How to set up your new HDTV

59 min.

Geoff Morrison , HD Guru

It?s not possible for a TV to be set at the factory with the best settings possible for your home. Take 20 minutes or so on your end, and you can drastically improve the picture quality. If you just bought a TV, or just haven't found the time to mess around with your set,?here are tips for doing it right.?

If you really?want to nail it,?we suggest a?setup Blu-ray. They?re cheap, and the?Disney WOW?disc is especially helpful and easy to follow. (A step-up from that would be the $30?ISF HDTV?Calibration Wizard.)

Straight?out of the box
All HDTVs generally?have a start-up?screen that lets the user to choose between a home mode and a store demo mode.?This is extremely important. The store mode is designed to produce the brightest image ? at the expense of black level, contrast ratio and energy efficiency. To obtain the best picture select the home mode. You will still be able to make fine-tuning?adjustments to maximize image quality.

The screen will also ask you to choose your?language, and will ask about using over-the-air antenna or cable/satellite. If you don?t use an antenna, make sure you select cable/satellite.?You don?t want the TV to go into the tuner mode,?because?you won't see an image.

Special instructions for smart TVs
If your new HDTV has Internet connectivity for streaming movies and other content, the next step should be connecting to the Internet. All smart TVs have an Ethernet connection if you want to wire the TV directly. Many also have Wi-Fi for wireless set-up. Follow the on-screen instructions or the?owner?s manual for the proper steps.

Once completed, you should make sure you have the latest version of the TV's software, by performing a firmware update as per your TV's instructions. The update may add new features, Internet services and even apps, and will assure you have the latest and best version of your new HDTV. Don't skip this:?Nearly every TV we test has newer firmware waiting for it when we connect it to the Internet.

Picture modes
Nearly all TVs have picture modes that adjust multiple settings to create a certain look to the image. The best idea is to start with the most accurate setting, then adjust as you see fit. With nearly all TVs, this mode is called ?Movie,? ?Cinema,? or something similar. If these aren?t options, ?Standard? is likely closest.

If you?ve already?been watching your TV for more than a few minutes, switching to one of these modes is going to be a shock. It will seem red (warm) and soft. It isn?t, which I?ll explain as we go.

Contrast
This control adjusts the bright parts of the image: Clouds, white shirts, snow, etc. The idea is to set this control high enough that the image ?pops,? but not so high as to mask detail, like cloud?textures or shirt?wrinkles. All TVs have a maximum contrast setting, above which you?re not making the image any brighter,?you?re just making near-white objects totally white.

If you?re using a setup disc, the contrast pattern will have a ramp of progressively whiter bars. The idea is to be able see most of these (but not those labeled ?above white?).

If you?re not using a setup disc, find a TV show (ideally a live sporting event) that takes place outside. Skiing works great for this, though baseball does as well (fly balls, any shot of the sky). The idea is to be able to set the control so that you can still see detail in bright white objects. There should almost never be bright white blobs on the screen. If there are, turn the contrast control down until those blobs get their detail back.

There is no average number to use as a guideline for setting?contrast, but it?s almost never 100 percent,?or anything close. Start somewhere around 80 percent and go from there.

Brightness
This is the opposite of the contrast control. Despite its name, brightness control adjusts the dark parts of the image: Shadows, black hair, black leather jackets. The idea here is to set it low enough that the picture has lots of contrast (as in, the difference in the light and dark parts of the image), but not so far that there?s just huge swaths of blackness on screen during any night scene.

If you?re using a setup disc, the brightness pattern will have a ramp of progressively darker black bars. The idea is to be able see most of these (but not those labeled ?below black? or similar).

If you?re setting this by eye, any night or darkly lit scene will do. Set the control fairly low, down?past the point where you lose detail. Now gradually increase it until you see detail in the darkness. If the picture looks gray or washed out, you?ve brought your brightness too far up.

Color?and?tint
Generally speaking, you shouldn?t have to adjust these at all. These are holdovers from the old tube (CRT) TV days. With component and HDMI connections, the TV shouldn?t need adjustment to color or tint.

But so you know, color is color saturation. Set too high, people will look sunburned, and everything will seem cartoony. Tint adjusts the green/red in the image (Martian/lobster). Without specific color filters (that usually come with setup discs), you can?t adjust either of these settings these correctly. Skip.

