Gadgetoid

HD Pocket Video cameras seem to be taking the world by storm, in a thundering cloud of mediocrity that makes me truly baffled as to why you’d bother wasting money on one that would be best put towards, for example, a Panasonic compact camera with 720p AVCHD support. Sure, the latter is a little bigger, but it’s still pocketable and is simply better at taking video in less-than-perfect conditions.

None the less, the U10 is a cheap and compact curio that will appeal to many as a device for producing quick-n-dirty YouTube videos, good quality HD in this form factor is, however, surely the stuff of myth.

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Whilst watching import jobs tick over slowly but surely, and waiting for my Samsung U10 video review to up load, I took some time to give you a glimpse at the Proporta Maya Camera Case and Proporta Protective Hard Camera Case, both of which are pretty good offerings for pretty different usage cases.

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Every now and then I’ve hopefully picked up a toy camera from a store shelf, intrigued by the whole concept of nurturing my daughters early interest in Gadgets. Unfortunately, these always turn out to be simplistic toys which “simulate” the functionality of digital cameras with the basic sounds and aesthetic of the real deal.

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At the beginning of 2009 I acquired a Sandberg USB Bluetooth dongle, and some time later a Sandberg USB Wifi Adaptor. Both of these products are impressively, absurdly small but neither of them come even close to this particular little bluetooth gem which redefines the category of svelte, sleek USB bluetooth adaptors and delivers a product that actually can remain in your laptop USB port indefinitely. In fact, you may be hard pressed to get a grip on its 3.5mm protrusion and remove it.

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I posted a brief bit of coverage on the TrekPod Hiking Staff cum Tripod back in June of 2008 (Wow, it’s really 2009 now!).

It was clearly a solid product in both build and performance because JP Distribution have followed up and brought the Trek-Tech TrekPod XL to the UK.

Weighing in at a paltry 600g the TrekPod XL is a height adjustable, carbon fibre monopod, tripod and hiking staff all in one.

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Yes, yes, I know card readers are boring and you can’t get enough choice these days. I just wanted to draw a little attention to SandBergs new card reader which differs itself by being… well… really freaking small. It’s a great companion to a PS3 or laptop and is absurdly portable and pocketable for something that manages to read so many different formats and sizes of storage card.

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by Johnus Maximus

If you are looking for a ‘point and shoot’ digital camera, then you may want to take a look at the Ricoh GR Digital II. Compact, well built and extremely customisable, this successor to the Ricoh GR Digital has plenty to offer photography enthusiasts, but priced a little over £300 it’s perhaps slightly less appropriate for people like me who don’t know their EV’s from their ISO’s.

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When reading through the press release for the Sony HD Handycam HDR-CX11E I encountered a concept so insane that I couldn’t help but check if I’d fallen through time and landed on the 1st of April.

The HDR-CX11E is no ordinary camcorder, far from it in fact. It features a unique feature called “Smile Shutter” that, believe it or not, snaps a 7.6 megapixel photo when someone smiles. It can do this during movie recording, or even in between takes. To further add to the pure ridiculousness (or, perhaps, genius) of this concept the HDR-CX11E even has a “Smile Sensitivity” setting that allows it to capture anything from a gentle smile to a beaming grin. Finally, regular facial detection software ensures that every smile captured is taken with appropriate settings by fine tuning focus, exposure and colour balance.

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Trek Technologies LLC was formed in 2004 after identifying a market need based on personal outdoor experience. Their idea? To create a sturdy, lightweight, convenient, multi-purpose device with the functionality of both a tripod and trekking pole or hiking staff.

The result is the TrekPod, a lightweight, height-adjustable walking/hiking staff, with a fully integrated tripod, and a quick-release, mount-demount system called MagMount.

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Normally I wouldn’t rush out to purchase 3.5 inches of rubber, but that’s all the CamGrip is. The CamGrip tackles a problem I didn’t even know existed by screwing into the bottom of your pocket shooter providing a big, rubberised grip that proclaims to add additional stability and control to your camera handling experience.

If the CamGrip had a trigger it may, perhaps, provide an excellent aid for physically impaired persons but I’m personally struggling to see just what exactly it would contribute to my photography experience. It’s not a bank-breaker at £6.99 though!

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