October, 2013 | IT newspaper

Samsung Event 2013: Everything we expect Samsung to announce at ‘Unpacked’ event

October 8th, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
08

Months after revealing the Galaxy S4, which turned out to be another global sales smash for the surging Apple competitor, Samsung is surely hoping that its new gadgets will make a similar splash in the market. What does the Korean tech behemoth have in store? Here’s what we’re expecting (and make sure to follow @YahooTech on Twitter for all the latest).

The Galaxy Note III
For this Unpacked event, we hope Samsung brought a huge suitcase.
We’re definitely expecting a third edition of the Galaxy Note, the so-called “phablet” that pushed the boundaries of smartphone screen size when it was first introduced in 2011. Leaks indicate that the Galaxy Note III will be even larger than its predecessor, with a 5.7 inch display (compared to a 5.5 inch display on the Note II, and a 5.3 inch display on the original Note).

There are also rumors that the Note III will include a fingerprint sensor, to enhance security both for locking and unlocking the device, and perhaps for more secure “tap-to-pay” payments via NFC. Apple has also been rumored to include a fingerprint sensor on its upcoming iPhone, to be announced on September 10; and though smartphones have shipped with fingerprint scanners and sensors before — predominantly in Japan — the Galaxy Note III would be the first mainstream American phone to ship with one, should the rumors be true.
A tweet from noted tech leaker @evleaks, meanwhile, allegedly reveals even more about the phone’s hardware and software: Per an alleged screenshot of the phone’s Setting screen from @evleaks, the Galaxy Note III will run the brand new Android 4.3 operating system, making it one of, if not the, first smartphones to ship with the latest version of Android. Evleaks also indicates that the Note 3 will sports a 2.3 Ghz quad-core processor and a 2.5 GB of RAM.
And, finally, one accessory we fully expect the Note III to ship with: a stylus. Each of the first two Galaxy Notes have included a stylus, or “S Pen,” and we don’t expect the Note III to be any different than its predecessors in that respect.

The Galaxy Gear Smartwatch
Reports are also leading us to believe that the world’s largest smartphone maker is likely to introduce a smartwatch at tomorrow’s event. In fact, Samsung’s purported wrist watch device may be even be packing some impressive, smartphone-like guts.
According to information obtained by AmongTech, Samsung’s smartwatch, reportedly named the Galaxy Gear, will pack a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, a 2.5” touchscreen watch face and a 4 MegaPixel 720p front-facing camera. It’s believed that the Gear will also be running a version of Android Jellybean, designed to run some Android apps, and come equipped with an accelerometer and Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities.
Though Samsung’s eventual addition of a smartwatch to its line of devices was expected, an unveiling on Tuesday means that Apple’s Korean rival may end up beating them to market. Reports earlier this year have pinned Apple to the development of an iWatch, also believed to be a smartwatch device.
One reported Galaxy Gear that turned out to be little more than a dream: a flexible, wrap around-type screen. In an interview with The Korea Times last month, Samsung Mobile’s executive vice president Lee Young-Hee revealed that the Gear “won’t have a flexible display.” Maybe next year’s model.

HTML5 articles and sections: what’s the difference?

October 5th, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | software

Oct
05

An article is an independent, stand-alone piece of discrete content. Think of a blogpost, or a news item.

Consider this real-world article:

<article> <h1>Bruce Lawson is World's Sexiest Man</h1> <p>Legions of lovely ladies voted luscious lothario Lawson as the World's Sexiest Man today.</p> <h2>Second-sexiest man concedes defeat</h2> <p>Remington Sharp, jQuery glamourpuss and Brighton roister-doister, was gracious in defeat. "It's cool being the second sexiest man when number one is Awesome Lawson" he said, from his swimming pool-sized jacuzzi full of supermodels.</p> </article>

It could be syndicated, either by RSS or other means, and makes sense without further contextualisation. Just as you can syndicate partial feeds, a “teaser” article is still an article:

<article> <a href=full-story.html> <h1>Bruce Lawson is World's Sexiest Man</h1> <p>Legions of lovely ladies voted luscious lothario Lawson as the World's Sexiest Man today.</p> <p>Read more</p> </a> </article>

Other articles can be nested inside an article, for example a transcript to a video:

<article> <h1>Stars celebrate Bruce Lawson</h1> <video>…</video>

<article>
<h1>Transcript</h1>
<p>Priyanka Chopra: “He’s so hunky!”</p>
<p>Konnie Huq: “He’s a snogtabulous bundle of gorgeous manhood! And I saw him first, Piggy Chops!”</p>
</article>

</article>

The transcript is complete in itself, even though it’s related to the video in the outer article. The spec says “When article elements are nested, the inner article elements represent articles that are in principle related to the contents of the outer article.”

