Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Adapter weds Leica lenses to Micro Four Thirds cameras -- for real, Heidi

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/adapter-weds-leica-lenses-to-micro-four-thirds-cameras-for-re/


The German outfit Novoflex has just announced an adapter that will allow you to mount Leica lenses onto your Micro Four Thirds system cameras. Due out this month at €149 (about $193), the mount is one in a planned series, with adapters for Leica R, Nikon, Contax / Yashica, Olympus OM, Pentax and Minolta MD lenses expected in February. Of course, the only MFT camera out there is Panasonic's Lumix G1, but with a new Olympus on the horizon and more sure to follow, this is certainly good news for all of you budget-conscious photographers out there.

[Via Wired]

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Adapter weds Leica lenses to Micro Four Thirds cameras -- for real, Heidi originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:18 AM

OpenCL 1.0 spec released, GPUs everywhere to get a workout

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/opencl-1-0-spec-released-gpus-everywhere-to-get-a-workout/


How time flies -- it was just a few weeks ago that the OpenCL spec was finalized and sent out for final legal review, and now it's here and ready to go. Over 20 partner companies (including AMD, NVIDIA, and, somewhat surprisingly, Intel) have signed on to the parallel programming standard originally proposed by Apple as part of Snow Leopard, and the final spec should allow apps to tap into multi-core CPUs, GPUs, DSPs and even variants of the Cell chip for everything from raw number crunching to interfacing with OpenGL. Sounds hot -- now we'll just have to see how Microsoft counters with the GPU acceleration expected to be built into Windows 7.

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OpenCL 1.0 spec released, GPUs everywhere to get a workout originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:18 AM

Apple rumored to be turning iTunes into a DRM-free music store

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/apple-rumored-to-be-turning-itunes-into-a-drm-free-music-store/

We can't count the number of times we've heard from one random source or another that Apple was about to pull the trigger on a subscription-based / 100% DRM-free music service, and given how those have worked out in the past, we'd highly recommend taking this one with a huge dose of salt. French site ElectronLibre has it that Apple will finally offer up all of its music in DRM-free form starting as early as tomorrow, specifically calling out Sony, Universal and Warner as outfits who would join the protection-free cause. Should this happen, it would obviously be a dream come true for ole Steve, but we're still left to wonder what would happen to bitrates, prices and (potentially most important) all other iTMS content. Something tells us Hollywood isn't quite as ready to release its death grip.

[Via AppleInsider]

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Apple rumored to be turning iTun! es into a DRM-free music store originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:17 AM

New Broadcom chip for phones does 802.11n, lots of other stuff

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/09/new-broadcom-chip-for-phones-does-802-11n-lots-of-other-stuff/

Phones have lagged -- understandably, we suppose -- behind desktops and laptops in bringing 802.11n to market, but it was bound to happen eventually; to that end, Broadcom has announced its BCM4329, one of the first mobile 802.11n solutions on the block. On top of delivering up to 50Mbps of real-world WiFi throughput on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, the darned thing throws in Bluetooth, an FM receiver, and an FM transmitter, too -- in other words, everything but the kitchen sink, where the "kitchen sink" is the cellular radio itself. Sadly, the 4329 sticks with single-stream transmission to conserve battery life -- no MIMO here, folks -- but considering the 802.11g alternative, we'll take what we can get. The chip's already being sampled (and hopefully being integrated into future products) by Broadcom's customers with mass production following on sometime in 2009.

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New Broadcom chip for phones does 802.11n, lots of other stuff originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:17 AM

Acer takes the "most netbooks sold" crown from ASUS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/09/acer-takes-the-most-netbooks-sold-crown-from-asus/

The hotter-than-ever netbook market -- which has seemingly been headed Acer's way for a while now -- has seen its numbers for the third quarter of 2008 arrive, and the Aspire One has indeed overtaken ASUS Eee PC as top dog in units moved. Acer's captured 38.3 percent of the market share, selling 2.15 million netbooks, while ASUS sold about 1.7 million, or 30.3 percent. Possibly adding insult to injury, we hear that an XP-loaded Aspire One can be yours for $299 today at Best Buy. We doubt ASUS will be taking its toys and going home any time soon, but we might've heard a few sniffles coming from its corner during recess.

[Via Laptop]

Read - Best Buy
Read - Strong netbook shipments buoy notebook PC market in Q3 '08

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Acer takes the "most netbooks sold" crown from ASUS originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:17 AM

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