Panasonic reveals Lumix FZ47 superzoom, lets you shoot 1080i video with full manual control
July 20, 2011 No Comment
Sure, these days nearly all digital cameras can shoot video, but only a small handful give you the power to manually select aperture and shutter speed while doing so. The Lumix FZ47 is Panasonic’s latest high-end point-and-shoot to sport this functionality , providing full control over both video and still photo capture with its Creative Control mode. The 12.1-megapixel superzoom can shoot 1080i HD at 30 fps, though it’s notably lacking in the 1080p department. There’s also a 3-inch LCD, 24x Leica zoom lens with a 25mm wide-angle focal length, and an option to shoot 3.5-megapixel stills while recording video. For photographers wiling to settle for a good deal less power, Panasonic also just announced its entry-level Lumix LS5, which includes a 14.1-megapixel sensor, optical image stabilization, and 720p video, all powered by a pair of AA batteries. The $400 FZ47 will ship next month, while the LS5 hits stores in November, with pricing yet to be announced. Jump past the break for the complete rundown from Panasonic. Continue reading Panasonic reveals Lumix FZ47 superzoom, lets you shoot 1080i video with full manual control Panasonic reveals Lumix FZ47 superzoom, lets you shoot 1080i video with full manual control originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Verizon’s Xperia Play now on sale for $100, Crash Bandicoot spins in celebration
July 20, 2011 No Comment
Getting your PlayStation-certified gaming fix on just got 50 percent cheaper. Verizon’s cut the price of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play in half on its website, selling for $100 with contract only four months after being greeted with open arms. The price cut is a result of Big Red’s “Back to School” promotion, though it’s difficult to believe this one will come out the other end of the sale any costlier than this. Was this sudden reduction made to instigate a price war with AT&T now that it’s introduced the model to its lineup? Or, is this a last-ditch effort to bolster lackluster sales before the Play is discontinued? It’s hard to say — given its meager selection of PlayStation Suite titles, we can’t imagine that the product’s flying off of shelves. Still, five Jacksons is much more reasonable for anyone who just has to have The Sims 3 on the go, right? Verizon’s Xperia Play now on sale for $100, Crash Bandicoot spins in celebration originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Holographic disc storage may not have worked out so well for InPhase , but the folks at General Electric are still trying to make HVD work. Their latest breakthrough, shown off today at an IEEE symposium in Hawaii, is a new micro-holographic material which is 100x more sensitive than its predecessor and ups recording speed to that of Blu-ray discs. In the two years since we saw it last some of the hyperbole has apparently been lost — no claims of “two to four years left for Blu-ray” this time around — but manager Peter Lorraine still thinks the DVD-sized discs have a future in archival and consumer systems. That’s getting tougher to imagine in a world with FiOS and Netflix streaming, but if there is ever another disc format you may be looking at it right now. Continue reading GE’s new holographic storage burns 500GB discs at the speed of a Blu-ray GE’s new holographic storage burns 500GB discs at the speed of a Blu-ray originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Intel delivers record earnings yet again in Q2 — let the boardroom bragging begin
July 20, 2011 No Comment
We know, you’ve heard it all before , but the chip maker’s once again reporting record revenues, reaching a whopping $13.1 billion in Q2 2011. If you’re keeping track, that’s up $2.3 billion, or 22 percent, from Q2 2010, and bests last quarter’s earnings of $12.9 billion by 2 percent. Net income was up 10 percent year-over-year, but down three percent from last quarter, ringing in at $3.2 billion. As Intel humbly points out, this is the outfit’s fifth consecutive quarter of record revenue. So, perhaps a little bit of gloating is in order. Intel delivers record earnings yet again in Q2 — let the boardroom bragging begin originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …MIT’s Backtalk project / art exhibit traces the unseen life of discarded gadgets
July 20, 2011 No Comment
Sooner or later, the device you’re reading this on will either be sold, donated, recycled or otherwise disposed of ; and unless you’re particularly nostalgic about old gadgets like us, you likely won’t ever give it much more thought. But no matter how you get rid of it, that device doesn’t just vanish off the face the Earth. It’s that extra life that got the folks from MIT’s SENSEable City Lab thinking, and the Backtalk project is what they’ve come up with. Part research project and part art exhibition (now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York), the effort involved using GPS tracking devices to trace where things like cellphones, batteries and printer cartridges end up after being discarded — and, in the case of 40 netbook computers, some tracking software and their built-in webcams, which recorded data and images that were sent back to MIT at regular intervals (with the new owners’ consent, of course). Some of the results can be seen in the video after the break and the site linked below, but you’ll have to check out the exhibit first-hand to see the full scope of their findings. Continue reading MIT’s Backtalk project / art exhibit traces the unseen life of discarded gadgets MIT’s Backtalk project / art exhibit traces the unseen life of discarded gadgets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Western Digital now shipping 2.5-inch 1TB Scorpio Blue HDD in standard height
July 20, 2011 No Comment
