The electronics industry is going ga-ga over 3D. By the end of 2010, we will have 3D in our televisions, 3D in our portable gaming devices, and — if Sharp has its way — 3D in our mobile phones. By way of press release, Sharp unveiled the world’s first HD-quality, 3D camera module targeted towards mobile devices, digital cameras, mobile phones, and smartphones. The module will utilize two separate cameras to take 3D images at 720P resolution, and multiple levels of software processing, to combine the left and right camera input into a single 3D image. The camera module is expected to start shipping in July with mass production slated for late 2010.Read

Samsung has decided to pull all stops on its latest digital camera — the ST5500. This point-and-shoot sports a 14.2 megapixel sensor, Wi-Fi, 100MB on-board memory and microSD card support. For those of you who are into video, you’ll be happy to know that you can shoot footage at 30 fps with a 1280 x 720 resolution as well, which should make for some smooth playback. The 7x optical zoom camera also has a large 3.5″ LCD touchscreen on the back so everything should be more intuitive with less clutter and less buttons. With Wi-Fi built in, you can even send pictures via email and load videos straight into websites like YouTube or Vimeo. No word on pricing, but look for it to hit store shelves sometime in Q1 2010.

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We’ve been dreaming about being able to take a picture of a place or thing, send it to Google and have the mother-of-all-search tell us what it is and where it is. And, it looks like that day has finally come with Google Goggles. With the new application for Android, you take a picture from your phone and Google uses it to search for the name of the place, location, or thing based on images it has stored in its database. It sounds crazy, but apparently there are billions of images in that database and the algorithm that Google is using for Goggles will only get better with time. Instead of having to type out the name of whatever it is you’re snapping a picture of, which can be tricky if you don’t know where or what it is or you don’t know how it’s spelled, you just take a snapshot with your phone and Google does the rest. Sounds easy enough, right? We’ve been messing around with it and absolutely love it, plus we kind of hinted at it a while back, too.

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Considering how much Apple loves to tout the iPhone 3GS’ video capabilities in TV ads, this rumor makes plenty of sense. One of TC’s sources in Asia claims Apple has ordered a tremendous number of cameras — the kind that go into the iPhone — and that an order of this quantity can only mean one thing: iPods. If the cameras are really intended for iPods and the iPod touch gets video recording capabilities, low-end digital camera manufacturers and specialty companies like Flip might have a bumpy road ahead. Sure the photo/video quality in an “iPod touchS” wouldn’t be anywhere near comparable to a dedicated device but what does that matter? Novelty beats out quality all the time in this day and age.

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Leave it to Sony to put 720p HD recording into the hands (or shall we say, the pocket) of the masses. Starting tomorrow the 29th, Sony’s latest addition to their Cybershot line of Point and Shoot cameras, the DSC-T500, will be available for pre-order. This 10-megapixel camera will record wide and full-screen 720p video at 30 frames per second in fine, standard and VGA recording modes. It also will support zoom while in the recording mode and will record in the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format. Up to 10 minutes of video (cool!) can be recorded at a time to a 16GB Memory Stick (lame!). Can’t decide whether you want to record video or images? No worries, you can do both. The camera has a mixed recording mode that allows you to record video and snap 3 photos at the same time without interruption. The T500 will also feature a 3.5 inch transflective LCD touchscreen, Carl Zeiss lens with 5X Optical zoom, and sensitivity up to ISO3200. It is expected to retail for approx $400 and will ship in Late September. Not too shabby for a pocket camera.

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