Introducing PanaCast : Can Six Little Cameras and An App Fix Video Conferencing?

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

We Live In A Distributed, Mobile World 

Today we are more mobile than ever. We work in different locations and this places new requirements on our collaboration tools. Video chats have become quite popular whether you are using Skype or Google Hangouts but in the work setting this can be a real pain. 

One problem with those platforms is that they do not give you the full view and immersive experience of actually being there. Multi-screen telepresence systems only work if you are in a dedicated telepresence room and cost a lot! 

Now imagine a low cost solution that solves that problem and lets you remotely see everything in the meeting room on the devices you already own, from anywhere.

Meet Altia Systems - Experience PanaCast

Altia Systems is a venture-backed company based in Cupertino, California that has created the PanaCast solution. 

PanaCast is a unique experience that enables anyone on desktop or mobile (currently the app is iOS only, but it was written in Ubuntu Linux, and Android, OS X and Windows 7 and 8 versions are in the works) to receive an interactive, real-time panoramic HD 200 degree Field Of View (FOV) video stream that replicates the human panoramic perspective.

It's a crowdfunded brand new technology that combines unique, patented hardware and state-of-the-art algorithms and software, all the way from optics, video capture and transport through rendering on client devices. It gives you the same control and human visual perspective of actually being in the meeting.

PanaCast - Lets You Be There From Anywhere

The PanaCast Experience helps connect friends and co-workers anywhere in our tele-connected world, giving everybody a panoramic human visual perspective in real time.

Unique hardware and software - integrated in this new ultra-low latency, multi-imager, panoramic-HD real-time video camera and integrated streaming server - create an immersive HD live video stream with a 200° field of view at an unprecedented price point. It's camera has six imagers, an SoC with dual ARM11 cores and a custom-built Multi-Imaging Video Processor (MIVP) along with an Ethernet port and a USB 2.0 port.

Mobile (Android, iOS) and PC (Windows, Mac) apps enable you to select your own individual perspective from the camera with the swipe of a finger, over Wi-Fi or cellular. Easily carried in one hand, PanaCast cameras can be taken or moved anywhere.

•  Unique interactive video experience "to be there"

•  Amazing ease of use on your device from anywhere

•  Disruptive price points allowing BYOD

You can zoom in on the speaker, or zoom in on the whiteboard, all without affecting the views of other remote participants. You control what you see, just as if you were there. 

PanaCast is priced below $700 and comes with free apps that give meeting participants the full immersive experience on the devices they already own : mobile as well as PCs. While it's compatible with existing video chat services, it'll cost $19.99/mo per concurrent user if you want access to Panacast's cloud platform. Altia Systems founders explain below the video conferencing system at DEMO Mobile 2013.

Check out the PanaCast app live to your iOS device or register your interest in ordering PanaCast Systems. To join a video conference, download the app. Once you have it opened and a cellular or Wi-Fi connection, scan the barcode or tap your phone on the NFC-enabled camera to join. 

If you do not have a PanaCast camera, the app allows you to watch a short demonstration video of the PanaCast interactive experience. 

*by andreascy*

Discover Nearby: Forming Web Develops a Next-Gen Scouting with NFC & GPS

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Hey there fellow hustler, Andreas here. As the Founder & CEO of Forming Web, I'd like to announce "Discover Nearby", our revolutionary and next-generation NFC (Near Field Communication) and GPS based scouting service. 

Search no more! Discover places near you, purchase any available product or service online or from your mobile phone! 

Everything Around, Closer To You 

Discover Nearby will allow users to easily browse, select and purchase food and other items. Either through our new map interface, or convenient favorite listings and popular browsing options, Discover Nearby turns shopping into an entirely new experience.

Our homepage and mobile application will feature up-to-date listings of current deals and offers - many of these offers will be available exclusively through Discover Nearby! With Discover Nearby, you can easily: 

- Find local shops, restaurants and more 

- Book restaurants, hotels, make orders and see reviews in just a few taps/clicks 

- Discover offers and earn discount coupons 

- Get real time directions to your destination

- Make use of Voice Inputs, Commands, Calendar Events and Notifications 

- Make secure payments using your mobile phone on merchants’ NFC-enabled terminals

Just a little part of what makes Discover Nearby awesome! ;) 

General Information: 

Discover Nearby is based primarily around an online and mobile phone application which allows it's users to search through an extensive list of retail and food service locations either through GPS or by simply inputting a zip code, city or type of location. All listings will feature available products, along with detailed descriptions and pricing. 

