Gadgets Future

Supposedly confirmed as of a few days ago, however we are still awaiting official word from Canon on their newest baby, due any day now. Complete specs, (translated from Chinese) are here for the time being. Apparently there had been a big bru-ha-ha when a photo hit the internet apparently taken by the new Canon according to it’s metadata (and the info right on the web page itself), on what many believe to be a Media Temple client page. This being a big oops, since they are a web dev for high profile clients such as Sony, Adobe, ABC and others. The others, in some people’s mind’s, could include Canon. Thus, a page that had Canon photos which was leaked onto the net before it was discovered and subsequently password protected.

The Canon 50D is pictured here with what’s sure to be a kit lens option, the EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. A short list of what is most likely going to be key features is as follows:

• 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor
• DIGIC 4
• 1.6x crop
• Dust Reduction
• Auto Brightness Processing
• 95% viewfinder .97 magnification
• 9 point af (All Cross Type)
• 35 meter area equipped with high-precision sensors
• AF Fine Tuning
• ISO 100-12800
• 6.3 fps (high speed) 3fps (low speed)
• Buffer: 16 RAW - 60 JPG - 10 RAW+JPG
• 920,000 points VGA 3.0-inch lcd monitor
• 100,000 cycle shutter
• Rugged magnesium alloy bodyFull Specifications

Regardless, I’m looking forward to seeing what they come out with. Canon never disappoints in my book.

Read [Photography Bay]

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LG is proud to bring you the first Network Attached Storage (NAS) in the world (according to the people at LG, although at least one reader is sharp enough to point out that this is not the case - thanks Steve!) that is able to support up to a whopping 4TB worth of storage space thanks to a four hard drive configuration setup. The LG N4B1 NAS will also come with a host of other connectivity options including three USB 2.0 ports and a solitary e-SATA port. This 190mm x 289mm x 280mm NAS is even equipped with a Blu-ray burner - let’s face it, with 4TB worth of data in your hands, DVDs just won’t quite make the cut when it comes to selecting a bunch of content you want to burn.

Asus wants you to wake up and smell your laptop.

The Taiwanese computer manufacturer recently announced its line of four fragrant laptops with cheesy casing artwork to go along with their smelly themes. For example, a pink laptop called Floral Blossom sports a floral design and gives off the smell of — you guessed it — cherry blossoms. A rather questionable model is the Musky Black, which supposedly emanates a "musky scent" for the XXXtreme athletes.

The other two models are blue and green, called Morning Dew and Aqua Ocean (as opposed to a non-aqua ocean), respectively. Feel free to use your imagination.

Each notebook features a 13.3-inch screen, an Intel Core 2 Duo Centrino 2 processor and support for up to 320GB of hard drive space and 4GB of RAM. Pricing has not yet been announced.

Let us hope Asus doesn’t make a brown one.

Press Release [ASUS via CNET]

It wouldn’t be so hard to notice that the new FTEC eBook G10 is just a rebranded and redesigned ECS G10IL. The mere presence of “G10” in their name spills it all. Specs and features-wise, the FTEC eBook G10 does not have anything different from the ECS G10IL. But one thing is clear, this version of the ECS G10IL certainly looks cooler than its original version, especially with a fire emblem accentuating the keyboard and touchpad area.

Anyway, the FTEC eBook G10 is currently being promoted in Malaysia with three models to boot, namely the G10E, G10X and G10X-3G. But all of them have the following features and specs; an Intel Atom processor, a 10.2-inch SWGA display, 1.3-megapixel webcam, a 4-in-1 card reader and a 5-cell battery pack. The difference comes with the RAM capacity and the OS with the G10E getting 1GB of RAM and Linux, the G10X getting 1GB of RAM and Windows XP and the G10X-3G getting a 2GB RAM with Windows XP plus an HSDPA modem for 3G connectivity.

The FTEC eBook G10E, G10X and G10X-3G are all available for pre-order at the FTEC site and are retailing for around $595, $448 and $418 respectively.

Via [Eee PC News]

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When Amazon released their Kindle e-book reader, they knew they were taking a big step. The device (and its $399 price tag) had the power to make or break the internet giant’s e-book program. A price cut and less than a year later, it looks like they might be poised to shake up the market yet again.

While there have been rumors of new Kindles for a while now, those rumors have now begun to take a more specific shape. According to McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Tim Bueneman, there are a few new models that Amazon is considering, but there’s one in particular that may be of great interest to the all-powerful student market. The reason that it may be more of a success than its older brother is in the size. The new model reportedly has a full 8.5” X 11” screen. Having an e-book reader that looks more like a full-sized book could be the ticket to success.

Amazon is said to be shopping the idea to textbook publishers right now, but even if they are able to convince them that the Kindle is the way to go, there will still be a few hurdles they’ll have to endure. For one, the pricing scheme would have to be taken down a notch. Students hate buying textbooks in any form at all, so Amazon will have to figure out a good price point for both the device and the books.

