It’s 2010 and video chatting has been practically mainstream for 10+ years. You would think by now we would be able to video chat with our loved ones in high definition. Well, finally, we can: FaceVsion’s TouchCam N1 delivers 720p High Definition Video Calling supported by Skype. This USB webcam features a wide-angle auto focus lens, dual microphones, and built-in H.264 encoder for a superior video chat experience. TouchCam N1 is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (sorry Mac users). Best of all is the easy installation–TouchCam N1 is plug & play; no drivers required.
Package Includes:

• FV TouchCam N1
• Quick Start Guide and Hardware Guide
• Mini USB cable
• Skype for Windows v4.2 and Windows 7 Hotfix mini CD

Design:
The TouchCam N1 has a brilliant design. It’s appearance is very professional; it resembles the design of a MacBook Pro (which is ironic, because there is no Mac support). The TouchCam has a large lens with two microphones on either side. The face of the TouchCam appears to be solid black, but upon close inspection it’s actually more of a carbon fiber finish. There is a mini USB input on the back of the camera for USB connectivity. The cord is universal and detachable so you can affordably purchase a short cable if you don’t like the extra slack, or a long cable if you want to distance your cam from your computer. The built-in stand really adds to TouchCam’s functional design. It has two swivel points, making the webcam very adjustable and flexible in positioning. TouchCam can be effortlessly raised and lowered, and it’s shooting angle can be vertically adjusted just as easily. Below the lens and faceplate is a clear plastic extension with FaceVsion branding. This clear piece of plastic hangs over the top of your laptop enabling you to easily mount the TouchCam above your laptop display. TouchCam’s stand pushes off the back of the laptop, and by adjusting the stand, you can adjust the angle in which the camera sits on top of your laptop. A+ for design, FaceVsion.

Set up:

The set up is super easy. Connect the Mini-USB to the back of the camera and the other end to your computer. Now install the latest version of Skype (version 4.2 or higher) and you should be ready to go! If you’re using Windows 7 you should download the latest version of Skype and then install the Windows Hotfix that comes with TouchCam (this was not a necessary step during my Windows 7 installation experience). If your laptop already has a webcam you will want to set TouchCam as your default camera in the Skype settings.

Features:

FaceVsion’s TouchCam N1 is built with some impressive hardware for a webcam. It features 720p video recording with an effective pixel resolution of 1280×800. It records 22 frames per second (FPS) at 1280×720 with H.264. It can record 30 FPS at 768×480 with YUV. What’s unique about FaceVsion is that it’s one of the only webcams with an embedded H.264 codec chip. This chip takes the video processing strain off of your computer and allows for a more seamless and less processor-intensive video experience. There are two embedded microphones on TouchCam and they use a technique called beamforming to achieve excellent audio. Beamforming processes a directional signal from undirectional microphones. TouchCam’s lens is an auto focus wide-angle lens with a 78 degree field of vision. The webcam’s stand is extremely functional allowing for easy height and angle adjustment of the camera. Touchcam can also easily mount on top of your laptop’s display.

Performance:
The difference between a regular laptop webcam (VGA) and the FaceVsion TouchCam is night and day. TouchCam provides a much clearer and crisper image. It displays a wider range of colors which are much more accurate and vivid. The field of vision is also noticeably larger on TouchCam when comparing them. Skype automatically adjusts the image quality based on a number of factors. To get the most out of your camera you need at least a 512kb/s internet connection and a core 2 duo processor or faster. Skype may also lower the resolution if too many processes are running, too many USB devices are attached, or if lighting is poor. If the conditions are not met for high quality video chats, Skype will downgrade you to medium quality. Medium quality still looked better than the standard VGA laptop webcam, but not it’s not as crisp and clear as high quality. High quality video looked amazing for a webcam, but it didn’t feel like “720p”, or at least it didn’t feel like the 720p qualityin HD movies that a lot of us are used to. Skype adjusts the stream quality during the video chat; it changes if PC load or internet connection changes. I was unable to stream high quality video on my Acer Aspire One netbook because of its lack of processing power. This was unfortunate because TouchCam has a built in H.264 encoder which is supposed to compensate for slow computers. But I had no problem using it with my unibody MacBook running Windows 7 on Bootcamp. With a solid internet connection, the video streaming is very fluid with TouchCam. Movements were all surprisingly smooth in medium and high quality modes. The video was not choppy, although every couple of minutes or so I experienced a second or two of choppiness and then right back to smoothness. The microphones do a great job of transmitting voice; it sounds clear and isolated. It reduces a lot of background noise. If the user is too far from the microphone there may be a small amount of echo, but in most instances this was not an issue.

