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With world’s thinnest interchangeable lens

More leaky than a Welsh field with paper watering pipes, the Pentax K-01 has entered the realms of officialdom, ending weeks of speculation.

Pentax joins the compact system camera game and will take on the likes of the Fujifilm X-Pro1, but has an ace up its sleeve: the world’s thinnest interchangeable lens – the smc Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS unifocal.

It also packs a a newly developed 16.28-megapixel CMOS image sensor measuring 23.7 x 15.7mm that has an ISO range of 100 to 12800, or up to 25600 when expanded with a custom function.

Using the same K-mount lens system as the K-5, you can attach K-, KA- KAF, KAF2 and KAF3- mount lenses without any fuss and, if you do want to add a screw-mount lens, a 645-system lens or 67-system one, you can use an adapter.

Video shooting is 1080p HD at either 30, 25 or 24fps and there’s a couple of video additions from the K-5: a video recording button for instant start and a stereo microphone.

For stills, there is a new HDR mode on board, 19 digital filters, a custom image function and a high-speed burst mode capable of five shots per second. Like the Pentax K-5, it has 3-inch 920k-dot LCD display around the back with a 170-degree viewing angle.

Looks-wise, it’s very retro funky. Designed by Marc Newson, it is treated with an SP (Super Protect) coating to repel dust, water and grease and its finish is a combo of machined aluminium and natural rubber with the dials constructed from high-quality aluminium alloy.

Newson explained: “I wanted to create something that represented quality and expertise in photography. Some of my favourite photographic devices have been Pentax products. I wanted to return to the high quality roots of the brand and create something which was really unique and iconic.”

It certainly looks swanky – we’ll give him that.

The Pentax K-01 will be available from the end of March in three colour schemes (black with black grip, black with yellow grip, silver with black grip) and will cost ?629.99 for the K-01 body only, ?50 more the 40mm DA XS or DAL 18-55mm lens or ?799.99 for the a bundle comprising the K-01, DAL 18-55mm lens and the DAL 50-200mm lens.

Tags: Cameras Pentax K-01 Pentax Video

Pentax K-01 interchangeable-lens camera now official (video) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:46:00 +0000

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SH-25MR launched as well

Along with the official launch of the OM-D and the unveiling of the Tough TG-820 and TG-620 cameras, Olympus has also found time to announce the successor to its SZ-30MR super-zoom compact – the Olympus SZ-31MR.

Packing the same 16-megapixel backlit sensor as its predecessor, as well as an identical 24x (25-600mm) optical zoom, the SZ-31MR also has a new image processor – the dual engine TruePic V.

Like the TG-820, the new camera boasts Olympus’ new iHS (Intelligent, High-Sensitivity and High-Speed) tech, which it claims will produce sharper and more vivid images, along with a smart panorama mode, HDR backlight adjustment, advanced i-Auto mode, AF tracking, and face and pet detection. Videos are shot in Full HD 1080p and the ISO range is 80 to 640.

The new compact super-zoom flagship camera features a 3-inch, 920k dot touchscreen LCD, which also boasts touch shutter controls and touch auto-focusing.

And if you thought we were done for the day with new Olympus camera news then think again as the sleek looking Olympus SH-25M has also been unleashed.

It doesn’t quite have the 24x zoom skills of the SZ-31MR, coming in at 12.5x (24-300mm), but it does boast the same 16-megapixel backlit sensor and the TruePic V processor, as well as the iHS tech and the 1080p HD video skills.

Its display is a 3-inch 460k dot one which also has touch-screen options and the SH-25M also has GPS and an electronic compass built-in, with three-sensor technology, “for orientation and key information at a glance”.

The Olympus SZ-31MR is available from late March for ?299.99? The SH-25M will land a month later but with a price-tag ?70 less.

Tags: Cameras Olympus SZ-31MR Olympus Olympus SH-25MR

Olympus SZ-31MR sails the compact superzoom flagship originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:05:00 +0000

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Launch on 8 February

New confirmed specifications and pictures of Olympus’ much-rumoured OM-D micro four-thirds camera have been leaked ahead of its (now) expected launch on 8 February, by none other than Amazon.

The Japanese arm of the online retailer posted pictures and some tech spec nuggets on its product pages, and keen-eyed website 43 Rumours managed to grab them before the images were removed (presumably on OIympus’s say so).