Sharpness
This is a highly misleading control. Generally speaking, sharpness control adds enhancement to the image to make it appear sharp. Ironically, by doing so, it?s actually masking true fine detail in the image. This setting should be set as low as possible. Some TVs actually?soften?the image if you set it too low (bizarre, to be sure), so watch out for that. Look for dark lines on a bright background, like the?edges of buildings for instance. Lower this setting so there isn?t any ghost line next to the dark edge. This ghost line is called ?edge enhancement,? and goes a long way in making the image look artificial.

Once you get used to the naturalness of the image without edge enhancement, you?ll never go back.

Color temperature
This one is going to be tough. Not because it requires any labor on your part, it?s just going to do something to the image that at first is going to seem bad.

Color temperature is how bluish or reddish the image looks. Picture a typical scene of people walking down a street. Set the color temp too cool, and it will look like they?re walking down the street in winter, with that season?s normal bluish tones. Set the color temp too warm, and it will be a reddish warm day instead.

With most TVs, the ideal setting is ?warm? or ?low.? In some cases, this is too warm, and ?normal? is closer. If you?re changing the settings for the first time, and the TV was set in the ?cool? color temp mode, everything will look wrong, and even??normal? will appear to your eye as too warm. Give your eyes time to adjust. Watch on ?normal? for a few hours, and then ?cool? will seem incredibly blue.

Backlight
This is an LCD-specific control ??plasma TVs don?t have backlights.?Think of the backlight setting as a volume control for the image. Turn it up, and the entire picture (bright whites and dark blacks alike) get brighter. Turn it down, and everything gets darker.?

If you leave this turned all the way up, not only are you wasting energy, but at night your TV can be hard to watch. Modern LCDs are extremely bright, and watching such a small bright object in a dark room can create severe eye fatigue.

For critical viewing, or watching at night, the idea is to get the best black levels, while still creating a watchable image. Once you set contrast and brightness correctly, turn the backlight control all the way down. This will likely be too dark for most viewing. Turn it up to the point where it looks the best. Often, at night, this could be as low as 20 percent, depending on the TV.?During the day, you can?set this as high as you want.

Interestingly, no setup disc offers instructions on how to set this control.?Read more on this in our?buyer-beware article on TV backlights.

For more on what your HDTV?s controls do, read our?Guide to HDTV Settings.

You can catch up with?Geoff Morrison on Twitter at?@TechWriterGeoff. His novel, "Undersea," is now in paperback.

More?from HD Guru:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/how-set-your-new-hdtv-1C7657756

tim howard goal

Morales mum on Cuba trip after Chavez surgery

HAVANA (AP) ? Bolivian President Evo Morales made a lightning trip this weekend to Havana where ally Hugo Chavez is convalescing after cancer surgery, but was mostly silent Monday on the details of his trip or even whether he met with the ailing Venezuelan leader.

The secrecy surrounding his visit was sure to add to the uncertainty surrounding Chavez's condition, despite reassurances Monday from Venezuelan officials that the president was slowly improving.

The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard from since his Dec. 11 surgery. Venezuelan officials have given few specifics about his condition and have offered no information about his long-term prognosis.

Luis Vicente Leon, a pollster who heads the Venezuelan firm Datanalisis, said the government's daily but vague updates on the president's health seem designed to calm anxious Chavez supporters rather than keep the country fully informed. For government opponents, however, he said the updates likely raise more questions than they answer.

"It's more for the Chavez movement than the country in general," Leon said. "There's nothing that one can verify, and the credibility is almost nil."

Morales did not speak to the foreign media while in Havana. Journalists had been summoned to cover his arrival and departure, but hours later that invitation was canceled. No explanation was given, though it could have been due to confusion over Morales' itinerary as he apparently arrived later than initially scheduled.

Cuban state media published photos of President Raul Castro receiving Morales at the airport and said he came "to express his support" for Chavez, his close ally, but did not give further details.

At an event in southern Bolivia on Monday, Morales made no mention of his trip to Cuba, even though aides had told reporters that he might say something about Chavez's recovery. Later, Morales' communications minister did not respond directly to a question about whether the two South American presidents had met face-to-face, saying only that he "was with the people he wanted to be with" and had no plans to return to Cuba.

"The report that President Morales has given us is that Chavez is in a process of recovery after the terrible operation he underwent," Amanda Davila told The Associated Press.

