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Webcam

airplanes

European Union Tests Automated Airplane Seat-Back Spy Cams to Detect Terrorism Faces

The European Union's Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment (SAFEE) is testing some kind of nebulous facial detection system that will suss out whether your expression is one of a terrorist planning on commandeering the ride or just diarrhea face. More »

cellphones

Benq C36 Cellphone Thinks it's a Webcam and Radio Recorder Too

Benq's new C36 cellphone is labelled a "Music Phone" but it also squeezes in a 1.3 megapixel webcam function and has a built-in FM radio with a recording function. This last even has a scheduling function, so you won't miss your shows. It plays MP3s, WAV, MIDI and AMR, has a 2-inch color LCD, built-in speakers, records voice notes, has microSD memory expansion and 180 hours standby and 2.4 hour talk time. The phone even has a "Health management" option, dealing with BMI and menstrual matters—we'd love to have been at the design meeting where they dreamed that up. The little 0.17-pound phone is available in blue, in Indonesia in May at first, with other countries to follow. No info on pricing. [Benq via TFTS]

webcam

Bender Webcam Records You Doing Disgusting Things, Meatbag

Reader Matt heard my pleas when I saw the Mr. Burns webcam and decided to take it upon himself to create a one of a kind Bender webcam from scratch. Well, not exactly from scratch—he used a pre-made Bender and a pre-made Creative Live! Video cam—but he did somehow shove the two together to make one insanely great peripheral. What would make this even better than it already is is if Bender could respond to whatever you were doing, ordering you to bite his shiny metal ass or exclaiming that he's back, baby. Nice work, Matt. [EBAY]

asus r50

Asus R50 to Be Reincarnated With Keyboard Later This Year

The Asus R50 UMPC is already being updated—even though Mark 1 has yet to be released. Digitimes reports that the handheld with GPS and 3.5G connectivity, due out in June, will be sporting a keyboard come November of this year. As well as running Linux and Vista, the R50 has a webcam and TV tuner and is expected to sell for $500-plus. [DigiTimes via JKK Mobile]

gadgets

Oral Hygiene Game Maps Mouth, Makes Kids Brush Better

As a guy with pretty horrible teeth, I can only wish that this computerized toothbrush was invented decades ago when I was a kid. When children brush using the system, the toothbrush's LEDs get mapped via webcam onto a representation of a mouth, which then shows kids which teeth have already been brushed and which teeth need more cleaning. The kids using the system were "twice as effective at cleaning their teeth following the trial." If only they could turn flossing into a game as well, I wouldn't have to go get a root canal in about a month. [New Scientist]

gadgets

HP's 3-Megapixel Elite Auto Focus Webcam Looks Like a Fancy Stapler

HP's Elite Auto Focus Webcam not only boasts one of the highest megapixel video counts we've seen (3-megapixels), but it's also got a 12-megapixel still image sensor for regular pics. It comes with the stapler-like stand, but you can also clip it onto a monitor for more of an eye-level view. There's AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Skype and Yahoo Messenger compatibility, stereo microphone, USB 2.0, and privacy cover for your alone times. Although you might be buying this for the 3-megapixel video, be aware that you only get about 5-6 FPS in that mode—you'll have to pump it down to VGA resolution for a fluid 30 FPS. [Digital Home Thoughts]

robots

Sporty Robot Webcam With Choice of Balls, the MPC-095

A posable sports robot-theme webcam, with a choice of ball: basketball, baseball and football (US and Euro style). Who'd've thought there's a market for this? Chinese company Rodintech for one, though a trip through their website shows that they'll try and stick a USB webcam in just about anything. This MPC-095 has a 350 kilopixel CMOS sensor, plus the regulation built-in mic for your video-calling needs. Sorry, posable sporty robot theme webcam fans, there's no info on price or availability. [Rodintech via Geek Alerts]

suction webcam

USB Suction Cup Webcam Sucks, Bends, Takes Pics

It's a USB webcam, like thousands of others: you plug it in, you get a picture — no info on pixel count. But see that sucker? On it's base I mean: that's why I kind of like it. Partly because of the crazy "we'll demo it by sucking onto a delicate LCD" photo, and partly because my dirty mind instantly wondered where else it might be placed, for some webcam action. Now is that just me, or did you too think about that, gentle Giz reader? Poll below. More »

convergence

Portable Digital Frame, Webcam and Alarm Clock All-In-One

Hong Kong-based WinWin Industry has recently unveiled a product that combines a digital picture frame, webcam and an alarm clock with temperature and calendar functions in a single, semi-portable device. It also features 8MB of memory, a built-in rechargeable battery, a 1.44-inch screen and a 300K pixel camera resolution. More »

