Hasta La Gadget!

There are some cameras that we absolutely love, some we find downright disappointing and others that get the job done, albeit with mediocre results. Samsung’s digital imaging devices typically fall within that last category — they’re moderately innovative, generally affordable and often well-designed, but when it comes to image quality and performance, we’re left… underwhelmed. So, when we first had a chance to try out the CE giant’s new NX200 at IFA in Berlin, we weren’t expecting a mind-blowing imaging device.

The NX200 is Samsung’s latest entrant into the interchangeable lens (ILC) category — it’s a mirrorless model, to be more precise, and a fairly impressive one at that — at least when you glance at the spec sheet. It’s the company’s latest ILC to use an APS-C size sensor, which is the largest we’ve seen in a mirrorless cam. This sensor type implies that the NX200 may have a chance at competing with Sony’s NEX-C3, which has been our top pick in the category, and its 20.3 megapixel rating suggests that Samsung wants to be taken seriously here, with a true contender on its hands. But has Samsung delivered a winner? Jump past the break for our take.

Continue reading Samsung NX200 interchangeable lens camera review

Samsung NX200 interchangeable lens camera review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Ever since we spent some time with OCZ’s RevoDrive Hybrid back at Computex, we eagerly awaited its arrival so that it could be put through its paces. Well, the time has come for the $500 storage mongrel to face the music and for us to find out if it adds up to more than the sum of its SSD and HDD parts. Hot Hardware found the RevoDrive Hybrid delivered on its promise of mind-blowing peak transfer speeds of almost 1GBps, with performance that could only be matched by dual SATA III SSDs in a RAID 0 setup. Everyone spoke well of the Dataplex software that manages the RevoDrive’s caching, as it dutifully maxed out performance once it learned usage patterns. TRIM support was a welcome feature, but all noted the niggle that it must be used as the system boot device, so it can’t pull duty as secondary storage. All in all, the consensus is that while the RevoDrive Hybrid may be too pricey for some, it’s a darn good deal for the performance it provides. Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it, so dig into the full reviews at the sources below.

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid review roundup: a speedy and spacious storage solution originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Hot Hardware, The SSD Review, Benchmark Reviews  | Email this | Comments

This article was written on June 18, 2008 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

It’s been a year and a half since Mozilla shipped Firefox 3 Alpha 1, and what we saw initially wasn’t very breathtaking. For this first milestone release Mozilla focused on backend improvements that would, in the long run, make the browser a better competitor in a world that is largely dominated by Internet Explorer. Fast forward to the final release of Firefox 3 yesterday and we’ve got ourselves a rich browser that I believe Firefox users will embrace with open arms.

Firefox 3 has its sights set on Internet Explorer as it comes barreling through with over 15,000 updates. There have been enhancements to performance, stability, rendering, security, bookmarking, and much more that makes this the best version of Firefox yet. For the first time we’re going to list out all of Firefox 3′s best features for those of you who are jumping on the bandwagon for the very first time, and we’ll even take a brief look at the browser’s performance.

–Table of Contents–

In this article we’re focusing on several different aspects of the Firefox 3 browser, and we thought it might be easier for you to navigate if you had a table of contents. Here are the main topics that we’re going to cover:

1. Themes
2. Performance
3. Security
4. Usability
5. Developers
6. Conclusion

–Themes–

One of the most frequently discussed aspects of Firefox 3 is the fact that it ships with a handful of different themes that are all customized to the operating system you’re using. They’ve got one for Vista, Linux (varies depending on distribution used), Mac, and Windows XP. Each one focuses on trying to make the browser appear as though it was designed specifically for that operating system. There is, of course, some debate as to whether Mozilla succeeded in doing so.

Firefox 3 themes, from top to bottom: Vista, Linux, Mac, XP

The theme changes go beyond just a few changed icons, too. As you can tell in the screenshot above there are some rather drastic differences between each of the themes. A good example of that is the address bar and search box which have rounded corners on some operating systems, and don’t on others.

As you begin to dive a little deeper you’ll notice that the OS-specific skinning impacts more than the browser’s main window. Everything from the settings to managing bookmarks have all been designed to fit in with the general appearance of your operating system.

–Performance–

We’re not going to dive deep into the performance realm today because that’s something we plan on exploring more in the future. One thing that we can say is that the performance hasn’t changed much since our last extensive test, especially in the memory usage department. Firefox 3 still knocks the socks off of the competitors when it comes to minimizing the amount of memory it uses.

