Digital Camera News, 1/10/08

ZINK Imaging and Polaroid will continue collaboration

According to an announcement yesterday, that pocket-sized inkless photo printer that we saw from Polaroid at CES was just the beginning. ZINK, developer of the thermal imaging technology behind this new device, intends to work in tandem with Polaroid to develop an entire line of color printers.

Using ZINK-made paper that comes pre-embedded with yellow, magenta, and cyan dye crystals, Polaroid's new generation of printing technology promises to be "compact, easy-to-use, and earth-friendly."

Polaroid's Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer, the first product to come out of this collaborative effort, is scheduled for retail release later this year. For more information on the printer, check out our CES 2008: Monday Run-Down.

AgfaPhoto digicams to appear at PMA

The Agfa name is probably familiar to film shooters from the company's famed lines of film and paper, but financial troubles, restructuring, and a new distribution deal later, it looks like the AgfaPhoto marquee will begin to make its way onto digital cameras here in the US.

Budget camera maker VistaQuest will be promoting two AgfaPhoto-branded devices at its PMA booth later in the month, including the 5-in-1 AgfaPhoto DV-5000g. The device claims to offer the combined functionality of a video camera, digital still camera, webcam, MP3 player, and 20-game portable gaming console.

From the photos, it seems unlikely that the $199 offering will be a top performer in any of these areas, but in the interest of fairness further judgment will be withheld. It certainly looks spy-gadget enough, in any event.

Kodak TRACELESS system aimed at preventing sales of counterfeit batteries

Spurred by concerns about consumer product safety and recent exploding-battery incidents, Kodak announced plans to implement an anti-counterfeiting system for its lithium-ion rechargeable camera batteries.

The system, which uses forensically undetectable markers that can be inserted into product packaging or the products themselves, will allow Kodak and its retailers to distinguish actual Kodak batteries from the scores of questionable-quality counterfeits flooding the market. With a proven track record in fields as diverse as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and wine, TRACELESS can be easily embedded in thermal transfer ribbons commonly used for barcodes on electronics.

In addition to its work with Kodak-brand batteries, Kodak has already licensed the TRACELESS system to Sanyo for their use as well.

Lexar, Eye-Fi introduce Lexar-branded wireless memory card

Consumers will soon be able to get a Lexar-branded SD memory card with Wi-Fi file transfer capabilities. Eye-Fi, maker of the wireless SD card of the same name, announced an agreement with Lexar on Tuesday to begin producing a Lexar product based on Eye-Fi's technology.

Perhaps more significantly, both companies claim that this joint venture represents the first step in a potentially important partnership to expand the range of Wi-Fi capable media storage products on the market. In anticipation of the announcement, Lexar was showing off Eye-Fi's transfer capabilities at its CES booth this week.

The partnership has clear benefits for both manufacturers, advancing Lexar into the growing realm of wireless transfer technology, and providing Eye-Fi with the increased prominence of the Lexar name.