Canon EOS 600D review

For amateurs wanting to achieve professional looking photos, and, increasingly, video, the digital SLR remains king. Canon’s newest entry level DSLR comes after last year’s equally accessible EOS 550D, which remains just below it in the EOS range.

 

The most noticeable difference between the two 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor DSLRs is that the Canon EOS 600D has added on a tilt and swivel LCD screen. No coincidence, as the next step up, the EOS 60D model, sensibly offers photographers and videographers one too.

 

Related links

• Canon EOS 60D review
• Canon EOS 550D review
• Canon IXUS 1000 HS review
• Canon IXUS 310 HS review
• Canon PowerShot S95 review
• Canon G12 review

The 600D goes directly up against the equally new 16.2 megapixel D5100 from Nikon, also notable for an adjustable LCD. Clearly this is a feature increasingly in demand, and, as we’ll discover, a particularly useful one too. At a manufacturer’s suggested £679 body only, the Canon is just £10 more than its Nikon rival.

 

Beginners should spend £100 more however and get the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 image stabilised zoom we had on test with it, which is a jack-of-all trades starter option in the absence of any body integral anti shake. Ideally you’d go for the more expansive 18-135mm zoom, likewise offered as a kit bundle with the 600D, but this won’t leave much change from a grand.

 

Canon EOS 600D Controls

 

Screen and provided lens aside, the other thing that immediately strikes you upon handling the 600D is how relatively lightweight, compact and portable this camera is – although it’s clearly no pocket option. At the same time the Canon manages to offer ergonomically chunky controls and a grip of sufficient size to snake three fingers comfortably around, so it sits well in the palm.

 

For the first time a Feature Guide has been added to the user interface that ‘talks’ you via text prompts through the camera settings – an explanatory sentence popping up on the LCD with each subsequent twist of the shooting mode dial – so users can pick the 600D up and start shooting without having swotted up via the manual.

 

Amidst the busy 14 settings on the shooting mode dial that cover the creative regulars of program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual mode, Canon has highlighted the Scene Intelligent Auto mode in green. As it sounds, with this option selected the camera itself sets the focus, brightness levels, flash and colour tones according to the subject before the lens – so operation becomes as easy as pointing and shooting.

Canon EOS 600D Screen

 

Of course we’ve witnessed tilt-able LCDs on bridge cameras and rival DSLRs for a while now, but here its implementation really allow users to make the most of the 600D’s Live View functionality (where the 3-inch, 1040k dot resolution LCD can be used as a viewfinder)for shot composition as well as review.

 

Because you can flip and bend the screen to achieve previously unrealised shooting angles - such as high or low - it proves a distraction from the regular optical viewfinder. Especially as, if attempting to use the optical viewfinder, your nose squashes up against and smears the screen as you attempt to get an eye level with it.

Canon EOS 600D Speed and Performance

 

The 600D’s power switch is adjacent to the shooting mode dial. Give the switch a thumb flick to ‘on’ and the by the time your forefinger has pressed the shutter release button down half way so the 9-point auto focus system can do its stuff, you’re ready to take the shot. So no frustrating delay here at all.

 

The camera deploys sensor cleaning upon powering down, rather than powering up, as a further time saver.

 

For those looking for grain free results in low light, the basic light sensitivity range of ISO100 to 6400 is further expandable to ISO12800. While that’s up there with semi pro DSLRs in terms of performance, it still falls slightly short of the ISO 25,600 offered by the Nikon D5100 - on paper at least. High speed shooting at 3.7fps is more akin to what we would expect at the entry level, as is the aforementioned auto focus system. Clearly Canon is mindful of demarcation between DSLR models in its range.

 

Otherwise a full resolution JPEG records to memory in two seconds, and a unprocessed Raw file a fraction of a second longer, although in truth it’s hard to notice the difference, which is in itself commendable. The 600D is therefore as swift and responsive as you’d want a DSLR to be for daily use.

 

Canon EOS 600D Battery

 

The rechargeable lithium ion cell slotting into the base of the Canon EOS 600D offers up 440 shots.

 

Obviously if constantly deploying the screen for Live View and video this will suffer proportionally, but in our experience not to a marked degree.

