Despite new cameras being riddled with borderline useless features and modes, useful functionality like automatic geotagging is getting little love from the big players. All the more reason for third parties to sneak in and make a few bucks, and ATP certainly seems to be on top of it. We liked the idea of the company's PhotoFinder, but that base station looked like needless desk clutter. The new PhotoFinder Pro does away with it, featuring an integrated SD, Memory Stick, and MMC card reader. Just sync up the clock in the unit with that of your shooter, clip it onto your camera bag for a day of scenic photography, and then pop your card in before downloading the pics that night. It'll automatically add coordinates to each photo's EXIF information, drastically reducing the likelihood of future spousal arguments about the whereabouts of certain Kodak moments. That sounds like a beautiful thing, and at $119 a good deal, too.

Update: Dan commented to point out that, with the help of an external USB card reader, the PhotoFinder Pro can also tag pics on CF, xD, or any other FAT/FAT32 formatted cards you might have sliding around in the bottom of your junk drawer.

[Via Photography Blog]

You know that video mode you haven't used since first bought your compact point and shoot? Right, the one that does 720p HD video if you've purchased a camera within the last 6 months? Well, Eye-Fi's back to remind you that it's now selling its $99 Eye-Fi Explore Video (with geotagging) and $79 Eye-Fi Share Video SDHC cards nationwide. They've also enabled video sharing with Picasa, Photobucket, and SmugMug in addition to Flickr and YouTube. The result is dead-simple, un-edited direct-to-internet video sharing without the need for a tethered computer. Of course, these cards work equally well for dumping your films and photos over WiFi to your Mac or PC at home -- but why live your life in a bubble?

Wouldn't you know it? That leaked Garmin Oregon 500 is indeed a real, bona fide product, and it's on sale now for argonauts over in the UK. The outdoorsy navigator officially boasts a rugged 3-inch sunlight-readable touch panel (400 x 240 resolution), a tough, waterproof casing, a built-in electronic compass, barometric altimeter (seriously!), AA battery support, USB connectivity, a microSD card slot and a bundled carabiner clip to really set it apart. Oh, and there's also an integrated camera for automatic picture geotagging, which seems to be a pretty rare commodity in GPS units these days. We're not quite sure it's rare enough to justify the lofty £353.97 ($519) price tag, but thankfully that's not our call to make.

[Thanks, Jordan]

The problem with Sony's previous world's smallest pistol-grip Full HD camcorder -- the HDR-TG1 aka, the TG3E -- wasn't size, it was usability. So we're happy to hear that Sony's TG5 counts a tweaked UI among its updates. And although Sony doesn't say in the press release, the TG5's touch-panel looks far more sensitive (capacitive maybe?) than that of the previous generation's finger bender. The other improvements are GPS to geotag your media (assuming your software supports it), Navteq maps, improved image processing, smile shutter technology, and 16GB of built-in storage (up from 8GB) all riding inside a slightly smaller and lighter chassis. Other specs remain unchanged: 1920 x 1080 AVCHD video, 2.7-inch touchscreen display, and a 10x optically stabilized zoom exposing a 2.4 megapixel CMOS sensor. Expensive? Oh most definitely: $1,000 starting in May. Check the video after the break.

[Via CNET]

Sony last upgraded its CS1 GPS image tracker around this time last year, and as PMA 2009 draws ever closer, we're seeing the outfit quietly introduce that unit's proper successor. The GPS-CS3KA takes on a slightly more modern design and promises compatibility with nearly every Cyber-shot digital still camera and Handycam camcorder out there. Essentially, the utility here is the same as before -- keep it on your person while shooting, then let the Picture Motion Browser software sync up data with the time stamps on your photos. Once done, you'll get a nifty Google Map showing where you photographed each image. This unit also sports dual MS / SD card slots and can run for almost 15 hours on a single AA cell. We're almost guaranteed a look at this early next month in Vegas, but the general public will have to wait until it ships in late March for $149.99.

[Via NaviGadget]

It's been a few years since Samsung unleashed its 10 megapixel cameraphone onto the world. Now we're hearing that Samsung will push the limits of absurdity to a full 12 megapixels "this month," likely at Mobile World Congress. The phone is expected to hit the production lines in February with a European debut shortly thereafter. No details are provided other than the picture above used (but not attributed) by Unwired View. If this is the unannounced phone then we can obviously expect GPS geotagging, DivX video capture, and WiFi with DLNA support. One thing is clear: Samsung thinks that Europeans are pixel braggarts with little concern for image quality.

Update: Nope, that image is just a Photoshop of an 8 megapixel Innov8 -- still, we wouldn't be surprised to see the same feature set and industrial design in a 12 megapixel handset.

