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Seems cameras are all about the bells and whistles at the moment. We’ve had Nikon’s S1000pj with a built-in projector, 3D images from Fujifilm’s W1, and now we’ve got Samsung’s ST500 and ST550 (known as the TL220 and TL225 in some territories), which have… screens on the front. To make it easier to take pictures of yourself for your Facebook profile, I guess?

For self-portraits, point it towards your mug and tap the screen. They’re also dipping a toe into the waters of automatic geotagging with the ST1000’s built-in GPS receiver (it’s packed with loads of other fancy tricks, like transmitting photos over a wireless network, too).

No sign of a camera that can make crisp sandwiches yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Vital Stats

ST500 & ST550 (aka TL220 & TL225): 12.2 megapixels, 1.5-inch screen on the front, 3-inch (ST500) or 3.5-inch (ST550) screen on the back, 4.6x optical zoom, HD Video.

ST1000 (aka CL65): 12.2 megapixels, 3.5-inch screen, 5x zoom, GPS, wireless access, Bluetooth, HD Video.

All 3 will be available from September.

You’re back from the holiday of a lifetime, with bags full of souvenirs & duty-free. Somewhere at the bottom are a stack of memory cards containing the thousands of photos you took. When you get around to actually sorting through them and picking your favourite shots, you find yourself struggling to remember where and when everything happened. You remember taking this shot at the top of the Empire State Building, but which beach where you at when that one was taken? Time to consider geotagging.

Geotagging? What?

When you take a photo on a digital camera, the camera typically records the time and date the photo was taken. When you transfer your photos onto a computer, you can then easily organise your photos by when they were taken. That’s time sorted out, but what about space? Geotagging allows you to record when the photo was taken (e.g. by adding the latitude and longitude).

So why would I want to do this again?

Most basically, you can use it to show a group of your photographs on a map; for example, above is a set of photos I took on a guided walk along the Thames Path, displayed on Google’s Panoramio service.

And here’s the Bexcentric blog’s attempt to navigate the rather pedestrian-unfriendly route between two nearby train stations mapped out using photos uploaded to Flickr.

It also makes it easier to dig out holiday snaps quickly; open the map, find the place you went to and the pictures you took there will pop up.

There are some fun things you can do with your geotagged photos: elsewhere on Flickr, you can look at photos other people have taken near the locations of your own shots. Maybe you’ll feel inspired to go back and expand your repertoire of photographic tricks!

Can I do it without a degree in cartography?

All this isn’t as tremendously complicated as it might seem; you can do it automatically using a GPS receiver to check & record the location as you take a shot, or, when you’re back at your computer, you can use one of several photo-hosting services that provide tools to let you drag and drop your photos on to a map.

Sounds good, but I don’t like the sound of dragging all my photos into position one-by-one!

For ultra-convenience, the Nikon Coolpix P6000 is a compact digital camera with a built-in GPS receiver, which will automatically geotag all your shots when activated, as well as being a fine piece of kit all-round (currently rated 9.2 by reviewers on reevoo.com).

But can’t I just use my camera? I like my camera!

Yes, you can automate geotagging even if your camera doesn’t directly support it, with a range of accessories. The Sony GPS-CS3KA works by logging your location as you carry it around, taking photos. Once you’re done, you take your memory card out of your camera, insert it into the logger, and it matches where it was at any given time against the time the photos were taken.

Depending on your camera, you may be able to purchase a specially designed add-on, like the Nikon GP-1, which can be connected to a variety of Nikon’s DSLR cameras to give them GPS functionality.

The Eye-Fi Explore Video is a brilliant little idea - a camera memory card with built-in wireless network access (so you can send photos straight from your camera to the internet) & automatic geotagging (calculating locations based on nearby wireless networks), allowing you to add these extra functions to any camera that can read SDHC memory cards. Sadly it’s not yet available in the UK, but I’m crossing my fingers that it or something similar will get here eventually.

Finally, a note of warning. As wonderful as all this technology is, you might want to be wary of having every photo you put online geotagged; there could be unforeseen consequences of advertising the precise location of your brand new flatscreen television, for instance.

Useful Links

• Panaramio’s World Map of Photos
• How to Geotag Using Flickr (video)
  
• Geotagging using Picasa & Google Earth (video)

Have you ever felt so knackered after a night out or shopping trip that you felt your own legs didn’t have the energy to take you home? Did you wish that you could just magic yourself to your comfy sofa? Well, the boffins over at Honda have been dabbling in some robot magic and have produced these rather interesting looking robot legs.

