The Flip Video Ultra by Pure Digital is a pocket size digital camcorder that allows you to record up to one hour of VGA quality video that you can upload directly to YouTube or other video sharing services. With one-touch recording and instant playback and delete, plus a 2X digital zoom, the Flip has managed to capture 12% of the digital camcorder market. Much of this has to do with the Flip Video’s price. At less than $150, the Flip Video Ultra is almost an impulse purchase.
To suit your taste and personality, the Flip Video Ultra is available in five different colors. We received a white one from Pure Digital and black one from another supplier. Other colors include orange, red and green.
The Flip gets its name from the flip out USB connector that is used to transfer the video from the camcorder to the computer. The USB is designed to line up most notebook computers. However, when used with our Mackbook Pro, which is only 1 inch thick, the USB connector didn’t line up. We had to place a couple of magazines under the Macbook to get things aligned correctly. A USB extension cable would have been nice but that is an extra cost option.
The world of computer technology is an ever-evolving one. The companies that stick to their guns and only do what they feel comfortable doing, well, they don’t last. It’s the ones that adapt to the marketplace, adjusting to the prevailing interests of the populace, that truly find continued success. Google has done a fantastic job at this.
Take Apple, for example. Twenty years ago, it was pretty obscure to find someone using a Macintosh computer. While Apple still has a long way to catch up compared to Windows-based PCs, they’ve certainly made a lot of headway into the mainstream by offering attractive looking computers and other products. You simply cannot deny the stunning beauty of a freshly unpackaged MacBook, and let’s not even get started on the absolute dominance that the Apple iPod enjoys. In some ways, Microsoft can also be thought of in the same way, adjusting the Windows platform to better suit our emerging needs. Windows Media Center, for example, was developed by Bill Gates and the rest of the Redmond, Washington-based team realized that most people are not inundated with spreadsheets and databases, spending much more time on their comptuers listening to music, watching videos, and sorting through photographs.
It’s not a new development to see companies change their focus or expand their portfolio into areas that they, up until that point, had not previously explored. Apple entered the MP3 market with the iPod having never really worked on any portable electronic devices and look at how they’re doing with that today. Apple is trying to do it again with the hotly anticipated iPhone, and we have no real reason not to believe that it will be a big hit for the organization based out of Cupertino.
It appears that at least one lucky shopper at a Fry’s in Atlanta managed to get their hands on a 120GB Zune before its official release, and there are even unboxing pics (after the break) and a receipt to prove it. If you look closely, it rang up at $250—backing up recent rumors about the price.
The iPhone 3G is making its Best Buy debut this Sunday, and a copy of the ad you’ll see in your local paper confirms that even though Best Buy has the distinction of being the iPhone’s first independent US retailer, it’ll be the same old Best Buy peddling it. If you buy one of four bullshit accessory packages—going for $106 to $234, according to AppleInsider—Geek Squad will set up your phone and email for free. In other words, something they have to do anyway (activate your phone), and another that’s complimentary at the Apple Store or easy enough to do yourself. Thanks, Geek Squad
Canon has just added a mysterious teaser to its US website. The page shows a silhouette of a camera with the words ‘Destined Evolution.’ Maybe it will be updated to include more detail in the future, we don’t know. It’s almost as if the company is building up to the launch of a camera to replace one of its older models. We have no specific information but it doesn’t require any profound market insight to predict an EOS 5D replacement is coming.
Click here to see the US teaser
Meanwhile, Canon’s European sites have started to feature banners suggesting that “the EOS story continues,” and showing glimpses of a camera with a large prism bulge. Click here to see it.
First we had the leaked info, then some official-looking shots, and now, at last, some proper hands-on images of Canon’s upcoming EOS 50D pro-consumer DSLR have hit the intertubes over at Impress. According to the guys there the cam feels a lot like the 40D to hold, but it’s a tad easier to grip. It’s got a screen that’s easier to read, they like the tweaked user interface, the new “creative fully automatic” CA mode, and the 6.3 fps shooting speed (there’s an audio file of the cam in action here.) None of that is a surprise, given the evolution heritage of the camera. Check out the gallery, with full images over at the Impress link. Update: Dpreview also has a set of hands-on photos and review, made soon after the 50D’s announcement.
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