Category: Tech news

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think iPads grew on trees or were on sale at TJ Maxx or something with the number of these things people want to give away. Regardless, we have a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 waiting for you in sunny San Francisco, ready to wing its way to your mailbox in a few days. Want it? Thought so.

Here’s how to enter.

Color gets bashed as being a contributing player to the so called startup bubble and the frat-boy attitude of investors from the Web 1.0 era don’t do much better in this episode of Founder Stories with host Chris Dixon and Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is now with Y Combinator and Hipmunk.

In a conversation spanning a variety of topics, you’ll hear Ohanian describe how “Lord Jobs” has indirectly contributed to the success of Zappos and Instagram, the gaping opportunities for start-ups to solve, and the attitude adjustment seen in present day investors; swinging a big load of cash (and something else) doesn’t cut it with this class of start-ups.

Make sure to watch the clip to hear insights on the above – and why we might expect to see a softer landing if the speculated bubble ever bursts.

Below, Ohanian describes his leadership style, why he thinks start-ups fail (it has more to do with just “bad logos” says Ohanian when pressed by Dixon) and what Ohanian looks for when hiring.

Past episodes of Dixon’s interview with Ohanian are here and here.

Prior Founder Stories interviews with leaders such as Seth Sternberg, Mike Walrath and Dennis Crowley are here.

LinkedIn and investment firm Tiger Global both filed separate SEC filings yesterday evening indicating that the firm loaded up on LinkedIn stock both before and after the company’s IPO in May.

According to the filing, a Tiger’s head Chase Coleman and Tiger fund, PIP V, acquired 2,436,001 shares of preferred and common stock of LinkedIn on secondary markst, from December 21, 2009 to August 10, 2010, for $31,740,600.70. Some of Tiger’s investment during this time was reported, but the filing shows Tiger had a much bigger stake.

LinkedIn Holdings, another Tiger/Coleman vehicle, acquired 1,306,927 shares of LinkedIn stock on secondary markets from August 10, 2010 to April 15, 2011, for $29,796,007.50.

And post IPO, which took place on May 19, Tiger Funds purchased 300,000 Class A Common Shares, for a purchase price of $45.00 per Share or $13,500,000.

While we knew Coleman was buying up shares of LinkedIn, we didn’t know it was to the tune of over $75,000,000. And Coleman himself now owns a little over 4 percent of LinkedIn, according to the filing. The filing also states that Coleman has agreed to not offer or sell any shares for a period of 180 days from the offering in May.

LinkedIn’s IPO priced at $45 per share, but started trading at $83 per share, giving the company a market cap of $7.8 billion. Shares have since dropped to $77.92 per share.

Tiger has made a number of investments in large internet companies including Zynga, Facebook and Yandex, which just went public two weeks ago. On the public markets, Tiger has recently bought stakes in Amaxon, Apple and Netflix. Tiger Global has $1 billion in commitments and is reportedly raising another $1.25 billion for a new fund.

We’ve confirmed Tiger’s stock purchases with LinkedIn.

Last night, Kno quietly released its first digital textbook app for the iPad. It includes its own store of “over 70,000 titles at 30% to 50% off list” price. And the app is a full textbook reader.

Kno, whose CEO Osman Rashid previously founded textbook-rental service Chegg, originally developed its own oversized tablet for textbooks. But once the iPad and Android tablets hit the market, the company saw the writing on the touchscreen and bailed on its hardware efforts last April.

At that time, when I spoke to Rashid, he was talking down the iPad because it does not support a stylus, which is the input method the Know software was designed for (although there are styluses that do work with the iPad). Maybe he was just trying to throw me off the trail.

The iPad app allows you to organize your digital textbooks and PDFs by dragging and dropping them into “courses.” Once you open a textbook, you can swipe through the pages or navigate via a filmstrip of thumbnails up top. There is also full text search. Pages can be bookmarked and highlighted. You can also add digital sticky notes which pop out from the margins.

