Tidbits of news and other things I find interesting

I’m here at CES in Vegas, also known as the candy store for gadget geeks like me. I’ll be posting updates on a regular basis with any things that I think are interesting. More to come!

Is it me or is this the new hotness!

I don’t know what it is about me, but I have always straddled this line between having the latest and greatest gadget and longing for a time when men wore hats and everyday objects were made with handmade care. It’s an internal conflict that I live with on a daily basis where I carry an iPad to do much of my work, yet secretly wish that I could use my handmade fountain pen to write on it. Truth be told I think it’s some sort of technological multiple personality disorder.

Anyway, enough about my issues.

I have always been a fan of rangefinder cameras, Leica being the top of the heap in that category. However, the reality is that the flexibility and time saving components of digital photography has fed the instant gratification beast inside all of us, but folks like me still long for the ability to quickly compose an image and the solid feel of the older rangefinder cameras. Of course if you have  $7000 plus another $2000-$3000 for a lens burning a hole in your pocket you can get the digital Leica M9 and make me very jealous. For the rest of us that have to pay bills and work for a living, it’s not really an option.

Along comes the Fujifilm Finepix X100 to sweep me off my feet and put me in a state of modern convenience/classic rangefinder bliss.

Now realize I have not held one of these in my hands, and that could change a lot of things, but there are a chosen few that have and their reviews have piqued my interest. The X100 is a classic styled rangefinder camera that combines classic feel touches, such as analog dials, with the modern convenience of digital photography. Fujifilm has built a website dedicated to this camera that answered most of my questions. The estimated street price puts it at around $1000 which is not cheap, but a hell of a lot cheaper than the Leica. I think this camera has a lot of great features and potential and if the excitement that it garnered at Photokina last year is any indication I think this could be home run for Fujifilm. I for one look forward to trying one out.

If my ramblings were not enough to get you excited about this camera you should watch their promo video below that contains enough colorful catchphrases, such as “from simplicity to the extreme” and “in a class all its own”, to get Droopy excited. I think the only thing that could make it better would be the movie trailer voice guy doing the voiceover and starting the video with “In a world…”

Google released it’s new Google Buzz two days ago. It is a new “social” aspect to it’s widely used Gmail site. If you have a Gmail account it should show up in the left hand column above your folders. If it’s not there you can probably expect it soon. They are rollling it out in the next couple of days.

I waited to play with it a couple of days before I posted anything. So, now that I have been playing with it, I think this might work. I say that because it integrates into the things that I am already using, such as Google Reader, Twitter and Picassa. Most importantly, it’s seamless. It just works. If someone shares a story on Google Reader, it’s there. If I share a story, it’s there. If it send a Tweet, it’s there. I think the truth is that I will use it by mistake. In my everyday visits and shares it works and I see comments that folks make on anything I sent all within my gmail box that I already have open, and by simply replying to their comments I am using it and that is why it works. I don’t have to create a new account, I don’t have to remember another password and username combination, I don’t have to learn a new Web app, it pretty seamless.

Mobile

I have also used the mobile version of it on my iphone, and it works great. very seamless. While I am using my Google Reader on my phone I can click on a Buzz icon in the top right corner of the screen and the Google Buzz screen comes up to allow me to send out a Buzz.

Security

There is another important note to talk about when it comes to Google Buzz. If your profile is public, then all of your followers/following will be visible to all including their email addresses if their profiles are public as well. I think more than anything this is bringing to light something that those of us that have had Google profiles already shared, but if you don’t want your buzzes visible then you can modify your settings in your Google profile. Beyond that, when you create a new buzz you have the option of just sharing it with your following or to make it public.

Try it, you probably already have without even knowing it.

Below is the video of the announcement by Google.

Looks like Microsoft Vista is the BOMB! Well, at least some sort of bomb. Last night Windows Vista won the 2009 Fiasco Award. For those of you not familiar with the Fiasco Awards this is a quote from their website:

The aim of the Fiasco Awards is rewarding the best projects in the ICT field that have ended up as a FIASCO.

Out of the 6,403 folks that voted a resounding 5,222 voted for Vista. Quite a fan base Microsoft has built there with there less than stellar operating system. Interestingly enough, I have had friends that have been very happy with Vista. Well, at least until they try to install a piece of hardware.

I think the biggest mistake Microsoft made was not necessarily with the operating system itself, but by pretending as if nothing was wrong for so long. Hey Microsoft, spending millions of dollars on an ad campaign with Jerry Seinfeld isn’t going to fix the fact that there are lots of people really pissed at you right now, because they are completely frustrated with their operating system. Can anybody over at Microsoft even spell crisis communication? I would venture to say no.

In an interesting twist of news meeting fashion, CNN has begun to sell t-shirts with headlines on them. If you go to their site and look at some of the headlines you will notice there are small t-shirt icons next to them. If you click on one of those icons you will arrive at a page (pictured at right) where you can buy a t-shirt with that headline on it. It is an interesting idea. I wonder if it will catch on.