Author: matt buchanan

The freshest movies on Netflix Watch Instantly come via Starz Play, an arrangement where Starz resells Netflix their movie licenses. As predicted, studios are playing hardball with Netflix, and Disney movies could be the first to poof from instant streaming.

Disney’s currently in negotiations with Starz for the rights to its movies over the next few years, and it wants a lot more money from people who watch Starz online—like through Netflix—and if things go badly, it could mean no more Disney or Dreamworks movies on Netflix streaming, according to Bloomberg. (Of trivial, probably inconsequential, note: Steve Jobs is the single largest shareholder of Disney, owning 7 percent of the company, so there is a mild conflict of interest.)

It looks like a rough patch for Netflix and its ambitious plans for Watch Instantly, now obviously the focus of its business. (Why else would Netflix give up a whole month for new releases from Warner Bros. in exchange for better streaming rights? And notice the switched tab arrangement on the Netflix homepage, putting Watch Instantly first.) Expect these battles for streaming rights to repeat themselves with basically every major studio, and expect them to get bloodier. Nobody’s conquered internet video, at least not the way iTunes wrapped its arms around digital music, but Netflix is, in many ways, damn near the closest, a fact not lost on the major studios. And they’re not going to make it any easier for another company to wield that kind of power. [Bloomberg]

My caffeine needs have been growing exponentially, so we need more interns in New York City. But, this time, we’re lookin’ for a few different kinds of interns.

Four different kinds, to be precise:

Writing Intern: Your main task will be writing posts, but with a secondary focus on all the other intern duties as outlined here.

Promotion Intern: Great for people who like to talk to other people. You’ll be promoting our stories on Digg, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. You should know how to angle stories a certain way, and be familiar with social networks as well as other major sites. When I say familiar, I mean you should read them and know what kind of stories they’re apt to post.

Research Intern: You should be good at pulling together multiple forms of information from multiple sources for our editors. This includes online and offline sources and even calling up people to arrange (and possibly conduct) interviews. Mostly, you should have a good grasp of technology and be able to locate and dissect information fast.

Copyediting Intern: English. You should know it. And you should be able to recognize when we screw up. You’ll be going through our posts as a copyeditor, fixing typos and correcting our grammar. If you’re already doing this in your spare time (for free), you’ll love this position.

All of these internship positions will still have the primary task of finding stories for us—so think of this as your secondary superpower—as outlined here. Look that over (click the link and read it first!) and see if you’re qualified.

If you think you’re suited for one of those four positions (choose one only, please), send an email to [email protected] with the subject “NY Writing Intern” or “NY Promotion Intern” or “NY Research Intern” or “NY Copyediting Intern”—whichever one fits you the best. No attachments. No. Attachments.

Remember, it’s full time, you need your own laptop, and you need to be able to get to Manhattan daily.

Good luck!

That’s right, Marvel’s first next IMAX movie is, appropriately, gonna be Iron Man 2—perfect, since we’ll need a mega-sized screen to hold that many mecha flying around, going pewpewpew. Unfortunately, it wasn’t shot in IMAX (like parts of The Dark Knight), it’s just gonna be remastered. [Comic Book Resources via io9]

I threw in with MobileMe because it seemed like a better deal at $60 than a Flickr Pro account, since I get all kinds of stuff plus photos. Apple continues paying dividends with its very nice MobileMe gallery app.

It’s akin to Apple’s other MobileMe app, for iDisk, in that it lets you look at the stuff—in this case, photos—you’ve got stored on MobileMe, and easily share it, as well as check out what your friends have got up there too.

It’s fast, and with local caching, you can view photos even when you’re not online, and they feel native, too, with full pinch zooming and landscape orientation. The front page is pretty slick, with a ticker of recently updated photos scrolling on top of your list of galleries. It’s free, so it’s a no brainer get if you’re paying Apple $60, $70 or $100 a year for MobileMe, especially since it fills a big hole vs. Flickr on the iPhone. You’ll at least feel like you’re getting more for your money.

