As in much of the writings included in the book, the bits included in this Future of Terrorism section do not offer many answers for the questions they raise. Schmidt and Cohen here – and several times throughout the book – speak of the dangers that exist in our modern interconnected world both in prospect and in reality – it could happen, and it could happen again.

In this case, warning about the “importance of digital marketing for future terrorists”, Schmidt and Cohen note that they’re expecting groups to be jumping in with mobile and Internet companies en masse. Schmidt and Cohen give an example account spoken of by a man named Maajid Nawaz, he being a former leader in the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). He speaks of the group’s movements around mobile-phone companies, specifically Motorola in Pakistan.

“‘We pitched propaganda stalls outside the Motorola offices in Pakistan, then we recruited some Motorola staff, who proceeded to leak the numbers of Pakistan’s national newspaper editors,’ he said. Members of the HT would bombard these editors with text messages full of propaganda, talking points, and event threats.” – Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age

This same contact with the HT group mentioned the fact that these mobile phone carrier employees would also provide members of the group with concealed identities when they themselves signed up for phone service. Schmidt and Cohen suggest that this is only one of a number of situations in which the mobile connectivity we have here in the present will become a potential problem in the hands of extremist political groups in the near future.

They speak also of the idea that groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas might seek to gain influence over citizens with apps that provide services everyday users might find valuable. The book notes how groups such as these gain community support by providing services the larger state will not or cannot provide.

Responding to the obvious counter-point to being able to create apps and sent them to the public without opposition from the government or those that might control the software that appears on smart devices, Cohen and Schmidt suggest the simplest of work-arounds.

“Even if the Apple store blocked their applications under order from the U.S. government, or the U.N. took similar actions, it would be possible to build apps without any official tie to Hamas then promote them through word of mouth.” – Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age

These points connect with chats and keynotes made by Eric Schmidt over the past several years, especially most recently in a transcribed conversation with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. It’s there that Schmidt, Assange, and Cohen collect several hours of material in hopes of including relevant topics in the book. This book is, of course, available digitally starting this week.

The DR-60D is a relatively compact device that runs off of four AA batteries and supports SD and SDHC cards, offering 96kHz / 24-bit audio recording and USB file transfer from the 4-track solid-state system to a computer. Audio can be recorded in both BWF and WAV formats using either Auto Rec or Dual Rec mode, depending on the project. The unit is designed to fit beneath a DSLR unit, but can also be implemented into a recording rig.

The DR-60D boasts two quarter-inch XLR Locking Combo Mic/Line inputs (+48V Phantom Power), a standard 3.5mm stereo mic line-in port, camera in/out, line out, and headphone out. There’s a self-timer, file divide, up to CH3-4 monitor selector, +24dBu input, low cut filter, peak limiter, input delay, and MS decode, among other features, all tailored to the needs of both amateurs and pros.

As for manual control, the body itself was designed to avoid introducing unnecessary noise from handling into the audio; this includes the use of its soft buttons and its dials. Tascam hails its user interface system as being easy to use, with intuitive controls and multiple recording modes, including an automatic mode and its popular Safety Track mode.

[via Tascam]

Speaking back in the essay from 2010, Schmidt and Cohen let it be known that soon “governments will be caught off-guard when large numbers of their citizens, armed with virtually nothing but cell phones, take part in mini-rebellions that challenge their authority.” This prediction essentially became a hard and fast real-world situation when events such as the Free Iran movement spread and were maintained by and with social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Everyone knew what the green flags meant because the internet let them know it.

In the new book authored by Schmidt, “The New Digital Age” is a chapter in which it’s detailed how the next generation will see the information age take full hold of political uprisings and movements between countries across the planet. As the Wall Street Journal notes, Schmidt also make clear that he believes China will be a “dangerous and menacing superpower” in the not-to-distant future. This book is also go-authored by Schmidt’s 2010 cohort Cohen, the book saying similar things to the article back then. This new text notes that they believe “the disparity between American and Chinese firms and their tactics” will be putting the USA at a real disadvantage when it comes to future business and politics.

Cohen and Schmidt assirt that the United States will be at a disadvantage against China because the country is not willing to “take the same page of digital corporate espionage” for two reasons: moral values and laws. The “American sense of fair play” will be the reason China gains an upper hand because in the USA “the laws are much stricter (and better enforced)”. In addition to being able to dominate the USA in several digitally-influenced ways quite soon, Schmidt and Cohen note that China will be seeing “some kind of revolution in the coming decades”. What that revolution will be is anyone’s guess. Schmidt’s book will be released in full with details galore this April – can’t wait!

