Dongle HDMI solution for iPad and iPhone

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2, he made a big deal about how you could connect it to your HDTV using an HDMI cable and mirror what was on the iPad 2's screen. The only problem was you had to purchase Apple's $39 Digital AV adapter, as well as an HDMI cable, to make that happen.
That's about to change.

Today we met with RedMere, an Irish company that makes the chip that allows manufacturers to create ultrathin HDMI cables, and got an early look at a reference design for a new slim HDMI cable with a 30-pin connector that plugs directly into your iPad 2, iPhone 4, or iPod Touch 4G and passes full HD video and sound.

No word yet on which companies will be making the new cables (RedMere just makes the chip inside the cable), but we should hear soon. As for price, nothing on that, either, but we'd hope to see these guys for less than $40--and hopefully less than $30.

RedMere couldn't say when the new cables would hit the market but expected them to arrive by July, if not slightly sooner. The one you see pictured (rolled up) is a 10-foot cable but you can expect them to be available in various sizes.

It's interesting to note that RedMere reps basically agreed with our assessment that all HDMI cables are the same in terms of what audio and video quality you get from one cable to another (they noted a few exceptions). However, cable design is another matter, and where RedMere says its technology makes a difference is in the ability to create much thinner cables that are lighter, easier to bend, and much easier to transport. According Peter Smyth, RedMere's founder and CEO, standard non-"active" HDMI cables need to be a certain thickness; there's no getting around it.

Not surprisingly, Smyth believes superthin, RedMere-enabled cables have a bigger role to play when it comes to connecting portable products such as tablets and Android smartphones to HDTVs.
"Having a lighter, thinner HDMI cable you can easily carry around with you when you're on the go is obviously a much more appealing solution," Smyth said. Source:news.cnet

LogMeIn Adds VoIP Features to Join.me iPhone, iPad Apps

Today join.me, LogMeIn's free screen-sharing service, added new features to its iPad and iPhone apps that aim to simplify mobile collaboration with colleagues and customers.
The updated join.me apps debut a new VoIP option that lets users listen or participate in online meetings or screen-sharing sessions. Like the join.me Web service, the iPad and iPhone viewer app is free and does not require registration.

Join.me's free version includes screen sharing, chat, conferencing, remote control of other devices, file transfer, multi-monitor support, downloadable desktop app for hosts and presenters, and an iPad/iPhone or Android viewer for session attendees.

The pro version ($29 per month or $299 per year) includes all the features of the free version plus personalized meetings, personalized backgrounds, meeting schedulers, meeting lock options for private, invite-only meetings, user management features, and international conference lines.

"In the few months since we launched join.me, the response from users has been overwhelmingly positive and their feedback has been valuable in shaping the service's evolution," said Kevin Bardos, vice president of Collaboration Technologies for LogMeIn. "The new features are all designed to keep simplicity and accessibility central to the join.me experience, providing users with an even greater ability to work together and collaborate as if they were sitting in the same room.

Launched in October 2010, join.me is screen sharing designed for informal online meetings and ad hoc collaboration for up to 250 people. Join.me features were designed by the same development team responsible for the LogMeIn Ignition app, which was the one of the top-grossing third-party iPad apps of 2010 and a recent addition to Apple's App Store Essentials Hall of Fame. Source:pcmac

Al Jazeera News Network Launches Free, Live News Streaming Application For BlackBerry

Popular news network Al Jazeera has launched a new and free application for BlackBerry smartphones that allows users to view live broadcast streams, latest news stories, opinion pieces, features, spotlights, videos and picture galleries. This app also allows users to send in their own media for crowd-sourced coverage. Features include:

*All the latest news, features, spotlight, opinion and blogs from the Al Jazeera English website
*Programmes videos and information for the latest shows
*News video clips
*24 hour free access to the live broadcast
*Breaking news banner
*In Pictures gallery to browse the latest stories by images
*Send your media to Al Jazeera
*Search articles and content from the website
*Preload articles
*Viewable in portrait and landscape modes

For more info go to english.aljazeera.net/mobile or check out the app in BlackBerry App World and iPhone for free.

