THE Tech Scoop

A new digital-camera imaging system–a semiconductor sensor and associated electronics–is the first with 60 megapixels. Previously, semiconductor slabs large enough to fit that many pixels without degrading image quality were prohibitively expensive. The new sensor still isn’t cheap, but it allows digital cameras to meet and even exceed the performance of the medium- format film cameras many professionals prefer.

The P 65+ from Phase One is available for a cool price of $39,900

The P 65+ specs:

• 60.5 megapixel
• Full frame
• 16 bit captures
• 12.5 stops of dynamic range
• Shooting speed of up to 1 frame per second
• ISO 50-800
• Open platform

[via Technology Review]

Heather Armstrong’s wickedly funny blog about motherhood, Dooce, is more than just an outlet for the creativity and frustrations of a modern mother. The site, chock full of advertising, is a moneymaking
machine — so much so that Ms. Armstrong and her husband have both quit their regular jobs.

J. C. Penney and Crate & Barrel sell their furniture and offer decorating tips next to posts on Ms. Armstrong’s conversations with her 4-year-old daughter, Leta. Walgreens promotes its photo printing services next to pictures of the family dog. And the W Hotel chain of Starwood brags about its Internet-friendly rooms on the Dooce (pronounced deuce) home page.

These advertisers are eager to influence the 850,000 readers, mostly women, who avidly follow Ms. Armstrong’s adventures. Although Ms. Armstrong will not disclose exact numbers, Dooce’s revenue this year is on track to be seven times its size in 2006, according to Federated Media, which sells ads for the blog.

Sites aimed primarily at women, from “mommy blogs” to makeup and fashion sites, grew 35 percent last year — faster than every other category on the Web except politics, according to comScore, an Internet
traffic measurement company. Women’s sites had 84 million visitors in July, 27 percent more than the same month last year, comScore said.

Advertisers are following the crowd, serving up 4.4 billion display ads on women’s Web sites in May, comScore said. That is more than for sites aimed at children, teenagers or families. “Moms are the decision
makers of the household as far as purchases are concerned,” said Chris Actis, vice president and digital director at the ad agency MediaVest.

The rapid growth in advertising and traffic to women’s sites has attracted the attention of major media companies and venture capitalists.

Update: How timely and incredibly cool; just tonight I found this webside chat with Heather Armstrong that was done with Jack Humphrey of the Friday Traffic Report fame.

Enjoy:

[via The Huffington Post]

iPhone and iPod Touch owners, if you’ve been itching for an app that makes it easy to manage your Netflix or Blockbuster movie queue, Dashbuster is the app for you.

Currently, you can view your queue, movies that have already shipped and those that you’ve saved. You can also rearrange the order of your movies. This is especially neat if you’re out and decide you really want to move a film up on the queue and you know you’re next movie will be shipping soon.

An early limitation of this app is you can’t add new movies to the queue. That should change though in the future.

[via iPhone Buzz]

Any true music fan with a internet connection knows about Pandora. They are, in my opinion, the ultimate resource for quality streaming music. I’ve found countless artists and even genres that I’ve now become attached to thanks to the Pandora internet radio service.

Well the RIAA is getting closer to sealing the coffin and shutting down the Pandora service after over a year of discussion about webcasting royalty rates. These royalties are different and much higher than traditional and satellite radio. Thus, Pandora is now saying it’s going to have to shut down if the royalty rates aren’t changed shortly. Check the full length article here.

This is exactly what the RIAA wants as their record labels have always thrived off a very limited distribution and promotion channel. Keep in mind, the distribution and promotion is where the real money is for these labels.

This is a dark day for music fans, hopefully some bit of compromise or negotiations can be made to keep Pandora on the air.

The new Lenovo Thinkpad W700 is not only gigantic, featuring a 17-inch screen and a full numerical pad next to the keyboard, but it also has a Wacom tablet built in. Yes, one of the expensive, fancy tablets used by professional graphic artists, built in right next to the track pad.

The core specs are:

• 17in, 1,920 x 1,200 screen (with auto-calibration based on ambient lighting)
• Intel mobile quad-core Extreme Edition CPU.
• Up to 8GB DDR3 RAM
• Hard drive options including RAID 0, 1 and SSDs
• Wacom tablet digitizer
• Blu-ray drive option
• nVidia Quadro FX 2700M or 3700M graphics
• Up to 2GB Turbo Memory

Released next month for $2978

[via DVICE]

Netflix has fixed or patched whatever problem it had that shut down its 55 distribution centers this week, and has begun shipping DVDs again.

While the company has not disclosed the nature of the issue that prevented it from operating, it has announced its program to make up for its lapse of service. Netflix customers who were affected by the delay will get a 15 percent credit on the amount of their next monthly bill. New customers still in the free trial will get an additional week before their subscription becomes paid.

Specifically designed to take advantage of the variable aspect screen of the iPod Touch, the L-shaped design of the iH41 easily switches orientation so consumers can view wide-screen videos on the unit while it is docked and charging. When rotated, the digital clock display will also adjust to complement the position of the unit.

Compatible with most docking iPod models, the iH41 conveniently charges and plays iPods while they are docked securely into the base of the alarm clock radio. Designed with EXB^™ Expanded Bass and Reson8^™ speaker chamber, the iH41 delivers astounding clarity, depth and power, as well as user mobility with the inclusion of a remote control that handles the functions of the both the docked iPod and the alarm clock.

The iH41 is currently available for purchase on iHomeaudio.com and at major retail outlets nationwide for the suggested retail price of $79.99.

There was no press release or official announcement, but AT&T is offering the iPhone 3G for online sale on its business and professional Web site.

Though the iPhone has lived on AT&T’s biz site since its July 11 release date, previously the site instructed customers to visit their local AT&T for purchase.

Now, however, they log into their Premier account “to buy (the) iPhone 3G online today.” The cost hasn’t changed ($199-$299), but the convenience of buying online is priceless.

[via CNET]

On the heels of the movie release. Apple and Fox have released a limited edition iPod branded with the new X-Files movie logo.

The iPods used for this promo are the Classics and Nanos only and, for diehard X-Files fans a note of forewarning…these iPods are branded with the latest movie’s title and not the original TV show. If that’s OK by you then Apple will more than happily take your $329.

You can buy these from the FOX shop

Facebook has become the world’s most popular social networking Internet Web site after it dislodged the popular MySpace, an industry tracker reported Wednesday.

According to comScore, Facebook was visited by more than 132 million surfers in June and only about 117.5 million visited MySpace the same month.

ComScore vice president Jack Flanagan said Facebook’s site, which has other languages as well as English, gives international users leverage and captures local markets.

[via All Headline News]