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Filed under: Digital Cameras

It’s been less than a month since BenQ churned out its E1050 camera, but it looks like it’s already deemed it fit to let loose a new similarly spec’d but differently styled model in the form of the DC C1060. Those specs include a 10-megapixel sensor, a 3x optical zoom, and a 2.7-inch LCD, plus some added features like a “Super Shake Free” system, Smile Catch, and video recording at your choice of 720 x 400 or 640 x 480. As you can see above, you’ll also get a stylish leather texture grip. No word on a price or release date just yet but, if past BenQ cameras are any indication, you can pretty safely bet that this one won’t break the bank.

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Source: Donald Melanson

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Filed under: Gaming

Are the blatant rockist tendencies of Guitar Hero and Rock Band ruining your enjoyment of those otherwise brilliant titles? Of course they are — we noted your b-boy flava from two blocks away. But don’t sweat it because Genius Products, 7 Studios and Quincy Jones III have your niche in their sights and will happily sell you Scratch: The Ultimate DJ when it hits the stores sometime in Spring 2009. With a game controller designed by Numark (known worldwide for its DJ controllers — there’s an example for you after the break), the game will be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and feature tracks by “many” (as yet unnamed) hip-hop artists. Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of Genius Products promises all and sundry “a cutting-edge game that captures the vital energy of hip-hop culture.” And here we thought they were cynically jumping on the Guitar Hero bandwagon! We stand corrected.Continue reading Scratch offers Numark-controlled Guitar Hero for hip-hop heads

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Source: Joseph L. Flatley

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The RIAA sends out pre-settlement letters and lawsuits to all manner of students accused of file-sharing across the US. Some schools, as we’ve covered in our Tackling College Piracy series, have capitulated. Others, like University of California Santa Cruz, have fought back.

Source: digg.com: Stories / Technology / Popular

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Filed under: Cellphones

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment.

As Switched On exemplified in the frenzy of mobile Ts and primary Gs last week, much of the attention focused on the involvement of Google and comparisons to the iPhone. Searching Google for “‘T-Mobile G1′ Apple” yields over 6.7 million results on Google. Searching for “‘T-Mobile G1′ HTC” yields only 3.4 million.

Given that the phone is being branded “T-Mobile G1 with Google,” the temptation is to say that HTC, which has long vowed to step into the white light from behind the white label, has failed to capitalize on one of the best branding opportunities in handset history. However, there would have been limits as to how much spotlight it could have stolen in the wake of media fascination with Google and one can have only so many brands listed in the name of a phone. Wireless carriers are among the biggest television advertisers, and Google is the biggest advertising powerhouse online. Together they will fund the G1 marketing push. The stakes were just too high for HTC to significantly advance its branding status with T-Mobile, which has used its carrier brand for such HTC handsets as the Dash, Wing and Shadow.

But there are more paradoxes in HTC’s first Android handset.

Continue reading Switched On: The T-Mobile G1 — by Google and what’s-their-names

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Source: Ross Rubin

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The BlackBerry syncing situation on Macs is, to put it lightly, abysmal (from RIM anyway). But it looks they’re finally realizing people who own Blackberrys might just use a Mac too! Boy Genius brings us the first look at their BlackBerry Media Sync for Mac, a clean, appropriately Mactastic version of their standard PC program that’ll sync music, p

Source: digg.com: Stories / Technology / Popular

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

When Ballmer dropped a few sprinkles of information about Vista’s successor, he dubbed it “Windows Cloud,” but said the real moniker would be unveiled at the Professional Developers Conference later this month in LA. That show’s agenda was recently posted, and interestingly contained a number of sessions under the header “Windows Strata,” leading many to believe that it’s the true name of Redmond’s next offering. That the section was quickly changed to “Windows 7″ makes things all the more suspicious, but don’t go cyber-squatting WindowsStrata.com just yet (oops, too late). Strata — a term that can apply to the layers of the atmosphere — might be more of a general classification for numerous cloud computing-related offerings destined for all manner of devices. But if so, why rename the sessions, and why the secrecy? And, most importantly, why are we so intrigued?

[Via CNET]

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Source: Tim Stevens

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

You know something’s a long way from becoming an actual product when we’re just talking about the discovery of an “effect,” but a team of researchers at Keio University in Yokohama, Japan say that the so-called “spin Seebeck effect” they’ve discovered could eventually have some pretty big implications for all sorts of devices. According to Science News, the researchers found that by heating one side of a magnetized nickel-iron rod they were able to change the arrangement of the electrons in the material according to their “spins,” which is the quantum-physics equivalent of the south-north magnetic axes in bar magnets. One of the big advantages of that, it seems, is that, unlike with electric currents, transferring information by “flipping spins” does not generate heat, which would let “spintronics devices” operate at higher speeds without overheating, and cut down on power consumption in the process.

[Via Spintronics-Info, image courtesy Nature]

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Source: Donald Melanson

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“His Wi-Fi sneakers light up to indicate signal strength whenever you walk near a zone.”

Source: digg.com: Stories / Technology / Popular

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