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MSI’s Wind has proven, deservedly or not, to be one of the more popular netbooks. This might be down to a good combination of price, size, performance and looks. It might be because it is one of the easiest netbooks on which to install Mac OS X. Or it might be because, unlike Asus’ fractally burgeoning lineup of Eee PCs, MSI has so far offered only one model (in a variety of colors, of course).

This is about to change. The Wind’s first successor, the U120, was announced a short while ago. While that was essentially a Wind with a sharper looking case design and a 3.5G radio inside, two newly announced Winds will mix up the internals, too.

The new models are named the U110 and U115. The first surprise is the processor. Instead of the netbook favorite, the 1.6 GHz Atom N270, these new ‘books can be had with the Atom Z530. It has the same 1.6GHz clock speed, but supposedly sips less power.

Also new, and only in the U115, is a hybrid storage system. Winds come with HDDs, not solid state drives, but the U115 will offer a combination of both (paired thusly, in Gigabytes: 8/80, 16/120 and 32/160). This is, we imagine, another attempt at prolonging battery life by shifting virtual memory and other oft-used data onto the less power hungry SSD.

The result of this tweaking is, claims MSI, a ten-hour battery life. Hopefully this will be achieved with a more modestly sized six-cell battery rather than the cancerous growth that is the nine-cell, but we could even live with that if it meant true, all day independence from wall-warts.

MSI Announces Netbook: U110, U115 in addition to U120 [Netbook 3G via Laptop Mag]

See Also:

 
• Review: Just How Good Is the MSI Wind?

 

• It Lives! Gadget Lab’s Netbook Running OS X Leopard

 

• MSI Wind 2 Netbook Set for November Release

 

• MSI Unleashes Second Wind Netbook

After dismissing airport-destined full-body scanners as nonsense last month, the German government has decided to have another crack at the latest device in the game known as "security theater".

The T-Ray scanner, which sees through clothes to detect such hidden dangers as nail clippers and perhaps a ripe, potentially explosive Mozzarella di Bufala (yes, Naples airport — I’m still sore about that), has been nicknamed the "Naked Scanner" by Germans. The device renders a blurred picture of the body underneath the clothes, raising issues of privacy.

Now, remember — this scanner is likely to do nothing other than inconvenience passengers and add extra Euros to EU airports’ budgets. But attempting to discount the device on privacy grounds seems a little prudish. Here’s what the German Interior Ministry (irony noted) is doing about it:

 

Germany will begin laboratory tests in the next few weeks on full-body airport screening devices to see if they can produce images that do not show passengers naked. (emphasis added)

This is especially ridiculous when you consider the usual German attitude to nudity. I have spent many afternoons in German parks, and seen the rather scary sight of a big-bellied father, naked but for a pair of sandals, cooking sausages on a barbecue. That’s something the politicians should be looking into.

Germany plans lab tests for airport "naked scans" [Reuters]

See Also:

• Germany Says "Nein" to Full Body Scanners
• British Security Camera Can See Through Clothes

Nikon has announced the D3X, a new full frame DSLR with a whopping 24.5 megapixels. It is, more or less, a D3 with a bigger sensor and a bigger price tag. How big? $8000 big.

About that sensor. It will give images of up to 6048 x 4032 pixels, and runs from ISO 100 to a rather conservative ISO 1600, compared to the ISO 6400 available on the smaller 12MP D3. The images coming off that sensor range up to a huge 138 MB, making a 2GB CF card look like a 12 exposure 135 film.

Amazingly, Nikon says that the D3X can still shift up to five frames per second in full frame FX format, and up to seven fps if you shrink your images down to DX format.

So, why would you buy this, aside from a need to fill up an empty hard drive quickly? Nikon is pitching this at the studio photographers who need all the pixels they can get, along with fashion and landscape photogs. It makes sense. If you are under bright lights or have the camera sitting on a tripod, you don’t need the amazing low-light sensitivity of the original D3 (or D700). We actually like the fact that there is a choice here: you get the same body and functions with both the D3 and the D3X, but you can choose the sensor. It’s, you know, just like changing films used to be. Only a little more expensive.

Is $8000 too much? If you stack it up against the alternative – medium format cameras – then $8000 starts to look cheap. And we’d be very surprised indeed if Nikon didn’t follow this up in several months with a D700X.

Product page [Nikon]

See Also:

 
• Review: Nikon D3 is Light-Years Ahead of Other Prosumer-Grade …

 

• Is Nikon Prepping A 24 Megapixel D3 Replacement?

