Todays & Tomorrows Technology

If the design of Samsung’s HMX-U10 camcorder is a little too outré for your tastes, the company has two more traditionally-shaped offerings today. The Samsung SMX-K40 and SMX-K45 both conform to the standard palmcorder format, but actually they’re not quite as technically capable as the U10; each can record up to 720 x 480 resolution, rather than their upright sibling’s 1080p.

Still, you get a 65x “Intelli-Zoom” (52x optical zoom) and optical image stabilization, together with an HDMI output for direct connection to a TV or display. There’s also Schneider Optics and the same Intelli-Studio onboard editing suite as the U10, that boots up whenever you connect to a PC via USB. From there you can make basic tweaks and upload to YouTube.

The K40 has an SDHC card slot while the K45 has a 32GB SSD, good for up to 20hrs and 40 minutes of recording. Both can shoot 800 x 600 stills and do time-lapse recording, and will hit the market in August 2009. The Samsung SMX-K40 will be priced at $329.99 while the SMX-K45 will be $499.99.

Panasonic have announced their latest HDD camcorder, the HCD-HS350. Packed with a 240GB hard-drive and using a 10.6-megapixel 3MOS sensor, the HCD-HS350 also sports an SDHC slot (content with up to 32GB cards) and 12x optical zoom; according to Panasonic, the HS350 can record more than 30 hours of Full HD video.


There’s also optical stabilization, which Panasonic claim is good enough to cut out shakes even at maximum zoom, and the HS350 can record at rates of up to 17Mbps in its highest quality mode. Alternatively, it can record over 40hrs or over 60hrs of 1920 x 1080 footage in 13Mbps or 9Mbps modes respectively.

Focusing uses the touchscreen preview display, tapping to select an object or person to be tracked, and there’s face and scene recognition, automatic low-light accommodation and 5.1 surround-sound recording. According to Panasonic, the HS350 will boot up in 1.9 seconds from powered-off, or 0.6 seconds from standby.

The Panasonic HDC-HS350 will arrive in Japan on July 25th; no word on pricing, nor when we might see it reach the US or Europe.

If you’ve considered Verizon’s FiOS internet service but dismissed it for being too slow for your tastes, the news that they’re speeding up the fiber-optic system will come as a pleasant surprise. The company is boosting downlink/uplink speeds of its entry-level package from 10/2 Mbps to 15/5 Mbps, while the mid-tier 20/5 Mbps climbs to 25/15 Mbps. New York City and Long Island will see even greater increases.

In fact, those two locations will see their entry-level package jump to 25/15 Mbps, with the mid-tier package landing at 35/20 Mbps. That sort of uplink speed is enough to upload a one-hour high-definition movie in around 20 minutes; according to recent research from In-Stat, Verizon says with no small amount of gloating, the average cable internet user sees upload rates of 2.68Mbps.

If sheer speed isn’t enough to lure you in, Verizon are also offering gadget incentives to new subscribers. Anybody subscribing to a triple package of 25/15 Mbps internet (or higher), Extreme HD TV and Essentials voice will get their choice of a Compaq Mini netbook or a Flip Ultra camcorder. Anybody choosing the slower 15/5 Mbps (or higher) connection with TV Essentials and Essentials voice service will get a free Flip Ultra. Those unable to get FiOS will have similar offers for Verizon’s DSL service.

Samsung released their SMX-C14 camcorder today, following the product’s announcement back in April. This camera sports the Touch of Color style that has been so popular among Samsung products these days.
This camera features a 25-degree angled lens and 16GB of flash memory. However, you can expand this by means of the SDHC memory card slot. It’s capable of HD H.264 format and photos with a 1,600 x 1,200 resolution.

Other features include time-lapsed photography, a 10X optical zoom, edit abilities, an Upload button for transferring files to YouTube, and USB syncing. You can get the SMX-C14 now for the equivalent of $310 in Korea in blue, gray and red color options.

Tiny gadgets have an unmistakable allure, so a 5.5 x 2 x 2 cm camcorder is always going to catch our eye. The Muvi Micro Camcorder is apparently the smallest in the world, but marketing hyperbole aside it does offer a compact way to capture VGA 640 x 480 25fps video to microSD card.

There’s also an optional voice-activated mode, which will start recording if noise over 65dB is heard. The casing is metal, and Firebox offer an Extreme Sports Pack with the necessary brackets to attach the camcorder to a helmet, bike or handglider.

Recharging is done via USB, and the Muvi Micro Camcorder is compatible with up to 8GB microSD cards. It can also be used as a webcam over the USB connection. It’s on sale now, priced at around £79.95 ($131); the Extreme Sports Pack is around £19.95 ($33).

Eye-Fi have announced their latest wireless memory card, the 4GB Eye-Fi Pro. Using the SDHC format, the new Eye-Fi Pro offers the usual automatic wireless transfer of images from digital cameras to a computer or website; however it also adds new file-type support, increased control over which images are synchronized, more flexible WiFi connectivity and video functionality.

The Eye-Fi Pro 4GB now includes “Selective Transfer”, which allows users to choose which photos and/or videos are uploaded. This bypasses the issue with the older cards where every shot was transferred; according to Eye-Fi all users will now be able to use Selective Transfer, not just those with the Pro 4GB. Images are selected by locking them through the camera’s own menus.

Meanwhile the Pro 4GB also supports RAW images, making it more appealing to pro-photographers, which like the JPEG images can be geotagged automatically. WiFi ad-hoc connections directly between the camera and a computer can be used for peer-to-peer transfer, too.

Users also get access to more than 10,000 Wayport hotspots, together with any open WiFi hotspots they may come across, and the system supports in excess of 25 online photo/video sharing sites. Of course, media is also stored locally in the card’s own storage too. The Eye-Fi Pro 4GB is available now, priced at $149.

Panasonic have announced US pricing and availability for their HDC-SD10 and HDC-TM10 Full HD camcorders, which we first caught sight of last month. The two models are each described as “the world’s lightest HD camcorders”, as long as you’re only looking at AVCHD models anyway, and record in 1080p to SD/SDHC cards and, in the case of the TM10, an internal 8GB of flash storage.
In addition to HD there’s also an optical image stabilizer, 16x optical zoom and Face Detection. Both also have Intelligent Scene Selection and Pre-Rec, and are controlled by their flip-out touchscreen displays. There’s also AF/AE Tracking, which can ensure a moving subject is kept in focus.

Up to 32GB SDHC cards are supported, which in the case of the TM10 gives a total of 40GB capacity. The Panasonic HDC-SD10 will be priced at $549.95 while the HDC-TM10 will be priced at $599.95. Both will arrive in the US in September.