• I used SDHC Class 6 Patriot 4gb card. This made the shot to shot speed feel faster.
• It is true, the autofocus does not always work in dim light.
• The autofocus speed when it does work is tolerable.
• Shutter lag isn’t instant, but still tolerable.
• I thought menu navigation was going to be sluggish and unresponsive. It isn’t. Viewing images isn’t slow either.
• It is smaller than I expected. Smaller than the Canon G series.
• Not as conspicuous as a person carrying a DSLR.
• I actually like the included strap. I took off the suedette material because I like wearing the camera diagonally.
• It comes with a fleece pouch that I really do use since I bring the camera with me everywhere I go. I just put it in my bag. Carrying your DSLR with you everywhere you go is bit of a pain.
• Its dynamic range is nice. I don’t get as many blown highlights like I would with other point and shoots. Maybe better than my D80?
• It is the ultimate pixel peeper camera.  Looking at the images at 100% magnification is incredible.
• RAW files are not compatible with Adobe Camera RAW and DNG Converter yet.
• Sigma Photo Pro is really weird probably because I’m not used to it.
• If image quality and portability is your main goal, this is the only game in town.

• The kit lens is not silent like a Wave/USM/HSM motor, but it has the mechanism where the focus ring does not move when focusing, not like the Canon or Nikon 18-55mm lenses. Turns out the manual focus ring is not a mechanical one but electronic. While it turns, it sends a signal to tell the camera to start adjusting focus kind of like a point and shoot.
• The three position autofocus points seems kind of not that useful (I hate when people say “useless.” Is it really?) because they are so close together. You have to use the menu to switch positions.
• The viewfinder eyehole sticks out kind of far for my taste. This is actually driving me nuts right now.
• Does not use standard mini-USB.

As far as some tech specs go, its got HDMI, component, and optical outputs. No HD quality yet, but can be updated. There is no hard drive, everything is streamed. And you can connect wirelessly or wired to your router.

I’ve been wanting a replacement Class-D amp like the Pop-Pulse T40i for a while now. In my research I discovered a company I’ve never heard of, Nuforce. They make high end hi-fi gear. We’re talking about $5,000 for a pair of mono-amps. They also make this $250 desktop amp I now want, the Nuforce Icon, bringing high-end sound to the masses.

It is so great for so many reasons.

• Only $250. Or $200 for the special introductory offer.
• Built-in USB DAC.
• Built-in headphone amp.
• A true integrated amplifier. You can switch between 3 different sources: USB, RCA, and 1/8″ mini.
• Can be used as a preamplifier.
• Can be used to biamp if you have two.
• Looks cool. Reminds me of the Naim NAIT 3 I always wanted.
• Some great reviews already. Check this one out at 6moons in particular.
• It uses Cat-5 cables as speaker cable. Weird.
• SPDIF would have been nice.

1. Open Airport Utility
2. Click Internet
3. Click DHCP
4. Go to the bottom section labeled DHCP Reservations. Click the + symbol.
5. Think of a description and fill in the description field.
6. Choose the Reserve by MAC address radio button.
7. Click Continue.
8. Find the MAC address off the ethernet print server card, fill in the MAC address field.
9. Choose an IP address you’d like to reserve.
10. Click Done.

This solution seemed to work for me.

• MBP has a dedicated video card for the gaming I’ll never do.
• MB has an integrated video card sharing memory with the main memory.
• MBP has an optional matte display.
• MB has a glossy display.
• MBP has a lighted keyboard which I would find very useful.
• MBP has a larger screen. 100px more height, 160px more width.
• MBP is aluminum.
• MBP has an express card slot.
• MBP has FW800.
• MB is a newer design.
• MB has the magnetic clasp.
• MBP has the little button with hooking thing clasp.
• MBP has the multitouch trackpad.
• MB has a user replaceable hard drive.
• MBP has slightly better battery life.
• MBP is cooler than the MB. (I think Apple should restart doing the “What’s on your PowerBook” ads.)

The MBP is probably due for a more major redesign. It has essentially stayed the same since the Titanium PowerBook. It makes sense that Apple has stuck with this proven design. What other improvements can be made? My main thing right now is a user replaceable hard drive. I’ve heard rumors that new MBs and MBPs are introducing at WWDC. Maybe I’ll want the new MB by then. No, wait. I have to be cool and get the Pro.

