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Canon EOS Rebel 550D/T2i - First impressions

Canon updated the mid-range section of the DSLR cameras with the new Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D.
Building on the popularity of the EOS 500D, the EOS 550D is designed to give you more access to video as well as Eye-Fi compatibility. Priced at US $ 899.99 with the standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens, the EOS 550D will be available from the 24th February onwards.

There are a few basic upgrades on the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D. Notably is the ISO sensitivity top limit being raised to ISO6400 although you can still expand that to ISO12800 if you wish. An interesting point on this is that you can now cap the highest ISO point while in AutoISO, so it won’t use ultra high settings to get a decent shutter speed.

The new screen resolution should help with the new video functions of the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D. It has a Full HD recording facility of 1080p with manual control as well as selectable frame rates. You can choose from 30, 25 and 24fps at full HD quality while pushing it up to 60 or 50fps will reduce the quality to 720p. Alternatively, putting the camera in program mode means you don’t have to worry about it. There’s also a Movie Crop function that reduces the resolution to a 640×480 area but means you get a magnification of 7x the focal length of the lens.

The metering system now matches the one found on the popular Canon EOS 7D using the new iFCL metering with 63-zone dual-layer sensor. IFCL stands for intelligent Focus, Colour and Luminance metering and it’s this information that the new system uses to meter with. It works in conjunction with the focus points to determine the distance from relative subjects and weights the exposure according to the algorithm results.

Order now, the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D is priced at $799.99.

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Are you ready for the 2010 Super Bowl - Indianapolis Colts vs New Orleans Saints?

Miami’s Sun Life Stadium will host the 2010 Super Bowl, the most watched event in American Sports. Super Bowl XLIV features the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. Watch as they go head-to-head for the right to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

You may be able to watch it online LIVE. But how is it done? Here’s some advice.

  • First thing first, make sure you have a good quality internet connection!
  • You can check NFL.com, but you need to check on them every time. The streaming may not be that good as there will be heavy loads of server requests that you may not be able to obtain a slot which will cost you time.
  • Are you thinking of watching on YouTube? No, I am saying this to you there is no live championship telecast on YouTube, how much more the Super Bowl, so don’t waste your time to check Youtube anymore.
  • You can also check watching it using Sopcast through a Sopcast provider. There are so many Sopcast softwares available in the internet and too many providers. If you are lucky you can watch a clear reception which is a very low probability, but most of the time you will be shoved aside by the other users and you may not have good reception as there will be pauses and late responses from their servers due to poor handling of requests and limited server resources.

We’ll be watching the Super Bowl 2010 with some geekery added, just like the Football Snack Bowl: we love it!
Just press the air inflation button and the top of the football swings open and plays the FOX NFL THEME music.

NO NFL fan should live without it!

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Looking for danger? Power fight? Your perfect game is Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines PSP Pack!

The PSP Pack Limited Edition Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines Entertainment Pack brings together the latest hardware revision of the PlayStation Portable (PSP), with action, adventure, ancient intrigue and overall digital entertainment like you never thought possible. The Bundle includes a “Pearl White” PSP-3000 system, a copy of Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines in UMD format, a 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, an “Angels & Demons” PlayStation Store downloadable movie voucher* and a Sony Music Voucher for 10 downloadable songs.

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines played a PSP-3000. Both included in the PlayStation Portable 3000 Limited Edition Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines Entertainment PSP Pack

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines on PSP is the first Assassin’s Creed game on the PSP. It follows the story of Altair right after the events of Assassin’s Creed as Altair tracks down the last Templars who fled the Holy Land and retreated to the Island of Cyprus. The world of the assassin is one cloaked in shadow and steeped in danger. Ensnared in a web of revenge and conspiracy, the assassin embraces power at its most elemental, acting as the dividing line between life and death. As an assassin confronted by perilous new challenges and difficult choices, what path will you choose?

Bloodlines Features Integrated with Those of Assassin’s Creed II

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines contains several bonus features integrated with the PlayStation 3 version of Assassin’s Creed II through a USB link between the two systems. Players who own both games can collect “Templar Coins” in Bloodlines and exchange them for Assassin’s Creed II currency, as well as collect weapons from defeated targets and play with those same weapons in Assassin’s Creed II. Through that same USB connectivity, blade and health upgrades found in Assassin’s Creed II can be transferred to Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, making for the ultimate Assassin’s Creed gaming experience on both platforms.

