Deal of the Day: Canon PowerShot SX20IS – 42% Off

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Amazon have a cracking deal on at the moment on the Canon PowerShot SX20IS that normally retails for $601.03 at the online store. Right now the price has dropped 42% bringing it all the way down to $349.

The Canon PowerShot SX20IS has a powerful zoom lens capable of 20x optical zoom allowing you to capture images closer to the subject. The camera is capable of recording video at 720p HD and the camera also has a HDMI output port allowing the HD captured video to be played direct to your TV.

Around the back of the camera is a 2.5 inch Vari-angle LCD screen. Inside there’s a 12.1 megapixel sensor with images being processed by Canon’s DIGIC 4 image processor. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Camera Gadgets

Nikon Developing a Canon G11 Rival

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Nikon are creating a new camera that will rival the Canon G11. Kevin Egan, the UK’s senior product manager at Nikon told Amateur Photographer that the Canon G11 is a benchmark for high-end prosumer compact cameras.

There are no specific details of what will be included in this camera except that it will probably borrow some of the features from Nikon’s range of digital SLR cameras as well as a build of the Coolpix point and shoot camera range.

It is rumoured that the camera will have a fairly large sensor, possibly APC-C sized. The other options are a CMOS sensor so that camera can work well in low light situations. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Camera Gadgets

Apple iPad to get WSJ – Murdoch Confirms

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Confirmation of the WSJ heading to the Apple iPad has been given by Rupert Murdoch. An Apple iPhone application is already available and with the scaling that the iPad can do, that particular application should be able to run full screen. However, an iPad version is also being worked on so that the company can utilise the full resolution of the large screen. The app is currently under development.

The developers have managed to get hold of an Apple [AAPL] iPad although funnily enough it is locked down at night by lock and key, and to make things even crazier, the key is turned by an employee of Apple to make sure nobody sneaks the device home with them. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Tech News

Google Responds to Apple / HTC Problems

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Google [GOOG] have made a statement about Apple [AAPL] going after HTC in the crazy 20 patent case. Google have said…

“We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.”

Google aren’t specifically named on the documents sent to HTC by Apple although a lot of the patents in dispute all revolve around Google Android OS based phones making a number of people believe Apple’s real target is Google. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Tech News

Lego – The Force Unleashed Stop Motion Animation

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

By using Lego, a camera, photoshop and some imagination xxxfancypantsxxx, a user at YouTube, has created this cool looking Lego stop motion animation called Lego – The Force Unleashed.

The animation was part of a challenge to see who could make the best lightsaber duel. The special effects such as the lightsabers and blaster effects were done in Photoshop while the rest of it was done 1 frame at a time moving Lego men around and capturing every single change. The video is shown below… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets

Nokia Nuron 5320 Announced on T-Mobile

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Nokia and T-Mobile have officially announced the Nokia Nuron 5320 mobile phone. The handset will cost $69.99 and for that price you get a 3.2 inch touchscreen that has a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels in a 16:9 wide aspect ratio.

The Nokia Nuron is in a candybar form factor and connects to GSM/EDGE networks at 850, 900, 1800 or 1900 MHz as well as WCDMA at 1700/2100MHz.

A two megapixel camera is included and the software allows for 3X digital zoom as well as video recording. The phone has GPS built in and allows Ovi Maps navigation to function (Nokia’s new free navigation application). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Virgin Mobile increases Mobile Broadband Allowances in US

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Virgin Mobile in the US have made a few changes to their prepay plans by increasing the amount of data allowance you get. For $60/month you now get to use 5GB of data per month on their Mobile Broadband plans.

Previously the $60/month plan (not on contract) got users 1GB of data. By increasing the allowance to 5GB it brings it closer and in some cases in-line with what others in the market offer such as Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

The other plans on Virgin Mobile see the $10/month plan getting 100MB of data that has to be used within 10 days. Other plans are as follows… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Apple iPad has Ability to make Emergency Calls – Maybe

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Since the SDK launched allowing developers to see what’s available in the Apple iPad a number of functions have been found. The latest finding indicates that emergency calls can be made from the device… how? we are not sure just yet.

The emergency call function was spotted when trying the passcode lock and entering the password incorrectly 5 times. On the fifth attempt it gives the option to make an emergency call.

The first thoughts I had which are in-line with many others is that it’s a simple mistake/bug that the Apple [AAPL] developers have left when modifying the iPhone OS. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

Verizon Nationwide Data Outage Fixed

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Verizon had a data outage earlier today that affected most of the US from connecting to the web on their mobile phones. The issue didn’t prevent NY users from connecting but did stop many other users across the country.

An update from Twitter confirms that all is fixed now though…

According to this official tweet the problem has been resolved: “VZW resolves early AM data issue that involved parts, not all, of eastern US: mix of some out, slower service, many unaffected from 4-8 AM.” So, if you’re still out, the time has come to hit up those customer service agents.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

AT&T CEO – Apple iPad to be Wi-Fi Driven

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The Chief Executive of AT&T has said that those who buy the Apple iPad will probably not use a subscription service from AT&T due to not wanting to be tied in to any sort of monthly payment and that the iPad will be a Wi-Fi driven product. It isn’t clear if the CEO means that only the Wi-Fi model will be the popular one, or if iPad users will potentially buy a 3G model but not keep their subscriptions active (which are arranged on a month to month basis).

“My expectation is that there’s not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription,” he said during a webcast of an investor conference, adding that the device would be a mainly “Wi-Fi driven product.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

Corsair 128GB USB Flash Drive Launched

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Corsair have announced a new range of USB flash drives that come in capacities of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB.

Each of the drives uses the USB 2.0 interface which on the surface seems like they are standing still. However, what Corsair have done here is use a new quad-channel architecture that brings speeds up to 34MB/s. This still isn’t as quick as what USB 3.0 can achieve but for those who want a huge capacity of 128GB at a USB 2.0 price that runs quicker than regular USB 2.0 devices then you aren’t going too far wrong. [Read more…]

Filed Under: USB Gadgets

9mm Solar Sensor – Self Powered Computer

March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This little device is a self powered computer. It is described as being the “Smallest commercial-class, solar-powered sensor”. It features an ARM processor, it has a solar panel built in and measures just 2.5 x 3.5mm making it 1,000 times smaller than similar products.

The company behind it have managed to get the device to be so efficient that it uses about 2,000 less power when in sleep mode than other similar types of devices. If exposed to light a few times a day the device can continue running without being shut down. The only restriction on how it performs is when the battery dies after a few years of usage.

When powered on the device spends most of it’s life in sleep mode and powers on when needed for just a few minutes to take measurements. The average power consumption is just 1 nanowatt (ie, not a lot of energy). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets