MTV Launch Crippled Music Video Site

Several sites are reporting on the Launch of a new MTV site which attempts to relaunch their standing as a Music Based service provider. However not many are reporting on the failure of MTV to enable playback of the content outside the U.S. I'm a UK based web surfer and when I try and watch much of the content, I get a message telling me "Copyrights restrict us from playing this video outside the U.S." ... so much for their plan to conquer the web.

Microsoft Announce Office 14 and Office Web

The Announcement of Office 14 and Office Web is quite a timely one by Microsoft and offers a glimpse of where MS see the future integration or desktop and web based applications. The future release of Office Web also secures Microsofts place as a player in Cloud based computing and offers cross platform and browser compatibility for their web based office suite.

Dell Inspiron Mini 12

Dell have just announced the big brother to their Mini 9 netbook. The Mini 12, features a 12in display. Dell has aimed the laptop at "teens, tweens, travellers and "Tweeters" to surf the Web, chat with friends, blog, stream content, upload photos or enjoy online videos, music and games." Coming in at around 1.2Kg, it is also less than an inch thick and comes with Windows Vista Home Basic, a built-in webcam, 1GB of Ram and a choice of 60GB or 80GB hard disk drives. Thanks to gizmodo.com for the lead...

Microsoft Blacks Out Desktops Of Chinese Pirates

Microsoft are engaged in a new tactic which targets Chinese users of pirated copies of Windows XP. The Tactic involves blacking out the destop of these users every 60 minutes with a message reminding the user to "upgrade" to a legit copy of XP. Thanks to arstechnica.com for the lead.

iPod Speakers ala Jean Michel Jarre

Aero seems to be a popular product tag these days. The Aerosystem is an iPod dock which has been designed with the help of Jean-Michel Jarre. This stylish unit features two 20W RMS speakers and a 45W RMS subwoofer in hitech inspired enclosure. It also features a USB port and a 3.5mm jack as well as the all important iPod dock connector. Costing €450 its not too outlandishly priced, considering its stylish looks. Visit jmjarretechnologies.com for more info and pictures.

Motorola Aura Featured At Many Gadget Sites

The new Motorola Lifestyle phone, The Aura, has had a lot of coverage at pretty much every major gadget centric website. The Phone is certainly eye catching with plenty of expensive materials used in its construction. The camera lens alone is crafted from 62-Carat Sapphire. The 16-million-color LCD screen is the focal point around which the rest of the phone pivots, revealing an anodized aluminium keypad underneath. The Screen also features a pixel density of 300 dots-per-inch, meaning it is capable of extremely fine detail. The stainless steel housing is chemically etched and has been sculpted with a design that takes almost two weeks to finish. Apparently the phone is comprised of over 700 individual parts. The phone functions are fairly standard though, supporting text messaging, e-mail, a variety of media formats, 2GB of onboard memory, stereo Bluetooth, and also featuring Motorola’s proprietary CrystalTalk technology which can substantially reduce background noise. The Aura will be available in the fourth quarter of 2008, and should be available for around $2,000 for an unlocked version. Visit Motorola for more information.

Samsung Digital Frames Double As Monitors

Samsung have two excellent digital photo frames, which have an awesome feature that allows you to use them as a secondary PC monitor. This is all done via software called UbiSync PC, which lets you display computer imagery on them via a USB connection without the use of a special video card. The 8-Inch Samsung SPF-85H LCD and 10-inch Samsung SPF-105P LCD both have 1GB of internal image storage and a memory card slot. The 8-inch version offers an 800×600 resolution, while the 10-inch features a sharp 1024×600 screen. Thanks to Technabob for the lead.

Raon Digital Announces Netbooks

Ra­on­ D­ig­ita­l ha­ve relea­sed­ their n­ew­ SSD­-ba­sed­ Everu­n­ N­ote N­etbooks which will be available in tw­o version­s the low­-en­d­ S16S & the hig­h-en­d­ D­24S. The S16S fea­tu­res 16G­B of SSD Storage, a 1.2G­Hz­ Sempro­n­ CPU an­d­ comes with Lin­ux­ Ub­un­t­u O­S. The more expensive D­24S feat­ures 24G­B­ of SSD, a 1.2G­Hz­ T­urio­n­ 64 X2 CPU­, a­n­d Micro­so­f­t Win­do­ws XP O­S. The D24S is cu­rren­tl­y shipping whilst the S16S will be released in mid-N­o­v­ember.