Morales is the second Latin American leader to visit since Chavez announced two weeks ago that he would have the operation. Rafael Correa of Ecuador came calling the day of the surgery. Uruguay's Jose Mujica has expressed interest in making the trek.

The visits underscore Chavez's importance to regional allies as a prominent voice of the Latin American left, as well as how seriously they are taking his latest bout with cancer.

Chavez underwent his fourth cancer-related operation of the last year-and-a-half on Dec. 11, two months after winning reelection to a six-year term. Venezuelan officials say Chavez is stable and his recovery is progressing, though he was treated for a respiratory infection apparently due to the surgery.

If Chavez is unable to continue in office, the Venezuelan constitution calls for new elections to be held. Chavez has asked his followers to back his vice president and hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, in that event.

In Caracas, Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read a statement Monday saying that Chavez is showing "a slight improvement with a progressive trend," is keeping up with events back home and sends Christmas greetings to Venezuelans.

Maduro and several Cabinet ministers attended a Christmas Eve Mass in Caracas to pray for the president. Maduro again assured Venezuelans that the president was recovering, though he and other officials continued to strongly suggest that Chavez would not return in time for his Jan. 10 inauguration.

Opposition leaders have argued that the constitution does not allow the president's swearing-in to be postponed, and say new elections should be called if Chavez is unable to take the oath on time.

But Attorney General Cilia Flores insisted the constitution lets the Supreme Court administer the oath of office at any time if the National Assembly is unable to do it Jan. 10 as scheduled.

"Those who are counting on that date, hoping to thwart the Revolution and the will of the people, will end up frustrated once again," Flores said. "What we have is a president who has been re-elected, he will take over, will be sworn in on that day, another day, that is a formality."

Jaqueline Farias, the head of government for the Caracas area, told the AP outside the church that "we are very happy because each hour the 'commandante' is showing signs that he is overcoming this phase of the operation, his fourth operation."

When asked if the president was breathing on his own, she said she didn't know and walked off, refusing to answer more questions.

Dozens of Chavez supporters gathered outside the church, some carrying posters of the president or wearing red T-shirts decorated with a photograph of just Chavez's eyes. Some women rushed to the church after seeing footage of the Mass on state television and yelled at security guards to let them inside.

"Chavez is going to be mad, if he sees this," said Andres Sanchez, an unemployed Chavez supporter watching a woman shouting at a guard that she wanted to pray for Chavez, too. "He told the ministers to talk to the people."

"Venezuela without Chavez is like a ship without a rudder," Sanchez said, his voice wobbling. "I pray to God that he recovers because he is a man who loves the people, the children, the elderly and everyone a little bit."

___

Olson reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Christopher Toothaker and Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Paola Flores in La Paz, Bolivia, contributed to this report.

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/morales-mum-cuba-trip-chavez-surgery-232749659.html

2012 grammys

Squeezing Boobs Can Stop Breast Cancer

If you need another excuse to show some love to the mammaries, scientists have found that squeezing breasts can actually prevent malignant breast cells from triggering cancer. Yes, squeezing. Guys and gals, do your part in stopping cancer, please.

Gautham Venugopalan, a lead member on the research team from the University of California in Berkeley, says that experiments have shown that applying physical pressure to the cells can guide them back to a normal growth pattern, as opposed to just letting it follow cancerous growth. Specifically:

"People have known for centuries that physical force can influence our bodies... When we lift weights our muscles get bigger. The force of gravity is essential to keeping our bones strong. Here we show that physical force can play a role in the growth?and reversion?of cancer cells."

The experiment involved growing malignant cells within silicone and squeezing the silicone during the first stages of cell growth. Over time, those malignant cells started to grow normally. Venugopalan says that, those malignant cells just need "the right cues to guide them back to a healthy growth pattern". Squeezing them are those right cues. So, folks. Let's squeeze more. [Karramba Production/Shutterstock]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5970024/squeezing-boobs-can-stop-breast-cancer

target

3 Ways To Purchase Foreclosed Properties - Hawaii Real Estate

The process of buying a foreclosed home is slightly different from the process of buying a non-foreclosure home. ?If you want to invest in foreclosures, therefore, it is important to understand the different ways by which to purchase a foreclosed home.

There are three main ways to buy a foreclosed home.

