Daily Tech and Gadget

OK, sure, that Winnie the Pooh iBook looks pretty slick. But what about all of those real books that are gathering dust on your real bookshelf? Well, with this Instructable, those can become (slightly less slick) ebooks, too. More »

I like those GorillaPod bendy tripods as much as the next guy, but this seems like a pretty bad idea. [ Photography Bay via Gadget Lab ] More »

Panasonic ’s recently unleashed Lumix DMC-FX550 has just been pretty extensively reviewed over at Trusted Reviews . Up first, the Lumix DMC-FX550 — a 12.1 megapixel affair with a 5x zoom lens. The reviewer found the touchscreen to be mostly useful and functional in conjunction with the hardware controls. The 1280 x 720 pixel resolution video recording is found to be nice quality, though the cam loses points for its mono audio, which is deemed “not too good,” while the startup time for the camera — about 3 seconds — is also a bit slow. Ultimately, however the DMC-FX550 is not very much of an upgrade over the previous DMC-500 model, though the reviewer gives it points for build quality.

Good old December, the busiest time of the year for elves, reindeer, jolly old fat guys… and lawyers , apparently . Joining the rush to make momentous decisions before Santa arrives, the International Trade Commission has made a preliminary ruling in favor of Kodak in its dispute over digital camera patents with Samsung. Though the original lawsuit included LG, an out of court settlement has left only Sammy in the firing line, and this early decision has affirmed that two of Kodak’s patents were infringed in the production of its cameraphones. It’s still necessary for the full commission to look at and approve the judgment, but considering Samsung’s vast range of camera-equipped phones, we’d throw legal caution to the wind and start bombarding the ITC with “holiday cheer” pronto .

Sony’s latest professional-grade camcorder probably meets your needs and then some by quite a stretch, recording AVCHD up to 24Mbps and SD quality in MPEG-2 / 9Mbps. We’re also looking at a 20x zoom lens, 3 x 1/3-inch Exmor CMOS sensor, and storage options including Memory Stick Pro Duo and an optional 128GB flash memory drive. Don’t lie, you want this beast, even if it clearly falls in the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” category. Look for more temptation sometime closer to its expected early 2010 launch. Filed under: Digital Cameras New Sony NXCAM is more camcorder than you ever need, but still you covet originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:33:00 EST.