The highlight feature is a nice touch. You can also launch a Web or Wikipedia search based on a highlighted word. There is also a “WTF” feature, which stands for “Words to Friends,” although it could mean the more common acronym since it’s a nit of a head-scratcher. It allows you to send out little study messages to friends on Facebook or Twitter, but doesn’t link back to the text or even make it easy to cut and paste a quote. WTF, indeed.

All in all, though, the Kno textbook app is pretty solid and will compete based on the breadth of its textbook selection and pricing. It certainly beats lugging around a backpack full of books.

While there are plenty of solar-powered peripherals that plug into your laptop to boost its battery power, we haven’t yet seen a model that runs solely on solar. Industrial Designer Andrea Ponti‘s concept for the Luce Solar Panel Powered PC could become the greenest laptop ever made.

The computer has two solar panels: One on the back of the monitor and one underneath a touch keyboard. Ideally, the two panels would be able to power the computer continuously, though it’s unclear whether this has been successfully tested. Using a laptop in the sun is far more battery intensive than indoors since the screen brightness needs to be cranked up to compete with the sun’s bright light.

One solution could be to use an electronic ink display in place of the usual backlit flat panel. Although the laptop includes a battery, the cordless design means your productivity will plummet in the evening — at least until you reach for another digital device.

The Luce, which means light in Italian, is made from a clear polycarbonate and weighs about four pounds. It was shortlisted in Fujitsu’s 2011 design competition.

There’s no word on whether Fujitsu plans to turn Ponti’s design into reality, but either way they’re not the only ones thinking about integrating sunlight into computer design. Last year Apple filed a patent for “harnessing external light to illuminate a display screen.”

In Apple’s vision, a reflector could fold down to brighten the display, and the company is rumored to be looking at integrating solar cells as well.

Design images by Andrea Ponti
Apple Patent images via Patently Apple

As the complaints about Flickr continue to pile on, scrappy Toronto-based service 500px continues to grow, going from 1000 users in 2009 to over 85K (around 45K of which have joined in the last three months). And after two years of bootstrapping, the startup is today announcing its $525K Series A round with investment from High Line Venture Capital, Deep Creek Capital and ff Venture Capital.

Says co-founder Oleg Gutsol, “The idea of making 500px arose from Evgeny [Tchebotarev] and I having difficulties with the current available platforms — there wasn’t a good service that would allow us to display our photos is a visually pleasing way and be easy to use. I think we tried every somewhat popular service online and still were not quite satisfied. So we decided to build one ourselves.”

Founders Gutsol and Ian Sobolev migrated their Livejournal-based photo sharing community to the current site on Halloween 2009 with little fanfare. Recently garnering some positive press as well as drawing in Flickr power users like Thomas Hawk, Troy Holden and Ivan Makarov and this whole thread of  Flickr migrations, the site grew 60% in the last 30 days, bringing in an impressive 2.5 million visits last month.

Despite its unexpected scales, 500px is committed to its main goal to help photographers reach larger audiences, with Digg-like Popular and Upcoming pages as well as an editorial staff that curates the Editor’s Choice and Fresh collections.  ”We encourage young talent,” says Gutsol Tchebotarev, “It is not uncommon to see someone new joining our site and have their photo appear in our popular feed in a matter of hours.”

Gutsol plans on using the money to hire more engineers, like everyone else in tech right now, hoping to build a “global platform” for digital photography. The company currently makes revenue by offering a $50 pro-account that gives users custom layouts and giving photographers the ability to sell their prints.

Two months ago, Google disclosed that they were bidding on bankrupt Nortel’s patent portfolio. Why? They claim it’s a defensive maneuver to protect the “relatively young” company from would-be patent predators. And Google is very serious about it. They put up the $900 million “stalking-horse bid” (the initial bid) for the over 6,000 patents. Given the stakes, it should be no surprise that the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the bidding. But interestingly, it may not be Google they’re too concerned with.