Buying before the auction
Some delinquent homeowners may want to sell their homes before facing an actual foreclosure.In this instance, the homeowner, in agreement with the lender, agrees to sell the home for less than the amount owed on the mortgage.This is called a short sale. Short sales are ?pre-foreclosures?, of sorts. By broadening your home search to include short sales, you can identify homes that may be sold at a discount.

Buying at the auction
Another way by which you can invest in foreclosure homes is by buying the home at auction. From area to area, the legal requirements for the sale of a foreclosed home at auction may differ. If you plan to buy at auction, you?ll want to be familiar with your area?s customary judicial proceedings.

Buying after the auction
Buying after the auction means buying bank-owned properties. This can be the most lucrative and safest means of investing foreclosure properties. This is because lenders often reduce the sales prices of their home inventory in order to ?sell it quickly?. It can be expensive for banks to own foreclosed homes, and few banks are equipped for managing owned homes. Check with your local real estate agent to see what, if any, bank-owned homes are available for sale in your area.

The process of buying a distressed home is different from the process of buying a ?traditional? one. Therefore, regardless of which path you follow to buy a foreclosed property, have an experienced real estate professional on your team.

Source: http://blog.hawaiimoves.com/2012/12/tips-to-buy-foreclosed-home/

us open

Few memorials to forgotten victim: Gunman's mother

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? When people here speak of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, they use the number 26: the ones killed after Adam Lanza stormed his way into the school.

When the bells of Newtown toll mournfully Friday morning to honor the victims of last week's shooting rampage, they'll do so 26 times, for each child and staff member killed.

Rarely do residents mention the first person police said Lanza killed that morning: his mother, Nancy, who was shot in the head four times while she lay in bed.

That makes 27.

A private funeral was held Thursday in New Hampshire for Nancy Lanza, according to Donald Briggs, the police chief in Kingston, N.H., where her funeral was held. About 25 family members attended the ceremony.

In Newtown, where makeshift memorials of stuffed animals, angels, candles, flowers and balloons have blossomed on patches of grass throughout town, there is only one noticeable tribute to Nancy Lanza. It's a letter written by a friend on yellow paper affixed, screwed and shellacked onto a red piece of wood.

"Others now share pain for choices you faced alone; May the blameless among us throw the first stone," it reads in part.

No one outwardly blames Nancy Lanza for the rampage. But authorities have said the gunman, her 20-year-old son Adam, used the guns she kept at their home to carry out a massacre that became the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history and has stirred lawmakers to call for gun control laws.

Nationwide, churches will ring their bells 26 times at 9:30 Friday morning ? exactly a week after the shooting occurred ? in memory of the victims. Two gold balloons, one a 2, the other a 6, are tied to a bridge. Handwritten tributes mention 26 snowflakes. "26 angels will guide us," reads one.

The dearth of tributes to Nancy Lanza underscores the complicated mix of emotions surrounding her after the shooting.

In a small town where multiple funerals are taking place each day, where black-clad mourners stand in lines waiting to say goodbye to another child, many are incredibly angry at Nancy Lanza for not keeping her guns away from her son.

Some view her as a victim, but one whose guns were used to kill first-graders. And others think Nancy Lanza was an innocent victim, one who should be counted and included at memorials.

"It's a loss of life and, yes, her life mattered," said Christine Lombardi. "Yes, I do believe she should be included."

Others in Newtown are weary of the crush of media and have become reluctant to answer questions after a difficult week. But the subject of marking Nancy Lanza's death, along with those of the children and teachers killed by her son, seemed mainly to surprise two moms who stopped to place flowers at the memorial at Main and Sugar streets with their two grammar-school aged girls.

They paused, appeared bewildered, and looked at each other for a moment. Then one quietly said, "No, no," and they each took a girl's hand and led them away.

Newtown and environs weathered a fourth day of funerals Thursday as mourners laid to rest Catherine Hubbard, Benjamin Wheeler, Jesse Lewis and Allison Wyatt, all 6 years old; and Grace McDonnell, 7.

A service was held in Katonah, N.Y., for teacher Anne Marie Murphy, 52, who authorities believe helped shield some of her students from the rain of bullets. Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan compared her to Jesus.

"Like Jesus, Annie laid down her life for her friends," Dolan said. "Like Jesus, Annie's life and death brings light, truth, goodness and love to a world often shrouded in darkness, evil, selfishness and death."

