Category: Lifestyle

5 Ways Music Woven With Technology Sounds Incredible

The power of technology has been shaping our lives for generations. It touches everything we do, experience or listen, YES LISTEN! With the push of technology we now have a recent trend of innovative interactive music videos, apps and so much more.

We are listing 5 of our favorite music videos and albums that are inspired by mighty technology:

1. Reflektor- Arcade Fire (Interactive Geo-tagging Video)

Indie-Rock chart toppers, Arcade Fire put their video skills of HTML5 on use with the The Wilderness Downtown, directed by Chris Milk. An interactive music video which takes you to a run in your hometown. Type in the address of the place you grew up, and the stabbing piano of Arcade Fire’s We Used to Wait starts. A hooded figure begins to run down the streets you knew so well, taking you almost literally for a trip down memory lane. Sinister birds swoop over the Google Map showing your home, and dive-bomb to the ground in climax as trees explode from the familiar road.

2. House of Cards- Radiohead (Lidar Technology)

Radiohead is one of the most prolific band in the music industry.They have been known for their creativity and innovation in music. Staying true to their part, they created a video of a song ‘House of Cards’ using Lidar Technology. Without using any camera, this video was made by building data maps of Thom Yorke and lasers rotating 360 degrees to capture the scene. Beautiful blues, greens and yellows slip away as lines and pixels sketch waveforms into human shapes.

3. Biophilia- Bjork (Interactive App/Album)

Some call Bjork’s app a promotional tool, which of course it is. You have to buy the damn thing though, to use it. But it’s also a thing of beauty that it could return us to the days of heady listening sessions spent thumbing and re-thumbing through liner notes, without threat of Wikipedia, Twitter, or any of the other million new points of focus that make music an easy background character these days. This one of a kind app, first in business and a creative use of one of the most popular technology in the world right now: Smartphones.

4. Double Bubble Trouble- MIA (3-D printing and Drones)

You won’t find this video, a tech-savvy one in the first look. The lyrics of “Double Bubble Trouble” reference immigrant struggles and the outsider status of refugees; the high-rise apartments seen in the video could very well be the modest homes of refugees, now filled with technology unimaginable generations ago. Usually, talk about technological revolutions tends to emphasize the tech itself. In the video for “Double Bubble Trouble,” M.I.A. sets her sights firmly on the revolution. Some of the highly political items that appear in the video includes Quadcopters, 3-D printed guns and Anti-surveillance masks and scarves.

5. Somebody I Use To Know : Gotye (Old School Computer Remix)

Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know – Old School Computer Remix” was created by a person in Canada who knows a thing or two about technology. A HP Scanjet 3C somehow sits in for the vocals. Two hard drives pull off drums and a cymbal and a xylophone is controlled by a PIC16F84A microcontroller. This tech wizard has hand full of videos in his youtube channel and altogether has more than 6 million views for them.

July 14, 2014
National Geographic Shows Us The Future of Farming

In a new animation series by National Geographic show called ‘Food By the Numbers’, they point out that by 2050 we’ll need to feed two billion more people. The special eight-month series explores the possibility of how we can do that—without overwhelming our planet.

The episode called ‘Precision in the Fields‘ provides info about how farmers are increasingly using GPS-equipped machinery supported by computers that organize sophisticated data on plants, soil, and weather. Termed “precision agriculture,” same as the episode, this system helps them identify and manage variability within fields. David Schimmelpfennig of the USDA Economic Research Service says that farmers have always made informed choices but that access to more data expands their decision-making toolbox.

The video talks about the effective use of weather forecasting apps, agriculture drones, soil mapping, GPS guidance and many other technology as a critical tool for modern farming.

July 12, 2014
The Top 5 Powerful Women in The Tech Industry Today

Google launched a new initiative offering vouchers to any women and minorities interested in learning how to code. This new initiative came just days after Google published a diversity report that revealed only 30% of its employees are women. While, we appreciate what Google is trying to do, we still have some dynamic and powerful women on the front row of Tech industry who inspire us. We are listing 5 of these amazing women, we love, respect and admire.

