Polaroid -- Engadget

polaroid posts

Hilco / Gordon Brothers acquires Polaroid brand, assets and dignity

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 17th 2009 at 8:41AM

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (again) in December of last year, Polaroid may have just made its last shakeable memory. Today, the Federal Bankruptcy court for the district of Minnesota has approved a motion for "substantially all the assets of Polaroid, including the Polaroid brand, intellectual property, inventory and other assets," to be acquired by Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers Brands. If those names sound familiar, have a cookie on us. You see, this very same joint venture picked up The Sharper Image around this time last year, and while it's still unclear what these suits plan to do with the 72 year-old name, we are told that it doesn't plan on shelving it anytime soon. In fact, it's hoping to "partner with a number of global institutions in the ongoing development of the Polaroid brand." Personally, we would've used "revival" rather than "development," but we'll refrain from bursting any bubbles here.

IMPOSSIBLE's on a mission to revive Polaroid film

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Jan 19th 2009 at 1:51PM

Things have been pretty bleak for Polaroid fans ever since the company filed for Chapter 11. Once the producer of an iconic American gadget, the company has been reduced to a corporate shell, its good name taunting us from the face plates of a myriad of consumer electronics -- including instant digital cameras that are not nearly as cool as their forebears. That's why it does our heart good to hear about the crazy, Fitzcarraldo-esque plans of an outfit called IMPOSSIBLE. The company has already purchased all the essential gear and signed a lease on one of the buildings at the old Polaroid plant in the Netherlands, where they'll be hard at work developing new versions of the venerable Instant Integral film that can be produced using modern manufacturing methods. The company hopes to be in the swing of things by sometime in 2010. Best of luck, kids!

[Thanks, Sebastiaan ter Burg]

Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera hands-on

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 9th 2009 at 7:16PM

Polaroid's PoGo Instant Digital Camera isn't for the hardcore geeks -- it's stuck with a 5 megapixel sensor, no optical zoom whatsoever and an LCD monitor that was fanciful in 1998. What it can do, however, is churn out photo stickers in around 60 seconds after a photo is taken without the need for an external printer. Have a look at the March-bound unit below, and look, your kids will love it. Promise.

Gallery: Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera hands-on

Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera debuts at CES

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 8th 2009 at 5:38PM

We heard that Polaroid would be punching out a PoGo-infused camera in 2009, and it only took 'em eight days into the new year to do just that. Today at CES, the $199 PoGo Instant Digital Camera is making its grand entrance, utilizing the tried-and-true ZINK printing technology. Sadly (and we do mean sadly), there's not even a mention of how many megapixels this thing boasts, which is a pretty telling sign that you won't be getting SD850IS-type quality out of it. Nevertheless, it'll print out ink-free 2- x 3-inch images right from itself, so maybe the quality isn't that big of a deal after all. Or maybe we're just sympathetic.

Polaroid files for chapter 11 bankruptcy, again

by Thomas Ricker, posted Dec 19th 2008 at 4:59AM

Polaroid may have defeated Kodak in the instant camera business, but it can't beat a sagging economy. Polaroid (or Polaroid Corp to be precise) just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in 7 years. Of course, the new Polaroid Corporation is really just a holding company for the Polaroid name -- a brand that has been thoroughly diluted by its application to sub-standard TVs, vile portable DVD players, and gimmicky PoGo digital cameras. Polaroid says, "We expect to continue our operations as normal during the reorganization and are planning for new product launches in 2009." That a threat?

[Thanks JideOsan, image courtesy of Jerkwithacamera]

Tomy's printer-equipped Xiao digital camera hits Japan

by Donald Melanson, posted Nov 26th 2008 at 6:02PM

We already caught a brief glimpse of Tomy's Zink printer-equipped Xiao digital camera earlier this month, but with the Friday release date now upon us, we finally have a few more details about the would-be Polaroid successor. That includes word of a price for both the camera (¥34,800, or just under $370), and the paper you'll need to actually print photos which, at ¥880 (or about $9) for 20 sheets, likely won't have you plastering your walls with the 2x3-inch shots, even though they do actually have adhesive backs. Interestingly, you can also use the camera to print photos from any IrDA-equipped cellphone, but unfortunately not via WiFi or Bluetooth, which would be a tad more welcome. If that's got you intrigued, you should have a slightly easier time picking one up when it launches internationally next spring, although by then it'll likely also be competing with Polaroid's own Zink-equipped camera.

Tomy xiao digital camera has built in Zink printer, the spirit of Polaroids

by Samuel Axon, posted Nov 6th 2008 at 2:26PM

Like just about everyone else, we miss the Polaroid film format; maybe it's just nostalgia, but we enjoyed having something we could hold on to (and shake) after taking a picture. Polaroids may be dead, but the basic concept lives on -- remember Zink, that company whose technology prints digital photos on the spot without ink? It's joined forces with toy-maker Tomy to make the xiao TIP-521, a digital camera with a printer built in. The xiao has a modest five megapixel resolution, so we might wait and see how Polaroid's own Zink camera turns out, but in either case we're stoked the tactile experience is back.