Normally when developers want a game rated, they have to pay the ESRB to review a DVD of in-game footage, but the ESRB has done a lot to streamline the process for digital titles. Instead of sending in a DVD of game footage, developers simply fill out a questionnaire that determines a rating for their game. They can fill out the questionnaire and submit it to the ESRB free of charge too, which should do a lot to get more developers using the ESRB’s rating system. As an added bonus for consumers, the ESRB’s digital rating system will not only assign age-based ratings, but also tell consumers if the game will share their data and location, among other things.

Naturally, there’s cause for concern when it comes to this self-rating system, as developers could potentially lie about their game to get a “better” rating (if such a thing even exists when it comes to game ratings). However, the ESRB tells Ars Technica that its tests show that the self-rating method works nearly as well as ESRB representatives assigning the ratings themselves, so the organization is confident that bogus self-ratings won’t be much of an issue. If they do become an problem, the ESRB can always rescind a developer’s access to its ratings program as punishment, though developers can appeal if they think the rating of their game wasn’t handled properly.

At first, this streamlined ratings systems will only be available for digital games on big platforms, such as Xbox Live, PSN, the Nintendo eShop, and the Windows 8 Store. Don’t expect ESRB-rated games to begin popping up on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store anytime soon though, as both Apple and Google use their own ratings systems for apps and actually shot down proposals from the ESRB last year. What do you think of the ESRB’s digital rating system – is it a good idea, or is the organization just opening itself up for abuse?

Instead of letting buyers name their own price for a series of indie games, the Humble eBook Bundle features a collection of – you guessed it – six eBooks. The eBooks included in this bundle are Invasion by Mercedes Lackey, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi, Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow, and two books by Kelly Link, Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners. If you pay more than the average, which currently sits $11.14, you’ll also get copies of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi and the graphic novel Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

A new charity has also been added for the Humble eBook Bundle. In addition to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play, which have been mainstays since the very first Humble Bundle, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will also be going to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The books are available in PDF, MOBI, and ePub formats, so they should work with computers, eReaders, and mobile devices.

The Humble Bundle folks are quick to point out that many of these books are making their digital debuts in the Humble eBook Bundle, so there may be a few viewing issues left to iron out. Regardless, paying what you want for six eBooks is a great deal, so if you’ve been on the lookout for new books to read, we highly suggest checking out the Humble eBook Bundle. There’s just over two weeks to go before the Humble eBook Bundle says “sayonara,” so get those orders in!

This is where a new startup that launched this week called Wallaby comes in. Wallaby combines all of your existing credit cards on one card and then decides which of your card accounts to route transactions to based on where you get the most frequent flyer miles or cash back bonuses at the given moment. The first thing is you have to do is register all your physical cards with Wallaby, and the company gives you a single physical card to use everywhere.

When you register with Wallaby, you don’t have to worry about which card is the best, you simply swipe the card and pay as normal and Wallaby chooses which card to use automatically. Another example is if you go to a restaurant for lunch, and one of your cards has a special double cash back for the specific restaurant; Wallaby will automatically use the best card with no input from you. The first 5000 users to the beta Wallaby service will get a free card for 12 months and after the free year, Wallaby will cost $50 per year. This sounds like an interesting service to me.

[via TechCrunch]

GameStop has already been selling downloadable content (DLC) in the US, and this latest announcement now brings that same strategy to Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland, covering around 1,600 more stores. The DLC strategy is to incentivize gamers for buying content at a physical retail store when all they really need to do is just click a button from their console.

But GameStop is promoting it this way – if you buy DLC from its stores, you can use GameStop gift cards, you can pay with cash, and you can also use trade-in credit, all of which are not possible with the built-in payment platforms on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, or WiiWare. It’s a tough time for big box retail right now, but GameStop and Best Buy are on a very proactive path to ensure they remain relevant. The question is whether or not their respective plans will work.

[via Zacks.com]

The Wave Music III and the Wave Radio III are nearly identical except that the Music can play CDs, while the Radio is limited to its radio tuner but can play digital music from your other accessories, such as an iPhone or iPod. It can also play music from your computer and any Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet.