 

Canon EOS 600D Pictures

 

Delivering realistic colour and capable of some lovely shallow depth of field effects, we felt the kit lens could perhaps have been sharper still, and we did experience the occasional clipped highlight, but such grumbles are mere nitpicking on what is a largely excellent camera.

 

If you are slightly unsatisfied with the result at the time, or simply wish to enhance it further, the 600D offers a range of creative filters that can be applied to pre-captured images. This selection is largely the same as that offered by Canon compacts. Namely we get the favourites of the tilt and shift lens apeing ‘miniature’ mode, along with toy camera, which lets user further adjust colour tones between cool and warm. So fun, effective and dynamic looking results can be achieved with the need to first take an evening class in Photoshop.

 

With HDMI output offered along with vacant microphone port, Full HD video shooting at 25fps is supplemented with an on-board wind filter for outdoor filming and a couple of interesting capture options. There’s Movie Digital Zoom, which carries out a sensor crop to achieve the illusion your zoom capability is bigger than it is, plus the video diary-alike Video Snapshot function, which can be enabled or disabled via the menus and is again similar to the Movie Digest function offered by Canon’s latest generation compacts. This allows the shooting of two, four or eight second bursts which are combined into one ‘movie’.

 

When zooming in users are faced with the need to adjust focus manually, but to be honest it’s usually quicker to do this than wait for the camera to catch up. Video picture and sound are commendably crisp, though the on-board microphone does inevitably pick up the sound of your fingers making their manual adjustments.

 

Canon EOS 600D Verdict

 

You know that a new digital SLR from Canon or Nikon is not going to be a clunker and that’s the case with the 600D: it’s another excellent if slightly pricey tool for anyone upgrading from a humble pocket point and shooter. All most of us want is to take shots that are a fair representation of what the eye can see, albeit within a fixed frame and the 600D delivers that and more.
 

Canon EOS 600D release date: Out now, link Canon

Canon EOS 600D price: £699-£749

Canon EOS 600D Specs:

• Sensor: 18 effective megapixel, APS-C sized CMOS sensor
• Lens: 18-55mm kit zoom on test
• Screen: 3-inches, 1040k resolution
• Viewfinder: Pentamirror
• Stabilisation: Sensor shift+electronic
• Video: 1920x1080 pixels at 29.97fps
• Storage: SD, SDHC or SDXC media card
• Battery:440 photos per charge
• Connections:USB 2.0, AV out, mini HDMI plus external microphone slot
• Dimensions/Weight:133.1x99.5x79.7mm, 570g

Posted by Gavin Stoker

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Google Announces Google Talk Video Chat for Android 2.3.4

Back when we reviewed the Nexus S and Android 2.3, one of our only complaints was that gingerbread sorely needed front facing video chat support. Third party video chat clients take time to be updated to support new devices, and at that point there wasn't a simple solution. It seemed inevitable that Google would leverage existing Google Talk video support to enable video chat not just between phones but also the desktop.

Google today announced just what we've been waiting for. First party video chat support is coming in Android 2.3.4 to Nexus S devices as an OTA update in the next few weeks. Other Android 2.3+ devices will get the update in the future depending on manufacturer OTA update releases. 

The update will enable video chat support on devices over 3G, 4G (if your carrier supports it) or WiFi between enabled Android 2.3+ smartphones and tablets, and the desktop Google Talk client. 

 

In the client, a video or voice chat button will appear next to contacts which can then be tapped to initiate the chat. The client will suspend video chat and continue audio as well if the video chat session loses focus in Android, and any text chat recieved will be superimposed on the ongoing video chat. The interface looks like a slimmed-down version of what we saw in Android 3.0 on the Motorola Xoom. 

Google has also provided a short video demonstrating overall functionality. 

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The future of HTC smartphones: HTC Kingdom and Rider [photo]

Want a free glimpse into HTC?s Android smartphone future? Please remember the cost of admission when judging the quality of these megapixel-deficient photos. The HTC Kingdom and Rider will be the next qHD-packing smartphones unleashed to the Android community, following in the footsteps of the HTC Sensation. There?s two certainties for HTC?s top-tier Android smartphones: ...