 

• Hands-On With the Nikon D700

 

• Video: Nikon D700 Shooting at Eight FPS

Panasonic is calling on the Blu-ray Disc Association to create an interface standard that will force manufacturers to store 3D images within the left- and right-eye two-channel mode on all HD content.

The company is also calling for a new HDMI standard that will make it easier to transfer the left- and right- single-frame data units (unique to 3D feeds) to TV displays that feature the option.

According to the giant Japanese manufacturer, the new standards will prevent patent conflict related to 3D imagery and allow the technology to grow exponentially over the next few years.

Current 3D image encoding uses a two-channel function and that’s where Panasonic believes it should stay. The easier the new 3D-enabled TVs can identify image data, equipment and other elements through this standard, the easier it will be to sell the technology to consumers.

But Panasonic doesn’t want to enforce a standard for actual 3D displays – too many other companies are trying to outdo each other with different, intriguing techniques in that area.

Mitsubishi’s first laser TV uses a 3D IR wireless emitter, where the source device supports checkerboard display formats (a type of complicated calibration). Samsung offers 3D-ready TVs that vibrate the images at 120 frames per second, alternating back and forth at 60 fps in each eye (Panasonic is offering basically the same thing). And Philips is on the verge of releasing their Quad-Full Autostereoscopic real 3D display, which has such a high speed and resolution that it alternates between 46 views at once, pushing 3D into the real world and eliminating the need for silly glasses.

Add Hollywood’s (and the public’s) increased interest in 3D to the equation, and you have a technology that needs to be supported. Stunted growth due to patent battles and consumer confusion caused the similar battle between HD DVDs and Blu-ray disks to suffer the consequences this year with a less than bountiful bottom line.

After all, a consumer won’t buy a 3D Blu-ray movie if it can only be played in one type of television, or if takes two different media players.

Panasonic says that their standard request is built to be accepted easily by the rest of the companies. If it’s accepted by the Blu-ray association, expect to see a 3D storage standard within two years.

Photo: /pitzyper!/Flickr

Source: Tech-On 

Ahhh Thanksgiving, a time for egg nog and egg nog based martinis. But that blasted shaking? Who has time to do that when there’s a perfectly good turkey that needs to be horridly burned? Houseware maker Waring thinks they have the answer with its automatic martini maker. Too bad the gadget is, well, pretty much unnecessary.  From Christopher Null’s review:

Let’s put on our Captain Obvious cape for a moment and deliver this
nugget of wisdom: There’s no good reason for anyone to buy the Waring
Martini Maker. No good reason it should exist at all. For one long
minute this device does through electrical what your arms can achieve
in a mere 10 seconds… and it does a worse job of it too. But the
Waring Martini Maker does exist. And for that reason, we had no choice but to try it out.

$100, waringproducts.com

Read the rest of the review of the Waring Martini Shaker right here.

Getting your name laser engraved onto a notebook sounds like a cool idea. But you’d look pretty dumb carrying around a Rhodia notebook that quotes some guy named "Buddah" (photo to the right).

Otherwise, Notebook Engraver’s offerings look snazzy: The company sells a variety of notebooks from Rhodia, Quo Vadis and Clairefontaine. On the site, you can enter text you’d like custom engraved on the front or the spine ($5 per engraving). And just like that — Buddah-bing, Buddah-bam — you’ve got a slick notebook with your sexy name etched onto it.

Just make sure to check your spelling first.

Product Page [Notebook Engraver via Twitter]   

The orgy of spending that is The Holiday Season begins in the US this weekend. Family, food, gifts, the whole daunting shebang.

Sure, you might enjoy spending the four-day weekend locked up in the house with the in-laws and stuffing yourself with leftovers, but why not escape? Here we give you five suggestions for healthier, cheaper, nerdier and, above all, funner things to do this holiday.

Photo: [177]/Flickr

Get Nerdy in the Kitchen

Face it. You’re going to have to cook a turkey, so why not make it fun? Deep frying is dangerous but gives a crispy skin, a Turducken is, well, it starts with the word "turd", so we’ll skip that, and you can even chop out the breastbone and flatten the thing for the grill (fast and juicy). There are many alternative turkey methods, but the main thing you need to remember is the temperature.

A probe thermometer is cheap, and it’s the only way to know when the bird is done. Turkeys have thin parts, thick parts, flat bits and round bits, so estimating the time you need is wildly inaccurate. An probe plunged carefully into the thickest part of the meat will tell you when the meat is just juicy, but not overdone. When the readout hits 161ºF, pull out the roast and let it rest for 15 minutes and carve. If you have a thermometer with an alarm that can summon you from the den, then that’s just gravy.