If you have a CD collection that you’d like to play from, then the Wave Music III lets you play from any CD or MP3-encoded CD. It uses a slot-loading CD player to keep the Wave Music III design simple and elegant.

Both systems offer Touch-top on/off/snooze controls and dual independent alarms. They also now include built-in DAB digital tuner for international radio and improved FM/AM tuner. Prices start at £599.95 or $499.95 for the Wave Music III and £529.90 or $349.95 for the Wave Radio III.

[via Bose]

When it comes to 2011, though, the breakdown was $2.04 billion spent in the US and $1.29 billion in the European regions covered by NPD, which only includes the UK, Germany, and France. Again, that’s $3.33 billion spent on games and game content that consumers didn’t even leave their homes for. It’s content that has no tangible aspect to it whatsoever. NPD’s numbers on digital sales do not include things like downloadable game cards that were purchased at retail stores.

The numbers we’re talking about here focus exclusively on content that was distributed 100% digitally. They include full PC/console game downloads, game rentals, smartphone and mobile games, as well as any and all downloadable content or in-app purchases within video game apps. In the US, retail game software sales were $4.5 billion, which is actually a 3% decline from the previous year. So there’s no doubt where the industry is trending right now, and it’s not the best news in the world for traditional retailers.

[via VentureBeat]

Check out how the DJ crafts a few beats here in this trailer and notice how the digital bits flying around in a transparent array, this telling you that while the connection is there, you’ll still be working in your native environment. This takes what mostly analog users had loved about their preferred work station and keeps it in the real world, taking with it the advantages of the digital world to make a wholly connected experience.

Now we’ve only got the skills of the DJ at hand to blame for the idiotically insanely wicked beats that shall be dropping imminently. We’ll be following TRAKTOR very closely in the next few weeks here to grab the name, release date, and price of this particular station, and hope that they’ll be releasing it into the wild soon! The set you’re seeing in the video, mind you, uses Loopmasters sample content from these lovely titles: Lynx – Eclectic Drum and Bass, Kanji Kinetic Presents Drumstep & Mutant Bass Vol. 1, and you can find those at Loopmasters.

Co-developed with Planar, the two existing prototypes come in sizes of 21.9″ by 33.9″ with an aspect ratio of 1:1.5 and 48″ by 27″ with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Much like tablets, the displays have ambient light sensors and also sensors for motion, meaning they have the ability to turn on and off by themselves, conserving power. Also borrowing from our tablets is Samsung’s goal of bringing a market-like service to the panels where users could search for new art to display and purchase it right from the device.

Samsung intends for this to be a new market of displays. They claim artist are eager to start making works with the new technology, and their goal is to develop this into a new medium. There is no information on pricing available at this time, however it’s safe to assume it will be much pricier than a standard LCD TV set. Samsung says the first SM’ART Gallery Panels will be available sometime in mid-2012.

[via Chip Chick]

DreamWorks for those of you unfamiliar is a group responsible for such blockbuster digital animation films as Antz (their first animated film from 1998), Shrek, Madagascar, and more recently both Megamind and Kung Fu Panda. As the group certainly has a bunch more films in development and coming soon, everything from How to Train Your Dragon 2 to The Grimm Legacy to the everloving classic Captain Underpants, they’ve got more than a little incentive to make their animation process streamlined and improved.

What Katzenberg calls the holy grail and is saying they’re on the verge of using is the ability to work in real-time. Where animating just a few seconds of video can take even the most skilled animator a week to make a reality now, a 50 to 70 percent speed increase in the whole process can be expected with the methods DreamWorks and Intel are working on now. Artists will be able to do effects and color work in real time, while the implications Katzenberg says are revolutionary can be seen to be working with any type of high-end rendering, from oil simulations to airplane design to medical imaging.

DreamWorks and Intel are on a four-year effort to make this software re-write a reality and Katzenberg said today that they were just about two-thirds done at the moment, with the product already having been used on a number of products. Real-time digital animation rendering is and has been a goal of any dreamer in the animation industry for more than anyone’s fair share of time sitting around waiting for a scene to fill itself out and the characters to start moving.

If DreamWorks and Intel succeed here, there will be much rejoicing.

