Hasta La Gadget!

Hey Sony, you hear that? Sounds like you might have another leak on your hands. We got our fourth unofficial look at Sony’s Alpha A77 this morning, and now it’s time for a little accessorizing. What you see above is reportedly a shot of a new lens adapter called the LA-EA2, which would apparently bring the outfit’s translucent mirror technology to its range of little NEX shooters. As you might recall, that mini-mirror brings with it continuous phase-detect autofocus. Of course, this is just a rumor, but it does lines up with previous reports of a forthcoming NEX-7. You know we enjoy a leak as much as the next guy, but we like hard facts even more. So what’s it going to be Sony?

Sony LA-EA2 lens adapter gets ready for its close-up in ‘leaked’ render originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GPS, a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor, 15x optical zoom — we’ve seen it all before. But a feature that displays places of interest on the camera’s 3-inch LCD? Well, that sounds a bit like augmented reality (AR)! The Fujifilm FinePix F600 EXR’s new Landmark Navigator mode does exactly that, packing one million pre-loaded locations from around the world. Looking to find your way from Rome’s Trevi Fountain to the Spanish Steps? The compact cam will point the way, including other stops along your route. You can also add your own locations, or launch Photo Navigation, which lets you easily return to places you’ve photographed — or plot them on Google Maps once you get home. There’s also 1080p movie capture, a 12,800 ISO high-sensitivity mode (that you’ll probably never want to use), sensor-shift image stabilization, and a 24-360mm lens with an f/3.5 maximum aperture. But as you may have guessed, we’re most excited about those AR features, so jump past the break for the full scoop.

Continue reading Fujifilm FinePix F600EXR packs photo navigation, augmented reality in a 16 MP digicam

Fujifilm FinePix F600EXR packs photo navigation, augmented reality in a 16 MP digicam originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The trouble with pesky Photon, at least as far as ultra-fast optical computing is concerned, is that he keeps coming back. If a data-carrying beam of light collides with reflections bouncing around between the components of a chip, it can suffer enough interference to make people yearn for the good old days of electrons. What’s needed is the optical equivalent of a diode, which only allows light to pass one way, and that’s exactly what researchers at Caltech and the University of California claim to have developed. As you’ll see in the photo after the break, their metallic-silicon optical waveguide allows light to travel smoothly from left to right, but it breaks up and dissipates any photons traveling in the opposite direction. This is all good, because there’s no point having futuristic 50Gbps optical interconnects if our CPUs lag behind. Light up the source link for a fuller explanation.

Continue reading Optical ‘diode’ lends hope to photonic computing, rayguns

Optical ‘diode’ lends hope to photonic computing, rayguns originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For better or worse, Instagram’s taken the iOS-capturing world by storm. And if you’re wondering what our qualification for “by storm” is, well… let’s just say The Biebs blasted out his first image on the service last month. As the story goes, four young lads with a fistful of dollars and boundless imaginations started up the famed app on October 6th, 2010. Today, there’s still only four employees, but the user base has expanded just a wee bit. The outfit just saw its 150 millionth photo uploaded (shown after the break!), with the current rate clocking in at around 15 images per second. Naturally, we took the opportunity to ask one of those four what this meant for a future Android release, and while he confirmed that he had nothing to announce right away, he did mention that the (still free) iOS build is just “the beginning of what’s to come.” So, how’s about dropping a link to your favorite Instagram down in comments below? Best one wins!

Continue reading Instagram hits 150 million uploads in nine months, still won’t talk about Android plans

Instagram hits 150 million uploads in nine months, still won’t talk about Android plans originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What happens when you take a photo, rip away its color and fill in the chromatic gaps with paint (or Photoshop)? You can create vintage-style, hand-colored photos. And sometimes you can barely even tell the new coloring isn’t real. More »