Essentially, the EX-G1 is the type of camera you'd take with you when you go snowboarding. It's designed to withstand multiple drops from 7 feet, work underwater at depths of 10 feet for 60 continuous minutes, and has a number of action-shooting modes. It also records wide-format movies at 848 x 480 resolution (30 frames per second).

The EX-G1 will be $300 in December, and available in either black or red. Just in time for snow season.

Everything else on the EX-FH25 looks to be the same. Similarly, the EX-FC150 will keep its 5x optical zoom, and sensor-shift image stabilization. Both cameras will continue to do 720p video at 30fps.

The new models arrive in Japan on November 27th; we'll keep you posted on their U.S pricing and availability. I'm thinking it won't be too far behind. [Casio Japan (translated) via Akihabara News: EX-FX25 | EX-FX150]

From what we can tell, you have a buddy hold the EX-FS10 while you hit balls at the range or on the course. The camera takes a look at the angles of your swing posture, then it chastises you with fierce blue and red lines. (Meanwhile, your buddy will purely use profanity.)
Otherwise, the Casio Exilim EX-FS10 is a typical, 9.1MP camera with perks like 1000fps burst mode, 720P video recording and 3x optical zoom.

Believe it or not, this particular camera is already out in the US, but it's lacking the virtual golf pro. Only Japan gets that firmware feature. [Akihabara News]

• RIM BlackBerry Curve 2, before Black Friday
• RIM BlackBerry Storm 2, before Black Friday
• HTC Imagio, on October 20
• Samsung Saga 2, early November
• Samsung Omnia 2, early November
• Pantech TXT8030 Razzle, early October
• Casio C731 Rock, mid-November
• Casio C741 Brigade, late October
• Motorola V860 Barrage, "soon" (it's already available online in Verizon)
• LG VX8575 Chocolate Touch, first or second week of November

On the Android front:
• HTC Desire, which will be available before Black Friday. Note: This may be the Verizon Android phone sighted today, though Boy Genius says that might be called the Hero.

• Motorola Tao or Droid (possibly the phone currently codenamed Sholes?) will also be available before Black Friday.

The 12.1 megapixel EXILIM Zoom EX-Z280, likes its name leads, has a wide-angle 26 mm 4X optical zoom lens. From the pictures it looks to have a nice compact body and comes with standard features including a CCD-shift image stabilization mechanism and face detection function. Casio is also touting its high-speed image processing CPU, which allows it to run its EXILIM Engine 4.0 on the camera itself (that includes editing abilities, etc.). It can also shoot 720p. All in all, not too bad for under $200.

A bit more basic, the 10.1 megapixel EXILIM EX-Z33 has a 3X optical zoom lens. Meant for the beginner, it features an easy mode and though it won't shoot 720p you can record some YouTube friendly 640 x 480 resolution video. You can snatch this guy up in the colors of the rainbow, including black, light pink, darker pink, silver and blue. [Casio]

While Casio's projectors, just 4lbs and 1.7 inches thick at their widest point, actually have decent specs, they've traditionally started well over $1,000 and made their way into the 2s. Now the XJ-S43W is priced at $999, plus it adds WXGA (1280 × 800) widescreen—making the data projector ever so more entertainment friendly in your company's off hours.

Other specs include 2500 lumens, 1800:1 contrast, 2X zoom and HDMI in.

While pico projectors are on the rise (with subpar picture quality), Casio brags that their Super Slims are still the thinnest 2,0000-lumen projectors in the industry...which must be why the creepy hand wants to mate with one in our lead photo. [Casio Super Slim]

Other features include: a battery life of 1000 shots, a 3-inch LCD, CCD-shift image stabilization, max ISO 3200 sensitivity, dynamic photo function that coverts JPEGs into a motion movie file and 720p video recording capability at 30 fps. All in a package that measures under an inch thick. The Exilim EX-H10 will hit stores in July for $300.

CASIO RELEASES EXILIM HI-ZOOM COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA WITH ULTRA-WIDE ANGLE 24 MM, 10X OPTICAL ZOOM LENS

World's Thinnest and Lightest*1 Camera in its Class Features Battery Life of 1,000 Shots,*2 and an Advanced Dynamic Photo Function

DOVER, NJ, June 11, 2009 – Casio America, Inc. and its parent company, Casio Computer Co., Ltd., today announced the release of another groundbreaking digital camera, the EXILIM

Hi-Zoom EX-H10. With a thin, compact body and an ultra-wide angle 24mm, 10x optical zoom lens, this new model can take up to 1,000 shots*1 on a single battery charge - making it the perfect travel companion.

