Like all Eye-Fi cards, the company's latest, the Pro X2 ($149.99 direct), works with any digital camera that supports SDHC cards to let you wirelessly upload your photos and videos to your PC and popular sharing sites. Even better, this Class 6 memory card is faster than Eye-Fi's previous models, offering speedy 6Mbps read and write speeds. The Pro X2 also adds 802.11n support, and features an Endless Memory Mode that can automatically delete media after its safely uploaded so you never run out of space on the 8GB card. The Pro X2 adds RAW file support and even uses its integrated Wi-Fi to provide GPS-like geotagging services, so your photos are instantly tagged with location information.
) which is not waterproof, features virtually identical dimensions. The Playsport is even more compact than our Editor's Choice pocket camcorder, the Kodak Zi8 ($179.99, ), a land-only camera with more advanced features, but at just under 5 ounces, the Playsport is slightly heavier than both the Zi8 and the Bloggie। Even so, the Playsport is comfortable to hold, and it feels sturdy, sporting a rugged, rubbery case that comes in purple, blue, or dark charcoal gray—no matter which color you choose, the face of the camera is white. The Playsport is all about simplicity, so it's no surprise that you won't find several-levels-deep menus, like on many point-and-shoot cameras. There are four dedicated buttons and a four-way directional pad below the display—navigating and operating the device is easy enough that most users will be able to pick it up quickly, without reading a manual. The Power button and a pop-up door that houses ports are on the camera's right side; on the left, another door protects the battery and SD card.
At first glance, the Playsport's 2-inch LCD screen seems comparatively small, but nearly the entire display is usable in recording mode, while only 1.75 inches are available for use on the Sony Bloggie and Cisco Flip SlideHD ($279.99, 
), which include 2।4-inch and 3-inch LCDs, respectively. Videos fill the screens on both of these camcorders in playback mode, however. But in playback mode, other models offer a larger and sharper image; the Playsport's 2-inch LCD packs 154K dots, while the SlideHD, Bloggie, and Zi8 pack in 230K dots. Like nearly all pocket HD camcorders, the Playsport's lens lacks optical zoom or even autofocus, so you'll need to be a few feet away from your subject while recording. The Kodak Zi8 features macro focusing, so you can capture images just inches from the lens.
Image Quality and Performance
Since the Kodak Playsport uses the same image sensor, a 1/2.5-inch CMOS, as the Editors' Choice Kodak Zi8, image quality is nearly identical—it's excellent. Well-lit 5.3-megapixel stills looked great too my eye too. You shouldn't expect spectacular low-light performance, and the lens doesn't include stabilization so you might see some blurry photos, but performance is solid for a $150 camcorder you can take to the beach. Underwater users will want to switch to Kodak's H20 mode, which adjusts the contrast and saturation for underwater shooting. We tested the mode in the deep end of a swimming pool, and video looked great. The Playsport's build holds up against prolonged water exposure too; I left the camera submerged in a cup of water for an hour and found that the port and battery/SDHC card compartments stayed completely dry.
Videos can be captured in 720p30, 720p60, or 1080p30 and are saved as .MOV files, so they're playable on most computers, whether you're running Mac OS or Windows, and can be uploaded to YouTube and Facebook without needing conversion. All of the popular HD resolutions—720p30, 720p60 and 1080p30—are available as well. Advanced users will likely opt for a camcorder with a microphone input, but the sound captured by the built-in mono microphone will be fine for most people. Don't expect the camera to pick up clear audio under the water, however.
The Playsport uses SDHC cards, and like all cameras that capture HD video, you'll need a Class 4 or higher card. Pricier Class 6 and Class 10 cards are extremely fast, but not necessary. The Playsport lacks a built-in USB connector, traditionally offered by handheld camcorders, but a micro-USB cable is included for downloading videos and photos, and charging the camcorder's removable Lithium Ion battery as well. The camera also includes a standard mini-HDMI port—Kodak even includes the HDMI cable in the box. Naturally, watching your HD videos on an HDTV is much more enjoyable than using the 2-inch LCD.
