Hasta La Gadget!

Perhaps Leica has finally realized that its lenses are where the real action is. The M8 rangefinder might be a beautifully engineered tool, but it looks rather spartan next to other, much cheaper, digital cameras. And we don’t mean spartan in the good way, either — in the film days Leicas performed as well as any other 35mm camera as they all used the same film. Now, with low-light sensors, uncannily good autofocus and exposure meters that out-guess a human 99% of the time, the almost all-manual M looks like an expensive metal box.

The lenses, though, are magical. And now you can use them on the DMC-G1 and DMC-GH1, Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds “DSLR” with a pair of adapters which marry up the cameras to Leica’s R and M lenses. If you’re paying attention, you’ll realize that these lenses are manual focus, and that both the G1 and GH1 lack an optical viewfinder. On of the things that makes the M-series cameras so easy to focus is the split image rangefinder. With these cameras, though, you’ll need to rely on a magnified section in the  middle of the LCD screen to judge if you have things sharp. Good luck with that.

Panasonic has not yet announced a price for these Lumix adapters, but you can be pretty sure they’ll cost more than Voigtländer’s $200 offering which does the same thing for any Micro Four Thirds camera. You’ll also have to watch out for compatibility issues, as some lenses won’t work with these adapters.

Press release [DP Review]

Another day, another entrant in the mile-long list of Eee PC netbooks. This one, however, is a curious add. You see, the Eee PC 1000HV originally came to light way back in July of 2008, when no fewer than 23 Eee model names were casually leaked out. Since that day, we’ve heard not a peep from the machine… until now, obviously. In a few locations overseas, the 1000HV has emerged for order, packing a 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600 display, a 1.66GHz Atom N280 CPU, 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, VGA output, the standard assortment of ports and a mildly attractive AMD HD 3450 graphics set — the same one that ASUS recently shoved in its HD-minded Eee Box 206. We can’t help but applaud the choice to slip in a real (or quasi-real, anyway) GPU here, but until this pup heads stateside, we’re still figuring this is all just a figment of our imagination.

[Via Slashgear]

Read – Eee PC 1000HV order site
Read – Another Eee PC 1000HV order site

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS Eee PC 1000HV resurfaces with Atom N280, HD 3450 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 04:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not that we haven’t seen compact-themed cellphones before, but we’d argue that the Imobile phoneV588 is about as suggestive as it gets. This dual-band GSM “handset” looks more like the next big thing from Cover Girl than your next mobile, with a circular form factor, pop-up lid, a built-in mirror and a design that would’ve totally worked in Princess Diaries. If you’re curious about hard specs, you’ll find a 2.6-inch LCD, an integrated MP3 / MP4 player, speakers and USB connectivity. Oh, and your guess is as good as ours on the whole “dialing / texting” aspect. Freshen up your social life for just $119.99.

[Via PMP Today]

Filed under: Cellphones

Imobile phoneV588 makes calls, could hold your foundation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 03:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coming to you live from left field, it’s this week’s edition of Ask Engadget. Once your done reading and replying (in comments below, naturally) to the question here, feel free to send us your own to ask at engadget dawt com.

“I am looking for a portable hard drive with memory card slots so that I can save my photos onto it, straight from the memory card. It needs to function without the use of a computer. I have seen a few of these, but nothing name brand, and I was looking for some recommendations. A color screen to view photos would be nice, but not necessary. It doesn’t need to be very large, 100GB should be more than enough.”

You’re right Seth, most of these things do indeed come from relative unknowns. That said, we’re sure a few of our readers have taken the plunge, so hopefully you’ll find out who likes and dislikes the one they chose. Right, folks?

Filed under: Ask Engadget, Digital Cameras, Storage

Ask Engadget: Best portable photo backup / storage device? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 01:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus’s new 1008HA “Seashell” netbook is an attractive cosmetic update to its earlier 1000HE. And, if we believe Asus’ promotional video on the site linked below, it’s skinny enough that you could use one to cut through video cables tied around your wrist and set yourself free from the company storeroom.

OK, so it’s not really that sharp. But it does trade its predecessor’s somewhat ordinary-looking netbook exterior for a clean, tapered, rounded, white covering. It’s one of the better-looking netbooks we’ve seen this year.

Spec-wise, it’s nothing exceptional: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 10.1-inch screen, built-in Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and the obligatory Windows XP.

It’s available for pre-order now, and if you order it before May 25, retailers will knock $20 off its somewhat steep list price of $429.

We spent a few minutes with the 1008HA recently; scroll down for the photos.

Photos: Jonathan Snyder / Wired.com

Introducing the Eee PC 1008HA Seashell from ASUS.

The 1008HA has an unusual video-out port: It's a dongle tucked into a notch on the underside of the case.

USB, audio, and a pop-down Ethernet port are along the right edge of the computer's slim profile.

Inside, the Eee PC 1008HA is almost identical to its predecessor, the 1000HE.