Author: kenmay

Sony offers pro 4K camcorder for $6,500: the PXW-Z100 with 10-bit, 600Mbps video

Other than a smallish 1/2.3-inch sensor, Sony’s new PXW-Z100 4K camcorder should push all the right buttons for pro shooters. Though it shares a sensor (and body) with the newly launched FDR-AX1 prosumer model, everything is upmarket from there. It’ll record 4:2:2 10-bit (billions of colors) 4K video at up to 500/600Mbps at 50p/60p using its new XAVC format and high-speed XQD memory cards . By contrast, the FDR-AX1 uses XAVC-S, capturing 60fps 4K at 150Mbps in 4:2:0 8-bit color. HD is also recorded at 10-bit at a healthy 233Mbps for 50 or 60 fps video, compared to 50Mbps for its prosumer cousin. You’ll be able to output 4K video at up to 60fps via HDMI to a compatible BRAVIA monitor, and a remote control WiFi adaptor is included. All that’s missing is the shallow depth of field you’d get with a larger sensor — but a lot of shooters are so over that. Filed under: Cameras , HD , Sony Comments Via: NoFilmSchool Source: Sony

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Sony offers pro 4K camcorder for $6,500: the PXW-Z100 with 10-bit, 600Mbps video

Virgin Galactic says it’s on track to begin tours of space in 2014

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo underwent its second successful rocket-powered test flight yesterday, demonstrating its “wing-feathering” capabilities for the first time. In a video announcement released soon thereafter, Virgin CEO Richard Branson stated the company is “on track for a 2014 start of commercial service.” Rich space-enthusiasts, rejoice! Read more…        

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Virgin Galactic says it’s on track to begin tours of space in 2014

Watch a Virgin Galactic Test Flight from Onboard the Engine

This is what a Virgin Galactic supersonic flight with the SpaceShipTwo looks like, up close and personal. It’s not quite space, but it’s still damn gorgeous to watch. Read more…        

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Watch a Virgin Galactic Test Flight from Onboard the Engine

Stargate is getting rebooted into a new movie trilogy

Good news, Stargate fans! Original movie director Roland Emmerich wants to make more! The bad news? He doesn’t want to continue the massive original universe as seen in SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, Infinity , and The Legend of Curly’s Gold , but will reboot the franchise with a new movie trilogy. Read more…        

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Stargate is getting rebooted into a new movie trilogy

What Is High-Resolution Audio?

This week, Sony unleashed a battery of expensive audio gear that claims to support “high-resolution audio” which, like “ultra high-definition” in the video world, sounds pretty snazzy. But what does high-resolution audio mean? And will HRA really make the music sound better? Read more…        

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What Is High-Resolution Audio?

Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2: Now With New Kickstand!

UnknowingFool writes “For consumers who had hoped that Microsoft would greatly upgrade their recent entries into the tablet market, leaks and rumors have said that both machines will receive modest hardware changes. Surface Pro 2 will sport new Haswell processors which will increase battery life to 7 hours. RAM is expected to increase from 4GB to 8GB. Surface (formerly RT) will get Tegra 4 processors. The only other confirmed change will be new kickstands that have 2 positions instead of one.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2: Now With New Kickstand!

LGPL H.265 Codec Implementation Available; Encoding To Come Later

New submitter Zyrill writes “The German company Stuttgarter Struktur AG has released a free and open source implementation of the H.265 codec, also termed ‘High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)’ which is now available on Github. At the same video quality, H.265 promises roughly half the bitrate as compared to H.264. Also, resolutions up to 8K UHD (7680 × 4320 px) are supported. The software is licensed under LGPL. Quoting from the homepage where the software is also available for download: ‘[This software] is written from scratch in plain C for simplicity and efficiency. Its simple API makes it easy to integrate it into other software. Currently, libde265 only decodes intra frames, inter-frame decoding is under construction. Encoding is planned to be added afterwards.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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LGPL H.265 Codec Implementation Available; Encoding To Come Later

Sudden spike of Tor users likely caused by one “massive” botnet

Tor Project Researchers have found a new theory to explain the sudden spike in computers using the Tor anonymity network: a massive botnet that was recently updated to use Tor to communicate with its mothership. Mevade.A, a network of infected computers dating back to at least 2009, has mainly used standard Web-based protocols to send and receive data to command and control (C&C) servers, according to researchers at security firm Fox-IT. Around the same time that Tor Project leaders began observing an unexplained doubling in Tor clients , Mevade overhauled its communication mechanism to use anonymized Tor addresses ending in .onion. In the week that has passed since Tor reported the uptick, the number of users has continued to mushroom. “The botnet appears to be massive in size as well as very widespread, ” a Fox-IT researcher wrote in a blog post published Thursday . “Even prior to the switch to Tor, it consisted of tens of thousands of confirmed infections within a limited amount of networks. When these numbers are extrapolated on a per country and global scale, these are definitely in the same ballpark as the Tor users increase.” Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments        

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Sudden spike of Tor users likely caused by one “massive” botnet

Lenovo’s new Yoga 2 Pro has the same flexible hinge, 3200×1800 display

The new Yoga 2 Pro is a high-res follow-up to one of the better convertible laptop designs on the market. Lenovo The original IdeaPad Yoga  was one of our favorite early convertible laptops, not least because the “convertible” part didn’t ruin the “laptop” part. Its many contortions were also genuinely useful, even if the weight and exposed keyboard made it a bit too awkward to use as a dedicated tablet. We got a belated 11-inch version of the original Yoga a bit earlier this year, but today at IFA, Lenovo has formally announced a pair of true sequels that look to improve the design without radically altering its formula. From the folding hinge to the bright “clementine orange” color, the Yoga 2 Pro is very much a successor to the first Yoga. It loses some weight and some thickness, dropping to 0.61 inches thick and 3.06 pounds from the 0.68 inches and 3.4 pounds of the original. It also includes Intel’s new Haswell processors (and its new integrated GPUs—there’s no dedicated graphics option available), but the biggest upgrade is the 13.3-inch 3200×1800 touchscreen. At 276 PPI, this is a substantial upgrade over the 1600×900 display of the original, though the (included) Windows 8.1 Pro can have some issues with high-PPI displays . Like the older Yoga, the new one is indistinguishable from a regular laptop most of the time. Lenovo The other specs are a mixed bag—you’ve got 8GB of DDR3L, standard 128, 256, and 512GB SSDs, a backlit keyboard, and Bluetooth 4.0 (all good), but there’s only one USB 3.0 port (the other is USB 2.0) and a frustratingly low-end 2.4GHz-only 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter. We understand laptops that don’t ship with 802.11ac yet, since that’s still a new standard and many people won’t have upgraded to a compatible router just yet. But to ship a high-end laptop without dual-band 802.11n seems like a seriously missed opportunity. The laptop also promises around six hours of battery life, which would have been on the low end of average for an Ivy Bridge Ultrabook but is a bit disappointing for a Haswell model. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments        

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Lenovo’s new Yoga 2 Pro has the same flexible hinge, 3200×1800 display