At the heart of the new EX-H10 is the EXILIM Engine 4.0, which delivers higher image quality and lower power consumption in an even more compact package. The new Engine's Multi-CPU*3 is specifically designed for high-speed image processing. Reflecting Casio's quest for perfection, the new camera provides the best in basic photography functions - beautiful imaging with reduced noise and long battery life for many hours of use. A high-performance 12.1-megapixel model, it also boasts a lens with outstanding optical capabilities - from wide angle to telephoto - and it features a number of Casio's totally original photographic functions.

Ultra-wide angle 24 mm, 10X optical zoom lens

Only Casio could find a way to pack a 10X optical zoom lens, large 3.0-inch monitor and a CCD-shift image stabilization mechanism into such a slim, compact camera body, just .95" thin, convenient for travel. With ultra-wide angle starting at 24 mm (35 mm film camera equivalent) all the way up to 10x telephoto zoom, the photographer is ready for any scene - from huge buildings and other wonders at tourist destinations to distant figures in a landscape.

*1. As of June 11, 2009, based on a Casio survey of digital cameras with a 10X or greater optical zoom lenses.

*2. When photos taken in accordance with Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) standards.

*3. A package comprising a high-speed dedicated image processing CPU in addition to the usual high performance CPU.

"The development of the ultra-wide angle 24mm continues Casio's dedication to creating digital cameras that are packed with innovative features and new technology," said Toshiyuki Iguchi, Senior General Manager of Casio's Digital Imaging Division at Casio America, Inc. "This new feature gives our camera enthusiasts the opportunity to capture their extraordinary moments in a variety of shooting environments."

Advanced Dynamic Photo function

Casio's original Dynamic Photo function, which creates composite moving images using the camera's own high-speed image processing technology, now does even more. When a moving subject is cut out of a number of images and combined with a different still shot that forms the background, the size of the subject can be changed to suit the background image. Next, the Dynamic Photo video can easily be converted in-camera into a Motion JPEG movie file. Moreover, moving graphics such as hearts and bouquets of flowers are included so that users can have fun decorating their still images using the Dynamic Photo function. Casio not only allows users to have fun taking and viewing photos, but also provides innovative new ways for them to create original images, right on the camera.

1,000-shot long battery life

Casio has reduced energy consumption by improving the circuitry and operational controls and designing a higher capacity battery, enabling the user to take 1,000 shots on a single full charge. The EX-H10 provides a convenient solution for people on the go. It's possible to take 100 pictures every day of a 10 day vacation, without ever needing to recharge, eliminating the need to pack a charger. The long-life battery gives users approximately 11 consecutive hours of viewing on a single charge.

New Landscape Mode

The EX-H10 also features a new Landscape Mode for capturing beautiful scenic photography. Unlike earlier landscape photography modes, which enhance the saturation of an entire hue, users can now select between the Vivid Landscape option that uses image analysis to determine and vividly enhance only the most important colors in the landscape or the Mist Removal option that makes weather-affected misty scenes look clear and bright.

The new camera will begin shipping to retail in mid July. The EX-H10 will have an MSRP of $299.99 and will be available in black.

Exilim is Casio's digital camera line, so when they've branded a phone with the name, you know the lens is going to get some attention. Who knows if the pictures look good (the camera line is not particularly well-reviewed) but it's got autofocus, an image stabilizer, and video recording, so it's likely one of the better phone cameras out there. Otherwise, you've got the standard Verizon features (VZ Navigator, visual voicemail, V Cast Music) in a rotating flip phone package that just happens to meet military standards for durability.

It's available today online, though at the very steep price of $279, and that's after a mail-in rebate and with a 2-year contract. That's more expensive than every one of Verizon's BlackBerry offerings and, in fact, the third-most-expensive phone in Big Red's lineup. Press release below. [Verizon]

RUGGEDIZED CASIO EXILIM WITH 5.1 MEGAPIXEL CAMERA NOW AVAILABLE FROM VERIZON WIRELESS

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and NEW YORK – Verizon Wireless and Casio introduce the Casio® EXILIM, a picture perfect blend of digital camera functionality and entertainment features for the adventure seeker. The Casio EXILIM boasts a 180-degree rotating display, professional 5.1 megapixel camera and access to instant messaging, Visual Voice Mail and V CAST Music with Rhapsody.