Magellan Intro 4.3-inch Maestro 4370 Navigator

The latest Maestro from Magellan has been released and features a 4.3-inch WVGA display, Bluetooth, a built-in AAA TourBook, QuickSpell, rechargeable battery, integrated MP3 player, live traffic support and an FM transmitter. It even offers Magellans cool 3D Landmarks. The Maestro 4370 Navigator has an SRP of $599.99.

Fake Antivirus Programs For The Mac

It seems that the Mac could also be prone to the kind of malware attacks that are plaguing Windows users. Digitaltrends.com are reporting that security company Sunbelt Software are claiming to have discovered what might be a rogue security application for the Mac that could prove to be malware. The rogue application is called MacGuard, and it calls up an alert which says it offers antivirus and spyware protection, as well as the capability to block phishing attempts and remove adware. It doesn't ...

Fake Antivirus Programs

According to an article over at arstechnica.com, rogue software is responsible for more than 30 million Internet users falling victim to fake antivirus programs. These rogues are a type of scam that is increasingly hitting users who are unaware that they are being led up the garden path. "Users can get infected with this fake antivirus scam in the same manner as any other type of virus or malware—by downloading questionable content from P2P networks, opening e-mail attachments from unknown addresses, or visiting malicious web pages." As most of us tech savvy users know, the victims are often duped by seeing pop-up windows that claim the machine is infected, fake bluescreens, or other annoyances which encourage users to "upgrade" by buying a program to clean these fake infections. I've personally cleaned up over a dozen of these infections from the machines of people I know. If a window pops up on you machine, which requires you to go to a website, or to buy a program to clean an infection, ignore it...

Sharp Unveils TV's With Blu-ray

Sharp has just announced their latest Aquos series of TV's and all the units have in-built Blu-ray drives. The drives are capable of both playing movies and recording content directly to blank Blu-ray discs.

Dell Unveils New Vostros

Dell's has unveiled their new Vostro desktops. The new models include the 220, 220s and the 420. The Vostro's start at $319 and offer plenty of configuration options. The full-size 420, includes seven PCI / PCIe expansion slots and an eSATA connector to expand your external storage options. All model can also be configured with optional Blu-ray drives, and a range of processors ranging from a lowly Celeron or Pentium Dual-Core to a top-end Core 2 Duo, or even a Core 2 Quad on the 420.

FTC Shuts Down Major Spammers

According to a report digital trends, the FTC has shut down a major international network which is purported to be responsible for one-third of all spam. The global network, which has offices in Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Russia, Canada, and the United States, is responsible for billions of spam messages, generating over three million complaints. Lance Atkinson, a New Zealander based in Australia, and Texan, Jody Smith were named by the FTC as being responsible for this spam network.

Firefox 3.1 beta 1 officially released

Mozilla have officially announced the release of their Firefox 3.1 beta 1. This new version includes Firefox's high-performance TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, geolocation functionality, and several other intriguing new features. Mozilla's new implementation of the W3C Geolocation Specification allows users to supply web applications with their geographical location. Firefox will automatically prompt the user before passing that information to web sites. The new beta release can be downloaded from Mozilla's web site, with additional information contained in the official release notes.

Beosound 5 Controller Sneak Peak

It looks like Bang & Olufsen have done it again. A quick look at early shots of the new Beosound 5 controller and you could be forgiven the impulse to look for a spacesuit and jump in your flying car. The new controller has the look of a device which is years ahead in the style game. But then again isn't that pretty much what Bang & Olufsen are famous for. No Idea on when the release date is...

Steel, World Of Warcraft Mouse

SteelSeries engineers have spent a lot of time coming up with the new World of Warcraft MMO mouse. With 15 programmable buttons to choose from, you will be able to program almost all your fave WoW moves. The mouse even has a programmable light show to keep you entertained. At $90 a unit it won't be cheap but should definitely be on the christmas of many WoW users. Visit steelseries.com for more info.

