GadgetReview

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. …Continue reading: Joby GorillaPod Flexible Tripod Review

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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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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It’s really, REALLY, hard to find a camera any more without an LCD display, so I was definitely shocked to find the OneShot camera, a camera so tiny that it’s about the same size, length and width, as your thumb.

There is no LCD display here.  No slots for flash memory, either.  But it apparently somehow manages to not only come with face detection, but also never need batteries.  This camera actually recharges like some of those flashlights you see–all you have to do is shake it.

The OneShot seems to not only run on a dynamo but also offers no expansions in memory.  This may be one of the weirdest cameras I’ve ever SEEN.

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Considering that NASA’s been whining about not having enough budget for the last couple years, it really makes them look bad to discover what a couple kids from MIT did the other day.

While NASA’s assembling teams have needed millions of dollars to launch one satellite, two guys from MIT put together a satellite of their own and launched it into low Earth orbit.  Here’s how they did it:

First, they took a styrofoam beer cooler and filled it with chemical hand warmers (to keep the thing from freezing in space), a cheap camera, and a prepaid phone with GPS so they could find the thing when it was all over.  They then inflated a weather balloon with helium and launched their “satellite”.  It got so far up that it managed to take a picture of the curvature of the earth.

Talk about your fantastic homemade gadgets–kudos to two schmoes from MIT for making NASA look like a bunch of whiny embezzlers.

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Leica has officially announced the M9, the first digital camera of its size to include a full-frame sensor that equates to that of shooting with a 35mm camera. The EP-1, Olympus’ offering is comparable, but uses a micro four thirds sensor, which result in image cropping and disables the photographer from using the full range of the lens. It’s a bit disappointing to see that the LCD is just 2.5-inch in size, which probably means a smaller form factor, but still, at $7,000 I dide expect a bit more from the German company. The camera’s housing is crafted from high-strength magnesium alloy, while the top and bottom deck are machined from brass. So drop this thing down a flight of stairs and it will keep on snapping.

Specs:

• 24 x 36mm, 18.5-megapixel sensor
• Dual imaging processors
• ISO 160 to 2,500
• Leica M mount
• RAW (DNG format) and JPEG
• 2.5-inch 230k-dot resolution LCD
• SD/SDHC flash media

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Amazon has the Sony GPS-CS3KA GPS Digital Imaging Accessory for $108.89 + free shipping = $108.89 shipped! Sync this little sucker to a with any camera and it will geo-tag your photos.  It features a 15 hour battery life and an SD card slot.

Newegg has the best deal on the Net for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W180 Silver 10.1MP Digital Camera.  Features include a 10.1 megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch LCD, 3x optical zoom and a 320 x 240 movie mode.  It’s …Continue reading: SONY Cyber-shot DSC-W180 Silver 10.1MP Digital Camera – $142 Shipped

So about that Nikon Coolpix S1000pj digital point and shoot.  Well, things got firmed up today when What Digital Camera got a complete hands on with the device.  As suspected, and detailed yesterday, it’s a 12 megapixel shooter with a built-in projector that can throw up a 40-inch image onto any surface.  On top of the camera is an aperture control (sorry, no auto focus yet) while the back of the camera includes a 2.7-inch LCD, two pieces of info we didn’t know yesterday.  There’s no official word from Nikon as of yet, so we’re still left wondering what the lumen and contrast ratio is.

[Thanks, Richard]

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