Archive for the ‘Cam Gadgets’ Category
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 |
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I do not have children of my own, but I’ve had the chance to see lots of little kids in action, and I’m telling you: there’s nothing more difficult in the whole world than looking after them. They’re unforeseeable and so full of grit that you’re not allowed to lose them out of your sight, not even for a moment, because that’s when all of those unpleasant and undesirable things happen.
People who have children and who decided to invest in a baby monitor are conscious about how useful such a device proves to be once purchased, but they also know that baby monitors provided with video cameras were very expensive in the past.
As far as the price is concerned, the Ycam-Night Online Baby Monitor is a whole lot cheaper. The reason why this device won’t make you pay several hundred dollars is that is based on an inexpensive video technology which is common on webcams that are now available on the market. This baby monitor camera is designed to be connected to your wireless router, allowing you to keep an eye on your child wherever you might be in the house, as long as you set up the camera. The installation of the device is quick and simple, providing quality video with sound and shooting in 30 frames per second, with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels.
The Ycam is also equipped with infrared night vision, so you can look after your kids even in the dark. But there’s more into this device than what I’ve said up until now. With the motion detection system, you have the possibility to receive alerts via email. So you should not worry about your child when surfing the web for hours or doing your research in front of the PC. In addition, there’s a MPEG-4 compression feature that is designed for reduced bandwidth and storage.
The baby monitor camera also allows you to see your child from all sorts of devices, such as desktops, laptops or even the iPhone. Provided with Wi-Fi connectivity, you can charge trustworthy persons to see your kid from anywhere. The only thing you should do is to give them the password protection.
If you’re interested in purchasing the Ycam-Night Online Baby Monitor, you can visit the product’s official website and grab it for £146.99.
(Source: coolest-gadgets.com)
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Monday, November 10th, 2008 |
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Wanna-be cutting-edge art photographers have now at their disposal a cool new toy to play with, more precisely brand new digital camera which was unveiled a couple of days ago by Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy. The device, called XIAO, features a built-in printer and is aimed at women in their twenties and thirties as well as families. More than that, the company says that it will soon release more products that are based on the same technology.
The XIAO is a digital camera that takes the place of the old school Polaroid Instamatic, as it allows users to immediately print their digital photos on the spot via its integrated printer. The 5 megapixel camera comes with a 2.48-inch LCD screen and packs 16 megabytes of memory.
Therefore, the so-called XIAO TIP-521 comes with the following specs: the 5 megapixel camera, 4x digital zoom, 2.48-inch LCD screen, infrared port and support of SD/SDHC memory cards, thermal line printer with a resolution of 313dpi (size of the prints 2 x 3 inches). The device measures 149.5 x 74.5 x 25 millimeters and weighs approximately 294 grams.
The company plans to initially target the XIAO (which means “small” in Chinese) at Japanese consumers; the digital camera is scheduled to go on sale starting November 28 in Japan, for an amount of $320 while 20 sheets of printing paper will cost around $8. Takara Tomy expects a sales volume of 100,000 units per year in this country. As far as the American consumers are concerned, well, they will have to wait a little bit, as the XIAO is said to go on sale in the US sometime in May 2009 for 34,800 yen ($357).
(Source: Dvice)
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Monday, November 3rd, 2008 |
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Samsung NV100HD, also known as Samsung TL34HD camera, is a new digital photo camera launched this summer with High Definition video recording capability of up to 720p at 30 frames per second speeds, a feature that was recently introduced on the market in just a few models from different leading manufacturers.
Introduced as an enhancement of the previous model, the NV24HD, it has a high resolution of 14.7 effective megapixels for still pictures enabled via the 28-mm wide-angle Schneider-Kreuznach lens that support an optical zoom of up to 3.6x.
Unlike Dual Image Stabilization, that usually is resulting from the combination of an Optical Image Stabilization and an increase in the ISO sensitivity, our camera here has the true Dual Image Stabilization technology produced by the Optical Image Stabilization and Digital Image Stabilization algorithms. This enhances the image clarity, removing blur during accidental shakes in low light environments.
Thanks to the multi-coated lens, Samsung NV100HD/TL34HD eliminates unwanted effects such as ghosting and flare, allowing you to capture sharp close-ups for portrait pictures, when used together with Face Recognition AF&AE functionality.
Face Detection was first encountered at web cameras and since it was enabled in digital camera models, it became very popular and widely used among amateur photographers and not only, for capturing portraits. The technology is designed to focus on the subjects’ faces and optimize the image automatically before shooting.
With so many innovative characteristics, the camera could be easily confused by beginner photographers with professional DSLR models, especially because it’s the world’s first digital compact camera with such a high resolution.
You can delete important pictures by mistake very rarely, as it usually asks you twice if you are sure you want to erase that position from the memory, but Samsung just wants to be sure it won’t happen again and introduced the Recycle Bin tool, which works just like the icon on your Windows desktop.
