CANON INTRODUCES EOS 5D MARK II DSLR CAMERA

Canon has come up with the EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera, the highly anticipated successor to Canon's highly popular EOS 5D. In addition to the qualities that made the EOS 5D camera so successful, Canon has coupled the creative power of a full-frame CMOS sensor in a relatively compact and affordable camera body, together with breathtaking HD video capture. With an ability to capture full HD video clips at 1920 x 1080 resolution, Canon's EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera features a 21.1-megapixel full frame 24 x 36mm CMOS sensor, DIGIC 4 imaging processor and significantly lower noise, with an expanded sensitivity range from ISO 50 to ISO 25,600.

With the combination of its improved CMOS image sensor and the powerful new DIGIC 4 image processor, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera provides ISO speeds from ISO 100 up to ISO 6400 in 1/3-stop increments, along with two high-speed settings - H1 and H2 - of ISO 12800 and ISO 25600, respectively, as well as a low-speed setting of ISO 50. The full-frame sensor maximizes the performance of Canon EF lenses, the world's largest selection of autofocus lenses.

Following are some of the cool features with the latest technology:
HD and SD Video Capture
The EOS 5D Mark II can capture videos up to 4GB per clip or a maximum continuous movie capture time of 29 minutes and 59 seconds, whichever comes first, and quality, nothing short of HD!

Live View Shooting
For both still images and video recording, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II comes with the Live View feature, one of the most sought after features in digital SLRs today. The 5D Mark II features three Live View AF modes - Quick, Live and Face Detection Live mode - for capturing either still photos or video, each with its own attributes.

Peripheral Illumination Correction
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR camera automatically conducts peripheral illumination correction when shooting JPEG images, a function that previously could only be accomplished through post-image processing using software..

Auto Lighting Optimizer
Canon's enhanced Auto Lighting Optimizer technology helps ensure each picture's subject is clearly visible by analyzing image brightness and automatically adjusting dark areas in images so that they appear brighter.

Canon's New Creative Auto Mode
This setting allows users to make image adjustments such as aperture or shutter speed through an easy-to-understand navigation screen on the camera's LCD menu, allowing them to "blur the background" or "lighten or darken the image."

source: usa.canon.com

5 cool hacks for your entertainment gadgets

When it comes to entertainment, no one would want to settle for the standard features. One always yearns for more storage, more options, and more convenience. If you feel that what you get from your entertainment gadget with its built-in limitations is not enough, then here are some cool hacks that can be quite useful for you. 

Check out this link to know more about the hacks.

Double-faced Touch Panel: Exhibited at Tokyo

Touch screens was a hot thing when it was released, but the thrill died down after their presence was seen almost everywhere in the form of ATMs. The inventors knew something extra was needed to bring them back to limelight. Teraokaseiko Co. Ltd. has displayed a cool touch panel display that can be used from either side of the panel. The double-sided touch screen was made by attaching a resistive touch panel to both sides of a transparent inorganic EL panel that had been developed by Teraokaseiko. The double-faced touch panel was part of the exhibitions at the Sign & Display Show taking place at the Tokyo Big Sight (Aug 28 to Aug 30, 2008).

The inorganic EL panel coems with a pixel count of 256×120 and has an orange monochrome display. The double-side view allows users to use the touch screen from both sides without blocking a part of the display from view. Since the screen can be used from both side, the interactive uses of the panel also increases. Apart from allowing two people to use the touch screen at the same time from both sides of the panel, the double-side touch screen offers other features, such as the pinching motion made famous by the revelotutionary iPhones (tapping and sliding touch movements are also accepted).

Mobile Concept Phone: size does matter

Cell phone designers have always struggled to bring out a phone which has the smallest possible size and the largest possible screen area! Since, these both are mutually exclusive, it is a tough job. Apple's solution was to get rid of physical buttons. But eventually, many phones ended up in an all screen-clamshell design.

A new concept design by designer James Piatt shows what the future might be like. It's a luring idea and definitely inevitable, simply because of the appeal of having the largest possible screen and the necessity of fitting inside a pocket.

So, here is the phone about which all the talk is about.

Dell mini inspiron 910: mini laps from Dell

Netbooks, Micro notebooks or Mini laptops- the names may be different, but whatever you call them, they are selling like hot cakes and everyone is longing to own one, basically due to the fact that they are light weight, come for a low price, have high battery life and with good features they have become a perfect companion. Now after Asus Eee series and Aspire One, the biggest computer manufacturer Dell is entering into the Netbook segment with its Dell Mini Inspiron 910. If you are on the lookout for the perfect netbook, then Dell’s Mini Inspiron 910 is a very strong contender.

