Nikon D700 DSLR Preview and D300 vs D3 Comparison

Nikon D700 DSLR Preview and D300 vs D3 Comparison
Nikon has today announced the 12.1MP Nikon D700 FX format full frame digital SLR, the baby brother to the flagship Nikon D3 featuring the same sensor, and similar in size to the Nikon D300. The major advancements in performance and design that were first introduced with the Nikon D3 and D300 have been incorporated in the D700 along with a few differentiating features and functionality. See our first look preview and Nikon D700 vs D300 vs D3 side by side comparison......

Nikon D60 Digital SLR Test and Sample Images

Nikon D60 Digital SLR Test and Sample Images
Having had the opportunity to test the Nikon D60 with the new AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G Vibration Reduction (VR) kit lens, we have published a few sample images taken with a Nikon D60 (Firmware A 1:00, B 1:00) under a range of ISO sensitivity settings and exploring some of the available options on the camera. See full story...

Canon PowerShot S5 IS full review and video tour

Canon's PowerShot S5 IS is an 8 megapixel super-zoom camera with a 12x optically-stabilised zoom, flip-out screen and a great movie mode. The large number of cameras released by Canon during 2007 forced us to bypass the S5 IS when first released, but it's since become one of the most popular super-zooms on the market and remains a current model in the latest 2008 range. So by popular demand, we're pleased to present our Canon PowerShot S5 IS review, as always accompanied by a demonstration in our video tour. Read More

Camera Labs Assignment: vote for your favourite!

Camera Labs Assignment: vote for your favourite!
It's the first day of a new month which means a new Assignment in the Camera Labs forums. The theme as suggested by the winner of June's Assignment, richcaw, is 'Trees'. To enter, visit the August Assignment Submissions page. This also means submissions for last month's Assignment are now closed so you can vote for your favourite entry of Georgie2H's 'Minimalism' theme. So to vote, register or sign-into our forums and head on over to our July Assignment Submissions thread.

NewEgg: Seagate FreeAgent Go 120GB 2.5in External Hard Drive $61 shipped

NewEgg: Seagate FreeAgent Go 120GB 2.5in External Hard Drive $61 shipped

File Extensions - CPL File Format

File Extensions - CPL File Format
Some details about .CPL files, Windows Control Panel applets.

Files with the CPL file extension are normally Windows Control Panel applets, found by clicking on "Start" - "Control Panel". Each .CPL file represents a tool to perform different types of configuration, including:

* Accessibility Options...

Read more at MalekTips.

Sigma DP2, SD15 out in the open

Sigma showed off a pair of forthcoming models at Photokina today, highlighting improvements and upgrades in their two camera series. Read More

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 full review and video tour

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 full review and video tour
The Alpha A200 is Sony's new entry-level DSLR and the successor to its debut model, the best-selling Alpha A100. It features the same 10.2 Megapixel CCD sensor as its predecessor, but squeezes it into a smaller and lighter body; there's still room though for the built-in stabilisation to counteract camera shake. Sony's also increased the sensitivity to 3200 ISO, accelerated the AF by 1.7 times, enlarged the screen to 2.7in and employed an InfoLithium battery for accurate feedback. Today though the entry-level DSLR market has never been tougher, so to see how the latest Alpha compares against its predecessor and the current crop of rivals, check out our Sony A200 review, and for a demo of its features, see our Sony A200 video tour.

HE DID IT!! Fusionman completes successful English Channel Crossing

He made it! Earlier this week we reported on the incredible challenge undertaken by Fusionman Yves Rossy in attempting to fly solo across the English Channel using his home-made jet-powered wing, a feat he successfully completed on Thursday at 1:19 BST when he parachuted into Dover less than 15 minutes after leaving the skies above France. Great picture gallery of the event. ..

Tags: Fusionman, Rossy

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Sites to Browse - iPop Your Baby

Sites to Browse - iPop Your Baby
This unique clothing line allows your baby to sport the unique iPod interface.

Nikon D60 Digital SLR Test and Sample Images

Having had the opportunity to test the Nikon D60 with the new AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G Vibration Reduction (VR) kit lens, we have published a few sample images taken with a Nikon D60 (Firmware A 1:00, B 1:00) under a range of ISO sensitivity settings and exploring some of the available options on the camera. See full story... Read More

Fujifilm: EXR-equipped camera coming in Q1 2009

Fujifilm: EXR-equipped camera coming in Q1 2009
Fuji's new Super CCD EXR technology has only been public for a day, but this potentially revolutionary technology may soon be coming to a FinePix near you.