All featured locations will also offer the option to purchase directly from your phone for pick-up at a later time - this feature will be mainly focused towards food service locations but will also be available for various participating retail stores.

Maps that guide you to your favorite shops and restaurants, calendar events and notifications will make sure your day goes smoothly, and cached data so even when you are offline you can still find the best of wherever you are. Voice search, GPS tracking, and easy ways to connect with your friends.

Forgot how to say something? Just say "help" or navigate to the help screen to find a list of phrases and commands. ? We use a database made up of simple to use phrases to ensure that the app always knows what you want. 

The Discover Nearby service and application provides benefits not only to the users of the app, but also to participating stores by offering free promotion and a guaranteed increase in customer base.

Our service is much more than a convenient way to search for and decide upon any purchase. This application and program will act as a revolutionary new way to pay for virtually any product or service without ever having to pull out cash or a credit card - thus potentially exposing your private and personal information to identity thieves or attackers. 

Want to be the first to know when we are ready? Bookmark us and follow Discover Nearby on Linktr.ee and social media to get the latest updates! 

If you are interested or would like more information regarding our service or other aspects of the business, please let us know! 

*by andreascy*

CNETTV : The Latest iPhone 5 Rumors - Inside Scoop

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

CNET tracks all the iPhone 5 rumors - from the likely to the crazy - that we've heard so far in 2011 and 2012.

On the video, CNET Reviews editor Kent German, sits down with Sumi Das to talk about the most recent chatter regarding the iPhone 5. 

Stay updated by following iPhone 5 Rumor roundup
Check out more interesting videos and exclusives by CNETTV and comment below your thoughts. Send us your suggestions - Share this topic with your friends. Help us to spread our voice. Thank you for passing by.

*by andreascy*

CNETTV : Sony's Xperia S comes to America!

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

The Sony Xperia S is the first product to emerge from the newly consolidated Sony Mobile group. Although it'll inevitably be treated as the bellwether for Sony's attempt at going it alone on the mobile front, this phone's design and development can rightfully be attributed to the former Sony Ericsson partnership.

The Sony Xperia S doesn’t differ too much from the Xperia Ion : Its 4.3-inch display has a 1280 x 720 resolution, the camera features a 12-megapixel Exmor R sensor, and beating inside is a dual-core Snapdragon heart clocked at 1.5GHz.. If it looks familiar, it’s because we have seen this phone before under the codename Nozomi (hands on video at CES 2012). The phone also boasts Near Field Communication (NFC) support. 

The Xperia NXT family of smartphones is making its way to the United States market and it’s coming in no fewer than three different flavors: the Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U. Variations of these phones have already been made available to international markets, so it’s not like they’re bringing a lot of high powered novelty to the mobile table.

NXT line is now available in the United States via the Company's stores and its website. The Xperia S comes in black and white and will set you back $559.99, the Xperia P comes in black, red and silver and costs $479.99, while the Xperia U comes in Black/Pink, Black/White and White/Yellow variants for $299.99. Naturally these are all prices for unlocked smartphones and you don't need to sign any kind of contract.

The trio will also be offered via Newegg.com and other online retailers, but pricing may vary as the above prices are manufacturer suggested.

Learn more at :
CNET

*by andreascy*

Galaxy Nexus and Android Beam: Touch

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Android Beam makes sharing simple. Touch two phones back-to-back, then tap to beam YouTube videos, apps, web pages, contacts, directions and more across phones. Available on NFC (Near Field Communication) - enabled Android devices running Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. 

*by andreascy*

Apple iPhone 5 - Ready for Production

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

We received word from a reliable source at Foxconn in China that the iPhone 5, as it is currently being called, is now gearing for production. 

 The source said various sample devices are also floating around (they vary slightly from one another), so it is impossible to tell which one will be the final. Some things in common with all of them, however, are: 

- 4+ inch display (made by LG on at least one of them). 

- No teardrop-shaped devices, as rumored in the lead up to the iPhone 4S. Samples so far have been symmetrical in thickness (also longer/wider). 

- Neither of the sample devices have the iPhone 4/4S form factor. 

- Neither of the devices are the final versions. 

We also heard the non-teardrop and 4-inch display information previously in a report from iLounge, but what is important to note here is that iPhone 4S production did not gear up until late spring of last year. If we follow patterns and give a five month-ish lead time, it would appear that Apple is back on its new iPhone launch for summer/WWDC pattern that it maintained until last year. 

We are still a long way off however. 

