Panasonic announces the LUMIX 3D1, its first real 3D compact Lumix

Announced this morning in the USA, the LUMIX 3D1, is Panasonic first compact 3D camera. Schedule for a launch in North America this December at 499.99 USD, the LUMIX 3D1, comes with a 12,1Mpix Sensor, shoot AVCHD Video in Full HD in either 2D or 3D in 60i, comes with a 4x optical Zoom, a 3.5” touchscreen, support SD, SDHC and SDXC Cards as well as featuring 70MB of internal memory.

SECAUCUS, NJ (November 7, 2011) – Panasonic today announced the LUMIX DMC-3D1, a cutting-edge digital camera that employs two newly-developed lens units with folded optics design in a stunningly compact body that can capture crisp and clear 3D and 2D photos and videos. The LUMIX 3D1, with a twin-lens design, features 25mm ultra-wide angle lenses with 4x optical zoom that offer the outstanding capability to record high resolution 8-megapixel 3D photo and 1920×1080 60i high quality 3D HD video using side-by-side method. The LUMIX 3D1’s optics give users a wider range of composition possibilities with approximately 169% larger viewing space compared to that of 35mm cameras.

Featuring a unique shooting option, the new twin-lens system allows the LUMIX 3D1 to capture 2D images and video simultaneously. The LUMIX 3D1 can shoot 12-megapixel 2D photos and record 1920x1080i full HD 2D videos. In conventional standard digital compact cameras, users must shoot in either photo or video mode and when photo mode is selected, video recording is interrupted. The twin-lens design of the LUMIX 3D1 breaks through these conventional barriers with two separate mechanisms for image capturing, allowing for dual shooting capabilities. Additionally, the two-lens design allows users to record photo or video in different angles of view simultaneously. For example, users can record an entire party scene with one lens while zooming in on and capturing the photo of a specific person with another lens. Users can easily switch between 2D and 3D mode with the dedicated 2D/3D switch conveniently located on the back of the camera.

“Panasonic continues to lead the industry in 3D entertainment, giving consumers the opportunity to create their own content and then view it within their homes, and the new LUMIX 3D1 is an innovative digital camera that excels with its 3D imaging technologies, but also offers outstanding 2D photo capture options,” said Darin Pepple, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “With its twin-lens design, the LUMIX 3D1 can even shoot HD video through one lens and 2D photos from the other – thus getting still and moving content simultaneously, a unique shooting feature which Panasonic provides so users can stretch their creativity.”

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RIBA II Care Support Robot For Lifting Patients

RIBA II is a two-armed care support robot that can lift people from a prone position on the floor to a wheelchair, which is one of the most physically demanding tasks in nursing homes. RIBA II has been co-developed by Tokai Rubber Industries and RIKEN.

“Basically, this robot can move people from a bed to a wheelchair or a wheelchair to a bed, and it can also move people, such as Alzheimer’s patients, who are lying on the floor to a wheelchair.”
“As this robot comes into direct contact with people, we’ve made its entire covering soft, so as not to injure people. If you touch it, you’ll find it’s very soft.”

To make the robot’s whole exterior soft, it has all-rubber, flexible touch sensors, called SR sensors, developed by Tokai Rubber Industries. These are the world’s first capacitance touch sensors to be made of rubber. They’re formed by printing, and they feature a simple structure that enables them to have a large surface area.

“These SR sensors are used on the upper arms, forearms, platform, and body. They detect contact with a patient, how much that person weighs, and their posture. This technology controls the robot so that it transfers the person safely.”

The robot also has a new mechanism, with two flexion joints and supplementary springs in its back, enabling it to lift 80 kg, which is 30% more than before. Ordinarily, it takes two people to lift a patient from the floor to a wheelchair. But using RIBA II, the task can be done by one care assistant and one robot in coordination. This is expected to greatly reduce care workloads.

“When we asked care assistants, they said that if the robot was shaped like a person, it might confuse or frighten people with Alzheimer’s. They told us that an animal shape like this would be easier for patients to deal with.”

Tokai Rubber is continuing its research, with the aim of releasing a commercial product in 2015. The company intends to further improve the robot’s safety and speed, make it lighter, and reduce the cost.

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Development of Next Generation Fuel efficient Clean Diesel engine with Industry’s Fastest Restart Time

Mazda has announced the development of a new 2.2-liter clean diesel engine which will be incorporated in the new Mazda CX-5 crossover SUV expected to be released in spring of 2012. This is the first diesel engine to pass Japan’s New Long-Term Emission Regulations without the need for expensive nitrogen oxide (NOx) after treatment technology. The new engine delivers a maximum torque of 420Nm, which is more than some of the 4.0-liter V6 gasoline type engine vehicles, while offering a superb fuel economy of 18.6km/L. 
The new SKYACTIV-D 2.2 engine incorporates Mazda new idling stop system, i-stope, bringing the ability of restart the engine in a single start cycle through careful positioning of the piston as the engine stops, achieving 0.4 seconds engine restart time, world’s fastest.

