Nokia Point & Find pilot campaign kicks off in Colchester UK Tweet

COLCHESTER, England – Augmented Reality is a term that has begun to bubble to the surface in pop culture of late (Esquire magazine even dedicated an entire issue to it Stateside last month) – the concept of using your phone’s talents to extract relevant and often valuable info from your real world surroundings. But where it remains a concept in most cases, Nokia Point & Find has entered the wild and is currently running a pilot campaign in the city of Colchester in south east England.

We’re planning a trip to Colchester later this week to test it out to bring you our initial thoughts on Nokia Point & Find in action, but in the meantime read on to discover how it’s being piloted and what to expect.

Nokia has collaborated with one of the UK’s leading outdoor advertising companies, JC Decaux, to run a real world test of Point & Find centered around bus shelter advertising space peppered throughout the self-contained city (pictured below). Anyone passing one of these Point & Find advertising posters will be able to access relevant location-based info about local services, products and special offers, simply by pointing their phone’s camera at the image or object in front of them, having first downloaded Point & Find by texting HERE to 81066 – the phone then uses a combination of its advanced image recognition talents, web connectivity and GPS skills to scan the image and determine what it is, its location and what relevant and valuable info is available. Once your phone has evaluated a device it goes online to tap into a database of virtually tagged items, returning the associated media, such as movies, URLs, phone numbers or special offers. One of the best examples is if you point your phone at a movie poster, it might then send you the trailer, let you know where your nearest cinema in relation to where you’re standing, and give you the box office number should you want to book tickets.

As part of the pilot JC Decaux is offering all advertisers the chance to use Nokia Point & Find to include special offers in their interactive posters. Likewise, alongside the posters at the bus shelters sit a series of icons that can be scanned to get relevant local info – from left to right, Download Nokia Point & Find, Local news (BBC news and sport), Entertainment (cinemas, theatre, clubs, bars), Eating (restaurants, pubs, fast food), Shopping (stores and supermarkets), Info (about town, such as nearest ATM), Travel (local taxis, train times, parking and hotel booking).

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Nokia X6 16GB launched Tweet

GLOBAL – Today sees the Nokia X6 get its very own baby brother in the form of a new 16GB model. Unlike its 32GB sibling, the 16GB version doesn’t Come with Music but its sizable on board storage still boasts enough space for 5,500 tracks. Outside that substantial storage sits a lush 3.2-inch widescreen capacitive touchscreen and four new finishes: all black, all white, white with pink highlights and white with yellow highlights. Read on to find out what else is in store.

Running the latest version of Symbian^1 the Nokia X6 16GB boasts up to 18 days standby time, 11.5 hours talktime (GSM), 4.5 hours of video playback and a whopping 35 hours of music playback! That’s enough time to listen to roughly 12 per cent of the tracks stored on the device.

Images are taken care of with a 5-megapixel camera sporting Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. Shooting videos is a joy, not just because of the camera but the TV-out function enables you to watch your masterpieces on the big screen, too. And of course, you can edit your videos right there on the device.

The new Nokia X6 is compatible with the all-new Ovi Maps, offering free walk and drive navigation and tons of extras including Michelin and Lonely Planet guides.

Gamers will be happy with the pre-loaded games including Spore by EA, Asphalt4 and DJ Mix Tour by Gameloft.

The Nokia X6 16GB will be available this quarter.

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Navigation on your Nokia Tweet

Nokia makes walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones

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Taiwan WiMAX licensee Vmax kicks off operation Tweet

Vmax Telecom, a WiMAX licensee in northern Taiwan, on January 25 started operations in Taipei City with a network of over 200 base stations to cover more than 85% of the city's population, according to the company.

Vmax has initially offered a 4Mbps/2Mbps service for NT$456 (US$14.30) per month using USB dongles or Acer notebooks equipped with WiMAX modules available as terminal devices,

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NVIDIA Nexus - Visual Studio-based GPU Development Tweet

What is "Nexus"?
Our new GPU developer tools, code-named Nexus brings GPU Computing into Visual Studio 2008. Debug, profile, and analyze GPU code using standard workflow and tools. Nexus supports CUDA C, OpenCL, DirectCompute, Direct3D, and OpenGL.
Get an Invitation for the "Nexus" Beta
We will start distributing invitations for Nexus Beta in October 2009.

See "Nexus" in Action
Video #1: Nexus debugging CUDA C in Visual Studio 2008
Debugging CUDA C, Memory and Variable Inspection, Thread Focus


Video #2: Analyzing System Performance in Visual Studio 2008
Trace and Profiling options, integrated CPU/GPU Trace Timeline


The Next Generation CUDA Architecture, Code Named Fermi
The Soul of a Supercomputer in the Body of a GPU
The next generation CUDA architecture, code named “Fermi”, is the most advanced GPU computing architecture ever built. With over three billion transistors and featuring up to 512 CUDA cores, Fermi delivers supercomputing features and performance at 1/10th the cost and 1/20th the power of traditional CPU-only servers.

