ALKHOBAR, 2 December 2003 — At this holiday season everyone I meet is interested to know what gift to buy for that special someone. I must admit there is a lot of wonderful equipment out in the market this year. In fact, I hope that my family reads this column and surprises me with something, which would definitely make my little techie heart beat faster!
If you know someone who loves photography, then without a doubt the must have camera this year is the Canon EOS 300D. It is the world’s first professional-quality digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera being offered at an affordable price. For those of you who are out of the photography loop, SLR cameras can take interchangeable lenses, filters, etc. The EOS 300D is a full-featured 6.3megapixel digital SLR camera the costs just under SR4,000, which is within the price range of an equivalent traditional SLR camera.
The EOS 300D provides quite a bit of bang for its low cost. Bundled into the camera are proven high performance technologies such as seven-point, high-speed predictive auto focus, 2.5 frame per second burst rate and 35-zone metering. Canon has declared the EOS 300D to be the single most important consumer SLR since the AE-1 in 1976. Just as the AE-1 triggered an SLR revolution by being the world’s first camera with an embedded microcomputer for accurate automatic exposure control, Canon believes the EOS 300D will be seen as the point in history when the SLR market shifted irrevocably to digital.
At the front end of the EOS 300D is the lens system and digital sensor. Film EOS users considering the move to digital will be pleased to learn the EOS 300D works seamlessly with any of Canon’s renowned EF lenses, of which there are currently more than 60. An APS-C sized sensor gives the camera a 1.6x magnification over 35mm film format. In order to furnish EOS 300D customers with the equivalent 28-90mm zoom range so popular with 35mm film EOS users, a new EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 lens has been specially developed. The lens will not be sold separately and will only be available with the purchase of the EOS 300D. This lens takes advantage of the compact sensor size, employing a ‘short back focus system’ which mounts the lens closer to the sensor than previous models. This provides high-quality images in a low-weight, short-length lens. The EOS 300D is the first digital EOS camera to support from launch date the vendor-independent PictBridge print standard. PictBridge allows digital cameras, camcorders and other image capture devices to connect and print directly to photo printers and other output devices.
No PC is required and where both devices bear the PictBridge logo, inter-brand connectivity is now a reality. Lab-quality prints from the EOS 300D can be produced without the need for a computer by directly connecting the EOS 300D to compatible photo printers via a standard USB cable. A large 1.8” LCD is used to select and review photographs to be printed and set print variables.
The camera is impressive technically thanks to Canon’s high-speed Digital Image Core (DIGIC) processor. In the days of film, image processing was the role of film companies and mini-labs. With digital, the critical role of image processing must be handled by the camera. Complex algorithms required to accurately process functions such as white balance and color rendition are integrated into the DIGIC processor, resulting in high quality images with no trade-off in camera responsiveness.
Seven selectable focusing points give an ultra wide Auto Focus area generally only found in advanced SLRs. A Manual Focus override is selectable from the lens. Along with the full range of automated and manual-shooting modes expected in a high-end SLR, the EOS 300D features Programmed Image Control modes such as Night Portrait, Sports, Close-up, Landscape, Portrait and Flash OFF. A built-in automatic flash pops up nearly 90mm above the optical axis to lessen the chance of red-eye for better flash photos.
If the EOS 300D is more than you need and a small, automatic camera is more your style, consider the Konica Minolta DiMage Xt, Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-F1S or Canon’s PowerShot SD 100. For those on a budget, the Nikon Coolpix 2100, the Canon PowerShot A300 and the HP Photosmart 435 have received good reviews in industry publications.
Even though new digital cameras may be able to function without a computer, most people can’t get through the day anymore without these machines. In the world of computers, mobility is the key word. While notebooks are great, nothing could be more portable than a Tablet PC. Two weeks ago at Comdex Las Vegas, in his keynote speech Microsoft’s Bill Gates showed off some of the next generation Tablet PCs. One that he featured, which has just launched in Saudi Arabia, is Toshiba’s Portege M200.
