xpherion - technology blog

Webkinz are stuffed animals that were originally released by the Ganz gift company in 2005. The toys are similar to many other small plush toys, however they come with a special code on their labels that allows access to the “Webkinz World” which is a website to “adopt” a virtual version of the pet for virtual interaction. There are also smaller versions of the toys called “Lil’ Kinz”. Experts of all ages believe Webkinz and other Internet-connected toys will be the rage this year. Currently “webkinz” ranks in our top 100 searches, a lofty spot for a fuzzy toy. The savvy side of the phenomenon is how the toys often change and go out of circulation. Queries like “new webkinz” (+371%) are almost guaranteed to appear in Search, as are the various accoutrements of a fully equipped Webkinz-maniac: “secret codes” (+359%), “charms,” and “lip gloss,” of all things.

Reference : wikipedia, webkinz, yahoo buzz

Technorati Tags: webkinz, Internet-connected toys, new webkinz, secret codes, charms, lip gloss, Webkinz-maniac, Webkinz World, adpot virtual pet, toys

Nikon D3 has new type of image sensor which uses three small dichroic mirrors below an opening to direct red, green and blue light to separate photodiodes. This is now as covered by us in “Nikon’s new full-color RGB sensor“. But back in 1991 Electronic still photography was a new technology that enabled a camera to electronically capture and digitize an image with resolution approaching film quality. The digital image was stored on removable hard disks or small optical disks, and can be converted to a format suitable for downlink transmission or enhanced using image processing software. The standard Nikon F4 film body was converted to digital by placing a one megapixel monochrome CCD at the film plane. The battery-operated Electronic Still Camera (ESC) retained all the features of the F4 camera body and accepted any lens or optics with a Nikon mount. Nikkor lenses used on STS-48 included a 20mm f/2.8 AF, 35-70mm f/2.8 AF, 50mm f/1.2 and 180mm f/2.8 AF. This modified Nikon F4 was first flown into space on board the Space Shuttle Discovery in September 1991. more

Technorati Tags: nasa, nikon, d3, f4, Electronic Still Camera, shuttle, rgb, dslr, photos, photography

Instructions are now available for downgrading your iPhone from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2. It won’t downgrade your baseband, meaning so far you can’t re-unlock an iPhone that’s been 1.1.1-ified, but it’s still 1.0.2 in all its third-party application glory. The iPhone Dev Team folks are working on a way to downgrade the new firmware to let people unlock their phones again. Also there is a youtube video tutorial for this downgrade.

Reference: iPhone Dev Wiki instructions, Hackint0sh thread where the magic happened, engadget

Technorati Tags: hack, iphone, hackint0sh, downgrade, unlock, 1.0.2, 1.1.1

The popular Demonoid.com, a semi-private BitTorrent tracker, has been taken offline. Both the torrent tracker and the site have been unresponsive. Although there has been no official word, or statement from the Demonoid administrators, TorrentFreak claims that the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) is responsible for the downtime, but the CRIA has refused to comment. TorrentFreak reports that it contacted some of the Demonoid administrators, but even they are not yet sure what happened to the site. You can logon to irc p2p network to find the status of the site. According to yahoo buzz, related queries on “demonoid shut down” and “what happened to demonoid” trippled. Folks must have faith that Demonoid will be revived, ’cause searches on competitors didn’t take off. Queries on “torrent reactor,” “isohunt,” and “mininova” all dipped.

[update 09/29/2007 14:00 PM CST] Good news demonoid rackers are now fully operational, but the site is still down. The general consensus in the Demonoid IRC channel now is that the downtime is caused by hardware issues, and that the site will probably return within a few days. The story about the CRIA shutting down Demonoid was not true (as reported by TorrentFreak). more

[update 09/30/2007 14:00 PM CST] Demonoid is backup now. Frontpage has following message, “We received a letter from a lawyer represeting the CRIA, they were threatening with legal action and we need to start blocking Canadian traffic because of this.” So TorrentFreak story was true, CRIA had something to do with this outage. Interesting comment - “Best Way to support Demonoid is to seeds Demonoid torrents as much as you can. Actions of majority of the population are considered legal. So don’t be afraid, seed much as you can using demonoid trackers. They will have to make court room big as 10 football stadium to bring all us demonoid supporters to court. And especially they have to spend millions to fly all demonoid supporters all over the world to that court room. More people doing an action which is ment to be illegal will make the same action legal.”

