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Friday, October 02, 2009

Sigma's DP1s gets official, hitting shelves in November?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/02/sigmas-dp1s-gets-official-hitting-shelves-in-november/

Sigma's DP1 had a lot going for it -- despite a somewhat steep asking price, plenty of folks were won over by both its sturdy build and image quality. Now, after the world offered up a somewhat muted response to the DP2, the company's announcing an update of the former device. The DP1s features the same sensor and processor as the DP1 but adds some functionality, including the ability to simultaneously shoot separate RAW and JPEG images, and an option to allocate the QS (Quick Set) function to the digital zoom buttons. Also in this build is a 14 megapixel (2,652 x 1,768 x 3 layers) FOVEON X3 direct image sensor, which the company says will improved performance when shooting backlit subjects, a 16.6mm F4 lens, and more. No price or street date yet, but the rumor mill says to look for it sometime in November. PR after the break.

Continue reading Sigma's DP1s gets official, hitting shelves in November?

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sigma's DP1s gets official, hitting shelves in November? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Down economy drives more rational (less emotional) purchase behavior, as consumers buy necessities & do more research to get the best value

Thursday, October 01, 2009

When entrepreneurs need someone to kick the tires until they bleed (the tires, not the entrepreneur) - http://bit.ly/Ce2zG

The Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter Now Has Digital Audio [Adapters]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bQZAagz0cg0/the-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-adapter-now-has-digital-audio

The USB audio version of the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter hasn't shipped yet, but Kanex just came out with an even more updated version of it with digital audio.

There isn't a whole lot to explain, other than the fact that the adapter is now basically set to deliver full audio quality to the video content played back on your Mac, and all through one HDMI cable. The previous version was held up because of manufacturing issues, so we'll have to see if this version suffers from the same difficulties. [Kanex]

Spotify Adds Offline Music Caching to Its Desktop Player, Makes iTunes Look Prudish [Software]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ERL5kwsYlaU/spotify-adds-offline-music-caching-to-its-desktop-player-makes-itunes-look-prudish

Not being allowed to have music subscription service Spotify is now officially the worst thing about being an American: Subscribers will soon be able to listen to unlimited music offline, just like in the murders-everything-else Spotify iPhone app.

The feature, which lets users designate any or all of their content to be available offline, is only available to the £9.99/month or £120/year premium subscribers, but effectively hands them unlimited music, available at all times, for a flat fee. The mobile app is still the showstopper here—we've seen a few all-you-can-eat DRM music services before—but, you know, still, insult to injury. Our only consolation? Spotify thinks they can launch in the US before the end of the year, though I'll be eager to see if they can get as cozy a licensing deal as they found in the UK. [Techcrunch]

Custom Camera Rig Allows For a Stunning Vertical Panorama of a Giant Redwood [Nature]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/oIU9I2cu950/custom-camera-rig-allows-for-a-stunning-vertical-panorama-of-a-giant-redwood

Wildlife photographer Michael Nichols wanted to photograph a 300-foot-tall redwood in a dense forest with no clear lines of sight. So he built a custom camera rig to take tons of close-ups to stitch together.

The result is a stunning composite of 83 different shots of this incredible tree. Look for a huge foldout of the image in the October issue of National Geographic, and here's a video of Nichols talking about the process of capturing the image.

[NPR via Hack-a-Day via Make]

Why is Panasonic the First to Invent a Two-Way Iron? [Iron]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MoQ6nW_OjsQ/why-is-panasonic-the-first-to-invent-a-two+way-iron

Unless my Google skills are failing me, this Panasonic 360-Degree iron is the first iron to have the pointed tip at both sides of the iron. It's been staring us in the face for 100 years, and Panasonic's is first?

By making the back of the iron pointed instead of flat, like every single other iron out there, you can go back and forth with the Panasonic NIW810CS as much as you want without screwing up your ironing pattern and wrinkling what you already pressed. Best of all, Panasonic only charges $50 for this bit of ingenuity. [Amazon]

Mobile Web Finally Easy Enough For Old People, Female People and Teen People [Charts]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-4DG2EYH444/mobile-web-finally-easy-enough-for-old-people-female-people-and-teen-people

Nielsen's mobile web statics show that, from July 2008 to July 2009, the demographic groups of 65+, female and 13-17 showed the most usage growth. The least? 18-24 year olds, who are all up in this mobile web already.

Also equally interesting: we have a higher percentage of male readers than the NFL, the NBA or even MAXIM. More women look at softcore boobies than look at gadgets! [Nielsen]

ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/asus-ships-100-o-play-hdp-r1-hd-media-streamer/

Hey, you -- yeah, you. Remember that O!Play HDP-R1 media player that ASUS teased us with back in June? Remember how you dedicated a calender to it so you could count down the days 'til its arrival? Time to stop all that madness, as said box is finally on sale and shipping right now within the US of A. For the surprisingly reasonable price of $99.99, users can utilize this very device to stream and play back an array of formats with 1080p resolution support. Heck, there's even an eSATA and Ethernet port there, just waiting for your love. So, will you show it? Or is life still worth living knowing what you've neglected?

