INTERESTING title don’t you think? I couldn’t come up with something cute so I came up with something to get your attention.

Yesterday afternoon I attended, Samsung Forum 2010, and when I stepped back and reflected I realised that Samsung is one heck of a giant. Hence, my comment that they’re going to conquer the world. They’ll do so with gadgets, gizmos, and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods). One of the presenters noted that Samsung can do what it is doing today because they leverage on the fact that they do a LOT of things and each of their other verticals can make use of a LOT of those other things. The simplest example (hypothetical) is in making the Samsung NX10. Let’s say it needs memory, processor, operating system and so on. Well, Samsung makes memory, they also have processors and certainly have done their own operating system. The camera division can then focus on building the camera and not fret over the little things. There are other companies doing this and they promote themselves as doing this – make lenses, ASICs, blah, blah, blah…I think you know who.

So, at the event they talked about washing machines, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, notebooks, monitors, 3D television and the thing that interested me – digital cameras. The 3D TV was impressive as Samsung will support the 3D technology on good old Plasma technology, LCD and LED televisions. There was some pretty impressive panels on display (punny) and one that was so thin that taking a photograph of it just seemed futile since the profile was ridiculously thin. (I did take a photo but you wouldn’t have a sense of scale and depth since it is so thin.) This forum did not have or mention any mobile phone related products.

Oh yah, there was also mention of an e-book reader device that will be connected and to be slightly different it has a handwriting input/capture. One thing to note about the handwriting input/capture is that there is currently no recognition.

On with the main event, my focus, at that is the Samsung NX10 digital camera. An impressive little device that features an APS-C CMOS sensor versus a MicroFour Thirds. So the imaging sensor is larger but they still compacted the camera down and have interchangeable lenses. By the way, the NX10 was launched at CES earlier last month but the additional news is the line-up of additional lenses coming

The NX10 packs:

• 14.6-Megapixel APS-C CMOS Sensor
• Samsung NX Mount (K-Mount and other mounts likely to be made available through third party manufacturers)
• 3.0-inch AMOLED (VGA Resolution)
• Electronic Viewfinder (EVF)
• 720p HD movie recording (MPF/h.264)
• Dust Removal
• ISO 100-3200
• Built-in Pop-up flash
• 3 lense types available now
• 353 grams

I took the opportunity to snap some photos and for comparison I snapped a photo with the NX10 and then positioned and show a similar photograph with a Canon EOS 7D. The images you see below are JPEGs (I didn’t take the time to dig into the NX10 for a RAW capture setting. The Canon is actually captured at a lower pixel resolution (7D=8-Megapixel 3456 x 2304 / NX10=14-Megapixel 4592 x 3056) than the NX10 as I had set and was playing with the EOS 7D to shoot the biggest RAW + a M sized JPG.

I also recorded a video clip @ 720p. I hope this gives you and idea of the quality. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll get my paws on a media review set soon so I can give y’all a more complete rundown of the device and the accessories.

Moving along another digital camera device that caught my attention – the HMX U20. The most obvious reason for the HMX-U20 to be of interest to i-digITall is that I’ve already reviewed Toshiba’s Camileo and the Creative VadoHD via VR-Zone’s website. Check out the video recorded with the U20 and a still pic at 10-megapixels.

HMX-U20 Camcorder specifications

STORING the vast amounts of media files and cataloging them has become a priority for me and I believe it is that way for many. It is amazing how all the photos and videos pile up taking up gigabytes and gigabytes of storage. Part of my problem is I’m also not a very tidy or meticulous person when it comes to filing. I’ve got hundreds if not thousands of photos just sitting in folders that are automatically created by my Canon dSLR’s programming. I never bothered to tag them with additional EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) information so I can easily sort and search. As it is, my best hope of finding files is to search using creation date.