This source is the same that indicated to us late last summer that the iPhone 5 was not happening against the prevailing tide of information, and that Apple was building the iPhone 4S model instead. 

iPhone 5  - Lytro Camera Technology

The iPhone 5 News Blog picked up on a general 9to5Mac story about Steve Jobs having a chat with the CEO of a cool startup, Lytro, that makes a camera using some far-out technology that neither blog seems to really understand, or at least explain.

"iPhone 5 enthusiasts are hearing more about Lytro camera technology," writes Michael Nace, of The iPhone 5 News Blog. "Will Apple equip the iPhone 5 with Lytro, or go with the new Sony camera sensor?"

Nace inadvertently reveals one of the central dynamics that drive iPhone 5, and iPad 3, rumors. "With this kind of technology, it's no wonder that analysts have imagined it being included on the iPhone 5," he writes. If it's awesome, how can it not be in the Next Whatever?

We couldn't find dimensions for the Lytro camera, but a picture we found online shows fitting it into any current or future iPhone would qualify as a "radical" redesign. And the price tag, ranging from $399 to $499, would radically redesign the iPhone in another way.

9to5Mac built its story on two points : Lytro's technology (which you can try to follow at the company's website) and a brief passage from an upcoming book about Apple, describing a brief meeting between Steve Jobs and Lytro CEO Ren Ng. Even Nace notes, "While Apple and Lytro never forged any kind of partnership or licensing agreement, Steve Jobs reportedly picked their brains over the technology, and was incredibly excited about its possibilities."

And so, clearly, is the iOSphere.

And then after all that buildup, Nace topples it like a house of cards. "In spite of Jobs loving Lytro, however, it is still more likely that the iPhone 5 will debut with the new Sony 8MP camera sensor we wrote about recently," he concludes. Partly because Lytro "is still a relatively bulky technology that isn't at all suited to the ultra-thin trend that the iPhone 5 form factor seems to be moving toward."

If he'd just made that point at the beginning, we'd have been spared another rumor about another rumor.

iPhone 5 Will Be Named... iPhone 5

Must be a slow rumor week over at Beatweek. The Beatweek staff posted a story with the headline "iPhone 5 is sixth generation, but likely to retain '5' moniker."

"If the iPhone 4S is the fifth generation iPhone, then what is the iPhone 5? That's the question for Apple marketing execs to chew over from now until the device's launch later this year, as their upcoming sixth generation smartphone has already been popularly branded 'iPhone 5' even as a handful of skeptics point out that such a moniker would be outside of standard naming conventions."

It's so easy to imagine the anguish of Apple's marketing execs, hands pressed to their heads, moaning, "Oh woe! What are we to do? What will we call it? If we call it 'iPhone 5' all those skeptics will point out that it's outside of standard naming conventions. Oh woe. What would Steve do?"

iPhone 5 Will Have NFC

Power Retail thinks "Rumours That iPhone 5 Will Support NFC Ring True"

And that's because there's actually a foundation in fact, as reported by Power Retail's Campbell Phillips : "Visa confirms it is in discussion with Apple to include NFC technology in the next version of the iPhone, but it may still be months away. There is light at the end of the tunnel after all for iPhone users, Bill Gadja, the Global Head of Mobile Product says."

This is almost shocking : a real person, with a name and a title and company affiliation, offers an opinion.

"I can't tell you when Apple is going to put NFC in the next version of the iPhone," Gadja told business magazine Fast Company, "but we've had discussions with them around the PayWave standard and they've asked to look at our specification and certification process so that when they do decide to do something those lines of communication are open."

iPhone 5 Will Have a Physical Camera Button Because it Really Needs One

Technically speaking, Matthew Panzarino's thoughtful story at The Next Web, "Why the iPhone should have a dedicated physical shutter button" is an argument for the button, not a rumor about it.

But we're shortcutting the iOSphere rumorization process of linking to a post and then extending it: "Will iPhone 5 have shutter button?" and then "iPhone 5 expected to have shutter button" and "Sources say iPhone 5 have shutter button" and finally "iPhone 5 likely to have shutter button."

In any case, Panzarino, the news and Apple editor for TNW, clearly has given this some thought. His basic argument is that the current position of the rear-facing camera and the use of the volume button as the shutter button makes for an awkward, unstable and suboptimal shooting experience.

Instead, he wants a grip that looks like (this) where an index finger can just naturally press a dedicated button, and the grip keeps the whole thing steady. His hope: Apple is positioning the iPhone as your primary everyday camera, and the dedicated physical shutter button will be a big step toward that goal. And he notes the new Nokia 800 has come to the same conclusion.

READ ALSO: 8 Reasons to Buy the iPhone 5c

What else do you want to read? Let us know in the comments.

*by andreascy*