Instagram post by aspiring rapper leads to biggest gun haul in the history of NY

In a glorious display of stupidity, an aspiring US-based rapper inadvertently aided the largest haul of guns in New York City’s history by uploading pictures of firearms on his Instagram account.

Matthew Best, aka Neno Best, a Brooklyn-based rapper, has been credited for unintentionally helping the New York Police Department (NYPD) to haul in 254 firearms and make 19 arrests. This is by far the largest gun bust in the history of New York City. Best, who is quite prolific on Instagram with over 1,500 image shares, would regularly upload hipster-filtered pictures of guns and large bunches of currency notes, at times even claiming that he was selling weapons out of his recording studio.

Busted!

While most of these posts were deleted by Best at an unknown time, it ended up alerting NYPD’s narcotics investigators, who then passed on the issue to undercover officers. The images on Instagram set out a chain of events leading to the discovery of a large gun-trafficking ring that spread over multiple states in the US.

Late last week, another incident of a person revealing too much information on social networking websites came to light. A 20-year-old man in Canada lost his job after asking drug dealers to deliver a stash of marijuana to his office… on Twitter.

Sunith Baheerathan wrote a tweet asking if any dealer would deliver weed to him in office and the only reply he received was from York Regional Police’s official Twitter account, which asked if they could join in too. Baheerathan’s company, Mr Lube, then replied to the police department, thanking them for bringing it to its notice. The matter had been “handled”, the company said, hinting that Baheerathan had been fired.

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From J-Phone to Lumia 1020: A complete history of the camera phone

Cameras in phones are ubiquitous. Few of us see the need to carry a dedicated device for taking photos or videos anymore, and digital camera sales have slumped. But how did we get here? Let’s take a look at the history of the camera phone.

The first cell phone with a built-in camera was manufactured by Samsung and released in South Korea in June of 2000. The SCH-V200 flipped open to reveal a 1.5-inch TFT-LCD, and the built-in digital camera was capable of taking 20 photos at 350,000-pixel resolution, which is 0.35-megapixels, but you had to hook it up to a computer to get your photos. The camera and the phone components were essentially separate devices housed in the same body.

There’s a strong argument that the first real camera phone was produced by Sharp and released in Japan by J-Phone (now SoftBank Mobile) in November of 2000. The J-SH04 could take photos, like the one on the right (from Japanese site Showcase) at 110,000-pixel resolution or 0.11-megapixels. The real difference between it and the Samsung SCH-V200 was the fact that the J-SH04 allowed you to send your photos electronically. Here’s how the BBC reported on it back in 2001, the comments are priceless.

It was November 2002 before the U.S. adopted the crazy Japanese trend with the Sanyo SCP-5300 on Sprint. It cost $400 and it featured a chunky clamshell design. With a 0.3-megapixel capability, it could capture shots at 640 x 480 pixels. The one pictured on the left comes from this IGN review. The Sanyo SCP-5300 also had a basic flash, white balance control, self-timer, digital zoom, and various filter effects like sepia, black and white, and negative colors.

By the end of 2003, camera phones were really taking off in the U.S. and over 80 million had already been sold worldwide. We even covered the trend by reporting that camera phones rival DVD players sales back in November 2003. The good news for consumers was that quality was rising and prices were dropping.

Continuing to push the camera phone trend, Sprint released the PM8920 in July of 2004. It was the first phone in the U.S. to feature a 1.3-megapixel camera capable of capturing 1280 x 960 pixel resolution shots. Not only could you share these pictures wirelessly, they were good enough to print as well. It had a dedicated camera button and a decent variety of settings, including a multi-shot option for taking eight quick photos in a row, and the ability to record your own shutter sound. It was available for $150 after rebates ($299 RRP).

By the end of 2004 the camera phone was riding high. Canalys reported that over half of the phones sold worldwide in the first 9 months of 2004 had cameras in them, and two-thirds of all the phones shipped in the third quarter were camera phones. Leading the way was Finnish manufacturer, Nokia.

In 2005 the Nokia N90 landed to take the camera phone to new heights. Not only did it boast a 2MP camera, it also had Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, and an LED flash. It will probably be best remembered for that rotating screen, which gave it a camcorder feel. Here’s our Nokia N90 review from back in the day.

The main competitor for Nokia in the camera arms race was Sony Ericsson. Carrying Sony’s Cyber-shot digital camera branding there were quite a few decent releases intended to steal Nokia’s camera phone crown, not least the Sony Ericsson K800i released in 2006. It had a 3.2MP camera with auto-focus, image stabilization, and a Xenon flash. The photo on the right was taken with the Sony Ericsson K790i variant which had the same camera.

Nokia naturally retaliated with models like the 3.2MP N73, but in 2007 the feature phone reached its pinnacle.