Available color: Black and champagne

Key features:

· Meets military specifications 810F standards for: water (immersion and rain), humidity, salt-fog, shock, vibration, dust, solar radiation, altitude, and low and high temperature storage

· Camera and video capabilities –

o 5.1 megapixel auto focus camera with flash and optical 3x zoom

o Resolution adjustment: 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 160 x 120

o Dedicated camera/video key

o Video capture and playback

o Best shot mode: off, person, scenery, night view, person and scenery, twilight, food, character, sports, party, monotone, sepia, reverse, high sharpness, high contrast and vivid

o Image stabilizer

o Auto focus: off, single point AF or 9 point AF

o Perspective adjustment

o Self timer: off, three, five or 10 seconds

o White balance: auto, sunny, shade, tungsten and fluorescent

· Supports up to 8 GB of optional removable memory (microSD™ card sold separately)

· Bluetooth® profiles supported: headset, hands-free, dial up networking, stereo, phonebook access and object push (for vCard/vCal)

Lifestyle features:

· VZ NavigatorSM-capable – customers can get audible turn-by-turn directions to more than 15 million points of interest and share the directions with others

· Visual Voice Mail – customers can delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions

· V CAST Music with Rhapsody – customers can choose from more than 4 million songs to download over the air; get the master copy of the songs on their PCs; and sync favorite tracks, albums and playlists from their PCs to their phones using a USB cable

Price and availability:

· The Casio EXILIM is available for $279.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

· VZ Navigator is available for $2.99 daily access, and Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 monthly access. Other charges may apply when downloading or using applications.

· Customers can purchase the Casio EXILIM beginning today online at www.verizonwireless.com or in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores. For additional information on any Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go online to www.verizonwireless.com.

The information that they manage to get across in the first ad is that the phone is waterproof resistant, has a 5.1-megapixel camera and will be carried by Verizon. It looks like a sort of photography-oriented G'zOne, which would actually make it an attractive phone for outdoorsy/extreme sport types.

The second ad is a 31-second gag about ejaculating on a lady's face. [Gearlog]

[Note: For anyone who isn't sure that this ad is real, consider that the phone—an Exilim C721—hasn't even been officially announced yet, much less released. It's not a professional ad by any means, but Casio almost had to have a hand in it.]

The Price: $350

The Verdict: It's got some picture-quality flaws as a still and video camera, but its unique attributes make it something you may want to have a look at, especially if you think you're better than Tarantino at crafting a slow-mo scene.

Similar to the more expensive, chunkier EX-F1, the EX-FC100 has three modes, but this time, they're 210, 420 and 1000 frames per second. It's fewer frames than the big boy, but it gets the job done. It's even got the "she walked into the room" setting, with a standard 30fps jumping to 210 to punctuate a particular moment in time, then back to 30 to signal that the moment has passed. Same caveats apply: The lowest setting has a much higher resolution than the 420, which is in turn higher than the 1000. Also, slow-mo shooting at 420 and 1000 require too much light to use them in anything but brightly lit rooms, or better yet, outside. And any indoor shooting is pretty much noisy as hell, whether you jack the ISO up to 1600 yourself, or let it do it automatically.

Like the EX-F1, the EX-FC100 also has continuous-burst shooting so you can get at least one perfect shot out of 30 in a split second, and you can even set it to remember shots from before you press the shutter. Other tricks like this include a "move in CS"shot, where you can set the camera to take a burst when something flies into the shot, and a "move out CS" shot, for the opposite. The camera has a continuous-burst toggle button on its top next to the shutter button which may be convenient for some, but that I found annoying. I kept entering CS mode when I didn't want to.

I was fairly happy with the low-light still shooting indoors—it's definitely better than the Olympus I recently tested, though I wouldn't think it would come close to a typical Canon Digital Elph. What I like about the EX-FC100 is that it has a very cool trick for making any questionable shooting environment slightly better: There's a little button that just says "SLOW" on it that, when pressed, gives you "slow motion view"—a slideshow of the best shots taken in a three-second window, that you can pick from by just clicking your shutter. Aim the camera at your moving, potentially unfocused subject, click SLOW, and then see a series of shots will appear, hopefully one nice and clear one. I haven't figured out how to really control slow motion view, but I like it.