1. Sheryl Sandberg

Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

She has been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine. She is is worth US$1 billion, due to her stock holdings in Facebook and other companies. Sandberg was poached from Google by Mark Zuckerberg, six years ago, to take charge as Facebook’s COO. Sandberg oversees Facebook’s business operations including sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications. She has been responsible for steering Facebook towards profitability.

2. Virginia Rometty

Chairman and CEO, IBM

She is the only women to head IBM and she has been named as Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” for eight consecutive years, ranking #1 for 2012. She has a net worth of $45 million and annual salary of $15 million. She attended Northwestern University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science. Her first job out of school was at General Motors. She in then joined IBM where she quickly rose the ranks of Big Blue’s corporate ladder. She has served as IBM’s CEO since October 2011.

3. Ursula Burns

Chairman and CEO, Xerox

She is the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. In 2014, Forbes rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world. The 51-year-old Burns started her career as an engineering intern in 1980. Burns led several business teams including the office color and fax business and office network printing business. In April 2007, Burns was named president of Xerox, expanding her leadership to include the company’s IT organization, corporate strategy, human resources, corporate marketing and global accounts. Her salary package for 2008 stood at $887,500, but total compensation stood at a whopping $6,003,126.

4. Padmasree Warrior

Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, Cisco Systems

The former CTO of Motorola, Inc. is listed as the 71st most powerful woman in the world by Forbes this year. Born and raised in India, Padmasree Warrior joined Motorola in 1984 and worked in different roles at the company with the last one being the chief technical officer (CTO). She left Motorola and joined Cisco Systems as CTO in 2007. At Cisco, she is responsible for strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, integration of new business models, incubation of new technologies and talent.

5. Marissa Mayer

CEO, Yahoo!

Previously, Mayer was executive and key spokesperson for Google. Mayer was ranked eighth on the list of America’s most powerful businesswomen of 2013 by Fortune magazine. She joined Yahoo! in 2012 as president and CEO taking over the responsibility of resurrecting the ailing internet giant. Since then, the company has revamped a number of its products and acquired biggies like Tumblr. Yahoo paid Mayer a total salary of $36.6 million in 2012 which includes $454,862 in salary, $35 million in stock awards and a bonus of $1.12 million in addition to over $40,000 in other compensation, as per a regulatory filing.

July 10, 2014
5 Useful Websites You Should But Never Knew Existed

It isn’t surprising that with the enormity of the World Wide Web we often find yourselves stumbling upon useful websites. These pages make work easy and makes us wonder why we didn’t know about the website earlier?

So here you go, we dug up some useful websites for you from shady parts of web-sphere which might make your work easier:

1. Print Friendly

PrintFriendly cleans and formats web pages for perfect print of your webpage. It removes Ads, Navigation and web page junk, so you save paper and ink when you print.

2. What The Font

Some of us have a thing for beautiful typography and often have a hard time identifying the font used in the image? Well, What The Font is the best website for you. It is a website and an app that figures out the name of the exact font something is when you upload a picture.

3. Mathway

Solves any kind of math problem, from basic math to chemical equations. We’re not recommending this site to encourage users to be lazy at school because actually knowing math is very important for times when you don’t have internet access to get to this site.

4. Camel Camel Camel

This website shows you the price history of anything on Amazon and alerts you when the price drops. You can even upload your entire Amazon wish list directly.

5. The Rasterbator

This sites let you turn any image into a life size poster. The website gives you varied options on effects and size and turning an image into an impressive poster you always wanted to hang on your living room

July 9, 2014
Top 5 Must-Have Gadgets For the Monsoon

After months of sweltering heat, the monsoon winds are a bliss. However, with the rainy season comes the scary possibility of unexpected rain drenching your gadgets. We may invest in the best technology, but with a single shower of the Indian Monsoon your favorite gadget’s fate may be sealed.

Here is a list of must-have gadgets and their equipment for this season:

5. BubbleShield PRO

If you are under the impression that adding a waterproof cover to your iPad will restrict you from using it, then you are wrong. The Bubble Shield Pro is IPX7 certified and lets the tablet work even a foot under water for 30 minutes. Your tablets are more at risk because you often carry them in your hands and not in the relative safety of bags or pockets. So, this amazing cover will not only help you save your tablet from the pouring rain but also let you work on your tablet while it’s raining.

