AllThingsD » sensors

Kickstarter Comes Into Its Own

Liz Gannes — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:42 +0000

This week, GreenGoose, a young company backed with $500,000 by angel investors last year, set out to raise some more money. But GreenGoose didn’t go to venture capitalists for its next round — it went to Kickstarter.

GreenGoose makes fun sensor technologies, and its first product — a kit for measuring when you walk, feed and play with your dog — starts shipping, after various delays, next week.

For its next product, the “Brush Monkey” Internet-enabled toothbrush, GreenGoose posted a campaign to raise $18,000 on Kickstarter.

This is more of a play for the DIY lovers in the Kickstarter community than anything else, said GreenGoose founder Brian Krejcarek. He wrote in an email,

We’ve raised some angel funding, but we’re still in this early-stage mode of figuring things out and trying to bring a dream to reality. We wanted to open it up to a DIY community with an API, that’s already out there for developers. If we can get other folks using a toothbrush or some of these other sensors in their applications, that helps us bring it into real production to get the cost down so we can make it available to lots of people.

Obviously, making physical products takes real money — but it’s possible Kickstarter is a better home for the DIY kinds of things GreenGoose is trying to do, especially in the early days. Another sensors-for-everyday-life project, Twine, raised $556,541 last year, after setting out to raise $35,000. Its Kickstarter campaign got coverage from many tech outlets, and generated tons of community recognition and goodwill.

Kickstarter on "Portlandia"

But Kickstarter campaigns aren’t just about the viral goodwill anymore. Kickstarter backed 10 percent of the films at Sundance this year. The site is becoming a serious source of funding and marketing for both start-ups and established companies.

In fact, Kickstarter recently started generating upward of $1 million per project. By “recently,” I mean “yesterday” — which was the first time a project got more than $1 million, and two projects did it in the same day.

The first was the Elevation Dock for the iPhone, which was posted by Elevation Lab of Portland on Kickstarter in December, and was a couple days away from its funding deadline.

The funding deadline is basically just a preorder deadline at this point, though. Kickstarter only makes backers pay up if a project’s goal is reached, but the dock received commitments for its goal of $75,000 in funding in just eight hours on Dec. 14. At last count, it had 1,124,440, from 10,275 backers.

Then, five hours later, another Kickstarter project got $1 million in funding — just a day after it was posted.

Double Fine Productions, a well-known studio that makes games for the Xbox and other platforms, turned to Kickstarter on Wednesday to raise $400,000 to create a new game and document it for Kickstarter backers. That goal was quickly met, and then some.

The Double Fine Adventure campaign now has $1,267,843, from 34,376 backers.

Double Fine didn’t come out of nowhere — its first hit was “Psychonauts” in 2005 — but that’s the point. The company’s Kickstarter pitch posed the project as a goal to see if crowdfunding can take it to the next level: Funding a major game release that usually requires publishers, investment firms and loans.

It appears the answer is yes. Or, as Double Fine put it “WoooooooooOOOOoooOoOoooOOooo!” The studio said it would put the extra money into things like translations and an original soundtrack for the documentary about the making of the game.

Last night, the New York City-based Kickstarter team quite understandably threw a party rather than updating its most-funded project page.

Hopefully the team’s hangovers will be in remission by tonight, when Kickstarter reaches another all-too-perfect milestone: Being the subject of a skit on “Portlandia” on IFC. Here’s a preview:

Tobii’s Eye-Tracking Tech Knows What You’re Eyeing on Dating Sites

Lauren Goode — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:15 +0000

When it comes to scouring dating sites, men tend to look at the pictures more, while women’s eyes linger longer on the text.

We probably didn’t need a formal study to tell us that.

But that’s exactly what Tobii, maker of eye-tracking technology, set out to do.

The Sweden-based company, in collaboration with AnswerLab, recently pounced on a bunch of people at a San Francisco coffee shop and asked them to participate in a study in which they’d be examining the dating profiles of members of the opposite sex — and during the session, their eye movements would be tracked by Tobii’s sensors.

After participants viewed mock-up pages of eHarmony.com and Match.com profiles, the verdict was in: Men spent 65 percent more time than women did reviewing photos in profiles; women spent 50 percent more time reading the text about a potential mate’s background and interests.

Women also spent an average of 84 seconds gazing at a profile to determine if it was a match, compared to 58 seconds for men.

The study also revealed that people tend to like dating profiles that they feel are more reflective of the kind they would build for themselves. For example, people that prefer to share lots of personal info gravitated more toward very personal dating profiles, while those that stick to “just the facts, ma’am,” liked profiles that had simpler demographic info and data.

Tobii uses tracking technology that zeroes in on a user’s pupil and calculates the point of gaze using algorithms. For heavy blinkers or those with shifty eyes, the recovery time of Tobii’s sensor is between 100 and 300 milliseconds; it draws an “imaginary box” around the user’s head to account for lots of head movement, as well.

For more info on how it works, check out this video from D9, where Tobii general manager Barbara Barclay demoed how Tobii could help users control their laptops with just their eyeballs. Late last month, the company introduced its X1 Light Eye Tracker, marketed mainly to usability and market researchers.

To demonstrate the usefulness of its eye-tracking tech at the consumer level, Tobii is planning to conduct more studies and present more interesting use cases, Barclay said. The next study, for example, might be even more precise: Instead of examining who is looking at pictures versus text, the next study might shed light on which area of the pictures people’s eyes tend to linger on. (We know what you’re thinking right now.)

