Camcorders

Contour+ is our new favorite sports camera

There's a new king of the sports camera hill and it's called the Contour+. This camera packs in every trick in Contour's book, including GPS location technology, smartphone connectivity via Bluetooth, and an established rail-mounting system. It also brings a few new tricks in the form of an HDMI output, a microphone input, and a higher-quality, superwide-angle lens.

Here's a wee bit of inside baseball: If you've checked out a recent episode of Car Tech Live, you've likely already seen the Contour+ in action. We've been using the HD sports camera to record the in-car footage for our On the Road segment for the past month. We've found that while not nearly as rugged as our previous favorite, the GoPro HD Hero, the Contour+ hardware is much easier to use, particularly when paired with the free Contour app for iPhone. (An Android version is just around the corner.)

Check out the full review of the Contour+ to see just how it earned our Editors' Choice award.… Read more

Sexiest AA batteries ever

I know, I know, that's a bold statement up there in the headline, 'cause there are a lot of fine-looking AAs out there. These are Sanyo's newest NiMH rechargeable batteries and, honestly, when was the last time you saw batteries with a tribal tattoo?

Called XX, Sanyo says the black-and-silver design is symbolic of their "appropriateness for professional use" with a look inspired by gadget users that "further emphasizes both Sanyo's commitment to offering the latest in digital fashion as well as its design capabilities."

For those of you that just care about … Read more

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V review: The ultimate compact megazoom?

Sony has three compact megazooms in its 2011 lineup; the Cyber-shot HX9V is the most expensive. It's also the only one of the three (the H70 and HX7V are the others) that's not replacing a 2010 model. It's entirely new and hosts what seems like all of Sony's latest Cyber-shot technologies. That includes (for better or worse) a 16-megapixel Exmor R sensor, a 16x ultrawide-angle 24mm-equivalent Sony G lens, and a high-speed linear-focusing system. It shoots video in full HD at 60p. It has a GPS receiver for geotagging photos while you shoot. Shooting modes go … Read more

WD Nomad makes your portable hard drive harder

If you regularly travel with a portable hard drive, you'll want to check this out. It's the WD Nomad, a $30 case designed to protect Western Digital's line of My Passport portable hard drives from 7-foot drops, dust, and moisture. The polycarbonate shell shields your hard drive while a shock-absorbing elastomer cushion inside keeps it snug, and a heavy-duty latch and silicon liner seals the whole thing up.

What's also nice about this case is that once your drive is inside, there's little reason to open it up again. There's an opening for connecting a USB cable and an exterior ring for attaching a carabiner, cable, or strap to secure it to a bag.

The WD Nomad rugged case is compatible with My Passport drives including My Passport Essential, My Passport Essential SE, My Passport Elite, My Passport for Mac, and My Passport SE for Mac. I really wish I had one of these a year ago when I dropped my portable drive causing irreparable damage and costing me 250GB of photos, videos, and documents as well as the purchase price of a new drive.… Read more

Toshiba releases Camileo B10, P100 minicamcorders

Back in April, Toshiba announced two new Camileo pocket video cameras for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Those are now available in the U.S.

The B10 is your basic candy-bar style minicamcorder with a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, 2-inch LCD, Mini-HDMI output, and a removable battery, which is quickly becoming a rarity.

It captures video (MP4 format) in full HD (1,920x1,080/30p) as well as 720/60p, 720/30p, and 480/30p. It'll also shoot 5-megapixel JPEG photos.

The P100, according to the Toshiba rep I spoke with, is more for the prosumer, but I'm … Read more

iFixit CEO strips a Sony Bloggie 3D, bares its twin cameras

So, Sony got iFixit.com CEO Kyle Wiens to do a teardown of the new Bloggie 3D minicamcorder. Usually, I like a good teardown, but this one is sofa-king boring. Why? Because one of the best parts of iFixit.com's product teardowns is finding out the manufacturers of all the individual components. Of course, that doesn't happen here.

Instead, we just get an eyeful of all the bits and pieces that go into making this pocket 3D video camera. There's a brief look at Kyle stripping it down, but mostly it's just all the parts laid out and some close-up looks at them. Oh, and a healthy dose of sneaky marketing to let you know why the Bloggie 3D is so worth $250.… Read more

Looxcie wearable camera returns, looks improved

Remember the Looxcie? It was a $199 wearable camcorder/Bluetooth headset that launched last September that used your iPhone or Android smartphone as a viewfinder. It continuously recorded video at a resolution of 320p at 15 frames per second, and if something exciting happened, you pressed a button and it clipped the last 30 seconds and sent it off to Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.

It was a cool idea done in by an awkward design, a disappointing user experience, and mediocre video results. It appears that the folks at Looxcie learned from the first go-round, though, as the Looxcie 2--at … Read more

Kodak PlaySport Zx5 review: Near-excellent rugged minicamcorder

The PlaySport Zx5 is Kodak's update to 2010's PlaySport Zx3. The two look nearly identical, but the Zx5 ups the ante on durability. The Zx3 was merely waterproof and dustproof but now the Zx5 adds shockproofing. There are a couple of other feature differences, too, most for the better. Unfortunately, the battery is no longer removable.

The video quality from the Zx5 doesn't change much from the Zx3, but the few changes are mildly for the worse, which brought its rating down. On the other hand, the video is still very nice and the camera is a … Read more

Creative's inPerson HD cam is made for Skype HD

Designed to work with HD video calling in Skype, Creative has introduced a $149 high-end Webcam, the Live Cam inPerson HD, which features built-in H.264 video compression.

Creative says by offloading the video processing to the Webcam you get, "Smooth movement and video calls every time."

Here's a look at its key specs:

Full HD 1080p video capturing at up to 30 frames per second Wide-angled glass lens with auto focus Skype HD certified Live Central 3 software (create movies, add special effects, and share media online) Extras: business card scanning software, H.264 decoder, security … Read more