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Nokia imaging chief throws cold water on 41-megapixel PureView

Nokia is expected to unveil a new smartphone tomorrow featuring PureView camera technology. There's just one problem: that branding might not mean what consumers think.

In a tweet this morning, Nokia imaging head Damian Dinning said that the "PureView" branding "is NOT a single specific feature or specification." That came just minutes after he said that the technology is "about blending optics, pixels, and image processing in new and different ways to allow you to do things you otherwise cannot."

Dinning also laid down the death knell: "as said many times before, … Read more

Edit images with IrfanView

IrfanView is one of the longest-serving and most popular freeware image editors available. Fast, compact, and flexible, IrfanView is also packed with features and extras, including TWAIN support, frames and borders, and slideshows, wallpaper, and screenshots. IrfanView plays music and videos, too; in fact, it's long been prized for its ability to open a huge range of files. It's also widely customizable, with lots of options.

IrfanView's setup wizard is one of the most comprehensive we've seen, with many options to set, such as which file types you want the program to open. When you install … Read more

One consumer in five uses the Web via TV -- survey

Televisions were once a reprieve from the online world. Now they're turning into just another way to stay connected.

In a new study published today, research firm NPD revealed that 18 percent of consumers across 14 countries, including the U.S. and U.K., access Web-based services and media from their televisions. That figure includes both people connecting to the Web from their televisions, as well as through set-top boxes hooked up to their sets.

NPD found that 25 percent of consumers who view online services from their televisions do so "several times a week."

Vendors have … Read more

Google Maps explores the faraway Arctic with Street View

Far beyond the Arctic Circle -- nearing the North Pole, where tundra, snow, and glaciers are commonplace year-round -- is an area called Cambridge Bay in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It sits in the Canadian Arctic and is only accessible by plane or boat.

This is the newest location to hit Google Maps Street View.

"Today, we've set out on a mission to build the most comprehensive map of Canada's Arctic region to date," Google Earth Outreach team member Karin Tuxen-Bettman wrote in a blog post today. "This is our first trip to the … Read more

YouTube brings skippable ads to mobile devices

YouTube will now let people viewing clips on the site by way of their mobile devices skip video ads after 5 seconds, the same way they can when watching clips on a desktop or laptop computer.

The video site said in a blog post today that its TrueView ads -- launched for PCs in December of 2010 -- are heading to smartphones and tablets.

Under TrueView, advertisers pay only when someone chooses to watch a complete ad. But does this ever happen? According to YouTube it does. The Google unit said late last year that 15 percent to 45 percent … Read more

Display Blue Screen of Death data with BlueScreenView

Blue Screen of Death: the very name chills the hearts of Windows users who have experienced it. There's no feeling quite like seeing your work vanish and be replaced by a BSOD, which is Windows' way of telling you it has just crashed, taking whatever you had open with it. NirSoft's BlueScreenView is a kind of coroner's report on your system. It scans the minidump files created when your system crashes and displays a BSOD, collecting them all in a single list view displaying all kinds of information you can use to debug whatever it is that'… Read more

Doctor Where: Tardis discovered on Google Street View

Move over, Curiosity rover, Google has already discovered signs of alien life. Eagle-eyed Street View users have noticed Doctor Who's blue police box time machine in various locations all over the United Kingdom.

Since Google blurs the faces of pedestrians caught by its cameras, it's entirely possible that one of the faceless figures near one of the Tardises is actually the Doctor or one of his companions.

Here's a list of Tardis spottings available on Street View, but there are likely more. Just plug them into Google Maps, switch to Street View, and look around until the Tardis comes into view.… Read more

Google Street View travels to Brazil, Mexican historical sites

Google's Street View is expanding across Brazil and Mexico.

The search giant today announced that its Street View coverage in Brazil now includes "colonial cities like Fortaleza, architecturally compelling cities like Brasilia, and coastal landmarks like Recife, Natal, and Salvador." All told, Street View now lets users comb through more than 70 Brazilian cities.

Google also announced the addition of 30 archaeological sites across Mexico, including the 1,100-year-old Kukulkan's Temple and the pyramids of Teotihuacan.

Google's Street View, which made its name as a service that let users virtually drive down city and suburban … Read more

Smartphones with unique designs (roundup)

Phone-makers use every trick in the book to differentiate their phones on store shelves, from bright colors to unusual proportions, textures, and materials.

Here are five smartphones that turn heads for striking shapes, aggressive style, and distinct physical features that you just don't see every day.

Nokia 808 PureView (unlocked), June 2012 You can't expect to slip a camera module as large as the 808 PureView's 41-megapixel shooter into a smartphone chassis without a little give. The trade-off is a thicker middle and a huge hump at one end of the phone that makes for some potentially … Read more