Nikon Df Is The Latest In That Last Refuge Of The Standalone Camera – Retro Chic

Source: TechCrunch

Nikon has introduced a new full-frame camera, and it’s no slouch on paper; with a 39-point AF system, with nine cross-type sensors, burst mode of 5.5 frames per second, a 16.2 megapixel FX0format CMOS sensor and EXPEED 3 image processing, the Nikon Df will keep up with the big boys in terms of image quality. But its most noteworthy feature, and the one Nikon is playing up, is its retro good looks that call to mind Nikon’s classic “F” series 35mm film cameras.

Nikon’s new DSLR is its smallest and lightest with a full-frame sensor, which is a similar refrain to what we’ve been hearing from camera makers lately. Sony only just recently introduced its own full-frame smallish cameras, the A7 and A7R. Where those were mirrorless cameras, this is a true DSLR, however, which explains why it’s a slightly bigger and bulkier affair.

The body-only version of the Df comes in at just shy of $2,800, which is a pretty penny to spend on a camera, but it’s also quite close to the sticker price of the higher-end Sony A7R. Retro cameras in general seem to be commanding a premium, with Fujifilm seeking $1,300 for its fixed-lens X100s, for instance. All of these share a similar rangefinder-style design with ample manual controls on the face.

Nikon’s camera seems to aim for high-end pros more than the others, calling out to old-school photogs with its pyramid viewfinder hump and dedicated dials for just about everything, including ISO, exposure compensation, shutter speed, release mode and exposure mode. It has a threaded shutter release button for use with soft shutter releases and shutter release cables, too, and it works with Nikon’s existing speedlights, FX and DX lenses. It’s shipping with a new AF-S Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8G lens, which should appeal to photographers looking for a classic rangefinder experience in both body and optics.

Camera makers know that the smartphone is eating away at their market share in the general consumer category – the heyday of the pocket camera is gone. The Nikon Df is a prime example of what happens when dedicated camera manufacturers look to their past to find out what they might be able to offer camera buyers that is both special and unique. That also happens to be something they appear willing to pay a premium for.

Standalone cameras won’t die, but they’ll become the province of hobbyists, enthusiasts and specialists, and it’s actually very impressive to see manufacturers like Nikon dip back into their roots to capitalize on that trend, rather than simply ridding the consumer market to extinction.

Google And VMware Make Accessing Windows Apps, Desktops From ChromeOS Easier

Google and VMware today announced that they are working together to make it easier for Chromebook users in the enterprise to access Windows apps and the Windows desktop on their machines. Using VMware’s Horizon desktop as a service (DaaS), which uses VMware‘s HTML5 Blast protocol, it will now be easier for Chromebook users to connect to a traditional Windows experience.

Remote access to a Windows machine on Chrome OS is nothing new. Google offers its ownRemote Desktop app for this, and there are a number of third-party options that offer the same kind of service. For the most part, though, these solutions don’t offer the kind of security features that enterprises look for in a remote access tool. According to the companies, today’s launch will bring an enterprise-ready solution to the growing number of businesses that have deployed Chrome OS devices.

Using VMware’s Horizon Chromebook-optimized DaaS, Google says, enables “customers to centralize other desktop environments and manage these as a cloud service.” Right now, this service is only available as a fully managed, subscription-based offering by VMWare and its partners, both in the cloud and within hybrid deployments.

VMware says users will be able to use the service to access their Windows applications, data and desktops from a web-based application catalog on their Chromebooks. Soon, Chromebook users (or their IT admins) will also be able to install the service from the Chrome Web Store.

Given that Google is now also putting more emphasis on its Chromeboxes, the company is clearly positioning Chrome OS as an alternative to Windows. Indeed, in its announcement today, Google stressed that it believes that “as the countdown to Windows XP end of life continues, deploying Chromebooks and taking advantage of a DaaS environment ensures that security vulnerabilities, application compatibility and migration budgets will be a thing of the past.”

Besides the obvious marketing-speak here, there are security issues with still running Windows XP, though Google is clearly going after a bigger market, too. It sees Chrome OS as an alternative to any traditional desktop operating system.

Source: TechCrunch

Turn Your iPhone Into A Combination GoPro Mount And Monitor With The GoPhone

Source: TechCrunch

A new Kickstarter project aims to make your GoPro filmography easier to handle, with a case designed to hold the GoPro in such a way that you have a full view of the screen of your iPhone 5s or 5, so that you can monitor all the action while you shoot one-handed.

There are no shortage of iPhone cases that offer double-duty performance with some other task, be it acting as a wallet, or opening beers, or propping up your iPhone itself, but the GoPhone might have just the right feature mix for the action hero in your life. It features a hump at one end that’s designed to allow you to slide in your GoPro’s quick release buckle, giving you full access to the screen at any orientation.

The iPhone still connects to the GoPro in the traditional manner – wirelessly, using the camera’ s inbuilt Wi-Fi connectivity, but now a shooter can watch the action as they film while operating as a follow cam, which is particularly useful if you’re trying to capture your buddy showing off at the skatepark or on the bike track.

It’ll come in multiple colors when it ships, and offers not only live video while shooting, but also a quick and easy way to review footage just shot without having to put down one mount and pick up your phone. Australian project creators Andrew Dorn and Carson Tully have aimed for an economy of design here, and they’ve also spent months testing it in real-world situations at the skatepark. Tully is an industrial designer and illustrator, and Dorn works in the film industry and previously created an iPhone app called ‘Ramped Slow Mo.’

