All right, folks, brace yourselves–Best Buy just leaked its Black Friday deals, even though at this point they’re a little behind the curve;  Sears and Office Depot had theirs out weeks ago.  But given as it’s still about a week and a half out from Black Friday, there’s still plenty of time to call this a leak.

And what they’ve got is pretty interesting, too–check out this list!  There are a LOT of items for sale here, so I’m just going to cherry pick some of the better ones.  The read link will have a bigger list on hand.

• HP Desktop AMD X4 Quad Core, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive w/20” Monitor, HP Deskjet DJ350 Color Printer & Windows 7 Home Premium – $499.97
• Sony 15” Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 7, Sony Headphones, Built-In Blu-ray, Blu-ray Movie – $479.97
• Sony DCR-SX40 Handycam Camcorder – $199.99
• Samsung 5.1 Channel 1000W Home Theater System With Blu-ray Disc Player – $399.99
• Sony PlayStation 3 Package w/120GB Console, Little Big Planet, and Ratchet And Clank – $299.99

Sounds like enough to get you out of your post-holiday turkey coma, doesn’t it?

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Every time you fly in a commercial jet plane, a blackbox records everything the plane does. In case of an accident, recovering this blackbox lets authorities determine what the plane was doing up to the time of the accident.

With the DRS 1100 you can add similar blackbox features to your car. The DRS 1100 consists of a video recorder with a Secure Digital (SD) card reader (and an included 4GB SD card), a mounting bracket, and a lengthy power cord for plugging the unit into a cigarette lighter.

The idea is that you fix the mounting bracket to your windshield using its adhesive backing, attach the video recorder to the mounting bracket, and plug the power cord into the cigarette lighter and video recorder.

To allow you to mount the recorder on the windshield or dashboard, the camera lens swivels up or down, allowing you to aim the lens forward no matter what odd position you mount the device. When you’ve mounted the device, you’re ready to start driving.

The moment the video recorder detects a sudden impact such as rapid deceleration from braking or a jolt from getting hit (or running into an object), the video recorder automatically kicks in and starts recording video footage, approximate car speed, and GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates on to its SD card.

Pop this SD card out, plug it into any Windows PC, and run the X-Driven program that lets you access and view the saved video footage. Now you can view data that shows the speed of the car and location, which can help clarify exactly what happened at the scene of an accident.

Rather than wait for a car crash to start the video recorder, you can also press an On button to start the video recorder manually. This can be useful to track where a vehicle has been and how fast it might have gone. Anyone in charge of commercial vehicles (or teenagers borrowing the family car) can appreciate having this information available to review at a later date. This lets you verify not only where the driver went, but how fast and whether he (or she) drove carefully or recklessly.

The included 4GB SD card can hold a surprising amount of video, but you could easily substitute a much larger SD card if you wish, up to 16GB. The video camera isn’t top of the line (just 1.3 megapixel), which captures VGA (640×480), QVGA (320×240), or Mega (1280×960) video resolution. Such a variety of video resolutions lets you capture the quality you like best.

Now here are the drawbacks. According to the manual, turning on the unit and waiting a few minutes will allow the device to start capturing GPS coordinates, but my unit never managed to do so, even after 20 minutes of driving around.

Beyond this flaw, which might have been limited to my particular unit, another problem is that you need to use the company’s X-Driven software to view the recorder data, which gets stored as a proprietary .ub1 format. Unfortunately, the X-Driven program only runs on Windows so if you’re using Linux or a Macintosh, you can’t use the X-Driven program and thus you can’t view any recorded data from the recorder.

While useful and interesting, the DRS 1100 is definitely not a must-have product, but more of a gee-whiz product. Still, if you don’t mind spending $299, the DRS 1100 can be invaluable when you need it the most. With its ability to capture video immediately during and after an accident, the device can capture crucial video evidence to protect you legally.

Leave the device running continuously may not always be practical due to the storage space long video recording sessions would gobble up, but doing so could also help you prove your case in court if stopped by a police officer for running a stop sign or traffic light. With video evidence supporting your case, you could spare yourself a traffic ticket and higher insurance rates, which could make the device pay for itself.

Ultimately, the DRS 1100 is a luxury item, but an extremely useful and desirable one. After seeing the DRS 1100 in action, you may want one just for the novelty, but also because you recognize its potential for capturing video footage when you might need it the most. You might never need the DRS 1100, but you’ll certainly want one.

