Pentax K20D Digital Camera

Pentax has recently lagged behind Canon and Nikon in both the scope of its digital SLR range and sales of its cameras. This is a shame, as when the company gets it right its cameras are hugely impressive.

More people ought to notice its K20D, the new top-of-the range 14-megapixel model that upgrades the 10-megapixel K10D with a professional-specification body that feels almost armour-plated. In fact, its tough magnesium-alloy casing is sealed against the intrusion of water or dust.

The K20D’s other main features are similarly impressive. Light sensitivity extends from ISO100 up to ISO6400 enabling low light photography without flash, there’s maximum quality raw file shooting alongside the more common JPEG, three frames per second continuous shooting (up to an unlimited number of JPEGs or 16 raw files), a 2.7in screen for both shot composition (thanks to Live View) and playback, built-in image stabilisation to counterbalance camera shake – plus a dust prevention system to avoid unsightly spots appearing in images. In short, most of what any keen photographer would want is here.

No SD memory card is supplied, although one is needed to store images, but that’s the same with any SLR, and the good news is that compatible SDHC cards are now available in up to 32GB capacities.

Pentax K20D Digital Camera

Pentax has recently lagged behind Canon and Nikon in both the scope of its digital SLR range and sales of its cameras. This is a shame, as when the company gets it right its cameras are hugely impressive.

More people ought to notice its K20D, the new top-of-the range 14-megapixel model that upgrades the 10-megapixel K10D with a professional-specification body that feels almost armour-plated. In fact, its tough magnesium-alloy casing is sealed against the intrusion of water or dust.

The K20D’s other main features are similarly impressive. Light sensitivity extends from ISO100 up to ISO6400 enabling low light photography without flash, there’s maximum quality raw file shooting alongside the more common JPEG, three frames per second continuous shooting (up to an unlimited number of JPEGs or 16 raw files), a 2.7in screen for both shot composition (thanks to Live View) and playback, built-in image stabilisation to counterbalance camera shake – plus a dust prevention system to avoid unsightly spots appearing in images. In short, most of what any keen photographer would want is here.

No SD memory card is supplied, although one is needed to store images, but that’s the same with any SLR, and the good news is that compatible SDHC cards are now available in up to 32GB capacities.

Switch the camera on and, as you’d expect from the price tag, it's up and shooting with little delay. The body is fairly weighty at 715g without the 18-55mm kit lens attached, and if we’ve a grumble that monitor screen could be enlarged still – to the 3in found on competing cameras.

Image-wise the K20D delivers appealing rich and warm colours when left on its factory default settings, and reproduction using the supplied lens is razor sharp. That can’t take away from the fact that the K20D is pricey for anyone who doesn't need a high resolution for printing large images or the tough exterior, though we did find it retailing online for £695 at time of writing.

Incidentally, if you spot a Samsung GX-20 that looks similar, don’t be confused – the two companies share a development deal so you’re looking at 99 percent the same camera.

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Canon to Build New Digital

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Canon to Build New Digital Camera Factory in Japan

Japan's Canon plans to build a new digital camera manufacturing factory in Japan to keep up with demand from an expanding global market, it said Monday.

The new plant will be built in Nagasaki in western Japan and will be able to produce around 4 million cameras per year. Construction is scheduled to start in January next year and be complete by November with operations beginning in December 2009. It will manufacture both digital SLR (single lens reflex) and compact cameras.

Over the next two and a half years Canon will invest ¥17.4 billion (US$163 million) in construction and operations at the plant, which will employ about 1,000 people when complete.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Canon to Build New Digital Camera Factory in Japan

Japan's Canon plans to build a new digital camera manufacturing factory in Japan to keep up with demand from an expanding global market, it said Monday.

The new plant will be built in Nagasaki in western Japan and will be able to produce around 4 million cameras per year. Construction is scheduled to start in January next year and be complete by November with operations beginning in December 2009. It will manufacture both digital SLR (single lens reflex) and compact cameras.

Over the next two and a half years Canon will invest ¥17.4 billion (US$163 million) in construction and operations at the plant, which will employ about 1,000 people when complete.

