Canon EOS 50D

On 26 August 2008, Canon New Zealand has announced the brand new Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera locally. No surprises to hear, but still very exciting news. The EOS 50D is the replacement for EOS 40D that was announced August last year. EOS 50D is the model sitting between 450D and 5D. It’s not as expensive as 5D, but definitely has better performance than 450D. Why am I excited? Because this is the model that I’m going to upgrade to.

Let’s take a look at the highlights of the Canon EOS 50D and my comments:

• 15.1 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C sensor) – It’s the highest resolution APS-C size sensor DSLR on the market. Although I don’t really care about pixels now, still the higher the better
• DiG!C 4 Image Processor – Wow, it’s already 4th generation of the Canon’s DiG!C processor and 50D is the first model to use it. Why DiG!C4 is good? Because they always say the new version is faster processing, producing finer detail and natural colour reproduction. But who knows? It should be better though
• ISO speed 100 – 3200, expandable to 12800 – Do you hear it? Up to 12800! But don’t know how good the image quality is at this rate
• 6.3 frames per second with continuous shooting up to 60 shots in a single burst – I’m not a sports shooter, so don’t really care about shooting speed, but of course, the faster the better
• 3.0” Clear View VGA LCD with Live View Mode and Live Face Detection AF Mode – Most DSLRs now carry Live View and many compact digital cameras have Face Detection function, so no surprises here
• 9-point wide area AF
• HDMI output in full High-Definition for high quality viewing and playback on a High Definition TV
• Tough magnesium alloy body, with environmental protection
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System including the improved Self Cleaning Sensor Unit with a new fluorine coating
• New Creative Auto mode and Quick Control screen – What’s this? Well, it’s not something groundbreaking. Just for users don’t know technical terms such as aperture and exposure to adjust settings and shoot images as they visualise them. For example, you can adjust images to be a little brighter or make the background more blurry in Creative Auto mode, rather than by understanding how to change the exposure or aperture
• Automatic image correction technologies including:
• Auto Lighting Optimizer – analyzes brightness and contract automatically before making adjustments to achieve optimal images
• Auto correction of lens peripheral illumination – lens peripheral illumination fall-off is automatically corrected to suite each lens when shooting in JPEG mode
• Full compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites
• Software – the EOS 50D should come with the following software package:
• Digital Photo Professional Software – provides processing of lossless RAW images
• EOS Utility – provides essential support for Live View remote shooting, camera configuration and image transfers
• Picture Style Editor – allows users to create individual Picture Styles that fit with their personal requirements

OK, are you ready to get one? I’m pretty much ready to sell my current camera and go to grab one when it hits retail stores late September in New Zealand. The price is still TBC at the time of writing, but I think it will be close to 40D’s price tag. It will be available in Body only, as an Enthusiast Kit with EF-S17-85mm lens, and as a Premium Kit with EF-S18-200mm Lens (this is the kit I’m going to grab!).

Nikon D90

Honestly speaking, I’m a Canon guy more than a Nikon guy. However, I have to admit that Nikon has been doing some decent jobs and have some really impressive models. My friends who bought the D300 all said it’s a brilliant camera and super happy about it. My dad is using a D3 which is sponsored by Nikon and likes it very much, although he also bought the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III for lens compatibilities. OK, what does Nikon bring us this time? It’s the D90, which is the successor to its popular D80. It’s the world’s first digital SLR with a movie mode. Let’s take a look at what it offers:

• Newly designed Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with 12.3 megapixels
• Wide ISO sensitivity range of ISO 200 to 3200
• D-Movie – the world’s first D-SLR movie mode allows you to shoot HD720p movies
• Scene Recognition System integrated with Face Detection System
• 3” LCD with Live View mode
• 11-point AF system
• Continuous shooting at up to 4.5 frames per second
• Compatible with HDMI output

SanDisk Extreme III 30MB/s Edition SDHC

In the digital photography age, we don’t need films anymore. But memory cards become essential. SanDisk is always the brand I trust for memory cards. Recently, it has introduced the Extreme III 30MB/s Edition line of SD High Capacity cards. As the name states, it can read and write up to 30MB/s, which is 50% speed boost from the previous fastest 20MB/s cards. This world’s fastest SDHC is helpful for complementing the new range of fast speed DSLRs.