Attached to a pistol grip, the digital update to the company’s classic range of OM film cameras comes with the model number OM-D E-M5, and Amazon posts that it will feature a 16-megapixel MOS sensor, something we’ve heard before. The retailer also lists its screen size as?17.3 ? 13.0mm, and confirms that it will shoot on to SD cards (SDHC / SDXC / UHS-I)?with Eye-Fi support.

The 43 Rumours site also notes that the build quality of the OM-D is clunky, but we don’t think it’s anywhere near as clunky as the Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera recently revealed. In comparison, the Olympus is positively svelte.

We’ll be bringing you more on the Olympus OM-D as soon as it’s officially launched. Including pictures and hands-on.

Tags: Olympus Cameras Olympus OM-D Olympus OM-D5

More Olympus OM-D pictures leaked… by Amazon originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:53:00 +0000

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Compatible with iMAME4all

Zeon Tech, the company behind the forthcoming iPhone-activated Tardis and R2-D2 Smartsafes, is to release a rival to the iCade Jnr, an arcade cabinet for the iPhone and iPod touch. Called the iAppCade, the new device differs in several key areas, the most notable being that it doesn’t connect to an iDevice via Bluetooth.

Instead, the mini coin-op machine casing works a bit like an iPhone dock: just insert your handset and away you go. It will automatically work with dedicated games without the need for a complicated setup period.

Essentially, movements on the eight-way joystick or either of the two buttons equate to presses on the lower half of the device’s touchscreen using a capacitive material and, as?the play screen is 4:3 in aspect ratio, you can’t even see that going on.

“As I use one half of the screen as the control interface, the other half is used to display the game,” says Steve Carpenter, the designer of the iAppCade.

“I designed a case that would fit the iPhone, have buttons and joysticks for playing the game.?I then coded a test game for the iPhone and set the screen to roughly half the available screen space. By chance this was around the 4:3 aspect ratio that real arcade cabinets use. Fitting it all together resulted in a small but proportional?cabinet with a 4:3 screen, 8-way joystick and dual buttons!”

It results in a cabinet that doesn’t require power, nor sucks the life from your device like Bluetooth can.

However, there is a downside to this proprietary method of control. On launch, there will be only a few games on the App Store that are compatible – Blasteroids, Pinger, BlockBuster and Invaders from Outerspace – all variations on classic arcade titles. But developers are working on more and the iAppCade will play HTML5 games online for multiplayerbattles and user generated games.

Additionally, as we secretly spied at the unveiling of the prototype during London’s Toy Fair in January, the cabinet is also completely compatible with MAME4all, the arcade emulation software that’s barred from the official App Store, but still available on Cydia for jailbroken iDevices.

The iAppCade is coming in Q2 (around summertime) and will cost a mere ?14.99. A larger version for the iPad is also on the cards, if its diminutive forerunner proves successful.

Tags: iPhone iPhone accessories Phones Zeon Tech iAppCade Zeon Tech iPod Touch iPod touch accessories iPad accessories MAME4all ToyFair2012

iAppCade iPhone arcade cabinet works without Bluetooth (pictures) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:57:00 +0000

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President/CEO of Together We Rise talks to MTV News about song, slated for March release.
By Jocelyn Vena

Justin Bieber
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

<P><P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a>'s fans are working to give back the same way the pop star readily does. Several of Bieber's biggest fan groups, as well as the nonprofit Together We Rise and Brush Buddies (the makers behind the singing Bieber toothbrush), have all teamed up to work on a charity single. "They're all working on pieces of the video and the lyrics. Right now, they're putting together videos and thank-you's.' We're working on the back end," Danny Mendoza, President/CEO of Together We Rise, which focuses on helping foster children in the U.S, told MTV News about the project. </p><div class="player-placeholder right" id="vid:712657" width="240" height="211"></div><p> "It started with a young lady named Vivian, she runs the Justin Crew fan club and she approached it on Twitter. She approached it and she had a lot of fan support," he continued. "She took it upon herself to take a leadership role, and then she contacted me because she needed some guidance. We just decided we'll help you do it. Justin Bieber had tweeted about us in the past and helped us get some recognition, so it was a thank-you to him as well. Proceeds from the song will go toward <a href="/news/articles/1673555/justin-bieber-believe-charity-drive.jhtml">Bieber's <i>Believe</i> charity drive</a>. It will drop in March, just in time for his 18th birthday on March 1. "I'm almost 100 percent positive that they know," Mendoza said of Bieber's camp's knowledge of the project. "Justin Bieber inspired a lot of young people to give back. It's a thank-you for helping us and we want to give back in your honor." Bieber is certainly not a newbie to the world of charity. Mendoza said that having a pop star like Bieber being so socially conscious has been incredible for the charities he helps bring attention to. "He definitely has the right people around him … They made it a priority that giving back is more. I think his relationship with [his manager Scooter Braun's brother] Adam Braun and his charity [<a href="/news/articles/1674628/justin-bieber-new-york-city.jhtml">Pencils of Promise</a>], he was able to see hands on a lot of it." After Bieber tweeted this week about the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the <a href="/news/articles/1677905/justin-bieber-organ-donor.jhtml">Ontario-based organ donation</a> network has seen registrations skyrocket to more than 1,200 people, four times the amount the network usually receives. <i>What charity do you want Bieber to promote? Leave your comment below.</i></p></p>

