Nov 30

Nikon Coolpix S70 review: excellent spec, but mediocre image quality

Posted in: 720p, camera, digital camera, DigitalCamera, multitouch, nikon, OLED, point and shoot, PointAndShoot, review, Today's Chili, touchscreen

We’ll admit we save our Nikon excitement for the sort of gear that comes with “bad mother” stitched into its casing, but sometimes even our jaded souls can get intrigued by a compact. This particular slimline unit has an OLED touchscreen display, with the additional inclusion of multitouch and gesture support, which already gets it right up to speed on the latest trends. With a 5x optical zoom, 12 megapixel sensor, and 720p/30fps video, it’s also no slouch on the spec sheet, but reviewers at Photography Blog found a few shortcomings. The Nikon S70 is said to be overly reliant on the 3.5-inch touch display for controls, and although the camera is both thin and ultrafast to start up, those benefits come at the greatest cost of all: image quality is only average, and noise handling is poor even at base ISO. We’ll file this one in our “vivacious but vapid” archive while you busy yourself with reading the full review.

Nikon Coolpix S70 review: excellent spec, but mediocre image quality originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 30

TTL ‘Poverty Wizard’ Flash Triggers

Posted in: flash, Today's Chili

poverty wizard

Flash photography with digital cameras is fantastic. Gone are the days of working out hard math in your head and then hoping that you’ll get your shots back from the lab with something near a correct exposure. And you could forget anything experimental unless you had time and money to burn. With an off camera flash and a digital camera, even if you are shooting fully manual all you need to do is look a the LCD and adjust. Easy, and fun.

And what’s even better is cordless, automatic flash. I long ago stopped using manual for anything but the weirdest of lighting, preferring aperture priority and quick tweaks to the exposure compensation dial. And with a modern DSLR, the camera will chirrup a few pre-flashes and communicate instructions to the remote strobe via further staccato IR blips. Exposure tweaks are done by you, from the camera itself, controlling an almost limitless number of speedlights.

The problem is line of site, and for the instructions to reach the flashes the camera needs to be able to “see” them. Enter the Pocket Wizard, a high-ticket set of RF remotes that can trigger your flashes via radio, increasing range and working around corners. The trouble is that even the Canon compatible versions have so far been both expensive and not worked so well with TTL auto.

Enter the Pixel remote, a sub-$200 (£100 or $165) set of triggers that beams the info from your Canon or Nikon camera to the flash over 2.4GHz radio (just like Wi-Fi) for up to 200 feet. One unit hooks up to the hot-shoe and to the camera’s PC socket, the other offers a shoe for the flash to slide into. Instead of taking the camera’s coded IR blips and converting them to RF and back again, the Pixel acts as a remote hot-shoe, with the flash and camera behaving as if they were actually joined together at the shoe.

The setup allows full i-TTL control for Nikon, and will be available for Canon in the New Year. The Chinese-made units have so far found a UK distributor (or rather, Ebayer), but should hopefully be coming to the US soon.

Pixel Product page [Pixel HK via Strobist]

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Nov 30

Chevy Volt shows up at fast food joint, practices lines for LA Auto Show

Posted in: car, electric car, electric vehicle, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, ev, Today's Chili

You might’ve seen the Volt make a guest appearance on the futuristic Surrogates movie already, but now Chevy’s taking the opposite approach by looking toward the past to promote its PHEV. Bob’s Big Boy fast food restaurant in California got treated to a surprise visit by a production model of that most bodacious Chevrolet, and as you can see above, it doesn’t look horribly out of place seated in among its elders, a 1969 Camaro and an Impala SS. Joining in the weekly classic car meetup hosted by the restaurant, this appearance was a prelude to the production Volt being shown off at the LA Auto Show, which kicks off this coming Friday. So if you wanna see it, you can either attend the event or wait for the car to roll up at your nearest Wendy’s.

Chevy Volt shows up at fast food joint, practices lines for LA Auto Show originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 30

Members abandoning Intel’s MID alliance? Hopefully.

Posted in: intel, MID, rumor, Today's Chili, UMPC

Bad, but entirely expected news on the MID front. You remember the Mobile Internet Device right? UMPCs by another name usually running Linux-variants in that middling ground between smartphones and netbooks that nobody seems capable of making an attractive use-case for beyond the living room sofa? According to DigiTimes, “several members” of Intel’s Mobile Internet Devices Innovation Alliance (MIDIA) have quit development of MID devices due to very weak shipments. Even the promise of Intel’s Moorestown platform has lured “only a limited number of vendors” to launch related products in 2010. Sources claim that vendors will instead refocus on other areas of possible growth. Imagine that.