Ultimately, these types of studies could be most useful for advertisers, as well as Web companies.

The study showed that when there was a great deal of ad content on the right-hand side of a profile page, participants would be distracted by the ads and avert their eyes from the profile information. Great news for advertisers, but bad news for those who want to remain focused on the task at hand.

It’s important to note that the sample for this study was very small: The company managed to convince more than 40 people to try it out, but had to throw away a handful of samples due to inconclusive data, which can be caused by certain types of glasses, lazy or droopy eyes, or an extreme amount of gaze-shifting.

But Tobii’s Barclay says continued testing could help companies determine monetization strategies and how they might conflict with the ultimate goal of a Web site’s content, or to help advertisers make ads more relevant and boost click-through rates.

(Feature photo courtesy of Flickr)

Would the Real Maker of the iPhone's Camera Please Stand Up?

Arik Hesseldahl — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:10:23 +0000

We have new information concerning the mysterious camera — make that cameras plural — inside Apple’s iPhone 4S.

As you may remember, for whatever reason, probably competitive concerns, Apple takes great pains to obfuscate the identity of the company that supplies it with the cameras inside the handset. When IHS iSuppli shared the findings of its teardown analysis with me yesterday, its analysts had no idea who had built that particular part. Two candidates were mentioned: Largan Precision Co. of Taiwan and OmniVision.

A hint had come from a teardown analysis by another company, Chipworks, which had taken the iPhone apart, put its individual chips under a microscope and found a Sony-made imaging sensor inside it.

One reader wrote in to point out this story from April in The Wall Street Journal, detailing an interview in New York between AllThingsD’s own Walt Mossberg and Sony CEO Howard Stringer, where Stringer is quoted talking about how Sony supplies Apple with cameras. “It always puzzles me,” Stringer said at the time. “Why would I make Apple the best camera?”

So there’s some confirmation, of sorts, that Sony is supplying Apple with at least a part of one of the cameras in the iPhone. Analysts have speculated that Apple, always careful about its supply chain arrangements, has probably tapped two suppliers for the main camera, and that Sony and OmniVision are sharing the job.

Now we have even more information. In an update to its analysis of the phone, Chipworks said today that OmniVision appears to be the supplier of the secondary, front-facing camera in the iPhone. As Barron’s noted today, OmniVision’s stock shot up on that revelation.

The Really Smart Phone

Robert Lee Hotz — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:00:51 +0000

Apple and Google may be intensifying privacy concerns by tracking where and when people use their mobile phones–but the true future of consumer surveillance is taking shape inside the cellphones at a weather-stained apartment complex in Cambridge, Mass.

For almost two years, Alex Pentland at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has tracked 60 families living in campus quarters via sensors and software on their smartphones–recording their movements, relationships, moods, health, calling habits and spending. In this wealth of intimate detail, he is finding patterns of human behavior that could reveal how millions of people interact at home, work and play.

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Short Supply of Japanese Electronic Parts Hitting Global Car Industry

Arik Hesseldahl — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:56:21 +0000

First it was chips for computers and consumer electronics; then it was the raw materials used to make those chips. Now the earthquake in Japan is affecting the supply chain for components used in auto infotainment systems, according to the latest look at market conditions by the research firm IHS iSuppli.

Japan in 2010 accounted for 35 percent–or $11 billion worth–of the $31.5 billion global market for automotive infotainment electronics, iSuppli says. On top of that, Japan is responsible for about one-third–$7.3 billion–of the $23 billion market for chips used in cars overall. Aside from chips, Japanese companies produce LCD panels and optical sensors used to make in-car systems.

ISuppli says Renesas Electronics, Texas Instruments, Freescale Semiconductor and Fujitsu, all of which supply components to the auto industry, have all been affected by shipping problems and difficulty in obtaining raw materials. The problems could last weeks or months.

Problems like this aren’t just hitting infotainment systems. As The Wall Street Journal reported today, shortages of a single electronic part made by Hitachi Automotive that measures airflow in car engines have forced companies like General Motors, Toyota and PSA Peugeot-Citroën to cut their output at auto plants in the U.S. and Europe. The plant that makes the component is located to the north of Tokyo and has been shut down. Hitachi makes about 60 percent of the world’s supply for this type of part. The Journal said Toyota on Wednesday warned employees to expect a production halt at some plants in the U.S. and Canada.

Meanwhile, Japanese automakers have stopped production at several plants in order to conserve electricity following the loss of generating power from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. There has been a 10 percent reduction in electrical capacity, iSuppli says. Additionally, companies like BMW, Volkswagen, Continental and Bosch have removed their expatriate employees from Japan.

Separately, Dow Jones reported yesterday that ZTE Corp., a Chinese maker of networking gear, is suffering quake-related supply problems. A company exec said it expects the problems to last as long as six months.

Nintendo's 3DS Brings Dizzying Fun On the Go

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:35:29 +0000

The first videogame that promises 3-D without the goofy glasses is about to hit stores, but in my tests, it made me a little dizzy.

On March 27, Nintendo is introducing the 3DS. This apparent breakthrough turned negative for some when Nintendo added a warning to the device that said viewing 3-D images by children age 6 and under may cause vision damage.

