Hasta La Gadget!

Whether or not you agree with their tactics, lots of companies are finding it quite lucrative business to spend more time in the courts than in the research labs. CSIRO got some tasty settlements back in 2009, while just a few months ago Wi-LAN received “a significant amount” in a settlement from Intel. Now it’s Mosaid’s turn, a Kanata, Ontario-based company that bills itself as “one of the world’s leading intellectual property (IP) companies, focused on the licensing and development of semiconductor and communications technologies.” Indeed it just licensed some of those properties to LG on the 15th, but the very next day it filed suit against a 17 defendants for infringing on six of the company’s patents, relating to network discovery, multiplexing, and other wireless techniques. Among those companies is RIM; which has its Torch, Style, Curve, Pearl, Bold, Storm handsets called out; and Asus, which has a long line of motherboards, routers, and other products said to be in jeopardy. As ever it’s hard to draw the line between the patent trolls and the legitimately infringed, but that the lawsuit was filed in litigation-friendly Marshall, Texas doesn’t leave us with a particularly good feeling.

Continue reading Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM

Mosaid gets into WiFi patent game, sues 17 companies including Dell, Canon, Asus, and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink electronista  |  Mosaid  | Email this | Comments

Lightning, a close relation of Thunderbolt. Photo Thomas Bresson / Flickr

Canon may soon be firing Thunderbolts from its cameras, according to a statement by the boss of Canon’s Video Products Group, Hiroo Edakubo. The press statement is the usual vapid fluff, but is pretty concrete when it comes to Canon’s intentions:

We are excited about Thunderbolt technology and feel it will bring new levels of performance and simplicity to the video creation market.

Thunderbolt is perfect for video, and especially the kind of high-end video market Canon caters to. Using the super high-speed connection, you could hook a camera through a RAID drive and into a monitor, neatly daisy-chained all along the way. And if you opt for the optical option, coming in the future, then you can use crazy long cables to make hooking up gear even easier. Thunderbolt on camcorders makes perfect sense.

But does this mean we’ll get Thunderbolt on our SLRs? Not necessarily. Canon and Sony, both of whom make still and video devices, have long used FireWire for video cameras and USB for stills cameras. This is unlikely to change until Thunderbolt becomes as ubiquitous as USB. After all, sensor sizes (and therefore file sizes) aren’t getting much bigger these days, and no manufacturer want to hobble their hardware by making it compatible with only a few computers.

On the other hand, I think we can expect Thunderbolt SD and CF card readers very soon. Imagine having your entire 8GB photo-shoot slurped into your computer in a few seconds. Yes please.

Chip Shot: Canon Signals Support for Intel Thunderbolt Technology [Intel]

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Shocker of shockers — the T3i really isn’t a monumental upgrade from the T2i that came before it. Granted, you could probably glean as much from the raw specifications list, but at least we’ve got a handful of reviews now to confirm it. The folks at Camera Gear Guide have a fairly exhaustive critique up, and while they lauded the overall image quality and the addition of the new video features (a digital in-shoot zoom and a swiveling LCD), they couldn’t wholeheartedly recommend it as an upgrade for existing T1i and T2i owners. Even for newcomers to the mid-range DSLR game, Canon’s own 60D seems infinitely more compelling at just $100 more, and it’s also hard to ignore Sony’s SLT-A55 for $50 less than what the T3i is retailing for. That’s not to say the T3i wasn’t impressive; quite the opposite, in fact. But it seems as if you’ll need to seriously survey the competition before deciding that this one’s worth your hard-earned Benjamins. Hit the source link for the full skinny, and hop on past the break for a preview video.

Continue reading Canon’s Rebel T3i / 600D reviewed: not exactly a compelling upgrade

Canon’s Rebel T3i / 600D reviewed: not exactly a compelling upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Chad Soriano, Camera Gear Guide, FroKnowsPhoto  | Email this | Comments

This $400 knob proves that the SLR really is the movie camera for today’s indie filmmakers. It’s called the Okii Systems USB Follow Focus, and it does what it says, allowing you to control the focus of a Canon SLR via USB. Think of it as focus-by-wire for your SLR.

Canon’s cameras can be controlled by hooking them up to computers,
too, but the Okii knob is arguably more practical on-set, especially as one big point of using an SLR to shoot video is its small size.

What’s that? You at the back there. Speak up. You’re wondering why you shouldn’t just use the auto or manual focus built-in to the camera? Well, pay attention, boy. Autofocus is never used in movies, as it tends to swim around, and if the subject walks away from his focus-point, the camera will refocus on the background. And manual focus, especially the fast accurate kind you need to pull focus between, say, two actors at different distances, is almost impossible with a modern AF lens.

Not only can the Okii knob save and flip between four pre-set focus points, you can also turn its hefty aluminum collar to focus using the lens’s built-in motor. Buttons around the edgers can also control digital zoom (to aid focussing), start/stop shooting, adjust ISO, aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation, as well as focussing=zone positioning. In short, if you put this on a long (tested up to ten meters) USB cable you have a full remote setup. Plug an HDMI-cable into the camera and hook-up a monitor and you’re done.

The knob costs $400, and is available for pre-order now.

Okii Systems USB Follow Focus knob [Okii via Oh Gizmo]
See Also:

• Nano' Mounts Turn SLRs into Movie-Cameras on the Cheap
• New Chips Poised to Revolutionize Photography, Film
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• Should DSLRs Shoot Video?

Amidst a slew of new announcements from Canon comes the new entry-level T3 (EOS 1100D) SLR, a replacement for the Rebel XS or EOS 1000D. Like the two-and-a-half year old camera it replaces, the T3 is built down to a price, but competition is so fierce in the low-end of the SLR market that you still get a full-featured camera.

The sensor is a 12MP CMOS model, and comes with old-school sensitivity running from just ISO 100-6400. That might sound good, but the upper limit of these things is always poking into the realms of noise. The LCD screen is a mere 230,000 dots, compared to the now-standard 900,000+ and video is 720p-only.

But you do get a nine focus-points, color-sensitive light-metering and Canon’s latest DIGIC 4 image processor. And beginners will be pleased with the Basic+ interface which lets you adjust settings based on intent rather than by tweaking the numbers. Think of it as Instagram, only with real camera settings instead of filters.

Along with Eye-Fi compatibility and a tweaked layout for the buttons and dials, that’s about it: a solid camera for anyone stepping up from a compact. You will be able to pick one up in March for $600, with an updated 18-55mm kit lens.

Canon EOS 1100D press release [DP Review]

See Also:

• Specs and Full Price of Entry Level EOS Canon Rebel XS Announced …