Compared to regular digital cameras, mirrorless cameras tend to be on the slightly more pricey side, especially when you take into consideration devices like the Sony NEX-7 whose photo quality and features could almost rival that of a DSLR. In any case if a more affordable mirrorless camera is something you’d like to see, the 25^th of June is said to be when Fujifilm could be announcing a new entry-level X interchangeable mirrorless camera, along with a new set of lenses and new camera firmware.

According to the rumors, the new entry-level X camera is said to be even cheaper than the X-E1, which as it stands will cost photographers around $800 for just the body-only. The full specifications of the entry-level X camera remain unknown, but so far some are speculating that it could feature a tiltable LCD display and no viewfinder. Either way take it with a grain of salt for now, but check back with us on the 25^th of June to see if the rumors pan out.

Leica cameras do not come cheap, so you can only imagine how much it will cost if Leica were to do some sort of collaboration and release a special edition camera. Well for those who have the money to spare, Leica has announced a special edition D-Lux 6 camera and have teamed up with clothing manufacturer, G-Star RAW, for its design. So what so special about this camera? Well in terms of camera features, it is expected to remain exactly the same as the D-Lux 6, with the main difference being in its aesthetics. The special edition will sport “a new dot structure on the leather body trim”, a leather case, and an exclusive carrying strap. G-Star seems pretty pleased with this collaboration, claiming that it is a natural one since both brands stand for high quality products and durability. Make what you will of this, but this special edition Leica D-Lux 6 is expected to come with a price tag of $1,300 and will be available via Leica stores worldwide.

So Nokia’s upcoming EOS Windows Phone device might have sort of been confirmed by Nokia themselves in a teaser photo, and if you’re still skeptical, a certain Nokia RM-875 has recently made its way by the FCC. Considering that the dimensions of the RM-875 match the RM-877 which is supposedly the Lumia EOS, some are speculating that the RM-875 could be an international variant of the Lumia EOS, sporting 850MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, and 2500MHz frequencies. It is not uncommon for devices to make their way past the FCC, even if there is no intention for the devices to be sold in the US, or at least provide an alternative should customers in the US wish to get their hands on the international variant instead of a carrier version of the handset. Either way Nokia is set to announce something on the 11^th of July, presumably the Nokia Lumia EOS, so check back with us then for the details!

Huawei is reportedly set to launch their new phone, the Huawei Ascend W2 and if you’re looking for further confirmation of the device, the handset has made an appearance in a video advertisement from Chinese carrier, China mobile. Based on what we can see in the video (pictured above), it seems to corroborate what we’ve seen in the leaks from earlier. We’re still waiting for the official confirmation of the Ascend W2, but as it stands, the rumors are suggesting a 4.3” HD display with a resolution of 1280×720, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, an 8MP camera and will be powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. We’re guessing that with this ad, the Ascend W2 will at the very least be offered by China Mobile, and there is no word on if and when it will arrive stateside, but we’ll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled nonetheless.

The rumors of a low-cost iPhone have been floating about for a while now, and supposedly this budget device is said to help Apple compete in emerging markets where their Android and Windows Phone competitors are stealing market share effortlessly due to low-cost options which are more affordable compared to Apple’s iPhone. However the question is, how cheap are we looking at here? Well according to Pegatron’s CEO who spoke at the company’s shareholders meeting, the low-cost iPhone will actually not be low-cost, but rather a mid-ranged device that while it is cheaper than the current iPhone, is still not exactly “cheap”.

Pegatron’s CEO, T.H. Tung basically disagreed with the rumors that suggested that the low-cost offering is “cheap”, saying that the price of the phone will still be high. Assuming that this is the case, we have to wonder how much it will cost, especially since older iPhones like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S have typically been used as more affordable offerings compared to the iPhone 5. Take it with a grain of salt for now, but what do you guys think?

If you were to ask someone whether he or she could create a battery out of wood a few decades back, chances are you would be on the receiving end of an incredulous look, as though you were a mad alchemist from the Dark Ages who is trying to create gold from normal metal. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we have word that scientists have discovered a method to create a ‘green’ battery using wood. This battery is said to be relatively long lasting as well, as they charged and discharged the sodium-ion battery hundreds of times, and it still remained intact after that.

