The AdMob Student App Challenge : Build an app with AdMob to win awesome Google prizes

Build an app. Use AdMob. Win awesome prizes

Are you a student who loves to code or has a great idea for a mobile app? Maybe you’re building one right now. Imagine that one day your app could be seen by millions of users.
Google has invited you to take part in The AdMob Student App Challenge, a mobile app contest open exclusively to students around the world. The goal is to build a great app (either Android or iOS), create a revenue stream using AdMob's in-app advertising, and submit a written business report about your experience to AdMobile. You can either build the app on your own or form a team of up to five students.

To win the Challenge, you'll need a great app and a good business strategy that focuses on how you manage the project, gain users and leverage AdMob. In the next few weeks Google AdMobile will  be announcing the respected app industry leaders who’ll be on the judging panel.
They have got some awesome prizes if you win: The winning team will receive:

• A 7-night trip to San Francisco with spending money, including a trip to the Google headquarters in Mountain View.
• The winning app will be featured on the Google Play store and on the Play Store's social channels (certain conditions apply).*
• An opportunity to star in your own case study video to tell your story.
• A Nexus 7 device for each team member.

As well as one overall winner, there'll be a winner from each of the four global regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific), who'll receive computing devices and an honorary mention on the AdMob website.
The Challenge starts today and you have until March 31, 2014 to build a winning app. The winners will be announced in May 2014.
Only apps made available through the Play Store will have an opportunity to be featured.

 For for more details about Official Rules :
Visit at http://www.google.com/ads/admob/contest-terms.html

 For more details and registration :
Visit the AdMob website  at http://www.google.com/ads/admob/challenge.html

 For regular updates and announcements
Follow the  AdMob G+ page  at  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AdMob/posts

A $500 ‘nano-camera’ that can operate at the speed of light

Device could be used in medical imaging, collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and interactive gaming. 

Researchers in the MIT Media Lab, have developed an Inexpensive “nano-camera” costing $500 that can operate at the speed of light .

The three-dimensional camera, which was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong, could be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and to improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming.

The camera is based on “Time of Flight” technology like that used in Microsoft’s recently launched second-generation Kinect device, in which the location of objects is calculated by how long it takes a light signal to reflect off a surface and return to the sensor. However, unlike existing devices based on this technology, the new camera is not fooled by rain, fog, or even translucent objects, says co-author Achuta Kadambi, a graduate student at MIT.

“Using the current state of the art, such as the new Kinect, you cannot capture translucent objects in 3-D," Kadambi says. “That is because the light that bounces off the transparent object and the background smear into one pixel on the camera. Using our technique you can generate 3-D models of translucent or near-transparent objects.”

In a conventional Time of Flight camera, a light signal is fired at a scene, where it bounces off an object and returns to strike the pixel. Since the speed of light is known, it is then simple for the camera to calculate the distance the signal has travelled and therefore the depth of the object it has been reflected from.

Unfortunately though, changing environmental conditions, semitransparent surfaces, edges, or motion all create multiple reflections that mix with the original signal and return to the camera, making it difficult to determine which is the correct measurement.

Instead, the new device uses an encoding technique commonly used in the telecommunications industry to calculate the distance a signal has travelled, says Ramesh Raskar, an associate professor of media arts and sciences and leader of the Camera Culture group within the Media Lab, who developed the method alongside Kadambi, Refael Whyte, Ayush Bhandari, and Christopher Barsi at MIT and Adrian Dorrington and Lee Streeter from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

“We use a new method that allows us to encode information in time,” Raskar says. “So when the data comes back, we can do calculations that are very common in the telecommunications world, to estimate different distances from the single signal.”

The idea is similar to existing techniques that clear blurring in photographs, says Bhandari, a graduate student in the Media Lab. “People with shaky hands tend to take blurry photographs with their cellphones because several shifted versions of the scene smear together,” Bhandari says. “By placing some assumptions on the model — for example that much of this blurring was caused by a jittery hand — the image can be unsmeared to produce a sharper picture.”