Dell’s Inspiron 910 netbook specifications include:

1)Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz 533 MHz

2)Intel 945GSE UMA Chipset

3)Upto 1GB DDR2 800 MHz Memory support

4) 8.9 WLED Screen with 1024 x 600 resolution

5) 3 USB 2.0 ports

6) SSD Hard Disk( 4, 8, 16 GB). Full micicard support.

7) Wi-Fi

8)Bluetooth Mini card support.

9)1.3 megapixel camera

10)OS choice: Windows XP and Ubuntu 8.04

11) 30 W 2 pin adapter.

12) 99 Kg weight.

13) 4 cell battery.

The price of Dell’s Netbook is expected to be around 299$( Rs 12,500) and release date is set to August 22.

Dell’s mini Inspiron 910 price in India :

This cool laptop is gonna cost around 13,000 to 15,000 in India, though there is no official news about the release date.

8MP camera phones: Samsung Innov8 & SE C905

A new frontier in the mobile phone wars has been set up as eight megapixel camera phones are going to hit the high street.

Currently the highest megapixel count – the number of dots, measured in millions, that make up an image – sported by a camera phone is five available in most of the leading phone manufacturers like Nokia, SE, Samsung etc.

Samsung will raise the bar by a further three million pixels this evening as it launches its new Innov8 mobile phone, the first eight megapixel phone to reach the UK. The Innov8, which hits shelves on September 1 is offered free on Orange £35 contracts. With face, smile and blink recognition (meaning the photograph will not take if someone is blinking, for example, or unless the person is smiling) as well as the ability to load photos straight to the web, Samsung is taking on even the mid-range digital cameras.

Sony Ericsson, which had released the news earlier of a phone with more than 5MP camera, is due to enter the fray at the end of October with its feature rich 8.1 megapixel C905, the newest entry in its Sony Cybershot phone range, Other handset makers, including Nokia and LG, are expected to follow before long.

Google Android: The G-Phone

The Google android is an open Handset alliance project. It has got the 'signature unlocking' tool.

Features include a built-in compass that allows people orientate maps as they use their phone to find out a restaurant or venue, and a customisable homepage that lets people bookmark their favourite web pages.

The device - which is unlocked by drawing a shape only the owner knows on a nine-square grid - will also include a magnifying tool, to make zooming in on web content easier on a small screen, and a mobile version of the game Pac Man.

Demonstrating the device at a developers' conference in San Francisco, Andy Rubin, who heads up the project at Google, declined to give a release date, but said that the first phones powered by Google's Android operating system will appear in the second half of the year.

Google will not manufacture any phone, but will help develop the software that handset manufacturers will install in their devices. Samsung, HTC, LG Electronics, and Motorola are among the companies that have said they will produce phones that run on Android.

The device on which Mr Rubin gave the demonstration (check out the video) had a touch-sensitive screen, but the software will work equally well on other devices, he said, including those with a so-called 'tracking ball', which has been used by BlackBerry.

Observers of the demonstration said the software feel that a resemblance to Apple's iPhone cant be ruled out, which is also a touchscreen device, and which allows owners to place icons linking to sites such as YouTube on the homepage.

Google s developers would create all kinds of applications that owners of Android phones will be able to download from the internet and install on their devices.

Android is what is known as an 'open-source' operating system, meaning that developers can access the code and create software that works with the device.

Google, which handles about 80 per cent of search queries in the UK, also hopes that by assisting in the production of a phone that will make it easier to use the web, it will tap a new source of revenue - advertisements that appear on web pages viewed on mobile phones.

Cool Concept Phones

Here is a list of cool concept phones that is gonna change the definition of mobile phones and your style of living in the future.

1) Sony Ericsson Concept Phone

Though this cool and sleek phone still remains a concept, we would love to see it come out in the markets. Features that are probably going to be in this phone are an OLED display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 2GB of storage, and an integrated FM tuner.

The ultra slim phone will be available in a silver accent.

2) Dark Label Retroxis Phone

The Black Label Retroxis phone by designer Lim Sze Tat reflects a retro
approach towards design with clean aesthetics, optimum controls and functions.

It is sheathed in high genteel polycarbonate prominent for its lightweight and stiffness and the imperceptible OLED display silently hides away when inactive to make your phone look clean and stylish. Features include :2-megapixel camera, video playback,OLED display, 262k TFT LCD display,connectivity

3) Bracelet Phone with Built-in MP3 Player

When this Bracelet phone recieves any message, it starts vibrating and making or receiving a phone call is just too easy. To read the message, take the bracelet out of your wrist and press the diamond-like keystroke.

Whoa, it’s not just another run-of-the-mill concept. Instead, the bracelet phone comes with a built-in MP3 player. With this phone on your wrist, you are definitely going to rock the party and make others green-eyed.