Reference: Wired Blogs, TorrentFreak, Yahoo Buzz

Technorati Tags: torrent, demonoid, cria, tracker, p2p, irc, whois, domaintools, tpb, ishunt

These Nikon D3 images are from nikon usa press release. These photographs are taken by Joe McNally, Mike Corrado and Dave Black. Subjects range for portraits to wildlife to macro to sports. Exposure, lens, and format data is included. ISO range from 200 to 6400. The images look very good, it seems like the hype was not hype at all. It looks like Nikon D3 delivers. This camera will allow a photographer to shoot many of the images we only dreamed of. What really jumps out at me is the amount of detail. I think that is what will seperate the Nikon D3 from some of the other cameras that shoot at high ISO. One of the shot (fire fighter) was taken at aperture f16, which on a 12 MP FX sensor shows little, if any diffraction. The large pixels of the sensor bring out the best in any lens, what little fall from optimum will not be noticed unless you do a 100% pixel peep with the same subject, same camera-lens, just change the f stop. It is a great photo, lots of detail if you care to look. At the higher ISO’s it seems to beat the Canon 5D by 1 1/2 stops. This camera’s definitely a landmark in the clean high iso battle. more

Related Articles:

Nikon Watch D3 Shots
D3 Simply Amazing
Impressive high ISO performace from Nikon D3
A Nikon D3 Shot from Glacier
Low noise from Nikon D3
Nikon’s new full-color RGB sensor?

Technorati Tags: nikon, d3, high iso, iso6400, canon, canon 5D, macro, sports, photos, dslr

These Nikon D300 high ISO samples are from Chinese site. All samples are taken with Active D-Lighting (normal), and all the samples at ISO800 and above include High ISO NR (normal). The VR 18-200 lens is used at all samples. Judging the outside pictures, it’s generally not a good idea to use Active D-Lighting at high ISOs, because the noise level may be increased in the shadows. I’m specially impressed with the indoor samples, which shows an improvement in high ISO noise at around 1½-2 stops compared to the D200. The ISO 3200 sample is very usable and compares with ISO 800-1000 on the D200. The colors are fine up to ISO 3200. Overall 2 stop improvement in noise over the D200. Plus there seems to be no color cast as the iso is increased. Luminance noise you’re seeing is more visibly acceptable than color noise, but it’s also harder to get rid of. In fact, what you’re seeing is probably in part, at least, the result of some in-camera color NR. What’s left behind after the color NR is the luminance aspect of the noise. Going further to get rid of the luminance noise is when you lose detail. Even well illuminated you can see the “Grain” structure is solid, even at 6400. This seems like a real improvement in noise control. Another consideration going in here for the entire street scene series is that they were shot with the 18-200 at 200 mm. It’s a convienient lens but not critically sharp especially at that length.

Reference : 520dc, Dpreview

Related Articles:

Encouraging D300 ISO 3200
Official Nikon D300 sample with greater dynamic range
Nikon D300 Pre-Production ISO 6400 sample

Technorati Tags: photos, photography, nikon, d300, high iso, noise, d200, active d-lighting

Plam introduced a $99 full featured touchscreened Palm device called Centro. This is targeted towards Hiptop (Sidekick) demographic with AIM, Windows Live, Push email built in and Blogging. You can do the same thing with Twitter. Also 320×320 pixel Transflective color touchscreen, supports 16-bit color (up to 65K colors) and sliding bigger keyboard. It doesn’t have wifi and it uses same old plam os. $99 price point is the biggest catch of this phone. We coverd sprint centro before in our blog.

Technorati Tags: hiptop, Sidekick, sprint, mobile, twitter, digitallife, liveblog, palm

This is a really good noise test by dpreview canon forum user. These are shots of a test pattern designed to measure/calibrate cameras for NR software. They were shot under controlled studio lighting in Raw, process with LR 1.2 with zero sharpening or NR then converted to minimum compression jpegs. A small exposure correction (+0.26) was applied in LR to the 40D shots to compensate for the sensitivity/exposure/metering issue. As the pattern info advises, they were deliberately shot out of focus to remove any ‘detail’ or clearly defined edge, therefore the only ‘detail’ that is in them is the product of camera induced noise. These test shots have nothing to do with focus, colour accuracy, resolution, depth of field, and ‘real detail’ etc. The are just a brutal, boring and accurate measurement technique. Using a flat +.26 adjustment in LR is I believe a more accurate way to allow for the 40D’s consistent exposure/metering behaviour.

