Gadget Access

The Nokia N96 seems to be the epitome of an all-in-one. It has a nice, large 2.8-inch QVGA screen that displays up to 16.7 million colors. Stereo speakers are built-in for audiophiles, as well as a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. It will let you connect to all the right places using a Mini-USB port, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, WiFi, HSDPA, and DVB-H TV Tuner. It’s got a whopping 16GB of internal memory and that can be supplemented with up to 16GB MicroSD cards via the previously mentioned Mini-USB port. And it’s got a 5-megapixel camera like most other top-notch camera phones currently available. Now although these are all a bunch of really great features, I have to say something’s missing. And that, my digital camera loving friends, is the Xenon flash. Don’t you agree?

Perhaps this is the one thing that can bring the Nokia N96 to “the next level” and a member at the Esato forums almost confirms that this wish will be granted by Nokia. In a forum post, user Daedalus85 says:

“Ok, this isn’t official news, but it’s as official as I can get. Our Nokia rep, who think’s we’re great told me something intriguing today. He’s said the N96 hasn’t been given the complete green light yet (I’m guessing Nokia wanted to get something that resembles the real thing out in time for MWC). And the delays are due to them adding (at the last minute) a Xenon flash, ala N82!”

He further comments that this actually fits the situation nicely, since Nokia is taking its time in delivering the highly-anticipated Nokia N96. Perhaps they’re still deliberating what other features to include in it, such as the rumored Xenon flash. I can’t say how many Nokia fans are going to go nuts over this, but I’m quite sure there’ll be a lot of them.

Via [Just Another mobile phone Blog]

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Posted Mar 30th 2008 5:46AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCsEver since Intel compared the criticality of its (still) forthcoming Silverthorne (which now goes by Atom, if you couldn’t guess) processor to the original Pentium last June, we’ve all wondered just how fantasmical our worlds would become when this thing finally dropped. Now, however, Tom’s Hardware has discovered that the release may actually do more for Intel than we geeks. After consulting a source it believes to be quite credible, it found that the CPU — which will likely sell for upwards of $30 at the low-end — will cost Intel just “$6 to $8, including production, packaging and shipping.” Without busting out the abacus, it’s still fairly easy to see how profitable said chips could be if Intel can move these at even a snail’s pace, but of course, we’d take the dollars and cents estimates with a grain of salt until they actually hit the market.

[Via Digg]

The highly rumored WiMAX-enabled Nokia N810 may have gotten “unofficially” confirmed with an image spotted on Nokia’s Tableteer site, which comes a few days shy of CTIA. It appears the sneak peak at the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition was unscripted, as the teaser image and related links can no longer found on the website. Judging by the picture, it looks exactly like the old N810 Internet Tablet, except the WiMAX version sports a black suit. At this point, little else is known; however, Nokia is scheduled to roll out a press release on Tuesday, the same day CTIA begins, called “Press Conference in the Sky”—which should settle this rumor once and for all. Stay tuned.

Read [Internet Tablet Talk]

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Filed in archive Lens by jim on March 30, 2008

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In all types of photography everything starts with the lens.

It makes sense that everyone who uses digital cameras for anything more than the few times per year casual snap shots be well informed about lenses.

You have to know about quality, i.e. what makes one lens perform better than others, and the various uses for which different lenses are designed.

Lenses come in different types, "normal", which give full frame coverage, "wide angle", which allow a picture to capture a wider field of view, and "telephoto", which magnifies distant objects.

Of course most photographers use "zoom" lenses of varying focal length in order to provide a little of each of the above.

Check out this excellent website and learn all you can about digital camera lenses and see what you've been missing.

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Source:www.dpreview.com

Posted Mar 30th 2008 12:13AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. gadgetsWe’ll go ahead and warn you: if you’re hoping to purge your mind of all things science this weekend, this post isn’t the one to be reading. For the rest of you knowledge seekers, Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch has developed a biosensing nanodevice that could possibly revolutionize health screenings and speed up that grueling airport security process. Put simply (well, as simply as possible), he discovered that the enzyme F1– ATPase can be equipped with an optical probe and “manipulated to emit a signal when it detects a single molecule of target DNA.” Currently, a prototype of the DNA detector is already being worked up, but there’s no word on when (or if) the device will escape the lab and hit the commercial realm. Still not geeked out? Hit the read link and hold on for dear life.

