Looking to make the wild and not-entirely-wondrous world of printers exciting for the first time in decades, HP has just unveiled the "world's first web-connected printer." If you're wondering how it plans on accomplishing such an impossible mission, let us just say this: the Photosmart Premium is going the way of the widget. Up on the 4.33-inch front panel is Touchsmart Web, a touchscreen interface with several bundled, online apps to accommodate usual paper-friendly tasks such as printing Google maps, tickets from Fandango, coupons, recipes, Sudoku, etc. There's even a full-on HD Apps Studio just in case downloading new apps on one's printer really becomes the new hotness. The API's being made open for the entire realm of developers, but we have to wonder what kind of interest we'll see here. Pricing is set for $399, and if you're thinking "why not just buy a cheap netbook and plug it into my current model" we hear ya, but we get the impression this is aimed squarely at another crowd. Lots more details are just past the break.

Update: We just had a chance to try the printer / Touchsmart for ourselves. First off, surprise, the screen is capacitive touch, and it works well -- but only one finger at a time. We asked a rep about multitouch and were told that while technically feasible, it's not gonna be supported at this time. The widgets are created with a combination of HTML5 and Java, and much to our surprise, video streaming has been implemented. The Monsters vs. Aliens trailer we saw was decent resolution, but really, it's not a place where we need pristine quality. More screens in the gallery below.

Gallery: HP unveils Photosmart Premium with Touchsmart Web hands-on

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HP wants out of the camera manufacturing game. In what reads like a help-wanted ad, HP just announced that they are seeking an OEM to "design, source, and distribute" digital cameras under the HP brand. Instead, HP will refocus on its home photo printing and on-line photo services under its Print 2.0 strategy. So much for HP's rumored acquisition plans of Kodak, eh?

[Via DPReview]

What's a Thursday in June without nine new boringcams from HP to be totally underwhelmed by? We can't think of a better way to spend our morning than to sort through all these mundane Photosmart models, and if you have the patience feel free to join in on the fun. The cameras range from the $80 E337, which features a 5 megapixel sensor and a 1.5-inch LCD, all the way up to the R937 (pictured), sporting a 3.6-inch touchscreen and an 8 megapixel resolution, which goes for $300. In between is a vast wasteland of minor feature bumps and teensy aesthetic tweaks, but we've gotta hand it to HP for packing good amount of features into some fairly well priced cameras. Keep reading and all will be revealed.

HP's Photosmart R837 is exactly the most ambitious camera around, but according to PC Magazine, it has failed to live up to their already lowered expectations. Though "not an awful camera," they found it to be on the slow side in terms of performance and, most importantly, less than impressive when it came to image quality, with both still images and video displaying noticeable problems. On the upside, they did find the camera to be easy to use, and they had no complaints about the price. Given the competition form the likes of Casio's Exilim EX-S770, however, they were hard pressed to recommend the camera, slapping it with a mere 2.5 out of 5 rating.

In addition to their R837 pet shooter, HP also unveiled their Photosmart M537 and M437 point-and-shoot cams this morning. The M537 brings a 6 megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD and HP's steady photo anti-shake technology. The M437 drops the sensor to 5 megapixels and scales back the LCD to a wee 2-inches, otherwise it's the M537's feature equivalent. Both cameras can run off standard AA batteries if you want to make the little babies and Al Gore cry. Expected to hit the virgin hands of digicam noobs this April for $130 and $110 for the M537 and M437, respectively. Yeah, that's pretty cheap.

Prepare for an onslaught of digital camera news today as the big PMA show officially swings its doors wide. Out bright and early comes HP's new Photosmart R837. It packs a 7.2 megapixel CCD, 3x zoom, anti-shake, and 3-inch LCD with SD expansion and the ability to shoot VGA quality video at 24fps -- nothing less than ordinary in today's marketplace. However, this cam is here to take your desolate insecurities to a new level by offering a full range of HP touch-up technologies such as blemish removal, slimming effects, and get this: a new "pet-eye fix." Does it work? Oddly, yes. According to Laptop Magazine's review, the pet-eye fix made they eyes of their cats appear "lifelike, without the eerie glow." They go on to call the R837 a "solid choice" for first time digital shooters... and readers of Cosmo who compulsively frame photos of their cats, naturally. For just $229, even your lonely Aunt Betty can find friends on MySpace after the R837's April launch.

So even though Hewlett-Packard is "recalling" some 679,000 Photosmart R707 digital cameras (224,000 of which are in the US), there's no real need to panic, because instead of having to send your model back, performing a simple DIY firmware update will keep your shooter from becoming a flame thrower. Like so many other recalls of the past, this one also involves batteries that can potentially overheat and start a fire, but the problem only occurs if you feed power to the camera when it contains non-rechargeable batteries. Therefore, if you always use rechargeables in your R707, it sounds like you have nothing to worry about, but you single-use AA users shouldn't plug in your cams until you've completed the update, 'kay?

Among the 100 new products HP introduced today (we're not joking) are these four new Photosmart digital cameras, the R967, R827, M227, and E427. The R967 is the highest-end of the bunch, a 10 megapixel camera with a 3x optical zoom, 3-inch LCD, an anti-shake, and 32MB of internal memory -- price is $449. Next up is the $299 7.2 megapixel R827, packing an internal 3x optical zoom and a 2.5-inch LCD in an ultracompact body. Rounding out the entry-level side of things are the $229 7 megapixel M627 with a 3x optical zoom, and the $129 E427 with six megapixels and no optical zoom. All four will be available in September.

It's still seems a bit silly to be shooting 8 megapixel shots out of such a compact camera, but we're not going to stand in your way, and neither will HP with their flagship compact offering, the Photosmart R927. Besides the 8 megapixel CCD, the camera has a 3-inch LCD, along with HP specific software enhancements to help you get the most out of those 8 million pixels. The reviewer found the image quality solid, with "controlled noise" at ISO 400, good low light focusing, and HP's adaptive lighting functionality, though there were purple fringing problems that are evident when making large prints. The interface is easy enough for a grandparent to use, along with being easy to see on the 3-inch LCD. HP's image undelete, in-camera panorama stitching, and automatic red eye reduction software enhancements were all easy to use and fairly functional. After a brisk startup, the camera is a bit sluggish shot to shot, which is worsened by the red eye processing, but if you can deal with that, and the lack of an optical viewfinder or optical image stabilization, you might find this to be a pretty good cam for the roughly $400 price.