As The Wall Street Journal reports today, the DoJ “hasn’t found any major competitive issues that would lead it to challenge [Google’s] purchase of the patent portfolio.” But the same is apparently not true of Apple. The government is concerned about Apple’s history of intellectual property protection, WSJ cites sources as saying.

In other words, DoJ feels fairly confident that Google would not be aggressive in going after rivals if they won the patents. Apple? Yeah, not so much. They’re concerned that these patents would simply be new weapons for Apple to use at their disposal.

Alexander Poltorak, CEO of General Patent Corp goes one step further, telling WSJ, ”You’re acquiring a stockpile of nuclear weapons as far as patents go.”

Of course, it hasn’t even been confirmed that Apple will be bidding on the patents. But again, given the stakes, it seems to be a pretty fair bet that they will. Another report from Bloomberg a few weeks ago says that RIM is also considering a bid. While not stated, the DoJ probably isn’t too concerned about them either, since they’re a smaller player than the big boys, Apple and Google.

But what about the biggest boy? Microsoft.

Microsoft is actually not believed to be bidding on the patents because they already have a licensing agreement on them. And this agreement would transfer over no matter who ultimately won the patents. And that’s good news for Microsoft. If DoJ has a problem with Apple bidding on the patents, you can bet they would scream bloody murder if Microsoft did.

First of all, Microsoft has a very prolific history of aggressive IP lawsuits. More importantly, in the tech space, they are the king of patents. (Well, aside from old guard IBM.) While Apple is believed to have something like 4,ooo – 5,000 patents, Microsoft has something like 17,000.

Google? They have fewer than 1,000, we hear. Gaining Nortel’s 6,000+ would leapfrog them ahead of Apple, but they’d still be very far behind Microsoft. Meanwhile, if Apple won the rights to the patents, they’d cross the 10,000 mark. And Microsoft? They’d be approaching 25,000.

But again, the number is less important than the suspected intention. Google has simply not shown a history of aggressive IP protection. In fact, they’ve apparently never affirmatively asserted a patent, in legal terms. (Basically, they’ve only delved into IP agression as a pre-emptive or defensive measure.)

Certainly, you could argue that this is because with less than 1,000 patents, they’re in no position to go after anyone. But the DoJ seems convinced enough that they won’t even with these 6,000 new patents in their pocket. Apple, apparently, is going to need to do some more convincing along those lines.

The auction takes place on June 20. The rhetoric from all these companies leading up to it should get interesting.

[image via]

Whether you’re on Team Andreessen, who held that we weren’t in a tech bubble at the AllThingsD conference, or the now revised Team Arrington (“All signs point to a real bubble, probably starting later this year when a lot more companies start to go public.”), there’s no denying post Groupon S-1 drop that we’re in a bubble of people talking about whether or not we’re in a tech bubble.

Hence Venture Crapital, an HTML5 game built at TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon by Dmitri Cherniak, Adrian Sanders, Wylie Conlon and Chris Bliss. The game, whose creators mostly work at startups themselves, lets you role play an early-stage VC with millions in your piggybank to throw at startups based on TechCrunch headlines. The goal is to sell before each bubble pops, making a return so you can throw more money. You know, sort of like a real life investor.

The most impressive part of the game is that it actual company information from Crunchbase. Creator Dmitri Cherniak explains the game mechanics behind it:

“Basically the small companies start off with a small radius, but have a fast growth rate because they are super agile. If you invest in them early, you’ll get better returns. The ones that turn green mean they are growing, the ones that are red, are slowing down their growth and you’ll start to lose money.

Once you have money invested, it shows you the total amount you have vested in that company. If you click on a bubble you’ve invested in, you get back all that money. But if it is gets too big, it’ll pop and you’ll lose it all. If a lot of them start to pop, then a whole bunch more will pop too, like a real bubble.

