Digital-Lifestyles – Page 273 – Digital-Lifestyles pre-empted and reported thousands of articles on the then-coming impact that technology was to have on all forms of Media. Launched in 2001 as a research blog to aid its founder, Simon Perry, present at IBC 2002, it grew into a wide ranging, multi-author publication that was quoted in many publications globally including the BBC, was described by the Guardian as 'Informative' and also cited in a myriad of tech publications before closing in 2009

Digital-Lifestyles pre-empted and reported thousands of articles on the then-coming impact that technology was to have on all forms of Media. Launched in 2001 as a research blog to aid its founder, Simon Perry, present at IBC 2002, it grew into a wide ranging, multi-author publication that was quoted in many publications globally including the BBC, was described by the Guardian as 'Informative' and also cited in a myriad of tech publications before closing in 2009

FinePix V10 Zoom With Added (ahem) ‘Fun’ Games
Fujifilm have rolled out their new 5.1 million pixel FinePix V10 Zoom, which they’re billing as a “next-generation digital compact camera with distinctive looks and an extra dose of fun.”
The “dose of fun” comes in the shape of some retro arcade-style games installed on the camera.
These include a shooting game, blockbuster and a maze puzzle, played via the camera’s controls which have been positioned like a console for extra playability.
In a rather nice touch, captured images can also be incorporated into the games, although we’ve no idea how sophisticated this process will be.
Although we’ve never felt the urge to play a shoot ’em up on our digital cameras, the rest of the camera seems to shape up pretty well, with the FinePix V10 Zoom sporting a large three inch, 230,000 pixels LCD screen in a pocketable design.
Like its well reviewed near-namesake, the Fujifilm F10, the FinePix V10 Zoom is speedy in operation, with a nippy 0.01 second shutter lag and a 1.5 second start-up time.
Optics come in the form of a reasonably fast (F2.8 – F5.5) 3.4x optical zoom, giving a zoom range comparable to 38 – 130mm on a 35mm camera, and there’s VGA movie capture mode capable of grabbing 30 frames per second with sound.
The camera boasts Fujifilm’s excellent Super CCD HR sensor, with their Real Photo Technology offering a huge range of sensitivity from ISO64 to ISO1600, making the camera suitable for low light, ‘natural’ photography.
A novel ‘Natural Light & with Flash’ mode captures two images in quick succession, with and without flash, letting the user decide which one looks best. We like that idea.
Sadly, Fujifilm are sticking with their rather obscure xD-Picture Card, which means that most photographers switching brands will have to invest in a new memory card format.
Overall, this looks to be an interesting and fun point’n’shoot snapper with the Super CCD HR sensor offering a compelling advantage over many of its rivals.
We’re not so convinced of the wisdom of bolting on arcade games on to a camera though – not only does it seem an unconvincing example of digital convergence, it’s also likely to result in a dead camera battery.
The FinePix V10 Zoom will be available from UK retailers in March 2006, with pricing to be announced nearer to the launch date.
Fujifilm.
6 January, 2006
Sandisk Announce Sansa Flash MP3 Players
Sandisk have whipped out two iPod nano-style flash-based music players at CES 2006.
Their new Sandisk Sansa e200 series players offer up to 6BG storage and are expected to ship in the US and Europe this March
Sharing a similar styling and size to the hugely successful Apple iPod nano range, the Sansa e200 players have eaten a few more pies with a depth of 0.5-inches (1.3cm) compared to the nano’s slimline 0.27-inches.
Both models sport a 1.8-inch colour screen (slightly bigger than the nano’s 1.5-inch screen), with the 2GB e250 model costing $199 (~€163 ~£112), the 4GB model $249 (~€204 ~£140) and the top of the range 6GB player costing $299 (~€245 ~£168).
Not content with being ‘inspired’ by the nano, Sandisk also announced a line of petite flash memory music players to challenge the Apple iPod shuffle, although the Sansa c100 series players ship with colour screens.
Pricing is $119 (1GB) (~€97 ~£67) or $169 (2GB) (~€138 ~£95).
Sandisk
6 January, 2006
Dell New Concepts Introduced At CES 2006
Clearly suffering from an overdose on the hyperbole intake, Michael Dell has been getting all lyrical about Dell’s new ideas, unveiled at CES 2006.
On a dedicated CES site loaded with the kind of preposterous guff that would keep Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner stocked with stories for months ahead, the bonkers blurb blathers on about ‘The power of creation being aligned along elemental paths,’ before introducing its new products range.
First up is the new Dell XPS 600 Renegade, a powerful, high-end gaming PC described as a (here we go again) ‘manifestation of power so pure it can only be described as supernatural.’
Yes, Michael. Whatever you say.