[ See post to watch video ]

Unaffected by age restrictions, I’ve been using the 3DS for the past week, and it’s a lot of fun—though its chunky design looks like the company is taking a step back rather than forward. Its 3-D screen works as advertised without 3-D glasses, though its effects can’t be seen from side angles, so friends trying to peek at the screen won’t see much. It made me a bit dizzy after a while, so I adjusted a 3-D Depth Slider to make the screen images appear less three-dimensional. This slider, or a setting in parental controls, can turn off the 3-D.

The videogame industry has a lot riding on Nintendo’s launch. Sales of new videogame consoles in 2010 fell 13% to $6.29 billion from $7.19 billion a year earlier, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Sales have begun edging up in the past few months following the launch in November of Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect motion-controller for its Xbox 360 console.

The industry is facing competition from sleeker, lighter smartphones which offer good quality, downloadable games free or for a few dollars, much less than the average $40 price for each Nintendo 3DS game. While Nintendo has created products with 3-D capabilities since the mid-1980s, none have caught on. Nintendo 3DS is the result of improvements in screen technology and lower prices for these screens. The company, which is based in Kyoto, Japan, saw no apparent damage to its headquarters after the recent earthquake, a spokesman says. Business operations, including future product shipments, haven’t been affected, he adds.

Nintendo’s competitors aren’t jumping on the portable 3-D bandwagon quite yet. Apple has no intention of introducing a 3-D, portable display anytime soon, say people familiar with the situation. When Sony announced plans for its Next Generation Portable gaming device in January, the company confirmed this device wouldn’t have 3-D. A spokesman says Sony considered including 3-D during the development process for this device, but decided to focus on other features. A Microsoft spokesman says as consumer demand evolves for 3-D, the company is committed to evolving its technology. Both Sony and Microsoft offer 3-D games and movies in the living room via their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

On March 27, 18 game titles will launch including Nintendogs + cats from Nintendo, and Madden NFL Football and Sims 3 from EA Sports. Almost all Nintendo DS games and DSiWare games will be playable in 2-D on the Nintendo 3DS.

Games that come loaded on the 3DS include Face Raiders and Nintendo 3DS Sound, which plays MP3 or AAC files and mixes your voice using funny sound effects. A Mii Maker program lets people make a Mii (personalized game character) with photos they take with the device. I created a particularly funny looking Mii with features that mirrored some of mine. But these Miis can’t be exported back to the Wii gaming console, where Miis first became popular.

Nintendo’s 3DS has cameras that capture 3-D photos for use in games.

Another cool game called AR Games lets users look through the 3DS cameras at six augmented-reality cards that come with the device. The cards make images more animated and three-dimensional. I found the effect so realistic, I reached out with my hand to make sure the imposed images, like a card with mini bull’s-eyes, weren’t actually on the table in front of me.

The 3DS has a few new features besides 3-D. A new circle pad works like a super flexible joystick for smoother navigation. Two outward-facing, stereo cameras take 3-D photos of friends or things, which can then be used in games. This made the games more personal and fun.

I used the 3-D photos I took in games like Face Raiders, which makes use of its motion and gyro sensors. The 3DS has an Internet browser, which wasn’t available on the device I tested. A Nintendo spokesman says it won’t work on devices until May. Also in May, Nintendo will start offering downloadable games for the 3DS.

Programs called SpotPass and StreetPass allow the 3DS to wirelessly receive or send data on the go even when the device is in sleep mode. SpotPass detects wireless hot spots so the 3DS can download free software, videos or game data. In late May, SpotPass will let users access AT&T’s Wi-Fi hot spots, free of charge. StreetPass lets one 3DS wirelessly exchange data with others within range (roughly 100 feet). A light on the 3DS indicates when the device has received new notifications.

The 3DS can perform other functions in sleep mode, like counting steps for a built-in pedometer. I carried the 3DS in my bag on several occasions throughout a conference and noticed a tiny icon of feet at the top of the screen with a number of steps beside it.

But the addition of 3-D technology to this device meant compromises on some key features. At eight ounces and 0.8-inch thick, the 3DS is slightly heavier and thicker than its comparable predecessor, the Nintendo DSi, which came out in 2009. (Apple’s iPod touch weighs less than half as much and is 0.28-inch thick.)

The 3DS’s estimated battery life is up to five hours while playing 3DS games, while regular Nintendo DS games will last up to eight hours. The DSi’s estimated battery life is up to 14 hours of game play. The 3DS is $100 more expensive than the DSi and its games are also pricier.

The Nintendo 3DS does a good job of incorporating 3-D with photos and games, as long as the games don’t make you feel dizzy. But its clunky form and limited functionality is up against steep competition from smartphones that cost less and offer more games.

Ian Sherr in San Francisco contributed to this article.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

OrthoSensor's "RoboCop" Tech Opens Up New Orthopedic Vistas

Timothy Hay — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:40:28 +0000

For the past couple of years, early adopters have displayed their cutting-edge ways by carrying in their pockets a smartphone that doubles as a computer, with all of the sophisticated sensors, apps and software that a technophile could want.

So the first person who walks down the street with the assistance of a smart knee, hip, shoulder or spine will undoubtedly be considered extremely cutting-edge. And if all goes according to plan, that person will be healthier too.

This is the thinking at OrthoSensor Inc., a company that just closed a $21 million Series B round for technology that could make RoboCop or the Six Million-Dollar Man jealous.

The funding was provided by return investor Ziegler Meditech Equity Partners, joined by new and returning angel investors, said Chief Executive Jay Pierce. The company raised a $6 million Series A round in 2008 from Ziegler and undisclosed angels, he added.

