Hasta La Gadget!

Sure the XF1’s nice to look at, but the real star of Fujifilm’s 2012 Photokina lineup has to be the X-E1. The X-Pro1’s little sibling offers up most of the functionality of its bigger, pricier brother — save for its inclusion just an electronic viewfinder — into a body that’s roughly a third smaller. That said, this is hardly a compact mirrorless — the X-E1’s still got a bit of girth and weight to it, compared to some of the smaller entries in the field. Still, it feels nice in the hand and isn’t likely to weigh down your shooting — particularly for those accustom to using a larger DSLR. It’s also worth pointing out, right off the bat, that the retro-styled interchangeable lens camera is significantly cheaper, running you $700 less than the X-Pro-1.

Flip the camera over and you get a 2.8-inch 460k-dot LCD. Just above the display is a devoted button that will pop up the retractable flash directly above. The X-E1 will be hitting stores in November, carrying a $1,000 price tag. Buy a kit with a lens and you’ll still come in $300 under the X-Pro1’s $1,700 price tag, making for a full-featured and great looking little mirrorless for a lot less money.

Continue reading Fujifilm X-E1 hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cameras

Fujifilm X-E1 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Point-and-shoot or fashion accessory? This is the conundrum posed by the XF1, a new retro-styled point-and-shoot from Fujifilm. It’s a nice looking camera with a solid and fairly light build, certainly, and while the faux leather (in black, red or tan) might not be for everyone, the company was quick to point out that it’ll go nicely with your new designer handbag, for whatever that’s worth. The textured design is complimented nicely by a metal border on the top and bottom. There’s a bit of a learning curve here, when it comes to just turning the thing on — give it a twist and a pull, not unlike a childproof pill cap to put it in standby and another pull to get things started.

There’s a big, bright three-inch LCD on the rear of the device. Click the E-Fn button on the bottom right, and you can actually reassign the button mapping on the back to your liking on the display. Of course, such style and functionality comes at a price — this guy will run you $500 when it goes on sale next month.

Continue reading Fujifilm’s XF1 makes a fashion statement at Photokina, we go hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cameras

Fujifilm’s XF1 makes a fashion statement at Photokina, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Flamer malware was really more of a cyber espionage tool. Security researchers have been analyzing a pair of recently discovered command-and-control servers that controlled Flamer. The researchers have uncovered some interesting, and disturbing facts about Flamer from those servers.

According to the researchers, the cyber espionage tool that targeted the Middle East has likely been operational for more than five years. The researchers also note that the malware was active as recently as May 2012. The details are courtesy of security researchers from Symantec with help from researchers at Kaspersky Lab and others.

The group the researchers found that at least 1000 systems in the Middle East had been controlled by one machine in March. The other command-and-control server deleted spyware and erased its trail in May. Data gleaned from inside the command-and-control servers indicated to the researchers that the software could communicate with five different clients, Flamer and four other programs.

According to the researchers, it’s unclear if the other four clients the command-and-control servers could communicate with are still spying on computers today or were retired years ago in favor of Flamer. The researchers note that some of the code appears to be nothing more than a placeholder rather than an actual client. The researchers did note that some packages used to update malware on victim’s computers and downloaded intelligence was encrypted on the servers could not be decrypted. Comments in the code led the researchers to believe that the four individuals who coded Flamer spoke English.

[via eWeek]

Flamer malware spied for over five years is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Motorola has launched its first Intel-based Android smartphone, the Motorola RAZR i, a 4.3-inch handset running a 2GHz Intel chip. RAZR i uses a qHD Super AMOLED “edge to edge” display that, Motorola claims, delivers a 40-percent larger panel than an iPhone 4S, or a 15-percent larger display than an iPhone 5, size for size. On the outside, there’s Kevlar for tough, lightweight protection.

Motorola’s three goals with its latest range are speed, power management, and a demonstrable commitment to Android. “A phone is only half a phone if it only last halfway through the day,” Jim Wicks, senior VP of design at Motorola Mobility, said today. So, the RAZR i gets a 2,000 mAh battery good for 20hrs of mixed use.

Intel’s Atom processor is built using 32nm processes, and the chip company says there are big advantages to its faster silicon. Intel has apparently spent “years” polishing Android on x86, and bringing it up to speed with HyperThreading, so that Java and HTML performance is suitably swift.

You get NFC, as you’d expect from a modern Android phone, and Motorola has customized the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich UI with “circle” interface. Where it can, Motorola will be leaving the bootloader unlocked, too, for those who want to modify their handset.

As for the 8-megapixel camera, that starts up in under a second, and is capable of a 10 photo burst in a second. In fact, Motorola and Intel claim, the RAZR i is faster than a regular DSLR. A 0.3-megapixel camera is up front.

The Motorola RAZR i will hit select markets – including the UK on Orange, T-Mobile, Phones 4U, Virgin Media, and Tesco, and several countries in Europe – from the beginning of October.

Hands-on with the RAZR i here!

[Update: We originally reported a 720p HD display, but the RAZR i actually has a qHD display]

Motorola RAZR i official: 2GHz Intel Android smartphone is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Motorola’s revealed the first smartphone to be borne from its team-up with Intel. Here in London, UK, it’s a familiar-looking Android smartphone with an important internal difference. The RAZR i will be running on one of Intel’s latest mobile chips (2GHz processor), differentiating it from what we saw from the Google-owned phone-maker a few weeks earlier. Motorola’s calling the phone its biggest launch in the UK since the original RAZR.

Motorola’s touting the (almost “edge-to-edge”) 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 2,000mAh of battery and the same Kevlar coating — it’s water repellent this time. But this event is also about Intel’s 2GHz processor inside. The chipmaker says it’s optimized the architecture for web browsing, especially for Java-based activities. It’s also pushing for power consumption even on processor-intensive activities like gaming — but we’ll have to wait for our own tests to check it out.

The RAZR i also packs a similar 8-megapixel camera and interface to those other new Motorola phones, with under a second start-up to get the camera app running — we bet that dedicated camera button helps there. Intel made similar promises with the Orange San Diego, but were already intrigued by that Vanilla-looking interface.

NFC is already baked in, with Android Beam taking control of what you need, while its bootloader arrives unlocked. The RAZR i appears to be packing some iteration of Android 4 — but we’re still checking on whether it’ll be coming with ICS or the newer Jelly Bean. The phone will arrive in the likes of UK, France, Germany and Brazil — but no news on whether it’ll appear inside North America’s borders. In the meantime, you’ll find a galley of pics below, plus a press release and publicity video right after the break.

Update: According to retailer Clove.co.uk stock should be arriving (in the UK at least) on October 1st, with a SIM-free price of £342 (about $555).

Continue reading Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Motorola announces Intel-powered RAZR i, launches in Europe next month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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