`SECTION`

Section, on the other hand, isn’t “a self-contained composition in a document, page, application, or site and that is intended to be independently distributable or reusable”. It’s either a way of sectioning a page into different subject areas, or sectioning an article into … well, sections.

Consider this article:
<article> <h1>Important legal stuff</h1> <h2>Carrots</h2> <p>Thingie thingie lah lah</p> <h2>Parsnips</h2> <p>Thingie thingie lah lah</p> <h2>A turnip for the books</h2> <p>Thingie thingie lah lah</p> <strong>Vital caveat about the information above!</strong> </article>

Does the “vital caveat about the information above” refer to the whole article, eg everything under the introuctory h1, or does it refer only to the information under the preceding h2 (“A turnip for the books”)? In HTML4, there is no way to tell. In HTML5, the section element makes its meaning unambiguous (and therefore, more “semantic”):

<article> <h1>Important legal stuff</h1>

<section>
<h2>Carrots</h2>
<p>Thingie thingie lah lah</p>
</section>

<section>
<h2>Parsnips</h2>
<p>Thingie thingie lah lah</p>
</section>

<section>
<h2>A turnip for the books</h2>
<p>Thingie thingie lah lah</p>
</section>

<strong>Vital caveat about the information above!</strong> </article>

Now we can see that the vital caveat refers to the whole article. If it had been inside the final section element, it would unambiguously refer to that section alone. It would not have been correct to divide up this article with nested article elements, as they would not be independent discrete entities, which is why we used the section element.

OK. So we’ve seen that we can have article inside article and section inside article. But we can also have article inside section. What’s that all about then?

`article` inside `section`

Imagine that your content area is divided into two units, one for articles about llamas, the other for articles about root vegetables. (Or see today’s Guardian home page with its main news, a section of election picks, a section of “latest multimedia” etc).

You’re not obliged to markup your llama articles separately from your root vegetable articles, but you want to demonstrate that the two groups are thematically distinct, and perhaps you want them in separate columns, or you’ll use CSS and JavaScript to make a tabbed interface. In HTML4, you’d use our good but meaningless friend div. InHTML5, you use section which, like article invokes the HTML5 outlining algorithm, while div doesn’t because it has no meaning. (A great read on the outlining algorithm is Lachlan Hunt’s A Preview of HTML 5):

<div role=main>

<section>
<h1>Articles about llamas</h1>

<article>
<h2>The daily llama: buddhism and South American camelids</h2>
<p>blah blah</p>
</article>

<article>
<h2>Shh! Do not alarm a llama</h2>
<p>blah blah</p>
</article>

</section>

<section>
<h1>Articles about root vegetables</h1>

<article>
<h2>Carrots: the orange miracle</h2>
<p>blah blah</p>
</article>

<article>
<h2>Swedes: don’t eat people, eat root vegetables</h2>
<p>blah blah</p>
</article>

</section>

</div>

Why not article? Because, in this example, each section is a collection of independent entities, each of which could be syndicated—but you wouldn’t syndicate the collection as an individual entity.

Note that a section doesn’t need to be lots of articles; it could be a collection of paragraphs explaining your creative commons licensing, an author bio or a copyright notice. In our example, each article could contain sub-articles or section, as explained above—or both.

FINALLY, A CONCLUSION!

Jeremy Keith writes that authors are confused about when to use the two elements. I think the namearticle is a cause of confusion; perhaps post or entry or even story would be more intuitive if you’re thinking about blog or news sites (although not all sites are like that, of course).
But I disagree that the two elements are so similar that they should be amalgamated. Jeremy writes

the only thing that distinguishes the definition of article from the definition of section is the presence of the phrase “self-contained”. A section groups together thematically-related content. An article groups together self-contained thematically-related content. That distinction is too fine to warrant a separate element, in my opinion.

