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New Flip UltraHD camcorder

(Credit: Pure Digital)

The success of Pure Digital's original Flip Video has launched a slew of copycat products, and Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan embraces it.

"It makes me even more proud of the team," he said in an interview this week. "Imitation is an absolutely fine form of flattery. I'm happy every time a competitor launches a new product."

Kaplan's sunny outlook on the competition likely stems from the relative lack of success they have had. Electronics makers much larger and longer-established than the San Francisco-based maker of tiny flash-based digital camcorders--like Sony and Kodak--have attempted to cut themselves a slice of the market. But none has tapped into the almost inexplicable appeal of the slightly boxy, plasticky handheld video camera with the pop-out USB arm, which gets a refresh on Thursday. Plus, now that Cisco Systems has agreed to purchase Pure Digital, the company will have an even bigger platform to stand on.

"We haven't seen significant erosion (of market share) from some of the bigger names that have entered, such as Sony, Kodak or RCA," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. Besides jumping into the market later, Sony's WebbieHD and Kodak's Zi6 are rendered less convenient and sometimes more expensive by either not including a USB connector or additional memory cards, according to Rubin.

As of February, Pure Digital's Flip cameras were the top selling of similar devices that cost $200 or less in its category, followed by Aiptek, which makes the A-HD camera, Taiwan's DXG Technology, RCA, and Sakar, according to NPD. Though NPD doesn't give out retail data on individual companies, Kaplan claims Pure Digital sells "under 10 million" Flip cameras worldwide per year. That's actually good enough to be the No. 2 seller of digital video camcorders in the U.S., regardless of price, putting them right behind Sony.

Now the device that basically invented the $200 flash memory-based digital camcorder category is getting some tweaks in an attempt to keep competitors at bay. The Ultra model, first introduced in 2007, is branching off into two devices: the Ultra II and the Ultra HD. ... Read more

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Cisco's yearly earnings.

If you haven't noticed, Cisco Systems, whose products have been used to build the Internet for 20 years, has spent the past 6 years becoming a big player in the consumer electronics market.

While Cisco still generates the bulk of its nearly $40 billion in yearly revenue from selling routers and switches to large companies and Internet service providers, the company has also been pushing into new markets, such as consumer electronics, over the past several years.

Still, most consumers probably have no idea who Cisco is or what it does. Sure, they may have seen those cute "human network" commercials on TV. But other than that, I'd guess the average Joe has no clue what Cisco does.

Some might be familiar with the Linksys brand, which has traditionally sold home networking gear. But Cisco executives say they are on a mission to make Cisco a household name. Not only is the company making a bigger effort to brand its products as Cisco, but it's also busy developing a slew of new products for the consumer market.

And on Thursday the company announced its most aggressive play in the consumer market to date with the $590 million acquisition of Pure Digital Technologies, the maker of the popular Flip Video mini camcorders.

But Pure is by no means the only major acquisition Cisco has made in the consumer market. In fact, the company so far has pretty much built this part of its business through acquisitions. In 2003, it got its start in the competitive CE market with the $500 million acquisition of the home-networking equipment maker Linksys. Then in 2005, it bought Scientific Atlanta, a quasi-consumer electronics company, for $7 billion. Scientific Atlanta makes set-top boxes that Cisco sells to subscription TV providers.

Pure Digital, maker of the popular Flip Video camera, is reportedly nearing a deal to be acquired by Cisco, according to a report in TechCrunch.

The original Flip Video camera from Pure Digital.

(Credit: Pure Digital)

TechCrunch cites several anonymous sources saying that San Francisco-based Pure Digital is considering a sale. Another source says the Cisco sale "is a done deal," and puts the price tag at "north of $500 million."

Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan wasn't available for comment.

Pure Digital had been in the business of making one-time-use cameras for about five years before it hit the jackpot with its Flip Video, a small, flash-based video camera that allows easy uploads of videos directly to YouTube and other online video sites.

The Flip Video went from basically nothing to grabbing an outsize chunk of the video camera market in two years, inspiring more established electronics brands like Kodak and Sony to follow suit with their own small video cameras.

Pure Digital has discussed possible sale at least once before. CNET News reported in January that Sony tried to buy Pure Digital--but balked at the price--before developing its own Webbie HD camera.

