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Zoom lenses sell cameras these days, so it's no surprise that manufacturers are doing everything they can to get longer lenses into increasingly smaller bodies.

A 3x or 5x zoom lens used to be the standard for ultracompact cameras -- those measuring 1 inch thick or slimmer -- but in 2012, you can easily find a skinny point-and-shoot with a 10x optical zoom.

The frontrunner here is the sub-$250 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 thanks to its excellent features, fast autofocus, and the quality of its pictures and video (though its color accuracy could be better). Most of the category consists of sub-$200 cameras, though, so there are several options if you're just looking for a simple pocket camera with a long lens.… Read more

General Electric today introduced a 100-watt equivalent LED bulb which is the clearest example yet of how high-tech lighting has become.

The company's Energy Smart LED bulb consumes 27 watts to give off the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent lamp. It will be released in the first half of next year. The price has not yet been set.

GE's announcement, made at the Light Fair industry conference in Las Vegas, shows how lighting manufacturers have finally cracked one of the toughest challenges in LED lighting -- making lamps able to give off a lot of … Read more

Back at CES 2012, we got our first glimpse of Samsung's new gaming laptop, the Series 7 Gamer, tucked away at Samsung's booth with little fanfare. That laptop is finally available for purchase, and it features Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors and the latest Nvidia graphics in a package that's competitive with what other gaming PC makers are offering. … Read more

Graphics processor giant Nvidia has posted on Facebook a shadowy image of its "eye" logo on a graphics card processor (or other related chip) with the decree: "It's coming."

A stream of rumors began to flow after the cryptic Facebook posting by Nvidia, but PC enthusiast blog SweClockers wrote that several independent, reputable sources say the upcoming Nvidia announcement coincides with the anticipated launch of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 690, a dual-core graphics card that employs two very powerful GK104 graphics processing units.

The Swedish blog mentions that the GTX 690 release falls between April 30 and May 5, a period directly after the launch of Intel's Ivy Bridge chips that emphasize graphics and multimedia processing.

(Via Kotaku)… Read more

Are you ready for large-screen ultrabooks? Well, hopefully the answer's "yes," because they're coming to stores whether you like it or not. The differentiating factors on what constituted an ultrabook -- thin, portable, power efficient, SSD, no optical drive, lack of dedicated "high-end" graphics, longer battery life -- have started to go out the window. Witness the 15-inch Samsung Series 9 and HP Envy 14 Spectre, for starters.

As far as the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3-581TG is concerned, it may make you question your entire perception of the category. DVD drive? Check. Dedicated high-end Nvidia graphics? Check. Larger hard drive options? Check. Portable? Well, not exactly, compared to 13-inch ultrabooks. The Ultra M3 is 4.4 pounds, but it is .79 inches thick. Of all of these, the biggest novelty of this Timeline is that it's the first ultrabook (as defined by Intel) to feature Nvidia graphics. It won't be the last.… Read more

Is the new Acer ultrabook the writing on the wall for laptops this summer? If so, new, 15-inch class MacBooks could have Air-like thinness while offering bulked-up horsepower.

CNET Asia has gotten its hands on a powerful new ultrabook, the Aspire Timeline Ultra M3.

The M3 would easily stick out in a crowd of ultrabooks because of size alone: it has a 15-inch display (most ultrabooks to date are at most 14-inches and many of them smaller than that) though it's still slim, at just under 0.8 inches.

But where it really distinguishes itself is inside. There lies … Read more

Buying a home charging station for your electric vehicle is now as easy as buying the latest James Patterson novel and you can find both at the same place--Amazon.com.

GE Energy today announced the GE WattStation Wall Mount is now available on Amazon.com for $1,099.

The wall-mounted EV charging station delivers a full-cycle charge to a 24 kWh battery in only 4 to 8 hours, compared to standard electrical outlet that would require 12 to 18 hours to charge an EV.

"As demand and interest in the GE WattStation continues to grow, we're excited to … Read more

General Electric and Microsoft have formed a health care company with a 50-50 ownership split. Sound familiar? It should. GE has a similar joint venture with Intel.

Add it up and GE has turned out to be a key partner for Wintel’s health care ambitions.

The GE-Microsoft healthcare joint venture is focused on patient outcomes as well as real-time data. The companies are planning to develop an open platform as well as clinical applications. Microsoft also finds a home for a bevy of technologies acquired when the software giant bought Sentillion two years ago.

With the move, GE has … Read more

General Electric has a customer for its natural gas power plant that nimbly navigates changes in electricity demand.

The company today announced a deal with French energy provider EDF to supply a FlexEfficiency 50 power plant which will be the first connected to a national grid.

GE is touting both the energy efficiency and the flexibility of this new turnkey power plant which it hopes will replace traditional power generators that, like steering bulky ocean liners, take hours to ramp up and down.

The ability to quickly adjust natural gas power production makes the FlexEfficiency well suited to work in … Read more