Apple's $1099 2GHz MacBook gets benchmarked

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

If you'd been pinching your pennies waiting for Apple to unleash an update to the MacBook side of things, your wait was ended last week, but if you've been wondering just how much difference the increase from 2MB to 4MB of L2 cache (and the 0.17MHz bump, too) made, here's your sign. MacLife was able to get its hands around a $1,099 base unit, and rather than carefully coaxing into the world, it broke out the whipping stick and put this bad boy to work. The new machine was pit against the old base MacBook (at 1.83GHz) and the previous 2GHz BlackBook, and while increases in efficiency weren't exactly considerable, reviewers found them at least noticeable. The latest machine shaved seconds off here and there from iMovie exporting and Photoshopping, and while most tests showed just single digit improvements, the iPhoto test did display a 22-percent gain compared to the previous 1.83GHz MacBook. Of course, these preliminary tests aren't anything out of the ordinary, but keep an eye on the read link for more fleshed out testing (including the refreshed BlackBook) in the coming days.

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Panasonic's 12 megapixel Lumix DMC-FX100: a wide-angle, "HD video" shooter

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Oh boy, lookie lookie. Panasonic just announced their new Lumix FX top-ender, the DMC-FX100. Packing a 1/1.72-inch, 12.2 megapixel CCD, this compact shooter manages to squeeze in a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC lens with 3.6x optical zoom. The cam features VE III processing along with Panny's Mega Optical Image Stabilizer and Intelligent ISO control (up to a 6400 sensitivity) to reduce blurring. Shutter release is measured at 0.009 seconds while bursting 8 shots per second at full resolution. It even records WVGA (848 x 480) video at 30fps or 1280 x 720 at 15fps direct to SDHC/SD cards. Nice, should be a winner by the time the reviews roll around.

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Casio's 12 megapixel Exilim Zoom EX-Z1200

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Pfff, 10 megapixels is for sissies. Casio, like Panasonic earlier today, just pumped out their own 12.1 megapixel shooter, the Exilim Zoom EX-Z1200. A 1/1.7-inch CCD and 3x zoom lens will be responsible for collecting the photons while the Exilim Engine 2.0 processing attempts to make sense of it all. Casio's flagship compact also delivers CCD-shift image stabilization and range of blur-reduction technologies bent on making the most of that ISO 1600 sensivity -- if reviews of its EX-Z1000 cuz are anything to go by then that's probably not saying much. Face detection and motion analysis technologies enable the camera to lock focus onto a subject's face and then track it as the person moves. Rounding things out are a decent 2.8-inch wide LCD, SDHC card support, a lazy 3 shot per second burst mode, and H.264 video recordings at a maximum 848 x 480 resolution and just 20fps. No price listed, but it had better slide in for less than the superior spec'd DMC-FX100 if they hope to compete.

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Fujitsu's H.264 chip encodes/decodes in Full HD -- a world's first

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: HDTV, Portable Video

Fujitsu just announced a world's first H.264 chip capable of encoding/decoding 1920 x 1080 (60i/50i) video in real time. The chip features 256MB of onboard FCRAM and ultra low 750mW power draw when encoding video. That means lickity quick, MPEG-2 quality processing with only a third, or half the required storage. The ¥30,000 ($247) MB86H51 chip is available to OEMs starting July 1st after which you'll find it bunged into the latest up-scale, consumer-class video recorders.

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How to turn your photo into movie-like effect using Photoshop?

(source: ebin 21 03 2007)

What you need to have: Adobe Photoshop What you will learn: colour mood adjustments + depth of field effect + film effect PS: ⌘ key for Mac users / CTRL key for Windows users

Colour mood adjustments

1. Adjust the Hue/Saturation: ⌘U/CTRL-U

2. Adjust the brightness and contrast: Menu > Image > Adjustments > Exposure…

Depth of field effect

3. Duplicate current active layer by dragging it to the ‘create a new layer’ button located at the bottom of Layer window.

4. Apply lens blur on the new layer on top: Menu > Filter > Blur > Lens Blur… Adjust according to your own preference.

5. Click on the ‘add layer mask’ button at the bottom of Layer window. Then click and select the ‘Layer mask thumbnail’ (the white rectangle).

6. Select brush tool(b), set the master diameter to 400px. Then choose the focus point in the photo and click on it.

Film effect

7. Create a new layer by clicking the ‘create a new layer’ button located at the bottom of Layer window.

8. Fill the new layer with black colour: reset colour to default black & white (d), switch black colour to background (x), fill the layer (⌘-del/CTRL-backspace)

9. Set the opacity of the black layer to 70% by pressing ‘7′

10. Use erase tool(e), set the master diameter to 400px. Then start erase the center of the photo.

11. Flatten the image: Menu > Layer > Flatten Image and add noise: Menu > Filter > Noise > Add Noise…

Cinemascope (optional)

12. Add black bars on top and bottom of photo and it’s done! Use Rectangular Marquee Tool(m) to select (drag) upper part of photo, hold the shift key and select the bottom part, fill with black colour (⌘-del/CTRL-backspace)

You can also add an extra step to twist the colour into this mood by using ‘Color Balance’(⌘B/CTRL-B). Drag the slider towards cyan and blue for Shadows, Midtones & Highlights.

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