AllofMP3 promises to resume service

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It looks like the long, litigious saga of AllofMP3 is about to take yet another turn, with the company is now promising to resume its music download service following a recent Russian court ruling in its favor. While it apparently isn't quite ready to get all that specific, the company has posted a brief notice on its official blog saying that it expects to resume the service in the "foreseeable future," and that it's doing its best to ensure that "users can use their accounts, top up balance and order music." Of course, AllofMP3 has hardly left all its legal troubles behind it, so there's no telling what may happen between now and the intended re-launch. Either way, we're pretty sure this won't be the last we hear from the company.

(Via Engadget.)

Nikon officially announces D3 and D300, lenses

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Alright, Nikon's two new flagship DSLRs are officially announced. (Better images coming right up.) Here's what you need to know:

D3


  • 12.1 megapixel, full-frame friggin sensor! (23.9 x 36mm) Finally. ISO up to 6400

  • 3-inch VGA live view LCD

  • Two (count 'em, two!) CompactFlash card slots for overflow, backup, or copying

  • New EXPEED image processor

  • 9fps in full frame, 11fps in DX crop; 51 point autofocus (with "3D focus tracking")

  • HDMI out with optional cable

  • $5000, November release


D300


  • 12.3 megapixel DX (1.5 crop) sensor

  • 3-inch VGA live view LCD

  • New EXPEED image processor

  • 51 point autofocus

  • $1800, November release


Lenses


  • AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

  • AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

  • AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR

  • AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/4G ED VR

  • AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR


Gallery: Nikon D3 press shots


Gallery: Nikon D300 press shots


Read - D3 press release
Read - D300 release
Read - Pro zoom Nikkor lens release
Read - Super telephoto lens release

 

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(Via Engadget.)

Get your Microsoft HD Photo plug-in for Photoshop

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With the speed of evolution in computing, standards and the web, have you ever wondered why we've been stuck with JPG as an image format for so long? Microsoft sure did, and after about 5 years of mulling the question, the company has produced what sounds like a very promising replacement: HD Photo. Offering greater support for new digital imaging trends like HDR (High Dynamic Range), HD Photo boasts the same or better image quality than JPG in half the file size. While Microsoft has patents on some of the technology in HD Photo, they are surprisingly allowing anyone to license it for free for use in apps and devices like photo editing software and digital cameras. To learn more than you might ever want to know about HD Photo, check out its Wikipedia entry or episode #51 of TWiM (This Week in Media), one of my favorite podcasts in which the crew sits down with Bill Crow, Microsoft's Program Manager for HD Photo. Be careful with that one though - TWiM's cast is composed of some incredibly knowledgeable, hard-core media geeks, and they eventually get their geek on with Crow as they delve into the discussion.


Long story short: excitement is steadily building for HD Photo, as it is shaping up to be quite the revolutionary image format that could (hopefully) knock JPG off its pedestal some day. Fortunately, the HD Photo team have taken another step in spreading the format by releasing a Photoshop CS2/CS3 plug-in for PowerPC and Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. The plug-in can be downloaded from Microsoft, and it for some odd reason expires on December 31, 2007. If you know your stuff when it comes to image formats and you give this plug-in a spin, let us know what you think in the comments.

(Via TUAW.)

Amazon leaks specs, delivery, and price for Canon’s EOS 40D

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Hot damn kiddies. Amazon just posted the specs and delivery for Canon's EOS 40D. Of course, it's not official 'til it's official but Amazon lists a September 20th availability for the true 30D successor. The specs? They're all there: new 10.1 megapixel, APS-C sized, self-cleaning CMOS sensor; 30% faster, 9 point AF; DIGIC III image processing; ISO 3200 max sensitivity; improved 3.0-inch LCD with Enhanced Live View; 6.5fps continuous shooting (bursting 75 Large/Fine JPEGs or 17 RAW images); 35-zone metering system; and CF card storage, natch. All in a body just slightly larger than the EOS 30D while tipping the scale with 1.4-ounces (40-grams) more beef. It also supports an "sRAW' mode which trims the number of pixels to one-fourth that of a standard RAW image (cutting file size in half) while retaining all of the flexibility of full-sized RAW images. A definite 30D upgrade for those of you who've been holding out. Sorry, no new pictures, the shot above was from that earlier leak. Now best get outta here and start shaking down the kids for the $1,299.99 required to take the body-only home.

