Category: Web Services

Design Technica takes a look at an amazing little VAIO laptop, the PCG-TR1A.  It has a 10.6 inch wide screen and features a 900MHz Centrino under the hood.

It looks like the cat is out of the bag.  DPReview:

Nikon has today made official the camera leaked all over the net in the last week. The D2H is a four megapixel digital SLR which can shoot continuously at eight frames per second. Its buffer is large enough for 40 JPEG or 25 NEF (RAW) frames shot at this rate. The sensor used in the D2H is Nikon’s first in-house designed sensor and based on a totally new ‘JFET LBCAST’ technology which appears to be similar to CMOS but capable of outputting data at a far higher speed. The D2H supports an optional accessory, the WT-1 which provides direct wireless transmission of images from the camera by WiFi (802.11b), images are sent using the FTP protocol. The D2H has numerous other new features and improvements such as; 11-area Multi-CAM 2000 AF module, 80 ms viewfinder blackout, ambient WB sensor, new Lithium-Ion battery, 2.5″ 211,000 pixel LCD monitor, orientation sensor, more viewfinder information and support for the advanced i-TTL flash lighting system.

More information can be found at their 5 page review, DigitalReview.ca, and Imaging-Resource.

Other rumors were confirmed today including two lenses designed for the DX series of cameras:

Along with the introduction of the new D2H Digital SLR Nikon is also introducing two ‘complementary’ DX format lenses. The Nikkor AF-S DX 17-55 mm F2.8 G provides an equivalent field of view of 25.5 to 82.5 mm on a DX format digital SLR (D2H, D1 series, D100), having handled this lens I can say that it is slightly smaller and lighter than the Nikkor AF-S 28 – 70 mm F2.8 lens. The other amazing lens is the new AF DX 10.5 mm F2.8 G fisheye, on a DX format digital SLR this lens provides an equivalent field of view of 15.75 mm.

A new flash for the D2H, the SB-800 was also announced:

Nikon has today announced the new SB-800 Speedlight. This new flash unit is designed to complement the D2H digital SLR and incorporates many new features associated with Nikon’s i-TTL ‘Creative Lighting System’ including Flash Value Lock, Auto FP High-Speed Sync and Flash Colour Information Communication. The SB-800 also facilitates advanced wireless lighting, “Up to 3 SB-800 units can now communicate monitor pre-flash data with the Master unit for fully automatic multiple flash exposures, removing the need for flash meters or manual calculations. The D2H Digital SLR 1005-pixel Matrix metering sensor is utilized to calculate exposures, and transmit each Slave output changes back to each Slave unit.”

It’s interesting to note that most of the rumors held up pretty well.  There is absolutely no mention of the D2H at Nikon USA’s website, and no mention of it at Nikon’s dealer website.  I’ll relay pricing information as soon as it becomes available to me.

Rod Waldhoff has compiled a list of characters (and their shortcuts) for coding on a Sharp Zaurus.

PocketPC Thoughts notes a Samsung press release announcing a 533MHz mobile chip.  PocketPC’s and smartphones should be seeing this chip around Q4 2003.

Keith Devens:

Code Reading looks like a fantastic book. I happened to see it when I was in Barnes & Noble tonight, and I flipped through it for a few minutes. Check it out.

That’s eerie.  I was at a Borders last night and flipped through this book.

CNet:

The N-Gage is scheduled to go on sale Oct. 7, priced at $299. Nokia announced Friday that specialty retailers GameStop and Electronics Boutique will begin taking advance orders in stores and online starting Saturday.

This month (actually two days ago) is the birthday of Amazon Web Services.

I’d point to the original press release that Dave referenced, but unfortunately it has expired:

Yahoo – Document Has Expired

The requested document, `/bw/020716/160329_1.html‘, is no longer available.

It’s little things like this that remind me how temporary the web can be.  Here’s a little disclaimer for todays entries:

Content freshest if viewed before 18 Jul 2004.

El Reg:

Who cares what operating system a phone uses?

