Samsung transforms television viewing experience with its 2013 Smart TVs

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

§ New Smart TVs offer an even easier and intuitive way to discover content with a new Smart Hub and advanced Smart Interaction

§ Unveils its UHD TV – the ultimate blend of technology and craftsmanship

§ New LED TVs series developed for India

Bangalore, April 09, 2013 – Samsung Electronics has reinforced its technology leadership through the introduction of its new Smart TV lineup that responds to consumer demand for premium design, smarter features,

superior picture quality, and larger screen sizes. Samsung’s new flagship Smart LED and Plasma television series allows users to enjoy seamless navigation, intuitive control and personalized user experiences. A new ‘Made for India’ LED television series too is being launched in the Indian market.

“In the Year 2013, we will strengthen our legacy of introducing televisions that have the best in class design, superior performance as well as feature innovations that our customers have grown to love us for. Consumers require innovation and Samsung has responded to this need by launching televisions that are clearly category defining products. These products have given our consumers a reason to upgrade and what we are witnessing in India is a dramatic transition from CRT to Flat Panel TVs and now to Smart TVs,” said Mr. SK Kim, Sr. Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung India.

Samsung today announced the introduction of 20 new television models across its flagship Smart TV Series 8, 7, 6 as well as the LED TV Series 5500 and 4500. Designed to deliver the ultimate lean back experience to

consumers, the F8000 and F7500 are the first Samsung televisions to feature a quad-core processor. Available in 46”, 55” and 65” class screen sizes, the F8000 and F7500 feature an ultra-thin profile, a quarter-inch thick

bezel and stands that are truly spell binding. Both the F8000 and F7500 offer brighter, more vibrant pictures with richer colors, deeper black levels and higher contrasts. The ultra-thin design profile and Arc style stand in

F8000 makes it appear to be floating in the air. The F8000 is also among Samsung’s first line of Smart TVs equipped with Intelligent Viewing, which creates an optimized picture quality dependent on the source of

content, and a quad-core processor – making it even easier and faster for consumers to toggle between apps, online services and on-air TV.

Also, the F8000 and F7500 provide advanced Smart Interaction that responds to your motion and voice in a more intuitive way making it easier for you to navigate and control your TV. With the newly improved smart

interaction, users can now rotate images, or simply zoom in and out with two hands. Voice control capabilities have also been enhanced. Samsung Smart TV is now able to understand more than 300 commands with much better language recognition rates. In addition, a new Smart Touch Control is provided with the Samsung’s new Smart TVs, wherein all number keys have been replaced by a touch pad, on which users can simply write the channel number they want and flip and scroll the screen. It can also control devices made by other manufacturers through a very simple set-up.

Samsung is providing consumers with a simpler way to embrace the discovery of new content and experiences with a completely redesigned Smart Hub. The 2013 Smart Hub provides consumers with an easy way to organize and navigate personalized content through an updated interface and dynamic thumbnail previews within three newly designed panels: Apps; Photos, Videos & Music; and Social. The new Apps panel of Samsung’s Smart Hub allows users to display up to 30 app icons on one page, which users can customize so that their favorite apps are easy to access. Combined with Samsung’s enhanced Motion Control – which allows users to swipe, pinch to zoom, or use a flip motion to easily move between Smart Hub panels – consumers can now navigate and control their TV like never before.

This advanced TV user experience has been expanded to smartphones and tablets, thanks to Samsung’s leadership in connectivity. Viewers can use their devices as a remote control or simultaneously enjoy two different pieces of content from a TV or Blu-ray player on a second screen. They can also mirror their Smart TV content on a tablet to take it with them around the home. “Our 2013 Smart TVs offer effortless, intuitive ways for consumers to discover and share more of the content they love while creating the ultimate home entertainment experience,” said Mr. Kim.

