Okay, it's only a few pennies under $200, but for a camera that started life at $599, this is a pretty big price drop, and a fantastic deal for someone who wants a camera that goes way beyond thinking it's just a digital version of a film camera. The Kodak EasyShare One is a 4-megapixel camera with a huge (3"), rotating, touch-screen LCD. But the coolest part is that it's Wi-Fi enabled with an plug-in card that will run you about $75.

This isn't just WiFi because you're too lazy to walk into the other room to download or print your pictures. That's the approach that Canon and Nikon took. No, this is WiFi so you can upload images to Kodak's EasyShare Gallery from any WiFi-enabled hotspot and instantly share pictures with your friends. Or, you can use the camera as a photo viewer, downloading images from EasyShare Gallery when you have a WiFi. And with 256 megabytes of memory built in, you can also store up to 1,500 low-res versions of your favorite photos to access at any time. 4 megapixels may not seem like much these days, but it's plenty for snapshots and even going up to 8x10 if you're not cropping too much.

Kodak dropped the list of the 4MP EasyShare One to $199.95, and several stores have it, including Adorama, Amazon, B&H, J&R, and Buy.com. Techbargains sweetens the Buy.com deal with a link to a $15 off $200 coupon that you might be able to use.

If you need more pixels for not much more money, get the new 6MP version which Kodak is pricing at a reasonable $299.95, though I haven't seen it for sale online yet.

Read PC Magazine's review of the 4 MP EasyShare One.

It is pretty safe to assume that as a gadget-lovin' Gearlogger I am going to come down against Mayor Bloomberg's ridiculous ban on cell phones in New York City public schools, but as a step-father with an 11-year-old riding the city bus to school, my opposition borders on outrage. The ban itself has been around a long time (1987, I think), but it has always been enforced with an appropriate amount of laxness. Show it, you lose it. Evidently, that wasn't good enough. Now kids are being patted down for telecommunication devices. Why? According to the Gotham Gazette:

Klein and Bloomberg say cell phones make it easier for kids to cheat on tests, take pictures in locker room and bathrooms, arrange drug deals or call in reinforcements for schoolyard fights. In a radio address, the mayor likened cell phones to guns and knives.

Yes, and they can also be used to call worried parents and let them know that the M20 is running late because traffic is backed up at the Holland Tunnel. Unlike guns and knives, phones can be used responsibly and safely. They also have an "Off Button." Why must this be explained to a man that made his fortune in the tech sector?

There are a lot of problems with New York City Schools: inadequate funding, poor security, and large class sizes to name a few. Why not fix some of those before pursuing unauthorized wireless calling.

If you agree, sign this petition.

Are you ready for networked TV?  Er, of course you are, the market is already flooded with home entertainment networking products.  And here comes one more...  but this one is different.

DigitalDeck announced today that its home entertainment networking software and Media Connector hardware are available today for order ($499) on its corporate Web site. 

The system, billed as a complete home entertainment networking solution, allows you to network your PC with media devices (like DVD players, VCRs, stereos, and even security cameras) around your house via a wired home network.  The brain and storage hub of the network is a PC running Windows XP.  The Media Connector hardware can then link up legacy devices provided that they have audio and video outputs and an IR remote, which is how the Media Connector controls the device.  So you need need quite a few Media Connectors.  Once a device is connected to the network, the content it provides is available on any TV or PC that's also on the network, and a universal remote can be used to control it from anywhere in your house.  For instance, you can start watching a DVD in the living room.  Pause it.  Go upstairs to the bedroom, and resume the movie (by clicking play on the remote once you're upstairs). 

The system can also stream iTunes music around the house, even playing AAC files, as well as WMA.  MPEG-2 video is supported at 6 Mbps.  Plus, you can play .tivo files on the network, and even link into photostreams from Flickr.   The current system cannot network HD-quality content.  However, when I spoke to a company representative today, she assured me that it would be supported by the end of the year.

DigitalDeck does not officially offer a Web interface for remote programming control (like Slingbox).  Although, I did receive an unofficial tip that Orb Networks works really well for this purpose.  Wink.  Wink.  Nudge.  Nudge. 

I saw my first demo back at CES 2004 and was impressed enough to bring it on CNN for a Best Of CES segment.  Needless to say, I'm chomping at the bit to see the new system in action but I have to admit that I'm a little worried about video quality.  I'll fill you all in when I get my hands on some testing units.

Over the weekend, I took a little shopping trip through big box retail: that's Kmart, Wal-Mart, and Target (no, I couldn't find S-Mart). While Kmart is a great source of some things--inexpensive snack foods, cheap sneakers, pet supplies, heck, lots of things--it's not too great at the electronics. The few cameras I saw were trapped in giant glass cabinets, safe from theft I imagine.

That said, I did stumble across this little gem of a product, from O2-Cool: the iFan. Flavor Flav had his giant clocks; I've now got my giant iPod-looking fan. And while the design is a lawsuit waiting to happen, the strangest thing about it is it's very existence. Are there a great many people suffering the pangs of neck sweats? The bearded, perhaps, and the extremely obese... thoughts, anyone?

You already know about Bluetooth in the car for hands-free phone communication. Now comes a pair of car stereos with Bluetooth, not just for cell phone connectivity but also for wireless connections to music players: the Pioneer DEH-P9800BT ($550 street) and Premier DEH-980BT ($570).

