Archive for February 15th, 2006
Fuji F650 Zoom Digital Camera Announced
MobileWhack.com
Fuji film today launched the Fuji F650 Zoom digital camera, a cute looking and compact package. So, what do you get with the F650 apart from neat looks? 6 megapixels, 5x optical zoom, and and a super-size 3-inch LCD to start with. The F650 is actually FujiFilm’s first digital camera to sport a 5x optical zoom (equivalent to a 35-180mm on a 35mm camera). Digital zoom tops out at 4.4x. Combining the two you get a total zoom range of 22x. Enough of the zoom. Let’s move on.
The Fuji F650 makes it a snap to shoot pictures, thanks to the 10 selectable scene positions. Modes provided include Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Beach & Snow, Sunset, Museum, Party, Flower Close-Up and Text. Like all other FinePix cameras, the F650 too captures movies at 30 fps with sound. ISO sensitivity ranges from 64-400, good enough for most conditions. PictBridge compatibility lets you print directly on a printer without the need for a PC. The 32MB of internal memory should serve as adequate backup in case you run outof space on the SD card.
Read the extended entry for complete specifications.
Fuji F650 Pricing and availability are yet to be announced. Watch this space for an update.
February 15th, 2006
Revolution Controller To Include Camera & Mic?
PC Gameworld
Home : News : News Story
Rumours are circulating that Nintendo have plans to integrate a digital camera and a microphone into the remote.
No one from Nintendo have confirmed the rumours, however when asked directly if the remote would include said features, Nintendo did not deny it. So, it remains a distinct possibility, and one that would truely set the Revolution apart from it’s competitors who are concentrating their efforts on having the fastest processors, GPUs etc. Nintendo have admitted that the Revolution will be less powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360, but it will be much cheaper, and the gameplay will be far more innovative if Nintendo are to be believed.
February 15th, 2006
Camera to monitor red-light runners
Amy Sowder
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
In a matter of days, drivers will have 100 more reasons to stop at a red traffic light in Gulf Breeze — as if that whole crash factor wasn’t enough.
A watching photo lens could result in a $100 fine in your mailbox.
Cameras will photograph drivers who run the red light on U.S. 98 and Daniel Drive in front of Gulf Breeze Middle School. After police officers review the picture designed only to show the back of the vehicle, a $100 civil fine will go to the address of the license plate owner. Vehicle owners will have 30 days to tell the city clerk’s office they were not the one driving and permitted no one else to do so.
“It’s about time,” said Gulf Breeze resident Marny Needle. “People think orange means go, and they speed up. People won’t change their behavior unless they’re forced to.”
City Council approved the law in August that allows the installation of digital cameras for this purpose after the city residents in the Traffic Safety Task Force included the idea in a list of recommendations.
All that’s left before enforcement begins is for the camera company, Traffipax, to confirm that the digital connections work properly, said Assistant City Manager David Szymanski.
That could happen by the weekend, he said.
“If one life is saved, it’s worth it,” Szymanski said. Szymanski’s wife and daughter were hit by a red-light runner a few years ago when they were turning onto U.S. 98.
Studies performed nationwide show conflicting results about the effectiveness of the cameras.
A 2004 Small Urban Transit Institute study by the North Carolina Agricultural & Technological State University showed that crashes increased by 40 percent at intersections with red light cameras compared to inter- sections with no cameras.
The most common of those crashes were rear-end collisions.
However, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety disputed that study in 2005. Both interests do agree that the cameras decrease right-angle crashes.
Eric Skrum of The National Motorists Association said those results reflect the best possible scenario.
“Don’t trade one type of crash for another,” Skrum said.
Mayor Lane Gilchrist said city officials have looked into the negative impacts and still think the cameras will be an effective tool for reducing the worst kinds of crashes.
“The most serious accidents are those that come from the side,” he said. “All you gotta do is stop.”
February 15th, 2006
A 12-megapixel camera phone? HD phones? TI is on fire
KTRK
(2/14/06 – DALLAS) – Texas Instruments Inc., the leading maker of chips that run mobile phones, said Tuesday it has developed a new processor that will let wireless devices do more things for work and play.