4. Otterbox Armor Series

This rugged iPhone case by Otterbox is perhaps one of the best all-weather cases you can find for your iPhone, making sure you travel without even thinking about rain or cold. Its interior are made of silicone, which makes it shockproof and the metal latches lock the front and back covers together to protect the phone from dirt and dunks for up to 30 minutes in up to 6.6 feet of water. The case increases the size and weight of the phone, but that is a small price to pay for the protection it provides.

3. Braven BRV1

A perfect system for a pool party. Braven BRV1 is a portable speaker that has a rubberised exterior to handle not just monsoon rainfall, but also drops and scratches. It can also survive accidental dunks up to 1m of water for 30 minutes. The 3 Watts of audio output from its 70mm subwoofer definitely won’t blow you away, but should be adequate if you need some light music in wet outdoors.

2. Sony Walkman NWZ-W273

Fancy going for a run in the rain? Well, this product should be on everyone’s monsoon list. It has no mini or micro USB ports and that basically means there are no inlets for water to get in and damage the internal machinery. The plastic earpieces are connected by a rubber wire to fit snugly around the back of your neck and playback controls are neatly placed at the bottom of the two pods.

1. SXtreo WP61

Number one on the list is the super flashy SXtreo WP61. It is a tough shock resistant, waterproof and dustproof features and robust multi-tasking capability device. This smartphone is engineered to perform outstandingly in the harshest of environments. Military-rugged, super-secure, cutting edge, SXtreo smartphones aren’t meant for just anyone. It is meant for you! You don’t have to worry about your phone even if you jump in a pool.

July 9, 2014
SCiO : A Chemical Scanner That Will Change The Way You Shop
Thanks to government laws, we have nutritional labels on packaging on most store-bought food. They give you a quick run down of their contents: fat, sugar, calories, and so on. But what about the melon in your fridge or the fresh cheese you bought from supermarket or the RO water in your glass?

A new handheld gadget called SCiO takes the guesswork out of analyzing your food. The device can be used to scan almost any food or beverage, analyze its chemical make-up and send the data to your phone.

SCiO contains a tiny optical sensor, called a spectrometer, which reads the molecular fingerprint of an object by shining an infrared light on it. The gadget then sends the data to the cloud for analysis and forwards the results to your phone, all in seconds. An accompanying SCiO app, which can be downloaded, then displays fat, protein and carbohydrate levels down to the milligram.

Touted as the world’s first affordable molecular sensor, it fits in the palm of your hand. The same technology has been used for decades by corporations in quality control of oil and chemicals, although SCiO is being pitched as the first portable spectrometer for consumers. The sensor can only detect materials and objects that were previously uploaded to its database. But the device is so smart that the more items you scan with it, the more it learns to recognize items and their ingredients.

Company highlighted some use of the this portable sensors like:
- Get nutritional facts about different kinds of food: salad dressings, sauces, fruits, cheeses, and much more.
- See how ripe an Avocado is, through the peel!
- Find out the quality of your cooking oil.
- Know the well being of your plants.
- Analyze soil or hydroponic solutions.
- Authenticate medications or supplements.
SCiO was one of the biggest project on Kickstarter, where its creators pledged for $200,000 and reached their goal within 24 hours. They eventually raised more than $2.7 million, and have promised to deliver the first SCiOs, for $149 apiece, to early backers by the end of the year.
July 7, 2014
Neil Young’s Music Player is Designed to Deliver Quality Sound

Writing in his book Waging Heavy Peace, Neil Young expressed concern about digital audio quality, criticizing in particular the quality offered by Apple‘s iTunes Store. The Canadian Musician wrote, “My goal is to try and rescue the art form that I’ve been practicing for the past 50 years”

The Canadian Musician talking about Pono

Acting his part as a music legend, he has come up with revolutionary new music system called ‘Pono’ that promises the best possible experience when listening to your favorite music. The idea comes from the mind of musician Neil Young who founded the company by the same name back in 2012. The goal here is to use the FLAC format in order to provide listeners with “the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music from both major labels and prominent independent labels.”