Wikitude App now preloaded on BlackBerry Bold 9900

The BlackBerry World 2011 held in Orlando seems to have divulged some good news for all its enthusiasts. BlackBerry has launched the all new BlackBerry Bold 9900 which comes preloaded with a Wikitude app.

Touting to support Augmented Reality apps, the stylishly designed handset comes fitted with a magnetic compass. The integrated Wikitude app focuses on geo-positioned Wikipedia articles. So if the smartphone is pointing at the Eiffel Tower, the app will automatically display the corresponding Wikipedia article.

Thanks to this app, BlackBerry Bold 9900 users can take a look at Flickr photos, YouTube videos, Twitter tags and Foursquare spots in geo-referenced results. As of now, Wikitude is making plans to use the social side of BBM for users to meet new people..

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 will be up for grabs from this summer and the preloaded Wikitude app sure sounds exciting. Source:mobiletor

PhatWare Releases WritePad SDK 2.0 for iOS

PhatWare Corporation today proudly announced the availability of the second version of WritePad handwriting recognition Software Development Kit (SDK) for IOS.WritePad SDK is a stylish, natural, writer, and independent lexicons multilingual handwriting recognition technology. WritePad SDK to enable the IOS-based handwriting recognition text input in third-party applications on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices. Currently available in 4 languages, including English, German, French, and Spanish with more languages ​​will be announced soon.
Recent success of WritePad handwriting recognition application for iPhone IPAD and encourage a broad response from developers who are interested in extending the functionality of their applications by adding an input text-based handwriting recognition. Said Stan Miasnikov, president of PhatWare Corp. "Today we are pleased to announce a new major version of the SDK WritePad featuring the same advanced technology as notetaker featuring popular applications PhatWare's.
WritePad SDK Features
* Recognizes natural handwritten text in a variety of handwriting styles: cursive (script), PRINT and mixed.* Recognize the dictionary of words from the main or user-defined dictionary, as well as non-dictionary words, like names, numbers and mixed alphanumeric combination.* Provides automatic segmenting handwritten text into words and automatically distinguish between vocabulary and non-vocabulary words, and between words and arbitrary alphanumeric strings.* Does not require users to train the software and allows for most users to achieve high accuracy right "outside the box".* Reliable recognize handwriting in English (U.S., UK), French, German, and Spanish.
WritePad SDK includes a library of static machines handwriting recognition and dictionary for all languages ​​are supported, the API header files, documentation, and examples of useable code allows easy integration with new IOS application or an existing one. WritePad evaluation of the free SDK, while the royalty-based commercial redistribution. For more information about the SDK WritePad and to request an evaluation SDK and commercial pricing, please visit http://www.phatware.com/ Or WritePad SDK 2.0 For iOS

App helps you limbo under 3G data

Onavo, an iPhone and iPad application, says it can effectively double or even triple your data plan, by compressing much of the data you use while surfing the web or using apps. The company says it can compress e-mails as much as 80 to 90%. The app also currently smushes web pages, app data and Google maps but not video. For download click here

Slowly but surely carriers are putting away unlimited plans in favor of capped plans," Onavo CEO Guy Rosen said. "Roaming is outrageously priced, and traveling internationally is very expensive. As a user you need to be in control and understand your data usage.

Data plans for the iPad 3G start at 250 MB for $15 on AT&T, with $15 more for every 250 MB you go above that -- a huge sum for a paltry amount of data. Verizon's charges start at $20 for 1 GB of data per month, with overage charges of $20 for every GB above it.

So every byte does count. (However, Sprint still offers an unlimited data plan in the United States.)
Onavo attempts to solve this problem by routing downloads to your device through its cloud-based servers. The servers then compress the data before sending it to your device. Once it is installed, all of your data traffic -- excluding internet phone calls -- makes an extra intermediate stop on Onavo's servers, without you having to do anything.

The detour, by its nature, adds a bit of extra time for your device to communicate with, say, Facebook.
But because the photo album from Facebook gets shrunk, the effect for users is that downloads are faster, according to Rosen, particularly for those who are in low-coverage areas where devices revert to 2G networks.

The app also shows you how much data you use and breaks it down by app, helping you manage which apps are data hogs.