The company promises the processor will improve the quality of phone camcorders and let users download high-definition-quality movies to their phones for replay on a TV screen.
Texas Instruments says it will begin shipping the new processors to manufacturing customers in a few months, and they should start showing up in phones next year.
The semiconductor company calls the technology OMAP 3, for open multimedia applications platform. Its OMAP 2 chips haven’t even reached U.S. consumers yet but are available in Japan with features such as 3.2 megapixel cameras and 3D gaming.
Texas Instruments doesn’t disclose sales of individual products but said recently that a $400 million increase in wireless revenue came mostly from components for advanced phones, and more than half of that came from OMAP 2.
The first devices using OMAP 3 will be available next year, TI officials estimate, although analysts say it could be years — if ever — before some of the features show up in consumer devices.
For example, TI says the new processors would allow for taking 12-megapixel photos with just a one second delay between shots. That kind of performance is usually reserved for expensive digital single-lens reflex cameras.
“That’s pretty extreme for a handset, even a few years out. Will a 12-megapixel camera phone be worth it?” said Allen Nogee, an analyst with technology research firm In-Stat. “A lot of this is about bragging rights, but if they can do it, more power to them.”
Stan Bruederle, a research executive at Gartner Dataquest, said TI was leaving it up to manufacturers to take advantage of more powerful chips, and the manufacturers won’t do anything that that weakens the phone function of their devices.
“The chip guys are way ahead of the applications,” he said. “In the end, it’s still a phone.”
Texas Instruments and competitors such as Renesas Technology Corp. and Motorola spinoff Freescale Semiconductor Inc. have been making ever-more powerful processors that run on less power to reduce their battery-draining tendency. TI announced its latest product at a trade show in Spain.
Gilles Delfassy, TI senior vice president for wireless business, insisted his company’s new technology isn’t designed for overly esoteric functions. He said more powerful chips make cell phones even more indispensable.
“It’s the platform that you’ll trust for most of the things you do in life,” Delfassy said. “It’s so comfortable to do with a small piece of equipment.”
Delfassy believes people will eventually use one device for most of their electronic needs, but not everyone is so sure.
David Linsalata, an analyst with International Data Corp., sees new chips fitting into separate devices for work and pleasure. He said beefier chips allow for multitasking on phones, which is better suited to business chores than personal needs.
February 15th, 2006
Panasonic unveils new cameras, small 10X zoom model
By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Mac Central
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) unveiled on Tuesday three new digital still cameras for the global market.
Among them is the DMC-TZ1, a camera that Panasonic says is the smallest camera available to offer a 10X optical zoom. The compact camera packs a 6-megapixel image sensor, although the highest quality image available to users is 5-megapixel because the camera doesn’t use the entire sensor to capture images. Doing so would have increased the distance between the lens and sensor and made the camera larger, said Panasonic.
The camera is being promoted as perfect for vacations. There’s a world time mode, which more easily enables users to switch the camera to local time when traveling so dates and times on pictures are correct. The camera will also group images into sets for each day of the vacation so a trip can more easily be followed.
Also unveiled on Tuesday was the DMC-FX01, which offers 6-megapixel resolution images and has a 3.6X optical zoom. Features of this camera include a lens that can take wide-angle images equivalent to that from a 28mm lens on a regular film camera.
Both cameras include an image stabilization system that is intended to reduce blur when capturing images at low-light or pictures of fast moving subjects. The system combines a low light lens with a servo-system that attempts to reduce the effects of camera shake and a fast shutter speed of up to ISO1600. They also both feature a 2.5-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor
The former camera measures 112 millimeters by 58mm by 40mm and weighs 262 grams while the latter camera measures 94mm by 51mm by 24mm and weighs 160 grams. Panasonic estimates the DMC-TZ1 can take 250 pictures on a single charge and the DMC-FX01 manages 320 images on a charge.
The DMC-TZ1 camera will be available in Japan from March 24 and will cost ¥45,000 (US$382). It will be available in Asia, Europe and the U.S. in April, the company said. The DMC-FX01 will be launched in Japan on March 10 at around ¥48,000 ($408) and will be available worldwide in late March or early April.