For digital music, sound files get compressed to make them take up less storage space, squeezing out some of the music’s more finer details. It is a triangle-shaped music player, set to be released later this year, that will bring the quality of hi-fi stereo sound back to the mainstream in the age of the iPod. At first glance Pono Music seems to be just a regular mp3 player, but the technology behind it is what makes it truly special. The digital filter used in the PonoPlayer has minimal phase, and no unnatural (digital sounding) pre-ringing.

All sounds made (including music) always have reflections and/or echoes after the initial sound. There is no sound in nature that has any echo or reflection before the sound, which is what conventional linear-phase digital filters do. This is one reason that digital sound has a reputation for sounding “unnatural” and harsh.”

Though its $399 price tag might be troublesome for the consumers.The Kickstarter project to fund the device raised $6.2 million; the 3rd biggest campaign in the crowdfunding site’s history.

The player is said to have about 6 times more musical information than a typical MP3, which explains why all the songs sound better with Pono Music. The service is supported by all major labels and some independents ones across all genres.

July 6, 2014
iSketchnote: This Smart iPad Cover Will Digitalize Your Doodles

A company based in Grenoble, France called Iskn has developed an iPad cover that lets you mimic your physical doodlings in the digital realm called iSketchnote. Iskn’s mission is to combine the natural experience of familiar tools with the power of digital technology. They have successfully accomplished this by giving us this amazing iPod cover.

This could be the perfect cross-platform product for those individuals who prefer to use pen and paper instead of digital words, but they’d also like to have a digital copy for easy sharing. The iSketchnote can be connected to a PC or a Mac via USB, so those who don’t own an iPad will still be able to use the product. The company is soon planning to offer bluetooth services as well.

The iSketchnote is equipped with an array of sensors inside it to catch each and every stroke your pen makes on the paper placed on the iPad cover. You can use any kind of paper on this cover, while you have to use special kinds of pens that come with a ring-shaped magnet embedded in them. These special pens look like regular ball-point pens but work in unison with the cover that can also detect the color and tip of the pen being used.

Once you are finished with whatever you were doing on the notepad or paper, you can save the digital copy of your work, watch replays of your scribbling process and you can easily share it through e-mail or social media.

The start-up spent two year to develop the prototype of the iSketchnote. They have raised funds for the production through Kickstarter with the pledged goal of $35,000. The product can be pre-ordered on their official site for $358 USD.

Watch the video below to understand the technology better:

July 3, 2014
Emojli : An Emoji-Only Social Networking App, No Texts Allowed!

Now there are two ways of looking at the below story. The Grammar Nazis will bemoan this as the lowest dip in our communication medium. While the rest of the crowd will see it as an opportunity get creative with the wide library of emojis that iOS has to offer.

Introducing emojli, an Emoji-only Social Network where life is simple and easy. Here everything is based on emojis. Even your username. Since the communication is totally based on emoticons, comprehension is going to be a major issue.

The creators, Matt Gray and Tom Scott, say that this is a spam free social network. But perhaps the creators don’t know the incredible proclivities of the internet trolls to get creative. The social network is said to come out soon but you can reserve your username at emoj.li right now.

As of now this the concept seems a bit strange, but it also can be an equivocal revolution. We’ll reserve our judgement for the service to start. If the Emoji username selection is a kind of a trailer for things to come, it looks rather good.

[poll id=”12″]

July 1, 2014
DJ Khaled’s ‘We The Best Sound’ Headphones to Take On Dr Dre’s Beats

After the amazing record label “We The Best Music Group”, DJ Khaled partnered with Heads Audio & Bang Olufsen to introduce a namesake Headphones brand to take on the Dr. Dre’s Beats. The brand will be known as We The Best Sound.

Dj Khaled is known for his collaborations with the crème de la crème of the Hip Hop world like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nicky Minaj, Ludacris, Chris Brown, Drake and many more. He has also won multiple awards for his collaborations.

On the Headphones front he has a much more formidable opponent in Beats. Dr Dre’s brand has had a long head start and has also been featured on DJ Khaled’s videos. Also the recent Apple acquisition gave it a considerable boost. So it would be interesting to see how We The Best scores up against the Beats.

