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วันพุธที่ 15 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Digital Cameras

If you go out shopping for a new camera today you’ll be hard pressed to find one of the old 35 MM varieties. No one buys these anymore. Certainly used professional cameras can be found, and possibly a few throw backs to the old film variety, but for the most part, it’s all digital cameras today. If this seems scary, it need not be. The days when digital cannot touch the quality of film is long gone. The new digital photography is no longer riddled with visible pixels or problems in clarity.


Today’s digital pictures are far better than their older counterpart. Not only can you take pictures of the most precise quality, but you can enhance them on your computer. Using a Photoshop program, color can be enhanced, those pesky under eye circles, acne, even dull teeth, can be completely removed from the photo. If you’re really handy with the computer tools, the enhancements can take away the ten pounds your camera adds, and then some. You can use these programs to completely change the background, crop areas you dislike, even choose to remove people and objects with ease. You can use these programs to create an artistic atmosphere in your photograph, or just to improve the image that you took.

Besides the obvious wonder of programs used to crop, present, and enhance your photos, the cameras themselves do some fairly amazing things. The screen allows the photographer to see their image, exactly as it should appear, before taking the photo. If, by chance, the photo still turns out unlike what you expected, just delete it. It’s that simple. You can delete any of the garbage photos to save room on your disk for the keepers.

The camera’s also come equipped with some quick fix remedies for common photograph problems. Most cameras can take care of red-eye problems. With memory cards, your ability to take picture after picture is far greater than what you might get out of many rolls of film, and the camera automatically focuses and provides high resolution results. These photographs can be printed on your home printer with photograph paper, or the memory card can be taken into your local photo developer to have the pictures printed as regular, old fashion photos. You can also upload all of the images to your home computer, email them as jpegs, turn the entire roll into a slideshow, or just save them in a folder for later use. Photos you’ve taken can be used as your screensaver, shared online, or turned into a brilliant digital scrapbook.

The HP Photosmart R725 comes equipped with slimming features built into the camera. Once you take the picture, you can digitally enhance the image from the camera screen. If you dislike the results of slimming, you can choose to keep the original photo or the new, slimmer image. More expensive models such as this one also come equipped with other image enhancements and design gallery use. There are a wide variety of cameras to choose from, at varying prices. With a little homework, and a good idea of your own personal use and needs for the camera, it can be a great investment for your photography needs. Gone are the days of the old shoeboxes of scattered pictures, or hours spent adding each to a photo album. These new digital images can be kept organized much more easily, and arranged for your preference of viewing.

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วันศุกร์ที่ 10 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Apple iPhone

Is it a computer, phone, iPod, or video device? The answer may be all of the above. Steve Jobs recently unveiled his much anticipated Apple iPhone. The model, an ultra thin handset, with a touch screen that takes up virtually the entire face of the model, is equipped with all of the iPod audio technology and wi-fi capabilities. So what does this mean for the world of cellular phones?

The Apple iPhone is scheduled to go on the market in June of 2007. How this device may change the industry is up for theoretic debate at the moment. Some believe, at nearly $500.00 for the basic model, it is overpriced and while there may be a flux of interest at first, sales will dwindle shortly thereafter. Others believe the combination of audio, web accessibility, and communications capabilities will lead customers, who previously used their wireless phone only for simple texting and phone usage, to explore more computer and video applications through cellular devices.

The iPhone will be offered exclusively through Cingular, which may limit the customer base by excluding loyal patrons of other carriers. Another consideration in sales potential is in the purchasing preferences of current wireless phone users. Most marketing statistics suggest that consumers choose their wireless phone by carrier and plan pricing, with the actual model of phone being a secondary consideration, if it’s a consideration at all. Many consumers look at their wireless phone as, just that, a phone. As long as it holds their address book, is easy and convenient to use, and allows them to take the occasional picture or check their email, that’s all they really need. Many customers don’t even use all of the features available on their current wireless, simply choosing the phone that came with the best phone plan. All of which leads experts to wonder whether the impressive design of Apple’s new iPhone will be enough to catch consumer interest and maintain it for a prolonged period.

Steve Jobs contends that the iPhone will revolutionize the wireless phone industry. The iPhone has iPod capabilities, as well as web browsing through a partnership with Yahoo. It is also linked in to global positioning satellites, giving users an accurate location and directions to where they are going at the touch of their fingertips. The touch screen itself utilizes what Apple has named, ‘multi touch’ technology; meaning that the phone ignores multiple touches or mistakes, making it easier to accurately use the features. Another plus to the design, the large touch screen makes it more convenient for customers to use their features, rather than the sometimes difficult to use current variety of wireless phones.