Each time you throw you invest a half million. If you miss a bubble, you lose that money. That’s part of the game element. If you run out of money, you have to start over. The banner at the bottom generates news stories, which affect how the bubbles grow too. Bad news means bad growth, Good news means good news for the company its about.”

Brilliant. Also: You can watch the team tell me that their closest competitor is eBay below and follow them for updates at @VentureCrap.

Consumers are engaging retailers on Facebook and Twitter now more than ever. Whether it is Liking a deal, Tweeting the link to a product, or even participating in a contest, shoppers are mentioning and interacting with these e-commerce sites on a daily basis. The problem with traditional online loyalty programs mirror offline programs, they only focus on rewarding users for simply their purchases. The challenge for retailers is not only how to track online mentions, but also how to meaningfully reward consumers for these mentions. Enter Y Combinator-backed 500Friends, which offers a platform called Loyalty Plus, which allows retailers to reward their customers for social actions.

The SaaS allows retailers to track users Tweeting their purchases, Liking the Facebook page and referring friends. It also allows merchants to reward other actions such as writing product reviews, entering sweepstakes or signing up to newsletters. Each action gives the user points, which can be used towards discounts, or even put towards charity donations.

Consumers sign into the Loyalty Plus program on a retailer’s site with their Twitter and Facebook account information and the retailer can then track the social activities of consumers as it relates to their brand. And the addition of the program on a retailer site is fairly simple—the merchant just adds one line of javascript.

In terms of cost, Loyalty Plus ranges from $2,000 to $30,000 per month. It sounds like a lot of money, but 500Friends is focusing on major retailers and e-commerce sites. For example, Hotels.com is a customer.

Loyalty Plus a compelling idea, in my opinion. Not only does it help retailers engage purchasers and their best customers, but it also helps the company reward consumers. And when consumers feels happy about a brand, especially one that saves them money; it helps business both online and offline.

And 500Friends, which graduated in 2010 from Y Combinator, is led by a strong team with experience in the e-commerce and marketing industries. Co-founder Justin Yoshimura has founded and sold two e-commerce companies. CTO Bob Tekiela was formerly CTO of StrongMail and VP of Technology at Sapient Corporation.

The company has raised and undisclosed amount of funding from a number of notable investors including Jeff Fluhr, Steve Newcomb, Naval Ravikant, Ben Ling, Eric Chen, Chris Yeh, and 24 others—they have a total of 30 investors.

You ever see a live Smooth Jazz concert?

Unless your idea of fun is hanging around third-tier California wineries with your fourth wife, chances are you haven’t. I’m not talking about Sonny Rollins here — this is that highly produced, studio-rehearsed instrumental pop that echoes off the tile floors of Marriott hotel restaurants.

But live, it’s a different story. Performers can’t hide behind slick production, and they’re not constrained by their record labels, so they let loose like the talented musicians most of them are. For an example, just search YouTube for “Kenny G,” “Sade” and “live.” It’s not the Sun Ra Arkestra, for sure, but you’ll get to hear (and I can’t believe I’m typing this) Kenny G unleash some serious funk.

It’s the same principle with car designers. That boring, melted-soap sedan your aunt is driving probably started life as a daring drawing of a concept with slats for windows and suicide doors.

With all concepts, though, the pressures of the real world intervene. Drivers have to see out of those slatted windows and open those massive doors. Safety rules, gas mileage requirements and focus groups all take their toll, and the whole thing has to be built at the lowest possible cost.

That’s why the Lincoln MKT is refreshing: It may very well be the first example of a car where designers were freed by new technology to pen a car that could not have otherwise existed. From a design standpoint, it’s Kenny G, live in concert.

First, some background: The six- or seven-passenger MKT debuted as a 2010 model and is currently the Stephanie Tanner of the Lincoln lineup. Its voluminous interior coddles occupants with separate climate-control zones for front and rear, an auto-folding third row, THX audio, Microsoft Sync and a twin-panel moon roof.

