Gizmodo

We’ve been looking at a few micro 4/3s cameras recently and I’m really excited about the technology. What you get is near-DSLR quality in a package that’s eminently portable, and unless you’re planning on shooting F1 racers these cameras are fast enough for most shooting situations.

The G10 had some low-light issues and felt a bit slower than the Olympus E-PL1 I reviewed earlier. However, I’ll do a full review by the end of the week.

While reading the online news today, I came across the latest cool gadgets which appeared lately on the market. Since one of my favorite parts of the day is when I take my relaxing shower to keep me fresh, I thought it would be fun and interesting to show you the Color Changing Shower head. It’s kind of brings the disco mood right into your shower cabinet. What you basically do is to change the shower head that you now have with this one which is powered by LED lights. The beauty of it is that the shower changed color according to the temperature of the water. This means you will know exactly when the water is heated or cold enough so you can step inside and clean yourself.

You don’t need any batteries as the LEDs are self powered. When the temperature of the water is below 32 degrees Celsius, the lights are green; when the temperature is in the interval of 33 and 41 degrees Celsius, the lights will turn to a beautiful shade of blue; finally, when the temperature of the water has risen between 42 and 45 degrees, the lights will now turn red. It’s as simple as that, now you have a cool glowing shower head and a water thermometer all in one cool gadget.

While reading the online news today, I came across the latest cool gadgets which appeared lately on the market. Since one of my favorite parts of the day is when I take my relaxing shower to keep me fresh, I thought it would be fun and interesting to show you the Color Changing Shower head. It’s kind of brings the disco mood right into your shower cabinet. What you basically do is to change the shower head that you now have with this one which is powered by LED lights. The beauty of it is that the shower changed color according to the temperature of the water. This means you will know exactly when the water is heated or cold enough so you can step inside and clean yourself.

You don’t need any batteries as the LEDs are self powered. When the temperature of the water is below 32 degrees Celsius, the lights are green; when the temperature is in the interval of 33 and 41 degrees Celsius, the lights will turn to a beautiful shade of blue; finally, when the temperature of the water has risen between 42 and 45 degrees, the lights will now turn red. It’s as simple as that, now you have a cool glowing shower head and a water thermometer all in one cool gadget.

For some reason, Toyko-based USB accessory maker Thanko is selling a wide range of “spy gadgets”, with a button camera and an HD video pen as the latest additions to the line-up. Today Thanko gives us a wrist watch [JP], which may look rather unassuming from the outside but actually sports a micro spy camera.

The so-called Video Camera Analog Watch is the updated version of a spy watch that Thanko started selling in late 2008. This new model has 4GB of internal memory, which is enough to store two to three hours of video in 640×480 resolution and at 30fps.

If you have a Windows machine (XP, Vista and 7 are supported), you can transfer the material via USB as AVI files to your computer. The micro camera is placed between 1 and 2 o’clock on the dial.

The watch (weight: 115g) is already available in Thanko’s Japanese online store and costs $85. If you’re interested in getting one but live outside Japan, I suggest to contact import/export specialist (and Thanko partner) Geek Stuff 4 U.

Tokyo-based USB accessory specialist Thanko has a thing for spy gadgets. Just look at their spy button camera, the USB necktie with a built-in camera and the camera watch they developed in the last few months. Last July, Thanko started offering a a pen with an integrated micro camera. And today the company announced [JP] the so-called Super Slim Video Pen 2, which is a spy pen that shoots video in HD (1,280×960 at 30fps, to be more exact).

The pen lets you shoot JPEGs with the same resolution. It’s 14cm long and weighs 30g. It can store 1.5 hours of video with its internal memory but also supports microSD cards (up to 16GB). Thanko says an 8GB card is enough to record around six hours of HD video. Users just need to press a button on top of the pen to start the recording. The micro camera is right under it (see picture above).

Video files can later be transferred to your PC (as long as it runs under Windows XP, Vista or 7) via USB 2.0 (the pen has a miniUSB slot).

Thanko is selling the spy pen for $65. Ask Geek Stuff 4U if you live outside Japan and are interested in getting one (they’re just offering the older model at the moment).

A Japanese researcher called Hiroshi Liu has developed a robotic hummingbird, which, just a real one, can flutter freely in mid-air by rapidly moving its wings (up to n impressive 30 times per second). Liu, who works for Chiba University just outside Tokyo, says his hummingbird is powered by a small motor and has four wings. It can be remote-controlled through infrared.

The robo hummingbird can not only fly up and down but also in a figure of eight. Liu claims the little guy, who just weighs 2.6g, is more stable than a helicopter. It’s 10cm long, meaning it comes close to real hummingbirds in size and weight. According to his inventor, building micro robots is much harder than building large robots and requires specific knowledge not all robot makers have.

R&D costs stand at about $2 million so far, but those costs are likely to rise. By 2011, Liu plans to equip the robot with a micro camera. The main purpose of the hummingbird is to one day use it to rescue people in emergency situations (when a building has collapsed, for example) or to hunt down criminals.

Via Engadget and Der Spiegel [GER]

Photorumors found that Olympus China’s website has the model number listed there for the whole world to see, which seems to confirm that the event Olympus had scheduled for October 31 will probably be the E-P2 announcement. Let’s just hope this guy has the same goods as the original model but a slightly lower price.

The new Lumix GF1.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

BERLIN–At Panasonic’s press conference, which officially opens press day here at IFA Berlin 2009, the magic number is three, as in 3D and thirds.

Laurent Abadie, CEO of Panasonic Europe, is up first. He is talking up Full HD 3D, a …