It’s nice that TouchCam doesn’t require any software or drivers before you can start using it right away, but at the same time it would be nice to have software to tweak settings, or offer additional features like using TouchCam as a security camera. Skype and FaceVsion worked together to design this 720p HD webcam; it’s unfortunate that TouchCam won’t stream HD video over any other platforms like AIM or GTalk at the moment. Lastly, to avoid confusion: TouchCam only works with Windows OS, but the chat recipient can be using Skype 4.2+ from any operating system (including Mac).

Conclusion:
FaceVsion’s TouchCam is one of the few web cameras out there to support HD video chatting. It also features a quality microphone that eliminates the need for an external desk mic. The autofocus wide angle lens delivers a beautiful field of view. The built in H.264 encoder is convenient because it takes a lot of processing strain off of your laptop. But even with the H.264 encoder you will still need to make sure that your laptop meets all of the required conditions to truly take advantage of full 720p video streaming. FaceVsion TouchCam costs $119.99, so if every one of its features is not essential, you can probably get away with purchasing a less expensive webcam.TouchCam would be perfect for office type environments. HD is a luxury for video chatting at the moment; in a year or so we’ll reassess the situation and see how badly we need it as regular consumers. FaceVsion’s TouchCam N1 is currently available from the FaceVsion website.

Good: HD video streaming, built in H.264 encoder, high quality microphone, great stand/design
Bad: Only works with Skype, needs fast computer for 720p streaming, pricey for personal use

Samsunghas announced the HMX-T10 camcorder, a super compact and portable camcorder that comes in both black and white (to match your Macnook of course). The HD HMX-T10 features a unique 20-degree Slanted Lens, a bright 2.7-inch touchscreen LCD, full HD 1080i for all video footage and 4.7 mega-pixel still images, plus Optical Image Stabilization so that whatever is captured remains blur-free. The HD HMX-T10 will launch in September and retail for $299.

The world of home security and IP cameras that let you monitor your home via the internet, is not an easy one to navigate. There are tons of products out there that advertise the ability to let you remotely keep an eye on your property from afar. But the reality is that most of these products are cumbersome to use and difficult to install. Recently I myself searched for an affordable solution to use for keeping an eye on a family member’s apartment while they’re out of town. After doing some research, I settled on an IP Camera from Trendnet. I wanted a device that would let me remotely keep an eye on the property, without having to leave a computer on which would waste electricity. I also wanted something that would send me email alerts, and also have FTP capabilities for storing the footage. Setting up the Trendnet camera took over an hour of troubleshooting. So despite the relatively positive reviews that the Trendnet IP camera had gotten on Amazon, the set-up process wasn’t straightforward at all, and when all was finally said and done, the product was wonky and the camera kept disconnecting. The device just wasn’t reliable enough to trust, nor was it intuitive to use. So I pretty much gave up on the concept of IP cameras altogether.

Then a few weeks ago I spotted Dropcam – a camera and service touted as an “Online DVR”. On paper Dropcam had everything I was looking for -  it was affordable, worked independently of a computer, it also offers email alerts, can work on a wireless or wired network, it has an iPhone app available, and it promised to be easy to use. After my experience with the Trendnet camera I was skeptical about Dropcam’s claim of being easy to use, but fortunately I was in for a really good surprise.

Dropcam advertises an easy two-step set-up process. They’re not kidding.

1. Plug in the Dropcam (power and router)
2. On your computer visit: http://www.dropcam.com/start
3. Follow instructions online.

All you have to do is plug their camera into your router and then log onto to the dropcam web site where you sign up for an account. I connected the Dropcam to a Verizon Wireless router on my local network and the Dropcam web site recognized it right away. Within just a few minutes of opening the Dropcam package, I was already able to log in to my new Dropcam account to see a streaming video of the room I was monitoring. The set-up process was so simple that I could have let my non-tech savvy mom do it herself and am confident that she would’ve been able to do it, even on her own.