A bell tolled Thursday at Newtown's St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church at the funeral for Catherine, who her family said would be remembered for her passion for animals and her constant smile.

Trinity Episcopal church on Main Street was filled to capacity for the funeral for Benjamin, described as a budding musician and Beatles fan. His service included a rendition of "Here Comes The Sun." About two dozen Boy Scout leaders lined the front pathway to the church in honor of the former Cub Scout.

In downtown Danbury, mourners filed into the ornate white-pillared First Congregational Church for a memorial service for 30-year-old teacher Lauren Rousseau. Friends wept at the altar as they remembered the spirited, hardworking, sunny-natured woman who brightened their lives with silliness and gave them all nicknames.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has asked people across Connecticut to observe a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m. Friday, which will mark a week since the shootings. The White House has said President Barack Obama will privately observe the moment of silence.

Places of worship and buildings with bells have been asked to ring them 26 times, for the victims at the school. Officials and clergy in many other states have said they will participate.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was one of the people to visit Newtown on Thursday, stopping by a firehouse.

The Obama administration will push to tighten gun laws in response to the shooting, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday, and Speaker John Boehner said the GOP-controlled House would consider the proposals.

Biden, who is overseeing the administration's response to Friday's shooting, said he and Obama are "absolutely committed" to curbing gun violence in the United States.

"Even if we can only save one life, we have to take action," he said.

Gun-control measures have faced fierce resistance in Congress for years, but that may be changing because of the events in Connecticut, which shocked the nation.

After the shooting, Obama signaled for the first time that he's willing to spend significant political capital on the issue. Some prominent gun-rights advocates on Capitol Hill ? Democrats and Republicans alike ? have expressed willingness to consider new measures.

Investigators have said that Nancy Lanza, a gun enthusiast, visited shooting ranges several times and that her son also visited an area range.

Authorities say Adam Lanza shot his mother at their home and then took her car and some of her guns to the school, where he broke in and opened fire. A Connecticut official said Nancy Lanza was shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Adam Lanza was wearing all black, with an olive-drab utility vest, during the school attack. Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the rampage.

Friends and acquaintances have described him as intelligent, but odd and quiet.

Friends said he would stare down at the floor and not speak when she brought him into a local pizzeria. They knew that he'd switched schools more than once and that she'd tried home schooling him. But while she occasionally expressed concern about his future during evenings at the bar, she never complained.

"I heard her as a parent. I always said that I wouldn't want to be in her shoes. But I thought, 'Wow. She holds it well,'" said Jon Tambascio, son of the pizzeria operator.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Melia, John Christoffersen and David Klepper in Newtown; Jim Fitzgerald in Katonah, N.Y.; and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/few-memorials-forgotten-victim-gunmans-mother-074052159.html

slainte the quiet man

Olympus VR-340

The Olympus VR-340 ($129.99 direct) is a modestly priced compact camera that, while not without its drawbacks, is quite capable when used in decent light. The 16-megapixel shooter uses a CCD sensor, so video is limited to 720p, but it does pack a 10x zoom lens and an impressive LCD into its compact, well-built chassis. If you're looking for a compact camera on a strict budget you could do a lot worse?the VR-340's performance falls right is in line with some of the better sub-$200 cameras we've tested, including the 8x-zooming Canon A4000 IS. Neither the Olympus nor the Canon equal our Editors' Choice point-and-shoot, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 in terms of image quality?but budget-minded shoppers will have to stretch to make that purchase.

Editors' Note: The Olympus VR-340 is sold as the VR-350 at Best Buy stores. Aside from the model number, the two cameras are identical in terms of design and performance. Our tests were performed on the VR-350 version of the camera.

Design and Features
The VR-340 is compact at 2.4 by 4.1 by 1.1 inches (HWD) and rather light at 6 ounces. Its body is metal, and feels quite sturdy?a nice touch for such an inexpensive camera. It's a little bit bigger than the 2.2-by-3.7-by-0.8 Samsung DV300F, a compact shooter that has a less ambitious 5x zoom lens, but does integrate Wi-Fi and a front LCD for self portraits.

The small size makes the 10x zoom lens all the more impressive. It starts out at a very wide 24mm and extends to cover a 240mm field of view (35mm equivalent). Its lens is wider than most in this class?the Canon A2400 IS starts out at 28mm?so you can capture more of a scene in your images without having to back up.