Panasonic also launched a third camera, the DMC-LS2, which is powered by conventional dry-cell batteries. The 5-megapixel camera has a 3X optical zoom lens, 2-inch LCD monitor and will be available from March in Japan for ¥25,000 ($212). All three cameras store images to SD (Secure Digital) memory card.
The company also announced two photo printers, the KX-PX10 and KX-PX1. The printers are PictBridge compatible so they can be controlled directly from the camera and they also accept SD cards or can be connected to PCs. They will be available from March and will cost ¥18,000 ($153) and ¥13,000 ($110) respectively.
February 15th, 2006
Kodak And Texas Instruments Show The Next Step In Camera Phone Imaging At 3GSM
WebWire
Eastman Kodak Company
2/13/2006 3:47:04 PM
Improved Solutions for Capturing and Sharing Mobile Phone Images Using KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology running on TI’s OMAP2420 Applications Processor
BARCELONA, Spain, February 13 — On stand C10-C19 in Hall 1 and stand B14-B15 in Hall 8 at 3GSM 2006 in Barcelona, Spain, Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK), one of the world’s most recognised brands in digital imaging, and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN), the leader in semiconductors for mobile phones, will be demonstrating a technology that will bring improvements in camera phone image quality and increased ease of sharing of camera phone images from phone-to-phone, phone-to-web and phone-to-print.
Kodak and TI have been developing technology solutions for mobile handsets that fully realise the potential of mobile phone imaging to consumers, handset manufacturers and operators alike. The two companies will show solutions that enhance image quality providing more vibrant colours and richer detail using KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology running on TI’s OMAP2420 applications processor, a member of TI’s widely adopted OMAP™ platform. This represents the first time that the renowned Kodak technology – previously available only on the company’s printers and select EASYSHARE Cameras – is being made available on a processor to third party manufacturers.
Additionally, Kodak and TI will show how users could more easily generate prints from KODAK Kiosks or share their images and memories on the KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery, also powered by TI’s OMAP2420 processor.
“We have been working with TI to combine Kodak’s experience and expertise in imaging innovation, with TI’s market-leading OMAPâ„¢ platform to continue offering better quality images and greater ease-of-use for taking, sharing and printing mobile images,†commented Bruno Suard, Business Development Director for mobile imaging at Kodak. “A mobile phone is always on, always connected and always in the pocket. We are driving the technology so that the camera phone is always ready to take and share high quality images.â€
“We were excited to see the significant quality enhancements achieved by the KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology running on TI’s OMAP platform. We are delighted to be working with Kodak to improve camera phones for consumers, improving the quality of the image and making it easier for them to download and share images from their phones and with others, which we believe will further boost the deployment and use of camera phones,†said Avner Goren, Marketing Director of TI’s Cellular Systems Business.
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About Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak is the world’s foremost imaging innovator, providing leading products and services to the photographic, graphic communications and healthcare markets. With sales of $14.3 billion in 2005, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their life and work. Consumers use Kodak’s system of digital and traditional image capture products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime, anywhere; Businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using Kodak solutions for prepress, conventional and digital printing and document imaging; Creative Professionals rely on Kodak technology to uniquely tell their story through moving or still images; and leading Healthcare organizations rely on Kodak’s innovative products, services and customized workflow solutions to help improve patient care and maximize efficiency and information sharing within and across their enterprise.
More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at www.kodak.com
Texas Instruments – Making Wireless
TI is the leading manufacturer of wireless semiconductors, delivering the heart of today’s wireless technology and building solutions for tomorrow. TI provides a breadth of silicon and software and 16 years of wireless systems expertise that spans handsets and base stations for all communications standards, wireless LAN, GPS, Digital TV, Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband. TI offers custom to turn-key solutions, including complete chipsets and reference designs, OMAP™ application processors, as well as core digital signal processor and analog technologies built on advanced semiconductor processes. Please visit www.ti.com/wirelesspressroom for additional information.
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company’s businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com.
Kodak, EasyShare, Perfect Touch and Retina are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company. OMAP is a trademark of Texas Instruments. Bluetooth wordmark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Kodak is under license. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.
2006
February 15th, 2006