[via Forward Thinking]

Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai stood in front of the in Hollywood noting that the camera is not only well-suited for accurate color correction, but is especially well made for skin tones. The C300 will be costing $20,000 USD in stores starting in 2012 and will be completely unaffordable by the likes of you and me. Word also states that the undeniably powerful sensor in addition to the versatile form factor are far more likely to be deciding factors for those in a position to purchase this camera.

The sensor is a Super 35mm CMOS and is capable of bringing 4k resolution with this devices many various EF zoom lenses. Lenses come in several sizes: two 14.5-60mm lenses, two 30-300mm lenses, three EF prime lenses at 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm. The CMOS sensor is able to deliver 1920 x 2160 pixels in greens and 1920 x 1080 pixels in reds and blues, incorporating approximately 8.29 million effective pixels with “a pixel size that is larger than that for conventional professional camcorders.”

Note also that both the Canon EOS C300 (EF mount) and the Canon EOS C300 PL (PL mount) will cost $20,000 while the EF will be available in January and the PL will be available inside March, both of them 2012. For a look at how awesome this camera can be, have a peek at the short film Mobius as filmed with the camera released by Canon this week. Vincent Laforet, the director of the film, used a pre-production unit of the C300 to film the movie, and below the film you can find a behind the scenes film as well:

We’ve seen digital pens that can turn a notebook into a digitizer before – Livescribe’s smartpens leap to mind – but Wacom is keen to underline the differences between the Inkling’s focus and that of other products. Whereas Livescribe’s pens are intended to track a mixture of handwriting, brief sketches and other mixed content, the Inkling is dedicated to drawing.

In that respect, the promise is simple: clip the compact receiver box to the top of your notepad – it’ll handle up to A4 sized paper – and power on with the left button. A combination of infrared and ultrasound are used to track the special battery-powered pen, which means you’ll need line-of-sight between the nib and the receiver, but beyond that it’s a case of sketching away to your heart’s content. What makes it particularly clever is the layer button; tap that and the Inkling stores your subsequent sketches to a new layer (you can save as many as will fit in the receiver’s 2GB of storage, each a space-efficient vector file).

Wacom Inkling demo:

Those layers become useful when you hook the receiver up – via microUSB – to your computer. The new sketches are automatically sucked into Wacom’s Sketch Manager app, and you can then see the entire drawing as well as hide individual layers. It’s even possible to watch an animation of the whole drawing process, though you can’t currently export that as a video file; Wacom told us they are considering that functionality for a later upgrade. What you can do, however, is snip sections of one layer out into a new layer, isolating different parts of the picture.

From there it’s a case of exporting to one of the supported apps – Photoshop and Illustrator are the most likely candidates (both CS3 or later), but Autodesk SketchBook Pro and SketchBook Designer (2011 or later) are possible too – whereupon all the layer information is carried over and you can edit, color and generally tweak as normal. Quality is surprisingly high, with smooth curves even at high levels of zoom.

It’s not entirely perfect. The included carry-case/charging box feels a bit thrown-together, though it does at least have space for the (standard) black ink refils, USB cable, both receiver and pen, and allow you to charge each from a single USB hook-up. Wacom tells us that this is still pre-production hardware, so things will hopefully be more sturdy by the time the Inkling hits shelves.

Still, even as the merest amateurs of artists, we weren’t surprised when Wacom said it had been inundated with interest after announcing the Inkling last month. The simplicity of the capturing process and the ease with which even complicated sketches can be later managed is brilliant, and we can imagine that “proper” artists would be able to use the Inkling as a real tool rather than a gimmick. The $199 price-tag when the Inkling goes on sale imminently could be the biggest block to ownership, though if you’ve ever found yourself wishing you could keep whatever you doodled in the margins of your notebook it may still be worth it.

It’s not just a dumb LCD screen, however; there’s a pixel magnification mode which ofers an enlarged view of a selected portion of the Full HD image, together with a colour peaking function that highlights the edges of accurately-focused areas of the video image. Meanwhile there’s adjustable aspect ratio (16:9/4:3), volume, brightness, contrast, colour tone (phase), colour temp and auto dimmer.

A mono speaker – and headphone jack – together with a sun hood round out the main specs. No word on pricing, but the Sony CLM-V55 LCD video monitor will go on sale in March 2011.