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A single government website? Quite possibly?

To anybody living in the UK at the moment, the notion of “a single Government” anything is a fanciful one.

We have a collation where the right hand doesn’t seem to know what the one in the middle is doing, if you get my tortured, politically anatomical metaphor.

These days, ask Downing Street a question and you’re likely to get an opinion, a printable comment and a strategy, only to receive a diametrically opposed set of all three an hour later.

So, to see www.gov.uk opening its virtual doors is a breath of (hopefully) fresh air.

This is the proposed replacement for the Direct.gov website, which is where you go to find out anything you need to know about how this country is run. Or at least that’s the theory.

The difference with this beta trial site is that it’s massive simplified, with a single search box that will hopefully get you straight to what you’re looking for.

Most refreshing though is an overt request for feedback and help to shape what this site might become.

So have a look and let them know what you think. You could see this as a form if democracy in action, which has to be a good thing.

Tags: WebsiteOfTheDay Websites Software Online

WEBSITE OF THE DAY: Gov.uk originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:00:00 +0000

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Pocket knowledge

The iPhone is a hugely powerful reference tool. Like having a portable library stuck in your pocket, you can find an answer to pretty much any question instantly. Sure it might not always be correct, but there is an armada of info buried at your fingertips.?

Be it a bit of extra gossip on a museum exhibit, or a chance to get one up in the knowledge stakes with your friends, these applications will provide plenty of info as quick as your handset can boot up the app.?

Banky-Locations

Well known for his satirical street art, enigmatic graffiti artist Banksy has created works of art all over the world and each one is?laced with social and political commentary. Whether you think that Banksy is an artistic genius or a?mindless vandal, it’s hard to deny that the man has talent and this app will enable you to find all of the?secretive character’s paintings and installations.

You’ll be able to search for Banksy locations using your current location, the image gallery or the?name of the piece you want to see. The app will even map out the quickest route to get you there,?while the gallery includes notes to tell you all you need to know about each piece. You can also view the?images in full-screen mode, which means they can be used as wallpaper on your iPhone.?The app will keep you up to date with all the latest Banksy news and there’s also a video section that?includes footage created by and about the elusive street artist. A bargain at just 69p.?Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: 69p

Rating: 4/5

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Nazi Germany In An Hour

Nazi Germany In An Hour pretty much does what it says on the tin. If your knowledge of Hitler doesn’t extend beyond Basil Fawlty’s impression in THAT episode of Fawlty Towers, then you should probably set aside an hour of your time for this informative app. As well as a timelime of significant events, you’ll get profiles of key people complete with pictures.

Of course, the History In An Hour apps aren’t all about Hitler – there are plenty of other titles to choose from including everything from the American Civil War and Henry VIII’s wives to ancient Egypt and The Cold War, with new titles being added all the time.?This series is perfect for those of us that want to read up on our history but don’t have a lot of time to spare and seem to spend most of it staring at the screen of one gadget or another. Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: ?1.99

Rating: 5/5

?

National Portrait Gallery

This app is designed to accompany you on your visit to the gallery, and provides videos and audio commentaries from the curators so that you can find out all about the faces in the paintings.?Just make sure you use your headphones rather than blaring out the commentaries on your built-in speaker, otherwise you’re likely to get ?thrown out ?- or at the very least, earn yourself a stern ticking off from the nearest security guard.

