kodak

LAS VEGAS--It's really too bad that all the bankruptcy talk and lawsuits overshadowed Kodak's CES product announcements, particularly its latest minicamcorder, the Playfull Dual.

It's called the Dual because it's set up to shoot both full HD movie clips and 12-megapixel stills. Movies can be captured at 1080p at 30 or 60 frames per second (H.264) and it can also do high-speed capture at up to 240fps at 720p resolution for slow-motion clips.

As a still camera, its backside-illuminated sensor allows for faster shooting and better low-light image quality. It has an f2.6 wide-angle … Read more

Kodak, steps away from potentially filing for bankruptcy protection, isn't going to fade quietly.

The company said today that it filed lawsuits against smartphone makers HTC and Apple over camera technology, just the latest attempt to get tech companies to pay a licensing fee. The new lawsuits assert that Apple infringed on four Kodak patents and that HTC infringed on five. They were initially reported on by Florian Mueller, who runs the patent blog Foss Patents.

Kodak, meanwhile, is trying to find an acquirer. The company holds a war chest of 1,100 digital-imaging patents--crucial to cameras, phones, and … Read more

Logitech tries to reinvent the mouse with the Cube, the next Xbox may have built-in DVR functionality, and venerable Kodak lays plans for bankruptcy protection if it can't sell its patents.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

It's sad but unsurprising that Kodak appears headed for bankruptcy protection. And that should be a cautionary tale for camera industry powers that might think themselves better off.

Kodak, a technology titan from an earlier industrial age, has been struggling financially for years as digital photography killed Kodak's former cash cow, film. Bankruptcy protection, as reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, could open the door to some otherwise difficult options such as evading its pension obligations.

But fundamentally, it's hard to see Kodak surviving except as a shadow of its former self. Some technology bright spots--digital … Read more

Eastman Kodak is prepping for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that could put an interesting twist in the patent wars.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Kodak is looking for $1 billion in so-called debtor-in possession financing, which keeps companies running in a restructuring, with the idea that it would sell its 1,100 patents in an auction.

In other words, Kodak is betting that it can land capital like Nortel Networks did--via a bankruptcy court auction. Kodak is trying to sell the patents to avoid a bankruptcy filing. Kodak's patents could come in handy in the ongoing patent … Read more

We're baaaa-aaack!

And slap-happy after the break, so you may want to sit down to watch this show.

On the first Rumor Has It of 2012, we ask: who will make the next Kindle? Will Apple have some sort of snorefest in NYC? Are Acer and Lenovo Wintel-crazed? And are RIM's co-chairmen getting the boot?

But mostly, we pour one out for Kodak, which is suffering lately. Rumors out of Taiwan suggest it's going to make even fewer cameras next year, as it can no longer keep pace with Canon, Sony, and Nikon. Poor little Kodak: it … Read more

I don't know who Mark Malkoff is (or at least I didn't), but he's currently traveling around New York trapped in a box until one million photos are "freed" from Facebook with Kodak's My Kodak Moments app.

With the app, users can pull photos directly from their albums and their friends' albums (in compliance with Facebook's privacy rules, of course) to create photobooks and prints, which can then be ordered on Facebook for delivery. Apparently doing so will help get Mark freed from his mobile cube that's packed full of photos.… Read more

Kodak will launch a new version of its iPhone app today that won't get the sort of hype Color did this spring. But it may well be the app that Color should have been from the start.

The new Kodak Gallery app lets users create ad hoc social networks to share their photos. So if you're watching your kid play soccer, for example, you can create a network on the spot among the other parents snapping pics with their iPhones. They'll get an invitation to join that specific network and upload their photos to the service as … Read more

You may not be able to take that adorable little shark home with you, but you can capture video of it nibbling on your toes with the new Kodak Playfull Waterproof Video Camera.

The 720p camera comes stocked with a 2-inch screen, 18MB of internal memory, a 2X digital zoom, and an expansion card slot. Waterproof video cameras have taken the dive before, but the Kodak comes in at a cheap $99.95 price point.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to take this addition to the Playfull video camera line all the way down to the Titanic. There are limits on its waterproofing. It can handle up to 10 feet of water for up to two hours at a time. Push the limits and it may turn into electronic chum.

The Playfull Waterproof could end up inspiring a whole school of YouTube Jacques Cousteaus. It is currently available for preorder. Stay tuned for a full CNET review soon.… Read more