2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo
With 2GB of memory, the compact Memory Stick PRO Duo allows you to save your PlayStation Network downloads, as well as store your videos, photos, music and more.

The PSP Pack comes for US $ 199, if you dare to face Altair’s dangers!

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Elenco Snap Circuit 300: over 300 electronic projects, more than a toy!

We venture that even Edison would be amazed!
Prepare to engineer over 300 exciting, useful electronic gadgets & play lively electronic games with Electronic Snap Circuits’ Snap Circuits SC-300!
This kit features a valuable collection of materials! The colorful and easy-to-follow format of the instruction manual makes circuit assembly stress-free and fun.

All parts are mounted on plastic modules and snap together with ease. Leave the tools in the garage-everything you need for your electronics learning adventure is included.
With Snap Circuits SC-300 your understanding of electronics is a SNAP!

Snap Circuits SC-300 contains over 60 parts and allows for literally over 300 Projects!

Here are just a few:
Lamp & Fan, Musical Doorbell, Laser Gun, Police Car Symphony, Reflection Detector, Spinning Rings, Pencil Alarm, Race Game, Photosensitive Electronic Organ, Space War Music Combo, The Lie Detector, Mosquito, Musical Motion Detector, Fire Fan Symphony, Water Detector, Screaming Fan, Daylight Music Radio, Blow off a Space War, Red & Green Control, Touch Buzzer, Laser Light, Flooding Alarm, Make Your Own Battery, Hissing Foghorn, Blow On a Candle, Mosquito, Voice-Controlled Rays of Light, Spacey Fan, Old-Style Typewriter, Blinking Double Flashlight, Hummer, Motor That Won’t Start, Steamship, Pressure Alarm, Feedback Kazoo, Race Car Engine… and more!

Unique Learning Experience
Creating a flying UFO from “scratch” with rudimentary electronic pieces was highly satisfying to us, and we think Electronic Snap Circuits may well help young students gain and foster an appreciation for, and interest in, how electronics work and are built.

For students who are already learning about electronics in school, this set creates a hands-on experience that makes for more fun than reading about how these things work in a textbook.
So don’t be surprised if report cards come back with higher grades after playing with this toy.

The Snap Circuits SC-300 is available now for US $39.67 (You Save: $20.32 , -34% and free shipping too!)

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Latte Café 32 GB Video MP3 4.3″ Touchscreen Player: huge screen, great gift!

Latte Café 32 GB Video MP3 Player offers wide audio and video format support, a voice recorder, and bonus features like a calendar and stopwatch. Add sleek design and an attractive metallic/gray finish, and you’ve got a perfect PMP package. Enjoy your favorite videos or pictures and navigate with ease on the Café’s 4.3-inch touchscreen display with 480 x 272 (WQVGA) pixel resolution.

The Latte Café 32 GB Video MP3 Player features amplified dual speakers so you can share music or videos with friends. Throw on headphones for private listening. While some devices limit you with their skimpy format support, the Café will play MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, and APE music formats for about 8-10 hours on a single charge. Standard play modes like repeat and shuffle are included, and of course the Café supports ID3 tages (versions 1 and 2) for displaying song info while you listen.

Take your favorite videos with you and enjoy them anywhere with the Café’s brilliant screen. You’ll get about four hours of video playback on a single charge.
The Latte Café 32 GB Video MP3 Player supports AVI, RM/RMVB, and FLV formats, so you can enjoy more video with less conversion.

Latte Café is now available with 27% saving at US $ 181.49!

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Logitech Harmony 890 Universal Remote (and save 50%): a gift that will put you in control!

Tired of all the remote controls cluttering up your coffee table? Logitech wants to control your entire entertainment center with its Logitech Harmony 890
.

Lets face it, there’s a downside to the consumer electronics revolution. A proliferation of black or silver boxes that live under the omnipresent TVs bring with them a multitude of separate remote controls; one to change the volume of the stereo, one to turn on the TV, one to control the DVD player, another for the TiVo; the list goes on.

The Logitech Harmony 890 puts you in control of your entire audio-video system with just one button. It’s home entertainment the way it should be–simple.

Optimized for complicated HDTV and PVR systems, the Logitech Harmony 890 helps you tame tough configurations like switching your television between video aspect ratios depending on the program source. The interactive color display lets you quickly choose a 16:9 ratio for movies and HDTV, or a standard 4:3 ratio for basic television programming.