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How Constructive Employee Feedback Can Improve Performance Management

Why do Managers shy away from giving performance feedback, both positive and negative? Constructive feedback is crucial to career development, employee satisfaction, employee retention and employee motivation. Employee feedback should be given as frequently as possible; both formally through the annual performance review forms and ensuing discussions, but also informally through ongoing conversations and coaching. Managers really lose a golden opportunity to motivate their employees if they forget to praise an employee on doing a great job, or ineffectively praise the employee by providing no personalized examples of how that employee performed well. On the other hand, there is nothing quite so disheartening as learning for the first time during an annual review that some aspect of your performance has been lacking for the past 6 months, but you were never notified. Feedback gives employees the opportunity to change behavior and also to charge forward, but if they don’t know what worked and what didn’t, how can we expect them to perform to their full potential?

Giving feedback doesn’t really need to be that scary – being prepared up front can take much of the fear out of the meeting and set the stage for a constructive and productive discussion. Where you will be holding the discussion, what you will say and when to have the conversation are all important to the ultimate success of the message. Feedback should not be a one-sided conversation; Managers should be prepared to allow the employee to provide their input into the situation and to actively listen as they do so and ask appropriate questions.

Remember, the goal of performance feedback and counseling conversations is always to work with the employee to improve their performance, in a dignified, constructive manner and to reward them for a job well done!

FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS F5 NETWORKS EPICOR SOFTWARE EMULEX EMS TECHNOLOGIES

Change Generation: Jason Ross And JackThreads Take The Sample Sale Online

Jason Ross is the founder of JackThreads, "Where guys can find exceptional value on top tier Men's fashion." Ross dissolved a failing Sports merchandise business and created JackThreads, acquired last year by Thrillist and now has over 800,000 members.

[twistage f3611e4d4e240]

*In Partnership with

 

About Jason Ross: Raised a discount shopper with an eye for exclusive fashion -- especially streetwear and sneaker brands -- Jason Ross started writing the JackThreads business plan in 2006 with a goal to fill the void for great deals on exclusive men's apparel. JackThreads launched on July 31, 2008.

About JackThreads: JackThreads is an online shopping community selling apparel, shoes, and accessories from top-tier streetwear and contemporary fashion brands. All goods are guaranteed authentic and are exclusively priced for our members.

About shatterbox: Born to show young people that happy careers happen. The site features video vignettes of young professionals who have found fulfillment in fascinating careers. It also offers a dynamic social network, a resource blog and a brand new program to help launch young people into dream careers. The "Make Your Mark" competition gives $1,000 each month to a passionate young person trying to make their career dreams reality. From designers and musicians to filmmakers and entrepreneurs, shatterbox wants to help you make your mark.

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HTC Kingdom and Rider Android phones spotted

Here are a couple of leaks to kick off your Friday morning: the HTC Kingdom (left) and the HTC Rider (right) were both spotted and photographed recently by 911Sniper. Specs for the Rider and the Kingdom are slim, so we can only report on what’s apparent in the images. Both phones clearly run Android and appear to have 4.3-inch 960 x 540 qHD displays, although even that’s not confirmed. The circles around the main icons on the Rider remind us of an EVO device (perhaps this is Sprint bound?), and we definitely dig the red exterior. We doubt this is the last we’ll see of both phones, so we’re looking forward to clearer shots and more spec leaks in the

QUALCOMM QUANTA COMPUTER RESEARCH IN MOTION ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS SAIC

Mobile Photosynth Panorama App

The Photosynth team has put together a new application to create Photosynth panoramas on your mobile device. Photosynth panoramas are a little different from typical synths in that they are a single stitched image of a space, rather than a lot of individual images from different angles that are bound together in a explorable volumetric space.

Eric Bennett joined me at Vertical World to talk about how it works using Tony Ernst as our climbing shooter. You can read more about this release on the Photosynth blog, and see the Panorama that Eric created on Photosynth.net, you can also see the one Tony created. This new release is available now in the iTunes App Store with other platforms to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Streets of Hanoi. April 2010 ..Video

http://youtu.be/BV_CDrWlNrE

http://youtu.be/uofxNIBHHxA

I hope these show up???

:smiliex:

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Remember Iraq?

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The Weakness Of A Strong Hand

Graeme Robertson outlines truths about dictatorships. Among them: [S]uggesting that dictators can force better policies upon their people assumes that a dictator is likely to know what those better policies are. The idea that there are technocratic solutions to most...