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Microsoft Sells Eight Million Kinects–Well, Not Really, but Close Enough

Tricia Duryee — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 06:37:10 +0000

We were hoping Steve Ballmer would spill the beans on how many Kinects the company has sold to date, and he didn’t disappoint.

During the Microsoft chief’s traditional appearance on the eve of CES, there was really no better consumer electronic to talk about.

The Xbox add-on has been a blockbuster hit for the company.

It sold 2.5 million in the first 25 days at market, and has garnered extended interest in the platform beyond hard-core gaming enthusiasts. It works similarly to the Nintendo Wii by allowing gamers to play beach volleyball or ping-pong or take dance lessons using motion, but this version doesn’t require a controller at all.

Tonight, Ballmer provided an update on just how well it’s selling. In its first 60 days on the market, he said, eight million Kinect sensors were sold, outpacing the five million units the company had forecasted in 2010.

But those figures require a little more explanation than was given:

The 2.5 million sold in 25 days counted the number of devices consumers purchased, whereas the eight million figure reported today represents the number of devices shipped to retailers.

The discrepancy between those two is likely fairly slim. Up until recently, inventories have been really low, and retailers have been sold out in some circumstances. For instance, the Xbox 360 with 250GB, bundled with the Kinect, remains sold out at Walmart.com, but is available at Amazon.com.

A Microsoft spokesperson had a fairly simple explanation for the different reporting methods:

To develop the sell-through numbers when it announced 2.5 million in sales, Microsoft conducted manual checks among retailers to gauge interest during the holidays. Those are very labor intensive, “and are not something we do throughout the year,” the spokesman explained.

“The change back to sell-in reporting aligns our Kinect disclosures to our ongoing worldwide console and financial disclosures, and is what you should expect from us going forward.”

Either way, the spokesperson assures us that Kinect sales far surpassed the five-million unit forecast.

It doesn’t hurt that the Xbox 360 has been the best-selling console in North America for six months running. Another figure revealed tonight was that console sales for the Xbox 360 hit 50 million over the holiday season.

That’s a lot. Nintendo said this week that the Wii system to date has sold more than 34 million consoles in the U.S., and that it sold more than seven million in 2010.

Other milestones:

–8 million: Number of Kinects sold in first 60 days

–50 million: Xbox 360s sold to date

–30 million: Number of Xbox LIVE members

Palm, Qualcomm Chiefs Weigh Wireless Future

Ina Fried — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 02:32:02 +0000

Palm-CEO-turned-HP-exec Jon Rubinstein and Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs faced off with Kara Swisher of All Things Digital at a Churchill Club event last night in an entertaining discussion on the future of mobile tech.

If you missed the live video feed of the event, check back with us–we’re working to repost the video. For those who want to read text, here is my liveblog of the event.

6:48 pm PT: We’re just finishing dinner. It was a chicken in some sort of puff pastry. Nothing is happening onstage, as if that wasn’t clear by the fact I am describing the meal. I think they will get started around 7:15 or so.

7:10 pm: Just about ready to go, with intros going on now. (And I just stole Kara’s seat at the head table.)

Kara: They’re both guys. Paul is taller and they work in tech.

7:14 pm: The plan is to talk about the future, but the event begins with a trip down memory lane as Jacobs holds up the Qualcomm PDQ–arguably the first smartphone combining a cellphone and Palm Pilot. For those who don’t remember, it it was bigger than a Palm Pilot and a huge phone strapped together.

7:20 pm: Digital device history continues. We’ve traced the last decade in digital devices, from the iPod through the Treo and iPhone. Don’t forget ringtones and cellphone bowling, Jacobs reminds us, referring to the Brew operating environment that Qualcomm developed.

The iPhone changed everything, Jacobs says, because it showed that the phone makers just weren’t putting enough work into the phone’s user interface.

7:28 pm: Talk is shifting to where we are today. What are the key things that are shifting? User interfaces, touch, etc. “The other things we are seeing is all of our lives are moving into the cloud,” Rubinstein says. On the limitation side, Jacobs points to the limitations of bandwidth: “We don’t have enough spectrum right now,” Jacobs says, adding that the industry and government are working on it. ‘We are just going to have to be more creative about how we get content to the devices.”

The other big limitation, Jacobs says, is battery life. You can do all this cool stuff on your phone, but then the battery dies three-quarters of the way through the day. He puts in a plug for Mirasol–Qualcomm’s low-power display technology.

Rubinstein concurs that battery and bandwidth are the two biggest issues. “Battery technology has not progressed at the same rate as all of the other things we are trying to do,” Rubinstein says.

7:38 pm: What about all the operating systems out there, Kara asks. Rubinstein: “There’s plenty of room in the market for multiple systems,” he says, adding it won’t be like PCs, where one operating system dominates. “It’s just different today.”

Rubinstein says it’s still the infancy of the major transition. Put on the spot to rank the operating systems, Rubinstein says that clearly Apple and Android are going gangbusters. The battle, he says, is for who is going to be No. 3. “We’d sure like to be that.”

Jacobs: “I agree. It’s very early days to be calling winners and losers.” He sees pretty wide diversity of operating systems, at least for the next five years, unless the operators really clamp down. Even then, there are some alternate distribution channels emerging. Either way, Qualcomm’s in good shape as an arms dealer, he points out.

7:45 pm: Discussion of carriers. While they are immensely powerful, Rubinstein says they won’t be the only distribution channel for every wireless device. “They are not all going to go through the carriers,” Rubinstein says.