[Thanks, Robin of Loxley]

When we asked how you'd change Nikon's 720p-recording D90 DSLR, many of you globe-trotting photogs let out wistful sighs, gazed at the brightest star, and wished with all your might for automatic geotagging of photos. Like some trickster genie, Nikon is granting your wishes, but we're not sure the GP-1 GPS add-on is exactly what you had in mind. It slots into the hot-shoe on most cameras (clipping onto the strap for a few) and uses an unwieldy looking cable to connect to the body of your D200, D3, D700, D90, D300, or D3X. We can't say that we're particularly fond of the device's means of indicating status, either: red blinky light = no satellites; green blinky = three satellites; green solid = four satellites or more. C'mon Nikon, for $240 you couldn't integrate that cable into a hand strap and put more than two LEDs up in there?

[Via Gadget Lab]

Hardware fanatics, listen up -- a golden egg has been laid in the form of the Samsung I7110. Arriving with a slightly sleeker design than on the earlier spotted i7110c, this Symbian S60-based candybar has been revealed to the world today in London. Specs wise, you're looking at a luscious 2.6-inch AMOLED display, FM radio / transmitter , GPS navigation (with geotagging functionality), an accelerometer, "3D graphics," Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA and WiFi. Additionally, it packs a 5-megapixel camera (with Auto Focus and a LED flash), robust multimedia player (DivX support included), 50MB of internal memory, a microSDHC slot, video recording, 11-hours of talk time and a 12.9-millimeter thin body. Price remains a mystery, but those in Russia will be the first in the know when it launches there next month. As for everyone else? Patience.

We're still waiting for geotagging to go mainstream on consumer-level still cams, but Geotate isn't waiting around in its quest for location-aware domination -- it's teamed up with DXG to develop the first geotagging video camera we've seen. The camera itself isn't anything special -- it's just another average DXG HD cam, based on the DVH586 -- but the geotagging is powered by Geotate's Yuma software, which does most of the heavy lifting on the server at import, so we'd expect it to be pretty robust. No word on pricing or availability, but we're assuming it'll fall in line with the rest of DXG's lineup on the cheaper side.

You've got to be kidding us, right? Since February of 2007, Jobo has been dangling this unicorn-like geotagger in our faces and threatening to launch every six months or so, and right on cue, the company is back with yet another claim of "it's almost here." This time at Photokina 2008, the outfit is asserting that its $159 GPS-packing add-on, which automatically geotags images of any camera it's docked on, is just one month away from being released in the US. Or, the Windows version at least -- Mac users will have to wait until the end of this year. Or next. Or the next. Or maybe even the next.

[Via CNET]

Most of the geotaggers we've seen have written location data to your photos using some fancy software on your machine after you've pulled images off your camera, but ATP's PhotoFinder mini moves the tagging step backwards in the process, writing geodata directly to images on your memory card. Like similar devices, the PhotoFinder mini records timelogged GPS data from a SiRF Star III chip while you shoot -- but when you're done, you insert your card into a base station, which tags your images using their EXIF timestamps. Sounds like a much simpler system than relying on third-party software to integrate with your photo-management apps -- we just wish the dock was also a card reader, which would make this a one-step process. No pricing info yet, but if this thing is reasonable, it'll certainly be tempting.

[Via Photography Blog, thanks Mark]

Yippee, it's T700 day at Sony. First they launched the DSC-T700 digicam, now the T700 cellphone. The T700 candybar is mostly phone though with a smattering of camera just for kicks. We're talking quad-band GSM and UMTS/HSDPA 2100 with 4.5-hours of 3G talk and a 3.2 megapixel camera with cell-id geotagging and photo light. It measures just 10-mm thin with Bluetooth A2DP, stereo speakers, 2-inch TFT LCD, and 512MB of Memory Stick Micro (M2) storage tossed in the box. Available in "select markets" in Q4 for what's expected to be a middling price tag.

Update: The whole gang just got official. Check out the details here.

Read - Nikon's Coolpix P6000
Read - The rest of Nikon's stable

You've piddled around in our unboxing shots and replayed that hands-on video countless times. Now, the time has finally come to bust open the piggy bank and secure your very own Nokia N78. Dramatics aside, the HSDPA-packin' handset that also musters a 3.2-megapixel camera and A-GPS can now be purchased at Nokia flagship stores in Chicago and New York, numerous online retailers and the occasional mom 'n pop shop for around $560. So, who's getting one?

One of Samsung's worst kept secrets (if we can even call it that) has finally been "announced" by the company, and we're guessing the timing here isn't coincidental. Nevertheless, the Windows Mobile 6.1-powered i900 Omnia features quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE support, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, a built-in accelerometer, WiFi module, USB port, FM tuner, Bluetooth, 3.2-inch 400 x 240 resolution display and a 5-megapixel camera (with smile detection and geotagging). An 8GB and 16GB version will soon be available, and prospective buyers can expect to see Sammy's own TouchWiz user interface loaded on. Reportedly, the handset will be available later this month in undisclosed areas of the globe (probably after being showcased at CommunicAsia), while Europe is expected to see it in July. Hands-on photos await you in the read link.