Members abandoning Intel’s MID alliance? Hopefully. originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 30

The Olympus EP-1: Modern features, retro look

Posted in: Today's Chili

This modern camera offers a dSLR-like experience in a compact package that evokes the stylish feel of a classic camera from the “Mad Men” era. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31108_7-10404769-259.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Design Review/a/p

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Nov 30

Crave giveaway of the day: Vizio VOJ320F1A 1080p LCD HDTV

Posted in: Today's Chili

Today’s Crave Giveaway is a Vizio VOJ320F1A 32-inch 1080p LCD HDTV.

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Nov 30

Cyber Monday Deals Are Go

Posted in: Today's Chili, top

Missed the Black Friday dealzmodo rush, or nothing really catch your eye? You might still be in luck. Cyber Monday is when online retailers are supposed to shine. Here’s a linktastic list of big-brand deal pages. Updated!

I’ve noted some of the more interesting deals that caught my eye, but it’s by no means a complete list. Click on the retailer name to go through to their Cyber Monday page. And don’t forget that most of the specials are either time bombed or limited to a small amount of stock. You can also find more deals over at LogicBuy.

Amazon
• Sennheiser RS 130 Wireless Surround Sound Headphones – $60 (save $140)
• Garmin nüvi 260W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator – $115 (save $115)
• Logitech Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote Control – $290 (save $110)
• Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black) – $152 (save $48)
• Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV – $948 (usually up to $1200)
• Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P46G10 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV – $1150 (save $350)
• Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P42S1 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV – $798 (save $202)

Best Buy
• Free shipping on all orders over $25 (big ass TVs excluded)
• 15.6-inch Acer Aspire (1.2GHz AMD Athlon, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD) – $400 (save $100)
• Panasonic – VIERA / 58″ Class / 1080p / 600Hz / Plasma HDTV – $1500 (save $800)
• Panasonic – VIERA / 50″ Class / 1080p / 600Hz / Plasma HDTV – $898 (save $502)
• 2 Days Only

Dell
• HTC Droid Eris – Free with new Verizon contract ($450 off-contract)
• Motorola Droid – $120 with new Verizon contract ($560 off-contract)
• Dell Mini 10v netbook – $279 (save $119) [Actually usually around $300, anyway]
• Inspiron 17 notebook (17-inch screen, Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB memory, Windows 7) – $549 (save $269)
• Sharp 47-inch 120Hz 1080p HDTV – $799 (save $400)
• Sony Bravia 55-inch 120Hz LCD 1080p HDTV – $1769 (save $530)

HP
• HP dv4t 14-inch Laptop $549.99 (save $469 in upgrades & discounts)
• HP p6270z Quad Core desktop w/4GB RAM $429.99 (lowest ever)
• HP TouchSmart 600t $999.99 (save $325)
• HP OfficeJet 6000 Wireless Printer $59.99 (50% off)
• HP Photosmart Plus All-in-One $74.99 (50% off)
• HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One $99.99 (50% off)

SonyStyle
• VAIO FW VGNFW550F/B Laptop $829.99 (list $1079) – use $250 Coupon Code: BLACKFRIDAYFW250 (ends 11/30 or after 500 uses)
• Buy a PS3 and get two free games: Infamous and Uncharted Drakes Fortune
• 32″ Sony BRAVIA HDTV (KDL32L504) $379.99 (list: $479.99)
• Sony Blu-ray Disc Player (BDP-S360) $129.99 (list $199.99)
• 40″ Sony BRAVIA HDTV (KDL40S504) $664.99 (list:$999.99)
• 46″ Sony BRAVIA HDTV (KDL46S504) $854.99 (list: $1299)

NewEgg
• ASUS P50IJ-X1 Intel Pentium dual-core 15.6″ Intel GMA 4500M NoteBook – Retail – $450 (save $100)
• OCZ Agility Series OCZSSD2-1AGT120G 2.5″ MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) – Retail – $289 (save $50; $30 of which comes from a mail-in rebate)

Staples
• TomTom® One130 GPS – $80 (save $50 instantly)
• Norton 360 v3.0 (1–3 User) – $10 (save $70 after combined savings)

Walmart
• Sony Bravia 32″ Class LCD HDTV, KDL-32L504 – $398 (usually about $450)

AT&T
• Purchase for only one penny the Nokia e71x, Sony Cybershot, Curve 8900, Pantech Reveal, or Samsung Jack. Device offers rotate every three hours. Two-year service agreement required.
Waived activiation fee and free overnight shipping, too.

Mimoco
• Everything in the Mimoco shop will be 25% off until 11:59pm PST.

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Nov 30

Tools: Is That a Piranha in Your Pocket?

