Spywriting by word of pen

You don't often spot companies that tout their products as being "incredibly normal-looking," but in this particular case, that feature is an asset. For you 007 types, witness the Digital Spy Camera Pen, a $69.95 digital camera disguised as a regular ol' pen. Its Clark Kentitude hides its 2MB of built-in memory that stores 36 VGA-quality 160 x 120 images in bitmap format. It's got a voice function that audibly speaks how many pictures have been taken, plus emits a "click" sound when a photo is taken — both of which we feel really does this thing in, rather. So much for the stealth factor. The other bummer? It only connects to your Windows PC (of almost any flavor) via serial port. It's not the speed that worries us, as you're not likely to hogging too much bandwidth with 160 x 120 pixel images — no, it's the chic factor. Can you really see James Bond toting a serial cable?

[Dimplemonkey @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Hmm..subpar spy pen camera, serial cable connection, no quiet mode...

this isn't for James Bond, it's for Inspector Gadget!

[Ciaran Gallagher @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

This is still cool. Holding up a pen to take a photo - that's cool. Another problem apart from those mentioned, what if someone mistakes it for a normal pen and starts biting it or sticks it in their mouths or starts throwing it up and down?

[crackhead @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Uhhh...doesn't "VGA quality" mean 640x480? This is only 1/4 VGA quality. Meh.

[Eion Murdock @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Actually, it's not. It's 1/4 the VGA resolution *in each axis*, which makes the total resolution 1/16th of VGA.
640x480 = 307200 pixels
160x120 = 19200 pixels
307200/19200 = 16

[Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Actually, it's only 1/16th VGA. QVGA is 320x240. Can't imagine something so low-res being of much use, if any.

[veniex @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

No quiet mode? Totally defeats the purpose.

[Kendall @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I wouldnt mind having this pin though, but with most things now days all u need your phone to always have a camera

[veniex @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

'Just found this baby on ebay for $34.99(buy it now price)...not bad at all.

[UFG @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I wish people would stop confusing resolution and quality, which are two completely separate things. VGA referrs to the size of the picture, not its quality.

[Zingus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

I wish people would stop believing "quality" exists as a different concept from "size" just because their photoshop tells them it does.

[Marcio @ Dec 19th 2005 1:22AM]

Wait, wait, wait.... a stealth cam with a distinctive "click" sound... I can see the scene "Hey ppl! Say cheese to my secret camera pen!!"

#1 is absolutely right, this IS a Inspector Gadget thing....