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Global poverty is an issue that seems to have only one side: it’s bad, and we should end it. According to one statistic, the GDP of the 48 poorest nations is still less than the wealth of the three richest people and most economists agree the gap between the rich and poor grows wider every year. Though the problem is vast, it often feels far away for many Americans. Moreover, global poverty is rarely an issue that drives voters to the polls. In the face of these challenges, more and more groups and everyday citizens have taken to YouTube to advocate for an end to global poverty, raising awareness for an issue that doesn’t get a lot of mainstream media coverage. One of them is Shawn Ahmed. Deciding to take some time off from his graduate studies at Notre Dame, Ahmed moved to Bangladesh, where he’s been making videos for the last several months in an effort to give the statistics we often hear about global poverty a human face. His YouTube channel, UnCultured Project, provides a window into these efforts and documents the challenges, frustrations, and triumphs of one person’s attempts to help end extreme poverty. This video from GlobalDevMatters makes the case that U.S. farm subsidies, which mainly benefit large agri-businesses, negatively impact poor farmers around the world. In this clip from IRTAGMedia, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor talks about the potential consequences of rising food prices and what world leaders must do to address them. And even Nobel laureates have used YouTube to spread their message. One of the leading voices in the campaign against global poverty is Muhammad Yunnis, founder of the Grameen Bank and the 2006 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Yunnis is credited with developing the practice of “micro-lending,” an innovative form of loan allocation that has transformed the lives of millions of enterprising individuals in some of the world’s poorest countries. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently met with Yunnis to discuss efforts to combat poverty and create micro-lending programs in Africa - and posted the video to his YouTube channel. And of course, you can’t talk about global poverty advocacy without mentioning The ONE Campaign, which was one of the first organizations to bring attention to the issue on YouTube. Their videos aim to show that the fight against poverty isn’t about politics it’s a problem that should concern us all. Their efforts seem to be working: with the help of a celebrity-ridden cast, ONE got every major presidential candidate to make a video for their YouTube channel, committing to making global poverty history. Yours, Steve G. YouTube News & Politics

Olympus SP-560 UZ
I hate to keep saying it but the parade of ultra zoom digicams continues—at least it’s marching into my house via FedEx! Recently we tested the very good Panasonic DMC-FZ18, an 18x 8-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization. Olympus recently introduced an updated ultra zoom, the SP-560 UZ, also with a whopping 18x lens and 8MP resolution with sensor-shift stabilization. What both have in common is a very wide-angle setting; it’s 27mm on the Olympus versus 28mm for the FZ18. Although the pair is very close, they are much wider than the typical 35-38mm of other mega zooms such as those from Sony and Canon. The 8MP Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd–which we’ve asked for–also has an 18x zoom with a range of 27-486mm. Hey does this sound like a trend of more wide-angle digicams? As a matter of fact it is since we’ve learned other manufacturers will unveil them at the PMA convention at the end of January. While waiting for the S8000fd it was time to test the new Olympus. Here’s what we discovered… Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

Pentax K200D
Pentax is the Rodney Dangerfield of camera companies—they just don’t get any respect. The fact they operate on a shoestring budget, have recently been taken over by lens-maker Hoya and have as much clout with your local mega-retailer as I do may have something to do with it. Many photographers made their bones with Pentax K series cameras (back in the film days) so there’s a bit of nostalgia for the brand. Most new shooters don’t know Pentax from Pampers. This is too bad because the company makes decent D-SLRs—forget their point-and-shoots since they’re light years behind Canon and Sony. With this sad tale on the counter, DigitalTrends was happy to receive Pentax’s new entry-level D-SLR, the 10.2-megapixel K200D which costs $799 USD with the basic 3x 18-55mm lens–about the going price for an introductory 2008 D-SLR. Yes you can get the older 8MP Canon Rebel XTi and 6MP Nikon D40 for less but why bother when you can a new one with higher resolution? And you know you won’t pay $799 USD—more like $725– for this kit since Pentax doesn’t have the cachet of the new 12MP Canon XSi, 10MP Nikon D60 or recently reviewed Sony DSLR-A350 . Let’s see if this one gets a little respect or not… Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

Fujifilm Finepix s8100fd
There’s something nice about walking around with a big bankroll in your pocket or having high credit-card limits, knowing you can buy just about anything that comes your way. Nice. The same holds true when you’re packing digicams like the S8100fd, an 18x mega zoom camera with an attractive focal length of 27-486mm. Compare this to the much more typical 35-105mm and you’ll immediately see that you can capture wide-angle portrait and landscapes then zoom all the way in to snap birds resting on the top branches of tall trees. And this is much more flexible than almost any interchangeable D-SLR lens—plus you don’t have to hassle with lugging around additional glass. Of course there are some major trade-offs between this 10-megapixel point-and-shoot and any 10MP D-SLR such as the Sony DSLR-A200 or new Nikon D60 besides several hundred dollars and overall image quality. Speed is one of the biggest—speed meaning the time it takes saving images to the card and burst mode—which is almost creaky compared to a D-SLR. That said the new S8100fd costs less than $400 USD and it just might be a perfect camera to take on your next vacation. Let’s see if it’s worth the dent in your bankroll… Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

