Pentax Instant Rebates

We found this post on the Pentax Forums and thought we’d pass it on.

PENTAX RICOH IMAGING AMERICAS CORPORATION (PENTAX), today announced instant rebates on its K-01 interchangeable lens camera (ILC) and K-30 Digital SLR (DSLR) camera. Consumers can also take advantage of instant rebates on a wide variety of PENTAX lenses as well as increased savings when lens purchases are coupled with the purchase of any PENTAX K-mount camera. Additionally, PENTAX has announced significant price reductions on the 645D medium format camera and Q interchangeable lens camera.

“As a thank you to our loyal customers, these instant rebates and price reductions are an excellent way to get a head start on holiday shopping with great savings on our digital cameras and lenses,” explains John Carlson, Sr. Manager of Sales and Marketing, PENTAX. “Whether making a gift purchase or treating yourself to the photography equipment you’ve been wishing for, these great savings on various PENTAX digital cameras and lenses are available immediately at the time of purchase.”

The instant rebates on the purchase of a K-01 are being offered from September 1, 2012 through September 30, 2012 and range from $200 - $300 depending on the type of K-01 kit purchased. Customers who purchase the K-30 between September 1, 2012 and October 31, 2012 will receive a $50 instant rebate. Additionally, PENTAX is offering instant rebates ranging from $50 - $100 on a variety of DA and DA* lenses through December 31, 2012. For even greater savings, lens rebate amounts will double when combined with the purchase of any PENTAX K-mount DSLR or ILC.

In addition to the instant rebates, PENTAX has also reduced the price of the 645D medium format digital camera, as well as its Q compact ILC model. The 645D has been reduced from $9,995.95 to $8,795.95, which amounts to a savings of $1,200. The Q has been reduced by $150 - $200 ($399.95 - $649.95) depending on the type of kit purchased.

To download more information on the instant rebate offerings, visit: Special Offers & Rebates - PENTAX Imaging USA . For more information on the PENTAX K-30 and K-mount cameras, visit: PentaxWebstore.com: Digital SLR. To learn more about the K-01 and Q ILC cameras, visit: PentaxWebstore.com: Hybrid Cameras. For details on the complete line-up of PENTAX lenses, visit: PentaxWebstore.com: Lenses.

From PentaxForums.com: http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-news-rumors/197351-pentax-usa-officially-drops-prices-645d-q-k-01-a.html#ixzz253seZ255

Konnet iCrado Pro for Android Smartphones Review

By Chuck Hajdu

I have always been a big fan of cradles since the days of PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), the precursor of today’s Smartphones. Most of my favorite PDAs used cradles for charging and synching and they made my life easier.

My current Smartphone of choice is a Samsung Galaxy S II and I was delighted when I saw the Konnet iCardo Pro was available for this model. The iCardo Pro is an all metal stand that looks great and works as a stand and charger for the S II, S II and Note models.

Included in the box is the cradle and a USB synch and charge cable. The USB cable is long enough to provide for quite a bit of flexibility in where you plug it in.

The iCardo stand works great as a phone charger but it is more than that. It’s great to be able to have my phone right next to my computer while I work and have all of it’s capabilities at my finger tips.


I can make and receive calls and use all of the other apps I regularly need far more conveniently using the cradle than without them. In no time at all the Konnet iCardo Pro cradle has become one of my favorite pieces of hardware.

MSRP is $29.99
www.konnetonline.com

Lexmark News

This week we received an email from Lexmark telling us that Lexmark was “exiting” the inkjet printer business. Here are some excerpts from the email.

Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) today announced restructuring actions, including the exiting of the development and manufacturing of the company's remaining inkjet hardware, which are expected to result in annualized savings of $95 million once fully implemented. Lexmark will continue to provide service, support and aftermarket supplies for its inkjet installed base.

"Today's announcement represents difficult decisions, which are necessary to drive improved profitability and significant savings," said Paul Rooke, Lexmark chairman and chief executive officer. "Our investments are focused on higher value imaging and software solutions, and we believe the synergies between imaging and the emerging software elements of our business will continue to drive growth across the organization.

"As we move forward, we remain confident in our strategy, competitiveness and ability to create value for shareholders," added Rooke.

