Gadgets: A point-and-shoot with a powerful zoom lens

Nikon has announced nine new cameras in its Coolpix line, featuring one with a monstrous zoom that goes from the equivalent of a 24-millimeter wide angle to a 1,000-millimeter telephoto.

That flagship camera, the P510, is an advanced point-and-shoot -- one of those neither-fish-nor-fowl contraptions that looks like a small single-lens reflex but does not have an interchangeable lens.

Arguably, with its 24-millimeter-to-1,000-millimeter zoom, it doesn't need another lens, but there is a compromise: The lens is slow, between f3 and f5.6, depending on how far it is zoomed out. That cannot be good for low-light capture, even with the 16-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor inside.

These back-illuminated sensors are becoming more common, and their chief advantage is that they are better in low light than front-illuminated sensors. Is it enough to make up for an f3 lens? Hard to know without handling the camera.

Another thing to keep in mind: Even with the P510's anti-vibration feature turned on, anything using a 1,000-millimeter lens will likely benefit from a tripod. The tremor in your hand from your heartbeat is enough to send the zoomed-out lens hopping.

The camera also takes 1080p videos and can record stereo audio. It can also use the zoom lens while recording. There is even built-in GPS function to mark where your pictures are taken.

Sonos is that rarest of birds in the technology world: a small consumer electronics company that has thrived.

The listener can sit on a couch with an iPad or iPhone, and it all just works. Sonos decided it needed to make its own integrated speakers that did not rely on an external stereo receiver and speakers partly for this reason. After all, complex systems tend to work better when one company designs every key piece, with painstaking attention to detail.