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Underexposed blog: Links of the day
Pentax K20D video...Naked Light 1.0 beta imminent...Canon G9 accessories...Javascript history...Xen 3.2.0 virtualization features
Stephen Shankland principal writer
Stephen Shankland has been a reporter at CNET since 1998 and writes about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science Credentials
- I've been covering the technology industry for 24 years and was a science writer for five years before that. I've got deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and other dee
3 min read
- VueScan Scanning Software - Software for getting more out of your scanner, including high bit depth DNG images. A useful thing if you want to use your scanner as a camera.
- Naked Light 1.0 beta due this week - The programmer behind this Mac-only image-editing application seems a little taxed, but he says the 1.0 beta will ship this week. He's on a leave of absense to write it now, though.
- YouTube - Pentax K20D - A useful video intro to the Pentax K20D from Pentax. I wish my camera had a built-in intervalometer.
- YouTube - Pentax K200D intro - A useful summary from Pentax of the features of the new K200D.
- Camera Lens Rentals - Online Lens Rentals for Canon Cameras - Another online lens rental outfit springs up. For example, $87 for two weeks with Canon's 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM or $20 for a week with the 1.4X or 2.0X extenders. Canon lenses only at this point. Another threat to higher-end local camera retailers.
- Nikon D300 False Low-Battery Warnings=Worthless DSLR - Notebooks.com - A Nikon D300 owner unsatisfied with the camera's quality. Bogus low-battery warnings, plus mysterious intermittent dark frames. Store exchanged it for a new one with no hassle, but the writer says, "It's time Nikon recognizes this as a serious quality control issue."
- Hands On: Zeiss ZF Macros for Nikon - PopPhoto - Warm words for two manual-focus f/2 macros from Zeiss, 50mm and 100mm.
- Canon Powershot G9 Review - Luminous Landscape - For when you have to travel, it's pretty good. "The only great camera is the camera that's there with you when the light happens." It won out over the guy's Leica M8, which is saying something, but it's not quite a "keeper."
- A custom grip for the Canon PowerShot G9 - This grip sticks on with an adhesive strip. Interesting.
- Lensmate - lens adapter accessory for Canon PowerShot G9/G7 - More aftermarket goodness for Canon PowerShot G9 owners. This lets you attach various lenses to the high-end compacts.
- Samsung GX-20 brief hands-on: Digital Photography Review - A quick look at the Samsung GX-20, which with some minor variations is a Pentax K20D.
- Guess the Title: A multi-player Flickr photo guessing game - This is amusing. Makes me feel bad about some of my lousy photo captions. _IMG-0123.
- Super Techies: Video interview of Brendan Eich on ZDNet.com - JavaScript creator speaks out on history. Bill Joy at Sun Microsystems "got it" that there should be a programming language for the masses, as opposed to the high-end Java, thus the "marketing scam" name of JavaScript. Interesting history from the Mozilla CTO.
- What's a better name for Fedora 9, Bathysphere or Chupacabra? - Voting on names is about as superficial as it gets, but what the heck, it's fun. I'd go for "Chupacabra" because a friend of mine thinks New Mexico is teeming with them.
- Xen 3.2.0 released--significant new features - Among the updates: PCI pass-through for better performance, Xen security modules, suspend to RAM, support for more bootloaders (probably important for getting along well with Windows, Mac OS X, and other operating systems).
- Andy Rouse Review - Nikon D3 - A Canon shooter likes the D3 for wildlife photography.
- Agence France-Presse to leave Canon, buy Nikon - It's supposedly moving to Nikon D3 SLRs. Interesting, though I couldn't find confirmation after a quick search.
- Luminous Landscape's Olympus E-3 Review - Generally favorable review by Douglas Brown, but: "clumsy, poorly implemented physical interface."
- Baltimore winter photo gallery - I know, I'm biased, but I just like photojournalism better than most photography. I used to shoot wild art for a newspaper occasionally, and I loved it.