I agree that the difference between them is the “self-contained”ness. But, personally, I find it pretty easy to work out whether something is self-contained or not and have tried to explain it above. Your comments will hopefully let me know if I’ve explained it clearly enough. (I think it’s very tough explaining it in the terse language required in normative sections of a specification).
It seems to me that brand-new elements will require people to spend time learning them without being able to immediately understand the difference in a matching exercise. Dan Cederholm’s Simplequiz showed that in 2003 many of us didn’t understand HTML4 elements properly. How many of us would have chosen ol rather than ul from name and single line from the spec if asked the most appropriate element for breadcrumb trails, or chosen dt as the most appropriate term for the speaker’s name in a dialogue (as the HTML4 spec wrongly specifies)? But seven years down the line, I imagine we all agree that it would have been wrong to amalgamate dl, ul and ol.
I also think the spec isn’t sufficiently clear (and emailed the Working Group): the definition for article says “The article element represents a self-contained composition in a document, page, application, or site and that is intended to be independently distributable or reusable, e.g. in syndication.”
This suggests that if you have a self-contained composition that you do not intend to be distributable via syndication, you shouldn’t use article.
Section says “Authors are encouraged to use the article element instead of the section element when it would make sense to syndicate the contents of the element” – here, the intent of syndication is diluted into “it would make sense to syndicate the content”.
I suggest that article be amended to say something similar, eg “The article element represents a self-contained composition in a document, page, application, or site which would make sense if independently distributed or reused, e.g. in syndication.” so that the two mentions of article match.
If we didn’t have an article element, we’d be left with lots of different riffs on section,section or section, which is what HTML5 tries to avoid.

Source: www.brucelawson.co.uk

Android or Apple? How to Buy the Best Tablet

October 3rd, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
03

Whether you opt for an Apple iPad or one of many Androids, choosing the right media-consumption tablet isn’t necessarily a snap. Here’s what you need to know before you hit the store.

It’s difficult to remember a time before tablets, but it’s been three short years since the originalApple iPad hit the scene, and the current tablet market was born. Since then, we’ve seen scores of manufacturers trying to snag a slice of the tablet pie, which so far, has been dominated by Apple, now on its fourth iPad iteration. Growth is so rapid in the segment that some analysts claim tablet sales are set to outpace laptops this year. There’s no denying that the tablet is here to stay.
But which tablet is right for you? Whether you’re eyeing an iPad, one of the many Android tablets available, here are the key factors you need to consider when shopping for a tablet:

First Off: Do You Even Need One?
Simply put, tablets aren’t really filling any true need—even three years in, they’re still neither replacements for computers nor smartphones. While you can tackle productivity tasks on a tablet, you won’t get a desktop-grade operating system, like you’ll find on a PC. Plus, since we’re talking about slates here, we’re talking about on-screen keyboards. Of course, there are plenty of worthy add-on hardware keyboards, especially for the iPad, but few will provide the same comfort you’ll experience with a laptop or a desktop. The main focus of the tablets we’ll discuss here is media consumption, not productivity. If you want a slate or convertible tablet for work, take a look at the top-rated Windows 8 tablets we’ve tested, but be prepared to pay laptop prices, many run around the $1k mark.
Tablets do have advantages over both laptops and phones, offering a more portable way to check email, browse the Web, video chat, watch movies, listen to music, and play games than your laptop can provide, but with a bigger screen than on your smartphone. Even so, you probably don’t need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.

Choose Your Operating System
Just like with a full-fledged computer, if you’re getting a tablet, you need to pick a camp. And just like with a computer, your decision will likely come down to your gut feeling. Right now, the top two contenders are Apple with its iPads and iPad mini, and Android with its many hardware choices from the likes of Acer, Amazon, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Google, Samsung, and others.
Microsoft recently entered the race with its Surface $349.00 at Microsoft Store tablet, running Windows RT, a slimmed-down version of Windows 8, which runs on mobile devices with ARM processors. We’ve also seen RT-based tablets from Asus, Dell, and Lenovo, but overall, the platform hasn’t really taken off, with some vendors like HP and Samsung canceling RT-based tablet releases to focus on Android and Atom-powered Windows 8 models.
Generally speaking, the greatest strength of Apple’s iOS, the operating system on the iPad and iPad mini, is twofold: It’s very clean and intuitive, and the wide selection of iPad apps that you can buy right on your tablet—more than 300,000 iPad-specific titles at the time of this writing—work uniformly well with very few exceptions. (For more, check out our fulliOS 6.1 Review.)
Google’s mobile OS, Android, is a more complicated story. Besides having your choice of hardware from several manufacturers, at any given time, there are a few iterations of Android floating around on various devices. The latest version, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), is the best yet, with maximum configurability, a top-notch notification system, fast, smooth Web browsing, and seamless integration with Google applications like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Talk for video chat. The latest Android version also adds support for multiple user logins so you can share your tablet with a friend or family member, a useful feature that’s missing in Apple tablets. The only problem: Right now, you can only find Android 4.2 on Google’s own Nexus tablets and a small handful of others including a couple of Transformer models from Asus.

