Crave

(Credit: CNET Networks)

For Nikon DX shooters looking to expand their horizons beyond the kit lens, the 18-105mm DX ED VR f3.5-5.6 lens is an attractive and reasonably priced addition to your collection. Introduced in August 2008 as a kit lens option for the D90, you can find it for well under $400. It delivers a 27-158mm 35mm-equivalent focal length in a compact and lightweight package, combined with Nikon's Vibration Reduction (VR) image-stabilization technology, and that makes this a good choice for travel and general pictorial photography

Read the full review here.

Nikon 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 DX VR lens - photos

Atypical Toshiba: the Satellite E105

(Credit: Best Buy)

The decidedly un-Toshiba-like Satellite E105 that Crave spied last week has landed. For preorder, anyway. Best Buy's site lists the Satellite E105-S1402 for $1,199 with an arrival estimated between October 14 and 21. With its clean lines, completely flat keyboard deck, and aluminum-and-black color scheme, the E105 looks more like a Sony Vaio or MacBook Pro than your typical Satellite. We're expecting an evaluation unit any day now and hope to bring you a full review by the time the E105 hits store shelves and UPS trucks.

The 14-inch, 5.5-pound laptop looks like a good deal, featuring Intel's Centrino 2 platform, which includes a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor, Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, and Draft N Wi-Fi. Along with 64-bit Vista Home Premium and 4GB of RAM, you also get a 320GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and an HDMI port. Battery life is rated at an impressive 5.5 hours. Also nice, the standard warranty runs for two years.

Two more shots of the Satellite E105 after the break.

The 8-inch SPF-85V: save this one for the small, cute pics.

(Credit: Samsung )

Digital photo frames. You love 'em, I love 'em. Well, actually I've only ever seen one in use before and that one was broken. Call me old-fashioned (or just old) but I guess I'm just not at the point financially where I can justify the price.

Actually, I don't think I'm at the point morally. I mean come on, I don't think I could sleep at night after spending $200 on a picture frame. Digital or not.

Apparently I'm slowly moving into the minority on this. On Wednesday, Samsung announced four new digital photo frames.

Samsung SPF-85H

• 8-inch screen
• 800x600 resolution
• 1GB internal memory
• Auto on/off function
• Auto photo resize
• SD/MMC/MS/XD card reader, USB memory slot

Samsung SPF-85V

• 8-inch screen
• Built-in wireless feature optimized for use with Windows Live
• 800x600 high resolution
• 64MB internal memory
• Auto-rotation function
• 802.11b/g wireless photo frame
• Rechargeable battery
• SD/MMC/MS/XD card reader, USB memory slot
• InfoLink free information service (news, weather, stocks, USA Today)
• Frame Channel service that gets more than 400 channels of news, sports, cartoons, and more

(Credit: Mobiado)

There are two things that have distinguished Mobiado among the many luxury phone makers of the world: First, it's from Canada; second, its handsets have avoided the type of excessive bling that others have so readily succumbed to in the desperate quest to draw attention to themselves.

But no one is immune to the pressures of competition, and Mobiado is taking some steps along this gilded path as well. The rather clinically named Professional 105 GCB features 24k-gold plating--right down to the screws and buttons, according to Unwired View--while its "Executive Model" is adding phones encased in ebony and cocobolo.

The internal specs are nothing to write home about, with a 2-inch display, 2-megapixel camera, 1GB of memory, Bluetooth, and an MP3 player. And of course, the body is made of its trademark aircraft-grade aluminum, though that seems more appropriate for its "Camo" model than anything else.

(Credit: BornRich)

It's kind of disappointing that Mobiado has resorted to the old "world's thinnest" ploy, because this handset maker has a lot more things to trumpet than its waistline. From the time we first saw its "Luminoso" model to the "Professional Camo" edition earlier this month, we've always been intrigued by its unique designs--not an easy feat in an industry when everyone is trying just about anything to get noticed.

