PMD CamBoard Pico XS, the Thinnest Gesture Camera Ever

Gesture cameras are those little gadgets that you put in front of your monitor, or at the top depending on how they're supposed to work, in order to enable gesture control on your PC. The type that doesn't need you to touch anything.

Back at Computex in June 2013, PMD Technologies revealed the Pico S, which was already pretty small.

Now, though, they have a new one, which Engadget got to take a look at just before the Consumer Electronics Show ended (CES 2014).

The device measures 39.5 x 15.5 x 4 mm / 1.55 x 0.61 x 0.15 inches. That's right, it’s just 4 mm / 0.15 inches thick.

All in all, the Pico XS is half as long as the original device, and 1.5 mm thinner (0.05 inches) than the Pico S, but works just as well despite the smaller lens.

Consumers can't use it, however, because it uses MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) instead of USB. OEMs will love it though.

Apple Patents Optical Image Stabilization Technology for iPhone 6 Camera

Digital cameras are not the only ones that reach the headlines and some of the major electronics manufacturers have already integrated powerful cameras into their latest smartphones, which now are capable of capturing even Raw images.

While the iPhone 5 enjoys a huge success on the market, Apple is already planning to improve the future generation camera features. A recent patent discovered by UnwiredView, confirms that the company is currently working on a new technology called “VCM OIS actuator module” that will add Optical Image Stabilization as well as an improved autofocus to future iPhones.

The new AF mechanism will be capable of moving the lens along the optical axis as well as actively tilting it at the same time. This will efficiently compensate camera movements allowing you to take clear, sharp photos in any shooting conditions.

According to the patent, Apple is working on the OIS technology since early 2012 and it should be ready just in time for the launch of iPhone 6.

CES 2014: Innovega iOptik Contact Lenses Give You Superman's Eyes

Google Glass and other augmented reality eyewear were invented with the aim of providing you with information about what you're looking at, but Innovega wants to actually enhance your sight, so it brought its contacts to CES.

That's right, if you're at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, you can visit Innovega's booth and check out a pair of contact lenses that enhance your vision.

The lenses will make you see much clearer at very near and very far distances. You can put a finger near your eye and see the details, for example, instead of it all getting blurry (the eye can't naturally focus on an object when it's so close).

Reading from farther off should be easier too, and you might even be able to distinguish an airplane's wings if it's not too high up.

"A lot of companies are trying to do that right now with hardware, and there are limitations: It creates a tiny field of view," an iOptik spokesperson told Mashable.

"Google Glass is the equivalent of having your smartphone about 24 inches in front of you. The iOptik system is six times the resolution and 20 times the area. It's like looking at a big TV projection, and you can see so much more."

Keep in mind, though, that the iOptik system is called a “system” because it's not just made of the contact lenses.

Sure, they can work alone, but your vision becomes even better (and you get the augmented reality information) when you add the accompanying glasses to the mix.

Said glasses have flat display panels or micro projectors that display media, apps and do pretty much everything else the Google Glass is supposed to do, only over your entire field of view instead of just the edge (like the glasses from Meta).

Innovega made the contacts separate from the glasses because it allows you to fill the contacts with a prescription. The company hopes the technology will eventually replace the smartphone. It might take a while for that to happen, but it actually might since iOptik are a lot better than other contacts we've seen, although without the ability to substitute for sunglasses (for now).

CES 2014: Sony A5000 Is World's Smallest and Lightest Mirrorless Wi-Fi Camera

This week, fans of any digital camera brand will rejoice as most companies have already announced their camera and/or lens lineups for this year's first important international electronics show, CES 2014.

Among them, Japanese electronics maker Sony has announced today its latest entry-level APS-C interchangeable-lens camera, the A5000, which also happens to be the world's smallest and lightest mirrorless camera on the market as of now.

The Sony A5000 comes with a 20.1MP Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor powered by a BIONZ X image processor that is capable of offering enhanced low light capabilities and increased ISO sensitivity of up to ISO16,000.

