App aims to keep up with Santa on Christmas Eve

Children eager to track Santa Claus on his annual yuletide journey to homes across the world can download a new mobile app from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

New app prepares travelers for the holiday rush

Crowded airports and delayed flights are unavoidable hallmarks of holiday travel, but a new app aims to make the experience more navigable.

Weight loss? There's an app for that - and it works

Mobile devices that let people track how much they eat and exercise may help them shed weight over and above the benefits of a typical weight-loss program, according to a U.S. study.

Delta Airlines sued over mobile app privacy policy

California sued Delta Airlines Inc. on Thursday, alleging the Atlanta-based company is breaking state law by not warning users that the airline is collecting sensitive information each time customers contact the company on its "Fly Delta" mobile application.

Skype slip indicates video messaging feature coming soon

Skype looks set to introduce video messaging service on its platform, a change to its terms of service indicates.

The change, first spotted by the guys at Computerworld, mentions a video message feature that will be available to Skype Premium subscribers without any limit. Regular (free) subscribers will be able to use the service, subject to certain limits.

"If you are a Skype Premium subscriber you can ... send and receive an unlimited number of Video Messages and any Video Messages you send and/or receive shall have no expiry date. If you are not a Skype Premium subscriber, the number of Video Messages you can send are limited, however you can receive an unlimited number of Video Messages."

Skype Premium is a service that costs $8.99 a month and offers unlimited calls to US and Canada (with fair usage limits) and other features like group video calling and group screen sharing.
The terms further indicate that messages sent by non-premium users will expire within 90 days.

"As a non-Skype Premium subscriber any Video Message you send or receive will expire within 90 days, except for Video Messages received from a Skype Premium subscriber or where you upgrade to a Skype Premium subscription before the 90 day expiry period ends, and in either case the Video Message shall cease to have an expiry date."

Skype refused to confirm the report despite Computerworld's request for comment.

 

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour launched for iPhone, iPad

Gameloft's latest Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour has made its much-awaited debut on iPhone and iPad, while the Android version has been delayed. The game comes with enhanced graphics such as real-time shadows and other improvements including more "military support", tactical gameplay and campaign programming.

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is optimised for the iPhone 5's 4-inch display and is now available as a universal app for Rs. 390 ($6.99) from the App Store.

Full release notes:

The #1 FPS is back on smartphone with a new chapter to push the boundaries of mobile gaming even further. In the wake of a nuclear disaster, the only chance to avoid global devastation is in the hands of the few elite soldiers who must track down and rescue the world's leaders from a frighteningly familiar terrorist group.

DIVE INTO THE MOST MEMORABLE ACTION THRILLER EVER
* Feel the story's dramatic intensity and see both sides of the story by also playing the villain, Edward Page.
* Dominate the battlefield with a new tactical movement system!
* Fight all over the world, from Antarctica to Barcelona!

EXPERIENCE CONSOLE-QUALITY GRAPHICS AND SOUND
* Feel the chaos of war with console-like graphics, lifelike animations and dynamic objects.
* The first Gameloft title powered by the Havok Engine for amazing ragdoll effects and the most realistic-feeling vehicles ever.
* Improved sound & voice acting performed by a renowned studio in the movie industry.

ENJOY A FULLY REDESIGNED MULTIPLAYER MODE
* Forge your own gameplay profile with an improved loadout system & over 20,000 weapon arrangements!
* A new specialization system with redesigned skills.
* Lead your character to the top of the leaderboards with a new ranking system!

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is optimized for the 4-inch Retina display on iPhone 5

 

Checkout the video:-

 

New app will let smartphones sense your moods too

Forget about your smart phone locating the nearest bus stop or restaurant. A new computer programme would enable the gadget to sense your moods too, through mere speech, with pinpoint accuracy, say researchers.
Surprisingly, the programme doesn't look at the meaning of the words.
"We actually used recordings of actors reading out the date of the month it really doesn't matter what they say, it's how they're saying it is what we're interested in," said Wendi Heinzelman, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Rochester University.
Heinzelman explained that the programme analyzes 12 features of speech, such as pitch and volume, to identify one of six emotions from a sound recording. And it achieves 81 percent accuracy - a significant improvement on earlier studies that achieved only about 55 percent accuracy, according to a Rochester statement.
The research has already been used to develop a prototype of an app. The app displays either a happy or sad face after it records and analyzes the user's voice. It was built by one of Heinzelman's graduate students, Na Yang, during a summer internship at Microsoft Research.
"The research is still in its early days," Heinzelman added, "but it is easy to envision a more complex app that could use this technology for everything from adjusting the colours displayed on your mobile to playing music fitting to how you're feeling after recording your voice."
Heinzelman and her team are collaborating with Rochester psychologists Melissa Sturge-Apple and Patrick Davies, who are currently studying the interactions between teens and parents.
"A reliable way of categorizing emotions could be very useful in our research," Sturge-Apple said. "It would mean that a researcher doesn't have to listen to the conversations and manually input the emotion of different people at different stages."
Teaching a computer to understand emotions begins with recognizing how humans do so. "You might hear someone speak and think 'oh, he sounds angry!' But what is it that makes you think that," asks Sturge-Apple.
She explained that emotion affects the way people speak by altering the volume, pitch and even the harmonics of their speech. "We don't pay attention to these features individually, we have just come to learn what angry sounds like - particularly for people we know," she adds.
These findings will be presented Wednesday at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Workshop on Spoken Language Technology.