As for privacy, the company says it doesn't touch any of the packets that are sent through HTTPS (though users have an option to let Onavo compress some Exchange e-mail that uses HTTPS) and that it doesn't store data any longer than it needs to. But privacy-conscious users should note that all data you send on your phone that's not encrypted will be visible to Onavo (just as it is now to your mobile provider).

Rosen says that Android is on the horizon, due to popular demand, though there are no plans yet for a Windows 7 Mobile version, as the company has yet to get a single request for that port.

Some things to note: The app isn't the simplest to install, it doesn't compress any of the data originating from your device (that'd require some horsepower on the phone) and doesn't yet compress any video (which is often already compressed). But because almost all of your device's data is flowing through Onavo servers, the company can compress more and more types of data as it goes along.

The service is currently free, but Rosen says Onavo, a venture-capital--funded enterprise, plans to have paid plans at some point.

Rosen also imagines that Onavo down-the-road will also save users from having to constantly check how much data they've used, and says that he imagines that to be much more than just a text or e-mail reminder when your data usage is getting close to a limit. Source:edition.cnn

iPhone Lite Could Be On The Way

Apple may be preparing to bring an iPhone 5 Lite to the market with evidence piling up to support this idea.
Michael Walkley, analyst for Canaccord Genuity, said that keeping the older (and cheaper) iPhone and iPad versions on sale alongside new devices has been a wise strategy for Apple. Due to its lower price, iPhone 3GS is now outselling new Android devices. For instance, 16 GB and 32 GB iPad devices have outsold iPad 2 devices and iPhone 3GS outran HTC Inspire and Motorola Atrix sales.

Android may have increased its market share but it has not been successful in stealing Apple’s customers. Apple began their lower price selling strategy.

If Apple is to follow the current strategy, they might as well sell their iPhone 4 at a lower price when iPhone 5 hits the stores. From an economic point of view, this could be a good decision since iPhone 4 materials are becoming cheaper with time.

Apple might have actually designed two phones for 2011, a full-featured iPhone 5 and a new iPhone similar to iPhone 4, yet much cheaper, although we previously reported why this is unlikely to happen. Lower prices mean that Apple could sell their iPhone Lite to out-do the competition without fragmenting their platform. Source:itproportal

iPhone Can Diagnose Stroke

Stroke diagnosis? There's an app for that.
According to study from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine, doctors can make a stroke diagnosis using an iPhone application with the same accuracy as a diagnosis at a medical computer workstation. The study was designed by Dr. Mayank Goyal, and used iPhone software technology originally developed by Dr. Ross Mitchell, PhD, and his team at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI).

Neuro-radiologists looked at 120 recent consecutive noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) brain scans and 70 computed tomography angiogram (CTA) head scans from the Calgary Stroke Program database. Scans were read by two neuro-radiologists, on a medical diagnostic workstation and on an iPhone. Overall, the iPhone app was just as accurate as the medical workstation
"This iPhone app allows for advanced visualization and our studies show it is between 94% and 100% accurate, compared to a medical workstation, for diagnosing acute stroke," Mitchell, who is on the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine, said.
The app, ResolutionMD Mobile, has been commercialized by Calgary Scientific Inc. is officially available at Apple's App Store and Google's Android Marketplace. In April 2010, it was approved by Health Canada thus making it legal for Canadian medical professionals to make a primary diagnosis using the device.

The makers behind the app say its timeliness is one reason why could be beneficial. It allows for real time access to neurological information. "In a medical emergency, medical imaging plays a critical role in diagnosis and treatment, time is critical in acute stroke care, every minute counts," Mitchell said.
With ResolutionMD Mobile, doctors can see and manipulate medical images in seconds because the server does all the computing work. Whereas in some medical software, it can 10-20 minutes to download raw medical images to an iPhone before they can be displayed, the team behind ResolutionMD Mobile says it takes mere seconds on the app.
For security purposes, Mitchell says confidential patient images remain behind hospital firewalls to prevent any patient data from being lost or stolen.
The research from the study was published in the May 6th edition of Journal of Medical Internet Research. Source:ibtimes

Samsung Galaxy S II - Could be iPhone rival?

The iPhone has long been the dominant force in the smartphone arena, but we wonder whether it could finally have a true competitor.