4) Onyx Concept Phone

The Onyx conpet phone is the first keyless touch-screen mobile phone which uses Synaptics’ Clearpad transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor.

And the features: high-resolution LCD screen and a transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor. Search youtube to see the keyless phone in action!
5. Black Box Concept Phone

The pictures of this cool looking phone is more than enough to attract your attention towards it.

The cool feature of the Black Box is that it changes the control layout according to the functions you use.

6) CUin5 Concept Cellphone

CUin5 looks nothing like a phone. It is inspired by the big firm’s designs of a ’super-practical’ interface with the all-too-typical feature set. Every face of the phone has got a keypad, microphone, and speaker of its own.The face where you touch first gets active while all other edges go to the lock mode.

7) BenQSiemens Snake phone

The concept phone looks like a snake and you can wrap it around your wrist. But, the only thing that creates curiosity is how to use the phone.

The looks are cool and captivating but the ease of use will make you not want to buy this at all.

8) NEC Tag concept phone

The concept phone is made up of flexible material and has been named 'tag'. And bend it or twist it, the phone will change its shape according to the mode.

A sure crowd puller!!

9) Nokia Aeon concept phone

The Nokia Aeon is said to be inspired by Synaptics Onyx. The full surface touchscreen display phone concept is indeed ravisihing and blushing with style. The changes according to the function it has to perform at a particular moment..For eg., the screen acting as the display turns into the keypad for making a call.

Source: cellphonebeat.com

Microsoft Surface: Technology at the next level

Last week, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts ordered 13 Microsoft Surface PCs, for installation in five branches located in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. The units, which feature 30-inch touch-sensitive displays will be placed in common areas. Sheraton hopes that the guests will find the table computing platforms very useful.

For those who didnt catch the news long back, the Microsoft Surface is the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that will “break down traditional barriers between people and technology”.

A Surface computer is able to recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music,videos and maps. The surface looks no different from an ordinary surface, but the whole thing changes when the power is switched on. It turns an ordinary tabletop into a dynamic surface that provides interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, basically touch and physical objects.

The new product is aimed directly at hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues.

As a cool example, Microsoft gives examples of ordering a beverage during a meal with just the tap of a finger and quickly browsing through music and dragging favorite songs onto a personal playlist by moving a finger across the screen. Build this into a bar and you’d get one-touch beer service

The practical uses for Surface at the point of sale are broad. This is touch screen point of sale technology at a new level. Dont just go by the looks, check this video which demonstrates the cool features of this cool gadget.

Ply phone concept: a whole lot of gadgets in a single device.

The Ply Phone concept is just too much for the normal people to understand. This cool concept in which each layer holds a gadget with a distinct function, including a phone, game controller, photo printer, and projector (among other things) is not far away from being a reality!

The mastermind behind this cool thing is Hideo Kanbara . No idea, how could he even imagine that such a thing could possibly be made. But, as we know technology growth has no limits. Kudos to him for his insight.

Unfortunately, the official website called Ply site, which has loads of pretty pictures is in Japanese. So, its gonna be difficult to understand it.

If you feel that this cool many-in-one gadget is possible in your dreams, then for all those hard believers, a prototype has been made and is in display in KDDI Studio in Harajuku, so if you happen to be in Tokyo right now then you dont want to miss this.

This is a concept people have been waiting to become a reality. Many people are ready to spend huge amounts to get this cool and amazing gadget.

Video Watch with OLED Screen

How much more powerful can a watch become?

For a wristwatch to be considered truly geeky, what are the requirements. Should it show time in digital and analog modes? Should it show times all over the world?. Well, here is something which just creates a new definition for the above term. Check out the cool Video Watch with OLED screen.Equipped with a full color screen this watch displays video and images very nicely with a 128x128 pixel resolution. The OLED screen is crisp and bright and the watch itself is surprisingly well proportioned, so any doubts about it being heavy or bulky can easily be removed.






Audio is also integrated very nicely. Comes with MP3/WMA playback and 6 equalizer modes. A built-in microphone allows recording of notes to self, meetings, conversations or various ramblings for later playback. Battery charges via USB and sports a 7 hour play time (4 hours for video playback). Available with 2GB storage capacity.Definitely, the dream of every gadget lover.

Main features include:

1)Video playback in full color on 128x128 pixel screen. Impressive, crisp and bright display.
2)Clock displays time and date (day, month, year)
3) Plays MP3 and WMA music
4) Image viewing
5) Built-in microphone for voice recording and playback
6) USB 2.0 for high speed data transfer

The whole package includes earphones, mini CD with video conversion software, user guide, USB cable, Wall AC-to-USB charger