Posted in: household, Today's Chili

pirahna-pocket-tool-x

Before we tell you any more about the Piranha from Pocket Tool X, take another look at the picture and try to guess what tools it mimics. We got box wrenches, screwdrivers (easy) and bottle opener (of course), but missed “nail puller, scraper and pry ends”.

The Piranha is named, we guess, because if you were to fall into a pond with a few hundred of them you would be stripped to the bone in seconds. Or it could be that it is just very strong for its size. Whatever the reason, the Piranha looks to be both useful and long-lasting, the S30V Stainless Steel blade is an alloy designed for knife-making and keeps a hard edge longer, useful for these flat blade tools that can wear on corners and quickly become useless. And with Allen wrenches instead of screwdriver bits, this would make a great carry-everywhere bike tool.

The Piranha will cost $50 and starts to ship in December.

Piranha product page [Pocket Tool X. Thanks, Justin!]


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Nov 30

Cyber Monday deals roundup: Core i7, HDTVs, SSDs, free Droid Eris

Posted in: amazon, BestBuy, CoreI7, droid, hdtv, HP, ipod, nintendo, roundup, sony, SSD, Today's Chili, walmart, wii

In Soviet Bulgaria, we don’t have Cyber Mondays, but from what we’ve been told this is a pretty bargainous time of the year. HP starts us off with a pair of coupons on its dv8 Core i7 notebook, one of which drops the 18.4-inch laptop to just $899. There are also deep 50 percent discounts on its printers, but only the Photosmart Premium All-in-One remains after the two cheaper models sold out. Click the Logic Buy link below to get in on the action. Amazon has the older Modern Warfare at $29.95 and Uncharted 2 at $40 flat for the PS3, Garmin’s nuvi 260W at a cent under $115 (or half price), and plenty of discounts on DVDs, gadgetry and even clothing. Best Buy keeps pace by offering the same price on the Garmin nav unit, as well as 10 percent discounts on Apple’s iPod range. Walmart is kicking off a whole Cyber Week with a Sony Bravia 32-inch HDTV priced at $398 and a $249 Nintendo Wii Value Bundle, which includes Wii Sports, sporting peripherals, and a choice of free game. If you’re more interested in computer components, Newegg’s $30 mail-in rebate on the 120GB OCZ Agility SSD will net you the drive for $289, our favorite of a plethora of deals at the online store. And finally, Dell is offering the Droid Eris for free when taking out a new Verizon Wireless account, which is at least $30 cheaper than you can get it anywhere else. Time to get clicking!

Read – Amazon
Read – Best Buy
Read – Dell
Read – Logic Buy
Read – Newegg
Read – Walmart

Cyber Monday deals roundup: Core i7, HDTVs, SSDs, free Droid Eris originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 30

Amazon Promises Kindle Update for Better Content Organization

Posted in: e-books, kindle, Media Players, Today's Chili

The Amazon Kindle has many problems: inconsistent international support for both features and availability of titles, a rather too-dark gray screen, no touch and the inability to display any EPUB-format titles bought elsewhere.

Once you start reading, though, the Kindle manages to do what Amazon promises: It disappears in your hand. Apart from the odd bright light reflecting in the screen, you almost forget you’re not reading a paper book. But if you have more than a handful of titles, then good luck browsing them. Although there are separate sections for periodicals, books and the content you have added yourself, Amazon’s attempt at organizing seems to be just to leave everything there in one long list. Imagine trying to navigate a real bricks and mortar bookshop with all the titles arranged either alphabetically or by release date* and you’ll get an idea of the problem.

Now, through the popular social networking site Facebook, the Kindle team has promised to fix things:

We have heard from many of you that you would like to have a better way to organize your growing Kindle libraries. We are currently working on a solution that will allow you to organize your Kindle libraries. We will be releasing this functionality as an over-the-air software update as soon as it is ready, in the first half of next year.

That could, of course, be up to six months away. Amazon has tied its own hands by going for the computer-free model. PC and Mac owners can of course drag and drop content to and from the Kindle, but Amazon doesn’t require you to have a computer to own one (although you need web access to buy one). This means that all the functionality needs to be available on a clunky, slow-refreshing machine with a bad keyboard, instead of going the iTunes route and exploiting the strengths of both computer and mobile device. And this is starting to make the Barnes and Noble Nook, with it’s coverflow-style color LCD screen, look rather more attractive.

Kindle Facebook promise [Facebook]

*If you visited Foyles bookstore in London before the owner Christina Foyle’s death in 1999, you could have experienced this for real: The 30 miles of shelves were organized not by subject or even author but, inexplicably, by publisher.

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Kindle photo credit: Charlie Sorrel


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