Pro:

• Captures decent-quality video at various resolutions
• Captures GPS coordinates
• Automatically turns on when jolted during a car accident

Cons:

• Requires Windows, can’t view recorded data using Mac OS X or Linux
• GPS coordinates didn’t seem to work on my unit
• Recorder stores video in files only readable by the X-Driven program

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Perfect for crawling through a graveyard to film that new grave robbing reality series your trying to pitch, comes this new pistol grip night vision video camera.  Using a ring of infrared LED’s the lens is capable of illuminating the subject matter regardless of lighting, or lack there of.

Starting with a weak 32Mb’s of internal storage, you can upgrade to 2GB’s using a SD card allowing you to shoot in 640×480 resolution.  The video camera works in the daytime just fine and automatically switches to NV when the moods strikes appropriate.

All this mischief can be yours for $113 from FireBox if it wasn’t currently sold out.

[via OhGizmo]

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For all you 7up gulping, extreme hardcore junkies out there you might want to take note of Tachyon’s latest helmet cam, the XC Micro.  They’re laying claim to the ‘industry’s smallest helmet camera’ that boasts waterproof housing (up to 34′), a shockproof design, wide field of vision (90 degrees) and the ability to capture up to 4 hours of video on 2 AAA batteries.  Storage comes by way of a microSD card slot that accepts up to a 32GB card and video resolution maxes out at 640×480 at 30fps.   Until the end of November they’re offering the XC Micro at a special price of $100, which includes a universal mount and fastening strap.

Bad ass speed skateboarding video after the ‘leap’

[via Slashgear]

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Although the details are few and far between, it looks like Flip, the folks behind those cutesy pocket sized camcorders, are about to release a set top box for the living room TV.  But unlike the Apple TV and a many set top boxes this one won’t be Internet connected, at least according to the pics.  Nope, you’ll plug a USB stick into your laptop and wireless stream your recorded films to the main unit and the third component will act as a remote.

More pics after the ‘leap’

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When the Joby GorillaPod hit the scene some time ago, it amazed consumers worldwide with its tenacious approach to all things tripod related.  Capable of countless angles and poses, the Joby GorillaPod is a must buy for anyone that owns a digital camera or camcorder.

Lightweight and easy to use, the Joby GorillaPod can quickly mold itself to your surroundings allowing for some really creative photo and video ideas.  With your camera connected, you can detach it at a moments notice thanks to the GorillaPods’ locking clip.  To get an idea of the GorillaPod’s reach, it will fit around your standard pole size but isn’t long enough to stretch around a tree.  It works best when attached to something that you can weave its legs around like a chain link fence or a lamp.

The only design features I wish I could change would have been to make it a bit heavier.  I had some trouble keeping it secure on my bike and it would have been easier with some more weight added.  It also didn’t do that well holding up a heavier SLR (see pic below).

What could also help would be some velcro tethering strips so you could tie it in to whatever your trying to connect it with.  All I wanted to do was wrap it around my dog, but it just wouldn’t stay put.

The Joby GorillaPod is super durable, though.  It folds up really tight and looks like it could withstand quite the beating.  The rubber feet also give the GorillaPod great traction on a variety of surfaces from glass to finished wood and plastic.

Anybody that’s in the market for their first digital camera needs to buy this inexpensively awesome tripod as you will not be disappointed.  Also worth mentioning is that Joby has a bunch of other GorillaPods out there that are worth checking out.  This is the standard original one.

Pros:

• Cheap
• Fun
• Unique

Cons:

• Needs tethers for for aggressive fastening
• could be a bit heavier

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As an absolute alternative to the Flip camcorder series and other name brand models, the Vivitar WaterProof NightVision Camcorder is definitely worth some investigation.

Priced at a crazy cheap $50, the camcorder weighs just .8lbs, supports VGA resolution up to 640 x 480 at 30 fps, and has a x8 digital zoom.  It also has a SD slot and a 1.8″ preview screen.

Most importantly however, is the nightvision feature, which is largely unfound in products of this nature.  Throw in the waterproof casing and you have yourself the makings of a seriously awesome mini-cam.

So where’s the catch?

[via CraziestGadgets]

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Talk about useless crap.  I mean, whoa I totally need this.  I suppose if you were doing a short film about this gadget or the wonders of iPhone video, then it would maybe be cool?  The whole point of shooting video on your phone is to not need something like this.

Priced at $300 I would have trouble holding back malicious laughter if I saw some dude toting this thing around pretending to be professional.  I beg to be proven otherwise as I am continuously amazed at consumerism.