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Protecting Backyards, At All Costs

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Time for an Intervention

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Why Coca-Cola Isn't Ditching BPA

BPA, an estrogen-mimicking chemical found in food and drink can linings, adhesives, and many plastics, has been repeatedly linked to breast cancer, early puberty, infertility, and other health problems. The stuff is really bad for you. And yet Coca-Cola, a company that sells more cans than almost anyone else, refuses to think about removing BPA from its linings. Now there's one more thing to worry about when you drink that delicious chemical-filled sludge known as Coke (yes, we're guilty, too).

A recent Coca-Cola shareholder resolution to remove BPA from can linings was approved by 26% (one in four) shareholders. As You Sow, a nonprofit shareholder advocacy group, claims that a 10% vote is usually enough to spur a company to action. Coke's response? The Vancouver Sun reports:

Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company, told shareholders that the science just isn't there to justify a shift away from BPA, saying if the company had any doubt "about the safety of our packaging, we would not continue to use it. It's that simple." Kent said that this doesn't mean the company isn't exploring alternatives, but emphasized the beverage giant isn't in the packaging business and takes its direction from regulatory agencies.

What's the science? Well, a recent study concluding that BPA is safe was recently discovered to have been written by researchers with strong ties to the chemical industry. You might think that a company that produces such feel-good products as Honest Tea and FUZE Healthy Infusions would at least consider the slew of not bought-and-paid-for BPA studies that have been released in recent years (and the fact that the substance has been banned in baby bottles in Europe, Canada, and even China, where the toothpaste can kill you)--but that doesn't seem to be happening.

"I think they just feel they would be too vulnerable if they admit there might be a problem," says Michael Passoff, Senior Strategist at As You Sow. " They feel they have to defend this product no matter what, where other companies we're seeing recognize the risk. Coke is the only [company we talk to] that just says there is no risk whatsoever, the science you're reading is wrong." According to Passoff, companies that are paying attention to potential BPA hazards include Heinz, General Mills, and Hains Celestial, which are all launching BPA-free product lines.

It's possible that Coca-Cola has asserted its position on BPA so many times that it's fearful of what will happen if it reverses. And it's true, basically admitting they've been poisoning us all these years might not go over so well. But that still won't make it any less true.

The thing is, Coke may be making a bad financial decision even if it genuinely believes that it is correct and BPA is safe. "As investors, that's our concern--that Coke is not prepared for market change, that Coke is just ignoring growing scientific concern, regulatory action, and consumer backlash," says Passoff. If BPA regulations are eventually passed in the U.S., Coke shareholders should hope that the company's scientists--or its can manufacturer's scientists--have secretly been slaving away at finding a decent alternative to its BPA-lined cans. Because if they haven't, everyone's favorite canned caffeine vendor (RIP Four Loko) will have to scramble pretty fast.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user Elsie esq.]

Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or email.

Read More: 6 Steps to Avoiding BPA in Your Daily Life

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Prince William's Uniform

A subtle tribute to the forces in Afghanistan. The Royal Family's engagement with military service at all levels is something Americans don't always appreciate. It's the highest test of patriotism - and perhaps because of their privilege, each generation serves....

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Intel Teases Its After-Thunderbolt Connector, With Laser Power

Intel tech is powering the Thunderbolt computer connector that may revolutionize how we hook up gear--but Intel is already working on its successor, due in 2015. It's five times faster still, and uses lasers.

The Thunderbolt system is a development of Light Peak--a system of serial data transmission that Intel has been working on for quite some while. In its current implementation it's based on copper wires just like the rival USB 3 protocol, but is much faster. This week Intel showed its next-gen system, which is based on a different technology--silicon photonics.

When this system arrives, with its combination of laser diodes and fiber optic interconnects, it'll be capable of carrying data at 50 gigabits per second, and can cope with cable lengths up to 100 meters (much further than electrical wiring because the light-based signal isn't attenuated so much with distance). In comparison, Thunderbolt runs at 10 gigabits per second, bi-directionally--five times slower--and USB 3.0 runs at 5 gigabits per second.

