Alexis Philippides

Email: alexis@stuff-review.com

Profile: Alexis is the founder of Stuff-Review and the primary editor. He's a blogger, an engineer and a web entrepreneur. Alexis has been building and managing websites for over 12 years. An eternal sufferer from gadget lust, he tries to keep his passion in check by writing overly lengthy pieces on technology and consumer electronics. Soft spots include digital cameras, high-end audio separates and portable devices. At times, his electrical engineering background peers out in technically convoluted articles, but otherwise he provides down-to-earth reporting.

Latest posts by Alexis Philippides:

Adobe Lightroom updated to 4.1 with new awesome camera support

News

May 30, 2012 at 1:18 pm

If you’ve been holding your breath for support of your new Canon 5D Mark III, Fujifilm X-Pro1, Nikon D800 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 in Adobe Lightroom, the day has finally come. Adobe has just released version 4.1 of the photo management software with support for the above named cameras, which just happen to be some of the best cameras out there right now.

The new update also brings a number of new features, like the ability to process HDR Tiff files, additional color fringing corrections and new export options. As usual, there are also several bug fixes with the new version. To update, simply launch Adobe Lightroom 4 or head over here for the download.
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Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 Micro Four Thirds lens announced, already receiving flying colors reviews

News

May 21, 2012 at 4:35 am

We first saw the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 Micro Four Thirds lens at CES this year, but back then it was still a concept. Today Panasonic has officially announced the new lens which should begin shipping in late July, though the US release date seems to fall sometime in August.

This is the first fast constant aperture zoom lens for the Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera system, so this is big news for fans of the system. The Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 lens belongs to the Panasonic’s premium X lens series and with an equivalent 24-70mm focal length on a full-frame camera it covers a nice range from wide to short telefocus.
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Retina iPad 3 & iPad 4 (2012) case review: Yoobao leather case

Reviews

May 20, 2012 at 5:02 am

So you grabbed a new retina-display 3rd generation or 4th generation iPad and you’re now looking for an equally beautiful and functional case to keep your investment safe. For a device as popular as Apple’s tablet, you’d expect there to be infinite choices, and there are.

Today we’ll be looking at one of these cases, the Yoobao executive leather case for the iPad 3 and iPad 4.

You can get the Yoobao for around $30 in the US, £27-29 in the UK and 35-37 euros in the continent, just be sure to get the correct version for you iPad, i.e. look for the iPad 3 case for the new iPad. Bear in mind generally when you’re shopping for a new case to specifically look for one made for the new iPad as it is slightly thicker than the iPad 2.
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The Fujfilm X100 is beautiful on the inside too

News

May 20, 2012 at 3:21 am

If you’ve read our review of the Fujifilm X100 digital camera you’ll know how much we love this little wonder. Well now we know how beautiful it is on the inside too.

After a fishing trip, photographer James Maher found his gear soaked in salt water in what was supposed to be a dry container. This unfortunately also included his trusty Fuji X100, which is not weather sealed, and the experience proved deadly for the camera.

So what do you do when you have a dead $1,200 camera? You take it apart of course.
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Sony NEX-F3 and Alpha A37 cameras official: 16.1-megapixels for $600

News

May 17, 2012 at 5:19 pm

Sony’s new entry-level Alpha SLT-A37 and NEX-F3 digital cameras were hardly a secret, we first saw pictures of the pair, followed by full specs three weeks ago, but today they’ve been made official. The two cameras are successors to the single lens translucent (SLT) A35 and the mirrorless interchangeable lens NEX-C3.

What you need to know, and what makes them appealing, is that both the A37 and NEX-F3 get a spiffy new 16.1-megapixel APS-C sized sensor, lilting LCD displays and a more ergonomic design with chunkier handgrips. They will also both retail for $599.99 together with an 18-55mm kit lens.
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Google imagines rings and other infrared markers for hand gesture input on Project Glass

News

May 17, 2012 at 3:15 pm

Google is in full-speed research and development mode with its Project Glass augmented reality eyewear project. When Project Glass was first announced we heralded it as the first step to popularizing wearable computing and Google is hard at work devising ways to make them even more interesting.

A Google patent that has just been published details how a wearable marker, like a ring, a bracelet or even a decal attached to a fingernail may be used to control a head-mounted display (HMD), i.e. Project Glass. The HMD includes an infrared (IR) camera that detects IR radiation reflected from the wearable marker. The wearer can perform different hand gestures, which will then be tracked by the camera and translated to actions. Pretty nifty huh?
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HTC Sensation added to CyanogenMod 9 nightlies

News

May 16, 2012 at 4:57 pm

If you are an HTC Sensation owner and the Sense-skinned Android 4.0 experience isn’t your cup of tea then you are in luck. The CyanogenMod team has added the HTC Sensation (a.k.a. Pyramid) to its target devices for CyanogenMod 9 (CM9) nightly builds.
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Thinner MacBook Pros with retina displays and Ivy Bridge processors to be announced at WWDC in June 2012

News

May 16, 2012 at 4:31 pm

We’ve been hearing rumors about Apple’s upcoming refresh of its MacBook Pro line for a while now. It’s almost certain that they will feature Intel’s latest 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, but two other long-standing rumors have been that they will have a new thinner Air-like design and high resolution retina displays.