Oh, and I wound up getting a Flickr Pro account anyway. Dammit. [iTunes]

The Genius Bar horror stories are in. And they are horrible. Geniuses obliterating iMacs, covered in roaches, even stealing customers’ girlfriends. The evil Genius Bar is real, and it’s in your local mall. Update: We’ve added another truly shitty experience.

Click here to see all of the stories on one page, though it might be too much horror at once.

Now, reach down into the bottom of your hearts, and tell us who most deserves that free pizza. (And keep sending in your own horror stories.)

Apple bought Fingerworks—a company that developed a bunch of multitouch accessories, interfaces and gestures—years ago, but left the site online until this week, even as founder Wayne Westerman popped up in Apple patents. It’s gone now. Hmmm. [MacRumors]

The reason calls on the Nexus One sound great is Audience’s A1026 voice processor, which works with its dual mics to pluck out voice, eliminate background and dynamically adjust audio properties. I hope it goes standard, like oleophobic screens. [VentureBeat]

If you applied a PC gamer’s obsession with gear and tweakability to a console controller, Razer’s Onza Xbox 360 controller is basically what you’d expect: Reprogrammable buttons, elongated triggers, two extra buttons and joystick tension adjustment (!).

Razer’s crammed an extra button onto each shoulder, which can be mapped using the switches on the back of the controller, and warped the traditional trigger into something the swoops out much further, reminding me of extra-long fingernails. The sticks feel a bit too tall, a consequence of the twist-and-click dial for adjusting how hard you have to click on the joystick button. The D-pad is great, on par with the special one on Mad Catz’s SFIV pad. It’s clear after playing some Halo ODST, though, that the new configuration would take some getting used to, even though the shape of the controller is as good as Microsoft’s own.

It’s corded, which is the real dealbreaker here. But we’ll see when this thing gets final.

DailyTech reports that a number of companies with tiny budgets who resorted to the survival tactic of showing their new gear at hotel suites around Vegas during CES were kicked out of hotel rooms they paid for by CES’s organizers.

One company was reportedly ordered to pay a $10,000 exhibition fee to the CEA, the organization behind CES, in order to continue showing their products in their hotel suite.

If you’re one of the companies who got booted, we’d like you to pitch us your new stuff, so we know we didn’t miss you because of the CEA. [DailyTech]

Interesting factoid from a former Apple designer, buried in a NYT piece about the tablet deluge at CES: Apple’s “spent the past couple of years working on a multitouch version of iWork.” Man, would that make the Apple tablet unfun. [NYT]

A yearly CES tradition: The Adam Frucci white guy dance. If only you knew how he moved when the camera was turned off.

Pixel Qi‘s magic transforming displays seemed too good to be true: One screen that’s both a bright, full color LCD and a reflective, E-Ink quality display for reading in light. It is pretty damn incredible.

It’s not hard to see the overall trend with gadgets: They’re being reduced almost entirely to the display. Which is why, in this near-future vision of a single tablet thing that does everything—computer, video screen, reader—what Pixel Qi’s doing simply makes sense. If you’re carrying something that’s basically just a screen, and expect it to do lots of different things, a screen that adapts to precisely what you’re doing is how it has to be.

In the Pixel Qi display’s current form, it’s impressive, though nowhere near perfect. In its backlit LCD mode, it’s just about as good as any other 10.1-inch, 1024×600 netbook display, except that the viewing angle seems more limited, before the color started warping. Head on, color seems solid. Though it won’t win any illumination showdowns, it’s plenty bright—Pixel Qi won’t reveal how many nits it’s at when running at full brightness. How it handled motion was a bit harder to gauge, given the quality of the available video clip. On the Lenovo S10 used as the demo unit, it immediately switched to the electrophoretic reflective mode—where backlighting is replaced by ambient light reflecting off the back of the screen. In that mode, it really is just as crisp as the Kindle for reading text. You can watch video in this mode too, though it’s not exactly pretty (the point being you don’t have to wait 10 years for the damn screen to refresh when you turn a page). They wouldn’t speculate on how much battery life improves when you turn off the backlight, simply stating that it saves you 2 watts of power.