Now, about those picture-quality problems. One big one is noise. Lots of shots are noisier than hell, a typical Casio problem, one that you can mitigate a bit manually by adjusting your ISO. You can see how manual adjustment affects shots:

But most important, how is the quality of that crazy SLOW-MO VIDEO? As you can see, outdoor shooting is a lot nicer than indoor shooting, no matter how cute the cat:

All in all, it's a cheaper way to get some slow motion in your life, and some of those other shooting tricks are original and unique enough to make the camera worth considering. But if you just want nice pictures, indoors and out, we wouldn't exactly make fun of you if you said, "Oh, I think I'll just go with the Canon instead." [Casio product page]

First, How Slow Motion Actually Works
Understanding the basic principle of slow motion is helpful for both properly following and bending the format's rules, so bear with me for just a second. The film effect has its origins in overcranking—in the early days of film, camera operators literally cranked the film reel when shooting a scene. By cranking the reel faster, they saw their films projected more slowly.

Why? That's where we get to the basic premise of slow mo. Slow motion captures a bunch of pictures very fast—at least 120 images per second, and often 300 or more. Meanwhile, video typically plays back at an eyeball-friendly 24-30 frames a second.

So when you play back those 300 fast images at the speed your eye is happy with, you have a huge excess of images. Your 300 images may have been filmed in one second of real shooting, but they will last for 10 seconds on screen—slow motion is born.

And while digital video has traditionally struggled in capturing the high frame rates necessary for true slow motion, many new cameras work just like overcranking, shooting hundreds of lower-resolution pictures per second. The tips here concern cameras and camcorders capable of high speed frame rates—not just cameras from Casio, but camcorders from Samsung and JVC, a Japan-only camera from Ricoh and LG's Viewty cameraphone. This is not about slowing down your regular-speed footage in some kind of video editor.

1. Use Lots of Light
When you shoot slow mo, you are taking pictures quickly. And when you take pictures quickly, light has less time to create an image in your camera. Shoot in plenty of light, or you will get dark and gloomy slow-mo.

In real terms, that means that super high-speed shooting might not work indoors. On the Casio EX-F1, for instance, you can shoot 300fps indoors, and maybe 600fps if you're near a window, but you can't pull off its 1200fps setting without adding bright light. For the same reason, night shooting may very well be out of the question, depending on your particular rig and just what you expect from the image in terms of detail—artsy stuff may be fine, but don't expect to film a hummingbird under the soft glow of the moon.

2. Mind Your FPS
As stated above, slow motion really doesn't work very well on camera systems not designed for it in the first place. So if your camera only shoots 24 or 30 frames per second of video, your slow motion will be merely faked by whatever editing software you use. (It'll suck.) This is about capturing life you normally can't see: The flitting of a bug's wings, the popping of a water balloon, the fleeting microexpression of joy or pain on a person's otherwise complacent face.

Choosing the right frame rate for your subject is of vital importance. Here's a chart with exemplary clips to get you started:
120fps: Baseline slow motion, just a quarter the speed of real life; it's the go-to speed for sports replays



300fps: Good for narrative slow motion like walk scenes, love scenes and displays of manliness (see aforementioned Top Gun)




600fps: The beginnings of slow-mo porn, human movement becomes less narrative, more anatomical





1000-1200fps: Human subjects move too slowly for this rate, now you're into explosion mode; 1200fps is the fastest Casio's EX-F1 can shoot




5,000-10,000fps: Bullet-time explosions, shards of glass split and float in the air...and you can see the intricate design of lightning. Storebought cameras can't do this—yet

3. Think Outside Stabilization
You're always better off shooting on a tripod for optimum clarity, but if there's one time you can really stretch your imagination with shooting video, it's slow motion. Because you are shooting so many frames in such a limited space, you can take advantage of time stretching to make video appear more stable.

So not only can you shoot most slow-mo clips without a tripod, but you can even toss your camera in the air to try that crazy shot you wanted. It might not come out, and you might want to insure your camera first, but why not push the limits? We're talking 300-1200 frames per second. That's a lot of room to fudge things.