Canon was the world's number one digital still camera maker in 2006 and 2007, according to a report from IDC. The company shipped 24.5 million cameras in 2007 to give it a 19 percent share of the global market, IDC said in a report published in April. It's nearest competitor, Sony, shipped an estimated 20.9 million cameras.

Canon enjoyed an even greater share of the booming digital SLR market at 42.7 percent in 2007, said IDC. The company's shipments of 3.2 million digital SLR cameras ranked it just ahead of Nikon, which shipped 3 million, the market research company said.

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Google turns PC into media server

By Stephen Shankland

Google has released a software module that can turn Windows PCs into devices that streams media files to other devices.

The Google Media Server is a gadget that works on the Google Desktop software. It sends the data to other devices over a Universal Plug-and-Play connection such as a Sony PlayStation 3, according to the Google Desktop blog.

By Stephen Shankland

Google has released a software module that can turn Windows PCs into devices that streams media files to other devices.

The Google Media Server is a gadget that works on the Google Desktop software. It sends the data to other devices over a Universal Plug-and-Play connection such as a Sony PlayStation 3, according to the Google Desktop blog.

With it, people can play videos and music and view photos on a PC. In addition, it can connect to Web sites including Google's YouTube for video and Google's Picasa for photos.

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Looftlighter

Everyone loves a good barbecue, but if you're cooking the traditional way with charcoal, lighting it and getting it up to cooking temp can be a real headache.

The Looftlighter means you can get your BBQ tech fix and still enjoy the flavour of charcoal-grilled snags in double quick time.

Just point the magic wand at your pile of charcoal, say the magic word, switch it on and wait for the blast of hot air to start the coals glowing. It should take a minute to light up, or if you want to get cooking right away just blitz it for five minutes and you're ready to grill.

Everyone loves a good barbecue, but if you're cooking the traditional way with charcoal, lighting it and getting it up to cooking temp can be a real headache.

The Looftlighter means you can get your BBQ tech fix and still enjoy the flavour of charcoal-grilled snags in double quick time.

Just point the magic wand at your pile of charcoal, say the magic word, switch it on and wait for the blast of hot air to start the coals glowing. It should take a minute to light up, or if you want to get cooking right away just blitz it for five minutes and you're ready to grill.

This magical barbecue tool runs on mains 'leccy so you'll probably be needing an extension cord unless you have some very cunningly placed sockets.

A must for the terminally impatient meat-lover. Try coupling it with one of the barbecues in this week's Stuff.tv vidcast

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Next gadget for U.S. soldiers: Brain-aided binoculars

LINTHICUM, Maryland (AP)

Military binoculars may soon get information directly from the brains of the soldiers using them.

With the idea that that the brain absorbs and assesses more visual information than it lets on -- and that it could make more sense out of what's visible through high-power binoculars if it stopped filtering that information -- the Pentagon has awarded contracts to two defense firms to develop brainwave-aided binoculars.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, is betting that intelligent binoculars can tap into the brain's ability to spot patterns and movement and help soldiers detect threats from miles farther away than they can with traditional binoculars.

Electrodes on the scalp inside a helmet will record the user's brain activity as it processes information about high-resolution images produced by wide-angle military binoculars. Those responses will train the binoculars over time to recognize threats.

"You need to present the soldier with many images and then use the person's brain to figure out what is of interest," said Yuval Boger, CEO of Sensics, Inc., a Baltimore-based maker of panoramic head-mounted displays.

Sensics belongs to a team led by Northrop Grumman that won $6.7 million for its research. Other members include Northrop's Linthicum-based Electronic Systems division; SAIC of San Diego, California; Theia Technologies LLC, of Wilsonville, Oregon; and Dallas-based L-3 Communications Infrared Products.

LINTHICUM, Maryland (AP)

Military binoculars may soon get information directly from the brains of the soldiers using them.

With the idea that that the brain absorbs and assesses more visual information than it lets on -- and that it could make more sense out of what's visible through high-power binoculars if it stopped filtering that information -- the Pentagon has awarded contracts to two defense firms to develop brainwave-aided binoculars.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, is betting that intelligent binoculars can tap into the brain's ability to spot patterns and movement and help soldiers detect threats from miles farther away than they can with traditional binoculars.

