Pentax Optio Z10 - full review and video tour
The Pentax Optio Z10 is an 8 Megapixel compact with a 7x optical zoom sporting an equivalent range of 38-266mm, equipping it with a longer reach than most compacts at this size and price. Despite the longer than average zoom range, the Z10's optics remain housed within the body at all times, and unusually for most compacts, you can also operate the zoom while filming a video. The lens gives it an edge over most compacts, but how does it perform in practice? Find out in our Pentax Optio Z10 review and check out its features in our video tour.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Update on MythTV Freeview HD testing
Over this weekend I have had a chance to properly try out MythTV with Freeview so here is an update on where I am at for now.
Firstly I did a major hardware swap, moving my Antec PSU, 3800 and Nvidia 8600GT to my main box in return for a cheap X-Power PSU and 5200 X2. The X2 provides more grunt for software decoding H.264, enough to work in Windows but not myth as will be seen.
So with Mythubuntu 8.04.1 + latest upgrades, including from Paul Kendall's repository, I monitered the CPU usage over SSH whilst testing out the channels. I got around 40%-70% CPU overall, obviously the SD channels where lighter on the CPU than HD with TV3 causing the max load.
However despite not maxing out the CPU TV3 was unwatchable, freezing for half a second every 1-2 secs. This is a problem a few others with similar CPU's on the mythnz mailing list have and the solution is changing the 'skiploopfilter' settings, I think forcing myth to drop frames rather than lag. However what is required to make this change is beyond my current Linux/GNU abilities so I am putting this project aside for the moment. What also contributed to that decision is reports from others about frequent frontend crashes, something I don't want on a HTPC that gets regular use.
So now I am re-installing Mediaportal (the change in graphics cards did something weird to the Windows install) and will work on getting Mythbuntu installed onto my old IDE drive so I can have my USB drive back.
When I am prepared to figure out rebuilding patches etc, or Paul sets up a GUI to make these changes (as he indicated he may) I will revisit this. Until, MP it is. It may not be perfectly stable, or make every recording I schedule (NCIS 2 weeks ago came back with just the xml file, no .ts at all!), but the codecs work better for obvious reasons.
I am glad just to have something that works, support is very limited for these MPEG 4 codecs and will be for a while yet. 
Read More
Firstly I did a major hardware swap, moving my Antec PSU, 3800 and Nvidia 8600GT to my main box in return for a cheap X-Power PSU and 5200 X2. The X2 provides more grunt for software decoding H.264, enough to work in Windows but not myth as will be seen.
So with Mythubuntu 8.04.1 + latest upgrades, including from Paul Kendall's repository, I monitered the CPU usage over SSH whilst testing out the channels. I got around 40%-70% CPU overall, obviously the SD channels where lighter on the CPU than HD with TV3 causing the max load.
However despite not maxing out the CPU TV3 was unwatchable, freezing for half a second every 1-2 secs. This is a problem a few others with similar CPU's on the mythnz mailing list have and the solution is changing the 'skiploopfilter' settings, I think forcing myth to drop frames rather than lag. However what is required to make this change is beyond my current Linux/GNU abilities so I am putting this project aside for the moment. What also contributed to that decision is reports from others about frequent frontend crashes, something I don't want on a HTPC that gets regular use.
So now I am re-installing Mediaportal (the change in graphics cards did something weird to the Windows install) and will work on getting Mythbuntu installed onto my old IDE drive so I can have my USB drive back.
When I am prepared to figure out rebuilding patches etc, or Paul sets up a GUI to make these changes (as he indicated he may) I will revisit this. Until, MP it is. It may not be perfectly stable, or make every recording I schedule (NCIS 2 weeks ago came back with just the xml file, no .ts at all!), but the codecs work better for obvious reasons.
I am glad just to have something that works, support is very limited for these MPEG 4 codecs and will be for a while yet.
Nikon D60 - full review and video tour
Nikon D60 - full review and video tour
The Nikon D60 is an entry-level 10.2 Megapixel DSLR aimed at general consumers who are typically upgrading from a point and shoot or film camera. It shares the same sensor, screen and body as its predecessor the D40x, but now features a stop-motion recording mode, eye sensors which switch the screen off when you're looking through the viewfinder, Active D-Lighting, and an anti-dust system which both vibrates the sensor unit along with using an airflow system to channel particles from the image path. Best of all though is an option to buy the D60 in a kit with an affordable stabilised kit lens. To find out if it's the best entry-level DSLR, check out our Nikon D60 review.
