JVC Everio concept HD camcorder up close at CEATEC
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/407876508/
Filed under: Digital Cameras
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Wednesday, October 01, 2008
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MI6 agent forgets to delete work records from camera before selling on eBay
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/407947832/
Filed under: Digital Cameras
We'd swear this had to be some sort of spoof on the impeccable James Bond, but sadly enough, the whole thing is true. A secondhand Nikon Coolpix camera which sold on eBay for a mere £17 ($30) turned out to be a real bargain once its new 28-year old owner completed his first image dump. Along with decidedly decent snaps from his US vacation, he also found a number of "top secret" images, diagrams and sketches that have since been confirmed as MI6 material. We're talking photos of rocket launchers, hand-drawn graphics of terrorist links and all sorts of other information not at all intended for civilian eyes. 'Course, the whole thing could just be the act of one talented Photoshopper, but we highly doubt the agency would be so fortunate.[Via Digg, image courtesy of WWII Airplane Model]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Toshiba powers cell phone with methanol fuel cell -- no, you can't have one
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/408069186/
Filed under: Cellphones
Toshiba continues to tease us with its prototype liquid fuel cell-powered gadgets: last year it was a Gigabeat media player, and at this year's CEATEC you can check out a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that's been crammed inside a cell phone, lending it a robust six hours of talk time (compared to the paltry three or four hours of a traditional battery). Toshiba won't reveal the capacity of the DMFC, but they have said that a 50ml cartridge is good for about 15 refills. No release date yet, but the phone "might" be available "as early as next year." In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a woman holding a flip phone with "DMFC" clearly visible on the display.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments 
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Five Biggest Digital Marketing Cliches
The Social Network Page
The Second Life Storefront
The Online Ad Contest
The Social Network
The Online Branded Entertainment Series
~~~
Mark Cregar is president-principal of Emerging Marketing Consulting. He has held senior-level marketing posts at Disney, Warner Bros., Coca-Cola and Nabisco. His views on digital marketing trends can be found atwww.emergingmarketing.blogspot.com.Source: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=131347
Why Marketers Use Them, Why They Often Don't Work and What to Do Instead
Posted by Mark Cregar on 09.29.08 @ 05:24 PM
Once upon a time -- say, 2002 -- digital spending was a negligible portion of total marketing budgets and we lived in a world where few marketers would dare go "beyond the banner." Fast-forward to 2008, and in some cases we have the opposite problem. Digital spending is still too low, but in the spirit of wanting to appear current, some marketers have rushed to embrace any and every new digital tactic.
This has resulted in a scenario where some digital tactics are dangerously close to "jumping the shark." Everyone is doing them, so they're not original anymore. They generally are not done well (i.e., in a way that builds brand equity, awareness or sales), and they may be so commonplace that rather than making a brand seem current or hip, they have the opposite effect.
Here are my top five:
The offense: In 2006 every brand had to have a MySpace page; now they have an equally urgent need for a Facebook page. The result is usually the equivalent of an online ad hidden within the vast reaches of a social network, adding little value to consumers or the brand.
The offenders: A look at a few major consumer brands (Sprite, Skippy Peanut Butter, Gatorade) shows Facebook pages with little more than a boilerplate brand description and a link to the corporate URL. It looks like some marketing departments have been on a friend collection tear, though. These dull profiles mysteriously seem to attract thousands of "friends," though wall posts number in the low double digits, suggesting very low engagement.
They might try: Building a profile that reflects a brand's unique provenance, personality or benefits. Brand groups agonize over building and evangelizing the perfect brand persona. Here's a chance to showcase all that hard work.