With Android now becoming the most popular and desired mobile operating system the Samsung Galaxy SII could well have a chance to rival the iPhone 4. The smartphone has a number of advantages over Apple's device which could assist its growth.

The first is that it is technology superior due to the later launch date and it seems the iPhone 5 won't launch until the last quarter of this year, or even early next year.

The Samsung Galaxy SII is thinner than the iPhone 4 but is also a little larger,  but that is due to the larger screen (4.3 inches v 3.5). In the looks department we feel there is nothing between them and would favour the SII just because it's more exclusive.

The Samsung Galaxy SII comes  in a choice of either 16GB or 32GB versions which is the same as the iPhone 4. However, the Samsung supports the expansion of memory using microSD cards which the iPhone sadly lacks.

It's also a clear victory for Samsung in the camera stakes because it features an 8 mega-pixel rear facing camera capable of recording 1080p HD video and a front-facing 2 mega-pixel camera for video calling. Meanwhile, the iPhone only features a 5 mega-pixel rear facing camera and a VGA camera for video calling.

When comparing the two processors it's harder to call due to the efficiency of Apple's processors, but the Samsung Galaxy S II has a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor compared to a single core 1GHz CPU on the iPhone 4. We'd have to assume that the dual-core approach taken by Samsung will provide more performance and is more future-proof.

Additionally, as Google Android becomes used by more and more people it will only grow in popularity and the SII benefits from running on the latest version Gingerbread.


The Samsung Galaxy S II has already seen over 3 million pre-orders across the world and Samsung is an established and trusted brand.  So it's made a good start but there is along way to go and a huge advertising spend needed to come anywhere near the sales of the iPhone 4.

However, the Samsung Galaxy SII certainly has all the pieces in place to compete and we're interested to see how the next couple of months work out. Source:3g.co

Ring Reminder Update V2.0

iZooLu LLC has announced the release of version 2.0 of Ring Reminder, the best selling silent mode alarm on the Apple iTunes Store. Version 2.0 includes a face lift to Ring Reminder with a new theme and a Nag Feature which checks the state of the ring switch and continues to remind you to turn the iPhone back to ring mode.

Ring Reminder is designed for those that are tired of missing phone calls on the iPhone after putting their phone on silent mode. Ring Reminder has 10 slots to create a variety of custom timer alarms for use during meetings, a movie or any other senerio where one must put the iPhone in silent mode. Start the timer and it will vibrate after your meeting, church or lunch time. Ring Reminder can also be used to fake a phone call with 4 simulated ring tones from the iPhone default ring tone library.
Key Features:
* Easy timer alarms - 1 minute to 24 hours
* Pre-Define up to 10 timers
* Custom description that you choose
* Count down timer on main display
* Runs in the background!
* Cancel any timer alarm with one tap
* Delete and create timer alarms repeatedly
* Edit current timer alarms
* Can be used on the go, not location based
* Set a timer to get out of those meetings that run longer that you would like
For download click here
Source:prmac

Locational for iPhone now available

Independent developer Felix Mo today is pleased to announce the first release of Locational for iPhone users. Locational is a versatile iPhone app that allows users to manage all of the locational information in their lives with ease and have it presented to them through an easy-to-use and beautiful interface.

Using Locational, users can obtain and share detailed information on their current location, such as the full address, the coordinates, the heading and direction, the speed at which they are traveling at, as well as the altitude of their location.

Locational can also record the locational data into a dataset which can then be presented as a route on a map or on a graph. In addition, Locational presents users with detailed statistics about the dataset, such as the distance traveled, speed, and altitude, all of which can be displayed in either metric or imperial units.

Furthermore, Locational allows users to store the location of different places as waypoints, which can be easily created from their current location, an address book contact, or through the integrated location search, which allows users to easily find places such as local businesses and landmarks.

Users can easily share data from within the app via email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, or Tumblr.
Feature Highlights:
* Get detailed information on current location
* Stores location of different places as waypoints
* Record locational data to datasets
* Share via email, text message, Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, or Tumblr
* Support for both metric and imperial units

Sourse:appmodo

Eton’s Soulra XL Solar Dock For iPhone

Eton’s last solar dock was pretty cool, but their bigger version, the Soulra XL, now comes with a larger, retractable solar panel that will juice this iPhone and iPod dock up for a much longer time. The new Soulra XL will ship shortly and will be able to soak up the sun a lot better than the previous model.