Samsung produced the first 5-megapixel camera phone, but the first one to prove really popular was Nokia’s N95. It was a chunky slider packed with features, but none were as impressive as that 5-megapixel camera with the Carl Zeiss lens. It took beautiful photos and it could record video at 30 frames-per-second. In fact, 5MP remained as a high-end standard for several years. Sadly for Nokia the smartphone revolution was just around the corner, and our Nokia N95 review bemoaned the lack of a touchscreen. A good camera would not be enough to keep Nokia on the rise.

To put it in perspective, the original iPhone hit the market a few months after the N95, in June 2007, and it had a 2MP camera with no flash or auto-focus and no video recording capability.

In 2008 the Samsung i8510, also known as the INNOV8, held the first 8MP camera to hit the market, but in design terms Samsung was copying the wrong company. This release looked like part of Nokia’s N range, but these designs were growing steadily less popular. Nokia followed suit with the N86, but it was LG that released the first touchscreen camera phone with an 8MP camera. It was called the LG Renoir.

The race for megapixels continued and Samsung hit 12MP first with the M8910 Pixon12 in 2009. It was soon bested by Nokia’s N8 in 2010 and the 16MP Sony Ericsson S006 at the end of the year.

The race to improve the cameras in phones stalled a bit as smartphones took off. The iPhone proved that there were more important features than the camera. It was also vital for manufacturers to produce slim, attractive devices, and the really powerful camera phones up to that point had all been seriously chunky. Some exasperated commentators also tried to point out that the quality of a camera is about more than just the number of megapixels. This series of photos by Lisa Bettany compares different iPhone models.

Both HTC and LG tried to jump on the 3D bandwagon in 2011 and released phones with dual 5MP cameras capable of taking photos or capturing video in stereographic 3D. As it turned out, there was no real demand. 

Most manufacturers seemed to be getting the message. The focus was shifting to software features that would offer extra value for people interested in photography. 

We’ve had Photo Sphere from Google and Panorama mode from Apple. BlackBerry came up with Time Shift and there was the oddly-named Zoe from HTC. We’ve also seen more filters and effects baked into the various mobile platforms, but these are largely things that apps have offered for a long time now. They’re great for people who want to spend the time getting into them, but most of us forget those kinds of novelties pretty quickly. What we really want is good point-and-shoot functionality to capture life in all its spontaneous glory.

As HTC tries to convince us that a 4-megapixel camera is enough in its HTC One, Nokia is re-igniting the battle with a typically ferocious assault. High-end smartphones, like Sony’s Xperia Z are maxing out at 13-megapixels. Even Samsung’s camera focused S4 variant, the Zoom, only has a 16-megapixel sensor (although the optical zoom is its key feature). The Nokia Lumia 1020 has a 41-megapixel camera in it. This is how it compares to the iPhone 5 (the photo on the left is mislabeled as iPhone 4).

Whether we actually need the cameras in our phones to be too much better than they are now is debatable, but you could say that about a lot of tech. The Chicago Sun-Times publicly sacked photographers and expects iPhone-toting reporters to take their own photos. That may not be the wisest decision, but the fuss it generated was more focused on the skills of the photographer than the equipment. It’s not unusual for a professional photographer to use an iPhone, and it’s far from the most powerful camera phone on the market.

The Lumia 1020 looks set to be the best camera phone on the market for some time to come. It’s worth mentioning that Nokia’s first 41-megapixel camera phone was the PureView 808 in early 2012, but because it was stuck on Nokia’s old Symbian smartphone OS (the same one as the N95), sales were nothing special. Windows Phone is a lot better, but it remains to be seen how many people will be tempted in. In any case, you can be certain that the camera phone war is far from over. Things are just heating up, in fact. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Zoom is coming and the Sony i1 could be a contender later this year. 

Simon is an experienced freelance writer and editor covering technology and entertainment with a focus on mobile and video games. He spent several years working in the games industry and lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two kids.

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The history of aviation unfolds one victory at a time in ‘World of Warplanes’

One consistent (and often unfair) argument against free-to-play games is that they lack depth. You are given a simple objective – usually something along the lines of see the enemy, kill the enemy – and then you repeat. You typically spend time leveling up and collecting new items, but there is rarely anything like a story to immerse yourself in. Wargaming’s follow-up to World of Tanks, the upcoming World of Warplanes, does not offer a story. But it does offer a journey.

Vlad Belozerov, Director of Global Operation for World of Warplanes

The game is more than just a flight combat sim; it is a tour through the history of aviation. Specifically the so-called “golden age of dogfighting.” The aircraft you pilot cover a stretch of time between the last bi-planes of the 1930s through the first jets introduced during the Korean War at the beginning of the 1950s. 

