CES - Digital photo and video

Smartparts has added two new pocket-size touch-screen digital photo viewers to its current lineup, the 2.4-inch SP24PC and the 3.5-inch SP35PC.

These compact digital photo viewers give people the capability to enjoy their favorite photos on the go. Users upload photos by connecting the viewer to their computer via USB cable. Both viewers are compatible with Mac and Windows.

The SP24PC can hold up to 50 images in its internal memory, and the SP35PC can hold up to 100 images. They both have a built-in rechargeable battery that automatically charges when the viewer is attached to a computer … Read more

Smartparts has added two new Wi-Fi enabled digital photo frames to its lineup, the 10-inch SPX10WF and the SPX19WF. They feature such things as one touch Internet setup and automatic image correction.

As with the current Smartparts Wi-Fi digital photo frames, the new SPX10WF and the SPX19WF have photo e-mail capability allowing users to automatically receive e-mailed photos directly onto their photo frame. They also have Smartparts' SmartFix technology which automatically resizes, enhances, and crops photos to maximize appearance and storage capacity on the frame.

The SPX10WF has an espresso color wood frame with a 10-inch 800x600-pixel 24-bit LCD screen. … Read more

Camera Armor, a maker of protective silicone skins for dSLRs, has announced its first line of protective skins for point-and-shoot cameras.

Camera Armor's silicone protective skins are custom fit for each camera model and provide shock-absorbing protection. The compact skins allow complete access to controls and buttons, including battery and memory card access, as well as a polycarbonate LCD protective shield.

They are clear to allow the original color of the camera to show through, and have a special grip texture to prevent accidental drops. The Compact Camera Armor skins are initially available for the Canon SD1100 and Sony W-120. … Read more

In case you're watching the digital-photo frame market, it appears that prices are coming down nicely heading into the spring of 2009. Hitting stores next month, Pandigital's new PanTouch Clear line features an allegedly simplified touch-screen interface and an eye-catching floating-image design for a relatively affordable price.

The PanTouch Clear models come in 7- and 8-inch size frames. They offer 800x600 resolution, a 4:3 aspect ratio, 6-in-1 card reader, and 1 GB of internal memory. They'll be available next month, with the 7-incher listed at $119 and the 8-inch model listed for $139.99. Both models … Read more

There's been a little bit of buzz at CES here about the Iriver Wave Home, which marries a networked mulitmedia device with a communications hub to form a kitchen/home office-friendly gadget.

A 7-inch 800x480 touch screen is built into the unit along with a detachable wireless handset and speakerphone for VoIP calls (you can make calls from the phone or an onscreen virtual keypad and the device supports video calls as well). You can access the Web, photos, music, and videos, and there's an FM radio that Iriver says can be "enjoyed through Wave Home's … Read more

When they launched, Casio's high-speed Exilim models with frame rates of 1,000-plus frames per second (fps) wowed all but the purists in the digital photo community. But cameras like the EX-F1 and EX-FH20 are bulky and the features too difficult to use for many. So Casio put the circuitry in the dryer on High and popped out a sensor and chipset that packs its high-speed technology into tiny, easier-to-use digital camera packages: the 9-megapixel EX-FC100 and EX-FS10.

The higher-end FC100 has a 5X zoom lens and sensor-shift optical stabilizer; the much thinner FS10 uses a 3X zoom and … Read more

While there have been no shortage of vertical-style mini HD camcorders at CES 2009 (see announcements from Kodak, Sony, and RCA), there haven't been any pistol-grip mini HD camcorders, mainly because the most recognized maker of them, Sanyo, didn't have any announcements at the show. But fear not, DXG has you covered with the DXG-581V.

Due in the first quarter of this year for $179.99, the DXG-581V can capture HD video up to a resolution of 1,920x1,280 and capture 8-megapixel photos. It's equipped with built-in flash memory (though DXG didn't say how much), … Read more

The first NAS server I've run into that features a surveillance system is the Synology DS107+, and I was very impressed. Thursday, D-Link announced two NAS servers that work more like Internet-based surveillance products--or network video recorders (NVRs)--than storage devices. They are the DNS-722-4 and the DNS-726-4.

Both products are based on D-Link's two-bay network-attached storage (NAS) device technology, such as that used in the DNS-323. The DNS-726-4 NVR Pro version works with D-Link, as well as Axis, Sony, and Panasonic network cameras, while the DNS-722-4 NVR works only with D-Link network cameras.

There's one more … Read more

JVC replaces its SD-card-based Everio GZ-MS100 with the MS120 and MS130; the MS120 has two slots, comes in black, blue, and red, and the MS130 has a single slot plus 16GB built-in memory and comes in black. They both feature a nice rollover capability that automatically overflows recording from one media to the next when necessary.

The company didn't provide any real specs on the products, so I'm going to assume they're the same as the MS100--a 1/6-inch 680,000-pixel CCD and 35X zoom lens--and give you a big ugly picture (above). They'll be available … Read more