Kodak

I'm not sure whether I should call the new Theatre HD Player Kodak's answer to Apple TV, but that's the best analogy I can come up with on short notice. Whether it is or not, Kodak is doing its best to get into your living room with a little Wi-Fi-enabled black box that connects to your HDTV, displays images and other multimedia content, and links directly to Kodak Gallery, the company's online photo-sharing service, and Flickr. Due to roll out in September, the Theatre HD Player will retail for $299.99 and continue to add features … Read more

Kodak updates its camera line this fall with two models. The first, a 15x megazoom, as many models are doing, wisely trades some of its telephoto reach for the wider angle--it starts at 28mm-equivalent--and incorporates a 3-inch LCD. Though previous models used an optical image stabilizer, the 10-megapixel Z1015 IS instead uses mechanical (sensor shift) stabilization. Kodak also claims a sub-0.22 second shot lag ("click to capture"). The Z1015 IS will ship in September for $349.95.

As for the other model, the M1093 IS is a 10-megapixel, 3x zoom compact with a 3-inch LCD. Like most … Read more

Until under-thirtysomethings outgrow them, direct-to-YouTube camcorders will continue to flourish. And everyone wants a piece of the pie that was pretty much baked by Flip Video, with products like its latest Mino. Some efforts seem rather cynical and halfhearted like Samsung's recent attempt to remarket an old design into a market ruled by a different aesthetic. Others, like Kodak's just-announced Zi6, seem promising. But Kodak also misses the point in a few ways.

On one hand, there are a couple of ways in which veteran Kodak outclasses its younger competitors: 720p HD video compared with the typical 640x480-pixel … Read more

update: 7/10/08: I made some errors in the original post, which I've corrected, plus added Kodak's comment.

You thought Sony's 24-megapixel CMOS was high res? Well, as Kodak's announcement on Tuesday of a 50-megapixel CCD shows, there's always room for more--pixels, that is.

Granted, that's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. Sony's chip is designed for full-frame dSLR cameras, those with a sensor the size of a 35mm film frame (24x36mm), which generally go into pro-level handheld cameras. In contrast, Kodak's KAF-50100 CCD is 49.1x36.8mm, for medium-format … Read more

For a long time we've been begging Motorola to come up with something new, and now it appears the company has done just that. On Monday, Moto joined with Kodak in Beijing to announce a new line of camera phones called the Motorola Zine series. The first model, the ZN5, is no Razr, Krzr, or Rizr refresh; rather, it's a different approach (at least for Motorola) to the camera phone concept.

The ZN5 is not unique for the type of camera it offers, we've seen other 5-megapixel handsets before, but for everything else that goes with it. … Read more

Although the Kodak M1033 has yet to be launched in most parts of Asia, the company has already rebranded this point-and-shoot in anticipation of this summer's Beijing Olympics.

The M2008 is essentially the same as the M1033, down right to the 10-megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, 3-inch LCD display and the ability to capture 720p-quality video, according to Newlaunches. However, the matte-black chassis now sports the Olympic 2008 logo, as well as two lines of Chinese characters indicating that it's the official camera for the event. Kodak told us the M2008 will be available only in Hong Kong, … Read more

Sometimes, you get a press release that's so accidentally, astonishingly funny that you can't stop laughing long enough to make fun of it. This morning's latte-through-the-nose nominee is the deadpan announcement "Kodak Names Chief Blogger: Company Extends its Revolutionary Approach to Product Innovation with Cutting-edge Approach to Social Media."

According to the release, "Just over 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies have public blogs. Fewer still have Chief Bloggers, and Kodak is among the first to name a female Chief Blogger." Wow. I had thought that writing, customer service, and public relations jobs … Read more

Digital photo frames are really just expensive gift ideas for people you don't know how to buy for.

We've all got a few of those types on our lists every year. And now there's a kinda cool feature for one of them: Kodak now makes the Quick Touch. While you don't have to touch the area of the frame where the photo would be (fewer greasy fingerprints!), the border can be swiped with a finger to advance through a collection of digital photos.

One of these will set you back $120, $180, or $230, depending on … Read more

Eastman Kodak didn't really miss the digital wave.

In fact, it dipped its toes into digital relatively early on. One of the issues with Kodak's Photo CD effort wasn't that it was late to the digital photography game, but that the market wasn't ready to widely embrace photos in a digital form yet.

One can, of course, fairly fault Kodak for allowing itself to be pushed further and further toward the periphery of the photographic ecosystem as digital imaging grew in importance. However, as I've discussed previously, the bigger issue is that digital photography has … Read more