Well,
that was quick. Right after yesterday's surprising announcement,
Sony flew its yet-to-be-released NEX-VG10 camcorder into London just in time for
today's showcase event. Naturally, we had to get our hands on this shiny baby,
and boy we were impressed. In case you missed the news, this snazzy device is
the world's first consumer HandyCam with interchangeable lens, meaning you can
share E-mount lenses with your young NEX DSLRs, or take advantage of
the abundant A-mount lenses with the help of an adapter (which will cost you
extra, mind you). Likewise, there are also hot and cold shoe mounts on the mic
shaft to cater your current camera accessories. Read on for our thoughts on the
rest of the camcorder -- we've put together a little sample clip for you at the
end as well.
There
isn't much to complain about with this $2,000 (and, sadly, possibly £2,000 for
the Brits) piece of kit in terms of appearance and ergonomics. We like being
able to hold it by either the seemingly solid body (using the strap) or the mic
shaft, and both ways provided comfortable grip without much fatigue due to the
light weight (even with the bundled lens). We were also able to quickly master
the jog-dial control next to the 3-inch screen, but for this price, we expected
a touchscreen interface as well to make life easier. As for the bundled F3.5-6.3
18-200mm lens, we found that zooming required a bit more effort than we liked,
so thankfully there's auto focus mode -- just like any ordinary camcorder -- to
save us from further wrist work with the focus ring. We must also point out that
unlike the Olympus PEN,
this Sony camcorder didn't pick up any mechanical noise from its lens auto
focussing; otherwise, this kit totally wouldn't deserve such price tag.
Of
course, what we really care about is the picture and sound quality. All is
revealed in our sample reel below (remember to enable HD playback mode), but in
brief: stunningly accurate colors, sharp 1080/60i picture, and impressive audio
sensitivity (notice how the mic was able to pick up conversations from afar; you
can also enable just the front mics to minimise background noise). You may
notice some shakiness while we were adjusting the lens -- we'll blame it on our
lack of practice from the little hands-on time we had. Regardless, the NEX-VG10
certainly lived up to our expectation, and we look forward to hear what the
filming hobbyists think of this prosumer-level camcorder when it comes out in
September.
Update: commenter
aim120 dropped us a link to Sony's own sample clip. Enjoy!
Appcelerator Titanium Mobile Platforms: iPhone and Android What you need to get started: Software installed from the site Feature set: 4/5 | Difficulty: 5/5 | Reach: 5/5 To use Appcelerator Titanium Mobile, you need to be familiar with Web languages like Python, HTML and Javascript. That said, you will not need to know specific programming languages typically required to develop apps for the iPhone and Android. All you do is build the app using Web languages, and Titanium does the rest. You will need to download the iPhone SDK (which is Mac-only) if you plan to make iPhone apps. This development platform doesn't come with any tutorials - you will have to rely on the goodwill of the community and learn how to use the tools through knowledge posted on forums. There are also paid services that provide support and automation during the app-making process. If you know how to wield the tools correctly, Titanium can offer more features than App Inventor for Android. But there are limitations to being a third-party development platform - the latest features in iOS and Android OS are not guaranteed to work here. Verdict: If you are open to teaching yourself app development as a hobby, the versatile Appcelerator Titanium Mobile is a great way to start. The faint of heart need not apply.
App Inventor lets you create apps by dragging and dropping "building blocks" embedded with code that work when you drag them onto a blank canvas. These blocks let you access virtually every function of an Android handset - from timestamps and touchscreen virtual buttons to the motion sensor and GPS.
An article on TodayOnline regarding reviews on Mobile App Development tool.
- App Inventor for Android
- Ovi App Wizard for Nokia Devices
- Appcelerator Titanium Mobile for iphones
nude.js is a JavaScript implementation of a nudity scanner based on
approaches from research papers. HTMLCanvas makes it possible to analyse image
data and return whether it's nude or not. The script only detects nudity, the
rest of the programming logic (image swap/auto-save ;-) /whatever) belongs to
the programmer.
A hybrid app is a native, downloadable app, that runs all or some of its user interface in an embedded browser component. To the user, a hybrid app is almost indistinguishable from a native one: it is downloaded from the app store or marketplace, it is stored on the device, and it is launched just like any other app
simply load some pages from their web site as part of the app
many companies are not already jumping on the HTML5 bandwagon is the belief that HTML apps cannot access native device features. Indeed, pure mobile web apps
hybrid apps, frameworks such as the open source PhoneGap library make it possible for JavaScript code to query the compass, take pictures, find or create contacts and appointments, and tap many other device features that mobile web apps are barred from accessing
Access to device features is not the only difference between hybrid apps and mobile web apps. Another important difference is that hybrid apps are mostly distributed through app stores: You don’t browse to a hybrid app
the leading smartphones and tablets have very powerful HTML rendering engines, which already support most of the upcoming HTML5 and CSS3 standards
Other organizations are developing hybrid apps, while planning to turn them into HTML5 web apps in the future without having to rewrite them from scratch
From a strategic point of view, development organizations should seriously consider adopting HTML for mobile app development sooner rather than later. The hybrid app model, although not suitable for all app development needs, provides a cost-effective solution for a very wide range of downloadable app types and allows gradual entry into the new world of HTML5 while future-proofing your investment.
this article talks about the future of mobile app development... hybrid app which combines web technology with native devices supports ( camera, microphone, address book etc)
Does make sense as it is cost effective not to rewrite the coding for each and every devices and also taking into consideration the time taken for constant content changes in educational environment here. maybe we should look into ths.
OpenPlug, a development toolkit for creating native apps for phones, tablets and other connected devices using JavaScript, ActionScript and XML, today became available free of charge or advertising
An experimental WebGL demo of interactive 3D anatomy by GoogleChrome. It amazing 3D web technology are getting more advanced and more accessible.
It takes a long time to load....