Vodafone Music Store goes DRM Free & adds Subscription music.

Vodafone Music Store goes DRM Free & adds Subscription music.

So Stuff.co.nz is reporting that as of today/tomorrow Vodafones Music store is about to loose it's DRM laden WMA's for 256k MP3's and not only that but off NZ's first true subscription service (still heavly DRM'd).

Apparently the costs will be the same at $1.99 a track and they don't say wether previous purchases will be able to redownloaded DRM free. I do like the fact they are quoted as saying "...at 256 kilobits per second, which makes them "significantly higher quality'' than those sold by many music download services, including Apples' iTunes" although if you buy an iTunes Plus (AAC DRM free) track you get a 256k Unprotected AAC which is better compression at the same bitrate. Also from what I can tell iTunes is actually cheaper still - $1.79 for a DRM Free track.

For subscription you're looking at $10p.month which certainly offers a sweet spot on pricing but sucks big time by only being available on VMUSIC compatible phones. If it is indeed only available to your phone and only your phone the advantage of subscription seems to go out the window and kids (VMUSICs main market) will just steal music as usual.
Of course theres no mention of iPhone compatibilty for the subscription side of things, but its safe to say it won't work.

No matter what, actually having an option other than iTunes and Amplifier for DRM free music in NZ can only be a good thing.

Fast and Furious - New Movie coming `09.

This looks like they have gone back to the basic formula and blown it all up, hopefully they haven't worried too much about the story line, and mainly focused on the action, but I think this should be a pretty good watch especially considering the budget they likely have. looking forward to it.

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Sony KDL-32S3000 32 in. LCD Television

Sony released a great range of entry-level HD Ready LCD TVs earlier this year which are the cheapest Read More

Crumpler camera bags - full review

A good bag is an essential accessory for every photographer. You can of course carry your camera in any bag, but one designed with photographers in mind should accommodate your specific equipment and accessories, along with giving you quick and easy access to them. In this review we'll be taking a look at two camera rucksacks by Australian bag giant Crumpler: the Keystone, a dedicated (but convertible) camera bag, and the Sinking Barge, a hybrid day-pack. See our Crumpler camera bag review for the full story. Read More

6ave.com: Aliph JAWBONE 2 Bluetooth Headset - Goldy Lips GOLD $100 shipped

6ave.com: Aliph JAWBONE 2 Bluetooth Headset - Goldy Lips GOLD $100 shipped

Nikon D700 DSLR Preview and D300 vs D3 Comparison

Nikon has today announced the 12.1MP Nikon D700 FX format full frame digital SLR, the baby brother to the flagship Nikon D3 featuring the same sensor, and similar in size to the Nikon D300. The major advancements in performance and design that were first introduced with the Nikon D3 and D300 have been incorporated in the D700 along with a few differentiating features and functionality. See our first look preview and Nikon D700 vs D300 vs D3 side by side comparison...... Read More

Olympus unveils rangefinder inspired Micro Four Thirds concept

Olympus unveils rangefinder inspired Micro Four Thirds concept
At a press briefing this morning, Olympus unveiled its Micro Four Thirds concept camera. Fans of retro-rangefinder styling will be pleased with the results.

Sony BRAVIA KDL-40W3000 Television

Introducing the Sony Bravia KDL40W3000 from the KDL-W3000 series. As the LCD TV range has failed to Read More

Is Fleet Management an invasion of employee privacy?

An interesting story originating from the Sydney Morning Herald last week, and doing the rounds in New Zealand, says that ‘Privacy Experts’ and Unions are saying that vehicle tracking systems used by companies are an invasion of staff privacy.

It goes on to talk about a former Telstra employee who committed suicide shortly after having a vehicle tracking system attached to his company vehicle. The employee was being treated for depression and the story infers that his suicide was in part a consequence of Fleet Management equipment being installed in his vehicle.

Over the last decade I have been in various ways involved with Vehicle and Personal Tracking technology and only once have I come accross a company that wanted it to be able to check up on the honesty of their staff.

There is no question that some companies have found a sudden increase in profitability and decrease in vehicle costs since they put FM systems in place, but monitoring staff integrity was not the reason the system went in. This particular company wanted to know which vehicles were close to clients that needed urgent service so that they could allocate the nearest vehicle to provide a quality reponsive service.

