SHINY VIDEO PREVIEW: Canon PowerShot range

Yesterday, Dan got to check out Canon’s PowerShot range of cameras in person in Soho. You can see his thoughts in the video above – the conclusion of which is basically “they’re alright”. His favourite was the SX200 thanks to the decent zoom, wide angle lens and fully manual operation.

At the same event, Susi got her hands on Canon’s IXUS range. I’ll have that video up momentarily.

Sony showers us with Cyber-shot cameras

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It’s only been a matter of weeks since Sony last dropped a Cyber-shot camera on us, and already here’s five more. You’ve got to wonder what the life cycle for their products is. Still, here they are, and they’re numerous, so we best get cracking.

T900 and T90
The T900 and T90 are up first. They’re slim (15mm for the T900, and 14mm for the T90), pack a 12.1-megapixel sensor, a 4x optical zoom and can record in 720p HD. The T900 has a 3.5″ touchscreen, and the T90’s is smaller at just 3″. Both have image stabilisation, face and smile detection, and automatic scene recognition. They’ll be available in April, no pricing info yet.

W270
Next is the W270. It’s much the same as the T900 and T90, in that it has a 12.1-megapixel sensor, can record 720p HD and has image stabilisation, face and smile detection, and automatic scene recognition. Its differentiating factor is that its zoom goes up to 5x, and it has a 28mm wide angle lens. The display isn’t touch, unfortunately, but it’s 2.7″ across. Available in mid-March.

H20
Then there’s the Cyber-shot H20, which reduces the megapixel count to 10.1, but pumps up the zoom to 10x. One for stalkers then, I suppose. Again, it’s got 720p HD recording and the aforementioned software goodness. A 3″ non-touch LCD rounds things off. This one will be available in April.

S930
Lastly, there’s the S930, which picks the worst of all the above, presenting a 10.1-megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom. It’s got the same load of software features as above, and a 2.4″ LCD display. Available in April.

All the models come in a range of colours – silver, black, red, bronze, pink, brown, blue and gold across the range. Not all colours are available on all cameras though, confusingly. Now, if anyone can explain the logic behind the model numbers to me, then I’ll be a very happy man.

IFA 2008: Philips gets in on the thin scene with its 42" Essence LCD – only 38mm thick

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This year’s “thing” at IFA 2008 is definitely thin TVs. Everyone’s at it. Spec sheets now list LCD thickness in millimetres, as companies fight – like children over a dropped sweet – to see who’s got the thinnest TV.

That award has already been won by Sony’s BRAVIA ZX1, to be honest – but the new Philips Essence LCD isn’t far behind. Peaking at a max width of 38mm, the 42″ screen has been designed to sit flush against a wall…

Dell dropping some XPS models – pushing its new toy Alienware harder instead

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High-stacking, low-selling PC maker Dell is planning to dump some of its XPS range of power machines, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks to Dell’s buying of Alienware in 2006, the box-shifter has no need for a high-end range of its own and will instead start pushing the Alienware machines harder on its site. The report in the WSJ suggests Dell is worried that its cheaper XPS desktops are competing too well against the equivalent Alienware models…