The actions include closing the Cebu, Philippines, inkjet supplies manufacturing facility by the end of 2015. The actions also include eliminating inkjet development worldwide, including costs related to facilities, tooling, equipment, contract termination, and scrapping in process inventory, which are expected to be principally complete by the end of 2013.

These restructuring actions are expected to result in the elimination of approximately 1,700 positions worldwide, including 1,100 manufacturing positions.

Lexmark is continuing to execute on its previously announced capital allocation framework of returning more than 50 percent of free cash flow(1) to shareholders, on average, through dividends and share repurchases, while building and growing its solutions and software business through expansion and acquisitions.

Lexmark’s stock price went up almost 15% on Tuesday after the announcement came out which reflects the belief of investors that Lexmark is doing the right thing.

Personally we have always loved Lexmark printers, especially their versatile MultiFunction Units.

2013 CES Registration Free Deadline

We want to remind all of our followers that this is the last week for free registration for the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show. As you know, we send a whole team of reporters to the show every year so we can cover as much of it as possible. There are so many companies making so many new product announcements that it takes a whole crew to cover it!

If you want to attend you can register at:
http://registration3.experientevent.com/showCES131/Default.aspx

The Real Winners

By Chuck Hajdu

I've been thinking about the verdict in last weeks trial where the jury awarded the iFruit company over $1 billion from Samsung. On the surface it would appear that Apple is the big winner and everyone else loses. Not just Samsung but everyone because it will stifle competition. But business, like everything in nature, abhors a vacuum and something will fill it.

This could be the big chance for two other formerly big players to get back in the game in a major way. With Win8 about to debut MSFT may well have the chance it was looking for to be a real player. And what about RIM? If they can get their act together they may be able to  succeed also.

It's too early to predict what will happen. Heck, Samsung might win an appeal and we're back to square one. It's going to be an interesting battle and we're looking forward to covering it.

MSFT Innovates... Again!!

We are usually a bit down on MSFT and their lack of real innovation. But this week MSFT introduced something new and innovative: a new logo!! 

Here’s the official description: The logo has two components: the logotype and the symbol. For the logotype, we are using the Segoe font which is the same font we use in our products as well as our marketing communications. The symbol is important in a world of digital motion. The symbol’s squares of color are intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products.

Look out iFruit company and Google, MSFT is on the march and leading in innovation!.

Apple Wins BIG!!

The huge patent battle between the iFruit company and Samsung has been decided by the jury. Of course, there will be appeals so the “final” decision is still to come. Here’s what the jury decided (as reported on TechCrunch):

The jury in the landmark Apple-Samsung trial ruled mostly in favor of Apple, including awarding Apple $1,051,855,000 in damages. Samsung, on the other hand, was granted a total of $0 in damages.

Here’s a quick rundown of how the jury came down on both of the companies. Remember, there are plenty of devices at play here — on Samsung’s side alone, there’s the Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy S, Exhibit, Infuse 4G, Mesmerize, Nexus S 4G, Gem, Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Replenish, Vibrant, plus every carrier’s version of the Galaxy S II.

• The jury found no infringement by Apple on any of Samsung’s utility patents.
• The jury found that Samsung infringed on patents for ’381 “bounce back” scrolling functionality on all devices.
• On the ’915 patent, relating to one finger to scroll, two to pinch and zoom navigation, all but three Samsung devices (Ace, Intercept and Replenish) infringed.
• For Apple’s ’163 patent (tap to zoom) all Samsung devices except Captivate, Indulge, Intercept, Nexus S 4G, Transform and Vibrant infringed.

The jury then answered a question about inducement, regarding whether Samsung made its U.S. arms infringe: yes for the ’381 “bounce back” patent on all devices, yes for ’915 “one finger scrolling” for all devices except Replenish and yes for ’163 “tap to zoom” for all except Captivate, Continuum, Gem, Indulge, Nexus S 4G.

One of the biggest questions answered by the jury was if Samsung was willful in its infringement, which is where the major damages came into play. The largest damages came from the prepaid Galaxy Prevail (over $57 million).

HP Stock Price

By Chuck Hajdu

Hewlett-Packard announced a quarterly loss of 8.9 billion USD on Wednesday after the closing bell on the stock exchange. As a consequence of their biggest quarterly loss in history, their stock took a serious dive on Thursday.

