We’re in kind of a golden age of DSLR cameras. They’re cheaper than ever, so they’re affordable, and they do more stuff than ever, so the time’s right to jump in. Here’s our DSLR picks for every (non-pro) budget.

Baby’s First DSLR: Nikon D3000

The D3000 is cheap. We’re talking a full kit (i.e., it comes with a lens) for just $460, making it the cheapest DSLR kit around. But what really makes it stand out for beginners is a built-in tutorial system that explains how to get certain kinds of shots—like shallow depth of field—in plain English.

Amateur Hour: Canon T1i

The next step up is Canon’s T1i. What we like is that it packs a bigger boy’s image sensor—it’s got the same 15-megapixel sensor as the pricier mid-range 50D—and 1080p video into a camera that’s $720 with kit lens. Also, for the money, it edges out Nikon’s D5000 on a few points, namely superior video handling and Live View.

Bigger Britches: Nikon D90

Nikon’s D90 was the first ever DSLR to shoot 720p video with manual controls, but that’s only part of the reason we like it. It’s got the awesome image sensor from the semi-pro D300, in a package that’s just over $1000. And at that price, it’s $100 cheaper than Canon’s competing 50D, which has the same image sensor as the cheaper T1i above, but none of the video benefits of either camera.

The Budding Auteur: Canon 7D

The only camera on this list that’s more expensive than its competition—the D300s—the 7D overwhelms with DSLR video that’s superior to every camera but Canon’s very pro 1D Mark IV (which costs $5000). It shoots in 1080p, with full manual controls, and it’s amazing what it can do in low light. Besides that, Canon’s somehow cheated physics with an 18-megapixel sensor that doesn’t explode with noise at high ISO settings, all while cramming a whole bunch of new features, and an actually good autofocus system. It’s $1900 with a kit lens.

Beyond here, honestly, you should already have a pretty idea of what you’re gonna buy without our help. And if you’ve got your own opinions about what’s best in every price range, let’s hear ’em in the comments.

If you ask us, one of the best things about London is its theater scene. Turns out, however, that not every person who appreciates good theatre speaks the Queen’s English — we know, it’s shocking to us as well. To serve those unenlightened souls, a new AirScript wireless translation gadget is being trialed at the Shaftesbury in central Londonium. Designed by Show Translations and built by Cambridge Consultants, it combines a simple WiFi-enabled device with an LED-backlit screen and a dude in the background who feeds live subtitles over the air. The pleasure of said dude’s services will be a steep £6 ($10), which you might scoff at now, but imagine yourself attending a show in Tokyo or Beijing and suddenly the price becomes a lot more justifiable. Eight languages are available so far (American English is presumably still in the works), with translations done by professionals rather than machines, and all that remains now is to see whether this multilingual birdie flies or flounders.

AirScript translator beams live theater subtitles over the air originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shareable Ink is hoping to popularize a camera-in-a-pen that wirelessly transfers text written on paper to a remote database to better track such data as glucose levels. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10405280-247.html” class=”origPostedBlog”News – Health Tech/a/p

From now until Christmas, we’ll be giving away a prize a day on Crave (expect for weekends and holidays). Today’s prize: LG’s 32LH20 32-inch LCD TV.

This article was written on June 18, 2009 by CyberNet.

When Apple announced that the iPhone would be capable of tethering a computer to the Internet a lot of customers in the U.S. shrugged their shoulders because AT&T wasn’t on the list of carriers who were ready to roll the service out. So even though the iPhone 3.0 software (released yesterday) supports tethering all AT&T customers won’t be able to take advantage of it, well, not in a legit way that is.

AT&T has pretty much just shot themselves in the foot because now this has started to make people look for a way to utilize the functionality without needing to Jailbreak their device. And they have done it. 9to5Mac has already posted instructions for an extremely simple 3-step process that will fully enable tethering on the iPhone 3G (and presumably the iPhone 3GS?). Plus you can choose whether you want to tether via Bluetooth or through the USB cable where your iPhone will be charged at the same time.

Sounds great, huh? There are a few things you should know before trying this out:

1. You’ll need a Mac in order to get your iPhone ready for tethering. BUT once your iPhone has been setup this will also work on any Windows machine as long as you have iTunes installed. I tested it out on a Windows XP computer, and there were absolutely no problems accessing the Internet. If you do some searching you might find instructions on how to prep your iPhone using a Windows machine.
2. You’ll likely have problems accessing your visual voicemail after applying the changes, and I eventually found that downloading the ICC file from here and using that instead fixed both. So I recommend using that file instead of the one from 9to5Mac. Reading through the comments on 9to5Mac will also tell you how to revert the changes if you want to go back to how it was.
3. There’s no confirmation whether AT&T can recognize that you’re tethering, which means there is a possibility you’ll be charged extra.

I gave this a whirl despite the risk of seeing extra fees on my phone bill next month, and the results were rather spectacular. When stationary at my house I could get download speeds of about 2.3Mbps, and while rapidly moving on a train I consistently got between 0.9Mbps and 1.2Mbps.

There’s a very good chance that once AT&T finally lets people tether their devices that there will also be a hefty fee associated with it. I only tether a few times each month, and there’s no way that I’d ever pay for tethering if it was more than $10 a month since it’s not something I see as vital. So hopefully this “hack” will remain in working order, and any charges will stay clear of my bill. If that’s the case this trick is perfect for me.

If you don’t mind the risk of getting charged for tethering, and you have access to a Mac, check out the instructions.

P.S. I took the screenshot above to show you what the iPhone displays when you’re tethered.

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