In addition to that, the company's new mirrorless model also features a 180-degree tiltable LCD screen that allows you to easily take self-portraits. Moreover, the camera body sports a small lever that allows you to quickly adjust optical zoom without having to reach controls on the lens barrel.

To cope with today's smart devices demands, the new Sony A5000 comes equipped with enhanced Wi-Fi capabilities as well as NFC (Near Field Communication), which allows you to instantly connect and share photos to your smartphone and/or tablet.

In addition to that, the camera offers support for a wide range of free and paid applications via the PlayMemories Camera Apps feature. If you like capturing long time-lapse videos, with Time-lapse v2.0 you can now get even better results thanks to the new ambient brightness tracking capabilities of the camera.

Sony A5000 is ultra-compact, weighs only 210g / 7oz and, thanks to its powerful image processor, it's a worthy replacement of your entry-level DSLR. The camera will be available starting March 23 at a price of about $600 / €440 for the 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS retractable zoom lens kit.

In addition to that, a new, black-finish 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 telephoto lens will also be available in March at a price of about $350 / €257.

Lenovo Launches Its First LTE Smartphone, the Vibe Z

Chinese handset maker Lenovo has just announced its first LTE smartphone that will be available for purchase beginning next month, the Vibe Z.

Although LTE smartphones have become quite common in the last couple of months, Lenovo will debut its first 4G handset only in February.

Nevertheless, Lenovo's fans will be pleased to know the Vibe Z has been especially designed to be launched outside China.

According to the company, Lenovo Vibe Z will be available for purchase starting in February in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Philippines.

Customers interested in this LTE-enabled handset will be able to pick it up for about $550 (€400) off contract, which is not that high considering the smartphone's specs sheet.

Connectivity-wise, Lenovo’s first smartphone featuring LTE capabilities, the Vibe Z offers the usual 4G technology that allows for data upload at up to 50 Mbit/s and downloading at up to 150 Mbit/s.

In addition, Lenovo Vibe Z comes with support for GSM / UMTS networks up to 2100 MHz and also features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.

“We created the new Vibe Z with its elegant design, high performance and custom software so that people can truly have the best smartphone experience now at the speed of LTE,” said Liu Jun, senior vice president, Lenovo Business Group, Lenovo.

The smartphone is powered by Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, it's only 7.9mm thin and weighs 147 grams (battery included).

Another strong points of the Vibe Z would be its 5.5-in full high definition (1920 x 1080) IPS wide angle viewing capacitive touchscreen display.

On the inside, the smartphone comes equipped with a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory.

There's also an impressive 13-megapixel main camera on the back, which features a large f1.8 aperture lens, as well as a secondary 5-megapixel camera in the front.

Lenovo’s Super Camera and Super Gallery apps let users add fun effects to their photos easily. Additionally Vibe Z offers Lenovo-specific software supporting motion and gestures for better one-handed usage on large screen devices.

“We are proud to collaborate with Lenovo to enable the company’s first LTE smartphone. The new Vibe Z utilizes the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with integrated LTE technology to deliver superfast web browsing and unmatched multimedia features for an outstanding user experience,” concluded Raj Talluri, senior vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Earth-like Planet Discovered Nearby

When the latest batch of exoplanetary detections were announced in late 2013, the dataset also included a world called Kepler-62f, which is very much like Earth in many ways. The conclusions of recent studies appear to indicate that this world, alongside its neighbor Kepler-62e, may be covered in water.

Astronomers were also able to determine that the planet lies in its parent star's habitable zone, which is an area where temperatures are just right to support the presence of liquid water. Similarly, Earth lies right in the middle of the Sun's habitable zone.

This combination of a right distance from the star and the presence of liquid water on its surface makes Kepler-62f an ideal candidate for the development of life. However, experts say, if life does exist on this world, then it most likely looks a lot different than what we are used to seeing.

The exoplanet orbits the star Kepler-62, which is significantly smaller and dimmer than the Sun. The cosmic object lies around 1,200 light-years away from our planet, and is roughly 1.4 times larger than Earth. Its neighbor, Kepler-62e, is about 1.6 times the size of our planet, Space reports.

