Technabob » tiny

Kun “One Eye” Camera: Tiny “DSLR” Shoots 12MP Pics, HD Video

Technabob — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:30:33 +0000

This tiny camera may fit in the palm of your hand, but it looks like a little DSLR, and claims to shoot images at 12 megapixel resolution. Loosely translated the name of this digital camera is the “Kun” One-Eye. While it’s certainly bigger than the Chobi Cam One HD, the diminutive camera still measures just over 2-inches wide, and weighs just over 5 ounces, which means you’re less likely to lose it between the sofa cushions, I suppose.

According to its specs, the “One Eye” can capture high quality still images, as well as HD video – albeit only at 720p/30fps resolution, but a few years ago that would have been good enough to satisfy most of us. Of course with a lens this small, there’s no optical zoom, just a 4x digital mode. On the back of the camera is a tiny 1.5″ TFT viewfinder with 480×240 resolution you can use for framing shots. Images are stored on a microSD card (up to 64GB).

In addition to working as a pocket-sized point-and-shoot, the camera can be used as one of those vehicle recorder cameras, and even comes with a suction cup mounting bracket and cigarette socket adapter for your car. It’s also got a motion-detection mode which will trigger only when someone passes in front of its tiny lens.

The Kun “One Eye” pocket camera is available from Japanese gadget shop Thanko, and sells for ¥9,980 (~$120 USD).

Mini Hard Disk Flash Drive Also Has Mini Capacity

Lambert Varias — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:00:49 +0000

The utilitarian metal casing of the hard disk drive now serves as a decorative cover for its descendant. This tiny flash drive has no moving parts, doesn’t need to be defragmented and is easier to mount. I wonder if it can fit in that tiny desktop computer we saw a while back.

As you can see, one other advantage it has over its big brother is that it has a neat blue LED to indicate drive access.

The exact same hard drive in the pictures above is an 8GB drive made by infoThink and is available from Amazon for $22(USD). There’s also a very similar flash drive available on Newegg made by another company called Tcell, with the 8GB selling for $17.49 and the 16GB for $27.49. Tcell also claims that its flash drives are waterproof and shockproof, more traits that put them above their ancestor.

[via GeekAlerts via Gizmodo]

Tiny Airplane Lands Inside a Lightbulb

Technabob — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:06:36 +0000

I’ve always been impressed by those model makers who can cram a tiny ship inside of a bottle, but this model has completely blown my mind. What you’re looking at here is a tiny model of a KLM Airbus A330 inside of an incandescent light bulb.

This incredible model was made by a guy in Poland named Rafał Ż, and it measures just over 2 inches long. He made it based on a miniaturized version of papercraft model template he found over on Paper Replika, though he had to tweak it a little bit to get it to fit.

I cannot imagine the amount of patience and dexterity that it took to make this tiny thing, but it really is an amazing bit of work.

The only thing better would be if it actually lit up when screwed into a socket.

[via Paper Replika]

Kiddy Mini Speaker Is for People, Not Cats

Technabob — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:28 +0000

Frankly, I’m not a big fan of portable add-on speakers for mobile devices – especially ones which don’t really boost the sound very much, or which don’t connect wirelessly. The way I figure it, you either listen through your headphones, or you wait until you get home and can dock your gadget and listen through some real speakers. That said, if you really have to amplify your sound without carrying around a big speaker, then you might want to check out the Kiddy Mini Speaker.

The Kiddy Mini Speaker is just what it sounds like – ~~a speaker for cats~~ a tiny, brightly colored speaker you can take with you and fit in your pocket. The tiny speaker plugs into your mobile device’s 3.5mm audio jack, and outputs sound through a little bitty speaker. It measures just 1.61″ (W) x 0.98″(H) x 0.67″(D), and its little amplifier pumps out a whopping 0.8W of power.