Intel predicts it'll have perfected the system by 2015 and it'll be useful for the usual computers, tablets, smartphones that we're used to hooking wires to today. But why will we want to adopt it? There're a number of reasons as well as that fantastic speed, and they include price--the cables could end up being very cheap, and they'll be skinnier than the chunky copper systems used for USB and even Thunderbolt. Perhaps the most surprising reason is that we may use the same connection to our HDTVs...but not the kind we're used to, with 1080p-resolution screens. Instead, the bandwidth of Intel's system is capable of supporting 4k TV. This may be the next-gen high-definition standard, currently finding use in some cinema-grade digital video cameras--it's for screens that are 4,000 pixels wide, more than double 1080p TV's resolution in both horizontal and vertical dimensions.

So do we need to worry about a short lifespan for Thunderbolt, even as its amazing promise is beginning to emerge? Nope--Intel sees the tech as being complimentary to its upcoming system (which has us wondering if the photonics future Intel had planned for Light Peak, and thus Thunderbolt, has now been evolved into a separate product). But you may want to start saving for that super-HD TV that will make your existing one look ridiculously low-tech in just four or five years.

[Image via Flickr, vissago]

Chat about this news with Kit Eaton on Twitter and Fast Company too.

Read More: Most Innovative Companies: Intel

NETGEAR NCR NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS MOTOROLA

Marvel Entertainment's new MMO set to be free

Marvel's new MMO superhero game is set to be free to play, in news that is sure to please penny-pinching comic book guys everywhere.

Marvel Entertainment announced that its Gazillion-developed new Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) super-hero game will be free to play at a San Francisco event this week.

Micro-payment strategy

Marvel plans on going down the FarmVille route, offering the main bulk of the game free to players, with options for micro-payments for those players that want to buy virtual goods in the game.

Gazillion Entertainment President and COO Dave Brevick said his studio's new Marvel MMO game will be a legitimately free experience that will also be a "triple A, high-quality, high-production value experience that is very accessible."

Gamers will have the chance to play as one of their favourite Marvel superheroes ? including Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and many others ? and the game will initially launch on PC.

Expect more news on the new Marvel MMO from E3 2011 this coming June.

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Lost with no direction, but enjoying it non the same !

Hello good folk,

I'm currently swanning about in Morocco having traveled from the UK, I guess eventually I will need to get home especially when the old resources run out, but for now I have some time. So in short I am asking any travelers out there to offer some friendly companionship as well as direction as i'm more than happy to travel anywhere (within reason) especially if in europe.

Look forward to receiving your good word, take travelers of the world, and we all are ;-)

Kindest regards

Ikram

NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS NOVELLUS SYSTEMS NOVELL NETWORK APPLIANCE NETGEAR

Tyre slashed in Agadir

Hi All

I stayed at the *Hotel La Petite Suede* in Agadir for two nights. They have reasonably safe off-street parking in front of the hotel, but when I arrived at my bike this morning my front tyre had been slashed right through to the tube and my cover was torn quite severely. I strongly suspect that it was done by one of the staff......a nasty little man who seems to dislike westerners. I checked out immediately and moved to a more expensive hotel a block away. I think it best to avoid this hotel completely

My front tyre and tube is now useless. I have a spare tube but am badly in need of a 21 inch front tyre.....any suggestions will be much appreciated

Cheers for now
Neville

ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS ELECTRONIC ARTS ECLIPSYS EASTMAN KODAK CO EARTHLINK

Cracks In Assad's Army, Ctd

Civil servants are breaking ranks as well: At least 233 members of President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Ba'ath party have resigned en masse, according to Insan blogger Wissam Tarif. ... Tarif tweeted that the army even opened live bullets on members...

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Reid to GOPers: Let's Vote on It

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Ping 98: Kinect Calorie Challenge, Office 365, Startup America Partnership, and more

This is another installment of Boys without Foys!  Adam and Paul bring you some of the hottest stories that Microsofites are pinging each other about... and have some good time poking fun at each other in the process.  Check out this episode for these fun stories and more!

Try Out Office 365

Startup America Partnership

Microsoft saves the trees!

Kinect Sports: Calorie Challenge

Become a fan of Ping! on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter: (@PaulMest) (@LFoy)

... we are a mere 2 episdoes away from reaching 100!  Leave a comment or send mail to Ping@microsoft.com if there is anything special you'd like to see for the 100th episode.