Noise is a big part digital photography. The noise we experience is a just part of the technology, it does not of course represent real detail in the scene. Why have ISO settings in digital cameras? Unlike film ,it is the exact same film in the camera i.e. the sensor. All we are really doing is ‘turning up the volume’ to hear/see better. Just like you music amp, we also amplify the distortion - noise. This is not a test to see how good we are at getting rid of noise without damaging detail using NR tools. It is a test of how much harder it will inherently be achieve this with one cameras images compared to another’s. If one camera creates more noise at a given setting, ‘real detail’ in this area will always be less accurate, and NR in this area more difficult. Sometimes ‘perceived’ detail might be better for this noise, we just don’t need the camera to force us to have whether we want it or not.

Bottom line, the 40D is noisier - across the whole ISO range - period. Canon 40D is still a better camera from all other aspect besides noise. The photography is infinitely more important than the technology, which is just a means to an end. more

Technorati Tags: canon, canon 40d, canon 20d, noise, exposure, photos, dslr, noise ninja, photography

This is cheap laptop for First Time Computer Users,Low Income Households,Education K-12 and Elderly. The high end model Asus Eee PC 701 with 4GB of built-in storage is priced at $399.99, while two versions of the Eee PC 700 are available at $259.99 and $299.99 price points. Other features Built-in Camera, 10/100Mbps LAN, 802.11b/g wireless, Built-in stereo speakers, Built-in Mic, MMC/SC Card Reader, 3x USB 2.0 Ports, Audio Jack in/out, VGA out and Carrying Case included. OS: Linux (Preloaded) (Windows XP Compatible, Drivers included). Battery: 4 Cell, 3 hours run time,Weight: 1.96lbs.

I think the soldered on Flash reduces cost a bit since that’s one less connector piece that’s required. Part of the reason that its been speculated that the ram can’t be upgraded either is because of the cost savings to Asus in not having that connector piece for the stick of ram, more information at citrusmicro, ausus and laptoping.

Technorati Tags: asus, eee, eee pc, eee pc 701, EeePc, EeePc701, pre-order, sale, cheap laptop, linux

The anticipation over the Halo franchise stretches beyond stinky spoilers. Searches were frenetic for “halo 3 game trailer” (+775%), “free halo 3 wallpaper” (+312%), and “halo 3 new weapons” (+271%). And as excited as people are for the game, they can’t wait to incorporate Halo into the their Halloween plans (”halo master chief costume”), future box office bonanzas (”halo movie 2008″), and hermetically sealed Ebay fodder (”halo 3 toys”). more

This is google trend for halo 3. Top searches by region is Mexcio, by cities Seattle (USA), by languages English. more

Technorati Tags: halo 3, free halo 3 wallpaper, halo 3 game trailer, halo master chief costume, halo movie 2008, halo 3 toys, google trend, yahoo buzz, game, xbox 360

This is Nikon D300 ISO 3200 shots posted in dpreview forum. For now it looks like the one stop advantage is a reality over D200, and it may even be better than that, but overall it’s too soon and until the D300 ships and serious reviews and samples are posted, we’re gonna have to wait. I feel the D300 is a big step up from the D200 even if it’s 1/2 a stop better. No camera is perfect for everyone, but the D300 and D3 look as they may come closer than any other DSLRs at anywhere near the price. more

Related Articles:

Official Nikon D300 sample with greater dynamic range
Nikon D300 Pre-Production ISO 6400 sample

Technorati Tags: photography, dslr, nikon, d300, iso, d200, photos, photoblog

People are talking about Nikon Rangefinder “SD4″ with a D3 sensor in Leica M mount in Dpreview forum with following features :

-It would be able to use all Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlander RF glass.

-Liveview all the time (no mirror)

-No extra viewfinder, you could use liveview with ultrawide and tele lens.

-Ultra compact and light full frame camera.

-Silent camera, no mirror backslash.

-Perfect for available light shots.

I think if and when Nikon makes their dRangefinder cameras they should not use AF. Otherwise I think it would make the entire point of employing a rangefinder focusing mechanism totaly pointless. Do you really think watching an AF system superimpose two images untill they become one image in a rangefinder patch is very interesting or even pleasing? So in essence it would be just a big point and shoot AF camera with one redeeming virtue and that would be interchangable high quality small lenses. Perhaps to be able to have a real rangefinder MF and AF sytem would be appealing to some but would not the lenses become larger to accomidate the motor. Either that or a larger camera with a built in AF motor. Also if they could somehow keep the shutter quiet. In summary, if you want to appeal to the rangefinder mentality, keep the concept close to the M8 - straightforward mechanical controls, rangefinder viewfinder, compact profile, excellent quality compact prime lenses. more

Technorati Tags: nikon, leica, m8, d3, rangefinder, liveview, zeiss, mf, lens, dream, speculation, rumor

Nikon Watch has some D3 smuggled shots. NEF files you can only open with ViewNX. ISO1600 is nice and clean, ISO3200 is very good, with color noise, and ISO6400 is usable. NEFs are definately not as clean as the JPGs. The ISO25600 looks like my D70 at 1600. 6400 ISO shot is underexposed 2/3 stops compared to the other shots (all at f/3.2 with the 85/1.8D). more

Related Articles:

D3 Simply Amazing
Impressive high ISO performace from Nikon D3
A Nikon D3 Shot from Glacier
Low noise from Nikon D3
Nikon’s new full-color RGB sensor?

