“T-minus seven seconds”

Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

Everyone’s favorite science teacher is back, but his new show takes on a different subject: algebra. It’s not entirely clear if the new show, Solving for X, will be televised or on DVD only, but it doesn’t matter. If Bill Nye can make algebra interesting, he is official the man.

I mean, it’s kind of easy to make a science show visually interesting and stimulating, but math is something entirely different.

Greg Kumparak, live from Apple’s “It’s only rock and roll” event in San Francisco…

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• 11:30 AM: Doug Aamoth CrunchGear’s Greg Kumparak will be live in San Francisco for Apple’s event today. Check back closer to 1:00 PM Eastern, 10:00 AM Pacific for more…
• 11:37 AM: GregKumparak
• 11:38 AM: GregKumparak Good morning, San Francisco! We just arrived, and are camped out in line for our badge.
• 11:38 AM: GregKumparak There are roughly 40 here, so far.
• 11:45 AM: GregKumparak
• 11:45 AM: GregKumparak
• 11:46 AM: GregKumparak Some pair just jumped in front of me in line. Thems fightin’ words around here.
• 11:47 AM: GregKumparak The festivities don’t officially begin for another hour and 20 minutes; we’re just cruising the line for now.
• 11:53 AM: GregKumparak They’ve just opened registration to non-media guests and VIPs. Not recognizing anyone in that line. Certainly no Beatles amongst them.
• 11:54 AM: GregKumparak Speaking of which, some of what we’re expecting today thanks to the rumor mill: Beatles on iTunes, iPod Touches w/ cameras, and possibly Nanos with cameras.
• 11:59 AM: Greg Kumparak They’ve just opened the media line, a bit earlier than we expected. After sitting in traffic all the way up here, the complimentary media coffee is calling our names
• 12:07 PM: Greg Kumparak Aaaand we’re in!
• 12:08 PM: Greg Kumparak
• 12:09 PM: Greg Kumparak Everyone’s casually milling about for now; about 100 have arrived already. Most of the Apple employees are rocking pink shirts the same shade as the “Rock and roll” invite/graphic.
• 12:11 PM: Greg Kumparak Man – we’re used to it being super cold while we’re waiting outside of Apple events; today, it feels like we’re roasting. The sun is beating down in SF today.
• 12:17 PM: Greg Kumparak We just overheard that Tapulous (maker of Tap Tap Revenge) is here; we’d guess that they’ll be showing something during the announcement.
• 12:25 PM: Greg Kumparak The waiting area is starting to fill up. Tons of members of the international press here today.
• 12:35 PM: Greg Kumparak I’ve never seen such a high concentration of iPhones in my life. 8/10, easily. AT&Ts network seems to be standing up to it, so far. Hurray 850mhz network upgrades!
• 12:40 PM: Greg Kumparak We’re all camped out by the door, just waiting to be let in. Shouldnt be too much longer, folks.
• 12:45 PM: Greg Kumparak We’re in the theater, photos coming now
• 12:47 PM: John Biggs
• 12:48 PM: John Biggs Note: It’s Greg’s birthday today. He’s a real champ, liveblogging like this and all. Send him birthday wishes on twitter @gregkumparak
• 12:48 PM: Greg Kumparak
• 12:49 PM: Greg Kumparak We’re in our seats! Green day’s “When I come around” is blasting.
• 12:50 PM: Greg Kumparak Good news: We’re juiced up with a power strip, and our network connectivity seems to be tickin’ away no problem – for now.
• 12:50 PM: danielbru
• 12:54 PM: John Biggs
• 12:54 PM: John Biggs Beatles on Apple!
• 12:54 PM: danielbru
• 12:54 PM: danielbru What do you know, Greg Grunberg is here!
• 12:55 PM: Greg Kumparak (Greg Grunberg = Matt Parkman of Heroes)
• 12:56 PM: Greg Kumparak “Good morning ladies and gentlemen”
• 12:56 PM: Greg Kumparak People are being asked to turn off their phones.
• 12:57 PM: Greg Kumparak The house is completely packed.
• 12:57 PM: Greg Kumparak Music has been faded.
• 12:57 PM: John Biggs iTunes store now offers “LPs” including album art and liner notes.
• 12:57 PM: Greg Kumparak Aaand its back up.
• 12:58 PM: danielbru
• 12:59 PM: Greg Kumparak It’s only Rock and Roll by the Rolling Stones is playing
• 1:01 PM: Greg Kumparak Apple Store is down
• 1:01 PM: Greg Kumparak Itunes 9 just went live.
• 1:01 PM: Greg Kumparak Music’s gone
• 1:01 PM: Greg Kumparak Steve Jobs!
• 1:01 PM: Greg Kumparak Steve Jobs has entered the stage.
• 1:02 PM: Greg Kumparak Standing Ovation for him as he enters.
• 1:02 PM: Greg Kumparak The crowd is going absolutely nuts.
• 1:02 PM: Greg Kumparak The cheering has yet to taper.
• 1:02 PM: Greg Kumparak “Im very happy to be here today with you all”
• 1:02 PM: danielbru
• 1:02 PM: Greg Kumparak “As some of you may know, about 5 months ago, I had a liver transplant”
• 1:03 PM: Greg Kumparak “I now have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash”
• 1:03 PM: Greg Kumparak “Who was generous enough to donate their organs. I wouldnt be here without their generosity.”
• 1:03 PM: Greg Kumparak “I’d like to take a minute to thank everybody in the apple community for the heart felt support”
• 1:03 PM: Greg Kumparak “I’d especially like to thank Tim Cook and the entire executive team at Apple.”
• 1:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Congratulating them on how they ran the company while he was gone.
• 1:04 PM: Greg Kumparak “I’m vertical, I’m back at apple, and I’m loving every day of it.”
• 1:04 PM: danielbru
• 1:04 PM: Greg Kumparak “Today, we get to talk about music”
• 1:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Phil Schiller and jeff Robbin will both be joining us today
• 1:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Before that, talking about the iphone
• 1:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Ina little over 2 years, 30 million iPhones sold
• 1:05 PM: Greg Kumparak “During the last year, one of the reasons for that is the remarkable app store”
• 1:05 PM: Greg Kumparak Over 75,000 Apps in the app store
• 1:05 PM: Greg Kumparak Over 1.8 billion apps downloaded.
• 1:05 PM: danielbru
• 1:05 PM: Greg Kumparak “And that doesn’t include updates!”
• 1:05 PM: danielbru
• 1:05 PM: Greg Kumparak “If that included updates, the number would be a few times higher than that”
• 1:05 PM: Greg Kumparak Introducing 3.1 today
• 1:06 PM: Greg Kumparak (3.1 OS for iPhone and iPod Touch)
• 1:06 PM: Greg Kumparak One new feature: Apps will be getting Genius.
• 1:06 PM: John Biggs
• 1:06 PM: Greg Kumparak Genius will now make recommendations for new apps based on the apps you already own.
• 1:06 PM: danielbru
