We're not
entirely sure of the purpose here, but
Kodak filed with the FCC
for a Bluetooth camera module that "is to be installed only by the professionals and used only with any product
produced by Kodak." Yes, this thing's internal -- normally they'd just file for a camera with the radio, but this
isn't the camera, this is the component. See why we're a little confused? So unless Kodak's going to start offering
Bluetooth upgrades for their point-and-shoot cameras (which would arguably cost in parts and labor more than the camera
itself), it's dubious this is anything more than a proof-of-concept for future, yet unearthed-in-the-FCC cameras, like
the one in which the device appears to be implanted (that dual-lenser that sure as hell aint a
V570, that much we can tell you).
[Via
MobileWhack]
posted Apr 2nd 2006 12:54PM
It sounds to me like they're filing this as a component so that they don't have to get a separate license for each camera model that supports BT in the future. Makes sense to me!
The article is too sceptical is for me. It'll be areally useful device if Ethan's suggestion is correct.
Um, that doesn't look like a dual lens camera to me. It looks like a camera with a centrally positioned viewfinder and a lens turned upside down. Twin lens reflex cameras are so 30s.
ahhh...camera porn
Err poster #3, Kodak has very recently released a dual-lens digicam so you'd be very wrong lol. One is for telephoto and one is for wider angles, so the camera can be very slim but still have a very wide total range.
Poster #1 has it right. By going through the FCC process of certification on this module, they set themselves up for being able to re-use it any many future cameras. The real news here is that they did the engineering themselves, instead of using an outside design, and that they apparently intend to support the Bluetooth standard long enough to justify the extra costs involved. For perspective, this regulatory step alone will probably cost them upwards of six figures (in US dollars) in various testing fees.
#8, yeah, I thought of that the other night when I used one of those kiosks. I doubt the stack will be just for kiosks, though; I'd bet it'll support printers, too, at the very least. In addition, it'll probably be able to send pictures to computers (that's how the kiosk works, in fact; it shows up as a "send me a file" endpoint). Even easier than EasyShare.
I'm hoping this will allow serial port bonding to a bluetooth gps unit streaming NMEA compatible coordinate information to add a location stamp next to the time stamp in the EXIF header. Oh please let it be so!