Computing Unplugged - Megapixels and storage media

[Computing Unplugged]

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October 21, 2003 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Megapixels and storage media This week's news

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NEW NAME. SAME GREAT HANDHELDS. The name palmOne was chosen following interviews with a broad spectrum of Palm customers, partners, employees, naming consultants and industry influencers. When people inside and outside the company reflect on Palm's essence, three ideas emerged consistently: the company's heritage as a pioneer in handheld computing, Palm's worldwide leadership, which it has retained despite an influx of competitors; and the conviction that Palm always would place customers first, thereby delivering what matters most to them. Continue to palmOne.com

YOUR FIRST DIGITAL CAMERA
Megapixels and digital storage media
By David Gewirtz

This week, we're going to finish up our discussion of megapixels and your first digital camera with a short discussion of those little memory cards upon which you store your images. But before I do, I want to share a comment I got from Tracey Capen, Executive Editor Reviews at PC World:

I was suprised by the information you gave your readers about image compression. All consumer cameras use JPEG by default. TIFF is typically only found on the more advanced models. TIFF files are so big that you'll only get a few shots on the camera's media (unless you buy are really large capacity card), and most consumers will not be able to tell the difference between a TIFF file and JPEG. I recommend photographers use TIFF only when saving an edited file on their PC -- that way you do not get compression on top of compression.

Obviously, Tracey knows a lot about this stuff. I have seen quite a few digital cameras that support TIFF images, but they are huge by comparison to JPEG. Again, test the results before you buy.

OK, now on to storage media, shown in Figure A.

FIGURE A

Here are three different types of memory cards. From left to right: Secure Digital, Compact Flash, and Smart Media. Click picture for a larger image.

In my discussions with folks new to digital cameras, I've found some elements of confusion about storage media and digital cameras. In part, that's because the digital cameras work differently than film cameras.

To learn how they're different and to learn about the different types of media, click here.

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COMPUTING UNPLUGGED NEWS CENTER
This week's news
Want to get the very latest mobile and wireless news? The Computing Unplugged News Center is updated every day with news of product releases, industry info, tips, techniques, and pointers to great mobile and wireless resources on the Web. Here's this week's news:

PlanPlus 2.0 for Outlook
FranklinCovey and Agilix Labs announced the launch of PlanPlus 2.0 for Microsoft Outlook. PlanPlus operates on a PC, laptop, or Tablet PC, within the familiar environment of Microsoft Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002 (XP), and the new Outlook 2003. PlanPlus also supports electronic walk-around tools such as Palm OS handheld devices and Pocket PC handheld devices through specialized applications and synchronization for tasks and daily notes.

mProve integrated into WebSphere
Bitfone Corporation announced it will integrate its mProve solution into IBM's WebSphere device management software. The combined solution is aimed at helping service providers update software on devices remotely - an increasingly important feature as the use of wireless devices rises. The two companies will jointly market the solution. WebSphere device management software incorporates IBM Tivoli technology.

SureWave supports Treo 600
JP Mobile announced at Gartner ITxpo that JP Mobile's SureWave Enterprise Server (SureWave) supports the new Handspring Treo 600 series smartphones. Customers can continue to use the device's familiar applications, without learning new ones, to access their Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino corporate email server.

AccuWeather.com eXpress launched
AccuWeather launched AccuWeather.com eXpress for the wireless market. AccuWeather.com eXpress, based on BREW and SharpMotionART technology, delivers colorful, animated weather forecasts that move across a user's handset providing smart-looking graphic displays, which provide informative and accurate weather at a glance.

Afaria to support Windows Mobile
MSMobiles.com says that XcelleNet announced that its Afaria solution will support Windows Mobile software for Smartphones.

PalmSource selects bank
PalmSource announced it has selected Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the primary banking subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bancshares, for its principal banking relationship and has established a $15 million line of credit with SVB for working capital purposes.

Windows Mobile 2003 launches in Middle East
AME Unfo reports that Microsoft is bringing enhanced mobile computing to the Middle East, with the launch of Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PCs at Gitex 2003. According to AME, the operating system has automatic detection and connection for wi-fi networks, and native support for Bluetooth. Automatic always-on email synchronization will be possible through integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

iAnywhere, Intel target small business
iAnywhere Solutions and Intel Corporation announced plans to further the development of mobilized software for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The companies unveiled a toolkit that will enable software developers to deliver applications for SMB mobile computing and Wi-Fi users. The Wi-Fi Toolkit includes Pylon Anywhere, a solution for extending existing Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange infrastructures to mobile and wireless devices.