I have been using an external 500GB Western Digital box for some time and the other internal hard drives coming to over a terabyte worth of storage capacity but realise that to optimise my storage I need to get the files into a common store that can be accessed by my many systems. Having direct access to videos or photos on my XBox 360, Playstation 3, Notebook or even my BlackBerry would be ideal. So, I liked the idea of a NAS (Network Addressed Storage) device but I wanted a very small footprint. I also wanted a device that would not suck a lot of juice and in the process exhaust additional heat into my place. 

I ruled out (for the time being) a Windows Home Server and chose a box and brand I am familiar with. This brand was also highly recommended by a good friend of mine. The brand, Synology has built-up quite a name and reputation in the NAS arena. In fact, I had the opportunity to hands on with an older unit, the DS209 reviewed here. So, when something even smaller came along with the powerful built-in Synology operating system I was thrilled. The DS409slim is an awesome compact little box that is smaller about the size of a compact box of Kleenex tissues. It has 4 drive bays to accommodate 2.5-inch notebook hard drives. So,with the current 2.5-inch capacity drives you can fit 2-gigabytes inside by using 4 pieces of 500-gigabyte drives without running RAID 1.

Thanks to Western Digital for helping me out with two pieces of the Blue WD5000EVT 500-gigabyte drives. I was looking at something more Enterprise but the box is so cramped that the slightly taller Black Western Digital series 2.5-inch hard disks wouldn’t fit properly. So, I had accept the fact and use the Blue series.

Here’s a photo documentary of the DS409slim.

Overview

External Connectors & Controls

The DS409slim is a NAS device so it naturally has a 1-Gigabit ethernet port but in order to allow for expansion capacity outside the four 2.5-inch drive bays the unit has an eSATA port and two USB ports. One of the USB ports is on the rear while the other is on the front. The front of the unit has all the indicator lighting for power status, hard drive activity and local area network activity.

Internal Storage

The DS409slim gets its name from the fact it uses the slimmest profile 2.5-inch hard drives for storage. This limits your hard drive selection. The drive cage is made of plastic but that is forgiveable because this was not a device targeted at businesses. For that reason the drive cages are also not lockable.

Internal

The DS409slim is basically a purposed computer system with the necessary ‘Server’ style operating system capable of running blogging tools and even more. I’ll look at the DiskStation software in greater detail in part two of this review. For now take a look at the internal setup.

It took less than a minute to fix the 2 pieces of 2.5-inch drives to the plastic removable trays and slotting them in was not a complicated affair.

The only way to configure the DS409slim is to connect via the assigned IP Address. If your network has an assigned IP address you open your Internet Browser and input the IP Address. Immediately you should have access to the secure login asking for user name and password.

You’ll be happy to know the list of included applications is not the end. It is possible to install additional applications on top of those included. Included:

• Internet Photo, Video and Blog Sharing
• BitTorrent
• FTP
• HTTP
• eMULE download

If you need more applications just visit the Synology forum and website for a list of third party applications that have been tested.

The DS409slim is now available in Singapore, previously it was not a model carried by the local reseller/agent. The product has a Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of SG$668 excluding hard drives. That may sound a little expensive but given the entire array of software that is included and the compact nature it is a small price to pay.

Available from:  Memory World (S) Pte Ltd and Storage Studio Pte Ltd at Sim Lim Square

Thanks to Western Digital for supplying the pair of test hard drives on short notice. The WD5000BEVT drives are available from all Western Digital resellers for SG$125 each.

So, I didn’t take much time to look at my computer or even get too carried away being connected with my mobile phone to Facebook, Twitter and eMail. I was connected during the New Years Eve countdown but even then limited amounts since I was on a cruise ship and the 3G connection was spotty since we were further offshore to get a good signal.

In 2010 I will bring you more hands-on features that gives you more personal opinion versus the dry and not so open to conversation or comments. Anything can be better than the amount of comments I’ve received on my blog posts or product reviews for last year! I don’t know if the lack of comments is good or bad. I’d expect if it were either to have received pats or blows.

So, a 2010 resolution for me at i-digITall is to ensure my writing generates more comments. Whatever it takes and I do hope my readers will help me by telling me what they think about what I write be it good or bad.

Looking forward to your comments in 2010.

