Cameras

The Federationof European Professional Photographers (FEP) has announced the winners of its European Professional Photographer of the Year 2012 competition. Read more and comment »

Kuuvik Capture is a feature-laden Canon EOS tethering application for Mac OS X. Read more and comment »

Microsoft is making a big play for the living room with a new Xbox console that marries games with live TV, Internet browsing, music and Skype. The Xbox One could considerably expand Microsoft's presence in consumer electronics but is expected to compete with Internet TV devices from companies such as Intel, interactive set-top boxes from cable TV companies, and Sony's PlayStation 4. There's also a possible set-top box from Apple. It was unveiled during an event at Microsoft's Redmond campus. A launch date was not immediately announced. "Xbox On," said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft, as he began to demonstrate the device. The Xbox sprang to life and presented Mehdi with a home screen. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Plenty of applications help you show off your photos, and plenty help you show off your videos. But too few tools exist that allows you to show them off together. Enter Fantashow Pro, a $50-per-year application allows you to combine still photos with videos to create a custom video slideshow. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

In an effort to streamline the development of wireless charging technology, Duracell subsidiary Powermat Technologies will merge with the Helsinki-based company PowerKiss.  Together, the two companies are responsible for thousands of public stations used to wirelessly charge mobile phones in the United States and Europe.  Until now, the conflicting systems used by each company have eliminated any benefit wireless charging technology might have for overseas travelers who rely on their smartphones. The statement released today explains that eliminating those “incompatible standards” is the primary motivation of combining under the Powermat umbrella. With their forces joined, the two pioneers will be pushing forward with Powermat’s “PMA” standard, which has already been accepted by global leaders like General Motors, Starbucks, and Duracell.  Adding Powerkiss’ European presence to the PMA standard may well define it as the unofficial international standard for wireless charging. Powermat has instituted PMA wireless charging stations in more than 1,500 retail locations including Starbucks and AT&T stores.  Likewise, Powerkiss has enabled wireless charging in more than 1,000 European locations, including McDonalds restaurants.  In a remarkable commitment to the future of the technology, the merging of these two companies will ultimately ensure consistency across international borders.  This is a huge step for the burgeoning industry of wireless charging.  Our smartphones are heavily burdened with improving nearly every detail of our daily lives.  It’s a difficult task, even with vastly improved battery life aided by the efficient performance of processors like the Qualcomm Snapdragon.  For international travelers who already face issues with different outlets and service providers when they’re overseas, the introduction of seamless, consistent formats for wireless charging across the globe will be a big relief. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If you have any expectations about the privacy of your Skype communications, you may want to reassess them. Microsoft appears to be peeking into Skype messages for security reasons, according to Ars Technica. The owner of Skype regularly scans the contents of messages sent on the service for signs of fraud, but what’s done with the information from those scans—whether it’s stored indefinitely or destroyed—is unknown. Similar findings were published by The H Security last week. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Following the Google+ updates last week at Google I/O that overall improved the photo experience for its users, Mountain View-based Google is now making that very updated experience for users of its Google+ Android application. The update, which boasts 41 new features total, includes Auto Backup (stores photos as you take them), Auto Highlight (allows for the ability to browse top shots from added sets), Auto Enhance (automatically enhances images), and even something called Auto Awesome (which creates fun new versions of pictures, such as panoramas and animations, based on images already in your library). According to Google, the only requisite in taking advantage of these features is to simply snap some shots. You can then visit the Photos section of the updated application to get going. Users can also enjoy improved SnapSeed integration, which already comes along with filters and image adjustment tools, along with an automatic hash-tagging feature. Other updates in the application include always-on location, improved Hangouts, and more. You can read more about the Google+ updates to their Android application on the Google Plus Project blog, or download the new app yourself over on Google Play. (via Google Plus Project via The Verge)

Last Friday, we shared a video that compared the burst mode shutter speeds and sounds of various Canon DSLRs, and lest Nikon fanboys think we’re biased towards one brand or another, here’s a similar video by YouTube user bauercti that does the same thing for several of the camera’s in Nikon’s lineup. By the looks of it, bauercti is a sports photographer who shoots mainly golf. As such, a quick camera that can capture every aspect of Tiger Woods’ or Adam Scott’s swing would make a great addition to the ol’ camera bag. In the video, burst mode speeds (at full resolution) are shown for the D700, D3X, D300S, D7000, D800 and D4. Between those six cameras, continuous speeds range from 4fps for the super-high resolution D800, to a “machine gun” 10 fps for the much more expensive D4. It’s worth noting that the D4 can actually go way above and beyond 10fps, it would just require you to drop the resolution … in some cases significantly. If you’re willing to shoot at 2.5-megapixels in live view, you can push that baby to 24fps, at which point you might as well just say “to heck with it” and record video. Also, while Canon’s 1D X may be able to shoot at a mind-bending 14fps, that limits you to JPEG files. RAW ability maxes out at 12fps, and even then you can only shoot 38 RAW files max before the camera needs to buffer. In comparison, the D4 can keep 10fps going (with full AF and AE performance) for almost 100 RAW shots (according to Nikon). In other words, if high-speed continuous shooting is your game, then Nikon’s slightly slower D4 may still beat out the 1D X when you consider all the facts. On the other hand, you could always just click play, listen to the cool shutter sounds, and not weigh in on the Nikon vs Canon debate at all … yeah, we’re gonna go with that. (via Photoblog.hk)

Yoking cognitive computing with customer service, IBM has launched a system that can reference large amounts of unstructured data to help companies better field customer phone calls.The IBM Watson Engagement Advisor uses IBM's Watson, the artificial intelligence software the company developed to compete on the Jeopardy game show two years ago.According to IBM, the field of customer service is in dire need of improvement. Of the 270 billion customer service calls that are handled annually, approximately 50 percent go unresolved. "Many customers engage with a brand through the call center," and because call centers tend to frustrate customers, the company's brand suffers as a result, said Craig Hayman, general manager of industry solutions for IBM's Software Group, during a teleconference announcing the package.The Engagement Advisor can help answer questions, offer suggestions to aid in the purchasing process, or to help customers troubleshoot issues. Just as it was able, in a few seconds, to scan, review and select the best answer for Jeopardy questions, so too should the Watson technology be able to quickly provide relevant information for customer inquiries, drawing from a large amount of information.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Samsung WB30F is a compact camera with a 10x optical zoom lens, built in Wi-Fi for sharing and backup, and a 3inch screen on the back.