The Nikon D60 is an entry-level 10.2 Megapixel DSLR aimed at general consumers who are typically upgrading from a point and shoot or film camera. It shares the same sensor, screen and body as its predecessor the D40x, but now features a stop-motion recording mode, eye sensors which switch the screen off when you're looking through the viewfinder, Active D-Lighting, and an anti-dust system which both vibrates the sensor unit along with using an airflow system to channel particles from the image path. Best of all though is an option to buy the D60 in a kit with an affordable stabilised kit lens. To find out if it's the best entry-level DSLR, check out our Nikon D60 review.
Olympus mju 1050
Olympus mju 1050
Olympus expand their digital compacts range with the Mju 1050SW featuring TAP technology which could spell the end of buttons.
Olympus expand their digital compacts range with the Mju 1050SW featuring TAP technology which could spell the end of buttons.
Removing the XPAntivirus bug that's going around
Removing the XPAntivirus bug that's going around
Five laptops in one week to remove this little darling from. My, people do click some funny emails.
To kill this wee begger and it's friends (from WinXP), do this; {I take no responsiblity if you cabbage your PC though}
1) Scan the HD out of band if you can. Ie remove and use a USB-IDE/SATA adapter if you've got one, or build a Bart-PE CD with the latest version of Clam-AV on it and boot up on the CD and scan from that.
2) Once scanned out-of-band, boot back up into safe mode (F8 repeatedly while turning the pc on)
3) Run regedit; navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
4) In here is an entry 'Userinit' - It should usually only have 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,' in there - if there's anything else appended to that line remove it from the entry, take it back to the trailing ',' after userinit.exe
5) Then go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Backup this reg key and then clean out anything you think is remotely dodgy. Do the same for HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run & HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
6) If you weren't able to log in during (2) as the first infected user the above steps can be done as the local admin - once these are done, to get into the other accounts (network ones) reboot, go into safe mode with networking. Then you can sign in as the network users. Use regedit to clean out HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run for each other affected user.
7) Now that the registry is clean, reboot into normal mode, and run a local virus scan. You need to download and install spybot1.60 from www.safer-networking.org and let spybot clean out some more crap from the registry.
Ta-Daa. Virus gone but not forgotten.
IMHO Symantec Enterprise 11 MR2 does a nice job of ferreting out the nasties out-of-band, and Spybot does a good job of the cleanup afterwards. AVG8 works OK too inband though haven't had to use it in anger out-of-band yet. 
Five laptops in one week to remove this little darling from. My, people do click some funny emails.
To kill this wee begger and it's friends (from WinXP), do this; {I take no responsiblity if you cabbage your PC though}
1) Scan the HD out of band if you can. Ie remove and use a USB-IDE/SATA adapter if you've got one, or build a Bart-PE CD with the latest version of Clam-AV on it and boot up on the CD and scan from that.
2) Once scanned out-of-band, boot back up into safe mode (F8 repeatedly while turning the pc on)
3) Run regedit; navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
4) In here is an entry 'Userinit' - It should usually only have 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,' in there - if there's anything else appended to that line remove it from the entry, take it back to the trailing ',' after userinit.exe
5) Then go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Backup this reg key and then clean out anything you think is remotely dodgy. Do the same for HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run & HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
6) If you weren't able to log in during (2) as the first infected user the above steps can be done as the local admin - once these are done, to get into the other accounts (network ones) reboot, go into safe mode with networking. Then you can sign in as the network users. Use regedit to clean out HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run for each other affected user.
7) Now that the registry is clean, reboot into normal mode, and run a local virus scan. You need to download and install spybot1.60 from www.safer-networking.org and let spybot clean out some more crap from the registry.
Ta-Daa. Virus gone but not forgotten.
IMHO Symantec Enterprise 11 MR2 does a nice job of ferreting out the nasties out-of-band, and Spybot does a good job of the cleanup afterwards. AVG8 works OK too inband though haven't had to use it in anger out-of-band yet.
QinetiQ's Zephyr breaks world record for longest unmanned flight
Qinetiq’s Zephyr solar powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has flown a world-beating three and a half day flight at the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The solar powered plane flew for 82 hours 37 minutes, exceeding the current official world record for unmanned flight which stands at 30 hours 24 minutes set by Global Hawk in 2001 and Zephyr's previous longest flight of 54 hours achieved last year...
