Hasta La Gadget!

Adobe has updated its Camera Raw software to version 5.2. It adds a few features that Lightroom users already enjoy (output sharpening and targeted adjustment tools for adjusting images by clicking and dragging) but the most interesting part for us gadgeteers is the support for the Panasonic DMC-LX3.

Up until now, users of this camera have been stuck with the bundled RAW converter software, Silkypix. Worse, Silkypix doesn’t then allow conversion to the more open dng, or digital negative, format. This was because of some internal jiggery-pokery by Panasonic.

The wide angle (24mm) Leica lens apparently suffers from extreme barrel distortion (straight lines at the edge of an image bow outwards) which Panasonic has been correcting in software. This is fine with jpeg images, which are often heavily processed in camera anyway. But with RAW files, it has been a problem.

RAW files are like the negatives of film, and should not be messed around with. RAW data is the data direct from the sensor, delivered to the memory card without any modification. But the Silkypix software has had its RAW decoder tweaked to apply correction to this lens distortion.

Adobe has managed to work around this non-standard behaviour with the new Camera Raw update, but at some cost. If you keep the files as they come from the camera, all is well. But if you convert them to dng files, they’ll be tripled in size:

In this release the native, proprietary files from these cameras can only be converted to linear DNG files. A linear DNG file has gone through a demosaic process that converts a single mosaic layer of red, green and blue channel information into three distinct layers , one for each channel. The resulting linear DNG file is approximately three times the size of a mosaic DNG file or the original proprietary file format.

This should be fixed in the future, but for now it seems that Panasonic has messed up, at least from the point of view of the advanced amateurs at whom this camera is targeted. Lightroom will be updated to include support in December.

The full list of newly supported cameras:

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon PowerShot G10

Panasonic DMC-G1

Panasonic DMC-FX150

Panasonic DMC-FZ28

Panasonic DMC-LX3

Leica D-LUX 4

Camera Raw 5.2 and DNG Converter Available [Lightroom Journal]

See Also:

• Why You Should be Shooting RAW
• Adobe Releases Lightroom 2.0: Localized Edits, Dual Monitors and …
• Lightroom and Aperture Updated

The excellent iPhone jailbreaking tool, QuickPWN, has been updated to crack the v2.2 iPhone and iPod Touch software.

Jailbreaking your iPhone lets you install third party applications other than those available from the iTunes App Store, and with QuickPWN it is easy — you just click a few buttons on screen and wait. After it’s done, you’ll see two new application icons on the iPhone’s home screen, Cydia and Installer. Both of these can be used to browse new applications and to download them direct to the iPhone.

For iPod Touch users, there is the added bonus of Google Street View, the feature left out of the v2.2 update. A couple of things that QuickPWN doesn’t do: It won’t unlock your iPhone from your cell carrier, and it won’t work on the second generation iPod Touch (the one with the curved back and volume buttons). For everything else, its a free download for Windows or OS X.

Product page [QuickPWN]

See Also:

• Pwnage 2.0 Released: Gadget Lab Jailbreaks iPod Touch
• IPhone 3G Software Already Unlocked
• WinPwn: iPhone Pwnage Comes To Windows

Harsh economic times? Just lost your job? 401K worth about as much as a space heater in the Sahara? It’s time to do the responsible thing. No, that doesn’t mean scrimping your savings and looking for a job! It means investing that severance package into a $6K gaming rig. Alienware’s latest desktop mothership, the Area-51 X-58, has touched down and it is warp speed fast. Posting some of the fastest benchmarks we’ve ever seen on Crysis, the monstrosity is infused with some of the finest components out there. From the mind of reviewer, Christopher Null:

The centerpiece here is the new Core i7, Intel’s latest CPU. The i7-965
Extreme installed here is the fastest and most-powerful chip that Intel
currently makes, with four cores operating at 3.2GHz. Running the
64-bit version of Vista, Alienware has taken advantage of the lack of
the 32-bit 3-GB RAM cap and wedged 12 gigs of DDR3 RAM into the rig.

$6,373 (as tested), alienware.com

Read the full review of the Alienware Area-51 X-58 right here.

Nintendo recently unveiled their successor to the wildly popular Nintendo DS, dubbed the Nintendo DSi.  Enhancements include a 17% larger screen, a 640X480 pixel camera, enhanced audio capabilities, and a memory card slot for SD memory.  In addition, there will be an opportunity for users to purchase content for digital delivery as well, such as games and other wares.

The new DSi has already entered into the market in Japan at a price of 18,900 yen (about $180 US), and is available in black and white.  While the DSi has already reached the market in Japan, it will go on sale in other markets in 2009.

[ Via Kotaku ]

Heads up, bargain hunters! Time to get ready for Apple deals this Friday