I do like the idea of the 3.5mm plug which folds into the case when not in use. There’s also a MiniUSB port on its side for charging its built-in battery – which lasts for about 6 hours on a charge. While I’m not sure I completely buy the picture below, they do look a vaguely like miniature Tivoli PAL radios – minus the radio dial (and the price tag).

Like many fun gadgets, I don’t even know how readily you can get them outside of Asia. I stumbled onto these funky little speakers over at a Korean outfit called the Early Adopter Shop[KR], where they sell for 12,800 Korean Won (~$11 USD) each. I also found them available in wholesale quantities over at Alibaba, if you own a shop and want to see about ordering a whole mess of ‘em.

Sanwa Digital Toy Camera: So Tiny You’ll Lose it Each and Every Time

Range — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:00:58 +0000

I’m all for miniaturization, but at some point, tiny becomes bothersome because you’ll most likely end up losing your tiny tech. That being said, there’s something awesome about an HD camera that can fit on a keychain.

The Sanwa digital toy camera 400-CAM007 [JP] has a 5MP sensor and accepts microSD cards up to 8GB. It records video at 1280×960 pixels at 30 fps. It even has a voice recording function. The whole thing only weighs ½ an ounce. Talk about small!

The 400-CAM007, which makes me think of James Bond, comes in black or white and sells for ¥2890 (~$38 USD) only in Japan. You’ll probably be able to find it at one of those Japanese tech import stores before long, or you can try and order one through White Rabbit Express’ “Order anything from Japan” service.

[via Fareastgizmos]

Dust Extinguisher Mini Vacuum Cleaner: Break Glass in Case of Dust

Lambert Varias — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:00:59 +0000

If you have a computer, you need the Dust Extinguisher. It’s that simple. Anyone who says he’s never eaten while using the computer is lying. Ergo, you have crumbs and other remnants of food on your desk, keyboard and other surfaces. Then you have dust and dead skin and other horrible things that are thankfully tiny enough that we forget that they’re there. But they are. Hence the Dust Extinguisher.

The Dust Extinguisher has a 4″ hose, perfect for sucking up dirt from tiny spaces. When it’s time to clean the Dust Extinguisher, just twist the top off to access the filter and throw away the stored crap. And since it looks like a toy, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to convince your younger sibling to clean up for you. They’ll probably even volunteer for the job when they see this thing in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

VAT 19 sells the Dust Extinguisher for $13 (USD), but as of this writing they’re out of stock, so you might want to order one from Amazon for now instead. It runs on two AA batteries, not included.

[via Craziest Gadgets]

Teeny Tiny Origami is Big on Cool

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:02:33 +0000

I am not artsy at all. I can’t draw, I can’t paint, and I am not the sort to make crafts. About as artsy as I get is building something out of LEGO on occasion or making the occasional scale model with my kids. I have always thought that origami was cool, but the chances of me folding paper correctly are slim.

Artist Anja Markiewicz has taken the art of origami to new highs by making the art very small. I have no idea how the artist is able to fold things so tiny and still with such precision. I will assume it involves magnifying glasses and tweezers.

My favorites are the tiny snowflake and the purple dragon. I’d like to see instructions for origami this small to try my hand at it.

More examples can be found over on Anja’s Flickr page.

[via Colossal Art + Design]

Tiny Desktop Computer: If You Thought it Was Hard to Upgrade Your PC…

Range — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:45:53 +0000

This looks like an ordinary computer desktop, until you you see a giant fingers reaching down and starting to work the mouse. The whole thing looks like something that belongs in a doll house. The only question that’s left is whether it’s real or a fake.

At this size, it’s obviously not a fully functioning computer, but there are a lot of ways that this video could be faked. It could be a video playing on an iPod Nano screen, or something like that.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

All I know is that it comes from Japan, of that much I am sure. As for the authenticity of this tiny desktop? I am somewhat dubious, but it’s still pretty awesome even if it is fake.