Apple Update Macbooks and Cinema Display

Apple have updated a whole bunch of their products, including their Macbooks, Macbook Air and Macbook Pro lines. They have also updated their 24 inch display, which now includes an integrated isight camera. The machines now use Apple's new unibody manufacturing technique, which uses a solid piece of aluminum that then has sections removed. There is also a black bezel surrounding the screen and a buttonless, glass, multi-touch trackpad. Apple have made it substantially simpler to change out hard drives. The drive is now stored in a compartment with the battery, meaning it can be removed without having to use any screwdrivers. The MacBook Pros are available immediately, with models priced from $1,999 to $2,499 for stock units and the high-end Macbook Pro with a 2.8 GHz processor for $2,799.

New Reviews on Kickstartnews — September & October 2008

Lots of great new product reviews over the past 30 days! Take Your Photography to the Next Level Dazzle Digital Video Creator Platinum & Plus Tamron AF 28-300mm XR Di VC Zoom Lens Xara Xtreme Pro Nikon D60 Digital SLR Camera The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets miTouch & miCradle for Apple iPod Touch and Apple iPhone Toshiba Tecra M9 Laptop UpStrap Shoulder Straps for SLR and Prosumer Cameras That's all for now. Check Kickstartnews regularly for news & new reviews.

Apple To Announce New Hardware Next Week

According to several sites, Apple is due to announce at least one new laptop at another of its Town Hall unveilings. Rumors are that it will be a sub $1000 device, with some folks guessing that it may even be as low as $800.

Energy Seed Street Lamp

Dvice are showing a Street lamp which takes it power from used batteries. The theory is that the batteries we normally discard actually have enough power left to light up a low-energy LED. South Korean designer Sung Woo Park has come up with the Energy Seed, a cool looking but conceptual street lamp powered entirely by discarded batteries. Visit Dvice for more info and photos.

Toshiba Announce Four New Portégé Models

Toshiba Canada unveiled four new Portégés; the ultrathin Portégé R600, which has a Core 2 Duo CPU, 2.14-pound shell, a nine hour battery life; The Portégé A600 which has almost the same specs, but also has a GMA X4500 graphics controller; the Portégé M750- a Tablet PC which features their excellent twisty screen and finally the Tecra R10, which features a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo SP9400, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 200GB 7,200 RPM hard drive and the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 150M GPU.

Asus Planning Dual Core Touchscreen Eee PCs

Asus have been making a big impact with their Eee PC line of Netbook based laptops. The company is promising that it will be offering a touch-screen Eee, a dual-core Eee, and another which will retail for around $300. I'm wondering if a tablet-based Eee PC can be far behind.

Kingston Ships 32GB DataTraveler 150 USB Drive

Kingston is beginning to ship the 32GB DataTraveler 150 USB Flash drive. The drive is also known as the DT150, and boasts the largest capacity in the DataTraveler line. 32GB is perfect for those of you who want to mount a portable OS and equip it with all your favorite portable apps. There is one downfall to having all that storage of course — you've really got to stay on top of your file management.

Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer Laptop Case

The Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer is a TSA approved laptop bag which has been reviewed at gadling.com. This beautiful looking back is quite the looker and features some excellent features that make even the most jaded tech geek envious. The product looks well constructed and has a gorgeous feel to it. At $220, it had better be something special. Visit the product page for more info.

Inamo Tech Restaurant

Inamo is a restaurant and bar based in London which incorporates immersive and touch screen based technologies as part of its standard decor. The dining experienceis enhance by projecting bright and colorful menus and aesthetic patterns onto touch-sensitive displays embedded in tables. Customers can preview food and order their meals as well as look up local entertainment and services. For more info visit contemporist.com, where you'll find some cool images.

EU Battery Directive To Mandate Removable Batteries

The EU are planning to ensure that all devices are compliant with a law to ensure that batteries can be replaced on all devices. Products like iPods and the iPhone must facilitate the easy replacement of batteries which no longer work. What this will do is force companie like apple to design products that enable the easy recycling and replacement of dead batteries. To be honest with you, any company which produces "closed" products that cannot be easily maintained need a shot in the head, a battery is something which naturally lends itself to replacement. Companies have to be more responsible by producing products that are easy to upgrade and to maintain.