• 1:07 PM: Greg Kumparak There’s a new section next to “New” and “Whats Hot” called “Genius”
• 1:07 PM: danielbru
• 1:07 PM: Greg Kumparak It tells you what it recommends, and why they recommend it
• 1:07 PM: danielbru
• 1:07 PM: Greg Kumparak They’re adding ringtones – 30,000 ringtones from 4 labels
• 1:07 PM: Greg Kumparak Ringtones can be bought right from the iPhone, at $1.29 a pop
• 1:08 PM: Greg Kumparak 3.1 is a free download, beginning today.
• 1:08 PM: Greg Kumparak We’re moving on past 3.1 talk, beginning with iTunes
• 1:08 PM: Greg Kumparak itunes is now in 23 countries, with mexico as the latest
• 1:08 PM: Greg Kumparak iTunes is the #1 music retailer in the world.
• 1:08 PM: Greg Kumparak Over 8.5 billion songs have been sold
• 1:09 PM: Greg Kumparak And they’ve recently crossed over 100,000,000 accounts with credit cards
• 1:09 PM: Greg Kumparak which makes iTunes one of the largest stores on the web, in general
• 1:09 PM: Greg Kumparak “Today, we’re introducing iTunes 9″
• 1:09 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’ve cleaned it up quite a bit, making it easier to navigate around”
• 1:09 PM: Greg Kumparak New features of iTunes 9:
• 1:09 PM: Greg Kumparak – Genius mixes
• 1:10 PM: Greg Kumparak So far through genius, 54b songs have been submitted and analyzed
• 1:10 PM: Greg Kumparak “They’ve enabled us to make these genius playlists.. what we’re applying that same technology to now is something we’re calling Genius mixes”
• 1:10 PM: Greg Kumparak “Imagine a Genius DJ that plays endless mixes of songs from your library that go great together”
• 1:11 PM: danielbru
• 1:11 PM: danielbru
• 1:11 PM: danielbru
• 1:11 PM: danielbru
• 1:11 PM: Greg Kumparak “iTunes will make up to 12 of them at a time, and they’ll go on, and on, and on”
• 1:11 PM: danielbru
• 1:11 PM: danielbru
• 1:11 PM: Greg Kumparak “Like a great dj, or a great radio station”
• 1:11 PM: Greg Kumparak Next feature: Improved syncing
• 1:11 PM: Greg Kumparak “When you want to sync to your ipod touch or iphone.. we can make that even better. and we have.”
• 1:12 PM: Greg Kumparak You can selectively sync certain playlists, artists, and genres
• 1:12 PM: Greg Kumparak Or photos from certain albums, events, or just specific faces.
• 1:12 PM: danielbru
• 1:12 PM: danielbru
• 1:12 PM: danielbru
• 1:12 PM: danielbru
• 1:12 PM: Greg Kumparak With movies, you can include the 3 most recent movies – plus your manually selected favorites
• 1:12 PM: Greg Kumparak APP MANAGEMENT!!
• 1:12 PM: Greg Kumparak You can now organize and manage apps on the homescreen
• 1:13 PM: Greg Kumparak It shows all of your apps, and all of the pages alongside as thumbnails
• 1:13 PM: danielbru
• 1:13 PM: Greg Kumparak Seems as if you just drag the icons around, then sync up.
• 1:13 PM: danielbru
• 1:13 PM: Greg Kumparak New feature: “Home Sharing”
• 1:14 PM: Greg Kumparak You can now copy songs from computer to computer, up to 5 times.
• 1:14 PM: danielbru
• 1:14 PM: Greg Kumparak If you see a shared library, you can just drag stuff over to yours.
• 1:14 PM: danielbru
• 1:14 PM: Greg Kumparak You can also select to show only the things that aren’t already IN your library.
• 1:14 PM: Greg Kumparak Itunes store renovation
• 1:14 PM: Greg Kumparak Much cleaner layout – lots and lots of gradients.
• 1:14 PM: Greg Kumparak New iTunes feature: iTunes LP
• 1:15 PM: Greg Kumparak “Some of us here are old enough that we actually bought LPs”
• 1:15 PM: Greg Kumparak This is exactly as rumored
• 1:15 PM: Greg Kumparak Albums will now come with extras
• 1:15 PM: Greg Kumparak “We can deliver amazingly rich content digitally”
• 1:15 PM: Greg Kumparak American Beauty by grateful dead, priced at $11.99,comes with videos, lyrics,
• 1:16 PM: danielbru
• 1:16 PM: danielbru
• 1:16 PM: danielbru
• 1:16 PM: danielbru
• 1:16 PM: danielbru
• 1:16 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing LPs from Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, Nora Jones, Dave Matthews Band
• 1:16 PM: danielbru
• 1:16 PM: Greg Kumparak “The artists themselves can get involved with creating these things”
• 1:16 PM: Greg Kumparak “These are just a few of the features of iTunes 9″
• 1:16 PM: Greg Kumparak Jeff Robbins is coming on stage to demonstrate iTunes 9.
• 1:17 PM: Greg Kumparak “Im going to begin with one of my favorite features: App organization”
• 1:17 PM: Greg Kumparak He’s connecting his iPod touch. Bloop!
• 1:17 PM: Greg Kumparak “When I click on applications, you can see all of the applications, all of the pages.”
• 1:17 PM: Greg Kumparak “If I want to rearrange, I can just click it and drag it wherever I want it to go”
• 1:18 PM: Greg Kumparak “I can even select more than one at a time, and put those wherever I want”
• 1:18 PM: Greg Kumparak If you select an app on the alphabetical list on the left, it automatically finds which page it’s on.
• 1:18 PM: danielbru
• 1:18 PM: Greg Kumparak You can also search through all of your apps within iTunes
• 1:18 PM: danielbru
• 1:18 PM: danielbru
• 1:18 PM: Greg Kumparak Oh neat – you can also drag entire pages
• 1:18 PM: danielbru
• 1:18 PM: danielbru
• 1:19 PM: danielbru
• 1:19 PM: Greg Kumparak “When you’re done, just click apply – and all of the changes are made”
• 1:19 PM: danielbru
• 1:19 PM: danielbru
• 1:19 PM: danielbru
• 1:19 PM: danielbru
• 1:19 PM: Greg Kumparak “Now I want to show you homesharing. I’ve set my wifes computer up for home sharing, now i’m going to set it up for mine.”
• 1:19 PM: Greg Kumparak It requires a bit of login/account management it seems, so that people cant just hop on to open shares and snag all your schtuff
• 1:20 PM: danielbru
• 1:20 PM: danielbru
• 1:20 PM: danielbru
• 1:20 PM: Greg Kumparak You can have it automatically sync new purchases across computers through Home share.
• 1:20 PM: danielbru
• 1:20 PM: Greg Kumparak “It makes it incredibly easy to manage your content within your home”
• 1:20 PM: danielbru
• 1:21 PM: Greg Kumparak “All of the pages throughout the store have been redesigned in the new style”
• 1:21 PM: Greg Kumparak There’s a new navigation bar at the top, letting you hop to Music/Movies/Tv/App Store from any page
• 1:21 PM: Greg Kumparak No more having to jump back to home!
• 1:21 PM: Greg Kumparak Each category at the top serves as a dropdown
• 1:21 PM: Greg Kumparak within the dropdown are genres for that category.
• 1:22 PM: Greg Kumparak The interface really is quite an improvement. It seems they’ve done away with most of the library-esque lists