gadgets

USB Missile Launcher Comes With Webcam For Optimal Accuracy

USB Missile Launchers have been around for years and years and years, but why did it take this long for someone to stick a webcam on it? Seriously, what could be better for aiming a foam dart at that punk Bob from accounting than being able to see where you're aiming in first person view? If I had one of these instead of a standard Missile Launcher, I could have nailed Dvorak through the heart and recorded the thing at the same time. Oh technology, why are you never here when we need you? [IWOOT via Shiny Shiny]

webcam

Ping Pong-Themed Webcam Hopefully First and Last Homage to Balls Of Fury

Oh Brando, not only do you not heed my pleas for a USB trouser press, but you also continue putting products that are, quite frankly, strange and reprehensible. Who in their right mind would be interested in buying a webcam that looks like a ping-pong bat? Don't you know that we computer-fixed weirdies have no interest whatsoever in exercise? Some of us, however, do appreciate the box of tissues in one of the press shots. Ping-Pong and webcam aficionados may want to jump for the full specs, anyone with a dirty mind just head straight to the gallery.
More »

peripherals

Mr. Burns Webcam is Nice, But It's No Futurama

Staring into Mr. Burns' desk when you're making Skype calls with your friends is nice and all (and for a price of $49 it's hard to argue with it), but it's no Futurama. What we'd really like is a Bender webcam, or a Fry webcam, or a Professor webcam, or a Robot Devil webcam, or a Scruffy webcam—pretty much anything from the Futurama universe. I guess what we're trying to say is that Futurama rules and should not have been cancelled. [ThinkGeek via Random Good Stuff via DVice]

peripherals

iPatch Blocks iSights on MacBook, MacBook Pros For Your Prurient Needs

You already know why you need this iPatch to cover up your iMac's iSight—because you do dirty, dirty things in front of your computer—but now the small, molded piece of plastic is form-fitted for your MacBook and MacBook Pro. It works exactly the same as the old version. Just slide it over your iSight when you're about to get naughty, then slide it off when done. They even have a MacBook Air version coming later this week. On the other hand, the light comes on when the iSight is active, but unless you really stare at the thing you won't notice the light. [The iPatch]

webcam

Brando ANEO Clip-on Webcam Lets You Play Kung Fu

Brando's new ANEO GX-10 USB webcam comes bundled with three PC video games that put your moves on screen. Play "Kung fu," "Super Knight" or "Funny Stair" and you appear interactively in the action, which might brighten up a glum afternoon at the PC. The webcam is pretty standard, with 1280 x 1024 pixels at 30 frames per second, but it does have that combined clip/stand with adjustable neck for easy attachment. Available now for $33.[Brando]

gadgets

Goth-style Webcam is So Hideous You Wouldn't Want to Film Your Expression

Sweet Baby Jesus and all the orphans, we wonder what possessed the creators of this nightmarish webcam as they slaved away at the drawing board. Something nasty with horns, a wicked headache and really bad taste in art, I reckon. Let's see—take one webcam (pretty standard USB 2.0, 1.3 Mpix little number, with lights and a microphone), decorate it with a plaster surround in the skull and bones motif, add a spot of grass and a few bricks (why?). Then finish it off with a cobra, and bugger off back to the Fifth Circle of Hell. Should appeal to at least one uber-goth teenager with $61.50 to spare. [GeekStuff4U via Akihabaranews]

laptops

Lenovo IdeaPad Y710 and Y510 Laptops Have Facial Recognition, Touch Controls, Frameless Screens

You'd think that most companies are going down the cheap, low-end laptop route (Eee PC) in order to differentiate themselves and bring in more customers, but Lenovo is one brand that still focuses on shoving in as many features as possible. Their IdeaPad Y710 and Y510 laptops are focused at both entertainment and general-use users, but have some very interesting unique features such as VeriFace facial recognition and a frameless screen. More »

gadgets

How to Make a Cheap USB Microscope From an Old Webcam

We swore off microscopes after getting one for our 10th birthday and seeing just how disgusting our skin was, but this cheap USB microscope seems to be kinda neat. Carlosb.tv shows you that you can make your own microscope by dismantling a cheap USB webcam, placing something really dirty on it, turning out the lights and shining a flashlight on the result. More »

kickin' balls

Anti-Social College Kids Build Autonomous Foosball Table

Four engineering students from Georgia Tech have built an Autonomous Foosball Table, quite possibly the key to my never-ending quest to replace the humans in my life with robots. The funny thing is, this thing isn't just a gimmick; it may soon become a decent foosball opponent. The table system cost about $500 to build, and combines a webcam, an 800MHz Pentium PC and servo-controlled paddles to move, twist, and kick. Here's how it works: More »