But you know darn well that we won’t move on without giving you some sort of benchmarks. We decided to see how Firefox 3, Opera 9.5, and Safari 3.1 do on the SunSpider JavaScript test. We left Internet Explorer out of this because it is pretty much the only one not claiming that it has significant JavaScript speed improvements. Here are the results from the three browsers running on Windows XP (a smaller number is better):

1. Firefox 3: 3057.6ms (results)
2. Safari 3.1: 3464.0ms (results)
3. Opera 9.5: 4440.0ms (results)

What’s interesting is that on Apple’s Safari site they say that “it executes JavaScript up to 4.5 times faster than Firefox 2 and up to 5 times faster than Opera 9.” While that may have been true at one point, I think they’ll need to be updating their facts. Although you know darn well that they won’t admit defeat to Firefox 3.

–Security–

Security is normally one of the main ways that people try to “sell” Firefox to their friends and family. They talk about how vulnerable you could be if you’re not using Firefox, and it looks like this will continue to be a selling point even in Firefox 3. Take a look at some of the new security features it brings to the table:

• Enhanced Web Forgery Protection: Firefox will try and block any sites that are infested with malware (example site), or are trying to compromise your confidential information through a phishing attack (example site).
• Antivirus Integration: After you download a file Firefox 3 will automatically scan it using any antivirus software that you have installed on your computer.
• Vista Parental Controls: I wish Mozilla got around to integrating with Vista’s parental controls a little better, because the only thing Firefox 3 will honor are any download restrictions that have been established. That’s nice and all, but website blocking is something most parents are probably concerned about more.

–Usability–

While Firefox 3 has a lot of improvements that are constantly working behind the scenes, there are also some great things that you’ll want to start taking advantage of right away. Here are the main features that you surely don’t want to miss:

• Enhanced Address Bar (a.k.a. Awesome Bar): The address bar has received one of the biggest overhauls, and it now uses an intelligent algorithm to determine which results you’re likely looking for. It uses a combination of the recency and frequency of your visits to figure out what belongs at the top of the list.
  
• Better Download Management: The download manager in Firefox was revamped a bit, but what’s more important is that in the Status Bar of the browser you can now keep an eye on how much longer your downloads have. Plus you can resume your downloads after you’ve restart the browser.
  
• “Remember My Password” isn’t so annoying: I absolutely hate when a browser asks you if you want it to remember your password before you even have a chance to see if what you entered was correct. I use different passwords on different sites, and now with Firefox 3 it will popup with an information bar along the top of the browser asking if I want it to remember my password. What’s nice about that is it doesn’t interrupt the page from loading, which means you can actually see whether the login credentials you used were correct before having Firefox store that information in its database.
  
• Simplified Bookmarking: Bookmarking a page is now as simple as clicking on the star located in the address bar. If you click the star a second time it will let you edit details such as the name of the bookmark, the location, and even any tags that you think will help find it in the future.
  
• Smart Bookmarks: The Smart Bookmarks are kind of like the automatically generated music playlists that applications like iTunes create. These special bookmarks can show a listing of your most visited sites, places you recently bookmarked, and more. We’ve even put together instructions on how to create your own Smart Bookmarks in Firefox 3.
  
• Full Page Zoom: By default when you go to zoom in and out on a website it will now zoom the entire page instead of just increasing or decreasing the size of the text. This is more like what the other mainstream browsers do, but you can always go back to the old way of “zooming” only the text if you want.
  

–Developers–

There are also some great things that developers of websites and extensions alike will want to take advantage of. Here are some of my favorites:

• Offline support: Firefox has the ability to take a website offline so that users can still interact with it even when not connected to the Internet.
• Web-based protocol handlers: We’ve already shown you how Firefox can integrate with online services (here and here), and hopefully there will be more web applications looking to take advantage of this feature.
• Animated PNG graphics: Could this be the thing that drives animated GIF’s into the grave?
• Several new XUL elements for extension creators: Now add things like date and time pickers to your extensions.
• And much more!

–Conclusion–

Firefox 3 is undoubtedly a next generation browser, and I’m anxious to see how well this version can compete against the other top-dogs out there. Let us know in the comments what you think of it, what your favorite features are, and when/if you plan on making the leap to Firefox 3.