Dell silently sneaks out 23-inch S2309W 1080p LCD monitor
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/404428507/
Filed under: Displays
[Thanks, Alex]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Megapixel race hits the mobile realm
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/405404699/
Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras
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3D Stereo Vision Robot Kit
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/405714671/3d-stereo-vision-rob.html
Howard Gordon of the Surveyor Corp. says:
This past week, we introduced a new open source 3D stereo vision system for robotics and remote monitoring called Surveyor SVS. It features dual processors, dual cameras, and wifi connectivity, and sells for $550. The SVS is intended for researchers, educators and developers interested in enabling depth perception in their applications without the need for an array of active sensors (e.g. laser scanners, ultrasonics, infrared, etc).Link
You donât climb into a MMR25 to be a driverâ¦
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/404423011/
You do it because you’re completely hardcore. I will right here guarantee you that if cars like this begin to be driven in rallies, rally racing will be the new most popular race on television- nay, the new most popular sport in the world. Released at this years Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge; witness the tantalizingly futuristic Mitsubishi Motors MMR25 Rally Racer.
Mitsubishi lays it down like so: “Continuing its world racing heritage and its industry leading expertise in electric vehicles, Mitsubishi Motors has introduced the most revolutionary racing technology that will defy automotive racing standards in the year 2025.”
Paraphrased press release: [All electric race car with "revolutionary" drivetrain; four lightweight, high-efficiency, in-wheel electric motors with eight supplemental motors. "More" powerful, fully recyclable batteries that can run up to 1,000 miles on a single charge. Uniform composite Nano fibers give the Lithium batteries "long" life and reduced weight; located in the center and on each side of the vehicle, positioned low to the ground for enhanced stability and a lower center of gravity. Omnidirectional wheel design with eight independently-controlled electric motors in each wheel hub. Rotational direction of the tires allows the vehicle to be driven forward while pointing the nose of the vehicle in any direction. A windowless pod for the driver, seamless 360 degree panoramic screen displaying images from outside cameras.]
Rally Racing is a Back Alley Sport Filled with Jackals, Headhunters, and Thugs! That’s why you’ll be glad you purchased your brand new MMR25 from Mitsubishi Motors. *Cue futuristic stock price increase* This layman would love extra insight into the real possibility of this being a functional vehicle and furthermore the possibility of a new kind of race.
I ask you: is it possible? Given the specs above, could this be the template for a new age in racing?
[ Via: Jalopnik ]
A Birdâs Eye View
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/yankodesign/~3/406054628/
Skyros is an aerial camera which takes unparalleled overhead photographs. It illuminates a unique bird’s eye view from where one can understand the intimate relationship with the environment in a refreshing new light. If you’re a more cynical reader, just think of it as a way to see what birds see before they do a #2 on your car or worse, you!
How it works: Skyros is pneumatically launched up to 120 feet in the air where it stabilizes itself as the rotors start. As it flies back to the user it takes photographs at various intervals. The user then links it back to its base and can view the photographs. There is an inbuilt sensor in the flying module which brings the camera back to the user too. Thank the gods because I hate chasing after my toys.
One thing I love about this concept is the ability to use it as a regular camera. Most other aerial cams I’ve seen completely negate this novel fact.
Designer: Siddharth Kambe & Dipti Hanako Kambe
Wines of substance
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheDieline/~3/406231298/wines-of-substa.html
New range of wines by Wines of Substance from Washington, certainly have standout! with a modern website that has an unusual approach to wines.
Criterion Considering Movie Downloads [Criterion Collection]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/406576083/criterion-considering-movie-downloads
Last week, while visiting Criterion Collection headquarters to observe their transition to Blu-ray, I brought up the subject of digital downloads. To my surprise, they let slip a little detail that sheds light on how a master disc maker like Criterion will manage in an all-download future.
As we've seen, even "HD" digital downloads are far from the quality of Blu-ray, so there's a hesitance to offer up their restorations in a format that doesn't live up to their very high standards. Lee Kline, Criterion's Technical Director says "I would be depressed if we just went from standard-def DVDs to standard-def downloads."
David Phillips, who works in DVD development at Criterion, explained further:
When you're talking about a dual-layer Blu-ray disc, you're talking about 50GB of data. Now, a lot of our films might not necessarily take up all that space, but even if they're taking up 25GB on a single layer disc, you're still talking about a heck of a lot of data to download. Now, the way that broadband infrastructure is in this country, any films you're downloading aren't going to have the data rate or resolution of Blu-ray.