Samsung also is delivering on its promise of bringing evolutionary capabilities to its TVs with the introduction of its Evolution Kit. Available on select 2012 Series 7, 8 and 9 Smart TVs, the Evolution Kit provides both software and hardware updates that include access to the 2013 Smart Hub and other Smart features, and transforms the set’s dual-core CPU to quad-core, resulting in faster internal processing speeds. Samsung’s 2013 Smart TVs will also be equipped with slots for Evolution kits. Samsung current Smart TV range is available in screen sizes between 32” to 65” priced between Rs 37,900/- to Rs.367,500/-.

Samsung today also showcased its first Ultra High Definition TV (UHD TV), the 85S9. The 85S9’s stunning Timeless Gallery design sets a new standard for TV craftsmanship, with the TV appearing to float within its frame and juxtaposing its classic minimalism with the striking 85-inch display. Both aesthetically pleasing and functional, the 85S9 includes Samsung’s “One Connect” feature, which eliminates cable clutter by requiring only one cable to connect to the TV and creates a perfect “Clean Back” look. The UHD TV’s larger screen size is part of Samsung’s efforts to meet consumer demand for larger-screen TVs – the fastest growing TV segment in the region.

Blending technology excellence with fine craftsmanship, the 85S9 offers four times the resolution available on existing Full HD displays to deliver beautiful detail, unmatched clarity and vivid picture quality. The 85S9 also includes Samsung’s proprietary up-scaling engine which can up-convert HD or Full-HD to UHD-level picture quality by restoring information details to create greater precision for real-life picture quality. In addition to the up-scaling engine, Samsung is addressing current conflicting UHD content industry standards in several other ways to ease purchasing concerns and to ensure that users will be able to view UHD content for years to come.

Five new Plasma televisions across 43”, 51”, 64” screen sizes were introduced in Series 8 priced between Rs 35,500/- to Rs 209,900/-.

“Even as we work towards enhancing the Indian consumers’ experience by introducing India relevant applications for televisions, we are also introducing new models that have been especially developed basis feedback received from Indian consumers,” said Mr. Mahesh Krishnan, Sr. Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung India. Samsung LED TV Series F5100, F4800, F4100 provides easier connectivity options through its key feature – ConnectShare Transfer – which allows consumers to share content between devices via USB, eliminating the need for a computer. These LED TV series offer two USB ports on the side of the TV to plug in pen drives, smartphones or other storage devices, resulting in a more convenient, and efficient home entertainment experience. SRI, Delhi and Samsung R&D center in India especially developed this feature keeping in mind the feedback received from Indian consumers. While these LED TV series are scheduled to be launched globally, India is the first market where they have been introduced.

Designed to delight, these television Series offers amazing picture quality created by Samsung wide colour enhancer and clean view that deliver richer colours while deleting digital noise. They also feature Triple Protector that ensures protection against electrical surges, lightning as well as humidity. Samsung LED TV Series F5100, F4800, F4100 are available in screen sizes between 22” to 46” across Series 4 and 5 priced between Rs.15,900 to Rs 76,500/-.The F4800 series of LED TVs is sound oriented with Front woofer and speakers with an output of 800 PMPO Sound.

“With the launch of our 2013 Smart TV range, we are looking to consolidate our leadership in the Panel TV market in India. We expect LED TVs to drive our Panel TV growth, with Smart TVs contributing atleast 20% of our Panel TV volumes this year,” said Mr. SK Kim. Samsung’s entire Flat Panel TVs product portfolio has 43 models across LED, LCD and Plasma technologies with screen sizes ranging from 22” to 75”, priced between Rs. 14,500/- to Rs.750,000/-.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of televisions, smartphones, personal computers, printers, cameras, home appliances, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. We employ 236,000 people across 79 countries with annual sales of US$187.8 billion. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

Ricoh Innovations Teams up with Disney UTV to launch their middleware Occutag

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Ricoh Innovations, a company known for its mastery in the printing business has developed an image recognition and matching solution that allows the developers and stores alike to provide customized information regarding their products by using the Occutag APIs. The solution available as a limited period free trial would have to be paid for after the end of trial period. The APIs make use of the phone’s camera hardware and query back the database with the results as a response.

