The just-announced Canon EOS 7D digital SLR (DSLR), $1,700, may tilt the balance of power back in Canon’s direction in the segment that is either “high-end prosumer” or “entry professional.” Nikon trumped Canon with the D200 and now D300s in the realm of cameras costing $1,500-$2,000 for the body alone (no lenses).
The Canon 7D boasts an 18-megapixel sensor and 8 frames-per-second motor drive. It also shoots HD video. Despite the name, this is not a follow-on to the Canon EOD 5D since it’s not a full-frame camera with a slow motor drive. Instead, it uses the same cropped-sensor size and 1.6X lens multiplier as the Canon EOD 50D and predecessors. It ships later this month, Canon says.
The PS3 Slim may not have backwards compatibility, but owners of the newest Sony console can get a taste of what it feels like when the God of War Collection releases this holiday season.
Jill Schlesinger of CBS’ MoneyWatch joins the show to talk about the economy. So it turns out that things aren’t going to collapse, and we’re not going to have to sell our bodies in a barter system. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re out of the woods, and Jill is here to show us the way out. Throw in a little bit of health care, a little bit of Social Security, and a garlic smell? Only on The 404!
(Credit: Jill Schlesinger/CBS)
For the last couple of months, stocks have been soaring more than 50 percent since their March low. Jill says all that means is that the market doesn’t think we’re headed for Great Depression 2.0, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of trouble. In the dark, we imagine what V-, U-, and W- recoveries would look like. Strange… Justin, is that your hand on my leg?
Further down the line, we jump into the health care debate. Jill tells us her generation is screwing our generation and not in a good way. Essentially, they took all the good health care, and we (the 20-somethings) will just not be able to afford the premium “best health care” in the world, when we really need it. And somehow, Wilson reveals some of his Republican leanings? Say what?
Finally, we get into personal savings for the future, and we pick up the ashes of our 401(k)s. So while your parents may have lost a bundle on their retirement funds, we 20-somethings still have another 40 years before we really have to worry about our returns. Meanwhile, Social Security is a toss-up. Jill wants to advise President “Barry” Obama that the easy solution to fixing the “Third Rail” of American politics is just tying benefits to an age index. People are just living too long…death panels, any one?
Wow! So we hope you finally learned something on The 404. We sure did! Send in your feedback to the usual at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Follow Jill on Twitter. Or leave us a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET, and you can debate us on the finer points of the liquidity of the money supply and U6 unemployment figures.
Canon has announced two new lenses offering useful zoom ranges to its EF-S line-up, the new EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens and the new 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM lens.
The 15-85mm is a high-quality standard zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent of 24-136mm, covering …
Android’s had a generally black-dominated UI theme since its initial launch — we’d even go so far to say that it’s become one of the platform’s trademarks — but is it all about to go away? A tipster to CNET has sent in a couple shots of what appears to be a totally revamped Market that has apparently made appearances both on Donut and on the allegedly Eclair-equipped Motorola Sholes, possibly portending a more wide-reaching interface shift to brighter, more colorful controls and elements. Outside of the facelift there’s no word on any actual new functionality here, so… you know, hang onto your G1 for dear life if you’re digging the dark Market.
Cell phone for tweens have never really caught on, not least because many kids reaching their preteen years these days have used cell phones since birth. Also, though parents may love the cost-saving features on the handsets, kids want something that’s cool in the schoolyard. …
The gadget underground has been buzzin’ with clandestine chatter relating to Android MIDs lately, and now a company called Hardkernel is concocting a handheld game platform and media player based on the open source OS and the same processor as the iPhone 3GS. And you know what? This is a pretty cool idea for a device, even if the company’s website leaves us frightened and confused. ODROID is a 3.5-inch (320 x 480 capacitive touchscreen) concept that sports a 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 ARM Cortex A8 CPU, HDMI output (720p), composite video output, microSD and SD card slots, and WiFi b/g. We’re not entirely sure when (or if) this thing will see the light of day, or for how much, but you’ll know as soon as we do. Promise.
Get ready, Wii fans, because Wii Fit Plus is launching in North America on October 4. While delivering the keynote address at the 2009 GameStop Manager Conference, Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime offered that tidbit and much more:
Wii Fit Plus is an enhanced version of the bestseller with new exercises, yoga activities, and balance games. Players will be able to customize their workouts to target specific body areas or to fill specific intervals of time.
Bundled with the Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit Plus will sell for $99.99. Current Wii Fit owners will be able to get an upgrade disc for $19.99.
Nintendo will release a black version of the Wii remote bundled with a black Wii MotionPlus accessory during the holiday season.
Black nunchuks will also be available this holiday as a standalone purchase.
Also, a little DSi news: White and pink DSi versions will go on sale September 13, for the standard DSi price of $169.99. So far, only blue and black versions have been available.
Nokia will postpone the launch of its ‘Comes with Music’ music subscription service in the U.S. to next year, according to reports.
Nokia launched the service, widely seen as a potential iTunes competitor, in the U.K. last year by bundling free unlimited music downloads with some of its handsets. The first of Nokia’s phones, the 5310 XpressMusic, featured the service. Nokia would offer a year’s worth of music to its users free and charge users for it after that. Customers were allowed to keep all the music they already downloaded.
If successful, Nokia could be in a position to challenge Apple’s iTunes hegemony in the music distribution business, said some analysts.
The company’s problems with the service have been much greater in the U.S. Nokia stumbled in its launch of the 5800 XpressMusic phones after users complained of crippling connectivity problems with the device. Nokia pulled the U.S. version of the phone off its shelves and offered the handsets a few days later after a fix.
The company is now reportedly rethinking its strategy for the music subscription service in the U.S. Without subsidies from carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, American mobile phone users are unlikely to pay the high cost of handsets that are bundled with music. Nokia will also have to simplify the Digital Rights Management (DRM) issues in the service that could potentially cripple how users listen to the music before it is introduced in the U.S.
If you’ve grown increasingly incensed by those annoying dropouts caused by your 80s-era wireless router, it looks like Netgear has your cure. Though, we must say, there’s at least a decent chance you don’t have the coinage to procure said medicine. At $190, the RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNDR3700) is one of the pricier WLAN routers on the market, though the amenities list is pretty impressive. The ReadyShare feature enables any USB hard drive to be viewed on the network, while the DLNA support and “real-world” throughput of 350Mbps shines up an already glistening device. There’s even a broadband usage meter for those unfortunately dealing with Comcast caps, and if you actually use this as a remote media server, you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on that.
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