Wednesday, February 26, 2014

drag2share: Dual-lens smartphone cameras are coming, and this is why we want one

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/26/corephotonics-dual-lens-smartphone-camera/

One camera. Two separate lenses. That's the conundrum raised by leaked images of HTC's forthcoming M8 smartphone, which is rumored to bring some interesting new imaging features that go far beyond mere 3D. But what could those features be? For an answer, we turned to a startup called Corephotonics, which is currently pitching precisely such a dual-lens concept to smartphone makers. The company's representatives told us that they're not behind the specific module in the M8 -- that camera must be coming from some other rival or from within HTC itself -- but they were keen to show us what their module could do for image quality, if it was ever put to work inside a smartphone or compact camera.

The big trick here is Corephotonics' use of two lenses with two different focal lengths. One lens is wide-angle, while the other is at 3x zoom. This means you can switch lenses to magnify more distant subjects without resorting to digital zoom. In the test set-up shown in the video above, which compared the dual-lens system side-by-side with a traditional smartphone camera (with both modules pointed at a test card around a foot away), the Corephotonics system outputted a clear 13-megapixel image regardless of whether it was at 1x or 3x zoom.

By contrast, Nokia's PureView cameras rely solely on digital zoom such that outputting a 3x magnified image entails a drop in resolution down to five megapixels. Corephotonics' system can also deliver smooth zooms, for example during video recording, by employing a mix of digital zoom and lens-switching.

Eran Kali from Corephotonics

The second benefit to using two parallel lenses, each with its own sensor, is improved low-light performance. Corephotonics' software works in real-time to match each pixel from one lens with the corresponding pixel from the other lens, and it uses scene analysis to detect which pixel is likely to be closer to the truth. As a result, noise is reduced and we end up with a cleaner picture -- just as we would if we had one big imaging sensor instead of two little ones.

The third and final advantage is one we've touched on very briefly already: Having two lenses enables a degree of depth analysis. Although "3D" has become something of a dirty word of late, depth analysis allows for extra control over images, such automatically blurring out of backgrounds in portrait shots, quicker autofocus and augmented reality.

Add all these things up and you get a technology with real promise, which could well explain why HTC has drilled an extra hole of the back of the M8 -- even if it's not a Corephotonics-sized hole just yet.

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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

drag2share: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies compromised by Pony botnet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/25/bitcoin-cryptocurrency-compromise-pony-botnet/

It looks like the Pony botnet that stole two million passwords in December has an even more egregious sibling galloping around. According to security firm Trustwave, this more advanced botnet has compromised 700,000 various online accounts up to date (it's been active since September), including 85 Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency wallets mostly from Europe. In the months since the equine-loving hackers got the wallets' private keys, a total of $220,000 have been transferred into and out of the accounts.

Because anyone can take over a wallet with the appropriate private key (and cryptocurrencies' transactions go through anonymously), it's unclear whether that much money was actually stolen. Some of those transactions could very well be performed by the original owners themselves. Still, add this incident on top of the $1.2 million Input.io Bitcoin heist in 2013, and it's clear users need to start using (strong) transaction passwords and store their wallets offline. Those who've sadly been negligent in the security department can use Trustwave's Bitcoin tool to check if they own one of the 85 accounts. Considering popular Bitcoin exchange website Mt. Gox just went dark, as well, we hope nobody's retirement funds got wiped out.

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Source: Reuters, Trustware

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drag2share: Freescale makes the world's smallest ARM controller chip even tinier

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/25/freescale-kinetis-kl03/

Freescale Kinetis KL03 microcontroller

Apparently, Freescale didn't think the diminutive Kinetis KL02 was tiny enough -- it just unveiled the KL03, the new world's smallest ARM microcontroller. At 1.6mm by 2mm, the Cortex-M0+ chip is 15 percent smaller than its ancestor. That's miniscule enough to comfortably fit inside the dimple of a golf ball, folks. Despite the shrunken profile, it's both easier to program and more energy-efficient. The size isn't just for bragging rights, of course. Freescale sees the KL03 helping out the internet of things, where a fraction of a millimeter can make a big difference. Companies can't start using the chip in earnest until it enters full production this June, but it may lead to very compact smart appliances and wearables once it arrives.

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Via: CNET

Source: Freescale

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drag2share: China's Allwinner also has an octa-core chip, touts powerful graphics

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/25/allwinner-ultraocta-a80-octa-core-powervr/

Samsung, MediaTek, Huawei and even Qualcomm are now in the octa-core SoC game, but there's always space for more. The latest member is China's Allwinner Technology, who's best known for making the chipsets inside many low-end devices. Much like most of its competitors, Allwinner's UltraOcta A80 silicon -- pictured above on a development board -- uses ARM's big.LITTLE heterogeneous multi-processing design, meaning it can simultaneously run on all eight cores -- four low-power Cortex-A7 and four high-end Cortex-A15. The chip also features Imagination Technologies' 64-core PowerVR G6230 GPU, which promises to deliver "a twofold increase in graphics" performance when compared to the PowerVR SGX544MP2 (as used by Allwinner's previous flagship SoC, the A31 series).

We'll spare you from all the nitty-gritty, but you can learn more in the source links below. Expect to see the UltraOcta A80 in affordable markets "in the next few months."

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Source: Allwinner, Imagination Technologies

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Article: Akvis OilPaint transforms your photos into works of art

Sometimes a photo doesn’t seem like enough—or even much of anything—at least not to the disinterested observer. But to the photographer, each frame has a special meaning. Software like Akvis OilPaint seeks to provide visual artists with the tools to effectively convey a message directly from thei...

http://thenextweb.com/creativity/2014/02/24/review-akvis-oilpaint-transforms-photos-works-art/

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