Mind you, the machine looks pretty damn good, with an, err, adventurous fire’n’brimstone finish and a feast of high end components inside, including dual 1GB NVIDIA 7800 SLI graphic cards, Intel dual core 955W CPU over-clocked to 4.25Ghz and 2GB dual channel RAM.
Release is set for Spring, although there’s no mention of the no-doubt stratospheric price.
Next up on the site is Dell’s new 30″ UltraSharp widescreen monitor, a desirable looking piece of kit, described as being, “as stunning as the vision that inspired it”, whatever that means.
The attractive monitor offers WQXGA resolution (that’s 2560×1600 pixels to normal people), fast 11ms grey-to-grey response time, 700:1 contrast ratio and an integrated 9-in-2 memory card reader.
More info here: Dell US
Finally, the site showcases the Dell XPS Mobile Concept, a weird looking laptop-meets-DVD entertainment combo, introduced with a flamboyant salvo of onscreen Hammer Horror lightning strikes.
Billed as ‘coming soon’, this concept design sports a 20.1″ widescreen display, built in 1.3 megapixel camera, ‘high end array microphones’ (say what?) and a total of eight integrated speakers and subwoofer.
We’re not sure what a ‘portfolio’ design is, but this thing’s sure got it, along with ‘anodized articulating hinges’ and a detachable wireless keyboard and mouse.
“wait ’til you see where it takes you”, says the site.
We’d rather wait to see if the laptop gets past the concept stage first, thanks.
Dell CES 2006 Website
6 January, 2006
CES 2006 Starts: MP3 Player Sales To Soar 200%
Factory sales of consumer electronics are set to soar to a record high of $135.4 billion (~£77bn ~Ä112) in 2006, according to the Consumer Electronics Association’s annual industry forecast.
The figures were released on the eve of the world’s largest consumer technology ~~beano~~ tradeshow, the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas.
“The numbers say it all – the consumer electronics industry is hot,” screamed an excitable Gary Shapiro, CEA’s president and CEO.
“Sales exceeded our expectations in 2005, totaling $125.9 billion and we’re forecasting 8 percent growth in 2006. Consumer electronics sales are consistently growing, breaking records every year, because our industry is constantly changing to provide products that consumers love and can’t live without. I cannot wait to see the thousands of new products unveiled this week at the International CES that will continue to grow this amazing industry,” he enthused.
Projections for 2006 and year-end figures for 2005 are included in CEA’s bi-annual US Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts report, released every year at the International CES and updated mid-year.
The report shows year-end totals for 2005 exceeding CEA’s initial projection of $122 billion, increasing by a hefty 11 percent over 2004.
Much of the growth is put down to next-generation product lines, the growth of Wi-Fi, flat panel displays, MP3 devices and gaming consoles and software.
Another bumper year is projected with the CEA estimating that sales of digital television (DTV) will scale new heights in 2006, with total sales expected to surpass $23 billion and 18 million units.
In 2005, DTV sales grew 60 percent to $17 billion, with the market fuelled by the growing popularity and competitive price declines of flat panel LCD and plasma displays, which accounted for 40 percent of all DTV sales.
With next-generation gaming consoles lining up for launches throughout early 2006, the gaming market is set to grow to $14 billion, up from last year’s healthy $12 billion total.
CEA forecasts huge growth for MP3 players, with consumers set to go ga-ga for devices with video playback capability.
CEA Director of Industry Analysis Sean Wargo projected sales figures of $4.5 billion in 2006, with 30 percent of all MP3 players having video playback capability.
“MP3 technology helped boost the audio and accessories markets in 2005. With the introduction of video playback capability, MP3 player sales surged 200 percent in 2005 to $3 billion. Trends in 2006 should be no different,” he added.
Wireless handset sales should get cash tills ringing to the tune of over $16 billion in factory-to-dealer sales this year, significantly up on 2005’s figures where 104 million wireless handsets sales scooped up total sales of $13.5 billion.
We’ll be reporting on developments throughout this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas, so stay tuned!
International Consumer Electronics Show 2006, Las Vegas (Warning! Cheesey techno track on homepage!).
5 January, 2006
Kodak Photo Voice: Skype For Photo Service
Eastman Kodak and Skype have announced the “latest innovation in digital storytelling”, Kodak Photo Voice, a new free online service that combines live voice and online photo sharing.
The Kodak Photo Voice service lets Internet viewers simultaneously view a customised slideshow online and chat away to each other at the same time – making it harder for people trying to avoid sitting through their friend’s awful holiday snaps.
“Today’s families and social networks are scattered around the globe. Staying connected through photo sharing remains an important element in maintaining closer personal relationships,” said Sandra Morris, general manager of Consumer Imaging Services at Kodak.