[via TDW Geek via DVice]

WIMM Platform Wants Us to Carry a Gadget at All Times

Lambert Varias — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:37:13 +0000

We already have our laptops, tablets and phones, but a new company called WIMM Labs thinks there’s room in our daily lives for another, even smaller gadget. WIMM Labs has developed the WIMM platform, a combination of hardware and software tools designed to create wearable or highly portable communications devices.

At first glance, the hardware component – called the WIMM module – looks like a glorified wristwatch, but WIMM Labs promises that it can do much more. The module’s OS is based on Android, which should make it easier for developers to make what WIMM Labs is calling “micro-apps”, programs that will run on the device. It also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, a touchscreen, an accelerometer and magnetometer and the ability to emit vibrations and sounds. WIMM Labs also says that the module can have a maximum of 32GB of memory. The company hasn’t given specifics on the module’s CPU though.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

WIMM Labs envisions a wide range of products based on their platform, from a wearable organizer to a health monitor and a mobile payment device. Here’s WIMM Labs’ VP of Product Marketing Tim Twedahl with a quick demo of the WIMM platform, courtesy of CNET TV:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And where there’s a gadget, there’s Facebook. Shown below is an early build – remember that before you judge the device! – of a Facebook micro-app running on a WIMM module:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I may just be short-sighted, but none of the current concepts would compel me to buy a WIMM-based device. Then again, the module measures only 1.3″ x 1.4″ x 0.5″ and weighs just 0.77 ounces, so there will be places that the device can go that today’s smartphones can’t, and it seems to be more powerful than media players of comparable size and weight.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what developers can do with the device. Maybe modders and hackers can use it in innovative ways like they’re doing with the Kinect. Check out WIMM Labs’ website for more info.

[via TechCrunch]

Chobi Cam One HD: Prosumer Camera for Gnomes?

Lambert Varias — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:33:18 +0000

I know, I can’t believe it either. The diminutive Chobi cameras are transforming from expensive toys into… I don’t know, a line of functional collectibles? Tiny photographers looking for something more high-tech than the Chobi Cam One now have an alternative – the Chobi Cam One HD.

Unlike its predecessor, which can only take pictures at 1600 x 1200 and videos at 640 x 480, this upgraded version snaps photos at 3264 x 2448 resolution and records 1280 x 720 videos at 30fps. The trade off? An increase in size… by about 0.1 to 0.3 inches on each side. Whip out a magnifying glass and inspect the two Chobi Cam Ones side-by-side:

The Chobi Cam One HD even offers add-on zoom, wide-angle and fish-eye lenses. The tiny camera has a microSDHC slot that supports cards up to 32GB in storage, and can transfer data over USB. Its battery can be fully charged in an hour, after which it’s good for about 25 minutes of shooting videos.

Here’s a more jarring comparison of the Chobi Cam One HD. I know DSLRs are chunky, but it’s a building next to this bugger.

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The Chobi Cam One HD sells for appx. $185 (USD) at GeekStuff4U. Unfortunately the accessory lenses are not bundled even at that steep price; you can get those from JTT Online for about $30-$60 each.

Powershovel CLAP Digital Camera: Mini-malistic

Lambert Varias — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:15:03 +0000

Japanese design studio Powershovel has come up with a camera worthy of challenging the CHOBi mini cam for the title of World’s Most Easily Lost Camera. The CLAP digital camera measures a mere 1.4″ x 2.8 x 0.59″ and weighs only 24g. I also prefer its simple design over the CHOBi’s chunky dSLR look.

The CLAP has a 2-megapixel F2.8 (3.2mm) lens. It can shoot images at 1280 x 1024 resolution, saving them as JPEG files, and video at 720 x 480, which are saved as AVI files. As you can see it has a built-in USB 2.0 connector that is used both to export files as well as recharge the camera’s internal Li-ion battery. It also has a microSD slot (supports up to 16GB) for saving stills and videos on the go. No, it doesn’t have a viewfinder, but even if it had one it wouldn’t be of much use anyway.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The CLAP digital camera is available on Amazon in six different colors for $49.95 (USD) each. If you’re going to get one I strongly recommend that you get hold of a 1mm piece of string, rope or cord and make use of the camera’s strap hole.