Mullet Haiku
It's very late Saturday night (really Sunday morning) and your intrepid Computing Unplugged editorial staff is floating in a vat of post Dunkin' Donuts digestive bliss. Into this bliss arrives -- and dudes and dudettes, we can't make this stuff up -- the Mullet Haiku. We must share. It is our sacred duty to share stuff like this, no matter how irrelevant it may be. Lordy, lordy, lordy.

SMC introduces new wireless multi-node device
SMC Networks announced the newest member of its EZ Connect family of wireless networking products: the SMC2870W 2.4GHz 54Mbps Wireless Multi-Mode Device. The SMC2870W 802.11g adapter installs and communicates without drivers. It can be configured to serve as a wireless access point, to provide network access to other wireless 802.11g and 802.11b devices; as a repeater, through its support for Wireless Distribution System (WDS), to extend the range of a wireless 2.4GHz network using either a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint configuration. The SMC2870W will be available in November.

Birdstep RDM Mobile chosed by Harman International
Birdstep Technology announced that Harman International Industries has chosen the Birdstep RDM Mobile real-time embedded database management system to incorporate into its telematics products. Harman's in-car radio navigation systems provide telematics, navigation, telephone, TV, DVD, games, superb audio and Internet access. Birdstep's RDM Mobile database provides developers of mobile applications an ultra small footprint, optimized for minimum runtime memory usage.

Enhanced Gigabit backbone switch
SMC Networks announced that it has enhanced its Gigabit backbone switch, the TigerSwitch 10/100/1000 Managed Switch (SMC8624T). The SMC8624T is available immediately. The new SMC8624T switch has 24 fixed 10/100/1000 ports, four of which can be upgraded with optional mini GBIC expansion slots for fiber connections.

EZQuest bundles backup software with external drives
EZQuest is now bundling Dantz Retrospect Express backup and restore software with all of its external FireWire and USB 2.0 drives. These include EZQuest's Cobra+ and Cobra Slim hard drives, and Boa and Boa Slim CD-RW and DVD-RW drives.

Technology community in Toronto
The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), announced the creation of the CATA Toronto Technology Community (CTTC), a new organization combining the members of the former SMART Toronto Technology Alliance (STTA) and CATA's established Toronto membership base. The new organization is dedicated to working with other groups to help the growth of Toronto's technology community, through seminars, networking, provincial and federal government advocacy, and by plugging Toronto into CATA's national business growth grid.

Audible content available at iTunes Music Store
Audible and Apple announced that audiobooks and other spoken word programs are now available for download exclusively from Apple's iTunes Music Store. Through iTunes, Mac and Windows customers can preview and download audio editions of best-selling books, magazines, radio programs and original shows, manage audio content alongside their music collection, and take their entire audio library on their iPod digital music player.

Puzzle game for Palm handhelds
Tame Game has released a new puzzle game for Palm OS with original rules - Tame Game. Trivalon. This time all you have to do is to form sequences of three similar elements in a tube dropping them from both sides of it. In spite of simple rules you can achieve excellent results only with a good long-term strategy.

Cases for your T3
Following the launch of the eagerly anticipated Tungsten T3, Proporta announces that their aluminium case is almost complete. They are currently offering a Neoprene while you wait offer; customers who preorder the T3 aluminium case now will receive a free protective neoprene case to keep their handheld safe until the aluminium case arrives.

GPS NavStar links to Outlook
Mobile GPS Online announces the release of GPS NavStar version 3.0.0. GPS NavStar is a GPS vehicle navigation system based on Microsoft MapPoint technology. As a business management tool, users can import their business contacts or customer addresses from their Outlook's address book or a separated customer database to the system, and then generate routes to them easily and quickly.

Sony, Intel team up
Sony Music Entertainment and Intel announced that they will work together to adapt Sony's lineup of music, images, videos and other content for portable devices that use Intel chips. News.com says that the partners will concentrate on tailoring Sony's digital music and video content so that it plays back at PC quality on portable devices such as cell phones and handhelds, according to Intel. Later, they plan to develop PC-based multimedia content.

ReGet Software releases WebSynchronizer 1.0
ReGet Software releases WebSynchronizer 1.0, which is capable of comparing different files to discern which ones need to be synchronized and which ones do not. It possesses all features required of the industrial strength FTP-client - accelerated downloading/uploading, log keeping, capability to stop/pause/resume loading process at any moment.

