| Fielding jolts from a great unknown
After months of cryptic trailers and hype in the US, Cloverfield turns out to be almost comforting in its simplicity. It's a short, efficient, terrifying monster movie, no more and no less. Told solely from the point of view of one digital video camera wielded by one young guy named Hud (TJ Miller), the film records scenes from a seven-hour attack on Manhattan by a Giant Thing. It's the first cellphone-ready action flick. .
Delaware gets grant for patrol cameras
DELHI _ The Delaware County Sheriff's Department will use $44,600 in state grants to equip patrol cars with digital video cameras, Sheriff Thomas Mills said Wednesday. "I am pleased to announce our acceptance of a grant for $19,600, from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, under the guidelines of the state Homeland Security program as well as a $25,000 grant sanctioned by Senator John Bonacic in the state budget," Mills said. Mills said he hopes to have the cameras installed and operational in about a month. He said there are eight or nine cars to be equipped. "We are waiting so the computers and the cameras can be installed at the same time to save money," Mills said. The computers will be used to run data, write accident reports and issue traffic tickets, Mills said.
Who you gonna call? Ghost Hunters
CORPUS CHRISTI A team of eight ghost hunters prowled the parapets flanking the Ritz Theater stage Saturday, some holding magnetic field meters while seeking a female usher's spirit that is rumored to have startled balcony patrons decades ago. The Gulf Coast Ghost Hunters also stalked the stage using parabolic microphones and infrared digital video cameras, trying to snare evidence of a stagehand spirit recently reported. "It looked like a man," said Cynthia Saenz, 51, a draftsman who was inside the former picture palace with renovators last week. "Then it just dissipated." Case manager Patrick Zapata and his brothers began investigating paranormal existence in 1992 by taking a cassette recorder and camera to cemeteries at night. "Being touched for the first time by something you cannot see is something I will never forget," said Zapata, 33, a bridge inspector for the state.
Spoiler alert: 'Cloverfield' lives up to the hype
After months of cryptic trailers and postmodern stealth hype, "Cloverfield" turns out to be almost comforting in its simplicity. It's a short, efficient, terrifying monster movie, no more and no less. It's also to New York City and the American psyche what "Godzilla" was to Tokyo: a cinematic fantasy response to unimaginable events. You get scared, you go home, you laugh it off. The real world should play so nice. The math is preposterously easy, actually: "Cloverfield" equals "Godzilla" divided by "The Blair Witch Project." (And if you want to know nothing more before buying a ticket, stop reading right now.) Told solely from the point of view of one digital video camera wielded by one young guy named Hud (T.J. Miller), the film records scenes from a seven-hour attack on Manhattan by a Giant Thing.
Takahashi: Dress this cell phone according to mood
Dov Moran has a bright idea for the coming age where fashion and electronics will become intertwined. When you want a new look for an MP3 music player, put a new skin on it. If you want your phone to play cool videos, give it a jacket. And when you want to turn that phone into an alarm clock, find it a mate. Moran is chief executive of modu, an Israeli company that has created a tiny cell phone with a built-in flash memory music player that is highly modular. When you want to change the look and feel of the device, you simply slide it into another device. It's like adding a memory chip card, except it changes the identity of the new device. With it, you can change your electronic gear in chameleon fashion to suit your mood. You can, for instance, take your little modu phone and slide it into a digital camera.
Xacti HD1a HD camcorder adds wide display, more
Sanyo on Thursday introduced the Xacti HD1a, a compact digital media camera that records both still pictures and digital video. It does it all onto an SD flash memory card. The Xacti HD1a is coming in September for $699.99. The Xacti HD1a records video in 720p and grabs 5.1 megapixel still images. Because it uses SD cards instead of bulky tapes or optical media, it's much more compact than other camcorders. It uses a 10x optical zoom lens and 2.2-inch LCD display. New features in the HD1a include a 16:9 widescreen still picture mode, in-camera video editing, a 30 frames-per-second 320 x 240 MPEG-4 pixel video recording mode called “Web-SHQ," optimized for the video iPod. The 16:9 still image mode grabs 3.8 megapixel images in the same wide-screen format as the Xacti HD1's digital videos.
MWC08: Nokia announces four new S60 mobile devices
We were expecting some device announcements at Mobile World Congress from Nokia and the did not disappoint with the announcement of 4 new devices. They announced the Nokia 6220 Classic, 6210 Navigator, N78, and N96. I had the opportunity to meet with various product managers to talk about the devices and also took several pictures and some video that will be posted later when I get some time away from the show floor. The 6220 Classic is a very compact mobile phone designed for the person coming from a feature phone to the S60 platform who wants phone that excels in still photography since it has a Carl Zeiss 5-megapixel digital camera with a Xenon flash. It also has a GPS receiver and HSDPA support. Another of the 6000 series announced was the 6210 Navigator that focuses on and provides a great GPS experience.
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