• 1:22 PM: danielbru
• 1:22 PM: danielbru
• 1:22 PM: danielbru
• 1:22 PM: Greg Kumparak when you click on an album now, a pop up appears showing all tracks
• 1:22 PM: danielbru
• 1:22 PM: Greg Kumparak You can now share information on albums you’re interested in to facebook from iTunes 9.
• 1:23 PM: Greg Kumparak We’re taking another look at iTunes LPs
• 1:23 PM: Greg Kumparak Specifically, we’re looking at an album by the Doors
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: Greg Kumparak As songs are played, art appears on screen alongside the lyrics
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: Greg Kumparak “If you’re a doors fan, this kind of extra material is simply priceless”
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: danielbru
• 1:24 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing some of the videos included in the LP, recorded ‘exclusively for this LP’
• 1:25 PM: Greg Kumparak “The doors? Thats a RIDICULOUS name. Ohhh, man. You mean like the doors in your mind”
• 1:25 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing another album, this time from Dave matthews band.
• 1:25 PM: Greg Kumparak This LP is drawn by DM himself.
• 1:25 PM: Greg Kumparak with a font based on his handwrite.
• 1:25 PM: Greg Kumparak The LP is actually quite gorgeous; smooth, flowing animations
• 1:26 PM: Greg Kumparak He’s flipping from song to song – each page is custom themed, with lyrics.
• 1:26 PM: Greg Kumparak I was dubious – but this seems really great.
• 1:26 PM: Greg Kumparak “Now I want to show your iTunes extras”
• 1:26 PM: Greg Kumparak Essentially itunes LP for movies
• 1:26 PM: Greg Kumparak iTunes movies can now include DVD/Blu-ray esque extras
• 1:26 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing Wall-E
• 1:27 PM: danielbru
• 1:27 PM: danielbru
• 1:27 PM: danielbru
• 1:27 PM: Greg Kumparak The interface is incredibly rich – looks just like something I’d expect from a physical disc.
• 1:27 PM: danielbru
• 1:27 PM: danielbru
• 1:27 PM: danielbru
• 1:27 PM: Greg Kumparak iTunes 9 demo is now coming to an end.
• 1:27 PM: Greg Kumparak Steve Jobs is back on stage.
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak As we mentioned earlier, iTunes 9 is available now.
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak Now we’re moving on to iPod
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak Phil schiller is taking the stage.
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak “If you haven’t heard, the iPod has been a huge hit”
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’ve now sold over 225 million iPods to date”
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak Making it one of the most successful products, overall, in history.
• 1:28 PM: Greg Kumparak iPod is now at 73.8 percent market share.
• 1:29 PM: Greg Kumparak “The next biggest category is’other’ at 18%”
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: Greg Kumparak followed by sandisk at 7.2%, with microsoft at 1.1%
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: Greg Kumparak “Our latest data shows that of all the iPods we sell, over 50% are new customers”
• 1:29 PM: danielbru
• 1:29 PM: Greg Kumparak “We love that new customers are discovering our device”
• 1:29 PM: Greg Kumparak “The fastest growing of the line is the iPod Touch”
• 1:30 PM: Greg Kumparak “I’m really proud to tell you that we’ve sold over 20 million iPod Touches”
• 1:30 PM: Greg Kumparak “Why? Why so quickly? Why so many iPod touches sold?”
• 1:30 PM: Greg Kumparak 3 things set it apart:
• 1:30 PM: Greg Kumparak – “It’s a great iPod. It needs to be.”
• 1:31 PM: Greg Kumparak He’s listing a bunch of reasons. This is a lot more than 3.
• 1:31 PM: Greg Kumparak Video, genius, appstore, etc.
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: Greg Kumparak iPod Touch now does genius mixes as well.
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: Greg Kumparak Oh, that was all within “Great iPod”
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: Greg Kumparak the next reason: “It’s a great pocket computer”
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
• 1:32 PM: Greg Kumparak “Safari is the first great mobile browser”
• 1:32 PM: danielbru
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• 1:33 PM: danielbru
• 1:34 PM: Greg Kumparak One other thing: “Its a great portable game player”
• 1:34 PM: Greg Kumparak Quoting business week: “Apple could be on the cusp of claiming the crown as the world’s leading in pocket gaming device|”
• 1:34 PM: Greg Kumparak Comparing it to the DS and PSP: NO multi-touch, expensive games, no app store, and nothing near the iPod
• 1:35 PM: danielbru
• 1:35 PM: Greg Kumparak “When I say expensive, we’re talking $30-40 per title”
• 1:35 PM: danielbru
• 1:35 PM: danielbru
• 1:35 PM: danielbru
• 1:35 PM: danielbru
• 1:35 PM: danielbru
• 1:35 PM: Greg Kumparak “But worse is the buying experience. Going to a store and trying to find one of these hot new titles is not any fun.”
• 1:35 PM: Greg Kumparak “While the App Store has 75,000 titles. Even just in the gaming category alone”
• 1:35 PM: Greg Kumparak There are 607 titles on PSP, 3680 on DS, and 21,178 on iPhone OS
• 1:36 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing a quick presentation of some of the games on the iPod Touch
• 1:37 PM: Greg Kumparak Everything from Doom resurrection to Glyder
• 1:37 PM: Greg Kumparak “Every day we’re seeing new titles to come out – it just blows my mind”
• 1:37 PM: Greg Kumparak They’re going to preview some new stuff.
• 1:37 PM: Greg Kumparak First up is Ben Mattes of Ubisoft.
• 1:38 PM: Greg Kumparak He’ll be talking about Assassins Creed: Discovery.
• 1:38 PM: Greg Kumparak “Apple has created a world class gaming platform. Ubisoft is putting the finishing touches on one of our hottest properties: Assassins Creed 2″
• 1:39 PM: danielbru
• 1:39 PM: danielbru
• 1:39 PM: danielbru
• 1:39 PM: danielbru
• 1:39 PM: Greg Kumparak “Assassins creed is all about.. brutal hand to hand combat. Thanks to the power of these devicces, we can put diversity into the sounds and the animations”
• 1:39 PM: danielbru
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• 1:39 PM: Greg Kumparak Hah – clever; using your photo library, you’ll be able to put your own cartoonified face on wanted posters.
• 1:39 PM: danielbru
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• 1:39 PM: danielbru
• 1:39 PM: Greg Kumparak They’ve taken Assassins Creed 2d
