Camera and photography deals of the week: 2.7.14
If you’re still looking to make good on that New Year’s resolution to kick your photography habit into high gear, we might have a few options that can help. From an entry-level Nikon DSLR to a Wacom peripheral to aid with edits, there are a few options for spicing up those snapshots. Head on past the break and peruse the full lot.
Just window shopping? No worries. Join us and add the gadgets you’re shopping for to your Want list; every time there’s a price cut in the future, you’ll get an email alert!
Fujifilm X-Pro1 (body only)
Price: $849
Regular Price: $1,300
Engadget Global Score: 82
Buy: 42nd Street Photo
Sure, you could nab up a highly capable mirrorless compact for less, but if you don’t mind the extra investment — now with a handsome discount — you can expect retro stylings, “film like” images and full manual control. The current sticker price is also consistent with the lowest it has been in the last three months.
Nikon D5200 (body only)
Price: $459
Regular Price: $700
Engadget Global Score: 85
Buy: 42nd Street Photo
The predecessor to Nikon’s D5300 doesn’t pack the WiFi chops that the latest model does, but the D5200 is still a solid buy for a beginner DSLR. In fact, this model is barely a year old and the $200-plus price drop is certainly worth considering. See how both old and new stack up against each other with our compare tool.
Canon 60D (body only)
Price: $599
Regular Price: $800
Engadget Global Score: 82
Buy: 42nd Street Photo
Looking for a step up from the entry-level DSLRs? Well, Canon’s 60D is a solid bet with 18-megapixel shooting, and many have noted its fast performance and respectable image output. We’re currently seeing pricing that’s $50 above the 90-day low, so if you’re willing to hold out a bit longer, add the 60D to your Want list and we’ll let you know when the price drops even further.
Wacom Intuos5 touch (medium)
Price: $270
Regular Price: $375
Engadget Global Score: 92
Buy: Amazon
Perhaps you’re in the market for tools that will make that photo-editing workflow a bit snappier. If so, a Wacom pen tablet could certainly lend a hand with its stellar stylus input and multi-touch gestures. The medium-sized Intuos5 touch (the same size we reviewed) is currently offered with a $105 price cut to soften the blow for the peripheral investment. According to our price drop tool, the current cost of admission is in line with the 90-day low.
Filed under: Cameras, Peripherals, Nikon, Canon
Facebook lets users rewrite the past by editing their ‘Look Back’ videos
Let’s be real here: the nostalgic “Look Back” videos Facebook rolled out for its tenth birthday are… let’s say, hit or miss. Sure, some of them are tremendously meaningful. Most of them are much less so. But fear not! In the event that your Look Back video doesn’t really tell your personal story (or at least not the version you want people to see), Facebook is giving you the chance to edit it.
Clicking the shiny new ‘edit’ button on the Look Back page lets you choose which images and status updates you want to highlight. There are, sadly, some pesky limits. As TechCrunch points out, you’re stuck choosing from only a slightly wider pool of content, not the entirety of your lives on Facebook. Then again, even a bit of selective surgery could go a long way in making these videos more tolerable, so tweak away.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Facebook
Tim Cook: Apple ‘Spending an Enormous Amount’ on ‘Macs of the Future’
Apple hasn’t “given up on the Mac” like some of its competitors and has “some really cool things” coming, according to CEO Tim Cook who sat down for a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Answering a question about new product categories, Cook said the company is going to focus on “only doing a few things and doing them great”, but that Apple does have significant new products, in new categories, in the works.
He went on to say that he felt Apple has a long way to go in its existing categories as well, the Mac in particular.
I think Apple can grow well with great improvements and new products on its existing category of products.
[…]
And we haven’t given up on the Mac. A lot of people are throwing in the towel right now on the PC. We’re still spending an enormous amount on really great talent and people on the Macs of the future. And we have some really cool things coming out there. Because we believe as people walk away from the PC, it becomes clear that the Mac is what you want if you want a PC.
According to the well-sourced KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is planning to release an ultra-slim 12-inch Retina MacBook in the middle of 2014 and it could be one of the “really cool things” that Cook talked about.