It’s absolutely an idea with merit, we’ll just have to wait and see how Amazon plans on making it work.

Read more at Ars Technica

Here is one of those wrist watches that scream, “Why?” What I mean is that this new watch created by Romain Jerome is unique in the aspect that it is a timepiece, but it doesn’t keep track of hours, minutes or seconds. It only keeps track of the day and night. Not surprising, the name of the watch is similarly called, Day and Night.

The way the watch is read is that the watchface features two different Tourbillons that operate on a twelve hour schedule. When it is daytime, the day Tourbillion is running and when it is nightime, the night Tourbillon operates. Don’t get me wrong - the Day and Night Watch looks gorgeous. Maybe it is because the mechanism isn’t blocked by such irrelevant things, like say, the hour and minute hands.

Unfortunately, if you are interested in the Day and Night Watch I cannot tell you how much it is, but it looks expensive. Chances are if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. That’s okay though. The only people I could see benefiting from this watch are persons stuck on desert islands or perhaps more appropriately, mole people living underground.

Read more at Romain Jerome via BoingBoing.

by Thomas Ricker, posted Aug 25th 2008 at 7:24AM
While traditionally known as a forum for HDTVs, the big IFA show in Berlin is also shaping up as a showcase battle for Korean DAPs. Hot on the arching heels of Cowon’s S9 Curve comes this, the (re)announcement of iriver’s P20. While we first saw the P20 as a plastic prototype at CES, we’re desperately hoping for a fully functional, 80/120GB media player this time around. The device is still spec’d with a 4.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display capable of pumping 12-, 9-, or 8-hours of music, video, or DMB TV at a clip, respectively. It’s also likely sporting a SPINN UI judging by that thumb-wheel. Also on deck is the M3 portable GPS navigator / media player with 3.5-inch touch screen LCD. More details on Friday when trade show floor opens its doors.

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If you’re a student it looks like Microsoft are going to try very hard to entice you to use Office applications.

Their latest promotion is being called “The Ultimate Steal”, and allows you to get Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher and OneNote for just US$59.95. Those are full versions of the 2007 releases and constitute 91% saving, as you would normally have to pay around US$679. There are some supplementary apps thrown in to that bundle as well, including InfoPath (for creating electronic forms) and Groove (for sharing information about projects on and offline).

Even though Office is the main product being marketed here, Microsoft have also heavily discounted 3 other products. Your can get Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade for US$64.95, Office Visio Professional 2007 for US$55.95 and Office Language Packs 2007 for US$9.95.

All of the discounted products will be available from September 8th. To be eligible you must have a valid e-mail address at an educational institution ending with .EDU or on Microsoft’s approved list. Evidence of enrolment on a course may also be requested.

Read more at Microsoft.com, found via Vnunet.com

Matthew’s Opinion
You could pay out US$59.95, or you could download OpenOffice.org and use that money for books, beer or food. Unless you specifically need those applications for a course e.g. You are doing a course that shows you how to write applications that sit on top of Excel, then OpenOffice.org is now very accomplished for basic word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and database creation. There are other free alternatives too of course, such as Google’s online offering, Zoho and StarOffice to name a few.

Microsoft still have a grip on the market and they realize they need to get people using their software as early as possible so as to keep them as customers later on. One question that comes to mind is if Microsoft really want the students to use Office why don’t they offer it for free? The Ultimate Steal promotion cuts the price by 91%, so would that other 9% really hurt? It would surely get many more students deciding to use it, and they would still have to verify themselves as students.

by Thomas Ricker, posted Aug 25th 2008 at 5:40AM
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about iPhone 3G reception issues. Whether they exist or not is largely irrelevant in a world dominated by sound-bite driven perceptions. Nevertheless, some industrious Swedes decided to apply a little scientific method to the argument and found something interesting: the iphone 3G performed just as well (or just as poorly, depending upon your mood) as a Nokia N73 and Sony Ericsson P1 when compared head-to-head in a mobile communications test chamber. The test was conducted by real-life antenna engineers just like those camera-fumbling souls contracted by the FCC. Of course, who’s going to let a few facts stand in the way of contrary opinion and litigation, eh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: cellphones

by Thomas Ricker, posted Aug 25th 2008 at 2:57AM
var Taste that? It’s the sweet nectar of want for Cowon’s new S9 Curve. This 3.3-inch media player features an AMOLED capacitive touch panel display that spreads 16 million colors across 480 x 272 pixels. Inside you’ll find a 500MHz dual-core CPU, T-DMB digital television tuner, Bluetooth, FM radio, TV-out, and G-Sensor accelerometer. All that and nearly two days (40 hours) of music playback from a single charge. No price yet but we expect to hear more later this week as the big European IFA show kicks off in Berlin.

Gallery: Cowon’s S9 Curve with 3.3-inch AMOLED touch-screen kills with style

[Via CNET Asia]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video