Sony Mobile today announced at CES 2015 new products, partners and experiences to its evolving SmartWear range.
SmartWatch 3 from Sony Mobile.
Highlights include a sleek stainless steel edition of SmartWatch 3, new Lifelog collaborations, and concept wearable devices, including Sony’s Smart B-Trainer prototype – a multi-sensor, waterproof headset prototype designed for optimising performance and providing real time insight on the running track.
Sony SmartWatch 3
Along with the stainless steel edition of SmartWatch 3, Sony also unveiled a new SmartWatch 3 holder, allowing users and partners alike to customise the SmartWatch 3 with any standard 24mm watch strap.
Golfshot and iFit are two developers already creating Android Wear experiences with SmartWatch 3’s standalone capability, for both performance on the course and track respectively.
Reflecting Sony’s strategy to bring new functionality and features to Lifelog, users can now access the application through their browser at lifelog.sonymobile.com.
Nikon has introduced the 24.2-megapixel DX-format Nikon D5500, as well as the AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200MM F4-5.6G ED VR II and AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR lenses.
Available in February 2015, prices TBA.
The Nikon D5500 is available in classic black and chic red colour kits.
Nikon claims that the D5500 is “the world’s smallest, lightest and slimmest DSLR”. It comes with built-in wireless connectivity and touch-screen.
The FX-format AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR incorporates Nikon’s Phase Fresnel (PF) lens element for the first time in NIKKOR lenses, resulting in a light 755 grams.
The AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200MM F4-5.6G ED VR II (bottom) and AF-S NIKKOR 300mm F/4E PF ED VR (top) lenses.
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 at Las Vegas, Intel announced the release of its latest wave of 14nm processors, promising improved system and graphics performance, more natural and immersive user experiences, and longer battery life compared to previous generations.
5th Generation Intel Core technology unveiled at CES 2015
Key benefits of the 5th Generation Intel Core family and the next-generation 14nm processor for tablets include:
More powerful performance with 35% more transistors on a 37% smaller die.
Power efficiency for up to 1.5 hours better battery life than the previous generation.
The next evolution in processor graphics architecture that enable 4K Ultra HD display.
Better support for the Internet of Things with a smaller thermal envelope.
Provides the foundation for great user experiences today and in the future with Intel technology such as RealSense 3D and wireless innovations.
The release of the 5th Generation Intel Core technology includes 14 new processors for consumers and businesses, including 10 new 15W processors with Intel HD Graphics and four new 28W products with Intel Iris Graphics.
The most moving photo of 2014 was taken by award-winning Getty Images photographer John Moore. In the photo, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF), health worker in protective clothing carries a child suspected of having Ebola in the MSF treatment center on October 5, 2014 in Paynesville, Liberia. The girl and her mother, showing symptoms of the deadly disease, were awaiting test results for the virus. The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Powerful imagery of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia by John Moore was top of mind globally with his photos voted #1, #2 and #7 respectively.
A total of 294,219 votes were cast from 164 countries globally on photos included in Getty Images’ Year in Focus, an expert curation of the defining images and videos that encapsulate 2014’s most important moments in the world of news, sport, entertainment and archive anniversaries and obituaries.
A total of 294,219 votes were cast from 164 countries globally on photos included in Getty Images’ Year in Focus, an expert curation of the defining images and videos that encapsulate 2014’s most important moments in the world of news, sport, entertainment and archive anniversaries and obituaries.
Ebola is also the subject of the photo voted #10, taken by Reportage by Getty Images photographer Daniel Berehulak.
We were walking around our hotel in Hua Hin, Thailand and admiring the aesthetic decor all around us, when we came across these wall flower arrangement. Loved it!
Here are some flowers decorating the walls along the walls of the garden. So creative. Photo taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f2.8 PRO lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Door flower, wall flowers – so much nature and creativity all round.
We were walking around our hotel in Hua Hin, Thailand and admiring the aesthetic decor all around us.
Here are some flowers decorating the doors of some of the rooms in the garden. We loved the peacefulness just looking at the flower arrangement. Photo taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f2.8 PRO lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
It was really therapeutic just walking around and smelling the flowers around us.
Shopping is a favourite past time in Singapore and at the heart of the vendor’s efficiency and the consumer’s experience is the Point Of Sale (POS) being used.
As we step into 2015, Bikash Kumar shares his thoughts on some of the key trends shaping the evolution of POS technology in 2015.
Mobile POS enables greater consumer interaction with the sales staff.
* This article is a guest post written by Bikash Kumar – MD, Integrated Retail Management Consulting Pte. Ltd. The opinions expressed are his own and do not represent that of tech4tea.com.
Bikash Kumar has a Bachelor of Business Studies (1988-91) from the College of Business Studies in the University of Delhi; and an MBA (1991-93) from the Faculty of Management Study from the same university.
The Point of Sale (POS) system is where consumers pay for their purchases in a retail store.
Traditionally, the POS systems have been used to generate information on transactions within a retail outlet.
However, the POS technology has been improving significantly, allowing retail staff to deliver multiple operations, besides just scanning merchandise and generating bills.
According to Integrated Retail, a firm that specialises in designing, deploying and maintaining POS systems across the region, the POS systems are likely to see further enhancements in 2015.
Here are five key changes that we are likely to see.
Morphing from Point of Sale to a Point of Service
POS is increasingly mobile and it is lighter
POS systems are becoming inter-connected
POS system activities are traceable in real time
POS is driving up productivity
Below are my thoughts on each of these key changes.
A little wild yellow flower in the old city of Jakobstad (also known as Pietarsaari in Finnish) on the coast of Finland. June 2011. Taken with a Nikon D600 with 24-120mm lens. Photo credit: John Tan.
Here’s wishing everyone a fantastic year ahead in 2015.
In addition of making overseas calls from your home country, you can also use Skype to call family, friends and colleagues who back in your home country on their landline or mobile – when you are travelling overseas. All you need is Wi-Fi access or mobile broadband on your smartphone, and some Skype credits.
Check out Skype as an additional affordable means of voice/SMS communication when you travel overseas.
When I first arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, while waiting at the customs, I logged on to the free Wi-Fi network in the airport and used Skype to call a local sight to make enquiries and make reservations for a day trip to a wildlife rescue centre in Petchaburi.
I found out when writing this article that the AOT Wi-Fi network at Suvarnabhumi Airport is provided by True Move and is available at the main internaltional airports in Thailand.
These include the airports at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Hat Yai.
The Suvarnabhumi Airport serving Bangkok provides a pretty decent free Wi-Fi to travellers in its terminals – good enough to make VoIP calls using Skype.
First you need to register in the login page for the AOT network in the airport and you get to use the network for free for up to 2 hours a day.
Don’t bother to memorise the complicated userid and password they issue you, the next time you use the network – which is probably when you leave Thailand – you can register as a new user again and use a new set of userid and password.