The panel measures 72 square-inches, which means that it can last up to 5 hours of continuous play before it needs some more sun. It has 8 speaker drivers (2 tweeters, 2 woofers and 4 passive radiators) with a total output of 22W, so it should be powerful enough for the cabin, a picnic, or the backyard.

You can pre-order the Soulra XL at Eton’s website for $300 (USD). It should start shipping by mid-May. In my opinion, that’s a bit pricey. For that price, you can get a Bowers & Wilkins Mini Zeppelin and the full-sized one isn’t that far behind if you’re willing to buy the older model. However, neither of those has got a solar-panel, so if you want to play in the sun, the Soulra XL looks like a good bet. Source:technabob

Cell phone data threatens users' privacy

The recent discovery that Apple’s iPhone tracks its users’ locations and automatically stores that data in unencrypted form is a “serious threat to the privacy of American citizens,” argues a Michigan State University expert on digital mapping.

Furthermore, there are no government regulations or oversight in place regarding the collection or use of that private information, said Kirk Goldsberry, assistant professor of geography.

Apple said it would fix what it called a software error in the iPhone, but Goldsberry said the case has brought bigger issues to light.

“As it stands now we’re putting a lot of blind faith in companies that are collecting, storing and using this information to do the right thing,” said Goldsberry, who blogs about the issue here. “Who knows how many other companies are doing the same thing. We should have somebody to hold them accountable for the privacy of the public at large.”

The issue surfaced April 20 when U.K. security researchers Pete Warden and Allasdair Allan announced their discovery that the iPhone keeps track of where its users go and saves every detail to a secret file on the device. That information is then copied to whatever computer is used to synchronize the iPhone, be it a home, work or school computer.

The secret file contains latitude and longitude of the phone’s recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning anyone who has access to the phone or computer could know the owner’s movements using a simple program, according to a Guardian newspaper article.

The discovery, Goldsberry noted, set off a wave of media coverage, with some experts warning of the potential threat and others downplaying the risks.

In a New York Times column ( “Your iPhone is tracking you. So what?” ), David Pogue argued the data is stored “only on your own computer, in a buried and layman-incomprehensible form” and that the vast majority of iPhone users have nothing to worry about.

Maybe so, Goldsberry said, but even if 99.9 percent of iPhone users have nothing to fear, that means many still do. “There are literally millions of iPhone users out there and if only hundreds have this information used against them, I think that’s a big problem,” he said. “That’s not to mention the millions of users outside the United States – different places have different attitudes and different laws.”

Goldsberry researched the issue by mapping six months of his own cross-country movements on his iPhone. As an expert in GIS, or geographic information systems, mapping, he took it a step further than the original researchers by creating more sophisticated, precise maps that reveal a very detailed pictured of his own travel behavior.

In one example he produced a detailed map of a weeklong work trip to Seattle in April, which shows, among other things, a “creepy” detailed map of his attendance at a professional baseball game. “Anybody with access to my geographic data and basic GIS skills could easily discern that I was at Safeco Field to watch the Mariners beat the Blue Jays,” he writes in his blog.

Goldsberry said there are likely tens of thousands of GIS-trained experts like himself who could easily turn the iPhone’s raw data into a detailed map. “We have lecture halls full of students here at MSU that can do this,” he said.

Apple said iPhone data are stored for as long as a year due to a software error. The company promised to limit the size of the file, encrypt the file and stop backing up the file to the user’s computer. Computers are much more vulnerable to hacking attempts than phones.

Goldsberry applauded the move, but added: “I can’t help but wonder whether other companies have access to the existing one year of data for millions of users.”

Thus far, the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Sen. Al Franken have asked Apple to explain the presence of the GPS log, the New York Times reported. Source:media-newswire

Smartphone braves odds

Nokia’s C5-03 may be likened to a football goalkeeper standing resolutely firm amid hordes of frenzied and determined attackers.


With the unprecedented demand for the iOS-powered iPhones, the ever-increasing popularity of Android-powered smartphones, and more significantly, Nokia’s recent announcement to use Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 7 operating system as the foundation for the Finnish giant’s upcoming mobile phones, we may now be looking at one of the few remaining standard-bearers of the Symbian OS.


