How Does the 3DS Work Without 3D Glasses?

Nintendo is keeping quiet about how its goggle-less 3D displays work but luckily for us, the rumor mill is churning out information regardless.

Late on Monday night, Nintendo announced that it would unveil a new version of its handheld DS console at E3 in June. Dubbed the 3DS, Nintendo said the device would allow users to enjoy 3D games without the need for glasses. 48 hours later, and we've already got some rumors about the specifics of the device.

Engadget cites Asahi in Japan, which claims the 3DS achieves its glasses-free 3D effect by using a parallax barrier LCD from Sharp. These displays have been around for a few years but they're very dependent on what angle you look at the screen from. Though this shouldn't be a problem with a small LCD, like the ones you'd find on the DS, it's not too practical for the telly in your sitting room.

So how does a parallax LCD work? Most people know that when you're watching a 3D movie and wearing those dorky glasses, a different image is being sent to each eye; your brain mashes these two images together to create a composite 3D image. You may not know that a 3D display incorporates an overlay that is placed in front of the LCD. This is called a parallax barrier and it polarizes the glasses.

Sharp's parallax barrier is a little different for it is actually a 'switching LCD' that allows for both 2D and 3D imaging without the need for special glasses or goggles. When this switching LCD is switched off, the TFT-LCD displays 2D imaging as normal, but when the parallax barrier is switched on, it controls the way light leaves the display, meaning different patterns of light reach the left and right eye.

Other rumors suggest the device will pack a DualShock-esque vibration-feedback system and something called 3D control sticks, whatever they are.

Cricket Companion: Pakistan’s 1st Application Hits Ovi Store

The First ever Pakistani designed, unique mobile application has been uploaded on Nokia Ovi Store and is available for downloading. The one of its kind application hits 10,000 downloads in initial 3 weeks of the launch.

‘Cricket Companion’ is designed by a Pakistani developer who is associated with Tricastmedia – subsidiary of Tech Access Media Solutions (TAMS); company is specialized in development of Mobile, Web and Wap based applications.

Cricket Companion is a GPRS based application which can be installed on the handset; this would enable user to view complete live coverage of all International ODI, Test and T20 Matches. This application will also display the detailed live statistics of any player in the bowling teams. The application also includes Bowling and Batting graphs and charts as well as update alerts.

With Cricket Companion, now you are able to enjoy the live cricket matches anywhere on your mobile phone with the similar thrilling match experience as that of television. This application is now available on Ovi Store for both Nokia S40 & S60 devices.

Cricket Companion has also qualified for Nokia’s Program for mobile application developers, particularly those in Pakistan. Through this program, called Calling All Innovators, developers produce mobile content and applications and win prizes. These applications, if selected, are then offered for download at OVI store to worldwide Nokia users.

This year, Calling All Innovators contest has a special prize for Pakistani developers who submit locally relevant applications and content for use on Nokia devices.

Developer based in Pakistan can win prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively. And remember, this is an additional incentive – you could still be a global winner in one of the four categories.

Telenor Secures 1 Million MNP Customers

Telenor Pakistan has attracted one million customers through Mobile Number Portability (MNP), since the MNP service started back in March 2007, confirmed us sources at the company.

Having said this, Telenor has become the first operator in the country to achieve the landmark. Looks Telenor’s plan for relying on MNP went successful.

As per un-confirmed stats, from Pakistan MNP Database, a total of 2.4 million customers have availed the service till February 2010.

For last one year, as the tariffs had hit the bottom line, cellular companies heavily invested in MNP offerings. For this they are giving away huge incentives for customers of other networks to port-in. The war is still on – and may continue for another couple of quarters.

We were unable to get MNP subscriber stats for other companies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpTCS3g-cBY

Opera Shows Apple a Better iPhone Web Browser

This could be available for the iPhone soon as long as Apple lets it through the App Store gates.

When the iPhone originally launched in 2007, the Safari browser was a revelation in web browsing on a smartphone. Nowadays, competing browsers also based off of the Webkit source from Google's Android and Palm's WebOS have caught up.

iPhone Safari is still plenty usable, especially for those on Wi-Fi or a strong 3G connection, but Opera can do better through its Opera Mini browser and some clever server-side compression tricks.
Opera says that due to server-side rendering, Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90 percent before sending it to the phone, resulting in rapid page loading with less data transferred. This could be hugely useful for those on capped data plans, especially when roaming.

Check out the video below for a demonstration on how much faster Opera Mini is over Safari when on a meager 2G EDGE connection.

Opera announced that its Mini browser for iPhone was officially submitted to the Apple iPhone App store today. Of course, given Apple's tight control over what can and cannot be on the iPhone, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not Opera Mini will be approved.

Microsoft is Relying on Adsense to Promote IE in Pakistan

Microsoft Pakistan is apparently worried about declining market share of Internet Explorer in Pakistan, which has dropped down from 75.07 percent in July 2008 to 52.79 percent in March 2010.

For the purpose, Microsoft is promoting IE 8 in the country, through a campaign that is heavily advertised on Google Adsense and interestingly not on its own Ad network.

One may argue that it’s a cross network promotion campaign, but what for those who are Mozilla users and are on Bing?

It Merits mentioning here that Microsoft has previously used Adsense for promoting their other products as well, including their search engine Bing.

Campaign asks users to download IE8, in order to enter into a contest that can win you shirts, caps, bags and Notebooks. To view details click here.

Watch terms and conditions which say: Personal data which you provide when you enter the contest may be used for future Microsoft marketing activity.