Press Release:

Clip-on LCD monitor from Sony for HD video shooting with Interchangeable Lens Digital cameras 13 January 2011

CLM-V55 gives big, high-resolution view of video footage

• Clip-on LCD monitor attaches to DSLR camera
• Large (5″) WVGA panel offers superb high-resolution view while shooting HD video
• Tilt/swivel for comfortable viewing at any angle
• Colour peaking and pixel magnification for precise focus confirmation

A new clip-on LCD monitor from Sony gives DSLR camera owners a bigger, better view of their footage while shooting HD video.

The CLM-V55 is a portable video monitor featuring a high-resolution WVGA (800 x 480) (5”) LCD panel. Attaching easily to most Interchangeable Lens Digital cameras and compatible HD camcorders via the supplied adaptor, it displays video footage during shooting/playback with excellent clarity and a wide viewing angle.

The clip-on screen tilts and swivels to any angle for comfortable framing in any position – even self-shooting when you’re in the picture.

The CLM-V55 is loaded with pro-style features to help photo enthusiasts and videographers shoot high-quality HD video footage with their Interchangeable Lens Digital camera.

Pixel magnification mode assists with accurate focus confirmation, giving an enlarged pixel-perfect view of a selected portion of the Full HD image. It’s complemented by a colour peaking function that highlights the edges of accurately-focused areas of the video image.

An intuitive control wheel allows quick, positive adjustment of a wide range of monitor settings without interrupting shooting. Adjustable parameters include aspect ratio (16:9/4:3), volume, brightness, contrast, colour tone (phase), colour temp and auto dimmer. On-screen markers aid precise framing by giving precise indication of a TV’s 16:9 or 4:3 actual display area. The LCD monitor’s on-board mono speaker is complemented by a headphone jack for accurate audio monitoring during shooting.

The CLM-V55 attaches easily to a wide range of Interchangeable Lens Digital cameras from Sony and other manufacturers that support HD video shooting. The supplied adaptor simplifies mounting on any camera or HD camcorder that features an auto-lock accessory shoe or ISO shoe. Signal connection from camera to monitor is via the supplied HDMI cable, while power can be supplied using a battery pack or AC adaptor (both optional). The CLM-V55 comes with a detachable LCD hood for more comfortable viewing when shooting outdoors in bright sunlight.

The CLM-V55 LCD video monitor by Sony is available from March 2011.

No, you won’t be watching a movie trailer while you’re following someone on the Interstate. When cars are in motion, the license plates would appear to be just like any other license plate out there. However, if you stop for 4 seconds or more, whether that means at a light or in traffic, the plate would turn into its own digital advertisement. As for the plate’s identifying numbers? They’d apparently still be visible, at the corner of the plate.

While ads would mean more money for California, thankfully they’ve got more of an agenda than that, too. The plates would be also used to show Amber alerts, updated traffic information for where you are, or even emergency instructions if the situation calls for it. There’s a 3-person start-up company, called Smart Plate, working on the technology right now, but as of right now it’s just a matter of time. It’s already passed the State Senate, and now it’s before the Assembly. So, basically start counting the days until you get to see your favorite commercial on the car in front of you.

[via Hot Hardware]

So, that’s pretty impressive but that’s really just the beginning. The device has a 2.5-inch LCD screen–also pretty normal–but what’s this? What’s a projector doing in there? Yes, you read that correctly. This little camera has a pico projector built in.

The projector has a 640 x 360 resolution, but that’s really all we know about it so far. Actually, that’s all we know about the device so far, as no release date or pricing has been announced, either. But still, pretty interesting, huh?

The C1020 has 10-megapixels and has a 2.5-inch LCD screen. Other features include 720 x 400 resolution for videos, smile detection and video zoom capability. It also comes with ISO-based anti-blur correction and a 3X optical zoom.

The C1220 has all of these same features as the C1020 with a few additions. This camera has a 12-megapixel sensor and has a 2.7-inch LCD screen. It can also have its standard ISO 1,600 increased to ISO 3,200 at normal resolution. We don’t know when these new BenQ camera models will be available or how much they’ll cost, but we’ll be sure to let you know when we do.

This nest box is equipped with a tiny camera. This way, you can see what’s going inside the birdhouse both day and night. On the camera is a transmitter, allowing for a transmission range of up to 328-feet to its base station.

