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Archive for March, 2012

Panasonic camcorders: Spring/Summer 2012 line-up

Friday, March 16th, 2012

For camcorders, Panasonic has a line-up of 9 new models that will hit the shelves in April. These comprise the HC-X900 & HC-X900M, HC-V700, HC-V500 & HC-V500M, HC-V100, HC-V10, HX-WA20, and HX-DC2.

Panasonic's Summer/Spring line-up of camcorder ranges from the compact HC-V10 to the flagship HC-X900M.

Panasonic’s nine new camcorders for Spring/Summer 2012 features advanced lenses; high sensitivity sensors; sophisticated Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.) capabilities; and powerful image-enhancing engines.

HD Writer video editing software is included with all models.

Flagship HC-X900 and HC-X900M

Panasonic HC-X900

The re-engineered F1.5 LEICA Dicomar lens of the flagship HC-X900 and HC-X900M enables bright image rendering, high corner-to-corner resolution and Nano Surface Coating Technology to significantly reduce ghosting and flaring, which minimises distortion and degradation of contrast.

The advanced 3MOS Sensor is capable of high-speed processing of massive number of pixels – approximately equivalent to four times the pixel count of Full-HD – using pixel shift technology with submicron accuracy, to produce high-detailed images with excellent colour reproduction.

Panasonic HC-X900M

The newly-developed, ultra-high speed Crystal Engine Pro II can also dramatically reduce noise by 40% compared to the previous models to record clear, stunningly beautiful images even in dim lighting.

The new Hybrid O.I.S.+ corrects horizontal, vertical, yawing and pitching movements made by the hand during recording; while its five-axis correction capability takes care of any rolling motions resulting from walking.

3D shooting is enabled by the 3D Conversion Lens, creating the realistic depth, texture and dimensionality of 3D.

HC-V700

Panasonic HC-V700

The HC-V700 features a 28mm wide angle for recording in tight spaces such as indoors.

The 46x Intelligent Zoom extends ultra-telephoto shooting beyond the range of the 21x optical zoom; while the HYBRID O.I.S.+ suppresses blurring across an entire zoom range even for handheld zoom shots in high magnification, to ensure crisp and beautiful images..

Images taken in 2D can also be converted to 3D with the new 2D to 3D Conversion Function.

HC-V500 and HC-V500M

Intelligent Zoom is up to 50x, using the LSI “Crystal Engine PRO” image processing engine.

Panasonic HC-V500 & HC-V500M

Hybrid O.I.S.+ and five-axis correction are also available.

Advanced Highlight Playback function enables quick viewing of recorded images. The Intelligent Index System detects zooming, panning, scene changes and faces in recorded images as “highlights” and then automatically plays back the detected highlight scenes – and scenes that the user has personally selected – according to a set time interval.

HC-V100 and HC-V10

Panasonic HC-V100

Both models are compact and lightweight, and feature high optical zooms stabilised by the POWER O.I.S.

The HC-V100 has an 42x Intelligent Zoom, as well as Power O.I.S., with a continuous recording time of up to 165 minutes on a fully charged battery; while the HC-V10 has an even more powerful 63x optical zoom lens that can be “enhanced” to 70x.

HX-DC2 (monitor folded in) & HX-WA20

HX-WA20 and HX-DC2

For active outdoor use, check out the new waterproof (up to 3m) and dustproof HX-WA20.

It can record fast moving sports motion at 240 fps (640×360 px) or 480 fps (320×180 px) for 15 seconds, and then playback in slow-motion at 60 fps at ¼ or ⅛ of the original speed, allowing analysis of golf swings etc.

Both the HX-WA20 (16.4 MP) and HX-DC2 (14.4) shoot Full-HD, HDR stills and 5x optical zoom.

Tags:2012, camcorders, Panasonic, Spring, Summer
Posted in Announce, Gadgets, Panasonic, Specifications, Videocams | No Comments »

Lumix compact cameras: Spring/Summer 2012 line-up

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Panasonic has a line-up of 10 new Lumix compacts comprising 4 from the High Zoom series, 2 from the Tough and Active series, and 4 from the Stylish Casual series. Prices are yet to be announced but they will be available in April.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ30 pays a visit to the Mont Saint-Michel.

The slew of 10 new models features optical zoom LEICA DC lens starting from ultra wide angles, ultra-thin aspherical lens system. as well as nano surface coating technology for superior image quality.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-SZ1, SZ7, TZ25 and TZ30 from the High Zoom series.

4 new High Zoom LUMIX cameras

The four new travel companions comprises the LUMIX DMC-TZ30 (14.1 MP) and TZ25 (12.1 MP), as well as the slimmer LUMIX DMC-SZ1 (16.1 MP) and SZ7 (14.1 MP).

