I never knew there’s so much technology going on behind TVs until today. Of course, Philips went in-depth with their new 42-inch LED backlighting LCD TV which combines three proprietary technologies in one. The most hyped about LED LUX Backlighting technology is awesome to watch when compared to a conventional CCFL TV (see above left).

Samsung is taking over the world. Like really. Adding to their portfolio of electronic goods comes the Samsung S Series External Hard Disk Drives (HDD). Now unlike other portable HDDs, the S series 2.5-inch drives are smaller and consume less power than other competing models. There’s also a power saving mode, a SecretZone that protects personal files, as well as an auto backup system, which also applies to the 1.8-inch S1 Mini drive.

And a Western Digital (WD) TV media player so that I play all my digital movies, music and photos on TV in full 1080p resolution using a remote control. The clincher is the remote control, which can be used to navigate content on your My Passport drives or most popular USB drives. You can view your media in thumbnail or list views, search for a filename, or create custom slide shows for photos. Sounds interesting? Well it’s available at Challenger, Harvey Norman and selected retailers here for only SGD199.99.

An undying VAIO fan? Sony has released six new VAIO computers – three laptops and three desktops – for those in need of an urgent replacement, or just need another(!) beautiful laptop. The prettiest is the VAIO CS series (above), a stylish, glossy 14-inch series with a 320GB HDD and 4GB memory. It even has a Motion Eye camera in the LCD Bezel and touch sensors and LED lights which illuminate when activated via touch or music. A 12-Tone Analysis system also categorises users music library in 24 mood elements for more fun. Best of all, it only goes for an affordable SGD1,499.

Avid photographers interested in landscape photography can look forward to a visit from Taiwanese photographer Timothy Huang, who will be flying down to Singapore, courtesy of Epson, to share his expertise on professional photography with a traditional camera (he uses an Alpa) and digital altering. At the same time, visitors and guests can also view his beautiful works on natural scenery, which he shot during his travels over the years. The exhibition will take place from Nov 6th to 30th at Page One VivoCity. His talk will commence on the 7th Nov, Friday, at 6.30pm. Those interested may reserve a seat by calling Ms Laura Chew at 6534 5122. Be quick! It’s only four days away.

We were treated to the entire range of new Leica cameras and lens introduced at photokina, yesterday, and got to handle the much hyped about Leica S2 medium-format DSLR. The S2 is expected to hit the markets by Q3 next year, and will be priced similarly to comparative models (think Hasselblad). The Leica executives were hush hush about its price and capabilities, but confident that we can expect a camera that distinguishes itself from other similar systems.

Canon held a DSLR photography session for women wanting to make the transition to DSLR photography two days ago and invited established photographer Kelly Cheng to share some tips with the girls in an exclusive all-women only session. In a cosy room full of designer chairs (thanks to Ogilvy), we listened to an insightful account of how Kelly made her mark in commercial photography. Canon's training and program executive Jino Lee, also shared some useful photography tips, and we all went away much wiser, more confident (after handling the cameras) and with fears dispelled.

We're excited about the latest 10-megapixel digital camera launched by Kodak, the Kodak EasyShare M1093 IS, as the last Kodak camera we reviewed, the M1033, proved to be amazing and so easy to handle. The latest Kodak compact is once again equipped with Smart Capture on default, which helps users to apply custom image processing to enhance the subject and backdrop. It also has more manual settings and an ISO range of 50 to 6400, impressive for a compact.