[Via Slashgear]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/asus-ships-100-o-play-hdp-r1-hd-media-streamer/

Hey, you -- yeah, you. Remember that O!Play HDP-R1 media player that ASUS teased us with back in June? Remember how you dedicated a calender to it so you could count down the days 'til its arrival? Time to stop all that madness, as said box is finally on sale and shipping right now within the US of A. For the surprisingly reasonable price of $99.99, users can utilize this very device to stream and play back an array of formats with 1080p resolution support. Heck, there's even an eSATA and Ethernet port there, just waiting for your love. So, will you show it? Or is life still worth living knowing what you've neglected?

[Via Slashgear]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

ASUS ships $100 O!Play HDP-R1 HD media streamer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: BumpTop 1.2 with multitouch support available now

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/video-bumptop-1-2-with-multitouch-support-available-now/

BumpTop 1.2 is now available, adding multitouch support to the already impressive list of features available for the 3D desktop. Check out the free download and you'll soon be introduced to a host of new gestures, including the scrunch (where you can grab a handful of items and pull 'em into a pile), wall focus and rotate, and some quick and easy photo editing. As always, you can download the free version to get started, but if you want to take advantage of stuff like un-watermarked image previews and unlimited sticky notes, you'll have to shell out $29 for the pro version. Sorry, Mac and Linux users -- this is still a Windows-only affair. But we do have a video for you! You know where to find it -- after the break, of course.

Continue reading Video: BumpTop 1.2 with multitouch support available now

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Video: BumpTop 1.2 with multitouch support available now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS EeeBox EB1501 comes packing Windows 7, Atom 330

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/01/asus-eeebox-eb1501-comes-packing-windows-7-atom-330/

We just caught a glimpse of ASUS' EeeBox EB1012 nettop last month, but it looks like the company is already doing things one better with its new, redesigned EB1501 model. As before, this one packs the increasingly common one-two punch of NVIDIA's Ion chipset and Intel's Atom 333 dual-core processor, but makes its mark by being the first EeeBox (and one of the first nettops) to come pre-loaded with Windows 7, which also means it's not shipping until the end of the month. Otherwise, you'll get the usual 2GB of RAM (expandable to 4GB) and 250GB hard drive, a built-in DVD burner, and an HDMI port to make it feel right at home in your home theater. No official pricing over here just yet, but it looks like this one will start at €399 (or about $580) when it hits Europe.

[Via Notebook Italia, thanks Magnus]

Filed under: Desktops

ASUS EeeBox EB1501 comes packing Windows 7, Atom 330 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keep up with the latest trends using Google Search

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/ljNeGBaiS-o/keep-up-with-latest-trends-using-google.html

Today, we're launching a new web search feature that will help you stay in touch with the latest trends on the web.

You might already be familiar with Hot Trends, which lists the fastest rising searches on the web at any given hour. Now, when you search Google.com and your query matches one of the top 100 fastest-rising search terms, we'll show you a graph at the bottom of page, with more information — like how popular the query is, how fast it's rising over time, and other useful data.

Below is a picture of what you'd find today if you searched for [reina capodici], who just wed American Idol star Justin Guarini. Or try another example: [gotthard base tunnel], which is set to become the longest tunnel in the world. (But make sure you search for these examples today — nothing stays hot for long.)

To coincide with this change, we've also reduced the number of trends listed on the Google Hot Trends homepage to 40 from 100. This feature, however, will show up for any query that matches the top 100. We hope this change will make for a simpler user experience, and help you focus better on the top, most interesting content.

This new feature is available in the U.S. and Japan. We hope it will help you keep up with everything there's to know about the latest trends online. No more being out of the loop at your office watercooler!

Posted by Aaron ! Wise, As sociate Product Manager and Hiroshi Kuraoka, Product Manager

Google Integrates Hot Trends into Search Results [Google]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/yhnIREYwqj8/google-integrates-hot-trends-into-search-results

Good news for all you web trend followers: Searches constituting the top 100 fastest-rising terms—a.k.a. Hot Trends—will now display a graph at the bottom of the search engine's results page demonstrating the rise of the trend.

Currently available in the U.S. and Japan only, when searched, these hot trends will come up as a graph at the bottom of the search page results, detailing information including popularity and how quickly the term is rising over time. As of this writing, "american samoa" is holding the top trending spot, with a hotness level of "Volcanic" and a peak of two hours ago. Other current hot trends in the U.S. right now? Kate plus 8, Khloe Kardashian wedding photos, and halloween costume ideas 2009. If you like to keep a close eye on hot topics, the integration with hot trends is a small but nice step.

Keep Up with the Latest Trends Using Google Search [Official Google Blog]

Dropbox Comes to the iPhone and iPod touch [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Dw7db7HK3tk/dropbox-comes-to-the-iphone-and-ipod-touch

iPhone/iPod touch only: Dropbox, one of our favorite cross-platform file-syncing tools, has now made its way to the iPhone and iPod touch, complete with offline file viewing.

Once installed on your device, Dropbox for iPhone provides access to all your Dropbox files, allows you to view any file supported by your iPhone (including documents, photos, music, and video), uploads any photo or video you've taken on your device to your Dropbox account, and lets you save any file as a favorite for offline viewing. If you want to share a file in your Dropbox with someone else, the application can generate an email with a link directly to the file.

I first saw a demo of Dropbox for the iPhone way back at SXSW in March, so it's great to see this app finally make its way to the App Store. In short: If you're already a fan of Dropbox and you've got an iPhone or iPod touch, you'll want to download this app. Like the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions, Dropbox for the iPhone is freeware and requires only a Dropbox account.

Dropbox [iTunes App Store]

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