The TZ30 comes with a powerful 20x optical zoom and an upgraded built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) for the avid traveller.

Starting from a wide angle of 24mm to the maximum zoom at 480mm, the TZ30 sports a 20x optical zoom LEICA DC lens, up from 16x in its predecessor.

The GPS allows geo-tagging for photos taken in 203 countries.

The DMC-SZ7 has a 14.1-megapixel MOS sensor with full-HD video recording while the DMC-SZ1 has a 16.1-megapixel CCD sensor and HD?? video recording.

The more modest 10x optical zoom starts from a wide angle of 25mm and zooms to 250mm.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FT4 and FT20 from the Tough and Active series.

2 new Tough and Active LUMIX cameras

For the more adventurous photographers with a more active lifestyle, there is the LUMIX DMC-FT4 (12.1 MP) and FT20 (16.1 MP).

The all-weather DMC-FT4 is fully protected against water immersion (up to 12m), dust and sand, as it is strengthened with inner rubber padding and reinforced glass.

It is also freeze-proof, enduring temperatures down to -10 degree Celsius.

With shock-resistant material on the exterior and folded optics and supplementary dampener to protect its lens unit, the FT4 is dust-proof up to a height of 2 metres

The FT4 is also equipped with a built-in GPS.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FH6, FH8, FX80 and S2 from the Stylish Casual series.

4 new Stylish Casual LUMIX cameras

For casual users looking for a stylish and compact shooter, there is the LUMIX DMC-FH6 (14.1 MP), FH8 (16.1 MP), FX80 (12.1 MP) and S2 (14.1 MP).

The DMC-FX80, DMC-FH8 and DMC-FH6 are all slim, because of the LEICA DC Vario-Summarit lens rated at F2.5.

The 5x optical zoom ranges from 24mm ultra wide-angle to 120mm.

The DMC-FH8, DMC-FH6, and DMC-S2 are capable of recording dynamic HD video in 1280 x 720 p at a smooth 25p (PAL) in MP4 (FH8) or Motion JPEG (FH6).

The DMC-FX80 is capable of full-HD recording at 1920 x 1080 50i (PAL) videos in AVCHD (MPEG-4/H.264) format.

Tags:2012, cameras, compact, Lumix, Panasonic, Spring, Summer
Posted in Announce, Cameras, Compact camera, Gadgets, Lumix, Panasonic, Photography, Specifications | No Comments »

Canon EOS 5D Mark III in Singapore on 17 March

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III will be available at all authorised Canon dealers on Saturday, 17 March. Body only: S$4,699. Body + Kit lens: S$5,999. The kit lens will be the EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III will hit Singapore stores on 17 March, Saturday.

Globally launched two weeks ago, the 22.3-megapixel DSLR from Canon will hit the stores in Singapore this Saturday – two days from now.

The online estimate of US$3,500 for the body turned out to be rather accurate.

The BG-E11 battery grip will be only be available in end April.

Tags:5D, Canon, DSLR, EOS, Mark III
Posted in Availability, Cameras, Canon, DSLR, Gadgets, Lens, Photography, Prices | No Comments »

Britannica stops print edition and goes purely online

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print. But it is not going extinct. It had already gone online for more than 10 years, but from now on, it will be 100% digital.

Digital milestones for Encyclopaedia Britannica. (All images and inforgraphics in this post are from Encyclopaedia Britannica)

The Encyclopaedia Britannica has existed since 1768.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica boasts some very prestigious sources.

In my mind, its greatest competitor is the 11-year-old Wikipedia, which is written and edited by a community of many thousand contributors around the world – with nearly four million articles in English, and increasingly quoted as sources in researches and reports.

Britannica’s differentiation from Wikipedia will be in its credibility, derived from its sources, and careful verificaiton and editing in its rigorous vetting process.

The 32-volume printed version (which weighs nearly 60 kilograms and costs US$1,395) will be discontinued when current inventory runs out. That’s 4,000 sets out of the 12,000 print run of the 2010 edition.

The bulk of Encyclopaedia Britannica current revenue comes from selling curriculum products in school.

Britannica enjoyed the briskest sales in 1990, selling some 120,000 sets in the US. Now, the print version generates less than one percent of the company’s revenue.

The bulk of Britannica’s revenue comes from selling curriculum products in school (85 percent), while another 15 percent are from subscriptions to its website.

There are some 500 thousand subscriptions paying US$70 each year to enjoy full access to Britannica’s articles, videos and original documents.

Another general-interest encyclopedia that is still being printed in the US is the World Book, which sells a 22-volume yearly edition.

Tags:Britannica, Encyclopaedia, online, print
Posted in Figures, Internet, Tickers | 1 Comment »

How much data has been created, lost and recovered since the advent of the PC?

