Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

EyeModule died YESTERDAY

YESTERDAY was announced (by P.Kahn, ex-Borland / Starfish? - an article in WIRED or Biz.2.0 or something ON THE STANDS NOW) a MEGA-PIXEL camera chip, BETTER THAN ANYTHING EVER SEEN BEFORE, w/tiny power & mem. requirements (I think Kahn jokes "billions of pics") was announced.
(I'm a chump for not having a link, I know, sorry.)

BY NEXT YEAR THESE WILL BE IN EVERY CELL PHONE, and photos can be uploaded to the Web in under 30 SECONDS.

So ... the E.M. "had its day in the sun," but that time is gone. Be on the lookout for 'em in the $10 close-out bin.

(I own an E.M., BTW, and you CAN take 1 good photo for every 50 that suck. But in this time of CD-R/RW, etc. it's not so bad. Yes, a $10 Kodak disposable is better - but it's 1 more thing to carry 24/7.)

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

Re: EyeModule died YESTERDAY

quote:

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Originally posted by bkbk
Yes, a $10 Kodak disposable is better - but it's 1 more thing to carry 24/7.)

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Jeff

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Round Rock,Tx
Posts: 25

Just got one at lunch today at CompUSA along with the $20 replacement in case I drop it

It came with some fairly nice software on CD called MediaCenter which lets you crop, resize, along with basic image manipulation. Cool little bag to put it in too.

Boy does it EAT batteries!!


Later,
Robert

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

Yeah, I only use the E.M. to frame the shot for a few seconds, max, before snapping. I NEVER "keep trying" to frame the shot for, say, more than 20 seconds.

LightSurf, Kahn's new company is called - it's got a site already, of course.
BTW the phone I saw (alone w/the SHARP photo he snapped of his wife & child) had the built-in camera - basically just a glass dot on the surface of the casing.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Oakland, CA USA
Posts: 61

quote:

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Originally posted by bkbk
....

LightSurf, Kahn's new company is called - it's got a site already, of course.
BTW the phone I saw (alone w/the SHARP photo he snapped of his wife & child) had the built-in camera - basically just a glass dot on the surface of the casing.

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Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

My bust, I haven't really researched all the gory details. Yer probably right, though - I only scanned the site quickly, and don't remember any hardware detail.
That's kind of why I mentioned the computer rags - hoping someone else would have some time to get the good dirt from one of these sources. Sorry. Just wanted to get the word out quickly (though imperfectly).

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 165

The Eyemodule came out just weeks after I bought my Visor Deluxe... having just dropped $270 (Visor + Tax + Shipping) I reacted negatively to the price, and then after reading numerous articles and posts I reacted negatively to the product ("320x240?! Even the crappy Casio QV100 with no flash that I had three years ago did 640x480! And the pictures are all blurry!") Seemed more like novelty than anything else, and at $150 it wasn't quite novel enough for me to covet at the time.

In the last few weeks, though, I've been gaining interest in the Eyemodule... I think "Portable Webcam" is a very good way to think of the product - a little pricier than most web cams (but not all), but infinitely more portable. The more I've been thinking about it, the more I find myself wishing I could take an extemporaneous snapshot here or there - the same ideal as a polaroid; the quality isn't that hot, but you grab the memory in an instant. On occaisions when I know I'm going to want a camera, I'll bring my 35mm Canon SLR, or my Olympus D-400Zoom. At all other times I'll have the Eyemodule with me.

As for the blur problem, that's a matter of basic photography; lower light means longer exposure, even with digital cameras. Placing the Visor/Eyemodule on a stable, level surface to take a snap would probably help in a lot of instances. I guess I'll have to buy one to find out. :-) I'll be sure to post my impressions when I actually get one (which will be whenever I have $150 of disposable income lying around which hasn't been earmarked for something else. )

-Andy

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<br>"Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union" -Frank Lloyd Wright