I know you cannot tell but I do enjoy photography when given the opportunity to pursue my creative interest. Unfortunately there are only so many photos I am allowed to display of my children and family, people who rightfully consume all of my free time for which I am more than willing to give. Though I do not take as many creative shots as I use to, that does not negate the fact that I still follow the industry with the kind of enthusiasm reserved for those 20 years younger than me. Case in point, Kodak just released their new 50 megapixel CCD sensor, the KAF-50100 for consumer application. What makes this astonishing is one of sensor’s first applications in the new Hasselblad H3DII-50. 50 Mpixel refined in one of the best medium-format camera manufacture in the world. The sensor itself is twice the physical size of a full-frame 35-mm sensor like the one found in my Canon 5D. Native resolution should be about 8,176 x 6,132 pixels which was achieved by reducing the size of each pixel from 6.8µMpixel, found on the 39MP sensor, to 6µMpixel for the 50Mpixel beast. Shrinking pixels and packing them closer together typically adds noise and reduce dynamic range but it seems Kodak has tweaked their amplifier design and increased data output from two pipes found in their older 39MP sensor to four pipes now utilized in their new sensor (spec summary gathered from EE Times Asia).

At $39,000, the new Hasselblad is for pros only. When a gadget starts to approach the cost of your primary means of transportation, you realize one thing, you need a more expensive car! Hmm, speaking of cars, I heard Tesla has started full production…

Do you want to be ultra-modern? Do you want to roll like a European? Are you weird? Hell yeah we are weird, we are Austinites! That is what we do, keeping it weird. Starting this year, we will be able to purchase, or at least reserve, one of these cars at our local Smart Car dealership. There is someone in our neighborhood that has one. It is so small you do a double-take just to be sure that what you saw was actually real. It can keep up with the Prius on fuel efficiency but at half the cost. Man, this would be awesome to have as a commuter car. Maybe it can be my second car. I get this while Keyla gets this. What about the kiddos? Oh we will keep the minivan for the family, the other two cars are for us to get around while they are in school. Ahhh, it is fun to dream…

The Consumer Electronic Show or CES is about to fire up in Vegas next week. Reports are coming in all over the place on what some vendors will show this year. With HD taking center stage, this may be one of the best shows for gadget junkies like myself. I would LOVE to go to CES on day, but till then, I am glued to my broadband pipe trying to eyeball every announcement coming down the line.

For music lovers, Keyla and me, the latest version of the Squeezebox Duet from Logitech sounds incredible. Logitech will be showing off their updated Squeezebox that will share any and all music you have in your collection as well as online services such as Pandora, one of my favorite sites for intelligent online radio, to any audio system in your home. Plus it has one killer remote that will show you what is being played. It will cost you as the base unit will be around $400 with additional receivers hovering around $150 each. Toys like these are never cheap but you have to pay for the kind of freedom a system like this gives.

Sony will announce at CES 2008 that Skype will be added to my beloved PSP. That will mean I can talk to other Skype lovers using my PSP. So… uh… I guess I need a Skype account or figure out how this thing actually works. I am so far behind the power curve…

Whew, how about that, Apple knocking off two hundred dollars off the iPhone. Some call that the removal of the “nerd tax“. This is kind of old news now but still it is funny as hell. In many ways, the phone DID live the life of the main man of Christianity! How? Well, the coming of the phone was like no other. People willing to wait and follow it’s teaching (*cough technology cough*). Those who were true (heh, not me), gave so much as the phone sacrificed it’s royalty so mere mortals can now enjoy the wonders of it’s embrace. Now the second coming, face sunken from the sacrifice and weakened without all it’s power, the new iPod Touch is ready to continue it’s work to convert the blasphemous lovers of other mp3 gods.

Yes, the all mighty GOD (*cough Steve Jobs cough*) is proud that his son still has the strength to continue where he has left off (*cough niche computers cough*). I must say, with the choir of angles (*cough other lesser iPods cough*), heaven here on earth is not so bad. If you can afford to get pass the gate keeper of Heaven (*cough Apple store cash register cough*).