[via Superheadz & SlamXHype]

Retro Heart Handcrafts Tiny Arcade Games With a Big Heart

Technabob — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 03:14:42 +0000

If you’ve ever wanted to fill a room in your house with classic arcade games, but didn’t have the space (or the cash), here’s the next best thing. These tiny arcade games and pinball machines take up way less space, and cost way less than the real deal.

Made over in the UK by Steven C. Gauntley of Retro Heart, these miniature machines are each handcrafted from wood with custom vinyl graphics, and sheets of acetate for the “glass” tops of the pinball tables and fronts for some of the video games. In all, he’s made over 100 different machines, and continues to add to the collection. Check out a bunch of my favorites in the gallery below:

I was always a pushover for Paperboy and Burgertime, but I have to say that the pinball tables are really great too – gotta love The Simpsons. Each machine is built in a limited-edition, at 1/12th scale. To put that in perspective, both the pinball machines and arcade cabinets stand about 6 inches tall. It’s just too bad you can’t actually play any of these. But then again, my fingers aren’t that small.

The arcade cabinets sell for £14.99 to £19.99 (~$24 to $32 USD) each, and the pinball machines go for £24.99 (~$40 USD) a piece, while the extremely special Star Wars cockpit sells for £39.99 (~$65 USD). Steven also offers a substantial discount for orders of 10 arcade cabinets or 5 pinball machines. Plus, if you’re looking for that special machine you just couldn’t get enough of, Steve will do custom orders too. Ready to build out your miniature dream arcade? Just head on over to Retro Heart and get started.

Is This the World’s Smallest HD Camera?

Technabob — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:39:31 +0000

You know a camera is small when it’s got the following warning on its product page: “Important: Keep away from small children as it could become a choking hazard.”

While I’m not sure the guys who make this tiny camera have actually checked with the Guinness Book or World Records, I do have to say this is the smallest standalone HD camera I’ve seen.

We’ve written about a couple of other tiny cameras before, but this one definitely looks smaller than either the already miniscule Chobi Cam or the MAME-CAM DX. At just about 1.25″ wide, ChinaVasion’s DV59 micro-camera is definitely small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and even looks a little bit like a miniature DSLR. Trust me when I say it’s not a DSLR, though.

Despite its size, ChinaVasion claims the camera can shoot 720p (1280×720) video at 30fps. Still images can be captured at up to 8 megapixels, but that’s upsampled from its 2 megapixel CMOS sensor. I don’t get why anyone still quotes upsampled megapixel resolutions anymore. Heck, with Photoshop, I could turn a VGA image into a 20 megapixel image, and it’ll still look like crap.

Still, priced at only $44.49 (USD), it looks like a fun little novelty item, if for nothing else you want to tell your friends that you have the world’s smallest HD camera – except for that one that’s built into every smartphone on the market these days. Oh yeah.

Nano Sonic: The Hedgehog Gets Tiny (and Other Genesis Games, Too)

Technabob — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:08:13 +0000

I’ve run across plenty of those little plug-and-play retro gaming systems before, but this one wins the prize for being the smallest one I’ve seen yet. This pint-sized system is a fully self-contained SEGA Genesis emulator, capable of playing several Sonic the Hedgehog games.

AtGames’ (aka Sapphire) Arcade Nano Sonic system is small enough to hang on your keychain or backpack, but packs ten games under the hood. Five of the games are classic SEGA Genesis games including Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, and Alex Kidd. There are also five “bonus” games including Air Hockey, Naval Power, Cannon, Fight or Lose and Checker, all of which I’ve never heard of before, so I’m gonna guess they’re not all that. The tiny system has a built-in joystick and buttons, runs on a single AAA battery and connects to a composite video and mono audio jack on your TV.