More and more screens will emerge, Rubinstein says. If I fast-forward enough years, he says, the walls are going to be big displays capable of talking to other devices.

Jacobs notes that people will be able to use their device with any tool they have access to, from a big screen to a headset to a wireless keyboard. He says Qualcomm is working on a technology that would allow wireless headsets that could work in-ear like a hearing aid.

7:50 pm: Talk about some outlandish things. Rubinstein has already thrown out the idea of a headset in your pillow. Rubinstein points out that there will be a lot of sensors, pointing to the Nike+iPod as a really early example of what we can expect a lot more of.

7:55 pm: Augmented reality is also going to be big, the panelists agree. “The (StarTrek) tricorder is going to happen,” Jacobs says. Health care will also tap mobile technology, particularly in emerging countries where there is less regulation, carriers are trusted and there are fewer skilled health care providers available. “It’s a very efficient way to manage health,” he says. “Over the next few years we will see this happen,” he says. Eventually it will come back to developed markets, but today there is too much legacy and too much regulation in places like the U.S.

8:10 pm: Sorry for the delay–we were fixing some issues with the video coding, which hopefully should be solved now. Anyway, Rubinstein and Jacobs have been throwing out things that they expect in the next five years.

Jacobs’s list includes digital networked textbooks, cellphones as gateways for health care, as well as using augmented reality to translate all the signs and menus in a foreign country.

Rubinstein and Jacobs both see a digital wallet becoming a reality, with Jacobs throwing out the idea of an end to checkout lines as the phone could pay and the store could electronically disable the security on goods, allowing the whole transaction to take place without interaction with store personnel.

“Legal shoplifting, that’s interesting.” Kara says.

The technical hurdles aren’t that big, Rubinstein says. “Clearly NFC (near-field communications) is coming.” It’s more of a social problem than a technical one, Rubinstein says.

8:21 pm: Some good audience questions. One, on what does it take to deliver an Apple-like experience. Rubinstein, who has experience as part of Apple and trying to “out-Apple” Apple, says he thinks that the key is delivering an intergrated experience.

“I don’t think Apple is the only one that can do it, but I do think it is important to have all the elements,” he says.

Another question is on the future of mobile TV–a question that prompts Jacobs to cover his face (Qualcomm spent a bundle on its MediaFlo mobile TV service that saw very limited consumer uptake and Qualcomm is now evaluating what to do with it).

Too few people liked what the service had to offer, Jacobs says, referring to limits on content, screen size, etc. Jacobs said it appears that probably broadcast makes sense for live events, while streaming with TiVo-like controls makes sense for everything else.

“I actually believe strongly in mobile TV, still,” he says.

8:30 pm: Okay. That’s a wrap from me. Thanks for tuning in. If you want to hear more from Rubinstein, he will be speaking at next week’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference.

Digital Cameras Improve Zooms, HD Function

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:26:27 +0000

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, so, too, comes the start of the holiday shopping mayhem. Once again, digital cameras are rocketing to the top of wish lists, and once again, shoppers are tentatively entering electronics stores with bewildered looks on their faces.

[ See post to watch video ]

To alleviate some of that shopping stress, I’ve compiled a buyer’s guide for different camera categories with prices and pointers to innovation. This year, manufacturers have improved photo-location tagging and are offering artistic photo alteration and clever ways to label images for future sharing on social networks.

Let’s Get Physical

Consumers are starting to understand that better sensors make it possible to do things like taking photos in low light, which can really make a difference in photo quality. Some high-quality sensors are making their way into affordable models, like the CMOS sensor in Nikon’s $300 Coolpix S8100. High megapixel counts aren’t overly important, though more megapixels per photo still make it easier to zoom in while editing and give higher resolution in a larger photo or poster. A 14-megapixel camera like the Olympus FE-47 costs just $100, but a recent Consumer Reports review gave it low marks in handling shake and liquid-crystal-display screen quality. Optical zoom, or the physically manipulated distance between the camera and a subject, is still more important than digital zoom, and it’s easy to find many models with 7x optical zoom or better. LCD screens on digicams are so large that they leave little room for optical viewfinders, thus making built-in image stabilization all the more important. Image stabilization comes on nearly all new cameras. And more digicams than ever are capable of recording high-definition videos.

Breaking It Down

Digital cameras can be divided into four broad categories: pocket-size, point-and-shoot, super- or mega-zooms and digital single-lens reflexes (D-SLRs). I’ll leave SLRs out of the discussion, since they’re still primarily aimed at hobbyists who don’t mind the cost and effort of buying additional lenses, filters, flashes and other accessories.

Most pocket-size digital cameras cost between $100 and $300, weigh no more than seven ounces and lack optical viewfinders, forcing users to look at LCD screens to compose pictures. Most of these LCD viewing screens measure between 2.6 inches and 3.5 inches diagonally. Samsung, however, has an even bigger touch-screen LCD, at 3.7 inches, on its CL80 camera priced at $350.

These small but powerful machines capture images with 10, 12 or 14 megapixels and their optical zoom lenses usually range from 3x to 7x, though a handful of manufacturers are boosting their cameras’ optical zooms. The $170 Casio Exilim EX-H5, for example, is equipped with a 10x optical zoom lens.

