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Schneider widens range with SLRs, Micro Four Thirds lenses

COLOGNE, Germany -- Every 99 years or so, a company has to shake things up a little bit.

Thus it is that Schneider Kreuznach, a high-end lens brand founded in 1913 that's been focused on cinema, medium-format, and large-format markets, unveiled four lenses for more ordinary 35mm SLRs, three for Micro Four Thirds cameras, and even a polarizing filter for iPhones. The lensmaker, part of the Jos. Schneider Optische Werke, unveiled the lenses at the Photokina show here.

Its earlier lenses for conventional SLRs were the company's relatively exotic Super Angulon line, tilt-shift models that can enable perspective … Read more

Olympus primes its Micro Four Thirds lens selection

Cameras are nice, but to me, lenses are where the rubber meets the road, and Olympus has been turning out some very nice Micro Four Thirds lenses these days. At Photokina, the company is showing off a new moderately priced 60mm f2.8 macro, odd 15mm f8 body-cap lens, a black limited edition version of its 12mm f2, and announced development of a new 17mm f1.8

Optimized to be used in conjunction with the OM-D E-M5, the 60mm macro is weather-resistant to match that camera. It's relatively large -- 13 elements -- and Olympus makes use of all … Read more

Apple iPhone 5 event adds to Intel woes

It's been a bad week for Intel.

The earnings warning today capped a week that began ominously when Apple sent out invites for an event -- widely expected to be the unveiling of the iPhone 5 -- that could bury Intel's biggest annual conference.

Call it bad luck, but the three-day Intel Developer Forum will peak on September 12, the same day of the big Apple event (which, by the way, CNET will be live-blogging).

And it's probably not a stretch to say that Apple's announcement will generate a mountain of news before, during, and after … Read more

HP ready for battle with tablet-laptop hybrids, says Whitman

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman came out swinging in today's earnings conference call.

"We are under attack by very strong competitive pressures and we are going to respond," Whitman said when asked by an analyst about the PC business.

The company will respond with "two tablets, if you will, combined with laptops for the consumer space," according to Whitman.

This is in addition to the Windows 8 business tablet that HP has already discussed (see photo above).

She added that HP has "one of the best product lineups we've had in the PC business … Read more

Surface tablet less than 2 percent of market, says Dell

Michael Dell said today he expects sales of Microsoft's Surface to be "relatively small."

The Dell founder and chief executive commented on Microsoft's upcoming tablet during the PC maker's second-quarter earnings conference call this afternoon.

"I think there's an understanding of the number of units that they're likely to sell is a relatively small percentage. Maybe in the 1 [percent] to 2 percent range of total PC units during next year," Michael Dell said in response to analyst's question.

CFO Brian Gladden also had something to say. "[About] Microsoft … Read more

Nvidia touts ascendancy in Android, Windows 8 tablets

Nvidia's emergence as a leading player in both the Android and Windows 8 tablet markets was driven home today when the chip supplier's CEO discussed second-quarter results in an earnings conference call.

Revenue rose to $1.04 billion from $1.01 billion in the company's second quarter of last year. Analysts had forecast revenue of $1 billion.

Net income was $119 million, or 19 cents a share, below the $151.6 million, or 25 cents a share, recorded in the same period last year. But that exceeded analyst estimates of 14 cents a share on sales of $… Read more

Best iPad 3 cases and covers

The new iPad -- or the iPad 3, as I incorrectly like to call it -- has been out for a while, but the new cases keep on coming.

If you've already seen an older version of this list, I apologize, but the good news is that it's been updated.

As most people know, Apple barely changed the design of the third-generation iPad and a lot of existing iPad 2 cases fit the iPad 3. While a few of those iPad 2 models are represented in this round of top cases and covers, I did my best to include plenty of new models, as many accessory makers have refreshed their lines in the last few months. … Read more

Fujitsu comes to market with a pair of ultrabooks

We seem to be approaching critical mass for new ultrabooks this week. Acer, Lenovo, and Sony all announced new thin laptops yesterday. Now Fujitsu enters the fray with the LifeBook U772 and the LifeBook UH572.

The U772 is the star of Fujitsu's lineup. Starting at $1,149, the U772 has a 14-inch, 1,280x768-pixel screen with edge-to-edge glass, and comes with Intel's new third-generation Core i5 or Core i7 chip, depending on the configuration. For its measurements, Fujitsu says the U772 is .69 inch thick, weighs 3.15 pounds, and offers seven hours of battery life.… Read more

Sony Vaio L Series all-in-one gets Ivy Bridge, media features galore

Sony has gone all-in on the concept of the home entertainment PC with its new Vaio L-Series all-in-one desktop. Yes, it has Intel's new third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Core CPUs, but that's almost besides the point. Alongside those new chips, you'll find Sony has pushed harder than ever to make this PC an all-encompassing digital media hub.… Read more

Apple gives Flattr micro-payment the thumbs down

After a wishy-washy last couple of weeks, Apple has finally told the micro-payment donation app Flattr that there's no deal. The iPhone maker said that the service violates the App Store's terms and conditions with third-party payments.

"Apple is notoriously secretive about its motives or what would be the compliant and best way of doing things that are sort of new," Flattr's community manager Siim Teller wrote in a blog post. "What does this mean for the future of Flattr inside applications for iPhone and iPad?"

With the motto, "Support Great Web … Read more