Checking Firmware version

1. Format the SD card in the camera.
2. Put the SD card in a card reader and hook it up to your Mac.
3. In TextWrangler or TextEdit, create a blank file called “ver.req” and save it onto the root of the SD card. Then reinsert the SD card back into the camera.
4. Put the SD1000 in play mode and turn it on. Pressed the function set button + disp button, kind of like a ctrl+c, holding down the function set button while pressing the disp button. This will tell you what firmware version you’re using. Mine iss GM 1.02A.

Installing CHDK

1. The firmware version let’s you know what CHDK build you can use. Luckily mine was available here: http://malbe.nm.ru/chdk/.
2. Getting CHDK on the SD from a Mac seemed a little finicky, so I just used parallels to do it. Unzip the firmware on Parallels desktop then drop the two files, ps.fir and diskboot.bin, onto the SD card’s root.
3. Reinsert the card into the camera, put the camera in play mode, and turn the camera on.
4. Pressed the Menu button. Under the play tab, scroll to the bottom where the Firmware Update option is. Update the firmware, which will install the CHDK.

This update does not change the actual firmware. It just install itself into temporary memory. Once you turn it off and back on the hack is gone. But there is a way to have the hack auto boot.

Autobooting

1. After following the Installing CHDK instructions above. Press the ALT button (called the print button with the led in the middle.) Then press the Menu button.
2. Go to the Debug Parameters page and activate the Make Card Bootable.
3. Turn off the camera and pull out the SD card.
4. Move the lock switch on the SD to the lock mode.
5. Reinsert the card. The SD1000 should now auto boot.

Locking the card doesn’t affect being able to record or delete pictures.

Some observations so far

• RAW is cool, but a pain for the Mac so far. I’ve been using DNG4PS-2 in parallels to convert the CRW files to Adobe DNG. The mac version doesn’t really work well in Leopard. It kept crashing on me. The converter is especially nice because it copies the exif data from the jpeg.
• Overriding shutter speeds is cool when you want to do high speed syncing.
• You can customize a User Menu with your most often used items.
• The On Screen Display is cool but annoying. You get a lot of extra information, but it doesn’t disappear in the “no information just the picture” display mode. You can also customize where overlays are displayed on the screen. Overlays also hover on top of most everything, so you have to be careful where you place them.
• You now have a battery level display all the time. Without the hack, the battery warning only pops up right before the battery dies.
• Live blended Histogram and Zebra (blinking blown highlights) displays are nice.
• Auto ISO customization doesn’t work.
• I can’t seem to get any Intervalometer scripts to work.
• The Motion Detector scripts work, but need some finessing to work reliably.
• Manual focus override works.
• There is a “hotkey” (ALT button, then the up button, then down button) that will set the camera’s focus to the hyperfocal distance and also display the range of acceptable focus (nearest distance within focus to infinity).
• There is no flash exposure compensation.

This is definitely a tinkerer’s delight. I spent way too much time trying to customize it than taking pictures with it.

Observations list:

• Battery/SD card door is flimsy like other reviews have said. I did read one review that noted that previous Canon cameras had used harder plastic, but were prone to breaking. The flimsy door of the SD1000 is more flexible so is less likely to crack.
• There is only one aperture: f2.8. F8.0 is with ND. The variable f-stops that you might see are due to the zooming lens losing light.
• The only manual controls are white balance, exposure compensation, and ISO.
• It uses Mini USB for connectivity! I hate when things use Micro USB. It will not charge the battery through the Mini USB though.
• There is no Play button like my old Fuji. There is a play slider switch that feels like will wear out.
• You can only upload your images to your computer in Play mode.
• There is no option for “Card Reader” mode for transferring.
• Battery dies rather quickly. Though it might because I spent a lot of time tinkering with it and CHDK (see below for more info on that) with the screen on. I ordered a couple more batteries and a charger off ebay for $13. I haven’t received them yet.
• The LCD has a plastic coated protective cover. I’m a little nervous about bare lcd screens.

• Time Machine over Airport Extreme with a MacBook Core Duo (only wireless g) is very slow. I unloaded a bunch of pictures a few days ago. It’s been trying to backup the files since, but keeps failing because of the amount of time it needs. I guess that’s the nature of notebook computer sometimes. Look up something really quick, then close it. Write something quick, then close it. Mind you I gave the MB a couple hours last night to backup about 12gb. That wasn’t enough time. I’ll have to hook it up directly again.
• I really like using Airport Utility versus the browser based configuration. On the Netgear, I’d only configure the router when hooked up directly through the ethernet. It’s apparently the only secure way. I noticed that I can us Airport Utility over wireless on my MB. Should I be worried about security?
• You can allow the Airport to notify you when it has a firmware update. With Netgear, I’d have to visit the netgear website whenever it occurred to me that there might be an update.