AdhamTech Network

Companies that aren’t Canon or Nikon have it rough in the digital camera market—particularly outside the cheap point-and-shoot area. Some band together for strength in numbers, creating cooperative standards like Panasonic, Olympus and Leica’s new Micro Four Thirds system—a spec for smaller cameras with digital viewfinders like a compact, but interchangeable lenses, manual controls and higher performance like a DSLR. We tested Panasonic’s 13-megapixel Lumix G1, paying close attention to the fact that it’s the first contender in a totally new camera category and—like that other G1, the Android smartphone—it sets the stage for what’s to come.

There is a single photo that you should think long and hard about before deciding whether to plunk down $800 for the G1. And oddly enough, it wasn’t even shot with the camera itself.

Read more on Gizmodo.

Now that Intel’s mighty Core i7 is all out in the open, it’s no shock to see a wave of gaming rigs come along boasting said chip. Following in the footsteps of Dell and Gateway comes Alienware with the Area-51 X-58 — a beast that’s a leap above (in terms of power and price) the recently revealed Area-51 750i. Serious gamers can select from the Core i7 920 (2.66GHz), 940 (2.93GHz) or Core i7 Extreme (3.2GHz) along with dual gigabit Ethernet jacks, one or two 2GB ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2s, up to 2TB of HDD space, an optional dual-layer Blu-ray burner and the usual complement of ports. The sky’s the limit once you really start speccing it out, but the ball gets rolling at “just” $1,649.

From Engadget.

It’s been nearly a year since we first saw the USB 3.0 connector make an appearance at CES, and after months of corporate infighting, spec-polishing, and technical navel-gazing, the future of consumer peripheral connectivity is here — in the form of complete specifications and a demo. Yeah, so maybe SuperSpeed USB isn’t making the most dramatic entrance ever, but hey, it doesn’t have to with 4.8Gbps transfer speeds, improved power management, and backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 along for the ride. As expected, the first wave of devices won’t hit until 2010, but Symwave’s giving attendees of this week’s SuperSpeed conference a taste of tomorrow with a demo of the Quasar USB 3.0 chipset, which is targeted at “sync-and-go” devices like phones and media players. Sounds lovely — now if you’ll excuse us, we have to go back to mourning the death of FireWire 400.

From Engadget.

The new PowerShot SX10 IS camera represents Canon’s first foray into the world of the 20x super-zoom, offering a lens equivalent to a massive 28-560mm focal length. Everything from wide-angle landscapes and group portraits at the wide end to unobtrusive candid snaps and wildlife shots at the telephoto can be covered with ease by the SX10. As you’d expect, Canon have included image stabilisation to help ensure that the majority of your shots are sharp, plus there are Ultrasonic Motor (USM) and Voice Coil Motor (VCM) technologies that promise fast, accurate and quiet zooming and focusing. The 10 megapixel PowerShot SX10 IS also features Canon’s new DIGIC 4 processor, full HD movie capture, full manual control over both aperture and shutter speed, a 2.5” vari-angle LCD II and an electronic viewfinder. Priced at £359.99 / €469.99 / $399.99, Gavin Stoker discovered if the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS can compete with the likes of the Olympus SP-570UZ and Casio EX-FH20.

Following on from last year’s chunky S5 model for, at the time of writing, some £50 less (a UK SRP of just £359), the new DSLR-styled 10-megapixel Canon PowerShot SX10 IS looks like even more of an attractive proposition. Especially when you consider the fact that this latest offering boats a 20x image stabilized optical zoom rather than the S5’s 12x, providing a broad 35mm equivalent focal range of 28mm to 560mm, and making it a direct challenge to the likes of the Olympus SP-570UZ and Casio’s newer EX-FH20. Continuous shooting of up to four frames per second may not sound great next to the FH20’s 40fps, but Canon delivers such speed at the maximum image resolution.

As with its forebear, the SX10 IS features built-to-last hard plastic bodywork with a larger than average grip offered, its size partly due to the four alkaline AA batteries required for power slotting into its base. While this contributes to overall weight as well as a feeling of solidity (at 560g), a matt black finish lends an overall air of sophistication, a point of difference being the metallic silver grey encircling the shutter button and left hand side of the grip (if the camera is viewed lens on). If you’re looking for a camera that will slot into a jacket pocket, however, think again. The SX10 IS’ dimensions are not much more compact than an entry level DSLR, so it’s case of attaching the provided strap for over-the-shoulder portability, or investing in a dedicated camera bag to protect it from the elements and prying eyes when out taking photographs.

Read more on PhotographyBlog.

Windows only: If you’re in no hurry to adopt Windows Vista but you’ve taken a shine to the Vista Sidebar, Joshoon over at Deviant Art has uploaded a port of the actual application to Windows XP. Using a combination of resources such as Alky for Applications, a Windows Vista to XP compatibility client, and the sidebar extracted from Vista the port allows XP users to run Vista Sidebar. Users can grab additional sidebar gadgets directly from Microsoft and experience the same functionality as they would with the sidebar on a Vista system. If you’re running Windows XP and looking for something to round out real estate on your widescreen monitor this might just be it. For other sidebar candidates and general Vista goodness, check out how to get the best features of Vista in XP. The Windows Vista Sidebar pack is free, Windows XP only.

[Link] [From LifeHacker]

Apparently President-elect Barack Obama is something of a Blackberry addict. Besides meaning he probably reads Gizmodo for all the latest Blackberry Storm info, this also means he has his Blackberry with him at all times, in the typical executive belt holster position. The trouble is, he’s going to be President of the United States in January, and there are strict email laws and traditions that will all but bar Obama’s favorite gadget from the Oval Office. Hmm. Maybe change isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

Unfortunately for Obama, already seen by many observers as a rather connected and tech-savvy politician, being president won’t be as open or free wheelin’ as the campaign trail. For starters, there’s the Presidential Records Act, which requires all official correspondence be made available in the public domain. It means those 3 a.m. Blackberry emails he was known for on the trail will probably have to stop, or at least be curtailed in some way. Nevertheless, aides to the president-elect said he hopes to be the first president ever to have a laptop at the ready on the historic Oval Office desk.

But will the laptop be enough? Apparently, during the campaign Obama forwent paper when reading or creating reports to or from his advisers, opting instead to have them delivered directly to his Blackberry. His messages to contacts were “generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons,” sources said of “No Drama Obama’s” Blackberry email correspondence.

Obama even kept up to date on the latest news and blog postings thanks to that hunk of black plastic at his side, with clippings and posts delivered daily (scaled down for time constraints by his advisers). But this could all end on January 20, 2009. With great power comes great responsibility—just no Blackberrys, Mr. President, please.

From Gizmodo. Related MSNBC.