When you work on the mastering part of it and the restoration and you see how good that image looks, it's really hard to say, OK, we're going to squash this down to the point where it'll fit through everybody's pipe.
However, according to Kline, digital downloads are on Criterion's radar.
We're pretty close to figuring out what we want to do with downloading, and I think our new website will cover that, which you'll see ! in a few months. I don't want to give any details yet, but we're not dismissing that as a viable option right now. But until it's faster and we're sure that we're going to give people a download that works in an acceptable amount of time, we'll go there when we need to go there. We're not scared of it, but we're also not ready to do it yet.
There'll be some sort of downloading and some sort of information regarding… OK, I'm going to stop, I'm giving away too much.
My guess is that there will be downloading of some sort, but it may or may not be full films. Who knows? Maybe it will be short scenes from classic movies, shown at higher-than-ever-before bitrates.
Would you be interested in downloading Criterion's restorations even if the quality wasn't that great? Or does that kind of go against everything that Criterion is about?
Kodak Zi6 Pocket Camcorder Lightning Review [Reviews]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/406501866/kodak-zi6-pocket-camcorder-lightning-review
The Price: $180
The Verdict: When I got my first look at the Zi6, I had an inkling it could be the best "cheap" pocket camcorder yet, and I was right. I've been using it for a while both indoors and outdoors, and found the video quality to be stellar no matter the situation. To make things simple, here's how the Zi6 would've fared if it had been out in time for my Ultimate Cheap Camcorder Battlemodo:
Despite all the good stuff, there are a few shortcomings with the Zi6. Most importantly, when switching between infinite and macro focus, or from low-light to full-light, the camera takes a while to refocus. Quick panning was similarly out of focus, and looked jagged at times. While ! HD was g ood for size, the Zi6 isn't recording at Blu-ray, or ever broadcast TV HD caliber. Truth is, the VGA should be sufficient for most videos. Finally, the USB connector popped open easily and often, a minor annoyance.
That said, the Zi6 may finally usher in the death of DV cams for most practical tasks. It takes clear video that can be imported to your PC immediately without fuss, and the AA battery slots ensure that you won't be stuck without power should the included rechargeables run dry. The Zi6 is truly best in its class, though that class is still "cheap pocket camcorders." [Kodak]
Examples of the Zi6 at work up close and at a distance in a variety of lighting situations:
The Week in iPhone Apps Spore Origins Hands-On Edition
Why Rap Stars Are Hating on the iPhone
Steven Seagal and Richard Dean Anderson at Best Buy Geek Squad Black Tie Event
Steven Seagal and MacGyver from B Geezy on Vimeo.
Why Android Will Soon Kick Ass [Android]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/406573972/why-android-will-soon-kick-ass
When the T-Mobile G1 was shown off in NYC last week, it didn't have the gusto of a Stevenote. There was no "boom!"—no "one more thing!" And as a result, many (including us) felt a bit underwhelmed, and were quick to interpret the device's inconsistent GUI as an indicator that the lack of attention to detail would doom it.
But allow me to remind all of those getting their naysay on this early in the game that we've seen only a fraction of what the G1 can and will be able to do with the open-source Android OS. And when Google's mobile machine is finally humming at full power—with an army of coders cranking out add-ons for the Market, today's skeptics—including some of us—are going to have to eat crow. It's not about pretty icons, Apple fanboys, and its not about business use, Windows Mobile Nerds: its about giving people the true tools to build whatever they want without lame App Store limitations and OS handcuffs. It's about giving phone makers shackled to Symbian and Microsoft's phone OS the chance to build with something different and better and free. And who's going to complain about that?
