Cameras

There's one thing that brings people together every holiday season, and we're not talking about the mall: It's car accidents. Bad weather, bad drivers, bad last-minute-shopping attitudes make for a deadly combination. So Crave is doing our part to spread cheery thoughts by passing along the "RoadBox."

This "vehicle accident camera system" from South Korea, according to Red Ferret, "incorporates a speed and acceleration monitor to give you some all round information about the circumstances leading up to the crash, 14 seconds before and 6 seconds after." It just goes to … Read more

As we've noted frequently in the past, ill-advised tampering can make some technological experiments go terribly awry. But sometimes, the need for certain functions supersedes all in the evolution of the handset.

That, at least, is how we view the mobile phone telescope from Brando. In fact, Shiny Shiny (a closet birder--who knew?) even admits to lusting after this gadget "possibly more than I've ever wanted anything in my life." Wow.

With such strong convictions, we find it difficult to fault this latest genetic permutation--even if it does make a perfectly decent phone look like the … Read more

This falls under our definition of a feel-good item, but probably not in the way you might think. It has nothing to do with tugging heartstrings; it just makes us feel good because it's evidence that we're not the only clueless people in the world.

You'd think that tripods would be among the easier photographic accessories to use, yet some of us are still confounded by them. Finally, there's something that even we can handle: the "Camera Stabilising Bag" (that's "stabilising" with an "s," not a "z," … Read more

The other day we were complaining (yes, again) that electronics manufacturers sometimes seem determined to disguise their products, making them look different devices altogether. Well, we're apparently not alone.

Mobile Magazine makes a similar observation about the "Neo 808i" phone, which it says looks more like a media player because of its landscape screen. Even more notable, though, is how many features it crams into its diminutive frame. Among those are a 1.3-megapixel camera, an MP3 and MP4 player, FM radio, 128MB of memory, 3D graphics and Bluetooth connectivity. All this in an almost-miniature case that … Read more

With so many products going under water these days, the only thing we can surmise is that people are really taking this whole global warming thing seriously. That would be at least one explanation for the proliferation of gadgets like this waterproof digital movie camera.

Gizmag says the Sanyo VPC-CA6 has a resolution of 6 megapixels and a 5x optical zoom, retailing for around $250. It does take stills as well, but if you're not satisfied with the quality you can try any number of waterproof point-and-shoot cameras. Either way, you can transfer your shots with your waterproof USB device … Read more

No offense to Lindy, but we got the creeps when we initially saw this picture of the U.K. company's new "USB MiniCam Pro" Webcam. At first we couldn't figure out why, but then it occurred to us: It looks like a baby version of one of those "Sentinels" from The Matrix. Or maybe a cyclops squid. Either way, creepy.

But onto the specifics. The "high-sensitivity" Webcam has a flexible neck design and an unusual set of LEDs for dark settings (both of which add its odd look), according to Absolute Gadget, … Read more

The rumors about Photoshop CS3 started way back in August 2005, mere months after Adobe Photoshop CS2 shipped. One twist that none of the speculators foresaw, however, was Adobe choosing to test run its first public beta program using a major product. (Lightroom, the "beta" cycle for which is almost a year old, doesn't count.) It turns out that CS2 runs so slowly on Intel-based Macs that Adobe decided to throw those users an early bone.

I suspect Adobe is also using the opportunity to test its activation technology: CS3 will be available only to users with … Read more

BenQ has just announced a new big-screen, high-ISO, compact snapshot camera, just in time for holiday shoppers to ask why the company is announcing a new product in mid-December. The X710 is a slim, 7.2-megapixel shooter with a big 3-inch LCD screen and a 30fps VGA movie mode that can hit ISO 4000 sensitivity for filming in low light. Of course, that setting will probably mean incredibly noisy, grainy movies that look like they come out of 1970s-era video tapes. Still shots can only go up to ISO 1200, which will still probably be pretty darn noisy. The … Read more

Lest there be any doubt about the convergence of digital technology and the human body, consider this: a "bio-inkjet printer."

Carnegie Mellon scientists working on stem-cell research have developed a printer that uses "bio-ink," which Popular Mechanics describes as "solutions of hormones that alter cell behavior." In an article that sounds like natural sci-fi fodder, the magazine says the machine uses a custom-made nozzle that prints highly accurate patterns "to create a blueprint for cells to grow and differentiate into the various types that scientists want to create."

And why not? Manufacturing … Read more