“The specific tactics that you have to adopt to be successful in these airplanes are also derived from real life,” Vlad Belozerov, director of global operations for World of Warplanes, told Digital Trends. That’s not just an idle comment; your choice of plane influences the way you fly, in turn requiring you to learn the tricks of the era.

Before advances in aviation changed the way aerial wars are waged, victory was a matter of finding the right balance. Sure, you wanted the best plane available – a crop duster would leak oil in terror at the mere thought of being chased by a P-51 Mustang – but you needed a multi-role complement of fighters in order to win skirmishes. That remains true on World of Warplanes‘ digital front.

“It’s like rock, paper, scissors,” Belozerov said. “You have to combine different types of planes in a flying formation, for example, to be successful.”

The game is designed around dogfighting, and the sessions end when one team is completely destroyed. There are alternate goals though, and destroying AI-controlled targets can earn you and your team a lot of points to be spent on upgrades and new planes. The best scores are awarded to the teams that not only defeat their opponents, but also mix in things like destroying carriers, battleships, and other ground targets. To do that you need to balance out your squad.

“Everything is obviously based on historical data.”

The game features four classes of planes pulled from history: Assault Fighters, light and agile craft with low armor or hit points; Heavy Assault Fighters, fast planes with high firepower that are best used in high altitude but have poor maneuverability; Ground Attack Aircraft, specifically designed to destroy ground targets with guns and rockets; and Carrier Aircraft, which offer better maneuverability and a balance between dogfighting and ground assault, but are less powerful than true assault planes.

“Everything is obviously based on historical data. We have lots of historical consultants who are working on the project,” Belozerov said.

There will be over 100 planes at launch, with more planned for release after that. Once you get into the modifications, that number explodes. Each plane can be upgraded, from the weapons to the engines to the aesthetics. When you first start, you are in tier 1 (the lowest of 10 levels) and have to work your way up. The tier system serves as a tutorial to start with, later opening up into the expected progression system.  As you advance, each new tier serves to give you a quick tour through the history of aviation. 

Aviation technology changed both rapidly and often in the 20 year period between the 1930s and 1950s. During World War I, airplanes were mainly support vehicles, best used for scouting. Bombing runs required pilots to physically throw the explosives out of their cockpits, and while there were no real anti-aircraft weapons, the relatively slow speeds made these aircraft targets for anyone with a rifle and good aim. By the end of the war, however, it was obvious to most military minds that aerial combat was the future.

“Our goal is to educate that to the players.”

The aviation industry expanded in the decade that followed, with much of it stemming from surplus WWI parts and technology. By the start of the ’30s, the public was enthralled by airplanes. Air races were big business, and both pilots and their planes became national heroes after setting new speed and distance records. The technology was improving rapidly to meet the demand, but leapt forward yet again when World War II began. Dozens of models of aircraft were created, all with different forms and functions. In 1932 most planes were barely breaking 200 mph. Just 15 years later, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1.

“Our aircraft are based either on planes that were mass produced and are well known, or some prototypes that were probably done as one example or something like that,” Belozerov told us. “Some were done just on paper, but we don’t have any imaginary planes that we invented.”

World of Warplanes takes you through the steps separating these events, starting you with lowly bi-planes, then introducing you to faster racing-era planes. From there you are given the chance to try out the early WWII planes and you can watch as the technology that created the famous Messerschmitt is surpassed by the Corsair, and eventually jets.

“As you progress through tiers, up to tier 10 … more and more you will have to know about tactics to the dogfight. Our goal is to educate that to the players,” Belozerov told us.

To succeed in World of Warplanes, you need to learn about the history of the planes and the tactics those planes used in real life. Understanding that your fighter is more responsive at higher altitudes than your opponent’s, or recognizing the difference in maneuverability between planes makes a huge difference.

Mastering the game is meant to be difficult, but there’s a gradual progression. Like most games of this sort, the bar for experience required to level up and jump into new tiers is set low at first, and then becomes increasingly higher. It will take weeks or months of consistent play to reach the top rankings. By the time you reach the tenth tier, you will have experienced a significant chunk of aviation’s formative years.

“As you move to tier 10, it will become more and more about understanding tactics, about finesse. It will be much more demanding,” Belozerov said, adding, “But players will become much more skillful [along the way], so it is a journey.”

Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering local news, travel features, and politics. He has also been a frequent guest on podcasts, radio programs, and TV spots. Ryan is a diehard gamer and follower of the gaming industry, an avid filmgoer, and a passionate supporter of his alma mater, the University of Kansas. Find Ryan online at: Facebook: www.Facebook.com/iridiumsix Twitter: @iridiumsix XBL: Iridium Six PSN: IridiumSix

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