Today’s point-and-shoot digital cameras are sleeker and more stylish than they used to be, though they remain somewhat bulkier than their pocket-size relatives. The point-and-shoot size can allow for better optical zoom lenses, and these models sometimes cost less than the pocket sizes. The $300 Canon PowerShot SX210 IS and $280 Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 are equipped with 14x and 12x optical zoom lenses, respectively.

Super-zoom or mega-zoom digital cameras satisfy people who want the power of a great zoom and optional manual settings without the hassle and expense of an SLR. At a glance, you might mistake these models for SLRs due to their bulkier bodies, and, in some cases, detachable (or hot-shoe) flashes. Nikon’s $400 Coolpix P100 offers a 26x wide-angle optical zoom, and Olympus’s $350 SP-800UZ is the smallest camera with a 30x wide-angle optical zoom. Both cameras have built-in flashes, but the Nikon includes an optical viewfinder while the Olympus offers only an LCD screen for viewing and capturing photos.

Shaking It Up

Camera manufacturers are adding creative new features to these devices. Starting the week of Thanksgiving, Casio will provide Hybrid GPS on its $350 EX-H20G, which geotags (adds digital location information to) images indoors where GPS satellite signals can’t reach. This works using a combined GPS radio and motion sensor to measure the direction in which the camera has moved, and how fast. When you’re back in satellite range, the camera corrects the geotag by cross-referencing its own estimates with satellite-provided latitude and longitude.

Olympus now has art filters, which let you view your subject with special effects before capturing the photo. Some filters supply gentle sepia, soft focus or grainy film. There is also a drawing filter, which makes a subject instantly appear as a sketch.

Samsung’s $150 PL90 model has a pop-out USB arm that reminds me a lot of the pop-out USB connector on Cisco’s popular Flip camcorders. Samsung’s USB arm eliminates the need for messy wires, or the removal of a memory card to transfer photos from a digicam to a PC.

Many cameras have and continue to supply guides that appear on screen as a photo is being captured. Sony’s NEX-5 offers this, and the Olympus Live Guide let you preview photo adjustments—like brightness or color saturation—on the screen as you make them. Nikon’s Scene Auto Selector, found in the Coolpix P7000, Coolpix S8100 and Coolpix S80, will automatically adjust the camera’s settings so users can stop worrying about scrolling through menus to select the right scene from a list.

Fujifilm offers the only true (not simulated) three-dimensional digital camera in its $500 FinePix REAL 3D W3, which I reviewed in August. These 3D images can be seen through the camera’s LCD viewing screen but not on laptops or television sets unless they’re 3D-capable and you’re wearing 3D glasses.

Kodak is trying to encourage sharing with its cameras by including a Share button that, when pressed, digitally tags images and videos with labels for Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Kodak Gallery or email, then automatically sends the photos to those places when you next plug the camera into a PC.

One last warning: Don’t be seduced by lower prices or better technology alone. Be sure you try a camera in the store before buying it. The way it feels or works for you is just as important as any technological specification.

Email Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Sony Enhances PlayStation to Take On Nintendo's Wii

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:25:44 +0000

Bocce, part of the Sports Champions game, which comes with Move.

If you’re still just pressing buttons to play video games, now you have another reason to get up off the couch and really get into the action of a video game.

This week, Sony’s PlayStation 3 continues the motion sensor video-gaming trend with its PlayStation Move (us.playstation.com). Move comes in a $100 bundle for people who already own the PlayStation 3, or $400 for the system and the bundle.

[ See post to watch video ]

Nintendo helped spark this trend in 2006 with its Wii, a video-game console, which is played using remotes with built-in motion sensors. The Wii inspired all sorts of people to play video games—including some who never played one before—because its remotes weren’t intimidating and worked with gestures familiar to people, like swinging a tennis racket or rolling a bowling ball.

Sony’s PlayStation move takes this concept a step further. Its Move motion controller remote has three built-in sensors and a sphere on one end, making it look a bit like a microphone. The sphere’s position can be tracked in 3-D space by a camera called the PlayStation Eye, which plugs into the PlayStation 3 and sits atop your TV. This camera lets the PlayStation know how you’re moving the controller and where you’re holding it. Instead of a camera, the Wii uses a sensor bar that emits infrared signals detected by the Wii remote.

The Sony PlayStation Move bundle comes with a motion controller remote that has three built-in sensors and a sphere on one end, making it look a bit like a microphone.

Sony (SNE) claims these enhancements give PlayStation Move precision and accuracy, and for the most part, I found this to be true. I especially liked when virtual images of the equipment I was “using” appeared on the TV screen, which made it seem like I was actually holding a bat, sword or tennis racket. I was so engaged with the on-screen images, I almost forgot I had a controller in my hand.

My experiences with the Nintendo Wii, which costs $200 less than the PlayStation Move and PlayStation 3 combined, have always been enjoyable. I’ve found many of the Wii’s games to be approachable for almost anyone. Nintendo helped its cause a year ago when it brought out the Wii MotionPlus—a small accessory that plugs into the Wii remote to give its gestures added sensitivity; in my tests, it worked well. The Wii’s action will be enough for some not-so-serious video-game players not willing to pay more for another console.

The PlayStation Move will get some competition in November when Microsoft releases Kinect for the Xbox 360. This video-game console tracks body movements but doesn’t require a remote control. Instead, gestures like hand waves work to control games, making one’s entire body a sort of remote control.

