We live in a fast changing world where new technologies emerge every now and then. Speed is of great concern to people in the 21st century and so scientists and engineers are constantly trying to explore new ways of faster information transmission, the information being either voice or data. This effort resulted in inventions of technologies like 2G, GPRS, Wi-Fi, Broadband, T1 etc. Also, the usage of mobile phones has changed, people no longer view a cell phone as a device meant for only talking or texting and it is rather expected to provide access to internet and other application that one would find in a PC. Activities like video streaming, watching movies and playing online games on the cell phone are very popular which make companies to invest in their R & D and come with networks that can better support these demands of the consumers. This is why 3G and 4G were introduced in the mobile communications market. They were introduced only in 2010 and in fact, many countries are yet to accept them. Thus, in 3G vs 4G, which one is better, is something we will find out in due course.

What does 3G stand for?

3G is the short form for 3rd Generation Mobile Telecommunications. It is a wireless communication technology that was developed to enable faster transmission of information. It’s expected to provide consistent speed of at least 144 kb per seconds. Some of the features associated with it are live video streaming, better quality video calls, faster internet connectivity etc. It has been popular so far in most of the countries like US, Japan, China and India, and in the US, various tests have observed that it is able to deliver the kind of services that were promised by the mobile operators, when it was introduced. It was first introduced in Japan by NTT Docomo and then Verizon brought it to the US market in 2010.

What is 4G?

There is actually no official definition of 4G; few companies claim to provide faster and better network than existing ones, however officially they are just upgraded versions of 3G. Those claiming to be 4G networks will have to pass the test of time and prove that they are able to deliver what they are claiming; only then their authenticity will be verified. Read more…

One of the new technology gadgets anticipations is the Apple iPhone 5 which is rumored to have face recognition and a 64 GB memory. This is a cool phone which is expected to be more user-friendly while maximizing the level of security. Sure it was rumoured to appear in the last few months, in line with normal one-year space between new launches, but Apple is not in a hurry to get it to market as the iPhone 4 is doing just fine in sales. But now new rumours are pointing towards a late 2011 official release.

The iPhone 5 is said to support video chatting, GPS navigation and as usual it will allow users to sync it with their iTunes the same as other tech gadgets. The screen will be scratch protected and which is more, users will be able to watch local television channels. This might even give way for users being able to subscribe to cable channels if any service for iPhone is available. This will be one of the best gadgets so far, never mind the best smartphone.

One of the features of the new iPhone is its PICO projector (rumoured) which will allow presentations to be projected on to a flat surface or a wall. This is good for people who buy movies and cannot carry their humongous television. They can just play their favorite movie and projected on to the wall for better sharing. The projector is useful for school projects or for business meetings. Plus why get a large Plasma TV when you can use that projector to turn each wall into a small cinema. Don’t expect stellar performance, but at night you can get decent images out of the iPhone 5. Read more…

What on earth is a digital smartpen and how does it differ from other pens on the market?

The well-known Anoto digital pen technology is the path breaking high-tech pen technology that is responsible for transfer of handwritten text from paper into digital media in many of the digital pens on the market today. An essential difference in the Anoto digital pen technology is its sophisticated real-time image processing which can calculate and recreate 100 images per second.

What is the difference between a digital pen and an ordinary pen?

The essential difference lies in the shell of the pen itself. The basic ingredients of a digital pen are the sophisticated miniature camera which captures images of the handwriting, an image processing unit which takes the images and converts them into digital format along with a communication interface. The pen hosts a small ink cartridge which is used for writing on the special paper.

This special paper is divided into small rectangular parts like you see in a graph sheet. The images which are taken with the digital camera are captured with the patterned paper in the background. A special algorithm converts these images into digital format which is then stored into the memory.

What is the Difference between a Digital Smartpen like Livescribe Smartpens and other Pen Recorders?

Here is how the new Livescribe digital smartpens work. Using the special Livescribe dot paper, the pen recorder captures whatever you write and draw. At the same time, the smartpen records synchronized audio sounds made while you take notes or draw. Recorded audio can be played back by tapping the pen to the dot paper at a special word (keyword) or by searching by word or phrase. Tapping synchronizes the replay with timing of your original notes, so you can see exactly what you took down at a given point during the original lecture. The recorded audio visual clips are called pencasts. They can be stored on the pen and transferred to your PC or Mac for storage, updating, searching, retrieval, review and exporting to friends. The pencast works just like any computer file. Read more…