obviously the question of price. And then, Asus could make an effort and apply the same pricing policy for the Nexus 7. The proposed Fonepad would be between $ 199 and $ 249 depending on the model. Now it only remains to wait for the next Mobile World Congress to get to the net.

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PlayStation 4: The price and other premium information

According to the latest rumors date, the PlayStation 4 will be officially presented next few days, probably around February 20. It is now several weeks as speculation is rife and so we have seen a lot of information through "exclusive" on the console specifications, functions, or even its game controllers This time it is The Asahi Shimbun who managed to get some additional elements, starting with the price of the console next "next gen" of Sony. A console that could ultimately cost a bit more expensive than what was originally planned ...

Basically, the price of the console was estimated by experts Baird Equity Research between $ 350 and $ 400. This was obviously not an estimate launched in a hurry since they were launched in a real investigation during CES 2013 to try to get more information on the subject.

And if we are to believe the Japanese site, so our experts might have been too optimistic. According to the latter, the PlayStation 4 could thus be proposed on top of $ 400, and maybe even around $ 500 for the most complete packages. Strange? Not really since the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were proposed more or less the same price in their time. If my memory serves me correctly, there is the PlayStation 3, which was offered at a more competitive price for the basic version.

As mentioned in the title of my article, the price of the console is not the only information put forward in the report of the site. This also confirmed another rumor running on the web for a few weeks, that the PlayStation 4 could leave the United States and in Japan at the end of the year, against early 2014 for Europe.

And then there's the added bonus that goes well, the bonus is likely to please some of you. The PlayStation 4 could benefit from the technology developed by the company Gaikai, a box that specializes in "cloud gaming", which was acquired last year by Sony. Well, that's all for now.

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Ubuntu for Phones: a first mobile in October 2013

Announced at the beginning of the year, Ubuntu for Phones is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious projects of Canonical. And rightly so, because it is simply to transpose the world of Ubuntu on our smartphones, and through a dedicated mobile platform. Very exciting, for sure, and you may know that the first terminal to enjoy was the basis for the planned next year. Yeah, well it seems that Canonical has decided to take a little ahead of schedule since Mark Shuttleworth announced the arrival of the first smartphone running Ubuntu for October 2013. Or in a few months.

Fantastic, of course, but all is not rosy as Mark has said anything more. It does not know how to call this new mobile, or even if it will be available in all markets. Worse, he has not discussed the technical characteristics of the beast and will probably wait several weeks until we know more about the subject.

That said, we can even all-of-mind that the great strength of Ubuntu for Phones is that it will be able to turn on a lot of different configurations, it is quite possible that Canonical is not just to one smartphone and the company assumes its mobile platform and on several terminals for all ranges. Another positive point is that Mark Shuttleworth of all-even indicated that this would be the first smartphone available on most markets, it is quite possible that we can benefit from as well.

Finally, we can remember that Ubuntu will soon be offered for Phones download on the Canonical website. Anyone with a Galaxy Nexus may have to install on their device and start the test. should very quickly learn a little more about the features of the platform.

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Create a mobile application for BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry 10 has just hit the market and it is possible that you are trying to dig your head to create a mobile version of your site for the new mobile platform RIM / BlackBerry . Congratulations, it's good to take the lead. However, if you are not a developer at heart and if you do not feel like taking the lead, then you should know that the Canadian company has everything for your convenience. The latter has actually designed a special tool which will allow you to create a version of BBX your site in a few clicks. His name? BlackBerry App Generator !

Operation BlackBerry App Generator is simple enough. After arriving on the homepage of the site, you will find a small blue button cute that will offer you to create a mobile version of your site. One click later, this is a wizard that will appear before your eyes.

The first step is obviously to show the RSS Feed of our site . Then it will tell the tool the format desired. Too many options we are offered, we can go on a simple list view, a grid image or a hybrid system. The interesting thing is that it is perfectly possible to add more streams if desired. From my side, for example, I decided to add my RSS feed YouTube channel.

The second step is devoted entirely to the design of the application. Not worth dreaming because you will not be able to do crazy stuff either. In fact, it suffices to upload our logo , choose the color of the top banner and make two or three other niceties unpretentious. The good news however, is that there is absolutely no need to worry about the size of our image as the assistant offers all the tools we need to work on our image.

The third step, faster is to simply put our online application. To do so, we must necessarily create an account on the platform, add a description and complete the fields provided. Also note that the tool will offer even monetize your creation if you wish. Really nice of him, it is obvious. Same for advertising elsewhere. A little patience then (compile time) and you can swing the sauce on the BlackBerry World. However, to do so, you must imperatively you create another account type seller this time, and this by clicking here. Attention by cons as to validate your account, it will send to RIM / BlackBerry a copy of your identity card.

In the end, even if BlackBerry App Generator is very short, it will help a lot of bloggers. After that, if you want something better built, more fun and more complete, it will obviously go through a professional. Yes, because creating applications, it is also a job!

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BlackBerry: New terminal soon

RIM / BlackBerry and plays big as that in the coming months are likely to be decisive for the Canadian manufacturer. Stalled for some time, it will actually have to show a lot of ingenuity to reclaim mobile users. And if he will obviously rely on BlackBerry 10 and the Z10 or even the Q10 to be, it seems to be determined to not put all your eggs in one basket. Proof is the CEO of the firm announced in an interview conducted by the M channel CTV he planned to launch very soon new terminals , terminals that should hit the market before the end of the year.

New smartphones, really? Certainly, but be careful of yourself-that you do not pack too quickly since they do not actually aim that entry and the mid-range.

And that's not all. No, Thorsten Heins also refers to a docking station that should soon be marketed and will easily connect a monitor and keyboard to a BlackBerry. Why? Simply turn it into workstation, just as that proposed for Android Ubuntu . The interest thing is that it will be possible to enjoy his personal working environment from anywhere in the world. A very attractive solution, therefore, especially for those who spend their lives on the road.

In short, for the moment we do not know much but it seems that RIM / BlackBerry is reassembled something good and this is obviously not displease me. Now, as to whether this will be enough to allow the company to return to the race, this is another debate.

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