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Print ArticleInspecting (Digital) Gadgets
Add-on Products Taking Digital Imaging Experience to New Heights
By Diane Berkenfeld
August 2001
Old Dick Tracy cartoons (and comic strips) were filled with scenes
of the detective using his two-way wrist radio which was complete
with a screen to view the caller. Captain Kirk's yeoman Rand on
Star Trek carried a data pad and stylus not unlike today's PDAs. In
the movie Tron, Jeff Bridges' character was trapped inside a
computer video-game. Ouch! Today there are a variety of game
devices and software programs that give you the sensation of being
a part of the game without the trouble Jeff found himself in.
Characters in George Orwell's 1984 found themselves constantly
watched by Big Brother - don't turn around, you might just find
"They" are watching you!
And James Bond had Q and his laboratory of scientists creating a
plethora of gadgets to help the secret agent get out of sticky
predicaments. Some of these include: A Rolliflex camera with a
recording device in From Russia With Love; a helmet camera in You
Only Live Twice; a rocket firing Nikon camera in The Man With The
Golden Gun; a cigarette lighter camera in Moonraker; a binocular
camera in For Your Eyes Only; a TV watch and video camera in
Octopussy; a video camera that determines the identity of a subject
from a central computer (Ed. note: This is reality today.) in A
View To A Kill; a Hasselblad camera that can be broken apart and
reassembled as a gun and a Polaroid camera that emits laser beams
and takes X-ray photos in License To Kill; and a silver tray that
doubles as an X-ray document scanner in Goldeneye.
Agate's Q. drive.
Its a bird, a plane, a camera!
Although we don't have room to highlight all the gadgets and gizmos
available today, the following includes a sampling of the fun and
exciting products you can stock and sell to heighten your
customer's imaging experience.
Last year Casio introduced a wristwatch that took black-and-white
digital pictures. This year Casio debuts the WQV3D-8 (metal band)
and WQV3-1 (resin band) color wristwatch digital cameras. With a
CMOS sensor, they can capture up to 80 full color images that can
be transferred to computer for viewing or e-mailing. A grayscale
LCD panel acts as both viewfinder and playback monitor. The
camera/watch can transfer data to computer or another wrist camera
using IR data exchange and will be available next month. www.casio.com
Turn a PDA into a digital camera - Kodak's newest PalmPix for the
m500 and m505 series Palm PDAs is a sleek accessory that takes
digital images. www.kodak.com
For the HP Jordana Pocket PC crowd, HP offers the CompactFlash type
1 camera card to capture images and record audio. The CF type 1
camera card features optical and digital viewfinders and a swivel
lens capable of rotating 180 degrees. www.hp.com
Visor's Handspring users can turn their PDA into a digicam with the
addition of the Eyemodule. The Eyemodule unit integrates into the
Visor's springboard module port. The Eyemodule2 raises the ante by
offering mini-movie making capability, 640x480 resolution, and
more. www.visor.com
Need a digital camera that is even smaller? Try one of the many pen
cameras available. Aiptek offers three versions of their Pen Cam.
The Pen Cam 2 features a VGA CMOS sensor, and with interpolation
software the images can be bumped up to XGA. Eight MB of built-in
SDRAM allows for still image shooting, full motion video in two
modes; and with USB connection the ability to videoconference over
the Internet. www.aiptek.com
Mind your media
The Q. is a remarkably small USB hard drive. Available in
capacities of 16, 32, and 64 MB, it plugs into the computer's USB
port and is durable enough to carry on a keychain. The Q. allows
you to leave your stacks of floppies at home. www.agate.com
For transporting really big digital image files or other large data
files, SmartDisk's FireLite is a 5 GB drive that is built for
travel. The FireLite drive connects to computer by FireWire for
lightening fast transfers. This drive fits in the palm of your
hand, purse, or shirt pocket. www.smartdisk.com
Want to be able to accept all of the major types of digital media
with one card reader? Imation will begin shipping the FlashGO in
September. The FlashGO is a USB card reader that accepts
CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard, SecureDigital,
MemoryStick and the IBM MicroDrive. Never worry about being able to
read multiple media formats again. www.imation.com
Ceiva Logic brings the second generation Ceiva digital picture
frame to market this summer. The Ceiva II's features include a
CompactFlash card reader, speaker to play audio files accompanying
the images, and IR remote control for operating menu options.
Interchangeable mattes and frames also allow your customers to
customize the frame to their style. Also new this year, members of
the Ceiva Network can order prints through Ceiva.com and will
eventually be able to order prints directly from Fujicolor
Processing through their Ceiva frames. www.ceiva.com
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