Whacky, but cool
Whacky, But Cool New Products at PMA 2007…
These whacky, new products have nothing to do with the inkjet industry; however, every year I try to find something new, innovative and totally off-the-wall for my readers at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) trade show, which this year was held in Las Vegas, March 8-11, 2007. This can be a difficult search, since each year more and more exhibitors show up who are trying to cash in on the success of the innovators that were popular the year or two before.
The number one copycat product seemed to be the custom or “personal photo book”, where you can submit your digital photos and they’ll make a “custom” designed photo book (usually from canned templates). It seemed like there were three or four booths devoted to this type of product down every aisle in this year’s show! My personal favorite is still Asuka Book (http://www.AsukaBook.com), which offers real custom design (your own in Photoshop) and great quality at very reasonable prices.
Despite the boredom, here are three innovative photo-related products, albeit a little whacky, that caught my eye:
Quik Pod - extendable, hand-held “tripod”: Quik Pod allows owners of point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders (up to 16 oz.) to take their own pictures (to include themselves in the scene)! The pod works has a built-in self image positioning mirror. You attach your camera or portable light to the universal tripod mount of the retracted Quik Pod (7.5"), then extend the pod to its full length of 18.5” to hold your camera or light above the crowds, reach into hard to see places, or just to point back at yourself to take your own picture. The Daily Herald reports, “Take a great picture of your family without your hairy arm showing.” The Quik Pod is $24.95 (http://www.QuikPod.com). A “pro” version for $29.95 adds a small tripod feet accessory (screws into the handle) that enables the Quik Pod to stand on its own.
ZIGView S2 Digital View Finder: The ZigView S2 ($479.00) was this year’s DIMA “Innovative Digital Product” winner. This digital view finder inserts into your SLR camera’s viewfinder and relays a real time image to it’s movable (315 degree rotation) LCD screen (2.5"), enabling photographers to have various angles for the best shooting environment. The viewfinder sensor and LCD display modules can be separated with accessory cables (over 21.5 meters) making remote monitoring and control possible. Note: Seculine’s Web site (http://www.secu-line.com) was still featuring last year’s SC-V100R model, and has not been updated with the new S2 model at the time of this writing.
WK-36 Electric Helicopter: This $349.95 Digitronics (http://www.digittronics.com) ready-to-fly, 6-channel, radio-controlled, electric helicopter can stay aloft for about six minutes on one charge from a 3-cell lithium battery. The chopper can carry up to a 1-pound payload, 
i.e. their $299.00, compact, (6 oz.) High Definition (720 x 480) DDV-6120A Digital Camcorder with motion stabilization, Panasonic’s CCD low light sensor, and a 3” TFT super wide LCD screen. MPEG 4 compression technology. SD memory card based recording. Supports up to 4GB size SD cards (up to 1 hour of HD video recording per GB). Camcorder also functions as a 12-megapixel (3796 X 3472) digital camera.
Posted by Royce Bair on 03/10 at 08:16 AM
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