HTC Confirms That Windows Phone 8.1 Exists, Shocking Precisely No One

In a Reddit AMA session today, HTC employees confirmed that the company’s 8X Windows Phone handset will receive future firmware updates. This indicates that the company is working with Microsoft to bring Windows Phone 8.1 to the device. Windows Phone 8.1, also known as Windows Phone Blue, is a upcoming set of updates to the Windows Phone platform expected to land in April.

The as-yet unannounced Windows Phone 8.1 has been bouncing around the news lately. Not that Microsoft likely minds too much. Having the media pick over what is coming next for Windows Phone helps keep the enthusiasts enthused, and earns the platform coverage that it can repeat when the features are ‘officially’ released. Less of a bang at the end, but if you need to stay relevant, well, it’s an option.

Here’s HTC confirming that Blue is coming, and that they are working with Microsoft to deliver it to 8X customers:

So, that’s happening. Microsoft declined to comment.

Before I let you go for the weekend, keep the lower branches of that statement in mind. We know that a number of OEMs are either considering, or perhaps even now working on, getting into the Windows Phone game. Could HTC jump back in? I had an 8X for a while and can say that it was a fine piece of hardware. Windows Phone as a platform could use more like it. And HTC left the door plenty open in its statement on Reddit.

Source: TechCrunch

Haiku Deck Launches An iPhone App For Viewing And Controlling Your Presentations

Haiku Deck is the simple new way to create stunning presentations – whether you are pitching an idea, teaching a lesson, telling a story, or igniting a movement. Featured on the iTunes “New and Noteworthy” and “What’s Hot” lists, Haiku Deck makes it fast and fun to create beautifully designed slideshows you’ll be proud to share. The app has been the top ranked productivity app on iTunes in more than 36 markets around the world.

“A smart app that makes beautiful slide shows in no time and makes your iPad a more productive tool” – Wall Street Journal

“Makes creating beautiful presentations a cinch and a joy, whether you have design skills or not” – Lifehacker

“The easiest-to-use presentation tool out there” – Robert Scoble

“Insanely cool” – Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons Founder

Headquartered in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, Haiku Deck is a privately held company with the backing of prominent investors including Trilogy Partnership, Madrona Venture Group, Founder’s Co-op, and Techstars. The Seattle-based startup was founded by Adam Tratt and Kevin Leneway.

Source: TechCrunch

Dosomething.Org Taps Snapchat For Teen-Centric Valentine’s Campaign

Dosomething, a not-for-profit focused on making volunteer work and social change exciting to people under 25, is going after its key demographic where they’re comfortable: Snapchat.

The company used the photo-sharing platform, which has yet to launch a formal advertising or brand program, to run a Valentine’s-themed campaign in NYC.

“We noticed that teenagers, our core demographic, were flocking away from Facebook,” said DoSomething’s Colleen Wormsley. “But they love Snapchat.”

DoSomething first signed up for a Snapchat account in November of 2013, with Bryce Mathias in charge of the channel. The company alerted their Twitter following that they now had a Snapchat account, and simply waited for requests to come in. Mathias, a male model, mostly sent selfies to new friends making goofy faces.

The team learned that they received more response snaps during school days, so Mathias began setting aside a block of time just before lunch to respond to everyone’s snaps.

As February rolled around, DoSomething launched a Love Letters campaign that encourages teens to create Valentine’s Day cards for homebound seniors. As a part of the campaign, the not-for-profit created a Snapchat story promising that Mathias would deliver these Love Letters on Valentines Day dressed as cupid. In the middle of New York. In February.

All the followers had to do was text to vote for how he should deliver them: by bike, ice skates, or around Central Park. Once they voted, they would be sent a call-to-action to create their own Love Letter for a homebound senior.

In the end, 11 percent of the people who viewed the story asked him to go ice skating. Of those who texted in to vote, 57 percent signed up to participate in Love Letters.

Putting those figures in perspective can be difficult without much transparency into Snapchat’s monetization plan, but we may not have to wait too much longer.

The interactive portion of the campaign might be just the ticket on a platform where social media responses and feedback can’t be shared or showed off by brands. But that works in those brands favor. Younger demographics would much prefer a more authentic relationship with the brands they like, and with 400 million snaps sent per day, there could actually be potential to build lasting conversations between brands and younger consumers.

Snapchat was rumored to be building out a sales team last summer, and the company certainly has people in place to communicate with brands behind the scenes.

Snapchat’s Josh Stone responded to DoSomething shortly after they published the story to welcome them to the platform and lend a hand with any support or feedback they might need.

TechCrunch

Flappy Bird Developer Says He’s Taking The Hit Game Down Tomorrow

The developer of the popular mobile game Flappy Bird just declared that he’s taking the game down tomorrow.

Dong Nguyen, an indie game developer based in Hanoi, Vietnam, tweeted, “I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.” He then elaborated, “It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore.”

After his tweets first went out, others asked if he was willing to sell it, but he said no. Nguyen also said that he’s still making games.

TechCrunch interviewed Nguyen via email a week ago, after Flappy Bird took off (it’s still the number one free app in both Apple’s App Store and in Google Play). He said that he’s the only creator at his game studio .GEARS , and he seemed to be as surprised by Flappy Bird’s popularity as anyone else, telling us, “I have no resources to do anything else beside uploading the game.”

I’ve emailed Nguyen to find out more and will update this post if I hear back. Presumably, if you’ve already downloaded the game you’d be able to continue playing it, but again, that’s not something I’ve confirmed with Nguyen.

As noted in Kotaku, Nguyen said earlier this week that the press was “overrating” the success of his games: “It is something I never want. Please give me peace.”

Source: TechCrunch