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Kroll Ontrack has recovered more than 103 petabytes of data over the past 25 years.

THE DIGITAL ERA: How our life has changed into a digital one; and the creation, loss and recovery of data over time (Source: Kroll Ontrack).

Kroll Ontrack has released new statistics regarding how the creation of storage technologies and digital information has impacted data loss and data recovery technology since the advent of the personal computer in the 1980’s.

“In the past 25 years, the worst cases Kroll Ontrack has seen have coincided with natural disasters, which included burned, water logged and physically damaged drives,” said Todd Johnson, vice president of operations, Kroll Ontrack.Since the first Kroll Ontrack data recovery lab opened in 1987, more than 103 petabytes (PB) of data has been recovered.

How much is 103 PB of data? That’s equivalent to 25 million USB flash drives, each with 4 GB capacity.

Only 1.2 GB of data was recovered in 1987, whereas the amount of data recovered by Kroll Ontrack in 2011 has skyrocketed to nearly 35 million GB (35 PB).

The number of computers impacted by data loss was estimated to have reached nearly 1.4 million – compared to only 33,000 in 1987.

According to an analysis by Kroll Ontrack, the number of data loss cases over the past 25 years grew in parallel with the total number of personal computers in the world.

“One of the company’s most successful endeavors was the recovery of more than 99 percent of mission-critical data from a melted, crashed and burned drive from the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia,” revealed Johnson.The analysis also revealed that on average, one in one thousand computers lost data stored on it.

In the 1980’s, at the onset of the so-called PC era, the estimated number of personal computers in use was nearly 7,000 devices per one million people and approximately 33,000 of them suffered data loss.

By the mid 1990’s, the number of computers in use was nearly 40,000 per one million people and data was lost from approximately 225,000 computers.

In 2011, these figures reached more than 200,000 computers and 1.4 million cases of data loss, respectively.

“You cannot go through day-to-day life without interfacing with some form of digital data,” said CK Lee, country manager, Kroll Ontrack Singapore. “As technology advances to include virtualization, cloud, and social media, individuals, businesses and of course data recovery specialists have to evolve to address these storage mediums and the new challenges they present.”According to the latest IDC Digital Universe study, the amount of data more than doubles each year, and in 2012, it will exceed 1.8 zettabytes.

This is the equivalent of 200 billion two-hour long HD movies that one person would have to watch continuously for 47 million years.

As data creation increases, so does data loss.

According to a report by market research firm Gartner, every year at least 25 percent of computer users worldwide experience data loss.

Kroll Ontrack statistics indicate that 29 percent of data is lost as a result of hardware failure and 27 percent is due to human error.

Other causes include software errors (7 percent), computer viruses (7 percent) and natural disasters such as floods or fires (3 percent).

Below is a timeline infographic by Kroll Ontrack charting a brief history of the digital era.

(more…)

Tags:data, Kroll Ontrack
Posted in Enterprise IT, Figures, Study, Tech news | No Comments »

WD S25 SAS hard drives for enterprises

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Western Digital is now shipping its third-generation enterprise 2.5-inch SAS hard drive family to OEMs. They will be available from select resellers and distributors worldwide next quarter.

The WD S25 SAS hard drives are available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB.

The WD S25 SAS hard drives offer greater support for performance-optimised, mission-critical enterprise server, storage environments.

“Continuing our commitment to the industry’s fastest-growing segment – 2.5-inch drives – WD is updating our small form factor SAS offering with the advanced technology of our third-generation drive, including a new 900 GB capacity point,” said Darwin Kauffman, vice president of enterprise storage solutions, WD.The 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM hard drive has a high-speed 6 Gb/s SAS interface — offering IT professionals a more advanced array of reliable, efficient, and high-performance storage.

They are available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB.

The WD S25 line is designed for the most demanding applications such as online transaction processing and multi-tiered networked storage arrays.

A small form factor allows greater system airflow, resulting in lower cooling costs.

The latest WD S25 SAS drives require less than 8 watts to operate and have a 2.0 M hour MTBF rating — the industry’s highest.

WD’s third-generation of 2.5-inch SAS drives are also its first to include support for T10 Protection Information (PI) for advanced data integrity, and the first to provide optional models that feature drive-level self-encryption that meets the Trusted Computing Group’s specification for Enterprise Class A encryption.

Check out the detailed specifications in the factsheet below.

(more…)

Tags:hard drive, SAS, storage, WD, Western Digital
Posted in Availability, Brochures, Enterprise IT, Gadgets, storage drive, Western Digital | No Comments »

Remembering the earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disasters in Japan

Monday, March 12th, 2012

It’s hard to imagine one year has passed since the triple disasters struck in north eastern Japan on 11 March 2011.

