Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Cool New Product Alert - HP/Palm Touchpad

Just wanted to let you know HP has announced a competitor the the iPad - the Touchpad.  You can find the specs here:  http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/02/09/hp-announces-the-palm-touchpad/  Looks pretty good.  My initial disappointment is that it seems to have only one camera - on the side facing you - like a webcam.  When the iPad came out, many indicated that a camera on both sides would have been beneficial - I don't know why HP didn't compensate for that.  On the plus side, unlike the iPad, the Palm Touchpad runs FLASH!  Yay!

Here's the product page for the Touchpad - enjoy!  http://www.palm.com/us/products/pads/touchpad/index.html

The product page indicates it will be available this summer.  If, after this winter you weren't yearning for summer already, this should make you want summer to get here even faster!  Can't wait to get a look at it in person.  I am a long-time HP fan (although I do like Apples too - my first home computer was a Mac SE back in the day).

Saturday, February 5, 2011

New shopping site

For some good deals on photography needs (and many others) check out the sites below.  You can comparison shop, find deals and coupons and in some cases, get cash back.  I've bought a couple of health/beauty items from there and it's been fine.  See what you think.  One of today's deals of the day is a Wii Console in white - list price is  $199.99, deal price is $168.00.  Deals are limited so act fast and check it out every day for new deals.


http://www.kachingkachingstore.com/index.php?affi=194846-999984217

You can also check out this one:   http://mall.shoptoearn.net/RetailMall.aspx?p_id=999984217&sid=3stGwB2iCCYUA48-41111612418.ff

And for "green" purchases:  http://www.shoptoearn.net/cgi-bin/genesis.exe/index.html?p_cart=G&p_get_webid=aballenkk

Happy shopping.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Sony a-nex cameras

I mentioned these cameras in the past - I had wanted to get my hands on them to give them a try because I was curious as to how a camera the size of a digital still camera could balance with extra lenses.  Now, you could buy lenses that would fit the a-nex, or you can use a converter lense so that you could mount the Minolta and Sony A lenses to the camera: the α-NEX Camera Mount Adapter, which retails at the Sony site for $199.  Well, that adds weight to the front end of the camera, as would an A-mount lens.  I did get the chance to hold the a-NEX-3 camera, and the weighting of it just did not feel balanced to me.  I'd be interested in checking out the a-NEX-5 series which shoots 1080p movies, but, I thing the only way you might get around the balance problem would be to invest in new E-mount lenses, and even then, I am not sure that would resolve the problem (although you wouldn't have to deal with the expensive mount adapter, and I assume the E-Mount lenses are lighter than the A-mount).  I don't plan myself on switching anytime soon.  My Sony alpha DSLR, my Sony DSC-H20 are great for me, and my Sony DSC-W220 is serviceable for my husband.  I have too much money invested in the Minolta/Sony A-mount lenses.