Now according to Bloomberg sources the rumors have been confirmed. Apple is said to be unveiling the new MacBook Pro lineup at the WWDC starting on June 11. The MacBook Pros will have a slim design, retina displays and also feature SSD drives, though they could be coupled with standard magnetic hard drives for larger storage capacity.
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HTC Desire C official: 3.5-inch, Ice Cream Sandwich and 600Mhz Snapdragon smartphone

News

May 16, 2012 at 3:16 pm

Although HTC’s One smartphone series has stolen the limelight the manufacturer hasn’t forgotten the rest of its lineup. HTC has just announced the Desire C, a new budget Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich device. However the Desire C is no upgrade to the Desire S, instead it’s been scaled down to take its place between the new 3.7-inch One V and the 3.2-inch Wildfire S.

The Desire C is a 3.5-inch QVGA (320×480) device with a 600Mhz Snapdragon processor. As a reminder the Desire S sports a 3.7-inch WVGA (480×800) display and a 1GHz processor, but that position has now been taken by the One V.
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An Italian confronts the Galaxy S III: first unboxing and hands-on video

News

May 16, 2012 at 12:06 pm

The Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone is said to hit retail stores on May 29th in Europe, but that didn’t stop an Italian blog from getting hold of a boxed unit now, and you know what this means, video action!

The video, which you’ll find embedded below, includes an unboxing of the most anticipated smartphone, well at least for this month, the 4.8-inch Android 4.0 Galaxy S III (SGS3). There’s also a pretty nice size comparison between the SGS3 and the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus (which we’ve reviewed in great length here), Galaxy S II and the HTC One X and One S.
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Fujifilm announces 28mm equivalent wide angle conversion lens and v1.30 firmware for X100

News

May 15, 2012 at 3:34 pm

Fujifilm has just eliminated one reason why we would want to upgrade to the X-Pro1 from the X100 — you can read our in-depth real world review of the latter right here. The camera maker has just announced a new wide angle conversion lens for the Fujifilm X100.

The WCL-X100 conversion lens attaches directly onto the X100 and effectively multiplies the camera’s focal length by a factor of 0.8, converting it from a 23mm (35mm equivalent) focal length to a 19mm wide angle (28mm equivalent).

The wide angle conversion lens is made of four glass elements in three groups and Fujifilm promises comparable image quality as the X100’s excellent fixed lens element. Fujifilm also mentions that the WCL-X100 will have no negative effect on autofocus speed, the X100’s 10cm macro capability and the hybrid viewfinder.
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100,000 LEDs float down the Tokyo Sumida river like fireflies

News

May 13, 2012 at 8:16 am

Japanese have an affectionate bond to the lampyridae family of insects — that’s fireflies for common folk. For centuries they’ve flocked to waterways to watch aquatic insects light-up the night. Well this ancient habit has now taken a modern twist.

As part of the Tokyo Hotaru (which means firefly in Japanese) festival, 100,000 LED-lit “firefly” orbs, were floated along the Sumida river that runs through central Tokyo and empties into the Tokyo bay. The blue LED lights were made by Panasonic and were powered from a photovoltaic cell and rechargeable battery. Don’t cringe yet, they were recaptured downstream using a net.
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Watch The Making of the Leica M9-P Edition Hermès limited edition

News

May 13, 2012 at 3:30 am

We can watch high end camera gear being made all day long. We were awed by the commitment and skill of the individuals at the Canon lens factory and now Leica wants to show us a thing or two of its own.

Together with the Leica M Monochrom, the German camera maker also released a new special edition of its M9-P digital camera the M9-P Edition Hermès. Following on the footsteps of previous special editions, like the white Leica M9-P limited edition the Edition Hermès is a very small run of 400 copies, all hand-made.
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How to: turn on the Nexus One without the power button

Guides

May 12, 2012 at 4:53 am

I’ve had the Nexus One ever since it was released and although I’ve moved on to several other smartphones, it has remained my backup device. Unfortunately the Nexus One suffers from a serious hardware fault, the power button will, after a while, require more force to operate and will finally give up, leaving you with no obvious way to unlock or power on your device.

You can surely send it back to be repaired, but after the first fix, my Nexus One suffered from the same fault after a few weeks.

Well there is actually life after the power switch, as long as you know a couple of tricks and first and foremost, how do you actually turn on the smartphone without the power button.