Kodak , masters of the digital camera that is relatively cheap and easy to use, just went public with their EasyShare Z915, which packs 10x, image-stabilized optical zoom into a 10-megapixel point and shoot body. In addition, the Z915 also has a “Smart Capture” feature, which “which analyzes scenes and adjusts camera settings to automatically deliver beautiful pictures” (ummm…auto mode?), and a 2.5-inch screen, for reviewing the fruits of your labor. The camera will be available in April for $200 and will come in Red, Grey, Blue and Black color options. New Digital Camera from Kodak delivers high-zoom, high-resolution performance in a compact design Kodak’s innovative Smart Capture feature delivers beautiful pictures automatically Rochester, NY, March 3, 2009 - Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today introduced a new addition to its versatile line of digital cameras : the KODAK EASYSHARE Z915 , featuring a powerful image stabilized 10X optical zoom lens and Kodak’s innovative Smart Capture feature that consistently delivers high quality images. The new camera debuted at Kodak’s booth at the 2009 PMA International Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas (booth F200, South Hall).

Hey New Yorkers, did you get a chance to check out last week’s Greener Gadgets conference? If not, you missed out on some killer eco gadgetry and discussion, including a panel on electronics recycling from our own Editor-in-chief, Joshua Topolsky. As the dust settled on the main event, the design competition , Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone’s Tweet-a-watt walked away with top honors. The service, which automatically updates Twitter with your power usage, beat out a coin-operated electrical piggy bank dubbed the Power Hog, a decidedly un-electronic indoor drying rack, and a hand-powered portable laundry machine, the Laundry Pod. Congratulations to all who won and participant; hit up the read link for a full list of the finalists. [Via MAKE ] Filed under: Misc

Remember that GT725? You know, that behemoth of a gaming laptop announced alongside 43.8 other MSI machines at CES. Anywho, MSI has just come clean with the actual specifications, and gamers in the crowd looking for a portable rig should be pleased. The machine is claiming to be the first ever gaming lappie to include ATI’s 512MB Radeon HD4850 GPU, and that’s complemented by a 17-inch WUXGA (anti-glare) display, a 320GB SATA hard drive, Blu-ray optical drive, 4-in-1 multicard reader, up to 4GB of RAM, a plethora of ports, nine-cell battery, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, gigabit Ethernet and a 2 megapixel webcam. There’s also an ExpressCard slot, four standard speakers plus a “subwoofer” and a Turbo Drive Engine to make overclocking a lesson in simplicity.

Sony has finally shown its cards for PMA this year, and that Ten of Clubs up its sleeve looks to be the CyberShot DSC-HX1 we heard about last week. According to the presser, it’s the company’s first digital camera with sweep panorama technology for up to 224-degree horizontal and 154-degree vertical panorama shots with the push of a button. It’s also sporting a 20x optical zoom, 1/2.4-inch Exmor CMOS sensor for 10 frames per second at 9.1 megapixel resolution, a Sony G lens and 1080p HD movie recording. Look for it this March for around five Benjamins. Filed under: Digital Cameras Sony’s CyberShot DSC-HX1 camera gets official, coming March for $500 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Sony’s DSC-HX1 20x superzoomer with 1080p HD video isn’t a rumor anymore. It’s got a 9-megapixel CMOS sensor (like a legit DSLR) and automagically pumps out 224-degree panorama shots with a single sweeping motion. Even though Sony’s description is smattered marketing BS speak like Exmor sensor, Bionz processor and G Lens—which increase shooting speed to 10 frames per second and reduce noise by 50 percent (whatever metric that’s based on)—it really does sound like a tight competitor to Canon’s similar SX1 , especially since Sony’s is $100 cheaper, at only $500. We’re going to get some hands on time right now to check out all the features listed below. SONY PRESENTS FIRST CYBER-SHOT CAMERA WITH SWEEP PANORAMA TECHNOLOGY LAS VEGAS (PMA #F171), March 2, 2009 – Sony is spotlighting its first digital still camera to feature sweep panorama technology here at the Photo Marketing Association confab

Well, that “trial” didn’t last long at all, now did it? Just days after teeing up a $50 unlimited voice plan in the great city of San Francisco, T-Mobile USA has reportedly taken said plan nationwide. Users are already buzzing about the widespread availability, though it should be noted that the same “loyalty requirements” from the San Fran pilot are still in effect for the rest of the nation. In other words, you have to have been a T-Mob subscriber for at least 22 months and have been in good standing the whole time.