At just $150, the Kodak Playsport would be a solid pocket-camcorder value even if it didn't shoot video and stills underwater. If you're an advanced user, you might considering stepping up to the Kodak Zi8, especially if a larger screen, microphone input jack, and macro-focus features are more important to you than a waterproof housing. But if you're looking for an affordable, easy-to-use compact video camera that performs well, the Playsport fills the bill. Being able to take it to the beach without worry is just a bonus.
Romain Jerome Titanic-DNA |
   Romain Jerome Moon Dust-DNA    |
Sharp said Wednesday that it is developing a 3D camera module for mobile devices that it will begin sampling in July.
The module appears to be designed for video as well as still images; Sharp said video up to 720p resolution can be captured. The module will be used for smartphones and digital cameras, the company said.
The module will begin production "within 2010," Sharp said.
The camera module uses a pair of camera sensors offset by a short distance, so that the images captured by both are slightly offset. Sharp's module then applies color, optical axis, and timing synchronization to merge the two streams into a single 3D video stream. Sharp also said that it has developed advanced camera mounting technology to improve the process.
3D television displays are on the way from Samsung and Panasonic, as well as 3D projector technology from companies like Viewsonic - even 3D pornography. From a display standpoint, however, Sharp's executives took a decidedly non-3D stance at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, where executives essentially dodged the 3D question.
On Wednesday, however, Sharp said in a statement that it would " be opening up new 3D markets based on 3D display technologies, including small/medium-size and large-size 3D LCDs, as well as on 3D input device technologies such as 3D camera modules."
The Apple iPad is a revolutionary, addictive Tablet PC with Wi-Fi. Add in 3G, and it becomes even more useful, just perhaps not $130 more useful, which is the premium you'll pay for always-on connectivity. And with 3G you have to tack on another $15 to $30 a month for service. The 3G model ($829, 64GB) costs enough more than the Apple iPad (Wi-Fi-only version) that you have to seriously consider where you'll use the 3G. Remember, this isn't likely a device you'll whip out on the street. Considering that even adding a paid Wi-Fi subscription will save you money over the 3G model, you may find that there are enough Wi-Fi hotspots and other ways to get online to make up for the lack of built-in cellular connectivity.
At first (second and third) glance, there's plenty to love in the idea of a watchphone -- and there's even more when you see how beautiful the LG's design is. It's a sleek window into a fully integrated future in which we don't carry our technology, but it becomes a seamless part of what we wear every day.
But does the device we've been waiting for for nearly 50 years live up to the dream? There's only one way to find out; call 'em in. I spent a week each with the LG GD910 and the Kempler & Strauss W Phonewatch. And, if you wanna know what happens when you actually have to use a watchphone, if you really wanna know I'll tell you right now: Watchphones (brace yourself) are one fantasy that should stay that way. Don't believe me? Here are three major strikes ag'in 'em:
So, what's the problem here? If you ask me, cellphone companies have been coming at this from the wrong angle, trying to turn phones into watches instead of watches into phones. To succeed, start with the form factor you want and go from there. Find a watch, one that's comfortable, and slowly (very slowly) add the cell radios, chips, and flash memory. Come on, if you can build anantenna into a shirt, you can do this. If there's microscopic, super-fast memory, you can do this.
The largest absent part of the puzzle is the battery. A watch battery alone can't provide the volts a cellphone needs to keep ticking, but lithium polymers are getting more compact and running cooler all the time. Cellphone-watch makers, just be patient. Perhaps the time will come.
When we tickle our artistic sides, playing with the varying fields of focus in our camera lenses can be a form of aesthetic expression. But for more practical uses -- say, filming a multi-layered scene like a concert where various subjects are at various depths -- it would be advantageous to capture the entire scene in perfect focus. A researcher in Toronto claims he's created an omni-focus camera that does exactly that.
The Omni-Focus Video Camera is based on a novel distance-mapping principle that allows the camera to capture both near- and far-field images in real-time, high-resolution focus. It does so by employing an array of color video cameras, all focused at different distances. The Divergence-ratio Axi-vision Camera -- the key component in the new video rig -- then maps each pixel in space. Software then stitches a composite image together using the most focused pixels at each distance, creating omni-focused video in real time.
