Nikon P510 42x optical zoom. Source: www.nikonusa.com

In November last year I decided to get serious about the photos I take. Of course, mobile phones cameras are getting better and better (16 MP with the HTC Titan II), but even with the best mobile phone lenses or even with the slickest apps, the photos we take with our mobile phones are nothing more than photos taken with a mobile phone.

Therefore I went for a Nikon L120, but soon found out that the pictures it took were disappointing, especially in poor lighting conditions. So I returned that one and settled for a Nikon Coolpix P500. From my personal experience with the camera I can tell you that the P500 one takes great photos in every possible lighting environments thanks to its back-light CMOS senzor, has an impressive wide-angle optical zoom at 36x and boost Full HD recording at 1920x1080p / 30fps.

Why I’m telling you all this? Well, simply because the folks at Nikon launched P510, a remarkable successor to the above mentioned P500. As compared to the P500, the next generation super-zoom from Nikon comes with a 42x zoom with lens-shift VR and 16 MP. Talking about lens envy, right?

Having this in mind, the recent news that Facebook allowed access to its data for text mining and sentiment analysis purposes concerning the GOP primaries cannot be ignored. Au contraire. Social media analysis is undoubtedly playing an important role in political competitions, but until now researchers had to stick to alternative means of reaching and measuring the noise (such as counting Twitter mentions or Google search relevance). Getting access to and, more important, aggregating all those political feelings Facebook users share with their friends can provide a real-time tool for determining the outreach of political events as they happen, even making it possible for the campaign managers to adjust the message being conveyed piecemeal.

While this sentiment analysis opportunity is currently limited to the US, we might expect in the not so distant future to see it made available in more countries and to other organizations. Note also that Facebook users might not be that happy with the social site sharing their private thoughts, but what should they know is that messages are analyzed anonymously by special software designed for that purpose.

Tablets were there (the top of the class sporting the Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 update on top of  quad-core processors and high-res displays), ultrabooks were there too waiting patiently for Windows 8 Metro touch UI, enormous smarthphones like the new Sony Experia S or the HTC Titan II (4,7 inch display!!!) were also present. Similarly, HDTVs looked their best after some harsh dieting (see the 4mm thick 3D OLED HDTV from LG) and seemed to have lost their remote controls solely to rely on Kinect-like interaction with the user.

Apple was not present, and for that matter they didn’t needed to be – 2012 will be all about iPad 3, Apple TV and maybe even a new iPhone. Let’s not forget Apple is expected to refresh its Macbook line any time soon.

Also, keep a close eye on Windows 8, as its good looks are not the only great feature it brings to the PC world – it also comes with improved multitasking and security, build-in cloud features, own app store and even ARM support of the box (yes, that means tablets).

Happy 2012!

Meanwhile, Google is pushing its rather neglected social network to the center stage of the Internet, namely to its search engine.

Ei bine, acum există BlueStacks pentru Windows 7. Acest program permite rularea aplicațiilor Android pe Windows, prin virtualizare. BlueStacks este încă la început, în stadiu alpha, lucru pe care o să îl observi imediat ce vei încerca să adaugi noi aplicații, pe lângă setul de aplicații preinstalate. Proiectul merită urmărit, fiind unul cu bătaie lungă. Îl găsești aici.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Demi and Asthon Foundation launched Real men don’t buy girls, a campaign against sex trafficking featuring a number of male Hollywood stars. Be sure not to miss the complementary Facebook app available here.

Sursa: Pagina de Facebook a Brandient

Buletinul, așa cum îl văd cei de la Brandient, devine un accesoriu firesc, perfect adaptat omului modern. Actul de identitate 2.0 vine cu un look nou, accesibil, cu o dimensiune asemănătoare unui card bancar, ba chiar cu CIP integrat și loc rezervat pentru semnătura posesorului și pentru cod QR. Excelenta inițiativă a agenției de branding Brandient mă face să spun că printre atâtea reforme ar fi loc și de reformarea unității esențiale a brand-ului de țară: cartea de identitate.