Regardless of whether it's really "the world's thinnest luxury phone" at 10.6 millimeters thick, the 105 ZAF 3G handset is clearly less bulky than its predecessors, though it's also worth mentioning for other reasons. Made from aircraft aluminum--a Mobiado trademark--the phone features large panels of sapphire crystal, an anodized finish, and a specially toughened ceramic surface. The specs include a 2-megapixel camera, 1GB of built-in memory, and an MP3 player. And, of course, you get that excellent medieval-looking logo.

The latest update to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard dropped Monday afternoon, with fixes for several different issues.

Apple posted a support document on its Web site and began informing Leopard users through the Software Update mechanism that Mac OS X 10.5.2 is now ready for public consumption. A combo update that includes some security patches is 343MB and can be downloaded immediately. The first update to Leopard, version 10.5.1, was released in November.

The latest version of Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5.2, has arrived.

(Credit: Apple)

This time around, Apple has fixed some issues with Time Machine, the automatic backup software available in Leopard, as well as Finder. Time Machine now works with a wider variety of external hard drives, and you can now access the application through the menu bar like you would a list of Wi-Fi networks. There's no support for wireless backups, however, unless you pick up Apple's new Time Capsule external hard drive.

Finder now seems more stable, with fixes that should prevent it from crashing in certain situations. And Airport is said to work more reliably with improved stability and security.

Apple also released two separate patches for Leopard users that improve graphics performance and update WebObjects to 5.4.1. It's not clear whether those are included in the combo update; they aren't included in the list of new things in version 10.5.2 on Apple's site.

Tiger users also have some work to do, with new security updates released for both Tiger and Leopard. The Leopard combo update does include the security update released Monday for that OS. About 19 percent of the Mac installed base has upgraded to Leopard, Apple executives said on their earnings conference call last month.

The King of PVPs goes small with the Archos 105

(Credit: Corinne Schulze / CNET Networks)

You've heard me wax poetic about the excellent Archos 605 WiFi portable video player, and even its smaller brother, the Archos 405. Now we have the smallest addition to the family, the Archos 105. With a 1.8-inch screen, 2GB of storage, and a rock-bottom price tag of $89, the 105 is the most affordable player ever released by Archos. But is a low price and a big screen enough to make us squeal with delight? You'll have to take a look at our Archos 105 full review and First Look video to find out.

Our review of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard last Thursday lauded its lovely interface innovations but withheld judgment about the operating system's speed until we could put it through its paces.

Tests returned from CNET Labs on Saturday show that Leopard didn't perform noticeably faster than Mac OS 10.4.6 Tiger. (See the chart in CNET's review of Tiger.). Because Leopard's improved speeds of between 1 percent and 3 percent fall within the 5 percent margin of error, it's fair to call Leopard and Tiger even.

GarageBand wouldn't run the first time we opened it in Leopard.

Lab tests explored Leopard's boot time, multimedia multitasking, and handling of the Quake 3 game. Similarly, the 2005 release of Tiger did not demonstrate vast speed improvements over Panther, a previous version of Mac OS X.

Still, some users commenting on Leopard-related message boards and stories at CNET and elsewhere swore that they detected faster performance with Leopard.

Unfortunately, CNET Labs could not vouch for the performance of Adobe Systems' Photoshop CS3, which, for reasons not yet understood, wouldn't run on Leopard in our usual battery of automated tests. Don't jump to conclusions, however; the photo-editing application seemed to behave under normal conditions, and Adobe insists that Photoshop can run in Leopard.

However, full Leopard support for all versions of Adobe Creative Suite 3 won't become available until Adobe releases updates in three to four months. Among the applications needing updates are AfterEffects, Premiere, Soundbooth, and Acrobat Pro 8.1.2 (PDF). Sadly, Adobe fans cannot count on running earlier iterations of the Creative Suite or Macromedia Studio uneventfully within Leopard.

