Miniature wearable Bluetooth camcorder

I don't know about the video and sound quality of this little bluetooth camera, but it seems like it would be fun to use when you are riding a bike, hiking, or engaged in some other activity you would like to record. It's on sale for $70 including shipping. Here's a video from the manufacturer.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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The Snowden Principle

eyebeam

Looks cool, until it falls off your ear.
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

Now. We will be nice to one another, else internet.

And here all along I’ve been told if we all carried firearms we would be nice to one another.
Halloween_Jack

I saw this a while ago, and was disappointed that there wasn’t a model for the opposite ear (I have single-sided hearing loss). It looks like there’s one now, the LX2, which at least according to the pictures on the Amazon page looks as if it works with either ear, but some of the reviews leave me wondering about general build quality. Shame, as it does look as if it would be a decent alternative to helmet-mounted cameras while cycling.
- joe blough
  
  the LX1′s earpiece rotates 180 degrees so you can wear it on either ear. i’ve worn one on both ears simultaneously.
http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith

First we had the Russian dash cams, now its Russian ear cam.
semiotix

Especially clever for semi-surreptitious recordings of the mild-to-severely antisocial sort, since seeing someone with a bluetooth phone headset is a very strong social cue to LOOK AWAY FROM THIS SCHMUCK AND DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT.

Which is kind of funny, since it’s a perfectly legit technology and the days of people screaming into space while giving the world the thousand-yard-stare have mostly passed. But I still have to actively force myself not to pointedly look away from someone wearing one. And I suspect that reaction will be exploited by some of the early adopters.
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

Kind of dopey looking, no?
- joe blough
  
  the design cue was the P&W JT8D jet engine, as found on 727s
- jhavatar
  
  just look at it
CCinBmore

Seems like a nice solution for surreptitious recording – looks like a slightly oversized Bluetooth headset yet…

O’Keefe and his minions will love it. (If this comes back to bite someone in the ass, I never suggested it. Agreed?)
starfish and coffee

If it could handle UK weather without extra casing it might be worth the price. Anyone?
http://www.fogbound.net libelle

I was at a training class where one of the students wore one. He said it helped a great deal if he got distracted taking notes, he could come back and revisit that part of the lecture. I’m not sure how much better it would be than a purely audio recording, unless you get enough resolution to see what the lecturer is writing.
Matthew Toney

It actually comes with several attachments, including one for attaching it to the brim of a ballcap. (which works nicely – very little chance of it falling off with that one)
- joe blough
  
  the LX2 comes with all that stuff, the LX1 does not.
http://twitter.com/Bashtarle Bashtarle

Ok I think I would wear that thing everywhere and record everything at all times…. ok almost everything sans the obvious

Also in before things like this catch on (people making laws finally realize things like this exist) and are promptly banned almost everywhere. Should make for some interesting quick post youtube arrest vids tho.

Officer “Give me that camera”
Passer by “Sure but its already on Youtube”
The Tim

“Video Capture H.264 – 320 x 480″

No wonder it’s so cheap. Ick.
- joe blough
  
  problem was (and is) there is not enough bandwidth on bluetooth to stream the preview unless the resolution was low. the video records to an internal SD card but you’d never be able to frame your shot if it were higher res. and as it stands the preview is choppy leading people to think that the recorded video is going to be choppy as well.
  
  yeah, it’s not the best.
Melted Crayons

“It was fun until I walked into a McDonald’s in France…”
oodja

Just in case anyone’s keeping score, we’ve caught up to Star Trek again: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Unnamed_Humans_(23rd_century)?file=Head-mounted-video-camera.jpg
http://forresto.com/ Forrest O.

I wonder if it can be hacked to automatically bookmark the buffer based on heartrate.
Wordguy

I saw a demo of the new models at the Looxcie booth at gdgtLive in Boston last week. The features are pretty slick, but it’s definitely not HD quality. It should be fine for video conferencing or making tutorial videos.
feetleet

In Soviet Russia, camera wears you.
Mark Lyon

The LX2 model isn’t much more expensive and is less obtrusive. I use it when walking in NYC around protests, etc. The continuous loop of video is quite helpful – you just record everything and then go back and pull out important clips.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055QYIY8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0055QYIY8&linkCode=as2&tag=marlyo-20
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-Miller/100000952005408 Bruce Miller

Wife beaters beware? Social changer? Smaller higher resolutions coming soon? Rough cops on notice?