Elsewhere in the interview Cook revealed that Apple has repurchased $14 billion in stock over the past two weeks, and that the company is open to making large acquisitions if it makes sense. He also reiterated that Apple is working on “some really great stuff” in new product categories, an assertion that Apple executives have made numerous times over the past few months.
Investor Carl Icahn, who has been agitating for an increase in Apple’s stock repurchase program, tweeted today that Wall Street is “still not listening” to Cook’s statements and Apple’s stock price remains relatively flat.
Tim Cook again confirms $AAPL will launch new products in new categories (plural) this year. Wall Street apparently still not listening.
— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) February 7, 2014
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Snapchat Vulnerability Can Lead to iPhone Denial-of-Service Attacks
A vulnerability in the Snapchat app opens the iPhone up to denial-of-service attacks that can cause the device to freeze and crash, according to cyber security researcher Jamie Sanchez [Google Translation] (via The Los Angeles Times).
A weakness in the app’s system can allow a hacker to send thousands of messages to a Snapchat user in seconds, which can cause a crash that requires a hard reset to fix. Tokens generated by the app used to verify user identity can be reused by hackers to send a flood of messages.
By reusing old tokens, hackers can send massive amounts of messages using powerful computers. This method could be used by spammers to send messages in mass quantities to numerous users, or it could be used to launch a cyber attack on specific individuals, [Sanchez] said.
Sanchez demonstrated the flaw for The Los Angeles Times, sending a reporter 1,000 messages within five seconds in a denial-of-service attack, which caused the reporter’s iPhone to freeze until it restarted.
The security researcher declined to contact Snapchat with his findings as he believes the startup “has no respect for the cyber security research community” after ignoring previous app vulnerability reports.
Snapchat has faced multiple problems as its private messaging app has grown in popularity, including vulnerabilities that allowed users to bypass screenshot notifications and a recent security breach that compromised the user names and phone numbers of more than 4.6 million customers, which Snapchat was warned about ahead of time by a security group.
When asked about this particular vulnerability, Snapchat said it was unaware of the problem but interested in learning more.
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Slam Dunk Basketball 2 Launching February 13; It’s All About Skill
The sequel to Slam Dunk BasketBall by VisualDreams is just on the horizon. The reached out to us to let us know that Slam Dunk Basketball 2 will be coming to Android, and iOS, February 13th. The second addition to the game definitely looks better than the first. The courts, the balls the power-ups, pretty much everything about Slam Dunk Basketball 2 out does the first iteration by leaps and bounds.
Players bet cash against each other and hustle for the winnings in both Head to Head matches and 8 Player Tournaments. The best player takes the winnings and is awarded new ranks and titles that unlock new and more exclusive events.
SDB 2 takes full advantage of Google Play Games for scoring and rankings, but also pops up with a Facebook login “for the best experience”. It is fast paced and sitting around after each shot to see if you made it is a total waste of your time since you have a time limit on your shooting. Yes, this does mean I am testing it out right now. The one round I played was smooth. No glitching on shots even with multiple balls bouncing around. The final shot at the end is pretty cool. They pull you back way across the court and you have just a few seconds to line up the shot. When you release, it goes into a slow motion behind the ball action all the way to the hoop. I missed, but it was pretty visually exciting.
Keep your eyes peeled for this one. It should provide hours of entertainment for the casual quick gamer and the basketball enthusiast a like.
Tapered iPhone 6 Concept in Larger Sizes Shows New Home Screen Possibilities [iOS Blog]
A new rendering of the iPhone 6 presented in multiple sizes has been released by Italian designer Federico Ciccarese. The concept images give an accurate size comparison of the existing iPhone 5s next to a 4.7-inch iPhone and a 5.5-inch iPhone, two sizes that have been rumored for Apple’s next-generation smartphone.
iPhone 6 4.7″ 750×1338 px Aspect ratio 16:9
iPhone 6 5.5″ 878×1568 px Aspect ratio 16:9
iPhone 5S 4″ 640×1138 px Aspect ratio 16:9
Ciccarese does take some liberties with the look of Apple’s next iPhone, however, incorporating both a tapered back and an almost bezel-less display. While early iPhone 6 rumors indicated the iPhone would have a curved design, more recent rumors from The Wall Street Journal have refuted that claim, and no mention has been made of a tapered design. As far as the bezels go, there have yet to be any indications that Apple is planning on an edge-to-edge display.