Although we find Leopard's interface relatively seamless, the same can't be said for everyone's experience getting started. Some people reported installation headaches, including the famed "blue screen of death," which historically has made so many love to hate the rival Microsoft Windows. Apple has acknowledged that issue as a glitch with third-party software.

Another application that won't run properly in Leopard yet is FileMaker Pro 9, due for an update next month. Some at CNET have found other applications, such as Groupcal and Parallels, failing unexpectedly in Leopard. And although only Safari was also running at the time, GarageBand wouldn't run in our first two attempts to open it in Leopard. A reboot seemed to do the trick.

Leopard also appeared to be converting some Mail settings from administrator to standard accounts; MacFixIt explains a solution. We're looking into these and other issues, and will continue to update our Leopard review as we learn more.

Our conclusion remains that you must have Leopard if you need to run Boot Camp, and you'll want it if you eagerly await Time Machine's elegant backup system. Developers will also like the full, native 64-bit support for both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs.

Yet the majority of obvious improvements are on Leopard's surface. That isn't necessarily a bad thing; interface tweaks like Cover Flow, Quick Look, Spaces and Stacks offer powerful, practical improvements that make it easier to multitask. The operating system overall is a treat to use, even if it's unlikely to deliver preternatural speed.

So unless $129 feels like a trifle to spend, holding off on this upgrade wouldn't hurt. Depending upon your software toolkit of choice, waiting for third-party applications to catch up to Leopard might even save some frustration.

Here, kitty kitty kitty! Rain-soaked Apple nerds wait for Leopard.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

NEW YORK--On Friday afternoon at the hour that Apple launched its latest operating system, Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, it was pouring rain in Manhattan. It was also windy and chilly. That didn't stop several hundred people from lining up outside the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue to get their hands on the new software, huddled underneath Gore-Tex jackets and umbrellas.

"It's the cult," commented another reporter who had also been covering the water-saturated event.

The line for Leopard appeared to be divided fairly evenly between rabid Apple fans and shoppers who'd figured they could stop by and pick it up quickly--and indeed, come launch time, the line moved fast as customers were ushered into a gauntlet of Apple Store employees (much like the iPhone launch in June) and directed straight to the cash registers when the doors opened at 6 p.m.

"It's a happening," said first-in-liner Bob Greenlees, a twenty-something student at the nearby Cardozo School of Law, when I asked him why he'd bothered to wait amidst inclement weather for an operating system that could easily have been pre-ordered online and delivered to his front door. "It's one of those things. It's Apple, it's Fifth Avenue, it's a flagship store. And it's an opportunity to be in line for something without waiting for three days."

Greenlees, after posing for a photo with his new purchase, said that he was going to go straight home and install it. He'd been in line since about 2:30 p.m.

The line went to the corner and around the block to the intersection of 58th Street and Madison Avenue.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

"I came for the free t-shirt," said Steven Miranda, a Manhattan College student who was ninth in line. The Apple Store was offering t-shirts to the first 500 people who showed up, and for hardcore Apple fans, those shirts were a coveted prize. I asked Miranda and his friends whether they agreed with Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg's assertion that Leopard was "evolutionary, not revolutionary."

"Compared to Vista, it's revolutionary!" chimed in one Apple fan who was just ahead of Miranda in line. Indeed, the Microsoft-taunting was hardly under the radar. One person in line was wearing a t-shirt that bore the Windows logo along with the caption "Hasta la Vista."

For the two hours prior to the Leopard launch, the normally 24/7 Fifth Avenue store had been closed in preparation--my personal theory is Apple closed the store for a longer span of time than it needed to, to assure that an adequate queue would form in anticipation, but I'm sure Apple's not about to confirm that to me.

In addition to Leopard t-shirts, buyers were also treated to free umbrellas as they were ushered into the store. Nice move, Apple. "Keep the Leopard dry!" an Apple Store employee shouted. "Cats don't like water!"

But that raises a very serious question. Now that Apple has let Leopard out of its cage, following in the tracks of Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger, the big question is--which cat's next?

My money's on Ocelot.