flip

Editors' note (April 26, 2011): Since this post, Cisco has announced it will continue to support Flip devices within the terms of the company's one-year warranty. Technical support for both the video cameras and the FlipShare software and sharing services will be available until December 31, 2013. Sharing services will also end on this date. As long as they're still available on the market, you may want to consider buying one and if not, here are some alternatives.

When Cisco closed its Flip business last week, I was treating it just like any other product that gets discontinued … Read more

We may be basking in the waning sunlight of tax-free Internet shopping.

A senator is preparing to introduce legislation that would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.

"Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over Main Street bricks-and-mortar businesses?" Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a speech in Collinsville, Ill., in February.

Durbin, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter … Read more

Like most people who follow tech, I didn't see Cisco's killing of the Flip pocket video camera coming. Not right now, anyway. While smartphone and iPhone owners continue to say it was a dying category, that's simply not true. It might not be growing as rapidly as it was a couple years ago, but it's not declining.

However, Flip was the leader in the category, and for good reason; it never strayed far from the original idea of quickly and easily capturing high-quality video for sharing online straight from the device. Many of the early copycat … Read more

What do you do when you buy a cool new gadget, and the company that makes it suddenly and without warning announces it's canceling it, even though that device is the hottest one in its category?

That's what millions of Flip camcorder customers are asking themselves this week. Despite being ranked as the No. 1 mini camcorder on Amazon, Cisco Systems shocked loyal Flip fans this week when it announced it was killing the product line. Cisco bought Pure Digital, the maker of the popular Flip mini video camera a couple of years ago, as part of its … Read more

Cisco Systems shuts down production of the Flip video camera

You can now rent movies in your browser through Vudu

HTC launches the Sensation with a video-streaming service called HTC Watch

Nokia releases two new phones with Anna, the newest iteration of Symbian

Sprint kicks off a streaming music service and store called Music Plus

Microsoft hopes to rival Google Maps Street View with Bing Maps Streetside, which has started image capture in London

The Firesay Firefox extension lets you use voice control in Facebook

Apple announces Final Cut Pro X

The upcoming … Read more

It's easy to understand why Internet infrastructure giant Cisco Systems needed to get out of the consumer electronics business, but did it have to send a popular product, like to the Flip camcorder, to an early grave?

Cisco on Tuesday announced that it will stop making the Flip camera, a popular pocket-sized video camera it bought only a couple of years ago from a company called Pure Digital. The reason? The company said it is strategically realigning its business to focus on selling its core products.

"We are making key, targeted moves as we align operations in support … Read more

The first cuts to Cisco Systems' business have been announced, and the Flip video camera is among the first items to go.

Cisco announced today that it will exit parts of the consumer electronics business as it strategically realigns its business to focus on five main areas: core routing; switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video. One of the first casualties of this plan was the Flip video business, which Cisco bought from Pure Digital two years ago for $590 million.

Cisco said in the press release that it will "support current FlipShare customers and partners with a transition … Read more

Enter the ArchPort Sandals. They can even enter in the dark as each pair come with flashlights tucked into their soles.

That's this pair of shoes' claim to fame--the "first flip-flops with a flashlight in the sole." We didn't put hours of research into validating that statement as it seems a pretty safe boast. It's like saying you've made the first sport coat tie with a built-in melon baller--or a dress that charges your iPod. Who else was scrambling to wrench that claim away?

The folks at ArchPort say the little hoof-torches pack a slide-out lamp that fits into a small chamber tucked away in the arch of the sole (note: "Arch of the Sole" should not be confused with the little known, incomplete John Steinbeck novel of the same name). The bulbs project a cone of visible light that highlights the ground immediately in front of the owner, making night walking theoretically safer.

But the luminescent slippers beg a question. If the wearer is walking in an area so treacherous that he or she must spot-weld high beams to the feet to keep their pedicure secure, why wear sandals? How bad must your sweaty foot problem be that you can't sport closed-toe shoes when you do your buck and wing across a fire pit studded with broken glass? … Read more

If you're looking for a budget camcorders for the holidays, you might consider grabbing the Flip Ultra HD (third generation--4GB) today at Amazon for $99.99.

This isn't the latest Ultra HD, but it normally retails for $149.99, so $99.99 is a good price--it's the lowest price we've seen, though some other online stores are offering it up for a few bucks more. The newest version offers some very modest improvements, but its video quality is very similar.

Read our full review of the Ultra HD (4GB) here.