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A Japanese accessory manufacturer has added a unique twist on an ordinary household gadget, the flashlight. They have added a 300,000 pixel CMOS camera and microphone. Carrot Systems created this so-called AD-1500 flashlight to enable security personnel and crime fighters to record the actual events as they happen.

All activities are recorded in MP4 format and it automatically switches to infra-red mode when used at night or in dark areas. The AD-1500 can only cover a distance of up to 4 meters but I think this is enough to capture evidence and actual events in real time. However, internal memory is limited to only 128MB.

This innovative approach to ordinary gadget makes sense. It would be nice though if this could automatically stream the footage online for archiving purposes. Well, that’s looking forward I guess.

Unfortunately, its price of approximately $800 limits its potential, at least for the everyday consumer.

Via [CrunchGear]

Unlike the recently released Xacti DMX-CA camcorder, the HD1010 is not waterproof. However it certainly is packed with powerful features that you wouldn’t expect a tiny gadget such as this one to have.

Boasting of a 4-megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom, the Xacti HD1010 combines both the functionality of a digital camera and a digital camcorder offering up an advanced, next-generation video performance and high quality stills in one small, lightweight camera. The Xacti HD1010 can record both 1080i HD-video and take 4-megapixel digital still images.

Other features of this new camcorder include a 2.7-inch LCD display, 10x optical zoom, video and still image stabilization, sequential shooting, face detection on still images of up to 12 faces, face chases “video” of up to 12 faces. This camcorder also features a high quality audio recording, wind roar and red eye reduction, webcam functionality, support for SDHC cards and 40MB of internal memory.

Product [Sanyo Digital] Via [Akihabara News]

If you are in the hunt for a camcorder that is not so heavy on the pocket but still wallops some decent features, then the DXG-569v entry level camcorder which was recently released might be just what you are looking for. Retailing for only $170, this cheap camcorder offers 720p (1280x720) video quality aside from other powerful features that you’d think would not come in such an inexpensive camcorder.

These features include full speed video recording, direct video editing using various software and direct upload to YouTube without altering its native format. In addition to being a nifty camcorder, the DXG-569v also doubles up as a decent photo snapper able to capture still images at a 5-megapixel resolution. It can even record voice memos, which allows users to annotate their photos. The camcorder comes packed with 32MB of internal memory with support for expansion via an SDHC memory card slot that can accommodate up to 8GB of additional storage.

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Sanyo has released a new model for their Xacti handheld camcorder series, the Xacti CG9. Boasting of a 9.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, 40MB of internal memory, a 5x optical zoom and H.264 video codec. Sanyo is touting the Xacti CG9 as an entry level video camcorder. Hence the move from the usual Xacti CCD to CMOS, probably to enable Sanyo to put a competitive price to the Xacti CG9 since they are targeting the entry-level video camcorder users. But still, the CMOS sensor will produce decent quality videos and high quality still images as well. The Xacti CG9 also boast of 60/fps video recording capability.

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