Photokina 2008 Round-up

This year's Photokina looks to have been one of the busiest ever. With new releases and some interesting developments, I'm looking forward to what the next year will bring in the way of both software and hardware. The barriers between technologies are now looking greyer than ever as convergence is continuing to be something to be reckoned with. Several DSLRs are now offering super high pixel counts and HD quality video. This is a feature which you will no doubt see more of as journalists start using the cameras which combine photo & video in one chassis. You'll no doubt start seeing the top range models incorporating this feature as well. The resolution issue is rapidly disappearing and as good as the capabilities and potential of non-Bayer-based technologies appear to be (e.g., Foveon), I've yet to see anything approaching the pixel counts of conventional chip technologies in these competing systems. There were, however, several new professional and medium format type cameras featuring resolutions which were in the 50 megapixel area. For the average person the capabilties of their camera phone is proving to be a real winner, because requirements are being met more than adequately. Apple have fallen behind here because the iPhone is way behind the resolution camera phone standard of 5 megapixels. Newer mobile phones are incorporating video more and more and again convergence is making its presence felt. I mention mobiles because many sites have remarked on the reduction in the number of compact digicams being shown. To be honest I've alway felt there were way too many models offered, the less-is-more school being my favored approach to dealing with the market. Manufacturers have been forced to pay attention and adapt. Hardware seems to have been the primary focus for a lot of the coverage from other sites, but there has also been a lot of activity in areas of software and services aimed at both the amateur and professional photographer. One growth area has been print-on-demand sevices and products where many photographers are now able to produce short run editions of their photography in bound and folio versions. There has also been much movement in large format output services, making it easy for photographers and imageers to reproduce their work for resale and display. Photokina had a number of these service providers present and showing their wares and services. The growth in the number of software solutions on offer for handling RAW files and processing images is now making it a real chore to try and figure out which way to go, when picking tools to work with. Adobe (Photoshop CS 4, Photoshop Elements 6 & 7, Lightoom), Corel (Paint Shop Pro), Apple (Aperture) and many others (e.g., Nik Software, ACD Systems, etc., etc.), announced and/or showed their photography workflow and editing tools. We’re not going to attempt to even look into things in too much depth, as there were over 1600 exhibitors at Photokina this year, but we will cover as much as we can. Adobe Corp Adobe have released a whole range of new products including both consumer and pro level tools. At the consumer end they have released Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7, both of which offer some innovative ways for consumers to interact and work with their content. At the pro level they have released CS4 of their toolkit. This of course includes the latest versions of Photoshop Creatuve Suite 4 and CS4 Extended. New features include enhanced 3D support, tabbed document Windows, enhanced support in Bridge, enhanced viewing & handling of panoramic content, and faster application start-up. BenQ BenQ showed their E1050 which is according to them the world’s slimmest camera with a 3-inch LCD screen. Canon This year's offering from Canon has seen some of my past predictions come true. I'm a current user of the Canon 5D and with the Mk II introduced and seeing what it has to offer I've gottten itchy with anticipation. The combination of high ISO and enhanced resolution, combined with 1080P video capture is burning a hole in my wallet. Canon have also introduced the following new products; Digital SLRs Canon EOS 50D Lenses Canon EF 24 mm F1.4L II Canon EF-S 18-200 F3.5-F5.6 IS Consumer Digicams Canon PowerShot SX1 IS Canon PowerShot SX10 IS Canon PowerShot G10 Canon PowerShot SD990 IS / IXUS 980 IS Canon PowerShot SD880 IS / IXUS 870 IS Canon PowerShot SX110IS Canon PowerShot E1 Canon PowerShot A2000 IS Canon PowerShot A1000 IS Carl Zeiss Carl Zeiss showed the compact Tele-Tessar T* 4/85 ZM, which is a new addition to the ZM line of rangefinder camera lenses. They also showed their Distagon T* 2.8/21 - 21mm super wide angle lens for SLR cameras. Carl Zeiss are also expanding their manual focus SLR lenses to include the Canon EF mount on the new ZE range. Casio Casio intro'd a number of consumer digicams including the Casio Exilim EX-Z85, Exilim EX-Z300, Exilim EX-Z250 and the Exilim EX-FH20. Epson Epson showcased a variety of products including