I do!

I’ve become a Symbian Junkie.

An interesting tidbit about the “Handheld Engine,” the processor behind the new Sony Clie PEG-UX50.  CNet:

The device is also noteworthy because it is the first handheld to use a chip developed by Sony in the same Nagasaki plant where it is manufacturing the chip that will power the upcoming Sony PlayStation 3 game console.

The chip itself isn’t the speediest thing on the planet, but considering what Palm devices used to run on, isn’t shabby at all:

The ARM-based chip tops out at 123MHz and includes a graphics engine, camera interface and Memory Stick interface.

Scott Johnson has posted a great article about the tech of Feedster.  It’s definately worth a read, especially if you think that Feedster is a bunch of PHP scripts thrown together.

Glenn Fleishmann’s article at the New York Times pointed out something about the Kensington WiFi Finder is only $30!  Not bad at all, I was expecting it to cost much more.  It might be fun at that price point.

CommsDesign:

TTPCom is using this week’s Wireless Japan show in Tokyo to demonsrtae a Class 12 Edge reference design that can achieve downlink data rates up to 236.8 kbit/s over an Edge wireless link.

Obligatory PR fluff warning.  It is a nice achievement though.  The earliest anyone might see production hardware using TTPCom’s technology would Q12004.  Of course EDGE is a hack at best, but speed is speed.  It might not be true 3G, but it’s better than vanilla GPRS.

It’s also interesting to note that high speed isn’t limited to only the downstream (in theory):

For example, Matthews said designers can allocate three slots for the downlink and two slots for the uplink to achieve a 180/120 kbit/s downlink-to-uplink data rate ratio.

This is all theoretical pre-production stuff, but it might be a nice crutch until 3G arrives in the US.

Charles Miller:

The maximum number of significant tasks I can work on concurrently is two.

There’s always a difference between your optimal number of tasks and the number of tasks that you are required to work on.

developers.slashdot.org points to slides and notes from an introductory workshop and parallel computing systems hosted by the Center for Advanced Computing at the University of Michigan.

I’m not in front of a machine that can read PowerPoint files right now, but I’ll definately be checking these slideshows out.

I saw a trailer for The Runaway Jury while in the movie theatre last weekend.  I can’t say that it looked like the best movie coming out this fall, but I’m going to see it anyway.  It happens pretty much every time I see a preview for a movie from a book that I have read.  You’ve just got to see it.

InformationWeek:

New technology from Computer Associates code-named Sonar could provide CA customers with better knowledge of how applications, middleware, and databases work together. But the technology–meant to enhance CA’s Unicenter, eTrust, and other software–doesn’t yet have a clear path to market.

This sounds like mostly marketing hype, but they did pick a cool name.  Of course, this is completely different than Sonar by Cakewalk.

Ping!

PocketPC Thoughts notes the lack of Bluetooth PDA keyboards out there or being worked on.  There are mentions of a few, but not many.

I’d like to ask a similar question: When can I buy a Bluetooth keybord that I can use with my 3650?  T9 makes things much easier, but I long for the QWERTY.

Of course the more sensible yet less sexy solution would be an IR keyboard.

The Financial Times via Google News:

Shares in SSL International, the maker of Durex condoms and Dr Scholl sandals, rose SSL 10 per cent on Monday after it revealed it was the target of takeover talks.

Oh, I guess that’s a different SSL than I’m used to hearing about in tech circles.

Gizmodo confirms the rumors that I heard from inside of nikon.  There is a D2 coming.  I had also heard rumors about a D2X, but I’m not so sure about it anymore.  This camera is going to have to come in below the $1499 price point that the Canon 10D has set in order to succeed.

My Colo’d box is down at the moment, but I got a response from tech support about 2 minutes after I sent them an email asking about it.  The box is fine but they’re having internal network trouble.

They’re on it, and they’re quick to respond.  Rock on.

Note: this outage will not affect my blog and postneo.com, as they’re currently hosted elsewhere.

Update: The box is back online.