Technorati Tags: photography, nikon, d3, iso, viewnx, nef, exposer, photog, smuggle, photos

This image is from Cliff Mautner’s blog (Nikon D3 Test Drive). Amazing Images. The photographer is truly gifted in capturing memorable moments. Those images are amazing not just because of the broad DR,great detail, color saturation and feeling captured but because so much of the emotion of the people shown shows clearly in the images. It’s not just the lack of noise, but also the colour & tonality - he’s obviously a great photographer, but the camera is doing a lot of this too. We tend to get lost in the discussion about noise, and although these are downsized, it’s the colour & contrast that gets me. The D3 has already proven itself but this photographer is surely making this instrument sing, I gather he’d do the same with any camera in his hands. more

Previous articles:

Impressive high ISO performace from Nikon D3
A Nikon D3 Shot from Glacier
Low noise from Nikon D3
Nikon’s new full-color RGB sensor?

Technorati Tags: photography, nikon, d3, wedding, iso, color, photog, dynamic range

“Commander, this is Kilo Two-Three,” crackles your helmet radio. “Lost my wingman and our only Hog.” You’re puzzling where Kilo Two-Three could be when a couple squealing Grunts lob bursts of green plasma in your squad’s direction. Too late–your force shield sizzles as you jerk left. Explosions thoom-thoom-thoom somewhere up ahead. An enemy ship swoops in low on your left flank, tilts open, and spits out reinforcements. Distant beams of pulsing light rise from alien monoliths against a horizon that tapers strangely upward, curving toward a circular zenith like some giant, galactic bracelet. Behind you, Scorpion tanks trundle forward to back your assault. You scope a group of juking enemies with your battle rifle, scanning for a headshot, waiting, waiting…and as the cellos and drums kick up, it hits you–they didn’t change a thing. more

There is little doubt the game, which goes on sale at midnight on Tuesday, will be a blockbuster release. Brokerage Wedbush Morgan predicts that Microsoft could sell 3 million copies in the product’s first 12 days. The 2004 release of Halo 2 brought in $125 million in its first day, a then-record, Kim said. That’s a far cry from the kind of revenue that Windows or Office generates in a quarter, but it’s still some serious cash. more

Halo 3 Review, both the campaign and the multiplayer versions, courtesy of Adam and Morgan (g4TV X-Play).

Technorati Tags: G4, Halo 3, News, game, bungie, multiplayer, hype

Microsoft Corp is talking to Facebook about buying a minority stake in the fast-growing online social network that could value the company at $10 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Monday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said the world’s largest software company sought to buy a stake of up to 5 percent in Facebook for $300 million to $500 million.

Facebook, led by its 23-year-old founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, may insist on a valuation as high as $15 billion and is considering raising up to $500 million in cash to expand its operations, according to the Journal. more

I think the problem wtih social network valuations is that they think the user will be there for life. So they have no problem valuing it at $300-500 per user…because they think they’ll get that money.

I would think MS sees Facebook as a platform and social network. They would probably know best about the value of user embraced platforms like Facebook. It will be interesting to see how the agreements work themselves out and how advertising deals will play out.

Technorati Tags: facebook, microsoft, social network, yahoo, wsj, advertising

The iPhone has no security software, but Apple doesn’t let people load third-party programs on the device, reducing the risk of infection from malicious software. But when the iPhone is connected to the Web, possibilities emerge, said Marius van Oers, a security researcher with McAfee’s AVERT Labs in Amsterdam.

He doesn’t claim to have uncovered a specific security hole in the device, but listed several ways that determined hackers could use the Web to try to find a way in.

Apple is relying on developers to create rich Web-based applications that will be accessed through the mobile version of the company’s Safari Web browser. Browser flaws are a proven way for hackers to get unauthorized code running on a system, van Oers said. more

Technorati Tags: iphone, security, virus, anitvirus, research, mcafee, mobile, technology, infection, safari