This next generation Tablet PC offers an impressive list of new features, enhanced productivity tools and a new, uniquely designed docking station. The Portege M200 also offers advanced wireless connectivity (integrated Wireless LAN 802.11b and Bluetooth technology), Intel Centrino mobile processing power and a dual axis accelerometer.
Like its predecessors, the Portege M200 works as an everyday notebook computer, but includes an innovative display that rotates and folds back for optimal information viewing and sharing. The Portege M200 also offers a choice of data input methods, such as typing, writing or speech insertion.
“Over the past year, Toshiba’s Tablet PC has gained acceptance because of its portability, versatility and ability to function beyond the traditional range of PC applications,” said Ahmed Khalil, regional manager, Toshiba’s Computer Systems Division. “The Portege M200 offers exciting new options including the Tablet Multi Dock — docking station and the reserve pen that provide new usage scenarios and increased application use, for everyday mobile computing needs.”
Designed to support multiple usage scenarios, even in convertible Tablet PC mode, the Portege M200 offers an optional Tablet Multi Dock solution which allows users to use their Tablet PC in a comfortable, natural position and to write on the screen while at their desk. With easy screen rotation to landscape or portrait mode, users now have the ability to adjust the unit at different height levels. The Tablet Multi Dock includes an integrated SlimSelectBay to support an additional hard disk drive or optical disk drive, enabling users to increase storage capacity, download software or back-up vital information.
Toshiba’s Portege M200 is powered by the NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 graphics controller with 32MB of dedicated DDR memory. The use of this leading-edge technology delivers rich graphics required to power applications that require a high level of graphics support, such as developing interactive multimedia presentations, web design or video editing.
In addition to the 12.1” high-resolution SXGA+ display, the Portege M200 features a dual axis accelerometer, which detects the way the user is holding the Tablet PC and adjusts the screen orientation and image accordingly. Other enhancements of the Portege M200 include pen-enabled programmable buttons which allow users to simply launch an application with the touch of the Tablet PC pen. The Portege M200 also features a zooming utility tool where one-touch magnification lets users recognize icons, toolbars, fonts and more with greater viewability.
Another wonderful machine that has just debuted in the Middle East is the Power Mac G5. The Power Mac G5 has recently won the PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence in the Personal Computer category. This machine caught a lot of interest at GITEX Dubai in October.
“Visitors were keen on seeing the G5 which is the world’s fastest personal computer, offering 64-bit processing with dual 2.0GHz power PC processors, each with 1GHz front side bus,” said Ghassan Bendali, Arab Business Machine (ABM) product manager, Middle East. “Gitex was the first time the G5 processor was being exhibited in the Middle East and it provided us with an excellent opportunity to showcase it to the public. Some people even took pictures of the G5, which reflects the creativity and unique design that Apple is legendary for.”
If there’s a Mac maniac at your house then the must have item this holiday season is Mac’s latest operating system, the Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. This OS has over 150 new innovative features including broad support for many additional languages including Arabic, so users don’t have to purchase separate copies of the operating system if they are multilingual. They can mix and match character sets in the same document.
“A host of other advantages for users in this region include enhanced input methods for Arabic and better support in Web browsing in Arabic,” said Elias Abou–Rustom, director, marketing and sales, ABM. “Panther also offers improved support for Arabic fonts coming from a Windows operating system environment, as well as for bidirectional cursor movements in writing in Arabic and English, that is from right to left and from left to right when switching between writing English and Arabic together.”
Panther also makes it easier to totally reposition all items in applications from right to left when Arabic is the primary language. Panther offers improved functionality in writing and viewing emails in Arabic, as well as in writing in the TextEdit application in Arabic. “The operating system also enables enhanced usage of diacritics, for example accent marks,” adds Abou–Rustom. “You can now use them as they are meant to be used.”
If your IT junkie already has a camera and computer, then consider getting the Apple iPOD 40 GB MP3 player or the lower priced, but nice, Dell Digital Jukebox at 20 GB. If all else fails, and you still can’t decide what to buy, grab one of the many USB storage devices on the market. A little extra data storage, like holidays, never seems to go out of style.
(Comments to: [email protected])