Ricoh claims that the software has a latency of less than a second and works all kinds of devices. Currently solutions making use of the Occutag APIs are available for the Windows, Android and iOS platforms.

Philips Healthcare Innovations–Made for India, by Indians

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Philips Innovation Campus (PIC), a Division of Philips Electronics India yesterday showcased it’s made for India, by the Indians, revolutionary Healthcare solutions. These solutions targeted mainly at bridging the healthcare gap between Tier 2 or 3 cities and Tier 1 Cities aims to work at bringing the patients better healthcare facilities with better qualified medical personnel. Showcased among the many innovations were some of the firm’s new and existing equipment. Speaking at the event, the CEO, Philips Healthcare Innovations, Dr Wido Menhardt said that there is a major shift in the way things are working out of Bangalore now. He went on to further say that while in the past Bangalore was merely the executer of the work, today the roles have changed and people here are not only successfully executing but ideating and making decisions as well. The campus here in Bangalore has come up with some exciting innovations through its R&D and the same have been put down to working machines as well. These are running successfully at many of the hospitals in India. Among the showcased innovations, five held the primary interest.

Addressing a major area of concern about the lack of ICUs in the country where the existing infrastructure needs a scale up of at least 10 times what is already available, PIC innovated with a combination of hardware as well as a software solution known as eICU. eICU aims to provide the patients in the ICU facilities the care of an Intensivist by the means of Video Conference as well as remote monitoring. Based on a Hospital to Hospital tie up model, the eICU provides the Intensivist the capability to interact with the patients on a one on one mode through the video conferencing method. The entire setup is divided into the hardware at the Intensivist’s place as well as a cart designed with the norms required to be met for ICU equipment. The cart consists of a remotely as well as an onsite adjustable mounted HD camera as well as a laptop. At the head of every patient is a screen containing a chart of the latest readings, instructions as well as other details. We were told that in order to minimise the cost, the cart was expected to be present in a ratio of 1:3 i.e. one cart per three patients in the ICU. The system requires an existing broadband architecture in place, however as a fall back mechanism, the same would work on a modest 3G network as well.

Addressing another area of increasing the success rates in the cardio vascular operations in India and the world, PIC’s next innovation, a software product known as the Heart Navigator system aims at providing doctors and analysts alike a system of measuring, simulating as well as using in real time for all heart related operations and ailments. PIC has associated itself with major manufacturers of valves and vents and has incorporated their wireframe design in the product. This allows the doctor to view in 3D model the placement, the fit as well as the final look of the system when placed into operation.

PIC also showcased its Tumour Tracking application which integrates with the image repositories containing the previous as well as recent images from a CT/CAT scans. It allows the physicians to identify and track the response of a tumour to medicine. Based on a standardized algorithm, the system allows the physician to plain mark the location of the tumour on one image. The rest of the images are automatically fetched matched and the related calculations are performed. The system shows the output in customizable tabular as well as graphical format allowing much better understanding of the progress.

PIC has constantly been trying to innovate on the amount of X-ray exposure that a person receives from undergoing CT Scans from the current levels to something that is roughly a tenth of it. As a part of it’s this innovation, PIC has launched a set of new machines as well as a software solution known as iDose4 which performs iterative analysis and reconstructing on the images obtained from the scan thereby reducing the noise as well as reducing the X-ray dose that the person undergoing would receive. This is dictated up on by the rules of radiation which mandate it to be As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA). This would mainly help expecting women as well as children who may be required to undergo the scans.

As a part of giving back to the community and a CSR initiative, Philips has associated itself with Udupi district’s Manipal Kasturba hospital. As a part of the initiative, PIC on a non-profit mode has gone ahead and implemented an app, Sanjivini, on the Android platform in order to reduce the paperwork required to be carried by the community workers who track everything right from birth to death to pre and post natal care of women in villages. The system works by reducing the rework as well as paperwork by updating and synchronizing familial data from a mobile device depending on the last mile connectivity available. This ranges from SMS, GPRS/3G usage to direct offline sync when the device is connected with the computer. This solution includes both a client side app installed on an Android device as well as a web application that resides at the server in the hospital.

