In life as in death, it seems, getting your hands on an iPad 2 is no easy feat. Reuters is reporting today that paper replicas of the tablet are selling out in parts of Asia, as revelers prepare to set the things ablaze during China’s Qingming festival Tuesday. As is tradition, paper versions of money, clothing, and, yes, consumer electronics are burned as offerings to the dead, and this year Apple’s latest slate is apparently all the rage for expired techies — one shopkeeper in Malaysia said his stock of 300 paper iPad 2s sold out quickly, leaving him unable to meet demand. Sounds strangely familiar , doesn’t it? China’s dead affected by iPad 2 shortages of a different sort originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve been big fans of Lensbaby for quite some time, but up until now, its wares weren’t exactly ideal for the professional crowd. It seems that the company’s angling to change that with its latest release, the duly-named Composer Pro. For all intents and purposes, this is a fresh take on the existing Composer , with an upgraded swivel ball / focus mechanism that delivers smoother focus and tilt control to those who need it to make ends meet. In case you’re wondering, the Pro is compatible with the Lensbaby Optic Swap System, and it’ll ship with either the Double Glass Optic ($300 for the bundle) or the new Sweet 35 Optic ($400) installed. Head on past the break for the full breakdown of specifications, and look for this one to ship momentarily from your fav-o-rite e-tailer. Continue reading Lensbaby tempts the serious crowd with Composer Pro lens peripheral Lensbaby tempts the serious crowd with Composer Pro lens peripheral originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …We’ve been big fans of Lensbaby for quite some time, but up until now, its wares weren’t exactly ideal for the professional crowd. It seems that the company’s angling to change that with its latest release, the duly-named Composer Pro. For all intents and purposes, this is a fresh take on the existing Composer , with an upgraded swivel ball / focus mechanism that delivers smoother focus and tilt control to those who need it to make ends meet. In case you’re wondering, the Pro is compatible with the Lensbaby Optic Swap System, and it’ll ship with either the Double Glass Optic ($300 for the bundle) or the new Sweet 35 Optic ($400) installed. Head on past the break for the full breakdown of specifications, and look for this one to ship momentarily from your fav-o-rite e-tailer. Continue reading Lensbaby tempts the serious crowd with Composer Pro lens peripheral Lensbaby tempts the serious crowd with Composer Pro lens peripheral originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve been big fans of Lensbaby for quite some time, but up until now, its wares weren’t exactly ideal for the professional crowd. It seems that the company’s angling to change that with its latest release, the duly-named Composer Pro. For all intents and purposes, this is a fresh take on the existing Composer , with an upgraded swivel ball / focus mechanism that delivers smoother focus and tilt control to those who need it to make ends meet. In case you’re wondering, the Pro is compatible with the Lensbaby Optic Swap System, and it’ll ship with either the Double Glass Optic ($300 for the bundle) or the new Sweet 35 Optic ($400) installed. Head on past the break for the full breakdown of specifications, and look for this one to ship momentarily from your fav-o-rite e-tailer. Continue reading Lensbaby tempts the serious crowd with Composer Pro lens peripheral Lensbaby tempts the serious crowd with Composer Pro lens peripheral originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Nicholas Callaway shifts paper-based empire to app, prays the publishing gods approve
April 4, 2011 No Comment
If you’ve found yourself even mildly obsessed with style, art or design over the past score, there’s a better-than-average chance you’ve got a Nicholas Callaway book on your coffee table. And it’ll soon be a collector’s item. The publishing monolith made his fortunes in the pages of ye old paper-based books, but it seems that he’ll be paying off future mortgages with something else entirely. In a recent sit-down with Reuters , Callaway confessed to “betting the ranch” on apps, quietly stroking the capacitive touchpanel on his iPad and gazing fondly into the middle distance. For him, this is a “once in a century” revolution, where an entire industry hits a fork and is forced to continue on with an entirely new medium. Of course, Callaway is far from the only one making this shift — we’ve seen legendary newspapers make similar moves, and as e-book stores continue to grow in prominence, it’s a given that paperbacks will eventually give way to whatever’s next. Hit the source link for the longest, most in-depth dive you’d ever dream of taking into this here topic. Nicholas Callaway shifts paper-based empire to app, prays the publishing gods approve originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Nikon D5100 DSLR surfaces with 16.2 megapixel sensor, 1080p video recording
April 4, 2011 No Comment