(Credit: Crave UK)

If the Digital Radio Working Group has its way, all of us at Crave UK will need to chuck out our lovely FM receivers and invest in DAB equipment before too long. Good news, then, for PURE Digital, a DAB favorite of ours. And it's just released its new One Mini--an affordable and portable version of the popular Pure One.

It's a little monaural-speaker radio that'll go for about 40 pounds (about $79), and with an optional battery pack will serve as a decent companion to any sun-drenched U.K. picnics, festivals, or glue sniffing you've got planned for yourselves and the kids.

On the front is a dinky LCD display, plus there's a headphone socket, line-in connection for jacking in your iPod or whatever, USB connectivity for upgrading firmware, and internal memory capable of storing 16 presets.

And just in case you need it, it'll also receive regular old FM broadcasts. The One Mini will come in black, white and pink when it goes in sale towards the end of July.

(Source: Crave UK)

Flip Video Mino

(Credit: Flip Video)

Although it was recently outed by B&H, Wednesday marks the official unveiling of Pure Digital's Flip Video Mino, the latest camcorder from one of the leaders of the low-res, straight-to-Web capture pack. Thinner and smaller than its popular sibling, the Flip Video Ultra, the Mino crams similar technology into a more compact, more attractive package that can fit into a pants pocket.

Most of the Mino is about redesign. The USB connector now flips straight up, rather than to the side, for an overall more compact footprint that should fit better in a crowded USB environment. Though it has a slightly smaller LCD display--1.4 inches compared with 1.5 inches--the back navigation controls look a mite more sophisticated than before. Pure Digital has also punted the replaceable battery in favor of a nonremovable lithium ion model. The company claims you can shoot for four hours on a charge.

USB connector (left) and back (right)

(Credit: Pure Digital)

Like the 60-minute version of the Ultra, the Mino comes equipped with 2GB of memory, capable of storing 60 minutes of its VGA-resolution video. The company has moved up to a later generation image-processing architecture. So in theory the Mino should provide a bit better image quality, and the company says that the camcorder includes an updated--more sensitive--microphone with improved signal processing. And, of course, it comes with in-camera software that provides the plug-in-and-upload simplicity which endears these camcorders to sharers on sites like YouTube and MySpace; the latter is a new partner for the company. In addition, the Mino now supports direct operation on a Mac, without requiring software installation. It also provides a TV-out connector for larger-scale enjoyment.

The company stresses that the Mino is not intended to replace the Ultra--it's a "social accessory for the YouTube/MySpace/Facebook generation to communicate and express themselves." A PR rep quotes market research saying this magic demographic wants it "thinner to fit in their pocket and that they would prefer rechargeable batteries (like an iPod) and a sleeker/cooler design."

Maybe I'm too old to understand why everyone wouldn't want a smaller, sleeker, and more functional--albeit slightly more expensive--version of the same product, regardless of their need to accessorize their social life.

The Mino is slated to ship via selected online and brick-and-mortar retailers, including Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and directly from the company's TheFlip.com, and will go into wider distribution this fall. It costs $179.99.

Pure Digital also announced a make-your-own-DVD service; you upload up to an hour's worth of video, and they burn a DVD and distribute it to your family and friends. That will run you $19.99 a pop. The company also claims you can "keep your videos archived forever," but remember that "forever" doesn't mean the same thing to companies as it does to people. Can you say MSN Music?

Advanced Video Technologies lobbed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pure Digital Technology, maker of the popular Flip Video cameras, according to a Reuters report.

Flip Video Ultra

(Credit: Pure Digital)

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in New York, alleges Pure Digital infringed on Advanced Video's patent for its Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec. The technology is designed to compress the video and allow it to be displayed on small-screen devices.

Advanced is seeking unspecified damages and a "reasonable" royalty, according to a Reuters interview with Stephen Roth, attorney for Advanced Video. He noted Advance is not seeking to halt sales of the Flip Video cameras.

Pure Digital is aware of the lawsuit, a representative for the company said, adding: "The suit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously."

(Credit: Crave UK)

Pure Digital's original Chronos bedside digital radio scored an impressive 8 out of 10 last year and was nominated for our prestigious 2006 Editor's Choice award. Its cute design, ease of use and good price point earned the Chronos our respect. Now we've got hold of its successor, the Chronos II.