Electrodes on the scalp inside a helmet will record the user's brain activity as it processes information about high-resolution images produced by wide-angle military binoculars. Those responses will train the binoculars over time to recognize threats.

"You need to present the soldier with many images and then use the person's brain to figure out what is of interest," said Yuval Boger, CEO of Sensics, Inc., a Baltimore-based maker of panoramic head-mounted displays.

Sensics belongs to a team led by Northrop Grumman that won $6.7 million for its research. Other members include Northrop's Linthicum-based Electronic Systems division; SAIC of San Diego, California; Theia Technologies LLC, of Wilsonville, Oregon; and Dallas-based L-3 Communications Infrared Products.

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgetown University, Portland State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder are also participating.

Paul Hasler, an associate professor of engineering at Georgia Tech, described the technology as an example of "neuromorphic" engineering that uses hardware and software to emulate human intelligence.

"You would see a certain picture in your field of view, but the device would actually be looking over a much wider space -- and if it found something interesting it would present you with that picture as well," Hasler said.

The other contractor to win a contract is HRL Laboratories, which received $4.3 million, said DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker.

Dr. Robert Shin, assistant professor of neurology and ophthalmology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said the brain is constantly processing images but most get filtered out.

"There is a level where the brain can identify things before it ever makes it to the conscious level," Shin said. "Your brain says, 'It may be something.' But it might not realize that it is something that should rise to the conscious level."

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Flip Camcorder Is No Flop--For Now

As a critic, I'm supposed to throw my opinion into the story, saying upfront whether I like something or not. But for today's review of the Flip Mino video camera, I had to step back a little from my own perspective.

The review I would have written for myself, or for people with my general level of tolerance for the foibles of digital video, would have read much like TechCrunch's curt dismissal of this gadget. I already own a phone that shoots mediocre video and a camera that records much better footage, so why would I want to drop another $180 on something with arguably inferior specs? Why would I want to carry around yet another gadget?

But I've seen how little help many cameras and phones provide when it comes time to get the video onto a computer. I've had to figure these things out--recording video is part of my job when I ship out to cover events like the Consumer Electronics Show--but many other people have neither the motivation nor the time to pore over the manual for their phone or camera.

The Flip, for all its faults, eliminates most of those barriers. As long as you stick to the tasks it's built for, you'll have a hard time finding an easier way to shoot and share video. The way its USB plug flips out with a satisfying click--like a nerd switchblade--is pretty cool too.

As a critic, I'm supposed to throw my opinion into the story, saying upfront whether I like something or not. But for today's review of the Flip Mino video camera, I had to step back a little from my own perspective.

The review I would have written for myself, or for people with my general level of tolerance for the foibles of digital video, would have read much like TechCrunch's curt dismissal of this gadget. I already own a phone that shoots mediocre video and a camera that records much better footage, so why would I want to drop another $180 on something with arguably inferior specs? Why would I want to carry around yet another gadget?

But I've seen how little help many cameras and phones provide when it comes time to get the video onto a computer. I've had to figure these things out--recording video is part of my job when I ship out to cover events like the Consumer Electronics Show--but many other people have neither the motivation nor the time to pore over the manual for their phone or camera.

The Flip, for all its faults, eliminates most of those barriers. As long as you stick to the tasks it's built for, you'll have a hard time finding an easier way to shoot and share video. The way its USB plug flips out with a satisfying click--like a nerd switchblade--is pretty cool too.

(Tune in to today's podcast to hear that click and learn a few more details about the Flip: listen/subscribe/iTunes.)

But Flip manufacturer Pure Digital Technologies really does need to do something about the Flip's balky video-editing application (based in part of muvee Technologies' just-discontinued autoProducer program). Forget about adding any new features to it--this software just needs to crash less. It wouldn't hurt if installing its 3ivx video-helper software didn't require clicking through three different User Account Control dialogs in Windows Vista either.

There is always the chance, as unlikely as this might seem, that camera and phone vendors will fix their own software--which could leave the Flip a fruitless branch of the gadget evolutionary tree, the Disc camera of this decade.

We can talk about this during my Web chat today, from 2 to 3 p.m. Meanwhile, I'll close with a couple of questions: What do you use to capture video on the go--with a camera, a cell phone or a video-only device like the Flip? And how often do you find yourself shooting your surroundings in this way?

