Microsoft Offers Free Nokia Headphones With All Windows Phone Devices

If you are thinking of buying a new Windows Phone this season, now is the right time. Microsoft is running a very attractive promotional offer in the US and giving away a free Coloud Boom Nokia headphone with ALL Windows Phone devices.

To avail this free Nokia headphones offer, you need to purchase the Windows Phone from Windows Store. This offer is valid only in the United States while supplies last. This offer covers all the Microsoft Lumia phones, as well as all Acer, BLU, Microsoft and Nokia branded Windows Phones.

On Windows Store, under the phone listings you can observe a promotional line that reads: “Free Nokia Headphones while supplies last.”

When you will hit the buy button and add the Windows Phone device to your cart, a yellow Nokia Coloud Boom headphone too will be added.

Usually these headphones cost $34.99 but in a different promotional offer, they are currently being sold for $19.99.

As mentioned above, this promotional offer of free Nokia Coloud headphone applies on ALL Windows Phone devices on Windows Store including the affordable Acer’s Liquid M220 ($79 off-contract and unlocked) and the Lumia 435 ($70 on T-Mobile).

This offer will only run through 31 and while supplies last. So of you love in states and are willing to get a Windows Phone cellphone, hurry up!

Via: Microsoft/Windows Store

Ghost: This Technology Literally Comes Out of the Screen

Touch screen laptops and desktops are soon going to be outdated if a new technology called the GHOST project becomes mainstream. This technology lends you the power to interact with your computer and data in a 3D physical way.

This exciting new technology allows you to change the shape of the display with your own hands and aims to revolutionize the way you interact with your laptops, smartphones and other devices with displays. The GHOST stands for “Generic, Highly-Organic Share-Changing Interfaces”. If this becomes successful, imagine touching the images on your screen and pulling out objects and data to play with them.

Our current displays are flat (or somewhat curved without any purpose) and the GHOST Project wants to change that. This project was launched in January 2013 and is supported by EU.

The GHOST coordinator Professor Kasper Hornbæk, University of Copenhagen, talks about the future applications varying from everyday interaction with smartphones to learning with computers and designing. He adds that it isn’t just confined to deformation of the screen-shape, instead it wants you to give chance to interact with an object and change its shape mid-air.

This technology could also be coupled with the ultrasound levitation to project the display out of the flat screen. Now a surgeon will have the freedom to work with a virtual brain before operating a real-life brain. Think about the artists and designers who can remold their virtual clay and store it back in their computers. Let’s not forget the musicians- the GHOST Project researchers are working to create interfaces like pads and sponges to help them control speed, timbre and other parameters of EDM.

The good news is that GHOST has already a prototype called “Emerge” that actually works and you can pull out data from bar graphs off the computer screen, as shown above in picture.

The University of Bristol, one of the partners in the GHOST Project has launched a startup named UltraHaptics to develop the technology to create feelings in mid-air using ultrasound.

I came across this technology today and I found it very intriguing. What are your thoughts about the GHOST Project? Share your opinions in comments below.

Source: Science Daily

How Your Keyboard Spacebar is Going to Change Forever With SmartBar?

The keyboard spacebar is one of the most used buttons on the keyboard, but Synaptics, the company behind some of the cutting-edge innovations in touch technology wants to change the way we use our spacebars forever.

Synaptics has come up with a plan to make the best of the use of the humble space bar, which comes at the natural resting position of our thumbs on the keyboard. The strategy is to convert spacebar into a SmartBar which will use various touch gestures for quick editing, zoom and can be customized through the macro editor for other functions.

SmartBar offers various features that would ease the writing work. A single swipe of the thumb on the SmartBar will select the whole word. Similarly zooming the screen by using the motion of two thumbs would. Also, the SmartBar would change the gaming scenario as it can be programmed with the logical buttons and other keys for smart functions.

Tt eSPORTS, a gaming accessory developer has agreed to partner with Synaptics on the idea to revolutionize Spacebar into a modern and much more useful SmartBar. As per the statements of the spokespersons of both the companies, this little change in the interface would bring an increase in the employees’ productivity. Most of the parts of a regular PC have been modernized and made incredibly suave. The screens are HD and the processors are

Most of the parts of a regular PC have been modernized and made incredibly suave. The screens are HD and the processors are superfast, shouldn’t the keyboard too change for the better?

