Now you can make crystal clear video-calls with your loved ones or business contacts by utilizing the latest technology for Skype and Logitech, which is incorporated into the latest update to Skype for Windows and the Logitech C920 webcam.

With Logitech c920 the video encoding is done inside the camera which enables full HD or HD video quality with older computers. To enjoy full HD quality at its best, you will need at least a 2 Mbps upload/download speed. (read more inside)

Microsoft's Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit is out of beta today with a fully supported 1.0 release. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer previously promised that Kinect for Windows would go official on February 1st during his CES keynote last month, and the company delivered the final bits to developers this morning. The final release adds support for up to four Kinect sensors on one PC, "near mode" functionality for the Kinect for Windows hardware, and the usual fixes and API improvements. (read more inside)

Thanks to a reminder from WebProNews, it's instructive to look again at the smartphone world via StatCounter, a pro service embedded on many web sites which tracks the browser and OS used to access them. And, reflecting the still enormous installed base of Symbian-powered smartphones across the world, Symbian still (for web access, at least) still dominates the world, at 31%.
The counter-intuitive nature of the chart, i.e. that Symbian still dominates despite Android and iOS activations reportedly running very high through 2011, is explained by the difference between sales marketshare and installed base 'share'. Earlier this year, actual sales of Android-powered smartphones per quarter overtook Symbian. But the 300 million or so active Symbian users across the world - regardless of whether they're using a three year old Nokia 5800 or even an older N95 - is a statistic that can't be ignored for actual use. You may remember that I've talked before about not underestimating the inertia behind Symbian's installed base - the numbers boggle the mind.
Added to the huge installed base of Symbian smartphones is the factor of the rise and rise of affordable data, even on pay as you go SIM cards, across the world. In other words, just about everyone is now getting online. In StatCounter's eyes, web access is web access." via allaboutsymbian.com

"It's the end of an era as Adobe has confirmed that it will no longer be developing its Flash Player for mobile devices. Instead Adobe will be focusing on HTML5 and Adobe-AIR native apps for the major mobile platforms. Adobe's VP Danny Winokur explained the decision:
Our future work with Flash onmobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash develoeprs to package native apps with Adobe-AIR for all major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations. " via mobile-review.com

"Over the last six months a lot has changed on the market and if initially NVIDIA Tegra 2 was positioned as flagship solution today you can buy a $300 tablet with Tegra 2 onboard. The market has shifted Tegra 2 into the mid-range segment and there are around 10 to 12 million devices (according to NVIDIA) with this chip. It’s a very impressive result for a neophyte fresh on the market. In 2011-2012 the popularity of Tegra 2 in phones and tablets will continue to grow. The next milestone for NVIDIA will be to improve the architecture to increase the life cycle of the chip set. However, they key product of the company for 2011-2012 will be NVIDIA Tegra 3 and the main feature of this chip set is the Kal-El processor. It will be one of the first quad core processors packed with a bunch of unique features." Read more here:

"Whilst Android was busy racing past iOS in the mobile download stakes it was also extending its lead in the advertising stakes too. Millenial have just released new data for their network, which shows continued growth for Android and a very healthy lead over iOS.Android accounted for 56% of impressions by the end of the September quarter, which was double iOS, which had 28%. Even if iOS is trailing Android it is still way out in front of third placed RIM, which could only muster up 13% of impressions. Windows Phone is barely worth mentioning, having just 1% (and that's after being combined with Windows Mobile)." Read more inside..

In an interview with the S. Korean Yonhap news agency Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung's mobile communications and digital imaging, laid out Samsung Mobile's big plans for 2011. This year the company is aiming (and expects) to surpass its last year's shipments - 25 million smartphones out of a total of 280 million sold with the staggering 60 million smartphones and a total of 300 million phone shipments. That's close to 1 million devices sold a day. The expected growth in the smartphone segment is quite bold but it seems well backed up by the current success of the Galaxy S II smartphone, which is doing very well in its home country Korea, in Japan, Europe and elsewhere. Also Samsung is aiming to push it even further with the planned announcement of new "noteworthy" Bada smartphones at this year's IFA in September. Also keep in mind that Samsung is in the business with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and is rumored to be working on a WP7 version of the Galaxy S II. Finally, Samsung is rumored to release yet another Galaxy device at this year's IFA expo at Berlin in September. This new Galaxy Q is thought to have a whopping 5.3-inch display and possibly LTE connectivity. No other details have been given but it could feature a SuperAMOLED (Plus or the normal variety) display. We'll have to wait it out and see, but from where we're standing it looks like September could turn out to be an exciting month for tech geeks." via gsmarena.com

"Gartner have released data that allows us to paint a picture of the mobile industry in general during Q1 of this year. So without further ado let's get straight into those figures! As a whole the mobile phone industry saw a 19% rise in sales year on year for a totalof 427.8 million in Q1. Smartphones, according to Gartner "... continued to outpace the rest of the market ...". Indeed smartphones made up 23.6% of all mobilephone sales during Q1, which year on year is an increase of 85%. As for the individual manufacturers it was something of a mixed bag with the general trend being one of losing market share. Nokia, for example, saw their market share drop from 30.6% in Q1 2010 to 25.1% in Q1 2011. That was based off of sales of 110.105 million in Q1 2010 compared with 107.556 million in Q1 2011. The other major players didn't do much better though; Samsung fell from 18% to 16.1% whilst LG fell from 7.6% to 5.6%." Read more inside..

"Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: "MSFT") and Skype Global S.à r.l today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype. The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype's world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft's existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally. Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms, including Lync (which saw 30 percent revenue growth in Q3), Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE." Read more inside..

French business Wysips is focusing on a whole new system which could cause mobile phone touch screens to accomplish double duty as pv power panels to recharge cell phones.

The thought is fairly interesting [1] since it consists of laying an extremely thin transparent pv film layer together with the cellphone screen. The film may get energy not only from the sun, but any nearby source of light.

Probable recharge times will be about six hours from sunlight and some moments longer from leaching power from in house lights. Wysips is at work for the 2nd new release of the technology, which seems to offer half an hour of talk-time after just 1 hour under the sun. (more inside)