The new model, which the team has dubbed nanophotography, unsmears the individual optical paths.

In 2011 Raskar’s group unveiled a trillion-frame-per-second camera capable of capturing a single pulse of light as it travelled through a scene. The camera does this by probing the scene with a femtosecond impulse of light, then uses fast but expensive laboratory-grade optical equipment to take an image each time. However, this “femto-camera” costs around $500,000 to build.

In contrast, the new “nano-camera” probes the scene with a continuous-wave signal that oscillates at nanosecond periods. This allows the team to use inexpensive hardware — off-the-shelf light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can strobe at nanosecond periods, for example — meaning the camera can reach a time resolution within one order of magnitude of femtophotography while costing just $500.

“By solving the multipath problem, essentially just by changing the code, we are able to unmix the light paths and therefore visualize light moving across the scene,” Kadambi says. “So we are able to get similar results to the $500,000 camera, albeit of slightly lower quality, for just $500.”

Conventional cameras see an average of the light arriving at the sensor, much like the human eye, says James Davis, an associate professor of computer science at the University of California at Santa Cruz. In contrast, the researchers in Raskar’s laboratory are investigating what happens when they take a camera fast enough to see that some light makes it from the “flash” back to the camera sooner, and apply sophisticated computation to the resulting data, Davis says.

“Normally the computer scientists who could invent the processing on this data can’t build the devices, and the people who can build the devices cannot really do the computation,” he says. “This combination of skills and techniques is really unique in the work going on at MIT right now.”

What’s more, the basic technology needed for the team’s approach is very similar to that already being shipped in devices such as the new version of Kinect, Davis says. “So it’s going to go from expensive to cheap thanks to video games, and that should shorten the time before people start wondering what it can be used for,” he says. “And by the time that happens, the MIT group will have a whole toolbox of methods available for people to use to realize those dreams."

Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R : Priced at Rs. 94,990 & Rs. 124,990, Sony launches two High End Professional Cameras

New Delhi, 26th November, 2013: Hotly awaited by professional photographers and enthusiasts, the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R from Sony set an exciting new benchmark in digital imaging. A game-changing blend of imaging power and portability, both mirrorless models redefine the creative options of full-frame photography in a palm-sized interchangeable lens camera.

The Alpha 7 (24.3 effective megapixels) and Alpha 7R (36.4 effective megapixels) give serious photographers a limitless array of new artistic possibilities. Expanding the range of optics from Sony and Carl Zeiss, six3 new full-frame lenses complement the cameras' superlative image quality - whether you're shooting detail-packed stills or crisp, cinematic Full HD video.

Beautifully styled and easy to hold on lengthy assignments, both cameras are no-compromise photographic tools that put the needs of advanced users first. Front and back dials plus a control wheel and exposure compensation dial allow intuitive adjustments while framing shots through the high-contrast, high resolution XGA OLED Tru-Finder or on the tiltable 3.0-type LCD screen.

The 35mm full-frame Exmor CMOS sensor in both cameras incorporates light concentration and photo diode expansion technologies, while the Alpha 7R also features a new 'gapless' on-chip lens design that eliminates gaps betweenadjacent pixels. These advances increase light collection efficiency, achieving outstanding resolution, sensitivity and low noise while circumventing the challenge of decreased pixel size due to the extremely high pixel count.

Together with the powerful new BIONZ X processor, the full-frame sensor also allows both cameras to shoot pro-quality Full HD video (50p/25p)4 . You'll enjoy rich, beautifully rendered movie footage with sumptuous colours and ultra-low noise, even in low light. Clear Image Zoom has been enhanced for video recording, delivering powerful close-ups without sacrificing pixel count. Pro-style movie features include an audio recording level control and display, plus a 'clean' HDMI output that allows video to be viewed on an external monitor or recorded on another device.

Both cameras showcase new Fast Intelligent AF that ensures speedy, accurate autofocus. The Alpha 7 supplements this with Fast Hybrid AF that combines Fast Intelligent AF with phase detection autofocus. Boosting AF tracking, it lets the Alpha 7 keep fast-moving subjects like athletes and wildlife in sharp focus while supporting continuous shooting at up to 5 frames per second.