Somehow, this also makes the C5-03, a prized commodity for those who find it tough to imagine a Nokia mobile phone using a different OS.


And what’s not to love about the C5-03? It’s priced just around P9,000, which is way below the price tag of an iPhone and most of Android-powered smartphones.


Dated Symbian


It’s sad that it comes equipped with a dated Symbian^1 OS (otherwise known as the Symbian S60 5th edition). To compensate for this handicap, Nokia equipped this tri-band with a 10.2 Mbps HSDPA, a 2 Mbps HSUPA support, as well as Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g connectivity.


The C5-03 also comes with a 40MB internal storage and can support microSD cards with up to 32 GB, so plenty of space to store Ovi store apps and games.


Unlike the alphanumeric keypad employed by its predecessors, the C5-03 opted for the virtual keys on its 3.2-inch TFT resistive touchscreen display (with a 360 x 640 pixel resolution).


The only actual keys in front are the three buttons below the screen for activating Call, Menu and End functions.


The resistive touchscreen works well, though not as good as its capacitive counterpart.


Younger crowd


Like its earlier versions, the C5-03 is designed to attract the younger crowd. Its plastic shell has rounded edges with the bottom sporting a unique color accent, a welcome break from predominantly white-gray-black-colored smartphones.


It’s compact and lightweight enough (10.58cm long, 5.1cm wide, 1.38cm thick and 93g) to be carried around.


But what is more endearing to know is that 80 percent of the C5-03’s body comes from recycled material and, thus, is recyclable.


On the right side of the phone lies the volume rocker and the lock button. On the top is the audio jack and the microUSB port while the charger slot is on the bottom. The 5 MP camera located on the back offers 4x optical zoom but there’s no sign of a flash so prepare for some blurry photos if you are in low-light environment.


The on-screen menu is pretty straightforward to navigate as it is nicely laid out in grid format (though that could be changed to a list if you so desired). Social networking apps (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube appear as standard, but also in the mix are Hi5, MySpace and Friendster) are already bundled in their own folder just like the music player and gallery that are also separated from the app folder, thus simplifying media file access. Source:technology.inquirer

Google, Apple Keep Gobbling Smartphone Share from RIM

Google's Android smartphone share rose to 34.7 percent in March, up from 33 percent in February, according to new comScore mobile subscriber stats released May 6.

Google is expected to make some significant announcements regarding its Android platform May 10 at its Google I/O developer show.

Apple's iPhone share ticked up to 25.5 percent from 25.2 percent over the same period, suggesting that the Verizon iPhone 4 is continuing to attract some buyers.

ComScore said Apple's actual hardware market share grew 1.1 percent to 7.9 percent, thanks to Verizon's iPhone 4 sales. Apple will reportedly not launch an iPhone 5 this summer, though it is expected to tether its next iPhone more closely with cloud-computing offerings.

Research in Motion's Blackberry market share continued its swoon in March, falling to 27 percent, from 28.9 percent through February, according to the researcher.

The declines aren't new or random; Blackberry share stood at 30.4 percent in January and was as high as 33.4 percent in November before Google and Apple captured a strong holiday season, knocking RIM from the top smartphone perch Android now commands.

RIM just closed its 10th annual Blackberry World developer's conference by giving out over 6,000 PlayBook tablet computers to the show's attendees.

The company also announced significant mobile-device management software for enterprises, including the ability to segment work and play content and manage Apple iOS and Android handsets and tablets

However, the company showed off only one major new phone, the Blackberry Bold 9900.

While this thin device appeared to be a quality entry with a 3.1-inch touch-screen and a QWERTY keyboard, RIM irked analysts by failing to provide satisfactory guidance for smartphones based on the PlayBook's QNX operating system.

RIM isn't the only suffering smartphone maker.

Microsoft Windows Phone isn't faring much better, falling to 7.5 percent from 7.7 percent U.S. share. The company continues to struggle with platform updates for its new phones.

The struggles of RIM and Microsoft, coupled with the long overdue retrenching of Nokia, reaffirm pundits' predictions that the smartphone market is increasingly becoming a two-horse race between Google and Apple. Source:eweek