[via BoingBoing]

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Over the summer I saw a bunch of cool expensive looking RC jets and helicopters.  This one dude was even flying his RC helicopter upside down and doing all these cool stunts.

The “not a toy” SkyShutter Helicam RC Helicopter will allow you to capture some seriously sick aerial footage and is quite the technological marvel.  Two people are required to control this thing properly, as one person flies the copter and the other controls the camera.  The electric powered helicopter weighs 30lbs and is capable of carrying up to 6lbs of camera gear from SLR’s to decent HD cams.

Once the camera is affixed to the helicopter it can tilted and panned to produce some truly professional shots you’d often associate with real helicopter footage.  Just don’t ask for this for Christmas as it costs $9,000.

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Today, I read an article that made me question my own sanity.

I read all about the Liquid Image Scuba Series HD320, and when you hear what this is and connect it to earlier work, then you’re going to have a serious problem yourself.  Because by the time I finish talking about this you’ll wonder the same thing I did:  namely, maybe Thanko’s Underwater USB Camera wasn’t so lunatic after all.

The Liquid Image Scuba Series HD320, you see, is a diving facemask with a side-mounted HD video camera.  All you have to do is line up the crosshairs on the mask with the thing you want to photograph, then press the button on the mask to take the footage.  It’s the equivalent of a five megapixel camera and can go as far down as 115 feet.

You can get one of these beauties via West Marine for just $300, but there are lower cost versions available.

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A new rumor has burst onto the scene out of the Kodak company, and everyone’s frantically trying to figure out just what exactly it is.  A “highly placed source” has promised that Kodak’s got something really big planned for the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show this January in Las Vegas, but what exactly it is, no one’s sure.

In fact, the only piece of solid data involved is that it’ll be bowing right alongside the successor to the current Kodak Zi8 pocket camcorder.

Possibilities at this point could be most anything–a storage device, a new DVD burner that works with the Zi8’s successor, anything.  In fact, this could be little more than a giant pot of smoke and mirrors designed to give Kodak free publicity by having gadget bloggers like us endlessly try to play guessing games about what it’ll actually be until CES hits.

I guess either way, we’ll have to wait for CES to find out how this one finally boils out.

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Oh Thanko…have I told you lately that I love you…r insane brand of gadget lunacy?

The boys and girls out at Thanko have truly done it again.  They’re offering up a waterproof USB camera that will remain waterproof up to 20 meters deep, which is approximately sixty feet.

It’s got four gigs of onboard memory, USB, stores files in AVI at 736X280 resolution at 20 frames per second.  Even better, the battery takes up to two full hours of nonstop running to go blank, so you’ll have plenty of time to learn all its various features.

But yes, you read that right…they’re actually offering up a waterproof diving USB camera.  I admit there are plenty of other possible uses for it, but the fact that you can actually use it as a diving camera strikes me as a bit outlandish.  But if you ever wanted to hunt gold in the Caribbean, and don’t mind shelling out a hundred and forty bucks worth of that gold in advance, this has GOT to be the way to do it.

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Yesterday, Flip Video updated their MinoHD camcorder.  At the core it’s very similar to the original MinoHD, but this one, the Premium edition, sports a larger 2-inch screen (it was 1.5-inch), 8GB of storage (good for up to 2 hours of 720p movies), HDMI port and an aluminum case that can be modded with your own personal touch before arrival.  They’ve also updated the camera’s video editing software (now 3.5) as well as the price, which is now $229, up from $199.  And fear not, they’re still selling the original MinoHD, which remains at the same price.

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Remember Zoom’s Q3 handy camcorder? You know, the one with two condenser mics perched atop its shiny blue body?  Well, it’s now available for purchase at select retailers, including Amazon for $249.  Now you can record CD quality sound and video in a pocket sized format.

Other features:

• 2.4-inch 320×240 LCD
• 30fps
• 2 AA batteries
• USB 2.0 interface
• Built-in editing tool
• 44.1/48kHz 16/24-bit Linear PCM or MP3 audio up to 320kbps (audio with video)
• 96kHz 16/24-bit Linear PCM (video only)
• SD card slot

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I’m not sure why you’d ever want a tiny spycam built into an equally tiny bedside clock–the less savory application would probably be too impractical as this is a VERY tiny clock–but just in case you’ve got an urge to keep a clock and a camera by your bedside, $47 will indulge your clock / camera desires with the Tiny Spy Camcorder Clock.