Both new camera models are designed to be fully customisable to exactly suit your precise photographic demands, with nine customisable buttons and 46 assignable functions5With both Wi-Fi and NFC, the Alpha 7 andα7R allow effortless one-touch wireless connections with your Xperia™ or NFC-compatible Android smartphone or tablet. The Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R also connect to your iOS devices via Wi-Fi. PlayMemories Camera Appsfurther enhance your photo experience with a growing range of free and paid apps, spanning exciting new creative effects and filters, utilities and more.

New ‘Multiple Exposure' automatically composites sequential exposures, making it easy to create beautiful and dramatic effects with a choice of pre-set artistic themes as well as manual blending modes.

Pre-installed in both camera models, ‘Smart Remote Control' controls6 exposure and shutter release from your smartphone. Great for tripod-mounted group shots and self-portraits, the app also sends photos automatically to your mobile device for on-the-spot sharing 7.

α7 Crafted to meet the demands of advanced amateurs and professional photographers, the α7 offers an exciting entry into the world of full-frame photography. The camera's rigid metal frame is complemented by an external top cover in magnesium alloy that contributes to a weight of just 416g (body only).

The 35mm full-frame Exmor CMOS sensor with a resolution of approximately 24.3 effective megapixels guarantees high sensitivity and exceptional low-noise performance thanks to its high resolving power and large pixel size.

Alpha 7R With a tough magnesium alloy body that's dust- and moisture-resistant, the α7R weighs in at just 407g (body only) as the world's smallest, lightest interchangeable lens camera with a full-frame sensor. Appealing equally to busy photo professionals and advanced amateurs, it also boasts the highest image quality of any α camera to date. The brand-new 36.4-effective megapixel (approximate) full-frame Exmor CMOS sensor deliverslevels of detail unprecedented in any camera of its class. The high resolution sensor of the α7R has no optical low-pass filter, ensuring that its extraordinary resolving power is fully exploited. It's complemented by a new BIONZ X processor – Sony's latest-generation imaging engine that maximises detail and reduces image noise over a wide ISO 100-25600 sensitivity range8.

New full-frame interchangeable E-mount lenses There's a choice of five new full-frame E-mount lenses to realise the sheer imaging power of the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R. The E-mount full-frame family includes two mid-range zooms by Sony and Carl Zeiss, two bright Sonnar T* primes and a premium-quality G lens telephoto zoom.

There's also a new-generation mount adaptor that gives photographers extra freedom to re-use their precious collection of full-frame A-mount optics with both cameras, including the newly-announced SAL70200G2 70-200mm F2.8 G SSM II telephoto zoom.

A range of new accessories New accessories will also be available for the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R. The LA-EA4 and LA-E3 mount adaptors for E-mount cameras are compatible with virtually every A-mount lens. The LA-EA4 comes with built-in AF motor and 15-point AF sensor, ensuring speedy, continuous autofocus; while LA-EA3 lets photographers shoot full-frame pictures with A-mount lens. The VG-C1EM grip not only extends shooting stamina via two NP-FW50 batteries, but also provides greater user comfort during vertical shooting.

The BC-TRW Battery Charger gives visual LED confirmation of recharging status and the FA-CS1M off-camera shoe can be used as an off-camera cable by connecting with a Multi Flash Cable. The PCK-LM16 Screen Protector Semi Hard Sheet protects the LCD screen from scratches and dust while allowing clear view even under bright sunshine. The LCS-ELCA premium leather soft carrying case extends the premium quality experience of handling and using the Alpha 7/Alpha 7R while protecting your camera from scuffs and marks whilst being carried. The new LCS-BBL and LCS-BBM soft carrying cases also ensure the safety of your lenses.

The light, compact new Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R interchangeable lens full-frame digital cameras from Sony will be available across all Sony Center and major electronic stores across India.

Model	MRP	Availability
Alpha 7	Rs. 94,990	End of Dec. 2013
Alpha 7R	Rs. 124,990	End of Dec. 2013