The ability to bring an entire scene into focus regardless of its depth could vastly impact the commercial film industry and A/V hobbyists alike, but the inventors see it also making waves in defense, security, and medicine. Security cameras could capture large swaths of real estate with unprecedented clarity, and doctors using laparoscopes for less-invasive surgeries could better see what's going on inside a patient without constantly adjusting optics.
But we're still a bit fuzzy on the details behind the tech; physically speaking, two different cameras cannot capture identical images because they cannot occupy the exact same space at the exact same time. As such, it seems like the compositing process would slightly distort or dull the images, especially as the software tries to do all of this in real time. That being said, if the Omni-focus Video Camera works as well as the University of Toronto team says it does, we want one.
Carrier: Verizon Wireless
Manufacturer: Microsoft and Sharp
What's hot: Lovely hardware, good keyboards, strong Verizon network backing them.
What's not: Incomplete features and expensive plans weaken the KIN phones vs. competing products.
And now for something completely different, the KIN One and KIN Two. Trust us, you've never seen a user interface like this and you'd never expect Microsoft to make something this playful and youth oriented. The KIN phones ship in tube-shaped containers labeled simply with KIN One or KIN Two, and Windows Phone. Clearly Microsoft took that MS music player packaging parody to heart since the KIN lacks all the endorsements, fine print and other stuff that clutters most product boxes. The Windows Phone moniker is interesting since this is NOT Windows Phone 7, but Microsoft wants to remind us that both WP7 and the KIN are part of the same happy family.
The KIN One and KIN Two are currently exclusive to Verizon in the US, and the KIN One launches at $50 with contract while the KIN 2 sells for $99. The big hurt is the plan pricing since the KIN requires Verizon's $30 smartphone plan. That means you'll pay as much per month to use a KIN as you would for the Palm Pre Plus, Droid Eris and HTC Touch Pro2. Worse yet, the Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi Plus and Touch Pro2 all sell for less than the KIN Two (and the Palm models are cheaper than the KIN One as well). For a phone that's aimed at tweens and teens, these are not cheap phones and the plan pricing is too high. Sure, if you've got the money and want to treat your child to something cool, then the pricing, which is comparable to the iPhone 3GS plan pricing, is acceptable. But for less affluent parents and college students, the KIN, like the iPhone, will be a stretch. And the KIN siblings don't have the rich feature set of high end feature phones and smartphones, making the Android-based Verizon smartphones and Palm webOS phones look more compelling.
But all is not doom and gloom, and teens want different things from adults who are obsessed with business applications and feature overload. The KIN is really fun to to use and learn. Yes, it has a learning curve because the UI is so original (who thought Microsoft could create something so totally new!), but after an hour, you'll get it if you're under age 25. Why do I mention age? Because today's kids are immersed in technology and learn it quickly; there's actually nothing abstruse about the KIN. The phone is completely social networking-centric and that mirrors the interest of the target market. There's no MS Office viewer here and no PDF viewer, instead there's a home screen that focuses on the "Loop", your group of friends on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Windows Live Messenger. The busy screen is filled with their latest tweets and status updates, and these scroll up and down so you can see quite a bit of the day's social history. Tapping on one of the those pretty and highly graphical status updates takes you to a window where you can reply. If your life revolves around these social networking services, then the KIN should speak to you. Of course, so will Motorola's MOTOBLUR Android phones which do much the same thing in a less pretty way. These Android phones have an advantage when it comes to streaming video over YouTube and games. That's right folks, there are no games here. And this phone is for the younger crowd? From the age of 5, what were your children doing? Borrowing your phone to play games. But as they move to their later teen years, the social scene does become more important. Still, no games? And that relates to a bigger issue: no apps. You get a built-in set of applications for web browsing, email, Zune music and video, the phone and contacts, and that's it. There's currently no app marketplace, so those apps better do it all for you. Microsoft may make applications and new features available in future updates, though we have no information on what those will be. So for now, there's no calendar (you don't need to keep track of basketball practice, SAT study classes and the drama club meets, do you?), no YouTube player and no Verizon V Cast services. There's a GPS but it's used only for geotagging photos and Bing local area searches. If you're driving age, the KIN won't help you much beyond text directions from Bing's mobile site. And oddly, Windows Mobile phones with Live Search and feature phones with Bing services offer richer features than KIN. This is a phone that's all about social networking, get it? Microsoft did spend at least a year working with a test group of teens to develop KIN's features, so they may know something us old fogies don't, and we certainly can't say they didn't try out the features and product on the target market. 
