I know it sounds like I am being a cranky, jealous old geezer, but how else should I react to Mattel‘s (MAT) 21st-century upgrade to the venerable Hot Wheels lineup? At CES 2011, Mattel demo-d the Hot Wheels Video Racer. The Hot Wheels Video Racer upgrades everyone’s favorite die-cast cars by adding a VGA video camera built-in to capture the action.
According to Engadet the small car houses 512MB of storage, which can hold 12 minutes of video, at up to 60 frames per second. The New York Times says the onboard memory can either be played back without sound at low quality from postage-stamp-sized LCD screen (there are no speakers) or, at higher quality and sound, on your Mac or Windows computer by way of the USB cable. The USB cable is also used to charge the car’s internal batter
The camera is easy to use, reports the NYT, first you start the camera, then let the car rip down the track just as you would any other Hot Wheels car. You can then replay the ride as if you were behind the wheel. You see the tunnels, loops, and the crash at the end when your car flies off the table. Because there are no moving parts, there’s little to break ensuring a twisted first-hand view of the run down the track.
Mattel also provides a protective case so the cam can be Velcroed to a skateboard, helmet, or Fluffy the cat to record off-track action. They also have included a basic kid-friendly editing package for the PC so the Video Racer’s run down the orange track, under the couch, and past the dog can be made into the movie masterpieces it should be. The software can edit in scene transitions, add special effects and music to spice up the video reports Ubergizmo.
Engadet says the rig will retail for $60 in the fall of 2011, just in time for Christmas 2011 for all the good little boys and not so little boys. The package includes the rubberized mini USB to USB cord for connecting the cam to a Microsoft (MSFT) Windows or an Apple (AAPL) Macintosh computer and PC editing software.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
LCD panels are crucial to the adoption of most mobile technology. Without LCD panels we would probably be stuck with mobile devices that still look a lot like the Compaq Portable. Engadget points us to a video from the EngineerGuy, aka Bill Hammack which does a great job of explaining how an LCD panel works and what backlights, light diffusion, and subpixels have to do with viewing talking dogs on your new iPad.