A few years ago I met the CEO of a rapid response plumbing firm. They guaranteed a minimum response time for people who needed a plumber in an emergancy. He was able to manage this as a consequence of using Navman Wireless technology to locate the nearest vehicle to the job.

They also wanted to compare time based service contracts to the actual time the vehicle was parked at the client site. They wanted to know if they had under or overquoted because there was sometimes a gap between the sales person’s enthusiasm to win a contract and the reality of the job being done.

What did happen was that a number of staff people whom they had suspected of taking liberties with the vehicle on the job and after hours, left the company within a month or so of their own volition. They were under no pressure, in fact their employer said to them "We don't care what happened in the past, this is not a big brother situation, however we do expect a fair day's work for a fair day's pay". In fact the CIO of this company absolutely hates and deplores the concept of big brother and would fight tooth and nail to stop the system being used to monitor the staff to see if they were skyving off. It was never about that. They did know that a couple of the people were abusing their employer's trust, but nothing was ever said to them about it and basically what happened was that those people knew they couldn't continue in the way they were used to and resigned.

I am against (and it may well be illegal) tracking people and their vehicles without their knowledge. The only people able to do that should be the Police and even then, only with a legal warrant produced through the courts.

On the other hand there are many potential benefits. In the courier and freight industry, Fleet Management means that people can easily apply track and trace to good being picked up and delivered without needing additional staff to place calls to drivers.

In the security industry it means that security guards on patrol can confirm the safety and location of their staff and also provide clear evidence to clients that their premises have been visited when they said they were. It can also mean that these people can be backed up in an emergancy. This technology is used internationally to track and protect the safety of VIP’s such as politicians in government vehicles.

Another area that is becoming popular is using this technology to keep track of a personal vehicle’s location. For example, when Dad lends the car to his son or daughter who is just popping down to the shops or a mate’s place, who could be boy racers. There have been a number of occassions where a stolen vehicle has been recovered with the thief still inside, such as the case earlier this year. Sometimes a car is irreplacable such as a classic, or sports car. Insurance money can’t always allow someone to recover the time spent in restoring or bulding a vehicle. This technology can also be used to secure trailer water craft and motorcycles which are often easy targets for criminals.

Another area which is becoming very popular and which I have written about a number of times before is tracking elderly people. With the Baby Boomers living longer and being more mobile, there is a growing population of elderly people, some of whom are sprightly of mind, but less of body and at risk of breaking hips or other body parts, while others are sound in body but suffering onset of Alzheimers Disease or other forms of dementia and likely to wander off and not remember where they live. Whether it is the Retirement Village or Rest Home, or their children, this common problem becomes much easier to manage if you can send a text message to the device they are carrying and receive one back with the nearest street address to their current location.

I think tracking is a great thing for unions to use to help them shore up membership and totally endorse them helping people out when it comes to unethical practice on behalf of the company they work for. However, in most cases FM (Fleet Management) is about providing better service to a company’s clients, being able to stay competitive in a time of heavy traffic, high cost of petrol and consumers who expect cheaper prices.

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Vivitar in administration

Vivitar in administration
Administrators are called to Vivitar who owe creditors four million pounds.

Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2008 RTMs in initial form

Microsoft have finished of the first version of the new Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) which replaces the current ISA Server 2006 product.

This initial version is titled 'Forefront Threat Management Gateway Small Business Edition'... (more in the full post)

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[MODIFIED] Mozilla Firefox - Security and Privacy - Stop Remembering Passwords

Increase your privacy by preventing Mozilla Firefox from remembering website passwords.

By default, Mozilla Firefox is setup to ask you to remember passwords when it recognizes you entering them in websites. This way, you do not need to remember and reenter passwords when you revisit those sites. However, if you find this a privacy or security risk (especially if you share your computer with others or are on a public workstation) you can configure Firefox to turn off this feature.

1. Click "Tools" - "Options"....

Read more at MalekTips. Read More

Canon EOS 450D / Digital Rebel XSi - full review and video tour

Canon's EOS 450D - or Digital Rebel XSi as it's known in North America - is the company's latest DSLR and the successor to the hugely popular EOS 400D / Rebel XTi. It features a raft of improvements including higher 12.2 Megapixel resolution, a stabilised kit lens, a bigger 3in screen, Live View with the choice of two different AF systems, a bigger viewfinder, quicker continuous shooting, a number of processing features from the higher-end EOS 40D, and PC remote control software. That's an impressive list but does Canon have another best-seller on its hands? Find out in our Canon EOS 450D / Rebel XSi review where we'll compare it against its predecessor and key rivals including Sony's Alpha A350. And as always, for a demonstration of its highlights, check out our Canon EOS 450D / Rebel XSi video tour. Read More

Wigram, perhaps the final chapter.