Don't worry about reports elsewhere on the hot new Pioneer DEH-P810 that's so neat it's only offered to the Japanese home market. The DEH-P9800BT and DEH-980BT have the same key Bluetooth functionality, and the 256-by-64-pixel OLED display on our units is in English.

These two units are single-DIN (the common 2-by-7 inch opening for removable car radios) and can receive streamed Bluetooth audio via the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) and Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP). A handful of MP3 players have Bluetooth and support A2DP, such as the Samsung SBH300, as do some Bluetooth cell phones with music-playback capability (look for A2DP in the features list). Anycom Technologies offers a $120 iPod-to-Bluetooth adapter called BluNA.

Both Pioneer stereos have the usual music-playback abilities: They can handle standard CDs, as well as MP3, WMA, and AAC files. Also, you can plug in Sirius or XM Satellite Radio modules or a direct-connect Apple iPod; with any of the three, song and artist information appears on the 16-character display.

Bluetooth cell phone features include caller ID, hands-free operation (of course), and a voice-activated phone book. A rotary control handles many of the player and radio functions, partly resolving the issue of tiny buttons that are hard to use. The faceplates of the two stereos are virtually identical.

The difference between the two U.S. units is that the DEH-980BT has automatic equalization and a two-year (not one-year) warranty, for an extra $20. The prices may seems high when your garden-variety CD/MP3/WMA car stereo with satellite radio connectivity is less than $250, but adding a Bluetooth car kit (not just an earpiece) can run $300 for the kit and installation.

If you want to impress your date, either with how cool your car is or with mesmerizing sparkles, the 65,000-color OLED display can be tweaked to show engine RPM as a graph with peaks and valleys; a triple gauge comprising RPM, system voltage, and a sound meter as simulated analog gauges; or a digital three-pack of tachometer, voltage, and audio wattage.

Last night's season finale of Desperate Housewives was pretty intense, but I wish I had tuned in to ABC earlier, to witness the finale of Extreme Makeover: Home Editon as well.

Why? Not only did the Turner family from Irvington, NJ score a pinball machine, indoor basketball game, SkeeBall machine, and arcade racing game in the childrens' bedrooms, but all of the family members received products donated by NVIDIA.

Extreme Makeover chose to build the Turner's a new home not only because Beverly, a 54-year old mother suffers from myasthenia gravis--a neuromuscular disease--and raises 18 children with special needs, but also because their house burned down in a fire, causing them to be homeless.

NVIDIA donated and installed:
-2 custom-built NVIDIA SLI-ready desktop PCs with wide-screen flat panel monitors for the teenaged boys' room.
-a networked color printer, digital camera, and NVIDIA-based laptop computers, preloaded with educational, productivity, and entertainment-oriented software.
-a high-speed wireless network to access the Internet in any part of the home.

At least the children can grow up to be as geeky as we are! Now that's a happy ending.

Verizon will start selling the long-awaited Motorola Q smartphone on May 31 through their Web site, and through stores in June, according to an e-mailed press release I got today from the fabulously named Nicole Nolte. I'm getting the "Blackberry-killer" tomorrow, and I'll give it 48 Hrs. of hard-core testing before putting up a review as quickly as I can.

The Q is a RAZR-thin slab (11.5 mm thick) with a QWERTY keyboard and 320x240 screen that runs Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphones, and it will include Microsoft Office and PDF document viewers. The gadget doesn't have a touch screen, but it does have a Blackberry-style scroll wheel. It works on Verizon's high-speed EV-DO network for Internet access; it also has Bluetooth, but not Wi-Fi.

Verizon's service plans for the Q will be the same as their new plans for the Palm Treo 700p: $79.99/month for 450 minutes plus unlimited data, $109.99 for 1,350 minutes plus unlimited data, and $169.99 for 4,000 minutes plus unlimited data. All three plans also include unlimited in-network calling and unlimited nights and weekends.

My one big question: will the Q be upgradeable with Microsoft's Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP), allowing push e-mail from Exchange 2003 servers? Verizon's emphasis on their own Wireless Sync solution and on GoodLink push e-mail in the press release is a little ominous.

The Q will be $199.99 with a voice plan and two-year contract. That makes it $200 cheaper than the Palm Treo 700p, putting Palm under fire from some heavy Windows competition. My view? If the Q is as good as it looks, everybody wins. Check out Verizon's flashy Q Web site here.

Leave it to the folks at MIT to develop high-tech...toothbrushes? And not just any toothbrushes, but "toothbrush toys promoting good dental hygiene."

Instructor Barry Kudrowitz's Toy Product Design course created protypes of kid-friendly toothbrushes and toothpaste dispensers to get kids excited about dental hygiene. Tough job, huh? They actually came up with some really cool stuff.

Entries include a brush that dispenses a sticker every time you brush well, a toothbrush that lets you mix up your own flavors, and a even gravity-defying, magnetic Batman Batcave to hold dental supplies. An R2D2 holder that ejects a lightsaber toothbrush was voted the best product design.

The course worked with MIT Dental, Hasbro toys, and with the real expert themselves...2nd graders at a local academy.

Before you dismiss the significance of toothbrush technology, consider these findings from an MIT survey: "Toothbrush beats out car and computer as the invention Americans can't live without."