Hasta La Gadget!

These days, the easiest way to learn what your camera does is to take it out and use it. Instant feedback shows you how different apertures affect depth-of-field, how faster and slower shutter speeds can freeze and blur the action, and how zooming your lens can affect more than just how big things are in your photos.

But back in the days of film, where a week could go by between tripping the shutter and seeing the results, something like the Camera Sim would have been invaluable. Even today, this SLR simulator is a great learning tool. It’s a Flash application that runs in your browser and lets you adjust everything that can affect the picture.

Drag to change the lighting from dull and overcast to bright sunshine, to change your distance from the subject, the aperture, shutter speed, ISO and the focal length of the lens. Choose aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual exposure modes, then press the shutter to take a picture.

Your snap is displayed complete with motion blur, exposure errors and even high-ISO sensor noise. A complete novice will still need some instruction, but once that’s done they can twiddle around and see which control affects what.

It’s a shame it uses Flash, as this is the perfect sim to have on the phone or tablet in your pocket. If there isn’t already an app for this — which would allow a beginner to check up on things in the field — somebody should write one already. As it is, the Camera Sim is free, with v2.0 on the way.

Camera Sim [Camera Sim]

See Also:

• Fun Polaroid Simulator Will Waste Many Hours

Being number one is usually an honor, but not when it comes to Kaspersky Lab’s top ten PC vulnerabilities list. Unfortunately for the software giant, Adobe took top dishonors for Q1 this year, pulling in five total spots on the list, including the top three. According to the security firm, all of the vulnerabilities appearing on the list allowed cyber-criminals to control computers at the system level. The number one spot was occupied by a vulnerability in Adobe Reader that was reportedly detected on 40 percent of machines running the application, while Flash Player flaws took second and third. Other dishonorees included the Java Virtual Machine, coming in at fourth and fifth place, Apple QuickTime, Winamp, and Microsoft Office. That ain’t bad, considering Microsoft ruled the vulnerabilities roost in 2010.

Adobe dominates Kaspersky Lab’s top ten PC vulnerabilities list originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 21:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android Honeycomb 3.1‘s a small but totally excellent update for Android tablets. A slightly smoother interface is packaged with two substantial features: improved flash performance (it’s really, really better!) and USB device compatibility (like a real computer!). More »

Get ready for it speed freaks, Samsung’s toggle Double Data Rate 2.0 MLC NAND chips are now in production — an industry first. The 64 gigabit flash chips manufactured using 20nm processes boast an impressive 400Mbps transfer rate. That makes these toggle DDR 2.0 chips about three times faster than toggle DDR 1.0 (a 133Mbps interface) or ten times faster than the 40Mbps SDR NAND flash in widespread use today. Look for ’em in future teardowns of tablets, SSDs, and smartphones.

Continue reading Samsung’s 64Gb toggle DDR 2.0 NAND flash memory with 400Mbps transfer rate hits production

Samsung’s 64Gb toggle DDR 2.0 NAND flash memory with 400Mbps transfer rate hits production originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 01:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been closely tracking the development of Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8660, you would’ve already seen AnandTech‘s impressive set of benchmark results back in early April. But of course, it’d be more convincing to actually see this chipset in action, so Qualcomm’s latest videos of its Mobile Development Platform should satisfy your curiosity. As demoed after the break, this Snapdragon’s Adreno 220 is seen effortlessly handling in-page HTML5 video streaming, Flash video streaming, and 1080p playback. And as a sideshow, Qualcomm even put its current-gen single-core QSD8255 head-to-head with a rival dual-core chipset — no doubt a Tegra 2 in an LG Optimus 2x — and easily won the Flash video contest. All of this might lure you into getting the MDP as your next everyday phone, but here’s the bad news: this professional kit will cost you a dear $1,350. So unless you’re feeling very generous, you’d probably want to wait for the consumer devices to arrive in the summer — think EVO 3D, Sensation (with GSM-flavored MSM8260, naturally), and TouchPad.

Continue reading Qualcomm shows off MSM8660’s slick video performance on development kit (video)

Qualcomm shows off MSM8660’s slick video performance on development kit (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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