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Philips Demos Keychain-sized Camcorder
mateub writes "Philips gave PC Magazine an exclusive demo of the KEY019 USB camera/camcorder etc. Sez PCMag: 'You can use the 128MB of internal memory for 2.0-megapixel still shots, digital video, MP3 files, and document storage.' How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?"
How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?
Just as soon as I can buy one...
That's a pretty sweet little toy. I wonder how much one of those costs... and how effective is it? I know there's probably a thousand different uses for something like that.
Wireless News www.DailyWireless
128Megs doesnt seem like much. or if it is, the video is probably lo-fi
"How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?"
More importantly, how long until the torrent is posted?
This is great and all but who wants 2 megapixel anything? Camera phones, this device are create for getting quick shots, but honestly do you want to archive them? They simply don't look good, because the color is off, usually they're fuzzy etc...
I'm not knocking this device, but I have a feeling it's a sign of better devices to come. With in a year or 2 I would bet you start to see 4 and 5 megapixal devices like this... This is when they are really going to take off!
This sure does top the JB1 camera that ThinkGeek sells.
As per the "choice" footage and pictures, this has already happened with the new camera phones. Mobileasses.com or something to that order.
It sounds like a pretty neat gadget all right, but I'm willing to bet it's way too expensive to be worth it. I'm waiting a while longer before buying any many-function nerd gadgets.
"as if nothing were solid...and that would be the end of the world, not fire and brimstone, but goo."--Rand
How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?
Kinda depends on your definition of 'inappropriate.' Some guy clicks record and puts his keys on the nightstand before he beds Paris Hilton/Pam Anderson/Carmen Electra, etc.? Five minutes.
Cops wire these puppies up with the 1" micro drives in the iPod-mini's and start an entirely new wave of invasive 'safety monitoring?' As soon as they can draw up plans and write an argument that'll claim it deters terrorism. Next week, maybe.
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
And record the people who decide to strip search you at the airport.
Add something like this to a radio controlled model airplane and you've got a (relatively) cheap platform for surveillance or air survey work. Could have uses in archeology as well.
Cameras are getting smaller and smaller anyways. I don't know what advantage having it on your keychain does for any kind of voyeurism. Just turn on your TV and you'll bump into one of those hidden-camera comedy shows. How long before we're getting all of those in HDTV? It's really not hard to film without being noticed.
:)
We all just have to get used to it. We're going to be recorded everywhere we go in public and our friends are going to get thousands of horrible photos of us.
I just have a regular 3 megapixel camera and already have something like 10,000 photos saved. My friends have cameras too and take just as many photos. I know there must be bad / 'compromising' (lol) photos of me I haven't seen but really it's no big deal. We all just finally need to get used to it and stop being so fricken camera shy!
Smile
...is the whole camera. All the pics are close-ups. My guess is because it's actually about 2ft long and they don't want to scare us off.
;-)
cLive
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
" How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?""
This is much more likely if they add a vibrator mode to the thing.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
See, the thing I always wonder when people bring up this topic is this - the technology to record people without their permission has been here for a while. Be it photographic, video, or audio, there have been accessible means to invade someone's privacy for quite a number of years.
What devices like this represent are a proliferation of this technology. And the uses to which it is put is not a problem of the technology, it's a problem of society.
Free iPods - now in the UK!
2 megapixels is sufficient for most applications. Remember, the digital camera on the Mars Rover is only 1 megapixel. If you need to take higher quality picture / movies, buy a higher quality piece of hardware. Something tells me that the truly useful applications for this type of device (e.g. clandestine) do not cry out for super-high quality photos.
It's also good for getting that quick shot of your buddy spewing chunks because who carries around a big digital camera everywhere they go? This you can keep with you at all times.
Isn't nearly enough for the sex video! But seriously, I think this is a very cool idea. My only worry is that these will be quickly banned from public places the way camera phones have been. Interestingly enough, devices like this make it easy for anyone to commit espionage, take pictures in public rest rooms and the like, or spy on people or organizations. I wonder when the government will decide that you need a liscense for one of these, too...
Every windows user is a sadomasochist.
The crevice cam. All they need is an LED to self- illuminate.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
One of this cameras major functions not mentioned in the article is that its viewfinder doubles as a image/video preview monitor. Since it can handle >20 minutes of mpeg4 video you could upload your favorate tv show to watch at youe leasure. Looks like your fscked when the battery wears out, its not replaceable.
I hope we don't see more of these things in the future. Do these companies have focus groups? What focus group with any sanity decided they wanted a camcorder with 5 or so minutes of storage? More likely they wanted a camera that could record a video (maybe) but that isn't the way this thing is being marketed. Just because you can easilly and cheaply add features to existing products doesn't mean you have to promote them and market them as primary functions. (Camera phones anyone?)
