Photoduino is an open-source driver for cameras based on the Arduino platform. Its main purpose is to serve as technical support for taking photographs of various techniques such as: Timelapse, High Speed Photography, Photography of insects and animals, or storms, HDR, among others.

The circuit containing the electronic control is capable of auto focus and the shutter of a camera and shot up two flashes manuals. It also has a sound sensor, an impact sensor, a laser barrier infrared barrier that can be used to take pictures when you register an event.

Its configuration is done entirely through a small LCD display using only two buttons, so that works independently without the need for a computer connected (except for firmware upgrades).

The system is currently compatible with many cameras but can be adaptable in the future to other models and brands that have remote shutter connector cable.

Both its hardware and firmware are completely free and open and are released under GPLv3 license, just as the Arduino platform on which it is based.

The project site is in Spanish, but Google Translate does a surprisingly good job.

Nvidia today announced GeForce 400M series of graphics cards for notebooks that feature Nvidia’s Optimus and 3D Vision technology. A total of 7 GPUs have been announced – GeForce GTX 470M and GTX 460M for enthusiasts and GeForce GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M for performance seeking users.

The GeForce 400M are the first notebook GPUs from Nvidia that utilize its Fermi architecture and are built from scratch to support DirectX 11.

Additionally, the cards support Optimus, a graphics control tool that automatically switches the GPU on or off as per user’s requirement. 3D Vision when equipped with a 3D display will allow consumers to watch 3D content on their laptop.

OEMs like Asus, Acer, Samsung, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba will launch notebooks with 400M GPU soon.

Second time round, the Tab proved equally appealing.  It’s well-sized for the hand, and, unlike the iPad, you can actually slot it into an inside jacket pocket without tearing the seams.  Side by side with the Galaxy S, and the Tab’s LCD panel does a decent job holding its own against Super AMOLED.  Although 4-inches versus 7-inches doesn’t sound a vast difference, as you can see in our comparison photos it’s actually a considerably increase in screen real-estate.

That’s allowed Samsung some extra flexibility in their custom software, with the email app – that supports multiple accounts, including POP, IMAP and Exchange among others – offering a two-column view in landscape orientation that’s similar to the iPad.  You can pick from a unified inbox or separate views by account, and you can adjust the split between the two columns to resize as preferred.  The calendar app, too, pulls in appointments from multiple accounts, all color coded, including Facebook dates and others.

Samsung Galaxy Tab hands-on:

For multimedia, meanwhile, Samsung has partnered with 7digital to offer on-device DRM-free audio files.  That can obviously be mixed with side-loaded content.  7digital doesn’t offer video, but you can view content via Samsung’s AllShare streamed over wireless connections.  Thanks to the HDMI dock you can output 1080p Full HD video to your HDTV, complete with 5.1-channel surround sound, and there’s also Samsung’s free “QWERTY Remote Control” app for operating their IP-connected TVs.

While Samsung has ticked all the boxes for Android Market inclusion, of course most current apps aren’t scaled appropriately for the slate’s 1024 x 600 display.  To accommodate that, the company has built in some clever app-resizing that stretches standard software (say, designed for WVGA smartphones).  While you might expect apps to look blocky, the end result is actually pretty impressive; we’d say it looks better than, say, iPhone apps running on the iPad, and it’s all done automatically and supports screen rotation (if the app itself does).

In terms of accessories, Samsung will be of course offering the HDMI Dock we spotted yesterday, together with a regular desk dock and a keyboard dock for those wanting to enter large amounts of text.  A stylus suited to capacitive touchscreens will also be on offer.  They also confirmed the unusual Bluetooth stylus spotted last week; it turns out that the stylus works as a Bluetooth handset – a pen-sized Moshi Moshi, as it were – which can be kept in your shirt or jacket pocket and then used as a hands-free kit when calls come in.

Despite the rumors and speculation seen online, Samsung told us that the Galaxy Tab’s price has still not been finalized.  That’s because they’re still in talks with carriers, negotiating subsidies and data packages.  The Galaxy Tab will actually launch in Italy first, later in September, shortly followed by the UK before the end of the month (we’ve heard Vodafone are the likely carrier, though obviously Samsung wouldn’t confirm that).  The expectation is that broader availability – including the US – will happen in October 2010, with Samsung preparing multiple versions of the Galaxy Tab for different US carriers, just as they have done with the Galaxy S smartphone.

Samsung told us that the Galaxy Tab is, unsurprisingly, just the first in what they see as an expanding range of tablets that will launch throughout 2011.  That range will include larger and smaller versions – the company wouldn’t tell us which is coming next, though we wouldn’t be surprised to see a bigger-screen Tab intended to directly challenge the iPad and potentially running Android 3.0 Gingerbread or 3.5 Honeycomb –  as well as models that target different sub-segments.  This first Galaxy Tab, for instance, has a 3-megapixel camera, partly because of size restraints but also, we were told, because the model is intended predominantly for media consumption and browsing, rather than content creation.  Future Tab slates could approach things differently.