4. Compensate for Slow-Motion Side Effects
The downside to shooting in slow mo is that you almost always end up with more footage than you need. Remember, six seconds of shooting produces one minute of video at 300fps, two minutes at 600fps. Some cameras let you trim your clip right there on the spot, and you should take advantage of it, as it frees up wasted memory, too.

Another issue is aspect ratio. As the frame rates go up on the Casio EX-F1, they get longer, slimmer and lower in resolution. At 1200fps, you get strips of video 336x96. Our friend Robert Woodhead made up for this in his Mentos and Diet Coke video by stitching four vertically oriented videos together in Final Cut.

The final problem with slow mo is sound, as in, there is none. That's the reason you often hear music playing over clips. It's not necessary to add music, though clearly Tarantino enjoyed that part.

Still, the ultimate reality about slow-motion shooting is that it's surprisingly simple with today's equipment—not necessarily any more difficult than normal video if you are shooting with enough light. Until this meme is done (and in our book, it most certainly is not), go out there and shoot with confidence. It's an interesting artistic medium that's just become democratized to the public, so let the whoring commence.

Today's Slow-Motion Cameras, Camcorders and Cameraphones
• Casio Exilim EX-F1
• Casio Exilim EX-FH20
• Casio Exilim FC-100 and FS-10
• JVC Everio X
• Samsung HMX20
• Ricoh CX1
• LG Viewty

If you liked these camera tips, check out our guide for getting started with a digital camera.

Here's a sampling of user interfaces across compact cameras from every major digital camera maker: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Casio, Olympus and Fujifilm. User interfaces matter in these cameras more than ever because they're increasingly the major way you drill down to change settings or switch modes—rather than manually cranking a dial, like on a pro DSLR. Some are pretty good (Canon, Samsung) while some are pretty bad (Casio).

The better ones tend to use a list or grid style, where everything is clearly laid out and easy to access, and more UIs seem to be trending toward the branching list model—when you highlight something, you can see its parameters underneath it. Fonts are rough on some but clearly polished on others. This is a make-or-break issue, since quick visibility is key when you shift from a button UI, or a visual one that only relies on icons.

Canon actually now has two sets of user interfaces: The old one you're used to if you've used Canon lately, and a totally new one that they're rolling out on two of their new cameras. It's slicker, with pop out animations and a more modern font, but I think a bit more confusing since it doesn't show you everything at once. It uses a list style for displaying settings. Once you get the hang of it, though, it's a solid UI.

Nikon has a few different UIs, but the style isn't even consistent within one camera. Oddly, its touchscreen camera shares its ugly UI with some of their other cameras, with few, if any tweaks to make it touch-friendly. It's only Nikon's second-gen touch camera, but its meh UI stands in contrast to the pretty capable one on their DSLRs.

Sony, too, uses the same UI on their touchscreens as they do on their non-touchscreen cameras. It works about as well in touch as it does on non-touch cameras—which is better than Nikon's I feel, since it uses a cross bar type of GUI that Sony's good at. Maybe slightly bigger buttons would help. Overall, Sony's is one of the nicer camera UIs—not terribly confusing.

Too much stuff happens on the back of their cameras, but Panasonic's touch UI seems 'specially designed for fingers, with big, finger-friendly options. (I didn't notice it on their other cams, so I think it was just for the touch FX580, but I could be wrong.) Their standard non-touch UI isn't too bad—I'd put it in the middle of the pack.

Olympus goes with a unique icon style, but it's pretty confusing in terms of trying to get to stuff quickly or navigate backwards and forwards, since you don't know what becomes before or after something in the hierarchy, conceptually speaking. That said, it looks better than the messy menu on the back of their latest DSLR.

Casio has the worst UI out of any camera I checked out. It's cluttered, tiny, ugly and every other sin in the book.

Basic, boring, not particularly helpful.

I mentioned how much I liked Samsung's list UI on the TL320 earlier. It's straightforward, easy to navigate and looks pretty good. When you highlight something, its sub-settings pop up as a list on the right, so you know what you'll be adjusting when you drill down a level. Their other UI isn't quite as good, but it's also fairly straightforward, if slightly more cluttered.

Here are all the touch UIs together. You'd think Panasonic's was the best, except it's wildly inconsistent about when you can touch a menu item and when you can't. So Sony wins by a nose. Weird, Sony winning a UI battle, I know. Nikon's touch interface is just too grotesque to be considered.