Apple has already patented for itself a “fusion keyboard” which is a hybrid keyboard with physical as well as touch-based inputs.

Would you like a new Smart Keyboard too?? Tell us in comments below.

Source: Synaptics, Picjumbo

No Network, No Data Pack: Messaging App Jott Is Your New Dream App

Only when we thought there was no need for yet another messaging app, a hot new messaging app is in news and for all good reasons. Jott, an instant messaging app lets you send data and texts without an internet connection.

Jott uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios to create a locked network with other devices that are within 100-feet of each other. Jared Allgood, CEO and co-founder of Jott, said that the app targeted  the teens, and the entire customer base of Jott consists of 13 to 18-year olds. Jott has been a hot commodity with the U.S. teenagers and kids and that success helped Jott close a $1.8 million seed funding round from numerous protruding venture capital firms.

This messaging app startup has doubled its users to half a million active users in March and its user base is increasing with a rate of 15,000 to 20,000 users per day.

In the future, Allgood believes that Jott could be used for more than just teen texting, envisaging it as a possible lifesaver during a natural disaster. Since the connections are devised through the device, Joyy messages will get routed through in emergency situations and cases when cell phone towers go down and texts can no longer be sent through phone.

Allgood elucidated: “You could be on top of Mount Everest or on an airplane completely disconnected and yet still be able to send text messages.”

How Jott Works?

The usual text messages are first transmitted from your cell phone to the nearest cell tower and then they are directed to the person you are texting. On the other hand, Jott sends texts without any service provider by using something called mesh network that works on Bluetooth low energy (or router) that has a range of 100 feet. While instant messaging apps are the seeing an exponential growth, the usual texting is still common in schools as the teenagers want to make new friends but not each one of them has a data plan.

Explaining the privacy measures, Jayson Ahlstrom, Jott’s COO and co-founder said that Jott provides a level of comfort and safety measure and takes care of the teen’s security interests.

It would be interesting to see if Jott changes the game of texting in near future.

Download Jott for Android and iOS here.

Did you like Jott messaging app? Tell us in comments below.

Not Everyone Will Get Windows 10 On July 29

I hope that after a series of stumbling blog posts by Microsoft, they have somehow managed to make clear that who is entitled to a free Windows 10 copy. Till yesterday it seemed that all those eligible people will be getting a taste of Microsoft’s most curated Windows release on July 29, but today the story is different. And once again, the credit goes to another blog post by Microsoft.

Officially, Windows 10 will be released on July 29, but not all of you will be getting it on the launch day. Microsoft has said that the new OS will “start notifying reserved systems in waves.” The people at Redmond add further that each day they will listen, learn and update from all the experiences of Windows 10 users.

Here are the exact words: “Starting on July 29, we will start rolling out Windows 10 to our Windows Insiders. From there, we will start notifying reserved systems in waves, slowly scaling up after July 29th.”

It won’t be incorrect to say that the Windows 10, available as a free upgrade within one year to Windows 8 and Windows 7 users, will be released first to the 5 million Insider beta testers.

Talking about what would be next, Windows 10 will be available to the people who have clicked on that “Reserve your Windows 10 copy” button 

July 29 is the date! Windows 10 for all! Tell friends & family: RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW to get it on day 1! http://t.co/jGSloJDZkM

— joebelfiore (@joebelfiore) June 1, 2015

appearing on your PC.

Well, let’s discuss a bit about what could be Microsoft’s strategy behind this.

Even though many tech experts from the industry agree that Windows 10 is a serious improvement from Windows 8, they seem to have a common consensus that Windows 10 Previews aren’t completely ready. Launching it first to the Insider users means that the most devoted and excited members of the Microsoft community will get it first. This means that they will help the software company to spot more bugs and thus releasing a more polished Windows 10 to the usual users.

Did you find this post helpful? Tell us your views about Windows 10 in comments.