their portable storage solutions, the P-6000 and P-7000. They also showed the brand new Artisan line of all-in-one inkjet printers including the Artisan 800 and 700. The Epson Stylus NX100/NX200/NX300 all-in-one consumer models were also on show. For those of you who have stuff to scan the Epson Perfection V300 was presented as a unit to consider with its 4800 x 9600 dpi maximum hardware resolution, 48-bit color scanning and 3.2 dynamic range. Fujifilm Fuji intro'd their new FinePix 3D which is a twin lens/sensor camera and print/display system which allows recording and display of 3D images. Fuji also showed the latest version of Super CCD, EXR, using a new color filter array to improve pixel binning which offers the twin benefits of high resolution and expanded dynamic range. They did show the following new Consumer Digicams: Fujifilm FinePix F60fd Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD Fujifilm FinePix J150W Fujifilm FinePix J110W Fujifilm FinePix J120 Fujifilm FinePix J100 GE GE showed their A1030, a slim 10 megapixel digicam which has a 2.5 inch LCD screen, 3x optical zoom and uses AA batteries. The E1055W features a 10 megapixels sensor, wide-angle 5x zoom lens and a 3-inch LCD screen. GE also showed the E1050TW which in addition to a 3.0" touch screen LCD and 28 mm wide-angle, 5x zoom lens, offers 1280 x 720 pixel HD movie recording, plus Face, Blink and Smile detection functions. Kodak Just to prove that film isn't completely dead Kodak showed their Professional Ektar 100 a new ISO 100 smooth-grain color film which has high saturation and ultra-vivid color, and offers the finest, smoothest grain of any color negative film available today. LaCie LaCie showed their 730, 724 and 720 Monitors which offer Ultra-wide gamuts of up to 123 percent of Adobe RGB colorspace. A must see for anyone involved in imaging and photography. Leaf Leaf have intro'd a number of medium format cameras and digital camera backs. These are the AFi-II 10, 7 and 6 digital medium format cameras and the related Aptus-II 10, 7 and 6 digital backs. The AFi-II 7 and 10 feature the first 90° tilting LCD screens. The AFi-II 10 and Aptus-II 10 uses a 56 megapixel, 56 x 36mm sensor. The AFi-II 7 and Aptus-II 7 use a 33 megapixel, 48 x 36mm sensor, whilst the AFi-II 6 and Aptus-II 6 use a 28 megapixel, 44 x 33mm sensor. All of the new cameras/backs feature 3.5" touch screen LCD displays, 12 stop dynamic range, a 50-800 ISO range and 16-bit output. Another new feature is Leaf Verto which is an internal sensor rotation dial on the side and bottom of the AFi-II 7 and 10 that allows photographers to rotate the sensor without removing the digital back. Leica Leica showcased their new S2 Digital SLR which features a larger medium format 37 megapixel sensor. This camera is about the size of the Canon 1DS MKIII. Leica's other camera and lens offerings were somewhat overshadowed by this camera, but include the digital rangefinder based Leica M8.2 and the D-LUX 4 and C-LUX 3 consumer digicams. Leica also showed the Leica NOCTILUX-M 50 mm f /1, SUMMILUX-M 21 mm f / 1.4 ASPH, SUMMILUX-M 24mm f / 1.4 ASPH and the ELMAR-M 24 mm f / 3.8 ASPH as well as some prototypes including the rather nice looking 30mm Tilt & Shift CS lens. Lensbaby Lensbaby showed three new lenses called Composer, Muse and Control Freak. The Muse and Control Freak replace the current Lensbaby Original, 2.0 and 3G lenses. The Composer is interesting in that it features a ball & socket type assembly, which according to Lensbaby offers greater precision and ease of use. All the new lenses feature a new Optic Swap System which allows the user to choose from four interchangeable optics — double glass, single glass, plastic and Pinhole — and which also extend the future capabilities of the system. Mamiya Mamiya unveiled the ZDb digital back and the recently announced 645 AF DIII featuring their 22 megapixel Dalsa CCD sensor. Mamiya also showed some of its high-end glass including the new leaf shutter based Sekor AF 80mm F2.8 D L/S and their Mamiya Remote Capture software. Microsoft Microsoft showed the recently released Photosynth. This innovative product allows the association of images to create 3D scenes. Photosynth allows you to relate these images and analyses each image for similarities. Photosynth then uses this data to build a 3D model of where the photos were taken. Minox Minox showed the DC 1033 a 10 megapixel digicam with 5x zoom lens and the Minox DCC Leica M3 Gold Edition which is a 5 megapixel digicam based on the Leica M3 featuring a striking design in black and gold. Nikon Nikon sort of jumped the gun with its product announcements but its showing didn't disappoint. Nikon showed their new D90 DSLR featuring a 12.3 MP CMOS sensor and the D3/D300/D700's 3.0-inch screen with live view and continuous shooting at up to 4.5 frames per second, and 720P high definition video mode. Nikon also showed several other products, including: Consumer Digicams Nikon Coolpix P6000 Nikon Coolpix S710 Nikon