First Blu-Ray Disc Camcorders

Hitachi has introduced two versions of the world’s first Blu-ray disc camcorder. The DZ-BD70A is a single drive camcorder that can record approximately one hour of FullHD 1920x1080 high definition video on an 8cm single-sided Blu-ray disc (BD-R and BD-RE). The camcorder comes with an SD card slot for storing digital still photos at 4.32 megapixel resolution. The DZ-BD70A also allows video to be recorded in standard definition quality to DVD discs.

The second camcorder on offer is the DZ-BD7HA, a hybrid model. This means it provides the Blu-ray disc recording capability along with a 30GB built-in hard disk drive (HDD) that can record approximately four hours of 1920x1080 high definition video (HX mode) or up to eight hours of 1440x1080 high definition video (HS mode). Also, with the simple push of a button, it can copy the contents from HDD to BD within the camcorder itself.

For a presentation of these Hitachi BD camcorders, see http://av.hitachi.com/camcorder. The Hitachi DZBD70A will be offered at $1,299. The DZBD7HA is priced at $1,499. Both camcorders will be available in October.

Know What They Are Thinking

HCD Research and Slate Magazine’s “Slate V” are producing a web show, MediaCurves, that provides viewers with Americans’ perceptions of the week’s most controversial media events. MediaCurves is produced in a “point-counter-point” format, and features a host and two pundits. The host introduces a video clip of a controversial statement by a political figure, movie star or a sports personality. The conservative and liberal pundits view each clip and give their views on the segments. Next, the host re-introduces each video clip to show the results of a study conducted using the mediacurves.com methodology to obtain Americans’ views on the video. Watch it at www.slatev.com.

Extract It Faster

ESTsoft has released ALZip v7.0 beta, a zip archiving utility for Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista, with new features for faster extracting, updating and restoring backups. The new Speed Extractor functionality in ALZip gives users one-click extraction, making ALZip the fastest way to extract files from archives. ALZip is available in 25 languages and may be downloaded free for home users from www.altools.net.

New Device Helps Smokers Quit

It’s a step up from gum and patches. Next Safety’s (www.NextSafety.com) proprietary pulmonary drug delivery device delivers extremely high arterial levels of nicotine — with effects felt less than 10 seconds after inhalation. It is expected that the device will increase success rates for those who wish to quit smoking due to its ability to accurately mimic the delivery of nicotine from tobacco smoke. Tobacco is the second leading cause of death globally; 600 million people smoking today will die prematurely from their habit.

Roughly the size of a pack of cigarettes, the unit will be used in much the same way as current inhalers. Nicotine is supplied by replaceable cartridges that contain both the drug and electronically stored information to ensure safe dosing. Battery powered circuitry monitors the system to create and deliver an aerosol to the lungs at the optimal point during inhalation. The aerosol is delivered through a mouthpiece connected to the system by a flexible hose.

In addition to nicotine, Next Safety will be launching tests with the pulmonary drug delivery device that will include antibiotics (tobramycin), anti-emetics (promethazine), bronchodilators (albuterol) and narcotics (morphine).