Submersible down to 10 feet underwater, the FinePix Z33WP is great for capturing moments on the beach, boating at the lake, lounging at the poolside, or everyday activities in the rain. This 10-megapixel shooter packs in automatic scene selection and setting optimization, 3x optical zoom, face detection, red-eye correction, a 30fps motion-JPEG movie mode, and a 2.7-inch LCD screen.
Feature glance: - Waterproof to 10 feet & Dustproof - 10 Megapixels - Fujinon 3x optical zoom lens - 2.7 inch LCD Screen - ISO up to 1600 - Scene Recognition (SR Auto) - Picture Stabilization (Anti-Blur) - Face Detection technology with Auto red-eye removal - Blog mode with 12 “In-Camera” editing function - Successive Movie Mode - Choice of four daring colors –Green, Blue, Black, and Pink - Protective Silicone Jacket and Float Strap available as optional accessories
The FinePix Z33WP has just been released this month with a price range of $191 to $199.
Touch screen phones are the current drift in today's cell phone market. But what about totally hands-free phone operation?
The Zumbafone from the Zumba Lumba land could set the next trend in cell phone manufacturing. IA Technologies, a UK company that provides military electronics and protection equipment, is planning to release the world's "first fully hands-free phone" before the end of this year, Called Zumbafoone, the device is the size of a credit card and is essentially a two-piece handset. In front is a standard-looking keypad and screen, but the most important part is at the back, a detachable earpiece that looks like a bluetooth headset but doesn't really require Bluetooth.
The phone makes use of the Internet instead of Bluetooth, connecting you to Zumba Lumba land (not kidding here, it's really the url of the site, zumbalumba.com) which contains all your necessary data and information. The user can create SMS or make voice calls using a fully accurate voice recognition system while wearing the earpiece. Incoming text messages are converted to audio and read back to you or displayed on the screen from half of the phone if both are attached. To send text messages, simply tap a button on the earpiece, speak your text, and the phone will transcribe the message and send it to your contact.
Good news is, IA Technologies claims the phone will be "low cost, simple and a refreshing new way to communicate." Dean McEvoy, its designer, is dyslexic and has always struggled with tasks like typing and reading text messages. He developed the Zumbafone as a fully voice-controlled phone and the solution to his problem.
Possible downside is the phone's total reliance on an Internet connection where some concerns do arise on performance and coverage, especially in areas where unlimited mobile Internet packages are still relatively expensive and rare. One also wonders how the Zumbafone will work with other languages and dialects, not to mention special characters like smileys, ASCII images and symbols avid texters often use in their messages.
The Zumbafone looks very promising but we will have to wait for now and see how it performs when it goes out of the shelves by the end of 2009.
The following video gives a little more detail about the Zumbafone.
Sony's PS3 2.70 firmware upgrade is now available. Packed with some great new features, this could be the start of what Sony committed about adding more value to the PS3 in lieu of the previously speculated price cut down.
Two top new features included in the new firmware are text chat between games and video files external backup. You can chat with up to 15 other friends at any time and join up to three chat rooms, that is if you can keep up with all those conversations while playing your game. You can also sort your friends list in many different ways, while sending files to friends was upgraded from 1MB to 3MB.
With the new video backup feature, you can save your video files on an external storage and restore them later when you need them. Purchased video titles for PSP can now also be transferred to PS3 for playback. Not just that, the PS3 now supports a quick search function that will look up online information about the title you're playing, plus a musical equalizer that keeps the volume from jumping between tracks when you're listening to music.
It may not appease all PS3 gamers considering the price Sony is charging, but these improvements will suffice for now.
Heres a short video from playstation.blog previewing some of the new 2.70 firmware features:
It may not be the announcement most of us are waiting for but definitely this is something that brings us closer to the big event. Palm today announced that the company would begin taking names and numbers on the WebOS dev site for potential mobile developers who are undoubtedly just as excited as everyone else to get an "early look" on the Mojo SDK. Lucky mobile coders will be chosen as early as tomorrow, so hurry up and don't miss this big chance at cracking on the much anticipated WebOS.
Additionally, Palm has announced that MotionApps is creating an emulator application that will allow most Palm OS applications to run on webOS devices. The application, plainly called "Classic," will be available for purchase when the Palm Pre becomes available in the first half of 2009 from Sprint. This will ensure that popular Palm OS applications we've grown, loved and depended upon will continue and optimize to take advantage of everything the new WebOS has to offer.
Since Palm OS applications running in Classic won't be able to leverage core webOS functionality, Palm is working with partners to ensure that popular Palm OS applications are made available on the webOS platform and are optimized to take advantage of everything it has to offer. In the meantime, the MotionApps Classic application will allow customers who have invested in the Palm OS platform to use Palm OS applications they've grown to love and depend upon on their new webOS devices.
Finally, in addition to the early access developer program and classic Palm OS support, Palm is also introducing a new set of "integrated cloud services" for developers called Mojo Messaging Service. Cloud services are software resources provided over the Internet. These services can deliver direct benefits to the end user, such as giving them access to their favorite web applications, or can be incorporated by developers into their applications to enhance the end-user experience.
So there you go. Some significant news for everyone dying of anticipation. Let's hope for much bigger things to come including some definite release date and pricing. We will keep you posted.
Intel has taken the wraps off a new set of Xeon processors. A total of 12 new Xeon processors that span a range of capabilities and core counts were introduced following the release of Nehalem EPs (Efficient Performance) 3500 and 5500 this week. These new Nehalem-based Xeon chips for servers and workstations, are bringing increased performance and greater power efficiency in the biggest overhaul of the Xeon platform for years.
At the top-of-the-line, there's the Xeon W5580 (3.2GHz, quad-core, 8MB L3 cache, 6.4 GT/s QPI, 1333MHz memory speed, and a 130W TDP. If that seems a tad heavy, chances are that Intel's got something else in the new lineup you might be interested in, including low-power Xeons (L5520 and L5506). All of the new processors are quad-core save for the bottom-line entry model E5502 (1.86GHz dual-core, 4MB L3 cache, $188), but HyperTreading support remains something of a premium feature. Of the twelve Xeons launched today, the top eight use HT while the last four do not.
Xeon EP benchmarks have been sweeping all competition in the server market, including Anand's data that suggests AMD is not yet ready in capturing the crown from Intel in the server division.
Nehalem-EP is currently undisputed in terms of performance and price efficiency. Though there's room in the midrange for AMD to carve itself a position, but it's going to keep consistently and excellent execution through the next whole year, onwards to a flawless transition to 32nm.
Submersible down to 10 feet underwater, the FinePix Z33WP is great for capturing moments on the beach, boating at the lake, lounging at the poolside, or everyday activities in the rain. This 10-megapixel shooter packs in automatic scene selection and setting optimization, 3x optical zoom, face detection, red-eye correction, a 30fps motion-JPEG movie mode, and a 2.7-inch LCD screen.
