Canon EOS 60D

The Canon EOS 60D is a digital single-lens reflex camera from Canon. It is part of the Canon EOS line of cameras and succeeds the EOS 50D. It was publicly announced on August 26, 2010 with a suggested retail price of US$1099.00

Canon's X0D series has throughout its life appealed to a wide range of photographers, from enthusiasts and semi-pros through to some pros who appreciated having a lightweight option. Each model offered a high enough specification (usually in terms of build quality and AF sophistication) to ensure it was both aspirational and attainable for users who had out-grown their Rebel/XX0D series. However, the feature set always left a sizeable gap below the company's full-blown 'pro' models.

The arrival of the EOS 7D, with its highly configurable 19-point AF system and 8 frames per second continuous shooting capability changed much of this - here was a 'mini 1D' that drew the attention of many people who previously would have been X0D customers. However, the price tag (a 30% premium over the 50D at launch) pushed it beyond the reach of most people who weren't making at least a bit of money from their photography.

The 50D (and by extension the X0D range) was starting to look somewhat redundant: expensive (and in some ways outdated) compared to the rebel T2i (EOS 550D), underpowered compared to the EOS 7D. It seemed obvious that Canon needed something to balance out the EOS range to fill the big gap between the Rebel and the 7D. And so we have this, the EOS 60D.

With the 60D Canon has unashamedly moved the X0D range out of the 'semi pro' bracket and instead focused on the enthusiast photographer looking to upgrade from their Rebel. As a result, it's not the obvious continuation of the 30D - 40D - 50D pattern that its naming might suggest. Instead it sits pretty well precisely in the same market position as was once-upon-a-time occupied by the 'Elan' series of 35mm film SLRs (which in Europe were not-so-coincidentally given double-digit model numbers).

So gone is the magnesium alloy construction that featured in previous models, replaced by a lighter weight plastic shell. Naturally the 60D gains some key 'step up' features from the Rebel line (top panel LCD, rear control dial, higher burst rate), including a few that have trickled down from the EOS 7D. There's also a video- (and tripod-) friendly 3:2 ratio articulated LCD. In imaging terms it brings the EOS mid-range in line with those above and below by upping the sensor resolution to around 18MP and adding full HD movie capture.

The EOS 60D also gains a couple of brand-new features of its own. There's now a wide range of color variations (or 'Ambiences') which can be applied to the image when using the scene modes, and whose effect can be previewed on screen in Live View. The 60D also finally gains the ability to convert raw files to jpeg in-camera, including the option to correct for lens aberrations including distortion and chromatic aberration. As an added bonus, you can retrospectively apply new 'Creative Filters' to files you've shot, including 'Grainy Black and White' and 'Toy Camera' looks.

And so, from a spec and feature point of view, the EOS 60D sits almost exactly half-way between the EOS 550D and the EOS 7D, with a few new tricks of its own. Which, we think, is exactly where it should be (regardless of the inevitable howls of protest at the apparent 'dumbing down' of the venerable X0D line).

Key features

• 18MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• ISO 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800)
• 5.3 fps continuous shooting
• 1080p HD video recording with manual controls
• SD / SDHC / SDXC storage
• In-camera raw development
• Subject modes with 'Ambience Selection' (Standard, Vivid, Soft, Warm, Intense, Cool, Brighter, Darker and Monochrome)
• In-camera Creative Filters (special effects)
• Fully articulated 3.0" screen (3:2)

Kassapa Lions Rock Resort– Sigiriya

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If you are visiting the `holy triangle` and you need a fantastic place to stay, this is the one!!

Located in the peaceful village of Digampathaha, Kassapa Lions Rock boasts an outdoor pool with views of the well-known Sigiriya Rock. The rooms are small houses (chalets) with air conditioned, open air bathrooms and private balconies.

Kassapa Lions Rock Resort is 20 minutes’ drive from Dambulla, where the UNESCO heritage site of the cave temple is located. The resort provides parking and bike rental for free.

Fitted with a cable TV and minibar, well-appointed rooms also have a fan and seating area. Private bathrooms come with a bathtub and heated showers.

