Kno announces single-screen tablet textbook, plans to ship alongside dual-screen by end of 2010

Looks like Kno, whose dual-screen tablet textbook turned heads at D8 this year, is taking a cue from King Solomon himself. The company has announced a single-screen tablet textbook -- apparently the "world's first," if you don't consider the plethora of other tablets as educational in any way. Both devices are apparently on track for a late 2010 release, thanks in no small part, we suspect, to new funding. From the press pics, it really looks to be just one-half the original product: a single 14.1-inch capacitive IPS display with presumably 1440 x 900 resolution.

Kno's taken some pride in its two-screen design, so why introduce a more standard form factor? Looks like price might be the big motivator; it's something CEO Osman Rashid seems to at least tacitly acknowledge: "Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform." That said, we still don't know the price of either product. Last we heard, the double-display model would be priced at "under $1,000," but there's no indication as to how far under that might be. We'll keep investigating; in the meantime, don't throw away your army of highlighters just yet. Press release after the break.

$13 Add-On Turns iPhone into Leica

$13 Add-On Turns iPhone into Leica

For just $13, you can have your own Leica camera. Petapixel will sell you a pair of stickers for your iPhone 4 which will turn it, magically, into a rangefinder camera worth many thousands of dollars. Or at least, it wil make it look like one.

For trademark-infringement reasons, the sticker set has no Leica logos, but it's pretty clear from the big red dot that the Leica Look-Alike Skin for the iPhone 4 is inspired by the legendary German camera. There's even a sticker for the front of the iPhone, although that might be taking things a little to far. The peel-off vinyl panels will also protect the phone from scratches, and may even fool the less perceptive that you're a lot richer than you are. Available now.

iOS 4.2 First Look: iPad Gets Multitasking, Printing

iOS 4.2 First Look: iPad Gets Multitasking, Printing

Poor iPad customers. It feels like an eternity since the iPhone and iPod Touch gained multitasking with iOS 4, while owners of the tablet have been frozen in time with boring old iOS 3. 

Fortunately, Apple's iOS 4.2 is due for launch in November, and we got an early look at the new OS on the iPad.

Based on our hands-on testing with an early beta release of iOS 4.2, there's plenty for iPad users to look forward to. Multitasking is even better on the media-rich tablet than on its smaller siblings, grouping apps into folders makes the entire tablet experience feel less inundating, and finally, the iPad will get a feature many of us have been demanding: wireless printing.

We couldn't test all the new features due to the unavailability of some necessary hardware, but here's a quick first look of what you'll get with iOS 4.2 in a few months.

Multitasking

Multitasking on the iPad works the same as it does on the iPhone or iPod Touch: Hit the Home button twice and an app drawer pops up at the bottom of the screen. In the drawer, the iPad displays apps running in the background, and you tap an app to switch to it immediately with a feature called Fast App Switching. (See our explainer on mobile multitasking if you're curious.) When switching between apps, the iPad is noticeably faster than the iPhone or iPod Touch, and boy is it buttery smooth. It's not a brand new feature to iOS 4, but it's the most important addition that iPad customers should anticipate.

AirPrint

If you're still into killing trees and wasting ink, iOS 4.2 will introduce wireless printing to the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple claims that when this feature is fully working, you'll be able to connect to a Wi-Fi network and wirelessly print from your device without installing any drivers. (Having wrestled with dozens of printers at my previous job, I am pessimistic about printing ever becoming this easy.) One major caveat: The printers have to be configured on your Mac or PC to share over a network, or the printer has to be compatible with AirPlay. Only HP so far has partnered with Apple to offer AirPrint-ready printers.

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22 [tu: tu:] The 'Sickest Tube Amp You've Ever Seen'

Koichi Futatsumata's Elekit tube amplifier first showed up on Gadget Lab in October last year. The monolithic block was like a prevision of the newest Mac Mini, hewn from aluminum with a minimal set of controls and ports. Now, it has gotten a name change and is finally ready to go on sale.