Our tester had optional twin captain’s chairs in the second row, with a fridge in the rear center console. That gave it ample room for four adults and two children, because the rearmost seats were unsuitable for anyone past a growth spurt.

Faced with competition from Lincoln’s own five-seater MKZ and outclassed by the Acura MDX, Audi Q7 and BMW X5, the MKT’s sales are currently on par with tickets for Gilbert Gottfried’s upcoming Japanese tour. That might not be for long, though. After production stops on the beloved, yet geriatric, Town Car later this year, the MKT will enter fleets as Ford’s luxury livery vehicle.

It’s the styling, however, that sets the MKT apart. I have to say I’m a big fan of the slab-sided exterior, whose bustle is reminiscent of the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud (and, unfortunately, the early-1980s Cadillac Seville). That Kardashian keister, however, is possible thanks to the use of lightweight magnesium and aluminum — a first in an American car — at a weight savings of 40 percent over the same design in steel.

Moving up the rear of the car, we find pillars thicker than the Parthenon’s that — from the driver’s point of view — completely obscure the already miniscule third-row windows. A sloped greenhouse makes for an attractive exterior, but from behind the wheel it’s like driving a U-Haul without towing mirrors.

That’s why the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), a technology inherited through Ford’s corporate parentage of Volvo, is essential. A small, orange circle appears in the side view mirror when there’s a vehicle hovering near the rear fender. It can be turned off, but I didn’t dare. Amazingly, BLIS is only available as part of a $4,000 “Elite Package.”

On the Volvo S80, BLIS is a safety-minded failsafe. On the MKT, even with properly adjusted mirrors, it’s a virtual second glance over the shoulder. The backup camera is also a requirement for driving this car, as the rear window Is placed so high up that it totally blocks any view of what you’re about to hit. On the plus side, you’ll never know if anyone’s tailgating you.

All that technology wasn’t just to help the MKT keep its figure. In more than 600 miles of driving, I managed 21.2 mpg thanks to a particularly parsimonious twin-turbo V-6 that Ford has christened with its EcoBoost label. Mileage in the low 20s is nothing to brag about to the Sierra Club, but it is a far cry from the mid-teens that most Navigator owners manage.

Unlike the roar of the Navigator’s V-8, the MKT’s V6 has a breathy snarl that still provides 355 horsepower on demand. Nobody’s expecting a lumbering luxo-barge to ride like a Lotus, but the MKT gets out of its own way with power and poise.

When weight-saving metals and electronic nannies like BLIS and turbocharged V-6s came into fashion a few years back, some car enthusiasts feared they would lead to a lineup of underpowered, lightweight safetymobiles — an automotive Kenny G studio album, with reverb, a drum machine and droning synth violins.

The MKT might not be as unnecessarily rugged as the Navigator, and it’s certainly not a sports car, but it’s a risky design that’s possible and practical, thanks to some creative engineering and compensatory technology. It’s not bebop or acid jazz, and it’s not supposed to be. It’s Smooth Jazz, unplugged. I’m just wondering who is listening.

WIRED Classy styling befits the vehicle destined to become the next Town Car. Seats six or seven passengers. Better-than-modest power will satisfy fans of other crossovers. BLIS technology that keeps you from running over the neighbor’s kids. Decent fuel economy from a hulking luxo-yacht.

TIRED Third row seats fine for kids, but adults will get smooshed. Limited rear visibility, and BLIS isn’t standard — it’s a $4K upgrade.

Photo courtesy Ford

Taking your job on the road is easier than ever, especially with the right mobile office tools. Just make sure you’re sitting in front of a work-appropriate background for those video calls.

1. Dell Latitude E6320

This powerful mobile command station packs a 2.6-GHz i5 processor, 320-GB drive, and 13.3-inch screen into a stowable 3.7-pound package. Built-in broadband connectivity means one less device to carry.

WIRED IT will love the streamlined management and security features, including software encryption and fingerprint recognition. Metal casing feels like it can take a beating.