If Sonic isn’t your thing, they’re also making Nano Columns and Nano Virtua Fighter 2 versions, each with their own collection of five classic and five bonus games. I’m not sure what games come with Columns, but the VF2 version packs in some good ones, including Shinobi 3, Golden Axe, Golden Axe 3, and Alien Storm.

If you have any doubts about these miniscule systems, here’s a video review of the Sonic one in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While it looks like the emulation isn’t 100% perfect, it still looks pretty playable to me, and these still look like a great gift for classic SEGA fanatics. All three Genesis Nano systems can be found over at Walmart for $19.96 each.

Tiny Donkey Kong Arcade Cabinet Even Plays Pac-Man

Technabob — Sat, 07 May 2011 01:40:43 +0000

I’ve written about some tiny arcade cabinets before – even a Donkey Kong machine, but never one that was this accurate – and that actually plays. All it needs are tiny Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell dolls to go with it and it would be perfect.

A modder going by the name of Bender (who didn’t tell us to bite his shiny metal ass for once) created this 8.25″ tall Donkey Kong cabinet. Not only is it a perfect 1/8th scale replica of the original, it’s fully playable.

Okay, the joystick and buttons are disproportionately large, but you wouldn’t be able to play it if he made those to scale. Under the hood of this tiny marvel is a sliced and maimed GamePark GP2X Wiz, loaded with MAME. That means Bender could actually play just about any arcade game he wants on this thing too. I dare him to play Donkey Kong, Jr. on it. That’ll show ‘em!

Check out the world’s smallest working Donkey Kong machine in the video clips below (and yes, he does play other classic arcade games on it too), as well as a bunch of detail on how Bender ~~bent~~ built it.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Thankfully, the machine doesn’t require tiny little quarters to play.

[BYO Arcade Controls via Engadget]

Raspberry Pi Barebones PC: Fits On Your Keychain and Costs Only 25 Bucks!

Range — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:19:03 +0000

The Raspberry Pi PC is about the size of a USB flash drive. It’s an ultra-minimal PC that David Braben hopes to sell for about $25 (USD). Now that’s a nice portable (and affordable) form-factor.

The Raspberry Pi comes with a 700MHz ARM11 processor, 128MB of RAM, composite and HDMI ports for video, removable media and a USB 2.0 port. If you add a 16GB SD card, a USB hub connected to a mouse and keyboard, and a monitor, whammo, you’ve got a fully-functioning PC. It can even decode 1080p30 H.264 video. That thing you see sticking off the board is an optional 12 megapixel camera module.

While there are other low-cost alternatives, this is an impressive piece of kit for what it is. I’d like to see this everywhere, powering schools, libraries, and Internet cafés all over the world. You can check out more about the Raspberry Pi over at its website, or check out the video below.

I hope to soon be able to walk around with a supercomputer the size of a MacBook Air.

[via CrunchGear]

Dollhouse Gets Tiny Flat Screen TV: My, What a Small HDTV You Have

Technabob — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 02:23:40 +0000

As a guy, I was never into playing with dolls and dollhouses, but if I knew that they came with widescreen LCD televisions, I might have thought differently when I was growing up. Over on Etsy, you can now purchase a tiny little LCD TV for your dollhouse.

The TV measures about 3.74″ (w) x 2.24″ (H) x 0.67″ (D), which I guess makes it the equivalent of a somewhat thick 42-inch HDTV in 1/12th dollhouse scale. But I guess that all depends on the size of your dolls. If you’ve got really small ones, you can pretend it’s a 70-inch set, right?

