World's Fastest Bullet Train

Details about the train

"We are now much faster," Railway Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said at Tuesday's inauguration of the super-fast line from Shanghai's western suburb of Hongqiao to the resort city of Hangzhou. "Now other countries are hoping to cooperate with us."

The train will cruise at a top speed of 220 mph (350 kph), making the 125-mile (200-kilometer) trip in 45 minutes.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network and aims to more than double its length to 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

The high-speed bullet train in China can actually reach speeds of up to 260 mph.

Source


A Short Video about the train




Here is a video of another older Bullet train between Guangzhou and Wuhan. The train travels at an average speed of 350 kilometers (217 miles) an hour.



Source

These two Videos provide some additional details related to riding experience and Engineering about these super fast trains

For Non-Chinese speakers both videos contain English subtitles and instructions to display them are given in this Video

Part 1



part 2

Amazing Pictures of Penguins in Antarctica | Google Street View

Please use the controls located at the top left to zoom in and out of the picture. Use - symbol at the top left to zoom out and then the arrow keys to walk around. Also switch to full screen mode by clicking on the top right of the image.


View Larger Map

Another view of Penguins in Antarctica is here

REVIEW | Samsung Fascinate Mobile Phone Sound and Camcorder Application

Android "Voice recorder" application could be used to record sound on the phone.The screen capture of voice recorder app and Pandora app for music on the phone is shown below
A sound recording was made using the voice recorder of the music playing on the Pandora application.




Another slightly longer recording example is here




Samsung Fascinate allows good quality sound recording by using simple "Voice Recording" application.

Samsung Fascinate also includes an excellent Camcorder function as part of Camera application that allows video recording at multiple resolutions with several useful settings to improve the video quality.

The complete video recording application's menu details are shown in the picture below

From SAmsung Fascinate Miscellaneous Pictures

The videos can be recorded in five different resolutions as shown in the image above. Other useful adjustments to the video recording can be made by selecting some of the menu items shown in the picture.

Some of the sample videos of the local park at different resolutions and at different locations during the day time

Video Recording Using Samsung Fascinate 720x480 | Mill Creek Park Youngstown, Ohio

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Video Recording Using Samsung Fascinate 1280x720 | Mill Creek Park, Youngstown, Ohio

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Video Recording Using Samsung Fascinate 720x480 | Mill Creek Park, Youngstown, Ohio

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Video Recording Using Samsung Fascinate 1280x720| Mill Creek Park Youngstown, Ohio

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value



Video Recording Using Samsung Fascinate 720x480 | Mill Creek Park Youngstown, Ohio

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Video Recording Using Samsung Fascinate 1280X720 | Mill Creek Park Youngstown, Ohio

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


The video quality is very good. In fact for the nature videos there is not much gain in the picture quality when shooting in higher resolution mode except it creates large file sizes that may create problem while sharing through mobile wireless connection.

Video recording during night time

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Same recording at 720P

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Both videos are of very good quality.

A video recording of computer screen

Video recording of computer screen at 720x480

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Video recording of computer screen at 1280x 720

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Higher resolution recording improves the readability of the screen test.

These recordings show a good quality video recording. They show that Samsung Fascinate can be used make decent computer screen copies. As expected computer screen text is more readable in higher resolution video.

Here is another example where an advertisement for jeans showing Megan Fox was played on the computer screen and it was recorded in two different resolutions

Video recording at 720x480

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Video recording at 1280x720

Change to higher resolution video playback by clicking at the bottom bar showing resolution while video is playing and choosing the higher value


Again both videos show good quality recording with higher resolution video having a slight edge. What however is interesting is that it allows to create copies of videos directly from computer display saving some complicated steps to screen capture a video.

The above examples show that Samsung Fascinate mobile phone can create high quality audio and video content. Just for this reason alone the phone is highly recommended.

For complete review of the Phone please also read "Review :Samsung Fascinate Mobile Phone" Part One

Panoramic Pictures from Samsung Fascinate Mobile Phone

Samsung Fascinate mobile phone comes equipped with a nice Camera application. It has many options including the option to shoot pictures in Panoramic mode.

Some of those pictures are here

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Butler Arts Museum at Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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STEM college Building at Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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The following Panorama is created by taking multiple overlapping pictures and then using Photoshop CS4 to stitch all those pictures.

STEM college Building at Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Samsung Fascinate mobile phone offers an easier and better option for creating Panoramic pictures.

Test Mp3 Player Widget

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/mp3/?id=c0e25717-6890-4695-88eb-fb3d64d0acdb

REVIEW | Samsung Fascinate Mobile Phone

Samsung Fascinate is a mobile phone that belongs to the Samsung Galaxy series of mobile phones released on all major carriers in US. Samsung Fascinate was released on Verizon wireless. The phone is sleek looking light weight in all black color.

Pictures of the phone are shown below

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures

The phone looks great with super amoled sharp and crisp screen display at 480x854.

