Hasta La Gadget!

Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

As it often does at its product introductions, Apple took a subtle swipe at the Flip camcorder when it introduced the video camera-equipped iPod nano this fall. The sales volumes of the iPod nano even caused some to proclaim Apple’s revision of the most popular iPod to be a Flip-killer. The inexpensive Flip camcorder has long proven tenacious, however, fending off competition from major brands such as Sony and Kodak, as well as value players like Aiptek and DXG — not to mention nearly every digital camera and cellphone that can shoot video. Besides, the iPod nano has outsold the Flip camcorder many times over; why would Apple care about such incremental competition?

One answer is that the developers of the Flip camcorder (now the Pure Digital division of Cisco) aren’t just hawking a cheap digital geegaw. Even before Pure Digital sold its first “disposable” camcorder, the company understood ecosystems. Back then, that involved installing processing equipment at retailers such as CVS, as the company’s business model relied on getting consumers to develop prints and create DVDs in stores. Since those days, the utilitarian application it originally shipped for transferring videos to PCs has given way to FlipShare , which is clearly designed to be the equivalent of iTunes for video. And more recently, it introduced Flipshare.com to provide its own spin on organizing and sharing videos online, including to devices beyond the PC.

Continue reading Switched On: The camcorder strikes back

Switched On: The camcorder strikes back originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We hate to harsh on a new phone platform — what could be more exciting, after all, than a whole new take on handset software? — but we’re pretty confused by Samsung’s Bada. Still, these leaked screenshots fill us with some hope: it looks fairly pretty, and quite a bit more intuitive than the standard Samsung UI. It also seems to be an odd visual mashup of Android and Symbian, but in a good sort of way, and we look forward to the sort of democratization of touchphones it seems to represent. There, that wasn’t very harsh-ey at all! Now check out the developer-oriented video after the break to let a new wave of confusion wash over you.

Continue reading Samsung Bada UI unveiled in beautiful stills, reason for existing still blurry

Samsung Bada UI unveiled in beautiful stills, reason for existing still blurry originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LOS ANGELES – In a small workshop a pick’s throw from downtown L.A., a French luthier pays homage to the quintessential American electric guitar using a most unusual material.

From across the room, the Trussart Deluxe SteelCaster may look like a ’52 Fender Telecaster. But lay your hands on it and you immediately know this cool chunk of welded steel didn’t come out of the Fender Custom Shop.

James Trussart combines the vintage aesthetic of classic American guitars with a flair for the unusual to create beautiful instruments that sound as sweet as they look.

“What’s different about what I’m doing is I’m using steel,” Trussart said. “It reacts differently and affects the tone. At first people didn’t think it would work. But there was something I liked about the tone.”

He isn’t alone. The people playing Trussarts reads like a who’s-who of guitar geeks and gods.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Palm announces a public beta of Project Ares, a browser-based development platform for developers. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-10417932-85.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Dialed In/a/p

Macs now can comprehend the proprietary raw files from Nikon’s D3000, D300S, D3S, and from Canon’s ID Mark IV, 7D, and PowerShot G11. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10417904-264.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Deep Tech/a/p