TIRED Extra touchpad keys are redundant and distracting.

$2,255, Dell

2. Innergie mCube Mini

Slip this 2.4-ounce adapter—touted as the smallest in the world—into your carry-on to take advantage of the growing number of flights with in-seat power outlets. It comes with 10 tips for charging just about any portable device—as long as it’s not a MacBook.

WIRED Didn’t get the tip you need? Innergie will send you the right one for free.

TIRED Tiny toggle switch for adjusting voltage is tough to find.

$70, Innergie

3. Hitachi LifeStudio Mobile Plus

This 500-GB drive harbors a detachable 4-GB flash drive that’s handy for quick runs to FedEx Office. But our favorite part of this portable package is the Cover Flow-like interface—a “3-D wall” for shuttling through photos, videos, and documents. The docking station just adds needless heft, though.

WIRED Includes 3 GB of cloud storage.

TIRED There are smaller portable drives out there. Cheaper ones, too.

$125, Hitachi

4. Case Logic Hydrus

The Hydrus impressed with cushy compartments for a tablet, phone, and 16-inch laptop, besides a dozen other pockets and dividers that kept us organized enough to work while riding shotgun on a four-day cross-country drive. Plus, the rugged nylon holds its shape nicely.

WIRED Light blue lining makes spotting stuff easier. Large zipper pulls let you open and close pockets in a hurry.

TIRED Too few of those interior pockets have zippers.

$100, Case Logic

5. Brother PocketJet 6 Plus With Bluetooth

One of the smallest printers ever made, the new PocketJet has a rechargeable battery and Bluetooth connectivity. The whole thing weighs a mere 1.3 pounds, and it’s Windows- and Mac-compatible.

WIRED Thermal print technology (you might remember that from the ’80s) means you never need to buy toner or ink.

TIRED But it does require you to carry special paper.

$529, Brother

6. HP Scanjet Professional 1000

We slipped a magazine page into the Scanjet and watched as the HP scanned both sides simultaneously in about 15 seconds, in full color. At 1.4 pounds, though, it’s twice as heavy as the popular NeatReceipts scanner but doesn’t use that weight to improve on anything.

WIRED Print-quality menus for settings like color mode and brightness.

TIRED Relatively heavy. Software installation took 30 minutes.

$250, HP

An 18-volt cordless drill is the go-to power tool for pro builders. The latest models use ultralight lithium-ion batteries and compact designs to put all that construction-site brawn in a nimble, home-size package.

1. Milwaukee M18 2601-22

Engineered with homeowners and backyard carpenters in mind, the 4-pound M18 performed beautifully on every reasonable task we set it to, including driving a finger-thick half-inch lag bolt to the hilt in a solid slab of cedar. For nimbler work, the low-gear setting provided enough precision to literally take apart the competition. It can’t match a full-size hammer drill for jobs like sinking anchor bolts into granite, but those behemoths can’t match the versatility of the agile M18 for home use.

WIRED On a nonstop burn, Milwaukee’s fifth-gen Red Lithium battery lasted 63 minutes, almost double the endurance of our runner-up.

TIRED Battery “fuel” gauge is too cutesy. C’mon, this isn’t a Nissan Leaf.

$200, Milwaukee

2. Makita LXFD01CW

If the Makita were a car, it would appeal to buyers more for its reliability than its horsepower. The 3.3-pound unit boasts the sort of durable, all-metal drivetrain found in professional-grade drills, meaning it should last for years. It cranked out at least as much driving torque as the Milwaukee, but it wasn’t as capable when it came to backing out deeply sunk bolts. Don’t stray far from the charger, either. We got a paltry 14 minutes from the battery in our continuous-burn test.

WIRED Smart hook lets it hang from any belt. Durable build will outlast your projects.

TIRED Charger’s icons and blinking lights are overkill. For extended use, you’ll need to buy a backup battery or two—at about $70 a pop.

