July 3rd, 2008 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Ever walk through Times Square and wonder how much electricity all those flashy billboards are soaking up? No? Well, Ricoh has, and now they’re doing something about it. Ricoh Company Ltd. of Tokyo is erecting a 47 x 126-foot billboard at Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street that will be completely powered by the sun and wind. Fueled by 45 solar panels and four wind turbines, the billboard won’t even need a backup electric generator. On days that the sun and wind aren’t enough to power it, it will simply go dark. In the end, the billboard is said to reduce carbon dioxide usage by 18 tons a year. The billboard will go live in December, or just in time for the sun to go dark.
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Posted in solar, solar-powered, solar power, SolarPower, solar-power, ricoh, wind power, wind turbine, WindPower, WindTurbine, solar energy, SolarEnergy, times square, TimesSquare, billboards, wind turbines, WindTurbines, wind energy, WindEnergy | No Comments »
June 25th, 2008 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Easily one of the most peculiar looking digicams we’ve seen, the GX200 picks right up where the GX100 left off and aims to fill the pockets of those not quite ready for a DSLR. Design wise, reviewers couldn’t help but fall in love. Despite the curious build, critics found it to be “a joy” to hold and operate and not quite a burden in their left cargo pocket. When it came time to view results, however, the tone quickly shifted; put simply, the 12-megapixel sensor / processing combination was deemed “poor,” once again substantiating the belief that more megapixels isn’t always better. To be fair, the EVF and monitor were among the best they had seen, and some of the other minor details were really impressive, but the lackluster image quality easily overshadowed those flashes of brilliance in the grand scheme of things.
[Thanks, RTT]
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Posted in review, reviewed, megazoom, ricoh, gx200 | No Comments »
April 30th, 2008 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras
It’s taken a little while for Ricoh’s 10-megapixel GR Digital II to make the rounds since it was announced late last year, but it’s finally wound up in the capable hands of the folks from Photography Blog, who’ve now turned out a full review of the camera. Among other things, this one is particularly notable for its use of a 28mm fixed focal length lens, which Photography Blog found helped deliver some solid images with “very little distortion.” They were also pleased with the addition of a RAW shooting mode (even though it slows things down quite a bit), and the camera’s intuitive control system, which can be “almost completely configured to suit your way of working.” On the downside, they found the camera suffered from the common drawback of excessive noise at ISO 400 or above, and there is the small matter of the $699 price tag, which puts it on the level of some pretty impressive non-28mm cameras, and within striking range of the 28mm Sigma DP1. Still, the GR Digital II appears to hold its own, and seems like it’d be an even better buy if you can find a good deal on it.
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Posted in GR digital, GrDigital, ricoh, 28mm, gr digital II, GrDigitalIi | No Comments »
February 19th, 2008 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Meet Ricoh’s latest compact shooters. The aluminum R8 — Ricoh’s R7 followup — drops the Caplio moniker wihle bumping the specs with a 10 megapixel, 1/2.3-inch CCD covered with a 7.1x optical zoom lens. Around back you’ll find a 2.7-inch LCD with CCD-shift image stabilization and Smooth Imaging Engine III processing on the inside. Expected to roll in Japan for ¥50,000 or about $460 in backs of green. The ¥30,000 (about $280) R50 maintains that 10 megapixel sensor, processing engine, and stabilization but rolls back the zoom to 5x. Both should pop in March. Oodles of R8 pics in the gallery.
Read — R50
Read — R8
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Posted in 10 megapixel, 10Megapixel, ricoh, r8 | No Comments »
November 22nd, 2007 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Continuing its trend of pushing out evolutionary — rather than revolutionary — digital cameras, Ricoh has just introduced the new Caplio RR770, a model barely distinguishable from the now two-generations-old RR730. Just as the move from the 730 to the RR750 brought with it little more than a minor resolution bump, the 7.16 megapixel RR770 improves upon its predecessor by simply upgrading the LCD to a 3-incher — but retaining the ho hum 3x optical zoom and limited scene selections of Caplios past. Price and release are currently shrouded in mystery, but don’t expect to spend much more than $250 on this unremarkable shooter.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Posted in point and shoot, PointAndShoot, ricoh, 7.1 megapixel, 7.1Megapixel, caplio rr750, caplio rr770, CaplioRr750, CaplioRr770 | No Comments »
November 12th, 2007 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Ricoh’s recently-released Caplio R7 digital camera certainly has the specs to get the job done and, judging from Photography Blog’s new review, it looks like the camera as a whole stacks up pretty nicely as well. While it’s apparently not a huge leap over the previous R6 model, the Photography Blog folks nonetheless found a few welcome improvements, including a four-way “joystick” that apparently works particularly well with the updated interface, and a new “vibration correction system” that should lead to some better pictures even in difficult shooting situations. Otherwise, it appears to be pretty much in line with the R6, including that same 7x wide-angle optical zoom lens, and the same speedy performance that Photography Blog says “easily beats the competition.”
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Posted in ricoh, ricoh caplio r7, RicohCaplioR7 | No Comments »
November 8th, 2007 by
Filed under: Cellphones, CES
You can’t help but love Steve Ballmer. Besides being the ultra-rich, ultra-faithful CEO of Microsoft, you can always count on him to deliver some choice words — especially if the competition is in the news. His latest efforts come in the wake of Google’s Android announcement, a project which clearly stands to compete with Redmond’s ubiquitous Windows Mobile platform. When asked what he thought of the forthcoming phone OS at a news conference in Tokyo, Ballmer noted that, “Their efforts are just some words on paper right now.” Okay, let’s be perfectly honest: that statement is true — but don’t you think that when a monolithic company like Google aligns itself with other giants such as Intel, T-Mobile, Samsung, and LG (amongst others), Microsoft might take it a little more seriously? Ballmer went on to say that, “They have a press release, we have many, many millions of customers, great software, many hardware devices and they’re welcome in our world.” Thanks for allowing Google into “your world” Steve, we’re sure your subjects will appreciate it.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Posted in Microsoft, Google, windows mobile, WindowsMobile, android, Steve Ballmer, SteveBallmer, ce oh no, CeOhNo, google phone, GooglePhone, gphone, ricoh, android os, AndroidOs | No Comments »
October 30th, 2007 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras
After a two-year stint, Ricoh is finally rolling out a successor to their GR Digital — the GR digital II. No really, that’s the 10 megapixel GR II up there not their 10 megapixel GX100. The GR II boasts a 1/1.75-inch CCD, ISO 1600 max sensitivity, improved RAW and JPEG recordings, VGA video recordings, SDHC/SD card slot, and option for a Lithium-Ion power plant or pair of AAAs in a pinch. Right, just like the GX100. The GR II, however, is a tad smaller and lighter than the GX100 while offering a slightly larger, auto-rotating 2.7-inch LCD, and the same 28-mm (not 24 to 72-mm wide-angle) lens found on the original GR Digital. Expected in Japan on November 22nd for about ¥80,000 or right around 700 bucks.
[Via Amateur Photographer]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Posted in 10 megapixel, 10Megapixel, caplio, GR digital, GrDigital, raw, ricoh | No Comments »