Coolpix S610c Nikon Coolpix S610 Nikon Coolpix S560 Nikon Coolpix S60 Lenses Nikon 18-105 mm F3.5-F5.6G VR Olympus Olympus surprised a lot of folks at Photokina with a mock-up of their Micro Four Thirds camera concept. The mockup measured around 4.7" x 2.5" x 1.2" and looks like it'll appeal to a lot of folks who want something versatile but compact. Olympus also showed another prototype of a DSLR which will fit between the E-520 and E-3 models. They also showed several consumer digicams in the form of the 10 megapixel Mju/Stylus 1050SW and the 10 megapixel Mju/Stylus 1040. At the lower end they showed three new 'FE' models; the FE-20, FE-360 and FE-370. Panasonic Amongst its product showcase Panasonic showed its new Micro 4/3 Camera, the Panasonic DMC-G1 and several new lenses including the 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6/O.I.S. and the 45-200mm/F4.0-5.6/ O.I.S, and a Micro Four Thirds adapter. Pentax Pentax showcased its brand new K2000(K-m) and the associated lenses. This camera features an image stabilized 10 megapixel sensor and is small, light and easy to use. Pentax showed the following lenses: the DA 60-250mm F4 ED IF SDM, the DA 55mm F1.4 SDM, the DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited, the DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6AL and the DA L 50-200mm F4-5.6AL. They also showed the DA 1.4X REAR CONVERTER SDM prototype. PhaseOne Lens Sep 4 PhaseOne 45 mm F 3.5 TS Sigma Sigma showed its SD15 Digital SLR and the worthy Sigma DP2 consumer digicam, both of which feature sensors based on Foveon technology. Sigma showed a number of lenses including the 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG HSM, the 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM, 4.5mm F2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye Lens, 10mm F2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye Lens and the Sigma APO 1.4x EX DG and Sigma APO 2x EX DG Tele Converters. Sigma also showed the Macro EM-140 DG flash for Pentax and Sony. Sinar Sinar showed their Hy6 65 medium format system which includes the eSprit65 back which is first to produce DNG files onboard. Sinar also showed a dedicated architecture camera, the arTEc, which was developed in collaboration with architecture photographer Rainer Viertlboeck. The 1.5Kg, relatively compact camera offers +/- 5 degree tilt, rotatable through 360 degrees and +25mm/-15mm shift vertically and +/-20mm horizontally. The Sinar eXposure software developed with architecture photography in mind is available from the company's website. Sony Digital SLRs Sony Alpha 900 [preview] Consumer Digicams Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T500 Lenses Sony SAL1635ZA Sony SAL70400G Tamron Lens Sep 2 Tamron SP AF90 mm F2.8 Di Macro Lens Sep 2 Tamron SP AF10-24 mm Di II Lens Sep 2 Tamron SP AF70-200 mm F2.8 Di LD IF Macro [review] Lens Sep 2 Tamron SP AF18-270 mm Di II VC Tokina Lens Sep 24 Tokina 16.5-135mm F3.5-5.6 [review] Zeiss Lens Sep 19 Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/21 Lens Sep 15 Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50 Lens Sep 15 Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/85 On the storage front there have been a few new developments but nothing noteworthy speedwise. The biggest advances have been in the way of storage capacity and format. Delkin Delkin released its new USB external 4X Blue-Ray Disc drive and a line of archival quality Blu-ray discs. The discs have 25GB capacity and purportedly have a 200 year lifespan. A 25GB disk can be burned in 30 minutes using this drive. Kingston Kingston released its 32GB Class 4 SDHC card. Lexar Lexar 16 GB UDMA CF card Pretec Pretec 64 GB CompactFlash, 233x Pretec 100 GB CompactFlash, 233x Pretec 32 GB CompactFlash, 333x Pretec 32 GB CompactFlash, 333x SanDisk SanDisk showed their new Extreme III 32 GB CF card, Extreme IV 16 GB CF card and the Extreme III SDHC card. Digital Foci Digital Foci announced Photo Safe II, a portable storage solution which can act as a portable card reader and USB hard drive. It copys all data off memory cards including RAW and video files. Lenovo ThinkPad W300 Lowepro Lowepro announced a number of bags including the Terraclime; The PrimusMinimus AW and CompuPrimus AW which are made from 51 percent recycled materials. The compact PrimusMinimus can haul a DSLR with a moderate-range zoom attached in addition to one or two extra lenses. The CompuPrimus AW, which has space for a DSLR, up to five lenses, and features a laptop compartment large enough for a 15.4" notebooks, The Primus line feature an all-weather cover and tripod attachment hardware. Also new is the Flipside 400 backpack which will easily fit a DSLR with pro-grade zoom and up to six extra lenses, the SlingShot 330 AW which is a side-opening bag that can accommodate a DSLR and several lenses alongside a 15" laptop. The most comprehensive coverage of the show can be found at http://www.photokina-show.com/ which has been put together by LetsGoDigital.

