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Apple desktops have touchpads now too. The new Magic Trackpad gives Mac Pro and iMac owners multitouch powers, gestures, and bluetooth connectivity. More »

The 700MHz ‘D Block‘ has been the subject of much debate over the past few years, primarily because the FCC’s master plan to auction it off — yet require the winner to open up the waves for public safety use on command — didn’t exactly pan out. Post-failure, the agency made clear its plans to host up another auction or two in order to accomplish the same goal via slightly different means, but now public safety entities are coming forward with a healthy amount of opposition. Rob Davis, head of the San Jose Police Department, puts it bluntly: “If they auction this spectrum, we’ve lost it forever.” These public safety officials also have allies in Congress, with many worried that auctioning off the spectrum may lead to an inability to accurately wield bandwidth in a hurry if needed during a national emergency. The FCC plan also alleviates the cost issue, but public advocates have a solution there as well — they say that if given the ‘D Block’ outright, they could “lease excess airwaves to commercial carriers since they would not always need all of it.” Of course, that’s a pretty big assumption about the willingness of carriers to lease space, and we suspect a lot more back-and-forth will go on here in the coming months. Oh, the drama.

Public safety agencies want D Block for themselves, FCC still seeking auction originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fabled cloak of invisibility was once considered impossible for modern science, chilling out with perpetual motion up in the clouds, but these days scientists are tilting at blurry windmills with a modicum of success several times a year. The latest advance in theory comes to us from Michigan Tech, which says it can now cloak objects in the infrared spectrum. Previous attempts using metallic metamaterials could only bend microwave radiation, the study claims, but using tiny resonators made of chalcogenide glass arranged in spokes around the object (see diagram at left) researcher Elena Semouchkina and colleagues successfully hid a simulated metal cylinder from 3.5 terahertz waves. While it’s hard to say when we might see similar solutions for visible light, even a practical application of infrared cloaking could put your night vision goggles to shame, or perhaps block covert objects from being detected by those newfangled terahertz x-rays.

Invisibility cloak upgraded to bend infrared light, not to mention our minds originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Accessory maker Novoflex has a new lens adapter that will let you use Nikon F-mount lenses on Canon EOS bodies. It adds one big extra over previous versions: you get a ring to control aperture on Nikon G-lenses (those without an aperture ring.)

One of the great things about the little mirrorless cameras like the Panasonic G-series, the Olympus Pens and the Sony NEXes is that their currently meager lens line-up can be supplemented by other lenses old and new, just by using an adapter. SLRs, on the other hand, are pretty much stuck with the glass that was made for them.

An adapter has a thickness, and when you put one on a lens, you move that lens away from the film (or sensor). This stops the lens focusing at infinity (and will also allow it to focus a little closer). Thus, mounting a Canon lens on a Nikon body doesn’t work so well. The mirrorless cameras already have a lot of extra space to spare, so the adapters have room to fit. Novoflex has managed to get this ring thin enough not to cause focus problems.

The new EOS/NIK-NT adapter has an integrated aperture ring so that you can still set the hole-size. As G-series lenses are controlled entirely by electronics in the camera body, they need this extra to work on a Canon camera. Thus, auto-exposure (aperture priority) will work by actually stopping down the lens. Focus will still be manual, although infinity focus is maintained. If you have lenses with aperture rings, another adapter is available.

The problem is that there are plenty of great lenses for both Canon and Nikon, so we wonder why you’d need this adapter. For quick, fun experiments it will be great, but otherwise its hard to see the point. Especially when you consider the price, a rather odd $292.99.

Novoflex Adapter Finder [Novoflex via Photography Bay]

See Also:

• Lens Adapters Put Leica, Nikon, Canon Lenses on Sony NEX
• Digi-Diana: Lomo Lens Adapter for Canon, Nikon DSLRs
• Hands-On With the Diana F Lens Adapter and Fisheye: As Bad As You …

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