• 1:40 PM: danielbru
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• 1:40 PM: danielbru
• 1:40 PM: Greg Kumparak The control stick now only moves left/right, rather than in all axis.
• 1:40 PM: Greg Kumparak As we mentioned earlier: Bart Decrem of Tapulous.
• 1:41 PM: Greg Kumparak Tap Tap Revenge has over 10 million users today
• 1:41 PM: Greg Kumparak Today, they’ll be combining music and racing.
• 1:41 PM: Greg Kumparak Bart Decrem is taking the stage
• 1:41 PM: Greg Kumparak “Good morning – when we launched on the app store a year ago, our crazy dream was to hit 1 million users. we hit that goal in 3 weeks”
• 1:41 PM: Greg Kumparak “Today we’re introducing Riddim Ribbon”
• 1:41 PM: Greg Kumparak “Riddim Ribbon puts you in the roll of the DJ. This is a new type of game – let me set the stage”
• 1:42 PM: Greg Kumparak This version of the game, at least, is theemed around the Black Eyed Peas
• 1:42 PM: Greg Kumparak You keep a ball on a ribbon, which is generated from the beat of the music
• 1:42 PM: Greg Kumparak Visually, it’s quite similar to Audiosurf
• 1:43 PM: Greg Kumparak The player fell from the stage. Bart: “Andrew, get us back in the groove”
• 1:43 PM: Greg Kumparak Ball flies back onto the ribbon, Bart dances to the beat as the ball picks up speed.
• 1:43 PM: Greg Kumparak “Thank you – and rock on.”
• 1:43 PM: Greg Kumparak Next up: Mark Hickey of Gameloft.
• 1:44 PM: Greg Kumparak “Gameloft today has almost 20,000,000 downloads, making them one of the biggest developers in the appstore”
• 1:44 PM: Greg Kumparak “Today, we’re going to give you a preview of our new first person shooter, Nova”
• 1:44 PM: danielbru
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• 1:44 PM: danielbru
• 1:44 PM: Greg Kumparak “In nova, you play a space marine” (Space marine FPS! Never seen that before.)
• 1:44 PM: danielbru
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• 1:45 PM: danielbru
• 1:45 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing the character navigating the environment, which looks very Halo-esque.
• 1:45 PM: danielbru
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• 1:45 PM: danielbru
• 1:45 PM: Greg Kumparak Character pulls out a sniper rifle
• 1:45 PM: danielbru
• 1:45 PM: Greg Kumparak First shot: Miss!
• 1:45 PM: danielbru
• 1:45 PM: Greg Kumparak Second shot: Headshot!
• 1:45 PM: danielbru
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• 1:45 PM: Greg Kumparak iPod controls built in to the game, allowing you to rock out while you cap some aliens.
• 1:46 PM: Greg Kumparak Shipping “a little later this year”
• 1:46 PM: Greg Kumparak Schiller reenters the stage.
• 1:46 PM: danielbru
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• 1:46 PM: danielbru
• 1:46 PM: Greg Kumparak “That sort of stuff used to go through my personal computer on my desk. now it’s on my iPod touch, in my pocket”
• 1:46 PM: danielbru
• 1:46 PM: danielbru
• 1:46 PM: Greg Kumparak Travis Boatman of EA is taking the stage
• 1:47 PM: Greg Kumparak Today they’ll be talking about one of the worlds biggest franchises
• 1:47 PM: Greg Kumparak Madden NFL 2010
• 1:47 PM: Greg Kumparak “We have all 32 teams, and all of the players you’d expect”
• 1:47 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing a game between the 49ers and the Steelers.
• 1:47 PM: danielbru
• 1:48 PM: danielbru
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• 1:48 PM: Greg Kumparak Kickoffs are aimed by dragging around, while strength is determined by swiping up and down.
• 1:48 PM: Greg Kumparak Defensive plays are selected by swiping through your selection.
• 1:48 PM: Greg Kumparak Rather than requiring a button to select your player, you simply tap.
• 1:49 PM: Greg Kumparak HAH, a rich Madden quote: “Usually the team with the least mistakes out there will win the game”
• 1:49 PM: danielbru
• 1:49 PM: Greg Kumparak Whoa – you can draw your own plays on screen.
• 1:49 PM: danielbru
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• 1:49 PM: danielbru
• 1:49 PM: Greg Kumparak Tap the receivers as they run to select who to throw to
• 1:49 PM: danielbru
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• 1:49 PM: Greg Kumparak Madden NFL 10 is now available in the App Store.
• 1:51 PM: Greg Kumparak Phil Schiller is recapping the App Store’s strengths, talking about how the iPod Touch is the cheapest gateway to it.
• 1:51 PM: danielbru
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• 1:51 PM: Greg Kumparak “We learned something very important a few years back.”
• 1:51 PM: Greg Kumparak Essentially, $199 is a magic spot.
• 1:52 PM: Greg Kumparak When they dropped from $249 to $199, sales of the past iPod models almost doubled.
• 1:52 PM: Greg Kumparak The iPod touch is now $199 at the base.
• 1:52 PM: Greg Kumparak 8 gb for 199
• 1:52 PM: Greg Kumparak 32 gb for $299
• 1:52 PM: Greg Kumparak and 64GB for $399!
• 1:52 PM: danielbru
• 1:52 PM: danielbru
• 1:52 PM: danielbru
• 1:52 PM: danielbru
• 1:52 PM: Greg Kumparak “Theres something extra about the 64GB ipod touch. Its 50 %faster”
• 1:53 PM: Greg Kumparak They’ve also added OpenGL|ES to the 64GB iPod Touch.
• 1:53 PM: Greg Kumparak “The really important thing, though, is the power of that price”
• 1:53 PM: Greg Kumparak They’re showing the new ad for the iPod touch
• 1:54 PM: Greg Kumparak “Next, the iPod classic”
• 1:54 PM: Greg Kumparak “The iPod classic is for those users who have a huge music library”
• 1:54 PM: Greg Kumparak Todays model is 120gb for $249
• 1:54 PM: Greg Kumparak And its being replaced with a 160GB for $249.
• 1:54 PM: danielbru
• 1:54 PM: danielbru
• 1:54 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: Greg Kumparak Now we’re onto the ipod Shuffle
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: Greg Kumparak “It’s the easiest to use ipod in the world”
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: Greg Kumparak “It’s so easy, the customers have asked us to expand the range of headphones”
• 1:55 PM: danielbru
• 1:55 PM: Greg Kumparak So… they partnered with headphone makers to make special iPod Shuffle headphones
• 1:55 PM: Greg Kumparak And they’re making an adapter which allows any headphones to be used.
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: Greg Kumparak Holding the main button on the shuffle remote now reads back the name of the currently playing song
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:56 PM: danielbru