You can also zero in on the highlights of the gallery’s collection by selecting one of several themes including Kings and Queens, Science and Discovery, Fame and Celebrity, and Writers. You can view any of the portraits as images on your iPhone screen and even zoom in for a closer look.?You’ll also find gallery maps that will tell you where the portraits are located and how to find them. Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: ?1.49

Rating: 3/5

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British Museum: Treasures

British Library: Treasures is the first smartphone app from the world’s largest library (in terms of books and articles, not area), a guide-based app that provides the opportunity for interaction with the Library’s collections at home, on the move or within the Gallery itself.?The app is a multimedia hot-bed of information and entertainment (we refuse to use the word infotainment, except to condemn it) with more than 100 of the Library’s greatest collection items featured in its 250 high-definition images, and 40 videos.

There’s loads of goodies in there to look at, including the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Charles Dickens’s handwritten draft of Nicholas Nickleby, Jane Austen’s teenage writings, the world’s oldest Bible Codex Sinaiticus, Nelson’s Battle Plan, written before his victory at Trafalgar, Galileo’s letters and Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks. Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: ?2.49

Rating: 4/5

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Street Museum

Originally released by the Museum of London to celebrate the launch of its Galleries of Modern London exhibition, this app isn’t a boring history lesson, but a spooky look at the past using augmented reality.?The app features over 200 sites in and around our nation’s capital with brilliant photographs and information available.?But the fun part starts when you begin to mess around with the app’s augmented reality features. Street Museum?has a built in Google Map with pinpoints highlighting selected locations. Using your iPhone’s GPS you can find a spot close to you and then go into the 3D view for a ghostly look at the past on the present day using your device’s camera lens.

Once you get the hang of it you’ll be able to line up specific images from the past exactly over real-time happenings. It’s cool, and it’s a little bit freaky too.?It’s quite good fun trying to line up the images in locations that are totally different as well. Some streets have changed completely and it’s amazing what used to exist before the modern buildings went up.?

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating:?5/5

?

Tate Trumps

Anybody who has ever been to Tate Modern will have no doubt come away thinking: “Yeah, it’s pretty impressive, but it was still pretty boring at times.” If you didn’t think that then you’re either fibbing, or a lot more sophisticated than we are.?Tate Trumps uses the Tate Modern’s Wi-Fi connection to activate the game, whereby you have to virtually collect pieces of art from within the gallery. Unfortunately you do this by typing in a code associated with the piece rather than by using augmented reality or anything like that. But it’s pretty interactive never-the-less.

?

Up to three players can play and the aim is to collect art that you think would out-Trump your opponents in one of three different game categories – battle, mood or collect. You collect seven pieces of art and no two players can select the same piece, so get your running shoes on and your map at the ready if your targeting a particular piece.?When you meet up with your opponents later on, you simply pit your selected works against them in the time-honoured Trumps tradition. If you don’t agree that your piece should have been outdone by another’s then you can even make a complaint via the app to the Tate Trumps team.

iTunes: Link

Price: Free

Rating:?3/5

?

Dynamic English Lessons

Super-simple to use, this app brings a little bit of fun to the whole process of learning. Rather than delving too deeply into the intricacies of the English language, it aims to bring a rundown of some common phrasal verbs.?This focus on phrasal verbs should allow for their practical application in a variety of scenarios; something that is addressed in this app.

As you complete more phrases from the various categories, other phrases will be added to the dictionary section; so there’s a real incentive to keep going. Complete them all, and you’ll be rewarded with an X-Rated category – just how saucy it is remains to be seen.?All in all, a decent app that should allow for those starting the daunting task of learning English some real-world early success. Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: 69p

Rating: 4/5

?

Wolfram Alpha

When Wolfram Alpha launched back in May 2009, it promised to deliver accurate answers to users’ questions; an approach different from that of Google’s search engine, as results from queries in this form can often be a little on the random side.?And Wolfram Alpha, for the most part, has delivered on this promise and an excellent resource for all sorts of tricky questions.

There’s a getting started page and various categories available to help with how to ask specific questions. Categories include physics, maths, astronomy, engineering, life sciences and pretty much any discipline you can think of. Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: ?1.99

Rating: 4/5

?

Chambers Thesaurus

This seriously wordy app gets 40,000 distinct words and about 400,000 synonyms and antonyms. The smart word entry suggests possible correct spellings as you type, as well as listing words that sound the same or are often confused.

There’s a host of search features which include spelling suggestions, for when you’re uncertain of how the word is, eh, spelt (they come up while typing), a “sounds like” and “often confused” feature and alphabetical listing. A clear layout and nippy response make this a a very handy little app. Read More

iTunes: Link

Price: ?2.99

Rating: 4/5

?

