Gadgets and Gizmos

GDC 2010: Sony unveils PlayStation Move Controller

At the on-going Game Developers Conference 2010 in San Francisco, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed the much awaited Motion controller for PlayStation 3 console with the brand name – PlayStation Move. All new PlayStation Move will also operate with another ’subcontroller’ – both to be used with PlayStation Eye camera. Sony will sell the Move controller separately and also as a bundle including PlayStation eye camera, Move controller and a game would be made available.

New PlayStation Move controller is like wand that will remind you of Wii’s Nunchuk but with a colored sphere on the top. It’s this sphere that helps PlayStation Eye detect the whereabouts of Move controller. Sony will offer the Move controller with spheres in sky blue, yellow, light green, pink and while color options. Alongside that, Subcontroller with direction buttons, analog stick and home button will also be paired with the Move. This Subcontroller comes handy in shooting and action games like SOCOM 4.

Sony has dropped the word Arc for the Motion Controller that had been buzzing the web lately. Move controller is equipped with two high-precision motion sensors, three axis gyroscope (X plane, Y plane and Z plane), and three access accelerometer. These components allow the eye camera to detect the presence as well as the precise movement and change in position of the Move controller. It’s unlikely that the Subcontroller will come with any motion sensors.

Few Move controller friendly game demos were shown at the event. These demos include Sports Champions, Move Party, Dukes, TV Superstars, Slider and The Shoot. Of course, upcoming SOCOM 4 game was demonstrated using Move controller and Subcontroller. Sony had already announced a lineup of Move controller friendly games last year at the GDC 2009. About 36 game developing and publishing companies will support Move controller. As a result, 20 game titles, Move-centric or Move-supporting, would be announced in fiscal year of 2010-2011. (more…)

Tata DOCOMO Diet is pay per use innovative plan for postpaid customers

Tata DOCOMO Diet is pay per use innovative plan for postpaid customers. Put your Postpay mobile bill on a Tata DOCOMO Diet!

Have you ever wondered why your postpay bill is far from fit? Why does it continue to shoot up despite the tariffs going down? The issue is not how much you talk, but the inflexible mobile plans offered across operators today.

Standing true to the mantra of ‘Pay-per-use’, Tata DOCOMO has launched their all new ‘Diet Postpay’ Plans. Through the revolutionary ‘pay for what you use’ plans, Tata DOCOMO Postpay users will now be able to cut up to 18% of their bill’s flab across Local, STD and Roaming.

Tata DOCOMO “Diet Postpay Plans “offer refreshingly different and flexible plans to the Postpay users.
With more than 100 options to help them customize the plans as per their unique needs, the Postpay customers will get the opportunity to make their plans by choosing the service they use most frequently, be it Local, STD or SMS.

To check the ‘fitness’ of your current Postpay plan you can visit ‘www.tatadocomo.com/postpaid.aspx’.

Maybe it’s time to shed the excess fat & end the suffering! Put your mobile bill on a diet today!

IBM hopes to make mobile devices more accessible

IBM is embarking on a research project to design mobile gadgets that are easier to use for people who have disabilities or aren’t fully literate.

As part of the project, announced Wednesday, Big Blue will collaborate with India’s National Institute of Design and the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.

The goal is to develop a common interface for mobile devices that will make them easier to use. As digital information becomes more vital, IBM said, it believes the Internet needs to be more accessible to a wider range of people, including those who are illiterate, blind, deaf, and elderly, and those in developing countries. (more…)

Smartphone app botnet experiment blows up a storm

Security researchers fooled nearly 8,000 iPhone and Android users into joining a mobile smartphone “botnet” under the guise of installing an apparently innocuous weather app.

Derek Brown and Daniel Tijerina of TippingPoint’s Digital Vaccine Group carried out the exercise in the run-up to a presentation at last week’s RSA Conference as an illustration of how easily social engineering tricks developed on the web and with PCs might be applied to internet-enabled smartphones. The duo’s WeatherFist app obtained users’ GPS coordinates and telephone numbers before providing local weather forecasts.

Olive FrvrOn V-G2300 Phone Review: Ensures You Never Run Out of Battery

The break of dawn on the mobile world seems to bring in a fresh batch of innovative phones each day. We sure seem to be having our hands full with a number of Olive products knocking on our doors. Just last month we detailed the company’s OlivePwrr Dual-SIM phone. Early last week we witnessed the launch of what Olive claims to be India’s first Hybrid mobile phone also operating on AAA batteries namely the FrvrOn V-G2300. Well, no points for guessing, we’ve got this one right under our kitty all ready to be reviewed.

Here’s what a brief run through the feature list revealed: a 1.5” color display, built-in FM radio, stereo headset, speaker phone and included AAA batteries. Backed by a 1 year warranty, the handset was also accessorized by a headset, a travel charger and user manual. Seated right in the middle of the box was a rather diminutive black colored phone. Yes, the FrvrOn quite surprised us by its tiny size and at just 250gms it’s interestingly super light also.

For a basic handset, the looks of the phone were quite pleasing. The overall plastic chassis assures the phone a simple yet distinct look while the slightly concave back panel displays semicircular patterns that further add to the appearance. In a compact candy bar form factor, just below the tiny screen is the Olive logo. Right below the logo is the rubberized keypad that includes four main buttons including a yellow call answer and a red call disconnect one. A circular navigation pad with a red finishing is located between the four buttons. You can set shortcuts of desired functions to the left, right, up and down keys of the navigation pad. (more…)