March 13, 2008
Today, Pandigital, one of the most successful digital photo frame vendors, takes the wraps off a new display product aimed at the kitchen. The kitchen is often an activity hub of the home, but limited progress has been made turning it into a digital hub. Nonetheless, that hasn’t been for lack of trying, particularly for Internet appliances. 3Com’s ill-fated (and perhaps just simply ill) Audrey was targeted at the kitchen, as were a few incarnations of the pricey Icebox device, which integrated a television, DVD player, and Web browser along with a washable keyboard. The PC most explicitly designed for use in the kitchen today is the HP TouchSmart PC.
There have also been a few specialized grocery list organizers and simple digital reminders, such as the Simpliciti Aurora, the inexpensive Jenda, the even more recent SmartShopper, and the imminent Audiovox Digital Message Centers. Like the Audiovox product, the Pandigital Kitchen HDTV/Digital Cookbook/Digital Photo Frame (yes, that’s its real name), includes a digital photo frame, reflecting Pandigital’s main business. And like the Icebox, it includes a TV (albeit a digital one). There aren’t may details about the digital cookbook part.
The 15″ screen with 512 MB of RAM will cost $399 whan it’s released in June. The TV will support 720p output. The specs say it will be able to display pictures from Picasa Web so there is probably some network connectivity. At $399, it will be a relatively niche product, but Pandigital will try to cover the decor bases by offering black, white and stainless finishes for this unique hybrid.
Tags: cookbook, digital photo frame, HDTV, kitchen, pandigitalNovember 26, 2007
Wal-Mart has a number of interesting quasi-retro tech products for sale this holiday season. In addition to being one of the few brick-and-mortar outlets for the (hard-to-find as of now) RCA EZDVD1 Memory Maker DVD burner that docks with the Small Wonder camcorder, the retail behemoth is offering a 1/2″ thin 3MP digital camera for $50 from Philips, which sat out the digital camera growth years in the U.S., but which has offered a novelty keychain offering available in drug stores and such. (Update: I’ve received confirmation that the EZDVD1 won’t be available at Wal-Mart but will be available at Amazon in a few weeks.)
It would be interesting to see if this creates up-rezzed version of those cameraphone-quality pictures or is more akin to my first 3 MP Canon PowerShot, which took some great pictures in its day. The lack of any optical zoom isn’t promising, although I will guess that it does better than the DXG models we tend to see in this price range.
Three megapixels seems excessive for Web usage (but, hey, the digital camera market is all about excessive megapixels these days). This could be OK for snapshots, or it could be a candidate for either a second camera or a child who has outgrown toy cameras. Kudos to the ambitious copywriters invoking Hollywood icon glamor by noting that the camera would “look at home in the hands of Fred Astair or Audrey Hepburn.” Their estates must be proud.
Tags: 3 MP, digital camera, Philips, Wal-MartSeptember 1, 2007
After continuing on his fruitless anti-megapixel campaign, David Pogue’s review of the vividly colored Finepix Z (as in Generation) touches on a topic I wrote about two and a half years ago in Switched On — the difficulty in sharing photos on the spot with others, say, at a party.
Fujifilm has enabled these cameras to beam pictures to each other the way early Newtons MessagePads and Palm Pilots could beam virtual business cards (this was quite the geeky spectacle at Macworld Expos after the Newton was launched although there’s really been no replacement for exchanging digital contact information). Pogue lays out the scenario:
August 4, 2007
No, I’m not impersonating Fake Steve impersonating Bono, I’m referring to Hitachi’s upcoming Blu-ray camcorders that the company describes as recording in “full HD.” This was surprising to me as consumer camcorders do not record in progressive scan and other companies, such as Sony, have used that term to refer specifically to 1080p. Now the question is whether Hitachi and other plasma TV companies will call 1080i sets “full HD”. That ship has probably sailed as they’re now planning to bring margin back into the business with their own 1080p sets, trying to beat LCD at its own game, but more confusion will reign.
May 15, 2007
I’ve had my say on Pure Digital and its newest flash-based camcorder. Thomson licensed the basic design of its first Point and Shoot camcorder, adding a switch to choose between higher quality and longer recording times. With the second-generation Small Wonder, though, its upped the ante, adding SD card expansion capabilities and flip-out screen for recording oneself. I took a chance and got one for my mom for Mother’s Day and was delighted at how she took to its its simplicity, at least for recording. For while playback of what’s on the camcorder is a simple matter of connecting the included composite video cables to a standard television, backing up those videos will require delving into software that, however well-designed and easy to use, will intimidate her.