You can connect the base station to any display and then watch the nest whenever you want. This will require some patience though, because for quite some while, all you’ll be looking at are eggs just sitting there. You can get the Nest Box with IR Camera now for the equivalent of $211.

[via OhGizmo!]

It works with a 3.5 SATA hard drive, but can also work as an iPod dock, since it has a Dock Connector mounted to the top. This is an easy way to directly connect your media. And the built-in Ethernet makes it easy to share your files with others over a network.

You even view YouTube clips and Picasa images on the hub, if you’d like. The included remote allows you to control the media stored on the drive or on connected Apple devices. Supported formats include MP3, WMA, AAC, AC3, DTS, DivX, RMVB, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and XViD. Inputs include RCA, USB and outputs are TCA, optical audio and HDMI. You can get the Media Cowboy MC35ULI in Japan next month for the equivalent of $255.

The DMC-FS12 features a 4x optical zoom, a 12-megapixel sensor and a 2.7-inch LCD display. Also included is Intelligent Auto Mode, Face Detection and Optical Image Stabilization.

When it comes to the DMC-FS42, the camera has a 10-megapixel sensor, a 4x zoom lens, Intelligent ISO Control, Face Detection and Intelligent Scene Selector. The DMC-FS62 sports these features as well though it also has image stabilization. We don’t have any idea as to the pricing of these camera models just yet, but you can probably expect a middle of the road cost.

[via Ubergizmo]

The FX 3800, 4800 and 5800 will now support something called multi-OS SLI. this means that systems with more than one supporting card can now have a card devoted to a virtual OS as though the graphics were native to the device in Parallels Workstation Extreme. Other applications are CUDA as well as other functions that were out of bounds until now.

The cards themselves have not changed all that much, however, with the FX 5800 still have 4GB memory and 240 visual effects cores. The lower end FX 3800 has 1GB memory and 192 effects cores will the middle of the road option, the FX 4800 has 1.5GB memory with 192 effects cores.

The Quadro NVS 295 also received an update, allowing for dual DisplayPort outputs. This card will cost under $100 while the highest range card–the FX 5800 will cost $3,150.

[via DailyTech]

If true, Canon is creating a video camera for the pro market that uses their 1x APS-C CMOS sensor. This would allow for video capture of up to 120 frames per second and 12.1 megapixels. Now that would certainly be impressive!

A few new lenses are supposedly in the works as well that would go along nicely with the camera. Specifically, a 16mm and a telezoom lens. Again, this is just a rumor at this time, but I think it would be a great addition to the Canon family. And I’m sure several pro videographers out there would like to see it come to fruition as well.

[via CrunchGear]

It looks like Samsung is jumping on the digital store bandwagon with their latest offering, Samsung Movies. This store is currently only in beta, but it appears to be very similar to iTunes in both form and function.

If you have a device that is compatible with the store, you can buy movies and TV shows or even rent them for watching on your mobile gadget. What’s cool about this is you will receive both a mobile version and a Windows Media version of any title you purchase so you’re not limited to watching Iron Man on your itty bitty smartphone screen.

Right this second you’ll have access to 500 different titles, though this will move past the 2,000 mark by the time July rolls around. At the moment, the service is only supported in Germany and the UK on the F480 Tocco. If you fall within these fairly rigid specifications, you can buy movies outright for somewhere between the equivalent of $6.83 to $19.16 and you can rent for between $3.41 and $5.47.

[via Electronista]

The decision is also being pegged as an opportunity for President Obama to assert control over the situation, with Senate Commerce Chairman John Rockefeller suggesting that “the Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process.”  Some estimates claim that 20 million people are still not ready for the switchover.

In addition to delaying the change, the bill also grants AT&T and Verizon an extension on the licences they acquired last year.  The carriers are waiting for the frequencies currently being used by analog TV to be freed up for mobile data use, and will see their contracts extended by 116 days to account for this new postponement.

The President-elect is backing a digital TV delaydue to recent news from the National Telecommunications and Information Adminsitration (NTIA) that the entity is running out of money for analog TV convertor vouchers.  That means that, when the February 17 deadline hits, there may be a large number of people who applied for convertor vouchers and never received them.

Obama isn’t alone in his support – he also has Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-VA) and Amy Klobuchar (MN) backing a delay, as well.  We’ll find out in the next few weeks whether or not the transition will be delayed, but for now, the switch is on as planned.  At the end of the day on February 17, if nothing changes, 1,700 telelvision stations will shut down their analog signals for good.

