Sunday, May 17, 2009

Casio EX-FS10 reviewed, slides 1000 fps capture into the back pocket of your mom jeans

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/16/casio-ex-fs10-reviewed-slides-1000-fps-capture-into-the-back-po/


Casio's really blown out the feature list on the EX-FS10, and now PhotographyBLOG has taken the compact fashioncam through its paces. Sadly, like many modern compacts, straight up image quality is a bit scarce here, with obvious noise at ISO 200 and up, no optical image stabilization, and not even the silly 12 megapixel extravagance of its counterparts to blame it on -- the EX-FS10 shoots 9 megapixel stills. The HD and slow-motion video recording is also severely hampered by a lack of zoom during shooting, bad sound, and the oversized AVI format. Still, the camera is incredibly well built, very slim, and it can pull off some really wild feats -- 720p might be growing increasingly common, but 1000 fps slow motion, burst mode for stills and pre-record shutter lag adjustment make the FS10 quite unique in its category. It's obviously a tradeoff, but at least there's some good news: while the camera was supposedly slated to retail at around $450, it's hovering pretty close to $300 at the moment.

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Casio EX-FS10 reviewed, slides 1000 fps capture into the back pocket of your mom jeans originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 May 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel presentation promises Medfield-based smartphones by 2011

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/17/intel-presentation-promises-medfield-based-smartphones-by-2011/


We've been hearing about Intel's Medfield processor for some time now, but much of the talk so far has been about it being an Atom-replacement for netbooks and MIDs. A seemingly recent Intel presentation obtained by the folks at UMPC Portal is now shedding a bit more light on the matter, however, and it's looking like smartphones could actually be at the heart of Intel's long-term plans. As you can see above, and in the complete presentation at the link below, Intel sees its base of devices getting larger and larger as its processors get smaller and more power-efficient, and it looks like "mainstream smartphones" could become a reality as soon as 2011. That's due largely to the 32nm manufacturing process used for the smaller Medfield processor, which also makes uses a smaller board size that leaves more room for keypads, batteries and whatnot. Of course, we are still talking about Intel predicting the state of devices two years out, so who knows how things will shake out in the interim.

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Intel presentation promises Medfield-based smartphones by 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 May 2009 19:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday, May 16, 2009

TiltShift Makes Your Photos Look Like Miniatures [Photography]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/hI4CG99bxKU/tiltshift-makes-your-photos-look-like-miniatures

Web site and Adobe AIR application TiltShift gives your photos a tilt-shift photography effect that normally requires expensive special lenses or Photoshop chops.

We've actually featured a similar service once before, but TiltShift is a much better tool, offering more advanced features and more control. As Jason pointed out last time we talked about tilt-shift photography: "Tilt-shift lenses start at $1200'ish and only rise in cost from there. Most people won't be running out to buy a lens that expensive for a little hobbyist fun." So true. Moreover, tilt-shift photography isn't exclusively used for the miniature effect; you can transform photographs of any kind with TiltShift and get amazing results.

TiltShift works either on its web page (where it's Flash-based), or you can download TiltShift for free as an Adobe AIR application (meaning it'll run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux).



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The Full-Screen Firefox Cloud Desktop [Featured Desktop]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Wuh-JsPpqPg/the-full+screen-firefox-cloud-desktop

Reader cain novocain took the experimental Firefox Desktop extension and made it his real desktop, an interesting idea for those that spend all their time in the cloud.

The desktop, explained in his own words:

Using Lifehacker featured Firefox extension Desktop as my REAL desktop at the moment. It really made me think again about the Cloud operating system we've heard so much about. A peaceful middle ground would be great. Its wonderful! The second thumbnail from the bottom right is the CTA Bus Tracker that allows me to track mass transit in Chicago, specificly, my bus, just by hitting the refresh button.

I also altered the Pidgin.exe and .dll files to use the eclipse_2 PNG Chat icon instead of the ugly Pidgin available icon for the taskbar (Done with IcoFX)

Also using Start Killer, StandaloneStack, Powermenu (for light transparency) and Dropbox.

The result might not be for everybody, but it's an interesting idea and a great way to bridge the gap between a desktop machine and all your web-based applications. Great job, cain novocain!

Want to see your desktop featured here? Once you've created your ow! n beauti fully tweaked (and hopefully productive) desktop, post it over in the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Flickr Group complete with a description of the programs and tweaks you used (and preferably links as well!), and we just might feature it here.



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Voyij Finds Best Deals for Travelers with an Open Calendar [Travel]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/gix5FUiSSlc/voyij-finds-best-deals-for-travelers-with-an-open-calendar

Sometimes your vacations are elaborate, months-long planned excursions. Other times, you just want to get out of Dodge as cheap and quick as possible. Voyij can help with the latter.

Tell Yoyij where you want to leave from and give it a rough time frame to work with. You can also search destinations and departure dates in a truly wide-open style if you're adventurous, or narrow it with parameters like "next weekend" or "June". Once Voyij has the basics, it searches for the best prices for airfare, hotel accommodations, and vacation package deals and brings them back. From there, you can refine the deal search and your whimsical mini-vacation with various filters, as seen in the screenshot above.

If you need more control than Voyij offers, make sure to check out the Hive Five on best travel search engines. Would you use an open-ended search (and a bit of luck) to plan your next vacation? Sound off in the comments below with your desires for adventure or horror at the lack of structured planning.

[via Mashable]


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