Only time will tell whether the price is too high or the technology great enough to overcome it. It’s fully conceivable that this type of communication device can replace the business person’s need for a laptop while they travel or are away from the office. The phone also serves as an iPod, camera, and video player, so there may be a great deal of consumers who take into consideration the fact that in combining all of these features, the price becomes worth it. With an easy to use menu, email and web browsing capabilities, musical and video selection, and of course phone capabilities, the device can certainly replace a number of existing appliances that most consumers would purchase separately.




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วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 2 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Sony sued over Cell Processor

by highlandcynic

Sony
is once again the subject of legal action this time directed at the Cell processor that forms the heart of the PS3. A company called Parallel Processing Corporation, previously unknown, has filed a case against Sony claiming the Cell infringes on patent 5,056,000. A patent, which was originally filed in 1989 and granted in 1991.The suit says the Cell infringes on the patent covering “synchronized parallel processing with shared memory.” Parallel Processing Corp of California wants triple damages and the impounding and destruction of all offending product. One of the puzzling aspects of this is that Sony is only one of three companies that were involved in the Cell project, with Toshiba and IBM. It’s puzzling since IBM clearly designed the processor and designed the reference platforms for Cell, and sells its own line of blade servers based on Cell.

What makes things more interesting is the company suing didn’t exist until June 15, 2007.

For more, please see Ars Technica and CVG.

HighlandCynic’s Opinion

The patent in question essentially describes a linearly scaling parallel processor. The terms of the patent are extremely broad; for example, “A high speed computer that permits the partitioning of a single computer program into smaller concurrent processes running in different parallel processors.”

That could describe any multi-core/multi-processor architecture since about 1970. Actually, the Cray super computers of the 1980s had a design remarkably similar in concept to that of the Cell processor itself. I graduated with my Comp Sci degree in 1990, and reading the patent reminded me of so many of the things covered during my studies that I dug out an old text book. High Performance Computer Architecture by Harold S. Stone (who works for IBM at the Watson research center in NY and was made a fellow of the IEEE in 1987), published in 1987. Sure enough, there are algorithms for parallelizing tasks by breaking them up into small pieces and synchronizing the results. The book is a hardware book, and describes various hardware methods for obtaining high performance, including parallel processing. You can Google Stone’s work and find lots more at the IEEE or the ACM.

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PS3 to get digital tuner

Is your cable DVR down? Has your TiVo been trashed? Then turn to your PS3 to save your TV programs. According to Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand, Sony has plans to create a digital tuner for the PlayStation 3, so it can be used as a programmable television recorder.

In a recent interview with Warwick Light, Sony Sales and Marketing GM, Light indicates Sony is looking to release the device for the PS3 sometime next year. “We’re also hoping next year–about the same time that Freeview launches its terrestrial broadcasting service (expected to be in March)–to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder,” Light said.

While I wouldn’t expect a PS3 to replace a conventional DVR due to the hard drive sharing game and other content, having another option to record programs may be handy if your cable box is already busy recording two other programs.

Currently available by satellite, Freeview in New Zealand is a non-profit organization providing free-to-air digital television and was designed to overcome the poor reception caused by New Zealand’s rugged topography.

Read more at Gamasutra.

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Are you taking your BlackBerry to bed with you?

Talk about being a workaholic. A new AOL Survey conducted in partnership with the Opinion Research Corporation is showing that when it comes to e-mail most of us simply do not know how to disconnect. The problem seems to have gotten worse with the creation of mobile e-mail devices such as the BlackBerry. The survey included 4,025 respondents over the age of 13 from 20 different cities.

The survey showed most people check their e-mail about five times a day. If you have a portable device, then 59% of you are checking it every time a new message arrives. If this wasn’t bad enough, 43% of those with a portable device were keeping the device near them when they sleep to check for e-mail.

If this is someone who sounds like they need a vacation, keep in mind that 83% of e-mail users admit to checking their e-mail once a day while on vacation. That’s probably why 15% of respondents feel they are addicted to e-mail. As far as the most e-mail addicted city Washington, D.C. took top honors followed by Atlanta and New York.

That’s why I don’t think it is cool anymore to get yet another device or tool that keeps me chained to the office outside of work. After all, it becomes a security blanket that people can’t seem to put down. That’s probably why I also don’t take my BlackBerry with me on vacations. It’s to protect me from me.

Read more from the AOL press release.

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