Pixel Qi CEO Mary Lou Jepsen says that they’ve signed up more fabs to produce their displays, which doesn’t just mean they’re on track to produce “millions” of them this year, but that they’ll be able to produce different sizes, for different form factor devices, meaning we should see them in a lot of different things over the next year or so. (Tablets! Netbooks! Phones?!) Probably, we’ll see the first stuff later this year. Device makers using the screen have got full multitouch running, since in terms of adding capabilities like capacitive touch, it’s just like any other LCD. Which is the real advantage here: Their screens are made using existing LCD factories and existing LCD technology, which is why we don’t have to wait for years to see them in the real world. (Pixel Qi works a bit like the chip designer ARM—the design the screens, license the tech, and somebody else makes ’em.)

In a battle against e-ink, which has so many obvious limitations, this really is the projected winner. We still need to see this thing in a device that’s capable of running for “days” without a recharge, but we are hoping for that soon.

I’d say it’s two generations away from being perfect enough—a wiiiider viewing angle, much higher resolution—for a truly finicky company to put these screens in their tablet or notebook, but it’s clear, I think, that a screen like this one is the key to a future where everything is about the screen.

The Overdrive is Sprint’s WiMax dream, in a little box. And mine too, I confess: Real broadband that I can shove in my pocket and take anywhere, a teleporting Wi-Fi hotspot.

WiMax is pretty quick at its best, but speed depends almost proportionately on signal—in Las Vegas, at 100 percent, we were getting around 3.5Mbps downstream and close to 1Mbps up, but at 40 percent, we got 1.57Mbps downstream and around 0.3Mbps up, and more than a couple dropped connections. Latency stayed around 155ms. When it was at full strength, it feels a whole lot like real broadband.

Battery life actually got to around 4 hours of near constant usage by one person, with occasional people jumping on.

While it physically could fit into your pocket, it doesn’t exactly slip in there like the credit card-sized MiFi—there’s a definite not-happy-to-see-anything-cause-I’ve-got-a-brick-in-my-pants bulge. But the thumbnail of a screen that fades into the OverDrive’s glossy surface fixes the MiFi’s biggest problem—you can actually see what the hell’s going on just by looking at the brick, vital info like: Battery level, signal strength, data used and your wireless password. That said, the web interface is nice—animated, interactive and fast.

We’ll be hitting it hard while we’re in Vegas for a more thorough review soon—like versus Clear’s hotspot. Anything you want us to try on it?

ATI continues pressing the 3-month lead it has over Nvidia’s next-gen Fermi architecture with another set of DirectX 11-supporting graphics cards—this time for notebooks, with the Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series. Preview benchmarks show the top-of-the-line 5870 wiping the floor with Nvidia’s topper, the GTX 280M. [AMD, Anandtech]

Now that 3D is in, like, everything—say 152-inch giant plasmas and little tiny OLED screens—it’s a good time to revisit how the hell 3D actually works. Surprisingly, no gnomes involved: [Giz Explains 3D Tech]

Seems a little random since it runs Google’s Android, is all. And we know how Ballmer feels about Google.

Oh, that’s why we’re delayed 5 minutes.

Sony’s launching thirty-eight TVs. The best, the XBR-LX900, is a 3D-ready edge-lit LED set that goes up to 60 inches with 240Hz, Wi-Fi (for video services like Netflix), face detection (for auto-backlight dimming) and an anti-reflective panel. And Three-Dee.

