Most of that assertion about the upcoming DSLR seems to be derived from reading the tea leaves of a Nikon website saying orders for the positively-reviewed D40x (pictured above) have been halted, raising speculation that this is the model that might be replaced by the D60. Either that or Photography Bay is just making things up.

Beyond that, we'd like to know what features might be included in this alleged D60. We're rooting for a Live View viewscreen, for one thing. [Photography Bay]

The fundamentally flawed logic at its heart is that the effort to make gadgets smaller, easier to use and more people-friendly is one, a move to appeal to more women (rather than, you know, everyone) and two, that women need gadgets to be that way. As our six female readers can attest to, that's total BS.

The article goes through a laundry list of recent gadget redesigns that make them more intuitive, and then pairs them with a "female-focused" logic. For instance: "wider spacing of the keys on a new Sony ultraportable computer notebook that goes on sale next week. It accommodates the longer fingernails that women tend to have." Not because, you know, it'd be easier for dudes with fat fingers as well, or simply that cramped keyboards suck for everyone.

Lighter, tighter DSLR cameras, like the Nikon D40X? 'Cause girls need to cram them into their purses, naturally. Us mens like big, bulky cams. Entry level features? Not for entry level users, no, they're "designed with women in mind because they tend to be a family's primary keeper of memories."

Yes, that's right, making technology easier to use amounts to "feminizing" it, moving it away from "products historically shaped by masculine tastes, habits and requirements." Hell, Energizer released a $20 "Easy Charger" battery charger aimed at women because apparently the $33 Dock & Go model (male-targeted) is too complicated.

Gadget makers should acknowledge that more women—and people generally speaking—are buying and using gadgets (and reading Giz) but that doesn't mean they have to dumb down devices. Everyone wants gear that's easy to use—sex has nothing to do with it. To say that women need stripped-down tech is to be just as sexist as pretending that women don't buy electronics or play games in the first place.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled boob and dick-joke posts. – Matt Buchanan

To Appeal to Women, Too, Gadgets Go Beyond 'Cute' and 'Pink' [NYT]

One of the biggest promos is that it's compact for an SLR. On one hand, "compact SLR" has a similar ring to "tall midget." You know, too much of a qualification. The E-410 may be relatively small but it's still a big freakin' camera. Nevertheless, you'll see in the first shot below that the 13.6-ounce E-410 body is significantly smaller than Nikon's baby DSLR, the D40, which is the same size as the 10-megapixel upgrade D40x and weighs just over 16 ounces. In fact, the E-410 is almost as small as Olympus' 18X zoom point-and-shoot, the SP-550 UZ, compared in the second shot. The lithium-ion battery designed for this smaller body gets a reported 400 shots per charge, which should put it roughly in the middle of the pack.

When it comes to taking pictures, I shoot plenty, and I know a few things about shutter speeds and f-stops. Still, I'm no pro jock. Fortunately, neither is anyone who would seriously consider this camera. The E-410 is aimed squarely at people who plan to step up from a point-and-shoot, for more versatility and overall nicer-looking pictures.

If that's your aim, you could do far worse than buy an E-410. Live View certainly helps people who have gotten used to framing shots on the large LCD, rather than squinting into a viewfinder. In Live View, there's even a little targeting computer for the auto focus. When you activate it, you digitally zoom in 10X without affecting the frame of your shot, to hyper-focus on a particular item.

The 10-megapixel resolution is, itself, a helpful item for beginners, since it allows you to crop a shot closer without suffering from any digital pixelation. And the settings, Olympus' standard grid pattern of options such as flash, image quality and ISO setting, are easy to access once you get the button sequence down. It's intuitive, possibly more-so than the D40, whose interface relies more heavily on the large LCD than than Nikon's previous D models.

Outdoors, with plenty of light, proved to be the best environment for shooting in the E-410's automatic modes. Colors came out rich, with decent contrast most of the time. Though I typically prefer the viewfinder for shooting, the high-contrast display did well in the blazing sunlight for both Live View and post-shot review.

Shooting with a flash indoors was a mixed bag. If there was enough ambient light, the flash filled in only what was necessary, and shots came out bright without that artificial sheen. In instances with lower natural light, however, the camera took a while to make the focus, exposure and light adjustments before committing to the shot. By that point, my subjects (a pair of gray cats named Wade and Wynona) might have wandered off or stopped doing the cute thing I was hoping to immortalize. This is not a problem I've encountered with the Nikon D40. The good news is that when the camera finally did make the shot, whatever was in frame appeared properly lighted and not at all washed out—even at close range.

My biggest complaint about the E-410 is that, using the Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 lens that comes in the two-lens deluxe kit, I didn't have a very good time shooting in low light without a flash. Automatic shutter-speed adjustment meant a slow, blurry exposure, even in ambient light that many point-and-shoots can negotiate. The Nikon D40, by comparison, performs admirably well in low light with its 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Nikkor lens.

You can see examples from the camera in the gallery below.

