SanDisk 8GB monster heightens speed

How fast your camera shoots often depends on the memory card it uses. Even the cleverest camera mechanical artistry is not enough if it is hampered by a sluggish write speed.

Pro photographers would certainly appreciate the 8GB Extreme III SDHC since it's a drugged-up storage card for faster transfer speeds. Though the emphasis is on speed (it reads and writes at 20MB/s), there are some hardware and software extras.

The bundled MicroMate is a USB 2.0 reader that can turn the card into a mass storage device or a card reader while the included RescuePRO software is a data recovery tool to retrieve accidental deletions.

The 8GB SanDisk Extreme III SDHC will be available for retail in the US and Europe at US$179.99. No word on Asia at press time.

A germ of an idea: Virus-made batteries

What if the common cold can yield more than a week's worth of runny noses?

At MIT, viruses are more than just a reason to see the doctor. It's also a reason to junk the batteries. An MIT research team led by Angela Belcher, a professor of materials science and biological engineering, has created a way of coaxing viruses into become building blocks that can be used to manufacture a thin fiber.

And the tech value? These viruses can bind to a variety of inorganic materials such as those used in battery electrodes and solar cells. Imagine, a bundle of charge-carrying fibers can be woven into a shirt and used to power a mobile phone.

Now that's an epidemic geeks will welcome with megawatt grins.

Via Dailytech

Hi-def photos at a TV near you

In the US, Sony styles itself as a company with a DNA that's tightly woven with HD. So it's no surprise that it has stitched pictures into its HD family of products. Most of the Japanese firm's cameras include an HD output.

The HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album is the hardware statement of all that needlework. Simply, it's an 80GB device to store, edit and output photo slideshows to a high-definition display.

Pictures can be loaded via memory cards, optical drives, USB or Ethernet. To figure out which picture goes where, there's an x-Pict Story HD software to handle the slideshow generation. It's pretty advanced stuff that does music upload and printouts as well, so there's no real need for a computer if you don't need one.

So what's the cool factor? This gadget utilizes a face detection engine to locate faces in a photograph and adjust slideshow transitions to match the placement of the faces. There's also an x-ScrapBook application that groups pictures based on event-clustering and common faces.

Altogether, this is a nifty device. But while HD is in its genes, the family tree is not extending to most parts of Asia. According to Sony Electronics Asia Pacific, the HDMS-S1D is available only in Japan and the US for now.

     

How thin will cameras get?

Maybe as much as its LCD. While the world has been fixated on the LCD panel size race, Sharp reversed its direction with a 0.68mm-thin LCD. It's almost certainly the world's smallest and will probably play a part in redefining the size of future portable gadgetry.

But despite its size, this LCD is not skinny on the specs. Flip it face up and it's a 2.2-inch LCD with a contrast ratio of 2,000:1 and a decent viewing angle of 176 degrees (comparable to typical LCD monitors). And besides cameras, MP3 players and mobile phones would undoubtedly benefit from it as well.

Via DCviews

This Sony cam has big pockets

Hold it. Snap. One picture in camera.

Do that a thousand times and it's time to switch memory cards. Or is it?

The new Cyber-shot T2 is snazzy, small and boxy. But its big redeemer is its Doraemon-like storage pocket. While it cannot produce a gadget for every occasion like the robotic kitty, in the world of internal storage, 4GB is a formidable amount. In fact, it's twice more than the 2GB Cyber-shot G1. So you can save on that pricey Memory Stick if you want to.

And while the T2 is a step up, storage-wise, from the G1, it also bears a passing resemblance to the newly reviewed T200. The T2 has a 2.7-inch touchscreen and the same Smile Shutter (auto captures pictures when a smile is detected).

You are also buying gimmicks when you get the T2. It has a scrapbook feature for creative image playback on the camera and a "sharemark" folder that stores content for eventual upload to the Web with the Sony PMB Portable software. The software is directly linked to sites like Flickr and YouTube, but there are no details as to whether you can add in your preferred content-sharing site.

According to Sony Electronics Asia Pacific, the T2 will be on sale in Asia by November. Pricing info was unavailable at press time.

   

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