camera

Apparently no gadget is safe from mad scientists who want combine all manner of functions into a single device. The latest target of Dr. Frankenstein wannabes is the lowly USB drive.

The prosaically christened "5-In-1 128 Camera Memory Stick" from Aggeggi takes photos, records video, stores music, provides Webcam feeds and holds 128MB of data in its USB flash drive. (It also looks about as exciting as its name.)

As Ministry of Tech says, none of the $195 device's features is very impressive on its own, but it does deserve some credit for combining so many things … Read more

It's official: Crave has a link to Paris Hilton. A couple of weeks ago we panned the idea of this car-board black box device for any number of reasons. But today we read on GeekSugar that Kathy and Rick Hilton expressed interest in the Gadget Universe product for their ubiquitous daughter to keep tabs on paparazzi and other media hounds. We're not sure what to make of this latest development, but we do agree with GeekSugar's trenchant observation: "Personally I wonder if Paris really needs any more cameras around her than she already has."

Here at Crave, we stay paranoid so you don't have to. Where else, for example, can you find cautionary notes about an eavesdropping table lamp and a spy-cam clock in one place?

The latter was brought to our attention by Chip Chick, who says the "WiLife Spy Camera" is the "only networked camera concealed in a digital alarm clock." (Talk about esoteric claims.)

So far as we can tell, it's pretty much like other Wi-Fi spy cams we've seen that send video feeds back to a remote PC or other screen. The option … Read more

Taking a page from Nikon's playbook, Olympus is offering glimpses of new digital SLRs it appears likely to announce in conjunction with the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) trade show next week.

An image at Olympus' European Web site shows two dimly lit SLRs labeled March 5, 2007--three days before the PMA show begins--and a larger hulking silhouette with no date.

Olympus trails Nikon and Canon in the digital SLR market. The company has allied with newcomer Panasonic, though, and the same "four-thirds" system lenses can be used on either company's digital SLR cameras. Olympus also uses … Read more

Waterlogged photos have cause to rejoice, as SeaLife has announced two new cameras. Like all SeaLife cameras, the Reefmaster Mini and the Ecoshot feature waterproof, beefed-up casings for rough shooting. The Reefmaster Mini can handle depths as much as 75 feet, the Ecoshot can sink as far as 130 feet underwater, and both cameras can handle drops of as far as six feet.

Other than their extreme ruggedness, the 6-megapixel Reefmaster Mini and Ecoshot are rather lackluster cameras. With a 42mm-equivalent, fixed-length lenses, they're not going to win any prizes for best feature sets. They have a unique Spy … Read more

Fans of Sony products are often disappointed at the January Consumer Electronics Show to discover that the company doesn't have very much to say. Sure, there's a big Sony booth and a handful of token product announcements and press releases, but it's always small potatoes compared to the dozens of new items on display from competitors such as Samsung, Philips, and Panasonic. But that's entirely by design: rather than get lost in the CES maelstrom, Sony opts to launch its new line of products at its own Sony-only line show. We've got complete coverage of … Read more

Sony's latest pair of superzooms, called the DSC-H7 and DSC-H9, add longer zoom lenses, higher resolutions, face detection, and a handful of other nifty features, including high-definition output. This last feature has found its way into all the company's new Cyber-shots, as was mentioned in our post about the new W- and T-series cameras.

Both of the new models include 8-megapixel CCD sensors and 15x optical, 31mm to 465mm-eqivalent, zoom lenses with optical image stabilization. Just in case that stabilization isn't enough for you, Sony also upped the top sensitivity rating on this year's models to … Read more

Sony's still thinking small with its Cyber-shot digital cameras, keeping most models thin, light, and easy to pocket. The company just announced its spring lineup of Cyber-shots, which includes no less than five new T- and W-series cameras that measure less than an inch thick.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200 is the first ultracompact digital camera to break 10 megapixels. The W200 features a 12-megapixel sensor that can record images up to 4,000x3,000. The W200 joins the 8-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-W90 and the 7-megapixel W80, which share the same 35-to-105mm-equivalent optical zoom lens, the same 2.5-inch LCD screen, … Read more

They say keeping track of the food you eat is one of the necessities of dieting. But who has time (or wherewithal) to keep a log? Health Magazine has a clever tip: Use your camera phone to snap and e-mail pictures of the meals you eat.

Better yet, Health says, sign up for Nutrax, a online service to which you send pictures of your meals as you go through your day. Later, when you sit down at your computer, you can identify the foods eaten in your pictures. The service tracks the calories, carbs, and nutrients against your goals. Goals … Read more