The new cards are available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. The RRP for the 4GB card is US$65 (NZ$100), 8GB card is US$110 (NZ$165) and the 16GB one is selling at US$180 (NZ$270).

Netconcepts Searchme Stack

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The stack concept from Searchme for sharing your favorite sites is quite cool.

BBC Launches Mobile Version Website

Have you ever used your mobile phone to access websites? I do use it quite often and love it, although there are not many good mobile websites yet. But I believe the mobile world will definitely be the future of Internet sooner or later.

BBC.co.uk has just launched a new version of its website for mobile devices, including a new section for BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat with all the latest entertainment news and pictures.

The BBC's mobile website attracts 2.7 million unique users each month to its News, Sport and Weather content. It is currently the No.1 mobile site in the U.K.

Check out BBC.co.uk on your mobile devices or http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/web/index.shtml for more information.

The New High-end - Nokia N96

The Nokia N95's successor has gone official - the all new Nokia N96. Although the N95 is still powerful, the N96 has gone further by having 16GB internal storage in addition to a microSD slot. The 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss auto-focus camera is still on N96, but now it has two LED lights doing flash and video light separately.

The Nokia N96 has a 2.8" QVGA display with integrated DVB-H mobile TV tuner and 3.5mm headphone jack. Other features include Wi-Fi and A-GPS. It works on HSDPA, but unfortunately the first version only supports 900MHz and 2100MHz. It has 128MB RAM and 256MB system memory for operating system and dynamic user data. Battery life is up to 150 minutes talk time and up to 200 hours stand-by time.

It will be available from third quarter of 2008 for about 550 euro (US$870 or NZ$1,100).

Check out more Nokia N96 product images.

Sony Launches Cyber-shot W300 Compact Digital Camera with 13.6 Megapixel

Sony launches the Cyber-Shot DSC-W300 digital compact camera with 13.6 megapixel, 2.7" LCD screen, scratch-resistant titanium-coated body, HDTV output and all Sony's new intelligent technologies including the "Smile Shutter" and Dynamic Range Optimization.

The new DSC-W300 is expected to be the industry's most pocktable, high-resolution digital compact camera with high performance. The camera has ultra-high 13.6 megapixel CCD with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x optical zoom lens, 2.7" LCD screen with 230k pixels and an eye-level viewfinder all in a compact size. I like the body - the premium look and ultra-hard titanium coating makes it highly-resistant to scratches and messy fingerprints.

The intelligent shooting features include Face Detection, Intelligent Scene Recognition Mode, 9-Point Auto Focus, Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization, Sony Double Anti-Blur Solution, Dynamic Range Optimization, Convenient Photo Modes and Burst Mode.

The Cyber-shot DSC-W300 and accessories will be available in May for about US$350 (NZ$430) in the US market. But I guess it may be around NZ$600 when it launches in the NZ market.

Check out more Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300 product images.

Intel will Release Quad-Core CPUs for Laptops in Q3, 2008

Intel confirms that it will deliver quad-core chips for laptops later this year. The quad-core laptop CPUs are most likely for desktop replacement notebooks, will be based on the Core 2 Duo micro-architecture and will ship in Q3 of 2008. The new CPUs may use the new 45-nanometer technology.

The quad-core laptop CPU will be released after Intel's Centrino 2 platform, which will be launched in Q2, 2008. The Centrino 2 platform is code-named Montevina and is an upgrade to the current Centrino mobile platform with WiMax and Wi-Fi on a single chip.

The initial launched quad-core laptop chip won't be small. So it won't fit in super-slim laptops like MacBook Air, and will require more power than dual-core chips. The target will be mobile gamers and office workers who need heavy processing power. If you're hunting for a powerful desktop replacement laptop and don't mind to wait for 6 more months, then you may want to wait for the quad-core beasts.

Top 20" Wide-screen LCD - ASUS PW201

Looking for a new LCD monitor? If you have enough budget, a 24" model would be good to have. But if you don't want to spend $1,000+ on a monitor, then look at 20" models which have the best combination of performance and price at the moment. Among all those 20" LCDs on the market, the ASUS PW201 would be a good one to consider.

ASUS PW201 has good picture performance, smooth adjustments and selling for around NZ$725 (US$540). Its resolution is 1680x1050 and contrast ratio is 800:1. It also comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera and picture-in-picture function. Connectivity wise, it provides composite, S-Video, component inputs as well as DVI, earphone jack and USB ports for connecting your business and entertainment devices. Overall, the ASUS PW201 is a fine choice for work, play or both.

All New Sony Digital Photo Frames

Digital photo frame is a very popular product now. It's a perfect gift to anyone and also looks great when put in your own bedroom or living room. I have bought one for my mom last year as a Christmas gift and she liked it very much. At the moment, we have the choices from Philips and Samsung and some other brands. But Sony is releasing its digital photo frame products as well. Let's have a quick look at what Sony offers.

The upcoming Sony DPF-D70 digital photo frame has a 7" 800x480 resolution and 15:9 aspect ratio LCD screen. It comes with 256MB internal memory and supports most memory card formats. The price will be US$140 (NZ$175).

Apart from the basic model DPF-D70, Sony will also release two advanced models - the 7" DPF-V700 and 9" DPF-V900. Both models come with 512MB internal memory instead of 256MB and also have an HDMI output for viewing photos in high definition on an HDTV. The 7" V700 will cost US$190 (NZ$235) and the 9" V900 will be on sale at US$250 (NZ$310).

All the models will be available from April this year.

Two New Sony DSLRs - Alpha A300 & A350

Looking for a new DSLR camera? Of course, we can choose a Canon or Nikon. But don't forget Sony. I'm currently using a Sony Alpha A100 which works fine. While I'm looking at the replacement model A200, Sony has unveiled the new 10.2 megapixel Alpha A300 and 14.2 megapixel A350.

The A300 is an entry-level DSLR and has a nice price US$799.99 (NZ$988) for the A300K bundle, which comes with a 18-70mm zoom lens. The A300X bundle, which comes with 18-70mm standard zoom and 55-200mm telephoto lens will cost US$999.99 (NZ$1,235).

The Alpha A300 DSLR uses Sony's Bionz image-processing engine and the ISO is up to 3200. It also has a sensor-shifting image stabiliser - that makes very clear shots in low light. It equips with a tilting 2.7" LCD display and two levels of anti-dust protection for the CCD. The A300 has the Live Preview feature as well which is almost standard for any DSLRs this year.

The A350 has almost the same specs as the A300, but it has the resolution up to 14.2 megapixels. The A350K bundle with one 18-70mm lens costs US$899.99 (NZ$1,115) and A350X with two lenses will cost US$1,099.99 (NZ$1,360).

The A350 will be available in March this year and A300 would be coming in April.

Sony Ericsson + Windows Mobile = XPERIA X1

Sony Ericsson has announced a new Windows Mobile based smartphone - XPERIA X1. This will be the first Windows Mobile device from Sony Ericsson. It also means that four of the top five phone makers in the world now are producing Windows Mobile phones.

The new XPERIA brand will focus on multimedia and mobile web communication. The X1 looks very cool and has both QWERTY keyword and touch screen. Let's have a quick look at what it offers:

• Fully functional QWERTY keywobard
• Touch screen with finger touch navigation
• 3" wide WVGA TFT display (800 x 480)
  
• UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA/EDGE
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• aGPS
• Windows Mobile 6
• WiFi
• microSD

Is this the perfect smartphone to get? But it won't be available until the second half of 2008.

Top Digital Camera - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3

Looking for a digital camera that fits your pocket, fits your performance requirements and also fits your budget? Then the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3 is definitely a good choice. The little brother of the Sony Cyber-shot H9 offers:

• 10x optical zoom (38-380mm)
  
• 8.1 megapixel (1/2.5" CCD)
  
• 2.5" LCD display
• BIONZ engine for wider dynamic range and face detection
• Double Anti-Blur (Super SteadyShot and High ISO) for blur free images
• HDTV video output

It's a direct competition to Panasonic TZ3 and Canon SX100IS. Overall, Sony has done a great job to pack a 10x zoom lens and 8 megapixels into a tiny body, but the image quality at higher ISOs is a lit lacking. The price of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3 is NZ$550 (US$299).