Camera UIs can definitely get better, and really need to, because it's clear that the feature-bloat train isn't going to slow down anytime soon. But it's a tricky balance: How do you simplify a user interface for quick, easy access to functions while containing the smorgasbord of new features crammed into every generation of cameras? Can you even make a truly usable touch camera? Uneasy questions without easy answers.

PMA is an annual show where we get to see tomorrow's digital cameras—the ones that'll be populating pockets and purses for the rest of the year.

Yes, that's right, it's her fault the used, broken camera they sold to her as new was all screwed up. At first, Best Buy had said whatever photos were already on the camera were just demos placed there by Casio. But, recovering the folder of pictures that came on the camera his mother-in-law had deleted to make room for his son using PhotoRescure Expert, Michael found a weird series of photos, like "a black woman sitting seductively on a bed with the camera box." And then the real kicker: shots of a Geek Squad employee.

Now, Best Buy says it was all just a big miscommunication. Uh huh.

It's an epic tale—read the full part 1 and part 2 over on Michael's blog. [Michael Barrett via Consumerist]

The PRX-2000T weighs in at a scant 105 grams, and is a mere 11.3mm thick. Crammed in that tiny space is a triple sensor that measures temperature, altitude, compass direction and pressure. The watch also receives signals from each of the six time calibration signals used around the world.

It will be available in Japan starting April 1 for about $1,000. Stateside trekking with this titanium/carbide coating watch could come a bit later [CrunchGear]

The Exilim slow motion EX-F1 isn't new anymore, but it's still one of the most fun cams out there. What's key for me is the switch to quickly jump from 30 to 300fps, which I've mapped to the focus ring.

The song is These Days from the Royal Tenenbaums Soundtrack, which is one of my favorite movies. [Amazon]

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).

The Price: $179

The Bottom Line: The Boulder's main area of expertise is surviving the elements. It's mil spec rated against water resistance, tested through driving rain, dust, shock and even submersion for 30 minutes a meter deep. During that time underwater, you can even accept calls and take photos. (Full details on mil spec ratings below.) It's a solid phone for the outdoors man, but in my experience, there are a few flaws. First off, as I said in my rules for winter gear, the buttons are ridiculously hard to press with fingers, let alone gloves. The push to talk function works but only as long as you're in range of a celltower, so don't confuse these with two way radios you can use in the back country. The speakers for the PTT function or speakerphone are covered if you hold it in your hand. The phone comes with a dock, but not a lanyard or clip or anything to keep you from losing it out of a pocket you forgot to zip on a powder day. Hypothetically. (Or not.) The digital compass is COOL and the LED has a flashlight mode. The camera is terribly blurry and the video is worse at qvga res of 176 x 144 resolution. And call quality is ok. The phone survived driving snow, dunks in water, being frozen in a block of ice, and tossed onto ice, lightly, but with a hint of malice. It would not die, and made calls all the while. (It accepted calls while frozen in a block of ice, and the cold didn't kill the battery!)

It's tough, maybe tougher than it needs to be, considering that there are other limitations to its usefulness as an outdoor tool, namely battery life, which was standard. I don't know when I'd take this phone out where it would take the abuse it can take, daily, in exchange for its 2003 feature set. If you're using this as an outdoor athlete, you probably don't need this phone. If you work on ski patrol, or as a ranger, sure, this phone makes sense. As does it for a professional sailor, police officer, etc. Rather than being a great outdoors tool for recreational use, even serious recreational use, I'd say it makes more sense for those who will face challenging conditions, yet be close enough to civilization to charge up and always have reception. Me, when I'm in the city, I don't go outside. And when I'm outdoors, I hate fiddling with most gadgets. I'll just lock a smartphone in the car or leave it stashed in my bag in a ziplock, or something. But that's just me. This phone is impressive and worth a look if you spend your working day damp.

Boulder Military Standards Testing, From Amazon.com:

The G'zOne Type-S passed all of the following tests, performed in accordance with Military Standards 810F, with all ports (battery, headset and charging) on the phone closed:

* The Water Resistance test was performed in accordance with Method 506.4, Procedure I. The G'zOne Type-S was subjected to this test with the handset open and closed, but with ports closed for 30 minutes on the front of the unit and then 30 minutes on the back of the unit. The test was designed to simulate rainfall of 2 inches per hour with a 40 MPH wind.

Result: The G'zOne Type-S showed no visible evidence of damage or deterioration caused by testing.