But I’m like Meg Whitman, the HP CEO, and I am optimistic about their future. Unlike Facebook’s lack of adult leadership, HP has a great team in place and will rebound to become a successful, profitable company again. Of course, I can be wrong but that doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm.

Tablet Computer Sales Numbers

Gartner has published the number of tablet computers sold in 2011 and heir 2012 projections. As expected iOS continues to dominate the category with Android a solid second and slowly gaining ground. Here are the numbers:

iOS- 40 million units, 66.6 percent share in 2011; projected 73 million units, 61.4 percent share in 2012

Android- 17.3 million units, 28.8 percent share in 2011; projected 37.9 million units, 31.9 percent share in 2012

Win8- none in 2011; projected 4.9 million units, 4.1 percent share in 2012

QNX/BlackBerry- 807,000 units, 1.3 percent share in 2011; projected 2.6 million units, 2.2 percent share in 2012

Other- 1.9 million units, 3.2 percent share in 2011; projected 510,000 units, 0.4 percent share in 2012

Big Brother

By Chuck Hajdu

For the first time in my life, I believe it’s the first time anyway, we have been officially informed that the federal government and the corporate world have the capability to not just track us but to accurately predict our movements. General Petreus recently told congress that the CIA has the capability today to track people in most of the world. In addition, we recently heard that a company has announced that it has an algorithm to accurately predict our movements so targeted advertising can be sent to us.

Just imagine what this means for our privacy because it means we no longer have any privacy. Big Brother has the capability to track most of us most of the time and now can predict where we’ll go next and with whom. Unless you don’t use a cell phone, not just a smartphone but an older flip phone, at any time and you don’t use any device that uses the net then you’re being tracked. Yes, you are being tracked 24/7. Your cell phone provider has a log of every second of every day and can pinpoint where you are within a couple of feet at all times.

Be afraid people, be very afraid.

The Power of Social Networking

We received an email from the PR firm that handles the iGrill that we think captures the real power of social networking. Here’s part of the email:

Mark Zuckerberg posted this comment on Sunday, August 19 7:00 PM PST via his Facebook account: “I updated my grilling app, iGrill, today and it now has Facebook integration that lets you see what other people are grilling right now around the world. Awesome. I’m making a Fred’s steak.”  After that comment, the iGrill site was inundated with visitors, causing the site to go down for 2 hours.

Check out the app for yourself at www.igrillinc.com.

Facebook Stock Price

Last week’s new low price for Facebook stock is a precursor of what is yet to come. The availability of early investor’s shares (like Goldman Sachs) on the market meant there was a glut of shares available and very few people to buy them. Just wait until Zukerberg can start unloading his shares! I expect the stock price to get down to single digits.

What can save Facebook stock? Maybe hiring a real CEO will help but I’m not sure about that either. Meg Whitman is doing a better job at HP than her predecessors did so maybe there’s hope for Facebook too.

How Do I Love Thee- Part 3

A Paean to My Favorite Word Processing Application

By Bayle Emlein

Reason #8: Block Protect. Sure, there’s Widow/Orphan control. I find this successful about half the time–the half that doesn’t really matter of course. When I have a portion of text that absolutely, positively must stay together no matter what it does to a bottom margin, I highlight the critical lines and BlockProtect them. Two clicks. If above the text moves it away from the bottom of a page, the Block Protect becomes irrelevant. Though it does not disappear, so that it will remain congealed together in the event that future Edits put it near the end of a page.

Reason #9: Case Convert. eVER HIT THE cAPSlOCK ACCIDENTALLY or leave it on after filling in a Form? Two clicks and a choice about the desired result and the damage is undone.

Reason #10: Keyboard Commands. If you’ve never bothered to learn any of them, then yes, they are a mystery. But once known, they save time and energy. So much more efficient to keep your fingers on the keyboard. For example, I know there is an Insert Current Date somewhere in the various menus of the various versions of the comparison product. In WordPerfect, you can dive for the mouse and menus and it’s right where it’s been forever on the Insert menu. Or Control+D and be done.