A night with the stars

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Tonight, just because it is so hot out here in Bangalore, I am planning a night under the blanket of stars. I am planning on taking my Black Dog, a mat and some good old music and sleeping on the terrace. That’s my style to beat the heat. I have been doing this for years now. Earlier it used to be my Dad, my brother and I. Now it has my daughters and wife coming along while Dad dropping out. However, this year is different.
I am a free bird this year. No extra packages. That means, not only can I do star gazing with my good companion the Black Dog beside me, I can also do lots of Bird Watching. A full time khulla saandh! What I am planning to do is however, carry my Grand Dad’s telescope along. It is at least a hundred years old. It was handed down to him by his father and later my Dad inherited it. I don’t know much about the stars, however I am eager to learn. For that reason, my laptop and my smartphone go with me.
Smartphone because I have located an app that shows which constellation is right over my head and laptop to find out all about the constellation. The Bangalore Astronomical Society is a good place to start for beginners. Information about Star Gazing is freely available on their web page as well.
Another kind of star gazing that almost every Indian on this planet would have indulged in without doubt is the palm reading/future prediction/horoscope reading! I had been to one such place just to know what it is like. Man, do these guys mint money or what! That gives me a business idea. I think I must start that in my free time. What do you guys suggest? must I or mustn’t I? My previous stint trying to predict was with the stock markets, that did not work out. I am wondering what the outcome out of this other prediction profession might be!

Ciao from the Series

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

I have had pleasure writing this series. Each character has been a figment of my imagination and a creation I cherished. I would have loved to create characters the way my favourite writers have created theirs, but then I am limited by my own imagination. While I shall strive to create one more series in the future I have not thought of what that would be. For this story I had the entire story line at the back of my head. But the next hasn’t taken birth yet.
Going ahead, I shall be focusing my personal experiences once again, probably document them in more detail; but then it all depends. For now, it’s going to be back to having a nice large peg of Black Dog tonight after my wife and daughters left to their granny’s house. I am a free bird tonight. I love the thought of savouring the world’s finest Scotch but then it has to be done responsibly. I have always advocated this. Drink Responsibly and drink in style!
So if you are planning on having fun outside the confines of your home at a bar or a restaurant, do not drink and drive. It is not safe. There are a lot other ways to get back home. It is not expensive to hire a cab. It is cheaper than your life. Life is the most expensive thing that we own. Yet we do not own our life. It is owned by the people who love us, whom we love and those who wait back for us at home. If you are going out as a group, ask a friend who is not planning to drink to accompany you. He can drive the car a lot more responsibly.
It is said that with alcohol in your blood, you are more susceptible to commit mistakes. Why, even the hot looking woman you just saw waving at you from across your table, she may not be that great when you wake up the next morning!
Until the next series, it is Ciao from me. Be safe, drink responsibly, drive safe and always wear your seat belts!

Busy past few days!

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Over the past few days I have been utterly busy! So much so that I could not devote time to myself! My older daughter Jisha turned two yesterday which called for celebrations! Celebrations meant kids, their parents, hosting all of them and also taking care that every one went back happy!

Celebrations also meant that there were guests, friends and relatives alike at home. It also meant the added responsibility of seeing to it that none of their sentiments were hurt.

At the end of the day, all of them enjoyed. My Wife left for her parents’ today with both my daughters. It means many things to me. Primary being that I am going to miss my daughters like hell now that they are not around and secondarily that I am now a bachelor for a little more than a month!

Well, my wife definitely wants me to come down to Bombay for a longer duration this time around. I have been maintaining a status quo on that. I am absolutely undecided. I may or may not go there at all!