I’d personally go with the XBR-HX900, which is 3D like the LX900, but it’s got LED backlighting with local dimming. It’s just smaller, only going up to 52 inches. The new “Monolithic” design language looks like classic Sony, but hey, it’s really nice. They’re available for pre-order tonight on Sony Style.

Stepping down further, past the warm comfort of XBR, 3D continues in the HX800, but you lose perks like built-in Wi-Fi. Or with the NX800, you can trade in 3D for Wi-Fi, and going further, 240Hz gives way to 120Hz, on down the line.

BRAVIA XBR-LX900 Series 3D HDTV
Available this summer, the BRAVIA XBR-LX900 series features integrated 3D functionality and screen sizes including 60 (XBR-60LX900), 52 (XBR-52LX900), 46 (XBR-46LX900), and 40-inch (XBR-40LX900).
The full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) models feature Edge LED backlight, Sony’s new Monolithic Design and Motionflow™ PRO 240Hz motion compensation technology, which helps produces smooth images in fast moving content such as sport and action movies. Sony’s 240Hz technology also reduces the mixing of images of 3D content assigned to the left and right eyes, while the BRAVIA Engine™ 3 full digital video processor uses a collection of enhanced algorithms to significantly reduce noise, enhance overall image detail, and optimize contrast so every scene produces sharp, vibrant, life-like images.
The LX900 models also feature Sony’s new OptiContrast panel. Designed with a clear surface treatment and a resin sheet sandwiched between the LCD display panel and glass plate, the OptiContrast panel minimizes the reflection and refraction of external and internal light producing deeper images with superior black levels even in bright rooms.

The models include integrated Wi-Fi for an easy connection to broadband home networks.  Once connected, users can access thousands of streaming movies, videos, music and more from Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube™, Slacker® Internet Radio, Pandora®, NPR, Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and over 25 total providers through the Sony BRAVIA Internet Video platform.
Also, with the touch of a button, users can access the latest in news, weather, USA Today sports, Yahoo Finance, Twitter, Flickr photos, and FrameChannel through small applications called BRAVIA Internet Widgets.  The widgets can be uniquely positioned anywhere on the TV screen for a custom viewing experience.

The models also feature playback of personal content including digital pictures, video, and music through USB and DLNA® certified network connections.
Another new feature is Sony’s Intelligent Presence Sensor with face detection. The sensor detects if you’ve stepped away from the TV or are not watching the screen and automatically dims the backlight. After an extended period, the TV will turn off if no one has re-entered the viewing area. Additionally, the Intelligent Presence Sensor’s newly added Position Control feature detects a user’s viewing position to deliver optimized video/sound balance, while the Distance Alert feature helps to keep small children at an eye-friendly distance.

The models also offer Sony’s BRAVIA Sync™ for easy operation with other BRAVIA Sync devices such as AV receivers and Blu-ray Disc™ players, and TVGuide® on-screen channel guide.

BRAVIA XBR-HX900 Series 3D Ready HDTV
The XBR-HX900 series 3D ready (with the addition of Sony active shutter glasses and transmitter, both sold separately) full HD (1920 x 1080p) models feature Intelligent Dynamic LED backlight and Sony’s new Monolithic Design.
The model’s full-array LED backlighting improves contrast and dynamic range by local dimming that controls the LED backlight level by area so that detail is maintained in the dark areas, while other areas are driven near peak brightness. The technology reduces unnecessary light emission resulting in true and deep blacks compared to conventional LED backlit models.
The models also feature Sony’s new ambient sensor that automatically optimizes the TV’s color and brightness according to the room environment and lighting conditions for optimized settings.
Featuring screen sizes including 52 (XBR-52HX900) and 46-inches (XBR-46HX900), the model offers four HDMI 1.4 inputs, one component input, one composite input, one component/composite selectable inputs, and a PC input (HD15) with PC/TV picture-in-picture.
The models also feature:
Monolithic Design
Motionflow PRO 240Hz motion compensation technology
OptiContrast panel
USB Wireless-LAN adapter for easy wireless network connection (sold separately)
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3 with Intelligent Image Enhancer
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback

BRAVIA KDL-HX800 Series 3D Ready HDTV
Also 3D ready (with the addition of Sony active shutter glasses and transmitter, sold separately), the BRAVIA KDL-HX800 series will be available this summer in screen sizes including 55-inch class (54.6-inches measured diagonally) (KDL-55HX800), 46 (KDL-46HX800) and 40-inch (KDL-40HX800).
The full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) models utilize a Dynamic Edge LED backlight with local dimming for improved contrast and dynamic range.
Other features include:
Motionflow PRO 240Hz Technology for Smooth Motion
Ambient sensor
USB Wireless-LAN adapter for easy wireless network connection (sold separately)
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback

Sony also introduced several other new BRAVIA models with various features and screen sizes. They include:
BRAVIA KDL-NX800 series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) Edge LED backlit LCD
Monolithic Design
Motionflow 240Hz Technology for Smooth Motion
Integrated Wi-Fi wireless network capabilities (802.11)
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback
Available in March
Screen sizes include 60 (KDL-60NX800: $4,000), 52 (KDL-52NX800: $3,400) and 46-inch (KDL-46NX800: $2,800)

BRAVIA KDL-NX700 Series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) Edge LED backlit LCD
Monolithic Design
Motionflow 120Hz Technology for Smooth Motion
Integrated Wi-Fi wireless network capabilities (802.11N)
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback
Available in March
Screen sizes include 46 (KDL-46NX700: $2,600) and 40-inch (KDL-40NX700: $2,100)

BRAVIA KDL-EX700 Series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) Edge LED backlit LCD
Presence Sensor, Ambient sensor
Motionflow 120Hz Technology for Smooth Motion
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback
Available in March
Screen sizes include 60 (KDL-60EX700: $3,900), 52 (KDL-52EX700: $2,800), 46 (KDL-46EX700: $2,200), 40-inch (KDL-40EX700: $1,700), and 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32EX700: $1,100)

BRAVIA KDL-EX600 Series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) Edge LED backlit LCD
Ambient sensor
BRAVIA Engine 2
BRAVIA Sync
USB photo/music/video playback
Available in March
Screen sizes include 46 (KDL-46EX600: $1,900), 40 (KDL-40EX600: $1,400) and 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32EX600: $800)

BRAVIA KDL-EX500 Series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) CCFL backlit LCD
Motionflow 120Hz Technology for Smooth Motion
Ambient sensor
BRAVIA Engine 2
BRAVIA Sync
USB photo/music/video playback
Available in February
Screen sizes include 60 (KDL-60EX500: $3,300), 55-inch class (54.6-inches measured diagonally) (KDL-55EX500: $2,400), 46 (KDL-46EX500: $1,600), 40 (KDL-40EX500: $1,100), and 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32EX500: $800)

BRAVIA KDL-EX40B Series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) CCFL backlit LCD
Integrated Blu-ray Disc player
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3
Ambient sensor
Ethernet input
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback
Available in May
Screen sizes include 40 (KDL-40EX40B: $1,000) and 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32EX40B: $800)

BRAVIA KDL-EX400 Series
Full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) CCFL backlit LCD
Ambient sensor
BRAVIA Engine 2
BRAVIA Sync
USB photo/music/video playback
Available in February
Screen sizes include 46 (KDL-46EX400: $1,200), 40 (KDL-40EX400: $800), and 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32EX400: $600)

BRAVIA KDL-EX308 Series
720p (1366 x 768) CCFL backlit LCD
Wi-Fi with USB adapter (included)
BRAVIA Internet Video and BRAVIA Internet Widgets
BRAVIA Engine 3
BRAVIA Sync
USB and DLNA photo/music/video playback
Available in March
Screen sizes include 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32EX308: $530) and 22-inch class (21.6 inches measured diagonally) (KDL-22EX308: $380)