Been waiting for a new Nikon DSLR to slide in under that magical $1,000 mark? Then we’ve got some good news for you, as Digital Home Thoughts has now let slip some official details and pictures of Nikon’s new prosumer D5100 model. This one steps things up to a D7000 -matching 16.2 megapixels from the 12 megapixel D5000 , and boasts a 3-inch articulated display (side-mounted this time), 1080p video recording at both 30 and 24 fps (with autofocus!), ISO settings from 100 to 6,400, and an 18-105mm lens included in the kit (no body-only option available just yet, it seems). What’s more, Nikon’s also releasing a new ME-1 microphone alongside the camera to let you take full advantage of those video recording capabilities — check it out after the break. Look for this one to set you back $899.95 for the kit, with the mic running $159.95. Those are Canadian prices according to Digital Home Thoughts , though we’d expect US pricing to be the same. Continue reading Nikon D5100 DSLR surfaces with 16.2 megapixel sensor, 1080p video recording Nikon D5100 DSLR surfaces with 16.2 megapixel sensor, 1080p video recording originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We told you to get through that 10 pack of rentals quickly didn’t we? As pretty much anyone could have predicted, the Motion Picture Association of America (in case you’ve forgotten, that’s these guys ) doesn’t think Zediva has the right to rent access to DVDs for streaming across the internet . Specifically, the MPAA calls Zediva for not being the traditional rental service it claims to be, and claims streaming the output of a DVD player across the internet even to one user amounts to public performance of the movie. There’s no response yet from Zediva, but in the meantime armchair lawyers can check out the MPAA’s statement in PDF form at the source link. MPAA sues Zediva for streaming DVDs, no one is surprised originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Sprint says its NFC-based payment service will launch this year, beat other carriers to the cash register
April 4, 2011 No Comment
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon may have all lined up to support the so-called Isis mobile payment system for cellphones, but Sprint has decided to go it alone for various reasons, and it’s now saying it plans to beat the others to market. As Bloomberg reports, Sprint is already working with payment networks and handset makers on its own NFC-based system, and it says it plans to roll out the service sometime this year, while Isis has previously stated that it only expects to be ready in 2012. While details are otherwise still fairly light, Sprint says that customers will be able to have purchases billed to their regular credit card statements rather than their phone bill, and that it will rely on alternatives to taking a percentage each transaction for itself as Isis plans to do. Of course, while this is Sprint’s latest move in the space, it’s far from its first — in fact, it’s been running NFC trials as far back as 2007 . [Thanks, Carl] Sprint says its NFC-based payment service will launch this year, beat other carriers to the cash register originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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An unfamiliar face I’m not , but you’ll be hearing a lot more from myself and Mr. Tim Stevens in the months to come. I’ve been around these parts since the summer of 2006 — barely two years after the site launched — when I (unknowingly) began a march to writing more professional blog posts than anyone else in the world . I have to credit Ryan Block and Peter Rojas for showing me the ropes (and Josh Topolsky for everything else), and I’m elated to admit that I’ve been here long enough to witness every Editor transition that Engadget has seen. To say I’m humbled to be in a position to take over the reins as Managing Editor would be a tremendous understatement; this brand is iconic not because of tricky advertising or dumb luck, but only due to the sleepless nights and incredible determination of the individuals that work here. We’ve got a lot of moving parts right now, but there are two things that won’t ever change: our dedication to our craft, and our insistence on delivering the best in breaking news within the consumer electronics space. I’d ask that you not take my word for it, and rather look to these very pages to see that vow borne out. You should expect a lot of new and exciting things from us in the future — things like a renewed focus on tightening the integration with our mobile applications, more frequent reader meetups, zany new Engadget Show segments from across the tech universe, and expanded live event coverage. The foundation that Engadget was built upon (and that was drilled into me at an early age) remains firmly in place, and there’s a stellar senior staff here intently focused on keeping it that way. If you haven’t managed to pick up on anything from my last half-decade here, you can dig into a bit of backstory with my Growing up Geek piece, raise your stalker status one higher by visiting my About.me / Tumblr pages, and complete the holy trinity of digital friendship by following me on Twitter . Let’s keep in touch, cool? P.S. – That’s me celebrating a meal at Taipei’s Windows 7-themed restaurant , and yes, I drink from that glass daily. Hello, again originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Twitter finally gets a legitimate search function, lets you filter tweets using smiley faces
April 4, 2011 No Comment
Like Google’s web search, Twitter started off life doing one single thing and doing it very well. And, just like Google, it’s kept adding subtle little enhancements along its way to becoming a mature internet tool. Today, its own famously simplistic search functionality has take a turn through the makeover booth and has emerged shinier, happier, and much smarter on the other side. No longer do you need to have, for example, the specific names of your favorite smartphone jailbreak artists, you just search for the general term and Twitter will do some actual searching for you instead of merely matching your query to usernames. You can even step up to an advanced search, where adding the “:)” and “:(” operators determines whether you’ll get happy or downbeat tweets on the topic. Come to think of it, that is pretty advanced. Yo Google, where are your emoticon operators? Twitter finally gets a legitimate search function, lets you filter tweets using smiley faces originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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