Technology Tuesday – The Results and The Review
August 26, 2008
Okay, first of all, thanks to everyone who entered the contest!! Due to a couple glitches with the commenting system – and just some general comments in the fray – I went through and listed out all the names.
The following people were submitted in the drawing and I really want to thank you for all of your great vlogging examples!
ultra
Mark Warren, Eric Miltsch, Mocha, Rahsheen, jennydecki, Karl, Adrienne, James from Babyspot, Liz, Tara, Tina, Kelly, Roger Gauthier, Geekazine, Connie, Mark Warren, Brian Bonn, BunnyB, Rob White, Dario Salvelli, melitami, Kevin T, CalifMom, Deb On The Rocks, Banana Lee Fishbones, TSM_Oregon, Seeker65, Freerangemom, Chris Shouse, Home Biss, RobGuy, Suzanne B, tixrus, Mama to 3 Boys and a VLA Biz Too, CanCan, Naomi, brandy3, Go Annie, Angela Penny
So I know you want to know right now who won… but I’m kind of evil. I’m going to give you the $2 review of the Flip Ultra first, now that I’ve had a chance to play with it a bit! (Yes, yes, I know you can scroll down to see who won first, but you can’t blame a gal for trying!)
The Flip Ultra – A User Review
Okay, I have to admit, it’s a cute and sexy little video camera. This isn’t your big, old wrist-bending video camera that lines the soccer fields and recital stages all across the country. This is a ‘wow… is that a video camera? It fits in your pocket? How’s the quality? Really? It must cost a fortune then… really? wow’ camera.
The Good
- It’s small – it will fit in your coat pocket, your purse, your backpack, your diaper bag, your laptop bag.
- It’s lightweight – your wrist won’t get tired holding this up – it weighs about the same as the average smart phone or PDA
- The picture is surprisingly crisp and clear – after seeing grainy resolution and fuzzy focus from cell phones and video footage captured with the average digital camera, the resolution and clarity of the Flip Ultra was a pleasant discovery
- The sound quality is surprisingly good – again, the average video camera isn’t exactly high quality on sound unless you are willing to shell out a fair penny, the sound quality of the Flip Ultra is good even in noisier environments.
- It’s easy to use – this is a video camera that you can hand to any passer-by and have him/her push-the-red-button-and-go without any confusing extra buttons or lengthy explanations. Push up to zoom in, push down to down to zoom out. Red button starts and stops. It takes a couple of minutes for anyone to learn how to use. Including my 5 year old who wants her own now.
- Widgets – it comes with connector cables that let you plug it right into any TV with an S-video jack, so you can play the footage back right away on a big screen. You don’t have to download, reformat, burn a DVD and put it in the player to show Grandma the footage of the kids opening presents. Just plug it in and go.
- Best of All? The Flip Ultra is incredibly affordable. Retailing at $149 or less (there are some seriously good deals out there right now!) it’s less expensive than most cellphones. It’s certainly less expensive than the heavier, bulkier, now-collecting-dust-on-my-shelf video camera I bought a few years ago when my kidlet was younger. Both GeekDaddy and I are fans.
The Bad
- Stability - okay, I’m being honest… I don’t have the steadiest filming hand. Some of the test footage that I shot made GeekDaddy and I a little seasick when played back on anything larger than the tiny screen on the back. We discovered that GeekDaddy’s footage was a little less prone to “shaky cam” but it’s hard to keep it steady for longer footage. Yes, it can be put on any standard tripod, but that kind of defeats the point of portability.
- Lighting – Not much you can do if the lighting isn’t good. While it handles low light situations fairly well if they are consistently lit, it’s not very adept at dealing with mixed-lighting situations. Going in and out of shadows is a bad idea, and there’s nothing you can do to manually adjust for low-light.
The Questionable
- Software Glitches – The Flip Ultra comes with its own software. In theory, you install it and go. From that point forward every time you plug the camera into a USB port, it’s supposed to run the built in software that lets you do basic editing, save files, delete files and play them. This worked GREAT on my little black one. It didn’t work at all on a different Flip Ultra camera (purchased in July) even plugged into my laptop. Despite uninstalling and redownloading and reinstalling the ‘updated’ software, it never ran successfully on one camera, but always ran on my new one. Was the other camera damaged? Perhaps, but that’s why it’s under questionable.
All in all though, I have to say – this is an excellent little camera. I’d recommend it to just about anyone, especially given how affordable it is. So I’m fairly sure that the winner of this contest is going to have as much fun with this as I am.