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I thought this was supposed to be "stuff that matters" - since when does another little gadget that will be overtaken in two months at best qualify as "stuff that matters"
Here's something that matters: (albeit to me)
Linux Australia has written a draft position paper(or a PDF) on therecently negotiated Free Trade Agreement between the US and Australia,and is looking for feedback.
The FTA has some Intellectual Property provisions that have a severe impact on Australia. The Australian Senate has a Committee looking into it and the dead-line for submissions is: April 30.
What can you do? Sign the petition, Comment on thedraft position paper and send feedback to the JointCommittee on Treaties.
|>>?
There are some nice pictures and such in a Philip press release at:e bit2004-568.html
http://www.press.ce.philips.com/press/2004-2-23-C
You can now safely go into US theaters in the usa without fear of triggering the cam-corder check until such time as they ban keychains.
It's been noted by one observe that Cantonese subtitles are no longer on their pirated video downloads. Patrons of such P2P file systems before had some assurance that cam editions of movies came with subtitles.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Where?! Anybody got a .torrent??
Wow, this is amazing. This is beyond RTFA! This person didn't even finish reading the story!
Your comment = the last line of the story.
Does that mean we won't be able to have our keys out in the gym anymore? Last night my fiancée called me as I was dressing and the locker room attendant politely asked me to put my cell phone away because people were afraid of getting their pictures taken with the camera phones. Now will there be a reason to limit, if not to start searching our bags everywhere we go.
You might have to whip out a soldering iron, but look where you're posting.
The press release gives a release date of May in Europe, and price of 300 Euro. There's also the key010, which looks like the same thing without the video capability and MP3 player, for 200 Euro.
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
If I had a nickel for every time I've said, "Damn, I wish I had a camera," I'd already have enough nickels to pay for the thing.
Ok i know the world needs more food and medicine than anything else but we should send loads of these things to countries like china, iraq, america & cuba etc where there are oppressive regiemes in oparation, they could be used to capture countless numbers of human rights atrocities! Yes i know they're all made in china.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
I have a 2.0 Megapixel Visioneer camera and I need to install an LED over the photosensor so I can control exposure (light off == long exposure, light on for fastest exposure) since the flash kills the battery after very few shots but when used in the proper lighting (or low lighting and proper care) the pictures are quite excellent.
During a vacation to DC I took over 1000 pictures with the camera. After I realized what it was doing in low light with excessive exposure times I compensated by holding it very steady and pulled off some really nice (not blurry) shots in the National Cathedral and other darker locations.
It had no problem with outdoor shots. And yes, all the pictures are archived in a family web-site which uses a custom PHP script for an easy to browse photo album.
I have a bunch of digital shots from Colorado and I actually think they look crisper than the film shots.
If you're doing professional work and need top notch prints then you aren't going to be using a cheap 35mm camera or a cheap digital camera. For the casual user a 1, 2, or 3 megapixel camera is good enough. They're just looking to capture memories, not art.
When it comes to photography what you're taking a picture of and how you set up the shot can really compensate for the film or mp count you're using. It really doesn't matter what camera or film you're using if you have nothing interesting to take a picture of or no clue how to properly frame it.
Eventually I'll pick up a better camera since I go nuts taking pictures and have some outstanding shots and would like better quality images to go with my ability to setup and take pictures.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
We don't want to see inappropriate footage of solo acts performed in your basement.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
but for the people who sport tin foil, realize that certain government agencies have had much better mini video cameras for quiet a while...
...it sounds great, but it is $100 more expensive than the Gateway (the current best buy for tapeless camcorders, because it's not $800 like most). It has double the memory, but lacks a card slot (and an LCD display). So for it's value, well, I'd say they're both good buys for people who want an ultra-cheap camcorder that's small (these things go for convienience and such, not for super-high quality) and just fun. I'll probably buy one of these things just so I can always have a camcorder around to take video of stuff that happens (I don't want to have my "real" camcorder with me all the time). For now, that's really what I see the market for these (and, say, camcorder phones) is - when these things have hard drives, well, then they might be more of a viable alternative to a "real" camcorder. But like them a lot now - they're tiny, cheap, and you can always have them with you to capture life - in all its spontaneity.
The KEY007 is marketed as 1.3MP, but it only has a 0.3MP sensor, and the images are upscaled to 1.3MP. All I see is "2MP sized images", nothing about what the sensor really is? Nowhere does the press release mention the sensor size, only that it produces 2 megapixel images. My gut feeling tells me that this is a 0.3MP camera, or maybe if we are very lucky, a 1.3MP camera, that is upscaled to 2MP. I'd love to be wrong.