Tags: QinetiQ, Solar, UAV
Related Articles: 
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Tags: QinetiQ, Solar, UAV
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- World’s First Hydrogen UAV
- Hummingbird achieves 18 hour flight milestone
Sony's X4500 and W4500 HD TVs
Sony's X4500 and W4500 HD TVs
Sony has announced the BRAVIA X4500 and W4500 series wide screen LCD TVs with full HD 1080p resolution and DLNA connectivity. The X4500 is available in 40-inch, 46-inch, and and an 8-speaker 55-inch model, all of which feature the BRAVIA ENGINE 2 PRO for filtering, cleaning and optimizing image data before it’s displayed. ..
Tags: HD, LCD, Sony, TV
Related Articles: 
Sony has announced the BRAVIA X4500 and W4500 series wide screen LCD TVs with full HD 1080p resolution and DLNA connectivity. The X4500 is available in 40-inch, 46-inch, and and an 8-speaker 55-inch model, all of which feature the BRAVIA ENGINE 2 PRO for filtering, cleaning and optimizing image data before it’s displayed. ..
Tags: HD, LCD, Sony, TV
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- Sony to release energy-saving 32-inch LCD
- LG 60 inch PDP Screen
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Best case XBMC setup?
Best case XBMC setup?
I thought I might do a post on my current media playback setup, but more than anything, highlight how far a modded XBOX1 can and can't go using one and XBOX Media Center (XBMC). Via modding the XBOX has turned into the ugly little console that can. I've had more fun on it in the years since it was discontinued than I ever did when I got it.
Despite what you may have thought, the XBOX can output HD. With the right bits you can have your setup looking beautiful in HD and outputting true 5.1 sound. You can have you favourite movies/shows processed and upscaled to HD.
It can decode up to 960x540 videos, and upscale them. XBMC can also render the whole interface in HD and numerous skins have become HD specific - No more SD for you. Some of the awesome skins that are popping up check out AEON (below) or MediaStream.
And this is where I should mention the downsides - no true HD content. It has got enough CPU/GPU power unfortunately the 64mb of RAM the XBOX sports just isn't enough to store all the decompressed frames to keep fluid playback. Solutions are numerous but all pretty much involve throwing away the XBOX1 and running XBMC on a more powerful machine.
History
So how did this happen, you ask? In a slightly advanced move, Microsoft added the then new buzzword 'HD' support. Some games actually were released that support them. They enabled the ability to output resolutions of 576i, 576p, 720p & 1080i - keep in mind they only added this to the XBOX360 last year!
For a full list of games supporting HD resolutions theres a good list here. Only a few games truely supported 1080I though but a solid handful featured 720 support - for me the best being Amped 2 which supported up to 720P with 5.1. The only downside is that once they had announced the XBOX360, there was no real need to develop the XBOX's support for HD in other Territories.
NTSC only folks. Pooo to you PAL regions.
Or not if you have a modded XBOX and can run a simple app (Enigmah-x v2) to switch your XBOX from PAL to NTSC, and thus enabling the HD resolutions in the original green dashboard. Once you've enabled them, you can also enable it in XBMC.
My Setup
I'm running a soft modded XBOX V1.1, with 80gb drive installed and a no name 3rd party component/optical breakout box ($NZ35 Delivered from USA). There are other no-names, but not all boxes are created equal. I've brought a couple of others from elsewhere and found them to have fuzzy images and slight colour sync issues.
The XBOX is running into my 37" Samsung Series 5 1080P 60hz LCD and a Pioneer VSX-915 Receiver. Media wise I have a D-Link DNS-323 NAS with 1tb storage, it's running via a 10/100 connection under the house to the lounge. I'm running XBOX and XBMC in 720P.
I've noticed some slowdown at 1080i in transitions.
My XBOX is softmodded with Auto Installer V4 for 007:AUF. I use a Mega-X Key 32mb USB key to copy hacked saves around. You can make your own controller port -> USB adaptor quite easily. With this system I can have a modded XBOX running XBMC in HD in about 20 minutes.
Problems
Obviously the biggest ones (for me at least) is the inabilty to play and HD content. But as I cover below, there are ports of XBMC popping up all over the show. Rule of thumb for downloads is look for the HR in releases eg - ***.HR.HDTV.AC3.5.1.XvID.avi. The HR stands for High Resolution (wiki) and is encoded at the max dimensions of 960x540 - which is the limit to the XBOX to decode easily.
I also don't really recommend upgrading the harddrive in your XBOX as it involves a PC with 2 IDE ports and a bunch of faffing around, and the chance you mess
up and the XBOX becomes a parts machine. If you must, maybe try this tutorial. It's a annoying as the default drive is usually only 8gb, although some shipped with 20gb drives inside. You can access the extra space but it requires formating the F drive in EVOX via RAW ftp commands (or a script).
