Underexposed

My so-so Ooma setup experience

I spent about 90 minutes Monday night trying to set up an Ooma, a phone system that piggybacks both on your broadband Internet connection and land line. My experience: it was a pain to install, but now it works pretty well.

I've griped to acquaintances about how ordinary folks have had to become first system administrators and now, with broadband and multiple computers per household, network administrators. Setting up a review model from Ooma raised these hackles anew.

There was nothing seriously newbie-deterring like command-line utility, or even setup software. The Ooma system setup had two other afflictions instead.

Panasonic cameras offer auto auto auto mode

Some subset of photographers would like a compact camera with lots of higher-end features and manual controls. But a vastly larger quantity want their cameras to take photos with the correct focus, exposure, white balance and other factors without having to do more than press the shutter button.

Which is why Panasonic's three newest cameras, the Lumix FX-33, FX-55 and FZ18 are notable. For one thing, Panasonic is catching up with competitors such as Fujifilm and Canon by introducing face detection, which lets the camera guess more intelligently about what the photographer is trying to shoot and adjust settings more

Linux Foundation does CTO switcheroo

Markus Rex is leaving Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server project for the time being to take over as chief technology officer of the Linux Foundation.

At the foundation, Rex replaces Ian Murdock, the Debian Linux founder whom Sun Microsystems hired to be chief operating system officer in March. Rex will take Murdock's role not only as CTO of the foundation, but also as chairman of the , a years-old but so still incomplete effort to make it easier for software companies to ensure compatibility with various incarnations of the open-source operating system.

"I need a full-time CTO over here. more

Kodak sells its first CMOS camera sensor--to itself

Eastman Kodak just sold its first CMOS image sensor for digital cameras. The customer? Eastman Kodak.

OK, that's being a little flippant. Kodak's camera division is separate from its sensor division, and the latter must compete with other suppliers for the camera business, so the deal is a significant achievement in the company's attempt to transform its sensor business.

Kodak will use its new KAC-05011 sensor in the new Easyshare C513, a $99 model with a 3X optical zoom lens and 2.4-inch LCD screen. It's due to ship this month, Kodak plans to announce Tuesday.

CompactFlash getting a SATA speed boost

Some smaller flash memory formats fit more conveniently into small gadgets, but allies behind the comparatively bulky CompactFlash standard are working to keep their technology desirable. This time, they're trying to follow the same Serial ATA interface route that hard drives took in recent years.

The , an industry consortium that oversees the standard, said last week it's formed a working group to revamp the memory card format with the Serial ATA interface, replacing today's older parallel ATA standard. The move will mean faster transfer speeds and larger capacities. Today's top-end CompactFlash products top out at 32GB

Eye candy for photographing children

Finally, a camera accessory that won't be doomed to rapid obsolescence: the Pez candy dispenser.

recommends some basic modifications to the candy dispenser that will let it slip into the hot shoe atop your camera that otherwise would be used for attaching a flash. Use it to grab the attention of children you're trying to photograph--as long as you have plenty of available light.

Be warned that trimming the dispenser's "feet" could reduce its resale value on eBay.

(Via .)

Welcome to the Underexposed blog

I've been for years, but now things are different. Today with this post, CNET launched my own blog.

It's called , and it focuses on the three areas I cover for CNET News.com: digital photography, science and open-source software. I chose the name partly because all the good photography puns were taken, but also because I hope to shed light on other subjects as well.

Ultimately, I hope the blog will serve as a forum for discussion, too. CNET readers have their own worthy ideas and opinions.

I expect those will help guide what I spend my time more