Sony Cyber-shot RX1

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Near-breathless anticipation is pretty much how you’d describe the mood when Sony announced plans for what, on paper, looked to be the most advanced compact camera ever. So magnificently crafted is the RX1, a pro-level shooter with a full-frame sensor and a fixed lens wrapped in a pocket-size body, even the $2,800 price tag couldn’t stymie the buzz. The high sticker probably even made it more desirable — for that money, hotness is all but guaranteed.

Straight from the box, the Cyber-shot RX1 looks and feels professional. It has the heft, feel and “boxiness” of a Leica. It also resembles its older kin, the RX100. Owing to the camera’s 17-ounce build and the rubber inlays on the right side of the body, steady one-handed shooting is incredibly easy and a healthy workout, if you do a lot of it.

Let’s troll the specs. It has a 24-megapixel full-frame compact camera with a fixed 35mm leaf-shutter f/2 Zeiss lens that’ll sync to shutter speeds of up to 1/2000 of a second. The camera is aimed at hyper-enthusiasts and working photographers who want, need, or just plain lust for a camera that’ll fit in the fist and still deliver full-fledged DSLR image quality. That’s a tall order for any manufacturer — especially Sony, whose fortunes have been tarnished recently by innovation lassitude. In spite of the bloom being off Sony’s rose in other areas, the company has been marching headlong toward taking back some serious market share in photography, notably in image sensor development both for itself and for other brands. So, to say there’s a lot riding on the performance of the RX1 is mildly understating the obvious.

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

The layout and controls have been kept simple, much like the RX100. To the right of the ridiculously crisp “WhiteMagic” LCD are the auto exposure lock, Function, Menu and Trash buttons, and a 4-way control dial with a set button in the center. Above the AEL button is a rotating dial for adjusting shutter speed in M-mode and S-mode. This dial also operates the program shift when the camera is in P mode. Playback and pop-up flash are operated by small buttons just above the LCD. At the top of the body, you’ll find the mode dial with options for custom settings, the power switch, the exposure value adjustment dial (+/- 3EV) and a tiny button with a “C” on it. The little “C” packs a wallop, enabling you to customize it for up to 27 functions.

Sony made the right choice by going with the Zeiss lens and CMOS sensor combo. With its eight elements, three of which are aspheric and one advanced aspheric, the leaf-shuttered f/2 glass is both very sharp and quiet. It features an f-stop ring on the lens barrel, and has a close-focus switch for subjects as close as 9.5 inches. Wide open, the Zeiss is remarkably clear and the RX1′s 24-megapixel sensor can certainly take equal credit for the image clarity. An adaptation of the full-frame sensor spec’d in its DSLR cousin, the SLT A99, this sensor produces rich, dense color from edge to edge. The only drawback to this Zeiss lens is a touch of vignetting when it’s wide open, but that can be mitigated by an on-board algorithm if you like.

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Common Website design faux pas you need to avoid

The benefits of online marketing are numerous: everything from lower costs to long term results, easier targets to greater audiences. Some say that the future of marketing online is vague although it has huge potential be sure to use it correctly. Product search engines also known as product comparison engines or price comparison shopping engines, offer a new avenue for web users to discovery the products or services they are searching for. When a person visits comparison search engines like Google Product Search , Nextag, Amazon etc allows a person to look for products by price, store and store rankings allowing visitors to easily compare products. Each product in a search result generally comprises an image, description, price and a link to purchase it from the advertiser’s website where your website design plays a crucial part. It is essential for every business to have a good website in order to reach its online customers and potential clients.

The goal of a website is to connect with your client base, attract new customers and to keep all of these people coming back frequently to see what your business is up to.  Here are some Web Design Faux Pas you need avoid that can prevent you from having an effective website that generates you more business and rides high in comparison shopping engines.

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Flat Style UI Kit with PSD and HTML Format

[Giveaway] Onda V712 Dual Core Tablet

Are you looking for a Onda V712 Dual Core Dual Camera 7 inch 1280*800 IPS HD Touch Screen HDMI WIFI 16GB Tablet FREE?

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A Fresh User Interface Kit Free for Download

Have a good interface is key to guide them through the content and meet their expectations. A good User Interface is consistent and can make a website easier to understand and use. Also, a beautiful UI can be a critical point for users when deciding between two websites or applications.

Here you will find the simple and Fresh UI Kit by Abhimanyu Rana. You can download it directly here. Also, you can take a look at A Comprehensive Collection of Free UI Kits & Templates we have published some time ago as well.

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Beautiful Chinese Landscape Paintings Are Actually Photographs Of Garbage

At first glance, these images by Chinese artist Yao Lu may seem like beautiful, traditional Chinese Landscape paintings of misty mountains.

However, upon closer inspection, the images are actually digital manipulations of mounds of garbage—as a commentary about how urbanization is affecting and threatening our natural environment.

To create the deceiving series entitled ‘New Landscapes’, Lu covers the hills of trash in green protective netting, then he reworks them digitally—adding mist, trees, waterfalls, and buildings—to make them look like bucolic images of mountain landscapes.

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In Japan, Young Women Rent Out Their Legs As Ad Space

A good way to get your advertisement plenty of exposure is to place it where there will be a lot of people looking.

With that in mind, Japanese advertising company Absolute Territory PR is offering a unique service that gives brands a ‘leg up’ on their competitors—by renting the legs of young Japanese girls as ad space.

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A font for quicker wireframing

Blokk Font makes it easy to represent blocks of text in wireframes and mockups. It’s available as both a webfont (in a variety of formats) and a .ttf font. Text is represented as lines with variable lengths that can be used for text aligned in any manner (including justified text). There’s also a new and improved version, called Blokk Neue, also available for free download.

jQuery Plugin to Create 360 Degree Image Slider

ThreeSixty Image Slider Plugin is a jQuery plugin to create 360 degree product image slider. The plugin is full customizable with number of options provided. The plugin have the power to display images in any angle 360 degrees. This feature can be used successfully in many use cases e.g. on an e-commerce site to help customers look products in detail, from any angle they desire.

PROS and CONS of Going Freelance

image by istockphoto

PROS

1. Freelancing offers a much more flexible lifestyle, letting you choose when and where you work.
2. You control your own workload, with the freedom to pursue the projects you really want.
3. There’s no limit on your earning potential, so you could make a lot more money.
4. You can branch out into new  creative areas without going through the whole rigmarole of changing jobs.

CONS

1. Nobody pays for equipment, software or days off, and you won’t have any company perks.
2. Freelancing can be lonely – you might miss the support  and camaraderie of working in a team.
3. There’s no guarantee you’ll get work or make money, so you could find your cash flow dries up.
4. Working alone means being responsible for every decision and having to learn from your mistakes.