[Via Market Watch]

Polaroid digicam to feature integrated PoGo printer in 2009

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 12th 2008 at 5:10PM

We had this inkling that it was only a matter of time before a PoGo-infused camera came to market, and at long last, we finally know (well, sort of) how long we're talking. Sometime in 2009, the aforesaid company will be pushing out a digital camera that includes an on board printer based around the Zink technology. The device will be capable of ejecting 4- x 3-inch prints, and curiously enough, it sounds like you could actually have a say in what it looks like. No, seriously -- hit the read link and have a look.

[Via Wired]

Polaroid PoGo portable photo printer hands-on, Engadget reader style

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 2nd 2008 at 3:26PM

Hold up! Polaroid may not be dead just yet! A trusty reader was nice enough to give us some hands-on time with his new Polaroid Pogo Zink-based printer. The diminutive device is clearly meant to give us that old-school insta-print social feeling with its 2 x 3-inch photos, but results were less than a barrel o' monkeys. Engadget reader David says that while the unit is "cute," there's nothing very instant about it as prints take at least 60 seconds -- not including connection in or Bluetooth pairing time. On the plus side, prints are sturdy and don't tear easily, but David couldn't resist burning one of them just to see how the thermal paper reacted. In the end, he says this is a decent gadget for those in the know, but you're not going to put this at the center of a party like you would an old-school Instamatic. Peep the gallery for David's hands-on goodness.

[Thanks, David]

Gallery: Polaroid PoGo

Zink-based Polaroid PoGo makes its debut

by Ryan Block, posted Jun 4th 2008 at 8:23PM

It's gone by a couple names since we first heard about it two CESs ago (Zink, Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer, etc.) but the first Zink-based product is finally on its way to buyers as the Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer. It'll run you $150 for the unit (and $10 per pack of 30 sheets), and can print up to fifteen 2 x 3-inch photos on its rechargeable battery from any PictBridge capable camera or over Bluetooth. PC Magazine took a peek and found each print took between a minute and a half to two minutes (the latter over Bluetooth), and felt the quality was adequate at best, albeit sufficient for such small prints. Still, it's no secret that your options are extremely limited when it comes to pocketable printers, even of the dye-sub variety (which Zink-based devices like the PoGo hope to put out to pasture).

Polaroid intros 60GB Freescape 4360 WiFi-enabled PMP

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 17th 2008 at 12:36PM

If you were wondering if you'd ever hear another peep about that Freescape digital media ecosystem that Polaroid trumpeted in January, here's your answer. Quietly launched on the firm's own website, the Freescape 4360 (also known as the MPU-043315B) is a WiFi-enabled portable media player packin' a 60GB hard drive, a rechargeable Li-ion good for 16 hours of audio playback (just 4 hours with video), a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 resolution LCD, an FM tuner, TV output and support for MPEG4, WMA, WMV, MP3 and JPEG formats. Mum's the word on a price or release date, but without handling a few more formats, we can't see any Archos / Cowon / iriver lovers switching sides for this.

[Via ShinyShiny]

Polaroid to shake Instant Digital photo frame into reality [Update: sorry, game off!]

by Nilay Patel, posted Mar 13th 2008 at 4:03PM

For every terrible mockup we see, there's a few that stand out -- and it looks like that Digital Polaroid frame concept we spotted a couple weeks ago caught some eyes over at Polaroid as well, because the company has apparently contacted designer Dave Friedman and is working on making it a real product. That's a pretty fitting tribute to a classic gone by -- but we won't be appeased unless you can shake this thing to make new photos appear.

Update: Looks like Stuff misconstrued a simple statement made by a Polaroid employee (that he saw and "liked" the concept), and ran the whole thing as fact. Shocking. David Friedman, the concept's originator, got in touch and let us know that "I wish [it] were the case, but unfortunately the first I heard of this was earlier today in a post on Stuff Magazine's website. ... So I think this still goes in the "rumor" category for now."

Digital Polaroid photo frame concept brings it all rushing back

by Paul Miller, posted Feb 28th 2008 at 10:29AM

Polaroid film may be gone, but for some of us with fond memories of the format -- for no discernible reason, Polaroids were slow, blurry and expensive -- this digital picture frame concept seems a fitting tribute. There's a dry erase portion on the bottom, and the frame can stand on its own or be pinned to a cork board for added realism. "Standard" mode emulates a regular digital frame, while "Classic" mode slowly fades the picture into view. Yeah, maybe a little too cute for its own good, but maybe we like it that way.

[Via Gadget Lab]

Don't throw out that Polaroid just yet, make it digital

by Ryan Block, posted Feb 10th 2008 at 9:12PM

Just because Polaroid isn't going to sell you film for your camera anymore doesn't mean you have to go Zink and toss your analog. Geek Technique's got a guide -- surely the first of many -- to transforming an old Polaroid into a digital camera (in this case, a USB-connected webcam).

Polaroid no longer does Polaroids

by Paul Miller, posted Feb 8th 2008 at 7:25PM

Well doesn't OutKast look silly now. The brand synonymous with instant film is killing off the Polaroid film format and attempting to reinvent the brand so it "lives on for the next 30 to 40 years." In the short term that means closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands, cutting 450 jobs, and breaking the hearts of hipster-photographers the world over. Obviously the concept of Polaroids was never going to be much more than a niche in the age of digital photos, and the Polaroid / Zink Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer is filling the instant development void left behind, but it's still sad to see a format with so much history and fond memories die, especially since Polaroid spends the majority of its time these days slapping its de-valued logo onto rubbish commodity electronics.