This is a paraphrased news item from Reuters News today, and was posted on all the major feeds...

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CVS, the #2 drugstore chain, has introduced a one-time-use digital camcorder at a price of $29.99, with a processing fee of $12.99. The camera can take up to 20 minutes of 640 x 480 video, weighs only 5 oz, and comes with a 1.4" video screen to watch the playback. The data is stored on memory chips (probably flash or other serial memory). When processed, the video is transferred to a DVD, and the camera is thrown away.

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You just know one of us is going to buy one of these and take it apart, and see how it can be stripped down to the bare essentials, then stuffed into a body tube. Imagine having a camera that doesn't need an RF link to transmit the images, but returns (via parachute) an unbroken, range-unlimited, video stream.

All it would take would be some kind of interface to the chips, a little software to offload the video and reset the camera, and some way to recharge or replace the battery...

If anyone else gets there before me, go ahead and post your findings. This might turn out to be a better "Oracle" than the Oracle...

Craig McGraw