Surrounded by greenery, the open-air restaurant offers a range of local and international dishes. Staff is very helpful and friendly. The buffet dinner is quite large and had different local curries, meat and fish. The restaurant is open on three sides, so it utilizes the evening breeze.

Breathtaking views of the Sigiriya and Pidurangala Rocks and refreshing cocktails are available at Sakya Bar.

All in all great place to stay and very reasonable price.

iPad 3 badly needed? Kindle Fire users reportedly growing.

A new data shows that the Amazon Kindle Fire is a popular device, can Apple stop the growth with the iPad 3?

The Amazon Kindle Fire is a popular tablet, and arguably the most popular Android tablet — and it looks like users are really the device to browse the web according to the latest data provided by online ad network Chitika.

Based on Chitika’s ad impressions from mid November to first week of December, online activity for the Amazon Kindle Fire is growing and massive growth came during the last week of November to first week of December. Apparently, the trend will continue if Kindle Fire users will use the tablet’s Silk Browser more, and second, if Amazon can sell more Kindle Fire tablets this month that will result to more Kindle Fire users that will access the web.

Kindle Fire is one of the cheapest tablets in the market right now, but it is also a powerful media device because Amazon’s own ecosystem is large and can accommodate all customers, from music lovers to mobile app buyers. However, analysts predict that Amazon is losing $3 to $10 per Kindle Fire, and one analyst said Amazon might be losing $50 which includes the shipping, labor, etc.

In return, Amazon will try to profit from Kindle Fire users by selling Amazon products like apps, music, cloud storage, e-books and more because the Kindle Fire is using a heavily customized Android Gingerbread version. Amazon’s new tablet strategy is obviously competing against Apple and its glorified iPad which also offers music, e-books, games and other media.

In related news, Apple is reportedly set to release the new iPad 3 in February of next year, the month of lovers (gift giving, the lovers edition). What’s with the February release? If you’re an avid reader of Apple news, you know that Apple loves April when it comes to the iPad. For example, the iPad 1 was released April 2010 and the iPad 2 was released in April 2011. So, iPad 3′s release date is in February?

If the new rumor is accurate, then it is highly possible that Apple is feeling the Kindle Fire’s heat and wants to protect its tablet market share. According to multiple data presented by research firms, Apple is still the most popular tablet PC vendor with nearly 75% of market share, while other tablets (Android, etc) folded and sharing the remaining market share.

And aside from the Kindle Fire, Apple is also facing retail-iation from Google Android courtesy of the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola and HTC are expected to use the new Android version next year to attract more tablet customers.

Sri Lanka opens its first highway

Since the war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, the government has stepped up work on big infrastructure projects, which it says are the key to its future development. One of the most notable has just been given a grand opening: the island's first motorway, or expressway as it is known locally, leading from the capital's outskirts to the southern town of Galle.

The old road to Galle snakes its way through the southern Colombo suburbs.

The traffic crawls, with overloaded buses, motorbikes and motorised rickshaws stuffed full of bananas. Pedestrians criss-cross it. The road runs parallel to a railway and is lined with houses, shops and shacks most of the way south.

Now at last there is an alternative route. The E01 Expressway is the first motorway on this island, which is slightly smaller than Ireland in land area.

True, for now you still have to drive through the fairly congested eastern suburbs to get to it, but then you see the start of the motorway, with multicolored flags flying for its grand opening.

At the moment bulldozers still rumble around. A Chinese team is constructing one of the link roads that will make future access easier. But when you go through the toll plaza, paying between 400 and 2,000 Sri Lankan rupees depending on the type of vehicle, and you leave the congestion behind.

This road has cost $700m, the bulk of which has been funded with a Japanese government loan, with the rest coming from the Asian Development Bank and the Sri Lankan government.

Five thousand plots of land had to be taken over and the motorway was built by Japanese and Chinese contractors at a ratio of two to one.

Learning curve

A road like this, with a speed limit of 100km per hour and restricted interchanges, is completely new for Sri Lanka. Within its first 24 hours, a minor accident on the motorway left two people injured.

So the government has been running media campaigns with basic instructions on things like stopping distances, the overtaking lane and the speed limit. "Do not reverse!" screams one TV advert, with a big red cross. "No U-turns", warns another.

