Hasta La Gadget!

Today Panasonic has introduced the latest in their G series of cameras, the LUMIX DMC-G5, complete with a newly-integrated 16.05 megapixel Live MOS sensor and their own Venus Engine for ultra high quality images and video. This camera brings all of the greatnesses of previous G series models with a lightweight, compact body, precision AF (Auto Focus), and a built-in flash. As with the rest of the LUMIX G series cameras, this model also uses Contrast AF, that allowing the focusing of the camera on subject matter to be controlled by the image sensor inside the device.

Processing and Controls

This model features a redesigned Venus Engine that will bring you next-level signal processing capabilities. You’ll have what Panasonic promises will be both crisp and clear images in both video recording and photos whenever you shoot. With the LUMIX G5′s precision AF working with its high-grade lens selection, you’ll have fabulous white balance as well as lifelike image rendering plus a perfect balance of high resolution with little to no noise across the grid – all of this equalling out to create highly faithful color reproduction for both photo and video.

NOTE: Have a peek now at our hands-on experience with this and several other Panasonic devices released this as well!

The LUMIX G5 doesn’t only have fancy gear on the inside, it’s got a slightly modified set of controls on the outside as well. You’ve got what Panasonic is aiming to be a stress free experience with user-tested controls made so that you can concentrate on shooting rather than flipping and flopping your way through an a future album. To start this party off right, Panasonic added a function level near the shutter released for direct adjustment of exposure, zoom, or aperture control. This level can also be used to magnify images in playback mode and flip pages in your menu.

This function lever is also available for use with the turn-and-push rear dial to allow you adjustments of major shooting settings as well. All of this, again, is set up so that you have a simple and quick-access experience.

Auto Focus

For those of you that aren’t a fan of the manual focus lenses of the world, the LUMIX G5 continues the G series’ legacy of Auto Focus greatness with Contrast AF, that again being focusing controlled by the image sensor. This system has higher accuracy, especially with a bright lens, than the Phase difference system AF. This unit also includes full-area Touch AF for focusing on any point in your field of view, and Speed AF with undeniable quickness in locking on to a subject.

And while we’re on the subject, capturing fast-moving objects will be much more accurately done with not only Touch AF control, but with bust shooting at six frames per second at anywhere up to 16.05 megapixel full resolution.

View Finders

The screen you’ll be looking at all this through is a a massive 1,440,000-dot equivalent LVF (Live View Finder) – quite bright and bringing you approximately 100% of your field of view. They say approximately because for all of science and engineering’s greatness, they still can’t guarantee perfection in real-world translation of images through screens – imagine that! NOTE: Panasonic didn’t tell us that, it just makes sense, science-wise.

This LVF works in combination with the device’s LCD screen and the G5′s built-in eye sensor to bring you automatic switching between the two. This system also works with Eye Sensor AF, automatically focusing in on a subject when you look into the EVF for “spur-of-the-moment shooting opportunities.” The screen on the back is that 920,000-dot high resolution LCD we just mentioned, with tilting 270 degrees up and down and, again, bringing you approximately 100% field of view. This panel is also a touch screen and you’ve got the ability to work with both the LVF and LCD simultaneously for what Panasonic encourages as “more intuitive shooting.”

Fun fact: the new Electronic Shutter mode added to this model allows silent operation for when you’re shooting subjects where silence is necessary.

Video

The LUMIX G5 is capable for picking up high-resolution full-HD 1,920×1,080 60p video in AVCHD Progressive (that being MPEG-4) or MP4 format. This unit of course utilizes Touch AF to focus in on subjects as the video is being recorded, and you’ve got a Extra Tele Conversion function as well that’ll extend your zoom range Max 4.8x with little to no deterioration of image quality. Just like past LUMIX G series cameras, you’ve got a dedicated video record button so you can record video while you’re snapping photos with your shutter button at the same time.

Sound quality for video will be high-quality with integrated Dolby Digital Stereo Creator and you’ll have noise reduction with the camera’s Wind Cut function as well.

Creative Control

There is a series of special effects you can implement on your shots in Creative Control Mode on the LUMIX G5. This camera has 14 filters – that being a bump up from the 5 included on the most recent G series unit. These include Expressive, Retro, High Key, Sepia, Hi Dynamic, Miniature Effect, Star Filter, Dynamic Monochrome, Impressive Art, One Point Color, Cross Process, Low Key, Toy Effect, and the always lovely Soft Focus.

These filter effects can be previewed in real time on the device’s LCD display with Live View mode, and the camera’s Intelligent Auto / iA Plus modes suggest filters that might look best in any situation if you ask them nicely. With Intelligent Auto Plus mode you’re also able to adjust the defocusing area in the background as well as have control over white balance and exposure compensation in your shots. Intelligent Auto mode will also bring you flexible control when you’re using such automatic shoot assist functions as the following: Intelligent D-range Control, Face Recognition, Intelligent Scene Selector, AF Tracking, and Intelligent ISO Control.