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Summer Gadget Guide

By Stephen Regenold
His backpack loaded, his hiking boots laced tight-Roger Bischoff was heading uphill to rendezvous with a satellite. It was a Saturday in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, and Bischoff, 37, a test manager at Microsoft, had promised his wife a communiqué halfway through the hike.

At a crest, nature spilled in all directions, the pine-choked Cascades coming alive as Bischoff began to send out a signal. In his hands, the SPOT satellite messenger, a GPS-based beacon, blipped a text message in an area where cellphones don't work. "It keeps me in touch," he says.
For Bischoff-a tech-savvy hiker, climber and kayaker who works for the biggest software company on the planet-the gadget parade hardly ended with the GPS beacon. In his pack, Bischoff stowed a tiny, rugged video camera, the POV.1 model from V.I.O. Inc.; solar-charging panels from Brunton Inc.; and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player. Simultaneously, he could record video footage to post online, take still photographs, mark latitude and longitude waypoints and send data to his home email account via the SPOT satellite connection. He could even view his route later, using a cartographical program like Google Maps.

By Stephen Regenold
His backpack loaded, his hiking boots laced tight-Roger Bischoff was heading uphill to rendezvous with a satellite. It was a Saturday in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, and Bischoff, 37, a test manager at Microsoft, had promised his wife a communiqué halfway through the hike.

At a crest, nature spilled in all directions, the pine-choked Cascades coming alive as Bischoff began to send out a signal. In his hands, the SPOT satellite messenger, a GPS-based beacon, blipped a text message in an area where cellphones don't work. "It keeps me in touch," he says.
For Bischoff-a tech-savvy hiker, climber and kayaker who works for the biggest software company on the planet-the gadget parade hardly ended with the GPS beacon. In his pack, Bischoff stowed a tiny, rugged video camera, the POV.1 model from V.I.O. Inc.; solar-charging panels from Brunton Inc.; and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player. Simultaneously, he could record video footage to post online, take still photographs, mark latitude and longitude waypoints and send data to his home email account via the SPOT satellite connection. He could even view his route later, using a cartographical program like Google Maps.

For outdoors enthusiasts like Bischoff, gadgets designed specifically for hiking, cycling, boating, surfing and mountaineering enhance the experience. Indeed, an infiltration of technology into recreation-from fish-finding wristwatches to backpacks with built-in speakers-has changed what's possible while canoeing down a creek, catching a wave or camping far off-trail in the woods.

Take John Bitton, for example. The 41-year-old hearing aid salesman and Boy Scout leader from New Mexico parts with no comfort when he heads to the mountains of Utah to camp at 10,000 feet. "We bring everything," he says, "even a hot-water heater to wash dishes."

Bitton's wilderness encampment, which goes up for a week each summer in an alpine meadow outside Vernal, Ut., is witness to backwoods extravagancies including Dutch ovens, coffee makers, 10-inch-thick air mattresses and a remote-control lantern for the tent. The group erects a portable kitchen, positions the propane-powered Hot Water on Demand spigot (a $258 product from Coleman) and then prepares gourmet meals. Bitton says, "You wouldn't believe what we can do up there."
Prefer adrenaline over appetizers? For action-driven personalities, products like the D3O Armored L/S Crew top from Spyder are proof that science and sport are now yoked together. The $350 mountain-biking top-which goes with $270 bike shorts-employs a shock-absorbing gel made by a U.K.-based chemical engineering company. The magic mixture, called d30, provides covert padding and protection by remaining flexible in normal use but seizing up as a solid pad when force is imposed.

While you're at it, don a pair of sunglasses from Numa Tactical. They incorporate a proprietary flexible fiber material in its frames, yielding glasses with bows so resilient that you can tie them in a knot.

In the following Summer Gear & Gadgets Guide, we debut a dozen new and innovative items, from the aforementioned unbreakable shades to a tent with power plug outlets. Use this gear to enhance your time outside this summer, be it at the beach or in the woods for a weekend of pampered camping. As Bitton puts it: "The right gear is hard to overdo."