The rear display is 3 inches, which is standard on higher-end cameras but a nice touch on an entry-level model like this one. Its resolution is 460k dots, twice that of the Canon A2400 and A4000. Top-end point-and-shoots often have sharper screens, but I was still impressed by the sharpness exhibited by the VR-340's LCD. It's very bright, and the viewing angle is wide so you can look at it from the left or right?but it is a bit harder to see if you tilt the camera up or down.

There's an Intelligent Auto shooting mode that controls almost every aspect of the camera's settings for you?you can enable or disable the flash, set the resolution, set a Self Timer, and zoom the lens, but that's it. More advanced shooters can set the camera to Program mode, which allows you to control the Flash output, Macro shooting mode, Self Timer, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, ISO, Drive Mode, and resolution. Physical controls are sparse?there are buttons to navigate through the software menus, to start video recording, and to delete photos during playback, but everything else must be controlled via the software menu. If you'd like to take more control over settings, consider a more advanced camera like the Samsung EX2F?it's anything but budget, but it gives you almost as much control as a D-SLR.

Performance and Conclusions
The VR-340 lags behind other compacts in terms of speed. ?It requires 2.1 seconds to start and shoot, makes you wait 0.6-second between photos, and records a lengthy 0.5-second shutter lag. These delays make it all too possible to miss a crucial shot. The Canon A4000 IS takes a bit longer to start up (2.2 seconds), and makes you wait 1.4 seconds between photos, but it delivers a much shorter 0.2-second shutter lag.

The VR-340 scored slightly under the 1,800 lines per picture height we use to mark a sharp image in testing. Imatest tells us that images shot at the widest angle record 1,733 lines. It's the edge and corner performance that brings this center-weighted score below our threshold, sharpness in the middle of images is fine. The Canon A4000 IS has a much sharper lens?at its widest setting of 28mm it records 2,301 lines.

Imatest also checks for noise, which can make images appear grainy as you increase the ISO sensitivity to capture more light. The VR-340 keeps noise below 1.5 percent through ISO 800, but images suffer noticeably in terms of detail at this setting. Our recommendation is to keep the camera set at ISO 400 or below in order to preserve these details. The lens is optically stabilized, so you should be able to get away with a lower ISO in darker situations?assuming that you are shooting a static subject. The Sony WX150 uses a CMOS sensor, which performs better at high ISO settings when compared with the VR-340's CCD sensor. It keeps noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 1600, and does a great job preserving details through ISO 800.

Video capture is limited to 720p30 in AVI format. The quality is good, but not great. It's a little grainy, even under studio lighting, and you can't zoom in or out while rolling footage. The audio quality is good?voices are clear and, as the lens doesn't move when recording, its presence on the soundtrack is not a concern. There's a proprietary USB port, which doubles as a charging port (like many recent point-and-shoots, no dedicated charger is included). Photos and videos are saved to standard SD, SDHC, or SDXC memory cards.

If you're in the market for a point-and-shoot camera and don't have a lot of money to spend, the Olympus VR-340 is a good choice. It doesn't have the sharpest lens in the world?the Canon A2400 IS and A4000 IS both beat it there?but its 10x zoom lens is more ambitious on both the wide and telephoto end when compared to the Canon models. If you understand its limitations?it's a bit slow to shoot, and for best results you should keep the ISO at 400 or below?the VR-340 will reward you with very good images?and it can capture wider views than your phone's camera, and zoom in for tight shots as well. Its tradeoffs prevent us from awarding it with an Editors' Choice award, but budget-minded photographers should give the VR-340 consideration.

More Digital Camera Reviews:
??? General Electric G100
??? General Electric X600
??? Olympus VR-340
??? Pentax 02 Standard Zoom Lens
??? Pentax Q10
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Io_UPdrx3Vg/0,2817,2413412,00.asp

bishop eddie long

Hopes for new leader to pressure Bank of Japan

Cars for export park at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that highlights a struggling economy. The Finance Ministry released data Wednesday, Dec. 19, showing the trade deficit soared nearly 38 percent last month compared to November the previous year. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Cars for export park at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that highlights a struggling economy. The Finance Ministry released data Wednesday, Dec. 19, showing the trade deficit soared nearly 38 percent last month compared to November the previous year. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Cars for export park at a port in Kawasaki, west of Tokyo, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that highlights a struggling economy. The Finance Ministry released data Wednesday, Dec. 19, showing the trade deficit soared nearly 38 percent last month compared to November the previous year. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO (AP) ? Hopes are high in Japan Inc. for the new prime minister. Stocks are recovering. The central bank is set to supercharge an already loose monetary policy. The soaring yen, a big minus for exporters, is reversing course.

