The long, long, long awaited Mamiya ZD medium format digital SLR is now available on pre-order in Japan, with UK delivery promised in January.
With the kind of specifications that would turn your average digital snapper into a gibbering wreck of envy and lust, the Mamiya ZD notches up a whopping 22 megapixels (21.50 effective), with images registering a screen-stretching 4008 x 5344 pixels.
Thanks to its Dalsa 36 x 48mm image sensor, the camera still manages to resemble a beefed-up standard 35mm D-SLR, making it a tempting prospect for both studio and travelling professional photographers.
Inside the pixel-guzzling beast lies Mamiya’s exclusive 14bit A/D (analogue to digital) converter, enabling photographers to rattle off 12bit images at a nippy 1.5fps (up to 11 images).
That may not sound fast compared to sporty Nikons and Canons, but in the world of medium format cameras, we’re talking Speedy Gonzales – and you won’t find anything faster in its class.
The Mamiya sports an eye-level Prism Viewfinder (fixed) with a field of view of 98%, with auto-focus using TTL Phase Difference Detection, with photographers able to choose between Average, Centre-weighted, Variable Shot and Spot.
On the back of the camera, a 1.8in LCD offers image previews with a LCD window below displaying ISO and exposure information.
File storage comes in the shape of CF and SD storage cards.
Images can be whizzed across to your PC/Mac by FireWire with the bundled Mamiya Digital Photo Studio software offering what the company describes as a “complete image capture, processing and editing solution in both MAC and PC based computers.”
The price is going to hover around an eye-watering €9200 – enormous wonga for some, but it’s the kind of figure that may finally tempt die-hard professional film photographers into the digital fold.
Specifications:
Sensor: Full Frame RGB square-structured 48 x 36 mm CCD, 22 million pixels total
Exposure controls: A (Aperture), S (Shutter) priority, Programmed AE, Manual and B, shutter speed: B+30sec – 1/4000 second, x-sync at 1/125 sec.
Capture: RAW and JPEG format, Large, Medium and Small files
White balance settings: Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Fluorescent, Tungsten, Preset 1, Preset 2, Fine Adjustment, Color temperature setting
ISO 50 – 400 (1/3 steps)
Other: Video out (NTSC/PAL), IEEE1394 interface
Vodafone has started to roll out its global Mobile TV channels, serving up a feast of “world-class TV brands, pan-European sports coverage and leading entertainment and documentary programmes”.
Sports fans will be kept amused on the move with Eurosport, UEFA Champions League and, err, Chilli TV (who?) channels, with the Vodafone service also carrying popular channels like MTV and Discovery.
Vodafone say that their research into the market revealed that Mobile TV complemented television viewing habits at home and thus demonstrated a hearty appetite for the product amongst consumers.
In an attempt to get right on down with the online world, Nokia has unveiled a blog relations campaign for its new N90 phone, offering information and podcasts about the handset to bloggers.
“Since bloggers are articulate, passionate, and prolific – and have more space to write in than a newspaper columnist – they can yield incredible dividends,” enthused Abramson.
Try as we might, us cynical folks at Digital Lifestyles couldn’t shake off a nagging suspicion that the marketing world’s new-found enthusiasm for blogs is more about trying to control and coerce what’s been written about their products in the blogosphere. 
NTL is currently in talks to merge with Virgin Mobile in a deal that would create a potential rival to the now 
In a fiercely competitive market, cable companies on both sides of the Atlantic are looking to outflank their satellite and phone company rivals by adding mobile phone services to their portfolio of voice, Internet and TV services.
NTL and Telewest have notched up around 5 million subscribers combined, next to BSkyB’s 7.8 million digital television viewers.
They may look like something a WW2 pilot would have strapped on to their heads before going off for a dogfight, but the Grado SR60s are, quite simply, the best headphones in their price bracket – and higher.
Untroubled by the vagaries of fashion, Grado’s hand-made SR60s have a refreshing no-nonsense look about them.
The driver units are covered by black supra-aural foam ear pads, with an unusually thick cable coming from each earpiece, stethoscope-style.
Sonically, they’re a revelation. The sound is full-bodied, fast and articulate with a solid bass performance creating an impressively spacious soundstage.
The clarity and depth of these phones is unheard of at this price level – stick on a pair of trendy designer “DJ” headphones after a session on the Grados and it’ll sound like listening to a transistor radio.
The words European and Commission, when used together rarely equate to clarity. This is holding true with the mixed signals on the financial support that will be permitted in the transition to Digital TV across Europe.
The Commission made clear that it supports the transition to digital broadcasting, and that Member States have a variety of methods to assist the digital switchover, that fits in with EC Treaty state aid rules. 
Europe could benefit economically and socially, by a concerted approach across Europe to the ‘liberated’ spectrum. The EC wants to see trading in radio wavebands (much championed by the UK regulator OFCOM) and believes that this could assist European firms in launching innovative products and services. A study commissioned by the executive indicated that the move to Digital would have potential benefits of around EUR 9 billion for community members through greater efficiencies.
Tying in nicely with Skype’s new video calling feature (Skype 2.0, now in public beta), Creative have announced a new WebCam certified by Skype.
“Our partnership with Creative is important in helping to make the consumer experience with Skype Video calling simple and effective,” he continued.
There’s also a ‘snapshot button’ for taking low res stills at 640×480 via interpolation (in other words, it’s a smaller image artificially blown up, so don’t expect anything near digicam quality).
Summary
The camera is the first of a new generation of Fuji cameras sporting the new Super CCD HR sensor which – unlike previous models – doesn’t rely on interpolation jiggerypokery to deliver its 6.3 megapixel output.
We can’t count as fast as that, but it certainly proved to be one of the fastest compacts we’ve tested to date, with no perceivable delay after pressing the shutter button.
A handy LCD brightness boost switch helped compose shots in dim light, although we found it prudent to turn off the dazzling, kryptonite-like green focus beam which was so bright that you’d end up with pictures of people covering their eyes and screaming. 
Out on the streets, the camera proved fast to start up, responsive, quick to focus and produced some excellent quality images, capturing impressively high levels of detail.
We remained impressed with the camera throughout the testing period, although some gripes surfaced: we found the lack of any real manual control frustrating at times and the less-than-intuitive menu system made some tasks unnecessarily fiddly.
Today will see the share IPO of Eutelsat, the third largest satellite operator.
Despite our catastrophic experiences with the 
Context-sensitive buttons either side of the display provide a simple user interface offering fast access to relevant features – it’s one of the best interfaces we’ve seen.
A unique feature to Pure is the ReVu function, which lets you pause and ‘rewind’ live DAB digital radio, courtesy of a constantly updating 20 minute buffer. 
The package is rounded off by two stylish Rosewood speakers with 5¼” woofers, and 19mm Mylar-dome tweeters, a simple remote control and aerial.