And this is actually another reason why I chose the RCA version for her as Thomson plans to bring out a plug-and-play DVD recorder accessory for the Small Wonder later this year. Dock the Small Wonder into the drive and it should spit out a DVD. DVD recorders designed to be connected to camcorders aren’t new. Both Sony and JVC offer them. But I’m taking a small leap of faith that Thomson will stay true to the Small Wonder’s philosophy of simplicity to close the loop on mom-friendly video capture.
May 2, 2007
It’s a bit of odd timing that Pure Digital decided to rebadge its Point and Shoot camcorder Flip Video when a next-generation offering from RCA that supports a flip-out screen and memory card expansion will be available soon. However, I saw the (blister, grrr) packaging today and it’s pretty clever. Not only does the bulbous design imitate that of the camcorder itself., but the back enables you to power it on and play a short promotional video after which you can see what its like to use the small LCD. I would have suggested that the badge on the front alerting buyers to the interactive back be larger and that the buttons be labelled or accompanies by a sticker on the back to make it easier for unfamiliar buyers to find the power and play buttons (as play looks similar to delete).
The big guys are focused on HD, but Flip Video is a very fun product. Casual users love it. As I mentioned briefly when I posted about the Canon PowerShot TX, ther are a lot of places Pure Digital can take the product. It would be great to see two hours of HD, a larger LCD and maybe 5x optical zoon at a $500 price point rounding out the top-end.
Update: Turns out that Flip Video is not just a rebranding. According to Pure Digital, the video quality has been improved and there have been some other improvements. The 30-minute version in white s $119 and the 60-minute version, available in white and now black, is $149. There’s some cool stuff up these guys’ sleeves.
April 8, 2007
If you already know the basics of exposure, white balance, aperture, shutter speed and the like, but want to glean some wonderful insights about becoming a better photographer and have about 90 minutes and $20 to spare, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a more efficient way than reading Scott Kelby’s The Digital Photography Book published by Peachpi Press. Eileen picked this gem up for me at an Orlando Banes & Noble before CTIA and I finished it tonight.
Scott, who now is to Photoshop magazines what Leo Laporte is to podca– (sorry, Leo), netcasts, is a longtime Mac geek. Like others who gained fans writing for Mac publications such as David Pogue and Andy Inhatko, he imbues his tech writing with humor. He comes at the book from the angle that he and you are out on a shoot and he’s giving you advice as if you were any other friend.
I’m not sure if the book lives up to that level of familiarity, but the format is nonetheless refreshing and I commend Scott on selling Peachpit the concept. The book also reflects Scott’s finely honed aesthetics and, while he refers to many pros throughout the book, some of his own included photos are gorgeous.
April 7, 2007
Enjoying The Hoax this afternoon reminded me of a couple of high-profile online April Fools’ jokes this year that have turned out to be real. One was ThinkGeek’s 8-bit tie that the company is already working on producing. An even more elaborate joke was Gmail Paper but, aside from the delivery aspect, it’s really not too conceptually different from what Presto is trying to do, is it?
March 12, 2007
Vivitar’s forthcoming waterproof camera has pretty weak specs (why is the SD card limited to 1 GB?) and a deisgn aesthetic a bit reminiscent of the late KBGear’s JamCam for kids, but a cheap waterproof camera may be just the thing to address one of the last refuges of disposable cameras — the casual underwater photographer on vacation. We’ll see if the image quality is up to it. At $233, it’s not there yet, but at $99, many consumers might just take the plunge, so to speak. That price would also put it below many underwater casings for more popular offerings.
February 23, 2007
The just-announced Canon PowerShot TX1 is a strong candidate to become my next everyday digital camera. An image-stabilized 10x zoom and 720p video recording in a compact form factor should be a highlight of PMA.
HD was supposed to save the camcorder market, and of course products using discs and hard drives can store a lot more than the 13 minutes a 4 GB flash card can for the TX1. But the TX1 already supports SDHC for higher-capacity cards, and I’ve never shot anything close to 13 minutes of video with a digital camera. That said, low-light video performance on most digital cameras is still far below those on dedicated camcorders. I’m also hoping that Pure Digital will go upscale with its Point & Shoot line.
