New Releases

 I don't know about you, but when I think of Hewlett-Packard, it's printers and ink that generally come to mind first. But HP is into other things too. The company recently unveiled a line of digital camcorders that are aimed at YouTubers and other social mediaphiles. In pocket-friendly and traditional form-factors, with competitive pricing, these video cameras are poised to jump into the social networking frenzy for their piece of the scene.

Question: How do you put Alicia Keys' ultra rare Yamaha C3 Neo grand piano into a bottle and sell it? Answer: Meticulously sample the instrument in Alicia's personal studio, have Alicia play the piano when you're sampling it, and put all of the samples in a software instrument called Alicia's Keys. Bingo! This is exactly what Danish engineer Thomas Skarbye, Native Instruments, and Alicia Keys just did. 

Manufacturers have been in the business of perfecting tablet computers for almost 10 years, and in that time we have seen some highs, but plenty of lows. Mastering the touch sensitive technology of a stylus and most recently, a touchscreen has been a long arduous process. But now we are witnessing a renaissance of sorts with a new wave of tablet PCs that are sure to become ubiquitous as mobile technology continues to evolve. Designed around the convertible design of tablet PCs, the Asus Eee PC T101MT-EU17 is the latest entry in touchscreen PCs. Looking like a typical netbook, the 10.1" LED display is attached at a single hinge that can rotate 180º, fold down on top of the keyboard, and transform into a tablet, providing a flat writing surface.

A new firmware download has been announced by Sound Devices for their popular 788T portable audio recorder. The 2.01 update adds a couple of new features, changes a few functions, and fixes numerous bugs. The firmware download is free...

After months of waiting, Canon is bringing broadcast-friendly frame rates to the EOS 5D Mark II. Available now, the firmware 2.0.3 enables 1080p HD video recording at 24 (23.976), 25, and 30 (29.97) fps to match both NTSC and PAL television standards. Also, the camera gets a couple of other awesome features like MANUAL SOUND RECORDING.

Just in time for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (and home of this year's World Tulip Summit) are a slew of new Nikon CoolPix digicams, which are available in a selection of styles and colors.

When Apple released the first version of Aperture back in 2005, the industry took notice. By combining professional-grade photo editing with an extensive file management system, the software became an instant hit with smaller studios and photojournalists. Back then, almost all editing was done in Photoshop. Creating individual layers to control shadows, mid-tones, and highlights was industry standard.