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Release of Glass-Free 3D Digital Viewer by Fujifilm

Fujifilm has released a new FinePix REAL 3D V3, a 3D glass-free LCD monitor. The new viewer has been developed based on lenticular technology. The new FinePix REAL 3D V3 supports high definition 3D still photos and movie playback. The system is compatible with other 3D devices via HDMI input, industry’s first in 3D Digital viewer. The 2D still photos and movies can also be viewed at a maximum resolution of 10,000 x 10,000 pixels. In addition to this, the full color display offers an impressive 16.77 million colors resulting in superb color accuracy. 
The new display has wide viewing angle of up to 160 degrees horizontally and 140 degrees vertically. Among some of its built-in functionalities are; slideshow function, calendar, clock and timer display, plus ability to play WAV audio files in slideshow mode and support for SD and SDHC memory cards. The new display comes with 512MB of internal memory.

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RAZR vs iPhone 4S: Did Motorola Just Win an Injunction Against Apple Products in Germany?

Apple is having a rather bad week when it comes to its patent-based legal obligations. A few days ago we found out that a virtually unknown Spanish Android tablet maker scored a win against Apple in Spain and now we hear that Motorola may have obtained a preliminary injunction against Apple in Germany.

Why aren’t we sure about this? Here’s how Florian Mueller explains it:

Apple knows what it’s like to win injunctions against rivals. It won four of them against Samsung (two in Germany, one in the Netherlands and most recently one in Australia; all of them preliminary). Now it seems that Apple has just come out on the losing end of a patent infringement lawsuit. I have received a copy of what purports to be a default judgment by the Mannheim Regional Court barring Apple from selling in Germany — the single largest market in Europe — any mobile devices infringing on two Motorola Mobility patents and determining that Apple owes Motorola Mobility damages for past infringement since April 19, 2003. […]

Should the document that I received be a hoax, it would be an incredibly sophisticated one. It’s hard to imagine anyone with the skill to do this would incur the immense risks associated with the criminal prosecution of forgery of a court document. Also, I contacted both Apple and Motorola Mobility to verify this, and by the time of publishing this blogpost, neither company responded. So they both had their opportunity to deny the authenticity of the document.

So apparently there’s no way of having this ruling confirmed yet, but who would lie about such a thing? Assuming it’s not a “hoax” we wonder what it means for Apple? Well, the company may soon be barred from selling any mobile devices in the region, although resellers will still be able to sell the iDevices which they have in stock or decide to purchase from other markets.

Apparently Apple has been found to be infringing on two patents, one of them which it was able to fend off in the USA – where it’s also fighting against Motorola in courts – based on a FRAND defense. But assuming Apple will put up the same defense in Germany that still leaves one patent up for discussion.

Now FOSS Patents says that Apple may have intentionally delayed firing back against Motorola on this one, but the alleged document shows the preliminary ruling is enforceable which means Apple may have gambled and lost. Subsequently Motorola can, and probably will, bar sales of Apple mobile devices in the country at least until a judge here’s Apple’s appeal.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, not only because this is the first major “minor verdict” against Apple – which in turn enjoyed plenty of minor verdicts in its favor in its fight against Android – but also because Moto and Apple are fighting over similar claims in other areas. And let’s not forget Google’s planned purchase of Motorola may be approved in the future, in which case Google will certainly want to make the most of such legal wins in future legal proceedings.

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T-Mobile Springboard Tablet Launching On November

T-Mobile has come forward with a press release announcement detailing the pricing and the release date for the tablet.

In short, the Springboard will not be available on November 9th. Instead, those interested in picking up this 7 inch Honeycomb running tablet will have to wait until November 16th.

Moving onto the pricing and we are seeing something similar to what T-Mobile announced with the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus — a downpayment followed by monthly payments in addition to a two-year agreement and data plan. The Springboard will come with a downpayment of $179.99.

Worth noting, that $179.99 downpayment comes AFTER a $50 mail-in rebate. And in addition, the monthly payments, those include “20 interest free monthly payments of $10 on approved credit.” To further confuse this new method of pricing, we suspect that the ‘approved credit’ portion may allow the price to be adjusted as needed. Further details in this announcement include that the downpayments could range anywhere from $179.99 up to $399.99 depending on your credit worthiness.

Otherwise, the T-Mobile Springboard comes made by Huawei and brings features to include a 7 inch display along with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, microSD card slot, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and a 5 megapixel rear facing camera. In addition, the Springboard tablet will be running Android 3.2 Honeycomb and arrive with support for the T-Mobile 4G (HSPA+) network along with pre-installed apps to include Netflix, Blockbuster On Demand, T-Mobile TV and a few others.

Bottom line, while nice to see more tablets getting announced with T-Mobile, it seems they are only getting more and more confusing in terms of the price. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a simple on-contract purchase price and avoid those monthly payments?

