by CIO Staff

Kodak Ships Tiny Bluetooth Camera

News
Apr 26, 20062 mins
Consumer Electronics

Eastman Kodak has launched a new Bluetooth camera and new imaging software.

Kodak also explained its work in face-recognition technology to develop software that will automatically sort through thousands of photos to find pictures of friends or family. This is one of several technologies the company is working on in its labs, it explained.

EasyShare V610 revealed

The new camera—the Kodak EasyShare V610 dual lens digital camera—is the “world’s smallest 10X optical zoom camera,” the company claims. The 6-megapixel camera uses Bluetooth wireless technology, so camera users can send (or receive) images to any nearby Bluetooth device.

The camera combines two Schneider-Kreuznach C-Variogon all-glass, non-protruding prism lenses to deliver its long zoom range. The camera ships in June 2006 and costs 349.99 pounds (US$625).

The device will record TV-quality (VGA) video at 30 frames per second, using MPEG-4 compression for optimal quality and storage size. Built-in, video-specific image stabilization technology reduces on-screen shaking from unintentional hand and camera movement.

Alongside built-in image editing tools, the camera packs some powerful extra features, principally its in-camera panorama stitching mode, which will automatically combine three pictures into a panoramic photograph without the need for a computer.

Kodak EasyShare V610
EasyShare V610

There’s also a favorites mode, which places approximately 100 favorite pictures onto an on-camera album for instant retrieval and sharing anytime, anywhere.

EasyShare 6 ships in May

The company has also announced Kodak EasyShare 6, its free software (Mac and Windows) for managing, sharing and printing images. This version boasts a revised user interface and photo card printing. The new software ships in May.

The new integrated Kodak EasyShare Gallery site makes it easier for photographers to access their entire collection of digital images. They can send images over the Internet or from camera phones to share with visitors to their own dedicated area of the site.

-Macworld staff, Macworld.co.uk

Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage.