Back in March we had our first opportunity to play with Fujifilm’s new FinePix X100, and more recently we were able to take it for a longer test drive outside of a press event setting. Unfortunately, because of the limited availability of the camera due to recent events in Japan, and the high demand, we were only able to spend a long weekend with it. And while we were able to glean some more in-depth impressions of Fujifilm’s homage to the classic rangefinder, we don’t feel we’ve had enough time with it to put together a proper review. So consider this a more elaborate ‘hands-on’ look at the camera. (If you are looking for an exhaustive and thorough review of the X100 we encourage you to check out DPReview’s in-depth look at the camera. As usual they go above and beyond the call of duty.)
But that doesn’t mean we haven’t come to any of our own conclusions about the FinePix X100. If you like the idea of carrying a camera with a DSLR sized APS-C sensor, minus the weight and bulk of an actual DSLR, the X100 is a strong contender. Particularly if you’ve got a soft spot for the charm and analogue controls of an old-school rangefinder, but prefer the convenience of digital over film. More after the jump.
Think about this for a minute: you can get your hands on a dual-core 15.6 inch laptop with “streamlined design, Altec-Lansing speakers and SRS Surround Sound, borderless touchpad and chiclet-like keyboard, HDMI, Webcam & card reader” for $384. Brand new and shipped. That’s not even a month’s rent. That’s probably how much you spend on overpriced lattes in six weeks! See, the Pavilion g6 line of portables are HPs budget-minded offerings and on today’s deal, all of them are getting a $100 off plus a $15 to $50 additional coupon, depending on configuration. So while the g6t with the dual-core processor just mentioned does fall from $499 to $384 (after a $115 total rebate) the g6s line with the newer Sandy Bridge Core i3 processor starts at $569 after a $130 price slash.
It’s summer time again, and that big ball of nuclear fusion has unleashed its horrific fury on us in full force. Fitness experts, scientists, and moms have always preached the benefits of fresh air, but the summer sun has long deterred geeks from stepping foot outside. Fortunately, Hammacher Schlemmer has designed a chair that brings all the luxuries of indoors outdoors, so maybe it’s time we geeks give this “outside” another chance.
This monster of a chair is what you get when you cross cooler, coffee table, and chair DNA into a glorious hybrid. Providing ample shade is a 4′ diameter umbrella that can pivot to any angle to deny the sun’s fiery gaze. Each armrest sports a cupholder (in case, for some reason, you like to go akimbo with your drinking), and inside each armrest lies an insulated compartment that can keep an extra 6 canned drinks cold. Another non-insulated compartment rests under the seat to store reading materials, sunblock, etc. The footrest can also detach and function as an endtable or lapdesk. The chair is made of a breathable, soft mesh and even features an adjustable pillow to kick the comfort level up a notch.
This whole thing folds up into a rollable suitcase style rig, but it also features shoulder straps should you prefer to carry it like a real outdoorsman. The chair runs at $300, but there is also a scaled-back sports-style model offered for $75.
ioSafe has made a name for itself by creating hard drives that can withstand all manner of natural disasters. By survive, it means that once you extract the internal disk from the charred or flooded rubble, all your data should still be there, even if your house or office isn’t. It’s the personal computing version of an airplane’s ‘black box’. Until lately, these indestructible vaults were meant to be nailed down or chained in place with security cables. The extra material required to insulate the drive from water and fire adds a great deal of bulk.
ioSafe’s Rugged Portable drive is meant to be a more travel-friendly version of the ioSafe SoloPRO. It is much closer to the same size as standard external hard drives, but it can easily fit into a laptop bag or carried in one hand from place to place. Being a much smaller drive, ioSafe did have to trim off some of the protective features, yet the drive still managed to survive in all three durability tests: water immersion; fire; and blunt force (basically, shooting the drive with a shotgun). The Rugged Portable also came out on top in the real-world performance test, thanks to the 2.5″ Seagate 7200-rpm drive and USB 3.0. Read a detailed review at Everything USB to find out if all these features and performance warrant the high cost per gigabyte.
I don’t care what Cook’s Illustrated has to say about it, if they made a stainless steel version of this Karate Chopper lettuce knife, I’d use it for anything and everything in my kitchen. They say that Bruce Lee was able to halve an onion with his hand from just an inch away (yes, I know his discipline was Jeet Kune Do, not Karate) but with this knife anyone can feel like a martial arts master, even if they’ve never broken a single board in their life. This version is made from dishwasher safe high-impact plastic, and is available from GAMA-GO for just $12. It’s fine for vegetables and breads I suspect, but until a metal butcher knife version is available, I’d avoid going to town on meats with it.
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of VeeBeam for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
By David Ponce
Veebeam is a cool product that will take the hassle out of watching your digital files in your TV or HDTV. The idea is that it can capture what is on your computer screen and send that signal wirelessly (through secure Wireless USB) to a base station which is connected to your HDTV. The way this is done is very simple. You download the software, which is available for Mac and Windows. Once installed, take the USB antenna from the base station, insert into available USB socket and wait for pairing. On the TV, switch to the appropriate video source and you’re good to go. The base station can output in 1080P and also has a digital audio/TOSLink for appropriate sound reproduction through your home theatre’s sound system.
There are two playback modes. One in which the TV shows exactly what is on your computer screen, and another that lets you multitask, sending only the video files you’d like to the TV while allowing you to get some work done on the computer.
The standard definition Veebeam is $99 while the high definition is $149. And if you use coupon code “20off” you can get 20% off any Veebeam purchase.
I’m assuming until recently these small tins of the interactive gels that were so vital to completing Portal 2 were only available in the Aperture Science gift shop. But since the company seems to have fallen on hard times as of late, you can now get them from ThinkGeek instead. All three varieties are available including the bue Repulsion Gel, the white Conversion Gel (you know, for making any surface portal-friendly) and the orange Propulsion Gel. Since the amounts included in the tins are so small though, just 3.2oz, I doubt you’re actually going to see their effect. So don’t expect any miracles if you order them individually at $14.99 each, or as a complete set for $39.99.
The good people at Toy and Television Games have just announced their flagship launch product, the Nintendo Game Boy GBA SP Arcade Tabletop, which leaves me with exactly two pressing questions:
1. There’s consumer demand for a GBA SP permanently attached to an Acacia wood and American steel dock that took 300+ hours to design and build and features an arcade joystick and buttons?
2. If consumers have demanded such a product, they’re also willing to pay $399 for it?
Given the auction for serial #001 appears to have been originally posted on June 7, I’m assuming the answer to both of those questions so far is no. Even though the seller excitedly proclaims: “We hope to build hundreds of these over the coming years…”
When attending a massive music and arts festival, the last thing you want happening is your mobile phone dying so you miss out on distractions like email, Facebook and Twitter. So once again Orange has cooked up another concept device to be tested at this year’s Glastonbury festival of contemporary arts that lets you recharge your electronics without having access to an outlet. In the past they’ve created devices like the Power Pump and Power Wellies, but this year it’s a t-shirt that will theoretically be providing power to future concert goers.
To be specific, it’s actually a piezoelectric film panel on the front of the t-shirt that generates the power. About the size of a piece of A4 paper, it works like a large microphone, absorbing sound waves and converting them into an electrical charge via interlaced quartz crystals that is then stored in a separate battery. As long as sound levels stay around 80dB, the Sound Charge shirt should produce about 6 W/h of power over the weekend, which is roughly enough to recharge two old-school cellphones, or a single modern smartphone. Not exactly the most efficient solution out there, but it’s certainly eco-friendly.
Related Tags: Digital Cameras, Photography
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