Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s Alpha series DSLR cameras are almost notorious for how often they leak, and as is custom with an introductory assertion like that, we’ve got another one to show you. The company’s Hong Kong support site has an instruction manual available to download for an as-of-then unknown iteration, the α850. The gang at Dyxum forums have gone through it more thoroughly than we have so far, and the Initial reaction is that it’s similar to the α900 but with only three FPS, a smaller viewfinder, and still no video (unlike its competition). We’ve assembled some highlights from the guide, including full specs, in the gallery below. Hit up the read link to grab the full manual for yourself, but just a word of caution, even though the PDF’s only 3.54MB in size, the download has proven to be rather painfully slow.

[Via Dyxum forums; thanks, Doug]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sony Alpha 850 DSLR manual pops up on Hong Kong support site originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Picture this: You’ve just completed a whirlwind tour of Europe, and you’re wading through the hundreds of pics you snapped along the way, and everything starts to look alike. Is that the Charles Bridge in Prague, or the Chain Bridge in Budapest?

If you’re a Mac user, the Eye-Fi Geo can help keep your memories straight.

Next time you travel, pop the 2GB Geo into any digital camera that accepts SD cards: The card uses Wi-Fi triangulation to add location information to every photo you snap. Like other Eye-Fi memory cards, the Geo also lets you wirelessly upload your photos to your PC.

What makes the Geo different from other Eye-Fi cards, including the $99 4GB Explore Video, which also geotags your photos? It’s designed to work seamlessly with iPhoto 09’s new Places feature, which lets you organize and search your photo collection by location. With the Geo card, your photos are automatically imported directly into iPhoto with location information intact, so you don’t need to manually enter it for each image.

Users can also upgrade their Geo card to share images online at MobileMe or one of more than 20 other photo sharing and social networking sites for a $9.99 annual fee.

The $59.99 Eye-Fi Geo is available exclusively at Apple Stores and online at Apple.com.  We’ll take the Geo for a spin in the coming weeks, check back at PCMag.com soon for a full review.

Digital photo-editing software maker LightCrafts is adding several updates to Aurora, its photo-editing and -sharing software program, today. The updates include the addition of Retouch and Punch photo-editing tools to the visual photo editor, the addition of integration with Shutterfly to Aurora’s sharing and publishing feature, and accelerated software performance.

For the first time, the company is making Aurora available for Mac users, too. Aurora for Mac includes all of the photo editing, organizing, and sharing features found in the PC product, but with a user experience designed for Mac enthusiasts. For example, users can drag-and-drop photos into Aurora from iPhoto and other Mac applications.

Best of all, LightCrafts is offering Aurora for Mac and PC for free! All you have to do is go to www.lightcrafts.com/aurora, select “Buy Now,” and enter promo code FREE24.

The promotion begins today at 9:15 a.m. EST and ends on Thursday, July 16 at 9:15 a.m. After the 24-hour promotional period ends, Aurora for Mac and PC will be available for $19.95. For existing Aurora customers, however, the latest version is a free update.

Start the races!

Apparently I have something in common with the iPhone: I also shut down in the summer heat.

1. Sing it with me: “I want to be/ Under the sea/ With a waterproof Olympus camera.” I’m going to have to work on that last bit. Anyhoo, Adorama is practically giving away the Olympus 1050 digital camera for $149 with free shipping. This classy compact camera delivers 10.1 megapixels and a 3X optical zoom, and it’s waterproof up to 10 feet. So take it snorkeling with no worries. Take it with you in the pool. Take those secret bathtub pics you’ve been waiting to try. This Olympus will still work perfectly when it’s out of the water.

2. Here’s a clever device for people who want to use Skype at home but aren’t crazy about wearing a headset. The D-Link DPH-50U IP Telephone Adapter lets you use your exiting corded or cordless home phone with Skype. Your phone will be able to receive both standard and Skype calls. You can even forward Skype calls to your cell phone when you leave home. How does it do all this? Magic. Buy.com has it for $8.99 after $10 mail-in rebate, with free shipping.

3. It’s a whole compact stereo system for $34.98 (with free shipping). That’s the NewEgg.com price for the Jensen Docking Digital Music System, which plays and charges your iPod, and also includes speakers, an AM/FM radio, and an alarm clock.

Each week you can get different sales, free shipping offers, financing deals, and exclusives on BestBuy.com. This week Best Buy has a ton of marked-down items in categories such as Cameras & Camcorders, Home Theater, and Car & GPS. I’m going to focus on four products in these categories: a 12-megapixel Samsung digital camera, a Pure Digital pocket camcorder, a Garmin GPS, and a Sony Bravia HDTV.

Find out the deals you’ll want to grab and the ones you’ll want to avoid, after the jump.