Check out more Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3 photos.

2008 Cadillac CTS Wins 2007 Tech Car of the Year

CNET has given the 2007 Tech Car of the Year Award to the 2008 Cadillac CTS. The 2008 Lexus LS 600h was also a strong competitor. Although the Lexus has one over-the-top feature - self parking (yes, it can park by itself), the CTS wins with two features: the ability to pause live radio and a weather feed through its satellite radio. You can hit the pause button while listening to the live radio and the car will buffer the live radio to the hard drive for up to an hour, so you can pick up listening where you left off.

Both cars have an in-dash music server and live traffic reporting system. The music server of Cadillac CTS has a 40GB hard drive. So yo can rip your CDs onto the hard drive. If you're driving down the motorway and there is traffic jam ahead, the traffic system will let you know well ahead of time.

The starting price of the 2008 Cadillac CTS is US$33,490 (NZ$45,000).

Nokia 5610 XpressMusic

If you're looking for a brand new mobile phone and wanting a MP3 player at the same time, the coming soon Nokia 5610 XpressMusic will definitely be worth a look. Let's have a quick look of what it offers:

• 3G for fast downloads and video calls
  
• Music Slider key for quick access
  
• 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash
• 2.2" 16-million colours scratch-resistant screen (240 x 320 pixels)
  
• 20MB built-in memory, option to expand up to 4GB with microSD card
  
• Dedicated DAC33 audio chip for superb sound
• Music playback up to 22 hours
• Watch videos at 30fps
• S 40 user interface, 3rd edition
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Talk time up to 6 hours, standby time up to 13.3 days
  
• Package contains 512MB microSD card, wired headset and USB cable

BTW, it looks very good. I have seen it from last year's Big Boys Toys. You can already buy it from parallel importers at the price of about NZ$570. But the Vodafone version may take a little bit longer.

Apple Time Capsule

Using Mac OS X Leopard? If you're, you know that Time Machine in Leopard requires an external hard drive for backup. Now Apple comes out with its own device - Time Capsule.

Time Capsule includes a wireless 500GB or 1TB hard drive designed to work with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. After the initial backup, only changed files are backed up and it all happens automatically, wirelessly and in the background. Having multiple Macs in your house? Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Leopard-based Mac on your wireless network.

More than just a wireless hard drive, Time Capsule is also a full-featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n. It also works as a printer hub. Plug in your USB printer to the Time Capsule and share it with your family members.

If you don't have Mac OS X Leopard or you're a PC user, you can still access Time Capsule as a standard external hard drive.

The 500GB model costs NZ$498 (US$299) and 1TB is NZ$799 (US$499).

Comprehensive Review of Apple MacBook Air – The World’s Thinnest Notebook

Apple has introduced the all new MacBook Air in the 2008 MacWorld. The ultrathin and ultraportable design makes it the world’s thinnest notebook. How thin is it? It’s only 0.4-1.94 cm in height and weights only 1.36 kg. If you can’t imagine how thin 0.4-1.94 cm really is, let’s put it in Apple terms. The depth of the latest 160GB iPod Classic is 1.35 cm. So the thickest part of MacBook Air is only 0.59 cm more than an iPod. With the sturdy anodised aluminium body, it looks really stirring.

Before we go into any detail, let’s have a quick look of what we can get for the price of NZ$2,999 (US$1,799), the starting price of MacBook Air.

• Display: 13.3”
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz
• Memory: 2GB
• Hard Drive: 80GB 4200-rpm PATA
• Wireless: Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Operating System: Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
• Applications: iLife ’08 suite, Front Row, Photo Booth

OK, now it’s time to dig into the thinnest laptop on the planet and find out if it really worth the investment. I’ll also assign a points out of ten rating to each of the following areas which reflects my personal thinking which hopefully will help you a little bit when deciding if you want one or not.