Differential Diagnosis

This app might go some way to empowering you, readjusting that all important balance between the patient and practitioner. Where once we stood in front of the medical profession naked in our ignorance of biological matters and blinded by technical terms, all this knowledge is just a click away thanks to the Differential Diagnosis app from the BMJ Group.?On the other hand, it is quite possible that this could make you paranoid, unstable and obsessed with bodily function as the app is primarily aimed at helping “healthcare professionals” make a quick and, hopefully, accurate diagnosis from a range of signs and symptoms – so perhaps best left to those who know what they’re doing.

So for anyone in the healthcare sector, key features of the app include a symptom browser, which should help with initial diagnosis; a predictive search, which can be done through either symptom or disease; and the ability to browse various diseases alphabetically or by category.?So regardless of where you are, this could make a real difference to making an accurate diagnosis and therefore make a real difference to the patient. Read More

Market: iTunes

Price: ?5.49

Rating: 4/5

?

Wikipedia Mobile

It wouldn’t be right not to have the Wiki mobile app thrown in here. Sure you can browse the site using the conventional Safari app, but the special Wikipedia Mobile setup speeds things up. It also helps to circumvent any nasty Wikipedia shut downs, such as we saw recently.?

Very easy to use, the Wikipedia Mobile app is all about finding answers as quick as you can. You can browse everything in depth or just skim the top of articles. Things can also be bookmarked and the history browsed. Google Maps integration will also help Wiki pages pop up as locations. Easy to use and loads to read, one of the most useful reference apps out there.?

Market: iTunes

Price: Free

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Apps iPhone apps Features Wolfram Alpha Chambers Thesauras Banksy-Locations Banksy Nazi Germany In An Hour National Portrait Gallery British Museum tate trumps Tate

Best iPhone apps for reference and learning originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:16:00 +0000

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Speaker time

iPod speakers?fall into two categories, they are either bog standard and fairly cheap, or they attempt to be iconic in their design. Sometimes this division is so great that they polarise potential customers into thinking it is either the best-looking thing in the world or the most fugly thing they have ever seen.

The Bayan Audio Bayan 7 sits, as you might have gathered from the picture, in the second of those two camps coming with a striking design.

“Interesting” design

The design starts with a large, square, box with a further four speakers on the front, mounted into a large sheet of clear Perspex.

Fo those who like tech specs, the Bayan 7 has a 120W power output through its twin amplifiers, a 5-way?2.1-channel stereo speaker setup and an 8-inch subwoofer for deep bass control. Then there is a pair of 2-inch mid-range and a 1-inch tweeters. Its frequency range is 30Hz – 47kHz.

The 7 is available in black or white, but whichever you choose, you end up getting a wall of speakers and docks with a big box behind it. The Bayan Audio Bayan 7 is more akin to a microwave than your usual iPod speaker.

That presents its own issues, in that it will take up most of a sideboard, and certainly be too big and too heavy for most shelves – ?something to bear in mind if space is at a premium.

Size aside, design, as already mentioned, is something that you’ll either love or hate. It’s certainly striking, causing plenty of conversation to everyone we’ve shown. Personally we’re not so sure it works. We prefer the more subtle lines of the B&W Zeppelin, but each to their own. We’re sure the designer loves it.

Performance and sound quality

Get past the “kooky” design and you can start to enjoy some of the more unusual features of the Bayan 7. Like the two docking station slots on the front allowing you to charge two iDevices at the same time. Which means both you and your other half’s iPhone can be charging together.

As well as being charged, you can switch between the two iThings via the accompanying remote control although that’s as far as it goes. Would-be DJs: there are no fading options.

Each dock is designed to accommodate the array of iPods and iPhones on the market, but if you’ve got a iPad it won’t fit without blocking the speakers above.

If you haven’t got an iDevice, then you can still play with the addition of a Line-in around the back, and for Android tablet users there is a USB charging slot as well – a nice touch.

The remote, as you would expect, allows you to control volume – although we found this to be pretty slow to respond – and if you are using an iPhone or iPod you can skip through tracks and other standard playback functions.

While the remote has a bass and treble button, but no visual feedback on whether these were working, we couldn’t notice any audible difference even after pressing the buttons violently to change the settings.

One thing we did notice was that, for some reason, the volume control wouldn’t work correctly with our first-generation iPod touch. Annoying.

With the volume controls buried at the back out of quick reach – a strange decision – you’ll have to control playback and volume either via the remote or with the Apple device itself.

So, what about the quality??Not surprisingly the Bayan 7 sounds really good. The speaker combination gives a clear sound, coping well with both bass and treble on the tracks we played via an iPod touch and iPhone 3GS we had in the office.