For the Newbies

Users who are new to interchangeable lens system cameras are going to have one whole heck of a lot easier time jumping in with the LUMIX G5 due to its Scene Guide feature. This system brings up 23 different sample photos captured with the device by professional photographers that can be selected by the user as it matches with the environment in which they’re about to shoot. When they select one of these 23 samples, the camera is set to the pre-selected parameters that best fit the situation. This mode also includes technical advice, recommended interchangeable lenses, and procedures for the user to learn their device as quickly as possible.

Pricing and Availability

You’ll be able to pick up the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G5 (aka the LUMIX G5) in black, white, or silver in a selection of kit combinations. Pricing and availability have not yet been revealed, though Panasonic promises 30 days warning before they’re ready to ship the product – you’ll know then!

Meanwhile have a peek at the gallery above and below as well as our hands-on experience with this device along with the rest of the Panasonic hardware revealed this week!

LUMIX G5 Gallery

Panasonic LUMIX G5 official with next-generation hardware is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yahoo’s new CEO, ex-Googler Marissa Mayer, faces no shortages of challenges turning the struggling behemoth around, but there are some key places that require some frantic surgery. With Yahoo‘s share price still slumping, Mayer’s first day on the job will be spent triaging the numerous weak points and figuring out how she can bring first stability and then a turnaround to the ravaged firm. But which exactly are those main areas that need attention?

Flickr

Yahoo has arguably been sitting on a goldmine of user engagement, but – beyond the frustrating forced-switch to using Yahoo credentials to log in – has made little use of photo sharing site Flickrf. That’s much to the chagrin of those with galleries on the site, who had been hoping for investment and more after Yahoo spent somewhere in the region of $35m for it.

Problem is, from being the automatic choice for photo sharing, Flickr now faces a raft of rivals that each make it far easier to create personal and public galleries online. Auto-upload features as we’ve seen in iOS with Camera Roll, and as have been introduced with Google+ and Facebook apps for mobile, have caught wind with the rise in smartphone photography; Flickr’s own usage stats show the most popular cameras are those on the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Mayer’s challenge here is to increase Flickr’s footprint in mobile without frustrating the other sizable group in the user stats: those with DSLRs from Canon, Nikon and others.

The Portal

Take a look at Yahoo’s homepage. It’s hardly the paragon of pared-back simplicity that Google.com has become known for; or, indeed, the graphically beautiful Bing.com homepage with its daily-changing photos. Instead, Yahoo has gone down the “throw as many links at them as possible” route, presumably hoping that if users see plenty of options they’ll presume Yahoo is still relevant.

Mayer is known for her skills in promoting consistency and harmony between services; the exec built a reputation on streamlining UI and bringing services together so that there was no jarring disconnect, however small, when switching between Google properties. Google’s own Larry Page described her as “a tireless champion of our users”, and many others have pointed to her focus on the user experience.

That’s just what Yahoo requires: something that stops it from looking like another tired aggregator, reliant on overwhelming users in order to keep them, and instead gives it a unique identity.

The Cull

That tendency to overwhelm is Mayer’s third key challenge. Google has been good at paring back services and products that have reached the end of their usefulness – even if there’s a fair number of people still actually using them – whereas Yahoo seems reluctant to let anything go. That reticence, presumably down to a fear of chasing away what users they have left, has left the company with a swollen portfolio with little in the way of direction.

“A cull is needed”

A cull is needed, and a decisive one. That’s where Mayer may face the biggest challenge: turning services like Flickr and the Yahoo homepage around demand enthusing staff and communicating your new ideas, while shutting services down can often mean job losses or at the least the fear of patchy job security. With Yahoo’s share price dwindling, few at the company can be feeling especially confident about the future.

Still, if Yahoo wants to move forward, it has to cut some ties with the past. Mayer’s credentials are good, and by all accounts she’s a natural geek which should carry some weight at a company which has suffered from too much clueless management and not enough innovation. The clock is ticking.

Yahoo’s Three Big Challenges is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s employee No. 20 has been named the CEO of Yahoo after an extended stay (13 years!) at the former company. She made a name for herself as head of location and local services at Google most recently, this including Google Maps and the managing of over 1,000 product managers. She’s known for being responsible for the look and feel of the most famous Google web-based products still running strong, that being Google Images, Google News, Gmail in its newest iteration, and the white and completely unadorned homepage of Google for search.

Mayer up until recently sat in the circle of senior executives near Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and has let it be known that “it was a reasonably easy decision” to leave Google and take a position of CEO with Yahoo, “one of the best brands on the Internet.” She also let it be known that she’s hoping “to get focused on creating a really great user experience” and that to make sure Yahoo continues to attract top talent, as “talent is what drives technology companies,” after all.