[Via Physorg]

China Mobile Communications Corp, the largest network provider in China are ready to begin testing of their 3G network using the TD-SCDMA standard. The test which is set to begin next week will include some 20,000 phones and 5,000 data cards that will be issued throughout Bejing and seven other cities. While there has not been any indication on how long the testing phase will last, China has previously stated that they hoped to have an active 3G network in place before the beginning of the Beijing Olympics, which begins in August.

Beijing has been trying to get the new infrastructure in place since 2001, but the network being as large as it is, needs a mammoth overhaul. Once the government allows the licenses, it will pick carriers to provide the country. The sheer size of China means it is an enormous and significant market, and the change could prove lucrative for a country with some 520 million subscribers.

Read [Wired News]

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Ever wind up at a website that took centuries to load? Only to get an error message after waiting for what seemed like an eternity. After that happens I am sure, like us, that you curse the net, the broadband and your computer. In the meantime you still wait and refresh, possibly setting yourself up for further disappointment.

Well, now instead of raising that stress level any further you can check out “Down for everyone or just me?”. It’ll tell you whether the offending website is down for everyone or just for yourself. Overall, two thumbs up for this website.

Read [Down for everyone or just me?] Via [geeksugar]

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Sony has long been claiming that all its consoles have a 10-year life cycle. Its claims of console longevity seemed inflated at first, but once you take into account the life cycles of its past consoles, those claims hold some merit. In North America the PSP reached its third anniversary on March 24, 2008, and if John Koller, senior marketing manager for the PSP, is to be believed then even the handheld is supposed to have a 10-year life cycle.

Read more [Gamertell]

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Google, trusty search engine and email provider for many actually has a clause within its fine print which states that those under 18 are not permitted to use the site, or any of its features. The Google conglomerate covers Google’s search, Gmail, YouTube, news and images.

The Terms of Service state that:

“You may not use … Google’s products, software, services and web sites … and may not accept the Terms if … you are not of legal age to form a binding contract with Google.”

Of course to those within the USA, the legal age to form a binding contract is 18, meaning anyone under the age of 18 is currently violating Google’s terms, which judging from a huge number of YouTube videos, that number is going to be high.

It is funny how Google’s simple interface looks very child friendly, not to mention their recent ‘Doodle 4 Google’ contest where school children could draw a logo for the homepage. Certainly sends a mixed message. While the message is unclear, I find it hard to believe that Google would actively enforce this policy, but instead use it as a good way to protect themselves should something happen with a juvenile. In a way its kind of funny, at least one Gadgetell member has a young daughter, who searches Google daily, and even has a personal Gmail account.

Read [CNET]

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Whenever you buy a GPS, they come with preloaded maps, basically if you buy one in the United States, you will get maps of the U.S., and neighboring countries and if you buy a GPS in Europe, you will get European maps. What happens if maps get updated? To update GPS maps it usually costs a lot of money, and if you move far away you will need a new GPS. This new service aims at stealing maps from sites and saves it and uses those. You would think such a service would cost a lot of money, but in fact, it only costs $9.

Dubbed MapCapt, it had already been released, but it probably wasn’t too popular, and now the creators have released version 2.0. How this works: basically, it scrolls, copies, and saves maps from map sites such as Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and any other mapping service. Then, it will save it as a bitmap file and it will then show on your GPS. Now, in case you don’t want to pay $9 for this, you can opt to get the free version, which basically only allows you to scroll horizontally, without any vertical scrolling. Yes, I’m as confused as you are, I don’t see why anyone would want the free version. For $9 or 6 Euros, there are no limitations to scrolling, and it comes with the ability to follow roads with manual scrolling and it even comes with an auto-correct function which would make sure everything is aligned correctly.

I think this is pretty cool, I just wonder how well it can take in maps and would Google or Yahoo do anything to stop this.

Via [NaviGadget]

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