Morris noted that traditional social gatherings that used to take place around the radio, television or telephone are now taking place around the computer, mobile phone or camera.
Once a user has downloaded Kodak Photo Voice and Skype, they can select photos from a Kodak Easyshare Gallery album or from their computer, compile them into a Kodak Photo Voice presentation and “call” a friend over Skype to watch the slideshow live.
If their friend likes some of the photos, the host can order prints and other merchandise via the Kodak Gallery and have them mailed directly to their friend’s home.
Currently in live beta, the KODAK Photo Voice is the first Skype certified “online photo sharing experience” (we’re currently enjoying a “live coffee drinking experience”, btw) and is available as a free download at kodakgallery.com/photovoice.
As the curious talking octopus on the homepage explains, the service is absolutely free.
5 January, 2006
AJAX Alert: Opera Browser With AJAX To Sigma CE Chip Range
Web browser company Opera today announce they’re bring their Web browser with AJAX support to chips for use in Consumer Electronics (CE) applications.
It’s not long back that Opera made the decision to give their Web browser away after a long period of charging for it. A very brave and noble act many though – not a bad way to raise your profile we thought.
They’ve been putting their browsers on different platforms for a while, like the mini-browser for mobile phones they brought out back in August 05.
The reasoning behind the give-away move becomes clearer today as they announce that they’ve been working with US chip company Sigma Designs to bring their browser software to embedded hardware via Sigma’s SMP8630 family of chipsets.
Clearly looking to tread on Intel’s toes, Sigma say the SMP8630 family of chipsets can be used in digital media adapters, IPTV set-top boxes and networked DVD players that OEM’s may want to build.
To get to use the browser and the oh-so-desirable AJAX, OEM’s will need to get in touch with Opera to license their Software Development Kit (SDK). Once familiar with it they should be able to create some snazzy application.
So what’s so exciting about embedded Web browsing software? Their supports the darling of the hour buzzword – AJAX.
We’re sure you, dear reader, know what AJAX is, but just incase – it stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This translates to being able to use a Web browser more like a computer-based application.
The most notable difference from a ‘normal’ Web app is information and updates can be carried out without needing reload the Web page each time. It’s an intergral part of the Web 2.0 landscape.
The most often cited example is Google’s Gmail.
We at Digital-Lifestyles see the rise of AJAX as the event that broke Microsoft’s domination of computers. So pretty significant really.
Expect this news to generate great excitement in the Blog-world.
Opera
Sigma
Opera-related stories on Digital-Lifestyles
5 January, 2006
Digimax i6: Samsung Announces World’s 1st PMP Slim Camera
With consumers being less enamoured with ever bigger megapixel ratings, some camera manufacturers are looking to ramp up the feature list, while getting all Lilliputian with the form factor.
Bright and shiny for 2006 is Samsung’s new super-slim 6 megapixel camera, the Digimax i6, offering a 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD and ‘PMP’ (personal media player) functionality.
Boldly claiming to be the “world’s first PMP slim camera”, the Digimax can play back MP3 music files and also video files, using the conversion software supplied with the camera.
Unlike some of the half-arsed hybrid MP3 cameras we’ve seen, the Samsung lets the user take pictures whilst listening to music. We can’t think why you’d actually want to do that, but I’m sure some will find it useful.
In line with its slim billing, the camera measures in at a pocket-untroubling 18.5mm thick, with the casing sporting an ‘enhanced’ grip with an unusual curved design designed to make it easy to keep a grip on the thing.
Like Sony’s similarly proportioned Cyber-shot DSC-T9, the i6 sports an anti-shake widget, called ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) which claims to reduce the effects of camera shake and helps snappers take natural pictures indoors or in dark conditions without flash.
There’s also movie editing functionality included, a 1cm super-macro mode, and a cradle for charging and image transfer.
Samsung will also launching three new models in their budget, point’n’shoot ‘S’ series offering 5, 6 and 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, video (MPEG4, VGA, 30fps) and a large TFT LCD (2.4 inch).
The S-500, S-600 and S-800 – and the Digicam i6 – are expected to hit the market in early 2006, with pricing to be announced.
Samsung
4 January, 2006
Motorola Ditches iTunes With ROKR E2 Release
Motorola says adieu to Apple and bonjour to Linux as it unveiled its shiny new ROKR E2 phone at the Consumer Electronics Show today.
Adding unlimited song support, a VGA camera and a web browser, the new phone fixes many of the well documented problems of the ROKR E1, the first iTunes phone, jettisoning Apple in the process.
The new phone looks pretty similar to the original E1 phone, but offers several notable improvements including nippy USB 2.0 song transfer rates compared to the sluggish USB 1.1 of its predecessor and the removal of the artificial 100-song limit, with the Secure Digital slot supporting memory cards up to 2 GB.