BRAVIA KDL-BX300 Series
720p (1366 x 768) CCFL backlit LCD
BRAVIA Engine 2
BRAVIA Sync
Available in March
Screen sizes include 32-inch class (31.5-inches measure diagonally) (KDL-32BX300: $500) and 22-inch class (21.6 inches measured diagonally) (KDL-22BX300: $350)

On paper, Samsung’s CL80 point-and-shoot is a superfluous spec nerd wet dream: Built-in Wi-Fi, 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 14 (okay, noisy) megapixels and 720p video recording. Oh, and it might be the most serious (read: best) looking camera they’ve made yet.

You can send photos through email, or to Facebook, YouTube and Picasa over Wi-Fi, though it crushes the photos down to 2 megapixels. Same story with beaming them using Bluetooth 2.0: resolution’s cut to 1024×768. Besides Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it’s got HDMI and DLNA support, so it should just work with other DLNA stuff.

A possibly interesting note is that Samsung says that the CL80 and its crummier brother, the TL240, are the first ever products made using hydro-forming, which supposedly “allows for greater flexibility during the design process and gives manufacturers the ability to produce smoother silhouettes, seamless bonding, and higher quality surfaces.” Mmmmmhmmmm.

SAMSUNG MAXIMIZES STYLE AND TECHNOLOGY WITH THE CL80 AND TL240

Ultra Stylish and Thin, CL80 Offers AMOLED Touch-Screen and Wireless Connectivity

Las Vegas, NV (January 6, 2010) – Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today unveiled the CL80 and TL240, a pair of stylish, 14.2 mega-pixel digital cameras that are fully loaded with an array of impressive features that truly enhance the digital imaging experience for consumers. Highlighted by ergonomic and elegant designs, the new Samsung CL80 and TL240 are ideal for the consumeron-the-go looking for a camera that can do it all. The CL80 adds even more great functionality with the integration of Wi-Fi* connectivity and a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touch screen, while the TL240 features an impressive 3.5-inch touch screen. Also, the CL80 has received a 2010 CES Innovation Award. The CL80 and TL240 will be on display during the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show, January 7-10, 2010, in the Samsung booth #11026 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
“Consumers are looking for that great all-in-one camera – a digital camera that takes great pictures, is visually appealing, and provides a wealth of features to ensure a great image or video every time,” said Mr. SJ Park, CEO of Samsung Digital Imaging Company. “The CL80 and TL240 deliver on that need for consumers to have a camera that does it all, and in the case of the CL80 we’ve taken it even a step further by providing several connectivity options to share those photos and videos on the go.”

Appealing Design Adds to Ease-of-Use
Samsung’s design engineers were able to produce one of the most remarkable camera designs in the industry with the help of hydro-forming technology for the CL80 and TL240. Hydro-forming allows for greater flexibility during the design process and gives manufacturers the ability to produce smoother silhouettes, seamless bonding, and higher quality surfaces. The CL80 and the TL240 are the first consumer electronic products ever to be manufactured using hydro-forming technology.
Despite their svelte 0.77-inch stainless-steel frames, the CL80 and the TL240 house impressive SchneiderKREUZNACH lenses which boast a design inspired by the mirror-writings of Leonardo da Vinci. When powered up, the cameras’ lens barrels extend and the lens specifications, including focal length and speed, appear with a hidden color accent in the concave reflective ring that surrounds each lens. These specifications are inscribed in reverse on the cameras’ lens barrels and disappear when the lens naturally retracts into the camera body. The distinctive design makes an immediate and lasting impression.
The Samsung CL80 and TL240 are also highlighted by a slanted design, which places the back of the camera at a seven degree angle. This subtle design accent proves to be extremely useful for consumers who are interested in taking self-portraits and group shots. The issue that many consumers face when taking self-portraits or group shots with traditional digital cameras is that the camera must be positioned much higher than the subjects in order to capture the complete image. Thanks to the seven degree angling of the CL80 and TL240, the lenses will always be pointed at the subjects’ faces even if the camera is positioned at a lower angle. Furthermore, unlike traditional shutter buttons which sit flat on top of the camera, the CL80 and TL240 offer slanted shutter buttons which make the cameras more comfortable to hold and operate.

