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Lomography is built, in part, upon the foundations of low-cost cameras made, for the most part, in Hong Kong and China. The trusty Diana and Holga have proven popular for decades, and an ever-expanding pool of designs has ensured that Lomography’s product range is rarely stale.
Outside of Lomography, however, a little funky twin-lens reflex camera has been doing the rounds for a few years. Originally appearing as part of a magazine ????????? – Otona no Kagaku or “Science Of Adult” the Gakkenflex cost around $40 when the nearest comparable TLRs were almost 3x the price. Now eBay has become home to the “Recesky” camera kit – and whaddya know, this little beauty looks surprisingly similar to that Gakkenflex. The sample I have here I bought for under £8 including shipping from China… and here’s how to put it together.
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1993: Apple Newton. Newton fails.
2007 – iPhone released. Dominates smartphone market.

1995-1997 – Apple Pippin. Pippin Fails.
2013…?

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Apple’s steady erosion of the simple ergonomic qualities of their keyboards in favour of style has reached tipping point for many – including myself. I grew up battering an Apple //e’s solid mechanical switches, and in the ’90s my Apple Extended Keyboard (originally from a Mac IIx) was fiercely guarded. Even so, when ADB was finally removed in favour of USB, Apple’s keyboards were primarily simply “cheap”, rather than “downright uncomfortable” for a typist used to exerting a bit of force. PC-targeted replacement keyboards only go so far; and as Apple introduced media and hardware controls to their keyboards, missing those symbols became more than just irritating. Matias have been producing an alternative for some years now – and as it’s been revised again and made available with international layouts, it seemed the opportune moment to take it for a spin.
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The JooJoo is long gone, but along with the delayed review, the final update was featured; Fusion Garage also announced new tablets, though to date no more has been heard from the Singapore based firm.
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It’s funny how one product can change everyone’s perceptions of what’s feasible on the marketplace. Nearly two years in gestation, the JooJoo’s origins are a hybrid of UMPC/MID and netbook thinking – netbook class hardware in a UMPC shell, but with the MID’s cut-down OS theory. With a stripped-bare UI, large, colourful multitouch screen and accessible x86 hardware, what started out as a gadget-geek’s fantasyevolved into a little bit of a commercial nightmare for the manufacturers and developers at Fusion Garage. None of which has any bearing, ultimately, on what you get for your cash when you find a JooJoo.

Wild JooJoos are pretty hard to find, few made it into the hands of journalists or end users but if you want your own you may track them down on eBay and the like.

(This was originally written in June/July 2010)
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Following my comments on the iPhone 4 it turns out that if you are determined enough to deal with Vodafone’s unlocking team, you will get success with a Box-Only iPhone 4 purchased from Vodafone Retail. Or at least, should – your mileage may vary. Read more for the results…
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Everyone and their dog is a reporter these days. The wonderful world of the “blog” seems to have empowered everyone with an opinion, and whoever has the best net connection, the fastest fingers and ultimately the best tech wins. Kinda. At least until you realise that you don’t make any money out of it. Regardless, with print media in my invoice book, I still want the most efficient tools. Apple’s iPad definitely makes a difference to how I can work, and here’s how it can genuinely be the ideal companion for any reporter.
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Admit it. You’ve been looking at those Foveon cameras coming from Sigma with a growing sense that whilst the 3-layer process has benefits, and delivers real differences in image quality, the 4.5Mp output file is somewhat lacking. As consumer and prosumer DSLRs head ever higher, with a typical sample of products currently on the market under £1500 ranging from 12.1 to 21Mp; cameras like Canon’s excellent 550D and the bargain Nikon D3100 are so highly specified and versatile that the unique Foveon image quality really has to mean a lot to you to make sense. Well… Sigma’s taking the professionals’ needs more seriously, and here’s how they’re going to answer the question – “How are you going to compete?”.

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Asus are widely credited with redefining the netbook market, taking the 1990s concept of a “small, light connected laptop” that companies like Psion and Acorn pursued and Toshiba nearly cracked with the Libretto and turning it into the “small, light, cheap connected laptop”. Whilst there was a degree of the Eee riding the OLPC project’s coat-tails into the wider market’s consciousness the end result of that first device’s sub-£200 price point, robust SSD and Linux combination has been a flood of similar systems and the inevitable blurring of the netbook definition. You can drop the “cheap” bit for many, though functionality is very different to Psion’s Netbook. Asus, like Dell, Acer and Sony, are producing several models of netbook to fit any budget and requirement; the T101MT is particularly interesting in a tablet-obsessed 2010 and points to a surfeit of such devices for 2011.
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…unless it’s from Apple!

I admit, I’ve got no patience; it’s why I write about technology. I’m invariably bored with it after a few weeks and itching for the new thing to arrive. Having said that, I’m also really quite tired of the cycle of phone upgrades – so when my 3GS got broken, I hoped that the new iPhone 4 would do everything I needed. This premium-priced gadget is stacked high in shops everywhere, so why was buying it so hard…
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