It seems only fair to announce this using a video, so I’m going to link the announcement from 12seconds.com (tried to embed it, but WP was having none of that…argh.)
Again, thanks everyone for entering, the list above was posted in the order the names were in my spreadsheet (1 entry per person, no matter how many comments you posted!) and the winner is…
Winner Flip Cam Contest on 12seconds.tv
Email me your mailing info at Lucretia AT Geekmommy DOT net and I’ll get it out to you this week!
See you tomorrow!
Technology Tuesday – The Contest
August 19, 2008
Sorry to get this one up so late – I know it’s already Wednesday on the East Coast and my friends in Singapore are coming up on their lunch hours… But hey, trust me. This one is worth the wait!
I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to play with the Flip Ultra video camera in order to write the review I want to write, so I figured that will have to wait until either Friday or next Tuesday. But I’m not going to keep you guys in further suspense as to the nature of the contest for the Flip Ultra that the nice folks at Pure Digital (in conjunction with the WalMart 11 Money Saving Moms project) sent me to give to one lucky reader of this blog! (Mostly because I’m sure a few of you would come after me if I put it off again!)
So. Here it is then. I was trying to figure out what made for a good contest.
If I just say “comment and I’ll randomly draw a number” then the guy who drops by here one time for 10 seconds stands as much chance of winning as those of you who have been hanging in there with me. Plus, I’d like this to be something fun for all of us.
So I’m about to start trying to post my vlogs here with my own Flip camera and it wouldn’t hurt to learn a bit more about what you guys like in that regard.
So here’s what you have to do to win – Leave a comment here. In the comment you need to put 2 links:
1) a link to an example of what you consider a GOOD vlog. Something you’d actually watch. Don’t just go to Google and put in ‘vlog’ and post the first thing you find – because I might just get clever and ask you a question like what the last line in the vlog was! 
2) a link to someplace you’ve reposted the link for this contest – it can be your blog, it can be Twittered, or Plurked, or posted on Friend Feed or your favorite social network. Just post a link to where you’ve posted it so I can follow it back and verify (this means it has to be a public post!)
This should give me a good sample of vlogs you think are worth watching. And if you’re entering to get the Flip to start your own vlogging? it might help you figure out where to start too!
The contest ends Monday, August 25th at 11:59pm Mountain Time (my time zone) and I will then use random.org to generate a number that will correspond with the commentor who wins. (Comments without the two required links will be excluded from the numbering.)
I will announce the winner in the next Technology Tuesday post.
And just to whet your appetite? Here’s a picture of the one I opened – you’ll be receiving your own unopened box identical in nature! Yep, it’s a nice, sexy black Flip Ultra! Good Luck!
Still in the Box
ETA: sorry about that – default comment moderated anything w/ 2 links or more! oops! Fixed it! 
Technology Tuesday – Better Late Than Never…
August 13, 2008
I was waiting to post today until I could give you the good news… but the folks at UPS believe in keeping me on my toes. Usually, they deliver to my house by 3 p.m. at the latest – unless of course, I’m watching the door for them. Then they show up like they did tonight at 7 p.m.
Seriously. The darn things went “Out for Delivery” at 5:42 a.m. You’d think they drove them in from Kansas.
Still, just moments before Buttercup’s bathtime, the doorbell rang and my nice UPS guy dropped off a box from the amazing folks at Pure Digital Technologies.
Inside the box was a shiny, new Flip Ultra video camera*… which I have yet to even have taken out of it’s gorgeous packaging since I want to have time to do this and savor it.
Did I say “a shiny, new Flip Ultra video camera“? I meant two shiny, new Flip Ultra video cameras!!
That’s right, not only are the folks at Pure Digital helping me to begin vlogging my way along – they’re going to let me give one away to one of you, dear readers, so that you can join in the fun!
What do you have to do to win? Join me next week for Technology Tuesday when I will post my review of the Flip Ultra and the contest details! If you’re afraid you might forget, or just don’t want to miss anything else witty I might say, you can always subscribe to my RSS feed using your favorite feed-reader. Or you can wait for me to twitter it, I do that too!
Anyhow. See ya tomorrow – and next Tuesday!
*yeah, I know previously I said Flip Mino – that’s what I thought was coming – but you don’t see me complaining!! This way I get to vlog and one of you gets to join me – much better deal if you ask me!