Display

The MacBook Air uses 13.3” widescreen LED backlit display with 1280x800 resolution. It also includes a built-in iSight camera that is handy. 13.3” is my personal favourite screen size, because it’s not too big to carry and also not too small to use. As we know, Apple’s display always looks good. So I’m giving this a 10/10 point.

Keyboard

The MacBook Air uses full-size keyboard which is great. They keyboard also comes with backlit key illumination, making it easy to work in low-light settings such as airplanes and conference halls. In addition, a built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts keyboard and display brightness for optimal visibility. Of course, 10/10 point for the keyword.

Trackpad

The MacBook Air includes an oversize Trackpad with multi-touch technology. You can pinch, swipe or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo album or adjust an image. It uses the similar technology as iPod touch. Although it’s innovative enough, not everyone will value this feature as top of the list due to personal preferences. I give the Trackpad 8/10.

Wireless

802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR...what else can we expect? 10/10.

Wireless Migration Assistant

You can transfer your files from your old Mac to the new MacBook Air wirelessly and easily using the Wireless Migration Assistant. It’s a good to have feature, but not essential for everyone. 8/10.

Remote Disc

For a notebook this thin, we can't expect a built-in optical drive. Although you can buy the external DVD writer called Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive for NZ$159 (US$99), Apple provides an alternative solution. A new feature called Remote Disc lets you wirelessly use or borrow the optical drive of a Mac or PC in the vicinity. How does it work? Firstly, you set up Remote Disc on a nearby Mac or PC. And then insert the software disc you want to install into the Mac or PC. Finally, you’ll find the remote drive on your MacBook Air and install the software. It's as if you’re using a local drive. Good eh? I’ll give Apple 10/10 for this feature.

Ports

For a super thin laptop, we don’t expect a lot of ports. But can it be this few? The MacBook Air only has one USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack and a micro-DVI port that supports DVI, VGA, composite and S-video output. But wait a minute, where is the Ethernet port? Sorry, if you don’t have a wireless network, you have to buy the extra Apple USB Ethernet Adapter at the price of NZ$48 (US$29) in order to connect to wired networks. No more than 5/10 for the ports.

Performance

Last but not least, the performance issue, which is the part I care most about. MacBook Air comes with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor at the starting price (NZ$2,999 or US$1,799). You can also choose the 1.8GHz processer by spending extra NZ$500 (US$300). One thing to note, the chip was custom-built to fit within the compact dimensions of MacBook Air. It’s much smaller than the standard Intel Core 2 Due chip.

It has 2GB of RAM built in. It is kind of OK but it would be good to have 4GB though. However, because of the size there’s no chance to upgrade.

The standard model uses 80GB 1.8” hard drive, the same hard drive used by iPod classic. At 4,200 rpm, it’s really slow. You can upgrade to the 64GB Solid State Drive at the price of NZ$1,640 (US$999). If I was a millionaire, I’ll definitely upgrade. But unfortunately I’m not...yet.

In terms of video performance, I’m not too happy about it. It uses Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with the main memory.

The battery life is five hours which isn't bad. Overall, I’m a little bit disappointed about the MacBook Air’s performance. But considering its size, I won’t go so low as it 4/10, 6/10 point is my final thought.

Shall we buy it?

It depends on how we define “we”. If we’re millionaires, we’ll definitely buy the ultimate configuration at the price of NZ$5,139 (US$3,098) with no qualms and use it as the third, fourth or fifth computers. If we’re super-Mac-fans or rich-gadget-lovers, we’ll buy it, because the starting price is not that bad for such a cool toy. If we’re normal users who are looking for a laptop right now and can afford several thousand dollars and aren't that fussed about the performance too much and use it outside of home or office most of the time, then the MacBook Air is a good choice. On the other hand if we’re a power user of computers and use the laptop a lot at home and in the office, I certainly won’t recommend the MacBook Air, unless it's your second computer. Of course, it doesn’t matter what kind of user you are, you have to be familiar with the Mac OS X or you're willing to learn.

Check out more Apple MacBook Air photos.