$200, Makita

3. Hitachi DS18DSAL

At 3.3 pounds, the Hitachi tied for lightest drill in our roundup, yet it still sank those lag bolts with the best of them. More impressive, its comparatively small battery ran for 33 minutes in our burn test. We worry about long-term durability, though. It doesn’t feel as solidly built as the competition, and there are plastic components in the drivetrain. That might contribute to the forearm-friendly weight, but we’d accept a bit more heft to get sturdy metal.

WIRED Well-thought-out covers for quick motor access to replace worn-out brushes. Comes with a flashlight that uses the same battery.

TIRED The hard plastic grip might save weight, but it’s less comfortable than rubber and, we suspect, more prone to wear and tear.

$180, Hitachi

4. DeWalt DCD760KL

DeWalt’s newest entry in the compact-18 category has a max rpm of 1,700 in drill mode (the others hit about 1,500) and made quick work of our cedar block. When it came to driving, though, the DeWalt was lacking. It conked out after just three lag bolts—most likely because the battery overheated and tripped an onboard circuit protector (a safety feature of all these drills). It needed a 15-minute cooldown before we could use it again. Something smaller and cheaper would do for home repairs, while serious carpentry requires something stronger.

WIRED Battery packs are backward-compatible with every 18-volt DeWalt tool since 1996.

TIRED Lasted just 10 minutes in our burn test. Overheats faster than Chris Brown.

$240, DeWalt

The 14-megapixel NX100 may not be a digital SLR, but it does use a DSLR-worthy sensor. This EVIL camera is the latest mirrorless model to break away from the Micro Four Thirds imaging chip format and plug an APS-C CMOS sensor into a small body.

Though the result isn’t as petite as Sony’s latest NEX shooters, which also use APS-C sensors, this is a pretty nifty looking compact, with a sleek, ergonomic body and impressive picture-taking abilities

The NX100 bears a passing resemblance to a classic rangefinder-style camera but feels thoroughly modern, with its sleek, polycarbonate curves practically begging you to pick it up and shoot with it. The big shutter button gives you the feeling you’re shooting with a DSLR, though the autofocus is not nearly as responsive.

Like competing EVIL cameras, the NX100 uses a contrast-detection autofocus system, and while it’s better than some older models, it can feel a step slow at times. This is especially true for cycle times between shots, which can feel glacial when you’re trying to shoot a series of candids. There is a high-speed continuous mode for capturing stills at 30 fps, but image size drops down to 1.4 megapixel, and it took 8 seconds for the buffer to clear before we could shoot again.

The easy menu system, sharp 3-inch AMOLED screen, and clear iconography make navigating the camera’s deep feature set a breeze. We also really liked the i-Function button on the 20-50 mm (f/3.5-5.6) kit lens, which lets you change key settings such as ISO, white balance, and exposure without taking your hand off the barrel.

The lens isn’t particularly sharp though, especially in the corners. And if you want to shoot in low light or create background blur for portraits, you’ll need one of Samsung’s forthcoming faster aperture lenses, such as the new 85mm f/1.4.

The 720p HD video mode produced sparkling high-def footage when shooting subjects head on but suffered from serious rolling shutter issues when we panned quickly from side-to-side. Rolling shutter is common in all cameras that use CMOS sensors to record video, but the problem is so severe in the NX100 that it made us a little seasick. Also disappointing: There’s no port for adding a stereo mic, meaning you’re stuck with the built-in monaural unit.

In terms of still image quality, we’d put the NX100 at above average for an EVIL camera. In good light, it delivered some of the best color, dynamic range, and detail we’ve seen from a camera in this class. In poor lighting, though, the camera struggled with image noise when shooting at ISO 3200 and above. It was so bad at times that it almost looked like we had applied a paint-like effect to our shots.

Speaking of effects, the NX100 has plenty to choose from, including vignette, miniature (tilt-shift), fish-eye, halftone dots, and soft focus.