The new remote control models from Logitech’s Harmony line. Their newest consumer remote, the Logitech Harmony 890, departs from the norm and adds a 128×160 pixel full color LCD display and docking cradle to recharge the included Lithium-ion battery. The entire remote has been completely remodeled by Logitech’s design team. This model is the culmination of the company’s influence and experience being put to the test in an effort to improve upon the past Harmony designs and ergonomics.

The remote’s LCD screen goes to sleep automatically, but is awakened “automagically” when the remote is picked up or when the GLOW button is pressed. The contrast is a bit high on the display, and it cannot be adjusted, but all text appeared to be reasonably easy to read. The Volume, Channel and Navigational buttons are quite easy to reach with the thumb and are very well laid out. Selecting from the eight activities or user controls via the LCD screen’s side buttons is also very easy to do,

The baseline?

Simply press an Activity button, such as “Watch TV” or “Listen to Music,” and your Harmony Remote automatically sets up each of the devices required for that activity. Sleek docking station that remote fully charged Programmable with Windows PC or Macintosh computer / USB Cable included 53 top-mounted hard buttons and 8 on-screen activity buttons 2 MB non-volatile flash memory.

Yes, that’s right, the Logitech Harmony 890 comes with programming software for both Windows and Mac OS X!

Now the Logitech Harmony 890 comes with 50% saving at US$ 199.99!

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Nikon D3000: a really simple DSLR, a great gift with super saving and limited-time free shipping!

The Nikon D3000 is an entry-level DSLR, but don’t let the term fool you. When you place the label “Entry Level” on a camera, it might call to mind a camera with no frills, limited uses, and little more to offer than an automatic shooting experience.

This has been disproved by the latest crop of cameras released in the past two years, and the D3000 continues to set the bar high for an entry-level camera.

This new generation of point-and-shoots and entry-level DSLRs not only push the boundary of low-light performance and mega resolutions, they give that power to a whole new audience of beginning photographers.

Not only do DSLRs offer you manual control over shooting, they give you the advantage of using different kinds of lenses. It’s important to remember when buying a DSLR that you’re also buying into a system of lenses, not just a camera. The power of having a DSLR is that you can place any of your old lenses onto a new camera body in the future.

Enter the Nikon D3000, a new entry-level DSLR with a 10.2 megapixel DX-format CCD APS-C image sensor, 11-point Autofocus system with 3D tracking (which comes on the higher-end D5000 and D90), Active D-Lighting and an AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens for $599.

The Nikon D3000 feels and looks exactly like the other DSLRs from Nikon, and is only different from the D90 and D5000, both higher-end models, by a few tenths of an inch. The D3000 measures 5.0×3.8×2.6 inches while the D90 is 5.2×4.1×3.0 inches, though the D3000 weighs a bit less at 1 lb 1 oz, making the Nikon entry-level to prosumer DSLR models almost identical in shape and size as well as overall appearance.

First time DSLR users will enjoy the Guide Mode. It literally walked us through different shoot scenarios via the fixed 3″ LCD screen. An excellent tool, its step by step instructions allowed my niece to move from the operating booklet in no time.

The Nikon D3000 is paired with a Nikkor 18-55mm AF-S DX lens. It will operate with any Nikkor DX and AF-S lens.

Nikon makes it really simple with a thumb dial for tweaking aperture and shutter speed. Metering, focus modes, and exposure compensation are easily controlled via the menu. The D3000 does not shoot in video mode. This model easily shoots over three frames per second in continuous mode. The 3D tracking sensor operates quite well in low lighting.

Get the full Nikon D3000 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens bundle for US $458.86 (You Save: $91.09 and that’s 17%!) now and enjoy a limited-time free-shipping!

Even though the Nikon D3000 is really simple to use, do you really want some great advice on using it?
Get the Nikon D3000 For Dummies!

Explore your camera’s creative options and learn to get great shots with your dSLR with this great book!

Get the Nikon D3000 For Dummies for US $ 19.79 (and save up to 34%!)!

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iPhone BackFlip: simple, practical, inexpensive! (the perfect gift!)

The BackFlip is really simple, and simply a delight. The BackFlip is an iPhone case that serves the same purpose as the most popular rubber iPhone cases which have literally sold tens of millions of units. It has the same shock-absorbing qualities as rubber cases, as well as the sticky, non-slip performance so that phone doesn’t move when you put it down. However, the BackFlip goes way beyond the basic rubber case in that with the simplest yet ingenuous feature: it has a well-designed pop-out stand on its back.