Four Seasons Viognier and Khaman Dhokla

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Few days back I was given a bottle of Four Seasons Viognier wine (a type of white wine) and asked to review it. I am a totally non wine drinker and pairing Wine with food comes a bit unnatural to me. I have always known Wine to be paired with non vegetarian and non Indian food. Since none of the hotels would allow me to take my wine in and also because I would never have non vegetarian food, trying and reviewing this wine was a nightmare. However, after a lot of maska polish to my wife and mom (wife was easy, mom was hell) I managed to get to sit at the dinner table with a little wine.

I had specifically asked that a mildly spiced food be prepared. The women folk at home were already pissed off with my pestering since morning so they decided to get back at me. I was served Khaman Dhoklas. Now if one were to try and guess what my expression would have been then, let me give you some clues. It was that of a contorted owl, a wide gaped donkey and snooty rat combined! How on earth can one pair wine with Gujarati food. But I was wrong. The wine went excellently with the Khaman Dhoklas. So here I have for you the recipe of Khaman Dhoklas! Now since my mom is already asleep, I can do nothing but borrow Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe. His original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients

Gram flour (besan),sieved	2 cups
Yogurt,beaten	1 cup
Salt	to taste
Turmeric powder	1/2 teaspoon
Green chilli-ginger paste	1 teaspoon
Oil	2 tablespoons
Lemon juice	1 tablespoon
Soda bicarbonate	1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds	1 teaspoon
Fresh coriander leaves,chopped	2 tablespoons
Coconut,scraped	1/2 cup

Method

Take gram flour in a bowl.
Add yogurt and approximately one cup of warm water and mix. Avoid lumps.
Add salt and mix again.
Leave it aside to ferment for three to four hours.
When gram flour mixture has fermented, add turmeric powder and green chilli-ginger paste. Mix
Heat the steamer. Grease a thali.
In a small bowl take lemon juice, soda bicarbonate, one teaspoon of oil and mix. Add it to the batter and whisk briskly.
Pour batter into the greased thali and place it in the steamer.
Cover with the lid and steam for ten minutes.
When a little cool, cut into squares and keep in a serving bowl/plate.
Heat remaining oil in a small pan.
Add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle, remove and pour over the dhoklas.
Serve, garnished with chopped coriander leaves and scraped coconut.

What Next?

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Suman and Rishi returned home in high spirits after the Elvis event. The two were singing songs aloud, literally bringing the roof down. The two had downed quite a few pegs. Driving back home would have been a nightmare. Thankfully they had booked a cab back home! Rishi believed in dinking responsibly. They got down a little away from the gate and started walking down towards the house.
One thing led to another and the two had a steamy sex session. Suman had never been with a man like this before. It was her first time. She had always maintained that she would lose herself to only the one man who she would marry. But she hardly knew Rishi; and after her run in with the goons and the kidnapping, it had set her thinking all the more.
She walked out of the room and decided to pour herself a drink. She looked at the collection that Rishi had accumulated over a while and chose Black Dog Quintessential. His collection of glasses and other accessories was always a source of his pride. She chose the best one. She had just finished pouring out one for herself when Rishi called out from behind, “Pour one out for me as well.” “How will you have it? Neat or…” “You know fairly well I always like my Scotch neat, no water.” “Yeah of course. But I still wonder if I know you at all” Along silence ensued.
Suman continued, “You know, I always wanted to lose my virginity to the man I would choose to marry. Till the last week, I thought I knew you really well. But now, now I have serious doubts.” “What do you want to know?” “Everything.””Would you be able to digest it?””I want to get married to you. If I have to decide, I need to know all about you! In fact I am not even sure if your real name is Rishi.” Suman screamed.
Rishi started off right from the part when he worked as a software engineer, how he was laid off, how he met Sunny and how Sunny offered him his first case. Suman was not convinced. She felt Rishi was making it all up. He was faking it. Rishi took her to his secret chamber under his bar. Here he showed her all his collection of guns, and all his certificates. They looked authentic. Suman and Rishi came back into the living room.
Suman looked pensive. Rishi was now getting worried. He did not know what was going on in her mind. He prodded her. Suman did not answer. Rishi went back to his room and came back with a box in his hand. He bent down on his knees and “Suman, will you marry me?”

