Common Paradox Tech Blog

Ah, crisp, high resolution display. Side shot after the break!

Thin is in, folks.

BGR features the latest tech news, mobile-related content and of course, exclusive scoops.

Skyfire, the developers of a “game-changing” PC-like web-browser for mobile devices, has launched a new version of its browser for Windows Mobile. Skyfire is free and the only browser of the bunch to support Flash, Silverlight, and a number of other technologies generally reserved for desktop browsers, hence the comparison to a PC browser. Skyfire, which has over one million users, supports devices from Nokia, Samsung, LG, HTC, Palm, Motorola, and is BlackBerry.

Enhancements in the new version include full support for high-resolution screens, a sleeker user interface that is more finger friendly, crisper text, smoother zooming, and a full-screen mode that maximizes screen real estate. Skyfire will now provide native support for the VGA and wVGA resolutions and has added Kinetic scrolling to improve smoother browsing. In addition to adding more touch capabilities, Skyfire has added a mode for touch screens that allows users to remove all UI icons and elements from the screen to enlarge visibility of the browser.

al0ha writes “In the first video showing the auroras above the northern latitudes of Saturn, Cassini has spotted the tallest known ‘northern lights’ in the solar system, flickering in shape and brightness high above the ringed planet. The new video reveals changes in Saturn’s aurora every few minutes, in high resolution, with three dimensions. The images show a previously unseen vertical profile to the auroras, which ripple in the video like tall curtains. These curtains reach more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) above the edge of the planet’s northern hemisphere.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

At last, here’s the droid we were all looking for. In this frame you can clearly see R2-D2’s cameo in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. This time there’s absolutely no doubt about it: It’s been confirmed by ILM.

Click on the image to see the high resolution version

Can you see him floating there, on the left, right below the huge arrow that I also missed when I saw the movie? That’s obviously him, a fact that has been confirmed to me by one of the movie’s sequence supervisors at Industrial Light & Magic—the same guy who said this previous sighting was just the shuttle.

I don’t know about you but, right now, I feel like what I imagine my dog Jones feels every time I take his collar off to scratch his neck. Oh yesyeyeyeyes. YES. Harf. Woof. [Image capture from Science Fiction Stuff—Thanks ILM tipster]

Although YouTube has been supporting videos in high definition for at least a year now, the resolution has heretofore topped out at 720p.

Without getting too far into the technical nitty gritty, 1080p is a higher resolution format made up of more vertical “lines,” resulting in a higher quality image. It’s also referred to as “full HD” or “true high-definition” because 1080p is currently the maximum resolution that anything supports (well, almost). Beginning next week, YouTube will be adding 1080p support to its video playback options.

Of course, as with other high definition playback formats, you’ll need to have 1080p quality video going in to get the proper quality coming back out. But a growing number of consumer video cameras are now supporting the true HD format, so it makes sense that YouTube would want to up the stakes in terms of quality.

Good news for videographers who’ve already uploaded 1080p quality video in the past, too — YouTube will be re-encoding your videos for you to allow playback at the proper true HD resolution. They also plan to prominently feature great examples of 1080p videos in an upcoming homepage spotlight, so if you have some footage that really shows off what true high resolution can do, now is the time to upload it.

Does your video camera record at 1080p? Will you be using the new true high definition feature when it launches next week?

[Image courtesy of Michael Gauthier]

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: 1080p, full HD, hd, video, youtube

As you probably heard, Verizon Wireless is imposing a pretty nasty $350 early termination fee on its more impressive phones. It’s confirmed, and starts Sunday, so you might want to buy your phone now if possible.

The good news, if there is any, is that the early termination fee only applies to early termination. Surprised you, there, didn’t it? The bad news is, what Mark said about the ditch fee being $110 in the 23rd month is true. And pretty much anything you’d want to buy from Verizon these days—not just Droids and BlackBerrys but netbooks too—are locked into this new fee.

Verizon is pretty clear that this is about recouping the cost of the subsidy; a gadget lands on the “advanced” list when it has a combination of features that “drive up the cost.” Only wireless modems and dumbphones (below referred to as feature phones) appear to be exempt. Here are the details from a spokesman:

The higher tier of early termination fee applies to a device category that generally includes smartphones, netbooks and other advanced devices purchased at a subsidized price under contract. Please remember, feature phones still carry a $175 early termination fee when purchased at a subsidized price with a new customer agreement.

Advanced devices include a combination of advanced capabilities that combined drive up the cost of the device, including premium HTML browser; high-resolution MP camera with optical zoom; dual processor chipsets; WiFi; very high-resolution displays, and/or operating systems such as BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, or Android. The category also includes netbooks. (Modems will still carry a $175 ETF.)

We are informing customers at the point of purchase/contract renewal—whether on line, in person or over the phone. On Sunday, when the new EFT takes effect, we will post the list of advanced devices.

By the way, it is important to note that this change has no impact on customers with previously signed contracts, and as a practical matter has no impact on the majority of customers who choose to complete the terms of their contracts.

Remember, if you sign a long-term contract and complete it, there’s no early termination fee. In addition, customers always have the option of buying any device at full retail without an early termination fee.

Boy have zombies made a comeback lately, right along with teenage vampires. Regardless, indie zombie flick Dead Season is the self-proclaimed first film shooting on the $1700 Canon 7D. (Warning, gore ahead.)

The camera quality is sort of a mixed bag for the bloody independent film. High resolution coupled with gorgeous depth of field tricks emulate Hollywood (or at least, TV-level) production. But, while you can call me old fashioned, blood and guts only look better in low-fi. Best of luck to the group finishing the film. These dailies from week one have some nice moments. [Thanks Super Greene!]

Many netbook aficionados have been waiting for the release of the Nokia Booklet 3G for a while now. The netbook has been highly-anticipated because of its MacBookish aluminum casing, high resolution 1280×720 screen, and advertised long battery life.

As the number of Android-powered handsets on the market continues to expand, so do the technical capabilities of the applications that run on the platform. The Droid, for example, is the first handset to introduce video recording at a resolution 720×480 (more than double that of the 320×240 recording found on most other Android handsets), and app makers are already swooping in to take advantage of it.

The first off the bat is the mobile video broadcasting service Qik, who will later tonight be announcing beta support for the increased resolution. Not only is Qik the first to reach such the new resolution on the Droid, but they’re also proudly claiming to be the first of all the mobile streaming services (amongst competitors such as Ustream, Kyte, and Flixwagon) to support such a high resolution in general.

 For Google, the rubber has got to meet the road at some point for its investment in Google Maps. Only so much can be generated from ads, and many mappable services–restaurants, gas stations, speciality stores and the like–can’t add much more than a trickle to a hoped for stream of revenue. Google has decided to expand its maps into a market that can pay: real estate.

Back in July Google Maps added the ability to directly view real estate listings. In the mean time Google has added some new features to make this facility easier to use, including brand new high-resolution Street View imagery (so you can see what slobs your potential neighbors might be), and more detailed map data.

In addition, the real estate listings are now easier to find. And not just real estate for sale, but rentals and foreclosures as well. (Nothing like making a buck on the misfortune of others, is there.) According to the Google Lat Long Blog, “you can simply select "Real Estate" from the ‘More’ button on the top right of any Google Map to discover listings.  From there, it’s a simple matter to refine your search using the left hand panel – price, bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on.” You can hunt down real estate in the Untied States, Australia, New Zealand and India. (India?)

’d like to report back how well Google Maps new real estate search feature works, but, as the image below shows, the referred to “Real Estate” option under the “More” button is pretty obviously absent.

Image Credit: Google