Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, January 12, 2012

drag2share: Nikon D4 Ethernet tethered shooting hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/nikon-d4-hands-on-video/

After getting our eager mitts on Nikon's long overdue D3 successor, aptly named the D4, we got a second chance to revisit our fat-bodied, photo-taking friend at the company's CES booth. The 16.2MP DSLR features a 3.2-inch LCD screen and is capable of 1080p video capture at 30fps. But that's not why we went back for more and it's not why you're reading this right now. We were keen to put the D4's big, bad networking capabilities to the test -- one of which links an array of up to ten of the cameras together for simultaneous, remote shooting over WiFi. Unfortunately, this feature requires use of the TW-5A wireless dongle, which is still awaiting FCC certification and could not be demonstrated. Neither could the imaging company show off the one-to-one connection that allows an auxiliary camera to be controlled from a primary unit. We did get to briefly interact with the camera's native web server running on a laptop, from which you can snap shots, toggle settings (like ISO and shutter speed), playback and download your recordings. You can catch a peek of the interface and an extra look at this sought after shooter after the break.

Gallery: Nikon D4 Ethernet tethered shooting hands-on

Continue reading Nikon D4 Ethernet tethered shooting hands-on (video)

Nikon D4 Ethernet tethered shooting hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Lenovo announces brainier Classmate+ PC, heads to top of the class

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/lenovo-announces-brainier-classmate-pc-heads-to-top-of-the-cla/

Kids have been honing their computer smarts on Intel-based Classmate PCs for a few years now, and Lenovo's just sewn its name inside the collar of its second generation of student-friendly lappies. Based on the chip maker's "Learning Series," Lenovo's new boy comes in clamshell and convertible flavors, and brings an Atom N2600 processor, a max of 2GB DDR3 memory and up to a 320GB -- or 32GB solid state -- storage along to class. It'll launch in uniform grey (like the first generation pictured), but orders that meet the minimum requirement can choose to splash a little color on top. As before, these things are designed to handle the daily rigors dished out by a nine-year-old, hence a new rotating hinge on the convertible, strengthened and designed to last "tens of thousands of cycles." Should be enough to see you into adulthood then. It's available to institutions as of this month, but if you want to know more, hit the PR after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo announces brainier Classmate+ PC, heads to top of the class

Lenovo announces brainier Classmate+ PC, heads to top of the class originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

drag2share: The Future of TV Is Beautiful and Simple and Good [TV]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5875234/the-future-of-tv-is-beautiful-and-simple-and-good

The televisions that are going to be invading our living rooms in 2012, the ones that Samsung and LG and the rest have been trotting out this week at CES? They're the most exciting gadgets of the year, and not because of any apps or gimmicks or third dimensions being shoved down our throats. In fact, they're wonderful in spite of all that.

The TVs of last year were boring and reliant on cheap tricks. They were supposed to be smart—which translated to awful glitchy menus we didn't need and a heap of apps we already had. They were so 3D—which meant bulky eyewear, sore retinas, and sparse content. 3D is a dud, mostly, and "smart" TVs have been garbage, entirely. Companies decided TVs weren't about watching things on TV. Companies really screwed up.

TV had lost its way. TV was boring. TV is back.

This year's TVs tout the pointless features of the past, yes. But the off-key bells and whistles are an afterthought. Why? We're too busy gawking at how fabulously amazing the pictures are.

OLED, 4k, Crystal Display, 8k. A supernova of new technologies that aren't trying to make you tweet while you're watching 3D Scooby Doo. This new wave of displays are pointed at one thing: looking good. Pornographically good. Samsung, LG, and Sony aren't trying to make your life better, easier, or more connected. These screens exist for one reason only: to stroke your eyeballs with stupidly sharp pictures, stratospheric HD resolutions, and colors that look so realistic, you might literally want to have sex with an LCD panel. Teensy-thin levitating rainbow portals into another dimension. Our Casey Chan had the world's first ocular ejaculation.

We'll be watching these TVs in our underwear pretty soon.