Make a Camera

You could buy a new Canon 5D MkII, as we suggested earlier today, and escape the family for a day of shooting. Better still, especially if you have kids, is to make a camera. Yesterday we posted a guide to building a giant camera from an old flatbed scanner, a magnifying glass and a stack of black cardboard. This will keep you from getting bored, keep the kids out of trouble and, best of all, you can escape into the den later to "process the images".

Hold a Garage Sale

All that junk you have accumulated over the last year? Get rid of it. While everybody else is out buying yet more plastic crap on Black Friday, you could clear out the cupboards, make little cash and even meet the neighbors. Don’t underestimate the feeling of wellbeing you’ll have when all the digital detritus has been cleared from your home. I do it roughly once a year and it’s both relaxing and satisfying. Bonus: You’ll make some cash to spend on newer, faster, better gadgets.

Get Out

Theoretically, once everybody has finished rushing about the country in planes, trains and automobiles, the roads on Thursday should be relatively safe and quiet. This is the perfect time to get on your bike or try out the in-line skates that have been sitting in the basement since last Thanksgiving. You’ll work off the post-turkey tryptophan-trance and probably have a lot of fun doing it. Just make sure you don’t drink too much first.

Rip Everything

If you’re the indoor type, perhaps a spot of organization is in order. If you’re a Gadget Lab regular, you may have done this already, but you could spend your spare cycles this weekend by clearing all the plastic disks from your home.

CDs might offer better quality but they’re a pain to use. Better to simply copy everything onto a hard drive and hide the coasters in the basement. Your computer will already have software to do this, but here are a few tips:

First, think about making actual, direct, full sized copies of your CDs. Hard drive space is cheap, and you won’t have to drag the optical disks out when you decide you didn’t encode those MP3s at a high enough bitrate. Once the copying is done, just hook up the disk to your computer, throw the contents into iTunes or Winamp and let it work through the whole lot in one go, turning the music into iPod-friendly, bite-sized MP3s.

DVDs will work, too, but it will take a little longer. Legal concerns aside, the best way to go is Handbrake, a free application for Windows, Mac and Linux that will rip your movies to the size and file format of your choice.

Now you have everything in one place, hopefully ready for the media center Santa is bringing you for Christmas.

Over to you. If you have any more cheap and fun ways to spend the weekend, stick them in the comments.

See Also:

• Suggestions for a Geek Thanksgiving | Geekdad from Wired.com
• How to Carve Your Thanksgiving Turkey Like a Pro | Geekdad from …

Scott Forman’s ShutterVoice brings your Canon DSLR a little closer to Star Trek. The Windows-only application provides a voice-control front-end to Canon’s own EOS utility, which allows remote control of many Canon DSLR functions.

Shuttervoice let’s you switch on live view, focus the camera, take a shot — in short, pretty much everything you can do with the EOS utility itself, only you can do it without lifting a finger. In the video, it looks pretty accurate, although Forman has told photographer and blogger Rob Galbraith that he’s still tweaking it to play nice with Vista.

The best part? First, you need to say "computer" to get it to listen for a command — just like Jean-Luc Picard! Second, it speaks back to you.

Mac users should be able to cobble something like this together themselves using the built-in Speech Commands, the Image Capture utility and some Applescript, but given my experience with the Mac’s speech recognition features, this is likely to leave you screaming abuse at your machine instead of issuing relaxed commands.

ShutterVoice will be available in early December for $30.

Sign up page [ShutterVoice via Rob Galbraith]

If you have $2700 lying around, an hour or so to spare and a visceral need to do something, anything other than eat turkey and – gasp – talk to your family this weekend, you could pop to your local camera store and grab the hot new Canon 5D MkII.

The camera is now shipping, body only or in kit form (Amazon has it bundled with the EF 24-105mm ƒ4 L IS USM Lens for $4000), but we expect this first batch to sell out fast, given the anticipation we have seen for Canon’s first video-capable DSLR.

Photography Bay has a rundown of online dealers, but if you haven’t pre-ordered, you might try the brick and mortar stores instead. And if you think that your spousal unit might not be too happy, hey, it shoots home videos, right?

Me? Nope. First, here in Spain we don’t do Thanksgiving. Second, I’ll be taking my new Nikon D700 out for an extended run. But that video looks good…

Canon 5D Mark II - The Arrival [Photography Bay]

See Also:

 
• Canon 5D MkII: HD Movies and Higher ISO

 

• More Stunning Video Shot With Canon 5D MKII DSLR

 

• HD Video Shot With Canon 5D MKII Looks Stellar