Update: Amazon pulled the price and delivery date. No worries, original screengrab after the break.

[Via dapreview forums, thanks Manhog and Robby B.]

Continue reading Amazon leaks specs, delivery, and price for Canon's EOS 40D

 

Read | Permalink

(Via Engadget.)

Logitech announces Pure-Fi Dream and Anywhere iPod speakers

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We're still not sure why people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for an alarm clock when a $5 model from the pharmacy works just as well, but in all fairness to Logitech, the new $250 Pure-Fi Dream (pictured above and in the gallery below) does a lot more than just annoy the hell out of you every morning. Yessir, what you're getting here is a "premium bedroom audio system" featuring 3/4-inch tweeters and 3-inch woofers, along with dual alarms, motion sensitive controls (no more banging around for the snooze button), and a "one-of-a-kind" LCD screen that dupes all the vital info from a docked iPod. And to make sure that you don't become a homebody sitting in your room listening to your Dream, Logitech is also launching another speaker system designed to maximize your iPod experience on the go, the Pure Fi Anywhere (pictured in the gallery below). This followup to the company's mm50 promises longer battery life, a smaller form factor, and better remote than its predecessor, all for the same $150 price tag. You should be able to start traveling in style next month with the release of the Anywhere, but your whole morning routine won't get that much needed boost until November, when the Dream is scheduled to ship.



Read - Pure Fi Dream
Read - Pure Fi Anywhere

(Via Engadget.)

Why Full Text Feeds Actually Increase Page Views (The Freakonomics Explanation)

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Last week, the Freakonomics blog got some extra attention by moving the blog to the NY Times. Of course, the blog had been in support of the immensely popular Freakonomics book, but the blog has taken on a life of its own. What was interesting was how people reacted to the news. While there were a few congratulations thrown in, the vast majority of the comments on the blog when the news broke was to complain about the NY Times' decision to switch the RSS feed from full text to partial text, where anyone who wanted to read the whole thing would have to click through. This has kicked off yet another round in the debate with some thoughtful discussions about full vs. partial feeds. Techdirt, of course, offers full feeds and always has. This means that plenty of people who read this site absolutely never visit the site. We're fine with that for a variety of reasons (one of which being that our business model isn't dependent on page views or ad impressions).

However, in our experience, full text feeds actually does lead to more page views, though understanding why is a little more involved. Full text feeds makes the reading process much easier. It means it's that much more likely that someone reads the full piece and actually understands what's being said -- which makes it much, much, much more likely that they'll then forward it on to someone else, or blog about it themselves, or post it to Digg or Reddit or Slashdot or Fark or any other such thing -- and that generates more traffic and interest and page views from new readers, who we hope subscribe to the RSS feed and become regular readers as well. The whole idea is that by making it easier and easier for anyone to read and fully grasp our content, the more likely they are to spread it via word of mouth, and that tends to lead to much greater adoption than by limiting what we give to our readers and begging them to come to our site if they want to read more than a sentence or two. So, while many people claim that partial feeds are needed to increase page views where ads are hosted, our experience has shown that full text feeds actually do a great deal to increase actual page views on the site by encouraging more usage. It's the same thing that we've talked about in other areas of the content industry. Taking value away from users to try to force a specific action is almost always going to be less desirable than providing people what they want. So while Dubner and Levitt may have to argue with the NYTimes beancounters who will claim that partial feeds will increase revenue, they may want to use the lessons they learned from their own book to recognize that the opposite may be true. Full feeds can actually drive more traffic overall.

(Via Techdirt.)