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Engadget's back to school guide 2011: digital cameras
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we've got our optical viewfinders set firmly on digital cameras -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of the month we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- and hit up the hub page right here! Welcome to Digital Cameras 101. This single-lecture class will feature a handful of top cams for every budget, and since you're just getting back from a summer of wild shooting, we'll try to keep things brief this time around, giving you one last chance to enjoy that crisp natural light. There won't be a pop quiz, but if you're feeling lucky and don't mind following our simple instructions, we may just be able to send you home with your very own Sony NEX-C3. Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win, and check out our giveaway page for more details. So wipe off the glasses, grab your clicker, and get ready to jump past the break for a top-level overview of this year's picks for back to school.
KnightHawk 3G network-in-a-box breaks soldiers' backs, helps them get online anywhere
While it's easy enough to envision soldiers scaling battlegrounds with portable hotspots in tow, it's a useless solution for warriors deployed to remote areas that have patchy service to begin with. Enter the KnightHawk 3G, a rugged network-in-a-box that cooks up connectivity in otherwise uncovered areas. The self-contained WCDMA network runs over the 2100MHz spectrum, promising download speeds as fast as 14.4mbps and max upload rates of 5.76mbps. It has capacity for up to 60 simultaneous voice calls and can handle 14 HSPA connections at a time. And it'll help keep our troops in top shape -- you can't tell from the photos, but that thing weighs 45 pounds. %Gallery-121824%
In brief: Free iPod with Mac purchase offer ends 9/7
As expected, Apple has sent out a quick reminder that the annual discount offer for college students -- buy a new Mac, get a free iPod touch -- is expiring September 7. While this date was expected to coincide with the rock & roll introduction event, we now know that the big shindig will be taking place next Tuesday Wednesday, September 1. Got some money burning a hole in your pocket? Are you, or do you know a college student? Time for that new Mac, but it's running out.
Vodafone Germany rolls out Ericsson's eco-friendly cell equipment
For Ericsson and for the world at large, the company's new Base Transceiver Station Standby feature means a possible reduction of 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions if the software upgrade were to be rolled out globally. For Vodafone Germany, it represents a power savings of 10 to 20 percent -- and therefore an energy bill 10 to 20 percent lower -- and while we reckon that's not quite as scrupulous a reason, it's still a win / win situation as far as we're concerned. The so-called BTS Standby upgrade is compatible with Ericsson tower equipment manufactured since 1995, giving hope that it could end up seeing fairly rapid and widespread acceptance across the world's GSM carriers, inching us toward Ericsson's lofty CO2 emission reduction claim. Don't suppose Vodafone would want to go with some of those tower tubes while they're at it, would they?