What About Apps?
What’s a tablet without quality apps? If you want every third-party app under the sun, right now, nothing out there beats the iPad with its 300,000+ programs and games designed specifically for Apple tablets. The App Store is well-curated and monitored, offers a deep selection, and includes every popular app you can think of. If a wide range of compelling apps that look good and work well your tablet is your main priority, Apple is your best bet.
Android has made some strides on app selection in the past year, courting more developers and offering more high-quality tablet apps, but its still nowhere near the number Apple offers. It’s tough to say exactly how many tablet-optimized Android apps are available, but it’s likely in the thousands, rather than the hundreds of thousands. There are also Android phone apps, which look decent on a 7-inch tablet, but not a 9- or 10-inch one, so you’re likely to have more problems getting high-quality apps for larger Android tablets.

Screen Size and Storage
This consideration is a bit obvious, but size—both screen real estate and storage capacity—is important to consider. First things first: When you hear the term “10-inch or 7-inch tablet” this refers to the size of the screen, measured diagonally, and not the size of the tablet itself. 7-inch tablets are considered small-screen, while 8.9- to 10-inch tablets are considered large screen. Apple iPads, Google Nexus tablets, Amazon Kindle Fires, and B&N Nook HD tablets all come in both small- and large-screen iterations. Samsung, for one, wants you to have multiple choices, so it offers its Android tablets in multiple screen sizes (10.1, 8.9, 8.0, 7.7, 7.0 inches, and even a phone/tablet hybrid, the Galaxy Note II with a 5.5-inch display and a stylus).
Screen resolution is important too, especially for ebook reading and Web surfing. A sharp, bright display is key. Right now, the Google Nexus 10 is the sharpest you’ll find with a2,560-by-1,600, 300-pixel-per-inch resolution. The fourth-gen iPad $499.00 at Apple Store with its 2,048-by-1,536-pixel (264 ppi) Retina display is no slouch either. If you’re in the market for a 10-inch Android tablet, look for a display with at least a 1,280-by-800 resolution. For 7-inch models: The Amazon Kindle Fire’s display is 1,024-by-600, and is perfectly viewable, even for ebook reading, but line it up side-by-side with the same-sizeKindle Fire HD’s 1,280-by-800 screen, and you’ll definitely notice the difference.
The weight of a tablet is one definite advantage it has over a laptop—but let’s be clear, at around 1.44 pounds (in the case of the latest iPad) it’s not cell-phone light. This is true for small-screen tablets as well. After you hold one with a single hand on a subway ride for 20 minutes, your hand will get tired. Setting it flat in your lap, rather than propped up on a stand, can also be a little awkward. And few tablets will fit in your pocket, unless it’s a extra large jacket pocket.
Cloud storage is an option for many tablets (iCloud for iPads, Amazon Cloud Storage for Kindle Fires, and SkyDrive for the MS Surface tablet are a few examples), but when it comes to on-board storage, more is always better. All those apps, when combined with a typical music, video, and photo library, can take up a lot of space. Right now storage tops out at 64GB of flash-based memory, with most of the tablets we’ve tested available in either 16, 32, or 64GB varieties. Larger capacity models can get as expensive as full-featured laptops, though—the 64GB Wi-Fi-only iPad rings up at $700, add 4G service, and you’re up to $830. A few Android tablets have microSD memory card slots that let you expand storage; the Surface has one as well.

Wi-Fi-Only vs. Cellular Models
Many tablets come in a Wi-Fi-only model or with the option of always-on cellular service from a wireless provider. If you want to use your tablet to get online anywhere, you should opt for a model with a cell radio, like the aforementioned fourth-gen iPad, iPad mini, or the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 $244.00 at Amazon. Of course, this adds to the device’s price, and then you need to pay for cellular service. Generally, though, with a tablet, you can purchase data on a month-to-month basis, without signing a contract.