Yesterday, he posted an update on Instagram and he had this to say:

[quote text_size=”small” author=”DJ Khaled”]

“Today I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Heads Audio & Bang Olufsen to create the best audio in the market place, We The Best Sound. We The Best Sound represents the very best in audio entertainment. Alongside the prestigious Bang Olufsen brand, We The Best Sound and Heads Audio will provide the listener with the highest quality sound in electronic audio entertainment and will continue to carry on the tradition in excellence set by Bang Olufsen. It will also provide the listener a chance to hear audio the way I hear it when creating my music. I take pride in crafting a sound based on time, care and most importantly the best quality sound on the planet. Embark on this journey in sound with me…you won’t be disappointed. We The Best Sound, the brand you can trust. H6 with Dj Khaled by B&O @wethebestmusic @wethebestsound @headsaudio @beoplay #GODISTHEGREATEST!”

[/quote]

The Headphones themselves look good. Though special consideration should go to the Iron Man Red and Gold color tones, a combination of classy and flashy. Since yesterday his instagram account has been filling up with him posing with a wide barrage of celebrities. He even had one with Larry King (who knew someone would consider Larry King for headphone endorsement).

It’s actually good for the music industry to have sound equipment merchandising. Considering the fact that it is hard to make money out of sales because of internet piracy, a trademarked hardware would definitely be an advantage for the industry. We’d surely like to see more competition in the field.

Come on Eminem, where are the GOD’s Headphones?

July 1, 2014
Top 5 Websites to Buy Sports Gear Online

Following the football matches everyday has given us the much-needed inspiration to bring some physical activity back into our lives. But we’ve always been a bit reluctant to buy sports equipment online for one reason: their originality. After trying and testing several websites, we found some really cool ones which provide a wide variety of options for sports apparel, gears and accessories. Have a look at what we discovered:

1. Decathlon

French sports goods giant, Decathlon, have an amazing website with excellent customer service. You can buy the products through sports categories like Gold, Tennis, Football etc. as well as according to gender and age. Decathlon is a trusted name which as been in business for past 44 years. We’d highly recommend this if you’re planning an adventure trip. They have it all – sleeping bags, tents, camping furniture, fishing rods and much more.

2. Sports365

Backed by tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi, Sports365 offers widest assortment of sports goods and fitness equipment online. A right place for people looking for quality and genuine sporting gears. You can purchase sports equipment, accessories, apparel, and even footwear. The website claims to offer over 8,000 sports and fitness products from international brands that include Yonex, Head, Wilson, Babolat, Puma, Adidas, Prince, GM, Arena, Donic, Tunturi, and Body Sculpture among others. All the products are competitively prices with discounts as high as 45%.

3. Wiggle

Leaving aside its strange choice of name, this website is quite cool. Especially if you are into cycling, Wiggle is the best place on the internet for you. They have been around since 1920’s and their online service is is as good as their stores. They provide you sporting gears for cycling, swimming and running. The prices are slightly on the high-end, but they deliver for free.

4. Online Sports

Online Sports is a website where you can buy just about anything sports related from jerseys to dartboards. It is a very organised website with loads of option to choose from. All the categories are in clean drop down menus and you can easily sort the merchandise by your favorite teams. You can browse the items by sport, brands, or even by a favorite team.

5. Playmore.in

PlayMore.in claims to bring top quality products at highly competitive prices delivered right at your door step. They have the standard sections for hiking, cycling, running, sports and fitness. Once you’ve placed your order, they promise to deliver with fifteen working days. One of its major drawbacks is that you only have 24 hours after delivery to decide if you’re satisfied by your order or not. The website usually has several discounts running on various equipment.

July 1, 2014
Top 5 App that Every Movie Buff Should Download

Being a movie buff is not an easy task, your desktop usually overflows with new downloads and it’s hard to keep track of every movie you watch. I used to juggle with my movie collection and all the film-related stuff. Until now. I have found a perfect solution: my Smartphone. There are loads of apps that let you manage films, watch trailers, play games etc. I have listed 5 of my favorite apps that I think every movie-buff should have:

1. Flixster

Flixster is a very popular app that gives you an on-hand experience of equally popular website of same name. The app enables you to compare movie ratings and tastes with film buffs around the net. In addition to user ratings, Flixster grants you instant access to a flick’s freshness rating at aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, which it owns. You can also use it to find movie information, showtimes, maps and ticket prices, or to watch trailers. The app is well suited for both; a one-stop shop for planning a night out or as an app that will help you brag about your film knowledge.