Running on a new Linux-based operating system, the Motorola ROKR E2 also includes a high-res 320×240 screen, a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recording, a built-in FM radio, Opera Web browser Bluetooth (supporting wireless music streaming to stereo Bluetooth headphones), and joy-of-joys – a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack and not one of those ruddy annoying mini sockets that are incompatible with normal headphones.
Competing directly with the likes of the Sony Ericsson W600i and Samsung MM-A900, the new E2 lets users create and manage playlists on the device itself and offers dedicated music control keys placed on the front and side of the handset.
The phone can play “a variety” of music formats (no more info yet), with drag and drop song transfer from PCs.
Motorola’s decision to shun iTunes certainly represents a gamble. The tight integration with Apple’s jukebox service gave the phone a huge lead over its rivals, but Motorola’s well documented tiffs with Apple look to have permanently soured the relationship.
In the absence of iTunes, Motorola intends to push their iRadio Music Service, a subscription music service that uses mobile handsets as the base platform.
The company announced the music service at CES yesterday, with an offering of 435 commercial-free radio channels, which Motorola claims is one of the widest selections of subscription music entertainment available.
Available in black or white, the Motorola ROKR E2 is expected to emerge in mid-2006 with “mid-tier” pricing.
kodakgallery.com/photovoice.
4 January, 2006
BBC Open News Archive Goes Online
The BBC has announced its Open News Archive, making archive news reports freely available to the UK public to download and use for free in their own creative works.
Included amongst the initial offering of around 80 online reports will be footage from important events like the fall of the Berlin Wall, Beijing’s Tiananmen Square protest, the Poll Tax riots, the Piper Alpha disaster and Nelson Mandela’s release.
Made available under the terms of the recently-launched Creative Archive Licence, the footage can be viewed, downloaded, edited and mixed by UK residents – so long as it’s for non-commercial programming (there’s also several other caveats that budding film makers should read first here.)
The clips will be made available in QuickTime, Windows Media, MPEG1 and MP3 formats to ensure a wide audience, and will cover stories from the past 50 years.
Helen Boaden, Director, BBC News, said: “This trial is an important step in allowing us to share with our audiences the extraordinary news archive which the BBC has recorded over the years. We look forward to getting their reaction.”
Paul Gerhardt, project director of the Creative Archive Licence Group, added, “The BBC’s telling of those stories is part of our heritage, and now that the UK public have the chance to share and keep them we’re keen to know how they will be used.”
The BBC already offer nearly a hundred clips in their Radio 1 Superstar VJ archive, and are expected to be releasing further content over its websites in the coming months.
BBC Open News Archive
4 January, 2006
Best Cameras of 2005: Our Round Up
Best compact:
Fujifilm F10
You’d be hard pressed to describe this box-like beast as a looker, but it consistently impressed us with its speed of operation, pin-sharp pictures and awesome low light performance.
Featuring a class-leading sensor, the Fuji can keep on delivering usable images right up to 1600 ISO – perfect for candid/low light photography.
Look out for the F11 which adds aperture and shutter priority to the feature set.
More info
Best dSLR
Nikon D50
A tough call this one with so many notable new cameras entering the increasingly competitive consumer end of the digital SLR market, but the Nikon D50 just pipped the Canon EOS 350D on account of its excellent image quality, low noise, excellent handing and, of course, incredible value for money.
This is a perfect first-time camera for amateur photographers keen to move up to a SLR system, and with hundreds of Nikon-fit lenses available, the D50 can handle just about every task you can throw at it.
Nikon D50
Best prosumer camera
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1
Just nudging ahead of the Fujifilm FinePix S9500, the Sony DSC-R1 impressed us with its innovation, build quality and fabulous images.
Dominated by a 24-120mm lens of truly outstanding quality, the DSC-R1 offers a unique viewfinder which can flip and twist through 270 degrees and offer medium format ‘waist level’ shooting.
Although it’s priced hard against more flexible dSLRS, you won’t find a more capable, all in one package than the Sony DSC-R1.
More info
Biggest disappointment:
The Panasonic Lumix LX1
It promised so much, looked fantastic, entranced us with its advanced feature set, high end manual controls, widescreen aspect ratio, image stabilisation, razor sharp Leica lens and fantastic, crystal clear daytime images, but as soon as the sun went down and the ISO ratings went up – disaster!
A horrendously noisy sensor meant that noise crept in to even low ISO images, with pictures at 400 ISO bordering on unusable – not what you expect for £450.
Bring on the LX2 and Panasonic will have a killer camera on their hands!
More info
21 December, 2005