Cannes film Festival on YouTube
The Short film Corner at Cannes is one of the world’s premier destinations for shorts. But you don’t need to make the trip to France to see the best of what the festival has to offer, thanks to the National film Board of Canada’s Online film Competition Cannes 2008. In its fourth year, the contest features ten shorts, selected from among 650 films from over 40 countries. Representing an eclectic mix of languages and genres, the finalists are all available for viewing on the NFB’s YouTube channel. The prize? In addition to bragging rights, the director of the winning short film will receive a professional DV camera and a portable computer with post-production software. Ready for the best part? You determine the winner. That’s right — the winning film will be chosen by audience voting, based on the one-to-five-star rating scale you know and love. film jurors, it’s time to cast your votes. Sara P. YouTube film

Canon EOS 40D
Late last year Canon released the EOS 40D, a 10-megapixel D-SLR targeted to serious photographers since it costs north of $1,000 USD for the body alone. Add a few lenses and accessories, the next thing you know you’ve hit $2K. This camera is targeted for anyone looking at the older 10-megapixel Nikon D80 or the newer 12.2MP Sony alpha DSLR-A700, a camera I liked a great deal. In other words, it’s for those more than willing to go beyond Auto and make the most of a sophisticated imaging capture device (a.k.a camera). How advanced is the 40D? Rather than the usual 3 frames per second, this one cranks off 6.5 fps up to 17 huge RAW files before it stops for a breather. If you shoot in smaller JPEGs, you can crank off 100 shots. If your child is a budding athlete, this D-SLR will capture him or her in full stride. The Auto Focus system has been beefed up for quicker response (Canon claims it’s 30 percent faster than the EOS 30D) plus it has Live View so you can use the larger 3-inch LCD to frame your shots. All these things sound great on paper but it’s in the real world your camera gets its workout. And that’s exactly where we took it… Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

Fujifilm FinePix F50fd
It’s pretty startling how much camera you can get for less than 250 beans this winter. The F50fd is a good example with 12-megapixel resolution, mechanical and digital image stabilization, a larger-than-normal LCD screen and the latest version of Face Detection (2.0 to be exact). Let’s put this is a little perspective, shall we? It was just six years ago Sony broke the $1,000 USD barrier with a 5-megapixel camera (DSC-F707). Since digital cameras age in dog years, the industry has completely changed since then and 5MP is entry level—if you can even find one. For the record, Canon still leads the megapixel parade with the 21.1MP EOS 1Ds Mark III for eight grand so 12-megapixels is really no big deal with affordable models (sub $300 USD) readily available including the Kodak V1253 and many others along with this FinePix. And you know prices of 12MP models will continue to slide when 14-megapixel point-and-shoot editions arrive in 2008. Progress marches on! But is it really progress? That’s exactly what we wanted to find out. Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

Canon EOS Rebel XSi
Like the price of a barrel of oil, the megapixel count of D-SLRs continues to climb. When Canon and others first unveiled popularly-priced digital single lens reflex cameras, 6MP was the resolution spec, and everyone was thrilled. Today, 6-megapixel cameras of any type are practically ancient history. In fact, most new D-SLRs such as the Nikon D60, Pentax K200D or Sony DSLR-A200 kick off at 10MP with 14s becoming much more prevalent in 2008, such as the recent Editor’s Choice-earning Sony DSLR–A350. As for the new Canon EOS Rebel XSi, it fits right between them with a resolution of 12.2MP, but proves slightly more expensive if you look at it on a pure pixel-for-pixel comparison. Yet digital cameras are about much more than pure resolution—they’re about speed, picture-taking ability and loads of little things that separate the good from the bad. With that in mind, it was time to see if Canon had a winner on its hands—or, to put it bluntly, a clunker instead. Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

Sony alpha DSLR-A350
Jaded is my middle name—especially when it comes to new digital cameras. I mean how juiced can you get about another point-and-shoot just because the megapixel count increased? That said, manufacturers still have some great tricks up their sleeves that’ll get a rise out of even the most jaded reviewer. The new Sony DSLR-A350 is one of them. I’ve watched for months as Sony tantalized the press with promises of a Live View for D-SLRs that actually works like the “live view” of point-and-shoot digicams where you pick the camera up, frame your shot through the LCD screen and snap the shutter. As DT readers well know, I feel Live View as implemented by other makers (Canon, Nikon, Olympus et al) is a joke. To work properly, the camera has to be held steady by a tripod and the subject must remain still. How many people shoot like this in 2008—beyond eBay Power Sellers? Six, 16, 60? Sony felt the same way and decided to create a Live View for the rest of the world. Not only that, the new DSLR-A350 has a 14.2-megapixel imager, built-in sensor shift stabilization and loads of other goodies such as an articulating 2.7-inch screen. When this one arrived, the battery was quickly put in the charger so a test drive was just a few short hours away. How was this relatively bargain-priced $799 USD D-SLR? Read | Permalink | Email This | User Reviews | Linking Blogs

New Milonga in Providence - $10
New Milonga (Tango Social) in Providence Starting Feb. 29th 2008 Leap into tango spirit Fridays 8-11 pm “Tango on the Spot” Where: 286 Thayer Street, 2nd floor Providence, RI 02906 Admission $10 “2 for 1″ special for students with ID Mix of traditional and modern music by DJ Kana …

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