2. Scene it?

This one is one of my favorite movie apps of all time. Makers of the app, Screenlife, started out with DVD and card-based party games for film buffs. Which then evolved and spread to consoles such as Xbox 360, PlayStation and Wii, social media sites such as Facebook, and now to the mobile platforms of iPhone and iPad. The app serves up trivia, images and video optimized for mobile devices. It’s designed for party play, and the iPad hi-def version is amazing. Available genre packs include comedy, romance and horror, as well as the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series and the TV show “30 Rock.”

3. My Movies

My Movies is just the right app for a typical movie buff. Simply add your movies manually or scan their bar codes using your phone’s camera, and you’re off and running. You can browse details about your flicks, watch trailers for movies in your collection and search and filter by type (DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD), genre, watched, parental rating levels, production years, personal categories and online status. It’s also a handy way to keep track of which movies you’ve loaned out and it might prevent you from buying a movie you already own on VHS, Beta, DVD, special edition and Blu-ray.

4. RunPee

Well it’s true, nobody can make it through the Lord of the Rings trilogy without making a trip to the bathroom. As an unfortunate consequence you sometimes miss most important part of movie. Well, RunPee is an app that will solve this problem. This app lists slow times in each film best suited for taking care of business, it also tells you how long you can be away (usually four minutes) and what you’ll miss. The app also lists what happens in the first five minutes of the film, and whether there’s a teaser clip waiting for you after the credits roll.

5. BookMyShow

We couldn’t complete the list without mentioning the most useful one for India. The mobile counterpart of the popular ticketing website BookMyShow is as effective as its web version. It provides every possible option you get in desktop version. It’s the mere simplicity and clean interface of this app that makes ticket booking very easy.The interesting thing is it shows if any of your friends on Facebook are also gonna watch the same movie.

June 30, 2014
This Start-Up is Recycling Old Smartphones to Save Trees

A lot of us have our old smartphones lying around as junk. Selling them wouldn’t add much to our bank accounts and fixing them would cost too much. What if you could donate it for a good cause? Well, a San Francisco based start-up called Rainforest Connection may have found the perfect solution. The company is planning on recycling old smartphones into devices that detect deforestation and alert authorities to illegal logging activity or poaching.

The smartphone is connected to a solar panel that will power the smartphone which is programmed to pick up destructive sounds, such as chainsaws or alarmed animals. Hidden in the trees, this device will alert local authorities via text message, who can then respond immediately. Also, anyone who downloads the Rainforest Connection app can listen live to the sounds of the Sumatra rainforest.

The start-up has conducted an experiment which built a security network of devices in the Air Tarusan reserve in western Sumatra to prevent illegal logging.

It is a simple idea, that will make a huge difference. Ambient sounds in the rainforest will be continuously recorded and screened using the phones’ microphones and onboard software. Any noises that match the sound-signature of a chainsaw will trigger an alert, providing rangers with information to intervene and stop the deforestation, according to Rainforest Connection’s website.

Alerts can be sent using cell networks that already exist wherever the devices are installed. For instance, in Sumatra Rainforest, home of a small batch of phones the company is installed and unlimited cell phone data cost was just $2.89 per month.

Each phone covers a circular area of about a third of a square mile, which means 15 phones are insufficient for all of Air Tarusan’s 96 square miles of old-growth forest, but it’s a start.

Current anti-deforestation efforts are aided mainly by satellites, which do not provide live updates. This means responders are often too late to stop environmental crimes before they happen. But Rainforest Connection’s device can detect exact locations and times, instantly providing information on which areas of the forest are in danger.

Right now, Rainforest Connection has able to collect 21% of it’s pledged goal which is $100,000. The company’s effort to raise funds is backed by singer Neil Young, who appears in a video on Rainforest Connection’s Kickstarter page.

June 29, 2014
5 Easy Ways You Can Shoot Underwater This Summer

Summers are here in full force and its that time when we can beat the heat and enjoy swim sessions with friends and family. Now it would be nice to ingrain some of these fun memories digitally. But there is always that horrifying thought of dropping your phone in the water. Luckily, companies these days are coming up with new devices that can shoot and click near or underwater without any damage caused.