Reason #10+: Keyboard Commands. For people with vision or fine motor challenges, keyboard commands are often accessible when mouse operations pose a barrier.
 
In short, WordPerfect gives me tools to control the appearance of text without having to relearn an entire application with each upgrade. I can apply these tools to other word processing applications and easily communicate with readers in their own document format. The only feature that I have found that seems to be missing from WordPerfect is the ability to see multiple Saves to the ClipBoard. I can copy and Append selections (didn't test to see how far I can go one adding; I think it's limited by my RAM) but I have to Paste the concatenation in order to see it and select the bit I want. Better than nothing, but as clunky as trying to control linespacing in Other Applications. And I find the Find and Replace operation so much friendlier in WordPerfect that it compensates for this one hiccup.

PDF support has been added in the last 20+ years. The number and kinds of sources I can use to create MergeFiles is much larger, but the process is familiar. XML, Projects, saving without Metadata, the ability to redact (black out) sensitive words in a document are all reflections of the move to Windows and the increasing online presence and security concerns.

WordPerfect X6 (Suite) $249.99
Estimated Shipping $9.00 for CD version, or download

WebOS News

The rumor mill has it that HP’s WebOS (nee PalmOS) is about to get a new name (again), Supposedly HP is creating an internal subsidiary that will develop the OS with the new name of Gram. We’re glad to see the OS is still being developed because we always encourage competition in order to drive competition.

Of course HP is fighting a real uphill battle. With Android and iOS controlling the vast majority of the market, and MSFT about to get into the fray big time, they will have a hard time making much of a dent in the market.

We wish HP a lot of luck, they’ll need it.

Vanguard Contest

From now through August 31, 2012, visitors to Vanguard's page at www.facebook.com/VanguardPhotoUS can enter the sweepstakes by clicking on the "Altamate Giveaway" tab and filling out the simple entry form. After the entry deadline, Vanguard will randomly select five winners to receive an Alta+ tripod with ball head.

Two lucky winners will be randomly chosen to receive a carbon fiber model, and three will receive aluminum alloy. Prize values range from $169.99 - $329.99.

New Otterbox Smartphone Case

We saw this announcement and thought our followers would like to know about the new cases from Otterbox.

OtterBox®, maker of premium protective solutions for handheld technology, announces a new way to provide worry-free safety for today’s hottest smartphones. The Prefix Series™, a single-layer case that provides sophisticated, sleek and sturdy smartphone protection, is now available for the Nokia (NOK) Lumia 610 and coming soon for Samsung (SSNL) Galaxy S® III. The smartphone case line will retail for $24.95 at OtterBox.com.

“OtterBox is constantly chasing innovation and we’re excited to unveil the Prefix Series and the unique features that make it a premium single-layer case,” said OtterBox President and CEO Brian Thomas. “This new series can be trusted to provide a simple yet highly protective option for those who prefer a sleek look and feel.”

The Prefix Series consists of a dual-material, unibody construction that delivers a soft-touch feel with the inner strength necessary to keep smartphones safe from damage. An impact-resistant silicone exterior dissipates shock, while the inner polycarbonate backbone provides structural strength. Silicone pads inside the case cushion the device.

The Prefix Series’ one-piece design allows for easy installation and a textured outer band provides an ergonomic feel. All device features remain fully functional and a self-adhering screen film keeps the display free of scratches.

How Do I Love Thee? Part 2

A Paean to My Favorite Word Processing Application

By Bayle Emlein

Reason #3: Reveal Codes. This is WordPerfect’s most distinguishing feature. Tap the F3 key and your text with all the formatting codes is revealed in a window below the onscreen/print compatible version. Too much visual clutter? F3 again, and all that information is tucked away. Like several of my WordPerfect compatriots, I frequently untangle formatting nightmares in documents created in other applications by importing them and untangling the code spaghetti. Export a magically clean and organized document and send it back to its originator. Unless you’ve looked under the hood, you have no idea how much invisible junk is embedded. I’ve reduced file size by 30% by just removing unnecessary codes. One can do this by Saving to a .txt file, but this strips out all the codes. Using Reveal Codes and the ability to Search for formatting codes, one can select the codes to remove and keep desired features.

Reason #3a: Searching for formatting codes and selecting the target in Reveal Codes.