It is a time to reflect back on the 359 days that have past.

It is the time that signals we are near to the end…of the year and a new beginning.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ you know it is his birthday.

If you were shopping at the last minute you can now relax (maybe) that it was all worth the effort when you see the smiles and hear the laughter.

You can look forward to the Boxing Day Sales and another round of elbows, crowds and lack of parking spaces.

For me I know I’m looking back at just how much my son has grown and reflect back at what I how I can improve myself at being a father.

Today I will be busy, again, cooking and preparing the Christmas dinner feast for the family and try to make time to enjoy the gifts received and given.

Merry Christmas to all my readers and I look forward to having more interaction with you. Please drop me a note if you have any suggestions on how I can improve my site.

Ho Ho Ho!

Chester

AFTER a short wait since the release of RIM’S BlackBerry Bold 9700 in other countries, Singaporeans are now graced with local availability. I think the delay is in part due to the stricter telecommunications requirements and restrictions. Basically, having to get iDA (Infocomm Development Authority) approval. Yah, that only translates to a little sticker we usually see stuck onto the product but I’m sure the mobile phone operators see it as somewhat of a hinderance to bring their new models to market.

T’is the season for RIM to throw a grand launch party and they did so with grand affair. Held at Mohamed Sultan there were local stars and celebrities like Pierre Peng around and the party had a theme – Distinctly BOLD. Nice how they worked that into the launch. Denise Keller was the MC for the event and she did well to hype it up.

My first impression and thought was that this was not going to be your typical tech come geek-fest launch so I didn’t pack heavy with the usual camera gear. I went out with only the little 50mm fixed lens, not exactly a pancake but certainly not ominous and scary looking as a dSLR with external flash and zoom lens. Besides I wasn’t looking to snap pics of the celebs.

A fashion show ensued showing off the lifestyle one can expect to have when you are distinctly Bold. Here are some shots of the models. Taken with a fairly high ISO setting, slow shutter and wide aperture so they are not going to be super sharp and fairly noisy. I also captured some video (720p) and will see if it is worthwhile to upload to YouTube.

So, the back to the new Bold. I didn’t take any product shots so all that you will see are the press release photos supplied by RIM. If you have seen the original Bold you’ll know there is a lot of cosmetic change. The new Bold also gets hardware changes that are welcome. You can check out the hardware specs here.

I have seen one mention of the 9700 from SingTel but no word from the two other mobile phone carriers, M1 and Starhub. I’m waiting patiently to see what is being offered. I think whether or not it is an attractive offer is not going to matter so much. I’ve been holding onto a BlackBerry Storm 1 for a while (won in a contest) but I’m not happy with the touchscreen. I wanna get my full qwerty hardware keyboard back.

There were demo stations set up at the party and there were a few geeks like me man-handling them.

A parting pic of Denise Keller on stage.

WITH Christmas two weeks away I’m sure there are many gamers dying to get their hands on Square Enix’s latest installment of Final Fantasy, 13.

I remember my first encounter with FF, it was FF VII on my Playstation. You can see I still have my original. The Playstation is sitting in a box somewhere as well. I have a PS2 but never did get back into FF. In fact, I didn’t get to much game time on my PS2 and that too sits in a cupboard with all the controllers and original titles but that is probably a future topic.

So, on 17 December 2009 FF13 will be available at your local store for S$133. Seems a bit pricey but if you are a devout follower the price isn’t going to bother you too much. When you see the visuals and get into the game play you won’t be moaning about how much it costs. Thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong (SCEH) and Ogilvy PR for arranging a preview session. I’m not sure I’d have picked up on FF13 if not for the show and tell.

You’ll note the composited image at the start of this post. The PS3 in the background is going to be a bundle offer called, Final Fantasy VIII Lightning Edition. It will the PS3 as seen above with FF VIII for a limited time at only S$685.

The visuals are so tasty that I’ll be queuing to watch any full length movie produced based on this installment.

For now, you can search and watch the videos on YouTube. Here is a link to one from Square Enix.