Viva Las Vegas

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Danny sensed the dislike that Rishi was having towards him in an instant. He was used to it. He tried to lighten the mood with some cross talk recounting to the group how he and Sneha met in Maldives and how much fun they had. Rishi was not impressed yet. The dislike that he harboured grew by minutes. He would not let it get better of him. It so wasn’t him. Danny called that all of them meet over at the Black Dog organised Elvis night that evening. Everybody agreed to it except Suman! She hated Elvis! Just could not stand him. No idea why, she just hated him.
Suman needed a lot of convincing, in the end she agreed at the only condition that she would leave if she was getting bored! All agreed! They knew Suman would not ditch them so easily. Once there the event started off with little known facts about Elvis. People were amazed at how very unknown the celebrity had been to them!
Within minutes into the event, the singer started off with the best romantic singles of Elvis to set the mood. Women everywhere were clinging to the men they had come with. Every lady was emotional. Elvis’ songs brought out the emotions! Songs starting right from “Are you lonesome tonight”, “You don’t have to say you love me” to “I can’t help falling in love” had every one swaying to his tunes. With the evening getting a little too sombre and people just listening to the songs, the singer suddenly changed track and started with Elvis’ rock songs! The very first being “Jailhouse Rock”!
People suddenly found a magical thing pulling at their legs! One after the other almost everyone was on the floor dancing away to the tunes! So much so that even Suman who was cribbing until then started tapping her feet. Danny and Sneha were enjoying the songs the best! During romantic slow songs the two danced slow and when Rock came around, the two were literally throwing and spinning each other around! The singer virtually took them through every song that Elvis had sung!

Two Contemporaries

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Nirav Thakker

Rishi an Suman decided to catch up on beauty sleep after having a harrowing night together. But sleep was not easy to come. Suman continuously tossed and turned while she slept in Rishi’s arms. She was utterly scared and mortified. She was not used to being through all that happened. Heck she had not even seen a real gun let alone touch it. The entire experience was hair raising and blood curdling for her. Rishi on the other hand was used to all this gore. He could take it in his stride, forget it ever happened and even move ahead. However, lately even he had gotten concerned about Suman’s security. He had decided that he would speak to Sunny and get out of this profession altogether.
Around 10 in the morning Suman’s phone started ringing with a loud shriek. Suman woke up with a start and instantly knew who it was without looking at her screen. It was none other than Sneha. She had set a shriek as the ringtone for her contact number. So every time she called, Suman knew it was her mad friend calling. Suman answered the phone. What Sneha told next was enough to send her scurrying first for her clothes and next for the door. She had to reach her place ASAP and that was difficult if she did it on her own. She did not own a vehicle yet! She decided to wake Rishi up.
Sneha had asked her to come to the golf club. Suman was not sure why but did not question. There was no point. She wouldn’t say anyways. When she reached there, the first thing that caught Suman’s eyes was the endless greenery that she saw around her. She wondered since when Sneha started taking interest in these sports. Her answer was not too far away. She obviously could not get onto the golf course without any member escort. She decided to call Sneha up again.
Sneha was seated in the bar that was attached to the golf club so it was relatively easier accessing her rather than the golf greens! Thank goodness for that. Suman was worried for a minute! When she made it to the bar, for a change Sneha was not drinking her favourite scotch but was rather sipping a breezer! One welcome change since her return from the Maldives! Sitting next to her was a man sipping Black Dog scotch who looked to be around his mid thirties. This man sat at the corner of the table next to Sneha smoking a fat Cuban cigar. Sneha introduced Suman and Rishi to Danny. He was not what Suman had imagined him to be. She hadn’t met him earlier, but then she had heard a lot about him.
Rishi had met Sneha just once at the pub weeks back. He hadn’t seen her but heard a lot about her from Suman after that. And more so after the two girls had discussed him at length when Sneha was in Maldives! There was something about this man that was unsettling Rishi and making him uncomfortable. He was not sure what that was. He decided to take care of that later.