Kyocera ships exploding phone
Kyocera Wireless is once again shipping a Phantom model cell phone after an investigation concluded that the phone did not explode as a Nebraska family had reported about two weeks ago. News.com reports that instead, the KE413 model phone was acting properly by venting heat and some graphite dust after its battery short-circuited.

Treo 600 review
Kevin Werbach's Werblog takes a look at the Treo 600. Werbach says that the Treo 600 is the best smartphone on the market today. It's an excellent phone, a good PDA, a serviceable wireless email and Web device, a decent cameraphone, and with the expansion slot, your choice of an MP3 player, a WiFi/Bluetooth node, or a location-aware GPS device.

Voice Email for Infone service
Metro One Telecommunications announced the immediate availability of its new Voice Email capability as an integral part of its Infone service. This feature allows callers to easily record a message that can be sent to any email address as an audio file. To use the feature, a caller identifies the intended recipient or recipient's email address, and subject line for the Infone operator. When coupled with My Infone, available email addresses are retrieved automatically from the subscriber's Infone-synchronized personal database, such as Microsoft Outlook, Palm, or Lotus Notes. The caller records a message that is sent immediately to the recipient as email.

Dell introduces two new handhelds
Dell introduced two new slim handhelds: ZDNet says that the $379 Axim X3i will come with a 400MHz Intel XScale processor for handhelds, 64MB of memory, an 802.11b chip for wirelessly connecting to networks, a 3.5-inch color screen with a resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels and a Secure Digital expansion slot. The $229 Axim X3 comes with a 300MHz Intel XScale processor for handhelds, 32MB of memory and a USB cable for connecting with a PC, instead of a cradle.

Sony CEO shows off Sony's baby
Nobuyuki Idei, CEO of Sony, gave the first North American demonstration of the humanoid robot Qrio as part of a speech he delivered to the Japan Society of Northern California. He also looked beyond gadgetry to the broader context of Japan's changing economic and cultural status. News.com reports that Qrio--a toddler-sized machine in an aluminum sleeper and a space helmet--can navigate an obstacle course, right itself after a fall, sense heat and surfaces, recognize people through their voice or face, and respond with gestures or words to questions.

Track body weight on your Palm handheld
UTrackSys.com, LLC issued UTS Weight 1.2 for Palm OS handhelds, which helps you track body weight and BMI (Body Mass Index). It offers various weight loss/gain plans, interactive charts, reports, and abilities to export data to UTS database and to MS Excel through UTS conduit.

Wireless trivia game powered by Air2Web
ESPN and Cingular Wireless have chosen Air2Web to power the Cingular Text Challenge which is a wireless college football trivia contest sponsored by Cingular Wireless and ESPN. Each week one lucky fan is winning a trip for two to the Bowl Championship Series game of their choice, plus all participants have a chance to win hundreds of instant prizes. A total of 13 BCS trips for two are being awarded.

ITU Telecom World Conference kicks off
The ITU Telecom World Conference kicked off Monday, with King Juan Carlos of Spain among those attending the opening ceremonies. CNN reports that the conference in Geneva -- organized by U.N. agency International Telecommunications Union -- is attracting other heads of state, as well as government ministers, regulators, chief executives of multinational corporations and leading industry experts.

Help for mobile workers
Xora announced the availability of its next-generation location-based service for managing mobile workers. Xora GPS TimeTrack v1.2 offers a flexible fields module that allows mobile workers to record, on the mobile phone, customer and project information that is specific to their company's business process and/or vertical market.

Treo 600 released
Available nationwide from Sprint, the PCS Vision Smart Device Treo 600 by Handspring sports a new candy bar design, full-color screen, Palm 5.2.1HS Operating System, a backlit QWERTY keyboard with dome-shaped keys, a 144MHz ARM 9 processor, a VGA quality camera and a PCS Phone. Sprint also makes available its PCS Business Connection, which is compatible with Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Dominos servers.

Good Technology teams up with Sprint
Good Technology and Sprint announced a formal relationship to deliver the GoodLink Version 2.1 wireless messaging and information system on the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network. GoodLink 2.1 is the newest version of Good's cradle-free system for wirelessly connecting everyone in the corporation with enterprise systems and access to Microsoft Exchange.

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Computing Unplugged is an independent publication of ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Component Enterprises, Inc. ZATZ, the ZATZ logo, and Computing Unplugged are trademarks of ZATZ Publishing, a unit of Component Enterprises. All other brands and product names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective holders.