So I bought a toy today....but it's going back tomorrow

Ah, the joys of video editing.

For the past several years I've really enjoyed taking the home movies, capturing them to the computer, editing them down and then burning them off to a DVD. A great way to preserve family memories and kill off a lot of dead space you usually get when you are video taping an event. The only downside to doing that is getting the movies from the tape to the computer. That always takes forever and usually is a hard drive killer. So when I heard about all these new camcorders coming out with hard disk drives built into them, it peaked my interest. Movies right to the format I want them in for editing, taking a lot of the work out of the process. The only downside to those is the pricetag. Usually starting around $300 and going up quickly from there. So when I saw the Aiptek ISDV2.4 camcorder for $99 this past week, I decided I would pick one up to check it out. I did. It sucks.
Okay, I know I shouldn't expect a whole lot for $99, but the product website says it captures video at 720X480 in MPEG4 format, DVD quality. Sounds good. But once I got home and tried it out, I was at a loss for words. But leave it to Denise to find the right words for me. It looks like it was taken with a cell phone. And the 8 mega pixel built in camera, not much better.
There is a plus to this device. It is small and can easily fit in a pocket to carry along with you. This is the kind of device you may want to give a kid to play with or use for a neat toy. But if you are in the market for a camcorder that can do something cool with and want it to look good, then pass on this device.
Guess I'll just have to save my pennies.

Well, looks like I'm going to get Blu-Ray. Toshiba throws in the towel.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced that they will phase out the sale of HD DVD players and movies. Now today, Toshiba, the big dog of the HD DVD format equipment, is giving up on HD DVD all together.

Wow. Sony actually won a format war for once!

Another nail in Palms coffin?

Ready for the Google Phone? From Reuters:

FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - British chip designer ARM (ARM.L: Quote, Profile, Research) will show a prototype mobile phone based on Google's (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Android platform next Monday at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

Google and ARM declined to comment on the report.

Deutsche Telekom's (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) T-Mobile and Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (2498.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) have said that they plan to offer phones based on the open-source Android software platform this year.

Internet search leader Google may upset the wireless industry with its software system designed to make the Web as smoothly accessible from mobile devices as from PCs, challenging Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research), Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Apple (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

It is also bidding for wireless spectrum in the United States in a move that pits it against entrenched carriers like AT&T (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research)(VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research).

Its operator partners in the Open Handset Alliance announced in November include China Mobile (0941.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), NTT DoCoMo (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research), KDDI (9433.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) -- which have all said they are working with handset makers to develop Google-based phones.

Research firm Strategy Analytics has estimated that Android will be in two percent of smartphones this year.

Wow. Will this slam another nail into the coffin of the once mighty Palm empire? I wonder if Lotus Notes Traveler will be available for it by Lotusphere 2009?

Did you hear what sunk the Internet last week?

This past week, parts of the Middle East and India were without Internet and phone service. And the cause for this calamity?

Anchors Aweigh! (read all about it)