| JVC GR-D750
The final word: The GR-D750 is a solid little performer that punches well above its weight; offering impressive image quality for entry-level users. If you're on the lookout for a cheap miniDV camera, you could certainly do a lot worse than this. ON PAPER at least, the GR-D750 is the unmistakable runt of the JVC litter. With its low image resolution, rudimentary feature set and cheap looking design, we certainly weren't expecting much; yet it turns out that looks can be very deceiving. From its attractive price tag to its above average video performance, this is one of the best budget offerings we've seen in quite a while. It represents excellent value for money and is a perfect introduction to digital video - provided you can live without the bells and whistles. The GR-D750 is a standard-definition camcorder that records video to miniDV tapes.
Foe of pipeline finds plot in lost notebook Notes: 'Ignore negative ...
With several witnesses looking on, including one with a digital camera, Southern Nevada Water Authority staff member Andy Belanger removed the rubber band from the padded notebook and carefully removed its contents. One by one, each document, map and handwritten note was run through a photocopier and returned to its place in the notebook. When a page was copied incorrectly, the duplicate was shown to the witnesses so they could see what it was before it was torn in half and thrown away. The process took more than 15 minutes and was executed with the care of election workers or crime scene investigators. Watching from the doorway of the copy room, a water authority official couldn't help but laugh. "It's not often we have a whodunit," he said. .
A new digital pen
This may come off as a naked plug for a new gadget, but it's actually a sober technology assessment. You have my word on this as a journalist, husband, father, and President of the United States. I'm always interested in new user interface hardware and I've just run across the Digital Pen from Livescribe. The system uses specially-marked paper and a miniature pen-mounted camera to track strokes, then synchronizes with a PC to upload the data as an image or (see below) to convert the strokes to machine-readable text. As an input device–particularly for students who have to draw diagrams–it's hard to beat. But it goes further. As you take notes, Livescribe's pen records the surrounding audio. So if you're listening to a lecture, you automatically save those parts of it that are related to the notes you take.
PocketSurfer browser to make waves
After a day with a PocketSurfer, DoubleClick can tell you it's a clever gadget. And at $399, Datawind will sell a lot of them this Christmas. But we did find a few flaws - and there may be other devices out there that offer better value. More on that later. The gadget looks a bit like a Nokia Communicator and fits neatly into the palm of your hand. It flips open to reveal a letterbox-style screen and a full qwerty keyboard. It has a Vodafone SIM card in its innards and uses mobile data GPRS technology, but you can't use it to make a phone call. Nor will the PocketSurfer act as a music player, digital camera or mini-computer. It does only one thing: browse the internet. It turns on instantly, and - thanks to Datawind's acceleration technology - loads web pages very quickly: typically in seven seconds or less, even though they're being beamed from Datawind's servers in Canada.
Wednesday's total lunar eclipse may be a doozy
It's a good thing none of us are cavemen, or Wednesday night we might find ourselves on a panicked run for ironwood clubs and sharpened mastodon bones. Around 8 p.m., when a total lunar eclipse darkens the moon and imbues it with shades from copper to crimson, we unlike our forebears - will have the advantage of knowing we're in for a really good show. Rain clouds could obscure view of eclipse GRAPHIC: Learn about the lunar eclipse Cavemen weren't so lucky. "In the distant past, people took lunar eclipses as omens of bad things to come. They didn't have the means to understand what was happening," says Claude Haynes, Gilbert sky watcher and East Valley Astronomy Club president. For early man, a blood-red sphere hanging in the sky was a scary thing, a message from an angry god.
Candidates offer final messages before Iowa caucus
I have always admired your family and the things they stood for. I was in college when that fatal day came and we no longer had our inspiration, your brother. I am disappointed in who you are endorsing. To think about all the times that the Clintons were here for you, and now you just put them aside. I think about it, and I thougt you were above the good old boys. Not so sure about that now. Hillary, a women. Maybe that just does not sit well with you Kennedys. I just don't understand. She is a great lady that certainly helped your party out by staying with Bill. The party owes her more than a senate seat. She should have all of you out there shouting her attributes. It was alright for Bill to be used to get votes for our new governor. He also has a short memory. I will have a hard time voting for either one of you because of this.
Risky space repair relies on Canadian gadgets
Think of climbing up on your expensive new plasma TV to change a lightbulb in the ceiling, and that's roughly what a spacewalker will do with our sophisticated space hardware this morning. Four key pieces of Canadian robotics have combined to build a makeshift extension ladder, 400 kilometres above the Earth. It's an odd use for multi-million-dollar robotics, but without this, NASA would be staring helplessly at a damaged solar array, just out of reach. .
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