The camera body comes by itself or in two kits. Body only is $700, a kit with a single lens is $800, and a kit with two lenses, the 14-42mm plus a 40-150mm f4.0-5.6 will cost you $900.

Olympus' follow-up to the E-410 will be the E-510, out in a few weeks. They both have the above-mentioned features, plus the "supersonic wave filter" dust demolisher that Olympus prides itself on. (Can someone please tell me why it's not an "ultrasonic" wave filter?) In addition, the E-510 has a bigger hand grip and optical image stabilization, and will cost $100 more than E-410 in each of the three configurations.

I know, you want me to tell you whether you should spend your hard-earned $800 on this for your mom's Mother's Day gift. If relative size and the Live View feature are important to Mommy dearest, then yes. Otherwise, spend a tad more on the slightly larger, better performing Nikon D40x. – Wilson Rothman

[Olympus]

What we really like is the way the thing feels in our hands. It just fits perfectly. Its menu buttons are right where they need to be, along with the dial for automatic exposure, manual control and tons of programmed auto exposure routines. In fact, we like all the nice touches in this camera. When a product is crammed into a crowded market with scads of me-too products, these little details are what can set one digital SLR apart from all the others. With the Nikon, it's that perfect-sounding click when you release the shutter.

We also appreciate the extra megapixelidge added to this D40x model, which doesn't replace the lesser D40, but gives you 10.2 megapixels instead of the D40's six megapixels. The D40x also brings a bit faster rapid-fire rate, snapping off shots at three frames per second. Sure, it's not the spectacular 10fps motor drive of the Canon EOS 1D Mark III, but it'll still do the trick if you need to take a few quick shots in a row. What about that honking lens? There's more.

Another huge plus when you choose the Nikon D40x is its complement of outstanding Nikkor lenses. With our test unit, Nikon included its latest 55mm-to-200mm AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor f/4-5.6 lens (35mm equivalent: 82.5-300mm), an image-stabilized and super-sharp piece of glass that we immediately liked right out of the box. It features VR (Vibration Reduction), Nikon's antidote to shaky-cam shooting that's located in the lens, not in the camera body as you'll see in Sony DSLRs.

The 55-200mm lens (about $250) shares many of the characteristics of its coveted brandmate, the $870 18mm-to-200mm VR zoom that David Pogue was fawning over, and it gives you shots that are far steadier than you can ever handhold without image stabilization, even when zoomed all the way into 200mm at f/5.6.

Our supreme test was in a low-light situation, using only room lighting at night. Zooming all the way in to 200mm, we snapped a picture of a clock, which turned out to be fairly sharp even when handheld, with the shutter opening in about a 30th of a second. If you can hold a 200mm lens still enough for a shot taken at a 30th of a second, there's some serious stabilization voodoo going on there. Bravo, Nikon.

Overall, our first impression of the Nikon D40x and this Nikkor 55-to-200mm image-stabilized lens is highly favorable. We think it hits that sweet spot of price and performance, opening up a new world of digital SLR quality to those who might otherwise have stayed with a point and shoot. Both the lens and camera body are highly recommended.

However, we get the feeling that a similar Nikon DSLR with a live preview viewfinder is in the offing, so we're holding out for that one. We've just gotten too accustomed to live view in point-and-shoot cameras to abandon it for a digital SLR. We're spoiled—it's nice to be able to hold the camera away from you and still see how your shot is framed up. That said, if live view isn't important to you, Nikon has hit a home run with the D40x. Great camera. – Charlie White

But the hands-on experience reveals a lot more, where the Nikon click sound is more of a ca-lunk that's aurally pleasing, and the general feeling is one of solidity even though this is the lightest and smallest DSLR on the market. I like this $799 camera, even more than my Canon XTi.

Plus there's that long image-stabilized 18-200mm Nikon lens I've been lusting after. That aside, this camera's definitely on the bang-for-the-buck radar. If they would just add that Live View feature sweeping the DSLR world...rumor has it Nikon's working on it. Jump all over that gallery down there to get the feel for the Nikon experience. – Charlie White

Besides that speed bump and megapixel change, the rest of the D40x is almost exactly the same as its predecessor. It's notable that the megapixel count and viewscreen size of 2.5 inches on the D40x are identical to that of its big brother, the Nikon D80. The D40x will be available next month for $729.95 for the body only or $799.95 for the package including its 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S lens.

Nikon also introduced another longer zoom lens to go with this new camera. Check out the info about that, plus a gallery of pics of this latest Nikon DSLR:

At the same time as this announcement Nikon rolled out the $249.95 AF-S DX VR 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED lens, giving users the 35mm equivalent of an 82.5 - 300mm lens. It's a 3.66x zoom with vibration reduction (VR) which Nikon says lets you take photos with a shutter speed that's three stops slower than you would need without that stabilization.

We'll have our hands-on impressions of the camera from the show floor at PMA, coming up later this week. – Charlie White

Nikon D40x DSLR Preview [LetsGoDigital]