Finally, the FAT-X Partition system only supports 8.3 DOS file names which is one of the reasons I don't really think the internal drive is really the way to store media. It's great for ROMs and other Apps but not large collections of media.
Also the depending on which XBOX revision you get, the DVD drive can change brands/models - some were really picky as far as playback of burnt media goes.
Next Step
PLEX - This my dream. Either a AppleTV or MacMini running OS-X and with Plex, the OS-X Port of XBMC. Unfortunately neither the ATV or Mini have the power to deal with HD - the ATV doesn't have the CPU/RAM for OS-X and the Mini is still stuck back in the world of Intels GMA-950 graphics chipset. Of course if Apple release an updated Mini on the X1300 chipset or better - we'd have the best XBMC machine around - and with support for the iTunes movie store.
Of course theres other options - specifically MythTV or Vista MC. I just don't need a PC in my lounge. I need a basic (yet complete) end playback unit.
Theres also the Playstation3 which I must say looks quite promising, add the forthcoming PlayTV Freeview tuner and that it can serve via uPnP to my NAS. Also support for HD file playback, albiet picky on formats. No MKV files, no FLV. I like the openness of XBMC. Oh and the Bluetooth remote - not good for anyone who tries to stick to a Universal remote.
And of course the XBOX360, which I already own, but as anyone who has one knows, it's horribly noisy. It also doesn't support the uPnP DLNA standard. Instead it has some 'not quite standard' implementation of uPnP. Good job Microsoft - its IE all over again. I also have no faith that Microsoft will ever improve beyond the basic support its added for formats now.
phew.... I'm tired. Time to go watch some media and not type about it. 
I thought I might do a post on my current media playback setup, but more than anything, highlight how far a modded XBOX1 can and can't go using one and XBOX Media Center (XBMC). Via modding the XBOX has turned into the ugly little console that can. I've had more fun on it in the years since it was discontinued than I ever did when I got it.
Despite what you may have thought, the XBOX can output HD. With the right bits you can have your setup looking beautiful in HD and outputting true 5.1 sound. You can have you favourite movies/shows processed and upscaled to HD.
It can decode up to 960x540 videos, and upscale them. XBMC can also render the whole interface in HD and numerous skins have become HD specific - No more SD for you. Some of the awesome skins that are popping up check out AEON (below) or MediaStream.
And this is where I should mention the downsides - no true HD content. It has got enough CPU/GPU power unfortunately the 64mb of RAM the XBOX sports just isn't enough to store all the decompressed frames to keep fluid playback. Solutions are numerous but all pretty much involve throwing away the XBOX1 and running XBMC on a more powerful machine.
History
So how did this happen, you ask? In a slightly advanced move, Microsoft added the then new buzzword 'HD' support. Some games actually were released that support them. They enabled the ability to output resolutions of 576i, 576p, 720p & 1080i - keep in mind they only added this to the XBOX360 last year!
For a full list of games supporting HD resolutions theres a good list here. Only a few games truely supported 1080I though but a solid handful featured 720 support - for me the best being Amped 2 which supported up to 720P with 5.1. The only downside is that once they had announced the XBOX360, there was no real need to develop the XBOX's support for HD in other Territories.
NTSC only folks. Pooo to you PAL regions.
Or not if you have a modded XBOX and can run a simple app (Enigmah-x v2) to switch your XBOX from PAL to NTSC, and thus enabling the HD resolutions in the original green dashboard. Once you've enabled them, you can also enable it in XBMC.
My Setup
I'm running a soft modded XBOX V1.1, with 80gb drive installed and a no name 3rd party component/optical breakout box ($NZ35 Delivered from USA). There are other no-names, but not all boxes are created equal. I've brought a couple of others from elsewhere and found them to have fuzzy images and slight colour sync issues.The XBOX is running into my 37" Samsung Series 5 1080P 60hz LCD and a Pioneer VSX-915 Receiver. Media wise I have a D-Link DNS-323 NAS with 1tb storage, it's running via a 10/100 connection under the house to the lounge. I'm running XBOX and XBMC in 720P.
I've noticed some slowdown at 1080i in transitions.
My XBOX is softmodded with Auto Installer V4 for 007:AUF. I use a Mega-X Key 32mb USB key to copy hacked saves around. You can make your own controller port -> USB adaptor quite easily. With this system I can have a modded XBOX running XBMC in HD in about 20 minutes.