Reason #4: Typesetting. Closely related to Reveal Codes, Typesetting allows control of the horizontal and/or vertical placement of each element to 1/1,000 of an inch. This feature alone makes an adequate desktop publishing application out of WordPerfect with absolutely, completely no additional learning curve or expense. I find it wonderful for filling in pre-printed forms since I do not compose on paper.

Reason #5: Make It Fit. Need to get that document all onto one page? Need to turn in a 2 page paper to complete your M.A.? You can fuss forever with font sizes, line spacing, and margins. Or you can click twice, select the parameters that you feel are most likely to skate past notice, click once more and be done.

Reasons #6 and #7: Line Spacing and Font Size selectable to two decimal places. And if that isn’t enough, see Reason #4. I think the Authority to whom I submitted the mandatory 25-page reports no longer cares, so I can confess openly to massage strategies such as adjusting Line Spacing and then creating a Style for fractions of millimeter horizontal adjustment of section headers.

Watch for part 3 of this review coming soon!

ChromeOS Update

By Chuck Hajdu

This morning I did something that I only do once a month or so, I restarted my Samsung ChromeBook 5. Normally I just leave it running all the time and let it go to sleep when I’m finished using it. But occasionally the browser-only Chrome OS starts to slow down a bit and I’ll reboot in order to clean out the memory. It’s a routine I settled on a long time ago when I started using the ChromeBook regularly.

Since I have the ChromeBook set to automatically download updates I was prepared for the system to install any updates it had found since my last reboot. What I was not prepared for was the totally revised system that I was greeted with!

All of my books were still there and all of my browser settings were still exactly as I’d left them but now I had a desktop and a Launch Bar at the bottom of my screen! There were icons to start the Chrome browser (which used to be the only interface used at all), a Gmail icon, a Google Search icon, one for my Google Drive, one for YouTube and one for all my apps that looks just like the icon on my Android Phablets. There was also a section that had my internet connection status, battery status and clock that looked exactly like an Android Tablet.

Google had just turned my ChromeBook into something that looked a heck of a lot like a Phablet. That means I have a consistent look and feel no matter what product I’m working with. Well done Google. Except for the fact that the roller wheel on my Genius Key mouse isn’t working, I couldn’t be happier. Strangely enough, other mice roller wheels, even those from MSFT, work just fine.

Emerging Display Technologies Conference- Day 2

By Bayle Emlein

The Changing Landscape of Mobile PCs, What will Drive Demand, session moderated by Richard Shim, Senior Analyst, DisplaySearch. It's no secret that notebooks are losing market share to tablets. User focus is moving from productivity and performance to convenience. Instant-on, long battery life, and extreme portability are driving forces. UltraSlim notebooks fit in between. A new round of product development and diversification is anticipated after the next generation of Intel processors is available  (middle of 2013?)

OLED technology . Oxide TFT enables smaller transistor size, leading to smaller backlight or battery resulting in thinner/lighter and/or brighter displays.

Dr. Jürgen Rawert, Director of Business Development for adt GmbH, outlined the current development of Droplet Driven Displays--Bistable Reflective Electrowetting Displays. The ability to modify a liquid with an electrical force has been known and used for over a century. Adt technology differs in using multiple droplets and in requiring no refresh cycle. They are looking to a near term future that moves beyond a glass substrate. Electrowetting is more cost-effective than LCD technology and uses less device power and is readable in sunlight.

Ken Dean, CTO of Gamma Dynamics talked about Electrofluidic Displays. It uses the same physics as electrowetting. Light weight and low power are are synonymous. Viewing angle and readability in sunlight are features missing in current technology. LCD/OLED are not readable in bright light, are heavy and hog power.  Electrophoretic displays have marginal color and limited viewing angle. Bright light and vivid color indoors, video, low power, zero power fixed image, and expanding. Backlighting increases power demand by about 10% over reflective displays. Gamma Dynamics looked at the 400 million years of color-changing practiced by squids to develop a display system. When the carrier fluid moves with the pigment molecule, demand for power is reduced, as is response time. Backlighting increases power demand about 10%.