The tiny TV was made by a guy named Amatheria over in Seville, Spain (he also makes tiny IKEA furniture), and it even can play video and audio that you load into it via a USB connection (but not over-the-air TV). The TV itself appears to be made from plastic and cardboard, and is engraved with various speaker and button details, as well as logos for the guy who made it.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The only thing not to like about this little TV is the price – it’s listed for €195, which works out to be about $284 (USD). I’m pretty sure you can get an actual 42-inch TV for just a little more than that at Wal-Mart these days. Sure, developing a shrink-ray will set you back a couple of billion dollars, but that’s okay, right?

Playstation Gashopon Collection: Is That a Tiny PS One in Your Pocket?

Technabob — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 02:46:57 +0000

If you’re looking to fill out your dollhouse with geeky accoutrements, you might want to grab some of these Japanese toys, which are basically really tiny versions of the original Sony PlayStation line.

Takara Tomy’s SR Series PlayStation History Collection 1 includes miniature plastic versions of four PlayStation models. Designed to be sold in Gashopon vending machines in Japan, this set includes not only the consoles themselves, but mini versions of games, memory cards, joysticks and more.

The lids on the CD-ROM trays even open, and the controllers actually plug in too. About the only thing these miniatures don’t do is play games. The set of four includes:

SCPH-1000 with I.Q. game, memory card, and original joypad
SCPH-7000 with Minna no Golf, memory card, Dual Shock
SCPH-9000 with Ape Escape and PocketStation (SCPH-4000C)
SCPH-101 with LCD monitor accessory, Dual Shock 2, and Dokodemo

You can pre-order the set over at NCSX for $29.90 (USD) for delivery this Summer. No word on when they’ll release PS2 or PS3 versions.

[Image Credit: Toy World HK, and a nod to Game Set Watch]

Fuuvi Pick Looks Like a Flash Drive, But it’s a Camera

Technabob — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:42:24 +0000

I’ve certainly seen my share of unusual digital cameras, but this is definitely something I haven’t seen before. The pint-sized (and badly named) Fuuvi Pick isn’t much larger than a flash drive, but it’s actuall a digital camera, capable of capturing both stills and videos.

The tiny camera measures just 1.37″ (h) x 2.75″ (w) x 0.59″(d) and weighs under an ounce. It captures stills at 1280 x 1024 resolution (1.3 megapixels), and can shoot video at 720 x 480 at 30fps. Its tiny F2.8 lens shoots only at ISO 100, but if you’re using this thing for your pictures, I’m assuming you’re not expecting museum-quality images. The very fact that they call these things a “toy digital camera” should have tipped you off.

The coolest thing about the Fuuvi is the end of the camera pops off just like a flash drive, and the camera will dock and charge when plugged into your computer’s USB port. The camera’s storage (a Micro SD card up to 16GB) will be immediately recognized as a drive on your PC, just like a flash drive.

Audiocubes just started carrying the Fuuvi Pick mini digital camera, where it sells for $59.99 (USD). While the camera is made in several colors, it’s not clear if they stock them in anything but black. You’ll want to contact them to confirm.

MAME-CAM DX Tiny Camera: Buy a Bunch, Just in Case You Lose ‘Em

Range — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:00:54 +0000

There must be a market for these teeny tiny cameras, which is why Thanko just released another one. The MAME-CAM DX [JP] is miniature digital camera that’s currently only available in Japan, but you can probably find a way to get them in the US thanks to importers.

The MAME-CAM DX weighs only 14g (less than 1/2 an ounce). Thanko claims that it can record video in HD, with a 1,280×960 resolution at 30fps. Still JPEG images can be shot with a 3,264×2,448 resolution. It can also be used as a voice recorder. All files are stored on a microSD card, so you’ll have up to 32GB of storage if you get a big card.

You can get the Mame Cam from Thanko’s Japanese website for ¥7,980 (appx. $99 USD). Otherwise, contact Geek Stuff 4 U and see if they can import one for you. But you might want to order a few extra, because at this size, you’ll probably lose at least a couple along the way.

[via CrunchGear]