With the stand, you can easily prop up the iPhone vertically or horizontally, making it easy to view videos, pictures, web pages or emails without needing to hold the iPhone. I view all sorts of content on my iPhone all the time, and always get tired of holding the phone. So I either end up laying it down flat – requiring me to tilt my head to see it properly – or having to MacGyver together some odds and ends to prop the phone up so I can view the content. With the BackFlip, you simply flip the stand out and voila, the phone is propped up instantly for viewing.

The BackFlip’s price won’t even set you back: it’s just US $ 29.95 !!!

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Flip Camcorders: the smallest HD camcorders, perfect gifts and now with great savings for shopping season!

Great gift often come in small packages… and in HD too!

The Flip UltraHD Camcorder combines Flip Video’s signature shoot-and-share simplicity with the power of vivid, vibrant HD video. UltraHD could not be easier to use: just power on and press record, and you’ll be capturing high-quality HD video in seconds.

The Flip UltraHD features 120 minutes of record time and an included rechargeable battery pack, so you’ll never miss another minute of video again. And because it’s ultra-portable, UltraHD lets you capture spontaneous video anytime, anywhere. Whether it’s a lazy afternoon in the park; a family vacation; or simply an unplanned, everyday event, your UltraHD will be charged and ready to go. So you never have to say, “You should have been there.”

What we really love about the Flip UltraHD:

  • Shoots 720p HD video;
  • Captures 120 minutes of HD video on 8 GB of built-in memory;
  • high-quality video for its class;
  • Comes with Flip Video rechargeable AA battery pack (recharges when connected to USB); also supported by standard AA batteries
  • Large 2-inch anti-glare color LCD screen to play back and delete videos
  • HDMI output (mini-HDMI connector) makes it simple to watch video on your HDTV
  • Video: 16:9 widescreen, HD 720p (1280 x 720) at 30 frames per second (fps) progressive scan; recorded as MP4 files
  • snappy flip-out USB arm plugs directly into your PC or Mac to launch FlipShare software
  • Pre-installed FlipShare software lets you easily email videos, edit individual clips, make custom movies, capture still photos from video, and even upload video to sharing sites like YouTube and MySpace
  • FlipShare software compatible with both Mac and Windows machines.

The bottom line?
The Flip UltraHD may not be the sexiest mini camcorder out there, but it offers a truly respectable feature set and some of the best video we’ve seen from this type of cheap, YouTube-friendly camcorder.

Priced at less than $150.00, the Flip UltraHD is available right now.

Price conscious? Looking for an even cheaper deal? Meet the Flip Mino!

The super-simple, super-portable Flip Mino makes it easy to capture and share high-quality video anywhere and everywhere. Mino weighs only 3.3 ounces and features a sleek, pocket-sized design, allowing you to take it with you everywhere you go. Flip Mino also boasts a rechargeable battery that powers up automatically while plugged into your computer. And while Mino is 40 percent smaller than its already-pocket-sized brother, the Flip Ultra, it’s got all the Flip Video features–simple user interface, one-touch recording, flip-out USB arm, built-in editing and sharing software, instant uploads to YouTube and MySpace–that folks have come to know and love.

While small in size, Flip Mino produces video that is unbelievably high in quality. Its 2 GB of on-board flash memory records up to 60 minutes of full-VGA-quality video that looks sharp when played back on your laptop or television (TV cable included). The built-in microphone captures crisp, detailed audio, whether you’re paddling down the Amazon or rockin’ out at your favorite club. When it’s time to edit or share videos from your latest excursion, flip out the USB arm and connect to any Mac or PC to launch the built-in FlipShare software.

Check the lastest price for the Flip Mino!

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Shopping season special, not just for kids: EyeClops Mini Projector - not for all, with huge savings!

We have seen the EyeClops Night Vision Goggles before and they were one of the coolest tech toys last holiday season. A new EyeClops product has been announced that is called the EyeClops Mini Projector.
The projector allows movies, games and more to be projected onto a screen or wall to be viewed.

The EyeClops Mini Projector is pocketsize and lightweight for portability. LED backlighting is bright enough to project games and other sources up to 70-inches in size from any multimedia device from Blu-ray players to game consoles.

Speakers are built-in to the device for sound and it can run for up to ten hours on standard D cell batteries or indefinitely with an included AC adapter.

Get the EyeClops Mini Projector now: tag price is $54.97 (you’re super saving: $45.02 - 45% less!)

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