On the Net

with Chris Goh

New camera technology to come

Have a look in electronic retail shops, then check things out online and you will soon realise how far we lag behind when it comes to access to the latest technology.

One of the great difficulties facing retailers is that things change so rapidly. I reviewed digital cameras in this column just three months ago. My favourite, the Panasonic FZ10, was superseded by the FZ20 (at a higher price) just two months later, leaving the retailers struggling to sell the old stock.

In New York I road tested some of the best and latest cameras available and was amazed at just how great the next generation of cameras are.

While Nikon has just released the 8700 here, the 8800 is really worth waiting for. For around $1300 you'll get an 8-megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom, image stabiliser and astounding quality. The pack comes with everything you need and 1GB of flash memory cost US$99 (around $150). After losing a large slice of the high-end market to Canon in recent times, Nikon has come up with a real winner (and I also tried the Panasonic FZ20, Minolta Z3 & A2, Canon PowerShot Pro 1 and Sony DSC-F828). If you want a camera that will last months and still make you proud in years to come, this little beauty is worth the extra pennies.

The colour saturation and balance is very accurate, the functionality will astound you, aberration is minimal and it does the work of a digital SLR for a fraction of the price. It's also compact and lightweight.

The Panasonic FZ20 was my runner up if you're looking for something under $1000. It's a worthy successor to the FZ10, does what any amateur photographer wants and offers some professional features not found on some of the more expensive SLRs. Like the Nikon, it's real value for money (though the ISO settings and low light shooting could do with a tidy up).

In the $500 range, Minolta's Z3 is a class act. I've read reviews that said colour balance in badly lit areas are not great, but I found the CCD, which has an excellent capture rate, dealt with it quite well. Unfortunately this model is hard to find. Fuji's S5100 is a quality camera I've seen on special for under $500. Fuji left a bitter taste in my mouth a few years ago where it tried to confuse users with what it called effective megapixels. I've never recommended Fuji camera's until now. The Olympus Ultra Zoom C-765 is also around for under $500 and offers real value for money. Hopefully our stronger dollar will see camera prices come down further. I'd recommend checking online for the best prices on the model you're after.

Hotnews

I'm pretty disappointed with Halo 2. I think it's too similar to its predecessor. Half Life 2, released last week after many years of development, seems pretty close to perfection. The new engine will undoubtedly spawn a new generation of beautifully rendered and highly interactive games. On the strategy front, Rome Total War has taken the Total War series to new levels. So it's no surprise that computer games are starting to surpass TV as a child's favourite endeavour.

You do start to worry about the future of humanity when a computer game based on assassination of John F. Kennedy is released. Coming soon: Pol Pot Pokemon and terrorist tamegotchi .

If playing too many games means you're not getting enough sleep, then MetroNap may be an answer. But first up you'll need to live in Manhattan (Vancouver airport is up next) and be prepared to pay $14 to sleep during your lunch break. A professor has created a sleeping pod that encourages relaxation in one of the worlds busiest cities and has created a successful business in a country where the average American now has less than 7 hours sleep a night.

Google is being sued by a porn site, because the search engine was able to pick up nude pictures of the paid site and provide them for free. Obviously the site's developers had no idea how to secure it. More fool them.

After Mozilla's success in releasing its browser Firefox 1.0, AOL has announced that it will be launching a beta test for its new version of Netscape. Surprise, surprise, it seems to replicate a good deal of the functionality in the Mozilla browser.

The benefits of nanotechnology have found their way into that most crucial of human endeavours – golf. A par is now even closer with a golf ball by NanoDynamics due for release next year. The nanotechnology corrects a wobbly or drifting ball by refocussing the energy when the ball is hit.

Apple launched its first new store in London and the fans came out in droves for the big opening.

Hotsites

scholar.google.com

The reason Google stays number one is because it's never happy with the status quo and is always improving its efforts. This new beta engine targets educational and academic material, and was created after extensive collaboration with a number of educational organisations. If you're after a paper or research, this is now the best place to start.

www.neave.com/games

This site by Paul Neave is small but nifty. The online games are neat, but his inspiration links are something else. Check it out.

www.styleboost.com

One of the links from Paul's site is Style Boost - a great portal demonstrating just how beautiful, sassy, and classy some websites can be. If you're a web designer and want some inspiration, this a place to start.