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak this also allows you to play playlists – just hold the button, and you can switch from playlist to playlist.
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak “Today, we’re bringing out all new colors of the shuffle”
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak Black, silver, pink, green,and bluue
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak New price: $59 for 2Gb
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak $79 for 4GB
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak New model:
• 1:57 PM: danielbru
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak “Special edition”
  Stainless steel iPod shuffle
• 1:57 PM: Greg Kumparak $99 for the 4Gb model
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak To recap: 5 new colors, 2 and 4GB models, plus a stainless steel $99 model
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak “One more thing….”
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak Video camera.
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak Rumors, confirmed!
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’ve seen videos explode in the last few years.”
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak “No where more so than Youtube. A billion streams per day – all coming from us users”
• 1:58 PM: Greg Kumparak They’re showing the Flip Mino
• 1:59 PM: Greg Kumparak which goes for 4GB at $149
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: Greg Kumparak “This market is exploding. we wanted in on this”
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: Greg Kumparak We’re going to start off at 8 GB
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: Greg Kumparak and lower the price.. to free.
• 1:59 PM: danielbru
• 1:59 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’re going to build a camera right into the iPod Nano.”
• 1:59 PM: Greg Kumparak iPod Nano will now have a video camera, microphone, and speaker built in.
• 2:00 PM: Greg Kumparak “And yet, we’ve still retained its incredibly small size”
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: Greg Kumparak 10.9 cu in for the flip mini; 1.1 cu for the iPod Nano
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: danielbru
• 2:00 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing a video quality demonstration – even on the projector, it looks pretty great.
• 2:01 PM: Greg Kumparak “You can also sync it back to your computer – “My videos” folder on a PC, or iMovie on a Mac”
• 2:01 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’ve sold over 100 million iPod Nanos”
• 2:01 PM: danielbru
• 2:01 PM: danielbru
• 2:01 PM: Greg Kumparak “It’s by far the most popular music player in the world”
• 2:01 PM: danielbru
• 2:02 PM: Greg Kumparak iPod nano is now getting coverflow
• 2:02 PM: danielbru
• 2:02 PM: Greg Kumparak and voice over support a la the shuffle
• 2:02 PM: Greg Kumparak It’s also getting Genius Mix
• 2:02 PM: Greg Kumparak FM radio!
• 2:02 PM: Greg Kumparak The iPod Nano now has an FM Radio
• 2:02 PM: danielbru
• 2:02 PM: Greg Kumparak along with a voice recorder and a pedometer.
• 2:02 PM: danielbru
• 2:02 PM: danielbru
• 2:02 PM: danielbru
• 2:02 PM: danielbru
• 2:03 PM: Greg Kumparak The pedometer can tie into Nike+.
• 2:03 PM: Greg Kumparak Recap:Video cam, Voice over, FM radio, Pedometer
• 2:03 PM: danielbru
• 2:03 PM: danielbru
• 2:03 PM: danielbru
• 2:03 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’ve finally figured out how to do AWESOME colors on the iPod Nano”
• 2:03 PM: danielbru
• 2:03 PM: danielbru
• 2:03 PM: Greg Kumparak Red, Pink, Orange, silver, Black, Purple, Blue, Green,Yellow, Orange
• 2:04 PM: Greg Kumparak 16gb for $179. 8 GBfor $149
• 2:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Now they’re showing the ad for the iPod Nanos.
• 2:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Showing off the new colors, matching them to their user’s outfit color.
• 2:04 PM: Greg Kumparak Primarily playing on the video recording
• 2:05 PM: Greg Kumparak Great spot – plays on their classic dancer commercials ,except now you can actually see the people rather than silhouettes
• 2:05 PM: Greg Kumparak All of the nanos use Arsenic free glass, are BFR and Mercury free
• 2:05 PM: Greg Kumparak PVC free, and highly recyclable.
• 2:06 PM: Greg Kumparak The lights have dimmed
• 2:06 PM: Greg Kumparak “Thats what we wanted to show you ..but”
• 2:06 PM: Greg Kumparak “We love music. We never want to forget that..”
• 2:06 PM: Greg Kumparak “Theres no better way to remind us all, then by having a live performance”
• 2:06 PM: Greg Kumparak Norah Jones is entering the stage.
• 2:06 PM: Greg Kumparak They just rolled out her entire stage set in a matter of 20 seconds. Crazy good roadies.
• 2:07 PM: Greg Kumparak “Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Norah Jones”
• 2:07 PM: Greg Kumparak While they’re setting up: Something interesting to note is that they didn’t mention cameras on the iPod Touches.
• 2:08 PM: Greg Kumparak Norah Jones “I think this is the earliest I’ve ever played.. but thats okay”
• 2:08 PM: danielbru
• 2:08 PM: danielbru
• 2:08 PM: danielbru
• 2:08 PM: danielbru
• 2:09 PM: Greg Kumparak She’s singing “Come away with me”, from her new album – and sounds kind of incredible doing it.
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: Greg Kumparak It’s official: Norah Jones can sing better live than most people can sing with massive amounts of post-processing.
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:10 PM: danielbru
• 2:11 PM: danielbru
• 2:11 PM: Greg Kumparak “Thanks to Steve Jobs for having us – we’re really happy for him to be doing well”
• 2:11 PM: Greg Kumparak “We’re gonna do a song from my new album – we havent really played this one very much. It’s called young blood”
• 2:13 PM: danielbru
• 2:13 PM: Greg Kumparak We’ll have a hands on with all of the new devices in just a few minutes on CrunchGear.
• 2:13 PM: danielbru
• 2:13 PM: danielbru
• 2:13 PM: danielbru
• 2:13 PM: danielbru
• 2:14 PM: Greg Kumparak Nothing too surprising this time around, save perhaps a few of the features that snuck into the Nano.
• 2:15 PM: Greg Kumparak Jobs is back on stage..
• 2:15 PM: Greg Kumparak Shaking Norah’s hand, her and her band leave the stage.
• 2:15 PM: Greg Kumparak “Well that’s what we have for you today. Thank you for coming – we’ll see you soon”
• 2:15 PM: Greg Kumparak Lights are back up , the audience is leaving. Check back for our hands ons soon!’