Be still, our hearts! Could it be? One thousand twenty-four gigabytes of spinning Scorpio Blue fixed disk finally sized for standard height ? If you’ll recall, the line of laptop-oriented HDDs was bumped up to 750GB way back in 2010, and now Western Digital’s shipping its 9.5mm-high 1TB Scorpio Blue HDDs (shortened from 12.5mm). Aside from the storage capacity increase, the dual-platter drive is essentially the same as any other Blue sporting a 5,400 RPM spin-speed and 8MB cache with Advanced Format support. This latest go-getter will be available for the rather reasonable price of $140, but hey, if that SSD-esque Scorpio black’s what you’re really lusting after, we understand. Full PR after the break. Continue reading Western Digital now shipping 2.5-inch 1TB Scorpio Blue HDD in standard height Western Digital now shipping 2.5-inch 1TB Scorpio Blue HDD in standard height originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Hitachi announces high-res 4.5-inch IPS display for smartphones with improved glasses-free 3D
July 20, 2011 No Comment
There’s still no word as to when it might actually land in some phones, but it looks like glasses-free 3D could soon see some improvements courtesy of Hitachi’s latest 4.5-inch IPS display. Not only does it boast a high 1280 x 720 resolution, but it uses a less common lenticular lens approach instead of the parallax barrier method used by the likes of the Nintendo 3DS and HTC EVO 3D. According to Hitachi, that allows for some much 3D brighter images than other displays (470 cd/m2, specifically), and images that are actually brighter in 3D mode than in 2D mode. Here’s hoping Hitachi shows off a bit more than the image above before too long. Hitachi announces high-res 4.5-inch IPS display for smartphones with improved glasses-free 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Never one to shy away from dramatic hyperbole, Steve Jobs declared ours a ” post-PC world ” about this time last year, acknowledging a move away from personal computers as smartphones and tablets become even more ubiquitous. And while Jobs might happily look on as iPhones and iPads become our primarily tie to the outside world, the question remains: what happens to the PC during this grand transition? To a large extent, the answer lies in the the OS, which brings us to OS X Lion . Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to post-PC computing. In typically grandiose fashion, the company has declared OS X 10.7 “the world’s most advanced desktop operating system,” touting the addition of over 250 new features. The list is pretty uneven on the game-changing scale, with updates running the gamut from Airdrop (file-sharing over WiFi) to a full-screen version of the bundled chess game. If there’s one thing tying it all together, though, it’s something that Jobs touched on when he first unveiled the OS back in October : the unmistakable influence of iOS. Now it’s true, we already got a taste of that with gesture-based trackpads and the Mac App Store , but those were merely glimpses of things to come. Apple borrows so heavily from iOS that at times, cycling through features makes the whole thing feel like you’re merely operating an iPad with a keyboard attached. There are plenty of welcome additions here, including aesthetic tweaks and attention to mounting privacy concerns. Like Snow Leopard before it, however, Lion is hardly an explosive upgrade. And like Snow Leopard, it comes in at a reasonable $29 (or a decidedly more pricey $69 as an upcoming flash drive install), making it a worthy upgrade for current Mac owners. But does a boatload of evolutionary features add up to a revolutionary upgrade? Let’s find out. Gallery: Apple OS X Lion (10.7) review Continue reading Apple OS X Lion (10.7) review Apple OS X Lion (10.7) review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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When Gears of War 3 lands in September you’ll be able to pick yourself up a special edition Xbox 360 . If you’ve already got an Xbox though, you don’t have to skip out on the branded accessories game completely. Mad Catz has you covered with a trio licensed goodies, including a throat communicator, a stereo gaming headset and a 7.1 surround sound headset all decked out in the iconic blood-red and black of the franchise. The special edition of the surround sound set (above) is actually just a slightly updated version of the company’s Tritton AX720 headgear with a new decoder box and an extra two channels of sound. Those who want to shout at their opponents without donning bulky ear-wear will likely gravitate towards the throat communicator. All three will launch alongside GOW3 on September 20 for $30, $100, and $180 respectively. You can pre-order now at the more coverage link but, before you go, there’s a pair of pics and some PR after the break. Continue reading Mad Catz gears up for Gears of War with branded audio gear… gear. Mad Catz gears up for Gears of War with branded audio gear… gear. originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Ever since it first peeked its sizable Super AMOLED face out from behind the curtain, anticipation for the Galaxy S II has been tough to tamp down. As the months have worn on though, Americans have simply been left wondering when (if ever) they’d be able to start leaving fingerprints all over one of their own. Well, we finally have an answer… kinda. President of Samsung’s mobile division, Shin Jong-kyun, told reporters on Wednesday, “we expect to release the Galaxy S II in the US market sometime in August.” So there you go — on some undetermined date, for some undetermined price, with some undetermined carrier, you’ll finally be able to get your greasy little paws on a Galaxy S II next month. It’s not much, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Galaxy S II expected to land in the US next month, someday, somewhere originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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