So there’s a lot to like in the NX100: smart, eye-catching design, a rich feature set, and simple navigation. We just wish image quality was better in low light and that the HD video didn’t suffer from such pronounced rolling-shutter effects.

WIRED Stylish, ergonomic design. Friendly interface and i-Function button on kit lens mean you don’t need to read the manual. Fun built-in filters.

TIRED Kit lens is not particularly sharp. Slow shot-to-shot transition. Serious, wobbly rolling-shutter when panning quickly in HD mode. Image noise at higher ISOs. Lack of a rubberized handgrip means it’s easy to drop.

The 16.05-megapixel Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH2 is as much for videos as it is for stills. Indeed, the first things you’ll notice are the stereo microphone on top and the shiny red button with a movie camera icon next to it that almost implores you to press it and see what happens.

But before you get to that you’re going to have to figure out how this overly complicated, mirrorless, interchangeable-lens, Micro Four Thirds camera (yeah, that’s a mouthful) works.

The follow-up to the Panasonic’s two-year-old GH1, the GH2 sticks with the previous model’s look and feel but adds some important upgrades and features, not the least of which is the ability to shoot 3D photos (with the help of an optional lens.) Though 3D photos are kind of cool— we didn’t get to test that aspect of the camera this time around but have seen a demo of the technology— the biggest improvement with the GH2 is its lightning-fast autofocus.

Because so-called EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens) cameras use janky contrast detection autofocus systems, locking in on a subject and getting the shot can sometimes be pure luck. That’s changed.

With its three CPUS, the GH2’s powerful but poorly named Venus Engine FHD processor does the trick. It helped us capture crisp images of a basketball player dunking during an outdoor game, keeping him in focus for the whole drive to the hoop. The 14-140mm f4-5.8 Mega O.I.S. kit lens also let us grab a slobbery shot of a pitbull kissing a bulldog in a five-frames-per-second burst. (The GH2 can shoot 5fps in full resolution using a mechanical shutter and 40fps at 4MP using an electronic shutter.)

Lowlight capabilities are also greatly improved. We captured relatively low-noise shots at up to ISO 3200, notably better the previous model. Things did get messy at ISO 6400, though, and the maximum 12,800 setting is for brave souls only.

There were some changes that we weren’t too keen on, however. Many of the 3-inch LCD screen’s touch controls are more trouble than they’re worth, including the distracting Touch Guide feature and the Touch Shutter function. (We turned these off.)

On the other hand, touch tracking, which triggers the camera to lock in on the subject of your choice by touching it on the screen, is pretty badass. In video shooting, that touch-tracking feature allows you to “pull” or “rack” focus on the subject of your choice, so it stays sharp while the rest of the scene blurs out for a professional look. Very badass.

When it comes to video, the GH2 is probably the best non-DSLR camera on the market. The Live MOS sensor’s fast readout speed lets it shoot full 1080i at 60p. For cineastes seeking a film-like look, the “Cinema Mode” setting shoots 1080p at 24fps. And because the GH2 records at a faster bit rate than its predecessor— 24Mbps— HD video quality has improved overall.

Though some competing camera brands have tried to add continuous autofocus for their movie capture modes, the GH2’s is the best we’ve tried— silent, quick, and accurate. Same goes for the built-in stereo microphone. It records superb sound and has a helpful Wind Cut feature for lowering the “whoosh” when shooting outdoors.

If the GH2 has a major problem, it’s the week you’ll need just to figure out all its features and functions. And by the time you’ve turned everything on, the LCD will be come so cluttered with icons you might have trouble seeing what you’re shooting. The high-quality results, though, will be worth it.

WIRED Blazing autofocus. Faster bit rates for better HD video quality. Touchscreen tracking lets you pull focus in video using just your pinkie. Superb mic for outdoor shooting.

TIRED Feature-laden to the point of feeling bloated. Pricey.