Samsung is also working closely with Google on Android development, with regular “high level meetings” and plenty of shared code.  That bodes well for how much work they – and indeed other tablet manufacturers – may have to do to finesse Android for larger-screen devices, reducing the amount of customisation and thus helping cut down on OS upgrade delays.  The company couldn’t say, though, whether developers would have access to their own particular customized apps on the Galaxy Tab, such as the new calendar app, but they will be able to easily produce their own software suited to the 1024 x 600 display.

Head over here for our first Samsung Galaxy Tab report, including more video!

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So Samsung has finally announced the Galaxy Tab, the 7-inch Android tablet we’ve been hearing so much about.  Like most Android devices, Samsung didn’t stop at just putting a new UI over Android and adding some apps readily available in the Market, it built a custom app for some of the features we’d expect a tablet to have.

One of the most popular uses we’ve seen of tablets so far (namely on the iPad), is reading eBooks.  Rather than relying on users to get their own apps, Samsung built it’s own launcher for reading eBooks, newspapers and magazines.  Together they bring 2.2 million books, 2,500 magazines and 1,600 magazines.  For eBooks, rather than building it’s own store like Apple, or relying on Google, Samsung brought in Kobo for reading books.  Kobo offers many more books than iBooks for the iPad, including popular authors that Apple lacks such as Steig Larsson, author of the Millennium Trilogy.  Kobo specifically designed the included app for the Galaxy Tab, so it should use the screen size and pixel density fully.

The other apps included in the Readers Hub as PressDisplay for newspapers and Zinio for magazines.  Of course, users are free to download their own reading apps from the Android Market, and they should scale well, especially is they use Google’s UI guidelines.  So, the Amazon and Nook apps might scale well, but it’s nice to know that at least one of the proven stores will definitely work well and look good on the 7-inch screen.

Read [Korea Newswire Kobo Release] and [Samsung]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Wearable electronics is becoming a rage in the present day quirky couture market. Marc an engineer and software guru from Miami Florida has found great use in his iPhone. The tech enthusiast has designed an iPhone controlled LED suit to create interactive fashion. The animated suit sewed with LED lights generates amazing light effects using a Wi-Fi from an iPhone app developed by him. He conceals all the wiry gadgetry comprising a microphone and accelerometer using specially designed gloves.

Check out the video after the jump:

Via: Talk2myShirt

Analyzing Japanese sexual life, you would get to know just how large sex looms in Japanese life. Love Plus+ App corroborates just that and we can bet that of all the apps so far this one is going to be a great hit amongst Japanese men to treat their virtual girlfriends. This augmented reality iPhone app lets romantically driven men get a picture next to a virtual girlfriend from the game Love Plus+ at 13 “romantic” spots around the resort town of Atam. Ever since the beginning of the app promotion in July, the game has lured some 2000 visitors to interact with their virtual sweethearts.

Check out the video after the jump:

Via: CNet/Switched

There has been many attempts to club iPhone with car enthusiasts and there is really no telling how much farther they can take this little gadget. Take this innovative car jack dubbed as ‘ilift’ that can be controlled by an iPhone. Developed by the leading manufacturer of springs Gold Schmitt and development partner - Intec, this innovative technology is controlled by the Gold-Schmitt “App” to free it from the wired control unit. While the innovation looks pretty simple, but we are sure car enthusiasts would love the taste of this geeky fun.

Via: Nokzeit

Still, the current state of the prototype isn’t anywhere ready for store shelves. ViewSonic has had to use Android 1.6, simply because that’s the most recent version of the Google platform that’s compatible with Intel Atom CPUs; the company’s reps told us they do have plans to update that as soon as possible, and indeed they’re also looking at Google Chrome OS as a potential alternative.

In Windows mode – running Windows 7 Home Premium – the ViewPad 100 is reasonable, though it’s still obvious that Microsoft’s OS still isn’t ideal for touch-only devices. ViewSonic compound that by not including a stylus of any sort; while they’re unfashionable right now, they’re still the best way to interact with the Windows 7 TIP (Tablet Input Panel) that pops up automatically whenever you’re in a text-entry box such as an address bar or form. Handwriting recognition – which in Windows 7 is actually pretty accurate – is scuppered by the difficulty of trying to write with your finger, and instead ViewSonic expect users to flip over to the onscreen keyboard.

There’s WiFi but no 3G, and a 16GB SSD together with a memory card slot for adding to that. ViewSonic says the ViewPad 100 will launch in Europe in October 2010, priced at under £500 ($769).

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