Friday 21 August 2015

New Smart Cast Mobile Phone Projects a virtual keyboard or display

Oh, now THIS is cool. A new phone unveiled by Chinese corporation Lenovo (makers of the Ideapad tablet, amongst others), will be able to project interactive objects, such as virtual keyboards or piano keys onto almost any flat surface.



The ‘Smart Cast’ phone (which could have been branded better, it has to be said) will also be able to project videos and photographic content onto walls, desks or any other flat surface, allowing the user to share videos (and even potentially screen movies) with multiple viewers.

The phone is able to project a fully functional replica of its own touch screen, or even a full-size computer keyboard if desired.

Despite being utterly tiny (34mm x 26mm x 5mm), the phone’s laser projector does not need focussing in order to project far larger images onto walls, desks, or anywhere else you might need to project an image (and for all you nerd lings aiming on creating a pocket Bat-Signal, forget it. I got there first!).

The projector itself can also be manually moved into at least one other position, which ensures that the projection quality should always be first rate.

...It even has a motorbike style kickstand to keep it upright when you’re using the virtual keyboard. How cool is that?

Justifiably proud of their new creation, Lenovo hired Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang to play the phone’s virtual piano as projected on the desk in front of him. I suppose they could afford to, as it was recently announced that their profits are up 20% from last year.

Of course, projector phones have been explored in the past, usually without success. The Samsung Galaxy Beam, released in 2012, was a failure of Star Trek: Into Darkness proportions (the joke being in the ‘beam me up’ area â€" in case you missed that) and the technology is notoriously hard to use. Still, perhaps this time somebody has finally gotten it right? Time will tell...

Sadly for us Brits, the Smart cast phone seems unlikely to be released here in the UK, so for us, it’s all a moot point in the end.

The Smart Cast phone was officially unveiled at Lenovo’s Tech World conference in Beijing, China, an event that also saw the debut of a new smartwatch, which has a ‘public’ and ‘private’ mode for some reason (all I can imagine it would be useful for is if somebody asked you the time whilst you were watching porn â€" at which point, keeping the screen on your wrist would defeat the object somewhat anyway).

It is open to interpretation as to whether or not the Smart Cast phone will be a stroke of consumer electronics genius or a costly failure, but for now, the early buzz certainly looks intriguing and you can pretty much guarantee that various engineering bigwigs employed by other developers will be following its progress with interest.

Sunday 2 August 2015

Hytera explosion-proof two-way radios vital for oil & gas sector safety

Hytera, the world's leading professional mobile radio communications solution provider, has announced its first-time participation at this year’s edition of Saudi Safety and Security, Saudi Arabia’s leading security, fire and safety conference and exhibition, which will be held on May 10-12, 2015 at the Dhahran International Exhibitions Centre (DIEC) in Dammam.

During the exciting three-day show, the company is expected to highlight the importance of using explosion-proof rated digital two-way radios across key industry verticals, particularly for the oil & gas segment. The PT790EX, a TETRA radio that is compliant with the world's most stringent explosion-proof certification, will be pre-launched at the show and will be made available in the Saudi market later this year.

Hytera understands the challenge of professionals working in highly-hazardous environments especially those operating in oil & gas facilities. To address this issue, the company has developed a strategic range of intrinsically safe and reliable communications solutions that conform to international digital radio safety standards. Hytera offers a full line of explosion-proof two-way radios, following two mainstream technologies, namely Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) and Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), which includes the PD795 EX, PD785(UL913), PD705(UL913), X1p(UL913), PT580H(UL913) and the PT790EX. The units have been specifically designed for use in environments with explosive gas and combustible dusts, where using regular radios could be unsafe. Presented in a rugged and ergonomic-friendly design, the units present key features like easy operability, long battery life and in compliance with set international standards for safety and security. Features like man-down and lone-worker goes extra miles to offer great assurance for personnel working in remote or isolated conditions.

“We are looking forward to our first time participation at this year’s Saudi Safety and Security 2015, which will allow us a strategic platform to leverage our diverse range of radio transceivers and radio systems across the Kingdom’s various industry verticals, particularly in the oil & gas industry. In addition, our presence at the show will also afford us the advantage of reaching out to more potential usersâ€"telling them of the many advantages and benefits to be gained from using our products. We are excited to meet new contacts and enter into potential opportunities. The Kingdom represents a wide gamut of possibilities for us and we are now also looking to open an office here to further reinforce our leadership in the market. In fact, there are already more than 10,000 Hytera digital radios in use in the Kingdom today,” Dawud Liu, Sales Manager for KSA, Hytera.

Established in 1993 in Shenzhen, China, Hytera operates on a global basis and develops radio systems and solutions that are in compliance with set international standards like DMR, TETRA and MPT-1327. The company offers a wide portfolio of customized communication solutions to government, public security, utility, transportation, enterprise & business for higher organizational efficiency.

To date, Hytera has established a global sales network with more than 20 subsidiaries and offices in USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Brazil, etc. and ensures around 15% of revenue for R&D to keep pushing the limit leading and mature technologies. Hytera's five R&D facilities are located in Shenzhen, Harbin and Nanjing in China and Hannover and Flensburg in Germany have created a state-of-the-art platform for digital technology research, product design and application development. â€" SG

As you can see on this Article Hytera really are making strides in this area, the famous Intrinsically safe radios are being surpassed by a new brand of safety. Hopefully the explosion-proof element of the radio won't need to be proven, but this is an exciting Element.