Problems
Obviously the biggest ones (for me at least) is the inabilty to play and HD content. But as I cover below, there are ports of XBMC popping up all over the show. Rule of thumb for downloads is look for the HR in releases eg - ***.HR.HDTV.AC3.5.1.XvID.avi. The HR stands for High Resolution (wiki) and is encoded at the max dimensions of 960x540 - which is the limit to the XBOX to decode easily.
I also don't really recommend upgrading the harddrive in your XBOX as it involves a PC with 2 IDE ports and a bunch of faffing around, and the chance you mess
up and the XBOX becomes a parts machine. If you must, maybe try this tutorial. It's a annoying as the default drive is usually only 8gb, although some shipped with 20gb drives inside. You can access the extra space but it requires formating the F drive in EVOX via RAW ftp commands (or a script).
Finally, the FAT-X Partition system only supports 8.3 DOS file names which is one of the reasons I don't really think the internal drive is really the way to store media. It's great for ROMs and other Apps but not large collections of media.
Also the depending on which XBOX revision you get, the DVD drive can change brands/models - some were really picky as far as playback of burnt media goes.
Next Step
PLEX - This my dream. Either a AppleTV or MacMini running OS-X and with Plex, the OS-X Port of XBMC. Unfortunately neither the ATV or Mini have the power to deal with HD - the ATV doesn't have the CPU/RAM for OS-X and the Mini is still stuck back in the world of Intels GMA-950 graphics chipset. Of course if Apple release an updated Mini on the X1300 chipset or better - we'd have the best XBMC machine around - and with support for the iTunes movie store.
Of course theres other options - specifically MythTV or Vista MC. I just don't need a PC in my lounge. I need a basic (yet complete) end playback unit.
Theres also the Playstation3 which I must say looks quite promising, add the forthcoming PlayTV Freeview tuner and that it can serve via uPnP to my NAS. Also support for HD file playback, albiet picky on formats. No MKV files, no FLV. I like the openness of XBMC. Oh and the Bluetooth remote - not good for anyone who tries to stick to a Universal remote.
And of course the XBOX360, which I already own, but as anyone who has one knows, it's horribly noisy. It also doesn't support the uPnP DLNA standard. Instead it has some 'not quite standard' implementation of uPnP. Good job Microsoft - its IE all over again. I also have no faith that Microsoft will ever improve beyond the basic support its added for formats now.
phew.... I'm tired. Time to go watch some media and not type about it.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Robots reinvigorate computer science classrooms
Robots reinvigorate computer science classrooms
Education has long been based around the three R's, but now for computer science students throughout the U.S., a fourth R is making ground - Robotics. A program that began in 2006 through the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) using robots as the circuit breaker in introductory computer science courses is being expanded to 28 more high schools and universities. Gizmag spoke to Dr. Tucker Balch, director of IPRE, to learn more...
Tags: Bluetooth, iRobot, Robot
Related Articles: 
Education has long been based around the three R's, but now for computer science students throughout the U.S., a fourth R is making ground - Robotics. A program that began in 2006 through the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) using robots as the circuit breaker in introductory computer science courses is being expanded to 28 more high schools and universities. Gizmag spoke to Dr. Tucker Balch, director of IPRE, to learn more...
Tags: Bluetooth, iRobot, Robot
Related Articles:
- Georgia Tech offers Robotics Ph.D
- FIRST crowns science and tech champions
- More inductees into the ROBOT HALL OF FAME
- New competition robotics solutions from Innovation First
- Chinese teams take points in robotic showdown
- Snow-going robots to assist in climate change research
Unleash your Vodafone iPhone
We all know the Vodafone iPhone is not SIM or network locked. You can purchase the handset outright, paying full price and just use it with a prepay SIM card or any other network's SIM card.
We also know that because of its current APN configuration it will only have voice and SMS on prepay. The current APN configured in the iPhone is not "visible" to prepay accounts.
But there's a very legal way around this. You can change the configuration on your iPhone by visiting UnlockIt - APN changer for iPhone.
The author LennonNZ has posted some UnlockIt statistics in our forums.
So many people benefited from it, and so little was paid back. I recommend you make a donation if you use the site to "unlock" your Vodafone iPhone.
Read More
We also know that because of its current APN configuration it will only have voice and SMS on prepay. The current APN configured in the iPhone is not "visible" to prepay accounts.
But there's a very legal way around this. You can change the configuration on your iPhone by visiting UnlockIt - APN changer for iPhone.
The author LennonNZ has posted some UnlockIt statistics in our forums.
So many people benefited from it, and so little was paid back. I recommend you make a donation if you use the site to "unlock" your Vodafone iPhone.
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