The internal Li-Battery will offer two hours of continuous use, and has four gig of built in memory.  It can also patch into your computer with an included USB cable so you can swap out data on the fly, clearing out the clock’s internal memory to continue recording.

If you’ve always wanted to watch yourself sleep, or just hope you can record something else, then the Tiny Spy Camcorder Clock is what you’re after.  Otherwise, I can’t imagine anyone either wanting or needing such a thing.

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If you’re anything like me, you’ve got an old cell phone or two laying around the house and you’re about dying to get rid of it.  But you’ve got no idea where or how to dump it.  We all know there are loads of hazardous material laws to grapple with, and those collection drives expect you to pay to dump your hardware.

Enter the EcoATM, a device the size of an actual ATM that’ll let you dump your hardware quick, easy, and sometimes, profitably.  Simply drop your old phone or other device into the EcoATM’s slot, and the machine will determine if it has any value.  The machine will then make you an offer for the device, which it will pay off from a separate slot, usually in the form of a gift card.

What if your device is worthless, you say?  Not a problem–there’s no such thing as a worthless device to the EcoATM.  Even if it has no residual value, you’ll still be able to leave the device with the EcoATM, but you’ll also get a “freebie item”, plus EcoATM will arrange for a tree to be planted in your honor somewhere, which still beats having to pay off the collection people all hollow.

EcoATM is actually doing pretty well so far–its first day in operation netted 23 phones and passed out a full hundred bucks in gift cards.  Word is it got a BlackBerry Curve in prime condition.  So chances are, this prototype will likely be coming to an electronics store near you.

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A life lived in a fear is a life half lived.  Of course, a life behind bars because you lack the evidence to prove your innocence might not be a life at all.  The Car Cam Voyager with LCD records 720×480 video at 25-30fps, and provides you a real time view on its 2-inch LCD.

It’s not exactly a ground breaking piece of kit, but its super simple setup – just mount it on your dashboard or visor and plug it into your cigarette lighter – makes it very appealing.  Pop in a 32GB microSD card and you can record up to 48 hours of footage, more than enough evidence to exonerate you in the case of a life threatening accident.  You can pick one up from Brickhouse for $299.95.

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At last year’s CES we were challenged when it came to streaming recorded video.  While I’m not ready to plunk down the required $2,500 a month any time soon to accomplish the aforementioned feat, Livestream’s Livepack is one cool piece of kit that enables you to record and stream HD video anywhere you can connect to a 3G signal.

The system uses any HD camera with a Firewire interface (not included in the package) and consists of a turnkey box that includes a touchscreen interface for configuring the system as well as six ‘load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems’.  Battery time maxes out at 3 hours and the whole package comes in a backpack (rucksack for your UKers) form factor.

In short order the Livestream Livepack supplants a massive television truck and if you’re so willing to opt into a year’s worth of service they’ll knock the price down to $1,500/month.  Battery life is still a concern, but it looks like you can rent additional ones, albeit for a cost.

[via RFJ]

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If you’ve got a hundred and thirty bucks to drop and you’re getting just so gosh darn sick and tired of people always noticing that you’re carrying a camera around, then you may be interested to hear about the Hammacher Schlemmer pen camera, a small, sneaky little spy cam built into a pen.

It records video from up to fifty feet away and can record in 6y40 x 480 resolution, which isn’t half bad for a tiny little pen camera.  Also, it has onboard internal memory sufficient to hold two and a half hours of video.

The best part is the price–you can live out all your James Bond fantasies now for just a measly hundred and thirty bucks, like I said above.  And just in case you were wondering, yes, the pen function does actually work.

And you can even buy them direct from the manufacturer, and there’s never been anything wrong with that.

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In proper Flip fashion, JVC has brought us their new PICSIO GC-FM1 camcorder to slip into our pockets and record HD video whenever we please.  Looking rather candy-coated and bedazzled this little guy still packs a might tech punch.

Weighing only 95 grams and measuring a mere 53mm x 97mm x 17mm, your pants will only show the bulge that’s meant to be seen.  Using a 8 mega-pixel sensor to capture still photos, the GC-FM1 uses a 2 mega-pixel sensor to record video at 1080p in MPEG-4, AVC, and H.254 formats.

Sporting a 2″ LCD screen for instant viewing, there’s also a HDMI port for TV connectivity.  SDHC compatibility is in there too and you can also choose to record in VGA and QVGA modes.

No word on pricing or availability at this moment.

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