Wireless Connectivity
The CL80 allows consumers to share their video and photos on the go without being tethered to their laptops or home PCs thanks to its wireless connectivity options, which include Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi and DLNA. Using an available Wi-Fi connection, users can send a digital image to any email address using the camera’s touchscreen QWERTY keypad or selecting those stored the camera’s address book. Users can also utilize the QWERTY keypad to include text within the body of the email. The CL80’s WiFi connection also allows users to upload their images directly to popular websites such as Facebook®, Picasa™ and YouTube®, as well as SamsungImaging.com.
The CL80 also includes Samsung’s AllShare feature, which allows consumers to share content, including photos and videos, with other DLNA certified devices such as HDTVs and digital photo frames. This gives the CL80 user a seamless way to wirelessly transfer 720p HD video in addition to digital still images. To maximize speed and efficiency, all images transferred through Wi-Fi will be reduced to a resolution of two mega-pixels.
Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity is also included in the CL80, allowing users to share and transfer photos directly with Bluetooth 2.0 compatible mobile phones. When using Bluetooth 2.0, the CL80 will automatically resize the digital image to a resolution of 1024×768 (1MB).

Smart Gesture Touch-Screen User Interface
The Samsung CL80 incorporates an impressive 3.7-inch wide WVGA AMOLED screen, while the TL240 features a 3.5″ touch screen TFT LCD. Both cameras’ massive displays house Samsung’s Smart Gesture touchscreen user interface which is complimented by an internal Gravity sensor for added easeofuse. Smart Gesture is one of the most advanced and accurate touch-screen user interfaces on the market, and it gives users the ability to access and use key features with either a simple tilt or a hand gesture. The Smart Gesture adds a level of fun to the way users interact with and enjoy their content, allowing them to quickly scroll through their photos with a swipe of their finger or by slightly tilting the camera in either direction. Users can also easily delete photos from their library using Smart Gesture by marking an “X” on the screen with their finger, or rotate an image by drawing a circle (O) on the screen.
Smart Gesture UI also offers useful auto-focusing options such as object tracking and one-touch auto focusing. Object tracking enables users to focus on any area by touching the location on the screen with their fingertip. Once the object or location is selected, the cameras will lock and keep their focus on the subject even if it’s moving within the frame. Users can also proceed to take that photo by continuing to hold the location with their finger for two seconds, thanks to the cameras’ one-touch auto focusing capabilities.

Powerful Optical Zoom
The CL80 and the TL240 offer powerful 7x optical zooms on the high-performance, oversized SchneiderKREUZNACH lenses. To help reduce blur, these impressive lenses are paired with Samsung’s Dual Image Stabilization technology, which combines both optical and digital stabilizers to counteract the negative effects of a user’s shaky hand. End-users can also take advantage of the cameras’ 7x optical zooms and optical image stabilization while recording video. Both the CL80 and the TL240 offer 720p HD video recording at 30 frames-per-second in H.264 format. The cameras also come complete with built-in HDMI connectivity, giving users the ability to effortlessly view their HD video and digital still images on an HDTV or HD monitor.

Smart Features
The new Samsung CL80 and TL240 also make it easier than ever for consumers to capture the perfect shot thanks to Samsung’s Smart Auto 2.0 (Still & Movie) scene recognition technology. Smart Auto 2.0 technology will automatically recognize the user’s current shooting environment and select the appropriate settings to achieve the best results possible. Additionally, Samsung’s Smart Auto 2.0 scene recognition technology can also be used to record video, producing the highestquality footage and results no matter where consumers will be using the cameras.