* The Humidity test was performed in accordance with Method 507.4. The G'zOne Type-S tested for operation after the conclusion of the tenth cycle. Each cycle was 24 hours and the entire test was performed over ten days. The temperature was cycled between 86 and 140°F with the relative humidity at 95 percent constant.

Result: The G'zOne Type-S showed no visible evidence of damage or deterioration caused by testing.

* The Drop test was performed in accordance with Method 516.5, Procedure IV. The G'zOne Type-S was sequentially dropped in non-operating mode, onto each face, edge and corner for a total of 26 drops from a height of 1.50 meters (4.9 feet). The drop surface was defined as two-inch-thick plywood over a steel plate over concrete.

Result: The G'zOne Type-S powered on.

* The Dust Resistance test was performed in accordance with Method 510.4, Procedure I. A temperature of 95°F was used for this test. Silica flour as defined by the test standard was used. Devices are given a passing grade when moving parts are not bound or blocked and if the unit powers on.

Result: The G'zOne Type-S showed no visible evidence of damage or deterioration.

* The Immersion test was conducted in accordance with Method 512.4, Procedure 1, with the handset immersed in water for a period of 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter with ports closed.

Result: The G'zOne successfully powered on with no visible evidence of damage or deterioration.

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).

The screen swivels around a central hinge to hide the phone's regular numerical keyboard. Through a Yamaha piano app program, you can also play and record various other instruments on-the-go. Sounds like a fun concept, but it's hard to tell if the phone's specced out enough to handle that kind of program smoothly.

Also included in package: motion sensing, an "urban fitness program," a 5MP camera and 500MB of internal memory. Per usual, only available in Japan for now. [KDDI au]

Palm Pre : Number one with a bullet. If we told you three months ago that Palm would own CES, would you have believed us? But this phone is for real, and from the looks of it right now, it very well could be the morale lift Palm so badly needed.

And the rest, in no particular order:

Samsung BD-4600 Blu-ray Player: Wall-mountable, networked, 1.5-inches thick, and really, really nice looking.

Samsung Luxia LED TV Lineup: Samsung loosed a whole series of ultra-thin, LED-backlit, network-connected LCDs, winning the Battle of the TV Announcements hands down.

Vizio Connected HDTVs: These Vizios stream just about everything possible over wireless-N: Amazon, Blockbuster and Netflix VOD, Pandora, Flickr, Rhapsody, plus any other Yahoo web widget.

Sony Vaio P: Sony's Vaio P is something we haven't seen before: a 2.08:1 aspect ratio (1600x768) on a 1-inch thick portable. Something different in the very, very generic netbook field.

Casio 1,000fps Point and Shoot Cameras: Both the EX-FC100 and the EX-FS10 bring the EX-F1's slo-mo capture goodness to a point and shoot. Casio's still the only folks in the super slo-mo field, and they're continuing to kill.

LG's GD910 Watch Phone: It was a non-working, behind-the-glass prototype last year, but one of every gadget head's boyish dreams will come true later this year: A watch that's a phone.

Eee Keyboard: Asus took the crazy cake with their still-shadowy home theater keyboard. With an onboard processor (of some kind), a touchscreen and keyboard and wireless HDMI, it makes perfect sense as a unique home-theater machine.

Sony Cyber-shot G3: We're all about putting web browsers on as many things as possible, and Sony's found another way to get one into our pants: A super-slim wi-fi-equipped Cyber-shot G3 that's the world's first to surf the web.

Panasonic Portable Blu-ray Player: Panasonic's DMP-B15 is the world's first portable Blu-ray deck. Your laptop probably doesn't have a BD drive, but this will ensure you can watch hi-def 1080p on a tiny, tiny screen on your next flight.

And there you have it. Good stuff you may or may not be able to afford in '09? Disappointment of disappointments? Discuss.

• Also out CES day two's Best of the Rest.
[CES 2009]

You basically just take a video and then take a still shot of the background. The camera then is able to cut the subject out of the background and place it on any other background you'd like. At the press conference they demonstrated the function against a perfectly white background, which obviously produced very clean results, but who knows how well it'll work against a less uniform background. But really, it's a pretty easy way to do pretty basic green screen work without even dumping the video out of your camera.

Dynamic Photos will be available in the upcoming EX-FC100. I weep for how this will be used in the future.