Hasta La Gadget!

You didn’t expect Hello Kitty‘s 35th anniversary to pass without a flurry of new products did you? Now, this is not the first Casio digital camera we’ve seen carrying the HK moniker, but the Exilim EX- Z2 is the first 12.1-megapixel affair we’ve ever seen with the meow meow on it. Bedazzled with Swarovskis and all pinked up, this Casio boasts a 2.7-inch LCD, and a 3 x optical zoom, plus the package seems to come with some other items of interest — a camera case, lanyard, and giant poofy pink thing! All this can be yours (available for pre-order now) for $500.

[Via Chip Chick]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Hello Kitty limited edition Casio Exilim EX-Z2 with 12.1 meowgapixels up for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Electronics has launched a “Tap and Take” teaser Web site promoting its new camera, which will launch on August 13 in New York City, according to a spokesman for the company.

Interested users can also follow the campaign on the Facebook page or Twitter account. The campaign “is designed to engage the consumer,” according to the Samsung spokesman.

Given the numerous videos and images all displaying a people gazing into the camera and tapping the screen, we’d bet on this new camera using at least a rear- (or would that be the front?)-mounted LCD screen oriented in the same direction as the camera sensor. Of course, the “tap the screen” metaphor for taking a picture isn’t new, as both the iPhone and the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G use the same method for taking pictures, among others.

I wonder if it will be called the Narcissus? I’d love to see that.

Samsung sure has been milking this whole “teaser” thing for all it’s worth of late, with the newest mystery coming to us in the form of its fresh ‘Tap and Take’ campaign. From now until August 12th, users can give the read link a visit in order to ingest clues about the outfit’s upcoming line of Smart Cameras. These wildly intelligent shooters will purportedly “transform the way consumers take pictures,” and they just might provide each and every American with free health care, solve world hunger and put the mighty Hubble to shame. The whole thing will be revealed in full on August 13th, but for now, why not drop a comment below as to what you think will be so revolutionary about the forthcoming point-and-shoot range?

[Via Korea Newswire]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung’s ‘Tap and Take’ teaser hints at revolutionary, unicorn-approved Smart Cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s Alpha series DSLR cameras are almost notorious for how often they leak, and as is custom with an introductory assertion like that, we’ve got another one to show you. The company’s Hong Kong support site has an instruction manual available to download for an as-of-then unknown iteration, the α850. The gang at Dyxum forums have gone through it more thoroughly than we have so far, and the Initial reaction is that it’s similar to the α900 but with only three FPS, a smaller viewfinder, and still no video (unlike its competition). We’ve assembled some highlights from the guide, including full specs, in the gallery below. Hit up the read link to grab the full manual for yourself, but just a word of caution, even though the PDF’s only 3.54MB in size, the download has proven to be rather painfully slow.

[Via Dyxum forums; thanks, Doug]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sony Alpha 850 DSLR manual pops up on Hong Kong support site originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Picture this: You’ve just completed a whirlwind tour of Europe, and you’re wading through the hundreds of pics you snapped along the way, and everything starts to look alike. Is that the Charles Bridge in Prague, or the Chain Bridge in Budapest?

If you’re a Mac user, the Eye-Fi Geo can help keep your memories straight.

Next time you travel, pop the 2GB Geo into any digital camera that accepts SD cards: The card uses Wi-Fi triangulation to add location information to every photo you snap. Like other Eye-Fi memory cards, the Geo also lets you wirelessly upload your photos to your PC.

What makes the Geo different from other Eye-Fi cards, including the $99 4GB Explore Video, which also geotags your photos? It’s designed to work seamlessly with iPhoto 09’s new Places feature, which lets you organize and search your photo collection by location. With the Geo card, your photos are automatically imported directly into iPhoto with location information intact, so you don’t need to manually enter it for each image.

Users can also upgrade their Geo card to share images online at MobileMe or one of more than 20 other photo sharing and social networking sites for a $9.99 annual fee.

The $59.99 Eye-Fi Geo is available exclusively at Apple Stores and online at Apple.com.  We’ll take the Geo for a spin in the coming weeks, check back at PCMag.com soon for a full review.