Another way to get your tablet online: Use your 3G or 4G phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your tablet—this won’t work with every phone/tablet combo, so you should check with your carrier before you seal a deal.
Finally, before you buy, if you can, head to your local electronics store to get hands-on time with some different tablets, so you can see which feels and works best for you.

Source: www.pcmag.com

DrupalCon Prague 2013

October 1st, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | software

Oct
01

DrupalCon is an international event that brings together the people who use, develop, design, and support the Drupal platform. More than just another trade show or industry conference, it’s a shared experience that seeks to inspire and engage.
DrupalCon Prague will feature dozens of curated sessions and panels from some of the most influential people and brightest minds within the Drupal community and beyond, as well as countless opportunities for networking, code sprints, informal conversations, and more.

Acquia Visitor Centre & Acquia Booth
If you would like to meet with Acquia at DrupalCon contact us to discuss. Alternatively, drop by the Acquia booth (#18) and talk to our experts between sessions.

Acquia Cloud Free Meetup
Meet with Acquia’s experts to talk Drupal performance and Apache Solr best practices. We have just launched Acquia Cloud Free – so find out how you can use it for improving performance and building site search. Spaces are limited per session. Sign up for Wednesday, Sept 25th at 4-5pm or 5-6pm

Sessions featuring Acquia Presenters

Date Time Session Presenter(s)

Monday, Sept 23rd All day Usability Bootcamp Christine Perfetti

Tuesday, Sept 24th 1:00-2:00pm Multilingual Site Tools in Drupal 8 Gabor Hojtsy

Tuesday, Sept 24th 2:15-3:15pm The Pfizer Story: Building a Global Digital Marketing Platform with Drupal Bryan House, Acquia & Mike Lamb, Pfizer

Tuesday, Sept 24th 2:15-3:15pm Building Really Fast Websites with Drupal 8 Wim Leers

Tuesday, Sept 24th 2:15-3:15pm Evolving Front End Development Practice Jesse Beach

Tuesday, Sept 24th 3:45-6:00pm Fix me if you can Hernâni Borges de Freitas, Alex Ku, Balazs Dianiska & Théodore Biadala

Tuesday, Sept 24th 5:00-6:00pm Writing Unit Testable Code in Drupal 8 Mark Sonnabaum

Wednesday, Sept 25th 1:00-3:15pm WF Tools FTW @ Pfizer Dave Hall, Pfizer & Tim Holt, Acquia

Wednesday, Sept 25th 2:15-3:15pm Upgrading your JS to Drupal 8 Théodore Biadala

Wednesday, Sept 25th 2:15-3:15pm Automate Drupal deployments with Linux Containers, Docker and Vagrant Ricardo Amaro

Wednesday, Sept 25th 3:45-6:00pm Upgrade your module to Drupal 8 Angie Bryon, Alex Bronstein & Jess (xjm)

Wednesday, Sept 25th 5:00-6:00pm Drupal 8 – Info Hook to Plugin Peter Wolanin

Thursday, Sept 26th 10:45-11:45am Drush Optimizations for your Development Workflow Greg Anderson*, Moshe Weitzman, Mark Sonnabaum, Damien Lee & Jeannie Finks

Thursday, Sept 26th 1:00-2:00pm Javascript Testing Jesse Beach & colleagues

Thursday, Sept 26th 1:00-3:15pm Essential Techniques for Designing Delightful Web Sites Christine Perfetti

Thursday, Sept 26th 1:00-3:15pm Create the Optimal Search Experience Peter Wolanin & Nick Veenhof