Below: Marissa Mayer speaks for the 2011 Computer History Museum on why she joined Google in the first place:

Just this April, Mayer was also tapped to join the board of Wal-Mart, a board which is made up of 16 appointees and representing Mayer’s first seat at a public company. Mayer also previously headed up Google’s search business. Mayer has stated that she “had an amazing time at Google” but that after 13 years she’s ready to move on up. Stay tuned as Mayer’s career continues to blow up.

[via NYTimes]

Google’s Marissa Mayer named Yahoo CEO is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The talk is weighing up: Apple’s iPad mini, the smaller “tweener” slate to slot in-between iPhone and new iPad, looks increasingly like a case of “when” and not “if”. Another high-profile and trusted source has jumped on the iPad mini bandwagon, taking the count of “insider confirmation” to three, alongside numerous other leaks and even some sneaky engineering sample photos.

The New York Times is the latest to speak up on the long-standing speculation, with its own clutch of sources saying that the tinier tablet is, indeed, in the pipeline. The paper joins the WSJ, which recently pointed to a September release date, echoing comments earlier again from Bloomberg that suggested a screen size “between 7- and 8-inches” and a pre-October launch.

Specifics are, in all cases, in short supply. The consensus so far has been on a 7.85-inch display, though none of the big three have settled on an absolute number. Chatter among the blogs and those blessed with insider-access has indicated a 1024 x 768 resolution might be enough to satisfy the “Retina” requirement, and there are mutterings of a new 19-pin dock connector too.

The big deal is price. Again, specifics are too much to hope for; the NYT instead says it will be “significantly less” than the existing $499 new iPad. That’s unsurprising, given it’s a smaller model altogether, and the real deciding factor will be exactly how much less it is. Google’s Nexus 7 is convincing reviewers – ourselves included – in no small part by virtue of its $199 price tag, and though Apple isn’t expected to dip quite that low, a $249 or $299 tag and the Cupertino cachet could be sufficient to encourage buyers to spend a little more than on Android alternatives.

As for focus, while Apple has been pushing the content creation talents of the new iPad in recent months, it’s Amazon’s success with the Kindle Fire in promoting content consumption that is believed to be Apple’s primary lure for joining the 7-inch segment. Amazon’s cheap 7-inch Fire hasn’t exactly helped Google, with its heavily-customized Android OS, but its helping the retailer push ebooks, movies, music and apps at a rate of alacrity.

With a couple of months to go before Apple is tipped to be making the iPad mini official, expect plenty more rumors and “anonymous sources” fleshing out the tablet. Is the prospect of a sub-$300 iOS slate enough to get you to open your wallet? Let us know in the comments.

[Image credit: Ciccaresedesign]

iPad mini: Cheaper, more focused and, oh yes, smaller is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After approximately one week of being off the listing of environmentally friendly products entirely, Apple has decided to return to EPEAT after “many loyal Apple customers” expressed concern. Apple’s hardware engineering chief Bob Mansfield has posted a letter that expresses Apple’s change of heart and reassures the public that Apple never lapsed for a moment on their green initiatives and environmentally sound hardware manufacturing. The letter also lets it be known that their relationship with EPEAT has “become stronger as a result of this experience” and that they’ll continue their work with ENERGY STAR as well as IEEE 1680.1, the standard on which EPEAT is based.

Mansfield’s letter makes it clear that Apple’s work with green initiatives has surpassed that which EPEAT measures. Apple has made moves, the letter notes, to remove harmful toxins from the manufacturing process and has made an effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable elements in their products as well. Have a peek at the full letter to see Apple’s decision in short.

“We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.

It’s important to know that our commitment to protecting the environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever. Apple makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry. In fact, our engineering teams have worked incredibly hard over the years to make our products even more environmentally friendly, and much of our progress has come in areas not yet measured by EPEAT.

For example, Apple led the industry in removing harmful toxins such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). We are the only company to comprehensively report greenhouse gas emissions for every product we make, taking into account the entire product lifecycle. And we’ve removed plastics wherever possible, in favor of materials that are more highly recyclable, more durable, more efficient and longer lasting.

Perhaps most importantly, we make the most energy-efficient computers in the world and our entire product line exceeds the stringent ENERGY STAR 5.2 government standard. No one else in our industry can make that claim.

We think the IEEE 1680.1 standard could be a much stronger force for protecting the environment if it were upgraded to include advancements like these. This standard, on which the EPEAT rating system is based, is an important measuring stick for our industry and its products.

Our relationship with EPEAT has become stronger as a result of this experience, and we look forward to working with EPEAT as their rating system and the underlying IEEE 1680.1 standard evolve. Our team at Apple is dedicated to designing products that everyone can be proud to own and use.” – Mansfield

Have a peek at our timeline below to get the full story and resulting uproar that surrounded this EPEAT saga with Apple. And don’t forget, San Francisco government officials: you can once again buy that MacBook you were eyeing a month ago, have at it!

[via Apple]

Apple returns to EPEAT after customer call to action is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.