Jen-Hsun Huang announcing Fermi Hear details about the new GPU architecture See details of the key architectural features
See video of Jen-Hsun Huang announcing Fermi

Hear details about the new GPU architecture

See details of the key architectural features

Fermi makes GPU and CPU co-processing pervasive by addressing the full-spectrum of computing applications. Designed for C++ and available with a Visual Studio development environment, it makes parallel programming easier and accelerates performance on a wider array of applications than ever before – including dramatic performance acceleration in ray tracing, physics, finite element analysis, high-precision scientific computing, sparse linear algebra, sorting, and search algorithms.

Fermi features several major innovations:
• 512 CUDA cores
• NVIDIA Parallel DataCache technology
• NVIDIA GigaThread™ engine
• ECC support

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FIH lands ODM smartphone orders from LGE Tweet

Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) has obtained ODM orders for Windows Mobile-platform smartphones from LG Electronics (LGE) for the first time, with shipments to begin around the end of 2010, according to industry sources.

FIH has been cooperating with LGE on an EMS basis for a period of time, with handset shipments to the Korea-based vendor reaching 3-4 million units in 2009, said the sources, noting that including the smartphone models, FIH's total handset shipments to LGE are expected to reach 10 million units in 2010.

LGE plans to launch as many as 20 smartphones available in Windows Mobile-, Android- and Linux-based platforms in 2010 in order to expand its penetration in the global smartphone segment, the sources noted.

Under its product roadmap, LGE began to take deliveries of smatphones from Taiwan-based Compal Communications in the fourth quarter of 2009 and decided recently to add FIH to its smartphone supplier list.

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Motorola Powers Far EasTone WiMAX 4G Service Tweet

New service launch brings next-generation mobile broadband experience to Taichung users.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced that Far EasTone Telecom (FET), a leading telecom operator in Taiwan, has launched its WiMAX 4G service in Taichung city with Motorola Home & Networks Mobility's end-to-end WiMAX solutions. The high-speed network is based on the latest 4G technology that supports services such as mobile movies and music, family-oriented digital entertainment and mobile Internet access, enabling a new media mobility lifestyle for FET's subscribers.

Motorola signed deployment and expansion contracts with FET in 2007 and 2009 respectively, and has deployed end-to-end solutions such as high-performance WAP 400 and WAP 450 base stations and Connectivity Service Network (CSN) Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA)/Home Agent (HA) solutions for FET. The new WiMAX network covers most of Taichung city, and the network coverage and capacity will be further expanded as usage grows.

"We are excited about the launch of the WiMAX 4G service, which provides many possibilities to expand and tailor services for home and mobile users as well as business users and consumers," said Jan Nilsson, president and vice chairman of FET. "We are delighted to work with an experienced provider such as Motorola that has designed, supplied and deployed a high-performance and reliable network for FET. Motorola's end-to-end solution and quality services help us to create new revenue streams and attract new subscribers."

The new WiMAX 4G service extends FET's existing mobile service offerings based on 2G, 3G and 3.5G technologies. The WiMAX network with customer premises equipment allows the operator to offer a low-cost alternative to home DSL service in the market, enabling a new home entertainment experience for users. It also supports nomadic usage by business users and consumers. The high-speed mobile connection is especially useful for heavy mobile Internet users who often download large files and enjoy movies, music or gaming on the go.

"FET is a pioneer in providing state-of-the-art telecom services in Taiwan. We are pleased that our technologies and quality services can support them to move to the new mobile broadband era," said Dr. Mohammad Akhtar, vice president and general manager, Home & Networks Mobility, Motorola Asia Pacific. "Motorola is a global leader of WiMAX technology, and our expertise and experience ensure smooth and quality deployment of the advanced 4G technology for operators worldwide."

Motorola provides a full end-to-end WiMAX solution that extends beyond the infrastructure to integration of IP core products, outsourced managed services, and a broad range of customer premises equipment (CPE) and laptop modem products. For more information about Motorola's WiMAX solutions please visit www.motorola.com/wimax.

Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility business delivers fully integrated and customizable media solutions enabling operators to provide personalized, rich media experiences to their subscribers. As a global video leader in digital entertainment devices, digital and IP video headends and digital video processing, Motorola brings its video expertise to bear as operators -- wireline, wireless, cable and telco - seek to evolve their networks for the future.

About Far EasTone Telecom
Far EasTone Telecom is the leader in converged communication services in Taiwan. Awarded GSM licenses in 1997, Far EasTone Telecom has grown into one of the largest operators in Taiwan. Far EasTone Telecom is dedicated to the convergence of mobile communications and the Internet. Its aim is to provide customers with easy access to a wealth of public and personalized information, while striving to fulfill its vision in the 21st century: "Anywhere, anytime, communications to enrich the lives of people." Guided by its belief in being "innovative, trustworthy and responsive," Far EasTone Telecom brings customers's needs to a new level with its mobile and data transmission services.

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