At first glance you might not notice much difference between this and its younger brother: It's the same shape, same colour, same price, and has the same button layout. But there are a couple of changes under the hood. First, the Chronos II has FM radio in addition to DAB, something that lost the original model a few marks. Including FM means, obviously, your radio enjoyment needn't be sacrificed when you're out of digital broadcast coverage.

The Chronos II also boasts Pure's "EcoPlus" tag, meaning it supposedly consumes less power than the competition. We're always skeptical with claims of this nature, so we'll let you know in our full review what our tests reveal. Should it live up to its tree-friendly promises, the Smarties at our sister site SmartPlanet will certainly be impressed.

Setup is extremely simple. Even old Mrs. Johnson at the retirement home stands a good chance of getting this up and running herself, and she's not even a real person. There's a bunch of preset slots for saving your favorite stations and multiple alarm options. Sadly, there's still no battery-operated option--while the primary use of this triangular radiotelegraphy machine is as a home radio, it could so easily have been used when camping, for example.

You can expect our full review very soon, but so far we're very impressed with the Chronos' successor. It's available now for a very reasonable 70 pounds (about $145).

(Source: Crave UK)

(Credit: Crave UK)

Pure Digital, like Ron Burgundy, is kind of a big deal, keeping the digital radio market punchy with its stylish and easy-to-use equipment. We loved the Legato II and the chunky Oasis and now we're elbow-deep in reviewing the lovely Evoke-1S--a simple and functional kitchen radio encased in an attractive maple enclosure.

The new Evoke builds on the design and feature set of the Editor's Choice 2006-winning Evoke-3, though this incarnation features only a single speaker. An additional speaker can be purchased separately and jacked into the main unit to provide a stereo output offering. We'd rather have stereo as standard, of course, but as many talk-radio stations broadcast in mono, this may not be a deal-breaker for too many people.

Sound quality is surprisingly good for just a single 76mm (3-inch) speaker driver, though DAB's use of MP2 encoding limits the audio quality before it even reaches a receiver. An option to lower or disable DRC (dynamic range compression) helps negate some of the excessive volume that some broadcasters add to their transmissions. Bass is partly assisted by a small reflex port to the rear, while the driver itself is covered by a metallic mesh.

A boatsload of other features such as multiple recurring alarms, 30 FM and DAB station presets, and stereo auxiliary inputs and outputs go towards making this a very capable offering. For 99 pounds (about $200), it's well priced.

Expect our review of the Evoke-1S very soon. In the meantime, take a moment to check out a charity auction Pure is backing. The company has persuaded some big names in the rock world, such as Mark Knopfler and the Manic Street Preachers, to sign special Marshall-branded Evoke-1XT systems. All proceeds are going to the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity. Rock on!

(Source: Crave UK)

The orange version of the new Flip Video Ultra

(Credit: Amazon)

A couple months ago, Pure Digital Technologies hinted to us that it would soon have a new version of its inexpensive, YouTube friendly Flip digital camcorder, and good to its word, the company announced a new line this morning called the Flip Video Ultra.

The Flip Ultra comes in orange, pink, black, and white (we got a review sample of the white version this morning) and the press release says the "higher-end addition to Pure Digital's line of pocket-sized, easy-to-use camcorders features upgrades to all its software, including DVD quality video and advanced editing features. Still affordable, the Ultra line has onboard software that allows users to instantly upload video directly to YouTube and other video publishing sites like AOL." The release also notes that the Ultra "is even smaller and thinner than other Pure Digital cams," but the truth is that the camera is actually narrower (by about half an inch) than previous models, not really thinner.

The 30-minute model has 1GB of onboard memory and is priced at $149.99 while the 60-minute model, with 2GB of onboard memory, carries a suggested retail price of $179.99 (it's available at Amazon). Unlike the RCA Small Wonder EZ201, none of the Flip Ultra models include an expansion slot for memory cards. That said, Pure Digital has told us that the video quality of the Flip is superior to that of the Small Wonder. After we shoot some video, we'll post a full review and let you now just what we think of the Ultra--and what makes it different from earlier models.