The bullish mood in the air is all about "Abenomics" ? a reference, as dubbed by experts and market players, to Shinzo Abe, the shoo-in comeback prime minister when Parliament votes next week.

But experts are already wondering how long that celebration is going to last.

"This is just the honeymoon," said Masaaki Kanno, chief economist at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.

Abe has made reviving the economy a priority, and is pushing for a 2 percent inflation "target," double the central bank's "goal" now.

That's designed to fight a problem that was until recently relatively unique in the world ? deflation, or continually dropping prices, which deadens economic activity. The Japanese economy has been stuck in deflation for two decades.

The Bank of Japan, ending a two-day policy board meeting Thursday, further loosened its super-easy monetary policy, pumping more money into the financial system by expanding its asset purchase program by about 10 trillion yen ($119 billion) for a total of 101 trillion yen ($1.2 billion).

The bank has now eased monetary policy five times this year. Japan's benchmark interest rates are already at zero.

The central bank also paid respect to Abe. It said it will consider pricing goals and report back at the next meeting in January.

Abe's pro-business, conservative Liberal Democratic Party was voted back into power in a landslide in Sunday's elections.

Before a change of power in 2009, the party ruled virtually without interruption for a half-century, engineering Japan's stellar growth into the world's third-largest economy.

Besides generous promises to boost public-works spending ? by as much as 10 trillion yen ($119 billion), according to party officials ? Abe is pressuring the central bank to work more closely with the government.

Such pressures are a departure from the past. But they are also growing in other parts of the world, including in the U.S. and parts of Europe.

What remains unclear is exactly how the 2 percent inflation target will be achieved. A weakening yen, though favorable for Japanese businesses, is likely not enough to get a lagging economy back on course.

In the long run, Japan needs widespread economic reforms, opening up of markets and freeing up of tight protective regulations, to get new life back into the economy, analysts say.

Job growth in recent years has been limited, often in low-pay part-time sectors. Hopelessness among the young generation is intensified by the prospect of having to foot the bill for one of the world's most rapidly aging societies.

"Getting out of deflation can't be done by monetary easing alone. It's not a fix-it-all. It's not a magic wand," said Katsuyuki Hasegawa, chief market economic at Mizuho Research Institute. "You need a whole package of measures."

A new business mentality is also needed, one that nurtures young entrepreneurs like Reina Otsuka, 32, who runs her own online business called "eco+waza" selling Japanese ecological products, like cast-iron rice cookers and charcoal deodorizers, for the global market.

The government hasn't been much help to Otsuka's efforts in the past, but she had hopes for Abe, at 58, a young leader by Japanese standards, and prime minister in 2006-2007.

"It is nice that he is still young. I hope he can show leadership," she said, expressing hopes the government will let the private sector alone and get on with business.

So far, Abenomics is on a roll.

The benchmark Nikkei soared earlier this week, although it lost some of the gains Thursday. The dollar has recovered to mid-84 yen levels from below 80 yen levels in recent months.

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda welcomed Abe's pledge to work with the Bank of Japan, and expressed hopes the yen would keep sinking.

Still, Abenomics is not without risks.

So much of its best scenario relies on the confidence people have in Japan's ability to sustain ballooning public debt, estimated at more than 200 percent of its economy, or gross domestic product. That debt will rise if Abe executes his plan for more spending.

Government bonds have remained stable so far. But if that confidence is lost, bonds could lose their perceived safety and that would endanger the country's ability to borrow, Kanno warned.

Setting an inflation target is a tricky idea, Kanno said. If a C student has been failing at trying to get a B, is targeting an A going to make a difference?

And the idea that people will go shopping, expecting prices to go up later, is just ridiculous, he said. People will jump to start consuming ? only when they see prices shooting up.

"It takes a long time to get out of deflation," Kanno said. "One needs to proceed with caution."

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at www.twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-20-Japan-Economy/id-8f04c10e04d54b3b9dfa749d93d624a1

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