Camera manufacturers including Canon, Pentax, and Fujifilm will show new digital SLRs for professional photographers at the PMA07 show in Las Vegas next month. The new models balance traditional and advanced features to retain existing customers and tempt new ones.

Fujifilm, meanwhile, will show the FinePix S5 Pro, which begins shipping this month. The digital SLR has a 12.34 megapixel image sensor: half the pixels respond best to low light levels, the other half to stronger light, a system that captures images with a wider dynamic range, the company said.

What the heck is the difference among all those Canon ELPHs anyway?

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm a big fan of Canon's Digital ELPH series, but I can't tell you how many times friends have called me from Best Buy in a state of confusion about which one to buy. It's no wonder. Stop into any electronics store today and you'll find a slew of ELPH models and they all look pretty similar to the untrained eye. So here's a quick primer on what's what, broken down by resolution (since for better or for worse, that's how most people seem to shop for cameras). For comparison's sake, I included current pricing from Amazon.com.

Canon PowerShot SD950 IS ($340) - released August 2007: This is Canon's current top-of-the-line model (successor to last year's SD900 which you'll still find in some stores). It sports a sleek, rugged titanium body, 3.7x optical zoom lens (36- to 133mm), an Optical Image Stabilizer, Canon's latest face-detection autofocus technology, in-camera red-eye correction, and like all the current ELPHs, uses Canon's top-end DIGIC III image processor.

Official: Nokia N96 Super Smartphone Revealed to the World

Rumors have been swirling around on the Internet some time now about the Nokia N96, because it was supposed to meld the brawn of the N95 with the gaming goodness of the N81. As far as we can tell, this glossy black wonder totally delivers on all fronts. It really isn't much of a stretch to say that the Nokia N96 super smartphone marries the best of both worlds for the N81 and N95. On the one hand it has stuff like Symbian 60 and a 5MP camera like the N95, but it has more of the appearance of the N81, along with the N-Gage gaming platform. But the N96 brings more to the table too. There's 16GB of internal memory in this puppy, which is double what the N95 8GB offers. What's more, the display is a glorious 2.8-incher, they've tossed in DVB-H for digital TV, a kickstand for desktop viewing, and funky backlit touch buttons that morph to suit the current needs.

Qualcomm Makes Next-generation Mobile Internet Accessible With New ...

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) , a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, today introduced a new single-chip solution bringing unprecedented multimedia and broadband capabilities to the mass-market tier. The Qualcomm Single Chip(TM) (QSC(TM)) QSC6295(TM), which leverages advanced 45 nanometer CMOS process technology, combines rich multimedia, power-saving innovations and broadband data speeds to redefine the capabilities of the next generation of mainstream handsets. With support for downloads of up to 10.2 Mbps, uploads of up to 5.76 Mbps, compelling multimedia content and integrated Bluetooth/FM/GPS, the QSC6295 is helping drive the migration of popular Internet community and media sharing services to the mobile space.

Our DVD guru raves about the new Blade Runner release

I am feeling very old right now. Blade Runner, a film I saw in its initial theatrical run when I was barely a teenager, is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. More importantly, the film is being celebrated, properly, in a series of multi-DVD special editions from Warner Home Video. .

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But President George W. Bush, the Catholic Church and right-to-life groups have cited the same moral objections they raise to abortion in demanding that human embryos — which they regard as the beginning of life — not be sacrificed, even in a search for cures to save human lives. Instead, they pressed for research into non-controversial adult stem cells.

Embryonic stem-cell research is still the "gold standard" for scientists, said Jonathan Moreno at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics. "Everyone is saying the future is with the new cells.

U.S. senator to investigate televangelists, including ORU regents

For more: View the letters from Sen. Chuck Grassley and other documents, read the latest ORU stories and watch slide shows and video.



WASHINGTON -- A veteran U.S. senator announced Tuesday that he is looking into generous salaries, luxury cars and private jets provided to six televangelists, including three who serve as regents for Oral Roberts University. "I'm following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries," said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "The allegations involve governing boards that aren't independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces." In his announcement, Grassley revealed he has sent detailed letters .