I can still remember vividly the terrifying footage of the earthquakes that started it all; the gruesome images of the tsunami rolling in and cars in its path being swept aside; and the subsequent alarm arising from the melt-down at the nuclear plant in Fukushima.

Amidst news updates of the repeatedly futile attempts to bring the melt-down under control and to stem the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere, the greatest consolation was the quick and generous response of other countries to offer aid for the disaster victims – as well as the steadfast and stoic resilience shown by the victims themselves.

Photo tribute to the victims of the disasters and the volunteers.

Although saddened by the tragedy like many others, I put together a compilation – at that time – of some photos that I’d taken over the years in Japan.

“Photos that bring to mind some pleasant memories of a beautiful country with a wonderful culture, and most importantly the hospitable and kind people that I’ve had the privilege of encountering in Japan.

In the mass of depressing scenes depicting the horrors of the disasters, hopefully these photos will help remind us of the beautiful Japan.” March 27, 2011.

I’d hoped that the images would slightly ameliorate the depression caused by the horrors of the disasters.

It seems apt that one year after that fateful night, we should take pause from our hectic lives to remember the victims of the triple disaster, who had perished or who are still suffering from the aftermath.

May the passage of time heal the terrible wounds and losses that nature has so terribly dealt them.

Below is the photo remembrance that I compiled last year – my own little contribution – terribly insignificant compared to those who had risked life and limb physically helping out at the scene of the disasters.

May we also remember these selfless workers and volunteers who truly displayed the greatness of the human spirit.

(more…)

Tags:contribute, earthquake, Japan, nuclear accident, photos, tsunami
Posted in Opinion, Photos | No Comments »

Norton Mobile Security protection for Samsung GALAXY smartphones

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Samsung Galaxy users worldwide will get a full-featured Norton Mobile Security free for 90 days. Usually, a one-year license costs S$19.90.

Complimentary 90-day subscription of Norton Mobile Security for Samsung GALAXY smartphones.

Norton Mobile Security, an application for Android OS, is available in multiple languages.

“With smartphone sales now outpacing PC sales, cybercriminals are devising new threats everyday to steal from mobile users. Consumers need to be protected more than ever,” said Janice Chaffin, group president, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec.Samsung Galaxy users will be able to download it from Samsung Apps.

Norton Mobile Security can be downloaded from the ‘Utility’ category in Samsung Apps or by entering ‘Norton Mobile Security’ into the search query at the Samsung Apps.

Norton Mobile Security supports all Samsung Galaxy Android smartphones, including Galaxy S2.

Norton Mobile Security combines anti-theft features with powerful anti-malware to protect user’s important data from loss, theft, viruses and other threats.

The following are the main features.

Remote Locate — Shows you the location of your smartphone so you can find if it’s lost or stolen.
Remote Lock — Lets you remotely lock your lost or stolen phone via the Internet or SMS to keep critical data safe and block unauthorized access.
Remote Wipe — Lets you remotely erase the data on your phone via SMS, blocking access to your private information. In addition, your phone is instantly locked if its SIM card is removed or replaced, so it can’t be used with another SIM card.
Anti-malware — Scans all files and application updates downloaded to your mobile phone and automatically detects and removes threats without slowing you down.
SD Card Scanning — Gives you the option of automatically scanning SD (Secure Digital) memory cards for threats when you plug them into mobile phone.
Automatic LiveUpdate — Automatically downloads and installs security updates keeping you a step ahead of cybercriminals.

Tags:Android, Apps, Galaxy, mobile, Norton, Samsung, security, smartphone
Posted in Announce, App, Gadgets, Galaxy, Norton, Phones, Samsung, Security, Software, Tech news | 2 Comments »

Geek paradise at IT Show 2012

Sunday, March 11th, 2012

The first of four large annual IT exhibitions in Singapore is drawing to an end today. The last day of the 4-day bargain hunting madness for geeks promises to be the most crowded yet.

As of Friday afternoon, the IT Show 2012 was already filled up even though the weekend hadn't started yet.

I popped down to Suntec Singapore on Friday late afternoon during what I believe to be the least crowded window of the IT exhibition.

Even then, it was still chock-a-block with like-minded people hoping to beat the crowds that would pour in once the weekend began.

I managed to find a place to park across the road from Suntec Singapore, ploughed right into the sea of people, got what I needed, and jumped right out again – before the evening crowd of people knocking off for the week started pouring in.

Here again, is a list of some of the promotions and flyers from the major brands exhibiting at the show.

Some of these prices will probably be superseded by in-show further reductions and towards the end of today, many will cut prices even further to clear whatever stock they have on hand before the show draws to a conclusion.

Happy bargain-hunting!

Tags:IT Show, IT Show 2, promotions, Singapore, Suntec
Posted in Events, Exhibition, Gadgets, Promotions | No Comments »