Samsung’s new value priced Blu-ray player managed to fly under our radar at CES in favor of its better equipped brethren but that hasn’t stopped Dave Zatz and others from stumbling into them at retail lately, like this one sitting on a Best Buy shelf. By making BD-Live required 1GB storage and WiFi dongle aftermarket accessories, you can grab a slim, Netflix streaming, fast Blu-ray loading box for $299. Right now we’ll probably wait until the whole product line appears and prices slide down a bit more before considering picking one up, but depending on your needs this could be a good option, more pics of this bird in its unnatural habitat beyond the read link. Filed under: HDTV , Home Entertainment Samsung BD-P1600 Netflix streaming Blu-ray player pops up at retail originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Lots of Apple rumors today following the weekend whispers of a March 24 desktop hardware event , and they fall neatly along the plausibility spectrum: First up, we’d say a bump of the Mac Pro to Intel’s upcoming Nehalem-EP Xeon processors is looking quite likely — famed OS X hacker netkas was poking around in a test build of OS X 10.5.7 and found support files for i7 chips lurking about, as well as drivers for ATI’s Radeon 4000-series GPUs. If you’re making a chart, this one’s right up there with an NVIDIA-powered iMac refresh — it’s a pretty obvious move. Second, new entries for the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule have popped up in the FCC, and while the listed dimensions are exactly the same as the current editions, there are no model numbers and something internal has to have changed enough to raise ol’ Sammy’s brows. That could be as simple as a new radio hardware supplier or bigger drives, but if we were placing bets, we’d say both units are getting updated for simultaneous 5GHz and 2.4GHz operation — Apple’s really high on 5GHz for laptops and Apple TV, but the iPhone and iPod touch are 2.4GHz-only. Let’s call this one even odds, shall we? Lastly, a new picture of that improbable five USB port Mac mini has surfaced, this time purporting to show the outside of the box

Lots of Apple rumors today following the weekend whispers of a March 24 desktop hardware event , and they fall neatly along the plausibility spectrum: First up, we’d say a bump of the Mac Pro to Intel’s upcoming Nehalem-EP Xeon processors is looking quite likely — famed OS X hacker netkas was poking around in a test build of OS X 10.5.7 and found support files for i7 chips lurking about, as well as drivers for ATI’s Radeon 4000-series GPUs. If you’re making a chart, this one’s right up there with an NVIDIA-powered iMac refresh — it’s a pretty obvious move. Second, new entries for the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule have popped up in the FCC, and while the listed dimensions are exactly the same as the current editions, there are no model numbers and something internal has to have changed enough to raise ol’ Sammy’s brows. That could be as simple as a new radio hardware supplier or bigger drives, but if we were placing bets, we’d say both units are getting updated for simultaneous 5GHz and 2.4GHz operation — Apple’s really high on 5GHz for laptops and Apple TV, but the iPhone and iPod touch are 2.4GHz-only. Let’s call this one even odds, shall we?

Hey, want to know what the future looks like? Okay, how about what Microsoft thinks the future will look like? If you’re still reading, Stephen Elop, Microsoft’s Business Division President, recently presented that vision as part of this year’s TechFest . In an embedded video below you can get a glimpse, which includes plenty of augmented reality, a personal identification device that could (finally) replace your wallet, and naturally lots and lots of Surface action — extending from tables to walls and beyond. Some of these conceptual clips are old, but overall it looks like something of a computing utopia to us, and according to Elop these are all representative of currently active projects. But, with the company shedding employees and surely focusing on tangible revenue right now , we’re wondering how long they’ll stay that way.