We tested a range of music from Adagio for Strings (Platoon Soundtrack), to Daft Punk, to more challenging tracks from NoFX and TaTu – All The Things She Said.

Sound is crisp and clean compared to the Zeppelin – which offers a more base-heavy feel. Volume is loud enough to fill a medium-size room comfortably.?

Verdict:

The Bayan Audio Bayan 7 sounds great, but with a design that isn’t likely to be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s also one that will most likely be just too big to fit anywhere in your house, unless it’s a mansion.

But if you lived in such a grand abode you would probably go for something a lot more impressive, leaving us with very mixed feelings for the Bayan 7.

We actually like the dual iPhone charging station idea for the iPhone or iPod friendly family, but it isn’t enough to seal the deal for the microwave-sized music-monster.

Tags: Audio Speakers Bayan Audio iPod speakers

Bayan Audio Bayan 7 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:53:00 +0000

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by Claudine Zap

Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential candidate on a roll right now, has been invoking a little-known name in his criticism of President Obama: Saul Alinsky. As a result, the 20th-century community organizer has caused a surge of searches on the Web.

After winning the South Carolina GOP primary, Gingrich said in his victory speech, “The centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” Which seemed to have the effect of viewers nodding, then thinking, “Who?” On Yahoo!, lookups included: “who is Saul Alinsky,” “saul alinksy newt gingrich,” “saul alinsky obama,” and “saul alinsky rules for radicals” — the name of the activist’s book.

Alinsky has been dead for 40 years, and became known on campuses in the 1960s for his organizing tactics, along with a guide to the powerless (think the 99 percent) to grab control from those in power.

Born in 1909 in Chicago to Russian-immigrant parents, the writer is known as the founding father of community organizing. He worked his way through the University of Chicago, then got a job in the slums of Chicago as an organizer. Of his book, “Rules for Radicals,” Alinsky wrote: “‘The Prince’ was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. ‘Rules for Radicals’ is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”

If the Occupy Wall Street movement is aligned with Alinsky’s teachings, so is the tea party. Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told Bloomberg News, “The tea party has understood how to mobilize their anger and turn it to political results, which is the underlying motif of Alinsky.”

Saul Alinsky’s name came up in the last presidential campaign, when it was noted that Hillary Clinton, who was a candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries, had written her college thesis on the agitator back in 1969.

Other Republicans have sought to link Obama to Alinsky, since both were community organizers in Chicago. But, as CNN points out, Obama was just 10 when Alinsky died, and he has never publicly mentioned the man.

The organizer himself would certainly appreciate the storm of controversy his name has generated of late. He said it best himself: “First rule of change is controversy. You can’t get away from it for the simple reason all issues are controversial. Change means movement and movement means friction, and friction means heat, and heat means controversy.”

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Cowabunga dudes

Sony Ericsson has announced an expanded global strategic alliance with Billabong. Yep, Sony Ericsson – not Sony. And the first fruit of the new partnership will be….an Xperia active Billabong Edition. Now we see, the deal was obviously put in place before the big split.

“The partnership is an expansion of our long-term relationship with Sony and an extension of an Asia Pacific alliance developed with Sony Ericsson in 2011,” said Scott Wallace, Billabong’s International vice-president of strategic partnerships and new media.

“Our customers are very tech savvy and their top interests include music, photography, social media and, of course, action sports. Each of these interests can be captured or experienced through the Xperia active and we are working on some exciting apps and accessories that should add to the user’s experience.”

There will be more Billabong content on Xperia devices going forward than you could shake a skateboard at, including the Billabong Live app and an exclusive surf game, Billabong Surf Trip, for Xperia Play handsets.

The Xperia active is a compact little smartphone designed with the types of people who enjoy a bit of sporty fun – hence the hook-up with Billabong.

Its Android 2.3 handset (ICS coming apparently) is both dust proof and water resistant. And when we say water resistant we don’t just mean that it can be used in the rain – the phone can be kept under 1m of water for 30 mins and even boasts wet-finger tracking so it still responds when either the screen or a user’s fingers are wet.

Hardware wise, it packs a 1GHz processor has a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and auto-focus that is also capable of 720p video recording and a 3-inch Reality Display with Mobile Bravia Engine.

Tags: Phones Sony Billabong Sony Ericsson Xperia active Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson Xperia active Billabong edition surfs in originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:11:00 +0000

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