Both KIN phones have slide-out QWERTY keyboards and bear an embarrassing resemblance to the Palm Pre. The arcing keyboard design and stone-like feel of the KIN One particularly reminds us of the Pre, but Microsoft and Sharp did have good taste in designs to mimic. The phones feel nice in hand, with grippy backs and soft lines but they are hard to hold onto when held in talking and texting positions. The back is too curved and the phone just wants to slip out of the hand (get that phone insurance). The very curved sides make various side buttons hard to press since the phone wants to squirt out of your fingers like a bar of soap. The camera button on the KIN Two is maddeningly difficult to press, for example. The power button is on the top right corner of each phone and is conversely too easy to press. But you're saved from pocket dialing by the nicest lock screen we've ever seen on a phone.
The keyboards are backlit and the light comes on when the ambient light sensor determines you need it. There's an accelerometer that works in most but not all applications. There's no landscape view for the Zune player main menus, though the UI will switch to landscape on the KIN Two if you need to input text. It has to switch because the lateral keyboard requires landscape orientation and there's no on-screen keyboard. That's right, you must use the hardware keyboard to enter text. Fortunately, there's a large on-screen dialer for making calls, and for that matter, every UI element is large and designed to be used with touch. Both KINs have capacitive touch screens that are beautiful and responsive to touch. The KIN Two has a 320 x 480 pixel display (same as the iPhone 3GS and low to mid-tier Android phones) and the KIN One has a lowly QVGA 320 x 240 pixel display. Given the large on-screen elements, that means you'll be scrolling a lot on the KIN One. That said, the KIN One is darned cute and extremely pocketable.
As a phone, the KIN One and KIN Two are OK, but they're not voice-centric by any means. There's no voice dialing, no hardware call send and end buttons and it's not easy to dial on the run or while driving (if legal in your state). It's hard enough to slide the phone open one-handed, let alone scroll to the phone application, then select a contact. Both incoming and outgoing voice quality are very good on the KIN Two. Incoming voice is very good on the KIN One, but outgoing voice sounds digitized and slightly garbled. Incoming volume is quite loud on both phones.
Specification:
KIN One Specs:
Display: 2.6” TFT, QVGA (320x240), capacitive touchscreen. Supports both portrait and landscape modes via accelerometer. Has ambient light sensor and proximity sensor.
Battery: 
Performance: Tegra APX2600 CPU. 4 gigs internal storage, 256 megs RAM.
Size: 3.25 x 2.5 x 0.75 inches. Weight: 3.9 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A and 1xRTT for data.
Camera: 5.0 MP with autofocus lens and LED flash.
GPS: Has GPS.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Zune software for multimedia playback. Has FM radio.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 with headset, handsfree and Bluetooth stereo A2DP with AVRC.
Software: Microsoft operating system for KIN (Windows Phone family). Web browser, email client for MS Exchange, POP3 and IMAP email, text and MMS cient, Zune media player software, "Feeds" application for social networking and RSS feeds.
Expansion: None.
KIN Two Specs:
Display: 3.4” TFT, HVGA (320x 480), capacitive touchscreen. Supports both portrait and landscape modes via accelerometer. Has ambient light sensor.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1390 mAh.
Performance: Tegra APX2600 CPU. 8 gigs internal storage, 256 megs RAM.
Size: 4.25 x 2.5 x 0.75 inches. Weight: 4.7 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A and 1xRTT for data.
Camera: 8.0 MP with autofocus lens and LED flash. Can shoot video up to 720p.
GPS: Has GPS.
Audio: Built in stereo speakers, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Zune software for multimedia playback. Has FM radio.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 with headset, handsfree and Bluetooth stereo A2DP with AVRC.
Software: Microsoft operating system for KIN (Windows Phone family). Web browser, email client for MS Exchange, POP3 and IMAP email, text and MMS cient, Zune media player software, "Feeds" application for social networking and RSS feeds.
Expansion: None.
