Logitec launches a serious mic for the iPhone

Not available in the states yet, but Logitec (not Logitech) has revealed an XY stereo mic attachment for the iPhone. The price in Japan is under $100, so it’s a realistic alternative to a standalone recorder like a Zoom. It’s also got a separate mini-jack stereo line input.

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Check out the translated product description, or the product listing at importer Geek Stuff 4 U.

Kodak continues the pocket-cam arms race, announced 1080p cam

Kodak has announced the Zi8, the next in their line of flip competitors. Features are pretty similar to the Zi6, but now you get 1080p video, instead of 720p.

The bigger feature, in my book, is the external mic jack. Suddenly the camera is a whole lot more flexible. It’ll be very interesting to see if the quality can match the features, as I was immensely let down by the original Kodak cam, the Zi6.

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One also wonders what the point of 1080p is, with tiny, crummy sensors, but I suppose a bit more oversampling can’t hurt, if your goal is nice-looking web video.

Zoom reminds us that audio matters too

Zoom, makers of the popular H4, H4N, and H2 portable audio recorders has created announced their own pocket video recorder, the Q3, in the vein of the Flip cameras.

Zoom has taken a slightly different approach than PureDigital – rather than focusing on 720p video, they’ve focused on quality stereo audio.

This is a really nice start. Now, lets get a mic input (minijack would be fine) and slightly higher resolution recording. I imagine this will already be a big hit with folks attending concerts, but throw in those features and I’ll order a boatload.

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All about the HTML5 Video tag

I’ve been meaning to write something about the hubbub surrounding the HTML5 video tag, but in the meantime, Ars Technica has a nice writeup.
I got a chance to see an amazing example of the video tag, combined with some simple JS and CSS, at a recent conference. It had everyone in the audience salivating. Unfortunately, licensing and patent issues could prevent widespread implementation. And of course, without support in IE, you’ll be stuck creating fallback flash videos for the foreseeable future.
Anyways, I’ll have more thoughts on the debate before too long, for now check out the Ars writeup.
And, yeah, I’ll get back to blogging.