The brains from the University of Maryland have come up with this particular “green” battery that relies on a sliver of wood that is covered with tin. Sodium will replace lithium, where the latter is one core “ingredient” that can be found in many rechargeable batteries. The thing about sodium is this, it does not keep energy as efficiently, but rather, this ‘green’ battery is capable of storing massive amounts of energy at any one time, similar to how solar energy works at a power plant. Wood fibers were used since they are flexible enough to enable the sodium-ion battery to last for over 400 charging cycles, clearly making this as one of the longest lasting nanobatteries to date. As to how this will change the way batteries are developed in the future, it remains to be seen, but exciting times are definitely ahead of us.

Remember when you were a kid, and getting a bicycle was one of the biggest dreams you had, so that you need not walk down the street any more to get to your friend’s house, but rather, you could just cycle down in a jiffy? Growing up, the motorcycle was next, and cruising along with that smug look on your face while the wind is beating back against your hair is another unforgettable feeling. A Kickstarter project that needs to raise $120,00 in 20 days’ time (having already picked up a quarter of that amount) is now making its rounds online, where the final electric two-wheeler is known as the Scrooser.

Best described as an “urban mobility solution for the environmentally conscious individual”, the Scrooser will definitely earn you curious looks, as it comes across in a sexy and efficient design. It is said that if you were to ride in Eco mode, the Scrooser’s single battery charge is able to last for up to 25 days within an urban environment. You do not need a license nor a permit to ride this puppy, and it could end up being one of the more revolutionary urban people movers to cover short distances if it makes the cut big time. With German engineering spearheading this effort, I myself am tempted to drop some serious coin on the Scrooser.

They say that a dog is a man’s best friend, and while we have seen our fair share of gizmos released that make life easier for the humans to manage their pooches, some of us “use” dogs instead – and there are times when such “usage” turns into abuse, and sends these dogs into what Cesar Millan would call the “red zone”. I would like to think that majority of the dog owners out there treat their canine friends as family members, and stick with them for life, but sometimes, circumstances in life do lead us to make some very painful decisions. Kendrick Perkins, a relatively successful NBA player, has decided to take to Twitter as a method of selling his English bulldog on the microblogging network, where he posted a bunch of ads and photos, hoping that one out of his 55,000 followers might want to own his bulldog.

His pooch was going for $1,500 a pop, which is a relatively expensive price for a bulldog (at least in my experience), but when you take into consideration who was its previous owner, the amount pales into insignificance. I mean, no one would want to buy my glittering glove for $10, but see how much they are willing to fork out for that glove that the late Michael Jackson wore?

It is just a matter of one week before Microsoft rolls out the first official public preview version of Windows 8.1, and along with that, you will also find the first preview of the Internet Explorer 11 browser. Microsoft has just announced plans that they will offer a $100,000 bounty to whoever is able to discover and obviously, report exploits in the latest operating system update as well as Internet Explorer 11 browser.

The three new bounty programs will kick off from the moment when the public preview of Windows 8.1 rolls out this coming June 26th. The biggest one would be the Mitigation Bypass Bounty, which obviously carries the $100,000 reward to developers who manage to find, in Microsoft’s words, “truly novel exploitation techniques” in Windows 8.1. It would be interesting to read the fine print to see what “truly novel exploitation techniques” mean. As for the other program, it is known as the BlueHat Bonus for Defense, where it offers up to $50,000 for “defensive ideas that block a qualifying mitigation bypass technique.”

Last but not least, there is the maximum $11,000 bounty for anyone who finds “critical vulnerabilities” in the public preview where Internet Explorer 11 is concerned. [Press Release]

It has been a long time in coming for those who have been looking out to bring home the massive 55″ OLED TV, although you would need to live in South Korea if you were to be able to enjoy this puppy. This move is in step with the general market, where Samsung’s bitter rival, LG Electronics Co., has already started to receive orders for a similarly sized OLED TV in January earlier this year. We first took a look at the 55″ OLED TV from Samsung at CES 2013 earlier this year, and apart from that model, Samsung too wants to release an OLED TV that will feature a curved display in South Korea too, from next week onwards.

LG Electronics ain’t doing too bad for themselves either in their home market, having rolled out a similar revolutionary model that boasts of a 55″ curved screen in April earlier this year, making it the first of its kind in the world. Right now, we do not see any other competitors in this particular arena just yet, as the South Korean firms are the ones who seem to spearhead this particular market segment at the moment. [Press Release]