QUANTUM QLOGIC PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS

Malkin Award Nominee

"It?s the left; it?s this culture of death. The far-left is livid about killing babies. They want to do this, they want to destroy ... If a woman is a lesbian, what advantage does she have over a married woman?...

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Marrying For Love And Money

Sharon Astyk reminds straight people why gay marriage matters: The institution of heterosexual marriage hasn't been doing so hot - in part because as a society we're so unwilling to talk about the legal and economic relationship that comes with...

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Apple is not evil, it?s just a company

The “Apple is tracking you” chatter is the tech news equivalent of the “Obama’s birth certificate” meme. The facts are secondary to fear, uncertainty and doubt, to people wanting to see a conspiracy where there isn’t one and a certain type of journalist fuelling that. Apple has released a solid statement explaining why the database ...


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The Motorola Xoom Giveaway, Final Round

We've given away three Motorola Xoom tablets already, this is your last opportunity to win one. Read on for details on how to enter.

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Sports Watches: The Group Test

With the summer fast approaching and the London marathon getting us in the mood, it's time to don those shoes and hit the graveled track. Baring that in mind these GPS enabled watches can track your route, pace and vital statistics and are easy to check whilst running. The best of them are also stacked with online features, allowing you to track your progress and compare with fellow runners around the world.

 

 

Best: Triathletes
Timex Iron Man Global Trainer
£258
Love: Multi-sport features
Hate: Complex setup. Poor GPS. Bulky. Buttons tricky to use while running
Timex Iron Man Global Trainer review I Read full review I Link: Timex

 

 

Best: Tight budgets
Adidas Adistar GT
£54
Love: Bright screen. Basic but effective features
Hate: Complicated setup, awkward controls. No GPS or online functions
Adidas Adistar GT review I Link: Adidas

 

 

Best: Overall
Garmin Forerunner 410
£290
Love: Lots of info, well presented. Good GPS
Hate: A tad bulky
Garmin Forerunner 410 review I Link: Garmin

 

 

Best: Heart-rate info
Polar RS300X G1
£100
Love: Extensive built-in training features. Built-in heart-rate monitor
Hate: Poor GPS adaptor. Costly USB adaptor
Polar RS300X G1 review I Link: Polar

 

 

Best: Ease of use
Nike+ TomTom Sportwatch GPS
£180
Love: Easy setup
Hate: Poor GPS signal
Nike+ TomTom Sportwatch GPS review I Read full review I Link: Nike

 

 

Posted by Kieran Alger

APPLIED MATERIALS ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ARROW ELECTRONICS ASML HOLDING ASUSTEK COMPUTER

Complete Rules of Entrepreneurship

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today.

Entrepreneurs, defined. Merriam-Webster defines an entrepreneur as "one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise;" however, Business Insider columnist James Altucher believes this definition is inadequate. Altucher, who has started, invested in, and advised dozens of businesses, has created his own definitive 100 rules for being an entrepreneur. Most of the rules on this comprehensive list address the initial challenges of launching a new business—but some rules also apply to those larger, more stable, companies as well. Which rules do you follow? What's missing from the list? Let us know below.

Is the start-up bubble just "blubble?" That's the word Michael Arrington is using, at least. In a TechCrunch piece published this weekend, Arrington asserts that the state of the start-up world is a far-cry from the 1999 to 2000 years of cash and burn. "This isn't a bubble," he writes. "It's more like a Blubble. A blubble? Yes, a blubble. Because there is a lot of whining going on." Arrington asserts that start-ups 11 years ago were encouraged to raise hundreds of millions in venture capital and spend it on anything remotely useful, while today's start-ups are much leaner. High valuations on Facebook and Twitter have stoked the "bubble" buzz, he says, but start-ups are hardly raising enough funds to start using the B-word officially. Well, most start-ups at least. "Absolutely no one is telling start-ups to raise and spend money as fast as they can. With the possible exception of Color. I have no idea what those guys are up to over there in crazy picture-sharing land."

