Geek Corner

Posted Jul 24th by Thomas Ricker

Panasonic just unveiled a trio of new Lumix shooters: the wide angle DMC-FX33 and DMC-FX55 (pictured) with 3-inch LCD and FZ18 with 18x optical zoom. Kicking things off are the two nearly identical 28-mm wide angle compacts. The FX33 bests its FX30 sib by packing an 8.1 megapixel 1/2.5-inch CCD and new light sensor to increase the 2.5-inch LCD's brightness when in direct sunlight. The FX55 then, brings the same pixel count along with that monster 3-inch LCD and same 28-mm wide angle, 3.6x optical zoom LEICA DC lens. The DMC-FZ18 meanwhile, brings the same CCD sensor only with a 28-mm wide angle, 18x optical zoom Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens. All three ship in a variety of colors with face detection tech and Panny's optical image stabilization which will definitely come in handy on the biggie zoom.

Geek Corner

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last posted but here are a few gadgets that you might be interested in. These I'm sure will be a huge hit this summer.

TurboLinux's Wizpy bootable Linux PMP
by Thomas Ricker

We witnessed the birth of TurboLinux's Wizpy, watched it strike out in earnest and eventually earn a living on the mean, PMP streets. So how has the wee, bootable Linux distro cum PMP fared? Well, according to a review over at LinuxLookup, it's a nice piece of kit and all although a bit finicky. 1GB of the 4GB is reserved for the OS and fully functional desktop (Firefox, OpenOffice, Skype, etc.) with the remaining 2.8GB allocated to OGG/WMA/AAC/MP3 audio and DivX video. However, as the reviewer points out (and we agree) the $290 price tag will limit its appeal to early adopters and Linux fanboys. Actually, strike the latter, any fanboy worth his salt will build his own bootable DAP (without the tiny 1.7-inch screen) for less than $40. Poor poor Wizpy, why'd you have to become such a snob?


Logitech's QuickCam Pro 9000 and Notebook webcams
by Thomas Ricker

Logitech just stepped up their webcam game with the introduction of a pair of $100 QuickCam Pro 9000 and QuickCam Pro for Notebooks. These are the first two webcams to carry a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens under a new exclusive deal 'tween the two. Besides the highly touted optics, the cams feature a less than 3 second auto-refocus time, a 2 megapixel sensor, recordings at 30fps and 960 x 720 pixels, and compatibility with Skype and all the other popular PC video messaging applications. Both should ship in Europe and the US before July is done.

Geeks Corner

Mustek's DV520T camera/ camcorder hybrid does VGA video
by Darren Murph

Joining the growing array of low-cost camera / camcorder hybrids is the Mustek DV520T, which sits a few notches below (in quality and price) the TX1s and Xacti HD2s of the world but still manages to handle the basics for the no-frills set. The two-faced device sports a handheld design with a two-inch flipout LCD to monitor the action, and internally, you'll find a 5.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, 64MB of storage, USB 2.0 connectivity, TV out, integrated flash, an SD slot that supports cards up to 2GB in size, a voice recorder, and an MP3 player as well. Aside from snapping stills, this unit also records VGA movies at 30 frames-per-second, and while we can't imagine them being of any real use, an 8x digital zoom and "digital image stabilization" are nevertheless included. Mustek's DV520T isn't likely to take home any image quality awards, but it might not be a half bad backup for just $129. More pics after the break.



T-Mobile Wing takes flight
by Ryan Block

Well, it's finally done: T-Mobile Wing née HTC's Atlas / Herald has lifted off. Obviously there are absolutely no surprises here for anyone who's been following this launch, but the thinner- hotter successor to the MDA comes out swinging with Windows Mobile 6 (Professional), quad-band EDGE data, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera, WiFi, myFaves, a 2.8-inch QVGA display, microSD slot, soft-touch finish, and new and improved QWERTY keyboard. It'll be available tomorrow for $300 (with service agreement); stick around for some high res photography sure to tide you over until then. Early review roundup posted after the break.

Geeks Corner

Pioneer's New Blu-Ray Player

It has almost been a year since the first generation Blu-ray players hit the market, and we're already starting to see second generation players; well the Pioneer BDP-LX70 is most certainly a new model, but we're not sure if it's second gen or not. The BDP-LX70 is currently only listed on Pioneer's Eurpean site and although HD DVD originally annouced their second generation players in Europe, they looked completly different from the first gen. Not only does the LX70 looks alot like the HD1, but the features are also very similar; in fact other than having a Dolby TrueHD decoder built in, it doesn't seem to have any other new features. The latest must have feature -- HDMI 1.3 -- isn't specifically mentioned, but what is mentioned, is the fact that an "HD audio bitstream output player" is already set to replace this model. Second gen or not, Blu-ray fans in Europe are about to get a new option in June when this new player hits the street, but no word on a price.


Fujitsu Lifebook

While we wouldn't say there are too many laptop manufacturers exactly slacking off on Santa Rosa introductions, Fujitsu-Siemens is making everyone else look bad, with this here S6410 laptop being about the tenth Santa Rosa-top we've seen from this manufacturer in a week. The 13.3-inch LifeBook S6410 naturally runs that new Core 2 Duo goodness, along with Intel's 965 chipset and GMA X3100 graphics. Fujitsu has also tossed in a UMTS modem, Smart Card reader and webcam, along with a Bluetooth option and Intel's Turbo Memory Robson tech in the near future. No word on price or availability, but where's the fun in that?