Among specifications, the camera has shutter speed settings like Auto, Manual Mode, Night and Fireworks, as well as Multi, Spot, Center Weighted and Face Detection AE metering modes, Red Eye Fix, White Balance, multiple shooting modes including some new ones like Children, Beauty Shot, Text and Self shot, plus several editing tools. With the Multi Slide Show you can arrange the pictures into nice slide shows with music and different effects.
In addition, it is powered by a rechargeable SLB-1137D battery and provides 40MB internal storage, expandable up to 8GB via an external memory card.
It gathers all these functionalities inside a 3.68 x 2.34 x 0.80-inch unit available in several metallic colors, while allowing you to access each of them easily via the 3-inch large touch-sensitive TFT LCD display with enhanced contrast and color reproduction, plus the user-friendly Smart Touch 2.0 interface.
If it got your attention enough to wonder yourself about its price, then you have to know it’s available on the market at around $300.
(Via Testfreaks)
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Friday, October 24th, 2008 |
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It is obviously that lately, the prices at which High Definition camcorders with hard drive storage type has dropped considerably, and one of the newest models released on the market at a very attractive price is Canon VIXIA HG20. I, personally, have been waiting for a good solution for recording video on the go in HD format with a camera model providing its own storage capacity. Sony’s camcorders were the first to wake my interest, but after having a bad experience with one of its digital photo cameras, I decided to see what other solutions the market has to offer, so now I have the chance to know more about Canon.
VIXIA HG20 was announced in August and released at a retail price of $949, together with other 2 models, one with Dual Flash Memory and the second one with HDD.
It is a high-end camcorder capable to record videos in High Definition at 24Mbps bit rate, which is the highest speed provided for the AVCHD format, essential for having greater details especially for when filming moving subjects.
Canon HD video camera with hard drive records on the 60GB HDD up to 22 hours of High Definition content in LP Mode, which can be transferred on an SDHC memory card for watching the videos on a High Definition TV, after the card is inserted into a card reader .
To achieve high quality imaging, Canon’s digital video camera features Genuine Canon 12x HD Video Lens, Canon’s 3.3MP HD CMOS Image Sensor for Full HD, Canon’s DIGIC DV II Image Processor to enhance colors and clarity, the fast and accurate Instant AutoFocus, and SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization.
In addition, key features of the new Canon HD video camera with hard drive include 24p Cinema Mode for film-like videos, 30p Progressive Mode for videos optimized for the Internet, Superb Shooting Control, Mini Advanced Accessory Shoe, intelligent Li-Ion battery, 3.1MP picture capture, HDMI connectivity, manual audio level control for the microphone, and the Pixela ImageMixer 3SE Video Editing Software with support for Blu-ray DVD burning.
Practically, on the 60GB HDD space you can record up to 45 hours and 15 minutes of video in 1440 x 1080 resolution, or 11 hours and 5 minutes of video at 1920 x 1080 resolution.
It is maybe the best HD video camera with hard drive recording available at this price.
(Via Testfreaks)
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Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 |
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Webcams are pretty standard and common peripheral devices these days, there’s no doubt about it. A lot of laptops have them integrated and the standalone versions are different only as far as the resolution is concerned. But there’s one particular feature that most webcams don’t usually include, that has been embraced and largely debated by a UK company called Promotion and Display Technology Ltd. These guys decided that the market lacks a device that produces a 3D image of the person it is viewing. This is why they came up with the Minoru 3D webcam.
This is the classic version of 3D where the viewer has to wear special glasses in order to see the 3D image properly. The main advantage of this device is that Minoru can be used as a standard webcam with applications such as Skype, instant message clients or even YouTube videos.
Minoru, meaning “reality” in Japanese, is therefore the world’s first 3D webcam. The only thing you should do is to connect Minoru to your PC and he will come alive, his eyes will light up and he will be looking at you in 3D. This way, your friends and family can now see you in 3D over your favorite messaging program like Windows Live Messenger, Skype, AOL instant messenger, OoVoo and many others. You also have the chance to take 3D photos or even shoot 3D videos and then upload them to YouTube.
This webcam won’t find its place among common peripheral devices, as I said it before. Minoru has two discrete lenses spaced at roughly human eye distance, but unlike a View-Master reel, it doesn’t deliver two discrete images, rather it mixes both together into a blurry-looking mess that requires the funny two-color glasses.
Moreover, you don’t need a special Web platform or software for viewing: standard video IM clients or YouTube and its ilk are all compatible; the video will look badly out of registration until you put the glasses on.
For those who are interested in the world’s first 3D webcam, Minoru can be purchased for an amount of approximately $100 when it arrives in December, when it’s expected to become available.
(Source gadgets.boinboing.net)
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