polaroid

Polaroid, famed for photographic prints that develop within moments, is getting out of the film business.

The company is shutting down two plants in Massachusetts used to make film for professionals and artists this quarter, The Boston Globe reported Friday. A similar plant in Mexico and one in the Netherlands for making consumer film packages will close by the end the year, and the company already has stopped making instant-film cameras, Polaroid said.

The Massachusetts-based company is interested in licensing its film technology to others, but if it doesn't happen, its film will likely run out in 2009. Meanwhile, … Read more

Zink wants to take the printer off of your desk and put it in your pocket. The question now is whether you'll want it.

The Waltham, Mass.-based start-up has created--with help from Polaroid--a way to print photographs or documents without ink or an ink cartridge. Without an ink cartridge, the printer can be reduced to the size of an iPod or smaller, CEO Wendy Caswell says. The controlling factor when it comes to printer size is whether you want 2x3 pictures or 4x6 prints.

The first two products likely will be a standalone printer, and a camera with … Read more

Polaroid popped up on our radar again, this time introducing a handy photo backup device.

Plugging the portable storage device into a computer's USB port automatically prompts it to find and copy any images stored on the computer. The Media Backup Photo Edition, which comes in black or white, does not require installing software or clicking a sync button to activate but works automatically through its "ClickFree" technology.

The 2.5-inch 40GB hard drive can hold up to about 40,000 photos and can be used with Internet services for sharing and printing.

Polaroid launched the new media backup device … Read more

Having made a new rep for itself with surprisingly decent portable DVD players, Polaroid is now venturing into MP3 and portable media players. In 2007, the company formerly known for its instant cameras will release three MP3 and portable media players (none of which handle AAC audio files), including one with a 4.3-inch wide touch-screen and two with Wi-Fi.

The first player, the MPA-20011 (due it March, $99.99 list price) is a 1GB model that can be expanded to up to 4GB with a micro SD card. The 20011 is slightly bigger than a Nano but sports a … Read more

When we first saw this wrist camera, we thought it was a joke. Check out the picture on the far right: It looks as if we could have done just as well with any waterproof point-and-shoot and some Velcro.

Granted, Discovery's wrist cam does have some interesting features, such as the ability to shoot 32 10-second video clips as well as take photos. But we just can't get past the design.

The product literature says this "ultra-light" camera weighs "less than 12 ounces"--which means that, by today's standards, it isn't exactly … Read more