Sneak peek: Photokina 2008

One of the largest biennial photo/imaging tradeshows, Photokina, is going to be held from September 23-29 in Cologne, Germany. The organizer, Koelnmesse GmbH today briefed the press in China and Singapore on key figures and trends at the upcoming show.

At press time, over 90 percent of the show space have been booked, with over 100 new exhibitors stated. To accommodate the rising numbers of exhibitors and companies which are having larger booths, Michael Dreyer, vice-president of Koelnmesse Asia Pacific, mentioned that the space for this year will be slightly larger compared with the previous Photokina. In 2006, the show welcomed a total of 162,492 visitors. The figure for this year is expected to be the same, if not, more.

The interest in photography is expected to be driven by the low-cost of cameras and the instant gratification of digital imaging. In 2007, approximately 776 million image-capturing devices were sold worldwide, of which 629 million were camera-phones, 126 million digital cameras and 21million camcorders. 10 million units of dSLRs were sold in 2007, a 17 percent increase over 2006. These figures are set to increase in 2008 by 10 to 20 percent.
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Do not feed the CD player

Stitch seemed relatively harmless when he debuted with Lilo way back in 2002, but things have changed since then--and he looks downright creepy now, at least in the form of Disney's new CD player and radio.

It doesn't help that it's made only of his head, which must bear the teeth of his trademark ginormous mouth to insert the disc. What kid would want to do that? It's probably just as well that this is destined for Japan, where children have been raised to be comfortable with mechanical beings practically from birth.

Via CNET Crave | Credit: Fareastgizmos

Let us count the ways to skin a mouse

We've heard of glamor studios dishing out free makeovers when you purchase the full package. Now, from Men to Mice, Microsoft Hardware is likewise offering a similar cosmetic freebie for selected mice (from S$59) and Wireless Laser Desktop kits (from S$129) that you purchase from now till June 30. Just know that this is only for Singapore, where customers will get to choose from eight Digiskin decals which include visuals from Halo 3, racing designs and the usual airbrush artwork. The entire skinning process should take about 30 minutes, done on the spot by a machine that ensures air bubble-free workmanship. Unfortunately, if you want your very own design, you'll have to fork out the usual S$12 rate, plus bring your own JPEG. Rats!

Westinghouse's acrobatic HDTV

In our longstanding tradition of featuring gadgets that do yoga, Crave is pleased to announce a first in the illustrious category: A contortionist television set.

Westinghouse has created a flip-style HDTV that can actually be folded, to a degree, to fit into the most cramped areas and corners of any given abode. The front bezel of the dual-hinged Flexible Lifestyle Display can be rotated 180 degrees on a tabletop, according to Electronic House, or the TV can be suspended from the wall or bottom of a cabinet, trapeze-style.

The PT-16H610S must maintain a petite frame to accomplish these feats, so its LCD is no larger than 16 inches. The set has full 1080p high-definition resolution, but we're frankly not sure if that's really necessary: If you're installing this in a Manhattan apartment where a hot plate passes for a gourmet kitchen, for example, your nose will probably never be more than 2ft from the screen.

Via Crave CNET

Microsoft starts pushing out Vista SP1

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it is beginning automatic distribution of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update to the year-and-a-half-old operating system.

The company finalized the Vista update in February, but has held off until now pushing it directly to individuals.

Starting Wednesday, the company will start sending it to Vista users who have Windows' automatic update feature turned on. However, the company cautioned that not everyone will get SP1 immediately.

"While Microsoft is beginning automatic distribution today, it's important to note that customers might not see the update download right away since Microsoft is distributing the service pack in phases to ensure a seamless download experience," the company said in a statement.

Vista SP1 was made available for download to customers last month. Service Pack 1 doesn't add much in the way of new features, but rather is a collection of changes designed to fix bugs and improve performance, as well as address competitive concerns raised by Google over Vista's desktop search system. Microsoft also changed how its antipiracy mechanism works with SP1.

The release of Vista SP1 via automatic update is the second milestone this week for the Windows team. On Monday, Microsoft announced it had finished work on Windows XP Service Pack 3. That product will be available for download next week, Microsoft said, but won't start being pushed out via automatic updates until summer.

Via CNET News Blogs

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