I’m not a serious gamer. As always, this column is written for mainstream consumers and I tested PlayStation Move with those people in mind. I played games like table tennis and disc golf from the Sports Champions game that comes with the PlayStation Move bundle, as well as downloadable titles like a precision block-building game called Tumble.

I also played EyePet, a game that involves taking care of a creature by washing it, dressing it in stylish costumes and playing with it.

In games like Tumble, I found that the PlayStation Move motion-control remote generated precise movements such as the ability to tilt a cube exactly the way I wanted to get it to stand on a stack of five blocks—or in one case, accidentally cause the stack to crash to the ground. Likewise, while I played table tennis, I quickly figured out how a slight flick of my wrist could generate more spin on the ball in a way that felt more realistic than with the Nintendo Wii.

Archery, part of the Sports Champions game, which comes with Move.

I was impressed by the detailed animation and scenes in the PlayStation Move games that I played. In disc golf, for example, I played against three opponents who each had their own set of unique celebration flips or dances. And the golf courses in the game showed trees and water hazards that looked pretty realistic. A special bird’s eye view followed my disc’s trajectory from the second I flicked the wrist holding my motion controller until it landed.

EyePet is especially fun—and not just for kids. I named my EyePet “Domino” and taught it to jump through a hoop that virtually appeared on-screen at the end of my remote. I gave Domino a “checkup” by turning the motion controller into an X-ray-like device. This told me his brain needed a boost of creativity but his heart was happy.

There are currently 15 games that will work with PlayStation Move and a spokesman for Sony says 15 additional games will be available by the holiday season. The average price for these games is $40, though downloadable games cost less, including the $10 Tumble.

The $100 PlayStation Move bundle has the motion controller, PlayStation Eye camera and a game called Sports Champions, which includes disc golf, gladiator dual, archery, beach volleyball, bocce and table tennis.

The PlayStation Eye camera can track four controllers at once, though some games—like Start the Party—are designed to let people pass their controllers from one person to the next. Other webcams can’t be substituted for the PlayStation Eye to use with the PlayStation 3.

A $20 shooting attachment fits over the controller and makes it look and act like a handgun. This can be used in first-person shooter games like Killzone 3, due out in February, as well as in arcade shooter types of games like The Shoot, available in October. (I didn’t get these games in time to test them.)

If you already own a PlayStation 3, you’ll enjoy the added precision and fun that the $100 PlayStation Move bundle offers. But for casual gamers who don’t want to spend so much, the less expensive Nintendo’s Wii will probably suffice.

Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com.

BoomTown Prediction: Chasing Away the Mice (And Keyboards Too)

Kara Swisher — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:30:33 +0000

The Washington Post, where I once toiled, asked me to do a short piece recently for a spring-cleaning feature in its Outlook section.

It was titled “Twelve Things the World Should Toss Out,” and the candidates nominated by others include: Harvard Law School’s Elizabeth Warren nixing fine print, feminist blogger Jessica Valenti dumping virginity, political whisperer Karl Rove hating exit polls and actor and activist Ed Begley Jr. giving the heave-ho to lawns.

BoomTown’s choice: The physical computer keyboard and its partner-in-carpal-tunnel-syndrome, the mouse.

You can vote here on which is the most useless of the suggestions.

Here’s the piece, which–before you go all technical on me–I wrote on an Apple (AAPL) iPad with a virtual keyboard and touchscreen.

And frankly, if I could have my blog posts downloaded directly from my noggin, it would be okay by me:

The prototype of the first computer mouse–which got its name because of the wire that trailed it–was invented by Doug Engelbart in 1963.

Yes, nearly 50 years ago.

But it’s only a toddler compared with the keyboard, which is a direct descendant–via punch-card and teletype technologies–of the typewriter, patented in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes.

In other words, it’s long past time for a change in the way we interact with the digital devices that have proliferated in our lives. While the keyboard and the mouse have introduced billions of people to the digital experience, they have become antiquated obstacles to the kind of computing that is now emerging.

This new computing is immersive, augmented and completely social. As sci-fi movies predicted, our digital devices are poised to become even more ubiquitous. They will surround us, responding to our expressions, emotions and gestures.

From wearable devices to sensors that will envelop our world to 3-D screens that will react to us, personal computing is about to get a lot more personal. Internet-based television now in development will recognize a viewer and deliver customized entertainment.

And it will do this without the trusty keyboard and mouse. We’re already phasing them out, thanks to the increasing popularity of touchscreens–including the patron saint of all this, the Apple iPhone, and a spate of copycat smartphones. All of these devices allow users to navigate without physical buttons or input devices.

Thus, with a flick of the finger, the era of the mouse and the keyboard will soon be over.

Tracking Your Every Movement–And Sharing It With Others

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:10:14 +0000

How much do people want to share with their social circle?

Researchers at Intel Labs believe people might eventually share almost everything they are doing–as long as it’s within a very small group. At a sort of science fair for reporters in New York Wednesday, Intel showed off what has been going on at Intel Labs, the research arm of Intel (INTC). Among the most interesting developments: “socially enabled services”–ways that people can use their mobile devices to interact with others on a near-constant basis.

A few years ago, even sharing your location with others was a foreign concept. But Intel Labs researchers are working on systems that would use sensors in handheld devices to share information on where users are and what they are doing at any given time. The sensors can tell whether people are walking or driving, for example, and can use that information to update a person’s status.