The good news is that the D300s is available now and looks great.

The bad news is the movie mode still features major jelly-motion, and the autofocus is comically slow. We already got a taste of the HD movies with these official productions, but as we noted then, they avoided certain camera movements which embarrass the camera somewhat. Not now!

Nikon Rumors kindly documented the bits we’ve all been waiting to here about. Here’s that jelly effect we observed in the D90 (and 5D mk II):

And here’s the autofocus, which is contrast-based and as slow as death. Can this really be the maximum speed? I mean, other contrast-based focusing cameras are no faster, but it’s still ridiculous.

Though to end a good note, the 7FPS drive sounds great and looks super responsive (of course, there’s no lens so it’s not focusing or metering):

I’m sure it’s a great camera, but like all the other DSLRs, the video has some serious issues. Don’t let it stop you from getting a D300s, though — its movie mode is on par with any other DSLR’s.

The videos, by Robert Bosch and Ami Vitale and commissioned by Nikon to show off the D300s’s movie mode, don’t offer much on that point. I can’t see a lot of skew, but then again, it looks as if the creators went out of their way to avoid situations where skew would be evident (basically, any kind of horizontal movement). I’m also skeptical that YouTube adequately preserves 24fps video. There are some more videos here at Nikon’s site.

Here’s a frame that shows an example of skew (obviously the helicopter blades are moving very quickly, so skew is unavoidable):

Needless to say, this kind of distortion tends to distract the eye, and a filmmaker would be right to avoid it when using a camera prone to it.

Commenters at the original post are debating what manual controls, if any, there are. The consensus seems to be that there’s manual focus and a selectable aperture before shooting. That pretty much makes it difficult to use for serious filmmaking, but it doesn’t mean it won’t be great for this and that.

[ProLost via PDNPulse]

onOne is hard at work on v1.1 of their popular DSLR app or so says Mike Wong (the update should be submitted early next week) and while we wait for the update to get pushed out, the boys in Portland have published a list of compatible DSLRs.

Supported Canon Cameras

Supported Nikon Cameras

via onOne

The D90 far surpasses the full frame Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1, and even Red’s Scarlet.

A controversial, nay, inflammatory statement. I’m not sure I’m willing to take it seriously, considering the man is also the producer and sound editor for the film (his second).

An actual cinematographer would appreciate the D90, but would find it utterly unfit for actual shooting, considering its limitations. At the very least, even if they found it impressive, they would refrain from such statements as this above. Whether it’s better for some things than the 5D Mk II is a judgment call and the DMC-GH1 is a given, but the Scarlet? Is this guy on crack?

For reasons we have discussed, current DSLRs are pretty much unsuitable for serious filmmaking. If this movie isn’t a joke to begin with (and I think that it is), then it’s a joke of a movie.

[via Nikon Rumors]

Portland-based onOne Software has updated their list of supported Canon DSLRs for the DSLR Camera Remote app for the iPhone. Nikon owners should take note that the iPhone app will soon support Nikon DSLRs when v1.1 gets pushed out next month.

FireWire
* 1D Mark II
* 1Ds Mark II [1 ]
* 1D Mark II N

USB
*Your camera must be set to PC Connection and your Firmware must be up-to-date*

* Rebel XT/350D/Kiss Digital N
* 20D
* 5D

USB
*Your camera must be set to Print/PC (PTP) as the communication mode*

* Rebel XTi/400D/Kiss Digital X
* Rebel Xsi*/450D*/Kiss X2*
* Rebel XS*/1000D*/Kiss F*
* 30D
* 40D*
* 50D*
* 5D Mark II*
* 1D Mark III*
* 1Ds Mark III*

The following Nikon DSLRs will be supported in v1.1.

* Nikon D40
* Nikon D40x
* Nikon D60
* Nikon D80
* Nikon D90
* Nikon D5000
* Nikon D200
* Nikon D300
* Nikon D700
* Nikon D3
* Nikon D3x

Nikon D2 users – Unfortunately, the support for this camera is not documented in the Nikon SDK and as such, we cannot confirm that our iPhone app will work with any variation of the D2 camera body.

Canon Update [onOne]
v1.1 [onOne]

I think I speak for every camera nerd out there when I say, Hallelujah!!! It’s about damn time Eye-Fi released an Ad Hoc enabled SDHC card. Live blogging will now be 100x easier.

The 4GB Eye-Fi Pro now supports RAW files on top of pre-existing support for JPEG and video files. Geotagging and Hotspot access are available on the Pro model as well. The Eye-Fi Pro is available now on Amazon and Eye-Fi for $149.

