Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Here’s a clever alternative to having an annoying videographer (or more likely, your cousin with his camcorder) wandering around your wedding reception, randomly recording greetings and good wishes from your friends and family. You simply set up one of these Memorytube Wedding Kiosks in a corner of the reception hall which allows your guests to leave a message or greeting at their leisure, without the pressure of having a camera stuck in their faces. The kiosk features a touch-screen LCD display with a pop-up keyboard allowing users to sign a virtual guestbook, but also includes a built-in camera allowing them to leave a more personal video message. It even includes a memory card reader allowing those with a digital camera to upload all of their photos at the end of the evening, or wirelessly transfer them from a bluetooth equipped cameraphone.

The setup of the Memorytube kiosk and processing of the images, videos and messages afterwards is all done by the company who will provide you with a professionally edited DVD when it’s all said and done. The kiosk itself can also be customized with a front laminate graphic, and they’ll even provide coasters and flyers to let your guests know the kiosk is available and where to find it. From what I can tell the Memorytube is only available for rent in the UK at this time, and the base price is about $590.

[ Memorytube Wedding Kiosk ] VIA [ Newlaunches.com ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Pandigital primarily makes digital photo frames, so it’s not surprising to see the company doing all it can to get you to buy one for everyone room in your house. Their latest effort is the Pandigital Kitchen HDTV/Digital Cookbook/Digital Photo Frame which could probably have been shortened into a more marketing-friendly name. It’s a 1280×720 15-inch LCD display that includes ATSC & NTSC tuners as well as s-video, component and HDMI inputs allowing it to be used as a TV. But it also comes pre-loaded with a large collection of recipes that are stored in its 512MB of internal memory. More recipes can be added by the user, though I have no idea what format they’re in. Not surprisingly it also serves as a digital photo frame and has an integrated 6-in-1 card reader supporting SD, XD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro/Duo, CF and MMC cards.

Because it’s designed to be used in the kitchen, the display is sealed in glass protecting it from splattered ingredients and making it particularly easy to clean. It includes a remote control that can be safely tucked away when the food starts flying and has a touch screen interface that can be used even when your fingers are dirty.

It should be available sometime in June with an MSRP of $399.99.

[ Pandigital Kitchen HDTV/Digital Cookbook/Digital Photo Frame (PDF) ] VIA [ Digital Trends ]