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Satellite a test at Microsoft

His backpack loaded, his hiking boots laced tight-Roger Bischoff was heading uphill to rendezvous with a satellite. It was a Saturday in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, and Bischoff, 37, a test manager at Microsoft, had promised his wife a communiqué halfway through the hike.

At a crest, nature spilled in all directions, the pine-choked Cascades coming alive as Bischoff began to send out a signal. In his hands, the SPOT satellite messenger, a GPS-based beacon, blipped a text message in an area where cellphones don't work. "It keeps me in touch," he says.
For Bischoff-a tech-savvy hiker, climber and kayaker who works for the biggest software company on the planet-the gadget parade hardly ended with the GPS beacon. In his pack, Bischoff stowed a tiny, rugged video camera, the POV.1 model from V.I.O. Inc.; solar-charging panels from Brunton Inc.; and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player. Simultaneously, he could record video footage to post online, take still photographs, mark latitude and longitude waypoints and send data to his home email account via the SPOT satellite connection. He could even view his route later, using a cartographical program like Google Maps.

For outdoors enthusiasts like Bischoff, gadgets designed specifically for hiking, cycling, boating, surfing and mountaineering enhance the experience. Indeed, an infiltration of technology into recreation-from fish-finding wristwatches to backpacks with built-in speakers-has changed what's possible while canoeing down a creek, catching a wave or camping far off-trail in the woods.

His backpack loaded, his hiking boots laced tight-Roger Bischoff was heading uphill to rendezvous with a satellite. It was a Saturday in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, and Bischoff, 37, a test manager at Microsoft, had promised his wife a communiqué halfway through the hike.

At a crest, nature spilled in all directions, the pine-choked Cascades coming alive as Bischoff began to send out a signal. In his hands, the SPOT satellite messenger, a GPS-based beacon, blipped a text message in an area where cellphones don't work. "It keeps me in touch," he says.
For Bischoff-a tech-savvy hiker, climber and kayaker who works for the biggest software company on the planet-the gadget parade hardly ended with the GPS beacon. In his pack, Bischoff stowed a tiny, rugged video camera, the POV.1 model from V.I.O. Inc.; solar-charging panels from Brunton Inc.; and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player. Simultaneously, he could record video footage to post online, take still photographs, mark latitude and longitude waypoints and send data to his home email account via the SPOT satellite connection. He could even view his route later, using a cartographical program like Google Maps.

For outdoors enthusiasts like Bischoff, gadgets designed specifically for hiking, cycling, boating, surfing and mountaineering enhance the experience. Indeed, an infiltration of technology into recreation-from fish-finding wristwatches to backpacks with built-in speakers-has changed what's possible while canoeing down a creek, catching a wave or camping far off-trail in the woods.

Take John Bitton, for example. The 41-year-old hearing aid salesman and Boy Scout leader from New Mexico parts with no comfort when he heads to the mountains of Utah to camp at 10,000 feet. "We bring everything," he says, "even a hot-water heater to wash dishes."

Bitton's wilderness encampment, which goes up for a week each summer in an alpine meadow outside Vernal, Ut., is witness to backwoods extravagancies including Dutch ovens, coffee makers, 10-inch-thick air mattresses and a remote-control lantern for the tent. The group erects a portable kitchen, positions the propane-powered Hot Water on Demand spigot (a $258 product from Coleman) and then prepares gourmet meals. Bitton says, "You wouldn't believe what we can do up there."
Prefer adrenaline over appetizers? For action-driven personalities, products like the D3O Armored L/S Crew top from Spyder are proof that science and sport are now yoked together. The $350 mountain-biking top-which goes with $270 bike shorts-employs a shock-absorbing gel made by a U.K.-based chemical engineering company. The magic mixture, called d30, provides covert padding and protection by remaining flexible in normal use but seizing up as a solid pad when force is imposed.

While you're at it, don a pair of sunglasses from Numa Tactical. They incorporate a proprietary flexible fiber material in its frames, yielding glasses with bows so resilient that you can tie them in a knot.

In the following Summer Gear & Gadgets Guide, we debut a dozen new and innovative items, from the aforementioned unbreakable shades to a tent with power plug outlets. Use this gear to enhance your time outside this summer, be it at the beach or in the woods for a weekend of pampered camping. As Bitton puts it: "The right gear is hard to overdo."

Read More......