Hasta La Gadget!

Insulting as it may be to our film-splicing predecessors, the task of manually uploading a video from a camera to a card reader to a computer to YouTube has become an unbearably burdensome process for some folks.

Eye-Fi has taken that excuse right out of their hands with its automatic-upload wireless memory cards. Today Eye-Fi announced that users can now directly upload their videos to Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, and SmugMug (in addition to YouTube and Flickr). With a choice of five video-sharing sites and more than 20 photo sites, winging over a Mother’s Day video greeting to Mom come Sunday is easier than sending flowers, and only a hair more complicated than a phone call.

The 4GB Eye-Fi Share Video card ($79 list) and the 4GB Eye-Fi Explore Video card ($99 list) can both bypass your home computer entirely to upload videos. Whereas the Share works through trusted wireless networks, the Explore can also upload through hotspot access (over 10,000 Wayport locations in the U.S.). The Explore also automatically geotags your videos with location/time information. Both are on sale nationwide.

Posted by Matt Reichman

It’s not clear exactly where these pics came from, but here’s the Palm Pre, running what appears to be a YouTube app and the email app. We’re of two minds on these: there’s no doubt there are devices in the wild, so these shots could be totally real, but something about them just feels off — that “Search All Videos” font seems way more Sprint than Palm, for example. Here’s hoping we find out what’s what real soon. One more shot after the break.

Update: One more pic here, showing it off next to an iPhone.

Continue reading Palm Pre spotted in the wild, possibly running YouTube

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm Pre spotted in the wild, possibly running YouTube originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In one of the more unexpected developments from NAB 2009, Qtv is pushing its streaming media player platform for consoles. Not an altogether radical idea we know, but what’s different here is a plan to launch first on the PlayStation 2 and move to newer hardware later. From the makers of the Qcast technology behind the GameShark Media Player, Qtv includes YouTube and access to streaming video from other sources, plus pictures, music and video (DivX, h.264, XviD & more) from USB devices or networked computers. The PS2 may not be the first HD set-top box we thought of, it does have the highest installed base. The Qtv player launches later this year and will be available on Mac and PC as well for “less than $50,” although thanks to the free 30-day trial the hardest part may be remembering where we left our PS2s.

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Qtv launches console IPTV platform on the PlayStation…. 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Logitech’s G19 gaming keyboard—which borders on ludicrous with its embedded Linux mini-computer and full-blown LCD monitor—is the best one they’ve made yet, even if it doesn’t quite reach its full mind-blowing potential.

Holy Crap, There’s a Monitor in My Keyboard
The 320×240 LCD display that hovers over the keyboard is really the G19’s raison d’tre. After incarnations of its G15 keyboard with a monochrome display for game stats and system info, it was really the only place left to go, and for the most part, it’s a comfy place with silk sheets and free Coke in the minibar. I mean, you can watch YouTube or movies while you frag.

The screen’s size and resolution are good, but not exceptional—it’s okay for watching short video or YouTube clips with the built-in client, checking the time, scoping your CPU load and anything else you’d be peeping at a glance. The bezel around it is gigantic, so there’d definitely be some space to make it larger.

What makes it impressive is the fact that it’s its own mini-computer, so matter how intensive the game you’re running is—Left 4 Dead, for instance—you can pop up a YouTube video or your rip of Dawn of the Dead with no slowdown at all, and every applet runs quickly and smoothly. They’re all pretty to use and configure as well.

There are a few annoyances with the video software. The YouTube client, for instance, doesn’t let you hunt for a specific video, you’re stuck browsing through a list of feeds, like top rated and most popular. That said, it’s really fast and easy to use. With the video client for your local files (which monitors a single folder), in my experience it played anything ending in .mpg, but when I tried to play .avi videos it said more codecs were needed.

What’s frustrating is that so much of the display’s potential is still untapped. Logitech so far only provides a handful of applets and “can’t comment on unannounced projects/products.” It doesn’t even do cool things with other Logitech products, like their G35 headset. It is open source, so anyone can develop for it, but we are talking about trying to build a development community around a $200 keyboard. The list of PC games that take advantage of it isn’t mindblowing, so you might wanna check if your favorite is on board (mine weren’t). So the currently anemic selection of software you can run on it might be a dealbreaker, at least for now.

Hardware
If you’ve used a higher end Logitech keyboard before—especially the G11 or G15, you roughly know what you’re getting. Logitech’s keys are a perfect balance of punchy and squishy and just really feel fantastic—it’s why they haven’t messed with the formula in a long time. Overall the G19 a solid piece of hardware, though you might expect something less plastic-y and more tank-like for $200, if only so it felt more likely to survive the onslaught of sweaty hands pummeling keys and Cool Ranch Doritos. The wrist rest is unacceptably cheap and crappy, though.

But Logitech adds a lot of value with little (and big) touches. There are a total of 36 possible macros (you can instantly switch between three sets of 12, which are color-coded. There are media controls galore, as you’d expect from Logitech. I really love the heavy spin wheel for volume, which matches up with the one on their G35 headset (more on that soon). You can make your backlight any color of the rainbow you want (or turn it off). And there’s a toggle to deactive the Windows key, so you don’t accidentally crash your game by popping up the Start menu.

It’s got two high-powered USB ports on the back—standard for gaming keyboards. It works pretty well if you’re just plugging in a mouse and a USB headset, but what I’d like is some audio jacks, so when I plug in my gaming headphones, I don’t have to reach around to the backside of my desktop.

One of the tradeoffs for having dual high-powered USB ports and a mini-computer inside is that you’re going to have to free up a space on your power strip for its power brick.

Game On?
Even with its handful of flaws, it’s a fantastic keyboard that builds on what Logitech’s been doing well for a long time, and it’ll get better as more software is developed for it. But it’s also $200, and its headlining feature isn’t fully fleshed out yet. I love it, but practically speaking, I’d wait a couple of months for the price to come down and more software to make it more excellent.

While videophiles might shudder to think it, Pure Digital’s crappy Flip, the little YouTubecam that could, has changed a lot about how a lot of folks approach video capture — $590 million worth of change, according to Cisco. Kodak jumped into the market last year with one of the earliest HD models, the $179 Zi6. Now they’ve followed up with the Zx1, a $149 “rugged” camera for, um, ruggedness. They’re aiming the camera at outdoor types, but with a smaller form factor, better build, lower price, HDMI output, and 60fps 720p recording (the original maxes out at 30fps 720p), about the only thing you’ll be missing from the Zi6 is a macro mode. So, specs aside, how does the Zx1 perform? Find out after the break.

Continue reading Kodak Zx1 unboxing and impressions

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Portable Video

Kodak Zx1 unboxing and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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