[via Ars Technica]

For instance, it can decode XviD, AVI, DivX or H.264 codecs. It also has support for a 3.5-inch SATA internal dark disk drive. The Wi-Fi module is a nice bonus, as well. It also features a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, SCART, S-Video, RCA audio, component video, optical audio and coaxial digital audio. Basically, anything you want to hook up to it, can be hooked up to it.

The Ethernet jack also makes it easy to use your computer entertainment on the home theater system. You can connect an external optical drive or other devices to play your own movies and files as well in formats such as TS, MKV and M2TS HD. No launch date or pricing information is known yet, though we’re expecting a reveal at CES 2009.

Sporting an upright form factor, the DXG-579V is a digital camcorder with a 720p video capture and the ability to take still photos with up to 8 megapixels. It features a 2.4-inch rotating screen, and records H.264 video and MOV format videos in up to 1280 x 720 with 30fps.

The holiday pack from Kohl’s will include this new camcorder, a tripod, a 2GB SD card that can store up to two hours of HD-quality video, a protective pouch, rechargeable batteries, AV cables and ArcSoft TotalMedia Extreme software for editing your footage. The holiday pack will go on sale starting on Black Friday, November 28th and will run until New Year’s Eve. No word on pricing just yet, but you will be able to pick from classic silver and midnight black color options.

If you currently have cable, you don’t have to do anything, but if not, you’ll need a DTV box. Most people know this by now. However, an FCC official is now saying the transition will not go as smoothly as everyone had previously hoped.

In fact, the FCC official is saying the transition to all digital broadcasts “will be messy…but we will get through it.” Well okay then! That’s not exactly encouraging news but hopefully in the new few months people get more on the ball and prepared for this.  

[via Engadget]

The range starts with the Digital Reader 1000, which has a lithium-ion battery rated to “last for days”, while the 1000S adds a Wacom digitizer and stylus so you can notate your documents.  The 1000SW is the wireless model, again with the digitizer.  Each weighs under 570g and is 1.2cm thick; storage is via SD card, with 1GB supplied, and there’s a mini-USB port to connect to your computer.

iRex claim the Digital Reader 1000 is an open system, “able to read all common formats”, including Word, PDF and PowerPoint.  The 1000 is priced at $649 and the 1000S at $749; both are available now.  The 1000SW will ship later, priced at $849.

This converter really piles on the features, especially when compared to similar boxes on the market. For instance, it has a smart antenna port, analog pass-through and S-Video output. Video quality is excellent.

However, the reception on the DT250 is not as diverse as with other boxes. In fact, it picks up about 4-5 stations less than other boxes, such as NBC. If you are super close to the DTV signals, you might benefit from this converter, but otherwise, you’re probably better off with one that gets better reception.

[via Crave at CNET]

The new Leaf AFi‐II camera systems and camera back, Leaf Aptus now featuring a brighter 3.5-inch touch screen LCD display, 12 stops dynamic range, 16 bits color depth and ISO sensitivity range of 50-800. The Leaf AFi-II 7 and 10 also has a 90 degree tilting LCD display, a feature first for medium format medium format cameras. Additional features include Leaf Verto and Leaf SensorFlex.

The AFi-II 10 and Aptus‐II 10 use a 56 megapixel, 56 x 36mm wide imaging sensor while both model 6and 7 use a standard 4:3 imaging sensor – AFi-II 7 and Aptus‐II 7 on 33 megapixel, 48 x 36mm and smaller 28 megapixel, 44x33mm sensor on AFi-II 6 and Aptus‐II 6. Like most expensive medium format digital cameras, they are ranged from $20,995 to $39,995 and should be in shops by PhotoKina 2008.

[via Leaf]

The idea here is that you can write out notes with ink on a piece of paper, but your pen strokes are electronically captured. This way, they can be transferred over to Microsoft Excel. Adapx already has a digital pen meant to work with Microsoft’s OneNote. However, this pen adds one feature not seen yet in digital pens–audio.

You can take audio notes with this pen as well. You can play them back straight from the pen or through your computer, whichever you choose. You can even select one point in your written notes and your audio notes that were captured at that time will play. Digital pens might not be that popular, but this one has real appeal for students and journalists alike.

[via CNET News]