Assignment 3: Group video

Hi everyone! This is our video which we created. Hope you enjoy watching it! :)

Last blog

Dear readers, I hope that you enjoyed our blogs. Unfortunately our task in the university finished(( (we got full marks btw, thank u for reading) If u still want to read about the new upcoming technologies please visit my blog http://romanstupak.blogspot.com.au/ I ll do my best to post abut new technologies when i have time)) thank U again) I hope u enjoy the new blog and share ur ideas with me))

Future of Voice Synthesis

Voice synthesis has been around for the past decades, but it has always been professional oriented and targets users with either programming or hardware-engineering skills. As such, it was never a very well developed field of technology, until Yamaha Corporation introduced Vocaloid, a speech/song synthesiser in 2004.

Included in the software are a huge library of pre-recorded vocal fragments, a dedicated song processing engine, as well as a score editor. The software also offers a relatively simple User Interface. All of these combined allow users with little to no programming skills to syntheses songs and speech.

Initially released in Japan, this software has since caused a huge impact. Millions of songs have been created, recorded and uploaded to YouTube or other video hosting sites, including Pop musics,


Original songs,

Even national anthems!
(USA National Anthem)
(Russia National Anthem)

In short, its ease of use offers users the freedom to create various content, and with the abundant Web 2.0 tools such as video sharing sites, social network sites and online forums cause contents to boom extensively.

Other than singing, the software has also been used in Japan as the voice of in Train Announcement System as well as in telephone recordings.

It would be very interesting to see how the voice synthesis technology would evolve in the future with such popular yet easy-to-use software available to public.

Further reading: Wiki Article on Vocaloid
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Posted by Samuel Ip

Window Phone!

The weather forcast is often inaccurate. When it predicts in advance it’s gonna be rainy, the day ends up being bright and sunny. Seunghan Song designed the weather predicting Window Phone. It promises to predict the weather accurately. This phone is sleek and transparent, thin like a plastic sheet. The most amazing thing about this phone is that it will “mimick” the weather. For example, if it’s a sunny day, it will display with a clear screen, if it’s a rainy day, there will be virtual drops and when it snows we will see some frosty veneer.

From the photo, we see the phone doesn’t have any keys. A user can fog up the phone to switch the phone into handwriting mode for calling and texting. This could be tiring for users easily. Some questions have been asked such as whether the battery will be able to handle such technology, where would the accurate data come from or where the sim will be inserted.

Image from:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10313614-1.html

Though this is just a concept phone, I believe that when it comes into the market, it will override any phones currently out for its design and technology. 

Information from:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10313614-1.html

Post by: Lisa Vuong

Rumours of Apples

Rumours about iPhone 5 appeared even before iPhone 4S was released. I hope that some of them are truthful because they are very cool and fascinating. For example, the rumour about transparency of the new iPhone. 

At first sight it`s even hard to understand how could it be transparent and if it really does not have anything inside how and where Apple hided all the interior. However if we watch this video more carefully, we could recognise that once the apps appear on the screen the phone is not transparent anymore. The only solution for this magic that comes to my mind is that the cameras  give the images adapted for the full screen, therefore the phone looks transparent. 

The other rumour is that iPhone 5 would be made of a liquid metal.

A new composition of  titanium, nickel, copper and zirconium among other metals, is tough, light and scratch resistant. This will make a new phone very light, thin and smooth as glass.

Anyways, Apple promised to release the new iPhome 5 this June. That means that very soon every Apple fan would be able to discover new features and abilities of the new iPhone. Personally I am very excited to see the upcoming revolution in the world of phones. Let`s wait and hope that Apple will give us something we did not expect as they always do.



Posted by Roman Stupak :)

New Holographic Projection Technology

Holographic Projection Technology, created by AV Concepts Digital  is technology that allows video, or graphics, to be displayed in 3d without the need for 3d glasses. This technology has the ability to broadcast multiple  people from various countries/locations, live and have them appearing as if their all in the same place at the same time. 

This technology is based on the 'Peppers Ghost' technique, which basically means that the viewers that are viewing the first screen, can't see what is being projected from the second screen, usually at a 45 degree angle. The second 'private' screen reflects the image via a mirror, which the result is what the viewer sees on the first screen. As seen in this image. (the red 'room' is what the user cant see, and the back white screen in the green room, is what is presented to the user). 

 Image and Source of 'Pepper Ghost Technology information' here

However, even though the concept of this technology is old, it has progressed through the advances in high definition and projection quality, which has made it more realistic and 'life like'. To implement the hologram technology is rather expensive, with the recent 2pac Performance at the Coachella festival estimated to be around $250,000 and took in the vicinity, 4 months to produce. ( 2pacs 2012 performance can be viewed here)

 

Ultimately, this technology has the potential to be very beneficial to all areas of society, from patients requiring a doctor's consultation in the privacy of their own home, teachers teaching children in third world countries, to attending an important business meeting overseas via the comfort of your own home, or for entertainment purposes, such as concerts with people who have passed, and have an "All stars" music collaboration on tour, eg: Elvis, 2pac and Freddie Mercury.
However, global access to this high quality hologram technology will only be limited by the high financial and production resources, which means this type of technology may not be in the hands of the general public for a few years yet.

- Posted by Ryan Maher

New iPad 4G dispute in Australia

It's been a month since the new iPad first came out, and there's already quite a few criticisms about it. People complained that it can get really hot, it's heavier than iPad 2, and all sorts of other things. In Australia, there's also a problem about its description as a 4G-capable device.

Image taken from an article in Gizmodo (link).

In Australia, Telstra is the only telecommunication company that offers 4G LTE mobile internet data plans, but unfortunately their LTE standard does not cope with Apple's new iPad, and this arouse problem on whether the new iPad should still be marketed as a 4G device or not.

According to a recent article by 9to5Mac.com (link), Apple claimed in a news report by The Australian (link) that their device can actually perform 4G internet speed on all carriers available in Australia, despite the carriers still calling their network "3G". In fact, CNet.com actually did a worldwide speed test (see video below, Flash required), and turns out that although the new iPad doesn't work with the 4G network in Australia, the speed is still pretty fast, at about 17 Mb (Mega-bit) per sec!



On the other hand, Apple also argued that if the users take their new iPad to countries such as the U.S. where compatible 4G network is widely available, the new iPad can run in full 4G internet speed, thus should not be charged by the court as false advertising.

Ultimately, given such dispute in Australia, I think the telecommunication companies around the world should really come to agreements on the standards of 4G network, so that such incident will not happen again.

Further Reading:
Article about 4G on Wikipedia


Posted by Samuel Ip