On Sunday coming, the Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club (of which I am a member) had planned to have a flyin to Wigram, permission was sought and thought to be obtained from Ngai Tahu, and it had also been discussed with airfield inhabitants who were supportive and looking forward to us all visiting etc.  Today, the member of our club who was organising this received a call from Ngai Tahu revoking the permission.

In short, Jan Higgens, the current person in charge of Wigram Aerodrome Ltd was uncompromising and said that all 'non resident' Wigram aircraft were forbidden to land as of the 1st of September 2008 because "a lot of development is going on; restricting the landing areas". 

The NOTAM I blogged about a few days ago merely indicated that permission needed to be sought, it is now clear that you can ask, but you won't get said permission.  I guess they figured the media would attend the Canterbury Aero Club flyin last Sunday and so elected to let it proceed rather than get bad press.

I understand that yesterday the plan change became effective.  No doubt this is not coincidental.

I can't embed this here for some reason, but it's fitting at this point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSJamm327gE

As perhaps a final followup to the attempts to get some common sense drummed into the council, Denis Hampton, on behalf largely of Steve Campbell at the Chch Flying School had made a submission a little while ago to the Office of the Ombudsman. 

The Ombudsman, for those who are not familiar with the term, is the independant office intended to provide oversight and investigation into the decisions of government, local and central. 

The submission called on the Ombudsman to review the report which the council had based it's decision on and if they found as we believe the report to be fundamentally flawed in it's portrayal of Wigram as a dead airfield (the reasons for which this belief was held have been previously written in this blog, and were of course included in said submission) that they should recommend a course of action to the council which would see the whole process reviewed.

Today Denis received a reply from the Ombudsman's assistant to inform that the matter would not be investigated further as it appears the Ombudsman does not have the power to do so when the "full council" has made a decision, it can only investigate sub committees, individual members, officers and employees. 

One wonders who can provide oversight to the full council when they make terrible uninformed decisions.

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Canon IXUS 960 IS Digital Camera

Canon IXUS 960 IS Digital Camera
The Canon Ixus 850is and 950is impressed us so much we though that Canon might struggle to improve upon

Leica S2 professional Digital SLR

LEICA S2 professional Digital SLR features a custom 37.5-megapixel, 30 x 45 mm sensor integrated in a 35mm-sized body Read More

Canon Digital Rebel XSi 450D SLR

Canon Digital Rebel XSi 450D SLR
Canon has now officially announced the 12.2 Megapixel Canon Digital Rebel XSi 450D SLR camera. Incorporating a number of advanced functions and technology found in Canon professional SLR models, the EOS Rebel XSi boasts an improved autofocus sensor, enhanced 14 bit AD conversion, a large 3.0 inch LCD monitor with an advanced Live View function. The Canon Digital Rebel XSi will be available in both black and silver finishes, and sold as body only or in kit form. Read more...

Nikon Announces Coolpix P80 with 18x Optical Zoom

Nikon Announces Coolpix P80 with 18x Optical Zoom
Nikon has today announced their first entry into the super zoom point and shoot market with the Nikon Coolpix P80, a 10MP compact camera featuring an 18x optical wide angle zoom, in camera CCD shift image stabilization, an electronic viewfinder as well as a large 2.7-inch high resolution 230K LCD rear monitor with wide viewing angle. See full story...

HTC S740 smartphone

HTC S740 smartphone
HTC's latest edition to its "S" range of smartphones takes a conventional 12-key candybar phone design, slots in the company's speciality - a sliding QWERTY keyboard - and adds 3.8 inch wide-screen, 3.2 megapixel and mobile broadband download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps (if your carrier can handle it). ..

Tags: Bluetooth, Camera, HTC, Mobile Phone, Touch Screen

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Mr Hetfield, grow a pair!

Seriously, either get some nuts or give up singing!
Bob Rock has gone, now you need to get Lars to stop doing you in the bum!

Great album until you sing! (and who wrote the pathetic lyrics? you're not 20 anymore, tosser)

Death Magnetic... Don't get it now!

Album review.?: waste-of-money out of 5

Read More