Happy employees work here. In the mist of a gradual economic recovery, how do you retain employees? Fortune highlights the best practices from three companies that made this year's 100 Best Companies to Work For list: Zappos, DreamWorks Animation, and Teach for America. Some of the perks include a live-and-work-from-anywhere policy, free dry-cleaning, meals and medical care on campus, and the ability of veto hiring decisions if a job candidate doesn't fit the company culture. One recruiting manager, Christa Foley, says: "We're looking for people who don't take themselves too seriously." The company she works for interviews job candidates in rooms with weird names, such as an Oprah-style talk show set where candidates sit on a couch next to their HR host.

The stalemate is over. Twitter is staying in San Francisco, the company announced on its blog Friday, the New York Times reports. The news puts to rest a months-long stand-off over during which Twitter threatened to leave its home by the bay, and officials debated whether Twitter should be allowed to benefit from a special tax exemption to San Francisco's only-in-the-state payroll tax. In order to take the break, Twitter is moving into a district of the Central Market neighborhood newly zoned as payroll-tax-exempt. When? "We don't yet have a timeline for our relocation, but we expect we will move into our new space in mid-2012. We can't wait," Sean Garrett posted for Twitter. What's yet to be seen is how the city reacts to similar relocation threats from other local, growing tech companies such as Zynga.

Redmond rethinks employee comp. In an effort to keep from employees from departing for start-ups, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has unveiled new rules governing employee pay, according to an internal company memo published by GeekWire. The retooled compensation scheme would raise base salaries while reducing deferred compensation awarded in the form of stock. In addition, Microsoft's performance-rating system will be retooled, and special consideration will be paid to "early and mid-level R&D, mid-level company-wide and certain geographies," the memo says. In a post titled "What Microsoft CEO Ballmer Gets Wrong About Employee Compensation," Mogulite's Amy Tennery observes a.) the shout-out for oft-maligned middle managers is surprising; and b.) "For the less-stock-more-cash strategy to be a boon to employees, Microsoft shares would need to decline significantly over time."

Big gains for tablets predicted. When the iPad was introduced a year ago, critics complained it was simply a bigger version of the iPhone—without the actual ability to make a phone call. The iPad and its competitors have since proven themselves highly useful both for consumer and for commercial use. Goldman Sachs forecasts tablets will account for 17 percent of all wireless data demand by 2020, as reported by All Things Digital this morning. Smartphones remain far more prevalent than their larger counterparts (they can make phone calls after all), but this data proves tablets are fast becoming less a luxury and more a necessity for consumer and commercial use.

Marketing begins at home. Sure, customers research large purchases, such as electronics or automobiles, before heading to the store or showroom. Research shows that "coming out of the recession, consumers are more scrupulous about researching their everyday products such as diapers and detergent, too," the Wall Street Journal reports. More than one-fifth of consumers research food and beverage purchases online, one-third research pet products, and nearly 40 percent research baby products, data from consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail shows. Is this an early knell for the end of flashy in-store shelf displays and aisle-end promotions? Not necessarily, but it does mean retail stores and brands are boosting their investments in reaching consumers online first, including on social media. Eighty-three percent of consumer-product companies say they plan to increase their investments in shopper marketing over the next three years, according to a Booz & Co. survey.

Are you a winner? Eager to learn more about the ins-and-outs of social media and how to apply them to your business? An American Express-sponsored Facebook contest could land you (and four other small companies) a trip to Facebook's offices in Palo Alto, California, as well as $2,500 in Facebook ad credits and a $20,000 check, ReadWriteWeb reports. How can you enroll? Why the AmEx OPEN Facebook page, of course.

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Hauppauge Colossus: HD PVR with HDMI Support

When Hauppauge introduced the original HD PVR in 2008 its component plus TOSLINK (optical S/PDIF) capture of 5.1 Dolby Digital and up to 1080i analog video was a revolutionary, and long overdue, shift for the home theater PC (HTPC) based digital video recorder (DVR). Finally there was a viable option for recording DRM-free high definition (HD) content. The device was far from perfect however, suffering from stability (I RMA’d four personally); furthermore, as a large external USB device, it didn’t provide the most appealing form factor for many installations.

Today we’re looking at Hauppauge’s second iteration of the HD PVR concept, this time as a standard height PCIe x1 device dubbed Colossus. It offers all of the previous capture options while adding HDMI input to the feature list.

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