P.S. Keep an eye out for next Wednesday’s CyberNotes as we show you some tweaks that can help make the browser even better.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s SummaryYour Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s Summary

So, Nikon finally has a mirrorless camera, after what was quite possibly the most dramatic launch event the company has ever conducted. Sure, competing models from Panasonic, Olympus and Sony have already reached the second, or even third generation before Nikon lifted the veil on its J1, but did last month’s long-awaited announcement bring us the ILC to rule all ILCs? Well, no, not at all. Nikon isn’t targeting pros or even advanced amateur shooters with its latest addition to the interchangeable lens camera family. Instead, the company is marketing its J1 to soccer moms (and dads), fashion-conscious young folk, and casual shooters who want some of the versatility of a DSLR, but are willing to sacrifice excellent image quality for a more compact design. But what about the rest of us? Will Nikon one day reward our patience with a true class competitor? Perhaps, but that’s definitely not what we have here.

Nikon built the $650 J1 “from the ground up” — a reference to its 10.1 megapixel, CX-size sensor with a 2.7x crop factor, along with a handful of quirky features that we probably won’t use, but that some of you (or perhaps your family members) may love. Jump past the break to see what we really liked about the camera, and what left us rather unimpressed. And it you’re dying to judge its performance for yourself, you can check out a handful of untouched images at the coverage link below the conclusion, along with a variety of sample videos spattered throughout.

Continue reading Nikon 1 J1 review (video)

Nikon 1 J1 review (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

This article was written on December 04, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

Do you find Windows starting up slow because of all the applications that are set to automatically run at the beginning? If you consult anyone tech savvy they will say to cut back on the number of applications that start with your computer, but that’s hard for some people to do. Most of the time those programs serve a purpose, and people want them to be running when they need them.

If you delete the items you’ll probably end up manually starting them later on. So how about we delay the startup programs for a few minutes until after Windows has had time to run all of your most important applications? That’s where the free Startup Delayer comes into play (for Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista). With it you can designate which applications you want to start with Windows, and you can associate a delay for each one. For example, your instant messenger programs probably aren’t of immediate importance so why not have them start a few minutes after Windows has done its thing?

Lets take a look at how to make Startup Delayer work for you…

–Adding Startup Items–

The heart and soul of Startup Delayer is the central management screen. That’s where you can specify what programs you want to startup, assign each one a delay in seconds, and move them around so that each app starts in the order that you want it to.

Click to Enlarge

You would think that being able to assign a delay to a startup program is enough, but Startup Delayer does even more than that. You can also choose the process priority (low, below normal, normal, above normal, high, or realtime) and the initial window size (maximized, minimized, hidden, or normal) of each application.

–Import Startup Items–

Sure you could sit there manually adding all of the programs to Startup Delayer, but why go through the hassle? In the File menu there is an import option which will list all of the existing applications that are scheduled to startup with Windows. Check the boxes of the apps that you want Startup Delayer to handle, and click the Import button. Startup Delayer will import them, and it will remove the options from the Windows Registry/Startup folder to ensure that there are no duplicates!

Tip: There is a Create Backup button at the bottom that I highly suggest you use before importing any of the entries. This will backup all of your startup entries in case you decide to revert back to the traditional startup method.

–Make Your Sequence Start with Windows–

Entering in startup entries isn’t enough though. After you get the order and delays of your applications just right you’ll need to tell Windows to run your sequence when it starts up. Here’s what you have to do (see the corresponding diagram below):

1. Save the sequence to your computer. It doesn’t really matter where you save it just as long as it will always be accessible (tip: don’t put it on a USB drive).
2. Choose the display method (make sure to press the Save button if you make changes):
• This Window – At startup it shows the same management screen that you use to configure the startup entries.
• Report – At startup it shows a small window that lists which programs have already been initiated and which ones still need to run (screenshot in the next section)
• None – At startup no information is shown on the progress of your startup items. It’s all done “behind-the-scenes”.
3. Click the Execute with Windows link and find the file that you saved in Step 1. After completing this step your sequence will be scheduled to start with Windows.

–Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor–

So you have all of that done? There is nothing left to do other than enjoy the faster startup of Windows! Here’s what the report view looks like when starting the computer:

Ahh, it’s nice being able to fully control and delay startup programs!

Download Startup Delayer

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Your Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Speed Up Your PC By Deleting Startup ProgramsCyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s SummaryAdd, Remove, and Modify Startup Programs20% Chance Of Another Vista Delay