Sony has made a number of exciting announcements about the Sony XDCam EX product line in the leadup to NAB. DVUser.co.uk has the full roundup, but the big news is three new pieces of hardware.

The first is the Sony XDCam EX3, which is essentially an EX1 with the lens made interchangeable. The second is the EX30 deck, with two SxS slots and a full range of input and output options. Finally, and perhaps most exciting, is the PH-60K SxS harddrive, a self contained, battery powered harddisk which will dump SxS cards with no need for a laptop.

Cool stuff indeed.

Canon has just announced two new cameras, the XL-H1S and XL-H1A. The XL-H1A loses the HD-SDI and genlock connections, and both cameras get a new lens. Beyond that, I can’t see a ton of differentiation between these and the XL-H1. Perhaps more will be revealed at NAB.

You’d be forgiven for thinking it was never coming, but Apple has announced that Final Cut Server is now shipping. Hopefully they’ve taken this time to make it … you know… work.

Cute!

The CBC did a nice little piece on the scam of high priced HDMI cables. Keep in mind they’re Canadian, so $260 for a cable is like, $5000 US.

I’ve been quite happy pushing 1080p over the $5-$10 cables I got through Amazon.

Why didn’t I go to CES? It’s crazyville!

First off, Casio has gotten official with the previously prototyped EX-F1. It’s a still-camera style camera/camcorder with an extra party piece of being able to shoot up to 1200fps (albeit at a tiny resolution). 60fps burst mode for stills and H264 video encoding up to 1080i round out the specs.

Next, Sony has spewed a plethora of new cameras, from HD (HDV and AVCHD) on down to MiniDV (still?). Engadget has the full roundup, as I can’t wrap my head around all the models.

Finally, Samsung has released some odd looking 1080p cameras, the SC-HMX20C, SC-MX20 and SC-DX103. The HMX20C does full raster 1080p at 60fps, slow-mo shooting and an interesting form factor. No word on recording format, though one can surmise an h264 derivative. No price give on the top of the range model.

Of course, CES has also brought a billion new TVs, speaker setups, phones, laptops, etc. Engadget has the full scoop, if you can keep up.

(points to those that get the title reference)

So the Amazon Kindle is official, and it’s pretty amazing. Take a Sony Reader, throw in an EV-DO wireless radio and some text input, then pair it up with the big name in bookselling, ugly it up a bit, and you’ve got the Kindle.

Amazon’s product page is live now, with videos and plenty of pictures. Being able to subscribe a newpaper and have it wirelessly pushed to your ebook reader, anywhere in the country, is relatively tempting. Did it have to look like it came from 1982 though?

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In all, I think it’s a great entry in the ebook field. It certainly surpasses my Reader in many areas, and it’s damn tempting to order one right now. Here’s hoping Sony kicks the Connect Store into gear – as per usual, Sony has great hardware being let down by terrible software. Perhaps this will motivate them to change that.

I’m working on reviews of some solid state camcorders. They all present some of the worst rolling shutter effects that I’ve seen outside of a cell phone camera. Don’t know what a rolling shutter looks like? Take a look at this post of me shaking the camera. No, the sign post wasn’t bending in real life, that’s distortion from the cmos process. Click to play.

Steve threw developers some love. Thanks Steve. Native iPhone apps, coming in February.

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Third Party Applications on the iPhone

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

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Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,

Bastards.

Today, Sony released a revised version of the Reader product. The PRS-505 adds USB-mass storage mode (so you can drag and drop to it), a better control layout, and different color options. I’ve also heard that the screen is higher contrast, though I don’t see that verified anywhere. On sale nowish for $300. Get one. I love mine.