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GE's E850 digital camera gets reviewed: it's not so good
GE sounded pretty cocky when it announced its first entries into the crowded digital camera market earlier this year, with the company's lead of sales is running around saying things like, "Our aim is to be Number 1 in all aspects – quality, technology, performance and value – and these cameras will do that." Unfortunately, however, it doesn't look GE is going to reach that goal as fast as they'd hoped -- Photography Blog got their hands on the 8 megapixel E850 model and although the design and price are attractive, the camera itself took "horrible" pictures and suffered from sluggish performance. According to the reviewer, the E850 has "the worst noise performance" he's ever seen, and the higher ISO settings make "great impressionistic paintings out of your photos." Ouch. All in all, it looks like you're better off spending your $200 elsewhere -- sorry about that, GE fanboys.
GE's Flip universal remote brings ugly back
We've can't say we've ever really understood the appeal of integrating remote functions into cellphones (except for some sly TV-B-Gone action) but we're even more confused by the GE Flip universal remote, which appears to finally bring the worst in cheap-o flip phone design to the low-end universal remote market. Sadly, GE apparently thinks looks alone will move this thing, since otherwise it's a relatively standard four-function universal -- even the press release kind of peters out after mentioning the design. That design, by the way, seems to have a pretty glaring weakness: when the unit is closed, it looks like the IR transmitter will be pointing the wrong way. Ouch. The Flip appears to be available now for $18.99.
Engadget at Digital Experience New York
Digital Experience is a bi-annual press event wherein dozens of your favorite tech companies corral hundreds of your favorite tech journalists, fill them up with free food and booze, and attempt to squeeze a little more coverage out of already-announced products. The theme for this year's New York show -- held last night at the Metropolitan Pavilion -- was British Invasion, and while we certainly appreciated the Beatles cover band, darts competitions, and of course the Bass- and Boddingtons-serving HP Notebook Pub (pictured above, although we still prefer the Sun beer server), the choice to offer traditional English cuisine was, quite frankly, not that well thought out. Nonetheless, we braved numerous flying darts and sketchy-looking meat pies to photograph a few devices we thought you'd enjoy; click on to check out the highlights...
Checking out GE's new digital cameras
We have to apologize in advance for the weird, dim lighting in GE's admittedly massive presence at PMA that made getting decent shots of their new cameras difficult; trust us though, you weren't missing out on much. The piano black and white shooters felt overly large, cheap, and plasticy as all get out -- all very cosmetic things, we know, but no amount of sweet specs like 10+ megapixels and 4x optical zoom will convince a buyer to plunk down for a cheapie. We know every new CE company has to start somewhere, but GE's going to have some serious work ahead of them if they intend to convince us all that theirs is a brand to be reckoned with in the digital camera space; either way, we'll be very interested to see how the pro reviewers rate the image quality on these suckas.%Gallery-2040%
GE unveils 8 new digital cameras
The details have spilled on the GE cameras we caught in summary a few weeks ago. The four series of shooters amounts to no less than eight new digital cameras -- a bellysmack as opposed to a toe-dip entry into the chilly waters of the digital camera market. All the new cams feature face tracking technology, red-eye removal, electronic image stabilization, at least an ISO 1600 sensitivity, and the ability to stitch your panoramic shots together. The top end X "series" of cameras is limited to a single camera, the X1. It packs an 8 megapixel sensor, 12x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, and is the only camera of the lot to feature optical image stabilization. Likewise, the G series consists of the lonely G1 (pictured) offering a 7 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, and 2.5-inch LCD squeezed into a slimster package in a variety of colors. The mid-priced E series brings four-to-the-store: the 8 megapixel E850, the 10 megapixel E1030 and E1040, and 12 megapixel E1240. Most pack a 3-inch LCD and 3200 ISO sensitivity with a 5x optical zoom tucked away inside the E850. Bringing up the budget tail is the A series pair of cams: the A730 and A830 offering 7 and 8 megapixel sensors, respectively with a shared 3x zoom and 2.5-inch LCD. All the cams will hit North America in May priced in the range of $150 to $429 -- the G1 should demand about $189 while the uppity X1 will ask about $429.%Gallery-2008%[Via DigitalCameraInfo]
GE develops high efficiency incandescent bulbs
Incandescent is getting a pretty bad name in today's going-green society, but GE wants to salvage the tech with innovation before it's scrapped for the ages in laws that ban its use at home and abroad. GE's new high efficiency incandescent (HEI) lamp doubles the efficiency of today's 15 lumens-per-Watt incandescent bulbs achieving something closer to fluorescents -- which GE claims has the potential of saving supposedly hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually, if adopted universally, of course. We doubt it's any coincidence that this announcement was made so shortly after the Australia's law and California's bill against incandescent bulbs, but the message is clear: save power, or Croc Dundee and the Governator will hunt you down and bad things will happen.[Via Slashdot]
GE slaps its brand onto a line of... digital cameras?
We're so used to GE staying above the fray -- at least for the most part -- with it's snazzy medical imaging devices and non-stick plastics, that it's rather odd to see them really going head to head with the likes of Canon, HP and Sony in the consumer digicam space. No word on the use of non-stick plastics in the development of these things, but it looks like GE is playing it pretty safe for the moment. Its lineup, which will be announced in March and available mid-April, will range from 7 megapixel shooters with 2.5-inch LCDs on up to 12 megapixel cameras with 3-inches of screen. The cameras will be designed, manufactured and distributed exclusively by General Imaging, a new player on the scene formed of former "photo industry veterans" including CEO Hiroshi Komiya, a former president of Olympus. Apparently all of the cameras will include image stabilization, high ISO and panoramic stitching as a standard feature, and there will be a photo printer joining the ranks as well. Otherwise we're in the dark besides that concept render up above, but it seems like we'll be hearing a good bit more about these down the road, 'cause according to Rene Buhay, lead of sales: "Our aim is to be Number 1 in all aspects – quality, technology, performance and value – and these cameras will do that."[Via PhotographyBlog]
Thomson and Skype to release GE 28300EE2 VoIP phone
You know something's gone mainstream when corporate giants like Thomson and GE get involved, and these two are presumably validating the internet calling craze by teaming up with Skype to release a GE-branded VoIP / conventional landline phone. The GE 28300EE2 isn't too much different than the other computer-free units we've seen, and sports the DECT 6.0 protocol as well as a color LCD screen to view Skype messages and traditional caller ID data. Aside from handling both VoIP and landline duties, the device sports speakerphone, conference calling, a 100-name address book, and 10 hours talk / 120 hours standby time. GE throws in two (conservatively styled) handsets to get you started, but since six units are supported, you can snag a few more to prevent having to move a muscle to communicate with your entire household. You can get your VoIP on with the GE 28300EE2 "sometime this fall" for $149.99.
Segway's new loan program offers scoot now, pay later
It seems the makers of everyone's favorite self-balancing scooter (sorry i-swing) have finally realized the average consumer might need a little time to come up with the $5,000 the Segway's price tag demands. The company's execs have tapped the consumer financing arm of General Electric to instate a loan program, much like the one car dealerships have been using for decades, letting buyers pay in monthly installments. This comes as part of an effort, which may eventually include the sale of shares to the public through an IPO, to regain company funds lost to lower-than-expected sales. Of course buyers will have to qualify for the loan and accept the increase in total cost that'll come from interest, so rich guys like crooked hand-held gaming executives will be better off paying cash, then trying not to crash their shiny new Segway into pole at 125 mph.[Via ZDNet]