Mike Banach substituted for Peter Fischer of Plastic Logic. Plastic Logic evolved from Cambridge University research, similar to Gamma Dynamics' development from a University of Cincinnati project.  They are capable of high-yield manufacturing. They use solution processing and direct-write whenever possible. Keeping process temperatures low permits use of inexpensive flexible substrates. Developing processes for handling of large sheets, depositing film uniformly, and cleaning interfaces were keys to their ability to move from prototype development to the manufacturing space. Much attention to quality control has resulted in a product that has both eInk and color capabilities. Flexible displays are available now with paper-like finish, excellent power and color management.

OLED Displays: Replacement Technology or Market Creator?
 

Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, Vice President of Display Technologies at DisplaySearch provided an overview of the state current and projected OLED, AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode), and PMOLED (Passive Matrix), which enables a large display by tiling display components. Screen size, operating temperature, color display management are all factors that affect development of OLED products for market. Some companies are developing flexible OLED displays, addressing substrate and moisture problems. Korea, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan are the leaders in OLED manufacture. OLED lighting is a new form factor: a light surface. It is quiet and efficient, and does not emit in the IR or ultraviolet ranges, qualities that will be of interest to museums and other owners of fine art.

Dr. G Rajeswaran, CEO of Moser Baer Technologies, reviewed Advancerds in OLED Technology for Displays and Solid State Lighting. He is excited working on a project on to reduce the cost of OLED lighting so that it becomes competitive in the consumer market. OLED research began 25 years ago. Dye doping to add color was a major breakthrough. Dr. Rajeswaran developed prototypes of commercial OLED display and began trying to market it in 1999. Quality control in manufacturing addressed the impact of pixel circuit complexity on consistent background and display clarity.  Backplane technology, OLED technology including management of white color display, and Encapsulation technology each pose particular problems which must be addressed, especially for large displays. The OLED lighting market beckons.

David Flattery, Director of Operations at DuPont asked, "Why isn't everyone using solution OLED?" The greatest challenges have been in developing high-performance materials at marketable volume and pricing. Key process challenges are to reduce waste, work more efficiently, and pattern a s few layers as possible.

Emerging Technologies in Related Segments
 

Matt Mazzuchi, Vice President for Market and Business Development at QD Vision introduced the company, a venture-backed company that started at MIT. It is the only quantum dot company focused solely on displays and lighting. Quantum dots are a new type of light-emitting semiconductor. The native response is in blue ranges, though the dots can be tuned to other colors. Backlighting display technologies have evolved and the color is pretty good. QD can be tuned to provide 100% of NTSC color standard rather than the 70% or so.  QD is moving to production, where the technology will improve color quality without major investments in refabrication

Darrell Benke, Senior Marketing Manager at ams, a new company formed from Austrian Microsystems and TAOS. They are an analog company focusing on precision and energy efficiency. They make ambient light sensors, proximity sensors, linear array sensors, and color sensors. Their devices appear in smartphones, tablets, cameras and TVs. Energy Star is the US standard for energy conservation, part of a world-wide effort to improve energy consumption. Version 6 will be out soon and further define allowable power use. Most light sources emit a lot of light in ranges beyond those detectable by the human eye. Limiting that will save power by responding to changes in ambient lighting, as will a proximity sensor that will turn a device on only if a person is within viewing range. With different light sources, the color of illumination can be controlled--warm or cool, depending on how you want your environment. In the grocery store, produce will be displayed in its best light.

 
Malcolm Thompson of the FlexTech Alliance added some final words regarding Flexible Displays, Lighting and Solar Cells: Developing Underlying Technologies and Building the Supply Chain. The FlexTech Alliance tries to build alliances and collaboration. Traditionally they focused on manufacturing and the supply chain. They are working on identifying the Next Big Thing. Flexible enables human scale products, such as wearable health monitors. New, distributed manufacturing moves manufacturing close to the customer and allows for localization. An industry depends on a reliable supply chain to have materials available. FlexTech seeks to identify technology gaps and encourages development of solutions. Focusing on flexible materials, they coordinate the strengths of member companies and provide real, financial backing for projects and equipment. "Today's collaboration Builds the Infrastructure for Tomorrow's Products. . .  Tomorrow, the world will be healthier, safer, simpler, and smarter because of advancements in flexible electronics."