“There may be life there, but could it be technology-based like ours? Life on these worlds would be under water with no easy access to metals, to electricity, or fire for metallurgy,” said in a statement Lisa Kaltenegger, who led the efforts to model the surfaces of the two worlds based on telescope data.

The expert holds joint appointments with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), in the United States. “Nonetheless, these worlds will still be beautiful blue planets circling an orange star – and maybe life’s inventiveness to get to a technology stage will surprise us,” she said.

According to data from the NASA planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope, the exoplanet Kepler-62f orbits its parent star once every 267 days, as opposed to Earth's 365-day orbit. This puts in about as far away from the dim star as Venus is from the Sun. Though closer, the exoplanet is not necessarily warmer, due to the reduced size of its star.

“Look at our own ocean – it is just absolutely full of life. We think, in fact, life might have begun there,” commented NASA Ames Research Center expert Bill Borucki, who led the team that discovered the two alien worlds last year.

CES 2014: Intel Edison, a PC the Size of an SD Card

We suppose it was only a matter of time before personal computers became personal all-in-one computer chips. We just didn't think the leap from laptop to SD-card-sized system would skip all the steps in between.

Then again, those “in-between steps” are tablets, smartphones and hand-sized gadgets, and since ARM has a firm hold on most of those, Intel must have figured it had a better chance if it jumped all the way in one go.

Besides, this will let it score points on the wearable computing gadgets, like fitness tracking wrist bands, electronic clothing, toys with medical and surveillance applications, etc.

The new computer-on-a-chip is called Edison. Intel says it is based on the same tech as normal PCs, only compacted.

The 22 nm transistor technology was used for the processor itself, which is a dual-core Quark CPU (central processing unit).

The Santa Clara, California-based chip giant also made sure that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were present and accounted for.

As we have implied above, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich intends for the Edison miniature computer to be used to build the next generation of connected devices and wearable gadgets.

We have to say that CES 2014, the Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a very opportune moment.

Not just because it is a well-attended launching pad for all sorts of consumer devices, but because consumer awareness and interest is ideal: the public is optimistic about the idea of wearable devices, but doesn't have any available to buy.

What's more, it has already been proven that high-tech clothes can be made. We've already seen the Call Me Gloves (so you can talk to the hand literally) and we know almost for sure that Bluetooth watches, bracelets, gloves and hats are in the works and will debut this year.

On that note, the Edison is made for developers and while it hasn't shipped much, Intel did have some proof-of-concept stuff on hand, the “Nursery 2.0” as he the company called it: a toy frog that reports an infant's vitals to a parent's LED coffee cup, a milk warmer that heats when the frog (or other item) hears the baby cry, etc.

The only catch here is that if you are a developer, you'll have to wait until the middle of 2014 to get the Edison. By then, the app store dedicated just to it will be up and running as well.

“Biometric” iPhone 6 to Sport Iris Scanner and Huge 5.7-Inch Screen – Report

A new report from China claims that Apple is preparing to unleash a new iPhone duo this year sporting larger displays and iris scanners, in what would undoubtedly mark the most exciting iPhone revision yet.

A Foxconn executive is telling C Technology (via Google Translate) that “Apple will release a one-time exception iPhone in two sizes this year,” one boasting a 4.7-inch display, the other a 5.7-inch screen.

If the huge numbers aren’t enough to baffle you, then hear this. Then same Foxconn staffer reportedly said that “the whole system comes standard with biometric.” In addition to Touch ID, the phones could be equipped with iris scanners, according to the report.

I for one will take a science-fiction rumor any day of the week over one that sounds plausible but boring, but that doesn’t mean we have to believe everything that flies. In other words, don’t hold your breath for that James Bond functionality just yet. Wait for a hardware leak, or something.

PlayStation Now Streaming Service Announced, Brings Games to PS4, PS3, PS Vita

After many reports and quite a few rumors, Sony has confirmed that it's going to debut a special game streaming service called PlayStation Now that will grant owners of PS4, PS3, or PS Vita consoles access to older games on their platforms.