The TVs of our near future aren't great because of any feature list, but because of phenomenal picture quality. Streaming conveniences and great interfaces are nice, but they should always be secondary. Far, far secondary. A TV should make pretty pictures like a rocket should be fast, like a spoon should hold cereal, like a rare bird should sing exotic songs. Make TVs do what they're meant to do, and make them do it really, really well.

In fact, make every gadget do what it's meant to do, and make them do it well. Purge the gimmicks. Purify the things we buy. Earn our thousands. We don't need our hardware to multitask just because it can. I don't want a tweeting toaster or Netflix in my dishwasher. I want technology that does what it's supposed to do, and does it better than anything else ever has before.

Samsung's OLED TV is simply the best digital image I've ever looked at in my life. Sharp's 8k set is the most awesomely overwhelming gadget I've ever been in the presence of. Biblically so. Being able to type that with sincerity is so, so, so refreshing. Beautiful TVs are a pure, wonderful thing.

We're sick of smart, sick of overcomplicating, sick of lag and promises that don't work out. Gadgets should make us happy. Looking at a big, gorgeous TV makes us happy. We need more of this, and we need it soon: companies are showing us things that make us happy. That's rarer than any exotic bird.

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Sharp 8K Super Hi-Vision LCD, 4K TV and Freestyle wireless LCD HDTV hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/sharp-8k-super-hi-vision-lcd-4k-tv-and-freestyle-wireless-lcd-h/

We got a hint of Sharp's plans during its CES 2012 press conference two days ago, but really nothing can prepare you for the sight of the company's 7,680x4,320 resolution 85-inch Super Hi-Vision 8K LCD. No matter how close we got, we still couldn't see the pixels, and the video reels being demonstrated showed an almost unimaginable level of detail. The worst part of it was, seeing that first almost ruined the experience of checking out the ICC 4K demo at the other end of the booth. We can say this -- after seeing Super Hi-Vision there's really no going back. Make an appointment to see those 33MP broadcasts from the London Olympics now. Also a concept, but packed in a more conventional design, were Sharp's Aquos Freestyle LCDs. These featherweight flat-screens were also featured in the press conference, and pack wireless HD streaming inside capable of extending up to 98 feet. The 20-incher in the video above even has a battery good enough for two hours of completely wireless 1080p viewing. While Sharp called them concepts, the displays seemed incredibly polished, so check them out in the gallery below because you may see them on shelves someday.

Gallery: Sharp LCD concepts

Sharp 8K Super Hi-Vision LCD, 4K TV and Freestyle wireless LCD HDTV hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Sony Vaio Hybrid and Slate tablet concepts showcase new form factors, flexibile materials (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/sony-vaio-hybrid-and-slate-tablet-concepts-showcase-new-form-fac/

Black, bezeled and rectangular? That's pretty much the go-to design for tablets nowadays. But lately Sony's been straying from the pack and taking a different aesthetic tack, which it recently showcased with the Tablet S and P. On the showroom floor at CES, however, the company had two newer models secured behind glass to give consumers a sense of future form factors. These prototypes -- known prospectively as the Hybrid and Slate -- fall under the Vaio brand and clearly highlight an exciting direction for the Japanese electronics giant's impending offerings.

The Hybrid's most distinctive feature is its marriage of laptop functionality with tablet portability. Sliding the unit up and locking it into place reveals a keyboard in front (shown with a dedicated Windows button) and an expansive speaker grill behind. The company wouldn't elaborate on the materials used in the enclosure, but that sparkly, copper color manages to toe the line between cheap and space age -- a definite contradiction, for sure. At the base of the 11-inch unit is a dock that fits an included stylus, as this tablet is being designed to support touch pen input, in addition to the typical capacitive touch. None of the ports on the device are final, but when and if it ever ships, you can expect the usual array.

For a true glimpse into the next generation of tablet manufacturing, you need only look to Sony's tablet Slate -- the real stunner of this conceptual duo. With its use of a smart, soft touch flexible material -- the company refused to elaborate on just what -- that extends from the unit's back for easy table top mounting, it's easy to see a product like this setting consumers' interest on fire and nabbing that lust-worthy tech crown. Unfortunately, this particular scifi casing is more than likely a few years off, but it's good to see the company innovating and attempting to break free from the shackles of ordinary builds. The Slate is also designed to work with a wireless keyboard that shares the same intelligent material and appears to incorporate a touch interface. Click on through the galleries below for a tour of these two proof of concepts and make sure to click on past the break for a brief video tour.