But that’s not all. Eye-Fi also announced a new feature, Selective Transfer, that lets you pick and choose what gets uploaded.

Using the “protect” or “lock” feature in the camera’s menu, users can select which files to wirelessly upload. Any “protected” photo will automatically be uploaded, and all photos will remain on the memory card until the user manually deletes them. Selective Transfer is free, and available now for all Eye-Fi card users through the Eye-Fi Manager.

On the Eye-Fi Connected camera front, the following cameras are all Eye-Fi Connected: Nikon D5000, Nikon D90, Nikon D60, Casio EX-S12, Casio EX-S5, Casio EX-FS10, Casio EX-FC100 and Casio EX-Z29.

We’ve been following this yeti for some time now and it seems that NikonRumor’s rumors are coming true. To recap, they thought the D5000 would drop during PMA.

So far the only spec leaked is that the camera will be loaded with a 12.3 MP sensor which is in line with previous reports that the D5000’s image quality would be on par with the D90 who just so happens to also sport a 12.3 MP sensor. Nice.

Update: Nikon Rumors manged to dig up two more pics of the upcoming camera. Plus, the site is claiming that the D5000 should hit stores on May 1st, 2009. No official word from Nikon yet though.

Update 2:  The leaks keep on flowing. Nikon Rumors found some specs via sofmap.com who also lists the camera for 84,800 Yen, which works out to be $844. Seems ’bout right from a discount retailer. MSRP to be around a $1k?

• Bali-angle LCD, 2.7 inch?
• D movie image editing and enhanced scene mode
• Silent Mode AF
• 11-point target tracking AF 
• ISO3200high sensitivity support

If you’re ready to jump head first into the pool of netbooks then consider HP’s Mini 1000 line. They’re comparably priced and spec’d out to compete with the rest of the lot, but if you’re still a little uneasy about the whole thing then read on for a list of pros and cons for the machine I’ve been lusting over since last year.

Overview

If 2009 is the year of the netbook, then HP is one to watch. They haven’t just jumped on the bandwagon, though. Remember the 2133, that people called a UMPC? Well, the Mini 1000 is the non-business, next-gen iteration of the 2133. Unlike its XP brethren in the Mini 1000 line, the Mi edition runs HP’s own flavor of Ubuntu called Mi (Mobile internet), which focuses on the basics: e-mail, web browsing and media.

Specs for the Mini 1000 Mi are what you’d expect from a netbook: 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 2GB of RAM, and an 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB SSD or 80GB 4200RPM HDD.

There’s a 10.1-inch LED-backlit screen with a 1024×576 resolution, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, two USB ports, an Ethernet port, Bluetooth and a 2-in-1 SD/MMC card reader. And let’s not forget the nearly full-size keyboard that HP says is 92 percent of standard size.

Price vs Performance

Our 10.1-inch review unit came fully equipped at $474.99, save for having only 1GB of RAM — which we’re content with, but I’d recommend spending the extra $50 for the extra gig. For a sub-$500 laptop, the Mini 1000 Mi is a tad underwhelming when compared to its XP counterpart, and it’s limited by the Ubuntu OS. HP has a cache of approved Ubuntu friendly apps that you can download and install, but they’re mostly games and very lightweight photo editing programs that let you rotate images and nothing else. I mean, what am I going to do with a DVD player program when I don’t have an optical drive?

Battery Life

You’ll want to upgrade the Mi’s 3 cell battery to the 6 cell because I barely managed to get two hours with light browsing and no media playback. One of the problems with the Mini 1000, IMO, is that the wireless and Bluetooth are bundled together, which means you can’t run them independently. Not that Bluetooth deteriorates battery life significantly, but the option to run either of them independently should have been implemented.

Form Factor

The form factor is what initially attracted me to the Mini 1000 when I first saw prototypes of it late last year. The keyboard really is close to full size and the whole thing weighs in at 2.25 lb., which is a welcome relief compared to my 5.4 lb. MacBook Pro. It’s tiny at 10.3×6.56×0.99 inches and fits into just about any bag or even some purses. It’s the perfect size for someone who’s always on the go, but needs something more than just a smartphone to stay connected.

The track pad takes a little getting used to with the buttons moved to the left and right sides, which I assume allowed the HP engineers to cram a bigger keyboard onto the chassis. Along the right side of the track pad is page-scrolling sensor for faster document and web viewing.

The keyboard is quite responsive and it only takes a few minutes to adjust when stepping down from a full-sized keyboard. The “Windows” buttons have been replaced with an “HP” button and an icon that seems to imply switching. The “HP” button takes you back to the home screen while the switch button is an Alt-Tab shortcut.

Screen

At 10.1 inches, the screen is big but far from perfect with a 1024×576 resolution. The colors are a bit dull, and don’t exactly pop off the screen when viewing pictures — the once-vibrant sample images of undersea life certainly don’t help the cause. It’s passable, but we’d like to see HP bring the high-res screen from the 2140 over to the Mini 1000 line.

OS

The homepage for the Mi is divided into three columns: Mail, Web, and Music/Photos. Your e-mail is configured using Thunderbird while Web browsing is taken care of by Firefox. Your IM client is Pidgin, which handles all the popular protocols like AIM, MSN, ICQ and so on. Skype 2 also comes pre-loaded and works well with the built-in webcam.

Open Office handles all document processing and includes Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentations and Drawing. Adobe Reader 8 also comes installed.

Overall, the OS is fluid and easy to navigate but launching applications takes a bit longer than we’d like and can be clunky at times.

The Bad

The only real downside to the Mini 1000 Mi is the price to performance ratio compared to that of the Mini 1000 that runs XP, which is significantly more powerful because it’s not hindered by HP’s limited bank of programs. Spec for spec, the XP version is also $35 cheaper than the Mi version.

Conclusion

Despite its shortcomings, the Mini 1000 Mi edition is a great little machine and the Mi OS keeps things simple. This is exactly what I’d recommend for my mom because it’s dead simple to use and extremely straight forward. Otherwise, I’d recommend the XP variant for those looking for more versatility.

Product Page

Nikon Rumors, a good authority on everything Nikon btw, is stating that via a reliable source, the D5000 will be launched next week in Vegas. So far the only spec leaked is that the camera will be loaded with a 12.3 MP sensor which is in line with previous reports that the D5000’s image quality would be on par with the D90 who just so happens to also sport a 12.3 MP sensor. Nice.

