Akihabara, shop till you drop!

First stop, follow the signpost to Akihabara Denki Gai.

At last, I can finally say been there, done that. Having heard for so long about Tokyo's most famous magnet for tech geeks big and small, there's a certain tingle of expectation when one hops off at Akihabara subway station, and like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, following (in this case) the yellow signpost which states quaintly: Exit for Akihabara Electric Town.

Exiting from Akihabara Station, you can't miss the Radio Kaikan Building with its bubble escalators.

Be warned, though. Travel guides list the area as a large population of stores selling all kinds of electronic, anime, and otaku (obsessive fan) goods. What Akiba, as the locals call it, really is is a giant outdoor electronics mall like nowhere on earth. For an idea of how big this Electric Town is, our much-vaunted Sim Lim Square would probably fit into just one of the many-storey computer buildings.


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Denon preps a pair of premium Blu-ray kits

Are you craving to sample studio-grade Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD surround sound through your spanking new A/V receiver? Now you have another choice other than the recently launched Pioneer BDP-LX70A. Japanese Hi-Fi maker Denon has announced not one but two premium Blu-ray products. The DVD-3800BD is a CD/DVD/Blu-ray player, while the DVD-2500BT is a transport (without digital-to-analog converters) with similar disc compatibilities.

Both are capable of outputting the two lossless high-resolution audios (as mentioned above) in raw (bitstream) format. Though there is no proven advantage in external Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding, it enables your compatible receiver to process the signals instead of relying on just the HD player. This, according to some online reports, helps produce better sound. Another cool feature for the DVD-3800BD is its onboard HQV Realta processor, one of the highest-end video chipsets highly sought-after by enthusiasts and videophiles. Both kits also sport a HDMI 1.3 terminal which is capable of supporting judder-free film-centric 1080p24 signal.

The Denon pair will be available in Japan from Jan 2008 at an equally impressive US$1,981 (DVD-2500BT) and US$2,885 (DVD-3800BD), respectively. Other Asia launch details were not available at press time.

Via Akihabara News

Portable Linux rave machine

If your old iPod is gathering dust, why not use pdPod to turn it into a drum machine or a synthesizer? pdPod is an iPod version of a free, open-source application called Pure Data, used by experimental musicians with a mind for math and too much time on their hands. Installing it on an iPod isn't easy, but it sounds like a worthwhile weekend project if you're a musician with an extra iPod laying around.

To get the pdPod software up and running, you first need to load the Linux-based Podzilla iPod operating system as a foundation. Once that's done, follow the instructions on the pdPod wiki and cross your fingers. A video of the results are shown below.

Via Create Digital Music, Crave

Olympus E-3 goes official

TOKYO, Japan--Information about a new Olympus dSLR has already been going around after the company publicly displayed a prototype in March. The camera was then dubbed the E-P1, but some photos made public in August showed it bearing the name E-3.

All the speculation and leaks can now be put to rest as the Olympus E-3 has finally been officially unveiled. The E-3 is the successor to the E-1, which was first launched in 2003. It is based on the Four Thirds system and is targeted at professionals.

Most of the earlier features and specifications turned out to be correct. Some of the features of this 10.1-megapixel camera include:

• Five frames per second shooting
• Maximum shutter speed of 1/8,000 second
• 11-point autofocus
• In-camera image stabilization
• A swiveling LCD for live view image composition
• 49-zone metering system
• Built-in flash

The Four Thirds system produces photos with an aspect ratio of 4:3, which look squarer than the 3:2 aspect ratio images from 35mm film SLRs and most other digital SLRs. This system is championed by Olympus and employs the Four Thirds lens mount which supports not only its own brand lenses, but also those from Panasonic and Leica. Cameras using this system are generally lighter than competing dSLRs.

The system also has its fair share of criticism, one example being the smaller sensor size which results in more noise at higher ISOs. On the other hand, features like dust reduction and live view were first pioneered by Olympus and have now been employed in other dSLRs from Canon, Nikon and Sony.

The E-3 will be available in Singapore from November. We are still awaiting response from Olympus on the dSLR's availability throughout Asia Pacific as well as pricing details.

Philips Streamium player that does it all

Sharing and streaming music can't get any easier with the new Philips Streamium WAC3500D. This compact stereo plays back MP3s from practically all music sources ranging from USB storage devices and CDs to PCs and iPods. The latter is possible via integrated wired or wireless (high-speed Wi-Fi) streaming and a bundled iPod dock. It also doubles as a music server with its onboard 80GB hard drive and convenient CD ripping function. For hassle-free CD-to-MP3 conversion, song tagging is catered by Gracenote's album database.

What's more, Philips is throwing in a power-efficient 80W digital amplifier and FM radio. Pricing and availability of the WAC3500D is not available at press time. Do check back with us for more updates.

You can read more about it here.

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