I’ve had my D80 for more than 2 years. I just can’t know it too well – I probably only used half of its features. While the image quality is really significantly better than the compact cameras I used before, I shoot less and less because it’s such a burden to take it with me all the time. One of the fundamental rule many professional photographers emphasize is “always bring your camera”. It’s not hard to understand that the most unlikely events will most likely happen when you are unprepared. I absolutely agree but it’s just not practical for me, for 3 out of 5 weekdays I need to travel with my laptop, 5lbs, and sometimes a book in the messenger bag as well. Carrying an extra bag not only slows me down when I need to catch a bus, it’s also makes my everyday trip miserable. So I need a compact camera!

But I don’t want anything beyond $200.00. I can get another lens for my D80 and I will have completed my little lens collection. A couple really cheap models attracted my attention. One of them was from Polaroid, costing only $80 last Christmas with a touch-screen control. Brilliant! But my coupon expired so I passed on it. More recently, after seeing an HD video on someone’s blog, I found HD recording is quite charming. The images are so sharp and with Vimeo and Flickr, sharing video art has become technically mature. So I want it too.

I came across with Kodak V1073 , compared in this post, at Walmart. It’s the first compact camera I saw with HD recording feature, yet it was so cheap! Think about D90 asking for $900+, this is only $180, although the latter is 720p/i. And there are cheaper ones!

Here are the key factors affecting my choice:

• price
• size, including portability and durability
• zoom
• resolution
• video

[Read the rest of this post ...]

This is something everyone should check out – the incredible global WIFI coverage, powered by you!

Recently it’s in celebration of its 1st anniversary and so it’s giving out free 54M routers. So you’ve got absolutely no risk to try it. And how it works is simple, plug it in to allow other foneros (acronym for FON users) use your wireless when they are visiting your neighborhood, and most most important and fun is you will be warmly welcomed wherever you go by other foneros.

Let me just summarized things up and you make the decision. No tricks or exaggeration.

Stop! What is this thing good for?

It’s a get-and-share spirit. Once you joined the community, wherever you are at, Europe lets say, and there are Foneros living around, go ahead and connect to it! So you are not stuck even when you are touring small towns abroad, as long as the town has one Fonero!

What you do to join Fon Community.

Request a free La Fonero Router now / Buy one later.

What do you need to get the free router?

Nothing but a valid address. No tax, No shipping fees. It doesn’t ask for your credit card at any point of the check out process.

If you are not quick enough to get a free router, you are not joining?

Yes, I would say 90% people will leave and check back later if the free deal expires. But, check back soon. The usual price is around $5 – $10 with applicable tax and shipping. It doesn’t quite look like a for-profit community. If $20 dollars for a stylish 54M wireless router doesn’t scare you away, read on!

I know they charge me for hell a lot random things once I got it! I got it and I can’t back out!

Not right. The worst thing can happen to you is you are requested to pass the router to a friend who would like to share his bandwidth. No operation fee, service fee, or any other names companies created to charge you for.

There is no free lunch? It’s so great that I can hardly believe ya!

No, no free lunch. You do need to spare some wireless for your visitors when they need Internet access. But, you have controls over how much bandwidth you’d like to give visitors. And remember how kindly they are to you.

http://www.fon.com

Last week was definitely a remarkable one in the IT geeks’ world. Immediately followed by hundreds of comments and trackbacks, the TechCrunch’s coverage on iPhone’s announcement have shown people’s great interests in it, no matter it’s positive, negative…or hybrid.

Out of those people commented, there are essentially two types of them: those who want one right when it’s available, and those who are the same but pretending not to.

To me it’s an absolutely fancy and yet usable piece. I definitely will get one someday if not on the first day of release…as I am still not as rich…

Apple kept up people’s expectation and respect to truly push technology and usability forward to next generation. I call them “making fictions real”.

Yet the border was quite clear on TechCrunch. People either like it or “hate” it.

“Consumers’ behaviors cannot be measured directly from the price differences”

Some of the concerns are

• The thing is way too expensive. Not for average American to afford.
• The thing is bundled with Cingular. Cannot be used more broadly.
• The thing is announced too early. Competitors will get time to breathe.
• The thing is fancy but too entertaining. Users won’t be sponsored by their companies.
• The storage is a bit too small.

My Takes on these

• There is one guy who listed three reasons but are essentially one thing – the sky high price.Honestly for $600 bucks I’d rather buy a PS3, or 2 Wii. At least they are bigger in size. But first of all, the US doesn’t lack of riches. If I don’t need to worry about my tuition, I don’t think $600 is too much of a big deal, given that it’s a real PDA + iPod + CellPhone, not to mention its full-body touch screen. It’s a hundred times better than Nokia 8801 which is still selling at $500. Consumers’ behaviors cannot be measured directly from the price differences.Just an example, I’ve been struggling for whether I should buy a $300+ graphics card for years, but I don’t feel any problems buying a $300+ trench for my GF. Same rule here, something is expensive doesn’t mean it won’t be sold well. It really depends on whether people think it worths it.
• There are still 5 months before the release, these kind of promotion related limitations, as analyzed by someone, are going to be removed quite soon, before the second release. It’s hard to imagine how it can be sold world-widely if it is really a bundle with Cingular.
• This is really fun to think about. Some criticized how stupid Steve Jobs is announcing this so early. And some others suggested a different standpoint.iPhone has been developed for 2.5 years, and so for the competitors to really catch up, 5 months is apparently not enough. Now the most interesting part came. It’s analyzed that Jobs announced the product 5 months early, with a bunch of highly polished model demos on Apple’s website, is intended to cease other similar products sales completely in next 5 months. Many users who wanted to buy a Blackberry soon now need to re-consider their purchase plans. It is like selling it to the future. He’s got “brilliant” strategy and great ambition. And of course this move is strongly backed up with the stunning features that iPhone uniquely offers.
• I agree. But I just care about I can get a good toy and there are plenty of people like me.
• It’s quite small. But even stupid people like me can think of a solution…use a cable to connect iPhone with iPod’s massive storage.