The Elekit is now the "22 [tu: tu:]" and will be available to buy in October for ¥73,500, or around $860. For that you get an almost willfully simple piece of audio kit, with just two knobs (volume and tone), a single pair of RCA jacks for input and four binder-posts for hooking up the speakers. There's also a power cable, of course, from which the electricity will be lovingly funneled through the circuitry and tubes to produce the warm, full sound that is the hallmark of the tube amp.

A new site will also go live tomorrow, September 17th (as of today it is still password protected) and you'll be able to pre-order soon. One word of advice: don't pair this up with the terrible Crosley Radio Revolution portable, battery operated turntable I wrote up this morning. That would be like splattering ketchup on oysters.

Kno Releases Details and Video of Multi-Screen Reading Tablet

Kno Releases Details and Video of Multi-Screen Reading Tablet

Kno Movie from Kno, Inc. on Vimeo.

Big players have tried and failed to bring out a "textbook replacement" e-reader. Kno won't be shipping their entry until Christmas at the earliest, but it's a serious candidate that's worth a second look.

Kno's form factor is essentially two slightly-oversized iPads on a giant 180-degree hinge. It has two 14″ stylus-compatible touchscreens, which you can keep separate for a textbook or multi-screen layout, unify for a single widescreen display, or fold back for a single tablet.

(I'm guessing you could also lay one side flat and use it with a software keyboard like a notebook, but I haven't seen that configuration advertised — maybe you can't make a hinge fluid AND stiff enough to pull that off.)

Under the hood is a 16GB hard drive and an NVidia Tegra 2 processor. You could compare it to Microsoft's scrapped Courier project or a larger take on the Toshiba Libretto. The Libretto, though, is a warning sign; Kno wants to keep their price under $1000 (preferably under $900) but Toshiba's smaller entry is stuck starting at $1100.

That said, it just might work. Kno's CEO Osman Rashid has raised a lot of venture capital money, brokered deals with most of the major textbook publishers, and already has one education-market success with textbook-rental service Chegg. He's been making the rounds, giving interviews talking up the product. Your college student just might discover a Kno in his or her stocking, just in time for Spring semester.

Olympus高階隨身數位相機動眼觀看

Olympus高階隨身數位相機動眼觀看

老實說，Olympus在Photokina放了這麼樣一台是那種不能運作，而且規格又不能完全確定的高階隨身機，在現今其實很難引起高度注意。畢竟這種隨身型，但機能又全面完整的消費機，算一算也可以找得到好幾台了。像是Ricoh的GX、GRD系列；三星EX1；Panasonic的LX3、LX5等差不多都是（C牌的G系列以及N牌的P這種等級沒列進去的原因，主要是這階段的相機是比較訴求「專業」）。



如果說這台是可運作的，並且有拍出照片可以討論也就罷了。如果只是強調ZD鏡鏡內建的話，也不太算什麼強大的賣點（各家都有強鏡下放的前例，像N牌的ED，C牌的L，S牌的Z）。若說造型，可能之前的Pen系列還比較有梗些（看看人家富士X100所採用的造型吧）。



就等2011年初廠商正式推出的時候，看看是有多驚人的特色吧（我想是補產品線不足的成份高些）。現在的話，就近距離看看這款原型機的外觀吧。（看完整個機身後，發現按鈕有比較少的感覺，實在有些擔心操作介面的問題）

%u5716%u96C6: Olympus Zuiko-equipped compact camera eyes-on at Photokina 2010

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現代的 5DII，102 年前的鏡頭

現代的 5DII，102 年前的鏡頭

老鏡頭在現代機身上獲得新生命不是什麼新鮮事，但這麼老的鏡頭還真是蠻罕見的。一位名為 Timor Civan 的 5DII 愛用者「入手」（詳細的入手方式有些不明，似乎是借的）了一顆約 1908 年生產，原本是設計給手搖式攝影機的 Wollensak 35mm F5.0 Cine-Velostigmat 鏡頭，來源是一位被他形容為「瘋狂科學家」的俄國技師。這位技師還花了六個小時打造適合 EOS 的接鏡環，將鏡頭裝上去。



照片的效果清楚地說明了鏡頭在形成照片的「fu」上扮演了多重要的地位，即使是使用現代的相機、現代的場景，照片中的一切仿佛回到了上個世紀初一般。這裡有更多照片，大家記得點過去欣賞喔！