Offtopic much?
Moderated up?
Man this place sucks.
Just wanted to add a bit of a P.S. here (mainly stuff I forgot to add in the original post, but hey, that's what P.S.'s are for, right?) The Philips Key-Ring Camcorder can play MP3s and WMAs, the Gateway cannot. The Philips can take 25 minutes of video, the Gateway gets 5 (high quality) or 18 (low quality) - but remember, that's with the base memory, you can upgrade (and will probably want to). Oh, and Philips also sells a standalone Key-Ring MP3 player and a Key-Ring Camera (that they just upgraded to 2MP). And no, I don't work for Philips ^_^
She loves me: 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0 She loves me not: 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688BF
Wasn't there recently news of programs that create superior stills by combining frames of panned video or multiple still images?
Link to pre-order
That version had just a passive lens viewfinder; this new version has an electronic microdisplay that lets you see previously recorded videos or pictures. That ought to rise the price quite a bit.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
The 1.3 MP is actually 0.3MP
r ings_additional_info.cfml
see http://www.doyourthing.philips.com/tt_camera_key_
How does it work?
Your Camera Key Ring captures pictures using a VGA sensor, which displays about 300,000 pixels (640 x 480). When you upload the pictures to your laptop or PC, Photo Manager automatically enhances your images using digital interpolation to 1.3 million pixels.
On next Wednesday afternoon.
Does any one else get annoyed when real stories get rejected but blatent(sic) flag-waving from Australians increases until interesting news articles have become a thing of the past on /.?
I thought this was supposed to be "stuff that matters" - since when does another irrelevant Australian story that will be overtaken in two minutes at best qualify as "stuff that matters"?
Seriously, dude, if Aussies have such national inferiority issues that they must spam the living fuck out of every forum they can find with stories about their country in a desperate bid to be noticed (by Americans in particular), then they should seek psychiatric assistance.
One of the topics that came up late one night in college was what life would be like if everybody was highly telepathic. You would have little if any privacy, and it would be impossible to lie to anybody. So politics and personal relationships would be radically different from what they are. It strikes me that the potential to be recorded in detail at any time might have a big impact on society. People could carry these things around to cover their asses or gather blackmail material. Crooked politicians would be unable to trust anybody, which might be a good thing. In fact, the degree to which our lawmakers freak out about this particular technology being in the public's hands is probably a good indicator of how dirty they are.
I have one of the early thumb drive/camera combos. I notice that many of them need a lot of light to take a picture. Mine won't even let you try to take a picture in dim lighting. Outdoors, they work OK.
How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?
No, the real question is, "How long until I don't get to carry around my keychain flash drive because someone thinks it's a camera?"
bash: rtfm: command not found
How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?"
I'd only look at a KEY019 for the articles!
massive processing power to encode.
not likely in this device.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
...here. Looks like it will be going for 300 euros.
My two year old Sony Clie has a built-in camera that can record video with sound for as long as you have space on the Memory Stick to store it. It seems like you could get an hour or more of video recorded on an empty 128mb card. The image quality isn't anything spectacular, but it's definitely fun & useful to use, if in a "lo-fi / arty" way.
For example, when I was on my honeymoon last year, I was able to use the Clie to make short, narrated video clips of the "disco ball" effect that the Eiffel Tower makes at the top of each hour every night. This was much more fun than lugging around a camcorder everywhere, and because the effect was animated, still photos weren't doing it any justice. Having a pocket camcorder was an excellent compromise in this case.
Admittedly, the Clie isn't quite as small as what Philips is announcing, but then the fact that the Clie is a PDA means that it can be used kind of discretely: when using it to take photos or video, it looks like I'm just using any old Palm Pilot. Plus, I get a nice 2"x3" display of what I'm recording.
The future is now. Well, aside from the flying cars, I'm still bitter about that one...
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
"How long before we read the first story of some, um, inappropriate footage captured with one of these?"
I don't know when, but I know where. But this is nothing new. Go to the Voyeur Photos section and you'll find out that most of upskirt shots are made with custom cammeras hidden in shoes.
Infa is basically latin for 'below' or 'below red'.
Conversily Ultraviolet == 'above violet'
So its a refference to the colours reliative position in the visable light spectrum.
If all you do is troll - and you admit to it - then that's what everyone will (rightfully) see when they hear anti-slash. Rather than just FRIST PSOT NIGGER BITSH YEEEHAAA and crapfloods, give readers REAL REASONS not to read slashdot. Your noise-inflating comments only hurt your cause.
Ackbar is a moron for not distancing himself from the GNAA, if he really wants his cause to succeed in any way.