Back to Apple for a minute: The iPhone has brainwashed us into thinking everything that's revolutionary and exciting in the gadget world needs to be a sex object. Now, I enjoy an Apple hardware brainfuck as much as the next, but a phone is never a better phone because of hardware alone, and Google knows this too. And it will be entering the market at a time when iPhone's software strategy is starting to show wobbly legs. If you've been reading our weekly app roundups, you've probably noticed the story shifting away from clever developers doing cool things ! no one p reviously thought possible to more about what Apple won't let iPhone developers and users do with their phones. As a result, we've seen tons of variety, but not a lot of depth. There are a ton of clever calculator apps of various kinds. There are a ton of games, a ton of flashlights. But in the groundbreaking and unexpected functionality department, all anyone can hear lately is crickets. And Apple's lawyers trying to get the crickets to sign an NDA.
No one else makes a legitimate phone OS with all this support that can be tweaked down to the very roots. For one thing, I'm excited to be able to download an entirely different version of all of Android's core applications if I don't like the default 1.0 versions—and that's every app, everything from the dialer to the contacts manager—something that's technically possible in WinMo but often comes off more as an awkward re-skinning and not a top-down integration. I'm excited to add system-level features to my phone for free, and not just apps that are only allowed to bounce around on the surface. These are the benefits that an open platform will allow developers to provide to Android users, and the benefits that Google hopes all mobile phone customers will come to expect from their phones as a result.
This is all banking on the platform being successful, of course, which is obviously up in the air this early on. But would Google mount such a huge undertaking as Android if they were only expecting to be a different flavor of Windows Mobile? That seems hard to believe.
Everyone who gave the G1 a quick run-through last week was in reality testing a product still in beta. Because as we've said repeatedly, Android is now in the hands of its developers (from within Google itself as well as third-parties), who will have unprecedented access to all parts of a mobile phone and a centralized distribution network (Android Market) in order to do things that have only been teased until now. It's all banking on the Market, and its abilit! y to att ract grade-A content that will provide even novice cellphone users with many opportunities to greatly customize their phones.
To do this Android will need one thing: critical mass, on both the developer and consumer side, in that order—with each reinforcing the other. Its pre-release may be sold-out, but on October 22 there probably won't be campers and local news crews stretched for miles outside of the T-Mobile store. That's because Google knows who they need to go after first—the developers. The geek community. It wasn't a coincidence that at launch, Sergey Brin came on stage on Rollerblades bragging about his accelerometer phone-toss app that he wrote himself. This first release is all about getting developers into Android, and giving them a similar open dev environment that Larry and Sergey will be the first to tell you they couldn't have built Google without. The iPhone didn't get that until version 2.0, many firmware releases later—and it's still not nearly as open as Android will be. (The iPhone also couldn't reliably hold a call without dropping for many until version 2.1, but that's besides the point.)
Open source has failed many times before, critics will say. Here's why Android will not fail in this regard: governance. Google told us that priority number one right now with Android is setting the standards by which the project will operate—what makes a device Android 1.0 compatible, how often full system upgrades will be offered, and the like. One thing that's fairly evident, though, is that an upgrade path will have to be fairly regimented (closer to Ubuntu's strict twice-yearly schedule, rather than the "release whenever we feel like it" model found in other smaller projects) in order to keep all of the members of the huge Open Handset Alliance all on the same page. There will be no folks still waiting for their carrier to release Windows Mobile 6.1, years after it was made available. And! roid wil l not and cannot operate like this—to keep the Market thriving, all of the developers and users will need to be on the same (regular) release schedule. So, while they're taking care of the problems of being open source, they're also taking care of the same problems that a paid platform like Windows Mobile has.
Google has their eyes on the long haul with Android. Which is why reactions to a somewhat scattered UI in the very first implementation is not something they're worried about too much. This is a platform about further reducing the mobile carriers to raw pipes of data, and giving full control to the consumer. It's about creating a critical-mass open-source ecosystem. And even if they fail to sell a ton of handsets, they've already put pressure on all the carriers and phone makers by the fact that they've created a free alternative that does not have to win to impact the players in this industry.
Of course, all of these arguments can be debated, but there's one thing that no no one can argue with: You don't take Google lightly.
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