Though the iPhone renderings incorporate app icons that are similar in size to the icons of the existing iPhone 5s, it remains unclear how Apple will handle icons on a larger display. It is possible that rather than allowing a huge number of icons on a screen, Apple will instead increase the spacing of the icons as it has done on the iPad and the iPad mini.
Apple has been experimenting with a range of screen sizes for the next-generation iPhone since early 2013, with size rumors varying from 4.7 to 5.7 inches.
It is widely believed that Apple has plans to release two separate phones in that size range, continuing with the dual-iPhone lineup it introduced with the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c. One phone may be on the smaller end of the spectrum near 4.7 inches, while the second could enter “phablet” territory at a size above five inches.
While Apple has plans to stick with a dual-iPhone lineup, The Wall Street Journal has said the company will not continue producing a plastic-shelled phone like the iPhone 5c. Instead, both iPhone 6 models will include metal outer casings similar to the iPhone 5s and neither will include a curved display.
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The Moto G lands on US Cellular for $99 sans contract
The Moto G is the best cheap Android phone you can get your hands on, and now you’ve got another way to nab one. US Cellular today confirmed what a blurry screenshot told us yesterday: the 8GB model will hit store shelves on February 10. Just can’t wait? Those with itchy trigger fingers can order one online now for $99, just like you can at Verizon.
It’s almost the same Moto G we fell for in our review, albeit with Android 4.4 KitKat instead of the Jelly Bean build the phone first shipped with. Just remember that you won’t be able to hop on the carrier’s LTE network – despite a solid spec sheet, the G (sadly) lacks LTE support. You can’t unlock the thing since it’s technically Motorola’s CDMA variant, but hey: a good deal’s a good deal.
Filed under: Mobile
Source: US Cellular
Spotify now lets you listen to your favorite track over, and over, and over…
This is the song that doesn’t end.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because . . .
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Spotify
Nokia and HTC end their patent dispute, agree to license each other’s tech
Nokia and HTC have officially put all this patent litigation nonsense behind them. The two have settled their disputes, signed an agreement to license each others technology, and even decided to explore further opportunities to collaborate. The details are confidential, as they usually are in these circumstances, and the reasoning behind the move are not entirely clear… not that we’re complaining. It could be that Nokia and HTC have realized there are competitors out there with deeper pockets and better stocked patent arsenals, and this alliance is simply to protect themselves against other aggressors. Or, it could be that Nokia is trying to get all its legal ducks in a row ahead of the impending Microsoft acquisition. Whatever the impetus, we’re just glad that this is one less intellectual property rivalry we’ll have to cover.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Nokia
Source: Nokia
New Carbonite Pack Released in Angry Birds Star Wars 2
If you aren’t phased by all the NSA talk surrounding Rovio and Angry Birds, then you might be interested to know that a new update has just arrived. Rovio just released a the Carbonite pack for Angry Birds Star Wars 2. The update brings in 8 all new playable characters such as Carbonite Han Solo, Jabba the Hutt, Wicket the Ewok, Lando Bird, Royal Crimson Guard, Tusken Raider plus a few others. It also packs in some reward levels and 4 secret levels. Check it out.
Totally love Wicket the Ewok. The Ewoks were one of my favorite characters from the movies. The update also adds in new telepods to match up with their corresponding Telepod toys. There is mention that the new characters are free trial and you can earn them, buy them or unlock them with the Telepd toys. Â Head into the Play Store and get your update. You can also just use the nifty little button below and head their directly.
Angry Birds Star Wars 2 FREE with Ads
Angry Birds Star Wars 2 paid
AIVAnet 