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Flip Video Mino Takes Aim at the Cool Set

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:01:00 +0000

When Pure Digital Technologies Inc. introduced its Flip point-and-shoot camcorder a year ago, it dramatically simplified video recording. The Flip measured the size of a small digital still camera, cost less than $150 and its videos could be emailed in one quick process. Consumers gobbled up the tiny, nonintimidating device.

But to the style-conscious set, the Flip looked like a clunky Fisher-Price toy — especially when compared with a sleek, new iPod or more-sophisticated digital cameras — and was too thick to comfortably slip into a pocket. Last fall, Pure Digital introduced an enhanced version: the Flip Video Ultra, but its biggest aesthetic difference was new orange, pink and green colors.

[ See post to watch video ]

Today, the company will begin sales of its $180 Flip Video Mino (pronounced “minnow”), the hippest offering yet from Pure Digital. This 60-minute Flip includes many firsts for the company: rechargeable batteries; touch-sensitive buttons rather than old-school, push-down buttons; and a thinner build that measures 40% smaller, overall. The Flip Mino is also the first one in the family to enable publishing to MySpace (NWS); prior software limited Web-site sharing to YouTube (GOOG) and AOL (TWX) Video.

I’ve been using a glossy, black Flip Mino (it also comes in white) for the past two weeks and it looks much cooler than older models. Its newly positioned USB adapter pops up from the top of the camera like something from a Swiss Army Knife. The Mino offers features such as the ability to lock the delete button, so no one accidentally deletes your videos, and mute all camera sounds, so as to record silently during quiet moments like wedding ceremonies or speeches.

I brought it along with me almost everywhere I went because of its small size and light weight, even fitting it into a thin clutch purse with a cellphone and BlackBerry (RIMM). I used the Mino in various situations ranging from bright, scenic outdoor settings to indoors while eating dinner in a candle-lit restaurant. Overall, I was pleased with the sound and picture quality of the Mino, and I found its built-in software, which automatically starts when the camera plugs into your Mac (AAPL) or Windows (MSFT) PC, to be a pleasure to use.

Today, Pure Digital Technologies introduced its $180 Flip Video Mino, a thinner, more stylish version of its point-and-shoot camcorder.

It took just a few minutes to trim excess footage from my videos before saving them to my computer or sharing them with friends and family. Another way to share videos from the Flip Mino is via Pure Digital’s server, which sends emails with embedded video links, saving upload and download time on both ends. Though I didn’t publish any of my videos on a public Web site, AOL, MySpace and YouTube were just one step away.

The Flip Mino’s touch buttons, while stylish, were difficult to use at first. I missed the tactile feel of physical buttons as I tried to hold this small video camera and press the zoom buttons using just one hand. The new, touch-sensitive buttons weren’t as satisfying and stable to use, and I pressed them accidentally more than a few times. For instance, the Zoom Out button is directly below Record, making it easy to mistakenly touch it. After about a week of using the Mino, I grew more accustomed to using these new touch buttons, but it shouldn’t take so long to make the adjustment.

Just looking at the Flip Mino’s fresh new exterior makes it hard not to think about the things that this redesigned camcorder is still lacking, like a larger viewing screen (the Mino screen is 1.5 inches, no larger than that of the Flip Ultra), high definition video and wireless sharing capability. These features would likely raise the price and/or tax the battery, and many users of the Flip flock to it for its low price and simplicity. Still, Pure Digital says that it will offer HD video and a larger screen on a product within a year, and is looking into features that might include wireless transferring.

I grew fond of the Mino’s rechargeable battery. Whenever I plugged this gadget into my computer to transfer videos, my Mino charged up via USB without me having to think about it. A full charge lasts four hours and recharging a dead battery takes about three hours.

Pure Digital says that the sound quality and lighting are improved in this model. Like previous models, this Flip records in 640×480 pixels at 30 frames per second.

The Mino didn’t have a problem with lighting in most situations; indeed it did a nice job of capturing images of my family sitting around a table in a restaurant with little more than candlelight to brighten the picture. It doesn’t use a flash or a built-in light, but instead uses automatic sensors to adjust to various levels of light.

This svelte camcorder seemed to handle noise more evenly than I remembered in prior Flip models. It didn’t make my voice sound unbearably louder than everyone else’s, even though I was closest to the camera’s microphone, yet it managed to detect voices across the room. I did have some trouble on a windy day: While recording a quick video of a golf course in San Diego, wind audibly muffled my voice during a few moments in the video.

Along with the delete-lock and sounds-off settings, this Mino has a few other tricks up its sleeve. Each of the touch-sensitive buttons is designed to glow only when usable, so as to better help people who might not know which buttons to press while using this camcorder. For example, only the zoom buttons glow while recording since the other buttons (volume, play/pause and delete) can’t function in this setting.

Shortcuts built into each button provide more functions: Holding the play/pause button down will set the playback mode to play all videos on the Mino; holding the seek ahead or seek back buttons while watching a video will fast-forward by seconds within that video; pressing the record button as the camera starts up opens up the settings menu.

In conjunction with the Flip Mino’s introduction Wednesday, prices of the former Flip Ultra model will drop to $150 for the 60-minute model. The Flip Ultra 30-minute model will be phased out, as will the Flip Classic, which will cost $130 for a 60-minute unit.

Though the Flip Mino’s touch-sensitive buttons look great, they aren’t as functional as they needed to be. But if you really want a sleek, hip-looking gadget, you’ll learn to adjust to these new buttons. No matter which Flip you choose, Pure Digital’s software changes the way people capture and share videos, and that’s a great thing.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com