A CAMERA WITH A GPS SENSOR AND AN ETHERNET PORT
Nikon’s unique Coolpix P6000 point-and-shoot camera has a few odd tricks up its sleeve. Globetrotters will enjoy the P6000’s built-in Global Positioning System sensor for geo-tagging — or adding geographical information to photos — and Luddites will love the camera’s built-in Ethernet port.
While most camera makers use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for uploading images to Web sites, Nikon has added a full-size Ethernet port that allows you to plug the camera right into the Internet. The P6000 uploads images whenever it is connected. While that may seem odd, the feature could come in handy in cybercafes or hotels where Wi-Fi is not available.
The GPS feature adds geographical data to every photo, but it can be turned off to conserve battery life.
The camera has a 4x optical zoom lens and a 13.5-megapixel sensor. It takes photos in JPEG or RAW format. At 241g, it is a bit heavier than the average point-and-shoot camera, and it is made of magnesium alloy for ruggedness. It supports light sensitivity up to ISO 6400 and accepts SD and SDHC storage cards. The camera also includes 48 megabytes of built-in storage.
A GREEN PC THAT’S EASIER ON THE ELECTRIC BILL. THE BAMBOO CASE IS OPTIONAL
Those of us who pay lip service to green living can now be more genuinely PC — with the Dell Studio Hybrid PC, a fashionably curvy computer with special power-saving features.
The PC, which starts at US$500, weighs about 1.8kg and is about 20cm wide. Dell says it uses 70 percent less electricity than a standard PC, yet it is still powerful enough to run Windows Vista. Inside are a low-power Intel Pentium Dual Core processor, 4 gigabytes of memory and a 320-gigabyte hard drive.
The Hybrid, available now at dell.com, includes a CD/DVD writer and can read Blu-ray discs with an optional upgrade. Another option is a TV tuner that lets you watch television on the PC.
The computer includes a removable case that comes in six translucent colors. While the internal parts of this PC are still made of plastic, metal and silicon, Dell also offers a case in a bamboo finish for the ultimate in eco-friendly style.
STYLISH (AND WIRELESS) WAY TO DISPLAY DIGITAL PHOTOS
Most people tend to notice the pictures and ignore the frame. But a digital photo frame by the French interior designer Andree Putman may upstage your vacation shots. She designed it for Parrot, a Paris-based company specializing in wireless and mobile-technology products.
Putman’s trademark minimalist style surrounds a 7-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 720 pixels by 480 pixels. The frame has a Bluetooth chip to wirelessly copy photos from Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and computers; it does not support Wi-Fi connections. There is a slot for camera memory cards and a mini-USB port for copying photos from computer to frame. The 10 megabytes of internal storage can hold up to 400 photos.
The Andree Putman designer frame comes with a designer price tag of US$450 and is available to order at www.parrotshopping.com. No matter if it is positioned horizontally or vertically within your own interior design, the frame automatically rotates and resizes the photos to the proper orientation.
CAR STEREO EJECTS THE CD, IN FAVOR OF NEWER FORMATS AND BLENDS IN WITH THE DASH
Selecting CDs for a car trip and juggling them in and out of a dashboard slot seems passe, now that you can carry hours of music on a digital music player, a USB thumb drive, a pocket-size hard drive or a memory card the size of a postage stamp.
So Blaupunkt left the CD player out of its Brisbane SD48 car stereo, supplementing its radio tuner with inputs and card slots for all of those compact music carriers instead. The front panel has an analog auxiliary input, for connection to the headphone jack of a portable player or satellite-radio adapter, and an SD/MMC memory-card slot. A USB adapter cable plugs into the back.
There are options to configure the Brisbane for use with iPods, Bluetooth or wired-in cell phones, navigation systems and CD changers.
The Brisbane also has a built-in amplifier with four 50-watt channels, and four-channel preamp outputs for use with external amplifiers.
The Brisbane fits standard radio slots, and its dial illumination color can be adjusted to match virtually any car’s dashboard lights. The front panel is removable to deter theft.
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
When the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese forces 50 years ago this week, it prompted a mass exodus of some 2 million people — hundreds of thousands fleeing perilously on small boats across open water to escape the communist regime. Many ultimately settled in Southern California’s Orange County in an area now known as “Little Saigon,” not far from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where the first refugees were airlifted upon reaching the US. The diaspora now also has significant populations in Virginia, Texas and Washington state, as well as in countries including France and Australia.
On April 17, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched a bold campaign to revive and revitalize the KMT base by calling for an impromptu rally at the Taipei prosecutor’s offices to protest recent arrests of KMT recall campaigners over allegations of forgery and fraud involving signatures of dead voters. The protest had no time to apply for permits and was illegal, but that played into the sense of opposition grievance at alleged weaponization of the judiciary by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “annihilate” the opposition parties. Blamed for faltering recall campaigns and faced with a KMT chair
Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) stipulates that upon a vote of no confidence in the premier, the president can dissolve the legislature within 10 days. If the legislature is dissolved, a new legislative election must be held within 60 days, and the legislators’ terms will then be reckoned from that election. Two weeks ago Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposed that the legislature hold a vote of no confidence in the premier and dare the president to dissolve the legislature. The legislature is currently controlled
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