Smartphone Cameras at 41 Megapixels Pressure Canon, Nikon

October 1st, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
01

The global camera business, centered in Japan, is headed for a shakeout.
With industry revenue falling to the lowest level in a decade amid surging smartphone sales, Nikon Corp. (7731), the world’s No. 2 camera maker, has cut prices to lure consumers. Market leader Canon Inc. (7751) may follow suit to keep pace, according to UBS AG, putting pressure on smaller producers and possibly leading them to retreat from the business.
“There are too many players,” said Ryosuke Katsura, an analyst at UBS in Tokyo. “It’s going to be tough for smaller camera makers even to remain in the business as competition between Canon and Nikon will likely intensify,” said Katsura, who recommends selling shares of both industry leaders.
Since Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone in 2007, Canon and Nikon stocks have lost more than half their value as demand has withered in an industry they have dominated for over a decade. Nikon is the worst performer in the Nikkei 225 (NKY) index this year, falling 34 percent.
Sales of compact models have slumped as smartphones displace the point-and-shoots that were the biggest part of the market. Now higher margin single-lens reflex models — a market 80 percent controlled by Canon and Nikon — are slowing as well.
To keep sales moving, Nikon has been discounting many models. The Nikon 1 J2, introduced a year ago, now sells for as little as 23,485 yen ($240), 64 percent below its initial price, according to Japanese online comparison site Kakaku.com. The high-end D600, also introduced last September, has declined 26 percent to 145,975 yen.

Army Binoculars
Camera shipments are likely to fall 30 percent this year to 69 million units, according to Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., even as manufacturers try to slow the decline by adding smartphone-like features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Nikon in August cut its 2013 net income target by 23 percent while Canon lowered profit and sales forecasts in July.
Nikon says it cut prices to reduce inventory as demand falls, and that the company is scaling back production to boost profitability. Canon says it doesn’t plan to chase short-term market share gains by cutting prices.
Founded in 1917, Nikon supplied binoculars and optical gear to the Japanese military. After World War II the company focused on consumer products and in 1959 introduced its first SLR camera with an interchangeable lens, the Nikon F. Today it gets 84 percent of operating profit from imaging.

Buddhist Goddess
Canon started in an apartment in the Tokyo district of Roppongi in 1933. The next year, the company built its first 35 millimeter camera, called the Kwanon after the Buddhist goddess of Mercy. Its EOS Rebel, introduced in 1993, helped Canon cement its lead in the market by attracting a younger generation to high-end SLRs.
“Camera makers need to seek a new growth driver,” said Hirosuke Takayama, an analyst for SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo. Medical equipment that uses their image-capturing sensors and processors is “the area the companies are all looking at.”
Olympus Corp. (7733), which started as a maker of microscopes and thermometers in 1919, produced its first camera in 1936. In 1950, it made an early endoscope — for taking pictures inside the body — and the company is now the world’s largest producer of such devices. Olympus plans to stop SLR development and this year closed a Beijing camera plant and suspended its cheapest compact camera line. In April Olympus started a venture with Sony Corp. (6758) to develop medical equipment.

$1 Brownie
Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (4901), a Tokyo-based photographic film maker, is shifting away from consumer cameras to medical systems and display components. Panasonic Corp. (6752), which produces the Lumix brand, will shrink its compact camera business, Chief Executive Officer Kazujiro Tsuga said in an interview.
Both industry leaders have ample resources to fund new ventures and takeovers. Canon had cash and equivalents of 755 billion yen in June while Nikon’s cash holdings were 121 billion yen, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Changes in the camera market may tell them it’s time for them to take risks to do something drastic to change their earnings structure,” said Hisashi Moriyama, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo.
The shift to smartphones could be similar to the transition from film to digital photography, which weeded out companies slow to adapt. Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. sold its SLR business to Sony in 2006 to focus on office equipment. Pentax Corp. was acquired in 2007 by Hoya Corp (7741), which sold the camera operation to Ricoh Co. (7752) four years later. Eastman Kodak Co., the photography pioneer that introduced the $1 Brownie Camera more than a century ago, is now bankrupt.

41 Megapixels
Smartphone cameras are getting more sophisticated. Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)’s Galaxy S4 is equipped with a 13-megapixel sensor. Sony’s latest Xperia Z1 has a 20.7 megapixel camera and an optional zoom-lens attachment. Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) in July unveiled its Lumia 1020 with a 41-megapixel camera. By contrast, Canon’s EOS-1D X, which sells for $6,799 on the company’s U.S. website, has an 18.1-megapixel sensor — though pixel count is only one of many factors that affect image quality.

As Nikon and and Canon consider diversification, earnings are going to remain under pressure as smartphones cannibalize compacts and margins on SLRs shrink, said Amir Anvarzadeh, a manager of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc. (BGCP) in Singapore.
“This is not,” he said, “going to reverse anytime soon.”

Source: www.bloomberg.com

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