Here is the list of awesome devices that will help you click and shoot underwater:

1.Sony’s Xperia Z2

If you’re really serious about it, you could invest in a new phone. Sony started the ball rolling for high-end water resistant smartphones when it announced the Xperia Z back in 2013. Since then in almost all its top-of-the-range Xperia Android phones have been able to survive a dunking. It is touted to be the World’s best camera and camcorder in a waterproof smartphone device. We’d give this one some serious thought.

2.HitCase For iPhone

The Hitcase Pro for iPhone 5 turns your iPhone into a rugged GoPro style video camera with a fisheye lens and a water proof and shock proof case. There are also optional accessories available which help users mount their iPhone 5 to a car, boat and helmet. The Hitcase Pro works great in extreme environments or while playing extreme sports. Use it for any activity where someone might want to shoot video with an iPhone 5 camera, but can’t hold the phone while shooting.

3.Panasonic Lumix TS5

Panasonic Lumix TS5 is still the best rugged, waterproof camera for the second year running. No competitor can match its excellent photo and video quality under a variety of conditions both above and below water. The camera can dive upto 13metres deep and can even withstand a 2 metre drop.

4.The Olympus Tough TG-2

The Olympus TG-2 is a fantastic splashproof pocket camera, one that you can take snorkeling on its own, or take it deeper while diving using its PT-053 Underwater Housing. In addition, the TG-2 Tough lives up to its name, as it is shockproof, crushproof, freezeproof and dustproof. With a fast f2.0 lens, and an impressive depth rating of 50 feet (without a housing), the Olympus TG-2 is a great camera to keep with you on the boat, and take with you while swimming or in any damp environment without any concern for it getting wet.

5.GoPro Dual Hero system

And lastly, its the super-cool housing that GoPro introduced recently. It can accommodate two HERO 3+ Black Edition cameras enabling you to capture full-resolution video and photos simultaneously without compromised image quality. By having two separate cameras housed in the Dual HERO System, you will be able to record video and still images at the same time. Having the two cameras focussed on the same subject, it will also make the recording of 3D video that much easier.

June 28, 2014
Top 5 Wearable Gadgets That You Can Buy Today

While we wait for the elusive iWatch to appear magically on Tim Cook’s wrist. Here is a list of wearable gadgets you can buy right now:

1. Google Glass

Any surprise that this one tops our list? There is no doubt that Google Glass is one of the most coveted wearable technology available today. Its the one sci-fi-looking gadget that everyone can’t wait to get their hands on. Developed by Google X, it became available to the general public earlier this year. The increasing number of Google Glass invites had led to Project Glass being open to everyone in the US and now the UK.

2. Jawbone Up

The Jawbone Up wristband combines sleep-cycle tracker, a meal tracker, a pedometer, an activity tracker, and a vibrating alarm clock in one neat little bracelet. This can be connected to your iPhone. In an effort to keep its owner active, the Up even vibrates when you’ve been sitting still too long. Sweat-proof and water-resistant, the Up is a good looker as well. It costs $99, and comes in four colours: blue, black, white, and red.

3. Misfit Shine

The Misfit Shine fitness tracker has a sharp design, and is compatible with a variety of wearable accessories. Its best part: The device lasts four months on a single battery. It is also waterproof and can be used for swimming. Minimal design doesn’t display detailed data on the device. It currently works only with iOS and needs to be held close to phone screen to sync. The Shine is one of the most stylish and futuristic-looking fitness trackers in the market.

4.Pebble Smartwatch

The Pebble Watch is waterproof, runs a ton of apps, and is compatible with both iOS and Android phones. Recently, it has partnered with Misfit, a fitness tracking company, for a new app. The gadget, with a major software update and a new app store is all set to customize itself and fit right in your life. The only drawback is the lack of touch screen and multitasking limits the capability of apps.

5. Nike+ Fuel Band

As a fitness tracker, the Nike+ Fuel Band offers a simple, attractive design manages to completely stays out of your way during most physical activities. Its pedometer tracks steps taken, calories burned, and a proprietary measurement of activity called Nike Fuel. The accompanying iOS app and Nike+ Web site offer great motivational tricks too. Nike FuelBand can be very effective as a motivator for casual exercise.

June 25, 2014