Extra details are shown in the video



The phone comes preloaded with many standard Android applications and some enhanced application from Samsung. Additional applications can be installed through the Android application market. For some reason the applications are not arranged in alphabetic order. Pre-installed applications show up in alphabetical order in the beginning and the newly installed application appear at the end of the original applications.

Here are some of the Phone screen captures showing the installed applications on the phone

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures



A typical application screen for example for Latitude application looks like this

From SAmsung Fascinate Miscellaneous Pictures

The phone comes with standard "Setting" application. It allows to set wireless networks, Call options and other Android OS specific settings that are available on the phone.

From SAmsung Fascinate Miscellaneous Pictures

This screen layout is same as in other Android OS based phones such as Google Nexus One and Droid X.

Some details about the Phone's internals are available through the standard "Settings" application. However, more details about Phone's hardware can be obtained through another application "Android System Info" that is freely available on the Android market. Looking inside the Samsung Fascinate through this application provides some very useful information about the Phone's hardware that includes information about its Battery, CPU, Memory, Camera and Sensor system as shown in the pictures

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures



It shows that the Phone comes with an ARMv7 Processor that runs at a clock speed of 1000 MHZ, a total RAM of 325MB and Android 2.1 Eclair operating system. It also provides camera details and lists many of the supported picture sizes e.g. 1920x2560, 1200x1600 and 480x800. Another screen shows the details about the available sensors within the Camera.

The Camera/Camcorder application on Samsung Fascinate mobile phone is one of the best I have used on Android based cell Phones. It provides options to take single snapshot pictures, Panoramic pictures and multiple shots in quick succession with one single snap. The internal menu system for this application takes some time to learn because it includes sixteen screens with many options that may be confusing at first but allow to practically set everything about a picture.

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures



These pictures were taken at different locations at different times to test the picture quality of Samsung Fascinate mobile phone.

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures



Overall picture quality is great and competes very well with current crop of stand alone digital cameras.

The Camera also allows Panoramic shots and here are some sample shots

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures



The Panoramic shots are large images with size around 2000x400 Pixels. This creates a problem in embedding them in a blog post due to limited space. To avoid this a possible work around is to use a standalone Pan and Zoom display widget.

Here are some examples using the Zoomify display widget

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Butler Arts Museum at Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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STEM college Building at Youngstown State University Campus

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Samsung Fascinate also allows multiple shots, a maximum of nine shots with a single snap. This is a convenient feature to capture pictures of moving objects. It can also be used to create a Panoramic view by stitching several pictures together that have over lapping scenes. Here are a series of pictures that were shot using this options

Please use the arrow keys at the bottom of the presentation to advance the pictures

The following Panorama is created by using pictures shown above with the help of Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Please use + button to Zoom and other control buttons at the bottom of the pictures to move around the pictures.

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Upon comparing the two approaches to create panoramic pictures, it becomes obvious that Samsung Fascinate mobile phone offers an easier and better option for creating Panoramic pictures.

The Samsung Fascinate's default search engine is Bing from Microsoft as shown in the picture below

From SAmsung Fascinate Miscellaneous Pictures

This option can not be altered. Bing is a decent option but it is not a match for Google search engine. This default search option will not allow users of Samsung Fascinate cell phone to get full Android OS experience.

Samsung Fascinate at the time of testing was still running Android OS Eclair version 2.1. The linpack benchmark in MFLOPS for Samsung Fascinate is 8.123 while for Google Nexus One running Android 2.2 Froyo is 33.426 as shown in the picture below

From SAmsung Fascinate Miscellaneous Pictures

That is considerably higher for Google Nexus one even though both phones are running the same ARM processor at 1000 MHZ. Android Eclair 2.1 OS leads to slow performing Samsung Fascinate Phone. The big difference in performance shows up when playing Youtube videos on these phones. The videos can not be played in high quality mode on Fascinate as they are on the Google Nexus one.

There were some inconsistencies noted while sharing the pictures between Picasaweb and Samsung Fascinate. It simply failed. Also there were times when the Phone simply hung up and had to be rebooted. Considering this the phone needs the Android OS 2.2 upgrade to improve its performance and also to get the promised option to use Google search on the phone.

The phone has excellent call quality. It worked great everywhere because of solid wireless network performance from Verizon. In the final conclusion it is a great phone that performed well in every department on the Verizon wireless network. It will only improve with the coming upgrade of Android OS to version 2.2

I will highly recommend this phone it will only get better after the OS upgrade that is coming soon.

For additional information please also read "Review : Samsung Fascinate Mobile Phone Sound and Camcorder Application "

Global Wealth Distribution | Credit-Suisse Research Report

Credit Suisse Research Institute published a comprehensive study of world wealth distribution.

The picture below shows the global distribution of wealth. Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The picture below shows the distribution of wealth in a pyrmidal form. Click on the image for an enlarged view.

The complete free report in pdf format is available here.

Pictures of Amazing Chinese Mini Stone Carvings

Use the rectangular icon at the bottom to switch to full screen view and arrow to advance the slides.