Gallery: Sony concept tablet Hybrid

Gallery: Sony concept tablet Slate

Continue reading Sony Vaio Hybrid and Slate tablet concepts showcase new form factors, flexibile materials (video)

Sony Vaio Hybrid and Slate tablet concepts showcase new form factors, flexibile materials (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: NXP gesture smart card adds another layer of security to NFC data, we go hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/nxp-gesture-smart-card-nfc/

With the rapidly expanding proliferation of Near-Field Communication (NFC), concerns about its security and privacy are growing right along with it. There's plenty of worries fluttering about that personal information stored in NFC tags and mobile payment applications could easily be snagged if someone steals your stuff. While most existing services like Google Wallet are heavily focused on security, there are still several other uses of NFC technology that are largely unlocked and easily cracked. Aware of this issue, NXP Semiconductors is working on a smart card that adds an extra barrier of entry for would-be information thieves; it requires you to draw gestures, patterns or even enter PIN codes in order to unlock the secret 411 on your computer. This works out well when you use an RFID reader to access your corporate offices or even use NFC to import passwords and other highly sensitive information.

How do you set up the unlock process? You use an application on your desktop, which is capable of customizing the access point and it can also get trained to learn your style of handwriting. The service is still 6-12 months away from fruition, so we didn't get to see everything the card will be capable of, but we were at least able to get a short demonstration of some of the benefits of having an extra layer of security to NFC data transfers.

Gallery: NXP gesture smart card hands-on

Continue reading NXP gesture smart card adds another layer of security to NFC data, we go hands-on (video)

NXP gesture smart card adds another layer of security to NFC data, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Panasonic unveils Infinite Black Ultra Panel plasmas for 2012 (eyes-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/panasonic-unveils-infinite-black-ultra-panel-plasmas-for-2012-e/

The leader in plasmas TVs keeps stepping up its game with 16 new 3D models for 2012 and one lonely 2D set. At the top of the line is the VT50 series -- 4 is unlucky in Japan -- featuring the new Infinite Black Ultra Panel with blacker blacks then the 2011 VT35 and 24,576 steps of gradation, which should provide more detail in dark scenes. It's too early to tell if this will officially dethrone the king of blacks, but we were able to appreciate the improved performance in a side by side demo. The picture quality isn't the only thing new, 2012 brings DLNA, a new more anti-reflective screen and a web browser that uses a smartphone app to avoid entering data with an onscreen keyboard. There are also new 3D glasses for 2012 that are much ligher and work via Bluetooth -- and of course not compatible with last year's. We wish there were more details (like price and availability) in the press release after the break, but we'd guess this Summer for less than you paid for your 2011 HDTV.

Gallery: Panasonic Infinite Black Ultra Panel plasma eyes-on

Gallery: Panasonic VT50 2012 plasma hands-on

Gallery: Panasonic 2012 3D glasses hands-on

Continue reading Panasonic unveils Infinite Black Ultra Panel plasmas for 2012 (eyes-on)

Panasonic unveils Infinite Black Ultra Panel plasmas for 2012 (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Toshiba 5.1-inch prototype tablet eyes-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/toshiba-5-1-inch-prototype-tablet-eyes-on/

Those 13- and 7.7-inch Toshiba concepts were pretty sweet, but what if you're in the mood something in slightly odder aspect ratio? The company had another prototype, one that we couldn't convince them to take out of its glass case, that's not unlike the Intel MID that was floating around back in 2008 and 2009. It's sporting a 21:9 screen in a Galaxy Note-class 5.1-inch size. The bottom of the phablet is home to the microUSB and HDMI ports, while all the physical buttons are on the right side, though, they're oddly positioned near the bottom of the device. One of the three keys is clearly the volume rocker and one is presumably the lock/power, but we're not entirely sure what the other is for. Check out the gallery below and, if we can convince them to open up the case, we'll return with more hands-on impression.

Gallery: Toshiba 5.1-inch tablet eyes-on