Synaptics Introduces Advanced Touch Experience in Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820

Press release:

Synaptics Introduces Advanced Touch Experience in Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820

Super Sensitive Touch™ built on ClearPad™ Series 3 enables enhanced touch support on Nokia’s first Windows Phone 8 smartphones

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Sept. 5, 2012 – Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions, today announced that the new Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 will be the first smartphones in the world to use a new advanced multi-touch experience based on the Synaptics ClearPad capacitive touchscreen sensing technology.

Synaptics ClearPad Series 3, the premier mobile touch solution for premium high end smartphones, has raised the bar for high performance touch on the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 with the introduction of support for gloves and fingernails.

Previously, people were unable to use their smartphone touchscreens with gloved fingers or long fingernails, requiring them to remove their gloves, or awkwardly position their fingers with long nails in order to operate their phones. For the first time ever, ClearPad Series 3 technology instantly optimizes the touch experience by automatically detecting the presence of skin, gloved fingers, or fingernails, giving users a seamless multi-touch experience regardless of input methods.

“With Synaptics’ continuous innovation on touch, we are able to pioneer new technologies that improve smartphone user experience,” said Kevin Shields, senior vice president, Smart Devices, Nokia. “Nokia has been a leader in display technology, and we are setting a new standard with Super Sensitive Touch technology on the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820.”
Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone 8 device, the Lumia 920, features an impressive smartphone display based on exclusive technology called Nokia PureMotion HD+. With better than HD resolution, overdrive technology for keeping moving images pixel-perfect and sunlight enhancements for easy viewing even in the brightest sunlight, the 4.5 inch display of the Lumia 920 produces a totally immersive experience. PureMotion displays are super-sensitive with any touch interaction, enabled by the ClearPad Series 3 technology.

“We are excited to participate with Nokia as they unveil their first Windows Phone 8 devices by enabling advanced features such as gloved finger support,” said Kevin Barber, senior vice president and general manager of Synaptics Handheld Division. “Synaptics and Nokia have partnered for many years and we’re pleased to continue the innovation with the introduction of these new devices.”

ClearPad Series 3 offers up to 10 finger full-time tracking and fast refresh rates, with industry leading signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), delivering high performance to the most demanding smartphones. Synaptics’ patented SignalClarity™ technology improves tracking accuracy, finger separation, and environmental and electrical noise robustness for an unmatched user experience. Synaptics’ Design Studio™4 (DS4) accelerates the ClearPad development cycle by enabling customers to evaluate and optimize the performance of their touch experience, enabling OEMS to implement their custom ClearPad sensor solution more efficiently.

For up-to-the-minute Synaptics news, follow @SynaCorp on Twitter. For more information on Synaptics’ products and solutions, please visit www.synaptics.com.

About Synaptics
As a leading developer of human interface solutions which enhance the user experience, Synaptics provides the broadest touch solutions portfolio in the industry. The ClearPad™ family supports touchscreen solutions for devices ranging from entry-level mobile phones to flagship premium smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs. The TouchPad™ family, including ClickPad™ and ForcePad™, is integrated into the majority of today's notebook PCs. Synaptics’ wide portfolio also includes ThinTouch™ supporting thin and light keyboard solutions, as well as key technologies for next generation touch-enabled video and display applications.
(NASDAQ: SYNA) www.synaptics.com

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GPS and Human Error Can Lead Drivers Astray - Digital Domain

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Added on Sunday, September 02, 2012

GPS and Human Error Can Lead Drivers Astray - Digital Domain

By RANDALL STROSS

The turn-by-turn instructions of GPS-based navigation systems, ingeniously designed though they may be, can’t always save us from ourselves.

Consider the experience of a man from San Diego who flew to the East Coast and picked up a GPS-equipped rental car at the airport. After 20 minutes, he sensed he was headed in the wrong direction. Then he realized that he had unthinkingly entered his California address as his destination.

“The navigation system had dutifully set a route back to his home in San Diego, 3,000 miles away,” said Barry Brown, co-director of the Mobile Life Center, based in Stockholm, which does research on mobile communication. The incident happened to a friend of his.

Mr. Brown is co-author of a recent paper titled “The Normal Natural Troubles of Driving With GPS.” The paper illuminates a drawback of GPS technology: that it is designed for docile drivers whose navigational skills have atrophied.

The field work for the study was done last year. Dr. Brown, who was then teaching at the University of California, San Diego, and a student assistant, Allison Primack, installed two video cameras in cars to record students and their parents as they drove with personal navigation systems of various kinds. The videotapes captured the turn-by-turn instructions, the drivers’ responses, and, when things went badly and passengers were present, the in-car conversations about what to do — expletives included.

After analyzing the videotapes of their subjects’ trips, the researchers constructed a typology of navigation “troubles,” including destination, route, sensing of the car’s location and timing of a given turn instruction.

Human error, as it turns out, was responsible for many of the problems that occurred.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

Peach Aviation Selects Oracle’s Cloud-based Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management

New airline embraces innovation in human capital management with embedded social network in Japan

For more, click the link below:

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/1569339

Three Degrees of Reid Hoffman

The February 6, 2012 issue of FORTUNE magazine contains a profile of Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn.  Some highlights:

Mr. Hoffman has a degree in symbolic systems from Stanford and a degree in philosophy from Oxford.

He owes his success to his ability to navigate the group of people he he calls his tribe.  He makes time for people because their ideas are interesting rather than potentially profitable.  He is quick to offer favors for friends.

Mr. Hoffman's ability to both grasp technology changes and connect on a deeply human level has made him one of Web 2.0's biggest winners.

In 2009, Mr. Hoffman joined venture firm Greylock, where he runs a seed fund and helps manage a portfolio of nearly 100 companies, including Groupon, Tumblr, and AirBnb.

He now has a new book, The Start-Up of You, in which he shares tips on building a great career.

Mr. Hoffman believes that the defining principle of the web's next innovation cycle is data.  "We are generating a massive amount," he says. "What are we inventing?" It's one of the first questions he asks everyone he meets.  The other is: "How can I help you?"