When Sony revealed the PS4 back in February of 2013, it promised that backwards compatibility with the PS3 and other home consoles would be ensured through a cloud streaming service based on its recently-acquired Gaikai division.

Now, the company has revealed at CES 2014 the PlayStation Now service that broadcasts from the cloud, at first, PS3 games for the PS4, PS3, and PS Vita platforms.

"We are thrilled to deliver entertainment experiences only possible from PlayStation through our new streaming game service," said Andrew House, president and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, in an official statement. "PS Now will allow users to engage in the world of PlayStation, whether they're existing fans or have never owned a PlayStation platform."

At first, PS3 games will be available for streaming on the PS4 and PS3 systems, and the PS Vita will join them at some point in time, alongside actual Sony Bravia TV sets, not to mention other Internet-connected devices.

"SCE's vision for PS Now is to enable users to instantly enjoy a wide range of full games on the Internet-connected consumer electronics devices they use every day. The accessibility of PS Now means, for example, that PS4 users in the living room can continue playing a game on a PS3 system in their bedroom," the company said.

"Or PS Vita users can enjoy instant access to a game wherever there's Wi-Fi connectivity, such as outdoors, then can switch to a supporting Bravia TV's big screen and play the same game after arriving home."

PlayStation Now will allow users to rent certain games or acquire a subscription that allows them extra benefits and a wide access to the game portfolio. All games will have full features, including multiplayer, Trophies, and more.

PlayStation Now will launch as a beta on PS3 systems in certain regions of the United States at the end of January. A full rollout is expected by summer in the U.S., but there's no word about the service's launch in other regions.

Surprise, Surprise: The New Mac Pro Can Have Its CPU Removed and Upgraded

Other World Computing is performing a thorough tear down of Apple’s all-new Mac Pro (Late 2013) model, showing the system’s insides and revealing some important pieces of information for those who are planning to buy their own.

For one reason or another, OWC beat iFixit to the Mac Pro tear down. However, disappointingly OWC does not provide thorough documentation of each step taken during the dismantling process. Instead, the hardware seller only provides a photo gallery.

Be it at it may, the tear down does reveal one important aspect about the $2,999 / €2,999 machine. Namely, its processor is easily removable and upgradable.

Not that you can swap that Xeon CPU for anything better at the moment, but it’s good to know that you won’t be forced to buy another Mac Pro outright when Intel brings out something new. Don’t forget to click through the gallery below. You can also visit OWC for the full monty.

Razer Intros Christine, World's Most Modular PC Design

Normally, a desktop has a pretty standard hardware set installed within a rectangular case of varying sizes, but the newest concept from Razer does away with that concept completely.

Codenamed Project Christine, the system doesn't actually have a case at all. Instead, it has a central hub, like a tower, to which various modules can be connected.

The more you add, the better your PC gets and the greater the range of connectivity becomes.

It's meant to allow even less tech-savvy users to upgrade their system, or at least start out small and keep adding more components as time and funds allow.

Razer's Christine has specific modules containing the microprocessor (along with the indispensable chipset and interfaces), a graphics processing units, memory, storage, etc.

Each module looks like a rectangular cartridge with rounded edges, most no larger than a 5.25-inch optical disk drive.

The PSU, central and video components are the only ones larger than that, from what the concept images show.

You should be able to connect everything through the PCI Express backbone, regardless of combination.

Graphics capabilities can go all the way to quad-SLI multi-GPU configurations, storage can be made up of individual SSD/HDDs and RAID storage setups, there can be more than one PSU, even I/O capabilities can be customized.

Finally, everything is done without cables, which means that only your monitor, keyboard and mouse will add a wire to the equation, unless the latter two are wireless, in which case only the display will need such things.

Sure, even this modular PC will have limits, but it's definitely a project worth exploring if you're not all that good with choosing your own PC hardware and assembling a normal PC from individually bought parts.

“Project Christine is a new concept design that will revolutionize the way users view the traditional PC. This is the first gaming system that is able to keep pace with technology and could allow consumers to never buy another PC, or gaming system, again,” said Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director.