Dropcam’s online interface is very easy to use. Just log in and you’re able to see a live video feed streaming from your Dropcam. You can control all of the Dropcam’s settings via your web browser- there is no software to install!  Streaming at a QVGA 320×240 resolution at 30fps, the quality of the QVGA Dropcam’s feed is not quite high quality, as it’s hardly HD. But it does the job and is on par with most other color IP cameras out there. The camera itself has a healthy field of view and can rotate up/down/right/and left in order to get the best view possible. Your internet connection speed will most likely have an effect on the quality of your video feed too. I have been testing the Dropcam on a relatively slow DSL line, and at times the feed can get choppy, but the important details are always there. Most importantly, so far I have only experienced one brief drop-out and the connection to the feed has been stable. When sitting in front of my Dropcam and simultaneously watching my own live video feed, I did notice a few second lag, but that is to be expected, and it’s not such a significant lag that you wouldn’t be notified quickly enough in time to catch and stop someone up-to no good. The Dropcam also comes with nightvision so that you can even see objects in the dark. The nightvision isn’t exactly high quality either, but again it does the job. You can also attach multiple cameras to a single Dropcam account. This is a great way to keep an eye on multiple properties (if you’re lucky enough to have multiple properties to keep an eye on). The Dropcam interface also offers you the option to share your video feed with a friend or to make the camera a public camera which anyone can view.

You can set up your Dropcam with event notifications for motion and / or audio events. Email alerts can be sent to multiple email addresses. For audio events you can even set the camera’s microphone’s sensitivity level. It’s great to have the ability to listen in on live audio as well. However, I found that turning on event detection for audio events, even at the lowest microphone sensitivity level can be a major pain. I ended up getting frequent event alerts which were likely caused by the wind or a neighbor next door (or maybe a ghost?), and as a result I opted to disable the audio.

As for the event detection for motion events, the Dropcam works really well and within just a few seconds of motion being detected, I’ll receive an email with a screenshot of the event. Thankfully I haven’t had any break-ins, but I do end up receiving a few notification alerts throughout the day that have been “false” alerts, that are caused by the shift in light changes in the room where the Dropcam is located.

Dropcam even offers a free iPhone app that is super convenient for iPhone and iPod Touch users. For starters, the app lets you watch your video feed live, even on a 3G connection. Quality isn’t terrific, but again, it does the job. But what we really like about the app is its ability to use push notifications to alert you of event notifications. So that if for example motion is detected, I’ll get a push notification pop up on my iPhone. When I touch the push notification, I’m taken directly to my Dropcam’s live video feed in the Dropcam app. The iPhone app also lets you watch other public Dropcams. At the moment there aren’t that many public Dropcams available to watch, but that is just a bonus feature, and hardly necessary to have.

There are two Dropcams currently available, both will work over Wi-Fi or via an ethernet connection and support all of Dropcam’s Online DVR features. Both cameras also come with a mounting kit. The $199 Dropcam supports video feeds only, while the $279 Dropcam Echo also supports audio. The only down side to these cameras, is that they aren’t completely wireless. Yes, they can work on Wi-Fi, but they aren’t battery powered, so you’ll have to have an electric cable trailing from them. This makes mounting them in high places a little bit more tricky. As for Dropcam’s service plans, you’ll need to subscribe to one of Dropcam’s monthly plans to take advantage of its online DVR features and email and mobile alerts. But their Basic plan, which includes 24/7 live viewing via their website is totally free. For $8.95 a month, their Plus plan will record and store up-to seven days of footage on their servers and will also support up-to two cameras. This “Online DVR” feature is great because that means you don’t have to worry about configuring or managing an ftp server to record the footage the way so many other IP cameras require you to do. The intuitive Dropcam online supports this feature by using timeline markers to indicate when there were previous event or audio events detected. Click on one of these markers and you can jump back to that point in time to see (and/or hear) what happened. Finally, the Dropcam Pro Plan costs $24.95 a month and includes 30 days of recording. Overall, this pricing is very reasonable for what you’re getting. And most people will find that the $8.95 Go Plus plan meets their requirements. In comparison to traditional alarm systems with subscription plans, Dropcam requires no yearly contracts, and you can drop down to the Free plan whenever you want and the device will still work for live viewing.

Conclusion:

As for competition for Dropcam, Logitech does offer some similar video security products, but in our opinion, the only truly comparable product out there right now is the consumer focused Vuezone Personal Video Network which comes with multiple cameras and has apps available for it for iPhone, Blackberry and Android. However, Vuezone does not offer motion alerts, which if you ask us makes the product 75% less useful. Putting those competing products aside, we really can’t get over what a great job the folks over at Dropcam have done in producing a well thought out, easy to use home security product that actually works – especially since they are a startup! Overall, we can’t emphasize how impressed we are with Dropcam. This has got to be the easiest to use and most efficient consumer oriented / online viewing / IP camera home security system on the market. The system is reasonably priced, it’s a cinch to set up, the interface is easy to use, the iPhone app is super convenient and the email alerts never fail – even if they can be a bit sensitive at times. If you’ve been looking for an affordable and truly easy to use way to keep an eye on your home or business remotely, look no further.