They will reduce the load on your legs by supporting your weight as you walk. You just sit on the unicycle-type seat and the leg frames bend like knees. They run on two motors which are controlled by signals from the sensors inside the shoes. It all sounds great but I must say that when I first saw those pictures, I did wonder how the boys might fare…

The legs were initially intended for assembly line workers (to enable them to stay in crouched positions all day) and the elderly (the aging population in Japan - Honda’s mother ship - being another inspiration for the invention). But we could soon see these chained up outside pubs and shopping centres. However, a word of advice, since these legs haven’t been invented with GPS yet, you may also want to invest in a sat nav and make sure you always have a mobile phone at hand : )

So the iPhone was released on Friday. Some people love it, some people say it’s a disappointment, what’s a person to think? Well I looked to the reviews on Reevoo to see what people were complaining about on the old iPhone and then compared it to the new version so that I could make up my mind and see if Apple listened to the people that matter most - the users.

Here’s what people who bought the original iPhone had to say about it. I’ve also looked into what Apple have done about each issue and put it in underneath. Be prepared, this is a long’un…

Speed
Original iPhone owners complained about internet browsing speed, with many citing the absence of 3G as one of the biggest opportunities to improve iPhone

The new iPhone has 3G technology so that browsing the net is much faster

Battery life
From 107 reviews, the original iPhone only scored an average of 6.8/10 for its battery life. As well as improvements in the battery life itself, iPhone owners also wanted to be able to change the battery

Apple says that it has increased battery life to 300 hours on standby, 10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk and 7 hours of video playback. However you still cannot change the battery

Text messages
Original iPhone users were very frustrated with its SMS functionality. People were unable to carry out the most basic functions such as forward text messages, send messages to multiple contacts and send pictures and business cards. Users also would have liked to be able to navigate more easily through words and letters in text messages

Apple has now improved the iPhone’s messaging features so that you can now send messages to multiple contacts. However, you still cannot send multimedia messages

Camera
Consumers thought the old iPhone’s camera was another of the worst features. They wanted to see a camera with a flash, more megapixels, the ability to zoom and video functionality

Apple has kept the original specs for the camera on the iPhone 3G, which will disappoint many consumers. There is still no flash or video capability and it is still only 2 megapixels

Synchronisation
People wanted to be able to sync up their email, calendars and other Microsoft applications with their iPhones

Apple has now made sure that the new iPhone is compatible with Microsoft products

Memory
Owners would have liked to have had more memory in the original iPhone

Apple has so far kept to the same 8GB and 16GB capacity phones. There are still no memory card slots

Connectivity
Some users noted that the Bluetooth on the original iPhone didn’t work as they would have liked it to

Bluetooth on the new iPhone is still limited

GPS
Many consumers wrote that their iPhone would have been considerably better if it had GPS

Apple has now incorporated GPS into the new iPhone which will be gratefully received by users

Speaker quality
Users commented on the poor sound quality for both music and calls on speakerphone

Apple has improved the iPhone’s speakers so that music playback and calls can be heard much more clearly

Ringtones
Users wanted to be able to set their own music as ringtones

This is now possible, however it is a bit fiddly for the average user, requiring manual reformattinf of music files

Handset
Original iPhone owners found the handset slippery and difficult to hold without pressing something unintentionally

The new iPhone has a plastic back, instead of the original aluminium, which may make it a bit easier to hold and grip without activating functions

Radio
Users would have liked an FM radio incorporated in their iPhones

There is still no FM radio but you can listen to radio over the internet

Headphone jack
Original iPhone owners were frustrated at having to pay for specific Apple headphones or having to use a chunky adaptor as standard headphones wouldn’t fit in the sunken jack

Apple have now rectified this so that standard 3.5mm headphones can now be used

Third party software
With so many features missing from the iPhone, users wanted to be able to use third party software more easily

Apple has now opened up the new 3G iPhone so that third party software can be easily accessed and used through the App Store

So there we go. I think we can all agree that some great changes have been made to the new iPhone - 3G, GPS and third party apps, to name but a few.  But it does seem that Apple mainly listened to the more tech-savvy user when it came to these improvements. For the average user who just wants to share media with their mates and take some decent pictures, it might be a bit of a let-down. Saying that, I bet you all buy one anyway. For me, I’m happy with my more than capable Nokia 5310.