Hasta La Gadget!

LaCie’s startlingly orange Rugged drive has been waltzing around and taking beatings for years now, but the company finally decided to give it an interface overhaul to deal with this phenomenon known only as “technological progress.” The latest and greatest in the family is the Rugged eSATA, which maintains the iconic shape and color of the original, yet adds support for eSATA; reportedly, users can see transfer rates as high as 90MB/sec, and if you can only find a USB port, it’ll also work with that when speed isn’t a concern. It’s up for order right now in a 500GB model, but you’ll have to amicably part with $159.99 before calling it yours.

LaCie refreshes connectivity options on Rugged eSATA portable HDD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aw, yeah. The pre-PMA part is officially on. Olympus is kicking out a foursome of new shooters this fine morning (or evening, for those camped out in the great state of Hawaii), so we’ll just get right to it. The SP-800UZ megazoom (which we spotted a few days ago) boasts an almost mind-melting 30x optical zoomer, a 14 megapixel image sensor, dual image stabilization, AF tracking, 720p movie mode, face detection and a 3-inch rear LCD. The SP-600UZ sports a stepped-down list of features, including a 12 megapixel sensor, 15x optical zoom and a 2.7-inch rear LCD. Both cams support SDHC / SD cards and are slated to ship next month, with the big boy setting you back $349.99 and the other guy $249.99. Moving on, there’s the “shockproof, waterproof, crushproof and freezeproof” Stylus Tough 8010 and 6020, both of which feature a 14 megapixel sensor, HD movie mode, 5x wide-angle optical zoom, 2.7-inch rear LCD and an HDMI output. The only major difference is the toughness level; the 8010 can withstand a 6.6-foot drop and 220 pounds of pressure, whereas the 6020 can only withstand a 5-foot drop and undisclosed amount of pressure. Check ’em later this month for $399.99 (8010) / $299.99 (6020). Full releases are after the break, per usual.

Updated: The good guys at Olympus gave us a chance to check out the new cams today. The Stylus Tough point and shoots continue to feel really solid, and the SP-800UZ felt surpsingly light in our hands. We also dig the comfortable rubberry grip on both the SP-800UZ and the SP-600UZ. But the new bodies aside, the Magic Filter mode is pretty cool, especially the drawing function that turns your shot into a sketch. Check out some of our hands-on shots below.

Continue reading Olympus intros SP-800UZ and SP-600UZ megazooms, Stylus Tough 8010 / 6020 (Updated: with hands-on impressions)

Olympus intros SP-800UZ and SP-600UZ megazooms, Stylus Tough 8010 / 6020 (Updated: with hands-on impressions) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We got ourselves pretty well acquainted with one of GammaTech’s Durabooks early last year, and the company is now finally back with another model that breaks a bit of new ground in the world of rugged laptops. While there may well be tougher laptops out there, GammaTech’s new Durabook D14 E-Series is apparently the first fully rugged laptop to come equipped with 1TB of storage, which still has to count for something these days. Other than that addition, however, the laptop is fairly similar to the company’s previous D14RM model, and packs a 14.1-inch screen, a Core 2 Duo processor “greater than 2GHz,” up to 8GB of RAM, and your choice of RAID-0 or RAID-1 configuration options for those dual 500GB hard drives. No official word on a price just yet, but you can pretty safely bet on paying a premium over the $1,500 that the standard D14RM demands.

GammaTech debuts Durabook D14 E-Series with 1TB of storage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s better than shooting HD video with a tiny compact camera? Shooting video underwater with a tiny compact camera, of course. Olympus has announced, amongst an otherwise rather dull CES lineup, the Stylus Tough 3000.

The 3000 is shockproof, waterproof and freeze-proof, and packs a 12 megapixel sensor which can also shoot 720p video. You can drop it to the ground from five feet up, dunk it into 10 feet of water and use it in temperatures as low as 14ºF (that’s below zero, or minus 10ºC, for our worldwide readers).

But there are a few extras that make this a little different from other ruggedized cameras. The Tough 3000 has an accelerometer inside, so that you can change settings even while wearing thick gloves. Instead of fumbling for a tiny button, you tap the sides of the camera. It senses the directions of these little bumps and changes the settings. This alone sets the little Olympus apart from other sport-cams.

The Tough 3000 has everything else you’d expect from a modern compact — image stabilization, face detection (we’re not sure if it works on sharks or other undersea dangers — do sharks even have proper faces?) and a neat panorama function where you hit the shutter release once and then pan the camera across the scene in front. The camera trips the shutter three times in all at just the right spot (using those accelerometers we guess) and the whole shebang is stitched together into one wide picture.

The tough-cam will be on sale in February for $230.

Stylus Tough 3000 press release [Olympus]

Stylus Tough 3000 Product page [Olympus]

Just in case you had any doubts, CES is in full swing. Kodak just blurted out a galleria of new goods, starting with the all-new Slice touchscreen camera (shown above). As you likely expected, this is the outfit’s first touchscreen P&S, boasting a 3.5-inch rear display, a search function to sift through “up to 5,000” photos on the internal memory, a direct tag feature, 14 megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom, built-in optical image stabilization and 720p (30fps) video capture. It’ll ship this April in black, nickel and radish (yeah kids, radish) for $349.95. Next up is the April-bound Pulse digital photo frame, which boasts a 7-inch display (800 x 600 resolution), integrated WiFi, 512MB of storage and a $129.99 price tag. Rounding out the bunch is a load of new EasyShare cameras (all detailed in the press release below), as well as a Playsport camcorder, which offers up waterproof 1080p action with electronic image stabilization, a 2-inch LCD, 5 megapixel still shots, smart face tracking technology and an SD / SDHC card slot. There’s also an HDMI output and USB connectivity, and you’ll find black, blue and purple editions shipping this April for $149.95. You’re stoked, aren’t you?

Continue reading Kodak deals Slice touchscreen camera, Pulse digiframe and Playsport camcorder

Kodak deals Slice touchscreen camera, Pulse digiframe and Playsport camcorder originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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