The Price: $300

The Verdict: The Stylus Tough 6000 is waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof to 5 feet, can withstand temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit. In this camera, Olympus even acknowledges the fact that its xD format is pretty much useless, and includes a MicroSD adapter, so you can buy a much more useful MicroSD card instead. (I used a 4GB SDHC one for this test, and didn't notice any performance holdbacks.)

As much as the puke yellow finish didn't really go over well with the rest of my ski party, it's easy to see in the snow, one of many characteristics that jive with Blam's key requirements for a good snow gadget. It did get a little scratched up as you can see in the gallery, but the scratches were superficial, and kinda made it look tough.

Besides sheer durability, Oly added some great UI enhancements. I typically don't give Olympus much credit for UI, but the main controls are straightforward and the icon-based menu is less confusing than the menu on most cameras.

I didn't have much trouble controlling the camera with heavy gloves on—the zoom buttons and scroll wheel are laid out correctly for that—but the UI addition that makes this a real Snowmodo contender is the tap control: You toggle between shooting and reviewing, and change flash and macro settings, just by tapping the sides and top of the camera. It sounds weird, and at first it's a little confusing, but it takes just minutes to figure out, and once you do, you'll love it.

One big problem I ran into was that video resolution and frame rate were both set, as a default, to the lowest specs (QVGA, 15fps). So the video you see below is a little choppy and low-res, in spite of the fact that I could've shot 30fps VGA. I didn't realize how bad my video was—and how much better it could have been—until after our days on the slopes had ended. The fact that there's no HD sucks in this day and age, but I am sure Oly will get there soon. BTW, someone a lot better (at skiing) than me shot this:

Camera wise, there were some great things and some not-so-good things. It's a basic 10-megapixel 3.6x optical zoom with a great wide-angle setting for one-armed self portraits and shooting in tight areas. I am partial to including the sun in outdoor shots because I like lens flares, but in this case, the optics were a little weird: During video shooting, the lens flare was a blinding bar, straight up and down, and in the still shot, I got the mushy pink flare you can in one of the following four sample shots:

And though the 6000 is good for most daytime outdoor shooting, it's no good indoors without a flash or tons of ambient light, meaning it's not the best choice for everyday use. To pay $300 for a camera you only use on vacations might sting a bit, but hey, if you're into destination-oriented pursuits like snorkeling and snowboarding, $300 for a great beat-around camera might sound pretty reasonable. [Olympus Product Page]

Snowmodo is our snow sport winter meet up at Lake Tahoe, with prizes, discounts, tons of fun snow activities, a party and GADGETS. If you can make it (and people are coming from TEXAS) please RSVP. I'll let you wear my hat (below).

Notice that extra button just behind the scroll wheel up top. Besides that, the whole thing's been smoothed out a bit. We'd like to get our hands on this pointer, but nobody's talking about when it might hit the streets. One thing's for sure, we really like Microsoft's mice and their associated drivers, and if Microsoft's previous releases are any indication, we expect this next version of the Laser Mouse 6000 to be an improvement. [iStartedSomething]

Jump to see what Microsoft has in store for your hands.

The WLM 8000 works together with the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 to provide an advanced, but costly, desktop experience.

The 8000 has a few special features like a Performance Slider that can lower your scan rate to extend battery life, an Instant Viewer button that shows you all your open windows, and Quick Charging, which charges the mouse in less than an hour and a half. It's also hand-neutral, which means it doesn't lean to the left like most ergonomic mice do—say, the Wireless Laser Mouse 6000—so lefties can use it as well as righties.

This mouse also docks into the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000's charging station, which means you only need one charger to power both devices. It will be $89.95 when it's released in October.

The Natural Laser Mouse 6000 has a thumb scoop to rest your biggest digit, two thumb buttons, and will be $79 when it's released in January 2007. Nothing special about this mouse, and looks pretty similar to older Microsoft ergonomic mice that have been released before.

The Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000, however, does a bit more. It works as a mouse (obviously), a slide presenter, laser pointer with digital ink and a media remote control. There are buttons for forward, back and full-screen on the bottom of the mouse, and you can use the laser pointer on the side for blinding potential business partners. You can also use the presentation buttons to play, pause or jump tracks in your DVD software or Windows Media Player. All this in a notebook-sized mouse, which actually looks much more comfortable than normal notebook-sized mice we've seen.

The Notebook Presenter Mouse will be available January 20007 for $59. – Jason Chen

Wireless Mouse 6000 Press Release [Microsoft]
Notebook Mouse Press Release [Microsoft]
Wireless Mouse 8000 Press Release [Microsoft]