Chances are though that this will not be the only entry level DSLR announced next week. Pentax just dropped the price on some of its models and Canon knows what they are doing. Next week should be a great time for camera fiends.

LG announced today the LG-GD900 cell phone, which has a very distinguishing feature – a translucent sliding keypad. The phone was designed to make a new fashion statement, and is scheduled to release during the second quarter of 2009. No word on the features yet, but who cares about the features? It’s beautiful!

Let’s look at the big fish first:

Nikon P90

The P90 (not to be convinced with the D90, or the gun) is the new megazoom. With a monstrous 24x optical zoom, it has a 26-624mm equivalent zoom range. Of course, at that range the image will shake like a dead leaf, so it’s got vibration reduction up the yin-yang. It’s got a nice tiltable 3-inch LCD screen, and the sensor has 12.1 megapixels.

It’ll shoot up to 15 fps (not 30; it’s a feature, not a shortcoming!) and has an interesting feature in which it will take 10 shots in a row and then keep just the sharpest one. Good for low-light non-flash portraits, when the timing doesn’t matter. I do this myself with my DSLR’s rapid fire. Glad to see a feature worth using. They call it the Best Shot Selector, or BSS.

It’ll be available in March for $400.

Nikon L100

Technically part of the L series of point-and-shoots, the L100 is the standout, mainly because of its freaky form factor. It’s a lot like the P90 but less so, with a more restrained 15x optical zoom but most of the same features. Interestingly, though it only shoots 13 fps in its rapid fire mode, it will record 30 fps video if you set it to 3 megapixels or less. There has to be a better way of making that happen; maybe it’s easy in-camera but they don’t make it sound like it.

It’s 10 megapixels, which won’t be much of a loss against the P90, and also has a 3″ LCD, though it isn’t posable. It costs $280, which makes it a way better deal than the P90, in my opinion, but if you’re going to spend that much for something bulky and weird, why not go all the way and get a DSLR?

Never mind that the Core i7 will probably melt a hole through the case and render you unable to have children — this is power for power’s sake. It’ll have a Core i7 processor on an X58 chipset, with 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA G280 GPU. It’ll have room for three 2.5″ HDDs and will come with a Blu-ray burner. Well! That certainly outclasses my brand new MacBook Pro, and even more so my aging desktop.

Nobody knows what it looks like, but naturally it’s 17″ and probably at least a full 2″ thick. Otherwise that thing will overheat before you see the boot screen.

Should be available in May. But who will buy this? Croesus? Midas? Jack Bauer?

Ever wonder whether you could just intercept that Live View stream and save it? Well, you can. It’s just no one thought to actually try… until now.

The good news is that this hack by Olivier Giroux works. You can run it over USB and it sends out about 30 usable frames per second of JPEGs at somewhat less than VGA resolution. I guess that last part could be considered bad news.

The bad news continues in that the video is pretty crappy quality, too. Like the D90’s full-fledged video function, the video image is not formed by resampling and resizing, but by throwing away information and fitting the remainder together. I explained the process (with the awesome illustration below) in this post about why DSLR video quality was compromised. The same thing is happening here but way more severe throwaway is happening. You can see that the quality isn’t even up to YouTube standards.

Of course, Nikon never meant this (nor did Canon mean this) to be an actual video solution. It’s a hack and it acts like one, and it’s cool no matter what. Thanks to Olivier for cooking this up. We’ll update when he puts out something we can use, too.

[via Nikon Rumors]

I just got back from a run to Costco (Redwood City) and took a quick spin through the electronics section and spotted this deal on the D90. Well, I think it’s worthy of a CrunchDeal since I haven’t come across this specific combo at a comparable price on the Web. In any case, Costco is offering the D90 with two lenses (18-55mm & 55-200mm) for $1400 with a $100 MIR dropping it down to $1300. I want to say that the MIR offer ends at the end of the month, but the iPhone didn’t seem to capture that part very clearly. You may want to call and see if your local Costco is offering the same deal.

Good news, YouTube freaks. Eye-Fi is going to demo the all new video-upload-to-youtube  feature at CES. According to the Video End-User Research: 2008, you guys use your camera to shoot videos quite often. It’s the same as before, just with video and in HD.

CES, LAS VEGAS — Jan. 7, 2009 — Eye-Fi Inc., makers of the world’s first wireless memory card for digital cameras, today announced that it is developing a way for users to wirelessly upload videos from their digital camera to YouTube and a home computer. Eye-Fi will preview the technology at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 8-11, in booth #32024 in the TechZone of South Hall Three.

“We’re aiming to do for video what we’ve already done for photos: provide the easiest, simplest way to save and share your digital memories,” said Jef Holove, CEO for Eye-Fi.  ”Our wireless technology makes it effortless to upload videos to YouTube using the digital camera you already have, without the fuss of special software.  You won’t need to find a USB cable or even turn on your computer to get your memories in front of one of the largest audiences on the Web.”

According to a recent InfoTrends study, Video End-User Research: 2008, the point-and-shoot camera is now the most commonly used device for capturing memories on video.  With Eye-Fi’s wireless SD memory cards for digital cameras, users can upload photos – and soon video – automatically through Wi-Fi networks. Eye-Fi hotspot subscribers can also upload their memories away from home at more than 10,000 Wayport and open hotspot locations across the U.S.

Eye-Fi is designing its video upload service to support full-resolution HD video, with newer cameras like the Nikon D90 capturing HD video and Web sites including YouTube now testing display of HD video.

“Some of the most popular clips on YouTube are shot on digital cameras, rather than video camcorders,” said Ziv Gillat, vice president of business development for Eye-Fi. “Eye-Fi will give people the power to upload videos automatically, making it even easier for the YouTube community to post their life events, home videos and breaking news – virtually as they happen.”

Eye-Fi will also demonstrate its new video upload technology in the “Last Gadget Standing” event on January 10 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. PST in room N255-257 in LVCC, North Hall.

Eye-Fi’s wireless SD memory cards have won numerous awards, including Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New 2008” and PC World’s “The 100 Best Products of 2008.” For more information, please visit www.eye.fi.

About Eye-Fi

Founded in 2005, the company is dedicated to building products and services that help consumers navigate, nurture and share their visual memories. Eye-Fi’s patent-pending technology works with Wi-Fi networks to automatically send photos from a digital camera to online, in-home and retail destinations. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., the company’s investors include LMS Capital, Opus Capital, Shasta Ventures and TransLink Capital. More information is available at www.eye.fi.