Monday, July 1, 2013

Bing adds licensing rights refinement to image search

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Here's a nice little feature for those of us who love to post images on the internet. Bing has added the ability to refine image results by license. The addition's simple enough to use -- just do a search and pull the appropriate license from a drop down on the top of the results page, alongside options for date, size and color. Selections include public domain and options like "free to modify, share and use," based on the Creative Commons licensing system, so there's no doubt as to precisely how you can incorporate them into your own posts. Google's had a similar option on its own search engine for some time -- albeit one's that's a bit less prominently displayed.

Vivo's Y19t is a phone built for China and aimed at ladies, has front-mounted flash for well-lit selfies

Vivo's Y19t is a phone built for China and aimed at ladies, has frontmounted flash for welllit selfles
Vivo may not be a well-known smartphone brand here in the states, but the firm's been pushing out audio-centric phones in China for more than a minute. Its latest handset, the Y19t, is aimed at the female market (hence the hot pink exterior) and is a more imaging-conscious unit -- it's got a 5-megapixel camera and flash on its front complementing an 8-megapixel shooter round back. The phone's also equipped with a 4.5-inch, 960 x 540 IPS display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage and dual SIM slots (one for micro and one for nano SIMs).
Like its cousin, the X1, the Y19t has a MediaTek SoC and a non-removeable 2,000 mAh battery, but unlike its predecessor, this new phone has an MT6589 1.2Ghz quad-core chip inside its 7.4mm thick chassis. Naturally, it has Chinese-friendly TD-SCDMA and GSM radios and comes running Android 4.2.1 skinned with a Vivo UI. Like what you've seen (and heard) so far? Head on down to the source to see some screenshots, more device pics and a review of the Y19t's capabilities, but you might want to bring a translator with you -- it's written in Chinese.

Sony's 4K player launches by July 15th, Video Unlimited 4K service coming this fall

Sony announced its FMP-X1 4K Ultra HD Media Player a few months ago, and today confirmed it's arriving in homes and on store shelves by July 15th. The $699 box only works with Sony's own 4K TVs, and early adopting owners of "qualifying" X900A sets can expect a $200 introductory discount. Also available is in-home setup and activations free of charge, set up through the 4KActivation.com site once it's available July 8th. Sony's also named the online 4K movie distribution network it's launching this fall -- Video Unlimited 4K -- which will offer films, TV episodes and short-form content for download. For feature films, it will cost $7.99 for a 24-hour rental or $29.99 to purchase. The 4K Player (and its 10 pack-in movies) is available for pre-order now on the US Sony store, expect it to hit other retailers soon.

German retailer puts Samsung ATIV Q up for pre-order, suggests it'll cost €1,599

Samsung released a plethora of shiny new products at its Premiere 2013 event last month, but the company didn't exactly dive into too many pricing and availability specifics. One of these novel devices was the ATIV Q, a 13.3-inch, 3,200 x 1,800 slider that runs both Windows 8 and Android (4.2). Now, if German retailer ARLT Computer is to be believed, Samsung's intriguing machine could come with a hefty €1,599 price tag in Europe -- a figure the company hasn't confirmed yet. Furthermore, the listing on the pre-order page suggests the ATIV Q could go on sale as early as July 8th, though according to Notebook Italia, the outfit has said the dual-OS device won't be available until sometime in August. Either way, it won't be too long before it hits shelves, so it looks like you may need to break that piggy bank soon enough.