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Top Seven Reasons The Samsung Galaxy Note Is Worth Looking For Read: Top Seven Reasons The Samsung Galaxy Note Is Worth Looking For

If one thing became clear over this last week, it’s that the Samsung Galaxy Note’s first appearance in advertising was a pretty big deal indeed. And admittedly, when I first got a look at this, I thought, how come everyone’s so excited about the Samsung Galaxy Note, when the Dell Streak 5 tried to do the same thing and pretty much collapsed in the process? But then I took a closer look at the whole thing and a few things started to become clear. There was a lot of difference between the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Dell Streak 5, and there was difference sufficient for me to make a list, as we usually do on Friday. Thus, I bring out for you the Top Seven Reasons The Galaxy Note Is Worth Looking For.

7. More Powerful

Looking at the spec loadouts between the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Dell Streak 5 is a matter of night and day. Of course, that’s likely got plenty to do with the sheer amount of time between the two, but let’s face it: the Dell Streak 5 only got discontinued back in August, so that’s still reasonably new material. But still, the comparison between the two is markedly different, and geared quite clearly in favor of the Galaxy Note.

6. Slightly Larger Screen

The interesting thing about the Dell Streak 5 was that it had, much as the name implies, a five inch screen. The Samsung Galaxy Note, meanwhile, is sticking a little closer to a seven inch, and that’s about where you’ll find the Dell Streak 7, which is actually still in play. Many regarded the Dell Streak 5 as entirely too outlandish for its own good. Too small for a tablet, too big for a smartphone, it straddled the terminator between form factors, and didn’t do so hot a job. But the Samsung Galaxy Note, meanwhile, is packing a slightly larger 5.3 inch display, which should help, if only a bit.

5. Improved Display Resolution

While the display itself might not be much larger, the resolution will be downright impressive. The Samsung Galaxy Note, you see, is packing a Super AMOLED display showing at 1280 x 800. The Dell Streak 5, meanwhile, could only put up 800 x 480, which in turn is substantially lower in resolution than the Galaxy Note can coax up. The displays may be comparable in size, with the Galaxy Note being slightly larger, but the pixel densities are singificantly different matters. You take two images that are the same size, but one looks clearer and sharper, you’ll probably prefer that image over the other.

4. Significantly Improved Battery Life

The Dell Streak 5 had a battery measured at 1530 mAh. The Samsung Note, meanwhile, will step that up to 2500 mAh. That’s getting within striking distance of fully double the battery capacity, another distinct advantage. Mobile equipment depends on its battery life, and the more time a device can put between charges, the better off that product will be in the grand scheme of things; after all, when you’ve got a choice of devices, and one will run for two and a half hours but the other will run for four, which would you rather have on hand? The Samsung Galaxy Note’s vastly improved battery life should be a huge point in its favor.

3. Incorporates Stylus For Controls

This may be something of a personal bias, but I like the stylus controls. I’m tired of getting a touch screen all smudged and unpleasant looking because I’m actually, you know, using the thing. A properly done stylus control system can give you a little extra accuracy that touch screens, I’ve found, sometimes lack. You might touch a little to the left or right of where the system intends for you to touch, whereas using a stylus lets you land every touch in the same very small radius. The Wacom parts involved in here certainly don’t hurt. And when you consider that the Galaxy Note brings along a host of apps specifically geared for their stylus controls, that makes things even better in the end. There’s nothing like variety to make a device worthwhile, and the Galaxy Note certainly has variety and to spare.

2. Better Version of Android

One of the last things that happened to the Dell Streak 5 was a bit of a mixup regarding its Android operating system. It began with Android 1.6, and half the devices got an updated to 2.1. But following that, the upgraded devices got an upgrade to Android 2.2, but the ones that were packing 1.6 discovered that they would indeed be left out in the cold, at least until they’d got the upgrade to 2.2. The Galaxy Note, meanwhile, will start right in at Android 2.3, thus preventing that sort of problem entirely, and hopefully paving the way for an Ice Cream Sandwich launch later.

1. Can Learn From Dell Streak 5′s Mistakes

Bizarre update rollout schedule, small, low resoltion display, and a lower-end tech loadout is enough to make anyone turn tail and run. But with Samsung now able to watch Dell’s mistakes with the now-discontinued tablet. Basically, Samsung’s got a good position to try and take the missteps that Dell made and carry on accordingly. Sure, they may not be able to avoid all of them, and many of them they’ll be able to avoid by sheer virtue of coming out later, but they’ll have the benefit of Dell’s earlier experiences to apply for their own product life.

And there you go–seven ways that the Samsung Galaxy Note looks like it’s going to have the necessary chops to succeed where the Dell Streak 5 couldn’t. It’s going to be something to see in the coming weeks to see just how well it does, but what do you guys think here? Can the Samsung Galaxy Note stick around longer than the Dell Streak 5 did? Or is the general concept of half-tablet, half-smartphone not going to fly?

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