The Good: Super easy and quick set-up process, offers ability to receive motion detection alerts via email, live video feed is consistent and reliable, affordably priced, iPhone app with push notifications is super convenient for iPhone users, multiple cameras are supported, both Macs and PCs supported.

The Bad: Audio alerts can be too sensitive, nightvision is just ok, video is not HD quality but still does the job.

Ricoh outs rather rugged, water-resistant G700 point and shoot originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kodak’s new EASYSHARE M590 is a very thin and compact digital camera, yet dispite its diminutive size, it manages to pack in 5x optical zoom – and it’s actually the world’s thinnest camera with 5x optical zoom. This camera is also all about making sharing your pictures easier than ever. The camera features a special dedicated Share button for quick and easy uploading to Kodak Gallery, Fackebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc, when the camera is connected to your computer. Other features include a 14MP sensor, a 2.7″ bright LCD with KODAK Color Science technology, 720p HD video recording, built-in image stabilization, and the camera accepts MicroSD & MicroSDHC cards. The EASYSHARE M590 retails for $199.95 and is available in the colors red, silver, purple and blue.

Kodak’s new EASYSHARE M590 is a very thin and compact digital camera, yet dispite its diminutive size, it manages to pack in 5x optical zoom – and it’s actually the world’s thinnest camera with 5x optical zoom. This camera is also all about making sharing your pictures easier than ever. The camera features a special dedicated Share button for quick and easy uploading to Kodak Gallery, Fackebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc, when the camera is connected to your computer. Other features include a 14MP sensor, a 2.7″ bright LCD with KODAK Color Science technology, 720p HD video recording, built-in image stabilization, and the camera accepts MicroSD & MicroSDHC cards. The EASYSHARE M590 retails for $199.95 and is available in the colors red, silver, purple and blue.

It’s pretty obvious from the new FinePix Z80 and Z81′s marketing materials, that this is a compact digital camera that Fujifilm is aiming at young women. Yes, it comes in pink – as well as purple, light purple, light green, brown and gold. Yes, we know what you’re thinking – but hey, at least they are offering a selection of nice metallic colors. Anyway, because the Z80 / Z81 is so compact, the idea is that you can throw it in your purse or clutch. The camera sports a 14MP CCD sensor, 5x optical zoom, a 2.7″ LCD, Digital Image Stabilization, and even 720p video recording. Another cool feature of these models is the YouTube/ Facebook Uploader which lets you mark certain photos or videos on you camera for YouTube or Facebook uploads when the camera is connected to a PC via MyFinePix Studio. Pricing and availability is TBD, but the Z80 and Z81 are likely to be priced affordably.

Twitpics, Facebook tags, and Flickr galleries have become a real-time record of our lives and memories. Sharing life experiences in real-time by snapping photos from 3 megapixel cell phone cameras and posting them on Facebook or Twitter has practically replaced the photography that used to exist, in a world where developing film and being reminded of past adventures was commonplace. Someone who has not forgotten the photo traditions of this past, but has also incorporated the instant photo traditions of the present, is Benj Gershman, the bassist turned photographer of the ubiquitous college band, O.A.R. (Of a Revolution).

While on tour with O.A.R., Gershman made it his mission to capture his adventures on film — whether it was on his iPhone, digital camera, or his professional 35mm manual SLR camera. Experimenting with multiple mediums (everything from 35mm, to Polaroid, to Medium Format Film and Polaroid Transfer), Gershman displayed his photos last night at the Morrison Hotel Gallery, previously the site of the iconic CBGB rock club in New York City. Gershman’s collection embodies the spirit of the band’s tour and life on the road through its varied medium forms – some of the photos captured fleeting moments caught on his iPhone using the app Hipstamatic iPhone app where other photographs were more thought out and calculated. Pictures of open fields and a rusted car, represented slower moments on the tour and were captured with his 35mm, whereas the photos snapped on his iPhone embodied fast paced moments right before taking the stage or a passing moment of the tour.

Overall, the collection gave fans a sneak peak into life on the road and Gershman was described by gallery owner Peter Blachley to have “a very unique viewpoint to his photography as the bass player for O.A.R. His technical skill in digital photography combined with his access to the events surrounding him make this show a must see for fans and collectors alike.”
All images are available for purchase and a portion of the proceeds will go to O.A.R’s Heard The World Fund, which supports youth education and sustainable programs in the United States and abroad.