On The Net - Computing News

with Chris Goh

I'm off on an overseas holiday. One of the things I will be looking to buy duty free is Minolta's new DiMage Z3, a 4 megapixel digital camera. It surpasses the quality, ease of use and price of Panasonic's FZ10 and Canon's PowerShot S1 - the only other cameras under $1000 with more than 10x zoom and an anti-shake system. (If you haven't tried a 10x optical zoom, you're missing some fun).

Meanwhile, the digital camera and camcorder worlds are merging quickly.

Samsung has released the SC-D6040, a 4.1 megapixel camera and camcorder in one. Perhaps one reason why it hasn't been a huge hit is there are different lenses to use for each job. It seems they realised that the quality was dependent on the lens and CCD, so they've made specialist parts for each task to get the performance. But what's impressive is that the combination camera/camcorder costs well under $2000.

Digital cameras are also sporting video functionality, but you realise just how difficult it must be to combine when you realise digital photography requires higher resolution and quality than video, whilst video demands fast frame speeds and real-time capturing. Most digital cameras take one shot per second (or more if you spend $3-10,000), whilst video uses 30 frames in that time.

I wish I could offer you some advice. All I know is that in six months, a series of new models will inevitably change the rules all over again.

Hotnews

The new iMac G5 (pictured) was unveiled in San Francisco on August 31 ending rumours that Apple would split things to make it more like a conventional PC. They've done the opposite - the new iMac is a little thicker than a conventional LCD screen - it's like a laptop on a stand. This little beauty fits the whole computer into this small case. Visit www.apple.com for details.

Optus has established a music portal for mobile phones as well as the web. Now you can download video clips and music to a mobile (if it has enough storage). The cost, given current prices, will make something as old-fashioned as buying a CD look like a bargain.

Honda is about to release as standard in several vehicles, including the Odyssey, a voice recognition application so you can do everything from changing the car temperature to asking your GPS for directions. Via Voice, created by IBM five years ago, is the software behind it. It reminds me of an old joke in which the driver swears and the radio automatically tunes to Alan Jones.

Funny how far we've come - a Polish psychology student, Eva Pascoe, created the first Internet café a decade ago.

The British have attached prisoner tracking to 120 criminals on parole, from child sex offenders to wife bashers. An alarm sounds if they go too close to prohibited places, like schools and/or the victim's home.

Russian mafia gangs brought down online gambling sites after it refused a ransom note via email asking for money to be wired into a Latvian bank account. In one instance, Multibet, was down for 20 days.

Hotsites

Cancerguide.org

The "C" word scares many people. We all know someone whose life has been affected by it. The Cancer Guide is an excellent portal - simple and very informative. It also offers help on researching your issues in more details (and even lists the Pros and Cons of researching your cancer).

www.geneanet.org

Online genealogical resources have been much sought-after since the start of the web. Geneanet provides a search engine to help you locate missing descendants.

www.lita.org/committe/toptech/tookit.htm

If you want to finetune your search skills, Pat A Librarian has one of the most comprehensive lists of specialised and generic search engines to help you find that elusive resource.