There have been criticisms of the structure, notably from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Sri Lanka.

It says the lanes - two in each direction - are narrower than the international norm, and the hard shoulder or breakdown lane is considerably narrower (1.75m as opposed to 2.5m), which means the door on the driver's side cannot be opened once the car has stopped.

Being several kilometers inland, the new road slices through low hills. At the half-way point, a service area and filling station are almost complete.

Quicker commerce

After 95km the motorway ends and the driver rolls into the nearby town of Galle, with its 400-year-old fort and quaint streets that are a magnet for tourists.

Among the area's products are cinnamon, coconut, tea and rubber.

Work has started on the next two legs of the brand new motorway network, which will include a link to Colombo's airport. There are also plans to build motorways to the former war zones of the far east and north.

At the road's grand opening, President Rajapaksa said new high-speed roads would bridge the gaps among Sri Lankans and, he hoped, counter separatist tendencies that led to war in the past.

Already reunified thanks to the end of the war, with quicker journey times Sri Lanka will gradually feel as if it is shrinking, too.

Google Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich

Google's Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0, is the biggest update the popular smartphone platform has received in more than a year. It adds dozens of features, changes and improves the interface, and makes much better use of the latest smartphone hardware. It may finally make Android tablets viable, too. At launch, though, it's missing a few things, most notably Flash and Facebook support, which mean that you may do well waiting a few months before scooping out some Ice Cream for yourself.

The New UI

The new Ice Cream Sandwich UI integrates elements from the Gingerbread phone and Honeycomb tablet UIs into, hopefully, a harmonious system which will work equally well on phones and tablets.

The look employs a lot of subtle shading, a lot of compositing, and a lot of depth, especially compared to the very flat screens in Gingerbread. Powerful GPUs seem to be assumed here, as screens and images almost always have multiple layers. But a generally spare design keeps it feeling like Android: functional, not showy.

The new lock screen shows the date, time, and your wallpaper. To unlock the phone, swipe right, or swipe left to jump directly to the camera. That takes you to one of five home screens, where you can place widgets or icons at will. You can now create folders on your home screens, and the folder layout is witty and smart: it shows the icons of various items in the folder, stacked. Four favorite icons, now customizable, stay at the bottom of every home screen.

The app drawer is still there, but now it's two-paned: you can flip between apps and a full-screen display of available widgets. Sliding between pages of apps, it looks like each one reveals the next under it. The multitasking interface borrows from Honeycomb: press a dedicated "multitasking" soft key, and thumbnails of the last several apps you've used ghost above the display. (There's that multi-layer compositing again.)

Android Users 80% More Valuable Than iPhone Users

In the Android vs. iPhone war for mobile supremacy, which operating system should advertisers look to target?  Online ad network Chitika looked at ad click rates across its network for the two devices and came to the conclusion that Android users are by far more valuable individually than iPhone users – people on the Android OS clicked on ads 81% more often than people on the iPhone.

 

Device	CTR
iPad	1.010%
iPhone	0.654%
Android	1.187%

Interestingly, iPad users are much more likely to click ads than their iPhone-using contemporaries.  This may be chalked up to the difference in display size.  Android devices, however, by and large have similar screens to the iPhone, and Chitika’s advertisements display the same on both devices.

As Android continues to grow in market share, it will be interesting to see how this figure changes.  For now, however, it is obvious that Android users should be high up on the list of targets for mobile advertisers.

You will always have a piece of my heart.

Never want this to go unsaid,
So here in this poem, is for it to be said.
There are no words to express how much you mean to me,
A son like you, I thought could never be.
Because the day you were born, I just knew,
God sent me a blessing and that was you. For this I thank Him every day, You are the true definition of a son, in every way.
It is because of you that my life has meaning,
Becoming a father has shown me a new sense of being.
I want you to know that you were the purpose of my life,
Out of everything I did - it was you that I did right.
Always remember that I know how much you care,
I can tell by the relationship that we share.
For a son like you there could be no other, And whether we are together or apart, Please do not ever forget - You will always have a piece of my heart.