Razer Announce New Keyboards

Razer have announced two new keyboards, the Razer Lycosa Mirror Special Edition and the Razer Arctosa. The Lycosa and Arctosa fuse "both form and function into an ultra-sleek gaming keyboard. Both gaming keyboards retain the stylistic appeal and main features of the Razer Lycosa, with subtle differences to appeal to different gamer segments." The Lycosa Mirror features a mirror like finish, with backlighting on the keys, which will make the keyboard smudge happy, whilst the Arctosa will do away with the backlighting and rubber finish of the original Lycosa.

Trees Can Yell Help During Forest Fire

Dvice are reporting on a plan to use trees to sound an early warning in case of the outbreak of a forest fire. It seems that trees can generate a small charge due to the difference in PH between the soil around the roots and that of the tree. This charge can be used to power sensors reporting on changes in the trees environment. Read the source article at MIT.

Atrivo Takedown Results In Temporary Drop In Spam

Art technica are reporting that when ISP Atrivo (aka Intercage) was forced offline last month, there was a drop in Spam of around 9% even though it only took a few days for the levels to rise again as spammers found other ways to regain their volume. In my opinion more ISP's should be penalised for facilitating spam traffic. Visit the above link at ARS technica for more info.

97% Of Brits Fear ID Theft

According to Gizmodo a recent survey for National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, showed that 97% of British consumers were concerned that companies are careless with their personal data. For more information about NIFPW visit StopIDFraud.

Toshiba's SCIB Gets 90% Charge In 10 Minutes

Aving.net have released a story about a new battery from Toshiba which can purportedly achieve a 90% charge in around ten minutes. Toshiba unveiled their prototype of the Scib battery (Super Charge ion Battery) during CEATEC 2008.

Phishers Taking Advantage Of Bank Crisis

Digital Trends are reporting that Phishers are using the confusion over bank mergers to lure folks into revealing their banking details. The confusion in the market is certainly having its effect and people are advised to confirm with their bank any changes before updating their details via official site. In the meantime never click on a link in an email claiming to be from your bank ... it more than likely isn't.